The Contender's Ascent
by Insane Dominator
Summary: Third installment to "The Fairy Contender". Months passed since Nic and Erza finally united, but now things get really interesting. New challenges face Nic as Pokemon begin to rise, more complex foes challenge him and his powers, and something darker than darkness itself seeks Nic. With friends new and old joining forces, Nic and two worlds unite in ways unimaginable. OCxErza
1. Just Another Day

**Hey guys, this is Insane Dominator. Before I get started with this story, I want to say thank you to all who have been supporting the Pokémon/Fairy Tail crossover series since I first started it back in 2015. It may have taken a lot longer than I hoped for, but the time has finally come for the final installment to** _ **The Fairy Contender**_ **series. It was a long time coming, but now, enjoy the final segment, called** _ **The Contender's Ascent**_ **!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon nor Fairy Tail, they belong rightfully to Nintendo, Satoshi Tajiri, and Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

Time and space. Two forces that were at a constant equilibrium. They were what made everything take shape and form, as well as an age, progression, and more importantly, wonder. For time, there was a past, a present, and a future. They say one must learn from the past and move forward into the unknown future, but those stuck in the past fail to learn that time is ever so short for their lives. For space, it's everchanging, ever revolving. Shapes and dimensions take form when space becomes more than just a void.

And with all entities, there were personifications. Everyone was the personification of a word or meaning, and like them, time and space had personifications.

Within the Space-Time Rift, the dimension was distorted in darkness. The energy of the domain was constant. It was black and gray in the background, like someone's conscience, but there were lightning flashes of pink and blue every so often within the darkness.

In one flash, a pair of feral, intense eyes seared daggers ahead, matched with another. The personifications known as Dialga and Palkia were glaring daggers at one another, with Palkia starting off the shrill cry of battle. Dialga opened his mouth and did the same. Their various vocals sent ripples of pink and blue throughout the void, where they blew away thousands of unknown like they were flies.

"( **It was** _ **your**_ **doing. You were the one responsible!** )" Dialga retorted.

Palkia reeled his head up and gave an intimidating posture. "( **The blame is** _ **no one's**_ **! You hold responsibility for your powers, as I do mine. You just happened to lose strength as I did…to Acnologia.** )"

"( **Because of you!** )" Dialga snapped. "( **If it weren't for your weakness, the two worlds would never have almost collapsed upon themselves. Time is one thing, but space is far too dangerous! Palkia~!** )" In his rage, Dialga went flying into Palkia, ramming his thick head into his chest. Palkia grabbed his head's horns and prevented Dialga from gaining any recoil space. They shot back to a stop, where Palkia restrained him good.

With a powerful strain, the Spatial Pokémon let out another shrilled battle cry as he turned and threw Dialga behind him. The Temporal Pokémon doubled over to a stop, shaking his head.

"( **If you want to settle this with force, fine! But it won't change what happened to us!** )" Palkia explained. He brought his claws back, generating a bright blue sphere that was glistening like a searing gem. Launching Aura Sphere, the claws thrust forward, projecting it at machine gun speed at Dialga, hitting him in the neck. A smoke cloud erupted, and he emitted a shrilled cry of pain and floated backwards. With the smoke as cover, Palkia went rushing through, tackling Dialga and shoving him away in surprise. "( **This doing is not even ours to blame! Making excuses against ourselves when we didn't know Acnologia would attempt such a thing. Yes, I admit that caught us off guard, but roaring out our weakness and inability to fix our dimensions was-!** )"

"( **Silence!** )" Dialga opened his mouth, surging streaming light spirals into it. Once it was charged, a Flash Cannon was launched. It ripped through the air with a white ripple, beaming into Palkia's forearms that he used to block. Streams of the Steel-type move went all around him, but the momentum was shoving him back. The beam soon dissipated, allowing Palkia to remove his arms to show little damage. Both seethed daggers at the other.

"( **If what you say wasn't our fault and we still take responsibility, what could possibly be blamed otherwise? We weren't able to do anything, and we let** _ **him**_ **fix it for us!** )"

"( **Would you rather not be in debt to a human then? Is that it?** )"

"( **You don't understand! We were helpless** _ **twice**_ **now! First Giratina and his lackies, and now that damn dragon from that planet. Time and space were out of control, and we didn't have the power…** )" He faced Palkia with a deep glare. "( **We're supposed to rule and govern all of time and space, wasn't that why we were created?** )"

Palkia receded backwards, his pearls beginning to glisten. He didn't find a point arguing about it when Dialga could've just went back in time, but the sense did come to light when there was only one of him out there. If they had known, they never would've done so, but the special case was those two instances being irreversible, due to time and space out of jurisdiction. In a way, Dialga wasn't wrong. Palkia felt a little shame in not being able to stop Acnologia before, but he'd rather not deal with the dilemma a second time.

But this was therapeutic, to some degree. Palkia's pearls began to shine brightly, as did Dialga's diamond. Sparkling, pink energy began to flow into his arm, while Dialga's frilled backside was expanding. The two Pokémon were bringing their arm back and mouth opening, their respective attacks ready to be unleashed.

"( **GGGRRAAH!** )"

Both Pokémon unleashed Spatial Rend and Roar of Time. The dark blue beam and pink crescents distorting space went beaming into the other. Two attacks, representatives of time and space, blasted like bullets into one another.

Upon impact, a pure white shockwave went in all directions. Pink and blue forcefields surged everywhere within the void to no end. The flow of time slowed down within the combined energy, and the space itself was convulsing. Both Dialga and Palkia covered up as best as possible to sustain themselves until the energy dissipated. Once it was used up, both looked at the other with their glares fixed on one another.

Within their stare off, between them was forming something small, but slowly expanding. It was a distorted frame, and yet it was like a light blue galaxy that was starting to expand.

"( **Huh?** )" Palkia looked down.

"( **Hm?** )" Dialga hummed.

The distorted energy was expanding slowly. The energy gradually brightened into a spinning whirlpool of light that got brighter and brighter, the energy it was building up beginning to unnerve the two Pokémon. They both turned to face the large, gleaming light, awfully curious as it was eroding some enigmatic force from within.

"( **Did we cause another spatial surge?** )" Dialga questioned.

The light began to muffle a deep, devilish growl. It was almost bloodcurdling.

"( **You hear that?** )" Palkia questioned. "( **The light is…speaking?** )"

" **Grrrroooh…"**

Dialga and Palkia could feel something off about it. It wasn't just that the light stopped expanding in place, but more like how it was solidifying. It looked like a shiny galaxy with a foggy entrance. Slowly a feint shadow appeared on the other side, giving a very bizarre shape. Once again, it growled low. The two beings looked at each other and back at the odd dimension, both getting defensive with loud shrieks of challenge.

The dark silhouette on the other end of the foggy entrance slowly retracted. It all seemed calm for a moment, until a giant, black claw jutted straight through the entrance, shattering the space it covered like glass. Once again, Dialga and Palkia were at a loss for words as they saw the clawed hand grabbing one side of the shattered wormhole, and then another exact copy reached ahead, grabbing the other side. Slowly, a pitch-black creature was beginning to reveal itself, his blood red, white eyes looking up from the very strange top it carries.

"( **Giratina…?** )" Dialga inquired.

"(… **light** …)" it muttered.

Palkia braced himself. "( **No, it's not Giratina. That's not his energy!** )"

The pitch-black creature began to slowly come out of the hole, giving the two a deep, searing gaze. His edgy figure was shuddering as he saw the glowing pink and blue aura the two gave off. "( **Light…** )" his voice arose as his entire body convulsed in anguish and anger.

Dialga and Palkia readied themselves for the worst. They glared at the creature as everything around them shook with the menacing beast's roar.

"( **LIIIIGHT!** )"

* * *

The wildlife forest was vast with so many trees that seemed to have stretched for miles. The silence was nice, but the birds chirping was but another vibrant tune many could abide by. However, as birds chirped, they fluttered out of the branches and into the skies.

The tree branches and canopy of the forest were sound, almost too sound. A swift blur leaped from one branch towards the next. It raced with grace of a ninja and the stealth of a ghost. Silent as a grave it was, the only thing heard was the sound of leaves rustling and branch bark bending with every ounce of pressure applied from the blur's steps.

With another leap, the figure drew closer towards the opening to the tree line. It reached the light of the clearing, where it beamed out of the tree and into the sunlight high in the air. The figure's silhouette inside the sunlight was bleak and hard to tell who it was, but as it descended, it had very short, kempt, spiky black hair that reflected sun rays. It landed on its heels and immediately went into a drop-roll to reduce the shock. Once out of the tumble, it shot back into a slide next to a pair of dark brown boots with black rings on the top.

"Is it coming this way?" the person in the boots asked. She appeared to be holding a sword in readiness.

The figure bent up from his crouch, getting to eye level facing the direction he came from. "Yeah, this is where he'll show up."

"How are you so sure?"

"It needs a lot of space to surface. You know how big it is after all."

"And you're sure you were able to drag it out of that grove?"

The figure smirked. "How about we find out and save the questions for another time." His blue eyes narrowed. "Get ready."

Nic Pularis, now 22-years-old and looking the part as well. He sported a new attire, one that was less conservative in terms of parts showing. As of now, he sported a long, open black coat with dark purple edging, with the sleeves folded at the elbows. The dark purple ends of the sleeves had a Key Stone stitched into the left sleeve. The coat was open and loose, revealing his bare chest and abdominal region, which included the scars he's ascertained. He had baggy gray pants that were held up by a thick, golden sash. The pant legs went all the way to the bottom to the black shoes with golden lacing and gray shock absorbers. He also appeared to be slightly taller, now almost an inch taller than the person standing beside him.

The person next to him was Erza Scarlet, or formerly so. Now these days, she is known as Erza Pularis. Her red hair was as beautiful and long as ever, with her right eye covered by the bangs. Her right shoulder was covered by a silver pauldron with gold accents on it, while the left was bear with her guild mark showing. Her chest armor was also different, having a golden Heart Kreuz and silver plates over her navy-blue skirt that stopped above her knees, held by a brown belt. Her own Key Stone was engraved into the gauntlet of her left forearm.

Today, the duo was out on a job together, and it was no exaggeration to say it was a big one.

The ground began to vibrate, rattling madly. Nic crouched in readiness. "Here it comes!"

Erza braced herself next.

The ground far ahead of them began to crack apart, spitting out dirt and rock. The terrain vibrated as the dirt hole opened wide. As dirt fell like rain, a massive monster bellowed high into the sky before it came down on its two front feet, shaking up the ground. It moved its head about with a loud shriek, signaling its resurfacing.

Now having a good picture of it, the creature was a quadruped monster that stood at 20-feet-tall. It had red, ridged scales all over the body with bright purple spikes over the back. The arms and underside were cream colored, with the arms and claws being thin, and the hind legs were bright red like the body but bent like a frogs' legs would be. The creature had bright blue eyes with pupils, and the most shocking and scariest part of it was its tusks. The maw was cream colored and gargantuan, with tusks twice as thick as a Mamoswine's tusks would be. It also sported a long, club-like tail that fell to the ground, making an indent into the earth. This was their target.

"There he is." Erza said.

"And right on time. This time, he won't escape so quickly." Nic bent his legs and gave the monster a glare.

" **Mean Look!** "

His eyes glowed bright red as a ghastly aura surrounded him. The monster continued to munch on dirt and rock in its mouth as a ghastly aura surrounded its body, making its attention avert towards Nic once more. The monster opened its mouth, roaring out dirt like spit in front.

"That'll keep him from going anywhere, for now that is." Nic evaluated. "Remember the plan?"

Erza requipped in a glow, her form changing into her Black Wing Armor. Her sword was poised with her posture. "Aim for the legs, avoid the tusks, and watch out for its rough back." She reiterated.

"Right…" He glowed a bright light, turning into his Fist Form. In this form, Nic now had a bright orange coat with darker orange edging. The sash was orange, and his pants were now white. The lacing was bright orange, while the shoe was dark orange. The soles were also now white. He got into a running position and was set. "Let's wear him down!"

The monster snarled, ready to go at them.

Nic and Erza went speeding off towards the tusked monster, with Erza gliding, and Nic dashing. The monster raised one of its arms and began to crawl towards them in retort. Once they were close enough, the huge, long beast arose on its hind legs, ready to crush them from claws above. Nic and Erza ducked to the sides, avoiding the sundering slam of the two joints that billowed dust in front, fading quickly. On the right side, Nic took a leap and clutched his glowing fist, via Power-Up Punch. The bright orange aura enveloping the fist slammed into the hind leg, sending a shock that made the monster snarl and turn towards Nic's direction. The whole body turned towards him, leaving its other hind leg wide open for Erza to slash at.

The beast grunted loudly in pain and turned its head towards Erza, giving a low growl. With him distracted, a red aura enveloped Nic, the effects of Power-Up Punch empowering him.

" **Bulk Up!** " Nic balled both fists as another red aura enveloped him, empowering his Attack further, as well as Defense. Before the beast turned back towards him, swinging the tusks, he dove and rolled underneath the monster, getting to its underside.

Erza narrowed her eyes and glowed again, this time requiping into her Flight Armor. The creature raised its club-like tail and swung it down onto Erza. She disappeared in a quick blur, evading the ground-crushing blow. With the monster seeing his opponent gone, it heard something zip, and then turned to see Erza running in an arch. She started running circles around the monster, keeping him in one place and looking left and right. With him looking about, he was unaware of someone beneath him.

Nic looked up, eyes narrowing as he balled his fist again.

" **Superpower!** "

A shockwave exploded beneath the creature's humungous body. It shot off the ground skyward as Nic was seen in a thin crater, fist up as a blue aura enveloped his body, lowering the Attack and Defense again. Erza stopped running circles and stood beside Nic as they watched the beast flail in the air and shriek before smashing into the ground on his back. The land shook violently from the impact, the huge monster crying out in pain and distress. It tried to claw at the air, but like a turtle, it was helpless on its back.

Nic didn't waist time as he glowed again, turning to his Meadow Form. His coat was now jungle green with bright green edging and sleeve cuffs. The sash was a grassy green, with the pants being jungle green. The soles of the shoes were brown, with bright green laces and jungle green shoes overall. He clasped his hands together and folded the fingers.

" **Grass Knot!** " Around the huge monster, the ground sprouted thick roots that glowed bright green. The roots twirled and folded over the thighs, anchoring the monster's legs. Next, glowing, twirling roots entangled the claws. Next came the tail, being held at the base of the club to keep from moving.

The four limbs were all anchored to the ground, including its secondary weapon, the monster growled and stirred, trying to toss and turn to no avail.

"Do you think that's enough?" Erza asked.

Nic narrowed his eyes. "…no. Get back!"

Just as he had thought, the monster began to turn some more. As it turned onto its right side, it slowly began to pull at the roots of the Grass Knot on one side. The roots extended and extirpated until at last they snapped. The monster flipped back onto his underside and shook its head. The whole body turned back towards Nic and Erza again, the Grass Knot holding the club tail down keeping the best from moving fully. With it struggling to face them and yanking its tail out, this was their chance again.

" **Leech Seed!** " In a hurry, Nic puffed his mouth, spitting out a single seed that went at the monster's back. The seed missile fired dead onto it, planting itself and opened. All around the body, ropes of vines with leaves on them sprouted from the seed. The attack entangled the beast further, making red electricity envelop it. Once again, it shrieked loudly in annoyance and pain. Its head swayed left and right, the tusks moving as viciously as the beast's temper.

"It's not giving up. It's sturdy, I'll give it that." Erza said.

The monster let out a louder shriek that made the air distort around it in volumes on end. With one more pull, the Grass Knot on the tail was pried apart, freeing the club-like tail. Facing the two in full attention again, its blue eyes narrowed, huffing like a snorting bull. Its gargantuan mouth opened as it plunged its head into the ground below. The maw and tusks were burrowed deep, and then they were flicked back up, making a massive plate of the clearing and its soil beneath overturn. The massive space was tipped further by the tusks, sending it tilting down towards Nic and Erza.

This time, Erza got in front of Nic as she requipped again. Now standing in her Adamantine Armor, she put the two shields together and got to a knee. Nic ducked beside her behind the shield as it created a magic seal. The seal remained stationary as the broken land went crashing down onto them. The soil and the rock in the hardened ground broke upon impact with the shield and showered debris everywhere around the duo as they were untouched. Once all the debris had fallen and settled, Erza separated the shield to get a view of the monster. It howled and clawed at the ground again, making marks in the earth beneath. Using its hind legs and hopping like a frog, it lunged with great force at them. They both leaped backwards to avoid the ram and tusks, getting a small distance between once again.

Once on his feet again, Nic looked ahead wearily. "You weren't kidding when you said it was sturdy." He watched as Leech Seed zapped it again. "It was painful enough getting him out of that cave, and then that grove. We'll have to dig deeper than him if we're going to capture and detain him."

Erza glowed again, requipping back into her default armor. "And I suppose you have a plan for this I take it?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah…let's knock off those tusks. If we can remove them, then his defenses will shorten."

The monster went crawling towards them once more, hurrying with gusto. The land thundered with every step taken, such as a Bulldoze for every thud, palpitating heartbeats if possible.

"I'll keep aiming for the legs to slow him down!" Erza yelled as she requipped a sword. She went sprinting in an arch around the beast, getting its attention once more.

"Then I'll handle the tusks." Nic offered. He reached into his pocket in his coat, pulling out and enlarging a Poke Ball. Spreading his feet, he threw the Poke Ball at the monster.

"Garchomp, go!"

The Poke Ball went flipping in the air until halfway. Once at high kinetic point, the Poke Ball popped open, sending the energy onto the ground. The ground caved in from a great pressure emitted, and stones jutted up as the weight of the energy was pressed in hard. Summoned from the Poke Ball, the menacing, battle-hungry Garchomp was curled up and flexed out, releasing a powerful, loud roar that shook the ground beneath. The stones around shattered to bits and pieces like crackers. The rippling dust waves turned over soil debris, reaching the monster ahead who craned its head about in a growl.

"You ready, Garchomp?" Nic rhetorically asked with a determined grin.

The Mach Pokémon glared daggers ahead. "Don't worry, I'll break him like glass." He threatened. He reeled his head back and released another bloodcurdling roar into the air, distorting space with the deep volume that was projected.

With the monster now facing Garchomp, that was the opening Erza took up. "HRAH!" With a loud shout, she slashed at the right hind leg of the monster, making it cringe once more. It glared back at Erza, seemingly irritated by the blindsided attack. It rose on its hind legs once more and turned to raise a claw on her with a dep snarl.

Garchomp narrowed his eyes. "Gotcha."

Nic swiped his arm. " **Stone Edge!** " he commanded.

Garchomp raised a claw and roared out viciously once more. Getting to a knee, he stabbed the ground, and shooting in a singular line were pillars of thick, jagged rocks that prodded from the earth. They raced at intense speeds at the quadruped freak of nature and swiftly stabbed it in the left hind leg exposed. The stab, as well as the impact, generated a small but dense explosion that made the creature holler in severe pain. It fell onto its side rather than on Erza, thudding with the severity of a massive Magnitude.

As he thudded, the quaking made Erza jump, but she used that and spun in the air, diving and cutting into the left leg further. The beast cried for the umpteenth time in distress, coupled with the Leech Seed zapping at it yet again. Erza landed and retreated in a large leap back near Nic.

Watching carefully, the redhead's eyes narrowed. "Is he going to try and retreat like before?"

The monster growled weakly in pain before raising its head, giving a small shriek. It suddenly began to crawl away from them, quite fast remarkably. Erza opt to go on, but Nic reached out to her using an arm. They both just watched as the beast kept crawling towards the edge of the clearing.

Once it reached the edge, it raised to its hind legs and tried to burrow, but the left leg instantly gave in, causing it to slip and land on its underside once more. The beast groaned as its tactics were thwarted, and it instead had to make do to scurrying. However, it didn't get to the next step when a ghastly aura reappeared around its body, forcing it to jerk back towards Nic with a distraught shake of the head.

"Mean Look won't let it escape and regroup this time." Nic said. "He's gonna try and get desperate now. Stay on guard!"

"Right!" Erza bent her knees, sword ready. Garchomp stepped forward, releasing yet another vivid roar.

The monster roared again at them in challenge. It dunked its head back into the ground, but this time the front legs digging into the earth. They watched as it dove back into the earth, burrowing deep.

"And underground attack?" Erza speculated.

"We'll see about that." Nic reached out. "Garchomp, use **Dig!** "

Once again roaring, Garchomp made the airspace shrivel as he curled a little and plunged into the ground. The earth shook violently as he ploughed into the bedrock, leaving his dorsal fin out and cutting a trail into the field.

"You can't hide from me, creepface!" he announced underground.

The dorsal fin went deeper as he went outwards, soon vanishing into the ground like a shark plunging to attack. The ground went stale for a few moments, where all went silent. Moments later, a ripple spread throughout the terrain, where it was followed by a huge explosion of dust and rock like a volcano. The air was expelling tremendous debris as the monster was seen in midair, uppercut by a maniacally laughing Garchomp.

The monster cried out once again as it flailed downwards, smashing painfully into the earth. Another eruption of dust exerted from the impact the monster suffered from the second backland now, and Garchomp landed in front, he, too, rattling the earth beneath.

Erza turned towards Nic. "We have to get those tusks."

Nic looked towards her and nodded. "Okay." He turned and went racing again towards the now-leveled debris field. "Garchomp!"

The Dragon/Ground-type looked back towards him. "Okay!" He sounded so excited as he leaped ahead towards the fallen monster, landing besides its club tail. He held it tight with his sturdy claw. "Now…let's go for a whirl!" Straining as he was, Garchomp was using every ounce of supernatural muscle he had in him. The Mach Pokémon unleashed a loud growl as he pivoted and dragged the tail over his shoulder. The gargantuan monster was dragged out from the crater that was made and roared in distress again as it flipped over Garchomp slowly.

Nic closed in from below, reaching to where the monster's head was supposed to come down. His left arm began to glow once more, but was enveloped in bright green instead. A stump-shaped hammer molded over the left fist, large enough to mallet a Golem.

With a leap into the air, Nic swung upwards with all his might into Wood Hammer.

WHAM!

The instant the stump struck the downward right-sided tusk, time slowed down to get a picture of Nic passing the beast's side, falling slowly as the fractures of the bony tusk went flying everywhere. The tusk itself went flying skywards as the huge monster cried out.

Time sped up again as Nic landed on a knee beside Garchomp at the same time the monster finally smashed chin-first into the ground. Nic's arm was coated in red static, but he showed no visible care for the recoil damage. He and Garchomp regrouped at the monster's base and faced it together, their backs turned to the huge tusk that pierced the ground right behind them.

Nic grunted. He tallied the one tusk in silence. Better to save his breath for battle.

The monster was once again electrocuted by the Leech Seed effect, making another annoyed cry of pain. It lethargically tried getting back to its feet, managing some with a shaken head. Its head swaying more forcefully was no doubt from the lost of balance from the tusk lost, but it was by far unwilling to surrender.

Erza faced the beast, a frown on her face. "Stubborn, aren't we?" She brought her arm back. "Well here! Face this, scoundrel! Prepare yourself!" She threw the Poke Ball skyward, where it rotated overhead to a stop. Opening up, the energy popped out, sending another Pokémon into battle.

Standing beside Erza was her Aegislash, summoned with Shield Form set and ready. "I'm ready. Just tell me where to strike!" The Royal Sword Pokémon dutifully said.

The monster let out another mad roar at Erza and her Aegislash. In anger, the maw opened again and it plunged into the earth. The head flipped back up once again, holding a huge boulder in its mouth. It jerked up some and readied to hammer Erza with the rocky mouth.

" **King's Shield!** Now!" she ordered.

Aegislash zipped in front of Erza, where light blue hexagons formed to create a barrier. The monster went crashing its mouth down and smashed the rock onto the shield. The rock completely broke into pieces that went flying everywhere, and the dust settled, revealing Erza and Aegislash unhinged as King's Shield was still up. The monster recoiled back onto its four legs, its head shaking from the shock of the shield to its face. A blue aura enveloped its body, lowering its strength further.

Aegislash looked back towards Erza, the redhead nodding in confirmation. "Yes, let's make this work!" she announced. " **Swords Dance!** "

Aegislash did as told and levitated in place while illusionary blue swords circled around her. Once gone in a full loop, the swords crossed over her head and faded. A red aura enveloped her body, which prompted her Attack to enhanced further.

Erza dashed forward. "Let's go!"

Aegislash opted to comply and dislodged her sword out of the shield. While in midair, Erza passed and seized both the shield in one hand, and in the other was Aegislash's pointed head. Thick her grip was as she darted for the monster. The monster roared once again as the two bolted in, and in an attempt to stop them, it tucked its head in and lunged once more.

" **Sacred Sword!** " Erza commanded.

Aegislash's blade glowed a bright blue with a shimmering hum towards it. The blade lengthened into an expanded version, almost twice the usual size. Erza closed in and slashed Aegislash into the monster's head in diagonal fashion. The impact left a trail to flow in its massive wake. Within the impact's perimeter, the monster recoiled and shrieked as its head raised, whereas the other tusk went missing. The monster fell back on its feet and shook its head violently from the pain it felt, while Erza stayed positioned, with the last tusk smashing into the earth some feet behind the Requip Mage.

Garchomp reappeared from above, dropping in besides Erza with Nic hanging on. Nic jumped off the Pokémon and looked at the monster ahead of them with a serious face. "Garchomp, let's end this."

Garchomp stepped forward. "Couldn't agree more."

The monster unleashed another bloodcurdling shriek towards them. It went crawling at them in one last desperation to mow them down, only to spring meters closer into full-force destony.

Nic swiped his arm again. "Knock him down with everything you've got! Use **Dragon Rush!** "

Garchomp brought a foot back. "This is my favorite part…" With a grunt, he leaned forward and shot off the ground towards the monster. The shockwave from his lunge made the space behind him blow some dirt off the ground. His head appendages glowed bright blue and expelled a draconic energy all around him, shaping into a dragon that roared with a mouth wide open. "SAY AH~!"

The monster lunged into Garchomp, but in midair, Garchomp blasted into the face, creating a massive energy wave to shoot air ripples everywhere. The grass beneath flattened as Garchomp sailed in a long arch over the clearing, pushing the huge monster with full throttle into the ground. The smashing force expelled dust and shockwaves so loud and so high that a small dust cloud could've been seen from miles away. As the dust dissipated, Garchomp reeled back into the sky with another bloodcurdling growl towards the air.

When the dust cleared, it revealed the monster in a deep crater, deeper than the one previously from the Dig. With it not moving, they knew this was their chance.

With another glow, Nic transformed into his Stone Form. In this form, Nic's coat was dark brown, with grayish-brown edging and cuffs. The pants had a gabbro-like look to them, and the sash was a mudstone color. The soles of the shoes were mudstone color as well, with grayish-brown laces and an obsidian color to them. He folded his fingers together as before, this time summoning pillars of rock around the fallen monster. As it continued laying on its back in the dirt, the rock pillars arched over the limbs and tail, anchoring the beast, this time for good.

The Leech Seed around the body of the monster began vanishing like vapor, signaling that it could no longer fight nor had energy to spare such an ordeal.

"Looks like our work here is finished." Erza speculated.

Nic nodded. "Yeah." He replied as Garchomp landed beside him. He turned towards the dragon creature with a soft grin and approached. "Garchomp, good work. I can't thank you enough for what you do best." He scratched the neck region behind one of the head appendages, much to Garchomp's welcoming. The Mach Pokémon growled lightly with chagrin.

Erza approached her husband with fortitude. "We should make way back to the village. We'll have to report this to them as quickly as possible."

Nic nodded. "Right." He turned towards the captive monster. "But that stamina was impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if it got back up soon. We'll need good measure just in case matters go awry." He turned ahead and glowed once again, this time into his Toxic Form. In the form, Nic now adorned a dark purple coat with light purple edging and cuffs. The sash was a Byzantium color, with pants being an orchid color. The shoes were dark purple with bright purple laces and had orchid shock absorbers.

He opened his mouth, where a sphere of purple arose from the throat. " **Toxic Spikes!** " He aimed for the sky, where the orb was launched. It spiraled into the air with four streams of purple smoke following beneath. Once it reached a high enough point, the orb exploded and sent several purple comets with dark purple smoke trails down around the monster. They all sunk into the ground, leaving rings of magenta to fade into the grass.

"There…" Nic glowed yet again to change back into his usual self. "That'll keep him from getting far in case he gets enough strength to move."

Erza smirked. "You know, it's almost cruel if you ask me."

Nic looked towards her, smirking. "You sound like you're enjoying this."

"I'd be a liar if I said this was going to be far from jovial for the beast from now on."

"I can't argue there, but it's not like doing nothing about it would help the problem it's been making either." He looked back at the fallen beast as it laid with a raspy, unconscious breath. He reached into his pocket and waked closer towards the monster, where he placed a Sitrus Berry in front of its mouth. "We're sorry…"

After such a long afternoon, the job was finally accomplished.

* * *

A hand reached out, shaking with Nic's. "We're truly grateful for all that you have done for us."

"You have our humblest meanings, it was part of the job after all."

Nic and Erza soon returned to the village to where the client was. The client was the leader of the village. The village itself was rather local and small, much like the geography of Camphrier Town to a degree, if not more rural. It was further out in Fiore, hence its disclosure. The village leader was someone with gray hair tied into a bud and held in place by a pair of yellow sticks. He had a white long-sleeve shirt on beneath a red toga, and for shoe wear he wore brown sandals.

The job was a monster capture mission. They were assigned to capture and detain the monster that was panicking the villagers for weeks on end. The sub-quest to that would be a huge bonus to their reward, which was to de-tusk the enormous monster. The pay wasn't much, but the experience was needed, plus it helped a lot of people out in the long run.

"That large beast has been wrecking up the land around these parts for a long time now. Frankly, that's been scaring many locals and travelers in these parts." The leader said. "We were starting to get worried it might actually come for us to expand its territory."

Erza held her hands to her hips. "It won't cause anymore trouble for you, that's what we made certain. I trust that once you find the creature, you'll be most humbled by our work."

The leader chuckled. "You Fairy Tail mages certainly have your work cut out for you."

Nic frowned. "If it doesn't bother you, what do you intend for that beast? I wouldn't think putting it down would be justified. It's been through enough."

"You can rest easy, Nic Pularis, we've just contacted the Rune Knights. They should be here soon to relocate the creature to a safer environment it can adapt to."

Nic nodded. "I see."

"Do they need us to stick around to help in relocating?" Erza asked.

The elder shook his head. "No, that won't be necessary. Really though, you've already done more than plenty in your service alone. You can leave the rest for us to handle."

Nic grinned. "Sounds like everyone's going to sleep soundly tonight."

Erza chuckled. "Well let's not jinx it just yet, Nic."

"But I do say we can count our blessings." The elder prodded with a smile. "We'll at least feel safer thanks to you two. Please, do take care."

"As we you."

Nic and Erza bid the leader and the villagers farewell. They walked out of that village with 800,000 Jewel in their savings. It was originally 500,000 Jewel, but the bonus came from the tusks they brought back with them. Nic and Erza were still feeling bad about what they did, but it came with the job. That still didn't mean they had to like it.

"Do you think we should've handled relocating it ourselves?" Nic questioned his wife on the trail.

Erza looked at him. "The job was to capture and detain the creature, nothing more." She smiled. "But it's still generous that you worry about your opponent's condition."

Nic shrugged. "I guess. I mean at least with wild Pokémon, you don't have to worry to such degrees because their conditions heal as fast as their health after some rest. But these kinds of jobs really push boundaries for me. Still, it was causing trouble, so it's not like there wasn't anything wrong with what we were doing, I suppose..."

"It's okay to feel like that." Erza reached for his hand, holding it in her own as they walked. "Your sympathy is truly admirable."

Nic smirked at his wife. "At least this makes up for the job you and your team did yesterday. How many buildings collapsed again?"

Erza fell silent at the embarrassing memory. She knew Nic was messing with her, but if it wasn't for her and Natsu running buildings through to find scavenging thugs, then maybe they could've saved a few good Jewel. At least they had some grocery money to last them a week.

"Let's just hope we have enough time to get home for dinner." Erza tried to deflect the matter at hand, thankfully it worked out.

"Well that depends, you think taking the train and sleeping in a cabin sounds cozy?" Nic questioned back with a smile.

Erza chuckled back. "I have a feeling you have a much better alternative…although lying down for a while certainly sounds refreshing after today."

"My thoughts exactly." Nic pulled out another Poke Ball, throwing it skyward. "Go!"

The Poke Ball popped open, summoning another energy that went in an arch into the sky. From the energy released Nic's Charizard, who roared out as he arched in a turn towards Nic and Erza. They jumped in midair, landing on his back and base of neck as he arched back into the sky.

"Charizard…let's go home!"

Charizard roared to the skies, flapping his wings harder before shooting higher into the skies of Fiore.

* * *

Six months had come and gone since Nic and Erza finally tied the knot, and despite some changes that were still getting used to, the couple were fairing with them quite moderately. Their daily routine hadn't changed much, and everyone treated them the same as before, and that was how they liked it. Some of the few changes was Erza's moniker; when she was at home or meeting new people, she referred to herself as "Erza Pularis", but she often used Scarlet when on jobs with her team or out alone, although lately that moniker has been used to a lesser extent. The importance to her and Nic was that they were married, so to her, Pularis sounded more suitable these days.

As for Earth Land and PokeEarth alike, things have been getting back to normal, or rather as normal as they could get. After the devastating war against Alvarez Empire's forces and what followed soon after, most of the towns have been repaired, and guild jobs have become stable again. Fairy Tail has been the bell of the ball in just about everything in everyone, especially with how they were centerfield with the war, and how it started to begin with. It wasn't so much of a win-win as it was a draw.

Some guilds questioned why Fairy Tail was the reason it started, and when they found out they had infinite magic held as a captive secret, some forces backfired. Suffice to say that got the council's attention. Of course at the time, it was just the present Wizard Saints, and some were more inclined as to why they'd uphold such a "weapon". After many of testimonies and witnesses of the war and the survivors were willing to let it pass over since it was history now. The council wanted to blame Fairy Tail, but in the end it was nobody's fault, at least that was what Nic argued. It was a fundamental disarray that soon got fixed, but now Fairy Tail didn't have anymore skeletons in their closets.

As for PokeEarth, things were getting by as well as expected. People and towns were recovering from the aftershock with the legendary battle against Acnologia. The damage that was caused left a massive crater in the valley where the whole battle had taken place. In fact, locals and maps being remade actually dubbed the memoir "Valley of Daunt", or the "valley of the brave" if one wanted to get simpler. It's been visited quite often by researchers, and has been getting attention from trainers, tourists, and popular folk alike from around the world. They wanted to see and feel the energy that howled in the wasteland that rivaled Route 13. It was crisp as one could describe. Otherwise, the real attention went towards Nic. Oftentimes, Nic would come back to his world to train, meet his foster family, or just look around the cities or towns for Trainers to battle or something to get his sister or his new wife. He always got a lot of attention from people, and media soon followed, but he always ignored them and the questions thrown at him like they didn't even exist. If they got in his face, he'd be sure that one glare would shrink them away.

With the couple just finishing up their job, they flew in over Magnolia, closing in on the guild hall. "There it is, I see it." Nic referred to a small brown cottage made out of logs far up at a hill, far away from the city.

"Let's stop by the guild first. We need to check in with the others first." Erza said.

"Okay."

Charizard flew the two into Magnolia. He descended and tilted his body sideways towards the ground, allowing them to jump off and land in front of the guild hall. Charizard landed, allowing Nic to thank and pet the underside of his chin. Once recalled, he and Erza stepped into the guild itself.

"Hey, look who's back!"

"Hey, it's Nic! How've you been, buddy?"

"Nic's back? Boy, that didn't take long."

They were greeted with smiles from their fellow Fairy Tail friends, new and old. Max and Warren were beside the other, drinking and cheering with the others. Macao and Wakaba were already within drunken stupor, much to Romeo's dismay. Bisca and Alzack were nowhere to be seen, no doubt on a job of their own, but Asuka was beside Romeo. Jet was eating a buffet of meat stacked in front of him and has been doing so for hours while Jet has been despairing over his friend's eating habits. Overall, things looked just about right.

Mirajane walked through the guild with a tray of food she was serving. "Well look who's back!" she smiled. "So the job went well I take it?"

"Hello, Mirajane." Erza greeted. "The job took longer than we thought, but bared fruit nonetheless."

Lisanna waltzed nearby, holding up a serving tray of her own. "Hey guys, you're awfully late. We were worried you weren't going to come back today."

Nic smiled. "Don't worry about it. At least we're back now." He took another look around the guild hall again, seeing as how it was as boisterous as could be. A lot of chatting, a lot drinking, and many more still overall the same…well, almost.

Gray looked over his shoulder to see Nic. "Hey, look who finally decided to show up."

"Nic and Erza are back?" Juvia looked over her shoulder with a smile.

Wendy waved to them as Carla sat in her lap. "Hey guys, over here!"

"You both know how to make timing work out it seems."

"Nah, I call that good old-fashion luck." A chuckled came from Natsu as he crossed his arms.

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

Lucy tilted over, smiling at the married couple. "Welcome back, guys."

Erza's team sat where they usually sat, with the added Juvia to the mix. Things with them were all patched up after the wedding, especially between Natsu and Gray. The two were able to stitch up their broken bond thanks to what Nic told them before, although to an extent. There have been subsequent fights between them every now and again, but really, it wasn't the same. They weren't physical anymore, but more like verbal arguments over plans and opinions. In fact, ever since the incident with Zeref and E.N.D, their fight tally was…zero.

It alarmed so many members that they didn't occasionally squabble like they used to, but things were never the same. Some said they scarred themselves in that last fight on the battlefield, and some say it was a miracle, but really, Nic could see through this, and he didn't pry. Fight wise though, Fairy Tail had held back so much broken furniture thanks to fights diminishing, although not entirely. Even if it wasn't Natsu and Gray in the center ring, it was still other pairs who start fights, like Gajeel or Elfman, or Natsu against a flustered Gajeel when embarrassed about cases of Levy. It was all still stable in the end, and that's what mattered, though the "sanity corner" hasn't had company for eons.

When Nic and Erza looked at them and greeted back, they could see how Gray wasn't so agitated. He hasn't been for a long time now, and Juvia's taken appreciation towards it. Natsu was the same to Lucy, although not much of the dynamic has made it so that he violated her room almost every morning go away. In fact, with those groups as close as glue, Gajeel and Levy were pretty much inseparable now, as inseparable as Nic and Erza were these days, much to Jet and Droy's dismay. Evergreen and Elfman have been seen about, although they're often seen bickering than talking. Plus add in Evergreen's duties along with the rest of the Thunder God Tribe and you get things turned on their heads.

"Why don't you go with them? I'll check with the Master." Nic told Erza.

"Okay, just don't take too long." Erza went and sat with her team, where she took her place next to Gray. The group started catching up, and Nic went on about towards the Master's office.

From the bar, a barrel was swaying up and down until it bobbed down at last, revealing Cana. She sighed heavily and noticed Nic passing. "Huh, hey, Nic buddy-boy! Ya miss me?" the brunette yelled.

Nic smiled as he passed her. "Nice to see you too, Cana."

Sitting not far away at a nearby table, two girls were sharing a large house salad with pineapple dressing. One girl turned her head to see Nic approaching. She smiled. "Well look who finally showed up." She teased.

"Hey, Sophie."

Sophie, now 19-years-old, and she looked more than just the part. Sophie's hairstyle had once again changed. She had two massive bangs running on either side and down each shoulder and hanging over each of her green eyes, which had eyeliner. A blonde bang hung over her forehead and down the bridge of her nose. She had on pink, sugary lipstick that made her look like her kisses could leave marks. Her attire now was also more loose. Her top was a pink dress with yellow edging, with an open hole in the center to expose the bellybutton. It showed much of her ample breasts to boot, which had also grown larger now thanks to her fitness. The sleeves were almost see through pink short sleeves with yellow lines going down the sides, same included the sides of the dress from the ribs down the waist. At a yellow belt it stopped, and down below was a tight black spandex that hugged everything above the knee, which was covered up mostly by a brown sarong with yellow edging. She adorned silver boots, had pink nails, and had forearm sleeves similar to her sleeves attached to her dress.

The other girl smiled. "Glad you made it back safe."

Nic grinned. "You didn't have to worry. It wasn't a big deal. We got the job done, that's what's important."

Vanessa Pularis, now 18-years-old, the age her brother was when he came into this world. Much like Sophie, she gets attention for her beauty. Vanessa's own assets had grown much more considerably, practically as big as anybody else's. Her attire was much simpler. Her hair was the same as ever; long, with the bright yellow bang over her right eye and over the ear and down the shoulder; Poke Ball earrings didn't change either. She now adorned a white shirt that exemplified much of her chest as well, and had a thin dark blue, short-sleeved jacket that stopped at her waist. She sported black armbands at her wrists, as her Key Stone was now tied to hold up a neon green belt on the other large hip where her Poke Balls were kept. She adorned brown pants that hugged her nice legs, and her black boots fit the whole ensemble.

"Are you going to see him now?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah, it shouldn't take long. You okay for dinner? I'm sure Erza and I can save a plate of you'd like."

Vanessa declined. "I just ate, but thanks."

Nic understood and continued on with his trek. He went to the door far to the wall where the bar was, far opposite to where the Job Request Board was on the other side of the guild for all to pluck flooding jobs. He got closer to where a long, wooden desk was beside the door, and there was the Thunder God Tribe.

Freed was writing papers, making sure every syllable was perfect. "Almost done…just a few more…and done! All set!" With that, he placed the piece of paper in a neat pile next to him. "I'm certain Laxus will be thrilled knowing all these apology papers have been fully edited and spellchecked." He beamed with pride.

"Heh-heh, well I wouldn't be thrilled if I had to write them to begin with." Bickslow chimed. "Hey, Ever, anything else knew?"

Evergreen walked back from not far. She had a few more papers in her hands and adjusted her glasses. "Got it all here. Don't worry, boys. They aren't more apology or collateral funds…this time thankfully." She said.

"Is that so? Let me see." Freed was handed the papers, where he spread them out before his eyes. "Let's see…reviews of mages sent…job requests…magazines…"

Bickslow turned away to get a notice of Nic standing before him. "Huh? Oh, hey Nic, what's up? Haven't seen you all day."

"Is he in at the moment?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, the big guy's in. But I gotta warn ya, he's been having a headache today." Bickslow warned.

Freed balled a fist, his body shuddering. "This burden of Master responsibility is too great for one person to stomach. I kept on telling him that, and yet he still pushes on so boldly to write and read all these files. What a brave soul he's become, but murdering his conscience in the process!"

Evergreen sweat-dropped. "I wouldn't go that far."

Nic reached for the knob, nodding at the three. "I'll be quick." He opened and entered the office.

Inside, sitting at a desk facing away from the window was a blonde-haired man, who looked about 29 or rather 30. He had spiky hair and a lightning bolt-shaped scar over one of his eyes. This was yet another change that even the Master that getting used to. "What a pain in the ass…" he groaned as he pressed his aching forehead against his folded fingers.

Laxus Dreyar, Fairy Tail's Ninth Master after Makarov's passing. Laxus finally got his wish and got the guild now, but things were still new for him. He wasn't like that punk who tried to overrun and kick out weak members. No, he was much better now, and better at consideration. But the weight of responsibility was making him sore in places he didn't know he had.

Nic entered the office. "Laxus?"

Laxus looked up as Nic stopped several meters before his desk. "Huh? Oh, Nic, it's just you."

"Is this a bad time?"

Laxus leaned back and crossed his arms with a groveling sigh. "Not really, though I gotta say thanks for taking care of that monster capture job. I didn't mean to press the job onto you like that. You know how things have been…"

Nic chuckled at Laxus' trailing off. "I get it. It's no trouble, really. That should be the last of them, right?"

Laxus shrugged. "This time around."

Nic put a hand to his chin, pondering. "But what's been bothering me is how all these monster-related jobs. We've been getting emergency requests for the past month, which has been around the time these monsters have been showing up and causing havoc."

"You think there's a pattern to all this?"

"A catalyst perhaps. Have there been reports on the past monsters from other guilds?"

Laxus put his forehead on his fingers once more. "…" After some careful thinking of the many reports Freed debriefed him about, he could only remember so much. It was making his headache turn his brain to putty. "I think so. I read up a report on how a lot of these findings have been foreign. I asked Freed if he could find their origins and found out just recently they originate from Bosco."

"If that's the case, why are they casting out their species? Is it to get more room for slave trade?"

Laxus shook his head. "Not since the war's end. Slavery's been stopped dead by the Council, they made sure Cruzer got that message through to them. But back to the matter at hand, I think we're all low-key with the monsters this time around. There should be a steady flow of those kinds of jobs now."

Nic nodded. "Alright then." He watched as Laxus sighed. "You feel alright? You look pale."

Laxus grieved in another sigh. "Yeah, well, this is what happens when you stay up late at night organizing all these letters and crap. Can't believe the geezer did this for a living."

"Well you have Freed and the others. They sure don't look bothered."

"Somebody summon me?!" In a rush, Freed scooted into the doorway with a salute to the Master. When he saw him groaning, he got an implied signal of wear. "My goodness, Laxus! You're looking awfully pale. Hang on, allow me to fetch you some cold water to refresh your system!" As quick as he came, he sped off, leaving Nic and Laxus back to square one.

The two looked back, completely silent for a moment.

"…good grief." Laxus groaned.

"He means well, if that counts for something." Nic persuaded.

Laxus smirked. "Yeah, guess you're right. Anyways, I'll ask somebody to look into the Bosco case, you just keep doing your thing for the guild, okay?"

Nic nodded. "I will. Take it easy." With that, Nic turned and left the office.

When the door finally shut, Laxus looked back down towards the few papers on his desk, the ones Freed and Bickslow gave to him just a few hours ago. For the umpteenth time, he sighed in grief. "Something tells me I'm gonna need more than a few good drinks of water today..."

* * *

"Hold up, so let me get this straight. You guys spent the whole day chasing down some big tusk monster, finally got it to a clearing, and then hammered away?" Natsu summarized what Erza had explained about their job request, and she nodded in confirmation while he irritably scratched his spiky pink hair. "Aw man! How come we get to miss out on all the fun?!"

Happy patted his back in comfort. "Better luck next time, buddy."

"Well it sounds like you two did a lot of heavy lifting for something that small." Gray teased with crossed arms. "And here I thought you'd be back in half the time."

"Gray, darling, be nice." Juvia pleaded.

Erza kept a straight face, seemingly unfazed by the remark. "Well our apologies. I didn't think our time alone could mean so little to you. Do you care to say Nic and I should've taken the train to make things more accommodative?" By the sound of her tone, she was challenging Gray's teasing. By the uneased look on his face, he got the message loud and clear.

Wendy sweat-dropped with a nervous laugh.

"But it sounds like the Pokémon helped a great deal in your quest." Carla prodded in.

Erza looked towards the white Exceed. "Yes, they've been most appreciative for us. The feeling's more than mutual. I'm not sure I'd be where I am if it weren't for their support. It really means a lot to me."

"Man Erza, now you're gonna start making _me_ jealous." Natsu said.

"Natsu? I didn't know you had a thing for Pokémon?" Lucy replied with wide eyes.

The Dragon Slayer beamed with his trademark smirk. "I don't. But I gotta say though, sometimes I got this feeling that if I get my own Pokémon, we'd be kicking butt to the Earthland's backside!"

"But the world is round." Happy pointed out.

"And if you ask me, all you'd be doing is reducing everything to ash." Carla sniped. "Really now, if you cleaned up your own messes, then maybe I'd believe you."

Natsu continue to beam. "Oh yeah? Gray?" He looked towards him, the Ice Mage turning away out of the conversation.

"Don't drag me into this."

"Ha! See?! That makes it two to one!" Natsu cheered.

"I seriously doubt that's how it works." Lucy chimed nervously. "But whatever."

Erza chuckled in amusement. In a way, she kind of found Natsu's determination refreshing. "I know what you mean. In a way, I guess you can say I felt like you did, when Nic and Vanessa were the only ones who had Pokémon."

The team looked towards her, falling silent as she looked at the reflection of her face in the teacup sitting in front of her.

"Before Honedge came around, I was oftentimes pegged with jealousy over the two. They had such admiration for their Pokémon that it made me only improve further." She looked up, a glimmer of passion in her eyes. "I think someday, if it's ever possible…maybe we all can learn from Pokémon. We've made it this far, haven't we?"

From the table not far from the group, Vanessa was picking up bits and pieces of Erza's little monologue. It brought a small smile to her face, much to Sophie's interests. The Memory-Make Mage chose to finish up her diet for the day rather than pry in her roommate's fantasies.

Nic came walking back towards the table, looking a little more relaxed than before. "Hey, guys." He greeted with a smile. "Sorry about that."

"Oh don't worry, it's not a big deal." Wendy dismissed happily.

"Yeah, take it easy man. Erza was just telling us about the job you two took." Gray said.

Nic closed his eyes, looking down with a raised brow. "I…guess we could've planned further ahead to save time. But excuses aren't really what anyone wants to hear."

"Speaks from the heart as ever." Lucy said.

Natsu sat back, crossing his arms. "Nah, cut the guy a break. Bet he just needs a few good rounds against more of those big guys and he'll be as tough as I am at it!" He laughed triumphantly.

Everyone around him sweat-dropped at his boasting. _'Seriously?'_

Nic raised a brow, chuckling meekly. "Well if you're adept to being a Trainer like me, you can't exactly capture beasts using a Poke Ball you know."

"It'd be interesting if you could though. That'd save a whole lot of trouble in the long run." Happy commented.

"Well you're not wrong there." Carla chimed. "Now that I think about it, wasn't that monster capture job we took two weeks ago take as long as Nic and Erza's?"

"About 2 days on my count. The thing really was slippery." Erza chided. "We should've been better prepared." She cursed to herself.

Natsu smirked. "Something tells me we got a lot of training to do. Feels like we've been taking it easy for a while now…" he shot up, balling a fist. "I say we kick back into the high gears and get some serious jobs and fights going again!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Happy jumped with him.

Gray chuckled. "Well that's one way to get out of a slump."

Juvia turned towards Gray. "Gray, darling, you care to go on a job with me tomorrow?"

Gray looked to her. "Can't really say no anyways, can I?"

Nic looked at Erza's team with his own smile returning. In his own way, he could feel how the others felt. It wasn't like he was slipping or anything, but he had to admit he's been lagging some. By normal standards, that job shouldn't have taken long. It wasn't that he and his Pokémon were weak, but the truth underlying Fairy Tail was that ever since the battle against Alvarez, there wasn't much of a motivation. But now that there have been much more demanding jobs for their statures, they had to stay in shape, and that meant facing tough opponents to keep themselves in check.

As Erza agreed with her team, she was suddenly yanked from her seat by Nic. He dragged her along without warning. "Nic?!" she shouted.

Nic looked back over his shoulder, a confident smile on his face. "So how about it? Wan to share the battlefield in the front yard or the backyard?"

Erza was caught surprised by Nic's abrupt offer, but she recovered as quickly as the implication sunk in. A smirk of her own anticipation fell on her lips as she followed beside him, exiting the guild hall and into Magnolia's streetlights turning on.

"…the front yard." She answered.

* * *

On PokeEarth, in one of the regions, there lied a land far, far beyond reach. The land of Sinnoh was a place that was near the northern hemisphere, hence its eternal winter up in the northern realm. The climate was equally as bad once people climb Mt. Coronet. Snow fell at terrifying rates, a land befitting Pokémon like Abomasnow and Snover that inhabit the landscape. With the habitat being nightfall even, it was hard to tell where one could be going. The most sensible thing would be to wait in the caves or dig one to wait until morning. But there was a silhouette that was walking through the snowy trail like it wasn't anything he couldn't tread on.

Fellow Snover hiding themselves in the snow were staying quiet as the figure dared to walk through the tall grass. Each crackling step made ears twitch and Chingling to silence. They could feel a strong and disciplined energy nearby.

As the figure in a long-sleeve coat kept marching on through the snow and tall grass, a Noctowl hooted as it descended in front of him. It cawed louder in warning, as if daring the figure to get further.

Obliging to the code of encountering wild Pokémon, the Trainer reached into his coat pocket, pulling out an Ultra Ball. The mechanism was tossed up into the air, where moments later, a popping sound with the energy flowing into the shape of a Pokémon appeared in the snow. It was hard to tell what the creature was through the howling snowstorm, but it looked bipedal with a large body, with a wispy head and shoulders.

As it stood in place, it gave off a searing seat signature, once that made the snow at its feet melt a little until the thick grass was visible.

The Noctowl craned its head in wonder at the Trainer, but it was ready. The Trainer casually reached out ahead, giving an unvoiced command to the wispy silhouette. It instantly jumped into the air, its shadow casting over the surprised Noctowl. The Owl Pokémon looked up to see the arm up high, generating fire in one of the canon-like arms. As it turned and grunted, the fire trailed in an arch, following the punch's flow in knocking Noctowl into the head. The impact sent it smashing into the snow, where frost billowed everywhere around the area.

Once the snow was blown away in the snowstorm, the Noctowl was lying on its face, and yet it was seen struggling to make a stand. A pair of feet planting in the snow caught its attention, getting it to look up as the huge figure from a very unflattering angle. The creature leaned down, opening its mouth excrete a voluminous blast of white smoke from its mouth. The smoke rushed towards Noctowl as it went wide-eyed. Unable to move, the Normal/Flying-type went flying from the smoke wave, pushing it back into the side of the snowy mountain. The Noctowl slowly slumped towards the ground on its bottom, eyes being spirals to signal its defeat.

The Trainer's figure looked at the Noctowl in defeat and looked back at the trail that lied ahead. His frown didn't seem to waver as he cursed at how fruitless the battle seemed to be. He reached out and returned his Pokémon before taking a moment to put the Ultra Ball back. Once settled, he marched on, like nothing happened, and only to run into manty more obstacles along the way until he reached his destination.

* * *

Farther away in the familiar Kalos region, the land was quiet, or at the very least it was in Lumiose City. The city was as lively as ever at night, even with a different crowd to accompany the streets than those who occupy the day.

For those who went to school, or those who have just graduated, they stay up late doing whatever they saw fit. Sometimes they did the more hysterical antics that get them arrested, and some stay idly at home with nothing but the company of silence. But within the top floor of one of Lumiose City's most exquisite apartments, a window was flickering with multiple colors, and the shouts of two voices were evident.

"Come on, Persian! Don't let me down now!" one of the voices inside the room yelled.

The room was an average sized one, if not a little more spacious than regular ones. The rooms gone fishing colored walls had pictures of two friends side by side, with one looking jumpier than the other. In another part of the room, there was a large-scale poster of Nic Pularis with a serious expression and in the attire before his marriage in a black background with a white shone at his feet. In fact, on the dresser were collectable items of Nic Pularis, standing with his six Pokémon all aligned perfectly and not out of place. The whole room had a few posters of either Nic or even his Pokémon, including the Mega Evolutions of Charizard and Garchomp.

"OH! How did that Play Rough miss?!" the same voice from before exclaimed. "That like 90% pain dealing there!"

The one screen showed the player's Persian staying stationary on a screen while the Primeape on the opposite end used Cross Chop, at least by what the screen said. The attack animation was made critical, and the HP gauge of Persian dropped from full to 0 in one blow. "OH COME ON MAN!" He cried out as he watched his Persian fall over and recall.

The screen went dark revealing two avatars apparent. The left side showed all the Poke Balls dark, while the other side still had 1. When it showed the winner and loser, the losing player sulked in despair.

"You know, you really do get worked up over this game." The person on the other end of the room said. "You sure this is going to help us, Joey? You know this ain't even close to the real deal."

The person now revealed as Joey raised a brow. He was an 18-year-old man who had a very…inetersting flow of design around him. He was a person who was above average height with blonde spiky hair partially slicked back, though one strand of hair was hanging over his right eye. He had blue eyes with a nice smile as many would put it. His ears dangled a large, golden hoof-like earring on each lobe, with the left lobe having gray piercings. He adorned a white short-sleeved dress shirt that was button up, with blue jeans and brown shoes. He looked towards his associate with slight disgust. "Dereece, are you implying that playing this does not help you begin to compute how battling works? Must you get a brain scan or something?"

Dereece, the winner of the battle, groaned at the tendencies of his pal. "Ugh. Well I guess you got a point. Still, don't you need _actual_ battle experience if we're really going through with this?"

Dereece, the same age as Joey, and the long-time best friend who had his back. He was a dark-skinned man of average height, although he was slightly hefty in terms of weight and a little fat in the arms and abdomen. He had brown eyes and a dark goatee and moustache combo to accompany his sideburns and facial hair. His head had a thin cut black towards it. He adorned a big white t-shirt, with black lounge pants and dark boots to match.

Joey waved him of dismissively as he turned off his handheld game console. "Oh don't be so _daring_ Dereece, even _I'm_ not _that_ insensible. Besides…" he got up from his gaming hair with a pounce. He started to stretch his arms out around him, getting the tendons loose. "How do you expect us to get out there, if we're just borrowing experienced Pokémon from someone else? It's not cool."

"I know." Dereece chimed. "But, uh, remind me again why we're doing this?"

As he stretched his back, Joey arched so far back that his head and eyes looked at Dereece. "Well why else?" He twisted his body and flew right out of his shoes, spiraling on top of his magenta sheets. He smiled wide at the ceiling. "What greater pleasure is there to go on a journey, knowing that you'll be following in the footsteps of someone who has stomped and triumphed over the world-no! The universe!" He put his hands to his mouth, his eyes shuddering as he thought of himself on a forest trail, and not far ahead was a figure with black hair. Already, he was getting weak in the knees, even though he was lying down. "If I wanna be as great as a Trainer as him, I have to do what he did! I have to step up, and maybe one day, he can look me in the eyes…" He began to feel hazy as he saw the figure turning around, his own blue eyes showing with a soft but quelled smile. Even his fantasy-self fell over into white. "AAAAHH! I CAN'T EVEN WAIT TOMORROW, I HAVE TO GET STRONGER RIGHT NOW!" He wailed.

A loud stomp came from outside the door, immediately freezing him in place. "Joey! You better not be playing that game this late! Go to bed!" a feminine voice shouted.

"Sorry, Mommy~." He chimed.

Dereece rolled his eyes with a groan. "Well, I get where this is going." He stood up and pushed his gaming chair out of the way. He reached for the closet beside him and pulled out a smooth comforter at eye level. He grunted as the rolled-up bulk was stretching out as he dragged it out. Once settled onto the ground like a sleeping back, he went around it and looked inside the closet, where a polyester blanket of an Arbok pattern on it was taken out.

"Gotta say, Joey. I'm proud of you taking a big step like this." He praised as he laid on his side. "Just don't let all this excitement get ahead of you and-you're not listening are you?"

True to what he said, Joey was looking up at the ceiling with a big smile on his face. He was beginning to lose himself in his fantasies once again. He was beginning to see himself in the future, where he had a whole dance floor to himself where he and Dereece were taking the big walk with potential Pokémon behind them. Within the cheering crowds and the hysterical fangirls calling out to Joey, the party was stopped cold by the door pushed open. People scooted out of the way as Joey looked ahead with a heroic stature as a horde of Sawk entered the dance floor with leather jackets. The Sawk all lined up as Joey spit off to the side and took a kung fu stance, urging them all to come at them. They all went at him, in which Joey dashingly unleashed a variety of kung fu attacks in a dance-like fashion, parrying punches and kicks, while Dereece stood off to the side with a confident and knowing nod of his head. As all the Sawk piled onto him, a few seconds spontaneously built anticipation to where all the Sawk were blown away by Joey popping out with a regal and awesome-looking attire like those of kings with crowns would wear. With the threat thrown out, many cheered again as the music turned to a beet again as Joey danced in hollow victory, with Dereece and the fellow Pokémon bowing before his awesomeness.

Joey muffled squeals as he was completely zoned out. Dereece groaned and laid on his side, getting shut eye for what tomorrow had in store.

* * *

Once again going back to the Sinnoh region, in Veilstone City, the sun had long since set, and yet one of the buildings still had occupancies in them.

In a dark room, the lights had recently been shut off and all the fellow employees went home for the night. In the head office, there were large-wide-frame windows that showed the starry night sky. The light from the sky entered the room onto a single desk in the middle, where a silhouette was continuing to write something on documents. He seemed so quiet, yet it was hard to tell what kind of emotion he was giving off given the light.

The door to the office opened, revealing a young woman around Levy's height, if not a little taller. Despite her height, she had surprisingly large hips. She had narrow blue eyes that were seen through black-framed glasses. Her black hair was brought back behind her head into a neat bud on top, with a thick black bang hanging off to the right side. She sported a blue blouse beneath a long-sleeved professional black suite top with a white collar. The long sleeves had huge white lines trailing all the way down to the white cuffs, where white gloves covered her hands. She had on a black work shirt that hugged her thighs quite well far above the knees, where as her socks stopped the same length below the knees, wearing black dress shoes with heels. She sported a nametag on her left side, spelling out "Marie" between two blue horizontal lines.

"Mr. President, are you ready to go?" she asked. "It's rather late, are you really intending to stay up this long again? You ended up falling asleep on your desk until the sun came up."

Getting a closer proximity, the president of the estate was seeming to have white kempt hair. His face was still covered by shadows, but his posture tightened. "Sorry Marie, is it really pass closing already?" he chuckled. "My, time sure slipped from me again, didn't it?"

Marie sighed at her associate's obliviousness. She's had to remind him constantly, and at this point there was no stopping him. "You should really be more responsible for your own schedule, sir. What if something bad happened to you? No one of us would be able to come to you in time. We worry about you, you know."

The figure smiled. "I know." He moved one of his left fingers on some control panel to the armrest. The entire chair began to move backwards in remote control. It scooted back to where it was far out, and then the whole thing turned and maneuvered around the desk. The chair closed in on the assistant, who stepped forward.

The man in the chair was now closer in view, though the shadows faintly dimmed some to reveal his light fair skin. The man was tall with a courteous smile. He had white eyebrows and short white hair, white as snow even. The hair was kempt and slicked back, save for the thick white bangs that nearly covered his left eye. Be sported a clean white dress shirt and gold tie beneath a black tux and work pants combo, with the tux itself having gold lining on the arms and shoulders. Engraved into the golden layers were deeper golden carvings that flowed into the other like water. The brown dress shoes laid comfortably on the rests that were his electrical wheelchair. On the right middle finger was a black ring, and on the left was a white ring. "I shouldn't have kept you waiting, Marie. I'm ready to go now." He nodded.

"Yes, sir." Marie walked towards and stepped around the electric wheelchair. She latched onto the handles and assisted in pushing him out of his office. She didn't mind pushing him; in fact, she felt privileged. Not a lot of people get to be allowed to push the president of such a growing enterprise, but the two had a history, so that counted for something.

"I have to say though, the stars are twinkling quite brightly tonight." The president chimed. "Just what are the heavens doing you think?"

"Probably that you actually chose to cave in and give it a rest." Marie deadpanned.

The president chuckled. "You really think so?"

With the amusement in the air cut off with the door closing, the two went down the hallway, heading off back home.

* * *

A shockwave of pure energy bolted in all directions throughout the rift. The attack was so powerful that even with the Unown far out, the chaotic energy ripped out ahead and blasted them into unknown regions of the domain.

As the shockwaves diminished, Dialga was seen sliding back, as was Palkia. Both Legendary Pokémon were surrounded in their auras as they glared daggers at the perpetrator of their now-distant dispute. Their attention was far away from the other, diverted towards the black creature that was still hardly moving from its place.

"( **Grrrrroooaaaah!** )" The malevolent feeling grew as the black creature bellowed out. The shrieking of his voice sounded like he was in pain, but one could've mistaken it also for rage.

Dialga glared ahead, his uneasiness rising. "( **We'll ask again. Who are you?!** )"

The creature unleashed another pained groan out to the void. It brought its massive bizarre arms in front and reached out, generating shimmering energy that materialized into gems. It swiped its arms again, sending all the gems in bright, streaming comets at Dialga. The Temporal Pokémon opened his mouth and generated a filament energy around his mouth again. Swirling light empowered into a sphere that was unleashed in Flash Cannon. The attacks met rather close to Dialga, bellowing massive smoke waves everywhere. Dialga emerged from the dissipating smoke, seemingly unfazed by the whole ordeal.

The black creature released another groan, ready to strike yet again.

"( **Can he even understand what I'm saying?** )" Dialga questioned. Within his shock, Palkia blitzed in his way skyward.

The Spatial Pokémon diverted the creature's attention. It looked up as Palkia ascertained enough height and dragged and Aura Sphere with him. Once at a peak, he threw the Aura Sphere down at the intruder. The angle it shot down was a sure hit, but as it drew closer, the black creature, stood in front of the fractured wormhole. It nonchalantly brought one of his claws around and slashed in an arch back in its direction, making a shimmering purple trail, via Night Slash. The two attacks met in the beast's face, generating another powerful explosion that expelled smoke and energy everywhere.

Palkia descended next to Dialga, staring coldly ahead. Both Pokémon awaited for the smoke to clear, seeing that the black creature was still not moving from his spot. It reached out again, creating glimmering lights before its path. Realizing it was that same attack as before, both Dialga and Palkia ascended above to avoid the comets of gems shooting like meteors. They blitzed off into the distance, exploding like bright fireworks while the two descended back into place once again.

For the umpteenth time, the black alien scowled loudly.

"( **What is this guy? Is he even a Pokémon?** )" Dialga questioned.

"( **Hard to tell, but he's not human either.** )" Palkia rebuffed. "( **If it isn't human, and if it isn't Pokémon…then what could it be?** )"

"( **I'm not sure at all…** )" Dialga's glare hardened as he looked at the dimensions the creature had. In some parts, it looked like it sustained some damage throughout their fight. It was dragging on for the longest time now, but for some reason, something felt wrong.

Palkia then leaned forward, his senses going crazy as he glared ahead with uncertainty. What he said next triggered something. "( **Can it…even feel pain?** )"

The figure's glare went up towards them, showing bare disgust. "( **Pain…** )"

The two legendary creatures looked surprised.

"( **I've always felt pain…without light…always…always…!** )" Its body began to shudder incredulously in sheer tension. The convulsing energy it was giving off was refracting off its body like light. The light shimmering from the wormhole was glistening against its back and prism-like body. It was growling low as the energy was starting to glisten like flashing cameras for every particle of light it was giving off. This alarmed the two beasts greatly out of fear.

"( **What is he doing now?** )" Dialga questioned.

"( **No…not enough light…** )"

"( **There's no time! Let's hurry and force him back into the wormhole!** )" Palkia's pearls began to glisten once more as he reeled his forearm back. Slowly, pink particles began to surge into it.

Dialga opened his mouth. "( **Agreed!** )" The diamond on his chest began to glow bright blue. The same kind of temporl energy began to surge into his backside's membrane once more. It began to surge and expand with a bright blue energy.

Seeing the bright force the two were giving off, the creature's eyes were reflecting their images. "( **No…not enough light…no light…** )"

Spatial pink energy followed Palkia's arm, as Dialga's maw opened wide with surging dark blue energy roaring into a massive energy.

"( **This light…** )" the monster's head lifted, revealing hos eyes and forehead now shining rainbow colors. Everything for a moment pulsed with a heartbeat.

Roar of Time was unleashed at the same time Spatial Rend was. The two powerful and deadly attacks went blitzing and ripping through the airspace at an alarming rate towards the monster.

"( **IS NOT YOURS~!** )"

The creature let out a mighty, bloodcurdling roar that shook everything within the entire area. The atmosphere of the void was deprived of all light, turning pitch-black for a singular instant that the two combined attacks met the exploding light the creature was giving off. It was like an interstellar star erupted. A bright ripple of the combined energies expelled outwards all throughout the Space-Time Rift at lightspeed. The energy waves inside the shockwave had distorted frequencies to it. For some reason, bright specks went everywhere, shooting like a meteor shower in rays of thousands everywhere.

* * *

Winds were as hollow as a ghoul. The energy that was emancipating was extreme to unparalleled dimensions on end. The highest of all points in the Sinnoh region, and it was here, at long last, the place abandoned had finally someone visit. This was Spear Pillar, the domain where Nic's ancestor defeated Giratina so long in the dawn of man.

Several pillars were left untouched, and many more were still standing. Far up ahead, within the confines of the free space where there was battle, there was a howling wind. A pair of feet stepped up from the cavernous entrance to the point of little to no oxygen. The energy immediately tickled his spine, but the man kept going on. Now that he was out of the snowstorm, there was a better view of him than before.

He was a man of light fair skin with a serious narrow vision with dark eyes. He had a black goatee and deep sideburns that ran from his black hair that was kept underneath a bulbous with hat with a black cap to it. He had a gray t-shirt tucked into a yellow belt that held up his blue jeans. He also sported some shoes of his own, being white and black, like casuals. He also sported a long, dark brown long-sleeved coat with a foamy white bottom, like waves that went up and down. As bizarre as it also was, he also seemed to carry something in his right hand, and it looked like either a bamboo or some type of wooden kendo stick.

Walking up the small flight of stairs, he glared ahead with a deep frown as he made way closer towards the clearing. He cared not for the way his spine tingled and passed glances from every pillar he came across. Each of them seemed to have emitted a powerful force that was catching his attention bit by bit. He's reached his destination.

Once he made it to the clearing, he stayed still as the winds blew violently, shifting his clothing in the process. The wind was surprisingly far more brutal than before, managing to get through his jeans even. His eyes were hidden under the cap's shadow, but they showed a slight uneasiness.

For some reasons, winds began to distort all over. A distorted vacuum expelling strong winds erupted, causing him to grunt and cover using his arm. He thought he could've held himself together, but the shockwaves from the distortion in front of him were surprisingly strong. Too strong.

Slowly, the distorted wave before him began to shine bright, like some small star. For a moment, his guard was down. "Hm? What the-?!" Just then, the light brightened.

It was a massive point-blank star that expanded at an alarming velocity. The whole top of Spear Pillar was a hemisphere of distorted light that could've been seen all over the Sinnoh region. Distortion waves went all across the skies, rippling and pulsating at speeds that made them lightspeed. Ripple upon ripple expelled everywhere, traveling over stormy skies and making clear skies vibrate waves. Those still awake were looking up to see odd distorted shockwaves flow up their heads, and some looked alarmed. Others were asleep, and even some Pokémon didn't notice. Those engaged in battle were also postponed from looking at the energy waves in the sky.

"What's that?"

"I don't know."

The phenomenon made many monitors in some labs spontaneously go off. Energy levels miraculously spiked to the red zone. Professor Rowan looked at his monitor with wide eyes and an astonished expression. "Hm? What is this…?"

In Veilstone City, the clear sky was rippling unknowingly to Marie as she pushed her boss in his wheelchair down the street. She seemed calm while the head honcho himself suddenly frowned. He looked up, seeing the distressing scene.

Marie tilted her head down. "Is there something wrong?" She turned her attention up towards the sky, where she gasped in wonder about the distorted waves passing through the area. "What is that?"

"I don't know…you think something happened?" he questioned.

"I'm not sure. From the looks of it, it looks like its radius is expansive." She sounded so worried. "Mr. President, we really need to get you get right away!" She hurried her pace down the street, moving at an alarming rate for someone who was in a wheelchair.

The pace startled the boss himself. "You're gonna wear out the circuits if you go at _that_ speed, Marie!" he scolded. "Huh?" He heard something off that rung in his ears. He looked back up towards the sky.

"What now?" Marie looked back up to see what was happening. A small but sharp light flowed through the sky, and it didn't look like it was alone. In fact, it looked like thousands of them were flowing with the currents of the shockwaves.

"Are those…meteors?"

"A meteor shower? I didn't think this was in the news." The president narrowed his eyes again in wonder. "Something's wrong…"

As they were stopped cold by their wits and confusions, one of the meteors in the meteor shower flying over their heads was arching downwards. The shooting spear of light was distorted and zoomed in at a miraculous level towards their backs. Both of them looked back as something sounded like it was flying towards their backs. When Marie and her boss turned around, they gasped before everything went white.

* * *

The meteor shower was spreading with the shockwaves all over the world. Not only were some raining down into the land and sea, but some were even starting to vanish in thin air, as if they were fading or vanishing. However, the problem didn't just carry over the planet, something sporadic went wrong elsewhere.

Over Earthland, the sky was rippling the same energy. It was flowing all across the skies, stormy and good. It flowed vibrantly with several shockwaves hardly visible to the eye. If people were awake, they would've felt a few thumps every now and again.

Every so often, a meteor of distorted light would shine down, sending something crashing into the Earthland landscape. The meteors were flowing like rain, droppings so many everywhere and hitting random places.

The shockwaves and meteors shot even over Nic and Erza's house. As the sky had a few whistles towards them, Nic began to stir in Bed. As he woke up facing Erza on his left wide, upper body bare, his body was beginning to feel tingly. He couldn't explain it, but something was getting on his nerves. _'What's going on?'_ He looked away from his sleeping wide as he looked at the thin curtains shielding them from the outside world. He slowly lifted his head, staring at bleak images that made him narrow in bloody suspicion. _'This energy…'_

* * *

Within the bright, radiant light that bolted massive energy waves throughout the rift, Dialga and Palkia gave out loud, shrilled cries as they tried to hold out to their own momentum, but even they were starting to get pushed back.

The shockwaves of bright light had eventually subsided, easing slowly with every minute that passed within the zone. The flow eventually faded to nothing, allowing Dialga and Palkia to look ahead at what happened. To their utter disbelief, both the black creature and the wormhole it came from were both gone.

"( **What just happened…?** )" Dialga questioned.

"( **He's…gone. Did he use the explosion to get away?** )" Palkia replied.

Both legends looked around to see if there were any visible signs to the creature's disappearance but there was nothing left. It was like it vanished or never existed at all.

They looked at each other, bewildered with what just happened before facing the empty rift once again. "( **I feel something went wrong, do you?** )" Dialga inquired.

Palkia nodded. "( **In more ways than one…** )"

They both floated in the rift, their minds and bodies alike completely wayward of what really happened with that monster.

* * *

The trees to the forest were shimmering with condensed dew as early morning was beginning to settle into the land. The sun arose as brightly as ever on the new morning of Earthland, and for what it perceived it be a casual morning.

As Nic and his six Pokémon were busy doing pushups with massive piles plate-like boulders on their backs, they were breaking great deals of sweat to build up their stamina and concentration. Nic's eyes were focused on the ground as he was bare-chested for the morning training. It wasn't just the diamond pushups they were doing that made it a lot harder, but for Nic, he was really having trouble concentrating after last night's little disturbance. He shook his head beneath the head and glared at the ground, returning to training hard and pushing the thoughts away for now.

Meanwhile, in the front yard battlefield, two pairs of swords crossed in front of Erza in her Rabbit Armor, blocking a searing blast of fire from her Slurpuff. The Fairy-type was unleashing Flamethrower continuously, but Erza continued to slash into it, trying to force her way through. When she closed in, Slurpuff ceased the attack and jumped, dodging Erza's crossed attack. As Slurpuff hovered over Erza, the Fairy-type showed a sloppy smile, while Erza flashed her own grin as she requipped in her Lightning Empress Armor. She twirled the spear surrounded by lightning skywards. "HRAH!"

In the forest just outside Natsu's home, a pair of bare hands grabbed a tree branch and pulled Natsu's chin right over it. "1…2…3…4…5…6…"

As he counted away at his pullups, Happy cheered on the ground. "You can do it, Natsu! Keep pulling up!"

"11…12…13…14…15…"

"I bet you're feeling the burn buddy! We're gonna work ourselves up one heck of an appetite this morning!"

"19…yeah…no doubt about that…" Natsu answered between each pullup he did. "I can feel…the burn alright…but still…not good enough! Gotta make sure…I don't slag behind…23…24…2-…" He stopped when he rest his chin on the branch again, his eyes wide in curiosity.

"Huh? You okay, pal?" Happy inquired.

"Aw man, I lost the count!" Natsu let go of the branch, dropping to the ground on both feet. He hoisted himself up and brushed his shoulder off. "Aw well, guess I better see about running these damn numbers off! Happy!"

Happy shot into the air with his Aera Magic. "Aye, sir!" The Exceed was seen next with three ropes in hand. He flew around Natsu's waist and tied them up really good to make sure they were fastened. Once complete, Happy backed away and watched Natsu take a running start.

"Okay then, time to get fired up!" He yelled loudly out towards the forest trail that he paved for himself a few months ago. He dashed on with a powerful shout of fortitude. All the hopes carrying four hefty tires were being dragged in the dirt with such vivid force. Natsu went on like they weren't even there.

"Hey, wait up!" Happy chimed, following him.

Natsu kept his run on throughout the morning. As the sun began to rise higher than before, the Dragon Slayer went deeper into the woods with fists higher and sweat pooling down his face. Kilometers passed as he zoomed on. _'I ain't sitting down today, no sir! Today I'm getting my butt in shape again! I can feel it, even from here! Nic and Erza are training extra hard to pick up on their skills today.'_ He leaned forward. "Well I an't falling behind! I gotta get even stronger!"

His cries of determination shrilled through the trail, making a dirt trail follow in his wake. Not far behind, Happy was following, though he seemed worries Natsu might tire himself out too quickly.

The rambunctious human being hurried through the woods and worked up his sweat further. He was bolting as fast as possible, but upon reaching a certain point, something was off.

"You're doing great pal, keep it up!" Happy shouted.

Natsu's nose wrinkled at some weird smell. His senses turned off as he began to slow down. He slowly turned his head and looked left and right but found nothing. That still didn't mean something was close by. His stop soon came to a close, allowing Happy to catch up.

"Huh? Hey, why'd you stop?" he questioned. "You were doing so great."

"I smell something." He said in a curious tone.

Happy tilted his head in confusion. "You smell what?"

Natsu got a whiff of something in the atmosphere. Something weird was around, but he knew it wasn't anything he was familiar with. Once he locked on, he turned his head sharply towards the underbrush on his right. "This way!" Without thinking, he jumped into the underbrush.

"Hey! Natsu!" Happy dove in after him.

Natsu landed on his feet, making a beeline straight for the source within the mid-March forest. It was still winter, so the air was still rather cold, and trees were in bloom. He passed bark after bark, getting closer towards the smell. "It's gotta be around here…I know it…" He zipped over a large tree branch that had since fallen off years ago. He continued along until he made it to a deciduous bush with buds in it. He stopped cold before it.

"Natsu!" Happy called from behind. "You had me wo-!"

"Shh!" He hushed Happy suddenly. His faced showed sheer seriousness. "Keep your voice down, Happy."

Happy was a little shocked by the abrupt hush, but he got the feeling why. He looked ahead at the area where Natsu was creeping up to. He could see how Natsu was being very careful in how he approached what was ahead.

Once knelt to the bushes, Natsu stayed quiet as Happy floated next to him. The two looked at each other to see the anxiety they carried. Nodding in confirmation, they steeled themselves and Natsu had the honors.

He moved the underbrush slowly, allowing his head to peak out. Once it was out of the way, his eyes widened in curious shock. Happy poked his head above the underbrush, his ears stiffening as he saw something that surprised him as well.

"…what is that?" Natsu muttered. The object he was looking at was very weird, but what freaked him out further was something that would panic anyone: The creature's tail tip had a small flame on its tail.

* * *

"Hey guys, did you hear about that meteor shower that happened last night?" Jet asked. He was talking with the rest of the guild about the events transpiring last night while they were asleep.

"Yeah, I heard that there were thousands of them, and it lasted for some time, too." Vijeeter said.

"Well I didn't hear anything about it." Macao commented. "Heck, I'm pretty sure I was asleep the entire time."

"Man, what a bummer." Romeo groaned, rubbing his head in shame. "Would've been nice to see that."

"I don't know. I heard people say they've been seeing it periodically over last night up to this morning." Wakaba said. He turned towards Cana. "Hey Cana, you know anything about this?"

The brunette shrugged with a sober grin. "Don't look at me, I was too drunk to care."

"Surprised you're not in a hangover." Macao and Wakaba voiced in unison.

The guild was up and at it as always. Mirajane was at the bar, cleaning glass with her sister. For the most part, the spectacle left many of mages unfazed. They were still wondering what was going on, but that didn't stop them from making the best of their day still.

Gajeel yawned loudly, having awoken only recently. He rested his head on his elbow. "Man, does everybody have to get so worked up over something they didn't see?" He cared to his own delights as he chomped on scraped iron he's been saving from a job he got back from recently.

"I take it that your own chomping doesn't grate ears either then?" Pantherlily rebuffed.

Levy had her glasses on as she scrolled through a small book calendar. "It sounded like a spectacle. Still, I wish I had seen it. It would've been nice, wouldn't you think?" She looked towards Gajeel for his own opinion. The Iron Dragon Slayer folded his arms and half-grinned at his little lady.

"Guess so…"

"Sophie, did you wake early enough to see one?" Vanessa asked the other blonde.

The Memory-Make Mage smirked with eyes closed. "I'm not _that_ much of an early bird." She looked in another direction. "I'm sure Nic might have something."

Speaking of Nic, the man was looking down at the table he slumped in. He had one leg folded over the other as he sat idly in place, thinking. Beside him was Erza, and the look of worry she had was alarming.

"Nic, is there something wrong?" she asked.

Nic jerked his head up, finally realizing his wife was talking to him. "Sorry…I was a little disoriented. What was the question?"

Erza turned fully to face him, deeply frowning. "You've been acting spacious all morning. Is something the matter?"

Nic wasn't going to keep secrets from his wife. Lies don't make relationships bare fruit. He looked back down at the table, continuing to look worried. "There was something I felt off about last night. I could tell it was something abnormal; my body tingled because of it."

Erza blinked and tilted her head. "Was it a nightmare perhaps."

Nic shook his head. "No, it's like…I can feel something all torn." His eyes narrowed. "I could be wrong…but I think something _very_ disturbing just happened."

Erza looked at her husband with awe and winder. It wasn't like Nic to look so worked up. Normally, he'd cast a calm composition and face problems with the experience he's gained, but when Nic got like this, she knew something big was going on. And in most cases, it was never good news.

He turned towards her, grinning in comfort. "Don't worry. We'll manage, right?"

Erza nodded with her own sincere smile. "Yes." She placed her hand on one of Nic's crossed hands. "We both will."

Gray looked around, once again without a shirt. "Huh? Hey, has anyone seen Natsu? He's late."

"Good question." Lucy looked around the guild hall, hoping to find Natsu present. "Doesn't look like he's here."

"Not even at your apartment, Lucy?" Wendy asked.

As disturbing as the thought was, Lucy was actually surprised the thought didn't happen. "No…"

"Perhaps they overslept, or maybe the boys got all worked up in fishing up some big catch they can't leg go." Carla figured.

"That's a possibility." Wendy pointed out.

Juvia put her hand to her chin. "How very mysterious. You think one of us should go look for him just in case?"

Gray cast a glance aside. "Well if he doesn't show up soon, we oughta."

A pair of feet went running down the street, huffing as it moved closer towards the guild hall.

"First the unexpected meteor shower, and Natsu running late?" Erza looked down at the table. "This must be either a really bad coincidence, or that gut feeling you've been having, Nic."

"We'll just have to see." He voiced.

The guild doors busted open, revealing a certain someone with a big smile on his face. "Hey guys! Guess who's here?!" he shouted loudly with arms up.

"Huh? Hey, there he is. About time you…huh?" Gray was about to go on, but he fell short when he saw something off.

The guild turned towards him, seeing and greeting him as usual. However, some were caught slightly surprised by something else, and it wasn't something Natsu had on his face, or anything on him. Rather, it was something on his person.

Gajeel looked up from his snack. "Huh? Hey, Salamander, the heck you got there?"

Natsu smiled wide. "Oh this? Just a little something I found. And guess what, it has fire!" He lifted his arms higher, showing the creature's flame-lit tail.

Sophie looked up, as did Vanessa. The latter's eyes widened as she got a good look at what Natsu held, it almost made her heart skip a beat. As for Nic, when he looked at Natsu, his own eyes shot wide in horror and disbelief. Both Pularis siblings were completely stuck cold in place as their lips were parted, while everyone else looked at Natsu dumbly.

"Natsu…?"

"Is that…?"

Vanessa and Nic had no words to say. Even though Erza had limited knowledge on Pokémon, even after vast experience, she had a feeling of where this was going. Seeing the shock on Nic's face, she knew what this meant. She looked at Natsu's object with shock equal to everyone. "Don't tell me…"

Natsu showed everyone his friend that he made. The creature looked like a bipedal orange lizard with a yellowish-creamy underside and belly. It had big blue eyes and a mild but playful smile on his face. "Hi!" he chimed.

Natsu's smile was equally as bright. "Ain't it cool?"

Fairy Tail was stumped, but Nic, Vanessa, and Erza were staring ahead like they've seen a ghost. While they realized what happened, everyone else had no idea of what changes were going to come starting that very morning.

* * *

 **My peoples of FanFiction – and whatever else floats your boats I guess – I welcome you to the first chapter that has blown every ounce of shock out of your noggins! Didn't expect any of that to happen, right? I know many were probably looking forward to seeing Nic and Erza far later on in the future with their kids, but I chose this course instead. It's much more interesting, plus a good bridge to what I can say be a massive point where Nic would really have to step up his game for the worlds alike. And now it looks like Nic, Erza, and Vanessa won't be the only ones who'll be having Pokémon now!**

 **With these new OCs, I have been dying to get them out there! It may feel weird at first, but I am hoping for the best for these OCs and how I project them. For the record, I'll be posting their art on Deviantart later down the road, but if you want references so far, the blonde one looks like Kazumi Ida from Magical Warfare, and the guy on Mt. Coronet looks like Trafalgar Law from One Piece if you wanna look at it that way, save for minor tweaks I've made.**

 **So now that** _ **The Contender's Ascent**_ **has finally taken off, I'll be sure I didn't do what I did with the sequel and power through. This time, I have to critically think with all this original stuff, and that means long chapters to write. Plus, I am working simultaneously on** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **, my new Bakugan story, and each are long due to my writing style. Do hope you understand if they take time.**

 **But as of now, I hope for the best, and for those who liked the first chapter and are willing to see Nic and Erza to the end, throw in your favs, follows, and reviews of how you thought this first chapter went! Until then, thanks for welcoming me back! :)**


	2. The Crossing

It was a new day in Lumiose City, and many folks were up and about. Some have been completely clueless of last night, while upon many others were starting to get a little unnerved with this sudden meteor shower, others – or in this case those who were oblivious - were more intent on moving forward.

In front of Professor Sycamore's lab, the entrance was as clear as day, and walking towards it were two boys who stood beside the other, looking up at the building after advancing. The blonde's head arched up towards the top, eying it in sheer amazement.

"Wow…so _this_ is the lab. Fascinating." Joey marveled.

Dereece looked at him with inquisition. "We've passed this place like a hundred times already, and _now_ you're saying it's some 'marvelous treasure'?"

"Eh, EH! _Not_ so, Dereece." Joey swerved to exaggerate his arms out in front of him. "This…is our MILESTONE! Think about it!" He turned and began to walk towards the entrance, with Dereece quietly in tow. "When we walk through these doors, we are not a dashing dancing and fashion king with a wholesome sense of humility, and his sidekick prancing through. No. We are two _Trainers_ that are passing through!"

Dereece sighed again. "You sure this is okay? I mean we just graduated from school and all, but maybe, I don't know, perhaps we can…weigh our options here? I mean your mom didn't seem all that ecstatic either. You can always do something else."

Joey sat an elbow on his shoulder and smirked. "Dereece, have I ever doubted you?"

"Yes." He deadpanned.

"Good, then let's go!" He pulled Dereece along quite alarmingly, dragging him into the lab's lobby doorway. The two carried along towards the receptionist who was writing up some reports and taking up phone calls. They stood in front, where after a second of waiting, she looked up with wide eyes.

"Can I help you?"

Dereece cleared his throat before speaking. "Uh, yeah. Sorry if this came at a bad time, but my friend here and I would like to see if we can have qualifications to a Trainer license…if it's no trouble of course." He said.

The assistant blinked and nodded. "Mhm, okay. I'll let Professor Sycamore know he has two Trainers here." She went for the phone and pressed a key. The call went through, and on the other end, Professor Sycamore's call was muffled. "Hello, Professor…"

Joey looked towards Dereece with high hopes, while the latter had a more inquired look to the dilemma at hand.

"Yes…yes, we have two Trainers here that are here today…" she reached for a file holder on one side of her and went for the organized portfolios. Her nails stalked through the dates until the right folder, was plucked out, where it was placed on the counter and opened. Inside were Joey and Dereece's information and photographs installed. She continued. "…it's Joey Haycliff and Dereece Iwoda…yes…their appointments were checked out as positive…okay then."

She hung up the phone, and Joey and Dereece looked towards her as she clasped her hands together. "Well, you boys are in luck. The official Kalos Starter Pokémon have been verified and are ready for possible vacancies."

Joey pumped a fist, laughing in joy. "Yes!"

"However…" Joey froze in place and opened his eyes. He turned slowly to look at the frowning assistant. "I should warn you that we are currently under investigation. For some reason when the Professor was overviewing his Kanto Starter Pokémon, something happened last night, so if you see the police, do stay out of their way."

The boys looked at each other again with surprise showing this time. They didn't usually see police around the Professor's Lab, not even on certain holidays. The only exceptions were of the cases of interviews by reporters. When they thought about it, now they understood why a few police cars parked on the other side of the street felt so out of place.

Joey put his hand to his chin. "Huh, you know…you'd think they'd give a little better warning the next time instead of working on parkjobs."

"That's your worry?" Dereece questioned.

"You both can enter the elevator. Be sure to head to the third floor now."

"Gotcha! Thanks a ton!" Joey jumped right for the elevator, practically diving in and landing on all fours. Dereece walked in casually behind, getting to the elevator button while Joey looked like he was about to explode from excitement.

Once the doors shut, the whole thing went upwards. It slowly escalated, allowing Joey to turn towards Dereece.

"Oh! Oh! Dereece…" He crouched down and smiled wide, snapping his fingers into a point at him. "Get it out!"

Dereece rolled his eyes and groaned yet again. He reached for his black shoulder bag that had his essentials in it. In a compartment, surprisingly, was a small ovular shaped device that looked like a mini boombox. Once it was fastened in Dereece's grip, he began to press some knobs, getting the bass up.

Up on the high floor, there was Professor Sycamore, looking around as the few police in his domain were currently inspecting any suspicious activity. There were many who were looking into boxes, but all they saw were research documents and filed and typed documents that took him days to write out. "Good grief." He sighed. "Well this sure is a way to spend a morning…"

Slowly, the people upstairs were beginning to hear something from the elevator shaft. They started to hear a vibration of sorts, but the vibration wasn't so loud as to create an earthquake. No, this sounded a lot like a base to rhythm, more specifically, music.

"I like to move it, move it! I like to…move it!" The song was muffled, but those were some of the lyrics at least. As the elevator reached the level, Professor Sycamore raised a brow.

"Hello…?"

The doors slid open, revealing Dereece with an ultra-bass boombox in hand. The speakers were thudding loud with a bass to the song as he casually stepped out with a grand grin. Everyone looked at him with utter confusion.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he yelled through the sound. "May I present to you - your king of fashion and dancing alike – Joey~ Haycliff!"

As he stepped out of the way, Joey's head was down as he stood inside the elevator. As the music reached an escalated tone, he raised his head an angle, giving a glare as his shoulders bobbed up and down. He was fully centerfield, and as his shoulders swung more, so did his body as he started to turn to the side and shift the heels in and out as he Krabby Shuffled out the elevator, just in time for it to close. Once out, he robotically rotated in front and smiled wide as he shifted side to side enthusiastically, kicking his legs up. They didn't get him anywhere as he was gathering momentum instead, shuffling his heels back and forth, rocking them continuously.

One guard was bobbing his head back and forth, getting in tune with the boy's sick dancing skills. The others, not so much.

His arms rocked back and forth, side to side as he advanced using his heels shifting. His thighs opened and closed with every pivot. His body rocked and grooved side to side as he swung the arms back and forth in rocking fashion, constantly swaying himself about slowly, but with energy and enthusiasm. In one go, he looked up and pointed at the ceiling as he leaned back. His heels took a barrage of semi-bounces forward two feet until he leaned forward and looked down, now marching his feet slowly with arms in a sideways pendulum motion. He slowly made a closer go to Sycamore, continuing to motion until he started standing up and marched with forearm rolls; 5 seconds for each side with intervals of clapping.

Professor Sycamore was at a loss for words at the flashy entrance, and that's saying something out of the ordinary to boot. He's seen Trainers dressed for the flashiness, but even though he was wearing a white short-sleeve buttoned dress shirt and skinny blue jeans, Joey was way more flashy and original. Certainly, the first impressions were points best exploited by this man.

At long last, with one more forearm roll, Joey clapped, pointing at Professor Sycamore from a leaned angle. The music ended, and Dereece smiled as well. They looked at Sycamore for the approval, and suffice to say he looked like he was about to chuckle up a storm.

"Well, tres bien! Marvelous!" he clapped for Joey.

Joey bowed. "Thank you." He chimed. "I could not have shaken my moneymaker, if not for…" he pointed spontaneously at Dereece. "Dereece with his ultra-bass insanity, people!"

"Hey." He meekly waved.

"So anyways, I humble you with my awesomeness, Professor Sycamore." Joey beamed with exceptional pride.

The professor chuckled a little before he turned away. "Well, aren't you two an interesting bunch, aren't you? What do you say we roll this red carpet along then, shall we? If you would follow me."

The professor led them away from the scene and went on over towards the other end of the studio floor. Pass the wall they turned, entering the office-like portion in front of his desk, where behind was a bookshelf and the early morning light beaming through the open window. Standing on the huge red rug and turning back to face Joey and Dereece, Professor Sycamore welcomed the two formerly.

"Welcome to you both. My name is Augustine Sycamore, and this is my lab. Where you are now, this is the spot where most journeys begin. It's here that new Pokémon Trainers meet with their partners and yearn for their first bonding experience. And today, you'll be making that journey come true here."

Joey's balled hands shook, he looked like he was going to burst with excitement. Dereece stood beside him, arms crossed with a nodding stature.

"This path is for you both to take with your Pokémon. Since you both went through the verification, you'll be happy to know you'll be getting your Pokémon as soon as possible. I hope you're both ready, because in the end, this journey may very well change you. Are you both ready?"

As Joey was about to answer, Dereece pulled him in. "Uh, Joey, I'll ask again, are you sure about this?"

Joey gave his dark-skinned best friend as modest look. "Please, Dereece, we didn't play all those Pokémon games for nothing you know. We pretty much know the basics of battles: You throw out your choice, you fight, and you win…with style!" He posed with a raised fist in vigilance.

"I'm sure the video games were just for your imagination."

"Maybe so, Dereece, but what is it that I always say?"

"'Does this dress make my butt look big?'"

Joey nodded. "Yes…" his eyes widened. "…I mean, no! I mean…that's…well… _besides_ that! Dreams don't come true standing around and doing nothing, Dereece!" He shot in front, presenting himself to the professor in flamboyant fashion. "I want to live! And now, this may be my chance. If I want to make my dreams reality, then on this quest for greatness I shall take."

"How noble of you." He deadpanned

Professor Sycamore clapped his hands again out of Joey's presentation. "Well said." He chuckled. "You're quite the spunky one. Then shall we give you your kit to begin with?" He reached into his pockets, getting out a large sum of Poke Balls and two PokeDexes. He held them out to the duo. "Before we begin with the Pokémon, let's start you off with these. You can take one PokeDex and ten Poke Balls each."

Joey and Dereece stepped forward, taking their respective number of each item.

"Good. Now then, shall we commence?" The professor stepped off to the side, presenting three Poke Balls that sat in a triangle formation on the blue pillow of his desk. Joey and Dereece stepped forward to look at them.

"Woah…" Joey marveled. "So these are the three choices that I heard about…Chespin…Fennekin…and Froakie." He looked towards Dereece. "What do you think, Dereece?"

Dereece had a finger to his chin, tapping as he pondered maturely. "Well, if you ask me, maybe go with the Froakie. I mean, you always thought _his_ Greninja was the bomb, right?"

Joey looked back, giving Froakie's Poke Ball a scrutinizing look. "Eh…nope. Sorry, but no go." He stuck his hand out to the Poke Ball.

"Uh huh, and why?" Dereece questioned.

"Think about it, Dereece. What could I ever hope for, if my own possible Greninja were to meet _his_? How could that Greninja possibly be able to meet the almighty; that awesomeness that he has that no other Greninja could have?"

"Well then I guess that explains why you never used or caught those six Pokémon in your game then."

"Yes indeed. Therefore." He faced one Poke Ball, smiling wide as his fingers fiddled some and seized one of the others. "I shall choose…this one!" He threw the Poke Ball skyward, making the capsule spin as it went for the high ceiling.

Popping out and falling was a bipedal Pokémon with a bright green helmet-around his light brown mammal-like face. He had a pink triangular nose and beady black eyes. He had stubby brown arms and large, pointed feet and tail. The Pokémon yelled with a bright smile as Joey caught him in midair, spinning him around with his own laugh of triumph in a full circle.

"Yes! I have chosen…Chespin, as my partner!" Joey declared. He lowered the smiling Chespin towards eye-level, looking happier than before. "Hello, my name is Joey. And as of now, it shall be you, who has been chosen to be the apprentice of shaking the moneymaker, too!"

Chespin tilted his head in confusion. Dereece facepalmed. "Oi vey."

Professor Sycamore nodded at the choice. "Ah, oui! Chespin! That's a good choice for you. Congratulations."

"Professor." Officer Jenny got Professor Sycamore's attention. "A word, please."

"Sure thing." He turned back towards the boys. "This will be just a second." He told them before walking towards the officer to answer more questions and hear out statements. With Joey and Dereece alone, this was a chance for them to talk.

The new Trainer leaned in towards Dereece. "So what do you think is going on around here?"

"That's what I've been trying to find out." Dereece answered. "For some reason, that meteor shower we missed last night is still putting people on edge."

"Really?"

In the skies of Kalos' morning rays, there were still very feint rays of energy flowing constantly. They appeared to still be in orbit until a simple tug of gravity began to usher one down from the norm. The zooming, thin light streak arched down, as thin as a metal pole, and went through the clear skies in an angle towards Lumiose City.

"We've gathered reports all over, but no one's seen the missing Charmander." Officer Jenny said. "This mysterious disappearance will have to go on the report as well."

Professor Sycamore crossed his arms and looked down. "Well this isn't good at all. A lot of the Pokémon populace has been going astray for the past ten hours now, and still spontaneously changing. What's going on here?"

Something bright and zooming at a high velocity was heading for Professor Sycamore's lab, closing in on the window.

Feeling something off, Dereece noticed how the room's light was suddenly brighter than usual. "Hm?" He turned around to look up. His eyes widened in shock as a bright, searing light glistened towards them. He tapped Joey's shoulder. "Uh, Joey…?"

"Yes, what is it now, Der…eece…?" He trailed off as he looked towards the light. He and Dereece stood beside the other as the sound barrier began to break about in the atmosphere.

Those in the room began to look up, and those in the city were staring with wide eyes as they saw a fast, streaking light projectile with an intense velocity zip over heads and apartment complexes. Almost everyone turned away as the light shot straight through the open window, zipping directly into Joey and Dereece.

Upon impact, a burst of light erupted, causing Professor Sycamore and Officer Jenny to fall onto their backs blinded. Everyone in the room was covering up as the massive rays of light was fluxing constantly until it began to dwell down some.

Eventually though, the light dissipated, allowing the professor and everyone to slowly get back to their feet. At they all began to come around, they looked back to where Joey and Dereece were, Professor Sycamore being the first to gasp in horror.

"What is it?" Officer Jenny looked to where his eyes traced, but she also gasped in realization. Horror was in her eyes.

Other faculty members darted right into the room, making a sharp turn to the scene.

"What is it?!"

"Professor Sycamore, are you alright?!"

Shaken, Professor Sycamore stared ahead. "Yeah…yeah, but…" he slowly stepped ahead a single step, seeing into what it was that was ahead.

It was a distortion, but the distortion was bleak for a fable of a moment. The desk had fallen over completely, and the remaining two Poke Balls were rolled in random places to the base of the bookshelf. The rug had seared spots on it, like something was burned on it. When it came to realization, many felt questioned – if not horrified – of where or whose spots it took up.

The distorted wave fully faded, leaving Professor Sycamore horrified. "What…happened…?"

For Joey and Dereece, their adventure that was to come had just taken a crazy turn.

* * *

"HAHA! Can you believe it?! This guy can't even tell his tail's on fire! How awesome is that?!"

In Fairy Tail's guild hall, everyone was looking at Natsu's newly found creature with varied expressions of curiosity and exaggeration. It was surprising at best, but the main reason was because of the flame-lit tail. Nic, Erza, and Vanessa, on the other hand, were still petrified in sheer disbelief.

Nic and Vanessa looked towards the other, the siblings sharing their equally massive shock before slowly turning back to the scene.

Gray stepped up, his shirt off. "The heck is that thing anyway?" he asked.

Natsu held Charmander by his waist, looking at his best friend. "Beats me…" His cheeky smile returned. "But I think it's pretty cool!"

"Aye. You should have seen it. It was just lying about in the woods trying to stay warm. If it weren't for Natsu, maybe it'd still be shivering its tushy."

Carla sighed with crossed arms. "Does a lizard like that even have a posterior?"

"I'd rather not ask those questions." Pantherlily advised. "Say, Gajeel." He asked the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Yeah, Lily?"

"We've been on a lot of jobs before, haven't we? Have we ever seen something like this before?"

Gajeel looked back at the creature in Natsu's possession, furrowing a brow. "Not that I can remember. I've seen stuff on fire – mostly by Salamander's stupidity."

"Hey!" Natsu retorted.

"…but I gotta say, this thing certainly smells weird." Gajeel looked behind his shoulder. "Actually, the scent's kinda familiar now that I think about it."

"You really think so?" Wendy asked. She sniffed the air to get a whiff of the creature, but her nostrils were telling her something was wrong. It wasn't bad by any means, but the scent – though faint – was familiar. "Yeah, now that you mention it, it does smell strange."

"Seems like a bad idea if you ask me." Macao advised.

"Are you even sure it's okay to bring that thing in here? We have enough trouble keeping you from accidentally setting up fires." Wakaba said.

"Hey! It ain't my fault a lot of the stuff's made of wood!" Natsu retorted.

"But it is your fault when you start the fights with a fireball." Romeo added.

"Oh come on!"

Lucy facepalmed in grief. "Somehow I don't think this was probably the best idea in mind."

Happy activated his magic and floated in front of Lucy. "Aw, what's the harm, Lucy?" he asked. "It wasn't mean to us when we first found it."

"Really?" Lucy didn't sound so sure.

Happy turned his head away sheepishly. "Well…"

 _In the small opening, surrounded by a bed of foliage, the small creature was curled up and watched with an uneased expression as Natsu and Happy spotted him from the foliage. To say he was unnerved about being in a lab one moment and suddenly in a cold, dark forest overnight would cause a few alarms._

 _Natsu's attention went immediately towards the tail, his eyes wide in growing surprise. "Hm? Uh, hey, buddy, you know your tail's on fire, right?" He pointed towards his tail tip to give a point. The strangest thing though was that the creature didn't look bothered by it._

" _Huh?" He looked at his tail, seeing his small tail flame. "Yeah, so?" Suddenly, he bolted to his stout feet and toe claws, reeling back in shock. "W-wait! What?!" He looked down at his claws, flexing them on his own. "Hold on…am I…am I talking right…?"_

 _Natsu tilted his head in confusion. "Something wrong, pal?"_

 _The creature pointed at Natsu accusingly. "Wait, c-can you actually understand me?"_

" _Well duh, you are talking to yourself after all, aren't ya?" He deadpanned. "You aren't very bright saying stuff out loud, ya know that?"_

 _The creature gasped again. This was a complete turn for the unexpected multiplied by a grand percentage if he ever knew the concept of human math. He always knew humans would need a lot of experience with them if they were to "sense" what they were saying, but with this shortcut, he could've pegged this all to be a hoax, if not a dream, but he slapped himself so many times to get himself awake and be back in the lab. This reality was far from what he had expected._

 _He started stepping back, his nerves crawling with each crack in the foliage beneath. "This…this is all so crazy…" He sounded like he was getting hysterical. "This has to be a freaky dream, right? The last thing I remember was being checked up by that professor…and then the next thing I knew, this freaky light swept out of nowhere, and I end up here! The heck's going on?!"_

 _Natsu stepped in front of him. "Are you okay…?"_

" _No! Stay back!" he barked. "_ _ **Scratch!**_ _" He jumped up and raked his tiny claws against Natsu's face. The surprised Dragon Slayer had a white trail follow briefly as he stepped back, covering his face._

" _Ow!" he grimaced. He held onto his face with one eye closed. "That little…!" He uncovered, looking unfazed with hardly a mark on him. Of course he was pissed. "Hey man, the heck's your damage?!"_

 _The lizard stepped back in shock once again. "G-go away! You and that…that cat thing!" His legs were shaking as he took several steps backwards. He looked at Happy, seeing him float beside him. His eyes registered the latter with disbelief. "Wait! How are you flying?!"_

" _With my wings." Happy turned, showing his wings._

 _The creature turned away, holding onto his tail and holding him flame close. He glared at Natsu and Happy defensively as his body was shivering from a mixture of fright and cold._

 _Natsu didn't get oblivious over the shivering he saw. "Okay, now what? Are you cold or something?" he tiredly asked._

" _Looks like it." Happy said._

 _The lizard pivoted and began to run away. "S-stay away! I'm fine!" With misty eyes, he took off away from Natsu and Happy._

" _Hey, you can't go off like that!" Natsu shouted in a warning tone. He darted for the tiny lizard. "Happy!"_

" _Aye!" Happy followed._

 _The creature was taking off at whatever speeds he could manage. He could've ran on all fours for better momentum, but he needed to protect his tail flame. He needed to get as far away as possible. 'What's going on here…? How can I talk? Why was that cat flying?' He heard foliage churn behind him, getting him to look behind. What he saw made his eyes grow into circles. "HEH?!" He saw that Natsu was racing after him at speeds he never thought a man could do. "HOW THE HECK IS HE THAT FAST?!"_

" _Hold on a sec!" Natsu closed the gap rather fast. With a massive jump, he sprung right overhead, landing in front of the lizard. "Gotcha!" He seized Charmander when he tried scooting to a stop, picking him up with his bare hands to look at him at eye level._

 _The creature strained in his arms, trying to get free as possible. "Hey! L-let me go! Let me go right now!" He tried to use Scratch again, but Natsu held him by the underarms, making it so he could only kick and struggle._

" _Alright pal, you need to cool your jets for a bit, okay…?" Natsu held onto him as the lizard was straining and yelling for his life, but as he held him, he could feel something off. His eyes widened._

 _Happy floated next to him, seeing Natsu's shocked expression. "Natsu?" He moved himself upfront, looking at the lizard and back at him._

 _The Dragon Slayer continued to look at him in surprise. "…his skin is getting cold…"_

" _I'M FINE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" the lizard cried. Tears were in the corners of his eyes, scared out of his life. "Get away from me!"_

 _Natsu narrowed his eye, he knew what he had to do. "Okay, let's try this then…"_

" _No…NO! No-!" The lizard's hysterical cries were growing hoarse as he began to feel warmth suddenly run through his body. The temperature of his shuddering body was starting to escalate back to normal. It was like he was in summer all over again, and he was starting to calm down. "It's…it's getting warmer…"_

 _Natsu kept a serious face as he continued using the heat of his magic to keep the lizard warm. He made sure that the tail flame wouldn't go out, no matter how interesting it was to look at. In fact, as the lizard was warming up, the flame began to grow a little._

" _Look, Natsu! The flame just grew!" Happy pointed towards the flame._

 _Natsu smiled. "That's gotta mean something good then. Alright then…" He gently sat the flaming lizard down on his bottom on the log that was behind him. The creature looked pacified as Natsu crouched down to meet at eye level once again, smiling. "There, all better?"_

 _The creature was still in shock over the sudden heat, but for the most part, he seemed pacified. He looked towards Natsu with surprise, but at the same time, with curiosity in the mix. "…y-yeah…I think so." He looked towards his tail flame, seeing the flame brighter than it has been since he came here. He looked back. "Thank you…"_

 _Natsu waved him off. "Nah, don't mention it. It'd be kind harsh to leave ya hanging in the cold. It's still the middle of March after all. A Fire Mage like me comes in handy at times like this." He grinned._

 _The lizard tilted his head in confusion. "A…Fire Mage?"_

" _Yeah, I work in a guild full of people who use sweet magic like I do." He pointed a thumb to himself. "The name's Natsu. And this is Happy."_

" _Aye!" Happy raised a paw. "Do you have a name?"_

 _The lizard looked down at the stump, awfully silent. It was sudden information that was just so crazy. First thing that he knew, he hatched; then he plays in a lab for a few months; the next thing he knows is a world where man can now use this so-called magic. It was scary, but at least it saved him. "…"_

 _Natsu raised a brow. "Hm, what's wrong? Haven't got a name?"_

 _The lizard looked up, giving Natsu a calm look. "No, they all just call me…Charmander."_

"Yeah, he seemed pretty freaked out at first, but it's all good now. Ain't that right, little buddy?" Natsu smiled down at Charmander, who was still held out with a pacified grin.

He nodded. "Mhm, sure is. But wow, so these are your friends?" He turned his head in a panel, looking at all the various faces with attires and hairstyles unlike anything he's seen before. "Wow…they all look so…cool…"

"Told ya!" Natsu laughed.

Within the crowd of questionnaires emerged three distinct faces. The three were Nic, his wife, and his sister. They stepped up as Natsu finished with his boasting. He looked towards them with a big smile.

"Oh, hey guys. Have you met Charmander yet?" He held him out, allowing the lizard to get a good look at Nic and his family.

The creature smiled. "Hi!"

"Hello…" Nic trailed off as he looked towards Natsu. He fell short of words to say as his gaze said everything.

"What's the matter…?" Natsu looked into Nic's eyes; those blue, pure orbs cast no lie. The Dragon Slayer could see something was wrong just by a second's look into them. His smile slowly dialed to a frown of wonder, his brow furrowing.

A silence fell amongst the whole guild hall as Nic's brow furrowed, the tension in the air finally reaching a climax.

"Natsu…" Nic's tone was more serious than ever. "Do you know what that is?"

Natsu looked at Charmander again, who in turn looked towards him with inquiry of his own. They didn't see it first hand, but they knew something was up by Nic's tone of suspicion.

Nic looked over his shoulder. "Vanessa…"

"I know. Let's be sure about this." The younger Pularis woman stepped up in front, presenting herself to Charmander. Standing a few meters away for space, she reached into her aqua and dark blue striped purse she kept and pulled out her PokeDex.

Upon recognizing the object, Lisanna blinked. "Hey wait, isn't that thing you used when you scanned or try to look up certain Pokémon back in Kalos?"

"Oh dear, I think I have a bad feeling about this." Kinana said, having a hand to her tilted cheek.

"We'll see. I'm sure it ain't nothing we can handle." Jet shrugged.

Vanessa held up the device to Natsu and Charmander. "Hold still, please." Charmander and Natsu did as instructed, stiffening like two statues. The top half of her PokeDex went up, revealing the holographic screen sandwiched between expanding to show a picture of Charmander.

" **Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. The flame on its tail indicates Charmander's life force. If it is healthy, the flame burns brightly.** " It announced.

Vanessa retracted her device, enabling the guild to process what it was they heard. The serious tension they once had began to rattle cages.

Sophie's eyes narrowed. "Ma? (What?)"

"Did it just say what I think we heard?" Lisanna said.

"Could've fooled me." Droy said, munching on chicken still. He didn't seem to care much at all, much to Jet's annoyance.

"Maybe if you stopped eating and pay attention anymore, you would know!" he retorted.

Freed put a hand to his chin. "A flame on its tail…and disappearing from a lab…now it makes sense."

"Just as we thought." Nic looked into Natsu's eyes with an expression of deep confirmation. "Natsu, that Charmander…it's a Pokémon."

Natsu's eyes widened at the words. Charmander looked at him with confusion.

"Well that explains every question I had to ask." Gray said in a flat tone.

Wendy looked shocked. "So then…that's another kind of Pokémon?"

"One of them, anyways." Vanessa answered. "Pokémon from what a few of us have seen are able to come in all shapes of sizes. Charmander's just an example of the many Pokémon out there that new Trainers can possibly start with." She looked back at Charmander. "But…"

"…but why is one here?" Lucy finished, having a hand to her chin. "Is that it?"

"That sounds like a question a lot of us are asking ourselves right now, I think." Sophie said low.

From the back of the crowd, a pair of footstep were loud. "Alright, what's all the hub about?" People turned around to see Laxus advance. They all got out of the way for him to get to the front of the crowd, where he stood next to the Thunder God Tribe.

Charmander looked at Laxus like he was seeing a grown Tyranitar. He could feel everything grow uncomfortable with him. "Pssst." He whispered back to Natsu. "Who is that guy?"

"What, him?" Natsu answered. "That's Laxus. He's our guild's master, and trust me pal, he's alright once you get used to him."

Charmander looked back at Laxus, who stood with his huge coat on and arms folded. His stature made Charmander drop a bead of sweat. "Somehow I doubt that…"

"So what have we got here?" Laxus asked, giving Charmander a dominant stare.

"Apparently, Master, Natsu just found a wild Pokémon." Freed answered.

Laxus' stare shot into widened eyes. His eyeballs vibrated for a moment as he looked at Charmander once again, giving him a slightly more surprised light. "So you're saying…that thing he has in his hands is actually one of those Pokémon that Nic's familiar with, right?"

"Well…I suppose." Evergreen looked towards Nic. "Do you know this species exactly?"

Nic looked affirmative. "Charmander are rare Pokémon that are meant for new Trainers in a few varied regions. From what I've heard, they're common in the Kanto Region, as well as Kalos. But beyond that, this is all new to me."

"Hey, hold up for a sec now." Gajeel said, turning towards Nic and getting his attention. "The last I checked, you three are the only ones in this world who have Pokémon, right?"

"That's what I was asking myself." Nic answered. "So then how did this one get here…?" His eyes narrowed as he thought deep. His brow furrowed as he tried to backtrack. He fell silent as he pieced the events together. _'I woke up to an odd feeling, then we hear of this bizarre meteor shower. And now a Charmander is in Natsu's hands. This can't be by coincidence…!'_

Nic's eyes suddenly opened wide, a short epiphany growing. _'Wait…is Charmander the only one then?!'_

"This definitely came out of nowhere, that's for sure." Erza said.

"Yeah, no kidding." Gray said. "First this weird meteor shower happening overnight, now we see another one of your guys' animals or something picked up by Natsu."

Natsu beamed with pride. "Well I think it's a sweet deal."

"Yeah, seems strange if you ask me." Bickslow added. "Hey Cana, you sure you didn't use your Fortune Telling?"

The brunette looked down in conspiracy. "This is something I doubt would've been picked up on. If my cards said anything like this happening, I would've known by now."

"Sounds like a twisted case of fate falling off the deep end." Pantherlily said.

"But how did this happen? I thought everything was fixed after the Acnologia incident." Happy pointed out.

"It was." Everyone looked towards Nic again, his tone was deep with speculation, making the others draw unsound conclusions.

Erza gave him a look. "Nic…"

"This isn't by coincidence. It can't be. Something went wrong last night, and I can still feel it happening right now." He gave a bold face as he walked pass Natsu and Charmander. He made way out of the guild's saloon doors to the outside world. Even with the sun still shimmering its morning rays, the blue sky was so clear that it was a blue sea. As Nic looked up, he saw another glint of a shooting star pass over high in the sky. "I have a feeling there's more to this, but I need to be sure."

Vanessa stepped up. "Where are you going?"

Nic turned around facing his sister. "I gotta see something important back on our world." He glanced to the side. "Maybe Charmander's arrival here means something went wrong somewhere…but I need to be sure."

Vanessa looked down at the ground, thinking critically of Nic's claim. Maybe Nic was onto something, after all, he was far from stupid. In fact, he was smart enough to be considerate. He doesn't jump to hysterical conclusions without proof, and that's when investigations are set into motion. She looked back towards Nic, understanding fully. "Okay, we'll do our part."

Erza crossed her arms, raising a brow. "If it's that worrying, shouldn't we tag along?"

Nic looked back, grinning. "As fun as it would be, I think you guys should look after the guild. Maybe Charmander isn't the only one here. If he is, then we at least need to be prepared. Is that okay with you?"

Erza stepped forward, this time closer towards Nic. She faced him as he gave her a worried, but also insisting expression. The redhead was the first to exempt a sigh of grief. "Sometimes your sudden thinking just makes my head spin." She groaned.

Nic put a hand to his hip, grinning. "Gotta keep things interesting between us somehow."

She showed a positive grin. "Just be careful."

Nic smiled in assurance. "Yeah…you too." With that, he faced forward, where a sudden tear in the space showed once again. On the opposite side of his teleportation was cement and pavement. With one last look, he turned towards the guild, this time with a serious grin. "I'm counting on you!" He boldly announced, just as the rift closed. In a sparkly flash, it dissipated, leaving nothing behind.

After a long minute of staring, Erza whipped around, looking towards the guild. "Levy, Sophie, when did this all begin last night?"

"Uh…around 2 AM, I think." Levy guessed.

"Yes, that's what I've heard as well." Sophie added. "Astronomers and night watchers alike are still working around the clock to figure out the schematics to this catalyst. Even they are bewildered."

"And how many could they have counted?"

"Too many from what I've heard." Mest said.

Erza looked to the side again, thinking deeply. _'A copious amount of shooting stars flying all over, with Natsu meeting Charmander. Nic was right to assume this can't be by coincidence….'_ She thought deeper as her eyes closed. _'Nic does have a link to Dialga and Palkia's energy signatures. Maybe that explains why he's been so off this morning. Did something happen involving Palkia's space wavelengths jumping out of proportion?'_

"You guys!"

Everyone turned around to look and see two figures calling out to them. At the guild's entrance and heading on in, they were the Connell duo, and they were looking like they were in rush hour.

"Bisca, and Alzack!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Wow, talk about great timing." Happy commented.

"And not a moment too soon either." Gray remarked.

Asuka rushed out of the crowd, hurrying towards her parents. "Mommy! Daddy!" she cheered, running into Bisca's arms.

Bisca knelt and held her daughter with a smile. "Hey, sweetie. Did you miss us?"

Asuka nodded. "Uh huh!"

Alzack was more than happy to be back home as well, but as much as he wanted to appease his daughter's unconditional love, he had to put one thing to rest first. He made it towards the others with a frantic expression.

"Alzack, what's up man?" Max greeted.

"Yeah, you look like you've ran through a desert." Warren said.

Alzack ignored them, staying focused on the problem at hand. "This isn't time to be goofing around, guys! Something big is happening around here!" he exclaimed.

Vijeeter crossed his arms. "Yeah, we kinda got all that with the meteor shower last night, and Nic taking off in a hurry."

Macao stepped forward, holding an arm out to hold off the members' banter. "Take it easy, guys. Let him speak." He looked at his friend. "Go ahead, Alzack. What is it?"

Alzack got his breath and gave out the warning at last. "Okay, we just got word from the folk around town. Apparently they've been hearing a lot of commotion in the morning through the forest outside Magnolia."

"You mean the Eastern Forest?" Laxus clarified.

"Yes, exactly. While on our way back, Bisca and I were en route when we heard something like slashing in the woods. We went to take a look, but when we did, we saw that a lot of trees had slash marks in them."

"Slash marks?" Macao repeated.

"You mean like a sword or something?" Wakaba asked.

"No, more like claw marks." He described.

Vanessa's brow furrowed. _'Claw marks?'_

"Huh? That seems a little weird." Natsu said. "Happy and I go there all the time and we've never seen animals do something like that."

"Maybe it was a fight or something." Pantherlily guessed.

"It could be." Levy replied. "I checked the various encyclopedia for the environment around here just the other day, but behavioral patterns such as those come from territorial mammals."

"So a new guy's staking claims out on the whole forest, huh? Did you find out who it was?" Laxus asked casually.

Bisca looked up from her daughter. "We tried to get in as deep as we could…but then we got around a tree…" She looked down, thinking about the terrifyingly large creature they had to see. Its massive claws slashed so powerfully that not only did it knock their bullets away, but they fell back from a tree snapping from that single slash.

"Whatever that bear was, it was no ordinary bear." Alzack grimaced.

Vanessa looked to the side, thinking deeply of the pieces being set into place. _'A bear that slashes at trees to make territory…'_

A gasp of shock came from the crowd. All heads turned towards Wendy as she realized something important. "Grandeeney!"

"Say what?" Levy gasped.

"Grandeeney? As in Porlyusica?" Sophie interpreted.

Wendy looked towards her. "Yeah, she lives out in the Eastern Forest! What if she's in trouble?"

Lucy soon realized what she meant. "Yeah, I get where you're going with this…" She remembered back to when she ventured in the Kalos region with the group after the Edolas incident. They certainly came across a lot of big and scary Pokémon along the way. "If one of those kinds are around, she might be in deep trouble."

"She's fine. I think even I would know to stay two pegs away from her." Gray interjected.

"Gray, please try and be _a little_ considerate." Juvia pleaded despondently. She did love him and all, but he didn't have to sound so rude about it, even if it was true.

"Well then we just have a better reason to get out there then!" Natsu eagerly said. "What do you say, Charmander, wanna see just how we roll Fairy Tail style?"

The Fire-type looked towards the Dragon Slayer, smiling confusedly. "Uh…I don't know? Maybe…!"

"Awesome! Alright guys, follow me!" Natsu charged right out of the doors, with Charmander anchored in his underarm like a rolled-up towel.

"Hey, wait for me!" Happy followed out, flying behind.

Erza immediately took action. She turned around to look at Vanessa. "Vanessa, let's go!" She rushed out.

"Right!" She followed her sister-in-law.

"Wait up, guys, I'm coming too!" Lucy hurried behind. Following in a rush was Wendy, as well as Carla as they worried for Porlyusica.

Everyone else hung back, with Gray groaning with exhaustion. "Man, just a way to start your morning."

"That's putting it mildly." Gajeel agreed, crossing his arms and watching them go.

* * *

A stove flame burned intensely beneath a shifting black frying pain. Layered on top of it was grease sizzling with link sausage beginning to char in some places as it turned brown. A spatula turned one over, rolling it to show the darkness of its casing showing.

The TV was still going on in the living room, but the woman making breakfast for herself was still making out some of the high-squeaking babble coming from it.

As she turned another piece of sausage over, Joanna sighed. "I keep telling him to turn the TV off before he goes to school." She turned the knob on the front of the stove to reduce the flame beneath the sausage to keep it warm. "If he does this again, I'm-"

A knock at the door echoed through the house, instantly driving Joanna out of her motherly executives.

"Hm?" She worked her way around the counter if her kitchen that separated the cooking area from the rest of the domain. Alas, she heard the knock once again. "Did Michael forget his lunch again?"

Curiosity peaking, she finally made it towards the doorway and squinted one eye and put the other towards the peeping hole. Looking into the other end, she gasped as she saw someone all too familiar on the other end. Without any hesitation, she twisted the lock and opened the door, allowing the person to be in full view on the welcome mat.

Standing in front of the welcome mat, Nic was met with a welcomed smile. "Nic!" she greeted.

"Hey, Joanna." He greeted.

Joanna and Nic exchanged hugs from each other. The foster-mother welcomed him back with an open mind and seemed so pleased at his arrival, if not surprised. The latter was more of the prospect given the circumstances.

"You sure picked a time to come here." Joanna said.

Nic grinned. "Sorry for the inconvenience."

"Oh no, don't be. I was actually making breakfast for myself. Why don't you come in?" She stepped off to the side, allowing Nic to enter the abode. As he walked on in, Joanna closed the door behind. They walked further into the domain, with Joanna working away around the counter where Nic took a seat at one of the wooden stools recently bought. Once situated, the two began to talk some more.

Nic looked down at his stool. "These are new." He said with mild surprised.

"You like it? Michael thought it would be more convenient since he and Tan just so happen to enjoy eating on the very expensive leather couch." She sounded farfetched with just the right amount of sarcasm and irritation, just as anyone tired of certain habits would be.

Nic chuckled at her irritation. "Well it's sure better than having pudding cup stains on the rug, that's for sure. Speaking of food…" He moved his head to the side, as if looking behind Joanna, yet still glued his eyes towards her. The foster-mother turned around at his innuendo and saw that the sausage was getting darker by the minute. In a rush, she turned the stove off, allowing the sausage to sit in the grease and cool down now that it was fully cooked.

"Thank you." She said.

"Don't mention it. There were a few times I left grease in the frying pan." He looked unnerved as he remembered the few tock marks Erza had on her forehead. "I can still hear Erza's warning even from here…" he grimaced.

"Speaking of, how is she?"

Nic shook off his distress. "Erza? She's doing just fine."

"I see…and what about Vanessa? Is she doing alright, too?" There was a hint if worry in the underlying of her tone. This didn't get unnoticed by Nic though.

Nic grinned again. "Don't worry. Vanessa's doing great."

Joanna sighed in relief. "You know, you need to come visit more often. I know you have this guild business that you do in your world, but you could all come by for a couple nights every once in a while."

Nic looked down at the shiny counter top. "I know, we're sorry. But that world needs as much good help as it can get you know. It's not exactly a fundamental playground like the ones we have here."

"It's fine." She grinned.

"Speaking about family, where's Michael and Tan?"

Joanna went over towards the cabinets, where she opened one up to reveal a clean, white plate. She sat it down and began to place the sausage onto it. "You just missed Tan. He just went to school not too long ago. And Michael left right as he went off to work."

"So then you have today off your work, too?"

"Yup." She presented the plate of sausage to Nic. "You want some?"

Nic then furrowed his brow as he looked back at Joanna. The foster-mother fell silent as she looked into Nic's eyes. She could feel something serious was going down.

"I'm sorry, but there's a reason why I'm here. I can't eat right now, not until I figure this puzzle out."

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I came here to confirm something, something that's been bugging me all morning." He paused. "…Joanna, by any chance, was there a meteor shower last night anywhere?"

Joanna's eyes widened at what Nic referred to. The look she had made him realize the truth. "Yeah, it's all over the news…!" In a rush, she worked her way around the counter and maneuvered into the living room. Nic turned around on the stool and scooted off it. He hurried over as Joanna reached for the remote control and flipped the channel from one of Tan's shows over to a live feed of footages of certain terrains.

"Take a look." She insisted.

Nic fell silent as he watched the news being broadcasted.

"…and this recent occurrence happened just earlier this morning, starting around 2:00 AM." Someone in the booth said. "Astrologists had no knowledge, nor could they have confirmed such detail as to how or when this occurrence was going to happen. However, eye witnesses do claim that this so-called 'meteor shower' was but a blessing in disguise."

"As the old saying goes, there's a Mightyena in Mareep wool amongst us." The other news reporter beside the previous spoken said. "When we asked a local fisherman as he was amongst the eddy, trying to fish up some Goldeen and Magikarp on Route 22, he described seeing a shooting star zoom down in front of him, hitting the water."

The screen turned towards the fisherman in his early 30s. He looked surprised as he stood in front of the riverbank where he fished last night. "I-I don't know what happened. I wasn't able to sleep, so I figured I could find myself something to fish up and maybe throw back. I was hoping I could find maybe a shiny Goldeen or Magikarp, and then out of nowhere, something bright just…boom! Straight into the water!" He demonstrated by arching his palm into the back of his hand. "And here I thought _I w_ as spooked, I didn't see many fish hang around that, and neither did I…"

"And in another area just north, a drone cam got explicit footage of some terribly bizarre impact to what looked like a Fearow near Victory Road's grove."

The camera changed to show the nighttime mountainous Victory Road. It was as massive as ever, like a fortress. The nighttime sky showered with shooting stars everywhere. The drone camera got a view of an arching light flying into a brown bird that looked like it was flying away. It was a bright flash upon impact, but alas it was all that was picked up. After that, it was still too dark to see."

Joanna gasped in horror. She leaned forward as she could've sworn that light just vaporized that Fearow. Nic was no different. He couldn't even feel his own heart beating with how graphic that was.

"This was a very morbid news for many Pokémon observers and biologists alike." The first news reporter said with a frown. "For many of the Pokémon populace, this very unsettling phenomenon…was nothing short of an ends."

The second reporter morbidly frowned. "Indeed. In forests, lakes, and even mountains and caves where these shooting stars have fallen, they left nothing but singe marks. We can only pray for the surviving Pokémon that were able to escape from this travesty." The camera shifted to reveal an open field somewhere in the Hoenn Region's Petalburg Woods, the bird's eye view having some signs of Shroomish hiding, while it looked like a few Taillow were missing. "This forest, just teeming with Bug-type Pokémon, Slakoth, even Poochyena, the fortunate ones were able to hide and take cover, but to those who clung to branches, even Taillow for that matter, their numbers were dwindled greatly."

"Even outside Kalos?" Joanna looked towards Nic, seeing what he had to say about all this.

Nic was still caught off guard as he saw the bar graphs appear on the big screen. It showed a large populace recorded in a mountain in the Johto Region, but the graph beside it revealed it being half as tall as the last one. He didn't want to hope for the worst having arrived, but when he thought about the meteor shower in Earthland and Charmande's appearance, his theories were beginning to mix at a rapid pace in his mind.

' _Did they really…?'_

"The count of these shooting stars was astonishingly high in numbers, isn't that right" The reporter asked the other.

"That indeed. The numbers of Pokémon that have been mysteriously targeted had bene affected greatly by the equal number of these estrange meteors. Astrologists and theorists alike have no indication to what could have transpired. The only clue lied within the Sinnoh Region, where all this began."

"The Sinnoh Region?" Joanna wondered.

The screen showed the darkness of Mt. Coronet beyond the cloud level. Nic and Joanna looked beyond shocked as they watched as shockwaves illuminate the sky, exploding into meteors that beamed throughout the skies of Sinnoh. Nic was in awe and in deep fright as something located atop was within its blast range.

"Our sources revealed that the base of this phenomenon has been rooted to the Sinnoh Region's own Mt. Coronet. Scientists are escalating to where the blast was centered around Spear Pillar. As they reached the climb, they had taken into consideration how the vast number of Pokémon who inhabit Mt. Coronet's intense climates have laved overnight. The blast wave may be explained further once they reach Spear Pillar's peak. At the same time this shockwave transpired, the spatial energy output had been spontaneously convulsing and expanding at ultra-stellar rates, according to the findings that Professor Rowan of Sandgem Town just Southwest of the region stated. It was with this knowledge that we took an investigation to his lab, where we learned more of the energy outputs that he described as 'bizarre'.

Nic's brow furrowed as the news went to Professor Rowan's face. _'Spatial energy, just like what I felt last night. Spear Pillar…spatial energy…Pokémon disappearing…Charmander…!'_

And then it hit him. His eyes shot wide with a deep, deep gasp that caught Joanna off guard.

"Nic?!" She turned to look at him, but he looked like he was seeing a ghost. His pupils were small and shaking like a scared dog, or someone who one could've thought would be having a heart attack.

Nic was still at a loss for words, but within his mind, the pieces at last fixed upon themselves. He knew now – or had the general idea of – what transpired. And he also knew that it was much worse than he thought. He could feel his heart drop like a rock.

"This wasn't the first time the energy output has been sporadic I'm afraid." Professor Rowan said in an interview. "I'm sure as everyone is aware, prior to the research and the visits to the Valley of Daunt back in Kalos, everyone had witnessed first-hand the creature, who we know by the name of Acnologia, had altered time and space between the world of our own and the one that Nic Pularis coincides with." He turned back towards the machines and generators behind him, with their levels still looking to be fluxing. The bars and levers were bumping up and down continuously, unable to be controlled. "The energy output is still going on as we speak."

"So are you saying that you can tell when this shower will fully end?" the reporter next to him asked.

Professor Rowan nodded. "I've already made the calculations. The energy was beyond critical as of 2 AM this morning. Since then, it began to segment and divide into smaller sections. However, it's spatial energy continuously is unpredictable at times. What's certain is that with the less these shooting stars show, the less frequent I see these changes. Ay most, it should calm by the time noon rolls around."

"And you are certain about this?"

"We can never be sure of anything. But if all these Pokémon are involved, then we must do everything we can to solve this, for all our sake…" He trailed off, finishing his interview onscreen.

As the news went on about the photographs of shooting stars and breaking news of shooting stars hitting wild Pokémon in unknown places, Joanna and Nic were both completely silent with what they heard. The foster-mother looked towards Nic once more, seeing his brow furrowed and looking down at the ground.

"Nic…is everything okay?"

Nic leered at the edge of the sofa, his blue eyes showing seriousness. "I see…so that's what happened…" He looked up again, showing a deep, searing gaze towards the screen. It showed another frozen picture of Spear Pillar. "This is much worse than I thought…"

"What do you mean? Nic?"

The screen again showed a picture of the sea, hundreds of raining shooting stars bolting into the air. He had an idea of where they were going, and that only made him narrow his eyes with a frown. "…"

* * *

In the large woods outside the area, the sky was still clear as day as the sun continued to glisten rays down into the canopies of the tranquil forest. Birds chirped, and lizards stuck out their tongues on roots. The various array of fauna life was tranquil to say the least.

As turtles grazed on moss of rocks, a loud, grizzly roar reverberated far away. Many of animals turned towards the sounds on high alert, the grotesque breaching of what sounded like a monster echoing through ear canals.

In a grassy plain, just below a small hill, a pair of feet landed. "This way!" Looking up, Wendy ran on.

"Hold up, Wendy!" Sliding down the small slope, Carla, in her transformation to a human, hurried behind Wendy's tail.

Proceeding next was Natsu with Charmander, who landed with a serious face and bolted. Then was Happy, then Lucy sliding down next, then Erza, and Vanessa. The whole group was making headway towards where Porlyusica's house was supposed to be, and it just so happened to be in the direction where Wendy and Natsu's hearing carried them to the roars.

"Are you sure it's this way, guys?" Lucy shouted.

"Yeah, no doubt! My nose is never wrong!" Natsu grinned.

"Say what?" Charmander asked under his arm.

Happy floated next to him, explaining Natsu's traits. "Natsu has a crazy sense of smell and hearing. Trust me, once he hears or smells ya, you ain't getting off his tail anytime soon."

"And speaking of hearing…" Natsu's glare began to intensify with his anticipation. "I can hear it. We're definitely getting closer now."

Carla paced behind Wendy, surprisingly keeping up with her human feet pacing. "Hoe much further Wendy?!"

"Let's see…" Wendy tried to think of a good estimate as to when they would get closer to Porlyusica's house, but her eyes widened when she and her friends saw something up ahead. She gasped.

"Look, is that what I think it is…?!" Lucy exclaimed.

Up ahead, there was a tall tree, a very tall one, as well as thick. The tree was unguarded, and in the dead center of it, there were claw marks on it, raked in crosses deep into the bark. Natsu and the group stopped in front of it, examining its features.

"Are those what I think they are?" Happy questioned.

Natsu, however, looked impressed within his questioning. "Man, those are some pretty big claws…"

"How can you be impressed at a time like this?!" Lucy stammered.

"This must be what Bisca and Alzack said when they saw the creature." Erza said. "To make something as big as a territorial claim, we must be dealing with a lot of resistance."

Vanessa's brow furrowed. _'A big brown bear that attacked them, snapping trees with its arms…and this aura I'm sensing, it's definitely hostile…'_

Wendy stepped off to the side, seeing the sight of what looked like a few fallen trees laying ahead. Their snapped bark stuck out like sore thumbs. "Hey guys, I think we're getting closer." She said to them.

Natsu bolted to her side, getting a good view of the snapped trees. "Woah, this thing must be freaking huge!" He happily smiled with wide eyes.

"Hooray…" Charmander groaned despondently.

Once again, they heard a loud roar from up ahead. They all glared towards its directions as they heard the sound of a heavy clash of bodies. The land could've been felt vibrating with another thud. Everyone held their guards up as they braced themselves for anything unimaginable.

"What was that?" Happy asked.

"Seems like it's from ahead." Erza said. "Let's go!"

"Right!" Everyone in the group hurried along within the smashed bark and branches. The sound of roaring terror screeched ever so louder as they closed in pass a few trees up ahead. With there being underbrush all year around thankfully for the forest, there was plenty of cover as the thudding boomed behind a massive bush.

Closing in, everyone ducked behind the bush. They held their heads low as they stayed as quiet as possible. The sounds of grunting was heard well through their ear canals, and they sounded like two angry beasts.

"Sounds like there's more than just one of them." Wendy said.

Natsu's brow furrowed. "No, I hear two. And it sounds like their fighting."

On the opposite side of the bush, a pair of brown feet with claws pushed forward, shoving away as it was oblivious to the other looking out in the background. When they saw who was facing who, Vanessa and Erza alike both flashed shocked gazes, their pupils showing their astonishment.

"What is it?" Lucy asked. She looked ahead, her brown eyes widening. "What is _that_?"

A large, bipedal Pokémon that resembled much of a bear with edged shoulder raised his long arms, his claws as sharp as knives. On his stomach was a yellow ring that was as bog as his stomach. "GRAH~, GET LOST!" He thrust his claw forward, using Slash and raking at a Gorian across the face. The impact sent the local Gorian flying.

Vanessa's eyes dilated with no end to her surprise. "…it can't be…"

The Gorian shrieked as it sent flying backwards into a thick tree trunk, the shock making its lights go out and fall forward onto his front, lying unconscious several feet at the might of the bear-like creature that raised his paws to flex and roared in triumph.

"Woah! Did you just see that?!" Natsu exclaimed. "That guy just took out that Gorian!"

"Man, that guy didn't stand a chance…" Happy almost felt sorry for that local Vulcan. Almost.

The bear-like creature turned left and right, continuing to look upfront as the group scrutinized his loud behavior. As the bear continued to roar in victory and stand there, the Gorian wasn't able to move. It laid there unconscious as the beast glared at him.

"So this is what it was." Vanessa said low.

"Yes. It appears so." Erza responded.

Natsu looked at them both shocked. "What? You mean you two know what's going on here?"

"Unfortunately. I can see why Nic had to go configure something." Erza glanced towards Vanessa. She nodded, and Vanessa nodded in understanding. As Vanessa reached for something, Erza looked back ahead, eyes narrowed. "Everyone stay sharp."

The large creature slowly advanced towards the helpless Vulcan, his heavy steps carrying him closer towards the beast.

Vanessa finally pulled out her PokeDex, giving a full analysis as the top half popped up, showing the bear's figure between.

" **Ursaring, the Hibernator Pokémon.** **With its ability to distinguish any aroma, it unfailingly finds all food buried deep underground.** "

Vanessa lowered her PokeDex, her brow furrowing. "Just as I thought. I w _as_ an Ursaring."

Wendy's eyes widened. "You mean…!"

"There's more out here?!" Lucy exclaimed. "I thought Charmander was the only one!"

Charmander backed away, his uneasiness growing. Natsu looked down at him and stayed by his side.

"Well I don't think this one looks friendly." Happy said.

Erza stood up. "No, they're not." She began to proceed out of the underbrush, presenting herself. Everyone, except Vanessa, looked at her with shock. "Ursaring are hostile Pokémon who use their weight to roll around in other's pity. Their strengths aside, they are slow, and that's their weak point."

"E-Erza, what are you going to do?" Wendy worried.

Ursaring's feet stopped at the head of the Gorian. It weakly began to look up, revealing his face covered in scratches and bruised marks. With one eye open, Ursaring's shadow covered him from the beaming sun.

"W-who are you…?" he mumbled.

Ursaring raised his claw, roaring defensively to deal with finishing blow.

"Stop!" a voice called out.

Ursaring grunted and stopped his advances. When it registered a different smell in the air, it sniffed some more and looked over his shoulder. He got a look of a red-haired woman in armor, arms crossed with a dominating stature.

"If you intend on picking on those who can't find back, then consider yourself no less of a coward." Erza testified. "If you wish to pick on someone who you find your own size, then consider myself a challenge."

The Ursaring contorted his face with annoyance at Erza's intrusion. He slowly turned around, facing her with his head raised and roaring aloud.

"Well, now we have its attention at least." Lucy said.

"Yeah, but is Erza sure about this?" Wendy questioned. "If that bear is really a Pokémon, then who knows what it can do? Shouldn't we go help her?"

"No need."

Everyone turned towards Natsu. He looked like he was grinning, but otherwise he was feeling pacified.

"I can already tell what she's going to do. This is gonna get really good." He glanced down towards Charmander. "Go ahead, take a seat little guy. This is gonna be really fun to watch."

Charmander looked up towards Natsu in confusion. Was it really going to be that intriguing? He was still stuck on the fact he was in another world, and now he was going to see a fellow mage with Pokémon do battle.

As Ursaring bared his claws out towards Erza, she glanced over her right shoulder. "Vanessa!"

Stepping forward, her sister-in-law presented herself, holding up a Poke Ball already. "I'm ready."

Ursaring opened his mouth wide, bellowing one more roar of battle. Erza and Vanessa spread their feet apart, readying as they brought back their arms.

"Talonflame, come out!"

"Venusaur, go!"

Both Poke Balls went out ahead of them, each popping open and expelling energy. One energy glob became and arrow that burst into Talonflame, cawing out with her wings spread out. On the ground, four thick feet planted firmly in the earth, a head raising to reveal the maw of the roaring Venusaur.

Ursaring and the two other Pokémon glared at each other, the two-on-one standoff beginning.

"Alright! We're gonna see a Pokémon Battle!" Natsu yelled excited.

"Yeah, you trash that bear into next week!" Happy gloated.

Charmander watched with wide eyes as the battle was under way.

"GRAAH!" Ursaring's claws glowed and lengthened, indicating Slash. "I don't know what's going on here, and frankly I don't care! I'm calling shots around this forest, so if you got a problem, then bring it on!" He started by lunging for Talonflame first, bringing his right arm back.

"Dodge!" Erza commanded. Talonflame flapped her wings once, shooting higher as the Slash left a trail to flow in its missing rake. He looked up at Talonflame, who was steep over his head. "Now, use **Acrobatics!** "

Talonflame cawed again as her body glowed bright blue. She zipped in zigzags that were of unprecedented levels. She zipped through the sky in blue streaks, hardly leaving any room for Ursaring to a good look of where she was going to come from.

With him distracted by Talonflame's movements, Vanessa reached out. "Venusaur, **Toxic!** "

Venusaur aimed his flower petal at Ursaring. The front legs bent and he fired a streaking glob of purple poison that bolted through the air. It moved so fast that time slowed down for a moment for it to pass through the space between him and Ursaring. The Hibernator Pokémon slowly looked down, meeting the Toxic just as it splashed against his face. A purple smoke cloud enveloped his upper body, getting him to roar and recoil a ways backwards. As he stepped out of the smoke cloud, he reeled forward on a knee, wincing as poisonous bubbles popped up from his body. Before he could swear or question, a caw from above got him to look up gain. A blur zipped into him, hitting him square in the stomach with great force. An air ripple came between Talonflame and Ursaring as the shock finally sent Ursaring flying backwards and sliding on his back to a stop. Dust kicked up between his sides, settling into a small shroud around him.

Wendy looked pleased with the results. "Oh wow, amazing!"

"Yeah, they totally blindsided that thing right out of the gate!" Lucy stammered.

"Well I was surprised how they executed that so well in only a matter of seconds." Carla pointed out. "I'm pretty sure Vanessa explained before that this 'Toxic' attack poisons the enemy, therefore wearing them down. That was a good move, and now we'll see just how resilient this Ursaring is supposed to be."

The cloud of dust settled, and Ursaring slouched up with a groan. He grunted at Venusaur and Talonflame as they were side-by-side.

"Talonflame, **Steel Wing!** " Erza's shout made Talonflame's wings spread out and glowed a metallic gray. She shot right at Ursaring at breakneck speeds.

"Venusaur, **Venoshock!** " Following Vanessa's command, Venusaur bent forward and pointed his flower at Ursaring. A blast of compressed, purple liquid rushed at bullet-like speeds through the air, as fast as what Toxic was.

The two attacks closed in at alarming rates, but Ursaring growled with a vicious bare of teeth. He crouched, and he zipped off the ground in an attempt to avoid the Venoshock that erupted into a purple cloud right beneath him.

Talonflame's eyes widened. "What?" She ws so caught off by the speed of Ursaring's dodge that the Normal-type's shadow covered her. When she looked up, Ursaring's Slash raked in a bright fashion, sending her flying backwards.

"Talonflame!" Erza enforced.

The Scorching Pokémon rebound and caught herself beside Venusaur, shaking her head to wear off the pain.

"That move was faster than before. I thought Ursaring were supposed to be slow." Vanessa's brow furrowed as she watched Ursaring land in front, taking a moment to flinch from the Toxic bubbling up poisonous bubbles once again. "Unless it's…"

"An Ability." Erza finished. "His Speed must have shot up when the Toxic made impact. And on top of that, Speed _and_ high Attack power is never a good combo."

Ursaring roared up again, giving an empowering voice that echoed throughout the forest again.

Natsu covered his ears from the rattling he's been suffering from. "Man, doesn't this guy ever shut up?!" he shouted.

Charmander held his ears tight from the rattling he felt.

"Are they seriously going to be okay?" Wendy worried.

Carla stayed close to her side. "Probably. They're experienced Pokémon Trainers. They know what they're doing."

Ursaring glared at Talonflame with his stature so prominent. His eyes suddenly glowed and his teeth bared again. He expelled an illusion of his face forward, via **Scary Face**. As the illusion drew closer to Talonflame, Venusaur abruptly got in front of her. His bulk made it impossible to miss. As it made contact with his face, he grunted as he could feel his knees weaken and a blue aura indicate his Speed shooting down. The Ursaring looked smug at the overgrown plant before him.

"You wanna play body wall for that drumstick? Alright then…" Ursaring brought his arms back, readying another round of Slash. "I'll dice you up first!"

"Here he comes!" Vanessa warned. Everybody braced again.

Ursaring went bolting ahead towards Venusaur again, this time being fast and furious. His feet glided off the ground like he was in fast forward motion. Venusaur held his ground as Ursaring closed the gap.

" **Petal Blizzard!** "

Talonflame abruptly shot skyward and took off as Venusaur suddenly expelled an omnidirectional pulse of pink petals everywhere. Ursaring's eyes widened as he ran right into the attack, completely off guard. With the way his body was forward and arms out, he was swallowed in the tempest of pink flowers that swirled in a whirlwind. The Grass-type move's potency shredded all around Ursaring as he tried to push through, but with every clumsy step taken forward, he could feel himself scoot back half that length.

Vanessa looked towards Erza. The two nodded at know what had to be done.

"Venusaur, go now!"

"Talonflame, arm yourself!"

Both Pokémon glared through the pink maelstrom. From both in and above, their eyes were seen full of health. "Right!"

Ursaring grunted for the umpteenth time as he could feel heavy resistance still within the Petal Blizzard. Whisking pink flora grazed at his body, but even within the distressing whirlwind, his toe claws anchored him so that he couldn't escape. The longer the attack went on, the more anxious he felt. "This…" He slashed again, this tie both claws scissoring in white streaks. Many petals broke upon impact. "IS GETTING ANNOYING!"

The tempest settled down in a blind eye's notice. Ursaring held his slash position as he could finally see around him. When he looked ahead, he was shocked when he found the spot Venusaur took up was vacant.

"What…?" He trailed off in his disbelief. The sunlight suddenly got dimmer above him, adverting his attention skywards to what was the cause. In the glistening sun, he could've sworn he saw a weird, large creature with leaves as big as an actual palm tree.

"Gotcha!" Venusaur shouted high above.

"Woah! When did he learn to jump like that?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Can he even get that high?" Happy wondered. "I thought that guy weighed as much as a net of bricks!"

Charmander was again speechless as he watched the mature Pokémon do battle.

With one look above, Vanessa gave the call. " **Venoshock!** " Above, Venusaur aimed his flower at Ursaring. With him off guard and in the shadow, Venusaur let loose a searing torrent of purple liquid drenched in poison at Ursaring. The steep barrage stammered Ursaring, making him cover up as the attack's compressed volume enveloped him. Upon the searing impact, a massive purple cloud erupted, making the ground beneath rumble from its doubled force.

Shooting back from the venomous eruption, Ursaring screamed from the pain. He barely caught himself in midair as slid on his heels, digging so deep that dirt trails paved way with dust. Trying his hardest to sty on top of it all, he opened an eye as he kept sliding away. He saw Talonflame swoop in from above into an arch downwards. She flapped again and dove into a bullet through the dust trail Ursaring created, using the cover to close the gap further.

Within the dust, keeping to a stop, Ursaring saw a glimmering beam of white zip at his legs. Suddenly, Talonflame bolted through.

" **Steel Wing!** "

A bright gleam illuminated the site for a moment until a metallic-gray stream passed Ursaring's legs. A white explosion erupted from the passing, swallowing the lower half of Ursaring's body. He yelled out in agony as the doubled wings forced him to fall forward, painfully landing on his chin. The thud against the grass sounded like it hurt bad. Again, Toxic piled on his bubble popping up, making him yell out as the momentary convulse felt like a haywire nerve went off again. He went limb again in the grass, silent as a grave.

Venusaur fell to the ground with a thud, landing with ease. Beside him, Talonflame descended from her turnaround.

Lucy and the other girls smiled. "They did it!" Wendy cheered.

"Alright, I knew you could do it! Yeah!" Happy shouted.

Carla smiled. "I must say, that actually had me on edge for a moment." She took notice of Ursaring's legs having been damaged from that last attack. "I was worried about that speed boost that Ursaring had. Fortunately, it seems you two played bait quite well."

Natsu sheepishly smiled. "Man, I wish I had a go at that guy. That seemed kinda fun."

Charmander, however, looked unamused. "Uh, can I have a say?" Unfortunately Natsu wasn't the wisest to selective hearing.

Erza and Vanessa turned towards the other, grinning with approval at the execution of their attacks. They both turned ahead, presenting their Poke Balls.

"Talonflame, you did well. Now return."

"Venusaur, take a break. Return."

Both Pokémon eased up as they looked back towards their Trainers. The red lasers beamed into their bodies, returning them to their Poke Balls. As the battle had came to its conclusion, everyone rendezvoused with the winners.

"Are you guys okay?" Wendy asked them.

Erza nodded. "Yes, we're quite alright." She turned towards the Ursaring ahead, beginning to frown again. "But we certainly didn't expect it to blindside us that moment."

Vanessa looked down at the ground, scrutinizing the name of the Ability Ursaring had. "Still, an Ability that amplifies speed when you're poisoned at the very least. That would certainly make for a faster finish if needed. If we weren't careful, Ursaring would've been much harder for Venusaur and Talonflame."

Natsu beamed. "Oh don't be such a worrywart. You're both great Trainers, that big guy would've had to battle a hundred more years if it wanted to think of messing with you guys."

Ursaring grunted in his unconsciousness, unaware as Charmander quietly approached the creature. The Lizard Pokémon gave an inquired brow as he tilted to the side, trying to get around Ursaring. He was in silent awe over what he had witnessed.

Three powerful Pokémon going head to head, and something as ferocious and ten times his own size having been – quite literally – brought to his knees. If he wasn't impressed with battling before, he most certainly was now. "Amazing…"

"Hey buddy, you okay over there?" Natsu called out. Charmander abruptly turned around to look at him.

"Oh! Uh, yeah-yeah!" he stammered.

Natsu could see the awe still in his eyes. He should know; he felt the same way. "Pretty sick huh? Betcha you can do that too at some point."

Charmander's eyes widened. "Really?"

Ursaring's eyes twitched as he could hear loud muffles. His face retained its purple hue, and he began to see a clear image of an orange lizard with a flaming tail near six inches to his face. It only served to annoy him.

Vanessa's eyes widened as she caught whim of Ursaring's arousal. "Charmander, get back!"

The Fire-type was caught confused. "What?"

"I'm not…" A growly voice made him freeze in place. Behind him, a large silhouette started to arouse in a few clumsy slumps with glowing red eyes. "I'm not done yet…you think this is won?" He chuckled darkly, finally getting Charmander to slowly turn around to face the ominous shadow of Ursaring's ambition. "Well I got news for you punks…when we stake a claim on a territory, we don't **ever** go down that easily! Not by anyone!"

Lucy recoiled. "Are you serious?!"

"Looks like we weren't thorough enough." Erza's eyes narrowed. "This isn't good. Natsu!"

Natsu realized the predicament Charmander put himself into and took action. "Charmander quick, distract it somehow!" he ordered.

The Fire-type looked up at Ursaring as he was on his knees. Even when unable to walk, that didn't make him less intimidating. "Uh…uh…" He could feel a lump roll down his throat as a claw arose.

"You better listen to that punk, kid…" Ursaring's eyes were hazy with anger and retribution. "BECAUSE I'M NOT AFRAID TO CRUSH YOU FIRST!"

"Charmander!" Natsu rushed in a moment's notice towards the Fire-type.

Charmander wanted to move, but his legs were shaking. He was feeling something boil over inside, and as Ursaring readied his claw to crush Charmander, he could feel his instincts tell him to run or fight. Unfortunately for his experience, running wasn't an option. His body shuddered as the claw came down shakily like a collapsing building, and that's when he boiled it all up inside.

" **GROWL!** "

Charmander opened his mouth and cried right up to Ursaring. The high, piercing yell that was in practical point-blank range again alarmed the superior Pokémon. The air distorted from Charmander's cry and reached up to Ursaring. Upon reaching his ears, Ursaring's claws immediately reacted and covered his ears. He held his head tight so as to avoid the headache, but he could still hear Charmander's babyish squeals.

"I gotcha!" Within the distraction, Natsu finally reached the shrilling Charmander, holding him tight and pulling him away, ending the Growl.

Ursaring hunched over in relief, but his head still rung like bells. "Damn…"

"Natsu!" Lucy ran up beside Natsu and he landed in front of the group on a knee, Charmander in hand. "Are you both alright?!"

Natsu looked down towards Charmander, who looked up with deep astonishment. He didn't have any lethal injuries accumulated, and that was a relief. He looked back towards Lucy. "Yeah, don't sweat it! He's fine!"

A pair of claws slammed on the ground, getting the group to look back at Ursaring as he looked like he was going to fall over. Granted that he was defeated fair and square, but now he was shown up by some pipsqueak that happened to get curious along the way. His head was spinning and could feel himself a little weaker from that Growl, but now he was angrier than ever.

Erza forcibly requipped one of her swords. "Looks like he still has enough energy to threaten at least." she suspected.

Vanessa's arms hung loosely to her sides as her teal aura began to envelop the hands. "This is far from okay, but we need to stop him before he goes too far." Her head perked up the next instant, her gaze adverting over Ursaring's head. "Hm?"

Erza caught whim of Vanessa's curiosity and saw her look up. She noticed it as well.

"I don't know who you are…" Ursaring started, but he was unaware of how the air was starting to distort high over his head. "And I don't even care anymore…because when I'm hungry, I'm gonna get what I can take, even from other pipsqueaks like you!" He noticed that everyone was silent before him, and yet they were looking up. "What you looking at?!" He looked up as well, his hazy instinctive gaze widening with a gasp of surprise.

The distorted air began to brighten and expand. Everyone on the ground held their guards up by Erza and Vanessa's examples. They stood strongly as they braced for what might come, but what they did not expect was the distorted light brightening to where it climaxed to a luminous flash.

The flash soon dissipated, revealing three figures that were in midair. The atmosphere sparkled around, making the two blink a few times before they registered something off. Joey and Dereece both noticed how everything around them was sky blue, with no clouds anywhere. They also noticed down below, there was grass – way down. They looked back at one another with frozen looks before they clung onto each other in panic. They both suddenly plummeted like rocks, both screaming; though Joey's screams were more high-pitched like a frantic little girl.

As the two clingy projectiles fell from above, their shadow overcast Ursaring. He continued to look up in shock as they expanded in his point of view. "What the-?!"

Ursaring sundered to the ground from the impact, making dust erupt from the landing. Everyone present looked shocked, as well as confused, as to the sudden surprise that dropped from above. They all stared silently as the dust settled, revealing that Ursaring was finally on his stomach again and unconscious, this time for good. He cushioned the fall that was supposedly for the two unknown boys that were sprawled over his back, groaning tiredly. To add insult to injury, Chespin fell right on his new Trainer square in the gut, making him gag and lurch up before slowly falling back into his uncomfortable position. Chespin bounced off his abdomen and rolled into a sitting position in front of the Ursaring. He held his head tight to try and ease the sudden force he was met with.

"Uuugh…did somebody catch the number of that Gogoat…?" Dereece mumbled, pointing a finger up dazedly before falling unconscious.

Joey – very shakily – raised a weak arm and pointe dup next. "Ehhh…I think I should've had a bigger breakfast after all…" His hand dropped again, he too falling unconscious.

Everyone looking from afar was at a loss for words. They were about to finish off the Ursaring with just a simple blow, but they were blindsided by the likes of something from – what technically – came from literally out of nowhere.

Wendy was the first to register what happened. "Uh…d-did that just…?"

"Yes, Wendy, it appears so." Carla said. "But what exactly is this?"

"Seems like a crude joke to me." Natsu deadpanned. "I was about to send that jerk packing, and then this happened!"

"Okay, but what is 'this'?" Lucy gestured forward to the scene. "These guys just fell out of the sky for crying out loud!"

Happy tilted his head in confusion. "I don't know, but it looks like they had a pretty harsh landing."

"That's putting it mildly." Carla added.

"Are they okay, you think?" Wendy worried.

Erza looked ahead with upmost surprise. She was at a loss for words to say the least, and that went double for Vanessa. The two women stood beside the other with lips parted, registering the scene that unfolded. At last, Erza looked defensive. "Is this…?"

"Uuugh, my head…" Chespin groaned as his head spun in small circles. He shook it rapidly, trying to fix his dizziness and aching. "Gnnnngh, uh…Joey? Is this all part of the 'ways of shaking my moneymaker' thing? Because I don't feel so…" His eyes opened and froze in place, blinking once, and then twice. He looked around, realizing the settings were much different. "Hey, what happened to the lab? I thought we were indoors a second ago?" He looked ahead, seeing the group of people standing before him. "What are you guys staring at?" Within the intruders' numbers, he saw Charmander with as much shock as they had. He smiled dumbly. "Oh! Charmander, hey! How's it going? We were wondering where you went last night! Professor Sycamore was worried sick about you. Hey, do you know where we are, exactly?" Once again, he looked around, this time slower. "Because…I don't think we're in the lab anymore…"

Charmander reeled his head forward, as if scrutinizing the Grass-type in suspect. "Wait…Chespin?!" he gasped.

Chespin waved back. "Hi!"

Charmander shook his head to get the shock out of his system. He jumped out of Natsu's arms and landed on the ground. He got closer to Chespin, stopping a few feet and looked at him shocked. He looked at him left and right, seeing the few angles that could distinguish him. Suffice to say by Chespin's own awe he was slightly confused.

"Uh, you alright?"

Once confirmed, Charmander's eyes widened. "It _is_ you! What the heck happened to you?!"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean 'What do you mean?'? You just fell out of the sky and crushed an Ursaring with those guys!" He pointed behind Chespin, making him turn to refer the unconscious Joey and Dereece lying on top of Ursaring.

Chespin looked back. "Ohhhhh…okay, now that explains a few things."

"Does it explain how you're talking right now?" Charmander deadpanned irritably.

"But don't we always talk?" Chespin questioned. "I'm sure I have my moments, but Fennekin, now she was a real complainer. Just last night, she-" Chespin stopped in his tracks with his body stiffening. His eyes widened as he finally realized what Charmander was referring to. He clamped his mouth shut, looking like he was going to be sick. A few moments later, he lowered them to where the palms were facing him. He looked surprised as he could actually hear himself think the directions of left and right inside his head. He looked up towards Charmander, who had claws to his waist and giving him a knowing brow. "…oh my goodness, I am talking!"

"Now you're catching on." He nodded.

"This is so crazy!" He shot another look of excitement at Charmander. "Wait…you're talking too! Is this a dream or something?!"

Charmander sighed tiredly. "Trust me pal, you might wanna take a deep breath."

"Eh?"

Erza and the others were watching the two Pokémon supposedly catch up with one another. As they watched them try to detail the events, something ventured from behind the group. Immediately, Natsu and Wendy picked up on a familiar smell, and they all turned around to see a pair of feet land on a branch high above.

Natsu's eyes widened. "Hey, you're back!"

Erza looked up at the figure who arrived just in the nick of time…and the phrase wasn't too far from name that derived from it.

"I heard of what happened, is everyone alright?!" the person called out.

"Nic!" Vanessa gasped in surprise.

"Just in time!" Lucy shouted. "You won't believe this!"

"Yeah dude, where the heck were you? You just bailed on us out of the blue!" Natsu exclaimed.

Nic jumped off the tree branch and landed on a knee. He straightened back up and looked at everyone accounted for. His eyes paneled towards Erza immediately, seeing that she looked pleased he came back. "Sophie told me what happened. I came as soon as I got back." He told her. "Is everyone okay?"

Erza nodded, but then grinned. "Yes, we're all well for the most part."

Nic looked pass his wife to get a view of what transpired. His eyes widened a little, but not to where astonishment took over like last time. He kept his clam as he saw the Ursaring beneath the two bodies. His eyes also drew towards the Chespin, who was still looking to be in a revelation of his own. He turned towards Erza again, this time allowing her to explain.

She looked ahead at the scene. "This wild Ursaring was making a scene. Luckily, Vanessa and I stepped in to where we could suppress him. He was being quite stubborn."

"I see." He looked towards the two bodies atop, his brow furrowing. "Are they alright?"

Natsu shrugged. "Beats me."

"They fell out of the sky in a bright light. They hit Ursaring pretty hard, I doubt they're even conscious now." Wendy inscribed.

Nic looked mildly surprised once again at Wendy's explanation, causing him to look towards her and drift back towards the scene. _'Fell out of the sky? Just like falling stars…'_ He looked towards the Chespin, who was still rubbing his head as Charmander was catching him up on details. _'So my theory was right after all.'_ He advanced forward towards the fallen Ursaring.

Seeing his actions, Erza looked surprised. "Nic?"

Nic bent down once close enough. He took hold of the hefty-looking Dereece and hoisted him over his shoulder like he was a bag of potatoes. He looked back at Erza. "Hey Erza, can you give me a hand please?" he asked.

Erza obliged and followed. She walked right up to Nic and seized Joey off of Ursaring, supporting him under instead of over her shoulder. She looked at Nic with a smirk. "So kind of you to ask. You know I wouldn't appreciate it if you did this all by yourself."

Nic smirked back. "You keep telling me not do you everything by myself."

Erza chuckled. "That I did."

Nic looked back at the others next. "Vanessa."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you can use your aura to lasso Ursaring?"

Vanessa nodded. "Yes." She reached her arm out, making the teal aura envelop her hands again. From her left palm, a thick teal ray beamed and seized Ursaring, molding into a restraint around his midsection, including the arms. She easily lifted him up to eye level, reeling him about a few more feet.

Charmander watched as Vanessa handled the Ursaring with her magic, completely stunned. "Wooah…so _that's_ magic!" he exclaimed. Beside him, Chespin was hunched over, dumbfounded beyond words.

Nic nodded towards everyone. "Alright then, let's make this quick guys. Let's go see Porlyusica and see if she's well."

Natsu stretched upwards. "Finally! Now we're getting somewhere!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

Nic and Erza looked back towards the other, half-grinning as they walked side by side leading the pack deeper into the woods.

* * *

Sunlight beamed through a closed window, radiating the interior of the unknown space with vibrant sunlight. Within the sun's rays, the space was surprisingly one that gave one a warm feeling. Despite it being March, one could've mistaken it being Spring, even if it was a few days away.

Pass a bookshelf, a blonde head of hair was lazily sleeping within the sunlight's radiance. His face was illuminated by the brightening force of light, yet he looked quelled. His eyes were closed as he laid on the massive makeshift stand that doctors used for patients.

"Pssst…Joey." A voice whispered. "…Joey~."

Joey turned away from the voice calling to him. He seemed to be smirking. "Mmmm, of course…I'll show you a few more of my moves…" he purred in his sleep. "You like that…"

Dereece rolled his eyes and groaned. He knew of one way to get him to wake up, but first he made sure nobody was around to here it. Seeing the space was vacant, he cupped his hands around his mouth.

"DANCE BATTLE HAPPENING IN FRONT OF AZURE PLAZA~!"

"Say what?! Dance battle?! I want in!" Joey instantly jolted onto his bottom, looking around with wide eyes to see he was nowhere near any plaza. Or outside for that fact. "Eh…wait, there's no party." He realized.

"Afraid not, bro. Sorry."

Joey sighed.

"You enjoy your little shut eye, Joey?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Joey jumped off the table, landing on his heels and walking around to survey his new surroundings. "But, where are we?"

Dereece followed. "Not sure. I came too just a minute ago, but it looks like some kinda…tree we're in?"

Joey looked at the surroundings he and his partner in crime. To say he was surprised would be putting it mildly. He saw that the root bark for walls were thoroughly authentic. He looked over to the windowsill just beside a bookshelf, which had a different array of books with inscriptions on them. On lower shelves all around, they noticed a few liquids with green herbs inside flasks. They even noticed the wooden door close by. If anything, the space was no bigger than a 30 by 30 living room.

Joey looked to a working desk next to the bed. He could tell by the papers and documents that it meant something. "You think someone lives here?"

Dereece looked away from a ladder that had books on higher shelves. "I think the better question to ask is how we got here, Joey."

Joey's eyes widened at the realization. "Oh, yeah! Last I checked, we were in Professor Sycamore's Lab, right?" He put his hand towards his chin to think. "Then uh…?"

"Oh! I know! I know!" a hand raised from the distance, getting Joey and Dereece to look towards the culprit of the voice.

"Huh?" They looked down, seeing the tiny hand belong to Chespin, who smiled.

"Oh, Chespin!" Joey chirped. He happily came forward and crouched towards his level. "So you came too?"

Chespin nodded.

Dereece approached from behind. "Well it looks like all of us got here then, huh?"

"Yup!" Chespin said.

Instantly, Joey and Dereece went completely frozen. They were unable to move at the bizarre sound that pilfered their ear canals. As they heard the choice, they could've sworn Chespin's mouth moved as well. They two glanced at each other from the corner of each other's eye.

"Dereece, did you here that?" Joey chimed.

"Uh-huh." He nodded.

"For a moment there, I thought Chespin just spoke to us."

"I did." Chespin said.

"AAH!" the shocked duo recoiled so hard that they fell on their buttocks. They leaned away from Chespin with widened eyes as they crept towards the opposite wall of the hollow trunk.

Joey shakily pointed a finger at his new Starter. "Y-Y-Y-Y-You just…you just talked! Why are you talking?!"

Chespin nonchalantly shrugged. "I don't know. Don't you want to know what happened?"

"Forget what happened, you're talking, man!" Dereece pointed accusingly. "That ain't right! You think that's right? Because I _know_ that ain't right!"

Joey shook his head, trying to make sense of the situation. He put his hands up defensively. "Okay, okay! Maybe…maybe this is just some sort of dream. Yeah! Yeah! That's gotta be it, right?" He then looked away, tapping his finger to his chin. "Of course in my dream, there'd be karaoke and techno music playing somewhere…"

"Is this seriously your worry now?! Your Chespin just spoke!" Dereece panicked.

Chespin approached the two. "You guys, you won't believe this! Remember that Charmander that went missing last night?"

Dereece and Joey stopped their panicking and raised a brow. They looked at each other for answers but saw nothing come to mind.

"Guess what, I found him! And he can talk, too! It's so cool!" Chespin bounced up and down, his energetic enthusiasm showing. It was like a little kid who was excited about telling his parents about good grades at school.

Dereece put his arms now. "W-woah, slow down now…" he paused. "What do you mean 'that' Charmander? You mean the one we heard disappear last night from the lab?"

Joey leaned forward. "You're saying that's here, too? And _it's_ talking too?!" Chespin again nodded. "What kind of crazy dream is this?!"

The door beside them opened suddenly, getting them all to flinch.

"Who's making this much noise? I'm trying to speak to someone here." The voice came from outside the abode. The two new Trainers fell silent as someone began to enter the domain. Chespin, astonished, hurried towards Joey. The two remained paralyzed against the wall as the red cloaked figure with pink hair stepped in. Once in the center of the room, she looked left and right, seeing no sign of the vacancy. "Hm…?" She turned around, giving a leery look over her shoulder at Joey and Dereece. The two stiffened as they caught her stare and began to face them.

"Huh, I was wondering why there was such a ruckus inside. I take it that you're both fully recovered now?" She sneered.

Dereece gave her a scared but also inquired look. "U-uh, not to be rude or anything, but…who are you?"

Porlyusica narrowed her eyes, making Dereece instantly regret his misdirect. The old woman sighed.

Chespin stayed by Joey's side as he looked worriedly at the old woman. Beside him, something else caught his attention. He looked over, seeing a small figure just a few meters away in silence.

It looked like a very small, white mushroom with black eyes. It stood on three small white roots with tree tips. On its head looked like one big pink mushroom and two purple mushroom on the sides. Once it blinked, it alarmed Chespin, making him fall on his bottom.

"What is it no~ooooh…" Joey looked to the side, his mouth forming an unfinished 'Oh' as he furrowed a brow. Getting the idea, Dereece looked over, his own gaze widening.

"Calm yourselves, would ya?" Porlyusica sighed. "I swear, dealing with humans can be so annoying…"

"W-what's going on? What's that thing?" Dereece pointed at the mushroom creature. It hopped away from them, jumping to Porlyusica's side.

"You don't have to be so alarmed. It won't hurt you. Right?" She looked from the corner of her eyes down at the mushroom creature. From the look and the tone she gave, it was more of a warning than a question. The mushroom creature straightened up and kept a firm posture out of fear of her. "You see, you're safe."

Joey and Dereece both got back up to their feet. They wearily looked around the trunk again, getting room to maneuver around Porlyusica's abode. They looked as perplexed as before.

"Where are we?" Joey asked.

"You're in my house." She answered.

The two turned towards her. "Your house is a tree?!" Dereece exclaimed.

"Woah, are you sure we're not in Laverre City or something?" Joey said.

Porlyusica closed her eyes and tiredly groaned. She turned away. "Why don't you go outside and stay there? If you have questions, save them for someone who cares."

The two were caught off guard by her hospitality issues. They knew the situation was rather inappropriate to cast someone aside when they're in need, but they rather not take another look at her face. They feared of what might happen if the mushroom creature's reactions meant anything. For all they know, they're sparing them from being put into a cooking cauldron.

"Uh…love to stay and chat, but thanks though!" Joey zipped out the door the instant he could. Dereece nudged towards the door and zipped next.

Chespin watched them go, but he looked at Porlyusica to see what she had to say. She glared coldly, sending a chill up his spine. "Uh…wait for me!" He bolted last out the door, finally leaving the creature to look at Porlyusica as she went over to her flasks to watch them bathe in the sunlight.

"Good grief…" she sighed.

The door slammed shut. On the other end, Joey and Dereece stood outside of the tree, catching their breaths of the incident.

Joey looked back at the tree, raising a brow. "What the heck's her damage? We end up in her house and then we wake up only to be kicked out? This is too weird."

"That's putting it mildly." Dereece walked out and away. He looked back to Porlyusica's house, his brown eyes widening in surprise. "Woah…"

Joey joined beside him, as did Chespin. The three were wide-eyed as they noticed how the tree Porlyusica had for a home really was humungous. It sat along a rugged hill, where its roots were so thick and so deep that they were visible everywhere. Around the stumps and the roots, they saw the familiar white mushrooms from inside, only in more numbers, like two or three. They crawled around, looking mildly content.

Joey's eyes were in disbelief at the scene. "Woah…where the heck are we?"

"You're in the Eastern Forest, just outside Magnolia." A voice called from the side. They all turned towards the direction of the voice, revealing the two new figures to be Wendy and Carla in her human form. The former was the one who spoke up with a smile. "You're both up. That's a relief."

Joey was curious of who the girl was, but he rubbed the back of his head with an awkward arm. "Uh…thank, I guess."

"We're in a forest? How? We were in a lab, and now we're in some forest outside the corners of who knows where." Dereece stated with slight inflex to indicate his anxiety.

Carla kept a straight face. "We'll try and be as brief as we can. Simply put, we saw you fall from the sky and fell unconscious. You were lucky with where you landed, otherwise it would've been a painful fall."

Joey raised a brow. "We…fell from the sky?" He looked down at Dereece, but he also looked at him with equal inquiry. They looked back at the girls. "Yeah, now that you mention it, I think we did fall from thin air…"

"You saw all that?" Dereece asked.

Wendy nodded. "Yeah, my friends were all there when it happened." She smiled as she looked towards Porlyusica's house. "We were actually on our way here when we were caught up in something. We originally thought Porlyusica was in trouble and we came here to see what happened."

"Really, we had nothing to worry about." Carla continued. "All that were around were these little mushroom Pokémon that call themselves Morelull. They pose no real threat, but we insisted on getting them away. As one would expect, she didn't care as long as they didn't bother her."

"Yeah, that's happened quite a few times already." Wendy sweat-dropped. "Anyways, my name is Wendy. And right her is Carla."

Carla curtsied. "Pleasure. What do they call you?"

Joey smirked as he pointed to himself. "Name's Joey. This here is my buddy, Dereece. And right here is…well…"

Chespin waved up. "Hi!"

Wendy's smile widened. "It's good to see you're all up."

"I take it you're still uncomfortable, are you?" Carla asked.

Joey again rubbed his blonde, spiky head. He looked down, embarrassed to say. "Uh…maybe just a little." He looked towards them next. "Wait, you know where we are?"

Wendy again nodded. "Yeah, I work in a guild not far from here. Most of everyone is there already. We're actually waiting for someone important to come back right now."

"Someone important?" Chespin repeated.

Carla's nose rose to the sky. "If you must know, he is probably in the biggest case that has ever happened, so I advise you tread lightly."

"Be nice." Wendy chided. "Anyways, he said he and Erza had to go relocate that Ursaring, but I'm sure they'll be back anytime now."

The one name made Joey's ears twitch. Hs head perked up in shock. Dereece took immediate notice.

"So what is it that boys intend to do now? I highly doubt it'll benefit you around here. You'd be better off somewhere with much more suitable needs." Carla advised.

Joey's brow furrowed. He looked ahead with a stone face, but his eyes were shadowed. Dereece raised a brow and leaned in, but saw that Joey was unresponsive.

With the silence following, Wendy began to grow weary. "Uh, everything okay?" She moved her hand in front of Joey's face, but like Dereece, he wasn't moving.

"Was it something one of us said?" Carla questioned.

"Ooooh no." Dereece groaned.

Suddenly, Joey zipped pass Dereece and Chespin; the latter spinning uncontrollably from the speed. Joey abruptly got into Wendy's face, eyes wide as he clutched her shoulders. The Sky Dragon looked like she was about to pale.

"Hold on! You mean Erza?!" he shrieked. "The Erza Pularis?!"

Wendy was still in shock, unable to respond.

"Hey, let go of Wendy! Are you even listening?!" Carla snapped.

"Trust me, it only gets worse from here." Dereece explained.

He began to shake Wendy back and forth. "You mean that, right?! You mean the wife of Nic Pularis and Nic himself are coming here?! They're here?!"

Having able to catch her breath, Wendy slowly nodded. "Uh…yeah…?"

Joey had no facial change, He stared at Wendy with wide eyes and let go, making her almost lose balance. His arms went limp beside his waist. He looked ahead like he had seen a radiant angle smile down upon him. His lips and mouth was apart as he was blinking once, registering the dreamily possibility of seeing someone who very much mattered.

Wendy used her freedom to scoot away to Carla's side. "Uh…a-are you okay?" If she wasn't worried before, she was now.

Carla shot glares at the frozen Joey. "Well I'll never…that fool had the audacity! Wendy, do something about this! He isn't even looking at all responsible for what he did!"

Wendy leaned away from her now. "Hey, take it easy, Carla. I'm sure there's a good reason behind all this…" Her eyes looked towards him. "Eh, right?" Again, no response.

Chespin stepped up, looking at his Trainer with wonder. "Huh?" He turned his head in confusion.

Dereece rolled his eyes as a wrist was to his hip. "Give it a minute."

Joey was as stiff as rock, his mouth open so that flies could breach his esophagus. _'Nic Pularis…is actually coming here…and beside him…his wife.'_ As he registered that, his fists began to ball and the body shuddered. He began to curl up. "Nic's…here…"

"Huh? Nic?" Wendy repeated. She looked towards Carla for what she had to say, but she was equally as wondrous.

"Gnnnngh…!" Around Joey, a fiery aura enveloped him, shocking everyone around him. Wendy reeled back, while Chespin and Dereece went wide-eyed. "Nic and Erza Pularis…Nic…YEEEAAAHHH!" His gaze was full of fire and passion. He smiled wide as he raised his arms up in sheer joy and thrill at the hype he was feeling right. He flexed his biceps, looking pumped, where in the background, it was like a volcano erupted around him. "Nic-senpai! I'll come find you~!"

With a battle cry, Joey took off at high speeds, leaving a dust trail behind him. The general direction though left the others behind him intrigued.

"W-wait! That's not where the guild is!" Wendy cried out, but Joey was well out of earshot.

"What is that buffoon up to?!" Carla snapped.

Dereece's eyelids were half open. "Heaven knows I tried answering that question." He looked towards Wendy and Carla. "I think you'll piece it altogether soon enough." He started for the dissipating dust trail Joey paved for them. "Come on, let's go cool his jets before we get anywhere."

Wendy and Carla looked at the other in confusion again, allowing Chespin to bypass them with a scurry towards his new Trainer. The two chose to save the questioning for later and instead followed along with Dereece's logic.

With Joey's current direction, it wouldn't be too long that they were to be at the guild once more.

* * *

Along an open river, the water reflected the sky. Within its crashing rake against a few rocks, the manner in which the stream flowed was clear enough to show one last shooting star reflecting over the surface, heading northeast.

Taking a knee beside the stream, Nic cupped some water into his hands and bent down, applying the freshwater to clean his face. As he scrubbed, his hands went up and down. Once it was thorough, he looked down at the stream, seeing the water reflect his face. He was looking so deep into his reflection that he forget that he wasn't alone.

"If you're staring at the water so much, why not just drink it?"

The familiar but comforting tone made Nic half-grin. As he sat along the uncharted riverbank of Route 21, after having dragged the unconscious Ursaring for quite a ways, he thought he could use a small break before heading back home. Of course he was told to not do it himself, so Erza tagged along while Vanessa held down the fort and explained with the others what happened back at the guild.

With the break of serenity in his small time, he took in a deep, cleansing breath as the river water flowed. A Floatzel underwater swam pass him, carrying along idly. Finally, he responded to the voice. "You make it sound like you're jealous. You think I have a thing for rivers."

Erza walked up from behind, having watched Nic from the tree line to get a slightly higher fixation of the landscape. She knelt behind him, glowing and requipping. Her now revealed, slender arms slipped around his neck and hugged him. She pressed her much ample chest against the back of his neck, resting her chin atop his head.

The two settled into the embrace for what felt like a short while before Erza spoke again. "It's stressing, isn't it?" she rhetorically asked. "To think another crossing like this could happen, but it's not remote. This is certainly the personification of a problem, huh."

Nic closed his eyes as he grinned. "There's an anomaly here somewhere. If this is some crude joke, then I bet reality's having a big laugh at all this."

"Let it have its time." She gripped him tighter, her eyes softening. "Even reality will shatter once we change it. We just need to take this step by step. So long as you don't push it too far without me, I'll be there with you."

"You'll be there anyway." Nic lightly said. "You are my wife after all."

"Oh, am I?" Erza bent sideways so that her face was looking down on Nic's left side. Nic smiled up towards her. "If I'm your wife, then you being my husband means you'll be making the dessert tonight."

Nic's smile softened. "And you being my wife means you'll be doing the dishes tonight then."

Erza closed in, kissing him on the cheek. Once satisfied, she pulled back. "I love you, Nic. Don't you ever forget that."

"I won't. I love you too."

"Your problems and mine are the same. If this worries you, I'll be there to make sure we and the Pokémon can reach an understanding. Understanding is the fundamental for a healthy relationship, for everyone."

Nic looked back ahead, staring at the glistening rays of the sun overhead illuminating the riverbank below. Water as clear as crystal showed a few Drantini swimming swiftly and freely, unaffected by the chaos out of the water. If that Pokémon could swim as fast even without the revelation, then who was Nic to slow down and cease his swim.

He snickered. "Looks like I'll be doing what I do best then…improvise."

"So then we're going back to tell everyone what you figured out then?"

"Yeah…" He settled into Erza, sliding backwards until the back of his head was on her lap. His hands were behind and underneath, holding her thighs softly, like holding onto someone before they would fly away. His eyes shut as he eased up. "But just five more minutes of this."

Erza looked down, smiling softly at Nic. Her brown eyes locked onto his relaxing face, seeing he was ready and willing to play it out by ear. She truly did admire that about Nic, and she had full confidence in his ability to initialize a strategy within all this.

But rather than worry about the future, she did what Nic was doing, and that was worry about now. And now, she was having her moment with him. She cupped the sides of his face as she bent over, smiling straight down so that her head blocked out the sun, like a guardian that prevented disruption to her king.

The two stayed like that for a long while, even as the river flowed, a Drantini humming as it breached and arched back into the water to continue its swim.

* * *

 **New chapter, and it's chapter 2! I once again want to apologize to you guys for the lengths of my chapters again. I know they are really long, and I am trying my best to edit as best as I can. This chapter was about 20K, which was twice the usual quota in the past two stories. I'm doing what I can to still make this final installment as comfortable and as enjoyable to read as were the predecessors If the lengths are bugging you guys, just tell me and I'll see what I can do. I just wanted to address that because I felt aware of this fault and confidence deterioration I've been feeling.**

 **So hooray, Joey and Dereece surprisingly made it to Earthland, and Natsu and Charmander got along well! Joey's fanboying rage has begun, and with Nic finally piecing together a formula for what to do next, wheels are definitely going to be turning the next couple chapters. I'm gonna try my best to end this beginning arc around Chapter 5 if I can, but also I need to work equally as hard on** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **.**

 **So for now, thanks again, and I hope the NicxErza at the end was worth it! Review (in detail) what your thoughts were and hope to see you again next chapter!**


	3. A Sappy First Day

"And we're here!"

"This is the place?"

"A little hard on the eyes I admit, but it's homely no less."

"Looks weird. Are you sure this is it?"

"Trust me, we get that reaction quite often."

"I know, right? So anyways guys…welcome to Fairy Tail!"

The group that was comprised of Wendy, Carla, and the newcomers to the world, Joey and Dereece, had finally gotten out of the accursed Eastern Forest thanks to Wendy and Carla's guidance. Although technically, it was Joey's spontaneous energy from the prospects of a certain someone mention that made him reach the guild first. It took a few good minutes to calm Carla down after a deep pompous chastise. But rest assured, they stood before the guild that Wendy proudly introduced to the boys.

"Woooaah." Joey's eyes were wide as he looked at the guild hall's highest point. It wasn't like some fortress, but it wasn't like anywhere he's been to. If anything, it looked like a tricked-out tavern, which it technically was. "So this is a guild?"

"Yup." Wendy confirmed.

Chespin's head tilted as he looked equally as surprised as his new Trainer. He, too, awed at the base that housed more of these people that he saw demonstrate magical powers.

"So what is it that these guilds do again?" Dereece questioned the two girls.

Carla crossed her arms and smirked. "Well, if you want to get technical, a guild is a place where mages of all kinds can be assigned work. There are people in this world who seek help, and for those who aren't right for the job, we have mages who perform magic to fulfill these tasks."

Dereece raised a brow at Carla's summary. "Huh."

"Of course that's technical terms. Here in our guild, you can say it's…" The disguised Exceed looked away, looking to find the right words to say. Although from the strain she seemed to be putting onto herself, it looked a lot easier said than done. Thankfully Wendy was there to clear it up.

"Let's say we leave it to them to decide that." She advised.

Joey put a wrist to his hip as he looked up at the sign that was over their heads, spelling out the guild's name. He raised a brow as he reiterated it. "'FAIRY TAIL'. So this is it?"

Wendy nodded. "Sure is. I'm sure everyone is waiting inside waiting."

Carla sighed heavily. "Guess postponing is out of the question. Come along." She started into the guild, alongside Wendy.

Joey and Dereece looked at each other with inquiry. The looks on their faces were clear neither knew what to expect or what will come of the situation at hand. First they fell out of the sky, and then they wake up and find Joey's Chespin speaking. If they could find answers here and now, then it's worth the leap of faith.

With steps closely following behind Wendy and Carla, the group made it through the entrance indoors.

"Hey guys, we're back!" Wendy greeted cheerfully.

Everyone inside the guild was busy idling by around Natsu and Lucy, who were taking liberties in catching everyone up on the details. When Wendy ventured into the guild along with the outsiders, their attention was grasped on them.

"Hey, welcome back Wendy!" Elfman loudly greeted.

"Thank goodness you're here. We were starting to get worried." Lisanna admitted.

Cana ceased her chugging of a mug, sighing out with a whimsical hiccup. "N'aw c'mon, she's a big girl. She can take care of herself." She slurred before turning towards Wendy. "Way to make timing, you guys!"

"Well we'd be here sooner if _someone_ cooled off all of a sudden." Carla's snarky tone was adverted towards a certain blonde just a few feet from her. Suffice to say Joey exaggerated his own shock.

"Well you're here now, that's what matters." Kinana looked at the newbies to their world. "Huh? Are those who I think they are?"

Wendy smiled. "Yeah. These are the guys we've been telling you about." She turned towards Joey and Dereece, presenting them to their friends. "These are…uh…s-sorry, I forgot to ask." She nervously dropped a bead of sweat from not asking sooner.

Carla shook her head over her friend's mistake. "Good grief."

Joey smirked at all the newcomers he's seen. He looked so amazed at the various people that he's been looking at for not even a minute and the looks department was without a doubt the most bewildering sight. There was a brawny man who looked like he bench-pressed mountains, there was that old lady back in the woods, and now all these ladies with different hair colors, not to mention their bodies. He was so shocked to say the least, in more ways than one. The first impression was always the most intriguing.

Dereece looked towards him with a raised brow. "Hey, Joey, you really think this was a good idea?"

Snapping out of his wonders, the new Trainer looked at Dereece. "Maybe, then again, maybe not. Look let's just play along and see this goes for no~ooooww…" His eyes drew towards the crowd, where he got a better image of the guild, more specifically, the women. Not only were a good majority of women on the less conservative side, but looking at people like Kinana, he could see how enormous her rack was. In fact, he looked like he was gonna spaz. "Woooahh…"

"Hm? Joey?" Dereece waved a hand in front of Joey, but he looked like he was frozen solid. His questionable gaze followed Joey's to the women such as Cana and Kinana, noticing just now the size of their bust. His eyelids dropped as he hunched in a sulk. "Oh."

Lucy turned within the crowd, seeing the two newbies that got warped into their guild. "Hey, look." She and Natsu looked at Joey and Dereece with welcoming looks.

The Dragon Slayer raised a brow and grinned. "Hey, it's those two guys from before. So you're up already?"

"Those guys?" Gray repeated, turning towards them without a shirt on. "Hey, yeah. They're the ones you mentioned knocked out that Pokémon Vanessa described."

Juvia nodded. "They look well."

Dereece looked all around, seeing the numerous people that came in all different shapes and sizes. "Man, this place is packed full of these guys. I didn't think something like this even existed." He noticed how Joey was still quiet from his little eye candy of a sight that was very much common in Earthland, and as much as he appealed to his own tendencies, he found it more appropriate to budge Joey's arm harshly with an elbow.

"Oof!" The shock snapped his out of his moment. "H-huh?! Yes! Yeah!" The last bit came out more forcibly than he thought. "I mean, this place is cool and all, but are you all mages? What is a mage anyway?"

Carla snickered. "Well…" She suddenly glowed, morphing her body in a bright light. Her whole figure shrunk and swirled into a smaller state, and Joey and Dereece watched with recoiled necks and raised brows as she reverted to her real form; a white feline. "That implies with the concept of magic." She finished.

"GAAH!" The two recoiled in shock of the sight.

"Cooool." Chespin awed.

Wendy saw their shock, again feeling uneasy. "…yeah, I forgot to tell you. Carla's really an Exceed." She explained.

"A what and who now?" Joey questioned.

Carla sighed. "Typical. This is what happens when you lay something on someone too fast for them to handle."

Dereece began to feel his knees quake. He couldn't believe his eyes, nor even his ears. First it was Chespin speaking to them, and now it was the cat that stood on two feet. "W-w-wait, what? H-how are you…and what are…" He fumbled over his words to process what was happening, but as Happy and Pantherlily got within sight, Dereece's head sharply turned to gaze like an owl. "Wait…WHAT?! There's even more of you here?!"

"Aye!" Happy greeted.

"They look like they're going to faint again." Pantherlily said.

"Well don't look at me, I ain't getting the water." Gajeel said. "Isn't that why Juvia's here?"

Juvia looked at Gajeel with confusion, a question mark over her head popping.

Joey's mouth was gaping, but eventually shook his head to shake off any shock. "Okay, can we call a time out?!" He put his hands up to make a referee signal for his wording. "Okay, so firstly, we fall out of the sky after a light strikes us like a bomb. Then, we wake up, and we're in some place far from home, and here, my Chespin is speaking…"

"Hi." He waved.

"-and now we're here in a guild of wome-I mean people who can use jug-I mean magic to help others? And now there's talking cats? Somebody better explain this to my mother or things are going to get super crazy around here! And _nobody_ wants to see Dereece that way!"

"I what?" Dereece inquired.

A person stepped up from the crowd, her thick thighs covered by her brown leggings. "It's okay. We'll do what we can to help."

Dereece and Vanessa turned towards the person who own the thick thighs and the voice. Upon meeting her face – among other beautiful parts – it was like Joey's face was smacked by an angry Audino. His eyes were as wide as Noctowl eyes, yet his pupils were as small as dots. His space that was around him was like gray stone, because that's what he felt like when he recognized the person stepping up.

Dereece didn't look as shocked, but surprised no less. "It can't be…"

Vanessa smiled as she greeted the two boys from her world. She ignored their surprise with little to no difficulty. "I take it you're surprised?" she mused.

"Y-yeah, you can that that." Dereece answered.

"Well you wouldn't be the first to admit that. A lot of people get that impression at first. It's nothing new for us."

Sophie chuckled at the irony. "Quite true."

A high-pitched squeal came from someone within the guild. The squeal sounded more or less of an inhale than anything other than a squeal itself. Everyone looked around to see where the bizarre sound was coming from, but Dereece swiftly turned to see Joey's mouth gaping as he saw Joey squealing in place. Immediately, he knew what was to come. "Oh boy…"

"Is he okay?" Wendy worried. She remembered what happened back in the forest, and it was safe to say she rather not try and see him in another spaz at the moment.

The squeals got to an even higher pitch, with Joey starting to shudder in place.

"Oh boy." Dereece groaned.

Joey's legs were feeling like jelly as they were quaking in place. He was looking at Vanessa with a widening smile and his fists shuddering like some giddy boy waiting for Christmas. "V-V-V-V-Va-Va-Va…" He couldn't even make sense at the moment with his growing condition.

Vanessa raised a brow. "What is it?"

"Va…Va…!" Suddenly, explosions of sparkles happened around his face, his eyes becoming sparkles themselves. His shrieks went loud and clear as he eyes Vanessa with all his joy and prosperity to come. "VANESSA PULARIS~!" He squealed in a hitch pitch again, getting his associate to show moderate calm at his shock, which turned to his own closed-mouthed groan.

Chespin looked in wonder and awe at his Trainer's shrieking.

"Woah, hey! What's his deal of a sudden?" Natsu questioned. "He blow a fuse or what?"

"Yeah, why's he panicking? We didn't do nothing!" Happy worried. "…did we?"

"Beats me. The guy probably is just overloading in a breakdown." Gray figured anxiously. Beside him, the others backed a full step back, unsound as he was with Joey's reaction.

Joey looked at his twitching fingers with sporadic gasps. His knees were continuing to quiver from his overwhelming surprise. There she was, someone beautiful, of not bodacious, and someone of importance who was before him. And she talked to him. "Va-Vanessa…just talked to me…" he whispered. His cheeks got a tint of pink in him. "She really did just…talk to me…"

Unable to hold himself up, Joey slumped down, hunched forward and gaping at the ground with overwhelming shock. Everyone again felt alarmed at Joey's display of shock, even Mirajane was put on edge.

"My goodness." The barmaid said.

Lisanna sweat-dropped beside her. "Should we do something?"

"I don't know." Max said. "Is he even paying attention to us?"

"I think so if he shouted Vanessa's name like that." Laki speculated.

"This guy's weird." Nab said.

"Takes one to know one." Romeo retorted.

Joey continued shuddering in deep shock right beside his wondrous Chespin. He looked unresponsive as he looked like he was about to cry of sheer joy, but bending down and patting his back, Dereece snapped him out of it. "Uh, Joey? Joey?" he called.

Joey snapped out of it with a start. "H-huh?! What?!" He looked towards Dereece, where he nudged his eyes to motion forward. The blonde followed, seeing Vanessa's face again. She looked relaxed, if not questioned like the others. Immediately he scrambled towards his feet, again sparkling around his eyes. "D'uh, s-so sorry! I-I-I couldn't help but…"

Vanessa grinned again, stopping Joey cold. Those mature lips forming made his heart grow out of his chest with sparkles in his eyes shining brighter than ever. His squeals reverberated again, making his conscious nearly fade. His held his head as he swayed about. "I can't believe it! This guild actually has Vanessa Pularis! The very younger sister of Nic-senpai! Vanessa-senpai! They're actually here?! They're here~! Waaaah!"

Everyone in the guild sweat-dropped as Joey was panicking like a wild Primeape. They didn't know what to do for his condition, and no one could blame them.

"'Nic-senpai'?" Sophie reiterated. She looked towards Vanessa, smirking. "Well this is interesting. You know him, Vanessa?"

"Can't say in person." She said as she watched Joey sparkle and stare at her, it honestly felt humbling. "But I think he's seen us before if he knows who we are."

"O-of course I know who you are!" Joey snapped. "Y-you're Vanessa! Vanessa Pularis! I-I mean I'm honored to…no! I'm humbled to-NO! I mean…gaaaah! I'm not worthy!" In shame, he bowed before Vanessa, worshipping her in all her glory. His face hit the floor as his muffled wails went aloud.

Dereece groaned again. He turned towards the crowd, putting his hands up. "Everything's cool, folks. Nothing to see here. Just your regular person just, uh, doing…regular things!" He looked over his shoulder. "C'mon man, catch your breath. He harshly whispered.

Joey sniffled as he wiped his face with his arm. "R-right…sorry…"

"Well I'm not sure if this is humorous or pitiful." Evergreen boasted.

"The guy's falling all over himself." Bickslow said.

Freed put a hand to his chin. "Well I doubt this will affect Nic's arrival upon return."

"That's right. Isn't he supposed to be back soon?"

Evergreen sighed. "Hard to say, he can be so unpredictable."

Charmander slumped besides Natsu and Happy, sighing in relief. "Phew, well thank goodness. I hope I never have to bear something like that again." He hoped.

"Was there a pun intended in that?" Happy asked.

Natsu looked down at him, smiling. "Hey, c'mon little buddy, have some cheers? That was pretty cool though how your yelling stopped that guy. You should be proud."

Charmander looked up towards him, looking slightly cheered up. "If you say so…"

As Joey arose to his feet, Dereece looked back at the group. "So, wait…you mean that is Nic's sister's here, that means…"

A spatial distortion began to open from behind, illuminating Joey's back. The shocked blonde felt some tingly feeling arise up his spine as there was some odd, cool breeze flow from behind. Very slowly, he looked over his shoulder to get the hint. When he saw some sparkling, distorted portal just meters away, he swiftly turned to face it, as did Dereece and Chespin. The shocked trio as well as the guild gazed into the portal, some knowingly grinning.

"Well speak of the devil." Jet teased.

"It's about time." Droy added.

"Was he and Erza on their honeymoon or what?" Wakaba joked.

Macao laughed. "If it were their honeymoon pal, I doubt they'd come back for another year."

Joey and Dereece looked at the portal with deep awe. On the other end, they could see the looks of a beautiful landscape with a river and a small hill amongst a field. "Woah…" Curious Joey folded his fingers and put them over his brows. He squinted his blue eyes to try and get a better picture from the distance to see what was going on.

Within the light, two figures began to reveal themselves side-by-side. Their shadows were slowly coming into light, with the male figure stepping out first. "Sorry for the wait…"

The figure's voice, his shape, his tone; it's those qualities that made Joey freeze in place. His eyes were so wide and his mouth gaping so much that people could've mistaken him for a Loudred. Dereece took a step back out of shock of his own right. With a few slow steps, he teetered back to where he was a few meters away from his pal.

"You've gotta be kidding me…"

As Joey was gawking and having trouble breathing, the figure turned around and reached inside the portal. He pulled out his companion, who was clanging in her Heart Kreuz Armor, with her long, flowing red hair shifting as she stepped into the breeze-free guild. Once out, Nic and Erza looked ahead, the portal closing with sparkles in its place.

Nic grinned. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long."

"Hope you all weren't too bored with us away." Erza smirked.

Joey's eyes literally stretched out of their sockets as he stood in place, his jaw dropping lower than ever.

Dereece blinked several times before he was able to compose himself. Even now he seemed startled. "W-woah! H-he-he's actually here?! IN THE FLESH?!"

Joey was still trying to process it. There was Nic Pularis right in front of him, the savior of the universe. His squeals were so quiet that they could've been mistaken for long inhales.

Vanessa stepped up from the crowd, grinning. "Welcome back."

"Hey, you're just in time. Salamander just finished yammering on about this mishap that you guys couldn't handle." Gajeel snorted.

"I could if I wanted to! What do you know?! You weren't there!" Natsu protested.

Gajeel shot him a look of his own. "That's funny considering how Erza and the little Pularis herself swept it up instead. I think a few good clubs to the head would've knocked it out."

Before an intervention could kick in, Levy got between Gajeel and Natsu, pushing them apart. "Now is not the time!" she insisted.

"So then you relocated that creature?" Sophie asked, moving along with the subject.

Nic nodded. "Yeah. We thought it would be best to settle him in Route 21. With what's been described of him, that's where a lot of those kinds of high-level Pokémon reside. I just hope it won't be a problem here anytime soon." He then turned towards the two newbies to Earthland, half-grinning. "You two…"

"Uh, N-Nic Pularis?" Dereece responded quickly, Joey was smiling wide as he stared at Nic, hands shaking near his mouth.

"Can't say I'm anyone else at this point. Are you both alright?"

Dereece nodded. "Yeah! Yeah! We're just dandy, right Joey?" He waited for his pal to answer, but Joey was still squealing as he stood stiff as a statue. He whispered into his ear again. "Pssst! Don't be rude! Say something!"

"I~…" Joey's mind was all scrambled up inside. As Nic looked towards him with a calm expression, the blonde-haired fan was smiling so wide that he looked like he was about to explode now. "I-I~…I…" Unable to handle the situation any longer, he fell backwards like a tree, thudding loudly with his limbs falling to his sides.

Erza's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Nic, Erza, Vanessa, Dereece, and Wendy all began to surround Joey. Chespin moved right over Joey, staring with his head turn and looked deeper into his Trainer for any signs of his condition like a magnifying glass.

"Is he alright?" Vanessa asked.

"Believe me, I've been asking myself that same question every hour of every day." Dereece answered. "But this…" He waved his hand in front of Joey's face. His eyes were still wide open yet didn't follow. "My guess, he just put himself into a bliss coma. Which he should be clear of in 3…2…1…"

" **AAAAHHH!** " Joey sat up with a loud shriek that startled the entire guild. Sparkles surrounded his face and eyes as he looked at Nic, who looked morally astonished. "N-N-N-N-N…NIC-SENPAI~!" He began to run around with so much energy that a dust trail followed his scrambling feet. His hands covered his face as he blindly shifted everywhere.

Everyone looked at one another questionably, some raising brows, and other shrugging. Dereece remained calm as he watched him scramble all his energy out.

"OHMYGODOHMYGODOGMYGOD! THIS IS HAPPENING! THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!" Joey stopped back in place, quivering his twitching fingers as his eyes were misting of sheer joy. "I…I…I'm standing before the great Nic himself…no! Nic-senpai! OOOHHH!" He grabbed his face again, bending his knees inward like he had to use the restroom.

As Joey was in a full-blown state of shock, Nic looked towards Erza to see what she had to say. She shared the same level of surprise he did. They both calmly looked back at Joey as he scrambled overtime to find words to praise Nic with.

Sophie walked around Joey as he got to his knees, bending and bowing constantly as he made no sense. Once beside Nic, she looked down with an amused face. "Seems you've got quite the reputation going for you, Nic." She said.

"Yeah…looks like it." He raised a brow on his own.

She smirked. "Looks to me you and your family grew to be quite the celebrities, eh?"

"That so? I always just tried to ignore it."

Erza crossed her arms. "Well ignoring this groveling doesn't seem to be part of the bargain."

"Groveling seems a bit harsh, but…" Nic looked at another angle as Joey constantly bowed with wavy comical tears running down his face. The strangest part of it was that half of his sayings were incoherent, and he was starting to worry for Joey's water supply.

"I'M NOT WORTHY!" he shrieked, finishing his bow.

Chespin looked down to his Trainer with confusion over his fanboy demeanor. He wasn't sure exactly, but he had a feeling by the warm and enigmatic vibe Nic gave off, he must've been important. Very important. He, too, bowed in the case of any regal reason.

Gajeel couldn't hold back his laughter. "Well isn't this guy a kiss-up."

"More like a diehard." Gray interjected.

Mirajane nervously reached out to them. "Now, now. Let's not push any buttons we don't already know…"

"Aw c'mon. I actually think it's cute." Cana chimed. She received looks from the guild. "What? I'm not wrong. It is."

Erza sighed at the predicament. She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

Not wanting this to go on any further, Nic crossed his arms over his chest and looked down. "Honestly, I'm a little flattered by this. I'm not sure what to say." He admitted.

In a loud heartbeat, Joey sat up with a gawking expression. He gasped again in deep shock. "Nic just…admitted he was flattered…" His next act was whimpering loudly as he bit his nails. _'My god, Nic-senpai just talked directly towards me. And I made the great impression! My folks are gonna be so jealous!'_

Nic grinned in delight, chuckling. "Well it's alright. At least you're able to take delight in this predicament. So then, what do people call you?"

Joey scrambled once again back to his feet, clearing his throat with a few good hums. "Uh, right! So sorry!" He stood still as he tried to catch his breath. He breathed in and out, but was having trouble with how fast his heart was racing. _'C;mon Joey. Just say it. Make Nic know your name!'_

A shaky hand reached out towards Nic. Joey clenched his teeth together as he looked like he was looking at a ghost of a dream. "J-J-Joey Haycliff! An honor to meet you!" He bowed his head again.

"A-and Dereece Iwoda!" Dereece reached out next.

Nic reached out and shook hands with both associates. "Nic Pularis, welcome to Fairy Tail." He shook Joey's hand normally without show of professionalism. He then shook hands with Dereece in gratitude. The former looked at his hand as it shook in front of his face. He had a good idea of what Joey was thinking, but he chose to dislodge that logic and move along.

Once situated, he turned and looked at the remaining guild members. The atmosphere began to grow serious as his frown formed again. The others were picking up on the innuendo and knew it was time to move along.

Laxus stepped in front of everyone, preceded by the Thunder God Tribe around him. They got before the guild as the master crossed his arms and gave Nic a returning serious look. "So what do you got?" he bluntly asked.

"I have a pretty good idea of went down as of last night." Nic answered. "But it's not exactly the best news for everyone."

"What do you mean?" Levy asked.

Nic looked towards Erza to see what she had to confirm. She shared her own look of worry, and that made him turn and look back at the guild. Finally, he started.

"This isn't going to be easy to comprehend, but hear me out…"

Nic thus took several minutes to explain the details of what pieces of the puzzles he was able to put together and what transpired in Spear Pillar according to the news. He told them in the simplest details and as bluntly as possible, yet still concise all around. By the time he was finished, the whole guild was dead silent.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold up." Dereece intervened. "You mean _all_ those meteors that traveled across the sky, they're really…"

"Yeah." Nic nodded. He looked up at the guild with his blue eyes searing daggers. "Pokémon carried from PokeEarth."

The idea was blasphemy. It was crazy to disregard as a theory, let alone an ambiguous ordeal. Who could possible believe such a theory existed? Admittedly, there was the instance where Acnologia connected the two worlds upon accident that ensued Dragon Force, but even that wasn't scientifically possible.

Erza took in all the information Nic gave and thought long and hard about it. "So that's it. All those hundreds of thousands of meteors everyone saw last night really were Pokémon who were struck by those same meteors that crossed over."

"Which explains the Charmander." Sophie said. She shot Natsu's Charmander a look.

"And that also explains Joey and Dereece as well. They must have been struck by one of those lights as well." Vanessa evaluated, looking at the two in confirmation. "That is what you said, right?"

"Yeah, basically." Dereece answered. He turned back towards Nic, shuffling his hands in anxiety growth. "So…what you're saying is…we're in an entirely new world? Full of magic and creatures that can talk?"

"Yes." Nic replied.

"H-how?"

Nic kept his arms crossed as he turned towards Erza. "The truth is that I'm still very much connected to time and space, specifically, the rifts that Dialga and Palkia create. I knew something was off last night when I felt those meteors fall, because it was at that same time Spear Pillar suffered that eruption. All that spatial energy went viral, and as a result…" He looked towards Charmander once more, the Lizard Pokémon seemingly full of attention lately.

"Oh my goodness." Mirajane gasped.

"Yeah, this is big news! And that's taking the cake!" Romeo exclaimed.

Lucy looked down, putting a hand to her chin. "So what do you think happened that caused space to go viral like this? Would it have to do with Dialga and Palkia like before?"

"Yeah, that's my viewpoint at least." Nic looked down at the ground, a somber silence falling before the guild hall. "Dialga…Palkia…Time…Space. All these fabrications conflicted again, but this time, with damage far greater than before. I don't know what happened with them, but I do know whatever they did crossed a lot of lines, and I don't think that many are going to react positively to this." He looked towards the entrance's light at the bottom of its doors. "But that light…I didn't think it would be anything I recognized. I think Dialga and Palkia were disputing again, but I think whatever it was, there had to be someone or something in the carnage."

Everyone gasped again. Lucy stepped forward. "Nic, are you sure about this?"

He looked back towards her. "Honestly, I can't be sure at this point of any reason this crossing happened…but I know when I feel something off. And I know this trumps everything I feel being misplaced. Pokémon are now in this world, and a lot of them at that. We'll have to adapt to this change, and fast."

"That's a tall order considering there's only you, your sister, Erza, and maybe those two guys over there who know about Pokémon." Macao pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm not sure being able to get all these guys off and on these planets will be a bright idea in the long run."

Nic shook his head. "That's not the angle I'm looking at."

"Huh?"

"I'm not talking about sending the Pokémon back. No, there's far too many for that to be possible at this point. If anything, this is going to take the effort of anyone and everyone we're able to get ahold of. We need to get them to know of what happened."

"I get it, so then that way we can plot from there." Gray deduced.

Erza nodded. "I've been in Kalos before, and I haven't been the only one. Natsu, Lucy, and those who crossed with us from Edolas at one point went through that shift. I think we would be best to handle the situations since we're at least familiar with the customs these creatures follow."

Natsu hummed as he crossed his arms, looking up towards the ceiling. "Uh…" He bopped a fist on his palm. "Hey, yeah! That's when we met Vanessa and went through Kalos! Man was that a blast!"

"That's also where you got knocked by that mushroom." Lucy remembered dryly.

Pantherlily nodded. "I must say, even now, battling that Roserade does bring a smile on my face."

"Yeah, that's a good point." Gajeel agreed.

"And we can't forget that we all went to his world to see Vanessa's battle against that girl for this small badge." Elfman reminded the guild.

"So in retrospect, we all have knowledge of how Pokémon are generally used." Lisanna noted. "That makes us the most capable of knowing how to handle these creatures, to an extent at least."

"Exactly." Attention again drew towards Nic. "Remember the Council War. Remember the exact reason as to why they wanted me gone, and to rid of Pokémon. They were scared, they thought we were superior, when we rather be seen in light like everybody else. I'm sure you all remember how hard you fought for that reason." The guild looked towards each other, seeing the faces of some starting to grin at Nic's reasons. "Now I'm not saying this will work out in the end the way everyone wants it to be, but maybe we can lessen the struggle. To do that, we need to get the word out, and we need to do it with tentative action. That means caution about and around."

"And just how exactly are you intending to do that?" Gray questioned.

Nic turned towards the whole guild, paneling from right to left, and back again. He remained as quiet as possible while he thought long and hard. He looked over towards the anticipated Joey, whose Chespin looked neutral. He then looked towards Charmander, seeing him crawling onto Natsu's shoulder. Seeing the two smile, as well as considering the lives of the Pokémon and humans alike, it wasn't easy, but finally, he thought of something.

He sighed heavily, shaking his head. "I can't believe I'm going to suggest this…"

Vanessa heard Nic's mumbling and looked towards Sophie. She looked back at him with a frown. "Nic, what are you suggesting?"

Nic looked up, opening his eyes as he shot another serious expression towards his allies; Freed in particular. "Freed."

"Yes?"

"Do you think you can get in contact with the Council?"

"I can try."

Once again, the guild looked at Nic like he's been struck by lightning. They all showed distaste in some way.

"Say what?!" Natsu shrieked. "Not those jerks again! C'mon!"

"Yeah, I'm with Natsu on this one. That's a bold move, Nic." Gray sniped.

"Booo!" Happy protested.

As everyone began to riot about, the commotion allowed Joey and Dereece to turn towards the other, getting their own conversation in a huddle. "So, what do you think is going on?" Dereece whispered.

Joey's eyes narrowed. "Not sure, but I think they're trying to say they're gonna try and get the word about Pokémon out." Even he didn't sound so sure, but it's what he could process at least. "What I wanna know is what this Council thing is, and why they're against it?"

"It's a long history." Sophie interjected. "Simply put, the Magic Council is a high-ranking committee that's in charge of the magic world. We're not exactly on the best terms with them…or rather _were_ on the best terms."

"What happened?" Chespin asked.

Vanessa went from that point on. "They tried using a number on weapons and policies to suppress Nic and Pokémon. Since they caused a panic after the whole incident back during Giratina's descent, they tried to make Nic's Pokémon powers into weapons if he didn't go home."

Joey gasped in deep shock. "What?! They _dare_ to question Nic-senpai's awesomeness?!"

"Lines were crossed, so the Council initialized a war. It was a struggle, but we won, and the Chairman passed from a heart attack out of defiance."

"Ouch." Joey murmured.

Erza folded her arms. "But since then, the Council's policies have been reformed. After reformations and…incidents…we can say that this new Council should at least be able to hear our voices with an open mind."

"I see. So if can convince them about the reason why Pokémon are here, then maybe they'll listen and act accordingly to you because you uphold the most experience with them. That's smart thinking." Macao said.

"Power behind the throne. Not bad." Max said. "A little underhanded, but I think it'll work."

Nic sighed again, deeply. He still despised the Council to no end, and in every way possible, he'd damned them and its bureaucracy to no end. In no way would he ever condemn himself to being pacified or subjugated to any of the Council's words or policies. He'd sooner see them see the errors of their own folly, and watch them crumble into dust. But he also knew that would lead to another war, and this time people against all Pokémon. It wasn't to his liking, but if it meant saving lives from a misunderstanding, he would at least tolerate looking at their faces. But in no way was he going to take a scolding for any reason by people who don't understand what they don't know.

"If the Council listens and orchestrates maneuvers with dealing about Pokémon from then on, then everyone wins." Lucy said. "I hate to say it, but I think I'll have to agree."

Natsu huffed as he folded his arms. "Well I say screw them. We can spread word ourselves!"

"Yeah, but you know there are some people who don't listen to us, Natsu." Gray said.

Natsu raised a fist. "Then we make them understand."

"No." Nic scorned. "Gray's right. Even out there, if we go guild by guild, we'll only get so far. I know Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus will be willing to hear us out, but for everyone outside of Fiore, we'll be needing some help. So Freed, can you issue a request?"

Freed nodded. "Consider it done. Master Laxus?"

Laxus turned downwards and closed his eyes, frowning. "All things considered, I don't think we have a choice. Do it."

"Yes, sir!" Freed ran into the crowd, hurrying towards the large desk in front of Laxus' office.

Laxus turned to face everyone. "Alright guys, listen up, because I'd rather not repeat myself. You heard Nic, we have Pokémon crossing over, and frankly, it's creeping me out as well. These things take up a lot of shapes and sizes, so don't expect a welcoming committee if you see or hear of weird creatures that can talk. For today, everyone be on standby. Resume your duties, but if you're out on a job, keep open eyes. If you come across these Pokémon, use caution. You never know what they're capable of."

Erza smirked. "That's putting it mildly." Beside her, Nic chuckled.

"Evergreen, while Freed is writing a request to the Council, I want you and Bickslow to keep an eye out on the news and whatever reports come in about any strange sightings."

Evergreen held a sassy posture, with Bickslow sticking his tongue out beside her. "Consider that our number one priority." She huffed.

"Aw yeah! Now things are gonna get interesting!" Bickslow cheered.

"As for the rest of you, just keep in mind what Nic explained. There's hundreds of thousands of those meteors that recently stopped after noon, so it's up to us to get out about Pokémon. If someone doesn't see reason about how to handle these things…then make sure they get it, otherwise the Pokémon may have their way. That's all." The Ninth Master of Fairy Tail turned on his heels and walked off. He left the others to hear over what he had to say and began to process it. They now had a new goal in mind, and they had to be extra careful. For the most part, if they saw a talking creature, they knew what it would be about. Everyone had to do their part, however they could. Some maybe less than others, but others are willing to pitch in and help out people and Pokémon if it were to procure safety.

Juvia looked towards Gray with concern. "So what now?"

Gray shrugged. "Guess when we go out on a job, we'll have to keep an eye out." He looked over towards the board. "Do you wanna do that tomorrow then?"

Juvia looked at him with hearts in her eyes, gasping of joy. "Of course, my love!"

Sophie turned towards Vanessa. "Seems as though there's going to be a little more change." The blonde teased. Vanessa snickered lightly.

"That's putting it mildly."

Cana took in a deep breath…before resuming her alcohol. "All this thinking's making me thirsty!" She reached for the nearest barrel of liquor, downing it slowly, much to the bewildering shock of Joey and Dereece.

"This is a lot to handle." Erza said to her husband. "You really think this will work?"

Nic looked around at everyone beginning to formulate. He could see that a majority of them were still processing, while others were more than willing to go out on jobs like they were normally doing. Others went back to their business like they did before Natsu barged in with Charmander. They knew they were hard-pressed for time, but they will make do.

Nic looked towards her, grinning. Without warning, he grabbed her hand again. "We'll pull through. I'm sure of it."

Erza smiled back.

Nic looked back. "Natsu. Joey. Dereece."

The three people called upon request turned towards him. In Joey's case, he went stiff at his name mentioned. "Yeah? What's up?" Natsu asked.

The three gathered towards Nic as the guild went off to do their own thing. They made way around Nic as he stood with a relaxed position, yet still ready to go at it if he had to. Then again, he's always had that.

"Sorry I had to postpone this. There was all this matter that we had to get out of the way first." He apologized.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Natsu smiled wide. "At least we got an idea of what to do now!"

Nic nodded. "How's Charmander getting along with you?"

"Oh, him?" Natsu looked towards the orange lizard that was perched on his shoulder. The two looked at each other before Natsu looked back like nothing happened. "Yeah, we're fine." He sounded like it was so obvious.

"Yeah, things are okay." Charmander insisted.

"I see." He turned towards Joey and Dereece. "And how are you two holding up?"

Joey looked at Nic with shock. "Uh…" He was looking down at the ground, his face covered his shadows as he tried to think of words to say to the ultimate idol of his dreams. _'C'mon Joey, what do you say? He just asked you a question!'_ In a sporadic flip of his head, he looked at him with a bright smile while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "-I'm feeling pretty great so far!" he nervously exclaimed.

"Well good for you." Dereece said. "But if you ask me, this is all sounding pretty crazy. And yet. All this talk about Pokémon integrating and this magic stuff…I don't know how to put it."

"A loss for words, huh?" Nic looked at them all with an apologetic frown. "I'm sorry, I didn't imagine it would go this far. I can understand if you guys aren't so comfortable with all this."

Charmander shook his head. "No, no! It's fine, really! It's not that bad when you get past all this freaky magic." He looked back at Natsu, who gave his trademark smile.

"Damn straight! This place can be a blast once you get used to it!" he chimed.

Nic smiled. "No arguments there." That same smile turned to a half-grin. "Still, if you guys aren't so situated with all this, I can send you back to PokeEarth, but only if you want to."

The statement shocked the group.

"What? Are you serious?!" Dereece exclaimed.

"Y-you can actually do that?!" Chespin squealed.

Charmander looked down at him with a bead of sweat on his face. _'Did he forget that he just came through that portal?'_

Joey looked stone faced once again, gawking at Nic. "Y-y-you…would actually do that…for us?" he paused.

Nic didn't seem bothered. "Yeah, I mean I can relate to you guys. When I first came to this world, I was completely lost with how it all worked. If it weren't for my friends or my Pokémon, I wouldn't even be here today." He looked towards Erza, who graciously smiled at him. He looked back. "As someone with this experience, other's safety is important, which is why I am asking you if you want to return to PokeEarth or not. I'm not saying you have to, I'm just giving you a choice of you want to take part of the information you were exposed to or go back to what you were doing."

"So then…it's our choice?"

"Everyone gets to make a choice. What's yours?"

Joey and Dereece looked towards the other once again, but unlike before when they entered with inquiry, they were now fixed with newfound information and now realized they were in another world full of magic and talking creatures. They knew by now this wasn't a dream, and even if it was, Joey – to his leisure – would have way more "interesting" concepts. But this was the reality, and it was overwhelming. It didn't seem like it, but if felt like pressure was being put on them. Either go back, or help Nic in the cause to help spread good word about Pokémon, that's how Joey saw it.

After a few moments of thinking, Joey looked at Nic again. He saw the look of someone who was strong, confident, and saw potential in someone. That's why choices are made, and Nic was willing to allow their potential to be reached in two different aspects. And that's what made Joey ball his fists in delight.

"Okay, I'm so in on this!"

"What?!" Dereece shrieked. Chespin looked up towards his Trainer with questioning of his own.

Joey looked at his best friend with a smile. "Dereece, don't you get it? This is Nic who gave us this choice. He gave us the opportunity to become the kinds of Trainers no one ever was!"

"Over the consequence of our own safety?" he deadpanned.

Joey waved him off. "Ah, phooey. Safety's overrated. Since when was our world safe to begin with?"

Dereece wanted to argue with Joey's point, but for once, the blonde was actually onto a point. It made sense to a degree. Since when was wielding animals that could fight ever considered a safety hazard?

Seeing him ponder, Joey raised a knowing brow. "My point exactly. Besides…" Sparkles appeared around him as he gestured towards Nic, who seemed unfazed by the spotlight he was exaggerated. "With us here, we can learn so much more and help Nic-senpai with his cause! And I say we do everything we can for him! _**Everything!**_ " The last stretch of his voice sounded more like a growling threat to Dereece. The best friend backed off with his arms up.

"Geez, okay! Okay!" He eased up, taking a deep breath and sighed aloud. "Well, guess someone's gotta look after Joey so he doesn't get killed. Guess if this is really that important…then I support you."

"Are you both sure about this?" Erza confirmed.

Joey smiled wide. "Yeah, of course! I wouldn't miss this chance for the world!"

Dereece nudged his head towards Joey, going along with his saying.

Erza looked towards Nic, wondering what his input on the matter was. He looked at them for a moment to see into their eyes. He could see that Joey meant what he said, and he'd like the experience, but given his "reactions", he also knew the other reasons why he would like to stay. But in retrospect, it could benefit them all to have a Pokémon Trainer developing from scratch. Of course Nic worried about that, but he wasn't going to force them to leave. He gave them their choice, so he went along with a grin. "Well okay then, if you both want to help, then consider yourselves welcomed." He said.

"YES!" Joey jumped into the air, cheering loudly. "Woooh! Man, this is gonna be so awesome!"

Nic snickered at Joey's enthusiasm. "Well since you both intend to stay here, guess we should situate you." Joey's cheering went to a stop as he paid attention towards Nic again. "In this world, you need to work in a guild to get by. If you both haven't found any possibilities, you're always welcome in our guild. But why don't we save that for tomorrow? Why don't we get situated for the day?"

Joey's eyes sparkled in delight as he looked at Nic with sparkled for eyes. _'Nic-senpai is gonna let me join his guild! Somebody pinch me! NIC-SENPAI WANTS ME AROUND! YEEAH!'_

Dereece ignored his friend's delights and paid attention. "So all this 'guild' stuff you guys do, what's this about? Is there ranks and stuff we can do?"

Erza nodded. "Well naturally of course. For guilds, certain requests require mages with certain magic. In the end, you get a reward befitting the job's level of difficulty. We can get to that tomorrow, but as Nic said, take a load off."

"If you say so."

"That reminds me." Nic imposed. "You guys have a place to temporarily stay?"

Joey and Dereece were taken back by Nic's inquiry.

"That's a wonderful idea." Erza smiled. "I wouldn't mind the welcoming. I say we greet them with open arms."

Nic smiled. "So you guys okay with this?"

Joey was weak in the knees. He was asked so bluntly by the two if they wanted to crash at their house for a short while, and they did so without hardly much of a care or doubt. It was like they could see no ill will in them. The blonde's heart was beating so fast that he was getting a heart attack…again. "N-NN-Nic-senpai…and Erza-senpai…a-asked me…" His eyes began watering again from joy. "I-I-If I could…could…" He looked up in a daze, his head fizzy in pink and bliss once more. _'If I could stay at their home! The place where they live together happily ever after!'_

Recollecting himself, Joey shook his head in protest. "N-n-no! I-I mean I couldn't! Really!"

"It's fine." Nic insisted. "So long as you help around while you're here, I think it's fair."

"Y-You mean it?!" Joey looked so hopeful.

"Sure. Just don't try anything you'll make us regret. Okay?"

"YES, NIC-SENPAI!" He shot up with balled fists and a bright smile, sparkles twinkling. "I promise I'll do everything I can to help out! This I swear! You won't regret this!"

As Joey squealed in delight, Dereece looked down at his best friend's Chespin, who looked at him. "Better get used to this. Because now there's _really_ no going back." He told him.

* * *

Nic and Erza took their sweet time walking up their own trail that was made from dirt, just like it always was. Others insisted they paved it, but Erza found it to be fruitless, and Nic seemed indifferent to the whole thing. After finding their way up the small incline to their cottage abode, holding hands along the way, they stopped and marveled at their own home sweet home once more.

"Here it is." Nic chimed casually.

"We apologize for the lack of commodity it has." Erza said. "It wasn't always like this, but our first home together had…misplacements."

Joey and Dereece looked up at the abode to see that it was a fine cottage, though vast and with a cozy feeling. Dereece was smiling in appreciation to the quality that it carried. A small jump from beside him caught his attention, turning his eyesight to look over at Joey, who was looking like he was going to explode at any given moment. His smile was so wide and sparkles surrounded his vision. His eyes were misting profusely as he inhaled excitedly upon seeing the abode that belonged to the Pularis couple. Finally, he wailed his arms overhead and yelled out to the world. "GAAAAH! This is it! This…this is the home of Nic and Erza Pularis! I never thought I'd be able to see it in the flesh!" As Dereece tried to counteract Joey's lack of "insight" on the flesh concept, the excited and energetic high school graduate followed to the porch, where he sunk to his knees upon looking at the small flight of stairs with a gasp. "They walked up these very steps…" He followed them inside, where he gasped upon seeing the interior. Even inside it looked cozy. "This is their den…I'm actually breathing the same air they are…" He took a large whiff of the air, exhaling dreamily. "It smells just how I dreamt it would." He gasped again upon seeing the kitchen. "Oh my god, it's their kitchen! They cooked meals that fed their appetites in here…" He zipped to the entrance of their bedroom, gaping in shock at the scene. "This is their very bedroom." He said in a high-pitched tone. "They sleep underneath these very sheets…" He gasped yet again as he jolted to the hallway bathroom, standing at its entrance and gazing at the toilet. "This is their hallway bathroom!" He gasped. "Nic excreted his urine into that toilet bowl…oh the humanity."

Dereece folded his arms behind him. "Just don't go smelling their laundry." He advised.

Joey whipped around, angrily pointing an accusing finger and poking his shoulder. "Woah, hey now! Dereece, what a dirty little mind you have! Why would even think of crossing that line?!"

"Gee, I wonder why." He answered sarcastically.

"It isn't that much to look at, but I admit it's comfortable no less." Erza admitted. "Now you two better behave yourselves while you attend as our guests for the time being, understand?"

"I understand." Dereece said.

"You've got nothing to worry about!" Joey said dramatically. "I'll make sure nothing _ever_ happens on my watch around here!"

"We have two open rooms next to each other. We were thinking of decorating them, but for the time being, we could only afford roll-up mats and sheets. Hope you can be okay with that." Nic said.

Joey gasped with a recoil. "I…" He sunk to his knees once more. "I'd be honored…" He sniffled as he started to wipe away a tear coming to his eye. Dereece seemed indifferent to the whole scenario, considering that was how he usually slept.

With that out of the way, Nic looked towards Erza with a smile. "So then, you going to make dinner?"

Erza swayed her weight to one hip, crossing her arms in a less than ecstatic mood. "Don't think just because you're in charge of dessert that you get a freebie out of helping with the cooking." She retorted before smirking. "Those who don't work don't eat."

Nic snickered. He abruptly grabbed Erza's hand and reeled her inwards. She fell forward, caught into Nic's warm embrace. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she stood with surprise over Nic's affection.

"And yet it's our job to help feed others who need it more than we do." He pointed out softly over her shoulder.

Erza's shock soon subsided. Nic beat her to the affection this round, but she'll be sure to pay in kind. She smiled as her arms soon found her way around his neck, her head turning into his own. They have a lot of hard work coming their way; they weren't going to regret the free time they had already.

Joey continued to sniffle at the hanky-panky scene, blessed to see how much they cared for each other. Dereece patted his back to comfort his pal.

* * *

"Upsy-daisy!" Joey ran and barreled through the air, landing on the cushioned mat on the lamented wooden floor. "Oh yeah, this is nice~." He sighed. Beside him, Chespin did a mini-jump and plopped onto his stomach.

"I gotta say, that meal was pretty good." Dereece praised. Like Joey, he jumped and landed on his side, cushioned by the rolled-out mat with a plushy pillow and blanket.

"Yeah, it really was." Joey turned over, laying on his back to stare up at the ceiling. "I learned so much today that I didn't even knew was possible."

"You mean Pokémon struck by these light meteors and said meteors crossing time and space?"

"Besides that, Dereece. No, I learned something important today. Something that made me realize something about Nic and Erza…"

"That they're just regular folk like we are who love and appreciate each other?"

Joey groaned loudly. "What is it with you and jumping to conclusions so early? Did you even sleep last night or kept stupid questions stockpiled for this occasion?" He was giving him an expectant stare, giving Dereece the message he was meant to hint. The best friend despondently raised a brow at the irony, tapping his finger on his mat. "Anyways, what I learned today…it'll make me realize something that I never thought was possible." He looked up at the ceiling with a bright smile, watching the ceiling fan turn profusely. "The truth is that…Nic really likes garlic and garlic powder."

Dereece rolled his eyes at the exaggeration his friend gave out. "Yeah, well, I kinda admit that it really does fit the bill when baking handmade subs. I didn't even think baking subs could be that good."

Joey supported his weight on his elbow, staring at him. "You learn something new everyday" he grinned. "Hey, thanks again for being there for me, buddy. I really do appreciate you being here with me."

Dereece warmly smiled. "There's nothing you can't ask me to do."

"True that, but seriously, thank you." He looked down at Chespin, who was already rolled over onto his back. "And thank you too, Chespin."

The Grass-type raised a paw lazily upwards. "This is a very interesting first day…" He trailed off as his arm fell to his side, his eyes closing from the exhaustion today carried.

"I think he has the right idea. Better get some rest for tomorrow." Dereece laid on his side, pulling the covers over himself. "We're gonna be helping out a guild tomorrow. We're gonna need our strength."

"True that." Joey sighed in fatigue. He was really, really happy about today. He could say over and over how awesome today was, and how he came to a world of magic, met his idle, and started out with being a Pokémon Trainer. He wasn't going as far as to forget about Gyms, but this was something that seemed essential that could impact both worlds. He certainly wasn't going to forget what he said earlier this morning. _'I always did say that I wanted to live big. I'm actually making my dreams come true. Nic really is just as awesome as I thought.'_ He began to feel so giddy about Nic again that he had to suppress a squeal. He turned over and laid on his side, smiling wide as his dreams were going to come true.

* * *

"Nic?" Nic's muffled response was from a pillow he laid on. "Do you really think it was wise to let them stay in this world?"

Nic turned his head in bed, facing Erza as she aid on her stomach. She had a loose black tank-top that gave ample view of her equally ample caboose. He powered through his arousal over the subject. "Maybe." He quietly answered. "Neither world is technically safe all around."

"But you know as well as I do that here isn't as integrated. It's dangerous. You're asking Joey and Dereece out of the gate if they want to dance with the devil."

Nic frowned at her. "Did you forget about myself and Vanessa?"

Erza fell silent as Nic turned on his side, facing her fully. "Vanessa and I made our own choices. I didn't force her to stay behind because I knew she grew up. I'm not asking nor telling people how to live their lives. But growing up is never easy. We need all the help we can get at this point, but from one Trainer to another, we'll help them, just like how we help each other and people, right?"

Granted, the idea had some merit to how it was played out, but in technicality, Nic wasn't wrong. They needed all the help they could get to see this problem get resolved. In all honesty, Erza would've pegged for their safety, and Nic did too. But Nic gave them the choice, just like any self-thinking human being should. That was another part of her that admired Nic: Consideration. Even though the two were starting out, they were at least going to get the experience unlike any other has ever known. It could be seen as selfish, but it's not like asking a lot more of what they already have to deal with will solve anything, it'd just be backed up. And Nic was also right, as long as Joey and Dereece are willing to help out for the Pokémon and people's sake, putting themselves into this matter willingly could help out. But even then, Nic knew only time would tell if they would bear fruit.

Erza smiled warmly at Nic as she pulled herself closer towards him, her slender arms draped underneath his, getting around and gently stroking his black hair. She caressed her nails into his small, soft hair, and she bent forward and kissed his forehead as he dozed off to slumber. "You're right." She whispered, continuing to hold him. "We'll help, even at the risk of our lives…that's the price we pay for being a guild."

* * *

The next morning came by rather quickly. Joey lazily got up while Dereece barely struggled to get out of bed. The duo aroused with some energy, looking out the window due west to see that it was barely dark out, but blue was well along the way.

Suddenly, they heard a loud boom reverberate. It was weak, but the vibration made them nearly jump.

"You hear that?" Dereece questioned.

Joey redid his stance, catching balance once more. "Yeah…" There was an eruption of glowing red at the corner of their window, getting them both to sharply turn towards the closed windowsill. They saw the blaze dissipate, but out of inquiry, they inched near it.

"Something wrong outside?" Dereece questioned.

"At this hour?" Joey unlocked the window, instantly being hit by a cool morning March breeze. He powered through and narrowed his eyes as he looked left and right outside of it. "Who's messing with Nic's property…y…y…" He began trailing off once again as his jaw started dropping. His eyes widened upon fixation to something that was something that caught his interests.

Seeing his pal get cut off, Dereece looked towards. "What is it?" He looked in the direction Joey followed, but what he saw rivaled Joey's own surprise.

His own eyes widened as he saw the clash of two beings.

On the battlefield in front of their house, Nic and Erza were in their own Trainer Boxes; Erza being closer towards the house. The redhead was clad in her armor as of yesterday while Nic was dressed as well. On Erza's side of the battlefield were Aegislash and Cloyster. On Nic's side, there was Charizard and Greninja.

Charizard exerted a powerful roar as he reeled his head up, heated shockwaves reverberating and shuddering the landscape. He repositioned himself as he readied his next strategy.

"Charizard, into the air! Greninja!" Nic ordered.

Charizard pivoted and spun backwards, kicking up a wave of dust while giving a grunt as he pointed straight up. The moment his large wings spread apart, he flapped them, shooting up in an orange blur. Greninja gave out his own grunt as he crouched and twisted into the air. As he spiraled, Charizard spun his body in a whirl, picking up Greninja by the use of his back and kneeling forward to hold his weight on him. The two kept a deep, serious glare as they made a sharp arch through the air counterclockwise, nearly reaching the 3 o' clock position.

"Charizard, **Flamethrower!** " Charizard whirled his head around and opened, unleashing a hot ripple that exerted upon a molten blast of roaring fire that beamed down with deep pressure. The attack closed in on Aegislash, but Erza was ready.

"Cloyster, **Hydro Pump!** " Erza commanded, her Cloyster opening his mouth and morphing molecules into a large mirror of water.

Nic swiped his arm. " **Water Shuriken!** "

" **King's Shield!** "

As Charizard's attack speeded downwards, Greninja held his foothold on Charizard, swiping his arms and sending high-speed bullets of shredding water at Cloyster. Aegislash retained her Shield Form and moved in front, creating a hexagonal shield that above and around each other like a wall. The Water Shuriken continuously bombarded the wall, creating blue bombs of water that spouted profusely into a mist.

With the cover, Cloyster finally released his Hydro Pump, expelling a vivid torrent of water that bolted up towards the incinerating Flamethrower. The two attacks collided in the dead center, creating a pulsating wave of mist that exploded everywhere. The ground and air alike shuddered as a roaring mist seared and seeped about through the atmosphere. The majority of the mist, however, centered within Aegislash and Cloyster, leaving the two unable to tell where they would strike next.

"Stay sharp! They're right over your heads!" Erza shouted.

Nic's face didn't falter, but his chin tilted. In a flash, Charizard – with Greninja – disappeared, the speed startling Erza once again. They both got out of her sight, disappearing out of thin air.

"Where did they go…?"

In the mist in front of Nic, Charizard reappeared, landing on the ground with a draconic stature. " **Heat Wave!** " Nic commanded. Charizard again roared out and brought his wings back. Once so, he flapped, unleashing a searing, flaming maelstrom that ripped across the ground, expanding outwards into waves of deep heat that closed in.

Erza balled her fists as she saw Aegislash open and opt to change that. "Cloyster, **Protect!** " Sliding in front of Aegislash, Cloyster huffed and closed his shell and stood still as a turquoise forcefield rippled in front of him. The Heat Wave blew away every ounce of mist in the area, even as far as blazing small embers in its shockwave. But the whole attack beamed around the Protect, shielding Cloyster and Aegislash.

Erza looked at Nic's serious expression as her hair shifted from the shockwaves of the attack. She couldn't read him. He seemed so calm and improvised. She then realized something off, which made her realize also that it was too late.

As the Heat Wave bolted around Protect, Greninja reappeared in the zone that Heat Wave didn't reach behind Protect, alarming Aegislash.

" **Night Slash!** "

Upon Nic's command, Greninja grunted loudly as he reached back and suddenly bolted pass Aegislash. The Heat Wave diminished as Greninja followed through in a Mach sweep, dissipating the attack as he revealed his long, bright purple needle in a slash position. Looking away and on two feet, he closed the needle, and in a chain reaction, purple sash marks appeared on Aegislash. She suddenly erupted in a purple smoke cloud, crying out in pain.

"But how?!" Erza gasped.

Within the smoke cloud behind, Cloyster opened his shell and looked back. "Is she okay?!"

Faster than a Pidgeot at Mach 2, Charizard reappeared in front of Cloyster, making him realize it was too late. Charizard's mouth seethed in spiraling flames. Now all Nic had to do was give the order.

" **Flamethrower!** "

Craning his neck around once more, Charizard arched his mouth and expelled another pulsing, roaring inferno at Cloyster's side. His eyes widened as he was enveloped in another heated blast wave at point-blank range. The shell and Cloyster alike were caught in an explosion of fire that continued streaming fire, pushing Clyster into the smoke cloud and Aegislash, making the two collide before a pillar of heat and fire expelled skywards.

The shockwaves tore across the battlefield, but Nic remained calm as the fire seared in front. A blazing glory morning indeed. Greninja and Charizard both recoiled on their feet and stood in front of Nic, waiting for the heated waves to dissipate. When they did, they saw that Cloyster and Aegislash were sprawled beside each other, spirals in their eyes, and signaling the sparring battle's winner.

Nic grinned. "Looks like that's it for this round." He looked at Greninja and Charizard both. "That was amazing, guys. You both worked really well there."

Greninja smirked. "Don't worry about it. Thank you."

"Not shabby at all." He praised. The Flame Pokémon held out both his fists with a proud smirk. Nic and Greninja bumped their fists against Charizard's, their connection being made with proud grins.

Erza sighed heavily, but she didn't seem disappointed much. She grinned despondently as she took out a Poke Ball and Dive Ball. "Cloyster. Aegislash. Thank you for your bravery. Please, take a break." The Pokémon were recalled back to their capsules, which she put away. "Seems there's still work that needs to be done with my Double Battle skills."

"Well why don't we try again later on today?" Nic advised. "Your Houndoom and Slurpuff combo worked pretty well last round."

"True, but it looks like I'll need to work on maneuvering my offense and defense together with Cloyster and Aegislash."

"Well it was much better than last time we tried." Nic grinned. "Let's get ourselves some Revives and Full Restores, and then we can get ready for breakfast."

Erza nodded. "Yes. The sun should be up any minute now."

Watching from afar, Joey looked like he had suffered a heart attack, while Dereece saw the battle with wide eyes.

"Did you just see that?" he inquired. "Man, I knew Nic was strong, but seriously…"

Joey was completely lost. He was wide-eyed and had misty, watery eyes as he gripped the windowsill like his life depended on it. He was gazing at Nic, Greninja, and Charizard. Nic presented them with a handful of Leppa and Sitrus Berries right there for him to see. _'N-N-Nic-senpai…with his Greninja and Charizard…two of the six mighty Pokémon that saved the universe!'_ He was shuddering so hard that he could've been mistaken for being cold. In a way, he was. _'They actually battled right before my eyes! Their bond and coordination was simply just awesome~!'_

"Woooah, that was so cool…" Chespin hung on the windowsill, having jumped up to look over with his Trainer. Suffice to say his awe was as staggering as his.

Realizing they were getting sidetracked, Dereece shook his head to get out any initial shock. "Okay. Okay. Just relax now. That was just a practice battle…" He put his hand to his chin. "Wait, if that was practice, I'm scared to ask what a real battle would do…" He began to feel a chill went up his spine if he ever saw Nic go all out in a battle in person. He began to question how the land wasn't turned over by mistake.

Joey shot back from the window with an excited look on his face. "C'mon man, we better go get ready to tackle this new day!" He had sparkles in his eyes. "And now we have inspiration!"

"Yeah!" Chespin jumped off the windowsill and followed his eager Trainer out the doorway. Dereece offered no setbacks as he followed too.

* * *

After a quick breakfast and healing up their Pokémon with the items they've acquired, Nic and Erza wrapped up their morning routine and escorted Joey and Dereece to the guild hall. Once there, their initiation had begun. Joey was more than ecstatic as he tried to find a place where he could put his guild mark, but Dereece seemed humbled by the offers that Mirajane insisted.

Soon enough, Joey found a spot for his guild mark in the same spot that Nic got his. His was between the shoulder blades, and unlike Nic's violet and Vanessa's teal, Joey went more lenient towards Vanessa. His guild mark was a nice, smooth turquoise.

Dereece's guild mark was located on his upper right arm, just below the shoulder. His guild mark, however, was a safety orange color.

"And you're all set!" Mirajane chimed. "Now you're official Fairy Tail mages!"

Dereece chuckled. "Yeah, now I dig that. Up top!" He raised a hand to Joey, who exchanged a high-five with him, although Joey was slightly distracted at first when he was looking at Mirajane, for obvious reasons. Thankfully this factor was ignored…this time.

"So you're staying here?" Erza asked Nic.

"I have to. Believe me, as much as I'd like to get out there, I need to stay around in case Freed gets back to me on the Council's reply. Someone has to look out the fort." He grinned. "Just be careful."

Erza nodded in acceptance to Nic. Sure, she'd very much enjoy to go on another job with him, but if Nic wasn't around when the reply gets around, then a lot of things could fall apart. She'd have to take the lead for the day, not that she didn't mind.

"What about you, Vanessa?" Sophie asked.

The Aura Mage looked towards her roommate with her relaxed grin. "I'll stay behind just in case. Maybe they need more witnesses and ears for me to tell which Pokémon is which."

Sophie rolled her eyes and groaned. "Well, enjoy your brother-sister bonding. Erza, would it be alright if we took a job?"

Erza nodded with beaming pride. "Why of course, Sophie. It has been a while since we've had our last job together. I say this should be very refreshing."

"Are Natsu and the others okay with this?" Vanessa asked.

"You needn't to worry." The voice this time came from Freed, who talked up behind Nic and Vanessa. They all turned to face him. "The Master insisted that we get as many people out there as possible. We've already sent Natsu with others on a mission, and Gray and Juvia have been off to Mt. Hakobe."

"I see. So we're on our own then." Erza said.

Freed held up a flier that he had in one free hand. "Forgive me for not asking earlier, but since I've been rummaging through various sightings and reports, I couldn't help but recall that we have two new recruits with us. Are Joey and Dereece available at this time?"

Nic and everyone looked over towards the duo. They were given a clear passage to get a view of Freed. The duo stepped forward. "Yeah?" Joey asked.

Freed presented them a flier with the picture of a tree on it. "I understand that this is your first day and you just got included, correct?"

"Yeah?" Dereece asked.

"I took the liberties of looking through the recent jobs that we got overnight. This one was just posted. It should be most suiting for your level."

The duo took the flier, with Joey reading aloud from it.

 _Unknown Trees_

 _According to eye witnesses, a strange set of trees began to pop up as of yesterday. No one knows where they came from, but they give off a sweet air. Mysterious creatures have been sighted around these trees. Proceed with caution._

 _Reward: 10,000 Jewel_

"'Unknown trees'?" Joey reiterated. He and Dereece looked at each other in question over the job described.

"If anything, those sightings could very well contain Pokémon that you both can decipher." Freed explained. "All you have to do is figure out these trees and you'll receive a pay if you are successful."

"Sounds simple to me. Let's do it." Joey insisted.

"If it puts bread on the table." Dereece shrugged.

"Very good." Freed turned to Sophie and Erza. "Erza. Sophie. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like for you both to follow them for their first job. Make sure they understand how the basis of a job goes."

"Right." Erza nodded.

"Ken. (Yes.)" Sophie replied.

Freed turned towards Nic and Vanessa. "I'm afraid Laxus and everyone will be needing your help in detailing all these new jobs rolling in. Almost all of them are of these creatures that could very well be Pokémon."

Nic and Vanessa nodded in understanding. "We'll do the very best we can." Nic answered.

"Thank you once again everyone." Freed thus walked away, leaving the group to turn and leave themselves to their worries.

Sophie pinched the bridge of her nose with a huff. "Good grief."

"Well it's not like this work is going to solve itself." Dereece insisted. "So Joey, you up for this?"

Joey looked at him like it was obvious. "Wha…yeah! Yeah! I'm up for it!" The tone he made sounded more forced, very much like when he was startled before. He suddenly turned towards Erza, sparkles around him. "I can't believe that I'm gonna be working with Erza-senpai…" he squealed.

Dereece rolled his eyes. "Just stick with the program."

Erza put her hands to her hips, looking sternly at the group. It made Joey feel even more hyped than before. "Alright everyone, we'll be heading out now."

"Right!"

* * *

The train whistled as it left the train station. The passengers were all safely off the board and were making way towards the city. They all looked excited…well, almost everyone.

A pink-haired someone was drooping as his cheeks were puffed. A dark, droopy aura surrounded him as he was recovering from his bellyaching. Sadly though, he wasn't alone in this one. Beside him, Wendy was looking down and drooping, her own face showing paling.

Lucy sat between them, patting their backs. "It's all good guys…it's all good." She comforted.

"Poor Wendy." Carla grieved.

Happy patted Natsu's back along with Lucy. "It'll be okay pal, just give it a minute."

"Mmmmf…" Natsu groaned.

Watching the scene, Charmander looked up to his allies with a worried look on his face. "Are they okay?"

"Natsu and Wendy both get motion sickness." Happy explained. "Any vehicles just makes them lose it."

Charmander tilted his head at the term. "Motion sickness…?" He looked back at Natsu and then at Wendy. When he thought about it, it made sense why the two pales before they got onto the station back in Magnolia. It also explained why they looked like they were going to throw up. He'll be sure to keep that in mind.

After several minutes of rehabilitation, Natsu and Wendy swallowed a lump, sighing in relief.

Natsu shot up to his feet. "Okay, I think I'm good."

"Yeah, me too."

"Well it's about time." Carla exasperated. "…although it's understandable, you two really need to learn to walk it off."

"Speaking of walking, we should probably get going now." Happy said.

Lucy looked ahead. "Yeah, you're right. C'mon guys."

The group didn't waste anytime in the morning getting on with their duties as mages. Once they saw the guild's request board, it was filled to no end with certain jobs detailing a lot of things out of the norm. So many creatures were seen printed on them according to site watchers. But for the sake of safety and for taking it easy a few pegs, Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy all elected to go on a job together in Onibas.

Their jobs was a search. As of recently, for over the past day now, people have been missing keys to their homes and belongings. Lucy thought with Natsu and Wendy's sense of smell, they could track down the thief and return the keys once he was caught. Sounded easy enough.

Natsu and the group wandered out of the station, taking their stroll out to the streets. They carried along with their business and own leisure like anybody else strolling about.

"So what do you think this key thief is like?" Happy asked. "Do you think it could be another Pokémon?"

Natsu shrugged. "Could be. Or it could be another mage or house cat."

Carla glided beside Wendy, but her face showed displeasure. "Why do I feel so offended right now?" she hummed ominously.

"It's not you." Wendy assured. "But whoever this guy is, he couldn't have gotten very far."

"Yeah, if he did, we wouldn't have been able to smell all this metal we are right now." Natsu grinned.

Lucy followed the group, giving her own thoughts as she seemed secured. "Well let's just hope we find him before he strikes again. I'd rather not be around when he tries for another set of keys."

"Hey, don't sweat it." Natsu looked back at her, grinning like it was no big deal. "I bet once this guy looks at ya, he'll realize he just messed with the wrong kind of person."

Lucy nervously smiled. "Are you talking about yourself?"

As the group carried along towards the client, their trek through the streets wasn't completely unnoticed. As they passed by a few stands selling various produce, if not baked goods, something small and hidden away close to the allies zeroed in on the group. Its vision homed in one Lucy, and what looked like something shiny that was a pouch on her belt. Its eyes glinted with ambition as it leered in the darkness it crept in.

* * *

"We should be at the spot soon." Erza said.

"Understood." Sophie stated.

"So, there really isn't any other transportation in this world?" Joey asked.

"Other than vehicles as fast as trains go, not necessarily." Sophie answered. "Are there things faster in your world that we overlooked?"

"Uh, helicopters and planes. We have those sorts of things." Dereece explained.

"Ah yes, I'm quite familiar with those two." Erza smiled. "I must say, those airplanes are faster than what I expected. Quite cozy at that."

The group that was Erza, Sophie, Dereece, and Joey, had all taken liberties and proceeded with their job. The requests was as followed and they followed the directions towards the forest where it was located just outside of Oak Town. The atmosphere around said forest seemed pleasant to say the least. It was like taken a stroll in a park trail. Dew began to fall and evaporate, and some leaves still as buds made the whole forest look enigmatic in a way. Joey and Dereece certainly didn't mind considering the scenic change from back in Lumiose City, but what startled them was how downgraded society was when they didn't invent cars yet.

Sophie had taken the privilege of explaining to them all about her magic, and how her magic qualities function about her. Of course she felt like the bell of the ball, but more so than just her magic. She knew even from know even Joey was behind or in front of her. He pegged maybe a few glances here and there at things quite noticeable about her. She didn't mind, although then again, she hoped it didn't deter the mission. If it did, Erza would run him through.

She also made sure to detail them a little about factions like Dark Guilds, and bandits and people who kill. It was a brief explanation, but she summed it up as well as could have. She even detailed certain aspects of things or minerals called lacrima that held magic inside. She showed her Communication Lacrima, but she didn't use it because it was only for emergencies. Need to stay practical after all.

As they went on, Joey was looking at Sophie at times since he tailed behind. Not only because he didn't know where they were going, but also to see other…things. But for the other half, he was following Erza for admiration. _'I…I'm actually walking in the same footsteps as Erza-senpai. She's letting me walk just meters away like I'm one of their own! This is just awesome!'_

"Hey, I think I see someone up ahead." Dereece pointed at the trail's exit, which lead to sunlight.

"Then we're nearly there. Come on." Erza lead the group deeper into the forest trail, pacing swiftly over the tree roots and the dirt paved into it. Even Joey looked on with anticipation now as he followed the group. Eventually, Erza and the others passed through a passage that Dereece pointed out and made it to the top of a small hill, which overlooked a field of flowers with wide green trails going into various paths of the forest. With the sunlight beaming just over their heads, everything seemed to be sublime.

"Man! Now this is what I call a view!" Dereece exclaimed.

"I know…" Joey awed. "Man, people weren't wrong when they said I needed to get out more."

"That person was me, Joey."

"Psssh! Let's not dwell on the past here, okay? We have a job to do, so c'mon." He tailed behind Erza and the others, heading further down the fields and onto the trails around the tall red flowers on the left.

"So the client seemed nice." Sophie said, trying to get a conversation started.

Erza nodded. "She did seem reasonable. Although I have to say, she seemed rather uneased about this whole tree scourge." She sounded so conspicuous herself.

"What do you think it means?"

"I'm not certain, but she did explain that the closer she got to one of these trees, the more it rustled. That's also where she saw a number of very large insects."

Sophie's eyes narrowed. "You don't say…?"

Dereece looked towards Joey as they walked along. "Large insects?"

"Don't look at me, I'm just as clueless as you." He shrugged. As he looked at him, he noticed something far off in the red flowery field. He leaned pass Dereece to point at it. "Hey, look!"

Everyone turned towards the direction where his finger pointed. They made sure it was swift in case they missed it. They couldn't see it feel from where they were, but behind a few trees still blooming, they were seeing a faint yellow tree. It was pretty big at that as well.

"You see that?" Joey inquired.

"Yeah." Dereece said ominously.

Erza looked towards the group, seeing them curious yet unsound by all this. She grew serious as she took the lead. "Everyone be careful. Let's stay sharp around here."

The did complied and they followed her lead around the prickly red flowers. With Sophie and Erza wearing skirt, and having studied some flora based on experience, they'd rather not try and consider poison ivy as a gambit. They found a trail that arched around the bed of flowers and left them to follow on the other side of the yellow tree. They all approached it, eventually standing meters away from its yellow, sweet leaves.

"So this is the tree?" Dereece asked.

"Well I don't see any other yellow trees around here." Joey answered, rubbing the back of his head. To make sure, he looked around the perimeter, but saw nothing.

Erza approached the tree, getting a better view of its bark. She noticed how waxed it looked, like it was lamented in a sweet nectar that was licked clean and smoothed out over time. She even noticed that the closer she got, the sweeter the tree was. It was even making her own taste buds water some. "What kind of tree is this?" she pondered.

Sophie put a hand to her chin as she inspected the overview. "Well it's not anything I recognize from the flora I read on the way here."

"And they said it appeared the other night?"

"That's as I recall. They also said something about large insects."

Joey put a hand to his chin, trying to think of something. He couldn't help but feel something bubbling inside his extremely odd mind. "Yellow leaves…a sweet air…I'm lost."

Dereece, however, narrowed his eyes as he began to approach the tree. "Now wait a minute." He slowly approached the tree, getting close enough to where he was standing mere feet in front of it. He looked at the bark with an inquiry, but he felt something off that almost seemed within reach.

Erza noticed how close Dereece was to the tree. "Be careful." She warned.

"Dereece, buddy, got something?" Joey questioned.

Dereece turned his head to look up at the branches. He knew there could be something waiting, and he had to be careful. He still kept in mind what was bubbling inside his head, making him realize something. "Wait…large insects…sweetness…" He looked straight at the bark again, this time reaching out towards it to get a feel of the tree. As he gently brushed his hand on the smooth bark, he began to get a faint smell of something familiar.

He pulled his hand back, which seemed to have collected some of the shiny filament. He stuck his tongue out and poked his own palm. When it retracted to his mouth, his eyes widened in realization. "Honey!" he gasped.

"'Honey'?" Sophie questioned.

For some unexplained reason, the mention of that word sent a chill up Erza's spine. She could picture a familiar face who always said that, and she tried to pull off a brave face.

Dereece turned towards Joey. "Joey, quick! You remember those old games we played with the Sinnoh region?"

Joey reminisced with a smile. "Yeah, sure did. Those were some good times. We have some pretty close fights, and I really loved all those underground stuff and tre…" He began to trail off when the realization dawned upon him. His eyes widened to rival Dereece's when he realized the trees were all too familiar. When he looked at the tree again, he recognized it with a loud gasp of his own. "A Honey Tree!"

"Yeah." Dereece nodded.

Erza looked at the two, her brow furrowing. "Is there something wrong here?"

"Yeah there's something wrong here! You know what this is?!" Dereece pointed at the tree's trunk. "This tree is called a Honey Tree, and it's native to the Sinnoh Region."

"So then…it's a tree from your world then?" Sophie grew surprised.

"Yeah. Honey Trees are usually discerned by their sweet scent and yellow leaves. If you leave Honey slathered on its bark, and then you wait after a certain period of time, you can get a number of Pokémon attracted to it. Believe me, you can find a few good Bug-types this way."

Sophie looked conspicuous. "And this is legal?"

"Pretty sure it is." Dereece looked towards Joey. "Hey, Joey, what were those Pokémon we can see again?"

Joey's face twisted as he tried to think. "Uh, hang on a minute." He called out. "Let me see, uh…there's Wurmple…Cascoon and Silcoon…Cherubi…Aipom…Combee…oh! And there's another one, but it's like really rare! I think it's…"

Erza and the others waited for the blonde to finish, but oddly enough, he fell short of a finish. They looked towards him to see what was wrong, but he was staring at the tree with wide eyes.

"Joey? What's wrong?" Sophie followed his gaze, but when she did, her own eyes widened.

Erza followed as well, but in her case, her brow furrowed as her face grew astoundingly serious.

Dereece looked at them like they never saw daylight before. "Uh, are you feeling alright guys? You kinda got lost there with that last part, Joey."

"Dereece…" Joey's voice held a great deal of suspense. He put his arm up in a warning sign. "Whatever you do, don't make any sudden movements."

Dereece questioned what his pal meant, but when he started to see Erza get out a Poke Ball, he began to feel a chill run up his spine. Slowly, he turned his big-boned body towards the tree, looking up at something that was stopped crawling down and looked at Dereece dead in the eye at a steep angle.

It was a gargantuan dark blue beetle-like Pokémon, which had yellow eyes with black irises. It had two claws on each hand and one big toe claw on each foot. While the antennae had bulbous ends, the most bewildering part was its humungous horn that curved up into the shape of a concave beetle-like horn. Its glare was meeting Dereece's, whose heart stopped upon sights of the human-sized Bug-type.

"…oh boy."

Yeah, that was the last one." Joey grimaced. "Heracross."

Sophie looked at the huge beetle with a newly profound and perplexed stare. "That's a Pokémon?"

"I'm afraid so." Erza said.

Joey couldn't help himself. Getting out his PokeDex, he frowned as he aimed it at the Heracross, the holographic screen showing its image.

" **Heracross, the Single Horn Pokémon. With its Herculean powers, it can easily throw around an object that is 100 times its own weight.** "

"100 times its own weight?" Sophie repeated. "That strong?"

Dereece was caught completely by surprise of the Heracross that was hiding in the tree. He was looking at him intently, almost ominously. Dereece tried his best to remain as calm as possible while slowly backing away.

"N-now let's take it easy…" He put his arms up. "We…we don't want to do anything we'll regret now, right?"

The Heracross suddenly flapped his wings, dropping down in front of Dereece. The shock made Dereece flinch and rendered paralyzed from shock. He looked like he was going to quiver at any given moment. The Heracross took one step forward, and then another. It was slowly making way towards Dereece and his hands, looking intrigued.

"U-uh, s-somebody help me~!" he chimed. "No pressure of course!"

Erza readied to take action. She was about to throw out a Pokémon, but was cut off when Sophie looked at something. "Wait!" She insisted.

"What? Why?" Erza asked.

Sophie looked back ahead, her gaze as conspicuous as anyone else'. "Look." They all gazed ahead at what Dereece was getting himself into.

As Dereece was unable to act accordingly, the Heracross closed in on the hand Dereece had out before him, sniffing it. The male Heracross continued sniffing the hand, turning his head some like some curious child. He closed in, licking the sap off Dereece's palm.

"H-huh?" Dereece looked in confusion as the Heracross was licking the sap and any means of honey off of his hand, like some dog who loved peanut butter. The action was making his heart rate decrease again. "O…kay?"

Heracross nudged his head, licking the sap clean. "Mmm…delicious…" he muffled.

Erza and the group watching had beads of sweat falling from their heads. Things were expected to get out of hand, but irony had its ways of dealing with this predicament.

"Well, I guess that's one way to attract a Bug-type." Sophie said.

"Well, I suppose you aren't wrong there." Erza speculated.

Joey smirked. "Aw, Dereece made a new friend."

"Quiet you." He grunted back to them. "So uh, you like sweet stuff huh?"

Having licked the sap clean off Dereece's palm, the Heracross backed off, giving him another docile look. "Well who doesn't?"

"True. I bet this Honey could go well with my desserts." Erza pondered.

"Maybe we can consider that later." Sophie said flatly before looking back ahead. "So then, you were in that tree the whole time?"

"Looks like it." Dereece speculated. He moved his other hand to try and reach for the horn. Very gently, not wanting to make any alarms go off for the Heracross, he reached for the horn. "It's this part, right…?" He calmly rubbed Heracross' horn, making his eyelids falter at the petting. He seemed to be okay with it, leaving Dereece to ease fully with how he was handling the situation. "There we go. You like that?"

Heracross sighed as he could feel Dereece petting and scratching his horn. "Uuuugh, this beats rubbing against trees for sure." He muttered.

Once Dereece finished petting, the two began to get acquainted. "You can't really reach up to your horn, can you?"

Heracross shook his head. "When I get itches, all my species can do is rub against tree bark. You won't believe how much bark we accidentally chip off."

Dereece rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I think I can get the picture."

Joey got between Erza and Sophie, watching Dereece with the Heracross. "So what do we do?"

Erza put her hand to her chin. "It's hard to say if this is the only Honey Tree around here. If it is, then you think more were sent here somewhere?"

"Well that's a possibility." Sophie guessed.

Joey turned his head in wonder, looking up at the tree. "Huh, maybe…maybe not? I'm not so sure myself, but I haven't been to Sinnoh before, but the games Dereece and I played had the same geography. There was usually a Honey Tree for every route, basically everywhere."

"I see, so then we might find more scattered about. Good work, Joey." Erza praised. "For the most part, now we have the job completed."

Joey's eyes widened. "I-it is?!"

"That's all it took?" Dereece questioned.

"The client wanted to know about these mysterious trees and you two solved the case. That's all it entails. There's no point in going on a search all throughout Fiore to decipher every last one. We'll report this and receive our payment."

Joey and Dereece looked each other with shock. Said shock made their mouths widen before they looked like they were going to explode. "ALRIGHT!" They high-fived.

As the group seemed relieved, Heracross' interests turned towards the rustling shrubs that were close by. The shrubs shifted left and right, getting not just him, but the alarmed Erza and Sophie to grasp the situation.

"What is it?" Sophie asked.

Erza looked at the bushes, hearing a deep humming from within its wake. Her brow furrowed as she balled her fists.

"You know what this calls for tonight, Dereece?" Joey asked. He and his pal were still caught in their little moment of the job being completed.

"Let me guess, pizza night?" he answered.

Joey gasped in shock. "Oh! You sly devil! It's like you read my mind!"

Suddenly, a sword shimmered beside them, getting them all to quiet down. "Quiet!" Erza warned the two. Her sword remained at her side, held in both hands as she faced the shrubs. "We're not out of the woods yet. Get behind me!"

"R-right!" Not wanting to intrude, Joey scuttled behind Erza. Dereece backed away near her.

Everyone watched as the bushes and shrubs began to rustle louder and louder. The more it did, the more their senses grew. Erza used the sword in hand and threw it into the bushes. Suddenly, in swift blurs, figures began to shoot out, scattering skywards and getting to look above.

"Look!" Sophie shouted.

Scattered through the air and now in the open for all to see, there were several large bee-like Pokémon that massive, bulbous posteriors with equally massive stingers. There were two white needles on each arm, and on the body were black stripes and a pair of clear wings flapping profusely. In total, there were about 20 of them.

"Looks like we got company." Erza grunted. "Beedrill!"

"You know those Pokémon?" Sophie asked.

Erza nodded. "Yeah, Nic, Vanessa, and myself fought a few well-trained ones back in Kalos. They're not to be taken lightly."

The swarm right over their heads grew shivers up Dereece and Joey's spines. They looked up in a panic as they counted all the huge bees that looked hungry. Wanting to be sure, and quickly, Joey pulled out his PokeDex once more.

" **Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon.** **May appear in a swarm. Flies at violent speeds, all the while stabbing with the toxic stinger on its rear.** "

Joey grew nervous by the second. "Uh…is this part of the job?" he worried.

"I don't know." Dereece looked on with anticipation. "But something tells me we should've packed some bug spray!"

"Honey." A few Beedrill said. The sweet smell of a Honey Tree, let alone anything sweet for that matter, that's the ticket to get these Pokémon going. When they want something, they were going to get it.

One other Beedrill pointed his stinger at the group, seeing them as interference. "I sting yo face!" He sassily ordered. All the Beedrill around him went at them, flying at great speeds.

Erza and Sophie glared ahead, readying as the swarm came for them.

* * *

"Okay, that should be the last of them." Lucy sighed in relief. She trailed behind Natsu and Wendy as they were currently in the lead, going all over the town to get eye witness reports, or rather in the more logical sense that followed, seeing each victim and getting scents and descriptions of their keys. It was a good lead and start, and now that they had a good whiff of keys, they were ready for some hunting.

"So the last guy who lost his keys said that the thief made a lot of sound." Happy explained. "He said he saw it just as he swept his key and ended up flying out the window."

"The creature would have to be fast in order to achieve that level of reflexes." Carla said.

"Yeah, and it could be small, too." Wendy said.

As he carried along, Natsu put his arms behind his head. "Well I gotta say, we haven't really seen anything that looks like they said."

"True."

Carla huffed. "Well don't sell yourselves short yet. You said you smell it around in this town still, right?"

Lucy smiled. "Yeah, she's right. I'm sure if we keep walking, we'll bump into it."

As they passed by another alley, the group was making headway down the market section of town, where the last eye witness report said he saw it go. As they passed said alley, something with glinting eyes moved, making a rattling sounds.

"Huh?" Natsu turned his head back, alarming the group.

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

His eyes narrowed. "You hear that, Wendy?"

The Sky Dragon turned around, intrigued by the noise that went through her ears. "Yeah. I think I did, too…"

A shadowy figure hurriedly went behind an empty cart nearby. Natsu and the others began to proceed much slower out of caution. They knew they were being tailed by someone. Or rather, _something_. They kept their pace well, and Lucy and the others took notice and stood guard.

"You think they're around here?" Happy muttered.

"I can't sense any magic coming from any direction." Lucy foreshadowed.

"Me neither." Wendy said. Her ears suddenly twitched. "Wait-!"

Natsu gasped as well. He looked over his shoulder. "Lucy! On your right!"

Lucy turned to see in the direction Natsu referred to. In the blink of an eye, a swift, silverfish blur sped right pass Lucy, time slowing down as its many keys were seen. With its jingling rattles, Natsu went wide-eyed as he saw a good look of the figure being something as small as a keyring. He watched as the pouch containing Lucy's keys was slipped into the opening loop of the keyring, being ripped off as it passed on. As the blur went away, Lucy turned around and saw the figment go on.

"Hey, wait-!" She realized what it was carrying off. She looked down at her waist and saw she was without her keys. She gasped in shock.

Out of anger, Natsu sped pass the blonde, barreling into the alley the figment carried off to. "Hey, get back here, you feeb!" He darted so fast that Charmander had to dig his claws into his shoulder in order to stay on.

"Hang on, buddy! I'm coming!" Happy flew into the alleyway next. "C'mon!"

"Right! Lucy, let's hurry!" Wendy urged.

"Yeah! We gotta get those keys back!" Lucy was beyond a doubt short of being frustrated herself. She, along with Wendy and Carla, hurried along down the alley. The blonde with her single, huge, sideways ponytail, ran as fast as possible with a face full in anticipation as she was going to keep her keys back. "Whoever's doing this is in for a world of trouble!"

"Damn straight!" Natsu growled.

The floating figure sped down the open alleyway like no other. It looked desperate as it was surging towards the nearest spot to the right. Once reaching there, it took a sharp turn, leading the chase down a narrower stretch. Natsu was the first to follow, next being Lucy and then then Wendy. Their Exceeds flew over their heads, keeping an overview of which direction of where it'll be going next.

As it drifted with Lucy's and others' keys, Natsu began to grow even more angry. "I betcha a fireball will put that creep in its place!" he insisted.

"Don't even think about it, Natsu!" Lucy insisted.

"Yeah! You might hit those things it likes!" Charmander cried out, still barely hanging onto Natsu. "Also can it kill you to slow down just a teeny-tiny bit?!"

"NOT A CHANCE!" Natsu only sped faster, making Charmander barely hang on and squeal.

The culprit moved as fast as possible, rushing to what looked like a faint green up ahead. Natsu and Lucy and Wendy all looked ahead to see what was coming up.

"Hey guys, it looks like it's heading towards the forest!" Happy called out.

"If it gets into there, we'll lose it!" Carla exclaimed.

"Not with my nose it won't!" Natsu roared.

Lucy caught up to his side. "Yeah, and I ain't going nowhere without my spirits!"

The group bolted as fast as possible into the clearing, where the creature whisked itself into the underbrush. It made way as fast as it could to get away from Natsu and Lucy, but it couldn't believe how ridiculously fast both were. Even as it carried into the grassy woods, they were following, much to its frustration.

Having no use above the canopy, Happy flew right beside Natsu. "We'll never catch it at this rate!" he yelled. "Looks like I got my Max Speed for this job!"

"No, don't!" Natsu insisted. He glared ahead with a smiled growing. "I got a better idea."

"You do?!"

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"Please tell me it's safe!" Wendy hoped from behind.

"Haha! It's completely foolproof!" he anchored his foot on the ground, sliding along the earth and reaching back towards Charmander. "Okay little buddy, it's your time to shine!"

Charmander's eyes widened. "Wait, I what?!"

Natsu threw his arm back, carrying the panicking Charmander that was scrambling to find excuses. "Okay…Charmander, I choose you!" With a massive swing of his arm, he pitched Charmander straight ahead with all his might. The little Fire-type shrieked loudly as he had comical, wavy tears out of the corners of his eyes.

The silver keyring hurried as quickly as it could, but it heard something close in from behind. It sounded like shrieking. Turning around to get a better view, it showed itself just as Charmander smashed right into its face. The silverfish figure and Charmander collided in a powerful – and painful – wave that caused both to recoil. The key pouch it had looped around its arms went loose and went flying off near the trees. It fell into the leaves of the lower branches, perched right on top.

Both Charmander and the keyring groaned, having possible concussions. Natsu, on the other hand, laughed. "You see?! I told you it was foolproof!" he exclaimed.

Behind him, the four had small white eyes and triangular mouths, dull despairing auras over their heads. _'That was his plan?'_

Charmander dizzily sat up, his consciousness coming around once again.

"Wait a go Charmander, that was awesome!" Natsu cheered.

Turning around, Charmander shot an angered look with tears still in the corners of his face. "Hey, that actually hurt! What the heck was that for?!"

Natsu sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Whoops, sorry! Forgot to give ya a heads up!" he snickered in slight regret. The Charmander looked more annoyed than ever now.

"Hey look!" Happy pointed at the tree branch that the keys were in. "I think I can see the keys from here!"

Lucy's eyes lit up upon seeing the brown pouch. "Yeah, I see them too!"

"I'll get them, don't worry!" Wendy assured. She rushed ahead, with Carla swooping in from behind to carry her up.

"I'm counting on you, Wendy!" Lucy shouted.

"Yeah, no problem!"

The wild Pokémon now revealed to be a Klefki groggily got back up. She blinked several times before she got a feel of her surroundings. "Gnnngh, what just hit me?" She noticed the Charmander. "Wait, where did you come from?" She noticed how light she was before gasping in shock. "Wait, where are my keys?!" She felt a shadow sneak over her, getting her to look up and see Wendy with wings pass overhead. Her eyes followed her as she raced towards the keys. "My keys!" She started for them as well.

"Don't count on it!" Natsu roared.

As Klefki made a beeline for the keys, Charmander intercepted in a jump of his own. " **Scratch!** " His claws raked diagonally in midair, sending Klefki back towards the ground. Charmander landed in front, facing off Klefki as she tried getting back up.

The lizard smirked. "Look, I'm in a bad mood right now, so we can either fight, or you can surrender. What's it going to be?"

Klefki found no way out of this. All she could do was growl as she squared off against Charmander in the forest.

Natsu pumped a fist. "Aw yeah! Time for our first Pokémon Battle!"

Wendy and Carla arose to the tree branch, finally reaching Lucy's keys. "And…there! Got 'em!" She chirped. "Hey Lucy, I found them!"

"Thank you, Wendy!" she shouted from afar.

"Now. Let's back down and…" As Wendy was trying to wrap up her choice of words, she felt something cling to the top of her head. "Huh?" It felt light, very light. When her brown eyes looked up, she noticed that a plump, light blue bird with cloud-like wings and a white peak perched itself on her head. Its heady white eyes made it look placid and snugged.

"Uh…"

"What the?! Where did this hooligan come from?!" Carla sniped. "Shoo!"

However, the creature didn't listen. In fact, it looked down at Wendy, their eyes meeting. Beady black ones met with brown. They looked so wide, and very much curious.

Wendy wasn't sure of what to do, but she didn't want to make the situation anymore awkward. Still attached to Carla and flying, she spoke to the perched bird on her head. "Uh…hello?"

"Hi." It chirped.

* * *

In deep, whisking snow, two figures were seen walking along an incline up the mountain. A closer inspection showed that the raven-haired man had no shirt, while his partner followed closely by his side.

"Juvia, you sure you're alright?"

"Y-yes. I'm sure I'm well."

"Okay then, just be careful."

Gray and Juvia's job was a different story. Unlike Natsu and the other's jobs, Gray's job was for a different reason. The job was to find some wyvern scales from a wyvern that was last seen around Mt. Hakobe. It felt like a pain, but with his skills, it should be no problem. As an added promise of yesterday, he brought Juvia along. Juvia of course was more than willing, and was actually happy to be alone with Gray on a job, but she also had to remind herself a job was a job. The cuddles would have to wait once they get out of the snow.

Gray looked up towards the sky, trying to see through the sprinkling white. "Man, this stuff is coming down pretty hard today." He said.

Juvia nodded. "Yes, this weather does make it less likely to keep track…" She then smiled. "But I'm sure as long as we stick together, we'll find our way, right?"

Gray looked towards her. "Yeah, just stay close to me, alright?"

Like that, hearts appeared in Juvia's eyes. She went and hugged him from behind, holding on tight. "Yes! Of course! Whatever you say!"

Gray dropped a bead of sweat, but he accepted them and carried on with the added weight to his back.

The two carried along up the mountain pass. They were making decent timing up the hill towards the mountain range of Mt. Hakobe. There, they speculated they could get a better view. Surely they would see a wyvern nest from up there.

As they went higher up, a weak shriek ripped through the air. Gray stopped in his tracks, perking up. "Hey, you hear that?"

Juvia smirked. "You mean our hearts thumping in unison?"

Gray's face was serious. "No. Not that. I think something's heading our way."

Juvia was confused at first, but another shrilled cry was heard. Her head went up, het attention making her let go of Gray and stand right beside him.

"I think we've got company." He warned.

Slowly, within the blizzard at the high altitude, something that had white scales was shrilling caws as it passed overhead. About 20-feet in height, and much longer in length, the miniature herbivore with sharp fangs cawed loudly as it passed overhead.

"White wyvern, 1 o'clock." Gray said.

"I see it."

As the wyvern was incoming within the snow, the sound of a shrilled cry was heard, but it sounded more like distress.

"Hm?"

The wyvern exerted another roar, coming down to the ground beyond the hill with a claw. It stamped, making another shriek exert through the air as snow and mist went everywhere.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did." Juvia said.

"Aaaaaah!" a cry shouted.

Immediately it rung a warning in the air. "I looks like it's attacking someone!" Gray rushed ahead. Juvia followed with equal hurry.

The two hurried as the ground continued to shake beneath them with every time the wyvern seemed to have reached down below. They were closing in on the white hill, seeing something running in their direction in a panic with something on its tail.

As they closed in, both Gray and Juvia's eyes widened.

"Somebody help me!" The creature shouted. He flailed his arms around as he tried to move as fast as possible on his stubby brown legs. His body's entire upper half was white, including a mountain-like cap over his green wyes. His arms were white with green ends with hardly difference between the fingers and leaves. In a way, he looked like a wailing, stout snow tree that was running from the face of death in his eyes.

The creature hurried as fast as possible, but the wyvern was hot on his tail. As he labored in breath, the head dipped down again, diving into the snow just beside it. The creature jumped from the shock and hurried as fast as his legs could carry him.

"WHY ME?!" He wailed. His shrieks went as wild as his feet as he ran in a straight line over the mountain's vast blizzard. The wyvern was chasing him once again once recovered and glided overhead.

The creature knew that the snow cover wasn't going to last forever. He had to defend somehow. As the wyvern overhead readied its claws, the snow tree looked back and aimed his left arm at it. It glowed green and unleashed spinning leaves in a funnel. The spiraling Grass-type attack closed in, but the wyvern flapped its wings, dissipating the leaves before they even got close. As shocked as before the creature was in disbelief that his last-ditch salvation failed.

The wyvern shrieked as its massive claws closed in. The snow tree closed his eyes, looking away from the inevitable.

However, the inevitable never struck. Instead, there was the sound of an explosion that went through his ears. He thought it was going to be his body crushed like a jelly donut, but rather it was the cry of the wyvern. Confused, he looked back, only to gasp in shock.

The wyvern had been struck by something that enveloped it in a mist cloud. It fell backwards into the snow, crashing and quaking the land beneath with tremendous force. The snowy headed creature looked at his predator with shock as he mysteriously fell back from something he knew he wasn't responsible for. "Did my Razor Leaf really do that…?" he wondered.

"That was a close one."

The male voice made the creature turn towards the two figure who were behind. To his greater shock, it was a shirtless man, and a woman with blue hair and dark blue eyes. They just saved him from being dragon-chow.

"Looks like we didn't have to wait after all. The big guy's barreling right for us." Gray mused.

Juvia looked down at the creature before them. "So then this was who it was chasing?"

The creature met eyes with both of them, getting an uneased expression on his face. After his encounter with the wyvern after falling from the sky onto its back, he'd rather not deal with people now. He got into a defensive position, looking ready to attack.

"S-stay back!" He ordered. "I'm warning you!"

"Huh?" Gray looked at the frosted tree directly, looking at his small form with increased wonder. _'Wait, hold on. Why does this thing look a lot like something I saw back in Kalos?'_

Noticing Gray's shirtless form, and aware of how humans usually shiver, the creature gave another uneased look. "Wait, why are you without clothing? W-what's going on?"

"Don't worry. We're not here to hurt you." Juvia warned.

"You're not?" The creature was having more confused vibes than before, but then a boom from behind made him swallow a lump. The wyvern in the background began to stir back up again, ready to attack. He shifted back around to face the creature in great shock.

Gray looked at the wyvern without hesitation. "Nope. We're here for _that_ guy." He answered. "Just one thing…"

The creature looked back at him in questioning.

"What you might see, you might want to prepare for. Got it?" With that, he walked pass the surprised snow tree, with Juvia following close behind. The blizzard they were in was falling at such a low level that the smaller figment could see their footprints. He stared with shock as Gray and Juvia stood between him and the shrieking wyvern.

"Wait, hold up. What are you doing? Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

Gray and Juvia took stances as they saw the wyvern flap. It took flight into the icy sky once again, towering over with his fangs bared once again.

"Juvia, you wanna soften him up or should I?"

"I will. I insist."

The white creature looked unsound as he saw them look like they were going to attack without any defenses. It staggered hi to say the least. He backed away, unnerved of what could be the possibility of a demise.

The wyvern flapped his wings and came closer down towards Juvia and Gray. Juvia raised and arm, swiping it.

" **Water Lock!** "

In speeds no one could've traced, the white wyvern was trapped inside a large dome of water. The whole thing rippled and bubbled inside as the aquatic prison contained the wyvern, which struggled to move about inside.

The creature's eyes widened in shock as he just saw Juvia do what looked like an attack. He couldn't believe it even if it did happen. _'Wait, did she just…?'_

"Gray, now!" she exclaimed.

"On it!" Gray took a leap skywards towards the water prison, putting his arms together. "Sorry for this, but we'll just be taking a few of your scales! Nothing personal!" He closed in on the dome of water, a misty ice surrounding his arms as his magic created a shivering blade.

Again, the creature looked in shock over Gray manifesting ice crossed in his arms.

" **Ice Bringer!** "

Gray passed the wyvern and spliced the water dome with two swords made up of ice. While in midair, the water and the wyvern were suddenly enveloped in an eruption of ice that overtook it all. The ice glimmered a few times before breaking apart, shattering to expel the wyvern in a loud cry of pain. As Gray landed on his knee, the wyvern fell behind him, crashing into snow with a thud. When he arose he looked back to watched as a mixture of ice and chipped white fragments fell like rain, sprinkling around the three and landing in the dying blizzard. "And that's how it's done." Gray smirked.

"Oh Gray, that was so cool!" Juvia jovially cheered with hearts in her eyes and a big smile on her face. As she fangirled over him, the creature that stood right beside her was wide-eyed still upon seeing Gray's attack. To say he was astounded was an understatement.

He couldn't fathom what was going on here. He just saw a shirtless man use an Ice-type attack, and he saw a blue-haired woman use a Water-type power of sorts. While more inclined towards Gray for the usage of ice, he was without any regards to his own condition.

"Excuse me?" Juvia's sweet voice got his attention. "Are you hurt?"

The frosted tree looked up towards her, trying to nod slowly to confirm.

Juvia smiled wider. "That's great."

"…what…what kind of people are you?" he questioned.

A pair of feet pressed into the snow, revealing Gray. "I bet you got a lot of questions right now, don't you?" He approached the small creature, standing right before him in a state of awe. "We got some questions to ask of you as well."

The creature looked up as Gray knelt to eye level. He seemed so calm despite seeing him for the first time.

"So tell me, are you this thing called a Pokémon?"

The snow tree blinked in surprise over Gray's inquiry. Now he was _really_ curious. His eyelids dulled some as he stared up at him. "…yeah…"

The wind began to pick up again, the icy snow howling once more. It was getting so frigid, but Juvia didn't mind. She dressed for the part, and Gray was unaffected, as was the Pokémon.

"What do they call you?"

"Snover."

"Do you know where you are?" Juvia asked.

The creature, who is now revealed to be Snover, looked down in inquiry. "I…I don't know. It all looked the same, but I didn't recognize a few mountain passes here or there…and that dragon thing, I tried to hunt me down ever since I fell on its back from the sky."

Gray looked back at the unconscious wyvern. "That explains it."

"What?"

"Those are white wyvern. You'd be surprised by this, but they're actually not carnivorous. They're actually herbivores, and if I had to guess…" He faced Snover again, getting to the point. "It must've figured you as lunch."

Snover gulped. "O-oh…" He bowed before them both. "Thank you for saving me."

"Our pleasure." Juvia smiled.

Gray put a hand to his hip, grinning at the Snover. As the wind howled into his ear, he looked back at the snowfall. It wasn't dying down. He looked back at Juvia, who seemed like she was doing okay, but with him and Snover looking immune, it wasn't helping their case.

"Well I say if you want some more answers to these questions, let's get off this mountain first. What do you say?"

The Snover nodded, looking more comfortable around Gray. "If you say so…" He followed behind Gray and Juvia alike, watching their backs as they went pass him to get their wyvern scales that fell off the defeated wyvern. The Grass/Ice-type looked on with green eyes fixed on the mages with estrange powers. More accurately, how they could use them to begin with. _'I wonder what's wrong here? Just who are these people?'_

* * *

The wild Klefki remained stationary as she expelled a pink, sparkling wind from her body, via Fairy Wind. The attack beamed straight for Charmander, forcing him to cover up as the attack rushed pass him. Trying to maintain his foreground he leaned forward so as to keep anchorage.

"Hey, this thing's pretty strong." Natsu commended. "But we can do better! Charmander, use **Ember!** "

Opening an eye through the pink gust, the Lizard Pokémon glared ahead. He took in a deep breath and unleashed a spray of orange and yellow sparks that shot like a blanket at Klefki. It made it through the Fairy Wind, but Klefki escalated and dodged the attack, which dissipated upon meeting the tree bark meters behind it.

The Klefki looked down towards them, humming with an impatient vibe running off her. Charmander grunted in anger.

"Use **Scratch** , and nail that thing!" Following Natsu's exclamation, Charmander took another leap off the ground to attack with his claws. Klefki's expression didn't recede from frustration as she too charged at him, via **Tackle**. The two attacks met dead center; claws against head. There was even a small light ripple that burst upon impact. Once dissipated, the stalemate was off when Klefki nudged Charmander's claws back, sending Charmander back towards the ground. He spun about until he caught himself on all fours in a slide.

Natsu glared at Klefki with his expression growing more serious by the second. "How the heck am I supposed to hit that thing if it just dodges or bounces off my attacks?!"

Charmander got back up to two feet. "This guy's getting really annoying really fast for me."

"That makes both of us." Natsu ignited a fist. "I bet I can fry that thing and make it stop moving."

"Don't even!" Lucy protested. "You'll burn down the whole forest if you do that!"

"Yeah, and you'll melt all those keys!" Happy pointed out. "You gotta keep it this level, buddy."

Natsu growled in frustration. "Gnnngh…okay then." He smirked. "But I bet it can't beat what it can't see. Use **Smokescreen!** "

Charmander's blue eyes ignited with a glint of passion. "Okay then…how about this!" He opened his maw once more, expelling a thick black cloud of smoke that billowed its way towards Klefki. The attack swallowed up Klefki from within, the keyring closing her eyes as a blue aura enveloped her from within, signaling her accuracy faltering.

"Man, that move sure takes me back!" Natsu cheekily smiled. In his mind, he pictured Nic's Greninja using his own version of Smokescreen, when he still had it of course. "I still can't believe you guys can learn similar moves. That's pretty cool if you ask me."

Charmander looked at the smoke surrounding Klefki, not wanting to turn about or get distracted. "Duly noted."

Watching from afar, Lucy looked at Natsu's battling against Klefki. Suffice to say that with her body language, she was surprised with how it was turning out. "Wow, I can't believe how well Natsu's handling Charmander. I thought he'd all over the place, but it's like he's got the idea down."

Happy floated next to her. "Well he's seen Nic use his Pokémon all the time. I think after seeing from example a dozen times, I think he's doing all monkey see, monkey do."

"Well let's see how this keeps up. I don't wanna get my hopes up too early." Lucy nervously pointed out.

"Lucy!"

The sound came from above. The blonde and feline looked up to find Wendy and Carl descending beside them. "Oh, Wendy!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Hey, Lucy." They landed beside them, with the blue-haired maiden presenting the blonde with the pouch of keys. "Here."

She gasped upon seeing her keys. "My keys." She took them and smiled. "Thank you, Wendy. You're a real lifesaver." As she saw the Sky Dragon smile back, she took a moment to realize something was off about her. "Uh, Wendy?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to alarm you, but…" She pointed to Wendy's head, more specifically, something that was perched on it. "Do you know you have a bird on your head?"

Wendy looked up at the blue bird as it nested itself on her head. It looked so cozy as its cloud-like wings were all folded and tucked in. She had a nervous smile as she looked back towards Lucy. "Yeah, it just kinds came out of nowhere…"

"The creature literally swooped in and perched itself on Wendy's head like it was some pedestal." Carla sighed. "I keep telling it to get off, but Wendy apparently doesn't seem to mind."

"Well its light as a feather." She pointed out. "Besides, for all we know, it could be another one of those Pokémon that came here."

"Really?" Lucy gasped.

"Sure looks like one to me." Happy said. "Does it have a name?"

"Not sure. I haven't asked yet." Wendy looked up to the creature. "Um, excuse me?"

The bird hummed as she looked down at Wendy again. "Hi there."

"Hi. Uh, we were wondering something."

"Like what?"

"Do you…have a name or something?"

The bird blinked, only to then shake her head. "M-m, nope. I'm just called Swablu."

"Swablu, huh?" Wendy smiled. "Okay then."

"Aren't you going to tell her to get off?!" Carla interjected.

"It's fine, really! Don't scare it away!"

Back to the battle, Natsu balled a fist, eager to get the fight rolling on. "Okay then, let's use **Ember** and cream that thing!" Charmander had no problem doing just that. He ascended above the cloud of smoke with a jump and saw Klefki in the low-level smoke cloud. He opened his mouth and fired a blanket of embers from above. The Klefki looked up, but was instantly pelted by the barrage of sparks. She yelled out as she slid back out of the Smokescreen, which dissipated.

As she looked head, Charmander landed in her spot.

"Alright! Now we got this going for us!" Natsu cheered.

The Klefki's expression turned annoyed next. "You think so, huh?" As she faced Natsu, she couldn't help but look behind him. In her line of sight, she saw that the keys she stole were back in Lucy's possession. Immediately, her expression shifted to glints in her eyes. "My keys!" Instantly, she tried to make a beeline for Lucy.

"Oh no you don't!" Natsu slipped in front of Klefki, surprising her with his quick feet. The Steel/Fairy-type instantly jerked away for caution.

"Now, **Scratch** it!"

Confused, Klefki turned towards her right, staring at the Charmander as he jumped to rake at her. She backed further away and allowed Charmander to fall forward in his Scratch, losing the momentum needed to land safely. He thudded loudly, staying on the ground as Klefki levitated a good distance away.

Natsu's fists balled tight. "Man, does this thing ever sit still?"

Klefki flimsily moved about through the air in a rushed manner. Charmander got up once more to follow Klefki as she moved about through the air. She seemed eager and impatient all at once. "Keys. Gotta get my keys. I need keys!" she chirped quickly.

"What's this thing's deal? Why does it need keys so bad?" Lucy asked, holding her keys tightly to her ample chest.

"I don't know, but if this keeps up, we won't get anywhere." Wendy worried. "We gotta slow it down somehow."

On her head, the Swablu perked her head up. "Huh?

"That thing's too fast to land a clean blow." Carla examined. "We won't get anywhere if this drags along. Wendy, can you use your enchantments to enhance Charmander?"

Wendy nodded. "Great idea. Okay then…"

Wendy readied to attack, but she fell short as Swablu extended her wings on her head, making her hold position as the small blue bird hummed and took flight.

"Huh? Hey, wait!" Wendy called out, but she didn't listen. Swablu took to the air and went flying ahead to battle.

Carla saw the act and seemed generally surprised. "What's she doing?"

"Is she going to try something?" Happy questioned.

Lucy and Wendy held their ground and watched from the distance.

Natsu watched with his eyes following Klefki. Even with all those keys attached to her, she was surprisingly very light. He was honestly surprised at the speeds in which they traveled about. "Great. How am I supposed to catch that thing if all it does is-?" He was cut off when a blue humming bird flapped pass him. "Huh?"

"I can help!" Swablu called, getting Charmander's attention. The Lizard Pokémon looked back in surprise as Swablu stopped beside him, flapping in midair.

"Wait, where did you come from?!" Charmander exasperated.

"KEYS!" Klefki whined. She zoomed right ahead, targeting Swablu as she had entered the fray.

Wendy looked astonished as Swablu was within her range. "Swablu, look out!" However, the Normal/Flying-type didn't listen. In fact, she started to open her mouth, taking in a deep breath.

Klefki rolled in, but Swablu emanated a voice from her beak. Her white beak opened, releasing a loud, but equally as enigmatic lullaby. The soothing voice reverberated through the area, catching Klefki off guard. Swablu kept humming away, her vocals aimed for the desperate keyring. As she kept going in at Swablu, she began to get slower, much to everyone's surprise.

"Hey, it's slowing down!" Wendy exclaimed.

"Amazing." Lucy said. "Is she really trying to sing the thing to sleep?"

"I don't know, but it looks like it's working. Look!" Happy pointed ahead, signaling to everyone how the Klefki had started to drift towards the ground and her eyes showing signs of getting heavy. "It looks like it's really working!"

"That's a surprise." Carla deadpanned.

Swablu kept singing aloud with all her gusto, her eccentric lullaby reverberating towards Klefki. The Steel/Fairy-type was trying to hang on to her willpower the best she could, but her strength was beginning to fade. The keys she carried started getting heavier and heavier. They felt like they were going to come loose any second. She pulled herself together in whatever way manageable, but nevertheless, just hearing the hypnotic tune was making her mind go numb.

"N-no…my…keys…" Her conscience finally giving up, Klefki's eyes finally closed. Her body fell to the ground, laying in her side with her keyhole mouth open. At long last, she was finally asleep.

Charmander looked ahead in shock at the fallen Klefki. She was finally asleep, and in a way, vulnerable. He looked back towards Swablu in amazement as her angelic tone finally subsided, ending her attack and her aid.

The blue bird turned towards the distilled Charmander, unfazed by her own actions. "Okay, that should be good, right?"

"R-right!" Shaking his head of any distractions, Charmander redoubled his focus on the battlefield. "Natsu, let's hurry and finish this!"

Natsu looked at his Pokémon with a distinct brow raised. "What?" He looked at the Klefki, watching her sleep. "But…isn't attacking someone in their sleep a little bit wrong?"

Charmander rolled his eyes. "Ugh…well not to Pokémon. It's not like we're gonna kill them…right?"

"What?! No! C'mon!" Natsu retorted. "Even I don't do that! But, since this is between Pokémon…I guess just this once will do."

"Now we're talking." Charmander faced the sleeping Klefki, ready to make his next move.

Natsu balled a fist, punching forward. "Man, I'm actually gonna feel sorry for this but…use **Ember!** "

Charmander reeled his head back, gathering what power he could. "Sorry pal…sweet dreams!" He lurched his head forward, expelling another blanket of sparks and embers that bolted at Klefki. With the Pokémon fast asleep and unable to dodge, the blanket of sparks enveloped her, this time kicking up enough force to send her flying off the ground into the nearest tree meters away. The impact of the Fire-type attack and the tree alike sent a shock through the Klefki as she blacked out inside her dreams. The critical hit made the Pokémon fall forward once again into the grass, this time thoroughly unconscious. It was shown by the spiraling eyes.

Charmander beamed with pride. "And that's how it's done."

Natsu shrugged. "Well, guess that's it then. We did it!" he laughed in glee over how it worked out. "We won our first battle!"

"Yeah!" Charmander growled up to the forest, signaling his first true victory in the new world.

The Swablu flapped in place, humming sweetly as she felt proud herself. It wasn't wrong to say she gained experience as well.

After the fight was over, Lucy and the others regrouped with Natsu, with Wendy being the lead with a big smile on her face. "Wow Natsu, that was pretty amazing." She complimented.

"Yeah, you two really did a good job." Lucy commented.

Natsu sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Aw c'mon, it was nothing." He looked over, seeing how Swablu was flying gently pass him again. "Besides…" His gaze followed her as she perched herself on top of Wendy's head once again. "I couldn't have done it without that little guy's help. Thanks a lot."

The Swablu smiled at Natsu happily. "With pleasure."

Carla faced the Swablu with a tick mark growing. "Hey, wait a minute! Why are you back on Wendy's head?! I thought I told you not to do that!" Swablu, however, didn't seem afraid. She just nested in Wendy's clean hair and sighed. Carla groaned in growing aggravation.

"I said it was fine, alright?" Wendy scolded before smiling up at Swablu.

"Well if you ask me, it must really like you, Wendy." Happy said.

"Well I think it's sweet." Lucy chimed. "Now then, back to business at hand…"

"Oh right." Natsu turned his attention towards the unconscious Klefki. He and Charmander glared at it like they wanted to burn holes through her, and really no one could blame them. She gave them such a hard time that it's hard not to get mad.

Lucy sighed. Rather than wait about, she moved pass Natsu and reached Klefki. She knelt and undid her keyring herself. She had a strong grip, even when unconscious. She eventually got it loose and took all the keys that were on her keyring, handling them by herself. "I think when this little guy comes around, I'm gonna give him a personal word about thieving from others." She sounded scornful, and the look she had proved it. "You all get that? This one's all mine."

Natsu folded his arms, smiling. "Sounds good to me! Boy I'm feeling sorry for it already."

"So I guess we should return all the house keys then." Wendy suggested.

Natsu turned back the way they came. "Yeah, then we can eat until we pop!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy glided onto his shoulder, resting on the right one, while Charmander hopped up and took liberties on the left one. Carla followed along as Wendy pressed behind, with Swablu remaining on her head. Lastly, Lucy trailed behind. She held onto the keys and onto Klefki by the key-like top so that she doesn't go anywhere, not while Lucy had a few choice words for her the second she wakes up.

* * *

A wave of fire in a vast arch went everywhere. The heated sword that it came from followed through with its arch, enveloping no less than 6 Beedrill in its wake. The wave pushed through, sending all the charred bees back into the underbrush again.

Erza adjusted her stance, her posture and heated choice of weaponry alarming the Beedrill before her. "Is that all?"

Sophie slowly raised her finger to her forehead. "So, these insects detest fire then? Ein be-a-ya. (No problem.)" A chain of memories started to form behind her, targeting the Beedrill that were heading for her. " **Memory-Make: Pyro Saucer!** " Like Erza's attack, several saucers of spinning flames shot from out of thin air. They moved so fast that the Beedrill had nowhere to go. They were all struck and blown away by the erupting saucers. The Beedrill hissed in pain as the flames boomed in their faces.

Erza and Sophie held their statures as the remaining Beedrill looked at them in raised alarm. They all hissed with shock and fright as they used fire, something they can't seem to stand. A few more looked at each other knowingly before they chose to flee the scene. A few others stayed and readied their counter.

"So you choose to stand your ground?" Erza questioned. "Very well then…prepare yourselves!" Same as before, she let out a battle cry as she slashed her Flame Empress Sword, sending another wave of fire at the Beedrill heading their way.

Standing away from the action a safe distance, Joey was quietly squealing as his hands cupped his own face. He was on the verge of paling as he watched Erza do battle against Beedrill without Pokémon. In fact, seeing her Requip Magic and transform to use arts like moves would was making his own heart race. "This…" he muttered. "This is Erza-senpai's power…it's no awesome~!" he whispered.

"Yeah, no kidding." Dereece agreed. "Man. They're swatting then down like…well…flies."

Sophie swiped her arm, summoning lightning down from the sky around the Beedrill. They all spooked to no end at the display and rushed away once an opening in the lightning strikes was clear. Erza's next wave of fire was the final insult to the Beedrill as they took off, not wanting to get cindered nor barbequed.

"So this is guild work!" Joey chimed. "Man is it awesome or what?"

Dereece was willing to respond to that, but a shadow appeared on their backs. They heard the faint sound of buzzing that made their ears shrivel from its unpleasant tune. They had a bad feeling as the buzzing grew louder, getting them both to slowly raised their brows and glance at the other.

"Dereece…"

"Joey…"

Together, they turned around swiftly and got the identity of what was the culprit was. To their shock, it was a lone Beedrill. It looked down at them with his red eyes gleaming hostility and curiosity at the same time.

"A Beedrill!" Joey gasped. He looked back at Erza and Sophie, who just finished the last wave of Beedrill that was attacking. _'Did he work around all that?!'_

"I sting yo face!" The Beedrill aimed his stingers at the two boys.

The Beedrill having been dispatched, Erza and Sophie turned towards the two boys. To their shock, they saw that one was carefully observing them, awaiting for whatever move was to be made.

"We missed one!" Sophie growled. She readied another spell to save them, but a sword cut her off. The red and hot piece of metal still simmered watery heat waves that made her face feel hot. "Erza?"

The Requip Mage glared at the scene, her brown orbs seething anticipation of what will happen next. She knew that as new Trainers, as well as being one herself, she had to see what Joey and Dereece can do in a situation such as this.

Slowly, Dereece took a very slowly step backwards, hands up. "Joey? I~ don't think the job's that fun anymore…" he nervously spoke.

"Uh…maybe." He seemed equally as worried as Dereece, but at that moment, realized something important that he had that made him less vulnerable. Feeling his pocket, the blonde stopped in his tracks and felt his Poke Ball containing Chespin. He knew what he could do.

Hurriedly reaching into his pocket, he expanded the Poke Ball, glaring up at the Poison Bee Pokémon that was shivering his spine still.

"Uh, Joey…"

"Go, Chespin!" Throwing the Poke Ball, the capsule popped open, expelling out the Grass-type Pokémon that stood on his two feet. The creature looked as ready as his Trainer as he faced the bee.

"Okay, let's do it!" He eagerly shouted. The Beedrill glared at him, his three stingers pointed directly at his face. As they glinted, the confident look on Chespin's face began to falter. His ears started to droop like he was facing a devil. "…uh, can I take back what I just said? I don't think I'm ready for this."

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill denied.

Dereece looked at Joey like he had gone mad. "Joey? The heck are you doing?" he whispered.

"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm proving myself to Nic and Erza-senpai." He stated. "Even if we're still newbies, we won't go down that easily, right Chespin?"

Chespin wanted to object, but seeing the look on Joey's brave face showed he was into this. The least he could do was put one up himself. He looked back at the Beedrill, readying himself.

"Well this'll be something then." Dereece groaned. "Just keep your distance, okay? You know Chespin's at a huge disadvantage here."

"I know~, that's why we played all those video games." He reasoned. "We'll just have to soften him up first." He reached out. "Alright, let's use **Growl!** " Chespin complied with Joey's command. He opened his maw and expelled soundwaves that distorted the air all the way towards Beedrill. The Bug/Poison-type shimmered in the air, rattling his head back and forth as a blue aura enveloped him, decreasing his Attack strength.

"Just like that!"

The soundwaves soon receded, and Beedrill shook his head. Once cleared of the loud noise, he aimed his two white stingers at Chespin. "I sting yo face!" In his Fury Attack, he dove at him.

Joey clutched a fist tight. "Dodge it!" Chespin took off in a quick leap towards his right. Beedrill stabbed the ground where Chespin was before he moved away. The bee turned his head as Chespin laid on the ground to the side, safe from that blow.

"Use **Growl** again!"

Chespin opened his mouth once more, expelling another round of distorting soundwaves that ripped through the atmosphere. The attack, being at a closer range, made Beedrill shrivel as his antennae went out of control. Once again, the blue aura surrounded his body, signifying an Attack decrease.

"Alright! It's looking good now!" Dereece exclaimed.

Joey pointed at it. "Good, now use **Tackle!** "

Chespin got up to his two feet, aiming at Beedrill like he was going to launch himself skyward. "Cowabunga!" He shot off the ground into Beedrill's abdomen. The attack had enough force that it dislodged Beedrill's stinger from the ground, sending him back into the air. The poisonous bee recoiled heavily back up, while Chespin wobbled on his two feet until he straightened out.

"Nice going, Chespin!" Joey praised. "Keep it up!"

Chespin smiled. "I've always wanted to say that."

The Beedrill looked down at Chespin with a more revolted look. "I sting yo face!" he roared.

Chespin raised a brow. "Wait, didn't you say that already?"

The Beedrill pointed his stingers once again at him, but this time they were glowing a bright purple color. The coating compared to last time immediately set off alarms for a few people.

"Uh oh." Dereece muttered.

"Why 'uh oh'?" Joey questioned. He looked back up, only to realize what it was that Dereece meant. He knew what might happen. "No…please not **Twineedle!** "

But it was too late. Beedrill shot at Chespin with a faster speed than before. One needle was brought back, and Chespin hurriedly ducked in his own act of cowardice to evade the attack. To his relief, it again struck the ground behind him, impaling the earth.

"Alright, nice dodge!" Joey shouted.

Chespin opened his eyes once more, looking up to see the needle was right overhead. He thought he was able to attack again like before, but a needle from dead ahead reached for him, stabbing him square in the stomach. Chespin cried out in pain as he went flying back, sailing head first into Joey. The surprised Trainer had no warning as he caught Chespin, falling onto his back in the process.

"Joey!" Dereece cried out.

Erza and Sophie looked on in shock. It looked like they still had a ways to go. "Is he okay?" Sophie yelled as she hurried behind Joey. Erza followed not long after, just as Joey grunted and slowly sat up again.

The teenager opened one eye, his teeth gritting from the pain. "Great…it's gym class all over again." He wheezed. He looked down at Chespin in his arms. "Hey little guy, you okay…?"

In his arms, Chespin clutched his stomach. He groaned in pain as he too opened an eye. "Gnnngh…my stomach hurts…but I think I'm good." He groaned.

Joey sighed in relief.

Dereece looked back, seeing that both Joey and Chespin were still in the pink. "Is he still conscious?" He got a nod from Joey. "Phew. Man, that was a close one then. If it weren't for those Growls, then-!"

"I sting yo face!"

The cry alarmed Dereece. Immediately, he realized his folly and turned around, seeing the Beedrill was once again in the air, and this time, it looked like his aggression had spiked big time. From the looks of things, he seemed particularly interested in stabbing Dereece, being so close and all.

"Dereece, get back!" Erza rushed ahead, bypassing Dereece with her sword ready. She readied her defense while Sophie held a vanguard beside Joey as he and Chespin were getting back up.

The Beedrill didn't care how many of them there were. He was mad now, and he wasn't running away. "I sting yo face!" With his needles shown, he poised and shot down at Erza, who readied a parry.

Dereece closed his eyes behind her, having very high doubts and prayers for all of this to be a nightmare to soon end.

The sound of a body struck through the air, reverberating like armor. It sounded like the bee had met its mark with someone, but when he opened an eye, he saw that it wasn't Erza. In fact, she looked as shocked as he was. When he looked back, he realized what it was that took the blow.

"What the…?"

The Beedrill was held in place as his needles were grabbed hold by two claws that were trying to keep him back. They belonged to a large blue beetle who got in the way and dug in his heels to fend off the poisonous intruder.

"Heracross!" Dereece exclaimed.

"He took the hit for us?" Joey gasped.

Heracross grunted as he did his best to hold his ground. Surprising enough, even with the Attack lowered by Beedrill, he was still putting up a deep vanguard to follow up on. "Gnngh…you're…not going anywhere…!" he retorted.

"I…sting yo face!" Beedrill retorted, but with equal strain as Heracross. With his two needles incapacitated by the claws, his secret weapon was pulled up. It was time for the big stinger on the bottom.

With it poised and aimed for Heracross' face – literally – the wild Beedrill unleashed a Fury Attack again. The stinger struck his face, making Heracross grunt.

"No!" Dereece panicked.

Another Fury Attack in the face, this time making Heracross slide back again. And again, slide back another inch. Through each consecutive blow to the face, Heracross still held his grip onto the stingers, but he kept sliding back.

Seeing the angry Beedrill on offense, Sophie's eyes squinted. "We need to do something."

"Wait!" The call came from Dereece, surprisingly. The group turned to see him standing up again, the big-boned friend of the other newbie Trainer looking ahead with a pleading look in his eyes. "C'mon man! Dig in those heels!" he encouraged. "Push!"

Heracross kept getting stung in the face, but Dereece's encouragement kicked in. The Bug/Fighting-type suddenly opened his eyes at last, registering what to do. His heels stopped sliding back, and his ground was finally getting back to his side. With a heavy grunt of raw muscle, Heracross began to take blow after blow of Beedrill's Fury Attack, but the bee was caught off guard as the superior insect was pushing him back rather than him instead.

One step after the other, Heracross kept pushing, showing his way towards victory.

"Yeah! That's it! Keep pushing, you're doing awesome!" Joey shouted.

"Go get him!" Chespin cheered, but he fell short of saying before wincing at the pain. "Ow…"

With one final shove, Heracross finally shoved Beedrill back into the air, ceasing his advance entirely. He looked down in shock upon catching himself, seeing that Heracross was now determined to get in his way.

"It's just you and me now." Heracross retorted. "Leave the delicious human alone."

"'Delicious'?" Dereece repeated.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill pointed his two needles at Heracross again, this time glowing bright purple to signal Twineedle. The poisonous bee bolted downwards to attack full force, stabbing Heracross with both needles at once in the face. The impact made him reel face in pain.

Everyone gawked in surprise over the attack. They saw Heracross regain himself from the attack, but when he dug in his heel, he suddenly winced, toxic bubbles rising up from his face.

"It's poison." Erza explained.

"This doesn't look good at all." Sophie worried. "Should we help out?"

Heracross grunted again, but his eyes opened again. He looked up at Beedrill again, who was waiting for his turn to do something. Heracross' open eyes had seething glares as poisonous bubbles fizzled around them. As the last bubbles arose, his eyes suddenly became a glistening crimson aura.

Joey blinked. "Hm? What's that?"

The crimson aura enveloped Heracross, as if empowering him and making him stand taller than before. The huge beetle let out a cry as he anchored himself to attack once more, the weak look he once had replaced by bravery.

"Woooah…" Chespin awed.

"What's it doing?" Sophie questioned.

"I don't know, but I don't care." Dereece widely smiled as he punched forward. "Sick that thing, Heracross!"

Responding to Dereece, Heracross lowered his head to reveal his horn to Beedrill. The horn glowed a bright like that shimmered heavily in strength. He shot off the ground and up towards Beedrill like a rocket. " **Horn Attack!** " he screeched, barreling into him.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill straightened his needles once more, diving into Heracross two the same Twineedle as before. The two Pokémon closed into each other at high speed.

They both shouted at high volume, soon reaching the middle to decide a winner.

Beedrill dove in, and Heracross Horn Attack bolted straight through like a tank. He shot skywards still into Beedrill's abdomen, making the bee cry out in deep, relentless anguish as he felt the inside echo in pain. Heracross' Horn Attack gave one last flick that shot Beedrill up into the Honey Tree's trunk, making a bone-crushing thud from Beedrill slam into it. He stayed glued to it for a few moments before slowly slumping downwards like a collapsing building, sprawled on the ground with red spirals for eyes.

Heracross flexed his muscles, looking jovial at the match won.

"Alright! You did it man!" Dereece praised. "That was awesome!"

"With just one blow…" Sophie awed. "Amazing."

Heracross turned back towards them, smiling with glee. "Aw, thanks. It was nothing…" He trailed off as his body lurched again, poisonous bubbles once again piling up. Everyone closed in on Heracross as he flinched from his poisoned condition, hurrying with gusto.

"Woah, hey, take it easy." Dereece insisted. He looked at Heracross' face, smiling. "Relax."

Erza reached into something behind her that she had been carrying. She looked at the item she carried in hand, which happened to be a Full Restore. The cream and bright green container was pointed at Heracross. "Hold still. This may sting a bit." She proceeded to spraying Heracross with the medicine.

As it was sprayed once everywhere, the insect could feel a sharp pain at first, but the next second, it was like hugging a fluffy cloud. He could feel his aching face ese up, his poisonous bubbles fading away. He smiled wide as he was finally cured and back at full health.

"Well that was a relief." Thanks, Erza." Dereece thanked.

Erza nodded in acceptance. She turned towards Joey's Chespin, presenting a different capsule – a Potion. "Be strong, okay?" She sprayed the medicine into Chespin's stomach, where the Grass-type winced at the pain. He grunted heavily, but then the wound he was given began to ease up and fade away. "There, all better."

Joey sighed in relief. "Thanks so much, Erza-senpai. You're so awesome, coming prepared!" Like before, he gazed at her with sparkles around his face. He was so unprepared, and yet the wife of Nic Pularis himself came to be the savior of this terrible woe.

Erza smiled. "Well, a good Trainer knows when to come prepared for situations such as these. You should chock this experience down so you don't get shorthanded the next time, okay?"

He nodded. "Yes!"

"So I take it we head back now?" Sophie asked.

"Yes, it seems our work here is done. We know what these trees can do so the people can be more adequately prepared for these forests. We'll inform this and see to it that our reward is collected. Shall we move along?" Erza started off for the way they came back. Everyone else followed her lead back to the path.

As he started, Dereece took a few steps forward until he heard something from behind. Getting an odd feeling, he turned around and saw that Heracross was there, his claws towards his abdomen and looking at him expectantly. "Oh, hey. Heracross, thanks so much back there. You were awesome." He praised.

Heracross sheepishly blushed. "Oh, I don't know about that…"

"You got a lot going for ya, okay? What you did was pretty amazing, and you know…you're a pretty cool Pokémon." He smiled happily as he turned and began to walk away. "Don't be a stranger now. Later."

"Wait…" Heracross reached out towards Dereece as he took off with the group, but he fell short of guts as he watched him go instead. He retracted his claws, watching in silence and a falling face as Dereece took off with the others.

* * *

On the trail outside the forest that carried them to the train station, the group was looking peachy at this first job being a success. For Joey and Dereece, it was a milestone.

"Wow, that was actually exciting! And it was so…so…dangerous!" Joey scrambled to find the right word, but that was the one that came to mind. "It was everything that I hoped it'd be."

Erza chuckled at Joey's expense. "Welcome to the life of a guild mage. If you're really that into it, then I suggest that you save that comment for when the more tougher jobs come your way."

Sophie smirked. "If I were you, I'd heed that warning."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Dereece grinned. "And Joey, I do hope you learned to be a little more prepared the next time you have Chespin battle, yes?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. I got it. I'll try and wait on the Bug-types until we learn Rollout or something. Right, little buddy?" He looked at Chespin, who sat on his shoulder with a smile of joy on his face.

"Right!" he nodded. "Huh…?" He turned his head, looking behind him.

Joey stopped in his tracks, getting the others to stop as well. "Huh, what's up?"

Chespin pointed back the way they came. "Look."

Everyone followed his arm out towards the trail that they came from. Their heads turned back to see something head their way down their trek. To everyone's surprise, it was Heracross; the same one that Dereece saw back by that Honey Tree.

He got in front of the group, looking at him with surprise. "What…Heracross?"

Heracross stopped several meters away from Dereece. Looking sheepishly at him, his claws were at his abdomen again. "Hi…" he greeted.

"It followed us all the way out here?" Joey questioned.

"But why?" Sophie wondered.

Erza's brow furrowed. "Maybe it wants something…"

Dereece and Heracross stood apart from each other, looking at the other with an odd air between them. Dereece couldn't exactly explain it, but he just had a feeling Heracross came out here for something that seemed more personal than it led on. His hunch grew as he looked into Heracross' eyes, seeing deep wonder, almost like a child.

When he realized it, his eyes widened. "Wait a sec…" He pointed his index finger to himself. "You mean…?"

Heracross' smile widened and he nodded his head. "Yes. Of course!"

Dereece could feel his heart thump out of joy. To say he was shocked would be one thing, but he felt like he was going to explode out of excitement. A wild Pokémon wanted to follow him, and how could he possibly say no to that? Overcome by awe, he gaped and chuckled some. He pulled out a Poke Ball he had out and chuckled upon seeing Heracross again.

"…okay!" With a toss of the Poke Ball, Dereece went and threw the capsule that closed in and tapped the stiff Heracross on the side of the head. He complied happily as he reverted to red energy and went into the Poke Ball. The capsule closed and fell to the ground, making a plastic thud before it started to rustle left and right.

Everyone watched with anticipation as the ball shook left and right, its button going red constantly. Finally, after what seemed like forever, one final 'Ding' went off, signaling the beginning of Dereece's own adventure with Heracross.

"Alright!" Dereece ran up and plucked up his Poke Ball. He presented it to the group with great joy. "I gots me a Heracross!"

Joey pumped both fists with wide eyes. "Man, that's so awesome!"

"Wow!" Chespin awed.

Dereece sheepishly rubbed the back of his head at his best friend praising him. "Oh c'mon now…"

"You know what this calls for?" Joey questioned. "Guess? It's…DANCE PARTY TIME!" He crouched as he pointed both fingers at Dereece. "Dereece, crank up that tune!"

Happy to oblige, Dereece pulled out the small boombox he had still on him. He pressed a button, getting the ultra-bass thumping loudly. Together – right then and there – the two began to dance along the trail. Chespin smiled wide as he watched his new Trainer kick it with jams as well. He knew then what Joey meant by 'shaking his moneymaker'.

As they danced along the trail, Chespin followed happily, shaking his tail and kicking up his feet every now and again. They had a good beat going, and Erza and Sophie watched with smiles on their faces as they watched them go on.

"So that's how you bond with Pokémon." Sophie said.

Erza nodded with a warm smile of her own. "It's a beautiful thing. You can earn a Pokémon's respect in many ways. Those who uphold themselves find it more suiting to battle and be caught fair and square…but there are those unlikely exceptions to that rule."

The two followed behind the partying duo, warm smiles and chuckling as they had another fond memory to share.

* * *

"So that's what happened, huh?" Nic summarized the day's events explained to him by Erza. He was currently on their front porch, watching as the sun was setting on their right. He, along with Vanessa, had a long day of deciphering all the Pokémon that were seen on the posters, and frankly, after having used the PokeDex so many times and getting mock notes that Freed jotted down about them, the two siblings were relieved to have it all over with.

A brush ran across Staraptor's back, her eyes closed as Nic was combing out her back. Her feathers were looking glossier than before, and she certainly felt good with every stroke of the brush.

"Sounds like you had quite the day. Certainly better than us I hope." Vanessa was right beside her brother, using a brush that didn't conduct heat to comb out her Delphox's tail. She was brushing far longer than Nic, and reasons were obvious. When your whole body is fur, keeping it all kempt isn't easy on your own.

Erza sat on the opposite end of Nic, leaning back as she viewed the hill trail that seemed to have gone on for so long. A smile was on her face as the sounds of Nic brushing through Staraptor's feathers sounded refreshing. It reminded her to take care of her own hair. "You can say that." She mused.

Nic moved the brush towards the back of Staraptor's neck. "Honey Trees from the Sinnoh region…even more Pokémon than before…and through it all, it still worked out." Despite the surprises that kept mounting, Nic smiled with satisfaction. "Things certainly aren't getting easier, but in a good way. It's to my liking."

Vanessa ran her brush through Delphox's tail tip. "You can say that again." She chimed.

Nic glanced over to his wife. "So I take it Joey and Dereece are still out for pizza?"

"I wouldn't worry about them…not yet at least." Erza sat her hand on top of Nic's. Their fingers separated to allow Erza's to sink into Nic's. "It's not us to decide the choices they make. You said that yourself. Besides…I think they'll fit in just fine."

Nic smiled at the reassurance of Erza's words. He resumed brushing his Staraptor's left wing. "Now that you mention it, pizza does sound pretty good right now."

Erza beamed. "Well I say you should make that salmon."

"But I thought we agreed to save it for the weekend?" Nic questioned.

"It's been sitting in the freezer for almost 3 days. We have to use it up."

"It's good or another week. Besides, today I decide dinner and _you_ get to decide dessert."

"Well you won't get dessert of you don't rid of that wild caught fish."

As the two bantered back and forth about their dinner plans, with Nic trying his best to reason with Erza's winning argument, Vanessa just watched the two go on. They really did act like a married couple. It was amusing as well as jealous-filling.

Staraptor suddenly looked up. She seemed to have picked up on something ahead of her. Delphox's ears twitched as well, getting her to look at the trail too.

"What is it?" Vanessa asked. She looked to where they saw someone come down the trail towards their house.

Nic and Erza turned and looked at who was coming towards their house. They looked surprised to see Freed of all people trail his way towards them. The Pularis trio instantly stood up and looked at the incoming Freed.

"Freed?" Erza speculated.

Freed approached them, having a serious frown on his face. "Salutations. I hope that I'm not interrupting anything."

Erza shook her head. "No, it's fine."

"It's not like you to come out all this way to our house." Nic pointed out. "Is there something wrong that happened at the guild?"

Freed shook his head. "No, in fact, Laxus gives you his regards, Nic. You have been a great asset in helping decipher the Pokémon that have been appearing on the job requests all day. To you and Vanessa, the information you both have given to us has been most helpful to the Thunder God Tribe and Laxus."

"You're welcome." Vanessa smiled. She looked towards her Delphox, who smiled at her Trainer in delight.

Nic grinned back. "It was no trouble, really. Dis he already send copies of that information out towards the fellow guilds?"

Freed nodded. "He's into that right now. Laxus is being sharp with all the data and pictures of the Pokémon your devices reiterated for us to use and help us on our and our fellow guild jobs. As accordance to the conducts of light guilds, any necessary information is to be connected to each other. In which case, if we didn't uphold to that regulation, we'd be in a lot of trouble."

"That makes sense." Erza crossed her arms, looking like she was pondering. "Ever since the Lumen Histoire incident, information has been askew. There are those who question our trust now."

Nic closed his eyes and crossed his arms as well. "Repairing that broken foothold is going to take a lot more time than we thought. We need to show everyone we're here for them, not ourselves. If they don't believe the information they're being given, then we'll have to keep trying in more ways than one."

Freed nodded in fullhearted agreement. "Indeed you speak the truth. Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus were more than accepting of this information." His face grew serious. "Also, there's one more thing."

Nic and the others looked at Freed with wonder. The look he had was telling them something of an omen that they had to be careful of. Nic could feel his spine tingling as Freed pulled out a document with a gold stamp on it. He held it in his hand before the one who was of the message's contents.

"It's the report I sent to the Magic Council. The request was approved. They are willing to hear you out to see what you have in light of this change of events as soon as possible."

The group looked relieved as well as dreadful. They were more then happy to know that the Magic Council is going to try and hear out what Nic has to help them out. But at the same time, they knew that due to their history, they had to remain on their toes. Their terms were still not on solid ground yet.

"I see. Thank you, Freed."

"They expect to see you at 11 AM tomorrow morning. Best prepare yourself."

Erza looked pass Nic, looking towards Vanessa instead. "Vanessa?"

"Yes, Erza?"

"If it's not too much trouble, I heard Natsu and the others came back with some Pokémon. Would it be alright if you stayed and gave some pointers?"

Vanessa had no qualms with the idea. She nodded at the request, grinning in understanding. "Alright. I'll be sure to keep them straight while you're away."

"Thank again, sis." Nic thanked.

Erza turned back towards Freed. "Also, Freed. One more thing."

"Hm? Yes, Erza, what might it be?"

Erza crossed her arms, looking stern with the prospect she was bringing up. "If it's not too much…tell me, which one sounds better at the moment: Pizza, or salmon?"

"Pizza or salmon, huh? Interesting…" He put his hand to his chin, humming as he pondered aloud. Nic and Erza looked towards the other as time went on, but Erza's glare was making Nic sweatdrop. She always had to have her way. "Well if you ask me, right now…I'd say pizza."

Nic smirked triumphantly. Even as Erza started to get up, he remained calm and seated as she turned and punched into one of the support beams to the siding of the roof to the door. The whole beam was there, just cracked completely and bent inwards. Everyone looked at Erza as she kept her fist balled in place. "Curse you flatbread delicacy. You may have this round, but I'll swear my revenge on you yet." She sniped with cold retribution.

Nic sighed breathlessly. He knew he was going to be busy fixing up that pillar for a while.

* * *

In an unknown domain, there was bright lightning, but rather than it being from the ceiling lights, it came from outside. The windows were open to allow the dimming, blinding sun to ignite the room with its radiance. It was deep in a burning yellow, and yet to have set with the sunlight still up.

Inside the massive domain that could be been mistake for a grand banquet hall, someone was sitting on the far end of the really long table. His silhouette wasn't clear as he held out a fine glass of wine in hand.

"What an exquisite flavor this place was." He remarked. He bright the glass over, taking yet another long sip from its violet, liquidy luster. "To think that even this so-called 'magic' can make the grapes of this fine wine make it even more potent. I must say, despite its lack of luster, this place surely does compensate well."

A fellow person came from nearby. He looked like a Rune Knight messenger. Unfortunately since all the frog staff was annihilated during the Tartaros incident, the messenger and staff were of ordinary men now. He bowed before his side.

"Pardon my intrusion sir, but I hope everything is to your liking." He said.

Taking one more sip of his wine, the man took the glass away from his hand, keeping his head raised with a faint grin in the sunlight. "Yes, it is. Thank you very much for your concern."

"My pleasure. Is there anything else you will require?"

The man turned into his silhouette, presenting the empty wine glass to the messenger. "Yes. I'm quite fond of this wine you have here. It's very refined. I was hoping if I can get some more?"

The messenger nodded. "Consider it done. The Council has also told me to give you regards to the briefing you've given us."

The man craned his head. "And what might that be?"

The messenger put his hands behind his back, looking more professional in the sunset. "The Council has informed us of whatever intel you could tell us about these events. We have thus cooperated fully into giving you these conditions given your services. In light of which, the information of what you have given us and these debriefings are upholding high claims thus far."

The man kept a stern face. "…so then it all goes well I take it?"

He nodded. "For now, but there's someone else who is coming tomorrow to provide his own testimony on the subject. He has been acclaimed to many of subjected ordeals before."

"So then this man is important I take it?"

"Yes, sir. Very important."

"Good. You may take your leave if you will. Thank you again." With that, the messenger obeyed with a respectful nod. He departed from the banquet hall and the large set of doors creaked loudly before shutting fully. The clang reverberated through the chamber, but the man held his posture calmly. "Just who is this person you think it is anyway?" he asked.

The woman beside her adjusted her glasses. The deflecting light made them look white, a stark contrast to her own silhouette. "I'm not sure. I'm still getting used to things as they are, with us being away from the company and all."

"At ease, Marie. Relax. I know how you feel." He folded his fingers together, holding his own hands as he bent hid forehead down to think deeply. "Things haven't been kind since the other night. We've been convinced this wasn't a farce and we assessed it already…still, hard to believe magic exists that people can use. It's astounding what changes there are to here and to ours. It's fascinating to where I'm getting goosebumps."

Marie put her hands behind her back. "So are we going to comply."

The man leaned back in his seat, which turned out to be his wheelchair. "Of course we are." He adjusted his golden tie. "This is their world after all. It's only fair we follow their rules and examples they set. If what they said really was in fact true, then maybe, just maybe, we might have found our breakthrough, Marie."

Marie shot her nose skyward with a snort. "I wouldn't get my hopes up yet, sir. I think that wine's getting to your head again."

The man chuckled meekly at his assistant's retort. "You really think so? Sorry. Guess it's been a while since my last good time out." He smirked. "You're right. Getting used to these changes will have to take time. I just hope we all can learn to get along."

Marie looked away. "Unfortunately, sir. That philosophy will never truly come to pass."

"I know…but dreams can come true if you try hard enough. Let's just take this one day at a time, alright?"

Marie sighed. "Right…"

* * *

 **30K in one chapter, in a span of 4 days…good god almighty what have I just done? I went 3 times my quota per chapter, and in such record breaking timing at that as well! Well I still hope that despite how crazily long this turned out that you all enjoyed how much of the plot I stuffed into this chapter. The reason being so long is that…well…when you have a lot of arcs and concepts planned, you want to make sure that it all isn't stretched out too long. Having Dereece catch his first Pokémon on like chapter 5 would seem pretty long. Don't worry too much on the others getting their Pokémon too, I'll make sure that they get their own at some point, whether it's next chapter or several afterwards.**

 **So in terms of concepts covered this chapter, everyone learned Pokémon came from the meteors and now cover Earthland, Nic issues to get as much helpful information out, even as far as going to the Council; Joey and Dereece choose to stay and help out, and Natsu and Joey have their first wild Pokémon battles. Dereece got a Heracross from a Honey Tree, which was a Gen 1V reference; Lucy got Klefki, Wendy got Swablu, and Gray got Snover. More will come soon.**

 **So next chapter, you'll be seeing the new Councilmen, as well as the rest of the OCs in chapter 1. I hope my newest record-making length chapter left a lot of stuff for you to give feedback on, and I hope it's positives.**

 **Until next time, see ya once I update** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **! Which, by the way, I really hope for reviews and comments there too please! Last chapter hardly got any, and that left a little deterred. Support necessary please!**


	4. The Grand Intervention

The new morning rays of Earthland had arrived, and with it, a new precedent to take place. However, this one had to go through the actions that everyone finds to be the most tedious of ways to get the appropriate results: Legal action.

And, much to Nic's chagrin, that's where this was going.

Escorted by two guards that were front and back to make sure nothing would go down, Nic took liberties in maintaining his eyes and ears open to anything and everything. He even took notice of the few stares he received from some staff members. Odds were they were mainly about how he was here, or why the hero that saved Earthland and PokeEarth twice now had come to their estate just days after the whole incident with some magical creatures falling from the sky and causing a panic.

As he made way down the hall of cloisters with four guards, two things occurred this time as opposed to his last visit. For one thing, he wasn't wearing restraints. It wasn't like everyone already knew of his powers, so he could break out anytime, so it was pointless. And the second…

"So this is the Council's new headquarters? I must say, it's not as shabby as I thought it would be." A familiar voice on his left said. Her long, red hair flowed like water as she followed beside Nic on this adventure.

Nic, however, seemed more sheepish than his open-minded wife tagging along. "I told you I could handle this, didn't I?" he sighed.

Erza beamed. "Funny, because the last time I let you go alone to the Council, there was a very long dispute that left Fiore in a mess for months." She reasoned with a very valid note, although in her case she knew it was more or less unavoidable to begin with. "I'd rather not see another kind like that provoked."

"Which is why I came here, while you and Vanessa were supposed to help the others train their Pokémon."

"Vanessa is a well-seasoned Trainer. She can handle it all on her own. Have a little faith."

Nic gave his wife a despondent look. He knew very well that she had her reasons for coming along, but in the end knew that it was pointless arguing about it. What happened, happened. Once again he faced the front with an unamused brow. "If this is about the whole pizza thing last night, and you're just doing everything out of spite, it's just pizza."

"I assure you, it has _nothing_ to do with that." She denied. "…even though I still say we should've had salmon."

"Uh-huh, figured as much."

As they talked on, the guards in the front and back looked at each other with unsubtle gazes. Their little back and forth about the dispute over dinner was making things all the more uncomfortable. Fortunately for them, they came to a large set of white doors that made the front two guards break off to the sides. They stood before the entrance, ready to open it.

The atmosphere around the husband and wife grew to be a more serious note. They stood before the entrance, taking note of the density of the doors; they looked to be of heavy white metal like the lavish kind over the standard ones. They could even feel the atmosphere on the other side of the doors, and like it or not, they'll have to talk and reason through it.

"You ready?" Erza asked.

"We'll find out."

With a nod to the guards in understanding, the two nodded back in confirmation and opened the large doors. The locks unhinged, and the golden handles were pushed forward, allowing entrance for Nic and Erza. They stepped on in and walked down the long carpeted road down rows of empty white benches where a few reporters were already typing things up and jotting down notes. Thankfully Jason wasn't here to make a scene. They marched down the incline that led them to the front row in no time, where there, the two guards from behind following them broke off and took their seats on the opposite benches. The Pularis duo head on up to where there was a small white podium where they could fit each other on it and still have enough space. When they looked up, they saw the new Magic Council.

The Council's stands were all white and well fabricated. The whole thing stood behind massive arched windows that were shut, leaving sunlight to radiate the nine horizontal seats. The whole thing looked like one massive desk, with the center chair looking more like a throne. Due to the sunlight, the silhouettes were hard to make out at first, but the few of them were somewhat familiar.

From the Chairman's seat, a tender hand reached out, picking up the wine glass that was in front of him. With his open hand, the figure cleared his throat and began to speak. "Nic Pularis. Erza Pularis…I believe a formal welcome is in order."

Nic lowered his chin. "I suppose so. I take it you're the newly established Council, am I right?"

"Hmph, what kind of an impudent question is that?" Another silhouette scoffed. He sounded like a man. "I think you ought to get some glasses if you can't see what's in front of you."

Another silhouette turned towards him. "Please, let us not make such a testimony this early." He insisted. "They're our guests. We should be more open to what they have to say."

The gruff silhouette grunted.

"Tch, them again?" A shorter Councilman huffed. "Why do we always seem to get at wit's end with you Fairy Tail whippersnappers? Even after everything you _still_ mingle and mess with-!"

A hand went up in the air, silencing the old man that was on edge. He relented and allowed silence to partake in the atmosphere once more. Arising from the Chairman seat, the silhouette stood with his wine glass.

"Please pardon our members, Nic Pularis. Some of us are still…skeptical." With the light that shined down onto the person in question, the beaming rays illuminated his face. With what shined, it was none other than the Wizard Saint of whom fought against Nic's Garchomp before. "Please allow ourselves to be introduced. I believe you are well aware of myself as Draculos Hyberion. A pleasure."

Beside him, the second seat stood up, revealing the stout and old man. "You already know, Wolfheim. You better not make me repeat that again." He angrily sniped.

The seat opposite of Hyberion stood a man in his early 60s. He had a gray goatee and beard combo and dark eyes. His gray hair was slicked back and stopped above the shoulders. He adorned a gold collar on a white ceremonial robe with gold laced on the edging. He seemed very placid if not formal for someone befitting his seat. "Sir Nic, welcome to the Council. You can call me Montgomery."

The next person to stand was beside Wolfheim. This time it was a woman in her late 40s. She had shoulder length blonde hair that was cut evenly. She wore black-framed glasses and had dark pink lipstick on. She adorned her own robes, only hers were of inverse black and white. She even adorned a translucent cape to refract sunlight off her back so she could be seen the best. "Call me Maryam. You have piqued me enough with you coming here, Nic and Erza Pularis."

"Heh, easy for you to say." The gruff voice returned as the man stood beside Montgomery was next. He had tanned skin and a Caucasian tone to his face. His brows as well as short hair were dark, as much as were his eyes. He had a built upper body that was beneath a red dress shirt and blue jeans. On his head was a white hat, giving him more of a laidback look rather than regal, but his demeanor said other things. "My name is Alfredo. You'd be wise to remember that if you want my attention." He threatened with narrowed eyes.

Standing next beside Maryam was another man in his early 50s. He had black, round glasses with thin gold frames over his eyes. He had a bald head, but he did sport a bright brown beard and moustache combo. He had an overweight fix on his figure, but only in the gut. He adorned a short-sleeved baby blue dress shirt with a red tie, as well as striped white and red shorts that stopped below the knees. He even had sandals with his cane. Clearly fashion was a policy that seemed deaf to. "Howdy, and welcome." He greeted. "Sorry for my lack of refinement. I would've prepared better if I had the time. Time seemed to have gotten the best of me again." He sheepishly snickered.

"Time is one thing we also cannot lose." Maryam warned.

"Right, sorry Maryam. They call me Jefferson, but if it's all the same, call me Jeffrey, or Jeff."

Maryam facepalmed in grief. "Gnnngh, such indecency for someone of a Council status…"

Moving along, the next one to stand beside Alfredo was the same man who quelled him, as well as the same man who drew up a challenge to Nic's past. "Greetings, Nic. Long time no see, hasn't it?" He grinned. "I believe you know very well who I am. I am Ruge."

Nic nodded. "Yes, I remember."

"I take it you're surprised with how I got a position like this, are you not? Well I would be more than likely to tell you, but this isn't my story we're hearing now, isn't it?" he smirked.

Nic half-grinned. "Your humble tracked mind is appreciative."

Standing up next was someone besides Jeff. He had a very familiar face as well as history with Nic as well. He was perhaps the senior of them, even if he didn't have age. As he looked at Nic, he showed gratitude. "Nic Pularis, I am Leiji. I believe we are well familiar with each other as well."

Nic looked at him calmly. "I believe we are…" his brow loosened. "How is your house by the way?"

Leiji pinched the bridge of his own nose, groaning. "Don't even go there…"

The last person to stand beside Ruge was another female, this one looking to be in her late 40s, like Ruge. Her wavy orange hair fell from a high ponytail that was held in place by a green pin. Her green eyes were sincere but also spoke of seeking truth, like someone who has been wanting to know rom the beginning. She adorned a nice orange robe with white edging that tucked into the red belt on her waist. Beneath were brown pants that stopped before a pair of boots. "And I am Justice. I trust you will be sure about what you are getting yourself into." She said.

"If I didn't know, I wouldn't be here to begin with." Nic reasoned.

Hyberion nodded. "Well said." He raised his hand to his side again, ushering all Councilmen to be seated back down. He was the last of them to be seated, and then he sat his glass down and slipped his fingers into each other, grasping himself.

With another short breath, the room was once again filled with silence. The notetakers and the reporters here to get any scoops or leads were scribbling away, but even their breaths went as silent as graves. One could've heard a pin drop; that's how dead it was for just a few moments. At last then, Hyberion picked up on the case Nic demanded.

"Now then, Nic. I shall admit that I'm very much surprised. Given your recent transactions and the past dilemmas we've come across regarding these cases of you and Pokémon, we never thought you would come to us on such short notice."

"Believe me, you're not the only one thinking that." Nic testified. "As complicated as it was before, that doesn't matter now."

Hyberion closed his eyes, thinking of Nic's statement. "No, I suppose not." He took a moment to take a small sip from the wine that was still in hand before resuming. "That debate has long since settled. I am willing to transcend the past conducts and look forward to seeing what you and your Pokémon can do as you see fit."

"Hmph! Easy for you to say." Wolfheim shot a leer at Nic, who wasn't at all fazed. "A disrespectful runt like him shouldn't even be here without a leash! And why aren't the restraints on him?!"

"My thoughts exactly." Alfredo boasted. "How do we know he's not here just to tantalize and demean us? Just because _you_ just so happened to defeat Acnologia, doesn't make you special in my books."

"Hey now, let's just hear him out, okay?" Ruge insisted. "Regardless of his deeds and doings, I believe now is as good as time as any to lend ourselves to his case." He moved his wrist in a clockwise motion. "Go ahead."

Nic nodded again. "Thank you. Now then, I believe you all are familiar with the meteor shower that happened a few nights ago?"

"Of course." Maryam replied. "It was during that period in which sightings of unknown specimens started to descend. The reports are still coming in as we speak."

Jeff began to chuckle. "Hoo boy was that some show. One of them meteors came so close to hitting me when I was out by my backyard pond. Heh heh, I thought I almost drowned, but I was washed up. When I came to, this little round blue creature with a swirly belly and small pink lips hopped out and greeted me. I was just the sweetest thing I've ever…" He stopped with his mouth wide open as he realized something off. His eyes slowly glanced at the Councilmen, who were giving him annoyed and impudent stares. He looked back at Nic and Erza, who raised their brows at his prolonged tale. He clamped shut. "Long story short, this creature amongst the reports has not caused much of a problem."

"The many creatures in these reports are of sightings, but whenever approached, some of the larger, more menacing of them began to attack." Montgomery snapped his fingers, summoning up a projection screen over his head. On its screen revealed an Onix that was looking to be facing against Rune Knights. Another slideshow revealed a Gloom unleashing Stun Spore, with many of poachers all around it twitching and shuddering at its feet. And then another slid, revealing a Weepinbell perched on a branch by the small vine on his head startling bystanders beneath. "These creatures large and small have been all over the place, and frankly, we can't seem to make their numbers dwindle, no matter how many of our men we've sent out there. As far as priorities go, bounty hunters and criminals alike are even turning their attention towards this problem. If something like this occurred, then there has to be something done, otherwise more men and lives will be waged in the balance…again."

"That being said, are you here because you might know of any details revolving around this particular case?" Ruge inquired.

"You can say that." Nic said bluntly. "But there's more to this than you think."

"Then spill it!" Alfredo demanded. "We're not here to dance around the questions _we_ are asking _you_. So tell us, what is it that this meteor shower that astrologists and biologists can't understand that you can 'haphazardly' explain."

"Alfredo. Restrain yourself." Hyberion ordered, watching Alfredo shoot defiant glares at Nic. "Sorry, do continue, if you may."

Nic turned towards Erza, their eyes showing they were ready to explain the situation. When they faced the Council, Erza took the lead.

"Those cases involving those creatures in particular falling from the sky came from the meteors. Those showers, however, they came from a specific source, one that Nic figured out."

"Those creatures that you've apprehended, and that one you said was in your pond, Jeff, they're not 'magical creatures'." He took a pause, readying to say it. "…they're all Pokémon, falling from my world into here."

The entire Council showed shock at Nic's statement. They all had varied reactions, but it was shock no less.

"What's this?!" Hyberion exclaimed. "Did you say what I think you've said?"

"I did."

"So then all these creatures…" Montgomery looked up to his monitor. Looking up into the pictures, he saw them in a different light. "They are what you call Pokémon?"

Ruge folded his arms with an intrigued brow. "Well then that explains quite a few things."

"Explain." Erza said.

"To be blunt, when we apprehended some of these less domestic creatures, we found that our Magic Sealing Stone had no effect. Those who were able to fight back or use any ailments continued to attack like they had no effect on them." Justice explained. "And when we tried to interrogate a few, they spoke in tongue that made them seem surprised, like they never spoke before. Is this a side effect of these worlds crossing you speak of?"

Nic nodded. "Yes. Pokémon from my world don't have the necessary capabilities to speak in human tongue like others can. When my Pokémon and I crossed over, it was only then that they could speak."

"Well isn't this something." Ruge said. "Even after the wars' over, you and your creatures popping out of balls just continue to surprise us. I don't know if I should be flattered by all this or scared."

"I hope not the latter, that's why I came to resolve this and clear up mishaps." Nic testified. "The Pokémon you said you apprehended were more than likely fighting back out of defense for themselves. I'm sure there might be some that are special cases to that as well."

"So then these…Pokémon…that were attacking villages and thieving food, those _don't_ go unpunished?" By the tone Maryam was playing out, she was trying to trip Nic in his fault. There had to be justice somewhere within this mess, and she wasn't having it.

"Like I said, there are those who have special cases." Nic repeated.

"Explain then."

"Let me put it this way, if you ended up in some new land that you weren't familiar with, what would be the first thing that comes to mind when you meet someone or something?" He watched as the Councilmen looked towards the other, seemingly getting the point. "Pokémon have needs like we humans do. They might have attacked for food and shelter, or maybe they really don't like humans. Whatever the case may be, they must be feeling some sort of confliction going on."

Leiji leaned forward, seemingly interrogating Nic. "Okay then, but how does that explain how they came from your world to ours. It means crossing time and space."

"Which is exactly what happened."

Hyberion and the Council looked again with surprise.

"Just a few nights ago, I learned that deities that some are familiar with being called Dialga and Palkia must have clashed unexpectantly. For some reason or another, their force must have altered time and space between our worlds, sending a fraction of my world's Pokémon over into Earthland. But the effects this time…I'm afraid they're at a greater extent that crossed lines."

Wolfheim raised a questionable brow at Nic's testimony. "Eh? Wait…you mean that big pink and blue creature that have been recorded from Tenrou Island? You mean _those_ creatures can control time and space?!"

"That's not part of the context." Erza testified. "What you need to know is that because of this clash, time and space went so far out of control for a short period of time that this world we live in is now populated with creatures that are as intelligent as us."

"Well can you fix it?" Justice asked, although her tone sounded more like a demand than anything else.

"What do you mean by that?" Nic questioned.

"These Pokémon, time and space, can it all go back to the way it was?"

Nic looked down at the white podium he and Erza shared. The Council could feel something wrong here, but they chose to wait it out to see with what Nic had in mind. His eyes closed as he tried to think.

"…well?" Alfredo demanded.

"I've been looking into that possibility." Nic's eyes opened. "And when I thought about it, there's only one answer I found clear…it can't."

For the umpteenth time now, the Council was in shock.

"It…can't?" Justice parroted. "What do you mean it can't?! Did you, or did you not come here with solutions to this problem?! We're asking you for solutions as to fix this and you're saying there was none?"

Nic didn't respond right away. He instead allowed her to let her fumes out before he chose to resume his side of the argument. "I said time and space can't be fixed, I never said I didn't have solutions to come afterwards."

"We're being as reasonable as we can, Nic, but we need more to come from this side of the story." Hyberion insisted. "So then tell me, why is it that time and space can't be fixed, and why is it that Pokémon can't be sent back?"

"There's too many of them that crossed over to begin with. There's hundreds of thousands from what I've heard. There isn't any possible away to round them all up into one spot, it would take too long. Plus there are other Pokémon out there who live in the sea. It won't be possible."

The look in Alfredo's eye darkened. He slammed his hand on the white table and stood up in anger. "This is ridiculous!" he snapped. "So you're telling us now that we're basically stuck in this situation where these creatures, who we know nothing about, just happen to pop up out of nowhere, and you can't tell me there's a way to keep us away from them?!"

"Alfredo, please. Control yourself." Hyberion asked forcibly.

"Where's the justice in this? If your kind is as powerful as we've learned, and even the likes of someone like you can't make these decisions, then how can we even be so sure this is all a conspiracy behind our backs?" His eyes narrowed in deep disgust over Nic. "How can we even tell if you're telling the truth or planning to take over?"

"You dare question our honesty?" Erza glared.

"Silence! I'm speaking to the one who's responsible here!"

Nic folded his arms in front of his chest. He seemed a little annoyed, and it was clear why. "Hey, you." He barked backed. "If you want to snap at someone, snap at me. Not my wife. Otherwise you can shut your mouth and hear me out." The tone he gave had a deep chill that made everyone in the room feel a chill run down their spines. He really meant it. Alfredo heard him loud and clear, and out of fear and shock, his left eye twitched slightly. He wanted to lash out back, but he relented and sat back down. "Good, now if I wanted to, or even if I could at the time, I would've had Pokémon come here, but the fact that I didn't means that in no way can you even proof or point such pointless accusations at me. You're treating yourselves like you're the victims, not everyone else around you."

Those who were in the room looked at each other with slight confusion. In a way, Nic wasn't wrong. Some of them traveled a ways after hearing this testimony. They all were uneased by this little Pokémon plague, and the Council seemed to be taking it pretty hard on Nic.

Wolfheim squinted and leered down at Nic. "You still got that snarkish tongue of yours lashing at your elders and authorities. Give me a reason why we shouldn't give you a spanking?"

"Maybe because I know more of this than you do." Nic retorted in a matter-of-fact tone. He was met with Wolfheim growling ferally at him.

"Okay, everyone. Let's just take five." Jeff casually insisted. "I'm sure we can all come to a compromise eventually. So, let me debrief this for you in ways I can interpret. You're saying that Dialga and Palkia, space and time Pokémon, somehow lashed out, and their effects made the Pokémon of your world cross over to here, and that there is no way to get them out. Sounds about right?"

"More or less, that's the sum of it all." Nic replied.

Ruge used a finger to scratch his itching cheek. "Hmmm…okay then, so then you motion that we somehow adapt to these creatures? We only know so little of them and what they can do. As far as what others believe, we're still looking at one side of the coin. How do you convince a large mass of populace to believe such creatures can't bring harm?"

"If I may." Erza stepped forward. "While I'm not native to where Nic is from, I've been in his world for a long time. I've seen what wild Pokémon can do, as such with humans. And from what we've experienced, it all comes down to trust and respect."

Hyberion put his hand to his chin. "I see…so leave the bee alone and it'll leave you alone." He interpreted. "But then if we show Pokémon respect, and if they don't comply, then wouldn't that come to force?"

"Ultimately, if push comes to shove." Nic answered. "Back in my world, we humans caught Pokémon using capsules that we call Poke Balls."

"And then what? You pit these Pokémon together to win?" Leiji inquired.

"If you want to get to basic or barbaric terms, pretty much. Like I said, there's more to catching and battling with Pokémon that I alone can't even explain."

"And we don't have these so-called Poke Balls that you said you use either." Montgomery spoke morbidly. "It's not like we have the technical needs to handle this situation. Even with these mechanics of Trainers, we need much more for Earthland to handle."

"And that's where _I_ can be of service."

The voice alarmed not just Nic and Erza, but the entire Council. All their heads turned towards the sound of the voice coming from the entrance, seeing the doors having been opened by the guards.

In a wheelchair, a classy figure with a black and gold vest and tux combo made way down the aisle. Behind him, what looked like a feminine figure with nice, thick legs and black heels held onto the handles and pushed him. The wheels slowly turned into the carpet, and the reporters and the writers were there watching him come down.

"There's no need for an uproar to come over this." The man said. "Just as Nic said, this situation must be resolved, carefully."

Nic and Erza fully turned around to face the man in question. They shot him an inquired look as his and his assistant stopped several feet before him and the Council. She stepped off from the side, moving her hands behind like a soldier would.

The man in question looked humbled at Nic. "My apologies if I came at an inconvenient time, your honor." He bowed his head. "But I couldn't help but receive word of this union, and I thought I could lend my own voice of reason."

Hyberion raised his hands. "At ease. There's no reason for you to be so humble. Your timing, while questionable, is also needed."

"You're too kind."

Nic and Erza looked at each other confusedly. They didn't know what was going on, but they knew that something was bound to involve this guy speaking up.

"Excuse me?" Nic caught his attention, making the man and his assistant look at him. "Is there something wrong?"

The man bowed his head. "No, not at all. I'm sorry for intervening in your meeting. Please accept my apologies."

Nic blinked in surprise over his politeness. He was even bowing before him…if leaning forward meant anything. "It's fine. No trouble."

"May we ask what this is about?" Erza inquired.

Marie put a hand on a handle. "Pardon my boss for this inconvenience. He thought it would be best if we could lend our voices to this cause you're bringing up."

"I say the more voices, the better." He reasoned nonchalantly.

Hyberion cleared out his throat, the cough getting Nic and Erza to face him again. "Right, sorry for all of this now. Please, let us straighten this case out. Nic Pularis, Erza Pularis, I would like for you to meet someone who is claimed to be of importance." He gestured towards the white-haired man with blue eyes, who was smiling graciously. "This is a recent associate who has found himself misplaced. According to him…he's from your world as well."

Nic and Erza once again showed their shock. Their eyes shrunk in surprise as they turned back towards the man, seeing him and Marie face them.

"I can understand that you are in shock, as we were when we found out we weren't in our world anymore." The man said. "But I ask you to hear me out on this testimony. First, I believe we need to introduce ourselves to you." Once more, he bowed his head to the supposed superior in this affiliation. "Nic Pularis, my name is Arthur Solaris. My lovely, and charming, assistant here is Marie."

"It's a pleasure." She stoically said.

"It's true. Marie and I came from the same world you and I live in…or rather _once_ lived in. The facts are down to us having the knowledge of what transpired, and you hold the decoding of this solution, but I, too, have my own solution."

Nic's eyes narrowed. "Just what kind are you speaking about?"

A gavel slammed on the white stand, getting Nic and the others to look back at the Magic Council. Withdrawing the weapon, Hyberion had his eyelids half-open. "Nic Pularis, and Erza Pularis, I believe that it's in all of our interests that you and our associate Arthur to get better situated at this time. We'll allow the two of you to detail to each other exactly what you propose. Then, when you've come to a decision, you may meet us immediately after."

"So you'd prefer we speak this amongst ourselves?" Erza interpreted.

"Tch, just so we don't have to hear any squabbling in front of us. Only one testimony is bad enough." Wolfheim scoffed.

"Please keep in mind, all of Earthland is waiting for an answer to this." Maryam said.

"Mhm. The people gotta know what to do, and you both seem like two voices that have it." Jeff said.

"Are you sure about this?" Nic looked back at Arthur, who looked back towards him. They stared at each other questionably for a few seconds, before another gavel came down.

"We have heard of Arthur's statements when he was brought in. With the information gathered, he has provided more than enough reason and fallible ideas that could otherwise be of prospect. But, you also have the situation grasped. So, we need it amongst you both to decide how to approach this…this can't take forever. The people of this world need to know as soon as possible. So that's why you both will have no more than three days to carry out your decision. That's all I'm giving you."

"Three days?" Erza gasped.

"That's a big gap to fill." Nic said.

"Then I suggest you quite talking to us and instead talk to each other." Alfredo growled.

"Communicate however you like, but as long as we get your answer as well as tomorrow morning, we should be on schedule." Hyberion said. "Do remember what's at stake. Dismissed."

The gavel came down, ending the conference.

* * *

The doors opened, allowing the four to depart from the aisle and into the lobby, where there, reporters and writers were still scribbling down what they heard and listened to. Some were still following them far from behind.

"Well that certainly wasn't as bad as I hoped it would be." Nic admitted.

"Indeed. I was sure the Council would've ransacked us for anything else necessary." Erza said.

Pushed in his wheelchair by Marie, Arthur half-grinned with a chuckle. "Is that so? Well if you ask me, Alfredo is negative propaganda for such authorities that are meant to be so prestige."

"Sir, please don't behind these kinds of folks." Marie worriedly scolded. "They might send you back to the interrogation room again."

Arthur chuckled despondently at this implication. It's true, and he'd rather be there again. "Heh heh, you're right. Then they'd realize that it would be until morning and then none of us will be happy. I guess there's never really a win-win in these situations."

Marie sighed at her boss. He had to be so nonchalant about authorities, even when he was one as well. If he was such an idol in terms of propaganda, he could at least act the part.

"Arthur, was it?" The question asked came from Nic. The two looked towards their left, seeing the duo giving their own inquired stares.

For a moment, the group exiting stopped in their tracks. They looked at each other with some sort of unexplained atmosphere amongst them. They could feel a lot of energy resonate from the other, or in Erza's case, a lot of Magic Power. Regardless, the two parties powered on and looked wearily.

"…Nic Pularis." Arthur replied. "I can guess you have a few questions to ask."

His gaze spelled seriousness. "You can say that. But not here."

"Agreed. Come, I know a spot."

* * *

Nic and the group eventually got themselves some time in a small section that was the large dining area where Arthur was last night. The doors shut by Marie, finally having lost the few lingering reporters. With a sigh, she hung her head against the heavy shut door.

"Finally, some privacy." She exasperated. "Are these heathens ever considerate of manners? Why are they even here anyway?"

"Don't mind them." Erza insisted. "They did their part. They were just being bystanders who want to know. Eventually the truth was bound to get out at some point."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Marie sighed. "But still…we thought this would be a private intervention."

"It's fine." Arthur got the floor, getting the two girls to look towards him as he sat in his wheelchair undeterred. "Now then, I suppose we can get more formal with each other this way…" He faced the wall, where Nic was shooting him a casual but defensive look as he leaned against the wall. "Isn't that right?"

Nic's eyelids were halfway open as he frowned. "…yeah. You're right." He approached the man in the wheelchair, giving him a formal handshake. "Nic Pularis."

"Arthur Solaris. I've heard and seen plenty of you, Nic. The stories many have seen and witnessed aren't any exaggerations no doubt. Truth be told, I'm actually quite the fan of your work."

Nic was taken back by Arthur's claim. "You mean my artwork?"

Arthur chuckled. "No, not exactly. I mean of what you went through to get to where you are now, with you being a seasoned Pokémon Trainer who traveled to another world and made yourself the biggest icon on everyone's agenda. Why I'm surprised you still have proper clothes when fangirls aren't tearing at you."

"They can try…but I don't think that would work out." Nic shot a glance at the reason why. Erza had her arms folded and huffed with a studious look on her face. Nic was so off the menu.

Once again, Arthur chuckled. "Oh I see now, held captive by chains to her and her will alone I bet. You have yourself a pretty interesting life going for you."

Nic snickered. "Well guilty is charged." He then faced him with his frown returning. "But you seem to know a lot about me, more than what I might find uncomfortable. And yet I don't know who you are. Hope my candor isn't to dissatisfaction."

Arthur shook his head. "No, it's quite alright. In fact, I'm not even surprised you don't know who we are. But then again, our faction isn't as renown as those like the Devon Corporation in Hoenn."

"Hoenn?" Erza repeated. "Are you saying you reside in another region?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, we harbor our headquarters in the Sinnoh region." Marie answered. "I trust you know about _that_ region to an extent."

Erza's eyes squinted. "More or less."

Arthur humbly reached into his tux's inner pocket, reaching for something. Once he found it, he used his arms and moved the wheels closer to Nic so that he could hand him a small business card. "Here. I believe this will be of some use." He let Nic have the card, in which he looked at it with intrigue.

Holding the card in hand with a scrutinizing gaze, Nic began to read aloud from the context it carried. "Cambire Foundation. To help those who seek anew, strive for understanding first." He looked towards Arthur again, his expectant look having unchanged since it was given.

He cleared his throat impishly. "Well, I can't lie when I say the phrase I was given needs work, but I'm working on it no less. You see, I'm the president and head of the Cambire Foundation, and the main objective I strive with this company is to enact cooperation and change to the ever-flowing world…of course that's easier said than done."

"The Cambire Foundation…" Nic looked down towards the card, then back at the president. "So what is it that you do specifically that you said could help?"

"Hm, how should I put this…? Well, let's put it like this: You know of monopoly, right? The Kanto and Hoenn region have two major foundations that have an overall competitive nature for their own regions. The Silph Co. in Kanto and the Devon Corporation in Hoenn have a one-sided monetary gain because they rely on selling goods that they provide for Trainers. However, there's a flaw in this, and that's something that may very well be a negative factor, and that's they rely too much on their own goods rather than their own services."

"And you're saying yours does the opposite?" Erza inquired.

"I'm saying that I'm _trying_ to do both." He defended. "The company has little to no propaganda, because no matter how you see it, there's always something or someone out there who already has those needs that they can use. In particular cases, that's the materials for Pokémon Trainers. What my company tries to do is to advertise positive influences towards Trainers who have little to no coordination with the art of Pokémon. If you can't get a Pokémon to behave, or if you can't reach the Trainer School in another city, the Cambire Foundation hosts classes and even hires interns that are learning to be full-time in the Pokémon field industry. You can say it's an…all-around study and survey industry."

Erza put her hand to her chin, thinking deeply of what he was saying. "So it's like a supplier and tutor at the same time. Interesting."

"In an interpretation as such, yes, that. The people who work with us generally have little experience at first, but the franchise is starting to grow out of Veilstone City. Nurse Joys looking for experience just graduating are given short-time tutor lessons to locals and other interns who join in weekly classes. We even allow the anatomy of Poke Balls and how they can be modified to custom built."

"For something so grand in detail, you make it sound like it's taken for granted." Nic deduced.

Arthur frowned. "That's precisely my point."

Marie adjusted her glasses. "What he means is that since so many Trainers an fields of industry are already spread out, the populace prefers to keep the subjects on a more divided route. If they want to know how to grow berries or know what certain berries do, they can always visit a farm or ranch that supplies them."

"But now let's put this into modern terms." Arthur explained. "Earthland doesn't have any of these berries or these Pokémon Centers now, do they?" He watched as Nic and Erza gave conspicuous gazes at each other, getting the message through. "When you think about that, there's going to be a lot of problems. We don't have a lot of help or assistance with ushering about supplies and demands that only so few can provide."

"Where are you going with this?" Nic suspiciously asked.

"All I'm asking is that you just consider what I told you and see if it can at least be a benefactor to the Pokémon and humans in this world."

Nic looked down at the ground, his brow furrowing as he tried his deepest and sincerest to think about what was told. As he gathered his thoughts, he glanced from the corner of his eyes back at Arthur. "…so, you're telling me you can provide materials _and_ help people and Pokémon alike?"

"That's what I'm trying to do." He responded. "You sound like it's a crime business I'm doing. Are you really that suspicious about me?"

Nic's face twisted in growing guilt. "Well, I wouldn't say this use of propaganda can't be manipulated to another's advantage. I'm just worried there'll be monopolies that'll grow off gimmicks and forgeries. I'm not calling you a liar, but if you have a way to prove to the two worlds alike and us that you really have what it takes to help Earthland adapt, then you have to put all cards on the table. Can you?"

"Hmm…" Arthur looked down at his knees as he thought about Nic's reasoning. In a way, there's wasn't abgiven chance that what his company can provide will go out of proportion. In most cases, that's how monopolies are began anyways, as well as black markets. He feels guilty enough knowing those already exists, but he had to think to himself what he was representing here. It wasn't his own beliefs, but what PokeEarth has developed that Earthland can also have. When he looked up towards Nic again, he said something that threw everybody off.

"Then let me ask you this, Nic…would you be willing to help a man who can't walk see a place where others can at least learn to walk?"

Nic and Erza once again were surprised by the deep thought. Now it made sense why he was in a wheelchair, but he didn't have to go to that extent.

"As a man of his word, all I can say is that I want the same thing you do, and that's to live. Surviving is a part of living, and if I survived this long, it's because I had Pokémon and my dear assistant by my side this whole time. I'm sure you can relate with that whole Acnologia incident, right? You lived through such an adventurous tale, so why not let others live to see the changes you continue to make through your experience. I think we all deserve that much at least. If not for me, then for those who you care for."

"Arthur…"

Arthur deeply frowned at the melancholy tale he spoke. He didn't mean to sound so desperate, but he couldn't help it. If not for the company he represented and wanted to see make such a big success, then the least he could do is see it try and help out those who really need it. He looked up again, smiling. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so sensitive. I know this isn't my world, but after knowing you have a life here, you want to care for those who you feel should have an experience that deserves a chance. We all possibly get one life to share with others, and that one life can make the biggest changes ever…and that could very well be you, Nic…and it has." He leaned back in his seat, folding his fingers together. "You've saved us all; not once, but twice. I'm sure the ordeal must have worn on you. Wouldn't it be easier for you and mages of these guilds you have had allies who knew how to handle situations? Taking this all on your own is no way a man of goodness to abide by."

Nic lowered his head, allowing the whole scenario to sink in. By all means, he didn't want to do any of this alone. In fact, being alone at the top is far from what he wanted. He didn't like being seen as a king or someone who can be sought for all the answers, and really he didn't. He wasn't omniscient, and he most certainly wasn't omnipotent. But after his achievements in the fields he's been through, it was suffice to say his sense of logic was no match for a helpless populace. They needed someone to look up to, and like it or not, they can't depend on each other if they don't know what Pokémon and what items are to be used in a articular case. Certainly Nic couldn't provide that, he had his hands full already trying to find a resolution to getting Earthland on his side for Pokémon. He never would've made it this far without knowing Erza or magic, nor even Fairy Tail; so in retrospect, if not knowing the experience of _both_ worlds, then none of this would've been possible. He'd be sent to oblivion, and he could feel that everyone must be feeling the same way. Somebody needed to teach them the ways, or at least get a grasp of them. And that's where Arthur came in. They both did in fact want the same thing, and that's to see their worlds – whichever worked – intertwine with coexistence and nondiscrimination of man and Pokémon. Unlike Nic, who didn't have these necessities and lived off of what he had from his world, Arthur had spent years, as if he was preparing for an occasion such as this. One could say this was an act of challenge. Others could presume it as a peace offering. Others could call it a miracle sent by Arceus himself. When Nic thought about what he said about one life, and reflection off of everything he had thought, he have him a deep leer of his own, one that made Arthur look a little surprise.

"I'm not a monster. I'm not someone who doesn't leave the crippled who can't walk to learn to walk for themselves…you're right, everyone's scared right now and need a hand to help them get up. I want to see where this is going too, but it's all feeling too rushed for me…but you have my sympathies for this predicament."

Arthur looked up towards Nic with a nod and a serious reflection of his own. "I understand completely. This is a lot to take in, and really, I feel we're rushing things too much. I guess I'm just a little excited is all."

A meek smirk came across Nic's face. "That's putting it mildly."

"…but I know we're also playing with fire, and that's what you see right now. I get that. I want to be as much help to as many people as possible, just like you. I want to make my own impact, and that too takes considerable time, of which we both don't have." He took another pause, allowing the information to sink in. "…you and I have a lot to think about, but keep in mind we only have until tomorrow morning and 3 days after to see a result happen. Please just consider what I'm asking here. I'm speaking as a fellow Pokémon lover."

Nic nodded and smiled. "Don't worry…" He reached down, shaking his hand. "We'll work through this."

Arthur nodded back. "Thank you so much for hearing me out. It means a lot to me to know there's goodness in greatness."

With that, the two groups exchanged one final words of thanks and Nic and Erza left the room. The large white doors popped open and they left Marie and her disabled boss to watch and stare with blank gazes.

"Do you really think he'll do the right thing?" Marie asked.

"Marie…you know as well as I do that there's no such thing as right or wrong. Either you're misguided or you're seeking the truth. The truth is never easy to accept, but acceptance is what makes change happen."

* * *

Orange and red once again ignited the sky, the radiance of the fading sunset was cascading itself over Magnolia. As birds and what looked like flocks of Pidgey flapping in the sunset, the serenity of the cool air kicked in.

Flying into Magnolia, Charizard soared right into city confines. He took Nic and Erza deep into the heart of the town they called home, gliding high to get an overall view of the town beneath them. There, Nic could see it.

They could see a child holding his mother's hand pointing at a Fletchling that perched briefly on some crates. And not far was a Murkrow that was glaring down at a fountain, where in it was a lot of gold coins. Nearby was also a Meowth, which was hiding in an alleyway waiting for some sort of meal where it can feeb from the market. Through it all, Pokémon were already starting to work their way through the area, and it was far from turning back.

The look on Nic's face stayed observant as Charizard drew them closer towards the guild hall. Once there, they hopped off him and Nic gave his Charizard thanks before sending him back into his Poke Ball. They both made it to the guild entrance, where they stopped for a moment and looked at each other with expectant gazes. Nic's brow furrowed, and with a nod, he ushered the doors open to allow them to see the others again.

"Huh?" Natsu turned his head and looked back with a smile. "Hey, look who's here!"

"Aye! Welcome back, guys!" Happy greeted.

Fairy Tail greeted the two as open as ever. Nic and Erza accepted their gratitude and saw the many faces who were looking to be with some I interesting changes. For example, they were seeing Lucy hold her hand out, stopping the Klefki from yesterday from scuttling pass her into her other arm stretched out, which was holding her keys.

"No~. What did I say about your obsession with keys? You have to behave yourself first. Got it?" The blonde turned to look at Nic and Erza, smiling. "Guys, you case at just the right time."

"Yeah I'll say. You missed one heck of a day." Gray said. "You won't believe just how many of us got warped in Vanessa's tutoring." He looked towards the Snover beside him, grinning as he lifted his arms overhead in agreement.

"She's even showed us how to approach certain Pokémon that were around the area. Look, see?" Juvia smiled as something hopped onto her shoulder. As soft as could be, a smiling brown Pokémon with a creamy mane and a bushy tail perched itself on her shoulder. Its big eyes were so adorable that one would've melt at the sight. The creature nuzzled Juvia's cheek affectionately, making the rain woman laugh.

Over in another corner of the guild, Elfman was flexing. "Gotts be more like this! See?!" As he flexed, another Pokémon that he brought home from a job was mimicking his flex. He was a smaller, light blue Pokémon with red eyes and humanoid in shape. It looked like some child but had big hands and had super strength.

Watching from the sidelines, Lisanna put her hand to her cheek. "Well I guess that's a start…" she nervously said.

"Really?" Beside her on a stool, a baby bird-like Pokémon with a fluffy white head and a red feather sticking out of the top tilted his head in confusion. His big eyes blinked as he watched Elfman and Machop flex their muscles, while everyone else was doing their own thing.

Nearby, Mirajane was petting another bird Pokémon that had a pink head and had her whole lower body in what looked like a massive egg. She sat on her rump as she whimpered weakly. "Aw there, there. It's alright. We all fall down at some point." She comforted the Pokémon with such a motherly tone and smile. "Hm?" She took notice of Nic and Erza nearby, turning to face them with the same smile as ever. "Welcome back you two."

"Hello, Mirajane." Erza said, turning her head to look at the whole guild. "It seems you've been quite busy today."

She nervously smiled. "Yeah well, with jobs and everything with Vanessa teaching us about looking after Pokémon, we certainly can't say today was uneventful."

"I see…and I see quite a few new faces, too." Looking back at the others more closely, Erza could see that there have been some new additions to the guild, but compared to the humans, the Pokémon were far from expectant populace. In fact, the only ones who had Pokémon really were Team Natsu. Elfman, Lisanna, Mirajane herself, and Juvia. But when she looked more closely, they could see Laki holding a Bonsly in hand, while Reedus was painting on a canvas with a Smeargle watching at his flawless technique. Looking even closer than that, Romeo and Macao both had two white, candle-like Pokémon with light blue flames on their hand. Macao was looking at his more quizzically while Romeo was more open and showing a blue flame from his fingers. Cana also appeared to be drinking casually, but on her lap sleeping was a small, purple cat-like Pokémon with a knife-like curved tail. Wakaba even was smoking nearby with a floating purple Pokémon who was puffing out smoke like he was. The rest of the guild, however was without anymore of these creatures that piqued interest, or were perhaps still out on jobs.

"Did Vanessa really do all this?" Erza asked in surprise.

"Well, mostly. Joey and Dereece helped a little, too, but not that much." Mirajane explained.

"Really?" Nic questioned.

"Oh sure. Joey was kind enough to show us how the PokeDex worked, and we learned a little bit about some of the Pokémon that people got back from jobs. Some they even met while out in Magnolia.

"Speaking of those two, where are they?"

"Well, my guess is that they went back to your guys' place. They had such a long day, so I'm sure they're off trying out some stuff or moves that they're Pokémon can do." She giggled innocently as she remembered how excited Joey looked when she told him they can handle the rest for the most part. "Joey especially looked excited. He said something about 'Battling enough to where he learned Rollout', or something like that."

Erza chuckled at Joey's enthusiasm. "Well it's nice to know he's working to earn his part for the guild. What about Vanessa?"

"I'm afraid you just missed her." Their attention drew towards Sophie, who walked up nearby and took her place on the stool beside Erza. "The poor girl had all day teaching us. She chose to go home and have something to eat. If I had to guess right, she's going to sleep in hard."

Erza sighed at her sister-in-law's outrageous habit. "Honestly, must she sleep in to about 9 almost every day? I keep insisting an alarm…but I suppose she'll have to learn her own way." She looked towards Nic, seeing what he had to say. "Nic?" But to her wonder, Nic was far out of reach.

He was spacing out hard as he folded his arms and watched as Natsu was eagerly shadowboxing the air in front of him. Charmander tried to mimic the motion too, and when he succeeded, Natsu showed an uppercut, which he again hesitantly did. Turning to another part of the guild hall, he was seeing Smeargle try to paint on a canvas beside Reedus now, following his brush strokes carefully with his own tail. He looked to be studying very hard.

" _Wouldn't it be easier for you and mages of these guilds you have had allies who knew how to handle situations? Taking this all on your own is no way a man of goodness to abide by."_ What Arthur said to him earlier again echoed through his mind, drowning him out of his wonders. He looked over to see Romeo holding his blue flame to Litwick's mouth. Surprisingly it ate it, looking shocked at how it tasted rather cold. _"I want to be as much help to as many people as possible, just like you. I want to make my own impact, and that too takes considerable time, of which we both don't have."_

' _Vanessa did this all by herself.'_ He thought, tapping his index finger against his bicep. His mind went back to yesterday, when he and his sister spent all day helping decipher Pokémon and information by letters and copies out towards other guilds. Slowly, he began to think deeper about his talk with Arthur. _'All this really is too much for one person, and it really shouldn't be…there's gotta be more involved, but…'_

"Nic." Erza's worried concern as what brought him back to reality. He turned in shock towards Erza.

"Uh, s-sorry. What was that?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. You just look a little…distracted."

Nic glanced away, half-grinning at how right she was. "Yeah, I guess so…"

Mirajane and Erza looked towards the other, sharing a questionable look from the other's perspective.

* * *

Joey reached his hand out, smirking wide. "Alright Chespin, try using **Vine Whip!** "

At his command, the Grass-type Pokémon on one side of the battlefield outside Nic and Erza's house let out a growl as he faced his opponent. His shoulder glinted bright green before two green vines went shooting across the battlefield like long arrows. They reached Heracross, who covered up using one arm and swiped to the side, bouncing away the attack like it wasn't even there.

The vines retreated back to Chespin, who grunted in annoyance. "Man, this is more annoying than what I had in mind…" he groaned.

"I know." Joey rubbed the side of his head with a raised brow. "I knew Heracross were strong, but this one's level and Defense is crazy."

At his expense, Heracross boasted with pride. His Trainer put his hand to his hip and investigated the training. "Well that's what happens when you get stuck against Bug-types. Not that I can complain or anything, but you really need that Rollout move."

"I know, I get it! We're trying!" Joey barked, balling his fists and resuming his training. "C'mon Chespin, let's see what else we can try…?" Oddly enough, he began to show signs of wayward. His voice slowly teetered into shock as he looked out ahead, both him and Chespin looking forward with growing surprise.

"Huh? What is it now?" Confused, Dereece followed Joey's gaze once more, tracing to behind. He turned around and looked pleasantly shocked as he saw two figures approach. As they closed in, it was Nic and Erza, both looking seemingly worn out.

The two walked hand in hand as the man of the house had a look that showed he was more than worn out than his wife.

"Hey, they're back." Dereece said.

Upon seeing his idol, Joey stiffened on the battlefield. "Uh, N-Nic-senpai!" He saluted. "Erza-senpai, h-hi! Uh…p-please forgive us for using your battlefield. I know you said we could use it, b-but we didn't think…"

"It's fine." Erza answered. "I see that you're both working as hard as ever. So tell us, was it true that you helped out Vanessa?"

"Aaaalittle." Joey sheepishly answered. "I mean we did help describe some berries and Abilities of the few Pokémon that were there."

Nic smiled. "The you have our gratitude. Thanks again for helping out guys, we really appreciate it."

Hearing his praise made Joey suffer another heart attack. He clutched his chest and gaped his mouth as lightning bolts struck behind him. _'Nic-senpai…just praised me…?'_ He quietly squealed as his knees began to quiver like some newborn goat. _'OH MY GOD! NIC-SENPAI EVEN_ _ **THANKED**_ _ME! He…he really appreciates my awesomeness~!'_

Dereece raised a brow as he saw Joey as stiff as a statue, even as Nic and Erza continued onwards. "Hm? Uh…Joey? Joey~?" He moved his big-boned arm in front of Joey's face, but he got no reaction. With a huff in defeat, he chose to let Joey have his moment. He turned towards Heracross casually.

"Wanna grab a bite?"

Heracross nodded. "Sure, I can go for Honey or tree sap." Together, he and his Trainer walked off.

* * *

Dusk was well in the sky. What was supposedly the last of the sun's rays was a faint yellow in the west that was otherwise engulfed by blue and dark blue, if not borderline black. It was well past late, and at this point it was also where Joey and Dereece eventually found themselves lying in the guest bedroom, already having fallen asleep. No doubt they had enough for one day, as did everyone else. The ones who were up most likely at this time were Erza and Nic – not surprisingly.

Having dinner and then showers, the two found themselves in their bedroom. Nic was in dark thin, baggy pants that served as his pajama bottoms while shirtless. Erza currently adorned a black tank top and equally dark pants that were much of a loose fit. Her hair was flowing down as usual as she laid on her side, watching Nic as he flopped onto the bed, bouncing lightly and settled into the stare he set for the ceiling.

He sighed loudly out his nose, his deterioration of motive easy for Erza to read.

"Somebody had quite the interesting day." She teased dryly.

"Interesting sounds like a Water Gun to the face." Nic groaned. "You're more than happy to try other similes, I'm sure one will count as Brine."

Erza sighed. "You're still bothered some, aren't you?"

Nic continued to glare up at the ceiling, but his eyelids didn't seem to waver. He would be a boldfaced liar if he didn't admit to a splitting headache to his wife. Then again, he wasn't much of a liar, she knew that too.

"Erza…what do you think I should do? Do you think we can trust him?"

Erza looked at Nic with a softened look. Slowly, her ripe, and very voluptuous figure, began to slide over Nic. He remained passive as Erza straddled him, putting her hands into the pillow on either side of his head. She smiled warmly down at him, giving what could've been a gaze of resolute. "Well, ask yourself this: Can you trust your own judgement?"

Nic remained silent as Erza's words sunk into his brain.

"You've always been ahead of the game, Nic, and even when you didn't know the rules, you played a hard game to keep up with. No matter what, even when others didn't trust you, you never turned your back on them, did you?" She moved her hands to cup the sides of his face. "The Nic I know would never question the choices he has or will makes. I _know_ you'll do the right thing. For all of us."

Her husband looked like a statue that had been toppled over with the look of a wise man. When he stopped to think about what he was being told, it was seen in the perspective who admired him. Who he admired. He knew Erza as well – if not better – than anyone. He knew what made her tick, and she knew him before he even spoke. She was right. Maybe he was being stirred up some by this mayhem, but Erza kept her word when she would be there to keep him from faltering.

Acting fast, he smirked and seized her by the waist. Without warning, Erza was pulled down onto Nic, the two making themselves another passionate kiss erupt. Nic's lips were soft, and there was a nice scent that mixed with Erza's own strawberry. Even though she made the moves and he took lead, she humbly drew closer and applied her kiss back.

The two made out, their heads turning some and Nic's upper body turning some like some worm, but with Erza's weight and massive hips, she was anchored but had plenty of bite to go around.

Finally letting up in the kiss, the two parted with raspy breaths. As much as the heat of the moment was tempting Nic to go deeper into what he had in mind, he knew he had to do something first. He smirked at his wife and nod. "Thanks for that." He moved beneath her, being careful with her massive melons that sat there overhead. She moved and sat up beside him as he reached for the Communication Lacrima that was in his nightstand drawer. Giving it it a small dust and blow, Nic tapped it to make sure that it was still operable.

After a short time, the screen began to flicker, revealing Arthur on the opposite screen. "…yes, hello?" he questioned. "…does…does this thing have a mic or something?"

"I think it works just like that." Marie advised.

"Okay." He faced the screen, clearing his throat. "A little late for a call Nic, don't you think?" He took notice of Nic without a shirt. "My word, what's happening here?"

Nic shrugged. "Sorry for the delay, I had to rethink some things over."

"And…?"

Taking a deep breath, Nic let out a deep, deep sigh. When he found his breath, he looked at him, giving a deep, serious expression. "…alright, I'm keeping an open mind. Just what is it that you have in mind?"

Hearing this made Arthur grin. "Hmph. Hope you had just as much sleep as I had, because this is going to be a _long_ few days for a lot of us."

* * *

Deep within that night, the moonless night was twinkling with stars as vibrant as ever. Within its serenity, the forest of confines unknown were rustling with creatures that came out and were active in darkness. However, a women taking off within the forest was not having a leisurely road ahead of her.

Not far behind her panicking pace, the underbrush was being moved by thugs, more accurately bandits with smug looks on their faces. She picked the wrong time and the wrong place to be out gathering some homemade ingredients.

Looking back, she saw that one of the slimmer thugs were closing in one her. She could feel adrenaline shoot through her body and push her ahead. Thankfully she wasn't wearing heels, so she was moving pretty fast. It wasn't until she turned back ahead to see that the forest's end was in sight. She made it out with a small leap, but found herself out of breath, eventually tripping over a rock and falling to her side.

As she was gasping for air, she heard rustling from behind. Weakly raising her head, the woman heard a huff from a large thug that kept up with her. He wiped his mouth from the spit he had going from his lack of exercise. "Well little lady, seems you've been a little naughty this night." He sneered. Behind him, his fellow gang members were beginning to catch up from the woods. They looked down at their frightened victim, who was sitting up in the grass with fright.

"What's the matter? Haven't you ever heard of fun?" Another bandit scoffed.

The woman was trying to get up, but her arms were weak. The grip from one of them earlier was so strong that it took almost all her strength to break free before. As they closed in, she could feel her body getting cold.

One bandit stood right atop of her, a smug look on his face. "Now this is more like it…" he closed in on her.

"Torterra, **Leaf Storm!** "

The call came from the woods back behind. The bandits all stopped and turned back towards the underbrush to see a glowing maelstrom of green leaves in a cyclone being unleashed out of nowhere. The cyclone rushed them all in one go, swallowing them and shredding up their clothes and skin. They were all sent skyward by the trail of the raging whirlwind, which spit them out at its top. They all screamed in terror as they dropped like flies into the grassy plain.

The woman who had her eyes shut the whole time was shaking, but when she heard the thuds from afar, a shock went through her. Looking back up, she saw that instead the guys around her weren't even there. She looked around in wonder of what happened, but the sound of more shrubs shaking whipped her back ahead.

"Who's there?!"

Stepping out of the underbrush's shadows was someone who had a dark brown coat. His white bulbous hay for the most part concealed his hair, but what she took note of was how dark and serious his eyes were. She could even see that over his shoulder was a bag, and in hand was a wooden stick, if it was that anyways.

"Who…who are you…?"

The man gave her a disinterested look. "Relax, I'm not here to hurt you." He sighed. "Tell me, where am I?"

The woman looked at him like he was deaf. "I…beg your pardon?"

"You live somewhere close by, don't you? Why come out here in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, uh…m-my village was just over there." She pointed over towards the village that had lamps set up and trails paved. "I was finding some herbs to make some medicine, a-and then those bandits attacked me."

The unknown savior huffed in understanding. He faced the forest, where in it there was a silhouette of some gargantuan turtle with spikes on the sides of his face. Without a word, he took out a Poke Ball and recalled the massive Pokémon back inside. Once the beam sucked it in fully, he turned back towards her.

"Who are you?" she asked, curiosity more so than fear now washing over.

"Just someone who's passing through. If you're smart, you'd know to follow me back to the village." Without another word, the unknown person walked around the confused woman, making way through the field and off into the night. It wasn't that he didn't care of what happened, nor did he have anything against it, but he also prefers to not see a mess that's too big for someone incapable of cleaning up.

The woman scuttled back to her feet and hurriedly followed behind the savior of the night. "Uh, t-thank you!" she whimpered.

"Don't mention it. You know a place where I can stay for a few nights?"

"We have an inn, and it's cheap."

"Then does it have a map as well? I'm not familiar with the area."

She nodded. "Yes."

"Thank you very much." He casually strolled through the fields to get his rest, ignoring the guys that sprawled all over the field.

* * *

Marie was pacing back and forth in a large room over fine plated ground. She looked down with haste, her heartbeat as quick as ever. In that same room, Nic and Arthur were positioned, although the former was against the wall with crossed arms and eyes closed. It was hard to tell if he was trying to sleep or was critically thinking. Arthur, however, was looking down at the paper he had in hand that he only had 3 hours to make.

After so long, Marie finally stopped pacing. She looked down at her reflection in the plated ground. She could see how tired she was. Once again, a long, grieving sigh escaped her throat. She faced Arthur once more, her hands still behind her back.

"Are you ready?"

Arthur slowly raised his head from his speech he wrote up. "I have to be. We've come this far to share the truth with our worlds." He said. "I just hope they can come to understand the changes that are about to happen…"

Opening his eyes weakly, Nic looked at them both. "Whether we've prepared for this or not, there's no turning back. We chose this, and we'll make sure it follows through."

Arthur looked at him, giving a reassuring nod. "Indeed." He faced his paper again. "The truth won't be easy to accept…but it's never that easy to begin with."

Marie adjusted her glasses, looking a little bleak one might say. "Sir, shall I alert our guests of your condition?" she questioned.

Arthur shook his head. "That won't be necessary, Marie."

"But…"

"I appreciate your concern, but this responsibility falls on me and my associate here. It'd be shameful for up to postpone on rest we willingly sacrificed for this day."

Even from inside the closed curtains and walls, the three could hear the sounds from outside. They could hear people talking, the vibrations of their feet, even the flashing of photography by the many reporters and Sorcerer's Weekly photographers. They could feel the population just flooding them, and like it or not, what they had to do was the unknowing must know. Even the emotions, Nic could feel them. Some were as anticipated as Marie was, and some were as curious as a child. But for now, what mattered was their voices making through to the world.

The door banged from the outside in the midst of silence, getting the three to glance over.

"It's time." Nic said.

"Yes, it would appear so." Arthur grieved, but faced Nic with an amused grin. "I must say, Nic. You're taking this better than I thought."

Nic shrugged. "I don't ever do crowds. I don't know what you're talking about."

Arthur snickered. "I see, so an antisocial. Well isn't that a shocker." He slowly faced the doorway, taking in one more deep sigh to cool down his rapid-beating heart. "…we're ready."

Marie hastily grabbed the handles to his wheelchair, pushing him forward. Falling at a slower place behind, Nic showed as much calm as possible behind his own beating heart. Once the massive doors opened, they were greeted with a grand sight to behold.

As scheduled, their three days of planning was up. It was the morning of the fourth day, and now it was time to share with the world what was going on.

The last few days for Nic and Arthur was by far the most stressful ever that each of them had to deal with. It involved so many world flipflops and materials and people being brought over in a span of a few days, but the end result was very much worth it. The night Nic contacted Arthur, the two started planning then and there, and the next morning they would go to Sinnoh, where Arthur delivered the message out to everyone and his employees. The second day was no less stressful because they had to get so much equipment and fellow folks to set up for the big reveal. To uphold this mass, a large range of folk had to be contained in one spot, so the obvious choice for such a domain was Crocus.

The king was more than willing to allow his castle to be the centerfield of it all. Of course the Rune Knights were to act as security, and he, Arcadios, Darton, and Hisui were to be in the castle, but up high on the balcony, they were watching as the massive heaps of crowds were gathered. It was even more crowded than it was during their yearly Grand Magic Games.

The third day to that extent was organizing in both worlds. With the people from the Cambire Foundation getting the message and willing to volunteer, Arthur and Nic hopped over at the designated time and took in the people to get them situated, along with their supplies and the materials they were able to bring with them. And now was the morning of the fourth day; the day that even the Councilmen and all of those in Fiore had to attend.

Those who were watching from PokeEarth were sitting in front of their television screens, watching as the cameras on the other world and the massive crowd in front of the double doors was evident. Those in both worlds who had radios and were in big crowds in cities were hearing or seeing the scene, like it was when Acnologia attacked seven months ago. The Champions of each region as well as the folks and professors alike were all watching on small devices or on broadcasted screens that were sent over by the Cambire Foundation.

The crowd had so many reporters and crew members talking in front of the press. They were detailing about the event and what was going on, more or less about the Pokémon that have been up and about. Those in PokeEarth and Earthland alike were listening well to the mass of folk and the populace that were getting screens up to record what was happening.

As per the arrangements, divided by Rune Knights, those who were personal or had keys to this plot was essentially Fairy Tail, along with a few more guilds that were invited as V.I.P guests to be closer upfront. A few well-known reporters were already interviewing and questioning a few of the mages that were affiliated with Nic, and one of them just so happened to be Fairy Tail.

"So, Laxus Dreyar, is it?" a female reporter asked. "How is it that you know about Nic personally?" She reached the mic up to Laxus, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"The guy's been part of the guild for as long as I can remember." He made it sound like it was no big deal. "Nic and I go back a long ways. It took me a while to understand, but I think what he's doing right now is for the best. I'd rather not say anything against that."

Another male reporter confronted Gray and Juvia. "Well now, can you please tell us where you found your Pokémon?" He presented them the mic.

"I met Snover on a job." Gray shrugged. He looked down towards the unnerved Pokémon, who was hiding behind Gray like some scared child. "Huh? What is it? You don't like crowds?"

"U-uh, n-not so much…" he muttered. "Sorry."

"And you?" The reporter asked Juvia.

The rain woman smiled as Eevee sat on her shoulder. "Well, it's a little hard to say…" She looked at her Normal-type. "I met Eevee when I was in a dry forest. I was on a job to give it some water for the people nearby, and that's when I met her beneath a large leaf, hiding from the rain."

The Eevee chimed happily as she muzzled Juvia's cheek again, making her laugh.

"And you, sir? Are you a Pokémon?" A reporter pointed his mic to Happy, who was flying with his wings.

"No, silly. I'm a cat." He answered.

"Technically, we're Exceeds." Pantherlily corrected.

"And you're native to this world?"

"Uh-huh."

Amongst the crowd, Natsu was pumping his fists in excitement. "Oh man, I'm so totally pumped for this!" He exclaimed. "It's been too long since we've been to Crocus together."

Underneath him, Charmander was looking around, seemingly as shocked as anybody else with so many people and drones in the air catching this all on devices. He wasn't nervous like Snover was, but more like awed. "Man, and here I thought we saw stuff beyond the lab." He told Chespin, who stood with equal shock beside him.

"Woooah." The Grass-type couldn't begin to explain how inspired he was. "Just look at all these people."

"So this is this country's capital?" Joey looked around with a raised brow, oddly intrigued by the buildings, as well as the massive castle that wasn't too far away from them. It went all the way up, where they could see the king and the others up at the balcony high overhead. An awed look crept on his face. "Not bad…"

"That's putting it mildly." Dereece noted.

Joey looked all around him in confusion and wonder as he saw so many strange new things that piqued his styles. For example, he was seeing Chelia and Wendy talk, and Wendy was holding Swablu for Chelia to see. Seeing Chelia's hair color and style was interesting, and then he looked over to another part, where he saw Mermaid Hell's Millianna with her other guildmates. Her own hair was bland, but the overall design of her attire was interesting, and seeing Kagura's kimono with such a passion was enough as it was. When he turned towards Blue Pegasus, he saw Jenny Realight. When he saw Jenny catching up with Mirajane and the Vullaby she had in her arms, he couldn't help but take notice of the bust each of them possessed. He could feel his mouth water.

"Don't even." Dereece prompted.

"I must say, these are very peculiar circumstances to meet up again." Jura said.

Beside him, Lyon nodded. "That's saying something." He turned towards Gray, seeing him pet and comfort his Snover, trying to get him fixed with the crowd. Whatever the commotion was about, he had a feeling it revolved around these creatures that had a major impact.

Around Sabertooth, Frosch and Lector looked all around. They seemed greatly surprised by everything and all the people. "Man, just look at all these guys around us, Frosch. It's like a madhouse." Lector voiced.

"Fro thinks so, too." The Exceed in the pink frog suite chimed.

Rogue looked left and right, getting an observation of tha mass all around. "This news must be big if there has to be this much equipment involved."

"Yeah, no nodding." Sting said. "I don't even recognize half the stuff here."

"I heard rumors that some of the goods around here are from Nic's world." Minerva mentioned.

"You really think so?" Yukino gasped.

"Yukino!"

The snow-haired mage turned her attention towards the crowd, seeing a familiar, long-haired blonde catch up and squeeze through quite a few patrons. When she caught up, Lucy and her Klefki met up with the surprised mage of Sabertooth. "Yukino, it really is you!"

"Lucy, hey." Yukino met up with Lucy in the middle. She smiled. "It's good to see you."

"It's great to see you, too." She returned. "How, you look amazing."

Yukino sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed. "Oh, uh, really? I guess I didn't notice after all this time." Her attention drew towards the Pokémon that floated beside her, which was holding her Celestial Keys. "Hm? Oh, uh, Lucy?"

Lucy noticed her inquired glanced towards Klefki. She promptly gestured towards her with a smile. "Oh, right. How could I forget? Yukino, meet Klefki."

Klefki nodded politely. "Hello."

Yukino returned the polite bow. "Hi, it's great to meet you."

Klefki looked at her for a few moments, before she noticed something that was glinting on her waist. When she noticed Yukino holding some keys – very eloquent ones – her eyes widened and her body started to rattle. This began to alarm the Celestial Mage as she could see the hungry look on her eyes.

"Uh…"

"Keys~!" Klefki reeled back before launching at Yukino, but she was stopped when she was grabbed by the key horn on her head. She wailed as Lucy held her in place with a disciplined expression.

"What did I just tell you, Klefki?" She warned. "No more key thieving unless I say so. Now, be a good Pokémon and get back here." She drew Klefki back to her side, holding her in place in case anymore…cravings came up. With her habits out of hand, wavy tears went down the Steel/Fairy-type's face.

Yukino looked ahead with a bead of sweat dropping from her face. "Uh…okay…" She then caught onto something that piqued her interests. "Wait, what did you say she was?"

Lucy shot her a wink. "It's all part of the surprise."

Yukino didn't know what she meant by that, but if it's what forced Sting to pry away from guild master duties then she had to wait and find out.

In another part of the crowd, Erza and Vanessa were catching up with Kagura and her group. They seemed to be doing well for the most part, and that said something for Vanessa now that she slept. It took Sophie more than her usual to get her up this time just to reach the carriage without getting late.

"I see you've been doing well." Kagura sternly started.

Erza smiled. "It's good to see you too. Come here." She grabbed the Mermaid Heel mage by the face and pulled her into a hug at her chest. Her face began to brighten out of embarrassment, and her guildmates just laughed.

Vanessa chuckled. "Looks like someone's happy to see you, too."

"S-shut up!" Kagura pulled herself away from Erza, savoring whatever pride she had. "Just what are you doing here? Shouldn't you…you know…both be with Luminous?"

Erza folded her arms. "You bring up a point, but you'll see why."

Millianna didn't seem too convinced. "Why? What's wrong?"

"You'll see." Vanessa turned towards the stands, seeing the press at the very porch and stage set up in front of Mercurius beginning to take snaps and blinding photography lights.

Drone cameras in the sky were zooming in as the doors to the front were finally beginning to open. As the guilds and all who were in the crowds and watching at home started to settle, the Rune Knights stationed outside to door began to move apart to allow clearance for three figures to venture out onto the white stage.

Once in the open, Nic, Arthur, and Marie were bombarded with photography and varied expressions from the crowds throughout the two worlds. Those invited perked up, and those like Joanna and Michael watching from home instantly got in front of the TV. Professor Sycamore, his assistance, as well as so many others were taking long breaks with the rest of the fellow cities to get an understanding of what it was that was to go down.

Once standing on the podiums, the three remained silent while microphone feedback was drawn upwards. The crowds drew themselves up towards the balconies of Mercurius, more accurately towards Toma E. Fiore. When the crowds started to settle down, Toma cleared his throat and stepped forward. He looked down at the crowds, ready to begin.

"Greetings, and welcome to you all." He started, his voice so loud that it boomed for those far away to hear. "First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for taking the time out of your days to be able to attend this assembly under very short circumstances. There has been a breach that I would like to address to the people and residence of Fiore, as per this world we live in. For those of you who do not know me, I am Toma E. Fiore, of the Fiore Kingdom. Many of you are well aware of this, but for those who are watching this from afar, this is for that reason why I address this to you as well."

Those watching from the other world saw Toma talk, some having calm and collected gazes at the stout king.

"The breach that I have spoke of is more than just metaphorical, it is a literal one that has transcended what fallacies we have believed. That is why it is imperative that we tell you all of what happened just one week ago, under the guise of the stars. We have been receiving distressing messages and reports of the occurrences that these creatures we have been seeing pose to us what will make sense. And for that, we have found likely sources who were willing to dig deep, and with their combined efforts, were willing to bring the truth to light." He looked down at beneath, ushering the transition. "For further knowledge on this phenomenon, we have consulted the help of two men who have received themselves a reputation amongst his personal peers. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce to you Nic Pularis, and Arthur Solaris. To you both, good luck."

With that, the king stepped down from his podium, allowing the cameras and drones to shift back towards Nic and Arthur. The crippled man in his wheelchair was the forefront, while Nic and Marie were the supporters on the sides. A lot of cameras were snapping on Nic, and who could blame them? He's the savior of the worlds, twice in fact. There was so much to address and so much expectations, but this was where it was to be tested.

Arthur raised his hand silently, allowing the crowds and a few claps and whistles to silence. He sat his arms on either side of his armrests and tapped the microphone. It got feedback as intended, and he leaned in to speak. "We appreciate the warm introductions, Toma. Thanks to you, we can now address to everyone what they believe may be the biggest mystery and cornerstone of history. This news will not be easy to accept, but I trust you all will keep an open mind when we tell you of the facts. For this first part, please, allow me to introduce my colleague. It was thanks to him that the links were finally pulled together." He nodded towards Nic. "Nic, if you would be so kind?"

Nic stepped forward towards his mic. He took a moment's time to turn and look at the gigantic crowd behind the flashes of photography. He could hardly see the front row and V.I.P guests. However, this didn't stop him from starting off his turn.

Taking one more breath, he began.

"People of Fiore, people of Earthland and my sources a like, I'd like to start by saying a little about myself. For those of you who don't know – or perhaps didn't bother to care at first – I'm Nic Pularis, of the Fairy Tail guild." His brows furrowed. "By this time last week, everything was placid, until a certain incident transpired between our two words. I'll make this brief as I can; the creatures that have recently been showing up all over and disappearing alike, they are what's known as Pokémon."

Within the crowd, Yukino took a moment to process the mysterious creature beside Lucy. Now it was making sense. _'Wait…does Lucy mean that…?'_

"Let me start from the top. About one week ago, there was a great tear in the Space-Time Rift between two worlds. That's PokeEarth, and the one called Earthland. These two planets have been intertwined before, and that's why these two have become connected." Behind him, a white screen began to roll down slowly. "One week ago, the creatures of time and space, known as Dialga, the ruler of time; and Palkia, the ruler of space, have both underwent a drastic balance disorder that has been caused by some unparalleled force. This force colliding with their powers at the exact same time and level, is what resonated the hundreds of thousands o meteors that have been seen from all over."

On the screen behind him, it showed a picture of Spear Pillar, where it looked more like an erupting volcano that showered meteors of light all over the world. "The place where this phenomenon took place is known as Spear Pillar. It's the oldest and most sacred grounds that almost no one can reach in my world. Connected to it was where Dialga and Palkia's energy are most concentrated. It was here that these meteors of time and space shot at speeds and struck anything." The slideshow behind showed some Pokémon being hit, and some parts of the ocean, mountains, and land being struck. "All these meteors had a random target, but no matter what kind it was, it was struck, causing it to disappear from one spot. Some would think they were vaporized…but that's not what happened."

The slideshow behind thus showed images taken by photographers, revealing some of the images taken by the Council at Nic's debriefing. "On a related note, everyone from where I am now has been seeing such things come up, such as Pokémon in water, those whose size is extreme, and some incidents like berry trees, or even these 'Honey Trees' that my wife and fellow guys from my world investigated."

For a moment, some cameras went towards Erza and her group. She tried to stay as composed as possible, but all she could do was cross her arms and too studious in front of the audience. Vanessa didn't seem at all fazed, and instead remained relaxed as snapshots were taken of her.

Dereece was looking a little nervous as he saw so many cameras from the sky turned towards him and the Fairy Tail group. Joey however, was adoring the attention.

"Hi, mommy! I'm doing just fine!" He waved to the cameras.

On PokeEarth, watching the broadcast, Professor Sycamore shot up in his seat upon seeing the familiar faces from 6 days ago. "Is that…?" His eyes widened in realization. "It is! They're really okay!" The cameras rolled over to Charmander beside Chespin, who beamed with pride. "And Charmander's there, too. So that's where they went…"

"To put it bluntly, all those meteors that were in those two worlds, they crossed time and space, and carried Pokémon, and some fellow people with them, and crossed over to Earthland."

From the blinding lights that was photography, a bold reporter stuck out his microphone. "So what you're saying is, that these creatures come from another world?"

Nic nodded. "That's what I'm saying."

Many of them were beginning to throw suspicious questions through the air. They were all shocked at the noise that was being made, but more so because it was Pokémon involved. Fiore, as well as guilds, were aware of this incident because of what happened with the Grand Magic Games, as well as the raging battle in Tartaros and the Alvarez War.

Many mages looked at each other in shock, while others showed more concern. They knew just how powerful these creatures could get, but while others were crying out, others like Jura and those who were wise kept an open mind.

Arthur raised a hand, making them all silence once more. "What he speaks is the truth. As you see, aside from a few others that Nic has met. My assistant, Marie and I, were both strolling through the streets of our beloved city. And then there was white. The next thing we knew, we ended up in front of this world's Magic Council building, to which their attempts at questioning us in shock were…less than appreciative." He shot a look at the Councilmen who were watching from special bleachers along the sidelines. Suffice to say some seemed guilty, but Alfredo shot his own glares of challenge back. "But, in spite of these setbacks, we have to terms with these anomalies, and we have come together to exchange information."

Another reporter stuck his microphone out behind the security team. "And what kinds of information was it that you shared?"

"Why, about this world, as for my own." The screen behind them slid left again, showing shadowy figures that unleashing for and ice, and some rocks being moved from a staff enveloping it in Gravity Magic. "To those who are on PokeEarth, allow me to tell you about the world that Nic has been living in. The world that we have been opened to look into."

The screens behind showed even more videos, more accurately past recordings of Grand Magic Games events. It showed mages requipping, and some even using their magic to make fruit grow from the ground. The people of PokeEarth looked in awe over this.

"This magic…is alive." He started. "Why, it's even all around us as we speak in Earthlnd. It's this property that enables those of this world to use what can be similar to Pokémon and their mythical powers. Their properties of 'magic' however, are both very much different." The screen behind showed a random mage practicing Water Magic, while another half-slide showed a Trainer pointing ahead and his Panpour using Scald. "My acquaintance, Nic, has told me of his experience of these two properties, and how magic and Pokémon moves are two very different aspects. Now, I'm sure you're all very familiar with the whole Acnologia event, is that true?"

Many began to feel unsound as they started to recall the war. It wasn't easy to stomach, especially with how many had lost lives in the process. They all saw the screen show a recorded helicopter footage back when Acnologia battled far in the southeast mountains. The many clips were of him and in his Dragon Force against the forces of Pokémon.

"Nic explained from his experience that magic had no effect on Acnologia, making him invincible and impossible to beat…if you were a mage that is. However, as we have seen and heard firsthand, Acnologia was vulnerable to Pokémon and their moves. This was the flaw that would be his downfall when Nic and everyone pitched in to stop him for good. So, in short, even if you can't see it right away, Nic and I both know if mages and people of this world alike intertwine with Pokémon, it would make things a lot easier." He grinned. "But rather than speak by a secondary source, I think a volunteer from both perspectives would be more suiting for this experience." He looked towards the front row of the V.I.P section, making eye contact beyond the cameras rolling.

"Before we continue with this, I would like to welcome someone up to share her experience of both worlds. Some of you may know her, and some of you might not. But now, it is with a privilege that I introduce to you Nic's sister, Vanessa Pularis."

Many were clapping, and others, however, were just watching as the relaxed sibling began to make way through the populace. Cameras turned towards her as she grinned and casually made way towards the staircase to the stage. Ignoring the photography and catcalls, she reached Arthur and shook his hand politely.

"Vanessa has been instrumental in her time here in Earthland, as told by her brother." Arthur nodded towards her. "Go ahead, Vanessa."

The 18-year-old nodded and moved in front of the podium. Once up, she looked out with a half-grin.

Joey's head was once again getting very light. He was gawking with sparkles around his face and slight pink in the cheeks. _'Vanessa-senpai is actually going to be speaking…!'_

She leaned in, giving her voice to the world. "Hello. It's certainly is a pleasure being up here. I thought for sure Nic being up here was nerve-racking." Nic folded his arms and half-grinned at his sister's comment. "Well…where do I begin? I guess who I am is good enough." She cleared her throat, trying to find the rest of her nerve to speak her mind.

"My name is Vanessa Pularis. Like my brother, Nic, I did not come from Earthland. In truth, I cam from the same place he did, from PokeEarth."

Some of the news reporters stepped up, or at least tried to as some reached out their mic pass the security line. "But then how did you get here?" One questioned.

"It's a story in its own right." Vanessa explained.

"It was back during an incident when a group of my guildmates and I accidentally came to Kalos. Back then, the Dark Legendaries – the creatures I'm sure you all remember too gravely – were leaking small traces of antimatter." The slide behind showed a brief picture of Giratina and the Dark Legendaries from years ago. "In a long story short, once we erased the antimatter, we were able to get back to Earthland."

"But why did you choose to go back to Earthland, when this PokeEarth was your home?" another reporter asked.

"I had a mission at the time, and to be honest, I've grown very fond of this world…but that's not the point made here." He turned towards Vanessa. "While I chose to go back and live my life here in Earthland, my sister also made her choice. She chose willingly to follow me and learn what it's like to work in a guild, and get an experience that PokeEarth couldn't give."

Vanessa nodded. "While my time here has been very much eventful, I can't say that it wasn't without repercussions. This world…is a lot more dangerous than PokeEarth." She admitted. "There were those who intended harm on my friends, and there have been times where lives were on the line. I'd rather not go into details out of privacy like Nic. Rather, I'd give you a demonstration of what I've learnt."

In her left hand that she had up, her teal aura showed. As she moved it in an arch, the aura trailed and followed. Many of those watching from PokeEarth, even Michael and Joanna, were shocked to see Vanessa perform magic.

Many were beginning to question themselves, and many more were getting questionable of how someone from PokeEarth could do such a thing. Some were even at a loss for what to even say. Joey especially looked like he was paling from seeing her do magic.

She reached her hand up, making the arch of her teal aura materialize into several small balls that shot into the air. When they got high enough, they burst into teal sparkles that slowly rained down onto her. "Even though my time here has been highly adventurous, it was thanks to my experience as a Pokémon Trainer and my time in my guild that I was able to eventually find my own magic. I may in fact came from PokeEarth, from another world like Nic, but even I was able to find my own magic and adapt to the changes that have been made. It's thanks to my Pokémon's efforts and my magic alike, that we were able to establish a connection, and together we were able to get jobs done much sooner than usual."

"So then these Pokémon you have, they can help mages and people alike with jobs that might be too difficult?"

She nodded. "Of course. I speak from experience that it may be intimidation getting to know things you aren't open too…but if Nic was willing to open to this, then so could I." She looked back towards Nic, seeing him nod at her. She returned it, and that was her signal. "Thank you for your time."

As she walked off the stage and back towards her guildmates, the cameras kept flashing and recorders and live cameras were watching her relaxed face show no worries.

Arthur was pushed up again by Marie back towards the microphone. "Thank you, Vanessa. You have been a wonderful guest speaker to our audience here. Now, on that note, I would like to address to any of you out there that have deep doubts, or believe that there must be a way to send these 'creatures' or perhaps 'farces' back, I'm afraid that is more complicated than what it's perceived."

The others and the media looked at each other, beginning to wonder the questions going on.

"As my cohort, Nic, realized, while the distorted realms and lapse around these meteors have subsided, we now have a guestimate fact of around 40% of the wild Pokémon have been taken to Earthland. And that is well into hundreds of thousands, close to a million at that. Even now, there re still more being found. May I remind you that while Nic here can in fact travel between the two worlds as he sees fit, even this event is irreversible."

The doubters and those who were feeling lacking confidence in the trust of these people began to rise. Some were starting to get outraged, and some were even going as far as show roars.

"How is that even fair?!" An annoyed reporter asked. "If he can transport, then why can't he take all of them with him?!"

Nic stepped up, giving the media a dead serious glare. "I'd rather _not_ point fingers if I were you. If you're implying this is my fault, then let me say this is far from what I expected either. There's too many to take back that it could very well take years. And by then, it would be too much for myself to handle…it still is." He shot a glance towards Arthur. "That's why I thought it would be best to allow someone who has a basis in handling change can help us all in this time of need."

Arthur leaned into the mic. "This is far from Nic's fault. Whatever happened with Dialga and Palkia, that catalyst has transcended past points of no return. Some fellow humans were transported here, but if you are hearing this, and if you are scared, then please, hear my voice. We can help you, so long as you help us."

The media fell silent as mics were still out. All were still raptured in everything that was being spoken.

"Nic was willing to open up to my voice, and with his consent and our combined efforts with the Council of Fiore, we have begun establishing a project that shall help us all. And I call it, the Cambire Foundation." The screen changed, showing a golden CF around black edging in space, the logo of the company he ran. As he went on, the screens showed details of what Trainers, nurses, breeders, and engineers were all doing in their fields of industry. "This company was designed by myself many years ago, and even though it is small now, that small detail I have spent a great deal on has blossomed many fruitful Trainers that have come around the Sinnoh region to get experience in all the fields. If you are a Pokémon Trainer, and don't know how to heal a Pokémon, how to make one behave, or know how their powers work, we of the Cambire Foundation strive passerby Trainers and interns alike to get an understanding, rather than just sell items for money. We strive for something that comes up to a better result than what money can buy: A positive change, for mankind and Pokémon alike."

"So these guys are saying they're gonna help us by tutoring us with a whole bunch of experiences?" Sting surmised.

"Seems the case to me." Minerva said.

"So then does that mean we'll be able to handle these Pokémon popping up better?" Happy inquired.

"Well if it helps with containing these guys, then I don't see a problem with it." Gray shrugged.

Juvia showed worry. "Will this be okay?"

Mest folded his arms. "I doubt it, but what other option do we have?"

"I wasn't able to do this alone. It was thanks to the Council's consent, as well as the consent and voice of Nic Pularis himself, that we were able to finally bring _some_ resolution to this crisis." His gaze fell into a sad frown. "I understand if you are all skeptical of this company, and of the many programs that I have been working on. I have a hunch you are asking yourself 'Why would I trust people from another world to make solutions for us when we can do it for ourselves?'. Well, just as Vanessa described, this world is more lethal than what it's perceived to be. There are bandits, raiders, and perhaps even greater threats who could very well mistake these Pokémon for tools of war. I'd rather not see Pokémon enslaved to cages and cause harm by the wrong hands. There are very territorial Pokémon out there right now, but in the wrong hands who have no idea how to approach these conflicts, lives could well be lost. But, through examples set, my staff and cohorts who pledged to help out my cause will risk everything to ensure you understand us, and we understand you."

He turned towards Nic, gesturing towards him. "Thanks to the plans Nic and I worked so hard on, we were able to bring some of my higher up engineers and interns to this world. We are currently setting up ground with consent from the Council to start materializing for Cambire's headquarters and sanctuary. We have brought over schematics and enough supplies needed at that to set up manufacturing. Within time, you, too, shall have your first lessons in the ways of making peace and sport with these fellow Pokémon. But to that, I would like to introduce a few of my friends who volunteered willingly. Please, welcome them."

To the side of the stage, four figures started. They, too, were given a number of photographs that they ignored. What looked like the superior of the two was a man and a woman, both o whom seemed to be in their late 40s.

The woman had a black dress shirt with yellow buttons to keep it tight around the sides, hugging her. The dark sleeves went all the way down to the wrist, where gray cuffs with yellow slits in them were in place close to a pair of white gloves. Her dress shirt overlapped her black work skirt that had her thigh in gray leggings. She wore black boots with buttons as well. The belt over the skirt to keep it in place had a yellow monocle with black 'CF' on it. On her shoulders was an overcoat, similar to what Laxus wore, only her fur-line was yellow while the coat was a bright gray. She had blonde hair tied in a bun in the back, with a large bang bending down the side of her right face. Her green eyes were dead serious with red lipstick.

The man beside her stood like an army general – with hands behind his back. He was well dressed and clean like his associate. He adorned a white overcoat with gray lines going down the front and back, with deep red lines going from the shoulders down to the sleeves. He had a gray undercoat, with white buttons keeping it in place, and a red tie tucked in. His pants were gray, and his shoes were black. Like the woman, he also had white gloves on. He had dark eyes, with suave black hair kempt, with thin areas on the sides. His eyebrows were also dark, and on his left ear looked like a small communicator.

The cohort behind the woman was a man in his 30s, I not late 30s. He had narrow eyes with black eyebrows and spiked up black hair, which ended at a point at the front top, which looked a lot like his small beard at the base of his chin. He wore all black pants tucked in a gray belt, with black boots with gray soles. He had a long sleeve black jacket with pockets and a symbol standing for 'CF' imprinted on his right shoulder. The whole top to the small collar of the zipped jacket was gray, with thick lines drawing down towards the black cuffs.

The assistant to the white general-like person looked like a young female who was in her mid-20s, almost like Erza, with equally fair complexion. Her white hair was tied back into wavy white from a high point, much like Jenny, only slimmer. She had bangs going over her forehead above her right eye, where a small bang on her left ear was curly. The ear itself had a diamond as an earring. Her blue eyes showed seriousness, if not more so. Her attire consisted of an ensemble like her boss, where she had a white and red suite of her own, only more open to act more feminine. She had no sleeves, instead having red gloves that went up her arms and stopped above the elbows. Her boots were gray, and her white pants had yellow lines and accents engraved in their sides.

All four stood in attention beside Arthur as he introduced them. "It is a privilege that I introduce to you all my finest and top cohorts. They have been instrumental to me and my goal, and I would never have felt anymore blessed if not for them and their cooperation to make the world a more understanding place." He gestured towards the woman first. "We have here my head in the Trainer and behavioral industry of Cambire, Charlotte Jet, and her vice assistant, Travis Woodrow. They have willingly volunteered to help any and all train and show the ways to make for Pokémon Trainers to behave and coordinate with their Pokémon in terms of battle."

Chelia blinked. "Wait, did he just say battle?"

"I think he did." Jura put a hand to his chin. "So then these creatures can fight their own kind then."

"And next to them, we have Jeffery Bistro, and his own assistant, Eliza Mauve. They represent the resource department. They study the resources and materials of the mechanics to Poke Balls, the encyclopedia to Pokémon creatures; they even explain and handle the farming of berries to further populate. And also, more importantly, they head the engineers and the instrumentals to making Pokémon items that can help a Trainer."

One of the reporters stuck out his mic again. "And what are these Poke Balls that you speak of? Are they tools?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes. They are very important for Trainers to carry around their Pokémon." He showed a Poke Ball of his own, catching a zoom in. "Observe…"

The Poke Ball's tope opened, unleashing an energy beside him. Materializing beside him was a massive dog-like Pokémon that had a large blue fur coat on the back, with the moustache being so long that they went down to the sides. One of his ears twitched as he stood beside his master with glee.

Many who saw this were completely shocked, of course those of PokeEarth and of Fairy Tail were already knowing of this particular way to get Pokémon in and out. Yukino looked at the capsule and back at the brown and white dog with surprise. _'It's just like my magic…'_ she thought.

The Big-Hearted Pokémon looked at his master with a proud face. "Sir Arthur, I shall be at your service whenever you need me too."

Arthur nodded in compliance. "As always, thank you, Stoutland. Now, return!" With that command, the Poke Ball shot a red laser that withdrew Stoutland into the Poke Ball. He faced the cameras with a smile. "What you saw there was the mechanics of Poke Balls. It converts Pokémon into energy first and is able to contain them, quite for convenience when you need space; furthermore, a Pokémon Trainer can only carry up to 6. Anymore, and those Pokémon shall be sent somewhere, or swapped with your own to another trusted location."

A fellow reporter, who was wide-eyed, looked ahead with shock as she stuck out her mic. "But how did your Pokémon just talk?! They aren't capable of that on PokeEarth!"

Arthur put a hand to his chin. "Ah, true. Back on PokeEarth, Pokémon are not capable of human speech, to an extent that is. But due to the magic in the atmosphere in Earthland, it enables the Pokémon to vocalize, a study that Nic and Erza Pularis both have explained."

"So they can speak their minds here, while in your world they cannot be heard?"

"In terms of speech, correct. However, that doesn't mean Pokémon Trainers still don't understand. Just spending time with someone makes you know what goes on inside their heads, right? Well that concept is true for man and Pokémon alike. It's a two-way link that makes them a team. To help with this, we shall soon be having Poke Balls manufactured to help everyone so far in Fiore coordinate."

Once more, another reporter blurted out a question. "But what if we don't want this? What if we decide we don't want Pokémon? You make it sound like you're forcing all this onto us."

Rather than Arthur speak his mind, Nic stepped up. "Nobody said anything about forcing Pokémon onto you. If it's your choice to not interact with Pokémon, that's up to you." He looked out towards the crowd, more specifically two certain individuals; one who was silently gazing with sparkles around him. "When I met certain people who came to Fiore, I knew that like me, and everyone else, they too had a choice. They could go home, or they could make a home here."

In the crowd, Joey and Dereece were being given looks by their guildmates. The look on Joey's face was like he was going to explode from joy any second. _'O-Oh my god…h-he's talking about me! HE'S TALKING ABOUT ME!'_ He shrieked happily in his thoughts.

"It's true, Giratina and the other Pokémon have made a negative impact on Earthland, but even in spite of all that, it was still Pokémon and us humans alike working together to beat Lysandre and Acnologia. There are good Pokémon, and there can be bad ones…but only by the influences that they are given. Pokémon are just like people, there are those with good and bad intentions. As Arthur and my sister pointed out, there's a lot of misguided out there, and as long as you have morals, like others, that influence can pass down to your Pokémon."

They all thought deeply again of what Nic meant by that. Yes, there were deeply hampered people, and there are those good-hearted guys who are conceived and deceived by others, but the blame wasn't on them, rather the one who deceived them.

"What I'm trying to say here is, essentially, if you think they already got a chance from the past, then consider this a redemption." He turned his head, looking towards the Council. He was giving them quite the look. "I was once either forced to either surrender myself to Fiore or be banished back home, because some people out there believed that I could very well end everything." He shook his head. "I'm not omnipotent. I have powers like a Pokémon, but I have to take responsibility because of that. And yet people still accepted me and what I've done. If you see Pokémon bad because of their strength, then don't even bother trying. But if you're understanding what I'm saying, then keep an open mind to them. That's all I can say."

The folks in the crowd were paying close attention to what the message was. It was a lot explaining, but Nic made sure the chance and choice concept drilled into them. They looked ahead as Nic once again stepped down to allow Arthur to roll back up.

"And I am afraid this is where the primary explanations that have been circulated about is drawn to a close." Arthur explained. "Before I conclude this message, I wish for everyone, especially Earthland, what a good Pokémon Trainer does when battling against a wild or Trainer's Pokémon."

Upon hearing that, the silhouette from the crowd began to walk through the patrons. He didn't mind them as they remained in place, and he kept going on.

"Nic Pularis, I believe you can detail what Pokémon Trainers do, yes?"

Nic faced the mic. "The general basis of a Pokémon Trainer is simple, but it's also a complicated road. Aside from the standard equipment that's issued out, a starting Trainer has a couple of medicines like Potions, and in some cases status condition items. That's also a lot to explain, but the basis is that you must always have Poke Balls on you, that way you are always ready to take on anyone out there."

Walking casually out of the crowd, people were shoved out of the way. They looked rudely ahead as the person ignored the Rune Knights and made way into the V.I.P section, where even there, he was budging pass members.

"Ow! Hey, watch it jerk!" Jenny growled.

He continued on pass Lyon. "Rude much?" He, too, was ignored.

The many complaints were being heard throughout the crowd, so much that Nic and those onstage can hear the many people shouting for someone didn't go unnoticed. They watched as someone with a white hat budged pass Natsu, getting him to glare ahead.

"Hey man, what the heck?!" He shouted. The figure just kept going like he didn't exist. This made a tick mark grow on Natsu's head. "Hey, come back here!"

The guy came fully into view to where he could be seen by Nic. Nic's eyes narrowed as he glared out, getting a visual of the man that was now caught on camera out in the open.

As he stood there, Rune Knights and security guards were surrounding him, pointing their weapons at him.

"Halt!"

"Don't even think of moving!"

"Identify yourself at once!"

The guy didn't respond. Instead, he held his grip on his kendo stick. There was a serious vibe running off him as wasn't going unnoticed by the likes of Nic.

He stepped closer to the stage's front, standing on the edge. "Let him go." He ordered.

The security looked towards him in wonder, but to the surprise of everyone, they all looked at Arthur and the others. He nodded, making sure they respected what Nic wanted. Begrudgingly, the soldiers all looked at one another unnerved, and eventually complied and backed off. They allowed the unknown person to walk closer, getting passage towards Nic.

The press and the group made sure to spread out enough to where they could get ample photos and visuals. The man stood several meters away from the stage, standing in front of Nic.

There was a long, deep silence that feel between the two, of which left everyone around unsound. The crowds standing far away were watching in confusion and outrage of what it was that the guy was doing.

"The heck's his problem?" Natsu questioned Happy, who floated beside him.

"Not sure, but I think he has something to do with Nic."

"Gee, what was your first clue?" Gajeel rhetorically asked. "But you know…I kinda wanna see where this goes."

"Yeah, me too." Levy nodded.

Jet had a smug look on his face. "Well whoever that guy is, I bet he doesn't know who he's dealing with."

"Yeah, he's got nothing to prove other than his coconuts between his legs!" Droy boasted.

Erza stayed quiet as she watched from her guildmates' perspectives. She folded her arms and watched as the man confronted her husband.

Finally, the silence broke with the man talking. "You're Nic, right?" he bluntly asked.

"Can't say I'm anyone else." He answered. "And who might you be?"

"My name is Duncan Roserto, of Celestic Town in the Sinnoh region. I challenge you to a Pokémon battle, right here, and right now."

Everyone looked completely shocked at his declaration. Nic's eyes widened a little.

"He what?!" Natsu blurted out.

"I don't think we heard him correctly. Did he say we wanted to fight Nic?" Wendy questioned.

Lucy looked surprised. "Hold up, is he serious?! At this time?!"

Yukino looked worried. "What's going on?"

Sting blinked. "A battle?"

"Yeah that's I think he said." Lector answered.

"Well this is most unexpected." Hibiki spoke. "I didn't calculate any of this."

"Yeah no kidding, this came right out of the blue." Ren sighed coolly.

The many who were talking towards one another were confused by what was issued. Those who knew, which was Vanessa, Erza, Dereece, and an outraged Joey, had the idea of what was going on. It was taking Dereece and Chespin's Vine Whip to keep Joey from outraging like a Dragonite.

"HEY! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CHALLENGING HIM?!" he roared. "YOU CAN'T EVEN CALL HIM BY HIS NAME!"

Dereece pulled back harder. "Don't make a scene now!" It was taking a lot of his beef to lean back and keep Joey from staying on his feet.

Nic got over his silent shock as he looked down at the Trainer in question. He kept his calm as he investigated the person who was now revealed to be Duncan. "That's quite a bold challenge you've just made. Tell me, is there a reason why you wanted to challenge me like that?" he questioned.

Duncan shrugged, but underneath his hat, he was smirking. "Well, what more of a reason is there?" Nic raised a brow as he watched his dark eyes show. "You know the rules as well as I do, don't you? When two Trainer's eyes meet, that's when you battle. Isn't that right?"

The four associates beside Arthur had different expressions. Jefferey and Eliza were giving stern glares, while Charlotte was giving him a scoff. Travis was snickering at the moxie he had. Marie, however, was the only one who was speaking up. She walked right up to the edge of the stage and shot him a glare.

"Listen, you punk. I don't know what it is you're doing, but you're not supposed to be here." She chided. "This is very important message we're making to the world we were sent to, and you just came out of nowhere to disrupt everything and call out a challenge?"

Arthur frowned. "Marie."

She shot him a look. "But, sir-"

"Let it go." He folded his fingers together. "I think you know as well as I do that when a battle is issued, it must be carried out otherwise. Besides…I think this could be an idea. Don't you think Earthland should see what happens when two Pokémon Trainers do battle?"

Marie looked back ahead, her composition broken. "Well, I…I suppose…"

"Trust me, Marie, I think this is a likely place to begin the basis of Pokémon battling."

Nic finally smirked, having got Duncan's point. "Well I can't deny that logic." He crouched down and leaped off the podium to the ground. Once on solid ground, he stood up with a calm, loose, but battle-ready posture. "If that's the way you want it, then I'll be obliged to battle you in return."

Duncan's smirk widened as he snickered.

Glass broke in Joey's psyched. It shattered all over the place, leaving him with a deadpan, gaping expression with bulging eyes. _'N-Nic-senpai…j-just accepted…his challenge?'_

"Gotta hand it to him, he sure has guts." Dereece admired, pointing an index finger like a gun at the scene.

Gray folded his arms. "Well can't say I'm not surprised."

"That makes two of us…" Snover popped out beside Gray, awed at the challenge shown.

"Holy crap! Is this seriously happening?!" Natsu exasperated.

"You mean that there's gonna be another fight to watch?!" Charmander gasped beside him. Even his own shock reflected Natsu's.

Sophie frowned in thinking. "So this is another concept you Trainers have in common?" She asked Vanessa.

The Pularis sibling looked towards her. "Yes, of course. The rule is that when two Trainers make eye contact, they begin a battle. It's more or less unspoken, but it's more like an instinct."

"If you ask me, his instincts should be to run." Cana laughed.

"Well it sure looks like there's no running now." Mest watched as Duncan and Nic moved themselves more suitably, so that they were perpendicular to the crowd rather than see Duncan's back. "It looks like the show's about to start."

Natsu rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Oh man, this is gonna be so sweet!" he squealed. "We're finally see Nic hit the spot again!"

"I know, right?!" Joey inhale a squeal of his own, making his hitch like that of a girl's. Any louder in pitch and it would've been enough to shatter glass.

Erza looked on, but what she did was sigh, something that didn't get pass Kagura. "I should've known Nic would d something like this." She grinned. "Well I suppose it's his way of getting a message across."

The media stepped away to a safe perimeter, while the head associates watched from the stage. The Council was watching from their bleachers, all giving expectant frowns. Marie's heels clapped against the ground as she got between Nic, who was on the left, and Duncan, who was on the right. They both looked at each other while the drone cameras and everyone else was watching elsewhere, ready to see what a battle was all about.

Marie cleared her throat before she began. "May I have your attention. The battle between Nic and Duncan will now begin. Each Trainer is allowed the use of one Pokémon, and the battle will be over when one side's Pokémon is unable to battle."

Duncan pulled out a Poke Ball, expanding it. "Since I issued the challenge, I have to show my Pokémon first." He tossed it ahead. "Now, Honchkrow, start!"

The Poke Ball opened, revealing a midnight blue bird-like Pokémon. The avian had his wings expanded, revealing red plumage on the undersides of his wings. He had a white masquerade mask over his red eyes and over his slim beak. He had a white mane that was all over his front, and a broom-like red tail. The Big Boss Pokémon let out a caw as his dark legs made it to the ground, his wings folding with a huff.

"So his choice is a Honchkrow then." Erza insinuated.

Millianna shivered at the sight of it. "Meow~, hope it doesn't like hunting kitties."

"I'm more concerned of what skills it possesses." Kagura admitted. "I can feel quite a bit of strength even from here."

"A bird?" Natsu questioned.

"Not just any bird, but a Honchkrow." Joey answered, getting Natsu's attention. "Usually in the games, they're pretty deadly."

Dereece looked down at his PokeDex that he pulled out, getting it to show a visual of Honchkrow. Nearby other patrons like Hibiki and Nobarly were leaning in out of curiosity.

" **Honchkrow, the Big Boss Pokémon.** **Its goons take care of most of the fighting for it. The only time it dirties its own hands is in delivering a final blow to finish off an opponent.** "

"Say, what's that you got there?" Hibiki questioned.

Dereece looked at him in question. "Oh, this? It's a device that helps one decipher a Pokémon."

Hibiki put a hand to his chin, understanding. "I see, so then an encyclopedia. Interesting."

"I wonder which Pokémon Nic's going to use." Chelia wondered hopefully.

Jura had arms folded beneath his sleeves. "Well what matters is that he knows of his opponent's strengths and weaknesses. That's what will be key here."

"Indeed." Lyon observed beside them. "Against birds, he'd have to pick something that could otherwise keep up. Of course that's what I would do."

Chelia sweat-dropped. "Of course you would."

Nic observed his opponent carefully. "A Honchkrow, huh?" He pulled out his own Poke Ball, making it expand. "In that case, let's go! Staraptor!" Tossing the Poke Ball in an arch, the capsule went spinning outwards, where it popped open and shot energy onto the ground.

Appearing talon-first, the claws embedded into the ground, making small imprints as a pair of red eyes opened wide. Releasing a cry upwards, Staraptor entered the battle, wings folded and ready for action.

Joey had sparkles in his eyes, awing at the pick. "AAAAH! IT'S NIC-SENPAI'S STARAPTOR!" he squealed. "I'M ACTUALLY SEEING IT IN PERSON!"

"So that's his aim." Vanessa deduced. "He's doing Staraptor against Honchkrow."

"Is that good?" Bisca asked.

"Overall, yes. Honchkrow in most cases have physical attacks as their arsenal, and Staraptor has Intimidate, which makes Honchkrow's Attack power weaker."

"So then Nic has the advantage." Alzack deduced.

Asuka laughed excitedly. "Alright! You go get'em!"

Arthur observed with his associates, having a placid smile on his face. "How interesting…"

Honchkrow and Staraptor stood an equal distance apart from each other, with the Dark/Flying-type spreading his wings out in ready. His red eyes glared into hers. "You're going down, chicken." He snorted.

"Bold words." Her red eyes sharpened. "But let's see who's the one that'll be falling like one be." As her glare pierced daggers at Honchkrow, the Big Boss Pokémon couldn't help but feel an overwhelming radiance flow from her.

The Predator Pokémon had a large sum of power that was like an intimidating aura that was overwhelming his own body. He scoffed in an unnerved manner as a blue aura enveloped his body, Staraptor's Intimidate Ability taking effect.

"Stay focus!" Duncan snapped.

Honchkrow shook his head, redoubling his efforts to get fixed for battle. This time, when looking into her red eyes, he composed.

Raising an arm, Marie signaled the battle. "Now, without further delay…" She swiped her arm down in a chop. "Let the battle begin!"

The hat's shade blocked Duncan's eyes, but his smirk was evident. He hummed slightly, and then looked up to show his battle-ready face. "Alright then, Honchkrow, get going!"

Honchkrow huffed as he flapped his wings, taking off into the air. He glided into the altitude some feet up to where he shadowed over Staraptor. He was no less than thirty feet skywards, but oddly enough, Staraptor did not follow. She remained on the ground and looked up with her Trainer as they watched their opponent take a lead in the atmosphere.

Jenny looked confusedly ahead. "Wait, isn't Nic's bird supposed to take flight?"

"If memory serves, it should be capable of flight." Rufus said.

Unknowingly, Cana and Sophie smirked. They remembered how fast Staraptor was, regardless of element. Erza had her own smirk, too, but less noticeable.

Duncan saw that Nic wasn't moving and took satisfaction. "Well if you're gonna play hardball, then we'll just make you! Honchkrow, **Dark Pulse!** " Higher up, Honchkrow lurched his head back and generated a jumbles mess of black rings with purple outlines at the mouth. As he gathered the sum of energy, he expanded his wings to keep position and fired down a beam of black rings at Staraptor.

"Get running!" Nic ordered.

Staraptor leaned forward, unfolding her wings a little. She then did the surprising twist of what Duncan didn't expect, and she instead rushed across the ground at breakneck speeds. The Dark Pulse struck where she was previously, making a small burst of dust rise up, but contained. Staraptor, however, ran with speeds that made her talons look blurry.

"What?" Duncan gasped.

In not even seconds later, Staraptor appeared straight below Honchkrow. The Dark/Flying-type looked down beneath to make eye contact with Staraptor but was more shocked at how his opponent had moved despite being a great flyer.

Duncan rebound and swiped his arm. "Use **Fly!** "

Not taking chances, Honchkrow took a quick breath before flapping his wings one more time. This time, however, he went shooting skywards. He continued climbing higher and higher, until he reached a certain point to where he went into freefall for a moment. He slowly twisted and altered his direction straight down, diving at Staraptor like a bomb.

As Honchkrow dove at great speeds, Nic stayed composed, as did Staraptor. " **Double Team!** " he called.

Staraptor glowed for a brief moment, before moments later illusions of herself multiplied across the ground. Her grunts multiplied with the numbers being cloned, reaching well into double digits. This tactic was exactly what threw Honchkrow off, and Duncan realized this.

"Stop!"

But it was too late, Honchkrow didn't catch on until he was feet away from one of the many impossible illusions to disorient him. He made one big flap to stop his dive, managing an airbrake above the clones, but what he didn't realize was a shadow looming over him. By the time he registered it, it was but a breeze.

" **Aerial Ace!** " Nic followed.

Honchkrow attempted to move, but Staraptor speedily stamped one of her talons into his back. The shock went through his body, and that caused him the plunge into the ground, creating another – more intrusive – dust cloud that shrouded him in it. Once the dust cloud faded, Honchkrow was barely on his black talons, groaning and recovering from the blow. He looked up to find nothing there, and instead surrounded by Double Team clones.

"Clever, I'll give him that." Duncan sneered. He swiped his arm, continuing the battle. "Alright, smoke it out with **Night Slash!** "

Honchkrow gave out another gruff huff as he spread his wings out. With one flap, he ascended a few feet into the air, getting above the Staraptor copies, where his wings exerted a bright purple radiance. The Big Boss Pokémon aimed for one of the clones in front, slamming one of his wings downwards, but the attack was misfired when the illusion shockingly kicked the ground, scooting away to evade the attack. "Huh?" Honchkrow looked around in surprise, seeing how all of the clones of Staraptor moving about swiftly. They weren't at all going in order or a pattern; in fact, they looked like they were zipping across the ground to where it looked like the real Staraptor was making afterimages.

The tactic was disorienting Honchkrow, as well as leaving Duncan with little room. "Stay calm! Take them out one at a time!"

The order was swift and clear. Honchkrow looked towards the nearest Staraptor and slammed his wing, timing it well. The Staraptor turned out to be an illusion, and without relent, he went for another one close by, this time flying into it and swiping the wing upwards. He struck another illusion, but he refused to give up. He slashed at as many that he timed well, but the few Staraptor still end up being illusions.

"HRAH!" With one more swipe horizontally, his Night Slash was evaded by a Staraptor clone again. He grunted in annoyance, but then he felt a very tight grip on his tail, startling him. With a swift turn of his head, he found the real Staraptor having her talon gripping his tail when his guard was down. Duncan looked equally as surprised.

"Throw Honchkrow!" Nic commanded.

Staraptor anchored her one talon on the ground, ushering all her weight and pivoted towards the sky. With wings folded, her talon swiped up, hurling Honchkrow skywards in wayward fashion. The dark avian spun out of control and couldn't seem to catch himself.

"Woah man, it just…it just threw him!" Dereece panicked, pointing at the battle.

"I know~! It's so awesome!" Joey squealed in delight. He was witnessing the combative levels of Nic's Staraptor in single battle, and he was loving it to where he could die.

"Now, into the air!" Staraptor finally spread her brown wings, showing how well in coating they were. With one massive flap, a ripple of air expelled in her place as she bolted in a steep climb pass Honchkrow. Her blurry speed and velocity made a drat that caused Honchkrow to vertically flip backwards into the air.

The bird shook his head to get his shock under control and looked up. By the time he registered it, Staraptor was flying in an overhead arch upside down and curving slowly over her Trainer to get a steep shot down at Honchkrow.

"Here it comes!" Duncan warned. " **Dark Pulse** , now!" Once more, Honchkrow opened his beak to unleash a streaming beam of jumbled black rings with purple energy enveloping them. The aim was dead on as it closed in on Staraptor.

Nic's eyes narrowed as the opportunity came. "Staraptor, **Steel Wing!** " Staraptor's angle adjusted and she went diving at Honchkrow and the oncoming Dark Pulse. Her wings were fully spread out, glowing a white, metallic color and filament gleaming off them.

The two attacks closed in one each other, but what Duncan nor anybody realize, was that as they drew closer, Nic and Staraptor's eyes dilated.

"Now! Spin!"

"What?!" Duncan gasped.

As Staraptor closed in, her body began to spin slowly into the oncoming Dark Pulse. The rotation was slow, then it picked up as the Steel Wing spun into the rings. The filament protected Staraptor, and it also began to chip off and around her as she spun faster into it, barreling down the middle like a drill. As she spun deeper into the attack, it blended into her Steel Wing like a mixer, making a black white spiral glistening a stream behind bolt straight through. Duncan looked more shocked than before, and that was saying something.

"Unbelievable!" Jura exclaimed.

Lyon went wide-eyed at the scene. "Is he really having his Pokémon spin so as to go _with_ the attack rather than against it?"

"That'll just make her attack even more powerful!" Toby outraged. "Why can't I do that?!"

Marie and the other assistants to Arthur were watching as Staraptor's speed didn't at all waver. It was actually increasing to where spinning jetstreams of black and white gave her the illusion of a rocketing beam. They all were silent at the sight.

Honchkrow kept up Dark Pulse, but it was all futile. He just kept giving strength to the cyclone heading right for him. The attack blitzed right into him, enveloping him in a wave of black and white that shot extreme pain through all of his joints. His screaming fell on deaf ears as the attack passed him, swallowing him in an explosion of black and white that ignited in the sky. It was a beacon that shimmered ying and yang at the same time, and everyone watching below were staring with shock and gaping expressions as the ground beneath was feeling shockwaves. The strong winds pulsated out once, making a lot of the press and those nearby nearly get swept off their feet.

The beams head continued its course dead ahead and suddenly did a 90 degree turn skywards. The energy dissipated as Staraptor spun in the opposite direction once and cawed out and battle cry. She flew right over the dissipating explosion, arching upside-down to a flip and landed in front of Nic.

Falling from the dissipating flash of black and white, Honchkrow slammed into the ground, kicking up dust. As the dust dissipated, everyone watching were seeing as Duncan's shocked look slowly turned into a displeased snort. Honchkrow laid on the ground with spirals in his eyes, signaling his defeat.

Marie raised her right arm for Nic's side. "Honchkrow is unable to battle, Staraptor is the winner! And that means the victory goes to Nic!"

The patrons all watching throughout the two worlds cheered for the battle, more or less of the way Nic finished it. The crowd paying attention was astounded with it overall.

"NIC!" a wailing fangirl shouted.

"That was awesome!" another guy in the crowd yelled.

"So _that_ was a Pokémon battle! That was so awesome!" another guy shrieked. "Nic's bird just swooped in and POW!"

Michael and Joanna watching onscreen were shocked as well, but they had big smiles as they sat on the couch. Tan, however, was squeezing his Weedle out of sheer joy. "Yay! Nic won! He won!" he shouted, jumping up and down.

Fairy Tail cheered in delight, especially Lucy and Wendy. "Alright!" they highfived.

"Aye, sir!"

Dereece was still wide-eyed and hunched over, grasping that power. Joey, however, was a mess. His fingers were twitching as he was shedding tears so much that he was almost blind. He was babbling incoherent sentences like he lost the ability to talk out of sheer awesomeness he felt.

Cana nudged Vanessa's shoulder. "Well girl, looks like your brother hasn't lost his flashy edge there." She smirked.

Vanessa looked ahead as well, and she, too, smiled. "He never lost his sense of surprise."

"As expected from someone who is as seasoned as can be." Freed nodded.

"Damn straight. That guy found the opportunity in all the right spots." Bickslow smiled, sticking his tongue mouth.

"Well if you ask me, that seemed to have taken too long." Evergreen smirked.

Laxus said nothing. Instead, he just watched with a half-grin.

Minerva chuckled to herself. "Why am I not surprised."

"That's Nic for ya. As awesome as ever." Sting gleefully smiled. Beside him, Rogue had a more modest smile plastered.

"True."

Everyone was recovering from their shock, and the press was taking pictures all over the place, while being sure to keep their space. As everyone was rejoicing in the simulated Pokémon battle, Nic walked right up to Staraptor, laying a hand and pet her head. "Thank you for the battle, Staraptor. That was a great job." He praised.

Staraptor accepted the praise with a smile. "My pleasure."

Nic reached for his Poke Ball and returned Staraptor. As she went back into the capsule, the defeated Honchkrow was returned as well by the opposing Trainer. Nic looked back with a grin of please at Duncan, who frowned with a snort at his distasteful loss.

"Guess I still have a ways to go." He said.

Nic took steps closer towards him, where he kept his composed and relaxed disposition. It wasn't that he was trying to look smug, no, he was way above that. But more or less, it was him showing respects and keeping his impression for Duncan. "You weren't bad at all. We appreciated the battle." He grinned.

Duncan didn't seem to care all that much about Nic's commending. If anything, it didn't help at all, it just felt like a sore insult to injury. Duncan just huffed and turned away from Nic, accepting his loss with what dignity he had. "Yeah, same here." He muttered.

A pair of gloves clapped, revealing themselves to be from Arthur back onstage. Nic's glancing went up towards him, while Duncan turned fully. All eyes went up towards him as he approached the podium in his wheelchair.

"Very well done, to both of you." He praised. "Thank you both for an illustrious battle between two Pokémon Trainers. So, ladies and gentlemen, as you have witnessed, this is the result and what is known as a Pokémon battle. When one Pokémon is unable to battle, the victor and his partner takes the experience they had gained, and in the end two respects collide. There are many symbolic tunes to a battle, but what's important is that you try your hardest, just as I promise to ty my hardest for all of you. That is, if you shall let me."

There were many shouts of those in the crowd who were sounding excited about all this, while others were still gazing at Nic. Some seemed more or less indifferent to all this, but it seemed by a few grins by others appeared to change the tide to a more promising light. The audience seemed to have given their response to Arthur, and as they voiced tehri changes for the world, the assistance beside him were looking amused and pleased with how this may all turned.

Erza watched from within the cheering crowd, smiling at Nic as he looked back into the audience and press. As he smiled, the smile on Erza also appeared on her face. "Looks like we've got a lot of work to do." She said to herself.

* * *

"Cheers!" A pair of wine glasses tapped each other in a toast.

It was a lively night that night. With the conference and the plans fully detailed about the changes to the now populated Pokémon world, the courtyard of Mercurius was also the location of where the reception would be held. That night, those who attended didn't wear anything too fancy, but some people, like the guild mages, wore their usual attires. Surrounded by lamp and heat lacrima all around, the now-Spring cold nights were of little recognition while the party was going on.

With some of the Fairy Tail members, the reception was as boisterous as could be at the guild hall. It was loud, a lot of drinks, and a whole lot of eccentric demeanors being shown off. Gray's stripping to his boxers certainly left quite the impression, as well as a few shrieking women to escape. Some like Marie even wanted to slap him if not for Juvia scaring them off.

Bacchus raised his glass high with a sloppy smile. "Alright boys, let's show PokeEarth just what Earthland has to offer! What are we boys…?"

"WILD!" Quatro Cerberus roared.

Goldmine chuckled at his guild causing a deep ruckus. "The boys never cease to throw anyone for a loop, hey Bob?"

Beside him, guild master Bob put a hand to his rosy cheek. "Why, of course sweetheart. Boys can be such rowdy and interesting creatures." He mused. "But some got good taste…"

Within Fairy Tail's crowd, Joey was talking to Dereece at a table. "And then I was like…!" He got sidetracked when he felt a tingly sensation run up his spine. Curious, he turned around with a raised brow.

Dereece looked at him in curiosity. "And…?"

"Oh, huh?" He turned around to look at him. "Sorry man, I could've sworn someone was talking about me." He glanced off towards the side. "Must be my imagination."

"You sure that ain't your hearing aids again? I thought you got a new pair just three weeks ago." He pointed out.

Joey raised another brow as he inserted a finger into his own ear. He seemed to have twisted something in it, and then suddenly, everything on the left side was muted. It was all a bunch of ringing on the one side while the right ear had more muffled voices. Turning the knob again, everything was slowly heard again. He gave a thumbs up to Dereece, noting the test was good. "All good here."

At another table, a large piece of meat was in Natsu's hand. "Aw yeah, now this is a party!" He chomped down on it, ripping off all the meat in one go. The grease and pieces of skin was still on his lips, much to Lucy's dismay.

"You better not swallow that or I'm not giving you the Heimlich maneuver." She warned him. To her surprise, beside Natsu, Charmander was also eating chicken, but a smaller leg compared to Natsu. Like him, he was making his own mess.

"Man, this is really good!" Charmander chimed.

"I know, right?!" Natsu answered.

"Not you, too!" Lucy whined.

Vanessa was busy having a light conversation with Sophie and Bisca, supposedly of Pokémon, or possibly fruity drinks available for her liking. She was approached behind by someone who called out to her. "Excuse me, Vanessa is it?"

The young and attractive female turned around to meet the person. "Hm? Oh, Jura." She looked up towards him, albeit surprised. "Well this is a surprise."

The Wizard Saint chuckled. "That's putting it mildly now, isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"I just wanted to say what a magnificent job both you and your brother did today. You both have my gratitude for giving us your voices. My guild is grateful for your guidance." He bowed his head towards Vanessa, making the younger woman nervously smile.

"O-oh please, no need to be so formal." She insisted. "Nic and I were just doing what we thought would help is all. But we appreciate your generosity, Jura."

Sophie looked around, taking notice of the populace around her. "Speaking of which, where is Nic? Did he leave again you think?"

Bisca looked around as well. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him either. Maybe he did bail."

"If he surely did, then Erza would've tailed him. You know how her own personal Nic-tracker always brings her to him." Sophie smirked.

Jura chuckled at the humor in the teasing of romance. "Well now, as crude in humor as that may seem, I'm sorry to put a damper on this ferry, but I do believe I've seen Nic and Erza not too far away." He turned his head towards one of the long tables in front of the stage, which has yet to be disassembled. "They've been talking to Arthur for a while now that it seemed inappropriate to pry at the time."

Vanessa grinned as her brother's chat. "It's not like Nic to keep a serious conversation for that long. This Arthur sounds interesting."

"True, but let's not make haste here. We still don't know what will happen here on." Sophie reminded.

"Maybe…but at least now we have an idea of how to help everyone struggling with Pokémon."

Far away from the group, standing beside the other as Jefferey and Charlotte like soldiers, each having a drink in their hands. They both were watching as the party and reception had so many people from their world, including all the engineers and manufacturers who were ready to begin work once they sobered up.

"Well, Charlotte." Jefferey started. "I think I speak for everyone when I say this whole event turned out quite well."

Charlotte chuckled knowingly. "Well of course it did." The woman's voice had a German tone towards it. "If this didn't, do you think I would unwind like this?"

Jefferey snickered back. "Yes, well, let's save the doubt for later down the road, shall we?" He held his wine glass in between them. "Here's to the opportunity that Arthur and Nic had given us. Without them, we've never would've made any of this come to life."

Charlotte smirked with a small scoff of her own. She used one hand and tapped her glass against his with a bend in it. "Yes…and opportunity indeed, Jefferson." She looked out at the crowd before her, seeing them eat and drink with merry. "For tomorrow, we begin what shall be a revolution."

Nearby, two more glasses toasted each other, these being of Arthur and Jeff of the Magic Council. As expected, the man had a jovial mood beneath his black glasses, but beside him was a small, blue tadpole-like Pokémon with small pink lips and a swirly belly. As the two men shared a good laugh, the revealed Poliwag was wagging his tail.

"HAHA! My boy, well done, _very_ well done." Jeff leaned down and pat him on the back in gratitude. "I couldn't have done it better myself."

Arthur sheepishly snickered at the praise he was given. "Oh come now, don't be so modest, Jeff. I was just being light on the speeches…" An uneased drop of sweat came off the side of his face. "Of course, I can't lie when I admit that I may have extended it in some aspects."

Jeff raised the glass to his lips and took big sips from it. One gulp after another, until it was entirely empty. He sighed heavily and raised his glass up. "Oh don't be so humble, my boy! The Council has given you great recommendation! You should be more honorable with what you've done for us today!" he laughed. "Thanks to you and these plans, I think this transition might work out quite well, right?" He looked down towards the Poliwag that tagged alongside him. The Water-type looked up with a bright smile of his own. He laughed again jovially.

Marie stood off to the side, adjusting her glasses with a guilt look. "With all do respects, sir, I don't think a person as dignified as yourself should be so-!" She was cut off when Jeff leaned in, showing another wine glass that he reached up with.

"Naw what's the harm? The rest of the Council can be so prissy, you think?" he mused.

"Marie." Arthur got his nervous assistance's attention, letting her see him with a refilled glass of wine in hand and grinning. "There's no need to be this worked up. Please, save the troubles for when morning comes." He looked out ahead of him, peering into the crowd. "Just look at everyone here. If they can unwind, I suppose even you can liven up some."

Marie hummed with an unsound tone to it. She had a pouty face with her bottom lip up and looked back at the wine glass Jeff was giving her. She looked down, and back. After a few more glances, and a lot of deep thinking, she looked away while accepting the glass. "Well fine, but just one." She stated.

As she took a small sip from her glass, Jeff raised his glass and yelled out. Joining him from the sides was Cana and Macao, as well as Bacchus. Poliwag bounced up to meet their heights with glee.

Arthur laughed at the uproar everyone was making. It was actually more relaxing than what he had in mind. With his team finally getting accustomed to getting berry ranches and Poke Ball manufacturing tomorrow, he could finally turn his attention towards someone else who deserves recognition.

Nic and Erza were both sitting at their own personal table. While many people have already come by to praise Nic for essentially everything he did, he was far from the mood to party. Then again, he isn't the party guy. If it wasn't for matters like Arthur or anything Erza hasn't convinced him otherwise, then he would've left the city by now and found a nice tree to take a long nap. However, this was important, so he had to buck up…this one time that is.

Seeing how bored and tired Nic her was besides, Erza smirked. "Someone sure looks like they could use a break." She joked.

Nic looked towards her with a teased grin of his own. "Is it really that noticeable? I still can't believe I was apart of all this." He shook his head with a deep sigh. "You know, I'm actually glass Arthur promised he would take the ropes on this. I don't think between our daily routine and all this going on, I'd probably break in two before next week."

Erza snickered meekly. "Well business can do that to you."

"True, but I still feel like I can do more."

Coming up from the side, Arthur rolled up to Nic. He looked over, immediately noticing the man. "Nonsense, Nic. What are you talking about?" He replied to the comment. "You've done more than enough for all of us. The Cambire Foundation and our world's alike can't be anymore grateful with all that you've done to help set this up."

Nic grinned. "That so?"

"Without a doubt. But, if it's not too much trouble, we might be relying on you and your guild with resources."

"Resources?" Erza questioned.

"You know, footage. Incrimination of man and Pokémon working in a guild together. Your guild has the most experience, do you not? If so, and if possible, could you help us in the early stages of this development?"

Nic and Erza looked towards each other, the two sharing a knowing look. They were still suspicious of how this was all going to turn out, but they were far from the point of no return. With their answers fixed, Nic looked back at Arthur with a serious face.

"We can't guarantee promises, but as long as you understand we're doing this by the rules we agreed to, then at the very least, we'll keep the intentions in mind."

Arthur nodded. "You're too kind." He presented his glass to Nic, who gave a twisted yet unnerved expression.

"Sorry, but…I can't drink." He nervously admittedly.

Arthur looked surprised. "Really, but I thought you were over-"

"I-It's a long story. I'd rather leave it at that." Regardless, he reached for an empty wine glass in the center of his table. He smiled and toasted to Arthur as well, accepting his gratitude to the fullest.

After the toast, Arthur reached into his tuxedo, seemingly digging for something. "I know this may not seem like much in terms of compensation, but it would mean a lot to me it you accepted it." He pulled out the so-called "compensation" from the jacket and presented it towards Nic. Dangling from thin brown strings was a small bauble made of deep glass in the shape of a raindrop. Inside its center was a deep, mystical blue water that sparkled with an enigmatic serenity from within.

Nic's eyes widened upon seeing the token of acceptance, which soon furrowed into a brow. He was handed the item, which he looked at for a moment before facing Arthur with curiosity.

"Arthur, is this a-"

"Mystic Water?" he interrupted. "Why yes, it is. I'm sure you may or may not be aware, but it helps boost Water-type's strength, by an extra 20% if I remember my math. I just wished I could've repaid you further." He morbidly shook his head.

Nic put his hand up in modesty. "No, it's fine, really. I appreciate it." He looked back at the Mystic Water, watching its liquid glisten like the deep ocean. He's seen a few items like these before, but they were far from common in his aspects. "It's just that I don't get these kinds of gifts that often…"

Arthur looked back up and chuckled. "Well how about that. I'm the one who should be bashful here, not you."

The two and the girls shared a good chuckle at the irony they stirred up. As they amused themselves with all that was going on, they were caught surprised when another person's footsteps closed in. The first to take notice was Nic, who looked ahead to see someone standing close by.

"Excuse me." The individual greeted.

The three remainders looked back as well, taking notice of the guy before them. To their surprise, it was Duncan, and he didn't seem as pleased as ever.

Arthur looked at him with a questionable expression. "Huh? Oh, I remember you! You were the one who battled Nic earlier! Why hello."

Duncan politely bowed back. "Thank you very much, sir." His tone, as it was before, was more modest and as monotone than it was gracious. He faced Nic again, meeting him dead in the eye. "So that was it?"

The question was more open-ended than it was intended to be, but in a Trainer's aspect, Nic was sure of what he meant by that. He was far from dumb. He knew he was talking about the battle. All Nic did in return was keep his calm and frown back. "That's debatable. For the time being of course." He answered.

Duncan closed his eyes. Allowing his thoughts to process. "I see."

"So you said you came from Celestic Town, right? That's in the Sinnoh region if memory serves me right."

Duncan looked at him again. "Yes."

"So then I take it you were sent here like Joey and Dereece, amongst all the other Pokémon."

"That's right."

Nic and Erza shot each other a look of wonder. They then looked back at Duncan same as before. "So then what is it you intend to do now?" Erza inquired.

Duncan shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me."

"Well, if you don't have anywhere to go, you're always more than welcome to help us in the Cambire Foundation." Arthur suggested. "We're looking for any Trainers or interns who are willing to learn, and given someone of your experience, you can be of great value."

Marie adjusted her glasses by the handles. "Sir, at least think this through rather than jump out in the open…"

Duncan stared at Arthur for a brief moment, but the looks in his eyes showed a symbolic sign of disinterest. Once more, he bowed his head. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm not interested in the cause."

Marie's brow furrowed in aggravation. "You're what?"

"Easy." Nic ushered. "If that's what he wants, then let it be." He, however, shot Duncan his own look. "So then Duncan, what is it that you want? Do you want to go back to PokeEarth?"

Once again, Duncan showed disinterest in a shrug. I've been getting on well just fine here, thank you. I managed this far with helping this woman and getting some lame jobs to help earn money to get by here."

Erza looked interested in what it was he went through. "So then you're a mercenary?"

"Well you won't make it too far with Pokémon popping up. And eventually you're Pokémon might run out of PP for their attacks. That can be a problem." Nic leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms as he pondered about the circumstances Duncan might be going through. When he thought deeper about the prospects, he looked up towards him again. "Have you thought about joining a guild?"

Erza and the others looked towards him with surprise. Nearby, passing with their refreshed plates of food, Joey and Dereece's ears twitched. They looked over, seeing the conversation unfold.

"A guild, you say?" Duncan answered.

"I'd rather not opinionate on what you think a guild _should_ be, but if you need work to get by, you can always align yourself with a guild. There's mages who make teams and those who can manage well on their own depending on their skillset. Joey and Dereece have already went on jobs with Pokémon before, so I don't see the problem with you not fitting into one."

Duncan thought about Nic's recommendation as he leaned off to the side and reset the kendo stick on his shoulder. He hummed with a cold frown as the others looked at him expectantly, like it was a gamble. They weren't aware nor had any confirmation of what Duncan was all about other than being a seasoned Trainer as well, but being an enigma, they were again surprised with how he responded.

"Well if you say so. If it'll get me by, then fine with me." He answered. "Tell me, which guild did you say you were in?"

"…Fairy Tail."

Duncan nodded in understanding. "Then, if it's alright with you, I wouldn't mind getting some work there."

Nic and Erza shot each other another look. They both had a more conspicuous gaze than before, this one of self-preserved reconnaissance. They weren't that familiar with him, but then Nic looked back, this time showing a grin and nod combo.

"It's as I said before, everyone deserves a chance. Welcome aboard."

Joey dropped his plate of food with his expression as relatable to that of a gasping Goldeen. Slowly, he began to register and inhaled excitedly. Overwhelmed with shock, he left Dereece's side in a flash and appeared beside the group. "You mean you're joining the same guild as us?!" he shouted at Duncan.

The man looked at Joey with a blunt stare. "Yeah. What's it to you?"

"YES!" Joey jumped for joy. "We're not alone on this crisis! Hooray! You hear that, Dereece?! We got more people to make a dance partaaaaay~!" He pointed his fingers upwards as he whistled loudly. "Woooooo!"

Nic and Erza looked at each other again, but this time smirking. Nic in fact chuckled. Arthur had an intrigued look of his own, while Marie looked away from the embarrassment.

As Joey cheered all around, he suddenly turned and pointed a finger at Duncan's nose. The proximity surprised the new member some, even the look on Joey's face showed twisted anger, with a hint of epic darkness in the shadows. "But if you in _**any**_ way disrespect the ways of Nic, I _**will**_ know! And there _**will**_ be consequences! Got it, mister?!" He threatened with epic virtue in his voice, making him seem dead serious.

Finally blinking, Duncan again looked docile. "I'll keep that in mind."

Joey nodded. "Good! Now then…" He swaggered his arms in a circular motion to point at Dereece. "Dereece, hit the beats!"

Shrugging at his best friend, Dereece pilled out his small boombox in hand. He grinned as he pressed a button, starting up another song with deep symphonic, electronic, and especially ultra-bass. The loud volume was met with attention drawing towards Joey.

"YES!" He zipped to the center of an open part of the reception, where there, he stood like a statue with his head down. As people stared at him, he slowly moved his head up, looking serious as he did a neckroll. In a suave motion, he flipped up his Poke Ball, and throwing it into the air, the device popped open, summoning Chespin down beside Joey. The Grass-type looked up towards Joey as he looked ready.

"Chespin…like we rehearsed."

Chespin eagerly smiles like a child. The bass and the electronic tune to the music amped up. Both man and Pokémon were pretty much in sync, though Chespin was a little slower. Their motions started off as more robotic as giving the electronic tone, but as the music added beats, they became more nimble, and in no time looked like two party animals that were dancing off the night away.

Those who were watching thought it was embarrassing at first, but eventually the people began to sway into their…funky dancing.

"Wow, they're really good!"

"Man, they're awesome!"

"I know! How can they even dance like that?!"

Joey began to slide, bending his leg into the slide with many stomps ahead, and Chespin followed. They repeated the motion when they moved right, and slid into several taps before stepping up with a multitude of arms loops and body rolls. Everyone was loving it, and even Fairy Tail was shocked at Joey's dancing.

"Man, the guy can really put on a show." Gray said, having no shirt again.

Natsu smiled. "Yeah, no kidding! He's even more wild than Vijeeter!"

Watching Joey make a mockery of the ways of "fine" dancing, Vijeeter couldn't help but feel defeated as he gaped with dull white eyes and a despondent aura over his head.

As Joey was gaining attention, many more were beginning to join in on the dance floor. He and Chespin remained in sync as patrons and hot women and guys alike were starting to get in tune with his slick moves. Soon enough several were tagging along in his rhythm, making a dancing fiesta for all to enjoy. And – not surprisingly – Dereece also was part of it, although was more of the electric noodle and robot motion.

Watching from a table, Sophie had an index finger to her cheek, smirking as she watched Joey dance away. "She, she (Well, well.). Looks like Joey's letting out some steam." She mused.

Vanessa watched Joey shake it till he made it, and he was looking really into it. She couldn't help but laugh lightly at his attitude. "My, what spirit he has." She smiled. "And quite the dancer, too."

Sophie snickered at her friend. "And he knows a few things around these 'video games' he always played."

Vanessa nodded. "I think things are going to be _very_ interesting with him around it feels like."

Cana raised a champagne bottle with a big smile. "Alright, let's party~!"

All cheered as the party went on that night. They all seemed very excited for the palpitating beats and the upbeats that Joey and Dereece were making with their dancing. As they got attention, Arthur couldn't help but chuckle at the very interesting fellow, and Marie's face twisted in annoyance. "Honestly…"

Nic and Erza looked at each other, both smiling at the beats and the dancing skills being whipped into the air. They looked back, but as they did, Erza's hand found itself on top of Nic's.

"Looks like things are going to get interesting."

"Yeah, they most certainly are."

As the party went on, Joey was gaining a lot of attention with his high-level dances he learned from the video games he always played. Proving his skills and working up a sweat of success, he was unaware that he was getting attention from others. It wasn't just Nic and Erza, but more so. Far away, deeply hidden within the darkness beyond the lamps and heat lacrima, there was a silhouette of someone sitting nonchalantly, petting the foot-tall insect beside him. The centipede-like creature hissed loudly, while his master and himself observed Joey as he danced on, not knowing of the dangers to come.

* * *

 **A~nd once again, I have overloaded your brains with insane amounts of words in this chapter. So sorry for that again…but at this point, there's no point in being sorry when I'm just going to keep doing it. Seriously though, taking about 5 days roughly for 30K again, and not at all at a shabby pace. I would've got more on the weekend, but 8 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Before you also ask, yes, I worked on Easter, so I didn't have much going on that day. Oh well, it happens.**

 **So, as per what I had to cramp in a lot of words, I got you all some insight on the new Magic Council OCs I have created, and some I can say like Jeff will be seen on a lighter note, while keeping the distasteful side like Alfredo, who I based off of Akainu from One Piece. And, for the other OCs, picture them like this: Imagine Charlotte and Travis based off of Charlemagne and Commander Trey from Monsuno, and base Jefferey and Eliza from Ironwood and Winter from RWBY, only with a different attire if you will. As for Duncan, well you guys already know what he's based off in terms of appearance in chapter 1, so I'll spare the details there.**

 **So we also got new insight on this VERY important OC that I created, and that's Arthur. Now I know you guys have questions and concerns, but I'd rather reduce that to a minimum. Arthur is going to play a very important role in the story from now on, him and his programs that will be told later on. Arthur will be contributing to a degree, but I won't say to an extent how much. Just know he'll be someone you'll want to keep an open mind about, as with the other OCs that will get screen time later on.**

 **Now then, with SO MANY words done – again – I'll say that I'm still glad I had that Staraptor VS Honchkrow throwback like Ash Vs Paul did, and you'll be seeing soon just who it is that has Joey eye. Like Arthur, he, too, shall play into the script to a degree.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed and await for Chapter 5! :)**


	5. My Name Is Kane

**Hey guys, just wanted to say something quick before the chapter got underway. Two things actually. The first is that if you haven't yet hopped over from** _ **The Fairy Contender**_ **or** _ **A Contender's Bonds**_ **, I hope you do, because I don't have a lot of favs and follows yet. I hope I'm not boring you if that's what it is. And secondly, I posted some art on my Deviantart, so after you finish this chapter, you'll see some updated characters. At any rate, enjoy!**

* * *

The ground was silent for a moment before it shuddered from the wake of a voluminous pressurized blast of boiling water with stream erupting everywhere. The shockwaves made the grass beneath bent over from its heat as it bolted into a makeshift row of trees. The Scald was so pressurized that not only did it beam straight through the tree trunks, but the steamy eruption from the impact made the branches on the decapitated upper halves break apart.

As the misty cloud and shockwaves dissipated, Nic stood in his Meadow Form with Greninja in front of him. The steam shifted Nic's clothing, but he seemed undeterred as it revealed stumps in the place of the rows of trees, which were scattered all over the place. He glowed and shifted into his Stone Form, keeping a relaxed position as he brought his middle and index finger up. He bent them towards his face, and from the ground in front, a quick shudder erupted before a very long and thick row of slabs eroded from the ground, a tactic he remembered well from Jura.

He reached out, keeping his composure and a determined face. "Use **Scald!** " One more time, Greninja leaned forward and put one hand on the ground. His head went backwards as he took in a quick breath, and once charge, he reeled ahead, releasing the same pressurized blast of boiling water ahead. A misty ripple expelled around his mouth as it looked like a beam that blitzed across the ground and shot at the lower stables of the slab row.

Once again, a massive quake enveloped the backyard, followed by an equally large wave of steam that made the air humid.

The steam cloud and the strong winds it made dissipated once again, and Nic and Greninja stood like nothing happened as the slab row was reduced to raining pebbles in its place. The gravel continued pelting the ground for a few moments while Nic looked unfazed. "Nice." He said. He looked towards Greninja, who looked back. "How did that feel?"

The Ninja Pokémon looked unfazed like him. "Not shabby."

"My thoughts exactly."

It was just another morning in the daily life of Nic Pularis. Things were as usual as they perceived, but the heat has been on for their guild, and it wasn't just because of it becoming April soon. The real problem was that it has been 3 days since the big conference, and just recently was Nic finally off the hook with Arthur and the Cambire Foundation.

He was tired. Simply tired. All these conversations, this big talk, and all of these questions being asked that he had to answer was hell, and he was finally done with it. It was time to step away from society and back into his routine, just the way he liked it.

He looked back ahead, now having a row of slabs and a row of thick, sturdy trees beside the other. In his Stone/Meadow Form to do so, he reached out. " **Water Shuriken!** "

Crouching, Greninja gained momentum as he swiped both arms and created sound from the winds generated from his swings. Two spinning shuriken of water moving so fast that they looked like blue bullets spritzed across the land, closing in on the one hundred-feet-long roads of nature. Both shuriken met the rows, vanishing for a moment's time before blue horizontal glints flickered in their places. In the next second, the long rows suddenly bisected horizontally. Then, they burst into mist. The rock slabs collapsed without the support, as did the trees as they all fell over.

As the land shook and vibrated at deafening levels, Nic and Greninja stood unfazed by their level of accuracy and pressure. At least they still had it.

" _I know this may not seem like much in terms of compensation, but it would mean a lot to me it you accepted it."_

The words Arthur spoke to Nic at the reception echoed once again in his mind. As the mist began to subside, Greninja looked back towards Nic to notice the puzzled look he had. He said nothing as he already had the idea.

Nic finally reached back into his pocket. There, he felt the chord and pulled on it, yanking out the Mystic Water that he's been holding onto for a while. He looked at it like it was some foreign object, but it wasn't because he didn't know what it did, no. Something else boggled him.

It was a peace offering by someone whom he just met, and he entrusted with a lot of responsibility. In a way, he can relate to Arthur's goals and intentions, and even by now it was probably rude to reconsider, but when there's a lot of people and Pokémon at stake, even Nic admitted he couldn't do this alone.

" _Then let me ask you this, Nic…would you be willing to help a man who can't walk see a place where others can at least learn to walk?"_

As the deep blue liquid in the drop shimmered, Nic could see his distorted face in the bulletproof glass it was in. His stare of inquiry began to narrow into one of complication. At this point, he just knew the world was going to be in hands he has yet to fully reach out to.

"Nic."

Looking up, Greninja was already in front of him. The two looked at each other with serious expressions, but Nic could read Greninja's expression clearly.

Everyone deserves a second chance. Jellal did, so why doubt himself now. If Arthur could preach out, the least he could do was return in kind, for both their sakes.

"Sorry, I was spacing out for a moment." He apologized. "Did you want to give this a try?"

Greninja didn't even bother looking at the Mystic Water as he focused on Nic. "Only if you're sure."

Nic nodded. "I'm sure."

With a nod in return, Nic presented Greninja with the Mystic Water. He approached Greninja with the two chords and reached behind the neck, tying the two strings beneath the tongue. As he tightened it, it was hidden well beneath the tongue itself.

Once fastened, Greninja could feel the mythical water pressed against his neck surging with a majestic energy. It seemed odd, but at the same time empowering. It coursed through his balled fist, making him feel enhanced.

"You ready to go again?"

Greninja was the one nodding in confirmation this time. "Yes. Let's do it." He pivoted and faced the debris field, ready to do some more training, now with greater power.

Still in his dual type form, Nic folded his fingers as the palms came together. "Then…let's try this!" With little effort, the ground thumped as another layer of slabs and trees arose and sprouted in rapid succession. This time, however, it was one large row with a random order of trees and slabs reaching a hundred and fifty feet long. Once in place, Nic adjusted and took his position.

"Alright then…use **Water Shuriken!** "

Greninja crouched and swiped his arms in opposite arches. The shuriken thrown were the same as before, however, they were a little bigger than expected, and the rotation speed was like a bullet rather than two shuriken.

The shuriken disappeared again as they closed in on the slab's middle. In bright blue glints that flashed like lightning the next instance, the rock slabs and the trees alike again bisected into split halves, top and bottom. The top halves of the two materials even burst into mist, their diced fragments mixing as the geyser of mist erupted. This time, it was all of them that were diced and exploded, and not just the front half.

As the woodchips and gravel drizzled down with the mist, Greninja and Nic looked ahead, both of their eyes glinting as their equal smirking meant their heart rates were getting more amped up.

The mist passed Nic as his smirk looked epic. "Not bad…let's see what this power is made of, shall we?!"

His palms rammed into each other, making more trees sprout and rocks arise in front of them. Greninja crouched in readiness once again.

* * *

A throat's Adam's Apple bobbed up and down as contents went down the gullet. The mouth let up, revealing Cana as she downed the whole beer mug. She sighed loudly with a smirk. "Aw yeah, now that's a real kicker."

"Maybe you should try your mornings out with some water instead." Mirajane kindly advised.

The brunette waved her off dismissively. "Oh don't be such a stick in the mud, Mira. I just got back from a job, give me a break." She laid her head down the bar top, using her arms as a cushion to do so. Beside her, Purrloin sprung up from the stool, curling tightly to rest beside her partner.

"What was the job about?"

"Can't say much. Just a bunch of these small bird Pokémon that were messing with the outskirts of a town. Purrloin helped some with keeping them in one place, and that's where I put them in a one-way coupe into my pocket."

Mirajane's expression showed no change. She remained cheerful as ever. "Were these birds anything like what Jet just brought back, or one of those other Pokémon that Wendy has?"

"Hmmm…" the brunette slouched up to make it so that her palm supported her pouty face as she looked off towards the side. "…I think like Jet. What was it? I think it was a…Taillow or something?"

Mirajane winked. "Oh well, what matters is that you took care of it without any trouble."

"Funny, I thought we were talking about booze." She teasingly grinned. Mirajane just sighed and resumed cleaning some glass over the sink.

With the three days that came and went, Fairy Tail was as rowdy s ever, if not more so. With Cambire Foundation now operational and people all over getting adjusted to the likes of Pokémon, so was Fiore's guilds. Fairy Tail was making sure to keep up its part of the bargain by going on jobs and handling the rogue Pokémon that were otherwise making clients unsound. The whole world knew that there were Pokémon now, and even though they have started to get the general idea of what they are like thanks to communication, the issue was that some were still unwilling to connect, humans and Pokémon alike.

On a certain note, people from all over Fiore have been traveling towards the location of the Cambire Foundation, which was supposed to be in Crocus. They have been more than curious about the whole thing, and no one could blame them. They were the ones who were willing to help; the ones who were hiring to get an internship, as well as understand Pokémon so that they can better cope with the problem. So far, from voices heard and on news reads, the committee has been giving positive feedback.

Berry farms in the back court of the foundation's headquarters was also something acknowledged. While the domain was supposed to be as grand as Mercurius itself, the full-on construction was to take months, but the departments have already rented complexes in the general area, and some have fields where interns and wannabe Trainers learning first-hand was where berries were being grown.

With all of this run down of the foundation helping Pokémon, everyone else had to do what they could and lead by example. And so far, Fairy Tail has had a good grasp on that prospect.

"Okay, now try this one." Romeo held out his hand towards his Litwick. In the palm was a purple ember the size of a Poke Ball. "Here." He offered.

"Oh~!" The Ghost/Fire-type opened her mouth wide like a Gulpin, before chomping down on it with delight. She moaned happily as she savored the flame's taste.

"Good, right?"

Litwick nodded as she muffled a confirmation.

Macao, however, was having a much more difficult time with his Litwick. He was looking at his while the Ghost/Fire-type stare at him with his own sense of ambiguity. Macao squinted a brow before raising his index finger again, making a purple ember this time.

"Let's try this then." He held the finger towards Litwick, much like Romeo did with his. However, unlike the female Litwick, Macao's scooted away, as if playing keep away from the fire. The look on his face showed grim defeat.

"Aw, seriously? What's the matter?" he questioned. "What, you have a preference or something?"

Romeo looked at his father with inquiry of his own. "You think this has something to do with their powers or something?"

Macao folded his arms. "Ugh, maybe. Vanessa did say something about Litwick having two abilities. Maybe ours aren't the same." He closed his eyes to think harder than before. "Guess we need another solution."

With Reedus, he watched as Smeargle was applying light brush strokes to the canvas he was making. "Oui, just like that, Smeargle. Great work!" he praised.

Laki was looking down at the Bonsly she was holding in her arms as he was crying. It wasn't loud, but it's been happening enough to where she was having trouble sleeping. "What's wrong this time, little guy?" she questioned.

The Bonsly just kept crying, the tears bubbling out of his eyes.

Laki looked worried. "I don't understand. Why is he always like this after every time I step out of the communal bath? Is it because you're hungry?"

"I think Vanessa said that guy doesn't like moisture, so it has to shed it, or something like that." Vijeeter said. "Right, Lotad?"

Right by his side at his feet was what looked like a small leafy Pokémon. He looked very much like a lily pad, whereas the bottom of it was a small blue creature with six stubby feet and a yellow moustache. "Uh…I don't know?" he answered.

Laki sighed as Bonsly's crying continued. "Good grief."

Wendy smiled up towards Lucy as Swablu rest on her head. "So Lucy, how's Klefki now?"

The blonde turned towards her Steel/Fairy-type with a smile. "She's doing okay…at least for now." Her eyelids lowered upon the last part. "She's a little too energetic at times though. I can hardly sleep sometimes without having to hear my keys jingle." She remembered well of late last night regarding her latest Klefki wakeup call. She was peacefully sleeping in bed and suddenly Klefki jingled her keys. And the only reason she did so was so she could have a late night snack.

Wendy nervously smiled. "Sounds like quite a night."

"Yeah." Lucy sighed. "But how're you and Swablu been? You two seem awfully close?"

Wendy looked up towards the bird perched on her head, with her looking down in return. "Yeah, we actually spent early morning making sure her wings weren't dirty."

"She sure is a nitpicker, I'll give her that much." Carla said. "Honestly, just a second on the ground and she get so flustered over herself. Honestly…"

"Hey, don't be like that, c'mon." Wendy reasoned. "If it weren't for Swablu's Sing, we wouldn't have stopped those mountain bandits from getting far." Swablu hummed with a proud smile on her beak. "Besides, she also learned Fury Attack when we were on our back against one of those wild Spearow, didn't she?"

"Right!"

Carla sighed. "I can see where this is going."

"Hey, I'm not spoiling her!" Wendy defended, with Lucy giggling behind her.

The guild saloon doors opened once again, kicking them open was none other than Natsu with his trademark smile on his face. "Hey, guys! What up?!" he greeted.

"Aye, time to get a job!" Happy exclaimed.

Charmander followed in tow, having his own smile in readiness. "Alright! Let's burn off that fish we had for breakfast!" he declared.

"Oh, we'll need a lot more afterwards, pal. Trust me." Natsu said.

"Hey, Natsu!" Lucy waved at the Dragon Slayer in the distance, getting him to turn towards her and Wendy.

"Huh? Oh, hey, morning Lucy!" he greeted cheerfully. "Hey, Wendy!"

"Morning!" the Sky Dragon greeted. "Are you ready for a job?"

"You bet I am." He eagerly balled his fist in a tight clutch. "I can't wait to get out there and do some work. What do you say, Happy?"

"Aye!"

Gray walked up from the side, with Snover in tow. Unsurprising anymore, he was without a shirt. "So that just leaves Erza then, right?" he asked.

Lucy turned towards him. "Oh, Gray." She said. "Yeah, Erza's the one picking out the job for us today. She said she wanted to make it a challenge for us."

"What kind of challenge you think?" Wendy wondered.

Carla shrugged. "Let's hold our tongues and try not to get our hopes up, shall we?"

Natsu smirked. "Alright then."

A pair of boots clanged against the floor, making way towards the group. Walking up towards them with a flier in her hand, the redhead mentioned got their attention and presented them the job. "Seems we're all gathered here then. Good." She said. "Is everyone ready?"

Natsu reached for his shoulder, making it roll and pop the joint constantly. "You don't have to ask me twice. So what do we got?"

Erza nodded in acknowledgement of his eagerness. "The job should be located up near Bluebell. It's on the northwest coast, and we'll be needed to handle routes and taking care of any hostile wild Pokémon on those routes."

"If we're by the coast, that means there's going to be some Water-types, right?" Gray guessed. He looked down towards his Snover, nodding his head. "Guess we'll be needing your Razor Leaf if things get tight."

Snover lifted his arms with glee. "Alright!"

Wendy looked around, oddly curious about something that seemed misplaced in her eyes. "Hey, has anyone seen Nic?"

"Nic's still at the house I'm afraid." Erza grimaced, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Honestly, he says he's got to 'spread his legs for a bit' before he gets a job of his own. He can be a real handful when he's so focused on the heat of battle."

Lucy giggled at Erza's expense. It was adorable in a way to see how she was pestering about her husband and his habits. Heck, in a way, she can feel some sense of where she was coming from with all of this. Sometimes it bugged her how Natsu always sneaks into her room in the morning, waiting for her…sometimes. Not everything is perfect, but that's the way it's meant to be.

"So is he going on his own job then?" Wendy questioned.

"Yes. He should be gone around the same span as us, so we might all as well be out on jobs getting work in then." Erza turned towards the doorway. "But enough with all that, are we ready?"

"Sure thing." Gray followed behind. Snover waddled in tow behind his Trainer, and following next was Natsu, Happy, Charmander, and the rest of the rest out the door.

With Wendy the last in tow, the team was off on its job, ready to get some work in.

Watching from a table, Sophie had a hand to her cheek, supporting her chin as she and Vanessa watched as Fairy Tail's strongest team went off on their own once again. "There they go again." Sophie sighed.

"Well you sure sound unamused, Sophie." Vanessa smiled casually. "A little lonely?"

The blonde did an eyeroll alongside a snicker. "I'm surprised you saw through my mask so well, Sophie. Nothing gets pass you." She teased with just the right amount of sarcasm to exemplify her boredom. Her roommate wasn't at all deterred like her, though.

"Well then, rather than droop like Cana…" At the nothing, the brunette's ears twitched in the background. "I impose we go on a job as well. Your pick."

The Memory-Make Mage sighed at her insistence. She wasn't in the mood to exercise right now, but she also didn't want to sit around and do nothing like Nab would. She has to at least do something that would prevent her from getting a headache out of boredom. Seeing how she might as well do something as well, she stood up and turned towards the request board.

"Al tig-ad (Don't worry), I'll be back." She made way towards the request board, while Vanessa waited at her seat ever so casually.

At the request board, Nab was still observing the jobs that didn't pique any of his interests, which was from anything out of routine for his day. Sophie disregarded this fact and walked up towards the board, seeing the numerous jobs listed and overlapping the other. She scrutinized them all with some diligence, being sure to get a feel of the pay, as well as contents.

Looking up at one job with the picture of what appeared to be a tunnel with the image of what looked like a Zubat in it, she seemed piqued at its contents. "This one seems good enough…" She went to reach for it, but she was cut off when someone stepped beside her, getting her to look at him. "Huh?"

Standing next to her with a blank face was the latest recruit to Fairy Tail, Duncan. He looked up at the board ever so casually and looked at the many jobs available, without so much as a muddle.

Upon recognizing him, Sophie blinked. "Oh, hello." She greeted. "You're the new recruit, aren't you?"

Duncan continued looking at the board. "Yeah. What of it?"

She was taken back by his rude behavior, but she powered through with nonchalance. "Well, I was wondering if you were fitting in okay. I hope you're not at all surprised with how we operate under such circumstances."

Duncan looked down, closing his eyes in silence. "I'm doing just fine, thank you." He looked up towards the bulletin again, eying the job that Sophie was thinking of taking. Without any delay, he took the job off the board, much to Sophie's chagrin.

"Hm? Excuse me." Her brow furrowed in a harsher expression to rival her tone. "Some of us were looking at that too, you know."

Duncan shrugged and turned away. "That's not my fault."

Sophie folded her arms as she glared at Duncan's back.

"If you wanted the job, all you had to do was just take it when you had the chance. The same goes for a Pokémon with strong characteristics." He started walking off. "If you miss that chance, someone else might take that from you. Keep that in mind."

Sophie watched Duncan as he went off for the job instead of her. Of course she was mad about the job taken, but she wasn't mad about that. No, she was mad because Duncan was being so rude, and he didn't seem to regard her in any way. It was like she wasn't even there. The one thing worse than having an opportunity taken from you could be your lack of acknowledgement.

Still, there were plenty of other jobs on the board, with bigger and better opportunities. Sighing and choosing to let it go, she turned back towards the bulletin board and looked up at the plethora of other jobs. In another area, it looked like there was a picture of a mole-like Pokémon, and the pay being over 340,000 Jewel. Before she chose to take it, she looked around wearily, making sure no one was around to mess up her chance. Seeing she was all clear, she snatched it with a frisk of a hand swipe.

She walked back towards Vanessa, standing in front of her with the job presented. "Here." She placed it in front, giving details of what the job inscribed.

Vanessa looked down at it and up at Sophie, seeing the unamused expression on her face still there. In fact, she looked even more annoyed than ever. She just kept her relaxed disposition while leaning back in her seat. "Is everything alright, Sophie?"

The blonde turned away and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's fine. It's just that new member we have."

"You mean Duncan?"

"Yes. Honestly, I thought he would be a _little_ sociable, but it's like we're not even here. He could at least try and not be rude to a woman perhaps."

Vanessa frowned at her friend's irritation on the matter. "I'm sure he has his reasons. It's best to just give it some time, maybe he'll come around to adjusting with the guild." As she thought about the matter at hand, she put a hand to her chin. "Although…what motives did he have joining our guild anyway? That's what I'm trying to figure out."

Sophie shifted her weight to one hip as she turned to think about the situation as well. "Yeah, that's a good question. We know Joey and Dereece agreed to stay because they want to help…but Duncan, he doesn't say much to any of us."

Vanessa nodded, closing her eyes. "Well debating about it won't help. I suppose we should just mind ourselves and get a job in."

"Right." Sophie's eyes widened in realization. "Speaking of which, where are Joey and Dereece now you think?"

"Last I saw them, they were heading into town."

"Are they getting a job, too, you think?"

"No. They just got back from a simple delivery mission yesterday. I think I saw them near the boutique last I saw."

"Huh, wonder what they're doing there?" Sophie turned to look towards the doorway, where she just saw Duncan depart. The saloon doors opened and closed to a slow stop, but light still beamed from outside.

* * *

"No! Not this garbage!" Another piece of clothing flew over Dereece's head. His head followed it as it sailed like paper into the large pile of clothing that came from the dressing room he stood in front of. Another pained grunt came from within its confines, but he knew of whom they belonged to.

"Uuugh! Dereece, seriously! Can you pick anything more lame than those?!" The door creeped open, revealing Joey's head with annoyance. "Are you _trying_ to make me look like a walking piñata, full of cotton that makes the skin uncomfortable?!" the door slammed shut, with Joey groaning out loudly in distress.

Dereece walked up towards the door, leaning into it with his left ear. "Uh, Joey, maybe we should rethink this through." He advised. "Is there even a reason why we're here to begin with?"

Inside the dressing room, Joey's bare back was being covered by a black leather jacket he was trying on. "Because, Dereece, if we're going to be part of the same guild as Nic-senpai, and if we're going to be working there, we should at least look the part. You expect me to battle and be a mage while _not_ having presentation? Where's the clincher in that? Now hush up and let me think for a moment in here."

Dereece leaned against the door as he heard the fastening of clothes on the other side. "Hard to believe since we can't even do magic." He muttered softly with an eyeroll.

It's been a short while since Joey and Dereece had joined Fairy Tail, almost two weeks since Dereece's count. Since then, it was safe to say that they're finally getting a little routine going, after much management that the two had to do. A few things happened over the course of a few days that left a small but noticeable impact for them both.

The first one was their place of stay. Since they have been taking small, beginner jobs, they have been finally getting enough money to start up for their own residence. Dereece did all the planning, and with an agreement, they got a decent-sized apartment for him and Joey to share. It was a little ways from Lucy and Sophie's houses, but 50,000 Jewel a month for a decent stay at some place that at least gave them elbow room and a backyard was enough. Joey was on his hands and knees in gratitude that day when he thanked Nic and Erza for allowing them both to stay. Dereece literally had to drag him away as he wept.

The other thing that happened was Joey himself. He's been making sure he was training to some degree every morning, much like Nic does, but that was easier said than done considering how late he stays up practicing his dancing. The place they stayed was small and insulated for a reason. In his training, however, Chespin learned Rollout, and that's what made the past few jobs easier now.

Speaking of jobs, they've been a little strained when it came to the work they had to do. They were limited with what was available due to them having no magic, at least not yet. They've been trying, but so far there hasn't even been a single spark. Just a single spell of something would've made them feel a little better.

The door unlocked, making Dereece back away to see someone enter. The door opened, allowing Joey to step out and present himself. He was wearing his usual pants, but his white dress shirt was replaced by a buttoned leather jacker and black shades. He struck a pose looking towards the ceiling like a jock would.

Dereece raised a brow as he folded his arms. After a short while he frowned in disapproval. "Nnnngh…"

"Ugh! Too much black, I knew it!" Joey whipped around in a fuss into the dressing room again, shutting the door behind. The next second, the leather jacket went flying over the door and into the pile next to Dereece. "Wardrobe number 17, a no-go!"

Dereece facepalmed. "Oi vey…"

…

Close by in the boutique, Chespin was peeping around the several large pair of pants that came in different shades of blue. He looked at them all in question while circling around, giving a child's wondrous glance at the many other pairs of clothes that were all over the place. "Ooooooh." He strode past a mannequin wearing a pair of shades, red scarf, and a brown leather hat. "So humans wear all this stuff? There's so many choices here!"

Heracross was out and looking at the various pairs of socks, coming in black, gray, and white. He looked curious as his attention drew towards the footies, a sparkle in his eyes showing. "Oh~, they even have stuff that look like they can fit me."

Chespin looked over his shoulder. "What do you think Joey and Dereece are gonna look like when they're done?"

"Beats me." Heracross caught up, walking behind the smaller of them. "My guess is something befitting them."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe something that shines I guess." Both Heracross and Chespin stopped to rethink what their Trainers might look like. Appearing as thought bubbles over their heads coming together, they could see both Joey and Dereece in espionage uniforms with black shades, and in the same instance see them wearing sparkly jazz tuxedos while holding musical instruments. Heck, they could even see them wearing armor…but Joey was holding the sword while Dereece was on all fours, acting as Joey's steed that charged into an army of knights.

The last image made Chespin giggle. "Tehehehehe. Fashion." He chuckled. His eyes wandered towards something beside him, making his beady eyes sparkles with curiosity. "Ohhhhh! Pretty!"

Right in front of him was a rack of women's bowties and chokers. It was so high up that it would take him and Heracross together to reach the top. For safety's sake, he went for the nearest one on the bottom, which was a pink bowtie. He snatched it, putting it on the side of his head. After an adjustment, he smiled.

"Oh…I feel so handsome now." He gasped. "Heracross, how do I look?"

"Like a Cherubi." He complimented. "Hm?" His own curiosity piqued, he turned towards a rack that had spectacles on them. Blinking once, his head turned in wonder. He slowly reached out, holding the spectacles upside down. "What do these do, you think?"

"I think you put them on."

"You mean like this?" Heracross inserted the spectacles on his eyes, making them look far larger than intended. In fact, they looked so big that they took up the whole frame. He blinked several times before Chespin tilted his own head in questioning.

"Hmmm…not too shabby, buddy!"

…

The door opened again, this time showing Joey with a neon green winter jacket with fur insides. He struck a pose, but his face showed disinterest. When he saw Dereece giving no response, he groaned and went back in.

After several other tries, Joey tried on a bunch of other clothes. His styles went from a long-sleeve white shirt with black beneath, to a gangster hat crooked towards the side, to looking like a hippie with a round hat, glasses, and a brown vest over his white dress shirt. But none of them seemed to be satisfying him.

Dereece shook his head with a groan. "Uuugh, this is getting us nowhere." He growled. "Joey, I really think we should just wait another day worry about our punctuality." He turned towards the door again as it opened, but this time Joey came out in something that left Dereece mildly speechless.

This time, Joey came out wearing a maid outfit. He had the long white leggings and dress shoes as well. Aside from the chest area, which was replaced by a dickie, he even had the tiara.

Dereece shot him a raised brow. "…really?"

Joey shrugged. "What? I think I look pretty drop-dead gorgeous." He struck a silly, girlish pose, pointing a finger to his lip and smirking. He blinked several times to give the illusion as well. Dereece of course didn't seem to care.

"Drop-dead is something alright." He responded. "Worry about being Nic and Vanessa's slave later, okay?"

Joey sulked in sadness over his attempts ending in failure. He tried so hard about 20 different times, and each time only left him disappointed.

Dereece came over and patted his back in comfort. "Look man, let's just try again at another boutique, okay? I'm sure there'll be a…a lot of other, bold options that are just screaming out your name, eh?"

His best friend's coaxing drilled into his softened body like it was made of dirt. He sighed in defeat, a sad look on his face as he looked at him. "Yeah…okay…c'mon guys, lets-!" Suddenly, Joey's eyes caught wind of something, something that made them widen to where he looked shocked. His whole head turned towards the direction of where he was looking at.

"Hm? Joey?" Dereece saw his friend as he slowly straightened upright. He stepped back as Joey walked aimlessly ahead, his feet motioning like a robot. It was like he was possessed by some demon that was telling him to go forward. "Joey?"

Joey stumbled ahead until he came several feet in front of something that was radiating with light, at least to his perspective. His whole body was stiff as a statue as the light before him, glittering like that of angel. "Dereece…"

"Yeah…?"

"…I think I found what I was looking for." Unable to contain himself, Joey fell to his knees, gaping at the powerful light before him. He raised his arms into the air with a deep and loud shriek of pure joy. "I FOUND I~T!"

"What is it?" Dereece looked ahead, his eyes widening with a gasp of his own. Even in his mind, he could hear the Ode to Joy theme play as Joey gestured to the radiating clothing.

"This is it! _This_ is the dream attire that I've been looking for!" The man in the maid's outfit got back up, standing in front of the light with a victorious smile on his face. "I have found it!"

Dereece put a hand to his chin as a tailor heard the shouting. She came around and looked in question while Dereece just looked with a nod.

Joey pumped his fists high into the air. "YES~!"

Soon, another, more epic theme started to play in the background with guitar in it. The tailor stood in front of the doors…or rather what would've been doors if not for a curtain. At her leisure, the tailor slowly arose the curtain, revealing the new, and improved, Joey and Dereece official gimmick.

As Dereece nodded and folded his arms, Joey kept a more intelligent pose as his eyes flashed open, revealing how blue they are.

Joey sported his usual short-sleeved buttoned white dress shirt and the blue jeans. However, over it was the design Joey found to be what he was looking for. It was a long-sleeves magenta coat, one that went all the wall down to his calves. It had black fur-lined on the cuffs and on the edging all around it. It also had a variety of black spots over it to give more flare.

Dereece's attire was essentially the same as well, however, he now sported a navy blue, sleeveless vest that was zipped up over it. And to add extra flare – and because Joey told him so – he wore a red bandana with an orange horizontal stripe across it.

Together, both had poses, with photography flashes made up as they took various poses. Joey seemed to be taking delight in his the most; even the tailor seemed impressed.

"Well, sirs, you seem to fit in those quite well." She complimented.

Dereece looked down at his new vest, surprised with his loose it felt. "Uh, yeah. This is actually pretty comfy. What about you Joey?" He smiled towards Joey, who stuck out various poses with varied suave turns.

After several of these, he finally put his hands to both sides. "Oh yeah! Now I'm feeling ready! Look out ladies, because the J-man's gonna sweep ya of your feet like a broom!"

"You ready for checkout then?"

"Of course we are." Joey answered the clerk. "…Dereece, pay for these, would ya? I'm a little tight right now."

Dereece groaned and shook his head.

Meanwhile, in another part of the store, ore funky music was playing as Chespin was walking in pink woman shoes. His feet fit well in their smallest size and he strode across the floor like a catwalk. He had a smirk as he walked to a point before posing, making a puckered pace as he looked back with the bow still on his head.

Heracross adorned the spectacles as before as he strode behind to a stop next. As Chespin was forefront, Heracross took the rear with his own pose. Not only was he wearing the glasses, but he also had on a red scarf around his neck, giving him a better appeal than just the glasses.

Chespin rubbed his head with a grin. "I think we have a model career ahead of us." He mused.

Heracross took off the glasses by using his claws. He turned them to the side and gave them an inquired look. "You sure these don't make me look dorky?"

"Don't be silly. You actually look sophisticated."

Heracross sheepishly rubbed his side. "Aw shucks…"

"Chespin~!"

"Heracross!"

Both Pokémon instantly froze in place with wide eyes. They looked at each other by shooting glances from the corners of their eyes. Slowly, they went back to spacing out, and they realized how much time has passed. Without a word, they both panicked as the clothes they wore flew off them. They scrambled to get the glasses off and the bowtie back on the rack before they scurried to the front of the store, where Joey was.

"Oh, there you guys are." He smiled. "What were you two doing?"

"Uh…nothing?" Chespin widely smiled. Heracross nodded swiftly in haste agreement.

Joey shrugged. "Okay then. C'mon."

They all exited the boutique, with Joey and Dereece now sporting their new attires. From the look on Joey's face, he seemed very happy as he strode through town with the new maroon/burgundy colored coat.

"Ah~, now this feels empowering." He sighed. "I feel like the top of the world, baby!"

"Yeah, but our budget's now at the bottom of the well." Dereece noted. "You have any idea how much that cost us?"

Joey appeared by his shoulder. "And we'll make up for that when we go on a job, okay?" He then backed away, giving himself room to gesture to his attire. "Besides, if people are distressed, they can always look at me and say 'Hey, that guy looks like he knows what he's doing! We should follow him out of this mess!'. You see, Dereece, presentation itself, is a key to battle."

"And you really think anyone will follow a guy with a coat that stands out?"

"There's only one way to find out." He turned towards the street, looking around to see if anyone was worthy enough to obey him. He turned towards a nearby monument, where around there, he saw birds, but more so. There was something off about the flock pecking at the ground and roosting.

The birds all looked like pigeons, but they had big yellow eyes and pink talons. They were gray with dark gray marks on the wings to boot. They all cooed and looked around like regular birds would, even being noisy as some would imagine them to be.

Dereece raised a brow upon seeing the noisy creature coo. "Uh, is it me, or are those what I think they are?"

"What?" Unsure, Joey pulled out his PokeDex, following his friend's advice in seeing for sure just who it was they were meeting with.

" **Pidove, the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon.** **These Pokémon live in cities. They are accustomed to people. Flocks often gather in parks and plazas.** "

"So _that's_ what a Pidove is." Dereece awed. "I haven't seen one in person before. So then they crossed over and made flocks then, huh?"

Joey smirked as he eyed the Pidove flock around the monument with pride. "Watch and learn, guys." He started for the flock, making confident strides towards the nearest Pidove. Once he was close enough, he stood still as he pointed at it.

"Hey, you."

The Pidove that was closest and pecking the ground suddenly perked its head. It turned towards Joey, seeing him point a finger at him. His head tilted in wonder.

"Yeah, you. Pidove." Joey clarified.

The pigeon blinked me?"

"Yes, you. Approach me…if you dare." He ordered boldly. "For I, am Joey Haycliff! Fairy Tail Mage!"

Chespin and Heracross watched with blank expressions. Dereece, however, just groaned.

Caught intrigued and wondrous of this individual, Pidove looked at his flock and back at Joey. Slowly, he stepped up towards him, one talon at a time. He eventually found himself a few feet in front of him, looking up at the supposedly authoritative man. "Joey?" he repeated dumbly.

"Dare not perplex me!" he exclaimed regally. "Obey my commands!"

Pidove blinked. "Commands?"

"Yes, commands. What is this, 20 questions? Bow…please."

In a hurry, the Pidove blindly fell to his talons, reaching his feathers out to kneel before the man. Joey smiled wide as he looked back at Dereece with a cocked brow. He looked back at the small bird.

"Now, do a somersault!"

Pidove thus tried to roll forward, albeit clumsily. He kicked at the air as he was wallowing on his back until he got upright again. Once he shook of his dizziness, he looked up again.

"And now…stand on my shoulder, and bask in glory~."

Pidove blinked once, before he spread his wings and flew up and around Joey. He perched himself on Joey's shoulder, while his arms were spread out to exemplify his hefty exaggeration. Pidove nestled there quite well, even as Joey turned around to show off to his friends.

"And here we go again." Dereece sighed.

Joey smiled wide towards his best friend. "You see, Dereece? It's all in presentation."

Dereece raised his own brow. "Right…and I should remind you that this is a _Pidove_ we're talking about here." He protested. "They're the simplest Pokémon out there. They follow even another Trainer's orders if they want."

Joey shot the wild Pidove a look of his own. "Are you going to take that?"

The wild Pidove looked back. "Uh…no?"

Joey looked back at Dereece, this time waiting a moment before an impish smirk crossed his lips. He just found a way to get back at him. He pointed his finger at Dereece accusingly. "Then obey me, Pidove! Terrorize the beseecher!"

"Wait…what?"

Pidove turned towards Dereece with a straight, if not robotic face. "I shall obey." He even spoke robotically, like he was mind controlled. He flew off Joey's shoulder and slowly moved towards the now startled Dereece.

"Uh, Joey? Y-you can stop now. I get it…" Dereece was slowly backing up, getting small distance from the ever-closing pigeon set on him. "Joey…?"

Joey had his arms folded with a proud smirk as Pidove flapped slowly closer. "Must destroy liar."

Having an uneasy feeling crawl up his spine at seeing the talons stretched out, Dereece turned towards Heracross for answers. The Single Horn Pokémon looked confused as he was, but Dereece merely shuffled behind him, bunkering like a shield.

"Don't make me use this! I'll use this, Joey!" he warned. Once again, Joey just watched with a kingly gaze as Pidove flapped faster, ascending slightly to get a steep dive to attack overhead. Immediately Dereece panicked.

"Okay! Okay! I get it! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just don't make it kick out my eyes, man!"

Pidove dove for Dereece, oddly enough moving at high speeds even astounding Heracross. Dereece quietly squealed as he hid behind Heracross, who looked up with confusion and shock at the incoming avian.

Joey smirked in triumph. "Take 5, Pidove."

Pidove continued his steep dive, but in the midst of it, he abruptly stopped. His steely robotic gaze returned to one of a dope as he dropped in front of Heracross. "Okay." He chirped.

Perring from behind, Dereece sighed in relief.

Joey walked up behind Pidove, looking at Dereece with arms folded. "You see, Dereece? It's all about presentation. The better you look, the better you battle, as some say."

Dereece raised a brow. "Uh huh. And who says that?" Joey was about to answer with an index finger up. "Other than your own mom."

Instantly crushed with another ego burn by Dereece, Joey turned away. "Well…shut up!" he huffed.

"Okay then. On another note, now that we've got ourselves a place to stay, don't you think we should be getting ourselves some work in?"

Joey shriveled back around. "Fine. Let's just go and-"

"Oh! Look!" Everyone apparent looked at Chespin, who was pointing towards the sky. In questioning, they turned their attention towards where his stubby paws were pointing at. They all looked up, seeing some small but noticeable creatures flying overhead.

In the sky was a group of small purple balloons with yellow crosses on their fronts. They had puffy white cloud tops and two beady eyes. Attached to their bottoms were two black strings with yellow hearts. They all flew overhead in a cluster of five over their heads.

"Drifloon?" Dereece questioned.

Curious, Joey pulled out his PokeDex this time. He pointed it at the sky and examined them.

" **Drifloon, the Balloon Pokémon.** **Its round body is stuffed with souls and expands each time it leads someone away.** "

"You think I should catch one of those?" Joey looked at the Ghost/Flying-type creatures as they floated right overhead. He could even see a few of them looking down at him directly in questioning.

"I don't think so, Joey. Not this time." Dereece insisted.

Joey groaned in annoyance. "Well, I guess so." He started walking pass the group. "But you know, we really should find some more-!" He was abruptly silence when a sudden swoop from above grabbed him by the arms. He didn't even have time to process before he found himself picked off the ground.

"What the-?! Aaaah~!" His wails went muffled as he ascended into the atmosphere, hauled by the group of Drifloon that were holding him tight.

Everyone down below looked shocked. "Joey!" Dereece reached up, screaming out his best pal's name. He looked around, beginning to panic. "Oh man, just what the heck was that?!"

"I-I don't know!" Heracross defended.

"Well we gotta fix it before-"

"Gaaah!" The wails of Joey came from above again. He moved his legs around profusely as the Difloon were attempting to drag him off. "Uh, guys? I-I know I'm probably attractive in this coat and all…but this is _so_ not cool! Chespin!"

Down below, Chespin looked up towards his Trainer.

"Use **Vine Whip**! Get me down!"

"Okay!" Spreading his feet, Chespin took a stance and aimed for Joey. The green glints appeared on his shoulders before he grunted, shooting long, green vines up towards him. They reached up and extended far, so far that they could've been mistaken for rope. The Vine Whip reached one of Joey's legs, getting a nice hold on him.

"Yes! Thank you! Now pull me down!" he yelled in haste.

Chespin got a foot back, reeling his body weight backwards to try and yank Joey out of the sky. However, it was easier said than done. The Drifloon, while light, were all surprisingly buoyant against his might. Try as he might, he grunted so much that he was getting sore. "Gnnnnngh…almost…got it…"

Suddenly, his feet popped it the ground like a bottlecap, making his eyes go wide. "…oops."

Seeing his Chespin now flying with them, Joey exasperated downwards. "UGH! YOU HAVE _GOT_ TO BE KIDDING ME!"

"Sorry~!" Chespin yelled from far below. The Grass-type looked down at Dereece and Heracross, looking a little scared, if not nervous. "Hehehehe…uh, w-we could some help here." He insisted.

Joey rolled his eyes. "Uuugh! Okay, new plan!" He looked down again. "Pidove, obey and get us the heck down!"

Still on the ground, Pidove looked up and raised a wing in a mock salute. "I shall obey, master!" He took off into the sky again, giving chase for Chespin and Joey as the accursed balloons dragged them off.

"Better hurry!" Dereece shouted from below.

The wild Pidove in question reached Chespin, grabbing his by the arms with his two talons. Trying to get him to stop going up, Pidove flapped his wings profusely backwards to drag Chespin back down. He was trying hard, going as far as lean back, too.

The two conflicting forces battling out for dominance, Joey was the epicenter of it all. He grunted in pain as he was pulled by the leg, while the Drifloon were dragging him by the arms. He could actually feel his spine stretch. While it felt good, it started to strain some. With a pained look, he tried to persevere until the struggle ended. "Somebody…just make it stop…!"

"Use **Flamethrower!** "

A call from nearby alarmed everyone. Those who were able to pay attention saw a single cannon-like arm open before a searing, pressurized blast of roaring fire shot across the sky. It went blazing skywards in a straight line like some beam that was intent on burning the atmosphere.

"Huh? Did it get hot all of a sudden?" Joey looked around in question as he continued to be dragged. He craned his neck towards the back to get a glimpse of something that was igniting his back in orange. His eyes widened when he saw it was a blast of fire that was narrowly close towards him. "AH!" He cowered over as he waited for the blast of fire to pass over.

Far away, over the hill and in Nic's backyard, he stopped moving and he and Greninja looked back. They glared up towards the sky over Magnolia as they saw a thin blast of fire zip onwards. "What's that all about?" Nic wondered.

However, in a stroke of luck, the Flamethrower was narrowly above the Drifloon, getting them all to shriek and panic. As they shuffled and worried from the hot beam slanting above, their grip on Joey became loose. They lost their hold, allowing him to slip out and sink below.

"Aaaah!" Due to the force they were exemplifying, Pidove and Chespin fell back to the ground. Pidove landed first, and Chespin fell right on top of him, cushioning his fall, as well as made the bird gag.

As Joey screamed as he plummeted, Dereece was in a panic as he tried to think. "Crap, incoming!" he warned. "W-we need something to break the fall!" He looked around, scrambling for any answers that could work. "Uh…Heracross!" He pointed at Joey. "Catch him!"

"Right!" The Bug/Fighting-type leaned forward, getting momentum needed to open his wing shields. He flapped his wings and took off in a steep glide skywards towards the falling Joey. He bolted as fast as possible, and as Joey was about ten feet away from the ground, he was wailing and panicking like no other.

In a blue blur, Heracross zipped by Joey, grabbing him with his claws. The two glided over the ground, but there was little momentum after that harsh burst of speed Heracross did. They fumbled onto the ground, rolling off in the street to a stop.

"Joey!" Dereece ran up towards him. Chespin craned his neck up and realized Joey landed. He got up and followed too.

On the ground as they were closing in, both Joey and Heracross got up, albeit with a daze. They were groaning and looking a little scraped, but otherwise they were in one piece.

The people gathering were looking worried, but Joey raised an arm up as he hunched over. "I'm alright…I'm alright…" he sighed. "Man that was a close one."

Dereece finally caught up. "Dereece, what the heck happened?! Are you okay?!"

Joey brushed his arm off of dirt and dust. "Yeah, I'm fine…I think." He looked back up to see that the Drifloon were scattering. Immediately he grew a scowl.

"What was that all about?"

"Don't know…but they are _**so**_ off my dream team list now!" He pointed up towards them. "That's right! You better fly away!"

Dereece finally caught onto something else. "Wait, where did that Flamethrower come from anyway?"

Joey realized it too. "Beats me." They both looked left and right, but they only shared two puzzled faces.

"How about try looking behind." A voice called out.

Startled by the voice, everyone turned towards the sound to see who it was that saved them. To their surprise, they were seeing Duncan, and beside him was another one of his Pokémon. It was a large, bipedal Pokémon that looked like a walking flame, with searing yellow on the stomach. Its arms went from being two canons to turning into three white spokes that jutted out like inserts to a machine.

"Duncan? You?" Dereece inquired.

The man shrugged. "You expected somebody else?"

"Er, w-well no. I mean…thanks."

Joey went wide-eyed upon seeing his Pokémon beside him. "Ohh, so this is where that Flamethrower came from!" He looked up towards the Pokémon, his surprise mounting greatly. "You have a Magmortar?"

Duncan looked unfazed by Joey's question. "Yeah, I do." He pointed an Ultra Ball up towards the Magmortar. "Return." The Magmortar went back into the capsule without even muttering a single word. It obeyed calmly and entered, allowing Duncan to put the capsule away.

With the subject now over with, Joey grinned. "Well, thanks again, buddy. I really appreciate it."

Again, Duncan shrugged. "I can't believe how sad that was."

"What?" Dereece gasped.

"The way you just got caught without even having a guard up was something only a third-rate Trainer would do. If you had done your homework, you should've known Drifloon would be a hassle, especially in groups like that."

Joey shrunk back from the berating Duncan was getting. He put his hands up in defense, a bead of sweat dropping from his head. "Woah, hey man. Where's the fire?" he defended. "Alright, so maybe I was a little careless, okay? So now I know. No need to get some flares going."

Once again, Duncan looked so nonchalant about it all. "Hmph." He moved right along, taking strides pass Joey and Dereece. Together, they watched as Duncan took off towards the now open streets once more.

Dereece folded his arms. "I don't know about you, but that guy's mind sure isn't the sunniest on that hill in the east, if you get what I mean."

"I know, right? What's his problem?" Joey leered at Duncan's back in question, thinking. Suddenly, he heard the sound of what appeared to be flapping. Turning his head down, he turned towards the Pidove that cooed.

He knelt down, petting the bird on his head. "Uh, thanks little guy. You can, uh…be on standby now."

Pidove nodded. "Sure thing!" With a chirp of no care in the world, the Pidove flapped his wings and took off, leaving the group over towards the distance unknown.

Joey arose to his feet, sighing. "Man, what do we do now?"

Dereece came around, looking unsound as he was. "You know, maybe we should try looking for some help now." He suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, not that I wanna remind you of anything that went on today, but, remember how you needed help? Like two seconds ago?"

"Uh huh?"

"Well, maybe we should…oh, I don't know…maybe find more people on jobs?"

Joey raised a brow, intrigued. "You mean like more than just the two of us?"

"Yeah, like maybe get someone like Vanessa from time to time. Or maybe Sophie, she's smart. Plus, I heard guilds are allowed to make teams. Maybe we can form our own."

Joey raised a brow, intrigued by all this. "Hmmm…" When he thought of something interesting, once again, a lightbulb appeared over his head. He gasped with great joy, a bright and big smile plastered on his face.

"Joey…?" Dereece didn't have a good feeling. "You're making that face again."

Joey turned in the direction Duncan went off to, his gaze so grand. "I think I have a plan!" If he were a dog, he'd be wagging his tail.

"Oh boy." Dereece grimaced.

"Duncan!"

Continuing his stride towards the train station, Duncan heard the familiar shout of someone from behind. He stopped in his tracks and turned to look back at the person who called out for him. Joey raced up towards him, taking a moment to catch his breath.

Once he had some breath, he inhaled, looking at him with a smile. "Hey, thanks again back there, bud. Really appreciate it."

Duncan's expression wasn't move. "It's fine. What do you want now?"

Joey sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, looking impishly at him. "So…I was just thinking…" He put his hands to his sides, looking at Duncan with a sincere but straight face. "You know, this world from what we've seen can be pretty crazy. So maybe, I kinda thought making a little team would help us all."

"You mean teaming up with you?"

"Well not us me." Joey referred to Dereece. "Obviously, Dereece is here, too. So how about it? Everything cool with that? We Trainers gotta stick together."

Duncan looked at Joey with his continual straight face. He wasn't looking at all interested. In fact, he looked like it was the last thing he wanted. He looked at Joey's sincere, impudent smile, while Dereece looked on with an approved expression. In a way, he had a point about joining forces, but it wasn't like he was going to care. Finally, he turned away, continuing down his own path to the train station.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass." He rejected the offer, leaving Joey shocked in his place.

"…o-oh. Uh, okay then…" He watched as Duncan went off, leaving him piqued with hopes. "So we'll take that as a maybe then?!"

His yell fell on dead ears as Duncan continued his trek.

Dereece walked up to his side, putting a hand to his own side. "You know, Joey, I think you were onto something there. We could use someone like him with experience under his belt."

Joey nodded. "Yeah, shame. But I hope he changes his mind. Wouldn't want something like that happening again."

"Yeah…" Though it didn't leave Dereece right away, something felt off about all this. Something wasn't right about those Drifloon. _'I didn't think Drifloon can do that. Normally I hear they stray people away and take them off. But those…it looked like they were after Joey specifically.'_ He looked at Joey ever so casually. _'Something's messed up here. I can feel it.'_

* * *

Joey and Dereece had long since passed from that experience. They were currently making way uptown, where Dereece was carrying paper bags full of small groceries that they were able to purchase, at the cost of drying them up of their funds.

As they trekked down the market, a certain someone was heading off on his way. Nic went walking in the same area up ahead, instantly getting Joey to smile wide. "Gaah! Nic-senpai!" he gasped.

Nic stopped in front of them, smiling. "Hey guys. How's it going?" He looked at their midriff regions, noticing how they were wearing a few different materials that were noticeable. "I see someone had some shopping done."

"Do you like it?!" Joey eagerly showed off his new coat. He had varied poses while sparkles enveloped his facial region. "I-I was hoping this wouldn't be too much, b-but I thought I'd stand out a little." He chuckled nervously, worrying about the opinion of his idol.

Nic kept his grin of assurance. "It's fine. That actually suits you."

Inwardly, glass shattered in Joey's psyche. As the pieces shattered, it was revealing a smiling Joey as lightning bolts were around him; one even striking him in the head as he inhaled another squeal. Sparkles were in his gaze as he was paralyzed in overwhelming happiness. "N-N-Nic-s-senpai just…just complimented me…h-he really…really likes my…my fashion?!" Unable to contain himself, he once again froze in place, having a massively overjoyed expression on his face.

With him brain-dead for the time being, Dereece approached Nic. "Hey, Nic. How's it been?"

"It's been well. Just finished a little training before I decided to take a job." He grinned. "But don't listen to what I'm doing, I'm just on my way out."

Dereece chuckled. "Sounding just like Erza."

"Am I? I thought I was a little laxer than her." He mused at his own lighthearted joking. After an adrenaline-filled training exercise, it wasn't like it mattered much. Of course he'd rather not talk behind people's backs. Especially his wife, even though it was the truth. "So how's your place coming along?"

Dereece shrugged. "Meh, it's getting there. We were lucky it was furnished. We even have a foldup couch. What a sweet deal it was."

"That's not a bad deal at all."

Joey was still shocked at Nic's appearance, but then he shook his head to clear away his momentary distraction. "N-Nic-senpai, you just missed it! I was taking on all these Drifloon, and then they started to gain up on me, when that new guy Duncan and his Magmortar came around and supported me and valiance."

Dereece shook his head. "Really?"

Nic seemed rather neutral to Joey's statement, but his face showed surprise nonetheless. "That so?" He thought back to the earlier scene he saw when he was training. _'So that's what that Flamethrower was about?'_

"Runaway wagon!"

The sound of a random patron echoed through the streets. Nic, Joey, and Dereece all heard the sound and turned towards the direction of where it was coming from. To their surprise, they saw many of people clearing out while a carriage with rapid spinning wheels and what looked like packaged cargo inside was zooming at them.

"Somebody stop that wagon!" the merchant in charge of the runaway item shouted. "It doesn't have any brakes on it!"

The carriage was getting closer to the guys, but Nic furrowed his brow and glowed. "Okay then…"

As he glowed, both Joey and Dereece went wide-eyed at the sight before them. They were practically speechless, especially Joey as Nic stepped in front.

Standing in front and transformed, Nic was in his updated Insect Form. His coat color changed from black to a bright green shade, as to where the edging and cuffs had a green-yellow hue towards it. His pants were an android green shade, where his shoes had green-yellow soles, with bright green laces, and lime shade for the shoes themselves. To accommodate these factors, his also sported four massive dragonfly wings that were thick, sturdy, yet so clear.

Nic spread his legs apart, getting into a stance as he faced the incoming carriage. " **Spider Web!** " From his mouth, he spewed out a large glob of silk and thread that went out towards the two lampposts before the incoming carriage. The silk bomb suddenly erupted, spreading into a fine web that stuck to the two lampposts. The carriage made impact with the Spider Web, but instead of bolting through, it stuck to it. It even went backwards some due to the laws of motion. After a few bounces, the carriage's front had stopped moving.

Nic glowed and reverted back to himself. He maneuvered around the web he had made and stood beside it, looking at it from the side.

As he inspected the carriage, he was supposedly ignoring the huge smile and sparkles around Joey's eyes. He just saw Nic transform for the first time, and Dereece showed more subtle shock than anything else. "Did I just see that?" Dereece pointed ahead at Nic. "Because I could've sworn that Nic just transformed right before us."

Suddenly, Joey seized Dereece from the side, shaking his shoulders rapidly like tying to shake the sanity out of someone. "It was! Oh my god it really was!" he squealed like a girl. "That was Nic-senpai's divine power: the Multitype! With it, he can become any of the many types of Pokémon out there…IT'S SO FREAKING AMAZING!" As he was going hysterical over Nic's transformation, Dereece was being shook haphazardly from side to side in conjunction.

"O-o-okay now! Joey!" he stuttered from the lack of balance. "You're gonna make me drop the groceries man, c'mon!"

At last, Joey relented. "Sorry!"

The merchant finally met up with Nic, looking ever so relieved to see his goods were still in great condition. "Oh thank heavens. Thank you, good sir! I can't believe that all just happened!"

Nic nodded. "It's no trouble." He looked back towards the carriage. "But tell me, why does it have no brakes? Don't all carriages have emergency brakes installed?"

"Yes, mine was supposed to have those. I checked them an hour ago. But the strangest part was they went missing just a minute ago. The next thing I knew, it went speeding towards you guys." He sighed in relief. "I'm just glad no one got hurt."

Nic looked back towards his comrades for their expressions. While he looked questionable, Joey looked puzzled. Dereece, however, looked like he was trying to think hard. With all of them having different variations, Nic could see where this would go. He faced the merchant once again, this time with casual care.

"Well I suppose that we'll have to find a makeshift break until then. There's a utility part of the market section where you can possibly find parts you need. They come with deals, too."

The merchant bowed. "Thank you, sir. I won't ever forget your kindness." With that, the merchant went off to get his wagon free from the safety net Nic applied.

"Well that happened." Joey raised a brow as he rubbed his head again. "What's with all the mishaps today? Friday the 13th you think?"

Dereece was unable to answer. Instead, he put a hand to his chin, thinking about the two events, which were back to back. They couldn't be by coincidence, they just couldn't. First of all, Drifloon don't just take random people out in the street, that's unheard of. Secondly, there was that wagon, which was coincidentally when Nic showed up and saved the day. While under circumstances, it still boggled the man's mind. He held his tongue the whole way, choosing to stay quiet until more pieces added up.

* * *

"Look, all I'm saying is that we should have at least gotten a few more apples." Joey insisted. "You know how often we eat." To exemplify his point, he chomped down on the apple he'd been carrying in his hand.

"Well we _would_ get more of we went on a job right now!" Dereece barked. "But last I checked, s _omeone_ insisted on spending all our funds this one day!"

Joey swallowed the chunks and waved him off. "Hey man, you've gotta spoil yourself every once in a while. We'll go on a job tomorrow, promise."

"We better. We need money, and with our current…well, uh…skills, I say we do jobs in town, like low pay ones that build up quickly. I hear a few newbies to guilds do that all the time."

Joey sighed in defeat. "Fine, whatever you say." He nonchalantly took one more bite of the apple he had been eating, this time stronger, and with enough force that left only the core of the apples. As they walked on, Joey walked by a group of Pidove that were otherwise in some trees or on benches. Bending to the side, he sat the core straight up and went walking. As he and Dereece trekked on towards their place, the apple core behind was swarmed by a few Pidove in a matter of a few seconds.

They continued to get closer, and Dereece continued carrying the bag. He watched as Joey reached into it one more time, this time pulling out something red and spiky that was very much like a tomato. The way it looked instantly made an alarm go off for him.

Joey held the fruit with a quizzical rapture in his expression. "Hmm, I wonder what this tastes like?" He opened his mouth, ready to hang it over his head.

"Wait, hold on Joey!"

"Ah?" Joey opened one eye, stopping his gaping mouth from inviting the red spiky disaster.

Dereece pointed towards the fruit. "Not to be conspicuous or anything, but doesn't that look like a Tamato Berry?"

"Huh?" Looking up at the piece of fruit, he gave it a gaze of wonder. He turned it on its very small stem, getting a nice look at the texture all around. He zoomed in on it, his blue eyes reflecting some red. "…yeah, now that you mention it, it _does_ look like one."

"See?"

He presented it to Dereece. "And that's why _you_ will be making sure for me!"

Instantly Dereece shot him a shocked look. "What the-?! Oh~ no I'm not!"

"Then how will I be so sure if this is an Earthland kind of fruit?"

"Well I…" Dereece tried to think of something valid to argue, but Joey did have a point. Maybe it could've been an Earthland fruit that was coincidentally looking like a Tamato Berry.

"See, Dereece? Well okay, _maybe_ we should be on guard after those incidents, but this is food. And who can deny fo-!" Within his train of concepts, a Murkrow cawed as it swooped down from above, snagging the berry out of Joey's hand. The momentum even threw him off balance some. "Whoa, what the-?!" He looked up, seeing the Murkrow take off. "Hey, what the heck, man?! Not cool!"

The haughty Murkrow cackled his own cynical laughter as he swooped skywards. "Looks like it's my lucky day! One free meal ticket!" The Murkrow swung his talons up, getting the berry to swing right above his head.

Joey and Dereece went wide-eyed in anticipation of what would happen.

The fruit plunged into the beak, which shut when it entered. In one gulp, the Murkrow swallowed it with a delightful expression. Once down the gullet, he sighed in joy. "Now that was wasn't so bad." He continued flying away, but after a few moments, he began to sweat, the heat rising on his face. "Wa-wasn't so…" His face began to glow red as steam started to erode out from the sides of his mouth. As if trying to emerge from underwater, he opened his mouth wide, fire spewing everywhere. "AAAAH! SO HOT! AHHHH!"

The poor Murkrow flailed in the air, until at last it couldn't take it. They watched as it looked like a soaring plane on fire, spinning into a tree. The canopy of the tree shuddered from the landing, and then rendered silence.

Joey blinked once. Then twice. Finally, he caught onto what happened, and he felt a little unnerved by it all. "O~kay, so maybe it _was_ a Tamato Berry." He turned towards Dereece. "How the heck did we end up with that?"

Dereece shrugged. "Beats me, the vendor didn't put it there."

"You're saying someone put it there when we weren't looking?"

"Don't know, but at least now we're saved the trouble of finding out."

"Yeah. Yeesh…" They both looked back towards the tree, knowing full well that Murkrow – while ironic – had got what came to him. At least now they didn't have to worry about puckered lips.

* * *

Night had soon dawned. Everyone in town and at the guild was pretty much turned in and ready for sleep. Some of the early risers were already sleeping up storms in some complexes.

In one of these fellow apartments, the schematics were a lot like Lucy's home, only less than sublime. It was a two-story apartment, where the whole thing was rectangular in design and was made up of smooth brick. It was one of the many furnished and sanctioned places that was fixed up, amongst a few others in the area in the Alvarez Empire war, hence why it looked so new. Despite being dark brick outside, it had a black slanted roof with a small chimney on the side. When one enters the front porch and dark door, they would be immediately greeted with a staircase leading in a turn up towards the open second level. The second level had a bathroom, as well as two bedrooms beside the other, which faced the front rather than the back, where they were left with no room and facing away from the adjacent complex.

The first floor was a two way that connected around the staircase. On the left-hand side was the living room, with a foldup couch and simple furniture. On the right-hand side, however, was a small area where one could put their displays. It connected with the kitchen and dining area combo, which was taking up the rest of the space around the back of the stairs.

"And you're positive about this?" In Joey's room, he sat up in bed, holding onto his white pillow. He had just been told of what Dereece thought about the previous incidents, and the ones that have been occurring all day.

"Yeah man, I really think someone's out to get us." Dereece stood in front of Joey's bed, clothed in a simple top tank top and gray pants for pajamas. "Dude, I'm being serious here. I think we should consult someone about this."

Joey shot his best friend a look. "Maybe, Dereece, but you saw what happened to that Murkrow. Trust me, maybe it's just a one-day thing. Or maybe there's some crazed fan out there who doesn't know how to deal with their emotions around us. Maybe we're popular, or maybe this is all a mind game with riddles that we have to solve."

"Well, maybe…"

He let out along huff as he rolled onto his bed, sprawled on his back. "Can we just get some sleep? We got work to do." He held his pillow over his head. "How can I work if I don't get beauty sleep?!" The pillow thus dropped on his face, signaling he was ready for sleeping.

Dereece knew better than to just hang onto it. Joey did have a point, that if he worried about it, there wouldn't be much sleep or energy to get work done. They had a long day, and Joey inscribed they would have to aim for 40,000 Jewel, so that required quite the bit of planning, which was Dereece's department.

Finally acknowledging this claim, Dereece relented and turned. "Alright, just get some rest then."

"Goodnight, Dereece." He muffled beneath the pillow.

"Yup. Night, buddy."

The door finally shut to Joey's room, leaving Joey all alone now. The only thing that illuminated his room was the lamp lacrima beside him, which was only two-feet-tall. Joey flipped the pillow over his head and leaned over to touch the button that came with the lacrima. It was pushed, and it shut off. Joey finally nuzzled into the bed on his side, remaining quiet.

For a while, the room was completely silent. Dead silent. Since Joey didn't have fans on this time around, he was sure it'd be a cozy silence, but this kind of tone in black only made one feel a shiver deepen in their spines. And for Joey, he was all alone in this darkness.

"…at last, we finally meet."

The voice in the darkness made Joey's eyes open wide. He shot up in bed, looking around. "Who's there?" he asked worriedly.

"Someone who's been watching your back, for a _**very**_ long time." The creepy voice answered.

Joey looked puzzled at the ceiling. "Wait, are you…" he gasped in shock. "My conscience? I didn't even know they can come to life here. Uh, I hope you're still not mad from when we spoke when I was 5…y-you know, when I mistook you for a ghost. Which actually turned out to be a Ghastly that ran away from its Trainer…"

The voice ominous snickered, which made a shiver crawl up Joey's spine. Instantly he withdrew to his side, facing his lamp with his pillow over his head in the events of treachery. "U-uh, are you a Ghastly? Because I don't remember anything like this sounding so…creepy."

As if on remote, the lamp lacrima turned on, revealing someone hidden in the darkness on the opposite side of Joey's bed. Joey went wide-eyed as he turned towards him, seeing who it was that entered.

The person was a man around his height and age it seemed. He had searing orange eyes that burned in the lamp lighting. His hair was gold, if not dirty dish blonde that was completely slicked back in a clean manner. His eyebrows were this shade too, and were pointy. He adorned a magenta dress shirt with black buttons tucked into his skinny white pants, held up by a brown belt. Over his shirt, like Joey, was his own coat, but it was a deep blue, and along the arms and upper-half was orange with a high collar. He also sported brown loafers with black socks.

"Don't scream, Joey." He assured, smirking maliciously. "…not yet at least…"

"Wha…?"

"I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I'm a _big_ fan of yours." He gestured towards himself in a sultry manner. "They call me Kane~."

Joey sat on his knees in bed, holding out the pillow like a shield. "Oh…uh, Kane? T-that's a nice name." he replied awkwardly. "Uh, w-why are in my room? It's not cool."

Kane flopped onto Joey's bed, laying on his side with the room still available on the very edge. He gestured to himself with a raised brow. "Why, I'm the one."

"Oh." Joey moved another pillow in front. "One what?"

"The one who has been setting up the little tests for you, of course." He polished his knuckles against his chest area, making them look better. "Having all those toadies around you at such times; why, such a clever manipulator you are. Seeing right through all those tricks I pulled." He giggled playfully as he reached out and poked Joey's pillow wall. The wall broke, down, leaving Joey exposed. Joey hurriedly stood up to give his own space.

"If you're referring to Duncan and Dereece, I'll have you know, they are 'lackies', not 'toadies'." He corrected sassily. "As for you, _Kane_ , I don't know why you're here, or how you know who I am, but I fail to see how this could've wait until guild hours, or, oh, I don't know… _ **never**_! But-"

Kane instantly moved to Joey's behind, popping over his shoulder with a smile. "Destiny is a timed point, my friend, and this is our time. You and I, _we_ have a fate between us. We are the same, _but_ , on the opposite sides. One light, and one dark." To demonstrate this, he moved in front of the lamp lacrima, making his shadow overlap his front half to make him look sinister.

Joey raised a brow. "If you mean 'light', as in my color, you should know that I'm more of a~, lemony yellow with brighter highlights." He ran his hand through his slicked spikes hair backwards to exemplify. "I checked. You like?"

"Long have I been waiting for this. The time that I would meet the prestige, and enigmatic Joey himself."

Now it was Joey's turn to giggle girlishly. "Oh stop, you're flattering me."

"The genius of whom has caught my attention since my ears have weaved out your claims." He moved back to the side of Joey's bed. "According to what _I've_ heard, you single-handedly defeated an Ursaring into merciless submission. This same tale, tells of a man who solved the mystery of Honey Trees, and has gained many of legions at the conference."

Joey held his hands over his mouth, looking surprised. "Oh~, this guy sounds strong. He sounds a lot like me!"

Kane was taken back by Joey's poor insight. "The tale _is_ about you, Joey." He said.

"H-huh? They are?" Catching on, Joey coughed, clearing his throat as fast as lightning. "Uh, I-I mean, yeah! Well of course they are! You take me for a dunce or something?" He picked the pillow he had in hand and tossed it into Kane's face before he plopped back into bed, facing the ceiling arrogantly. "How's that for a test? You baffled?"

Kane snickered as he removed the pillow, smiling maliciously. "Even your sense of humor is enigmatic. Oh~, the Drifloon, that carriage…yes. At last, I have seen it all." He looked so happy as he faced Joey, but not in any means a good way. He leaned in towards Joey, smirking evilly. "You are indeed the one I have been searching for. And now that we're in Earthland, our battleground shall be set. There's only room for one man destined for greatness…and you're lying in bed next to him." He whispered harshly in his ear.

Joey sat up. "Okay, pause. Listen here, Kane. I don't know what it is you're implying, but if this is some kind of threat, you should know that I don't take kindly to those." He wagged his finger. "You better leave now before I, uh…uh…"

Kane zipped around him, smirking in his face. "Don't worry, I won't destroy you…not yet at least…" He slowly crept away, only to return with a pillow this time shoved in Joey's face. "We shall rest for our timely duel…until then…"

Once again, he crept away into the shadows of the light, leaving Joey to take the pillow off in time for the lights to go back off. This time, when he looked around, he saw that Kane was gone, leaving him alone. Mysteriously enough, the lights went on, making him flinch.

He turned left and right, seeing that he was finally alone…and no one in his bed. As if nothing happened, he sighed and went onto his side again, going quiet. He stayed that way, but the lights remained on in any aspects of what happened coming to fruition.

Suddenly, Joey shot up, the realization snapping at him hard. "H-H-HEEE~LP!" he wailed into the empty room. His face froze in fear, his left eye twitching at the sanity questioned.

* * *

A faucet ran in the bathroom, letting cold rather run down. Joey washed his hands thoroughly while the door was shut.

"So this Kane guy was responsible for all that stuff yesterday, huh?" On the other side of the door, Dereece was leaning against the doorframe, raising a brow. He finally caught up with what Joey had been through last night, and he finally pieced this all together. "Well that explains the Tamato Berry. Should've known that meant something."

The bathroom door opened, revealing Joey with hands in his pockets. "And he certainly got a great deal about my greatness." He cocked his brow knowingly at his own humble attitude.

"Oiii…" Dereece shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Joey started for the living room. "Guess we better get to the guild then, huh?"

"You mean you're gonna tell the others about this?"

Joey looked back at him like he was crazy. "What? Of course not, that's stupid." He pointed a thumb to himself. " _He_ came after _me_. See how that works?

"B-But you can't just ignore this either!"

"Who said I was ignoring it? I'm just trying to weigh out my options here is all. Better safe than sorry, as they always say." He turned on his heel to march closer towards the foldup couch. He twisted and plopped right onto it, taking a nonchalant pose with one leg up, his lower lip up and hand to his chin. "Hmmm…?"

Dereece stood in front, looking distressed. "But Nic and the others are still out on jobs right now. You really think dealing with this ourselves will be for the best?"

"Trust me, I think it's best that we wait until at least someone comes back." He responded. "Although…maybe Duncan can help out."

"Duncan? He's still out on a job."

"Yeah, but think about it. If we three Trainers team up, then we'll be able to outmaneuver this Kane guy. Besides, all the others are higher leveled than us. There's no _way_ Kane would put himself in that position, wouldn't you?"

Dereece put a hand to his chin, thinking about the logic Joey was playing out. "That's…actually not a bad concept." He admitted. "I guess that would make sense. Nic and Vanessa _are_ strong."

"Exactly. He can't be _that_ stupid to know we got more Trainers other than just Nic-senpai to stop him. What's he gonna do?"

Little did they know, something outside their window was moving its antennae as it stood by the windowsill. With each syllable told by the two, its antennae twitched, catching every word and vibration. Once it got what it wanted, the small, magenta centipede hissed before it finally crawled down the stairway, heading into the alleyway behind them.

From then on, the centipede crawled in silence, moving its many toes swiftly across the ground through the alleys and streets. It continued its course through the city until it made way into the outskirts, into the woods and crawling deeper and farther away from the location that went for miles on end.

Finally, it reached the deepened sanctions of what looked like a bungalow. It was well-made, if not furnished. It crawled through the open window and into its darkness, where it bypassed the den and entered the dining area, where it was a long, dark room, where there was a chandelier over a long, dark brown table with red chairs everywhere. At the very end, sitting all alone with arms folded was Kane, waiting patiently for his centipede to report back.

It crawled up the side of his chair ad onto the side of his body. The insect stayed latched to his side and began to whisper into his ear.

"…so, he's gathering forces from other Trainers instead of facing me alone. Interesting." He smirked. He faced the insect, smirking lovingly as he used his index finger to scratch the shin. "Good work, Venipede. You'll get an extra batch of Oran Berries when dinner arrives. Now, tell me more about this one called…'Duncan'."

Venipede began to hiss and whisper again into his ear.

"Really…uh-huh…oh is that so?...he does _that_ by himself? Well he must feel like the bell of the ball when he does that." Kane laughed maniacally towards the ceiling, along with his Venipede.

* * *

In the forest, walking ever so casually, a brown coat with a white bubbly base shifted meekly as a wooden kendo stick was sticking over the right shoulder. Duncan kept his sights ahead as he was returning to the guild on foot. It wasn't that he wasn't fond of trains or anything, or anything like he missed it…it was just that he didn't care.

Being in no rush, he silently walked through the open forest, keeping himself in mind of the creatures and other Pokémon out there. Whatever they were, he would be ready.

He passed by a regular tree on his left, pacing himself with every step he treaded. He even went on with his eyes partially closed for a short while until he abruptly stopped in place. He was now out in the open, stiff as can be until his eyes fully closed.

"Just how long were you intending to stay hidden behind there?"

A pair of hands clapped from behind the tree, proving Duncan's insight. Slowly emerging from around the corner was someone who he wasn't familiar with. Someone who had a Venipede on his shoulder no less. He smirked maliciously as he presented himself to the experienced Trainer.

"Well, well, seems you're quite perceptive yourself, Duncan." Kane greeted mischievously.

Duncan looked over his shoulder, leering at Kane. "Should I know you?"

"No, but I know about you quite a bit, Duncan." Kane looked at his fingers again, polishing his nails as he continued. "I know you're a loner. You happened to be from the Sinnoh region. You also just so happen to practice kendo every morning after breakfast. Honestly, not much of a hobbyist, are you?"

Upon hearing the details, Duncan turned around in full, his leery gaze hardening. "Who told you of all that?"

Duncan held up his elbow, presenting Venipede. "Why, my dear Venipede of course." He cooed. "He's such a devoted worker to the cause...now then, where were we?"

Duncan's glare hardened. "What do you want?"

Rather than respond verbally, Kane snapped his fingers. The Venipede on his shoulder thus jumped into the air, catapulting high enough to where he could get a good aim in. His antennae waves repeatedly as he shrieked loudly. Shooting and expanding from his body, orange, distorted shockwaves enveloped the surprised Duncan. The Trainer, caught by sheer shock and surprise, covered his ears as the frequency was rattling his ear canals. He was momentarily paralyzed and didn't respond due to the distraction.

Kane rushed in and zipped around Duncan, as if ignoring the effects of Screech set on the target. He passed around Duncan several times, each loop making a rope he had get tight around him. Once tied up with a nice knot on the back, the work was complete.

Even now, as Screech was going on, Duncan was unaware as his ears rang incredulously from pain. He gritted his teeth as he found he couldn't move his arms. They seemed to be tightly squeezed in somewhere. Suddenly, a force from behind shoved him down onto his back, making a shock run through his abdomen.

"Gnnngh…what the…?" Still startled by that surprise attack, he looked up with one eye, seeing a pair of feet approach from the side. It revealed Kane, with Venipede falling back onto his shoulder.

"I hope that I wasn't too harsh on you…this time at least." He then smiled wickedly, leaning in to give Duncan a look that actually startled him. This was the face of someone who could've been mistaken for a madman. His pupils were small, his eyes wide with an insane look in them. His head was turned somewhat that the angle in which he smirked was even more spine-shrilling. "There's so much more fun to come!"

* * *

Joey was sound asleep again, this time having able to get some work in for the day so he had a reason to sleep well. With 40,000 Jewel stockpiled in their savings, they finally turned in. However, for Joey, he was alone in bed again.

The lamp lights in his room suddenly went on, forcing him to awaken. Startled, he blinked a few times before rolling over, seeing Kane on his side once more. "Hi again." He greeted slyly.

"AH!" Joey sprung out of his bed in a panic. He faced him with a pillow once more. "What are you doing here…again?"

Kane snickered as he sat up in Joey's bed. "Why, I just wanted you to be the first to know."

"K-know what?"

"That I've passed _your_ test now of course." His evil smirk returned. "I have Duncan."

Joey's eyes wandered back and forth with a way to get out of the mess he was in. He was shocked he knew of his plan to wait and join forces with Duncan, but now he was a little low on options. "Uh…D-Duncan who?" he nervously laughed. "I know a few Duncans pal, but you need to be a bit more specific. It could be that bake shop owner in Lumiose City for all I know…oh, now that I think about it, Duncan donuts _do_ sound rich right now!" He waned from the subject, but Kane didn't see this as a setback.

The nemesis chuckled. "Oh, don't play coy with me." He cooed. "I assure you, he's unharmed. I didn't do a thing. I actually came by to give something for your efforts…VENIPEDE!"

Upon command, Venipede crawled up from the side of the bed, his hissing startling Joey as he had something folded and wedged between his antennae. The blonde shrunk back in startled fashion as Venipede stopped before him.

Taken back at first, Joey blinked as he pulled up his PokeDex.

" **Venipede, the Centipede Pokémon.** **It discovers what is going on around it by using the feelers on its head and tail. It is brutally aggressive.** "

"Venipede is harmless." Kane assured. "…unless I tell him not to…"

Joey slowly reached for the folded piece of lamented paper on Venipede's head. Once close enough, he snagged it to avoid any disgust. He opened the folded paper, seeing how it was folder-sized and displayed what looked like a well-made map.

Kane zipped to his side, pointing at it. "These are the directions for you to locate my top-secret lair. I even made sure to lament it so you'll be able to see it as clear as possible."

"So a brochure thing. For a 'top-secret' lair. Where I find you?" Joey summarized. "Well, isn't that irony." He folded the map in his hand. "Well gee, Kane, thanks for the invite for me to surprise you in _your_ bed, but we kinda have a lot of business to settle with the guild tomorrow. You see how that works?"

"We have a date with destiny, my friend." He epically replied. "So no more beating around the bush…" With a snap of his fingers, everything went black again as the lamp light went off. When they turned on, Kane and Venipede were both gone.

Joey looked around worriedly, holding his pillow tight. "How does he do that…?"

* * *

"I can't believe we were played." Joey grimaced in the den. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about last night. "Because of me, Duncan's gone. This is all my fault."

Dereece put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey man, buck up, okay? I-I'm we can think of something."

"Kane said no more beating around the bush. And if we get anymore of our friends involved, they might end up taken as well. That settles it then, we're going after Duncan right away." Joey declared. "It's these kinds of decisions that make a team leader, a real leader, Dereece."

Dereece nodded. "Well said, brotha."

"So…good luck!" Joey shoved the folder he received last night into Dereece's chest. The man with the bandana grunted annoyingly as he knew where this was going with Joey's massive smile and thumbs up plastered. He took it and took off, leaving Joey alone again.

* * *

The dark bedroom lights went on, revealing Kane once again on his hands and knees, looking over Joey with a big smile as his eyes opened and glanced up.

"I have Dereece." He whispered.

"Ah! Already?!" Joey squealed. "B-but it's not even noon yet! I was just napping…and you…I…" At this point, Joey was beginning to fume in annoyance. "Okay, the line is drawn right here, buster! This ends now!"

"Now, now, take a deep breath." Kane sat his hand down to allow his Venipede to crawl onto his shoulder.

"A deep breath?! You're in my bed, Kane! _**Again!**_ With your freaky, hissy Venipede! It's pretty creepy man!"

Kane shot Joey an unamused brow while his Venipede hissed incoherently in defense for his master and himself.

"Duncan and Dereece only were captured because of _my_ mistakes. They're innocent! Everybody's just attracted to me and can't even deal with it right, okay? It's not easy being so wanted."

Kane smirked. "Yes, we most certainly know a few things about attraction, don't we, Venipede?" His Venipede crawled towards his know bent arm, facing him as he hissed in delight. Kane blew mock kisses at him, while Venipede purred.

The sight almost made Joey puke. He covered up in disgust. "Okay, gross. Go find another room or something…or maybe a bottom of a well."

Kane faced Joey with that same pamphlet as before. "This is your last chance. Sundown, or else." With that tone, he slammed the pamphlet down on the bedsheets, and then the room went dark again. However, when the lights went on again, it was Joey who was missing. "Oops! Uh, hold on, Venipede. I still haven't perfected this trick yet…" Once again, the lights went off for a few seconds with a whisk sound. When they turned on, this time Joey was standing upright beside his own head, while Kane and Venipede were the ones missing.

"What the-?! HOW DOES HE DO THAT?!" Joey exclaimed hysterically. "Because if that's his, like, magical power or something, it-it's just gonna wow me…"

* * *

Five minutes after awoken from his nap and processing it, Joey hunched over on his couch, sighing sadly as Chespin stood at his feet. "I'm all lone now." He groaned.

Chespin hopped up to his knees with a big smile. "You still got me, Joey."

"Yes, all alone."

Chespin sighed.

"This…freaky destiny and fate stuff really has me fickling in a really…fickly manner, and it's not letting me go until I see this through." He stood up boldly, pointing towards the ceiling. "Well I got something to say, destiny! No more hiding! That's right! I _will_ rescue my friends, no matter what! I'll do it alone if I have to prove myself! I _will_ show you and Kane, that the tales of Joey Haycliff aren't just made up! Okay…well, maybe they are made up a little..." He nervously defended. "But they're darn good ones!" He made way towards the door. "Chespin…let's go, go and fulfill our destiny."

Chespin punched the air. "Yeah! We're coming, guys!"

The door to their apartment opened, and the Trainer and his Grass-type jumped from the porch and onto the sidewalk. With the pamphlet in hand, Joey and Chespin looked towards the other and nodded. They turned and went running down the sidewalk, heading to meet destiny head on.

As they ran on, they were unaware of a shadow flapping closely towards the roofs over Magnolia. Its wings went up and down, carrying it long as it followed Joey and Chespin.

* * *

In a dark, open room, there was a nice, kempt lamp right above two chairs back to back with each other. Sitting in them was Duncan, and a recently captured Dereece. Bothe were tied up and unable to move, and Duncan's wooden stick was by no means any use; plus it was out of reach.

Duncan struggled in his bindings, but all that accomplished was making it tighter for himself. "Gnnngh, this is ridiculous…" he gritted his teeth as he tried to break free.

Dereece rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it."

"All this for that Joey guy? I can't tell if I'm supposed to be appalled or impressed at how far this guy would go for just that dancing nutcase."

Dereece glanced away in uncertainty. "Well, it's not that you're wrong…"

"Is everyone cozy in here?" Their attention drew towards the opening of the room. While the room around them was kempt and surprisingly roomy with commodities, there was no door to shield them from the outside world. They turned towards the lighted entrance, seeing their capturer known as Kane leaning against the wall as he pet his Venipede.

Dereece and Duncan shot him their looks.

"Just thought I'd stop by to tell you both that my cunning arch nemesis, Joey Haycliff, will be coming here for what is to be the showdown of the century." He said, making long strokes along Venipede's shell. The creature purred in delight of the affection given.

"Did he really just say 'cunning', and 'Joey', in the same sentence?" Dereece whispered into Duncan's ear.

"An outcome of which shall decide the fate you two shall receive." He faced his Venipede, who feigned a gasp. "Spoiler…" He turned to give them a menacing, evil smiled. "I will make sure he suffers the agony of defeat!"

* * *

Holding the map, Joey traced his finger at a point close towards the big red dot. "Okay, according to this, we should be getting closer, Chespin."

"Okay, but…why am I held like this?"

As they were walking, there was a trick Joey was using. After his last few experiences with Kane's 'traps', he made sure that he would come prepared this time. While he held the map out in one hand, he held Chespin out in the other. Chespin had his Vine Whip grazing across the ground from time to time, poking some spots every now and again.

"To trigger anymore traps Kane might have set for me." He answered.

"Oh, right. It's been so long that I forgot."

The two continued through the open forest, making sure to stay hushed and quiet in the events of any sound alarms, or perhaps any wild Pokémon Kane might have baited into stopping him as before. Once they finally reached an opening, they saw the bungalow a hundred meters ahead of them.

"Okay, we're here." Joey clarified. "Now nice and steady…" He moved his arm left and right, slowly making Chespin maneuver his Vine Whip left and right like a dividing rod. They both scanned the ground endlessly, slowly making their way closer and closer into Kane's doorsteps.

"Okay, so far so good…" Joey took a step closer towards a spot that had less grass than the other. "Now, just a few more feet and-!"

The stepped closer towards the dirt spot, hearing the sound of a click. He froze in place, his eyes wide and mouth shut at the notion. Slowly – very slowly – his gaze went down to his one foot, which was imprinted on the spot. Immediately he knew he screwed.

"Oh crud." He muttered. The spot opened like a hatch down, dropping Joey in as he screamed in a panic. He fell into darkness while Chespin was let go. He fumbled onto grass and dirt face-first as the latch closed behind him, sealing up whatever trace of Joey there was.

"Ow…" Jerking up in realization, Chespin turned left and right, even around. "Joey…?" He got no answer. "Joey?"

* * *

"Aaaah! Ow! Oh! AAAHHH~!" Joey fell through darkness like a vacuum. In fact, as he was falling there really was a vacuum sucking him in. He hit a few walls or corners along the way as he swerved through the tunnel. He felt himself thrown in every direction, hitting his sides abruptly before vacuumed feet first to an unknown sanctum. With one more harsh and sudden turn, Joey felt himself go into a dive down through light, landing with a thud in a glossy red chair on his butt. "Oof!" He grunted at the blow was surprisingly heavy that he lost his sense of direction. "Owww, man that hurt…"

"Welcome, Joey Haycliff."

Joey's eyes opened in a gasp. He recognized that voice, and he sure didn't like it. Suddenly, a row of candles lit up in front of him, and following that was another row. And then another. A trail of candles lit over towards the other end of the very long table, leading towards an expectant Kane with a wine glass in hand. The chandelier overhead finally lit up, revealing the red walls and chairs, and Kane sitting in the throne-like end chair, which Joey sat at the other end.

A silence fell at the opening Kane had made. Joey looked around, completely bewildered at his show of presentation. Suffice to say he looked impressed.

Kane giggled. "I know what you're thinking. Quite the…presentation, right?"

Joey slowly nodded his head as his eyes were still wide. "Uh, y-yes, very…" he muttered. "It's uh…very much you involved. It's roomy, with _just_ the right amount of disturbing."

"My bungalow, that I have received all by myself." He slammed the bottom of the flask against the table. "Someday, this shall be the centerfield, of a new era dawns, for me to rise, _rise,_ _ **rise**_! Above the ignorant humans who dare overlook me and my genius!"

Joey raised a brow. "Your what now?"

"Please, Joey, do contain yourself any further." He smirked as he raised his glass again. "We should savor this time together."

However, Joey looked disinterested. "Look, Kane. I just came here to get my friends back."

"Ssshh!" Kane hushed. "Savoring…this very moment."

Joey sighed. "How long are-"

"Ssssh! Savoring~."

"But I-"

"Savor."

"You just-"

"Savor!"

"Can we really just-"

"Savor this moment! _**SAVOR IT!**_ " he snapped with just a deranged, if not desperate look on his crazed face; even his hand was twitching its fingers.

Seeing as how this wasn't going to get anywhere until it was over, Joey acquiesced and despondently looked at Kane. He folded his arms in a pout as he sat back in his seat, 'savoring' silently.

Taking him a deep sigh, Kane smirked. "Ahh~. Yes. I do love me a good savoring to start off my dinner."

Joey appeared beside him. "Okay, I'll bite. Just what is that are we doing, Kane?" he questioned. "I thought we were gonna at least…tussle or something?"

The look on Kane's face showed anger as he banged his table, making his glass jump. "Are you taking me seriously, or what?!" he snapped.

Joey did another eyeroll. "Not unless your 'grand scheme' was to kidnap me and my friends just so you can have a dinner with others than like a demented troll, in which case congratulations, you got part of that accomplished."

Kane sat in his seat, looking spaciously in thought. "Ever since I was ever so little…no one has acknowledged my intelligence." He began to drown his thoughts back to when he was in kindergarten, when during that time kids would be playing. He could still remember his pride shattered when his own stack of blocks in a wall spelling his whole name got no recognition. Instead, kids were playing and laughing, and a little Joey was making a really big tower of legos, with Dereece being the support. "People have always been so simple, always acknowledging the more of their kind, only with more pizzazz that they feel would draw in crowds." He remembered as he grew older, he kept making equations and projects that were way above average, like pie recipes, equations to help make chemicals to polish Corphish claws, even art. But no matter what, Joey was so simple that even when he started dancing during recess, people would try and dance contest him instead of listening to his ideas. "It left me isolated. Alone. Even my parents never liked me. They always preferred my older brother, Clarence, over me and my lattes."

Joey flinched back from the guilt he was feeling from hearing his life story. "Yeesh, lattes?" he grimaced.

"Yes, lattes! The crème is always right, and even that wouldn't get me at the top of Restaurant Le Wow!" Kane turned around, looking at his open hands as he thought deeper, spoke more of his ambitions. "Is…is tis what _my_ destiny was to be known for? Making lattes? Upstaged by my brother and the family restaurant?" He balled his fist as he looked at the wall. "You ask me what I desire, well I'll tell you. I want to be acknowledged as a genius! Someone who can rule with guidance without being looked away from! And that means I have to defeat _you_!" He pointed back at Joey in challenge, but to his surprise, he found that the room was empty. His eyes widened in sheer surprise. "J-Joey…?" And that's when he realized it: Joey gave him the slip. He could feel his anger boil from inside once again.

" **JOEY~!** " He roared throughout the bungalow.

* * *

In the room Dereece and Duncan were kept, Duncan was still struggling, but even that wasn't working out for him.

"Forget it, Duncan. No way out of this." Dereece grimaced.

Duncan stopped struggling, sighing in defeat. "Well I don't suppose you have any ideas in your pockets, right?"

Dereece looked away in shame. "Sorry. Looks like Kane took away our Poke Balls." He looked over towards the table on the other side of the room. On it were a few Poke Balls, of which were Duncan's. There were even a few others like an Ultra Ball for his Magmortar, and some others of varied aspects. "Guess we better wait for Joey to come and get us?"

"You serious?" Duncan exasperated. "Why would I wait on a possibility that'll never happen?"

"Gee, I don't know, maybe because it _did_ happen?" a voice from the entrance spoke.

"What the…?" Duncan and Dereece turned their heads to see who it was that called out to them. Much to even Duncan's surprise, it was the last person they ever expected. The very reason this whole thing started.

"Joey?" Dereece gasped.

"In the flesh, baby."

Duncan looked mildly surprise. "Well I'll be damned. You really showed up."

"You mean you beat Kane already?" Dereece inquired.

Joey meekly shrugged. "Yeah, well, about that…he was just kinda lost in his own 'issues', and really I didn't think that was the problem here." He raised a brow towards them. "Alright guys, if you're finished resting, he can go now."

Duncan and Dereece both looked down at the ropes, then back at Joey.

Joey slouched forward with another groan. "Ugggh! Fine! Since I've done _everything_ , why not?" He approached them, undoing the knots that kept them restrained. "Honestly, people these days…"

* * *

"Hiiiyyyah!" Chespin's head collided with the door again, making it thud before he fell back onto his back. "Oof! Owww…" He rubbed the back of his head, trying to ease the soreness that he felt. He looked up again, looking at the door with another affirmative glare. He shook his head, steeling himself to try again. "Okay, one more. This time, I got it!"

He turned and ran down the doorsteps and into the front porch. Once he got the distance, he got a foot back and gained momentum. Once set, he roared out as he bolted forward. " **Tackle!** "

The door suddenly flung open, revealing Joey with the gang behind him. "Alright, out we go!"

"AAAAH~!" Chespin leaped at them, showing his war face that bolted at everyone.

Joey shrieked in shock before he and everyone ducked. Chespin went flying right over their heads into the house like a speeding rocket. The sounds of glass and porcelain breaking was a sign of hitting a vase. Everyone slowly uncovered as they looked back over their shoulders, staring with raised brows indoors.

"…what the heck was that about?" Duncan questioned.

Joey looked towards them both, who shot him an expectant look. He, however, shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Well played, Joey."

The voice came from in front, getting them all to look back to see someone intercepting them. To all their shock, it was Kane, who stood out in the open with hands behind his back, smirking.

"As expected of my enemy. Using my own life story as a distraction, why, even I didn't expect that. Clever you are." He teased.

Joey, however, didn't seem to care. "Okay, first of all, you need a hobby. Secondly, what's clever? I was just bored. Actions are louder than words after all."

"'Actions are louder than words'…" Kane repeated. "Yes, thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to use it to defeat you." His eyes narrowed in evil intention, which left the group unsound by his claim.

"Just what's this guy's deal anyway?" Duncan inquired. "What do you two have anyway?"

Joey shrugged. "Don't look at me. I'm not the one who ends up in _his_ bed." He then turned with a serious look. "But if it's a battle he wants, then it's a battle he's gonna get. Chespin!"

Chespin popped out of the doorway. "Hi!" He and Joey made way down the porch and onto level ground with Kane, where he stood patiently while Chespin raced in front of Joey.

Spreading his arms out, Chespin gave Kane a glare. "Bring it on!"

Kane snickered as he held out his own Poke Ball. "Very well then, Joey. Let's just see what you are made of." He tossed the Poke Ball skyward. "Venipede, go!"

The Poke Ball popped open in the air above, sending an energy downwards into the grass. Venipede hissed as he faced Chespin, who spread his limbs out for anything that might go wrong. Once again, Kane snickered.

"Joey, better be careful. You know you're at a disadvantage." Dereece warned.

Joey continued facing the battle. "I know, thanks for the heads up." He leaned forward. "I know you might wanna help, but let me handle this by myself. I gotta."

Duncan said nothing. Dereece watched on in worry as he was told to standby.

Joey balled his fist. "Alright, Kane! Whenever you're ready!"

"Why, Joey? Giving me the first attack?" he cooed. "You must be so bold. Very well then. I'll be happy to oblige." He reached out his arm, his expression turning malicious. "Use **Poison Sting!** " His Venipede responded by hissing before shooting out small, thin, poisonous barbs from the tip of his mouth. They spread out some as they closed in on Chespin.

Joey swiped his arm. "Chespin, dodge!" His Chespin thus rolled over to the side, tumbling towards his right to evade the spray of barbs that broke like nails upon hitting the ground.

"Impressive." Kane complimented. "Dodging a super effective move is always important."

"Now use **Rollout!** "

"Right! Here we go!" Chespin hunched over, making sure he was curled up as much as possible to look like a ball. Once set, he started rolling and churning in place before he went bolting at Venipede.\

Joey watched as Chespin rolled across the ground, getting closer. _'We just leveled up, so we recently learned this move. It took a while with all the wild Pokémon we had to fight that were Caterpie and other things we could find in the East Forest, but now it's paid off! Time to show Bug-type we mean business now!'_

Kane snapped his fingers. " **Defense Curl** , please."

Venipede hissed as he curled up into a ball as well. Once fastened, a red aura surrounded his body, increasing his Defense stat. Chespin's Rollout made impact, sending the curled up Venipede backwards through the air. He landed on the ground, but he bounced right off.

"Now, use _your_ **Rollout** , Venipede!" Kane followed up. His Bug/Poison-type complied as he landed on the ground once again in a ball. Rather than roll backwards as before, he started rolling faster forward, almost like a race car tire. Dirt spilled from either side as he went speeding towards Chespin. While Chespin was able to land on his two feet, he was caught off guard and unsuccessful in blocking. He was struck head on by the attack, which sent him flying back. As he sailed, Venipede continued Rollout onwards.

"Chespin!" Joey watched in shock as his Chespin landed on his back with a thud. Venipede continued to roll ahead and went in an arch around Chespin back towards Kane.

"Isn't it splendid?" he mused. "Not only does Defense Curl increase my Defense, but it also doubles the power of Rollout. So now we are met with another match, which I shall break!" Kane swiped his arms again. " **Rollout!** "

Once again, Venipede hissed as he passed his Trainer from behind, bolting at Chespin.

Chespin git back up, grunting in pain.

"Chespin, **Rollout** again!"

"Okay!"

As Venipede rolled in, Chespin followed suit and rolled with the same force. He and Venipede both went straight into each other, each either grunting or hissing as they treaded dirt on their ways forward. For the second time now, the two Pokémon met in the center. The instant they collided, the dust they treaded dispersed as they sent the other into midair.

As they watched the battle Dereece and Duncan stayed as calm as possible; although for Dereece this was easier said than done.

Duncan observed with diligence. "Well this seems equal."

Dereece shot him a look. "What do you mean?"

"Rollout does double the damage against Bug-types like Venipede, but that guy used Defense Curl to match that power." They watched as their next Rollout collided again, this time the two spinning faster and digging into the ground instead of bounce away like before. Neither side gave in, making it a grueling contest of durability. "Seems the one with stronger offense might be the one who'll win this."

Dereece looked back towards the battle, his face showing concern. "But Defense Curl still lessens physical damage. Joey might have to try harder somehow."

Joey punched forward. "C'mon, Chespin! **Rollout!** " Once again, moving at a fast rate, Chespin's fourth Rollout closed in on Venipede.

"Excellent." Kane marveled. "Now then, Venipede, take your position."

The centipede hissed as he started his fourth Rollout towards Chespin. The two Pokémon once again went rolling at the other, zeroing in on their targets. Green and magenta were like two bowling balls that went blitzing without stopping. They only drew ever so closer, making meters pass in seconds.

"Now, jump!"

Upon Kane's command, Venipede added a bounce into himself, making himself roll right over Chespin. Time slowed down as the two Pokémon rolled, with Chespin on the ground and continuing while Venipede went right overhead. Joey's eyes widened at he saw the whole thing happen.

Time sped up again as Venipede landed behind Chespin, who kept rolling on. "Now, use **Poison Sting!** " Venipede turned around and shot poisonous barbs like bullets across the battlefield towards the Spiny Nut Pokémon. With momentum unable to change direction, Chespin began to grow wobbly as the barbs pelted him from behind. They clashed and glistened against his body, making sharp sting-like sensations flare. Eventually, a small purple explosion burst behind Chespin, making that big burst that broke him and thud against the ground in front of Karl.

"Chespin!" Joey worried. "You okay?"

Chespin groaned as he struggled to his feet. He almost faltered one moment, but getting the dizziness out of his mind, he clutched his head to hold himself upright.

Kane snickered at the opportunity at hand. "Now, use **Screech!** "

Venipede remained stationed as he bent his head forward. His antennae rattle profusely as he shrieked, sending orange, distorted shockwaves that expanded and swallowed Chespin. The loud volume and frequency made the Grass-type instantly forget his dizziness and cover up his ear canals. He screamed out in pain, but they were unheard in the Screech. He could only feel his Defense lower as a blue aura indicated that.

Joey covered his ears, wincing at its volume. "Man, this is bad." He muttered.

Kane snapped his fingers again, making Venipede stop his discomforting attack. "Now, **Rollout!** "

Venipede curled up into a ball again, this time spinning slower than before. He still, however, had the same power up thanks to Defense Curl and went spinning into Chespin's back. The attack zoomed with deadly force, knocking Chespin for a loop skywards. The Grass-type cried loudly as his whole world was flipped while Venipede continued on beneath, time slowing down with a gasp heaping from Joey.

"Yes!" Kane hissed.

Chespin landed on his stomach, facing Joey with a loud huff. Venipede continued rolling on until he reached Kane. He stopped almost instantly and faced his adversary's behind.

Joey took a step forward, leaning in to see Chespin's grievous condition. "Man, this is bad…" His fists balled tighter than before. "Chespin can't take another hit like that. I gotta think of something, but what?"

Kane chuckled, getting Joey to face him. "Why so startled, Joey? I thought for sure your brilliant brain would have anticipated an instance such as this. Are you at your wits end so soon?"

Joey growled angrily at his foe. There was no way he was going to let him get away with this. Not while he was still breathing.

"Then prepare to taste the agony of defeat!" he reached his arm out, giving the word. "Venipede… **Rollout** , and finish this!"

Venipede hissed loudly and raised his head in a loud, triumphant shriek. He made a quick jump before curling into a ball in midair. He began to spin at an alarming rate once more as he landed on the ground, bolting forward towards Chespin.

Chespin struggled to stand. He looked over his shoulder to see Venipede incoming, but he was moving so fast he wasn't keeping up. He could only watch and steel himself as the attack drew closer.

"Chespin! Move!" Joey snapped.

Venipede hissed as he closed in, but a sudden force from the side abruptly pushed him off course. The strong winds created even made him flip, sending the Bug/Poison-type skywards, screaming in shock.

Kane looked deeply shocked. "What's this?!"

"H-huh?" Chespin uncovered and turned on his backside. He sat up as Venipede fell to the ground with a thud.

Kane stepped forward, hovering over the crippled Venipede in shock. "Venipede!" He heard him hiss in a groan as he stirred back up. Kane balled his fists and turned his attention to where the blast of wind came from. "Who did that?" he demanded.

Everyone turned their attention to where the attack came from, but to their surprise, they didn't see anyone they expected. Instead within the setting sun's orange rays, a small figment was flying in the sky, incoming like some angel.

"Hi, Master!"

"What?" Dereece squinted.

Joey's breath hitched in shock. "Wait…is that…?"

To everyone's shock, there was a gray and dark gray dove/pigeon creature sailing in the sky, incoming with intentions to attack. Its yellow eyes were looking placid as it finally saw the face of Joey, and then it clicked who it was that came to the rescue.

"Pidove?!" Joey shrieked.

"What did you say?" Kane looked back towards Joey, then back at the incoming Pidove. "Reinforcements?"

The wild Pidove finally reached their location. He circled above Chespin as he finally stood up again. Once up and at it, he watched the Pidove circle overhead. The Grass-type looked curiously at the bird at how it all worked out. "Wait, aren't you that same one?!" he yelled up.

Dereece blinked in question, the realization catching up towards him. "Wait…that's the same Pidove that blindly obeyed you, Joey! He came back!"

Joey went wide-eyed and hunched over at the disbelief. "You mean he's been on standby this whole time?!"

"I must obey my master!" Pidove dumbly reiterated.

Growing tired of this charade, Kane balled a fist and growled. "Gnnnngh…so, it looks like Joey _does_ have outside sources helping him out. Interesting. So he mimicked my Drifloon habit and baited that Pidove here?" He shot Joey another impressed look. "He's taking a page out of my book now, but let's see how long that lasts, shall we? Venipede!"

The Venipede hissed as he was ready to take them on once more, this time a light green aura enveloping his body. His whole body surged with a small energy that wasn't alone in the struggle. In fact, Chespin struggled to stand as well, and like Venipede, a darker green aura enveloped his body.

"What's going on?" Dereece questioned.

"Hmph, don't tell me you don't know an Ability when you see one." Duncan huffed.

"Their what now?"

Joey blinked a couple times before he picked up on it. "Wait, it's coming back to me! It's Overgrow! And Venipede's Swarm! This means the battle's almost over!"

Kane narrowed his eyes. "So it would seem. But it is I who shall be laughing in the end, Joey! Venipede, **Poison Sting!** " At his command, the insect with the aura around his body jutted out toxic barbs that went barreling at Chespin.

Being too tired to dodge, Chespin steeled himself, but this time, there was one more trick that was available, and it was flying right overhead. Pidove continued fluttering in circles, even as Poison Sting continued its course. Joey, however, was aware of this, and played along with mind game from before.

"Pidove, stop that attack!" he ordered.

Pidove instantly stopped doing laps absent-mindedly and faced the opponent. "I shall obey, Master!" His wings glowed brightly and flapped them. With each flap, a strong, searing wind picked up, shooting right down and heading towards the Poison Sting. The strong winds powered through the attack, blowing the barbs out of proportions everywhere.

"What's this?" Kane gasped.

"Awesome job, Pidove! Now let's kick it up a notch!" Joey reached out. "Chespin, **Vine Whip!** "

Chespin steeled himself for the umpteenth time as the green aura around his body. He grunted loudly as he surged what strength into the glints on his shoulders, jutting out and shooting long, glowing vines. The Vine Whip was not only a little thicker, but it was also a lot brighter, no doubt by Overgrow.

At it soared across the ground, Kane glared daggers at its incoming. "That won't do anything against Venipede's defenses, Joey!"

"Well then we'll just have to change it then!" he argued. He swiped his arm again. "Send Venipede flying, Chespin!"

"What?"

"Alright, here we…GO!" Chespin leaned forward, making Vine Whip at last connect with Venipede. However, out of arbitrary commands, he instead grabbed the antennae on Venipede's head and started to pivot. Mustering his strength, he began to lift Venipede a little before he began to turn. As he started to go in a circle, the shrieking Venipede followed in a frantic. He tried to worm out, but he couldn't manage; he was just too light, and Chespin had too much momentum going for him.

"HRRAAAH!" With a sharp pivot, Chespin's Vine Whip went skywards, sending the Venipede into the air above. Kane looked stupefied as his pet was airborne.

Reaching his arm out with a smirk, Joey gave the final call. "Alright Pidove, give it a big **Gust!** "

"Yes, master!" Once again, Pidove gave out a large coo as his wings glowed a bright blue. He gave a loud shout before at last, he reeled them forward, sending one, bug, pulsating wind beat that zoomed in towards Venipede. The shocked Pokémon went wide-eyed and had no way out, and screamed in agony as the super effective attack sent it flying backwards, speeding like a rocket that twisted at Kane.

"Venipede~!" Kane reached out in horror at his centipede but was cut off when the Pokémon hit him in the face. The Gust from then on created a draft that made him lose balance and stumble backwards. He lost his footing upon a few feet, and finally fell onto his back.

That's when a click was heard.

Suddenly, the latch door Joey fell through popped open, sending Kane and his unconscious Venipede screaming into darkness. "CURSE YOU~~!" His wails deafened as he sunk deeper before the latch fixed itself in place as before.

Joey turned his head with a big smirk on his face towards Kane's bungalow. He raised a brow as he reached into his ear and turned a knob. That said ear got a louder volume to hear the several thumps and turns that he had to endure, and now Kane was battered through it all. With one final crash, he flinched as he could've heard the sound of a chair break inside. The results were far greater than before.

"Well that's gonna hurt in the morning." Joey adjusted his ear's knob back to normal, sticking his tongue out in the process. Once adjusted everyone began to gather around him. "Well, looks like that settles it, everyone. Great job!"

The Overgrow aura around Chespin diminished, and he smiled with delight. "Yes! We've won!"

"Hooray!" Pidove cheered above.

Duncan showed a smirk. "Well as dumb as luck as that was, I gotta say that wasn't shabby." He admitted. "For someone still so weird."

Dereece bumped his shoulder. "C'mon man, be cool."

Joey raised a formal hand. "Nope, he's right, Dereece. This was all my fault anyway." He looked up towards the circling Pidove in the sky, giving him a smile. "If it weren't for that guy, I probably would've lost. And then who would've known after?"

"Let's not answer that, okay?" Dereece raised his hand.

Joey sat his elbow to the side, allowing the Pidove to come down and roost on the arm. "Thank you, Pidove, for being there." He praised.

Pidove beamed with pride. "Oh goodie! Joey is pleased now!" Like Joey, he had his own go-lucky smile, if a beak forming one meant anything.

Watching the scene, Dereece folded his arms, giving a subtle nod to the affiliation the two were starting to grow.

Duncan looked towards him. "What is it?"

"Call me crazy…but I think that Pidove is perfect for Joey." Dereece watched as Joey gave the Pidove another order, which was to descend and shake his wing with the equally grateful Chespin. "He seems like a good choice to me."

Duncan shrugged. "I don't see why not. A Pokémon with half a mind for someone without much common sense."

Dereece furrowed his brow. "Well at least say s _omething_ appreciative."

"It's fine." Joey dismissed. The guys turned towards him, seeing his head cocked with a smirk. "I don't see why not. After all, it has to obey its master, right?" he winked.

As Pidove and Chespin were making conversation down below, the tint pigeon instantly turned towards the Trainer as he got to a knee, giving him a smile. The bird looked up in question as he saw the placid look Joey gave him.

"Pidove…do you wanna come with me?" he offered. "We'll have a heck of a blast! We'll see a bunch of crazy stuff I bet in this wackadoo world!"

The Pidove turned his head in seeming confusion to Joey's question. There was a long standoff between him and the blonde, which even lead to blinking a few times. Once his head tilted back into place, the Pidove blinked one last time.

"…yum!"

Joey's smile widened. "Great!" He presented the Poke Ball by his palm. He held it in front of Pidove, who tilted his head dumbly and pecked the button quickly. Instantly, the capsule's top opened, and Pidove's body turned into glistening red energy that morphed and bent into the inside of the Poke Ball. The capsule closed tight, sealing Pidove inside.

It rattled side to side in Joey's hand a few times, before at last, the ball gave out a large 'ding' sound, signaling the choice that Pidove had made was final.

"Yes!" Joey raised the Poke Ball into the air, holding it like he was holding something majestic as the sun radiated behind him. It gave him a certain warrior's appeal, mixed with his fashion sense. "Welcome aboard the party train, Pidove!"

"Aw yeah!" Chespin cheered.

Dereece walked up to him, giving his best friend a big pat on the back. "Proud of ya, man. Nice work."

"Thanks, Dereece." He turned towards Duncan. "And Duncan…"

The two had a long standoff as well. They were remaining quiet as their gazes were compared once more. Duncan's was dead serious if not scolding, as opposed to Joey's soft, confident, and assuring grin. Finally, the tension between them broke when Joey continued.

"You know, the offer to join our team still stands. If you want to, we can make one right here and now. What do you say?"

Duncan closed his eyes, frowning at the options he had. Joey and the others fell silent as well, awaiting the expectations to be played out.

Under normal circumstances, Duncan would say no. He was better off alone, and preferred to be that way for as long as possible. However, from what he had learned the hard way, that wasn't always the safest way to approach matters such as the one with Kane. What's even more diminutive was how Joey was.

While he didn't know much about Joey other that he was a crazy party animal when he wants to, he knows he came from Kalos, much like Nic did. While the same can be said for Dereece, he was nothing more than his lackey who blindly followed him. While there was a line of maturity still needed to be there, he still had to recount the fact that Joey saved his life. That held up some degree of promise in his competence.

A long time had passed since Duncan had been thinking. He folded his arms and kept eyes shut. Joey and Dereece looked at each other and back at Duncan, hearing him finally breathe out a very long, deep sigh.

"Well, fine. If that's what you want."

His answer made Joey and Dereece go wide-eyed with gasps. "You mean…that's a yes?" Joey hoped.

Duncan shrugged. "Yeah, of course. Why not? Better safe than sorry I suppose. Just know that you better keep your troubles to yourself, okay?"

Dereece despondently shook his head in a scolding, fatherly manner. "Trust me man, that ain't possible. Not with this guy." He pointed his thumb towards the smiling Joey.

"Darn right! And now that we have a team…" He turned epically towards the vast east, looking ready for anything. "We need a name. A name that strikes ear into hearts, with just the right amount of wonder in it."

"Ooooh! Nice!" Chespin clapped.

"You thought one already, didn't you?" Dereece rhetorically asked.

"You bet, and it's so crazy, it'll probably even make you puke!" He turned fully, making his new coat shift in the winds. It lifted up some, along with his spirits. "From here on out, no matter what, no matter whom, we shall be a team who shall make Fairy Tail proud." His smirk widened with determination. "We, shall be the team that will surprise even the Cambire Foundation, rival guilds; even tax collectors and snoody grocery marketers!" He raised his fist high, declaring his privilege to the heavens above. "From here in out, we, shall be known as… _ **THE FREAKS!**_ "

The name echoed all throughout the area, reverberating loudly for anyone who didn't hear it the first time. There was a long silence that feel between everyone, and Joey kept his stance and bright smile. As opposed to behind, when they all despondently stared at him like someone who made the biggest joke ever.

"I can't believe you." Dereece deadpanned. "'The Freaks'?"

"Should've figured as much." Duncan sighed.

"Exactly!" Joey turned around, hands to his hips with a grand smile. "And now that we're a team, you have to call me 'Captain', got it?"

Duncan rolled his eyes away, sighing again. "Whatever…Captain."

Joey snickered at the name given to him. "See? That wasn't so hard. I think we'll be just fine."

Dereece shrugged. "Whatever you say. But, uh, just one little thing?"

"Sure. Ask away!"

"Just which direction is Magnolia again."

Realizing the situation, and the fact they have been away for a long time, Joey hunched over. "…oh."

Duncan snickered beneath his breath. "This should be good."

And like that, the dawn of Fairy Tail's newest – and freakiest – team was born.

* * *

 **Chapter 5, and what a day it has been indeed! At this point, I just really gave up on short-handing my chapters now. I have so many ideas now and so little chapters I want to do them in that maybe 15K might be my minimal quota from here on. Boy will that be some read then. I understand if you resent that, but I've come this far, didn't I? You've all seen what awesomeness I can spill in such stuff like the Impure Underworld Arc and the ending I made to the sequel. If that took up so many words, I fail to see how this can be any different.**

 **Now for those who are wondering why Nic wasn't the star this chapter, I decided to make him step down a little so we can get some development and insight on my other OCs. But this won't be happening all the time, I assure you. While Nic was a cameo this time, we still got to see him use the Mystic Water to show his trust in Arthur's plans. Plus, this was a really good way to give Joey an arch nemesis, who is just as freaky and eccentric as he is. The plot, as well as the whole chapter itself, was something I picked up on when I watched All Hail King Julien. This is no different, just for those who were wondering where I got this little playoff from.**

 **So now we have confirmed many things this chapter: Nic can still dual type, Joey and Dereece's upgrades, Joey got a Pidove…and arch nemesis; Duncan's conformed to have a Magmortar, and lastly, the formation of The Freaks. Yeah, not so easy to apply in so little words now, right?**

 **Anyways, next chapter will be something you'll might like. A lot more Pokémon for Fairy Tail, with some prelude to the next big arc I have planned now. So until then, enjoy!**


	6. A Little Seminar

In the location that was known as Crocus, there was a numerous amount of bustling and hustling array of people that were out on the streets. Many were minding their own business, and some were making small talk in front of places. However, at the base of a far end, rather close to Crocus' shorelines, this was where one man was making his dream come true.

On a very large estate that was still currently in the works of construction, there was a large perimeter set up to keep safety recommendations high. Plant seeds were planted about on the court, and high-quality machinery such as cranes and Pokémon were working together to cement down the rest of the plates around a massive white complex. The building was currently no more than fifty feet high as of now, but that was the base of it as of yet. It still had a far longer way to go until it was all fully at the height of it all, but so far, the clear windows was evidence that the classy building with smaller, stylish-looking estates, was to be known for something currently in its works.

In the main building, at the top of it where a black sparkling staircase went up the side of the building both ways to reach fifty feet up, there was a black floor for temporary placement. All around were current construction workers, and what looked like a couple Machoke helping move materials about and lift material in place of others. Sitting at his current desk in the background, Arthur was facing away from the construction and focused on the outside. Ignoring his reflection at the time, his attention drew towards the massive court behind, where there, it was as grand as the Mercurius courtyard itself, if not more. Despite the many of buildings around that were currently residence to the many of thousands of interns who offered to help, the main part of the court was an elaborate array of battlefields, where he could see two wannabe people reaching out and giving their commands for their Psyduck and Drowzee to clash.

Psyduck and Drowzee both ran up towards the other furiously, their hands and claws raking Pound and Scratch at the same time. The attacks missed, and instead, both Pokémon were hit square in their own guts. Drowzee winced, while Psyduck gagged at the impact. They both rebounded and raised their heads, keeping their close proximity and readied another attack. Drowzee yelled out as he swung his arms forward, glowing once again as Pound.

Watching with an expectant frown, Arthur's attention drew away from the many battle seminars down below and saw that in the distance, far away, the massive, garden-like fence housed many greens within it. A close inspection inside revealed a few smiling workers that were busy picking freshly grown berries that derived from one sample. And amongst those planting and working, an experienced intern was explaining berries to a fresh group that had been introduced earlier this morning.

Coming up from behind, a pair of high heels belongs to a nice pair of legs standing a few feet from the desk. "Sir, is this a bad time?" the person asked.

Taking his eyes away from the overall progress, Arthur turned to see his assistant with a clipboard in hand. "Oh, Marie. There you are." He said. He moved his hand to control a remote controller on his wheelchair. His mechanical marvel instantly pivoted on one heel and made him face the desk. He then thrust forward, moving to where he sat in front of it. "I was wondering where you might have gone. I was beginning to wonder if you were too bust for me." He teasingly smirked.

Marie, however, had no facial change. "I left for only 20 minutes." She deadpanned.

"And that's 1,200 seconds you've wasted." He belittled lightly. "Amazing how so many seconds adds up quick that it makes a world of difference in the long run. One second late is a penny pinched as the greedy would say."

Marie coughed lightly, as if trying to alter the wayward trip Arthur was making. "Speaking of work, I thought you would like to know of the charts we've made." She approached his desk, where she sat the clipboard in front to allow Arthur to see its measurements. He picked it up, observing the contents carefully, starting from the top.

"It's the production chart that Eliza has been keeping a deep track of." She explained. "As you can see, we've already made a high sum of Poke Mart supplies thanks to the combined engineers managing pharmaceutical compensation."

Arthur was scrolling down the charts carefully, seeing the weekly labels producing a product label, a sum next to it, and a total of what it is expected to be by the end of the week. The looked on his face turned substantially modest as he saw the numbers well in the thousands for each supply. "Well you're definitely not wrong there, Marie." He admitted. "I gotta say, we've really got our work cut out for us this time around. All these new Trainers wanting to master the art of Pokémon, to the Nurse Joys that we've hired and got to making medicine and anatomy passed down; why, we even got Jeffery's department already working on distributing all of the current data of Pokémon out there." He turned his attention, as well as his wheelchair, over towards the windows again. He looked out with a befuddled smile as he watched the progress below. "Why, I'm surprised at how Charlotte and Travis are handling this so well."

Charlotte reached her arm out angrily ahead. "No! That is all wrong!" She boldly scolded to a Trainer. "You do not just simply order a Pokémon to 'attack and hit it with something'! You must know its moves and give swift commands with them!"

"Uh, s-sorry!" the Trainer apologized from afar.

"Don't apologize! Just focus on the battle!" She roared, making the Trainer flinch. She reeled back upright and gave a meek expression of exhaustion. "Ingrates…"

Travis blew into the whistle he had swiftly, then raised an arm up. "Alright guys, ten-minute break!"

As the Trainers and Pokémon practicing finally eased up, Arthur could see the exasperating looks on some, the adrenaline some still had on their faces from close calls. Some looked to be struggling even. "I hope Charlotte's not being too hard on them."

"She's always been so controlling." Marie defended. "She made it loud and clear the first day she wouldn't be holding anything back."

Arthur managed a smirk as he turned his wheelchair again towards the desk. "True. Change isn't easy after all. And if we're to discipline Trainers and the people of this world in order to understand battles aren't to be taken lightly, we need to take serious measures of our own." He looked back down at the clipboard that was sitting in his lap, folding his fingers in the process. "So then otherwise we're on schedule with the Poke Balls and medicine, right?"

She nodded. "Of course. The pamphlets have all been distributed as you've requested. The diagrams should give those out of reach what the basics of a Trainer is."

"I see."

"There's one more thing."

Arthur's head looked up towards her, humming in inquiry.

"The Magic Council had requested that you begin making footage and evidence that those outside the Cambire Foundation are running smoothly with Pokémon basics. They want to see people adapting well to these changes, and they want to see it as soon as a few days."

Arthur's facial expression didn't waver for a few moments. In fact, his fingers remained folded as his chin lowered, a small grin forming on his face as he chuckled low. "Well I'll be, should've pegged them to push our buttons like this." He mused.

"Sir, what do we do?"

He faced her again, his serious face returning. His posture went upright once more. "We comply of course. We cam here on their terms after all, so we have to do what we can to speed things along…although I do admit their need for pacing is challenging."

"Then what do you suggest?"

His serious look sharpened, his overlapping fingers tightening some more. "We'll give them what they want. We'll hurry production and set up the markets for our merchandise. And for a start…" He looked away from his lovely assistant, his expression growing soft as he thought of the few ideas that he had in mind. When he thought of a solid base, his eyes closed, and a nice grin showed itself in his wily thoughts. "I think I just might know the right place to do all this."

* * *

"YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?!" someone shouted.

"NO! I WANT _TWO_ PIECES!" another retorted.

"MAKE THAT THREE!"

The shouts coming from Fairy Tail were so loud that they could've been heard from outside the guild hall. Those who were cautious were keeping their proximity away and around the street as inside, the sounds of furniture, bodies, and glass palpitated heavily. Some could've mistaken the sound of chair legs snapping being human bones instead.

In the midst of all this was the traditional Fairy Tail scuffle. Today was on a more rambunctious scale as practically the whole guild was wrestling about in the melee. It was hard to tell what exactly was going on, but aside from some Pokémon standing off to the side, it seemed to be between mages. However, not everyone was in the scuffle. There some certain individuals who were more appropriate – or sane to an extent – to stay close to the bar. It was there, the little "sanity corner" was being visited by the casuals, namely, the roundabout crew that started the little gig years ago.

"So what started it this time?" The one speaking was Nic. He, along with Cana, Sophie, and not so surprising anymore, Vanessa, were all behind the bar, sitting down to avoid any bodies or furniture overhead.

Sophie folded her arms, sitting up against the lower cabinets. "Well…from what I've heard, Gajeel just got back from a job as of recently, and he brought along with him his own Pokémon." Her attention was drawn away from the random stool leg that went spiraling overhead to the creature beside her. "And from what I've heard, it's quite the rowdy little one." In comparison to what she was referring to, her Pokémon she had beside her was a small yellow Pokémon. It was hard to tell if it was humanoid because it had three toes and claws, with short, brown armor on the upper body. The eyes were always blank, if not closed. And the surprising twist was that even if it looked asleep, it was levitating off the ground with psychic powers.

Cana raised an unamused brow as her elbow rest against a booze barrel. "Alright then, and…?"

"Well, apparently, he was rather loquacious about his new companion that he made, and I guess Gray just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

As if on cue, the rumbling from the scuffle taking place intensified. The shouting increased, as did the numerous name calling gambits.

"C'mon, Aron! You're a freaking piece of iron! Knock that pine tree over!" Gajeel roared.

"Oh yeah?! Well save that for after Snover freezes it over!" Gray replied.

The two were in the middle of the rampage, and apparently there as well was Snover as he was pitting himself and his leafy arms against the head of a smaller, if not heavier, Pokémon. His body looked completely of silver-white armor, with two big holes in the mask that made his large blue eyes show. He had stubby white limbs and a long spoke hanging out its back. This was the latest Pokémon addition that Gajeel got, Aron.

The Iron Armor Pokémon continued his stalemate with Snover, even as hail continued to pelt down on the ground. He grunted heavily as he dug in his heels and raised his head, sending Snover skywards. The Grass/Ice-type wailed in a panic as he fell downwards, wailing and hoping for a soft landing. Fortunately for him, Max was so kind to be that cushion, although the landing was rough.

"Aw man!" Gray looked back in shock, and as he was half-naked at the time, Gajeel laughed triumphantly as his Aron snorted.

"Ya see that?!" he boasted. "Calling Aron a little bugger is just begging for a pummeli-!" He was cut off when a Machop flung into the side of his face head-first, making the Iron Dragon fall over with him being Machop's cushion now.

Elfman flexed his muscles in a manly fashion. "Oh yeah! Now that's how a man does it!"

Gajeel laid on the ground, a tick mark growing on his head. "So it was you huh…?" He growled low in anger as he slowly got back up. He got Elfman's attention as he slowly slumped upwards to face him. He cracked his knuckles and began to wickedly smirk. "Now you've done it, buddy…?"

"Oh here we go again…" Levy groaned beside Lucy. Beside her was a small, two-piece Pokémon that looked like two floating gears grinding into each other. They had one eye each and an X for where the other eye might be. The Solid Script Mage sighed as her Klink remained by her side, doing nothing to support the battle.

Lucy leaned in a little, a smile on her face. "Seems like everyone's riled up, wouldn't you think?"

Levy calmed and smiled at the scuffle. "Yeah, I guess so." Her eyes went towards Gajeel, who was currently in a big dust cloud where he and Elfman's limbs were popping in and out of. She can see just how into it her lover was with the passion of fighting. "Still, it's nice seeing him like this."

Lucy looked towards her. "Oh really?"

She smiled. "Yeah, sure. He's been really tense as of late. Being on that mining job and finding that Aron really made him excited." A bead of sweat appeared on her head. "Although…I really can't say the same for when he tried to take a bite out of the little guy…" She could recall how Gajeel looked when he bit into Aron. It was like biting into…well, iron. It hurt, for both Aron and Gajeel. Both even had the same dull eyes and big mouths when they screamed in pain.

"And that's where you met this guy?" Lucy looked towards Klink, who kept spinning its gears in place.

"Yeah. It was in the factory hiding amongst the equipment where the ore mined was shipped." She looked at her Steel-type associate with a smile. "It's really docile."

"Yeah, I can tell…" Lucy looked back at Gajeel and his Aron. Both looked pretty annoyed as they ran into Elfman together, sending him gagging and flying into Warren. The ram was so heavy that they slammed into a wall. Gajeel beamed with pride before a wave of cold, hard ice struck him from the side, revealing himself to be a vengeful Gray. "Hey, speaking of which…"

"Hm?"

"You said he was tense before, didn't you?"

Levy blinked. "Yeah, why? Is that normal?"

"Not really…" Her thoughts went down under, her attention being brought to something that was making their relationship with their own men in question. In her mind, she seemed contemplative. "It's just…doe she do that all the time?"

Levy looked up as she put her index finger to her chin, thinking. "Hmm, not really. Just when he's nervous, he becomes a hard steel shell. He does that quite often when we're out. I-It's a little…" Levy's face began to turn red from embarrassment. "I-It's kinda…sweet." She smiled nervously as she looked at her knees. She and Gajeel were practically inseparable after the war, and throughout all that time, they hardly spent that much time apart since then. The only exceptions were some solo jobs that Gajeel took, or otherwise teamed up with others. As she was looking sappy, she noticed she was being watched. Her attention went towards Lucy, who was leaning in with a mischievous smirk. Immediately she faced her with hands and arms out. "W-Wait a sec! It's not what you think, Lu! Why you even asking me anyway?!" she shrieked.

Lucy did a nonchalant eyeroll. "Oh nothing, just curious is all."

"Oh really? Then what about you and Natsu?" she retorted.

Now it was Lucy's turn to be embarrassed. "W-wait, what?! What about us?!"

Levy bumped her elbow into the blonde's shoulder. "Oh don't think I haven't seen signs either." She cooed. "C'mon, Lucy. Admit it, you trying to find ways to break that sturdy steed?"

Lucy's face began to turn beet red from sheer embarrassment. "I-It's not that, I swear!"

Wendy, who was sitting beside in awkward silence watching the two, turned and looked around in question. "Huh?" Once she realized it, she turned towards Lucy and Levy. "Hey, guys, speaking of Natsu, do you know where he is?"

Carla turned towards the now dimmer escapade. "Strange, I thought for sure he would be into his whole mess. Very odd." She suddenly ducked to avoid a flying Jet overhead, who was then followed by his Taillow. She looked back angrily at them and turned towards the rampage. "Alright, who did that?! Seriously?!" she barked.

Levy and Lucy nervously laughed, having been able to find a reason to digress from the embarrassing girl talk.

"Actually, I think Natsu went outback for some reason." Kinana, who happened to remain out of the scuffle, answered. "He went to try something new for his Charmander. He looked pretty hasty."

* * *

In the back of the guild hall, there was ample room, where there was supposed to be a lot of dirt area that was supposed to be for a pool that the guild had then thinking of building, but they had otherwise been preoccupied to follow through due to constant maintenance. This was where Natsu stood in front of Charmander, his arms folded.

"Okay, you can breathe embers, right?" he began. "I think we should try that trick again. The one we've worked on the other night."

Charmander tilted his head. "You mean the big one?"

Natsu's smile brightened. "Yeah, that one! Here, let's try it again." He spread his feet apart, getting a good distance between them. Once set, he pumped both fists and ignited his body in searing flames. The demonstration lit up Charmander's eyes with awe. "I call this little trick my Fire Dragon's Sword Horn. Here, watch." He faced a nearby boulder sticking out of the ground for unknown reasons. Once he got aim, he crouched and went diving right ahead, making a searing stream follow his wake. Charmander went wide-eyed as he watched Natsu roar and bolt right into the boulder head first, smashing clean through and sending the dust and dirt flying in all directions.

Charmander gaped as rock crumbled beside him, churning at his feet.

Happy smiled confidently. "Bet ya didn't see that coming, right?"

Natsu walked past the destroyed rock as he constantly rolled his shoulder. He looked completely unfazed by his attack. "The trick is to try and make it so that you can focus all the attention on your head, but it begins at the belly. He stood in front of Charmander as he smiled. "It's kinds hard to explain. What I'd try is that I usually build it up in my center, like when I ready a roar, but instead I have it envelop my body by maybe exploding. I'm not exactly sure how to put it in other words though."

"Exploding?" Charmander furrowed his brow and faced a small rock piece that was sitting right in front of him. He closed his eyes and began to hunch over as he tried to focus his energy in the center.

"Yeah, that's it! Just like that!" Natsu encouraged. "Keep trying!"

"Yeah, go Charmander!" Happy cheered.

Charmander was feeling his head getting light, the dizzy sensation flowing through from what could be described as a headache. He balled his claws tightly as he kept trying, and he was actually managing to feel a heat signature from his abdomen. His body was getting hot, and some parts of him were starting to give off embers.

"Come on, just a little more…!"

Charmander grunted loudly as flames were flickering and bursting about all over his body, but finally, Charmander felt his heat die down. He fell onto his down with a deep sigh, panting up towards the sky in defeat. "Aw man, I thought I had it." He groaned.

Natsu crouched down, giving him a smile as he patted his back lightly. "Hey man, it wasn't easy for me either. Trust me, that was better than my first try."

Charmander looked up in surprise. "It was?"

"Oh yeah. Natsu tried to concentrate so hard he passed out." Happy snickered at the memory, much to Natsu's chagrin.

"Happy!" The Dragon Slayer cooled his jets, looking back at his Charmander with a smile. "Anyways, let's give it a shot again. We'll get it down in no time."

Charmander slowly got back up, facing Natsu with a bright smile. "Right!" he nodded.

* * *

"Really?" Lucy gathered what Kinana said and looked towards her Klefki. They both seemed intrigued.

Carla shrugged. "Well if you ask me, if Natsu is making that creature anything like him, I'm not sure we'll have a guild hall anymore."

Wendy nervously scratched her cheek. "Well, you're not wrong…"

"Aaah~!" Nab went flying right pass Wendy, leaving the Sky Dragon shocked and paralyzed as she and Swablu gawked at him slumping down head first towards the floor.

Carla growled beneath her throat, shooting a glance at the guild hall's fight. "Alright, seriously! Where is Erza or Nic?!"

Lucy and Levy both pointed an index finger towards the side, having nervous expressions despondent expressions on their faces. Carla looked in the direction where they pointed, only to find out why.

Erza was within the scuffle, parrying swords with Pantherlily's Musica Sword. Both were lightning fast, and excessively powerful that they were generating powerful sparks between them. They looked so into it that it seemed wrong to stop them.

"Seriously?!"

"I'm afraid so." Lucy sighed.

Mirajane, who was walking pass them casually with a tray, smiled. "Oh it's not so bad. I think it's a nice way to blow off some steam."

"Or blow ourselves up." Lucy defended. "Is Nic stopping this?"

"He's had a long few days on his job. I think he'll just have it blow over his head for today."

Lucy's eyes widened in realization. "Hey yeah, what was his job anyway that took so long?"

"Well you see, from what I've heard, he had to gather as many Pokémon in the wilderness near a village that were trying to poach food and try and handle a food shortage. He got by it as fast as he could, but he stayed a little longer to help explain planting berries. I think that's why he got that big bonus."

Lucy sweatdropped. "Well, guess that's Nic for ya."

At the entrance of the guild hall, Fairy Tail's newest team, The Freaks, entered to what was a scuffle that left them deeply surprised. Joey stood wide-eyed as he saw so many people fighting at once that it seemed barbarian. Glancing left and right awkwardly, he cut in front of Dereece and slowly slid off the side of the guild to get around the scuffle. Dereece and Duncan silently followed, but with a more precarious route that followed Joey.

After a few shuffled several meters around the building, he soon reached the bar. Once there, he faced the scuffle before he hurriedly made a beeline over the counter and towards the other side. And not a moment too soon as Vijeeter slammed into a stool in front. As he laid dazedly on the ground, Duncan and Dereece wormed their way around to join their leader in the sanity corner.

Catching his breath, Joey panted heavily. "\One could've mistaken him for a heart attack. "Phew. That was too close for comfort."

"So you too, huh?"

Joey's eyes opened in shock. His body went still as his eyes slowly traced towards his left side. There, his blue eyes met the nonchalant Cana as she bluntly gazed at him. "Uh, you're here?!" He looked all around, realizing he wasn't alone. "Sophie? N-Nic-senpai?! V-V-Vanessa-senpai?!"

Cana winked. "Surprised?"

"Guess a welcome's in order." Nic congratulated. "Welcome to sanity corner."

"S-sanity corner…?"

Sophie shrugged. "It's a little something Nic and Cana came up with a while back." She explained. "So I take it you're not a fan of fighting, right?"

Joey was taken back by all this, his eyes blinking profusely from the shock that he was sitting close to someone he admired, but even more so that he was in a little "club" he and the half-decent woman right beside him had made. When he looked about again, he could also see that there were an abundant amount of girls with cabooses to boot. As his eyes looked about, he could feel a heat rise up from all around him.

"Aw, look at that. Someone's a little shy." Cana teased.

Joey looked away knowingly. "You don't know that!"

A woman beside him chuckled. "Well, as long as you behave, you can stay." The woman beside him was Vanessa, who was following along on the note the group was playing. Joey took one look at her and realized how close he was to her. He almost turned to solid stone. Even his face showed shock as the pink was in his cheeks.

Duncan looked away without care. "How pathetic."

"Well better safe than sorry, I always say." Dereece defended.

Joey swallowed a lump as he tried to face the cabinets and glasses on the shelves, rather than look at Nic and Vanessa, as well as the female assets they exemplified that was making him want to bite his lower lip. The way he was trying to look so innocent was almost cute.

"I don't think I've seen anyone try and hide something that obvious that hard in plain sight." Sophie told Nic.

The married man nonchalantly folded his arms. "Well you can't exactly blame him. You can imagine how I felt when I first came here, too."

Sophie looked at him in realization. "Oh, right. Your world isn't as common in…certain parts, as us girls." She held and awkward pause there as she tried to find the right words to say. "I'm not even sure that's healthy."

"Who's to say?"

In an effort to make some light conversation out of the bashful boy, Vanessa faced him with a smile. "So, how are you liking Fairy Tail?"

"H-huh?" Joey looked towards her, trying his very, if not upmost, best to stay appropriate. "Oh, uh…i-it's uh…interesting." He answered awkwardly. "When I thought there would be a 'party', I didn't think it would be…"

Vanessa chuckled. "I know. Never a dull moment, right?"

"That's why this guild fits this guy to a tee." Joey pointed his thumb towards Joey. "Joey never makes things boring for me, or for anybody for that matter."

Vanessa raised a brow. "That so?" She faced him again. "How interesting…"

The red in Joey's face brightened. "Y-You really think so?" He looked towards his knees, the expression he was making showing embarrassment and shock. _'Vanessa-senpai just called me interesting…I'm really interesting to her! She admires me! OH MY GOSH!'_ He huddled into his knees and muffled a small squeal that was hardly audible, just as sparkles appeared around his face to indicate his nature going gaga again.

Vanessa kept a straight face as she watched him show his interesting character. She even took a look at his new coat he got the other day. If she was honest, she wouldn't lie when it really stood out.

"You like what you see?" Sophie whispered to Vanessa. When she looked towards her blonde friend, she saw her motioning her eyes towards Joey. The blonde banged, black-haired female responding by scoffing with a smile.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "How pathetic."

"Now, now, let's try and be reasonable here…" Dereece insisted.

* * *

As the fight continued to escalate indoors, the guild's outside sanctum was being forward to by a clean man who was currently making way as citizens were watching him roll by. The way he looked sternly ahead as he walked through the open street gave him a somewhat authoritative stature. Following behind him were two assistance who were wearing lab coats, where they were sandwiching a magic circle that hovered a large, organized crate as they moved right along.

Once the man reached the guild's doors, he could hear a loud case being shattered, and a massive rumbling shake up the whole place. He took a subtle step back out of inquiry, and then looked up. It was a miracle as to how the place was still standing from all this rupturing he heard going on.

Within his shock, an assistant stepped up. "Shall we proceed, sir?"

Trying to regain his stature, the man faced the guild doors with a serious gaze. "Yes, let's."

They all opened the doors, bringing themselves inside.

* * *

To everyone inside the guild hall, they were all bombarding each other with heavy magic, or otherwise trading insults with punches. It was hard to tell which of the two hurt most. In the midst of it all, a shadow entered from the doorway, one that had classy shoes tapping against the wooden floor. With each step, the echoing, was getting to everyone's ears. A few stopped in mid-punches as they looked towards the door.

"Excuse me."

All the commotion everyone was giving off began to dial down as they heard a new voice. They all turned and stopped in their tracks when they saw someone new at the doorway, and he looked to be having some important business given his appearance.

"Hey, look." Gray voiced, getting Gajeel and Elfman to turn towards the intruder behind him.

"Huh?" Lucy turned towards the door next.

From behind the sanity corner, everyone began to stand up. Nic and the others started to get up and turn the corner, watching discerningly of the person everyone was looking to.

The man was looking around, seeing the mess that everyone's made, but he did nothing more than cast the commodity disorder aside. "Am I interrupting something?" he questioned rhetorically. Even his tone didn't sound so amusing.

Max grunted as He rolled over, getting Snover to get off him. "Ow, man…" He looked up, seeing the person at the guild hall's entrance. "Wait, hold up a second, is he familiar to anyone?"

"Beats me." Laki said, holding her Bonsly as the Rock-type was quiet in her arms.

The other members were coming around, beginning to get themselves a little more organized, if not presentable. They were all watching with discerning looks of their own as the man returned it three-fold. One could say his gaze was tougher than steel, much like his composition. The guild itself was starting to get questions to roll in their minds that were itching to get out there, but before they could make any movements to do so, a sound of a shout came from outside.

"Hey, wait up! The heck's going on?!"

The man turned towards the side of the guild doors, hearing the sound of some hasty footsteps. Upon closing in, the doors slammed open to reveal Natsu, alongside his Charmander and Happy. The Dragon Slayer looked intensely at the man and his two assistance with a heavy brow. "The heck's going on here? Well?" he demanded.

"Natsu?" Lucy got up.

"There you are! You're just in time!" Wendy exclaimed.

"For what? Who's this guy?" He looked again at the man, who tried to turn with reason.

"Please, allow me to explain-"

"Alright everybody, that's far enough in my books." From within Fairy Tail's crowd, the loud, deep voice resonated from Laxus as the Thunder God Tribe was clearing a path for him to take to the open. Once the crowd was divided up by Freed and Bickslow's bodyguarding, the guild master folded his arms and stood in front of his crowd with a serious expression, if not irritated.

"Oh, Laxus." Mirajane chimed.

"Laxus?" The man heard the woman say his name, getting his attention to draw back towards the Lightning Dragon Slayer. "So then that's it. You're this guild's master that I've heard about then, right?"

"Yeah, that'd be me." He said dryly. "And who might you be? I wasn't getting noticed to any sort of welcome committee today."

The man put a hand in front, giving a formal bow to the respectable master. "I humbly apologize for any lack of notice. This was on a time-restraint assignment I was given by my good friend, Arthur."

Laxus raised a brow. "You don't say."

The man stood straight up, putting his hands behind his back. He looked around the guild hall again, seeing the many messy faces apparent. "So this is Fairy Tail. A very…interesting group I see."

"Looks can deceiving." Laxus shrugged. "So what is it then? You were sent by the Cambire Foundation or what?"

The man nodded. "Yes. Forgive me for not introducing myself right away. My name is Jefferey Bistro, and I lead the Cambire resource and development industry of the organization. Arthur introduced me during the conference you attended a week ago, if that is any reference."

"Jefferey Bistro…" Lucy put her index finger to her chin as she looked towards the ceiling in inquiry.

Fortunately, Sophie was the one to recollect first. She stepped up. "I remember. You're Jefferey Bistro, and your assistant of that department is Eliza Mauve if I recall." She answered.

He bowed in a wayward manner in praise to her. "Well I see someone pays well of mind to the names given. Thank you, Miss…"

"Sophie. Sophie Lednick." She answered.

"A pleasure indeed." He looked back towards Laxus, giving him a studious gaze. "If it's no trouble, are Mr. and Mrs. Pularis around? I came with an important announcement."

Coming around, Nic looked towards the others before they gave him a look of insecurity. He didn't want to be rude, but he still felt unsound by this arrival. He grunted as he hopped over the counter and landed on his two feet. He, as well as Erza, who emerged from the ruckus and requipped away her sword, reconvened and stood beside one another in front. Nic folded his arms, while Erza stood with a stoic expression.

"Is there something wrong?" Erza answered. Beside her, Nic stayed passive.

Jefferey took a step forward, giving the two a solid grin. "Greetings, you two. It's been a while since the conference, hasn't it?" he said casually.

"It's been a week." Nic answered. "But yeah, I guess you're not wrong."

"Mrs. Pularis." Erza became the attention now. "As for your question, nothing of the sorts is wrong. In fact, I came here on behalf of Arthur to deliver a message that I'm to carry out."

Erza's gaze remained stoic. "And what might that be?"

Jefferey reached into his pocket to get out something. Once he found what he was looking for, he pulled out a small handheld tablet as thin as a phone and pressed one of the few buttons it had. The holographic screen on it glistened before it projected upwards. Everyone, including Jefferey himself, looked up as the hologram showed the picture of Arthur in his wheelchair.

"Greetings, and welcome to you all." The message started.

Natsu looked at the image in question. "Is that really the guy?" He asked Dereece.

"No, it's just a recorded projection I think." He whispered.

"Nic Pularis and Fairy Tail, I would like to be the first to congratulate and thank you for all of your continued support in this time of change. As you know, with this change, of which we have dubbed 'The Crossing', has brought forth a number of Pokémon from our world into this one. We have taken great strides and lengths to make sure that the current populace is making an able effort into incorporating Pokémon into everyday life. So far, we can confirm that through remedial classes taken, a handful have already achieved positive results."

The guildmates looked at each other in earnest. They were making small steps as well, and so far, things were looking quite okay for their liking with their Pokémon, even with some small hiccups here and there. They all looked back at the recorded message continued.

"Still, there is much work to be done. That is why I have made this message, so that you can help in this change. If you have not yet been shown by Jefferey, he will gladly show you the privilege that you, as well as a handful of other guilds, will be receiving at this time."

Jefferey paused the message to turn his head towards his assistance. He nodded, and they proceeded ahead and moved to the front of the guild for everyone to see them. The large crated between them was gently sat down thanks to the magic circle that covered its bottom. Once set, the one associate knelt to its side and moved a panel to reveal a code of sorts with keys in it. He entered the password, getting an okay sound that ringed positively.

Slowly, the large hatch to the mechanical crate slowly opened by sliding its top halves to the sides. They thus slowly opened to reveal an organized array of what looked like bordered items of various sizes. It was a massive treasure trove of items that even left Nic surprised.

Natsu leaned into the box, his eyes widening in shock. "Woah! Take a look at all this, guys!"

"Man, just look at all this stuff." Happy's eyes glistened like a jewel as he saw the many Poke Balls and Potions. "There's gotta be a hundred of these things at once!"

"Hey, move it guys." Warren urged.

"Yeah, we can't see with you two blocking what's inside." Max retorted.

Natsu snapped around and looked at them. "Whoops. Sorry." He and Happy shuffled off to the side, allowing the guildmates to come around and look into the crate that carried so many standard Trainer equipment. Some couldn't believe how many Potions and Revives they were seeing. There was even a small section where berries were seen stockpiles of the left-hand side.

"Geez, just look at all this stuff." Gray marveled. "They really went all out here, didn't they?"

"Amazing." Juvia peered inside with her Eevee in arms at the privileged items they got.

"The Council had requested that we make sure that you and a handful of guilds are the first ones to be supplied with the necessities to ensure your Pokémon's safety." The message continued. "It was my obligation and my opinion on the matter that I thought it would be best to distribute a small sample of the items to you all before we officially open the markets to the public."

Natsu blinked. "Hang on, what?"

"You're telling me we're getting a shop here in Magnolia or something?" Gajeel clarified.

The message resumed. "These stations and markets that we are going to open will be operational all throughout Fiore. In a matter of a few weeks after, we'll be able to expand much greater to across the continent to ensure everyone in this world gets supplied fairly. As this message is played, a small section in your local market should be in the midst of construction, and low pricing will surely benefit everyone who needs medicinal needs and berries."

"Well that's good. Talk about convenience." Jet chimed in. On his shoulder, Taillow chirped loudly.

"However, it is still taking a considerable amount of time for our Nurse Joys and our interns to know Pokémon healing arts, so the creation of Pokémon Centers will still take some time. In the meantime…I would like you all to enjoy our hard work, and show the world if you can, how a Pokémon can be captured." He nodded with a proud smile. "I wish to you all good fortunes, and for Jefferey to go further into detail."

With that, the message clicked off, turning into a hologram light that retreated into the monitor again. The phone went back into Jefferey's pocket, where he faced the guild with his assignment given. "So now you see the reason why I'm here." He answered. With a snap of his figures, the guild doors once again opened behind. Flying overhead above Jefferey were two medium-sized Poke Ball-shaped drones that had engines on their sides. They had massive deep blue lenses they expanded and contracted, focusing on the wondrous guild that was staring up in question.

"Woah, check that out!" Elfman exclaimed.

"What are those you think?" Lisanna wondered.

Asuka pointed up at the two drones as she tugged her mother's skirt. "Look, Mommy! Flying robots!" she chimed.

"I see, sweetie." She answered.

"With these mechanical recording sessions, my task is to see you guild mages get along with your Pokémon. If you are willing to cooperate, we would like to see you capture, and hone your Pokémon in battle sessions."

"Battle sessions, you say?" Nic parroted.

"You're saying you want to record Pokémon Battles?" Erza inquired.

"In summary of sorts, yes." Jefferey answered. "We could really use this footage as evidence to the Council and the Cambire Foundation that will surely benefit our progress. Will that be alright with you?" He looked towards Laxus for any means of an approval. It would've been more suiting to ask Nic, but Laxus was the one in charge, so he had the final say.

Ultimately, the guild master kept his arms folded and gave him a straight face. "As long as you can guarantee it ain't nothing like for extortion."

He nodded. "You have my word."

Laxus hummed low as he got the okay. He turned towards the guild to make the next order. "Alright, guys, you heard the man. For everyone present, I want you to get at least 5 of each item in stock, got it? Be sure to grab Poke Balls too while you're at it."

"You heard the master, he gave an order people!" Freed exclaimed. "Everyone, make a neat and orderly line so we can distribute evenly-!"

However, a large wave passed him and everyone else. Freed stopped in place with his index finger bent as he was stone faced while everyone piled around like animals trying to get into a feeding frenzy around the crate. Without repercussions, items, and in some cases bodies, were thrown out of proportion.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"No way, I had dibs!"

"But he said 5 each!"

"But I counted 6!"

"Hey, leave some for me!"

Everyone was bickering to get into the crate and dig out the appropriate number of items each one got. As they rummaged and scuffled at the same time, Jefferey was getting it all on the drone cameras. He can already picture the looks on the Council and Arthur's face. It made him sigh irritably.

"Get used to it. They're always like this." Laxus replied.

Jefferey looked towards him, and then back at the guild. "So it would seem…"

As everyone was rummaging and beginning through swears at each other over their shares, a glow came from a pair of feet. A black mace suddenly slammed on the ground, making the whole building shake and cause everyone to stiffen in fear. To their horror, they looked back to see a certain redhead who was at her wits end.

"Neat, and orderly."

Her tone was icy cold, as was the glare that even gave Gray a chill down his spine. Everyone shuddered and cowered in fear as they complied with Erza's demand.

The redhead pinched the bridged of her own nose, looking equally as annoyed as anyone else. "Honestly, patience was something Natsu struggles with, but this is just ridiculous."

Nic folded his arms with a soft smile. "Well can't exactly say they're not excited either." He looked up to the drone cameras, which was watching the Fairy Tail group try to organized in filed lines and get the items they needed. He scoffed in annoyance. "Politics."

"Tell me about it." Laxus sneered.

Eventually, after several minutes of finally getting what items available, each and every individual Fairy Tail member had at least 5 of a Poke Ball, Potion, a Super Potion, Paralyze Heals, Burn Heals, Antidotes, Revives, and Awakenings. To accommodate the organization and what each item did, including what function it carried out, and how it was used.

Once everyone got accustomed to the items on hand, next came the big step. "Now then, for those who have a Pokémon, you may select one Poke Ball, and simply toss it for them to make contact with." Jefferey explained. "Once inside, they may have a chance to pop out and fight back. If that happens, usually Trainers battle with their own Pokémon to weaken them to comply. However, today, we would like to see how you all get along without such an ordeal."

Cana raised her own brow as she looked at one of the Poke Balls she had in hand. She gave a twisted face as she looked at it and back at the Purrloin that was curled up and sleeping beside her. "You mean like this?" Without much of any effort, she dropped the Poke Ball on top of Purrloin's head and it opened, turning the sleeping Dark-type into energy that went inside the Poke Ball. It shook on the counter top; first left, and then right, and then left again, and finally, it went 'Ding!', signaling the capture of Purrloin.

The drone cameras caught it all on camera, as did the guild that watched in awe. She picked up the Poke Ball and looked at it ever so casually.

"Yes, exactly like that. Thank you, miss." Jefferey politely stated.

The brunette shrugged. "Hey, no biggie." She reached over to the mug beside, her, where she callously began to drink up a storm once more. Gulp after gulp, she was slowly wandering her thoughts out of mind so nonchalantly.

Laxus turned towards the guild, giving them another expectant look. "You guys got that, right?"

"You mean like this?" Gray simply lobbed the Poke Ball upwards, with some force to give it some air. It slowly came down on Snover, who flinched when it touched his head. Like Purrloin, he went inside without resistance, and the Poke Ball plopped and rattled on the floor, soon to make its own 'Ding!' sound.

Elfman tossed the Poke Ball to his Machop, who also went inside without delay. When he caught him, he flexed his muscles. "Oh yeah! Now that's how a man catches another man!" he boasted.

Evergreen swooped around and smacked him across the head, making him grunt. "You dumb oaf!" she scolded.

Gajeel looked at his Poke Ball in question, wondering if it, too, was edible. When Levy shot him a look, he relented awkwardly and turned towards Aron. The two shared a long stare before Gajeel tossed it at him with a straight face. Without budging his head, the Aron went inside the Poke Ball and was captured.

All across the guild hall, the drone cameras were getting shots and pictures of the many people who were happily catching their Pokémon in Poke Balls. Romeo and Macao caught their Litwick, while Wakaba caught his Koffing. Reedus caught his Smeargle, and Vijeeter got his Lotad inside his Poke Ball.

"Go on, I promise it won't hurt." Juvia was on her knees with a soft smile as she offered the Poke Ball to her Eevee. The Evolution Pokémon happily chirped as she tapped the Poke Ball's button, where she went inside and accepted her capture.

Juvia smiled. "Alright!"

Sophie extended her Poke Ball towards Abra. "Well, Abra?"

She watched as the Psi Pokémon used her psychic powers and slowly lifted the Poke Ball out of her hand. Sophie kept an astonished expression as she watched the Poke Ball slowly levitate towards Abra, in which it stopped in front of his face before it tilted and tapped his forehead. The Psychic-type went into the Poke Ball next, much to Sophie's pleasure.

Lisanna and Mirajane caught their Rufflet and Vullaby together, and afterwards shared a sisterly high-five. They chirped giggles as Levy, Jet, and Droy caught their Klink, Taillow, and Bellsprout all in the background.

Klefki and Swablu both sat on a table as they looked up to their supposed Trainers. They watched as two Poke Balls were presented towards them, handed out in offering from a smiling Lucy and Wendy.

"Hey, don't be shy. It's okay." Lucy assured.

"Yeah, we can be friends for a long time. What do you say?" Wendy offered.

The Klefki and Swablu looked at each other questionably at first, but then they chose to turn ahead and show happy expressions. Tapping on the buttons with either a beak or a key, the two Pokémon went into the Poke Balls, which closed and rattled a bit. Once enough time passed, the balls went 'Ding!', and Lucy and Wendy looked at each other happily with gasps.

"Alright!" Wendy chimed.

Lucy giggled with excitement. "I know, right?" She looked back at her Poke Ball, giving it a big smile before she decided to make another decision.

"Come on out, Klefki!"

The Poke Ball popped open once more, and out forming from blue and white energy back onto the table was Lucy's floating set of keys on Klefki. The Pokémon looked absent-mindedly at her new Trainer as she leaned in with a big smile.

"Now listen, I want you to behave yourself, okay? I'm going to be needing my Spirits _and_ you on jobs now, and I need you to stay out because of that. Is that alright with you?"

The now behaved Klefki looked at Lucy now with a smile forming on her lips. She looked more pleased than before. "Sure thing! You can count on me!" she answered.

Lucy straightened back up and beamed with pride. "There we go, that's teamwork!" she winked, giving a thumb up in the process.

Over on another table, Natsu was watching everyone with a surprised look as he and Happy observed everyone capturing their own Pokémon that they became acquainted to over some jobs. He never expected there to be so many at once; it was staggering him to no end.

"Woah, Happy, Charmander, check it out." He smiled amicably. "Looks like we'll be having ourselves a lot of new members today after all."

Gray approached from the side, wearing nothing but his pants and shoes, not surprising. "Hey man."

Natsu turned towards him. "Huh? Hey, Gray."

"What's the big deal? Not up to committing yet?"

Natsu raised a brow. "Not sure what you mean by that."

"Well, you know…" He took a glance down towards Charmander, who looked up at Gray in return out of wonder of his own. "Aren't you going to use a Poke Ball or something?"

At this note, Natsu nonchalantly shrugged. "I don't see why I have to."

"Why's that?"

"It's because Charmander's already got a Poke Ball to begin with." The person intruding came from the side as well. To Gray's mild surprise, he saw that it was Nic as he looked ever so casual with Erza by his side.

"Nic." He said in surprise.

Nic approached the two with a relaxed disposition. "I went to my world a few days back and cleared everything up with Professor Sycamore. He was surprised at first, but when he saw how happy Charmander looked with Natsu, he didn't see much of a reason to worry. I even cleared it up with Joey and Dereece as well."

"That so?"

Nic nodded with a grin. "Which reminds me. Here, Natsu…" Nic reached into his pocket, allowing a Poke Ball to be handed towards Natsu, of whom accepted it with some case of surprise.

Once he realized it, Natsu looked back at Nic knowingly. "Is this what I think it is?"

Nic nodded again, albeit with some guilt in it. "I'm sorry I couldn't get it to you sooner. I only visited Professor Sycamore a while back, and there were all these jobs going on." Nic looked even more shamed than before. "Honestly, I should've done this from the beginning. My mistake."

Natsu, however, smiled. "Hey man, it's cool, really." He sounded like it was no big deal, which in his case it wasn't. "I don't mind. I mean if I had known sooner, maybe I would've rethought about throwing like a dozen of these things before realizing it wouldn't work. Besides, it's not so bad having him out all the time, right, little buddy?"

Charmander looked up at his Trainer, giving a bright, big smile of his own. "Yeah!"

Nic smiled at Natsu's logic. "True that." In a way, that's the same logic he often wears as a mantle, if that were any simile worth imagining. Even to this day, on some nights, he just lets his Pokémon out of all their Poke Balls and they end up sleeping either outside in open air, or maybe the living room. Either way, even in the past long before he went to Earthland, that was his logic – keep them out and get to know them as much as possible. There wasn't any good reason for them to be in their Poke Balls from his standpoint unless they were on the move or in the city. So in a way, he highly respected the aspect he and Natsu shared.

After several minutes, everyone finally got their Pokémon in Poke Balls, even Natsu, who was the last to finally recall his Charmander. Once they were all set, Fairy Tail reconvened with Laxus and Jefferey outside, where there was a lot of open room. There, once settled, the group made way around the guild to the back, where the next phase was to begin.

Jefferey stood in front of everyone, turning to face them with hands behind his back. "Now then, now that you've all officially acquired Pokémon, the company and Council would like to record the next part of this seminar, which is one of the main benefits to Pokémon…their skills."

Dereece stepped up beside Joey. "You mean to say you want to actually record a few battles or something?" he questioned.

"Precisely. If mages and Pokémon are to be working on jobs, they should at least be cooperative enough to communicate and respond to a Trainer's commands."

Natsu smirked readily. "Sounds like fun to me."

Gray shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Juvia looked at Gray with hearts in her eyes. "Oh Gray, I know you'll be doing so wonderful!"

"We don't even know who'll be battling just yet." Lisanna nervously pointed out.

Laxus looked towards Jefferey. "So what do you have in mind?"

"Arthur asked if we could have just a few battles recorded, just enough to suffice a few sessions and overview some material." Jefferey explained. "Around 4 would be more than enough for us to handle."

Nic stepped up next. "Did you want anyone specifically?"

Jefferey shook his head. "Not necessary, but we appreciate your attitude to the cause." He faced the others next, looking ever so formal. "Now then, I understand you all know how a Pokémon Battle works, right? Then you are aware of how some rules apply. For now, we'd like to see one-on-one battles."

Erza nodded. "Understandable."

Laxus turned towards his guild with arms folded. "Alright, so who's going to volunteer? Otherwise it'll be pick and choose."

From within the crowd, Natsu immediately stepped up to the plate with a fist pumped in readiness. "Okay then, if it's all the same, I call first shots!" he declared.

"Yeah! You go get 'em, buddy!" Happy cheered.

"Well, no surprise there." Lucy smiled knowingly. "Of course Natsu would be the first to volunteer when it comes to a fight."

Carla folded her arms in her own leisure, agreeing with Lucy's statement. "What else is there to expect? This is Natsu after all."

"Well, you're not wrong…" Wendy trailed off as she watched Natsu take up the front of the guild.

The Dragon Slayer looked back at all his friends, cracking his knuckles with a big smile on his face. "Alright then, whose got the guts to take me on?"

Everyone looked at each other with some dictation of wonder. They knew Natsu was freakishly powerful, but maybe as a Trainer, they might actually stand a chance. Although when they really think hard about it, there was really no telling just how wrong this could go.

However, one brave soul was brave enough to raise his hand in the crowd. "I'll go!"

Everyone turned their heads and attention to where the hand came up from. Many of the mages stepped out of the way to give Natsu a view of who it was that challenged him. Lowering his hand and looking nonchalant, Max smirked as he was given the all clear.

"Max?" Alzack asked, surprised by the pick.

"You alright with that?" he rhetorically asked the Dragon Slayer.

Natsu raised his fist, grinning wickedly. "Sure thing, pal. Ready whenever you are."

Max slowly walked up through the open passageway with a hand in his pocket, looking ever s nonchalant about his chances. Slowly, he started for the other side of the dirt area. "You may have an advantage as a mage…" He stopped when he was far away, facing Natsu with a confident grin. "But as a Trainer, we'll see just how tough you really are." He hoisted up a Poke Ball in his right hand, which contained his recently caught creature that he got not too long ago.

"Oh this is gonna be good! Go, Max!" Warren cheered.

"No way! I say Natsu's Charmander has this!" Vijeeter countered.

Lucy had arms folded beneath her ample bust, looking with a discerning expression as she stood beside Gray, Juvia, and Wendy as they watched Natsu and Max get some distance between each other. "I sure hope Natsu knows what he's doing." She admitted.

"Well he can be a little reckless." Juvia noted.

"'A little'? When isn't he?" Gray retorted.

Wendy smiled. "Well, you're not wrong…"

"Natsu will be fine." The group turned towards Erza, who had arms folded like Lucy, but with more composition than her. She stood beside Nic as they watched with the team. "He's learned by example how a proper battle implements. I doubt he'll try anything to make himself look anything less than deplorable."

Gray looked back at the battlefield. "Maybe, but you know Natsu is anything if not a sore one at a loss."

"Gray." Juvia glanced at Gray, warning him of the innuendo he made. While she can't disagree with her beloved, she has learned that she had her own viewpoints to uphold, and that include how deep that sounded, no matter how shallow. Hearing that from the unsound tone he had made it seem all too reminiscent of a certain time when they both suffered a loss from someone that stood beside Erza.

Natsu and Max were a safe distance from the other, both staring at each other with confident smiles on their faces. Jefferey walked in between them, standing a good distance as the two drone cameras were getting the angle shots needed from above to do the recording.

Jefferey cleared his throat before he raised his hand high. He looked at Natsu, who was ready, and then at Max, who was no less sure of his start. When he saw they were set, he faced straight ahead with a deep expression. "Alright then…begin!"

At the the same time, both Trainers pulled out their Poke Balls. Max was the first to throw his Poke Ball first. "You're going down, Natsu! Sandshrew, go!" The ball left his hand, soaring outwards at Natsu.

Natsu returned in kind. "Alright then, Charmander, let's do some damage!"

The Poke Balls went soaring at each other, hurled like softballs that spun heavily like a Rapid Spin. As they closed in, a zoom in on them showed as time drastically slowed down between the two capsules. As they slowly rotated into each other, their buttons slowly began to face the other in their opposite turns. When at last, they finally connected in one instant. Just a tap of the buttons, and then a burst of energy radiated the space between Max and Natsu.

Shooting backwards from the energy, a pair of orange claws emerged, as did a pair of sand-colored arms with claws on the end. Next to emerge in epic distortion were two stubbed feet, each with toe claws of their own as well, and lastly, emerging were two tails; one being flame lit on the end.

The two Pokémon shot backwards and used their toe claws to anchor their holds. As the dust settled at their feet, on the right side was Charmander, roaring out with all his might, while on the left side of the battlefield held a Pokémon that looked a lot like a plump, hunched mouse. It was a sandy yellow in shade and had big blue eyes, much like Charmander. He squealed in readiness for his battle as well.

Dereece went wide-eyed at the sight. "So it's going to be Charmander against Sandshrew." In questioning of his own, he pulled out his own PokeDex, pointed directly at the Sandshrew Max owned.

" **Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokémon.** **It lives in areas of limited rainfall. When danger approaches, it curls up into a ball to protect its soft stomach**."

"So it's going to be a Ground-type against a Fire-type, huh?" Joey surmised with a raised brow of his own. "Looks to me that Sandshrew has the advantage."

"True." Nic agreed. "But don't forget, you need to take the moves into account as well. I'm sure they both know that." With that said, he fell silent as his eyes narrowed, his attention specifically on the battle. _'I won't rule out their general stats either, but that's not important either. What matters…is how efficiently they work together. Natsu's always making impulsive moves on his own, which leaves even us baffled. If Natsu and Charmander can't communicate to a reasonable degree, then this could be trouble for both of them.'_

Max spread his legs apart, swiping his arm. "Alright then, let's start off with **Scratch!** " At his command, Sandshrew ran on all fours at full speed at Charmander.

Natsu clutched his fist and maliciously smirked. "Then we'll fight fire with fire! Use **Scratch** , too!" Like Sandshrew, Charmander responded by running on all fours dead ahead. He closed the gap at a larger rate than what Sandshrew attempted, and he did so with quicker strides. Once in the middle, both Pokémon raised to their hind legs and pulled their claws back. They slashed forward, their claws intercepting in the center with a shimmering glint, like glass in the beaming sun. Their claws immediately bounced of the other, making the other recoil, proving their strength to be about even.

Charmander wasn't going to give in so easily, however. He went to attack again, and Sandshrew obliged equally as such. They both swung at the other, their small claws raking and scratching at one another with as much force they could muster. They parried the other's blows constantly, with their claws raking and bodies turning. Finally, the two made one more swing at the other, but Charmander's was coming in faster. A white trail followed that scratched Sandshrew across his stomach, causing him to recoil back several feet.

Charmander backed away, and Natsu pumped his fists in excitement. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"

Sandshrew shook his head, trying to shake off the pain. Once he did. He faced Charmander like nothing happened.

"Say what?" Charmander gasped.

"Hey, what gives?" Natsu irritably retorted. "That thing should be feeling a lot more pain, right?"

Max smirked at Natsu's expense. "Sorry pal, but breaking through Sandshrew's Defense won't be that easy."

Nic observed the battle with great scrutiny, with arms folded so callously. _'Sandshrew have a considerate amount of Defense, making Charmander's physical attacks less effective than usual. They'll need to find a way around that if they want to deal more damage. The vulnerable part is the stomach region, but if they try long distance, then they can wear him down that way as well. But knowing Natsu…'_ His brow furrowed as he went deeper into thought. _'No, it's not right to be judging so early and callously like this. We'll just have to see how Natsu adapts to all this. It's a lot to take in.'_

Max smirked as he snapped his fingers. "Alright then, let's use **Sand Attack!** " With the close proximity Sandshrew still had with Charmander, he knelt to the dirt beneath them and swung his claw in an uppercut, grazing the dirt. The sand kicked up and went spitting in Charmander's face, making him yelp as the dirt blinded him.

"Hey, that's playing dirty!" Natsu called out. "What happened to fair?!"

"Last I checked, that was an official move." Max backlashed. "Right, Vanessa?"

Vanessa, who was off to the side with the guild, nodded in confirmation. "Yes. Sand Attack lowers accuracy, meaning Charmander will have a harder time landing hits."

Natsu faced the battlefield, his fists balling in irritation. "Aw man…"

"Now let's use **Poison Sting!** " His Sandshrew thus squealed as he lurched forward, sending a weak spray of poisonous bards that went speeding like pullets at Charmander. With the small distance between them, the barbs made contact, making Charmander cover up using his arms as they stung his body.

"Charmander, hang in there!" Natsu encouraged.

Charmander was struggling as the barbs continued to spray against him, but the stinging sensation was getting to him. He took a step back, faltering some. This was the chance that Max was looking for.

"Now, **Scratch!** "

His command was swift and clear. The stinging barbs stopped bombarding Charmander, much to his relief, but he was struck by a quick rake of claws across the face, sending him crashing on his side into the ground.

"Oh! That's gotta hurt!" Jet flinched.

"No kidding. That would hurt me a bit, too. Max sure isn't pulling any punches." Droy deduced.

Pantherlily stood beside them, folding his arms. "That first strike was to test how much durability Sandshrew had I bet." He guessed. "They needed to be more careful."

"Not looking good for Natsu this time around." Gray said.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Lucy looked from Gray towards the battlefield. Her brown eyes turned serious as she tried her best to cheer them on. "Come on, guys! Keep going!" she encouraged.

"Yeah, you're doing great!" Wendy cheered.

Natsu swiped his arm, giving an irritated frown. "Use **Ember** , now!"

Charmander grunted as he tried to get up. Hearing Sandshrew's advancing steps, he pinpointed straight ahead and opened his maw. From it, an expanding spray of orange and red sparks and flares shot in a blanket that caught Sandshrew off guard. The sudden spray caused him to cover up as it cindered against his rugged body. With the shock, he lost balance and faltered backwards, falling onto his rear while Charmander standing back up.

Natsu's smirk returned. "Now we're talking."

"Aw yeah! Go, Natsu!" Happy cheered.

"Looks like he's coming back around now." Carla deduced.

Max maintained a guard of his own. "Looks like thing are picking up now, Sandshrew."

"I gotcha!" In the warning, Sandshrew tucked in and readied for what may happen next.

Natsu balled his fists again and looked fired up. "Okay, I say we try out that new move we've been working on." He pumped the fist with an eager expression growing. "Ya ready?! Let's use **Flame Charge!** " At his command, Charmander spread his feet apart and hunched over. He grunted as he was gathering energy that was stockpiling in the pit of his gut. Once he charged up enough, he winced hard as he yelled aloud, expelling burst of light flames around some parts of his body.

Max went wide-eyed at the sight, caught completely by surprise. "Woah, okay! Sandshrew, stay alert!"

"I know!" The Ground-type braced himself for what was to come.

Natsu punched forward eagerly. "Go!" Charmander yelled out as his blurry vision was entranced in smoldering fire. Surrounded by bits of flames on the head and around the body, he went lunging ahead, hurrying ahead at Sandshrew. As he ran, a small streak of fire flowed from behind, but not enough to what looked like a trail.

As he closed in, however, the Lizard Pokémon trailed off, seemingly going wayward as Sandshrew moved off to the side. Charmander fell forward, his flames quickly dissipating as he fumbled towards the ground.

"What the…?!" Natsu exasperated.

"Oww…" Charmander slowly tried to get up, but he only got to his knees when he had to rub his eyes again to get rid of the blurriness.

Max wasted no time. "Use **Scratch!** " Sandshrew hurried in, swiping his claw once more in a successful fashion against Charmander. The blow sent Charmander a few feet away into the earth once again.

"Hey, come on man, what are you doing?!" Natsu called out to Charmander. The Fire-type was once again struggling to stand, this time with more instability than his previous attempt. Natsu can see the struggle and was looking peeved. "Damnit…"

Max reached out and up, balling a fist. "Alright, Sandshrew, let's use **Rollout!** "

The Mouse Pokémon nodded. "I'm reading your mail!" He took a small leap into the air, where he curled up into a ball and began spinning at a high rate. He landed in the same place he was originally and went rolling like a tire into Charmander.

"Charmander, look out! In front of you!" Natsu exclaimed.

Still blurred, Charmander was on his knees and looking around. "What?! Where in front of me?!" He turned left and right, but his loss of accuracy was still hindering him. Before he could process it, Sandshrew steamrolled right into his side, creating enough force to send him flying skywards, screaming in agony while Sandshrew continued beneath.

"Charmander!"

With a heavy grunt, Charmander slammed into the ground again, while Sandshrew rolled on, but stopped in one place and rolled there, like he was stationary.

"Oh!" Jet winced again. "Okay, I take back what I said before, now _that_ looked like it hurt!"

"Yeah, big understatement there." Droy grimaced.

Levy looked ahead her hand to her chin. "I wonder why that is…?"

"Because…" In a matter-of-fact tone, the attention drew towards someone from the side. The person revealed himself to be Duncan, who still held the wooden kendo stick over his shoulder like a rest mat. "That Rollout was super effective, that's why."

"'Super effective'?" Lucy questioned.

"You mean Charmander's weak to that?" Wendy inquired.

"That's right." The attention this time drew towards Nic, who observed the battle tentatively. "You see, Pokémon have typing to go along with their traits, I'm sure you're aware of that. The attacks also have a type to them. Charmander is a Fire-type, and Fire-types are weak to Rock-types, such as that Rollout."

Gray looked back ahead. "I get it now." He saw how bad in shape Charmander was. "So then that means as long as Sandshrew uses Rollout, then the next attack just might do him in."

Erza looked ahead with her own skeptical brow. "We'll just have to see about that. There's more to Pokémon Battles other than just types after all."

Charmander grimaced as he was trying to find his strength to stand, but he was so wounded and tired that he wasn't sure what to do, and things were no easier with Natsu. It was hard to get him stay still when he was yelling getting irritated at the outcome so far.

"Hey, Charmander, get up!" he encouraged. "C'mon, I know you still got some bite in you, right? Let's show 'em already how it's done!"

Max kept his guard as he stayed weary of Natsu. "Don't let them get ahead of us, Sandshrew." He said in a quelled, cautious tone. Rolling in place still, he heard Sandshrew squeak a small "ok".

Natsu glared ahead at Max, giving him a very massive stink eye. The look on his face showed he wanted to win, and he wanted to bad. The flames around his body were beginning to boil up again, this time out of his emotions.

Charmander groaned weakly, but he was suddenly feeling an odd, but also familiar warmth from behind. "H-huh…?" Looking over his shoulder, he saw Natsu radiating in fire. "Natsu…?"

"Charmander." He said stoically inside the blaze. "Let's win this."

His tone was as hard as steel – as hard as that last blow that's sent Charmander for a loop. Beginning to feel the warmth give him strength, the lizard nodded in compliance. "Okay then." Though he wasn't able to get on his feet, he was on all fours, his body starting to give off a burning aura as his tail flame began to expand, giving off a bigger heat signature than before.

Max was once again surprised. "What the…?" Even his Sandshrew, who was still rolling in place, seemed surprised.

Lucy's surprise was equally as evident. "Woah, look at them go!" she exclaimed. "It's like Nic's Charizard's Blaze Ability!"

"Yeah, Charmander's really heating up!" Wendy admired.

"That's because it is Blaze." Nic explained calmly. "Charmander evolve into Charizard, and throughout the whole evolution line, they all share the same ability: Blaze."

"Really?" Happy inquired, in which Nic nodded.

Vanessa looked towards them. "My Delphox has Blaze as well. All Fire-type starters share that ability. The same can be said for the Water-type, as well as Grass-type starters altogether."

Joey leaned over, adding in his own summary. "Yeah, just earlier, my Chespin showed his Overgrow Ability. It was sick!" He faced the Charmander in action. "Looks to me that we're gonna see some serious Fire-type power-up."

Nic stayed quiet as he watched Natsu continue with his own battle.

Natsu vigorously punched forward in urgency. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" On all fours, Charmander dug his heels in and began to feel a great heat signature rise up from his internals. The Blaze Ability kicked in, and once again, searing bursts of fire surged everywhere around Charmander, same as before. However, he roared louder, making it to where the flames around him finally erupted into one big cloak of fire finally fused together.

"Alright!" Lucy chimed.

"It looks like the Flame Charge again!" Wendy exclaimed. "Is he really gonna use it?"

Charmander dug in deeper and suddenly took off. In searing streams of fire, he bolted across the ground in a comet of fire at Sandshrew. Over the earth and into a hard ram, an eruption of fire boiled, sending smoke billowing up where Sandshrew once was.

Sailing out of the explosion, Sandshrew shrieked loudly as he fumbled through the air until he crashed into the ground. Meanwhile, Charmander landed on his two feet, revitalized by his Blaze.

"Yeah, that's the way!" Natsu cheered.

Charmander lurched forward, looking ready for another strike.

Max looked down at his Sandshrew, seeing him struggle to his feet. "Sandshrew, can you still go on?" He watched as Sandshrew stammered back up with a nod of his head in confirmation. Max nodded in understanding. "Alright then." He faced Natsu again, looking ready. _'This is going to be a close one. If I'm going to win, I'll have to try that same move again.'_

Natsu eagerly smile wider as he pointed dead ahead. "Alright! **Flame Charge** , again!" Charmander complied and once again enveloped his whole body in spiraling searing flames that bolted with him straight across the ground.

"Sandshrew, use **Rollout** again!" His Sandshrew complied and once again began to spin in place. The Ground-type actually began to rotate faster than before due to this being a second consecutive Rollout attack. With a sound reminiscent of a race tire grazing against tracks, it bolted off dead ahead at Charmander.

The two Pokémon raced at each other with incredible power, and neither was going to give an inch. Natsu balled his fists tighter and tighter as his teeth gritted. Max was no different. Both Trainers wanted to win, but Max was looking less anxious and desperate than Natsu.

At last, both Pokémon met centerfield in a loud shout. A burst of smoke and dust erupted between them, causing the domain to be blind towards the public for that moment. They all either hasped or gave expectant looks as the atmosphere between the two was finally beginning to settle.

Once it all cleared, Sandshrew was seen sliding back against the ground, using all fours as he sped out of his Rollout. The attack left him with several bruises and marks on his body, but he otherwise looked alright. However, when the dust fully settled, it revealed Charmander lying down on the ground, having spirals in his eyes and the Blaze aura depleted. Natsu gasped in utter disbelief.

"Charmander is unable to battle, the winner is Sandshrew!" Jefferey announced.

Max dropped to a knee, sighing heavily in relief. "Man, I almost thought I was going to have a heart attack there for a moment." He looked up, grinning as he petted Sandshrew across his head. "Hey, Sandshrew, you were awesome out there."

The Mouse Pokémon looked back his Trainer, looking satisfied with the connection. "Aw, shucks."

Natsu frowned heavily as he looked at his defeated Charmander. His bangs covered his eyes as he reached out and returned Charmander back to his Poke Ball. When he recalled him, he looked down at the Poke Ball with deep discouragement.

Lucy looked deterred as she saw Natsu lose. "I can't believe it…"

Happy also looked disappointed. "Yeah, what happened? I thought for sure Natsu could beat him."

"Looks like that Rollout backfired on Natsu this time." Gray remarked, remembering what he said earlier.

"It was a close fight, still." Juvia said, trying to keep a positive note.

Cana sighed deeply as she folded her arms with a booze bottle wedged between the fingers. "Well Sophie, guess I owe ya 1,000 Jewel."

Beside her, the Memory-Make Mage smirked. "Told you not to bet."

Nic and Erza glanced at each other. They seemed to be debating or a moment who should go up. After a couple seconds, the two decided to leave it be. It was in their best interests to have Natsu learn his own lessons the first time around.

Max approached the deterred Natsu, looking modestly surprise. "Hey, Natsu…" The Dragon Slayer looked up, seeing him reach out his hand with a grin on his face. "That was a good match."

It took a second's worth of hesitation, but after some time, he mustered up a half-hearted grin and shook hands with Max. "Yeah, same." He said dryly.

"You both put up a great fight." Jefferey said as he walked up from the side. "I'm very pleased in the effort you both put into that battle. It really showed just who you are as Trainers so far and just how impressive you ought to be with your efforts. Great work."

Max smiled at the superior. "Right, sir."

Natsu remained silent.

Jefferey looked at the rest of Fairy Tail, seeing the many possible choices left to go through. "Now then, who would like to volunteer next? We could use more battles if it's not much trouble."

Stepping up from the crowd next was one of the tallest ones there. "Let me take a crack at it." Entering the dirt area, the burly Elfman hunched over and flexed his muscles with an enthusiastic grin on his face. "Seeing that manly battle makes me burn!"

Jefferey nodded in compliance. "Good. And to whom else?"

From within the crowd, Sophie looked around quizzically. She could see the many expectant faces as many looked to be up for it. When she looked over to Cana, she could see she was too busy drinking to care. Feeling rather opportunistic, she raised her hand as her large hips started to sway on her way towards the front of the pack.

"Why not, I'm feeling a need to stretch my legs." She smirked.

"You too, Sophie?" Vanessa inquired as her roommate passed her.

"Yeah~! Wait a step up, girl! Go out there and earn your 1,000 Jewel!" Cana slurred as she raised her bottle high.

Sophie stood apart from Elfman, having a hand towards her hip with a sultry smirk on her face. "I hope you're not offended if I'm not manly enough…but I'm feeling generous enough to oblige anyway." She teased.

Elfman raised his head high, trying to look his best in front of his adversary. "Don't sweat it. Anyone man enough to face me like you is okay in my books."

Lisanna looked on in suspense. "It looks like Elfman's up against Sophie now."

"Looks like it." Mirajane chimed. "And too bad, I really wanted to see what Vullaby could really do."

"Maybe next time around." Mest said. He looked back ahead towards the battle, his frown ever so clear. _'This is still a lot to take in, but I think I'm starting to understand.'_

With both contestants ready, the drone cameras were already locked and loaded. The battle and everything taken in was still streaming directly to their servers, where there, anyone available could be seeing the battles at the Cambire Foundation, as well as what the Council can perceive.

"Now then, begin!" Jefferey announced.

"Ladies first, if you would." Sophie was the first to pull out her Poke Ball. "Abra, go!" She threw her Poke Ball outwards, in which appearing out on the battlefield was Abra floating just a few inches off the ground.

"An Abra, is it?" Erza deduced.

Vanessa was the one to pull out her PokeDex this time. She hadn't seen too many Abra when she ventured through Route 5 back in Kalos, so this was the refresher she needed.

" **Abra, the Psi Pokémon.** **It uses various psychic powers even while it's sleeping, so you can't tell whether or not it's awake.** "

"A Psychic-type." Erza deduced. "That's an interesting pick by Sophie. I wouldn't expect anything less from a Memory-Maker."

"So now it appears to be Elfman's pick then." Freed said as he put a hand to his chin. "Just wonder how this shall go."

Holding his Poke Ball in his massive hands, the burly, muscular monster threw the device outwards. "Alright then, go out there and man it up…Machop!"

The Poke Ball popped open in midair, expelling Machop. He dropped to the ground on his two feet and looked ready to attack. He pumped his fists upwards with a smirk. "What am I looking at, a massive rat?" he questioned arrogantly. He balled his fists in readiness. "Well then I guess so."

"A Machop, huh?" Dereece pulled out his PokeDex this time, analyzing the pick chosen.

" **Machop, the Superpower Pokémon.** **It loves working out. As it gazes at its muscles, which continue to swell day by day, it becomes more and more dedicated to its training**."

"A Psychic-type against a Fighting-type." Joey said. "Not looking shabby at all for Sophie here."

Lucy looked towards him in question. "Sorry, what was that?"

"It's their types. Abra is a Psychic-type, and Machop is a Fighting-type. Fighting-type moves aren't that strong against Psychic-types, but Psychic-type moves are super effective against Fighting types."

"Oh, I get it now." Wendy chimed. "So that's why you said Sophie's got this then."

With his Dragon Slayer hearing, Natsu remained silent as he listened closely to all these types. He thought deeply as the battle began.

Elfman balled a fist. "Alright! Let's start off with **Karate Chop!** " As per the command, his Machop went rushing at Abra, his hands and fingers folded in tightly as they began to glow.

Sophie wasted no time in giving out her command. " **Teleport!** "

As Machop closed the gap, Abra suddenly disappeared from her spot. As Machop continued chopping downwards, Abra reappeared behind.

Sophie smirked. _'Tov. (Good.)'_

Though it seemed clear, time slowed down as Abra remained steadfast. He lazily noticed a shadow over him, seeing the Machop's Karate Chop in front of him. "Hm?" Unable to respond, he was chopped on the head, making a burst of air erupt that sent Abra recoiling backwards in a shout of anguish.

"Ma?! (What?!)"

Elfman raised an arm with a big smirk. "Oh yeah! That's how it's done!"

"What just happened?" Alzack watched as Abra thudded against the ground. "That attack just struck, even when he just teleported!"

"I don't know! But is that thing fast or what?" Bisca answered.

"Wrong-O!" Joey intervened abruptly, startling both lovebirds to where they recoiled away. "You see, here's the thing. Machop can have two main abilities. One can either be Guts, which increases his strength when hit by a status condition, or No Guard, which makes any and all attacks connect, no matter what." He looked back at the battle, seeing Abra struggle to stand. "So then you have your answer, that's No Guard."

"Just like Erza's Aegislash when she was still a Doublade and Honedge." Vanessa shot a look at Erza, who looked to be beaming knowingly. Sometimes old habits just happen to die hard.

Sophie watched as her Abra was trying to get back up. "Abra, ma shlom-kha? (Abra, how are you?)"

Rising back up and floating, Abra gaze lazily at Machop, who was now on the opposite side of the battlefield. "Well…" he slurred.

Elfman balled a fist. "I say we wrap this up!" He then punched forward. "Give it a **Karate Chop!** "

"Right-O!" Machop folded his fingers again and made them glow. Once set, he darted off towards Abra in a sprint.

Sophie watched with her brow furrowed as Machop closed in. "If we can't defend, then we'll have to attack as well."

Machop raised over Abra's head, ready to bring it down again.

She reached out, giving the command. " **Psyshock!** "

As Machop roared in Abra's face, the Psychic-type brought his hands together and fused kinetic energy into a purple sphere in between. Once charged, he reached out, expelling several beams from the orb at point-blank range. The attack made a deep blow that sent Machop skywards as the beams shoved him into the sky. He screamed loudly in distress as he sailed offwards towards the ground, much to Elfman's shock.

"What in the world?!"

Everyone watched as Machop descended. Natsu was paying extra attention as he saw how close that last attack was, and how it reacted with Sophie's command. They all watched as Machop slammed back-first into the earth, his body sprawled with eyes for spirals.

An arm by Jefferey raised for Sophie. "Machop is unable to battle, Abra is the winner!"

Elfman's mouth gaped in deep shock over what just happened. He slumped towards the ground, hands to the ground as he sulked in shame. "Uuuuh…" he despaired.

Sophie approached her Abra soundly and knelt to rub his head, more specifically, where the Karate Chop struck. "Are you okay, Abra?"

The Psychic-type meekly nodded. "Yeah…I think so…" He winced when Sophie applied a little more pressure to the damage, making it sting some.

Hearing his grunts like some hampered child, the blonde grinned as she reached for something she seemed to be stockpiled with. "Just hold on. Maybe this will help." She pulled out what looked like one of the Potions she was holding onto, and she aimed the bottle at Abra's wound. "Like this, right?"

Jefferey nodded with a smile. "Yes. Apply to the wound carefully. Just one squirt and the bottle is used up."

Sophie nodded in understanding. She tilted her head and smiled in assurance. "Now be very still, okay? This will just sting a little…" She squeezed the handle and commenced with spraying the wound on Abra. Instantly, a shock went through Abra, but he persevered with a strained look. After a few moments, the stinging sensation he had was gone. Once it was empty, Sophie sat the Potion off to the side and rubbed Abra's head. "Good job, Abra. You really made me proud."

Natsu was watching extra carefully this time, but as he watched, his arms were folded. Lucy looked over, seeing that his grip was tight.

"I can't believe that oaf just went and lost like a total newb!" Evergreen fumed. "Why I should just turn him to stone."

"Hehe, sounds like someone has expectations." Bickslow teased.

Evergreen shot him a deep glare. "Can it, you jerk!"

Sophie returned her Abra with another job well done and returned to the crowd. As she walked back in, she was given a pat on the back by a nonchalant Cana. "Aye, there's my girl! Wait a stick that man in the gutter!" she laughed. "Alright~!"

Sophie chuckled, ignoring her partially drunk friend. "Thanks Cana." She said. "Although…now you owe me 2,000 Jewel."

Cana jerked away. "Hey, slow down girl! I'm not _that_ drunk now."

Sophie didn't buy it. "Wanna make that 3,000?"

As the heat was starting to die down, the shirtless Gray turned towards Lucy. He backhanded her shoulder lightly, getting her attention. "Hey Lucy, wanna give it a go next?"

Juvia's eyes turned to circles. "Huh?"

The blonde teammate smiled. "Yeah, sure thing."

"HUH?!" Juvia completely stupefied.

Lucy and Gray stepped up next. "Hey, we're up to go!" Gray raised his hand as he started walking. Behind him, Lucy followed with a grin

Wendy cupped her hands beside her face. "Good luck, guys!"

"Well this should be an interesting show." Carla said. "I wonder exactly what the typing is against Ice and Steel?"

Wendy looked down at her and smiled. "Well, we'll see."

Unknowing to all of them, Juvia was hunched forward, her mouth a perfect triangle as her eyes were white with annoyance. All around her, a grim aura was drizzling over her. _'Gray just…forgot about me?'_ It was then in her mind that it was cracked like glass. As the pieces of her psyche shattered all over the place, she slumped to her knees, grimacing in agony and a potential heartbreak.

"Whoopsies, looks like Juvia's lost it again." Mirajane sweatdropped with an upbeat smile.

Laki gently pat Juvia's back in comfort. "I'm sure it'll be alright. It's just a misunderstanding."

"Try telling that a hundred times." Lisanna joked.

On the battlefield next, Lucy and Gray already a fair distance away from each other, with Jefferey in the dead middle. He looked just as ready as they were.

Lucy had hands to her hips, smiling confidently as she moved one of her hands to point a finger ahead. "Alright, go, Klefki!"

"Yipee!" The energetic key ring zipped in front of the battle area, looking ready for battle.

Gray held up his Poke Ball next. He tossed it upwards, without so much as muttering any words needed. Once the ball reached a point, it opened, sending the energy downwards and creating Snover, who had hands to both sides and ready.

"Hello!" he greeted.

Gray folded his arms and looked ahead with certainty. "We're ready whenever you are, Lucy!" he shouted from the other side.

The blonde mage nodded. "Right, let's do it!"

Jefferey looked left and right, seeing that both contestants were set to battle. "…begin!" he shouted.

Gray swiped his arm, getting the battle started. "Alright then, Snover, let's put them on ice!"

Snover looked as ready as ever, and although he did seem tense, he was ready to battle. "Okay, as you say!" He flexed his branch-like arms and a gust of cold air expelled from his body. The cold air went in a complete pattern all over the battlefield, fading into nothing but vapor. Suddenly, it began to hail, much to everyone's surprise.

"Hm? What the…?" Romeo held his hand up as he felt like pellets of snow and hail rain down onto the battlefield. He looked up, seeing that the sky was shockingly clear as day.

"It's hailing?" Macao also looked up, feeling the hail fail. Surprising enough, it was no smaller than the size of a half-inch marble, maybe less. It wasn't hardly any pain at all.

"Okay, I'll bite. The heck is this about?" Wakaba questioned.

"Snover's Snow Warning Ability." Vanessa explained. "When Snover enters battle, it begins a temporary hailstorm. While it occurs, all non-Ice Pokémon takes proportional damage each turn."

"Ya don't say?" Macao looked at her, and then back towards the battle. "Guess Gray's got it covered then."

Meanwhile, as it hailed, Juvia was looking just as unsound as before. She was nibbling on her cuffs vigorously with wavy tears coming from her white eyes. Wendy looked down at her with a bead of sweat dropping from her nervous smile.

Gray spread his legs apart. "Let's start off with **Razor Leaf!** " Snover reached his arms forward, expelling a wavy funnel of shredding, glowing leaves that rushed towards Klefki.

"Dodge it!" Lucy countered. With her great and hefty speed, Klefki zipped and zigzags ahead, dodging the incoming funnel. She rushed out of the way and made way around at such high speeds.

Gray's eyes narrowed in detest. "Man, that thing's quick."

Lucy smiled as she swiped her arm. "Alright then, try **Fairy Wind!** " Klefki thus stopped in place and looked down at Snover from her angle. Once ready, her body expelled a pink, sparkling wind that bellowed outwards. Snover covered up as the wind passed him, buffering him back a couple of inches. Even Gray covered up as the winds tried to graze him.

' _Man, that thing is not only fast, but it's pretty powerful.'_ He thought. _'Lucy found something pretty handy.'_

The Fairy Wind subsided, and Klefki looked eased. However, hail pelted down still, making the Steel/Fairy-type wince in pain. This was Gray's chance.

' _Got it.'_ He swiped his arm. "Use **Icy Wind!** " Having recovered from the opponent's attack, Snover took in a deep breath and exhaled. His mouth supposed glowed bright blue and expelled a cold, sparkling wind that reached up at the deterred Klefki. The attack made contact and shot Klefki in a whirlwind, screaming out in pain.

Lucy gasped in shock as she watched her Klefki take a plunge towards the ground, making a deep thud. "Oh my gosh, Klefki!"

Laying on the ground, Klefki grimaced in pain before she slowly got back up. Once standing she winced again as hail downed her. On top of that, a blue aura enveloped her, reducing her Speed stat. "That was cold!" she rebuffed.

Snover sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Whoops, sorry." He apologized.

"Well that's one way to slow a mad key freak down." Gray swiped his arm again. "Use **Razor Leaf!** "

On command, Snover returned to the battle, swiping his arms to shoot out another funnel of green leaves at Klefki.

"Dodge it!" Lucy ordered. Out of shock, Klefki attempted to move again. She maneuvered out of the way of the funnel, making sure to pass it with everything she had. However, as she traveled, she was considerably much slower, and her sides were getting grazed by a few spare leaves or two. Lucy once again looked shocked.

"Hey, what gives?" Wakaba asked. "Isn't that thing fast or what?"

"Must be from all the damage it took I bet." Macao deduced. "I know I would be slowed down by some hail and ice."

Erza folded her arms as she remained stoic. "You're right, but it's more than that."

Macao and Wakaba looked at her in question. "Eh?"

"Icy Wind is a move that not only inflicts damage towards the opponent, but it also lowers their Speed." She explained. "There's also the fact that Ice and Grass-type attacks aren't very effective against Steel-types like Klefki. But Gray has the temporary hail effect, so this could go either way just like with Natsu' battle."

Natsu heard his name and looked at Erza before facing the battlefield once again.

Snover didn't let up on Razor Leaf as Klefki was trying to get away, but it was proven more difficult than imagined. "Get out of there!" Lucy encouraged, but she was too late when drag finally snatched Klefki, enveloping her in the funnel of Razor Leaf. The blonde showed shock as the leaves bolted at Klefki, sending her flying backwards again, this time landing on the ground and fumbling in agony.

"Ouch." Levy flinched.

"You can say that again." Jet said.

Kinana looked equally as worried. "Oh I hope Lucy's okay."

"She's fine." Warren said. "It's gonna take a lot more than just hail and ice to keep our girl down."

Lucy looked down at Klefki as she was struggling to get up. She grimaced as he looked from her towards Gray. _'This is bad. This hail's making it tough on us, not to mention this cold's making it tough for us to get close.'_ Her brown eyes showed determination. "Looks like we'll have to get a little extreme here then."

Klefki winced again as she ascended. Once she was up, she grimaced in pain again as hail pelted her.

"You wanna go on, Lucy?" Gray questioned.

The blonde nodded. "Sure thing!" She reached out again. "Alright Klefki, use **Astonish!** "

Klefki's eyes opened back up again. Once she was all set, the key ring straightened and glared at Snover. Her eyes glowed red and a dark illusion of her face rushed from her body and reach out at Snover. The scary face evolved into a shockwave at made Snover go wide-eyed as it closed in. Once it reached him, the shockwave buffered his body, making him stammer backwards with a shrivel going down his spine.

As Snover then tried to recover, he looked back, but he winced upon seeing Klefki.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Gray questioned.

"That's Astonish's secondary effect." Nic explained. "The flinching concept. Lucy has to hit hard and fast for this next shot I count."

Having her confidence rise again, the blonde swiped her arm around, readying herself. " **Astonish!** "

Once again, Klefki's face distorted with a dark facial illusion with red eyes. The face went shooting outwards again at Snover, creating another dark shockwave that made him buffer back. Once it passed him, he grunted and winced again, indicating flinching.

Dereece went wide-eyed. "Man, talk about lucky." He remarked. "Man!"

"I know, right?" Joey smiled. "Two flinches in a row. That isn't five like I had once in my game, but man is that awesome for her!"

Duncan scoffed without much to say.

With Snover deterred and getting weakened, the battle was dragging out to where one more speck of hail dropped on Klefki. However, she endured it, and even though it was her turn to wince, she kept on her target and readied.

"Alright, **Fairy Wind!** "

Klefki chimed loudly as she took in a deep breath and exhaled. Expelled was a wave of sparkling pink winds that went bolting across the battlefield and expanding outwards. As Snover looked ahead, he flinched in shock before he was picked up and shoved backwards. In his shrieks, he flipped through the air, landing on his stomach and sliding back towards Gray.

The Frost Tree Pokémon groaned as that last blow made his whole front feel a loop. Gray looked surprised at how the tides changed, and Lucy snickered triumphantly in retort.

"Yeah, Lucy!" Happy cheered.

"Well that's certainly a gamechanger I say." Carla said.

"Yeah, that was amazing!" Wendy chimed. "Lucy just might actually win this."

Gray's eyes squinted. "Not if we have something to say about it." He swiped his arm and repositioned his foot. "You hear that, Snover?! Let's get back up!"

Snover struggled to his feet, but he was upright and ready, despite the small teeter towards the side. "R-ready!"

"Alright then, **Icy Wind!** " At his command, Snover took in a deep breath and exhaled once more. A blast of sparkling blue, cold wind went blitzing across the battlefield towards Klefki.

" **Fairy Wind!** " Lucy countered.

Klefki took in a deep breath of her own, exhaling her own sparkling pink gust outwards. The two winds were like two petering beams of air that were pink and blue. They created a bright tempest that expelled outwards, enveloping everything and everyone in a shockwave of sparkling, pink, and cold winds altogether. The ones in the front row covered up as they were hit by a cold wave, and the ones in the back hardly felt a thing.

In between the two battlers' field of vision that a misty pink cloud with blue sparkles in it. Though it seemed cold, Lucy took the gander. "Aright, **Tackle!** " Suddenly rushing out of the cloud in a hurry, Klefki zipped through, making a small opening that made a fast-moving key ring zip towards a frozen free.

Unable to keep track, Snover went wide-eyed and braced himself as Klefki screeched with all she had in her. With her head colliding with his own, the two heads were sending a shock through the other as they met. Ultimately, with the forward momentum from Tackle being the leeway, Snover ultimately flew backwards, squealing as he fell so far back that he was laying in front of Gray.

With a thud, Gray looked over and went wide-eyed. "Hey, you okay?"

The only response he got was a weak groan as Snover's eyes had spirals in them. As the Hail dissipated, the last of it thumped against Klefki, but she winced and powered through the best she could.

Jefferey raised his arm for Lucy. "Snover is unable to battle, Klefki is the winner!"

Lucy's shock was evident on her face as she faced ahead. "Wait, you serious?" Klefki looked back at her in complete shock as well; much more so than Lucy. Slowly, when it came to realization, the two smiled wide and embraced the other.

"ALRIGHT!" they squealed in joy.

Snover slowly sat up and rubbed his forehead. He looked down with disappointment as he failed to win. As he was sulking, Gray went over and knelt to his side. He rubbed his head, giving him an assuring smile.

"Hey, why the long face? You did great out there." He praised. "You should be proud of your skills so far."

Hearing this made Snover a little better. "Really…?"

Gray nodded. "Yeah. We'll be ready next time, I'm sure of it."

Over on the sidelines, a droopy aura cascaded over Juvia as she was practically now a puddle. She was slumped down and sulking with a gurgle excreting from what could be her throat…if throats bubbled that is.

Wendy, who was trying to ignore how wet her feet were getting, looked down at Juvia. "Uh, i-it's okay. It's just practice." She assured.

"Yeah…I know…but I still can't believe _**I**_ wasn't picked! And now look at what happened!" She cried loudly as comical tears spouted from her lumpy puddle of a face on the ground. They looked like two fountains that were spewing freshwater, and all Wendy could do was sweatdrop again.

"Well, if you want my opinion, you probably would've pitched the whole thing." Carla said.

Pantherlily stood close by, looking down with arms folded. "That's not entirely inaccurate to say…"

"Gray~…" Juvia groaned.

Seeing that battle, Joey looked very eager to get out there, or so by the look on his face. "Wow, these guys realy are something, eh Dereece?" He nudged his pal's arm as a motion. Dereece rubbed his elbow from how brash it was of him.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

Suddenly, Joey pointed a thumb to himself, smirking with glee. "Say, what do you say we go next?"

He shrugged. "Sounds fine to me. But, are you sure about this?"

Now it was Joey who shrugged nonchalantly. "Couldn't hurt to find out the hard way. Now c'mon, time is experience."

Marching out was Lucy and Gray, and tagging in was Joey and Dereece. The leader of The Freaks stood ready, and his compadre returned the glare in kind. The two Trainers looked in respects of the other, and Joey held up his Poke Ball first.

"Okay then, I'll start off." He threw the Poke Ball outwards with gusto, making it spin. "Go, Chespin!" The Poke Ball popped open, sending the energy out towards the ground. Forming and ready for battle, Chespin smiled eagerly like his Trainer as both were sure to give it their all.

Dereece was next as he threw his Poke Ball next. "Alright then, take it to them, Heracross!"

The Poke Ball popped open as well, sending the energy towards the ground. Once formed, Heracross stood ready with a nod. "I'm set and ready." He said neutrally.

"So it's Heracross against Chespin." Nic evaluated.

Erza nodded. "Heracross has the type advantage it seems. Joey will have to work efficiently to work out of this."

"So it seems."

Joey was looking back into the crowd, seeing Nic, Erza, and Vanessa all looking ahead, with equally as definitive expressions to show their interests. Joey could feel his own heartbeat intensify. _'Nic-senpai and Erza-senpai…even Vanessa-senpai, they're all watching me.'_ He looked dead ahead with a gaze growing all the more serious. _'There's no way I can lose with them watching! I gotta stay strong, just like them, if I want to make it to the top! There…I…I just might stand beside them in glory!'_ Sparkles began to surround his face as a goofy smile plastered on his face, lost in his dreams again. He could see himself standing on a huge mound of gold, wearing his coat and laughing as on higher mounds, Erza and Vanessa had arms folded with half-grins, and Nic was on an even higher point, looking over his shoulder to glare ahead to wear away any competition that dared challenged him.

Chespin waved his arms out towards Joey. "Uh, Joey? Joey…?"

Dereece facepalmed. "And here we go."

Heracross offered nothing to say about Joey's delusions. He just stayed still and quiet while Chespin groaned and looked ahead for battle.

"Begin!" Jefferey announced.

"We'll start off first, okay?" Dereece reached his arm out ahead. "We'll start off with **Leer!** " With that, Heracross held his position while his eyes glowed red. Chespin remained still while he was subjected to his opp0nent's leery gaze. A blue aura enveloped his body, lowering his Defense stat.

"Looks to me that Dereece is planning to stop Joey dead in his tracks." Freed deduced. "If I remember correctly, that's a move that lowers the target's durability, making them weaker to head-on attacks."

"Yeah, sound right in my books." Bickslow grinned eagerly.

"Then Joey better wrap this up, and hurry before Dereece rips him a new one." Sophie chimed in.

Snapping back to reality, Joey shook his head, facing Dereece with readiness. _'Crap, what am I doing? I gotta focus!'_ He glared ahead with a serous look in his eyes. "Alright then, use **Vine Whip!** Trip him up!"

"Okay!" Chespin held his ground as he expelled two vines from his body. They went shooting out from the shoulders out towards Heracross. When they reached the legs, they tied around them like rope and constricted to a firm grasp.

"Hm?" Heracross looked down in confusion, only for Chespin to take that opportunity.

With a yank of his vines, the Vine Whip swept Heracross from down under. The large battle toppled onto his back with a thud, yelping harshly as the Grass-type move receded back towards Chespin.

"Nice one!" Joey encouraged. "Now use **Rollout!** " Chespin thus started spinning his body in a curled ball, zooming across the ground at incredible force towards the downed Heracross.

Lucy looked shocked. "So Chespin knows Rollout, too?"

"That's the same move Max's Sandshrew used!" Wendy realized.

Vanessa nodded in confirmation. "Chespin is a Grass-type, so knowing Rollout will defend him well against many of his weaknesses."

"You mean other than just Fire-type?" Gray inquired. From the corner, Natsu was paying very close attention now to what Vanessa was explaining.

"Right." She watched as Chespin mowed on in as a great speed. "Rock-type moves are quite well known for defending against many of some Grass-type's weaknesses. That goes for Bug-type, Flying-types, even Ice and Fire-types. It's a strong type if used in this instance."

Gray looked surprised to say the least. "I get it, so if Snover was hit by one directly, we'd be in trouble."

Natsu furrowed his brow as he took in what he heard. When he looked back ahead, he glared at Rollout with a discerning look on his face. _'So then that's why I lost?'_

Chespin's Rollout made contact with Heracross' underside, making the Single Horn Pokémon flip over from shock. He landed on his stomach, while Chespin bounced off like a tennis ball and rolled backwards. He continued to roll in place until Joey gave the next signal.

"Alright, go from the side!" At that command, Chespin grunted in understanding. He started rolling ahead once again, but instead of going head on like before, he went zooming in an arch that went from the side.

Heracross grunted as he got his claws beneath. He instantly recovered from that blow and looked towards his right-hand side. He saw a green bowling ball rolling hard and fast from a curve. He knew better than to stay on all fours and take it. With a push upwards, he shot up into the air, flapping his wings and taking a few feet off the ground to get above Chespin's Rollout.

Having failed to make contact, Rollout instantly stopped and Chespin put a hand to the ground. "Huh?" He looked up, seeing a massive shadow of Heracross directly above him.

" **Aerial Ace!** " Dereece commanded.

Joey went wide-eyed. "What?"

Chespin's ears drooped. "Uh oh…" Suddenly a blue blur went shooting down onto him at massive was like a projectile that he couldn't keep track of. Chespin was struck directly the attack, kicking up a dust cloud that rumbled the land beneath. "Aaah!" Chespin went sailing out of the dust cloud frantically, spiraling out of control at Joey.

Joey was unfortunate as he failed to catch Chespin in time. Instead, his face was the placemat where Chespin land onto. He fell over with a big thud of his own, laying on the ground with Chespin on his face. "Ow." He muffled.

Dereece winced at the pain he must have felt. "Eh, sorry."

Joey gave a thumbs up. "I'm good!"

Chespin weakly raised his own. "I'm not…" His hand fell limp again.

Jefferey raised his arm for Dereece on the other side of the battlefield. "Chespin is unable to battle, Heracross is the winner!"

Dereece gave a brief sigh as the battle ended as it did. "Well at least that wasn't so bad." He looked towards Heracross, who seemed fine as he looked back at him. "You did a bang-up job out there." He praised.

Heracross smiled happily. "Thanks."

Joey groaned as he tried to stand again. Once he was up on his feet again, he held the unconscious Chespin in his arm. He looked around with wide eyes, glancing left and right to see the varied reactions, if not some more or less different than others. "Eh…" When he saw the mild looks that his idols gave off, he coughed a little and looked sheepishly downwards. "Well that happened." He said.

Dereece recalled his Heracross and walked up towards Joey. He pat his shoulder and smiled in sincerity. "Bah, these things happen, buddy. Can't win them all."

Joey sighed. "I guess." As they walked on, Joey remained hunched over. "But seriously, was that Aerial Ace overkill?"

"Sorry, couldn't help myself."

With that battle recorded, Jefferey walked up towards Fairy Tail, giving them all looks of approval. "Well now, I can say that you've all had a good deal of experience, to some degrees more than others I suppose. No offense by any means." He looked around, seeing as how everyone seemed either deterred with some losses, like Elfman wiping his arm into his balling face, or were seen taking some wins well, like Max as he still seemed on edge. He looked over at Natsu, seeing that he was still dead silent as can be.

"I'm very pleased with all these battles that we have been able to record and take into consideration. The Cambire Foundation's growth and information is relying on the feedback that we are getting with this data you're displaying. With this, those who don't have a clear feel for battle will be able to understand what growth can be; mages and Trainers alike."

Laxus shrugged again. "Don't break a sweat over this."

"I'm not." Jefferey chuckled. "But I'm humbly asking for one more set of volunteers to battle."

"Another one?" Kinana inquired.

Jefferey nodded. "If it's alright with you all. However…" He stopped for a moment, trying to get his wording together to try and break this to everyone lightly. When he found it, his gaze averted towards the area around Nic. "I'm looking for this next battle for more…experienced people."

"Experienced?" Lucy repeated.

"Is he talking about Nic?" Wendy looked at Nic, who didn't seem to be giving any means of a response. He didn't seem intrigued, and Wendy couldn't blame him.

Jefferey looked at the entire audience with the same gaze he gave towards Nic. "I'm asking if you have anyone who was familiar with Pokémon before, if you could kindly demonstrate a battle."

Within the crowd, standing right next to Joey and Dereece, Duncan showed nothing but a scoffing frown. Rather so boldly, he walked up from the audience, surprising everyone.

"Wait, Duncan?" Joey wondered. The man continued his way without reply.

Standing in front of the superior man, Jefferey looked down at Duncan, giving him a composed expression. "I remember you. You're that Trainer who battled Nic back during the conference if I recall correctly. Duncan Roserto, was it?"

"That's right." He answered. "I accept…" His gaze fell over his own shoulder. "And as for my opponent…" He slowly took a step to face the group behind him. He reached over with his kendo stick and pointed the wooden tip at someone in front. "I challenge _you_."

The stick was pointed directly at a certain blonde-banged girl with black hair in the front of the row. Those around were starting to wane away to get a visual of the kendo stick referring to Vanessa. The Trainer looked reasonably surprise at the challenge that was implemented.

"Wait, what?" Lisanna questioned in her disbelief. "He saying he wants to challenge Vanessa now?"

"My goodness, he's pretty bold." Mirajane chimed. "Fighting whoever he wants, it's almost like Natsu." She chuckled lightly at the memories of when Natsu was still a few years younger, and how he was always so rambunctious and ready to fight even Gildarts. Even though he's changed a lot since then, it was still a little amusing to reflect on his spirit.

"You accept my challenge, right?" Duncan told Vanessa in a rhetorical, if not considered rude, tone. The way he was looking at her even showed that he seemed a little vexed at what capabilities she had as a Trainer.

"Vanessa…" Sophie looked towards her roommate, seeing what she would do.

Without much reluctance, Vanessa grinned as she slowly took a step towards Duncan. "Well, it's as you said before, right?" Her blue eyes glared daggers up towards his dark eyes. "It's imperative that any two Trainers that make eye contact must battle."

A rough smile formed on Duncan's lips.

"Yeah! Go, Vanessa!" Cana exclaimed loudly. "WOOH!"

"This is gonna be good. I can feel it." Joey eagerly said. He watched as his gruff teammate made way towards the left side of the terrain, as to where Vanessa took the right. As Vanessa passed in front of Joey, he couldn't help but stare blankly at her as her long, slick hair and blonde bang glimmered in the sun. It looked so silky smooth. He could feel his throat getting dry as he looked at her as she fully made way.

Seeing his friend's awkward stare, Dereece coughed and nudged his arm.

"H-huh? Oh, sorry."

"This looks like a close one to me." Dereece explained. "Duncan _is_ pretty good. But…what do we know about Vanessa?"

Joey folded his arms and looked happily ahead. "Guess we'll see about that." His face has sparkles again as he waved at the battlefield. "Vanessa-senpai!"

Dereece did another eyeroll again.

Standing an equal distance from each other, Duncan and Vanessa were both on equal grounds. They stared at each other, with Duncan's stare being cold, and Vanessa's being a more relaxed one.

"You think Vanessa will be alright?" Erza inquired Nic.

The older brother of the girl to do battle looked passively with arms folded. "That's not in my place to say. Duncan was pretty adept in his battle against me. Vanessa's no pushover either; she knows better than to get over her own head."

Duncan spread his feet apart, getting set. "So you're from Kalos too, right?"

"Yes." Vanessa nodded. "And if I remember, you're from the Sinnoh region."

"Yeah. This year, I came in the top 4 of the Sinnoh League."

"Top 4, you say?" she grinned. "I'll be sure to stay on my toes then."

Jefferey looked at the two experienced Trainers and saw that both were set for battle. Once he saw that the two were just about done talking, he backed off and brought his arm down in a chop. "Let the battle begin!"

Duncan was the first to throw out his Poke Ball since he issued the challenge. "Alright then. Torterra, start!"

The Poke Ball popped open, and out came what looked like a humungous pair of bulky brown legs that descended on the battlefield. The battlefield shuddered like an Earthquake rupturing as a humungous turtle-like Pokémon on four massive brown legs stood. On his shell was looked like dirt or maybe moss at the base of three mountain spikes, and a huge tree that was on his back. His head had two white spikes and had intense red eyes with scissor-like chompers. The massive turtle roared out loud, shuddering the landscape beneath in a more disastrous tone.

In fright, Happy shrieked loudly as he zipped behind Lucy. "W-wh-what the heck is that?!" he stammered.

"I don't know, but it looks strong." Lucy's shock was just as evident.

Nic was one to show his own surprise. "A Torterra?" He didn't sound too surprised, but startled would be more accurate. He knew Duncan was experienced, and he was relatively familiar with these sorts of Pokémon, but that didn't mean seeing them in person can still surprise even the most knowing of people.

"What the-?!" Natsu pointed dead ahead in exasperation. "Check it out! It has a whole land on its back! The heck's with that thing?!"

"A Torterra?" Joey gasped. "I didn't know Duncan had one of those!"

"Looks pretty nasty to me." Dereece said.

Vanessa offered no input as she was the one to pull out her PokeDex this time. Once she had it out, it showed Toterra's screen.

" **Torterra, the Continent Pokémon. Ancient people imagined that beneath the ground, a gigantic Torterra dwelled.** "

' _A Grass and Ground-type.'_ Vanessa looked back towards her opponent, going through the options she had to use against the gigantic turtle. _'Delphox could work, but Earthquake could be an issue. He's probably got a large selection of moves to use, if not just Grass-type attacks. Let's try this then…'_ Pulling out her Poke Ball, she tossed it skywards. "Now, come out, Goodra!"

The Poke Ball popped open, sending the energy downwards. When it materialized, it became Vanessa's Goodra. The Dragon Pokémon stood with her neck craning and showing off her horns. "Be ready!" the Dragon-type roared.

Duncan looked ahead with a straight face. "A Goodra, huh?" Now it was his turn to analyze the Pokémon. Being in Sinnoh, it wasn't all that common from where he resided. Once he got out his PokeDex, which was black in color, it showed a less holographic image of Goodra.

" **Goodra, the Dragon Pokémon. Underneath its slimy skin is a thick layer of fat, and the combination of the two makes enemies' attacks slide right off.** "

Joey inhaled a gasp of his own with excitement. His hands were to his mouth as he gazed at Vanessa's Pseudo-Legendary ready for action. "It's Vanessa-senpai's Goodra!" he squealed. "She's a freaking great Dragon-type! This is gonna be awesome!"

Dereece folded his arms, smirking at the battle. "Looks to me this is gonna be good after all!"

Nic observed the battle with interest. "Goodra, huh…?" He looked at Vanessa, who was seemingly ever so relaxed, like a poker face. If she looked, she wouldn't even show it so easily. When he looked back at Duncan, he was no different. _'Vanessa's not willing to take chances today, huh? Guess we'll see just what Duncan does to get around Goodra if he finds out.'_

Duncan reached his arm out, showing his battle-ready expression. "Alright then, Torterra, use **Stone Edge!** " His Torterra thus raised his front legs and stood on his hind legs for a short while. When ready, he roared as he slammed down on the ground, creating a sizeable tremor that rippled beneath. Shooting up was a straight line of sharp, jagged stones that went linear towards Goodra.

As it traveled, Goodra made no attempt at moving.

" **Power Whip!** " Vanessa commanded.

"Right!" Goodra held on as the stone pillars reached her. As the next one arose, she whipped her head around, the horns glowing a bright magenta color and exerting a strong force of their own. She whipped them around, batting at the stone sticking up and slanting ahead with smashing results. The stone shattered to pieces, breaking into shards that chipped the residual Stone Edge.

"Not bad." Duncan reached out again. "Use **Leaf Storm** , now!"

Torterra roared again as he hunched over. He held his ground as an abundance of leaves expelled from his tree and began to glow. The tree was aimed dead ahead, and a cyclone of leaves roared on a dense funnel that raced across the battlefield at the stone pillars. They all shattered the pieces and reduced to nothing, and it mowed on with very few rock fragments that went at Goodra. The Dragon-type covered up using her two arms as the shrapnel of Stone Edge mixed with Leaf Storm made impact, causing a dusty green explosion to arise skywards.

The winds picked up from that blast wave, causing everyone around the guild to cover up as the shockwaves ran through them. Some barely held their ground from that attack. Some people, like Joey, just gawked in sheer awesomeness that Vanessa had.

"Did you really think causing direct damage with Stone Edge wouldn't work?" Duncan smirked. "It's not anything new in my books."

"Maybe." Vanessa said.

"Huh?"

The dust began to slowly settle, showing a silhouette of Goodra, and a red aura was enveloping her shadow. "You're very clever turning your first attack failed into an added jolt for Leaf Storm. That's a nice way to pick up pieces you dropped. But we can do just that as well." Vanessa spoke in a relaxed tone as she reached out again. "Goodra!"

The dust finally whipped and dissipated. Present was Goodra, who seemed fine, if not shaken up a little. She smiled confidently as the red aura she had dissipated as her horns whipped around to a close.

Duncan showed his own surprise. "What? But how?"

Torterra grunted in annoyance.

"That's Goodra's Sap Sipper Ability." Nic watched alongside Erza, both paying close attention to details. "When Torterra uses a Grass-type attack, it instead increases Goodra's Attack power once. That makes using Leaf Storm a direct liability."

"Vanessa must have known Torterra should've had at least one Grass-type attack that could be used to her advantage." Erza deduced. "Taking advantage of your opponent's strengths is keen to every battle waged. She's really learned a lot."

Vanessa, not willing to give hints, reached out. "Goodra, **Muddy Water!** " She watched as Goodra adjusted her stance and craned her neck down. She lurched as a brown cyclone of mucky water started to swirl beneath her, and when ready, she raised her head up and roared. The brown, swirling water went all over the battlefield, but more specifically out towards Torterra in a brown rush that turned into a tidal wave. The Continent Pokémon went wide-eyed and was swamped by the brown wave. It picked him up and sent him swaying backwards in a loud gurgle before crashing like a wave should back into the battlefield with a loud geyser blooming.

As the water receded into thin air, Torterra was seen wet and groaning. He grunted as his body was enveloped in a blue aura, his accuracy faltering.

"How's that?" Goodra asked.

Duncan grunted in annoyance, but he chose to attack as soon as possible. "Use **Earthquake**!"

Torterra's slightly blurred vision opened as his red eyes showed. The massive turtle roared as he rammed both his front feet into the ground once again, but this time, the ground depressed into two small craters beneath the heavy appendages. From those craters, two boisterous, shockwaves burst out of the ground. The ground broke apart into diced fragments as the shockwave erupted dirt and rock that rippled out towards Vanessa and Goodra.

As it ran along, everyone watching was trying to hold on once again. They were barely hanging in there as the land supporting their feet was echoing unsoundly. Bisca and Alzack knelt and held Asuka tightly as they watched as a wave of shredded earth passed in front of them.

"What kind of crazy force is that?" Alzack yelled through the deafening rumblings.

"I don't know!"

The shockwaves sailed across the ground and closed in, but Vanessa reached out to counter. "Use **Power Whip!** "

Goodra's horns once again glowed bright magenta and she reeled them overhead. When she craned her head down, she roared as they plunged into the earth with great might of its own. Like Earthquake, a groundbreaking shockwave erupted from the earth beneath and went rippling out in all directions.

The two shockwaves raced into each other with all their might, dirt, diced earth, and massive quakes met dead in the center; two walls, two forces that connected and made a massive explosion rupture bellow everywhere. All throughout Magnolia, people could've sworn the earth beneath was vibrating to where it was a low-magnitude earthquake, and those on the streets saw a humungous dust cloud right behind Fairy Tail's guild hall.

The citizens gasped with shock to no paramount ends in sight.

Within the epicenter of it all, Jefferey was standing with a sleeve covering his face, shielding him from any shrapnel debris. _'What an amazing force I'm seeing!'_ he exclaimed mentally. _'Is this really the power that the sister of the great Nic Pularis has? I never thought her level would be this high as well.'_

The drone cameras were high overhead, making sure to capture it all in depth.

" **Stone Edge!** "

" **Muddy Water!** "

From within the dust cloud, another set of roars echoed as two tremors once again vibrated like footsteps. From Torterra, a straight column of stabbing rocks shot up, and from Goodra, a tidal wave of brown water swamped the area ahead, clearing away the dust and rock. The two attacks swept away all the dust and rock in their way, giving everyone a clear visual of stone, sharp pillars shooting towards the incoming rush. The sound of an actual tidal wave deafened even more ears as it smashed into the Stone Edge, swamping straight over and knocking down each column like a loose plastic tower. The tidal wave powered through the Rock-type attack, swamping into Torterra a second time. The giant turtle closed his eyes and braced as the rushing wave struck him. However, unlike before, when it picked him up, it was diminished thanks to Stone Edge weakening its initial force. The turtle slid back a few feet and grunted in pain.

Dereece whistled in surprise. "Man, this is getting good. Almost as great as that battle with Nic!"

Joey was practically panting like a dog at this point. He was far from being able to speak out of the sheer awesomeness he was witnessing from Nic's sister. Not only was she beautiful, but her Pokémon and herself were incredible. It was making sure every second brought him closer to a heart attack…again.

Gray watched with arms folded. "Man, Duncan's not doing half-bad either."

"My heart is racing just from being this close." For once, Juvia wasn't talking about Gray. The battle was making her own heart stutter from shock. Seeing two big titans go at it was unlike anything she saw.

Time slowed down as the brown water subsided, showing Vanessa glaring ahead, and with her, Goodra was also glaring. They both were so into it that it seemed impossible to break their concentration.

"Vanessa's truly in sync with her Goodra." Erza admired.

"Huh?" Hearing it now, Natsu was looking over. "In sync?"

"It may have taken a few minor steps back, but Vanessa's really gotten an understanding of her Pokémon's characteristics. She's adapting well to them and giving out the proper commands." The redhead watched as Goodra was adjusted her steps, and Vanessa nodding in confirmation. "By noticing Vanessa's confidence, she's adapting and doing her best for her. It's quite a lot, I know…but this experience is what I needed to learn at first." A soft smile formed on her face. "I think Pokémon really was a great life lesson for me."

Nic looked over towards Erza, smiling softly in return of her statement. He couldn't be anymore flattered than he was now. When Erza smirked at him, he looked away, trying to hold his embarrassment.

Natsu went silent again, looking at the battlefield once more with a discerning look on his face. _'A Pokémon's character huh…?'_

Duncan's expression grew determined and angry at the same time as he faced the battlefield. "Use **Stone Edge** , one more time!" Once more, Torterra let out a loud roar as he instead arose one foot off the ground and stamped it into the earth. A light tremor awoke beneath, and then another row of sharp, glowing, jagged stones arose from the ground and went darting at Goodra.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed as she readied her counter. "Be ready, Goodra."

Goodra kept her feet spread as she awaited for the Stone Edge to draw closer. As it did, she noticed how its angle was off. As time slowed down for the umpteenth time with it slowly losing trajectory, the opportunity came.

" **Ice Beam!** "

Goodra opened her mouth and created a chilling, cold, icy blue orb in front of it. It condensed as she roared out, and at last she lurched forward, sending the chilling beam with icy zappers straight ahead. As Stone Edge curved away, there was but no obstruction as Ice Beam blitzed across the ground and created a trail of ice beneath its massive wake.

"No!" Duncan exasperated.

Too slow to move, Torterra went wide-eyed as the attack drew closer. The freezing beams of ice finally made impact with his front, creating a large, misty eruption that enveloped the whole Pokémon. The ground briefly shuddered once again as it was the impact that made the magnitude.

When the misty eruption cleared away, Duncan looked displeased as he saw that his Torterra emerged, covered in frost and slumped on the ground, fainted.

Jefferey easily escaped from his shock and raised an arm for Vanessa's side. "Torterra is unable to battle, the winner is Goodra!"

Many of the people pumped their fists and cheered at the ever-exciting battle. They all showed shock, as well as surprise, at how intense it was.

"Alright!" Laki smiled.

"Yeah, that's our girl!" Wakaba had his arm over Macao's shoulder, both looking overjoyed. "Ain't nothing holding her down!"

"True that old buddy!"

"Aw yeah! Goodra was amazing!" Romeo cheered. "You see that, Litwick? We gotta be like that, too!"

"Now _that_ was a battle!" Nab exclaimed.

Sophie took in a deep breath and sighed heavily in relief. "She actually had me worried there." She meekly admitted. "To think Duncan was putting even her on edge like that."

Cana slumped over, resting her arm on Sophie's shoulder. "Naw, c'mon. Vanessa's a big girl. Even I knew the results eve without my cards." She smirked. "You really thought he'd win?"

Sophie did her own huff as a grin took over. "Well I'm not a boldfaced liar to admit I would've bet on Vanessa…which reminds me, wanna make that 4,000?"

Cana gave a deadpan look. "Don't push it."

Vanessa walked up to her Goodra's side. Both looked at each other with smiles and praise. "Goodra, thank you for your hard work. You really did well." She watched as Goodra lowered her head and nuzzled her cheek into her own, making the sour-loving girl giggle at the affection. She pet Goodra by the cheeks and returned it all in kind.

Torterra laid on the ground for a little longer before he was returned to his Poke Ball. The laser dragged him in, and he was put inside Duncan's coat. The frowning Trainer gave Vanessa a gruff huff as he watched her pet her slimy dragon.

"You actually used Muddy Water's accuracy lowering effect to your advantage." He said to her, getting the Trainer's attention. "You must have known that by using Muddy Water, the chance of accuracy lowering is evident. You waited for the right time when we would seemingly miss and went for the attack, right?"

Vanessa faced Duncan, along with her Goodra. "You're not wrong. It wouldn't be inaccurate to think someone like you would have attacks that could hamper the weaknesses you have."

Duncan smirked with a meek chuckle. "Looks to me that if you didn't use Goodra and surprise me, things would've been different then."

"We'll find out next time then." She warned.

A clap came from the side once more, revealing it to be from Jefferey. As he walked up, everyone once again turned towards him. "Exactly as I had thought. Well done, both of you." He praised. He looked at Vanessa. "You, Miss Pularis, have an impressive record going for you. I can see why you're a certain someone's sibling. You really take after him and his wits, don't you?"

Vanessa smiled, but otherwise showed no embarrassment. "You're going to flatter me."

Goodra sheepishly rubbed her head out of her own embarrassment, giggling some.

Jefferey turned to look at Duncan next. "And you, Mr. Roserto, I can see with that power just how you've managed to get into the top 4 of the Sinnoh League as of 4 months ago. Very impressive of you indeed."

"Thank you very much." He said dryly but with as much evident.

Jefferey turned towards the guild, having hands behind his back as the drones behind lowered. They still were on, and they were looking the resume recording. "I can't thank you all for the appeals and the battling that you have shown us today. I am very grateful for everything that you and your guild were willing to offer for the services of the Cambire Foundation. You have our upmost respects and gratitude."

Laxus stood with the Thunder God Tribe, looking ever so placid. "Hey, don't mention it. Just don't go being a kiss-up like you are now, alright? I don't think groveling is something your job description upholds."

Jefferey chuckled. "A man of respectable opinions I see." He looked towards his guild, seeing everyone behind looking at him and their leader with grins. They still looked excited even after that last battle. "There's a lot of ambition in this group that we have here. We appreciate that." He turned towards Nic and Erza, giving them a nod of approval. "I do believe I have a better standpoint of your guild. It's a very fine place to be."

Nic smirked. "First impressions don't always matter here exactly."

Jefferey chuckled again. "Why certainly."

* * *

After a few more hours of rummaging and recording, the drones captured everything as Fairy Tail resumed its daily routine, including Nic, Erza, Vanessa, and out of insistence, The Freaks, showing everyone how to use Revives, as well as healing items. They watched as Pokémon were all healed up, and the two assistants that came along were also helping with any demonstration.

Once it all looked like it was in the clear, it was near late afternoon when Jefferey stood in front of the guild hall with his assistants and the empty crate, which the two droned were now using as occupancy.

"I'm afraid this is where I must take my leave. We have a long and busy day ahead of us tomorrow, and a lot of manufacturing and lessons that will need some reconsideration after the lessons today."

Laxus stood in front of his guild, arms folded beneath his overcoat. "Well it looks like being a busy just isn't my department now."

"Well if you're alright sharing that same chair with me that is."

Laxus smirked. "What did I just say."

"Right, sorry." He turned towards the guild members next. "Well as enjoyable as my time today has been, I need to say that the Cambire Foundation's market should be up and functional as soon as possible. And thanks to you giving this a chance, it looks to be of great promise ahead of us."

"Got it. We'll keep that in mind." Gray said.

"Yeah, we most certainly will." Cana teased.

"Lots of us are gonna start going on jobs with these guys. I think we should really be prepared if we do need something like this stuff." Lisanna pointed out. "Right, Elf?"

Elfman, finally over his loss at long last, smile jovially. "You bet. Machop's gonna need some real manly food!"

Jefferey chuckled and nodded. "That'll be in stock, too. Our priority is the health and safety of our Trainers and Pokémon. Nutrition is important. I'll be sure to make a supply run just for you at your house."

"Alright!"

Nic stepped up from the crowd, facing the serious man. "So this is where we part ways?"

"For now." He raised his hand towards Nic. "I'm sure we'll be needing you again, and when we do, we'll be needing you more than ever."

"Don't go asking for the impossible."

"Sorry." They shook hands, and Jefferey finally turned and left. "The honor has been all mine. Until then."

He finally took his leave, his assistants following behind in the line of duty. He made no further remarks to himself as he made way through the streets, getting farther away from the guild.

As he sat off, Lucy was noticing something wrong, or rather off about the population. As she looked around, she realized something seemed to be missing, or rather out of place. "Hey, has anyone seen Natsu?"

"He's not here?" Wendy looked around, realizing that Lucy was right.

"Saw him taking off a short while ago." Gray said. "Happy went with him."

"I wonder where he went to?" Lisanna wondered.

Nic and Erza looked at the other, having a good idea as to why the reason was as it is. Once again, they chose to dismiss it knowingly.

* * *

As the sun began to set over the horizon, the atmosphere was burning as bright as fire. Natsu sat at the base of a stream he and Happy always fished at when they spared time in the morning. It was their most common spot, and this was also some good thinking grounds. Natsu sat cross-legged on a flat stone overlooking the stream. A fish sprung out of the water next, and was preceded then by what looked like a Magikarp. Their splashes fell on deaf ears as Natsu stared down at the Poke Ball he held in his hand. It's what contained Charmander. As he glared down at it, he had a sad look on his face as he began to collect everything he did today. He thought back to Charmander finally mastering Flame Charge, only to still be overpowered by Rollout. He even put all his heart into it and it still wasn't enough? What did he lack? That was the question that ran through his mind all the while.

Slowly, he began to think back to his fight against Zeref when he still had Igneel's power. He completely wasted it, and he failed in the end. He went in recklessly without any repercussions and suffered greatly because of it. He could still remember the sadness and regret that time. At the time, he was acting on his own, with no plan, and that's what cost him the win; today and before. He wasn't alone anymore. He had to think on a certain level Charmander can cooperate with, otherwise things will far apart as they did. Attacking was always his thing, but now after knowing more of types, stats, and trying to understand who was doing the hurting, clearly he had some rethinking to do.

"Natsu?"

Natsu turned his head to look down beside him. Standing there with a slightly worried look on his face was Happy. The Exceed could see the uneasiness he had, as he had all day.

"Happy…"

The Exceed looked to see Natsu facing the canopies, a growing grin plastered on his face.

"I'm going to get stronger. _We're_ going to get stronger. Just wait and see." He looked down at his Poke Ball, where inside, he can still feel Charmander resting. "Just bear with me a little longer pal, okay? I'll make it better for both of us."

The stream flowed on, with the Magikarp and the fish swimming side by side down the current beneath the waters.

* * *

Night soon fell, and the lamp of Nic and Erza's bedroom turned on.

After a nice hot shower, Nic plopped onto his head, his naked upper body showing as he sprawled on the bedsheets. He sighed heavily in a cumbersome manner. "Good grief."

Unlike Nic, Erza laid in her pajamas tonight. She was on her side and looking down at her husband. "Today was quite a day, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, you can say that again."

"What did you think of Jefferey today? Did he seem too…insistent?"

"A try hard sounds about right…" He put his hands behind his pillow supporting his head, his eyes closing. "But it would be hard-pressed to say I depend on him. It's not that there's any conclusions I want to draw. It's just…"

"You want to keep your options open, right?" Erza finished.

Nic's lips tugged a smirk on the corner. "You can say that."

"I know how you feel. I may not fully trust him either, or perhaps the direction of where the Cambire will take from here." She adjusted herself so that she was laying even closer to Nic. She sat her hand on his chest, making sure he was breathing with his eyes closed. "But we should also remember the good they're doing so far. They've held up their end quite well, so for now, I say we're on good terms no less."

Nic opened his eyes slightly, staring up at the wooden ceiling. "You're right…but you know, someone out there might not agree with all this. And you know where this can lead to."

"I know…and that's why we're here, to make this world a place where can all live and survive to see another day." She slowly brought her leg over his body, sprawling beside him with her forehead pressed into his cheek. She seemed content with it all.

As he could feel her breath, Nic started to ease as well. He stared up at the ceiling a little longer as Erza drifted off to sleep.

' _I know, Erza…and that's why we're going to try our hardest, to hope for the best. To make the best of it and share that with everyone. This is going to take a turn at some point, and when it does, we'll need to take the strides we did before. This time, we won't be taking those alone.'_

* * *

The train rolled through the nighttime countryside, moving along silently over the hilly night. As the train mowed through the terrain, its tracks kept in a straight line through the valley it took towards its next location.

Sitting in a lone cabin, Jefferey was sitting upright with his device in hand. In it, a projection of Arthur at his desk was showing, and suffice to say he seemed the same as ever.

"Did you get all of that?"

"I did, Jefferey. Thank you again for doing that."

"Are you sure that was all you needed me to do?"

"Trust me, there are worse hands to be dealt with at these times. Let's just be thankful we got their respects for our services. Have a little good faith, would you?"

Jefferey thought Arthur's request was more than reprehensible at first, he could even consider it foolhardy. But after considering what it was they were aiming, this was what he had to go with. It was better something than nothing.

He nodded. "If that's what you want."

"Good. So will your train be here in a few hours I take it?"

"Yes. In the meantime, I'll finish up all those reports and get the locations notified."

"Alright then. Don't overdo yourself." The transmission finally turned off, leaving the screen blank once again. Jefferey's attention went out towards the window, where he peered into the nighttime sky. He seemed fixated as he smelled the fresh magic in the air. It was exotic. It was enigmatic…it was lustrous.

* * *

The monitor on Arthur's small screen turned off, leaving him sighing in his seat as Charlotte looked less than displeased.

"I still say you are a fool, Arthur." She testified, starting to pace around his space. "Just using this for research and not recruiting more stronger Trainers into our corporation. Are you even aware of that last battle? Those kinds of Trainers are exactly what we need."

Arthur begrudgingly rolled his knuckles and sat his cheek on them. He gave his old friend the stink eye. "Charlotte…you and I both know that this kind of propaganda is not what we're going for."

"Then was is it?" she irritably remarked.

"We're not a military, and we're not a very efficient monopoly. Just why exactly do we have to extort so much out of this guild in particular?"

Charlotte stepped up angrily. "Because of Nic, that's why!"

Arthur placed his forehead in his palm, sighing heavily. "…Nic's been very instrumental to us this far. What you're asking is perhaps suicide. Nic's had a more…difficult standpoint when it comes to the authorities. What makes you think he'll listen to you?"

"Then we'll make him." She said. "Unless if I'm mistaken, he's made quite the few enemies in the past that have given him considerate names to take claim of. Don't you think that would diminish the competition?"

Arthur raised a despondent brow. "What competition? We're the only suppliers to this growing world."

"And I would very much like to keep it that way." She raised a ball fist, showing her angst. "The Cambire Foundation is a proud industry that I would rather not see fall to such low heights again. We need to let the world know that we are as strong as it's so-called heroes, and what better way than to demonstrate through our skills that we possess?"

Arthur looked away, showing disinterest in her viewpoints. "You keep building up such a reputation. But what happens when you add a heavy piece to that thin tower you've built…?"

Charlotte knew where this was going, and she was far from having it. She's had a long day dealing with incompetent Trainers, and she'd rather deal with ones that knew half a brain what to do. Ultimately, she chose to withdraw her disposition and turned away. She began to walk off, her forehead giving a disappointed, dark shadow.

"…you realize that fools will be readying Pokémon for their own uses out there." She reminded coldly. "If they oppose us, we need to be ready with our own show of power. Let me know if that sinks in when you feel like it."

With that, the serious woman walked off, heading down the stairway that now had the railing to go with it. Arthur was once again all alone, and with Marie retired for the night out of his insistence, he was left to gather his own thoughts. He turned in his wheelchair to face the window that reflected his own face.

As he stared into his own eyes, he can see a small intensity in them, like someone who was seeing a very, very grim ghost that was the haunt them over their back. "I have a feeling we might be too late for that." He muttered to himself.

* * *

In the oceanic waters, the starlight reflected off the sea's water. The ship in the docking area was large and parked a long with the other boats and ships in the area. However, this one looked more metallic, and in its loading area, workers were up in the middle of the night, carrying in large crates of questionable goods inside.

"That's right, easy, just like that." A gruff observer with a cigar in his mouth said. "Any damage to this cargo and we're be kissing our heads goodbye."

Cages and crates of varied items and unknown figures whining inside the materials were heard. They didn't sound so pleased as they were being forced against their own will into the ship. Many of men were moving the large crates and moving many more on wheels up the loading dock and onto the ship.

Unbeknownst to them. Watching from high over a cliff out of sight, they were unaware of a silhouette stepping up towards its edge, looking down at the small ship with an ominous expression cascaded.

"There's our target." A deep male voice said.

"Yeah, yeah, I see it, too." A younger, lighter male's voice remarked. "Looks like a good fill to me."

"Say, not shabby at all." A wily female's smirk was seen in the darkness. "You think they have any goodies we can look at while we're there?"

From another feminine silhouette, a small, pink bubble expanded from her mouth, expanding to where it burst with a pop before it all receded into her chompers.

"Looks to me about 200 at least on that ship alone." Another masculine male said. He seemed suave as his hand was to his mature chin. "What do you say guys, who wants to get this little party started, huh?"

The same female with the smirk balled her fist, flexing her tone arm. "Well I say the sooner the better! If I stay here any longer, I might break out in a rash out of excitement spoiled."

"Ew! Tell me you at least bathed today!" Another female whined.

"When does she ever?" She smacked him in the head. "Ow!"

"Can it, chicken wire!"

The leader in a dark coat looked down with his dark glove glowing purple. The purple energy was wavy, and gave off a prominent force that made the air around it grow a few degrees hotter.

"That's enough stalling. Time to do what we came for." He fell silent for a moment as he brought a foot back. "Jaegers, make your peace…and go!"

The six silhouettes jumped down from the cliffs, vanishing from sight as the oceanic waters swayed with the tide of the night into the docks.

* * *

 **Alright, technically 5 days since this was uploaded after midnight, but still something to be proud of. So here and now, we have the conclusion of the first arc, The Crossing Arc, finally reached. Now, I will be moving onto my newest arc, and one of the more major arcs that I'm sure will answer a few lingering questions Hiro Mashima forgot or didn't bother dealing with. Get ready guys for my newest arc, the Revenge of Alvarez Arc! I'm not entirely certain that it will live up to the impact or expectations that the prequel's Council War Arc or Impure Underworld Arc had left, but I ca say for certain that I will be trying my best to do what I can to cover ground as I did before. This is all once again going to take a lot of planning, so please try and be patient with this.**

 **So here in this chapter, I finally got Fairy Tail to get more in touch with Abilities, type matchups, and how status moves play an important role. I also used this chance to give Jefferey the spotlight he needed, as well as give Charlotte some more highlight on her personality and how contradictory it is to Arthur. We also got to see Vanessa battle Duncan, and while I may seem like it, I'll point out that Vanessa might still be a little stronger, but otherwise on a similar level with Duncan.**

 **I thought I would also use this chapter to fiddle around with Natsu and his reflection. You see, I thought he should've learned by now of his mistakes and how it was always him. I watched Pokémon Origins and compared him to Red at first, and their styles were always attack and attack. I thought Natsu could use this chance to learn from his selfish recklessness and learn that hard way that going head on against certain offenses isn't going to always succeed in the end.**

 **This group that I made at the end, they are going to be a very instrumental part of this next arc. I won't spoil it yet, but let's see where this goes first.**

 **Anyways, I gotta review a few stories, then work on my Bakugan story, so hang tight, leave a review, and thanks for liking The Crossing Arc and how long it was to stomach!**


	7. The Hunt Begins

The midnight moon shimmered brightly in the Fiore night sky, glistening with its waxing crescent facing down on the seas of a pier where a large ship was being held. Aboard the ship under the cover of darkness, many of operations have been going on.

"Right up there, c'mon. Time is money!" A gruff operator pointed up the loading dock as men were lazily pushing carts on wheels up the ramp to the deck. The men all carried individual boxes, if not other varieties of materials, including two-man cages containing some very odd animals. They all seemed unsound, if not morally upset being stuck in cages, but they had no say. If they did, they'd earn a one-way ticket into the ocean.

The operation was supposed to be rather simple. Ship Pokémon, items, and berries to a faraway land. Simple as could be. But what made it so bizarre and clandestine was how it was operating under the cover of night, the time where misdeeds occur.

"Right here?" One guy was carrying a single cage carrying a few Pidgey in them. He looked over and saw his boss nodding in confirmation and sat the cage down next to a cage containing a few Weedle.

The same guy swatted his hands up and down to cleanse off the rust and dust with a smug look. "There we go. You all sit tight now, wouldn't want anything to happen to you now, right?" The way his tone played out made it sound like a threat, his smirking was a sure sign of any grim implication. The Pokémon all steadily crept to the backs of their cages in fright.

"Hey, stop it man. That's not helping." Another worker scolded.

The worker got back up and shot him a look. "Well it's not like they're gonna do anything about it." He looked back at them. "What are they gonna do? Bite?" He shot another grin at them, but when an Ekans from a nearby cage attempted a lunge and bit at the bars, the jerking of the cage caused him to squeal and fall onto his back.

"Told ya."

"Hey, what are you doing over there?! Get back to work!" The head worker shouted. "We gotta finish this shipment in the hour!"

"Right, sorry boss man!" the worker rushed away, with the other one on the ground trying to roll over onto his stomach and get up.

The belittler shot a look back at the Ekans that tried to threaten him, but all he did was earn a sneering hiss in warning. He chose to back off and resume his work.

In the forest nearby, the underbrush was quiet. Too quiet in fact. It was all too placid, if not threatening. The silence was broken by quiet rustling. From within the bushes, a shadowy figure was watching the operation with a steadily intent. He has been watching the operation go on for a short while now, and he's been observing them all carefully to know the openings of the ship. Once he had taken it all in, he reached for his earpiece and tapped it.

"Okay, begin the operation." He whispered.

Somewhere else, another figure hidden grinned as his gloved hand tapped the earpiece he had. "Copy that."

Another pair of guys was making way up the loading ramp, both carrying a Phanpy in a cage. "So that chick from last night, right?" one insinuated.

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Thought she was pretty hot, right?"

"And yet she still rejected you hard."

"Hey, I know where she works! She'll fall for me eventualllyyyyy~!" The guy suddenly tripped onto his back, making the cage containing the Phanpy fall onto his chest, both getting shaken up.

"What the-?!" The other guy looked down in surprise to see him fall up the dock. "Hey, watch it man! You trying to fall for yourself or that chick? I can't tell!"

The guy struggled to get up, but the cage with the startled Phanpy was surprisingly heavy. "Gnnngh! Just shut it and help me up!"

"Okay, just hold still and…!" He bent down to reach for the cage but was cut off when he suddenly felt something tight lace around his ankle. "What-?!" Suddenly, the lacing tug at him with an incredible force, dragging him off the docking area and sent screaming into the water below.

The guys behind looked with shock. Their eyes were wide as they were getting their supplies up next.

"What the heck?!" One guy exclaimed. Suddenly, he felt a tug as well. The cage he carried in hand containing an Eevee suddenly went flying by the sound of a chord.

It wasn't just him. Chord after chord was slinging everywhere, snagging up cages from out of nowhere. The guys all looked perplexed as they saw the cages all fling out into the unknown. One of the guys instantly felt they weren't alone.

"Who's there?!" Followed by his example, they started to pull out pocket knives and guns. They all looked around wearily to see who it was that was responsible for all this. But to their misfortune, they found nothing.

One guy angrily looked around for any suspicions, and the sound of spitting came from up ahead. A sudden glob of pink suddenly latched onto the barrel of the gun he had, stopping him from firing.

The others looked at him surprised as he tried to fire, but even with guns going off, he wasn't able to get the bullets out. Another pink glob fired, this one getting a guy's knife right of his hands. Another fired, getting another's hands too sticky to even move them. Others looked to where it was all coming from, but they were dumbfounded as volleys of large pink globs shot at fast rates like bullets. They expanded like nets, enveloping them all as they shot onto the side of the ship, screaming in shock as the globs stuck them to the cold side of the ship.

As they all grunted, they saw what looked a feminine figure walk pass them. One guy glared at her with a scowl.

"Het, what the fu-?!" He was cut off when a green glob this time shot into his mouth. He nearly choked as his mouth was silenced by the minty green goop. The woman continued on like no one's business.

On the upper deck, men were looking at her incoming and started to point their weapons. On the head's command, he chopped.

"Fire!"

They all fired at the intruder, bullets of magic, knives, whatever they had on hand. As she closed in, however, a glimmer of turquoise appeared out of nowhere, and the wall abruptly stopped the attack cold.

The workers all looked shocked. "What?! You've gotta be kidding me!"

The wall suddenly escalated to where it was climbing up the dock. The men in its way were in too great of shock before it crashed into them sending them flying backwards into the deck wood with painful thuds.

In the moonlight, a figure's silhouette had fingers crossed as his kempt, dense cowlick glistened in the light. "Sorry boys, but mind if we cut in?" the figure chimed.

One figure lying on the wood grunted as he was trying to get up. As he tried, he caught sight of a pair of leopard skin boots that went up to actual leopard skin with what looked like brown leather armor on the ridged sides.

The silhouette overhead snickered as she looked down on him. "So sorry, buddy. Nothing personal." She raised her boot, kicking him in the face to where it went black, just like the other guys on the ship.

The caged Pokémon loaded on deck that were about to be shipped were all staying still as grappling chords suddenly began to surround the cages one after another; some of them even in clusters. They all were secured and fastened, and that's when another frown from another girl was seen.

"Okay, all set."

She pressed a button, and suddenly, the thick chords expelled nets from all sides. They encased the cages like oranges in a bag, and all the Pokémon inside. The woman the entered the docking area turned and spat pink globe of her mouth again, sending them atop the net. Instantly they inflated, becoming large gum bubbles that inflated like balloons.

With enough air, the whole cargo had begun to ascend into the atmosphere, slowly getting off the ground and off into the woods.

"Yo guys, over here!" The leopard woman held over her head a large wooden crate containing items of various sorts, a prideful smile on her face.

The cowlick man walked up with a hand to his hip, meeting with the four other silhouettes right near the base of the deck. "Looks to me there should be a few more in the cargo area. Shouldn't take too long there."

"Nope!"

Another woman was chewing on some gum, making pink gum blow and create a small bubble that popped.

"And it looks like no one was seriously injured. Bummer."

"Well there's always next buck up! We got a job to do!"

A thick pair of boots began to walk on the deck, carrying a figure's strong physique. "She's right." The figure walking in the moonlight had glowing dark purple fists that arose, casually backhanding a guy as he tried to swing a sword. The guy fell backwards completely unconscious, and the culprit went on like it never happened. "There's still more to be done here. Search the lower levels. We'll clear this ship even if it takes all night!"

"Right!"

As they all fanned out, a groan came from behind. The man in charge turned to look at the groaning head of the operation and saw him on his stomach, reaching out with anger in his eyes.

"Who…are you…?"

The man turned to face him, his fists enveloped in his dark purple energy. "…those who seek peace will never end their hunt. It's an eternal punishment befitting one who dares to tread such a path. The path you walk will never have such meaning."

The man grunted in agony. "What are you…?"

"The hunt never ends...even after you die." The man brushed his hands forward, sending a wave of darkness dead ahead.

* * *

Daylight shined down on the Fairy Tail guild once more, a new day with a new attitude brewing. And along with a new attitude came the spirit to try new things.

"Lotad, **Bubble!** " Vijeeter ordered his Lotad upfront, who opened his mouth and expelled a spray of blue bubbles at Laki's Bonsly.

The Wood-Make Mage reached out, giving her own command. "Quick Bonsly, **Copycat!** " Her Bonsly did as told, making the buds on his heads shined brightly before he spread his feet, expelling bubbles in return.

The two attacks met in the middle, creating sparkling blue arrays everywhere. Lotad and Bonsly seemed neck and neck at first, until Lotad's Bubble started to overpower. Eventually the Bubble made way towards the shocked Bonsly, and the Rock-type was enveloped in bursts of bubbles in the face, enveloping him in mist.

"Bonsly!" Laki cried out. To her utter shock, the mist cleared, revealing her Bonsly on his back, fainted.

A hand by Lisanna went up for Vijeeter. "Bonsly is unable to battle, Lotad is the winner! And that means Vijeeter is the victor!"

Vijeeter spun in place like a Rapid Spin out of joy, while Lotad plopped around out of happiness. Laki slumped down to her knees and grimaced in her own downfall.

"Man, looks like those guys were really going at it hard." Jet commented as he sat at a table.

Droy was munching on a chicken drumstick, looking over his shoulder, if he had one that is. "Yeah, no kidding. It's like everyone's getting serious now." He muffled. "Just look at Romeo over there. He's picking up fast."

At his sinuate, both looked over to see Romeo and Macao going at it with their own Litwick, both sides recently backing off as flares dissipated. Romeo swiped his arm, ushering his Litwick to bend down and expel a cloud of purple smoke, via Smog.

Macao reached out. "Not on my watch! Block it with **Fire Spin!** " His Litwick took in a deep breath and exhaled a spinning blast of fire. The Fire Spin reached the center, where a spiral of fire created a heated wave that blew the Smog around his Litwick.

Romeo smiled at the blockade. "Not bad, Dad!"

"Hey, these old bones aren't out yet, son!" he smiled back.

It was as casual as ever for Fairy Tail, going on jobs and hanging around the guild like no one's business. However, even after Jefferey's visit, the guildmates have been getting into the battle spirit. They've been practicing and training for who knows how long, and a lot of them had shaky starts at first, but soon picked up their pacing.

Currently, quite a few people have been in battles. At the moment, Romeo was against his father, Wakaba's Koffing was against Max's Sandshrew, even Cana and Purrloin got a battle in against Bisca and her Remoraid, but only out of Sophie's insistence.

Mirajane had an elbow to the wooden bar top as she smiled at the guild bustling themselves. "Looks to me that everyone's working hard." She chimed.

Wendy nodded. "Yeah, you can say that again."

Carla shot her a look. "Shouldn't you be practicing with them, Wendy?"

The Sky Dragon smiled at her. "Oh, don't worry about that, I already did earlier with Swablu." At that notion, the blue bird with cloud wings chirped as she perched herself atop Wendy's head. She looked up at her with a smile. "She's even learned this good move that's called Disarming Voice, or something like that. Right, Swablu?"

The Cotton Bird Pokémon hummed as she nodded.

Carla sighed with no reason to pry. "Well I guess that counts as something. At least you're doing your share, unlike some people." She shot a look across the guild hall, more specifically towards the request board, where Nab felt a chill run up his spine.

His Munchlax looked up at him with curiosity. "Hm? Something wrong?"

In another part of the guild, Aron's Headbutt collided with Charmander's Flame Charge. The flaming energy enveloped him as Aron continued to push, and both Natsu and Gajeel were raising fists with rivaled spirits showing.

"Come on, Charmander! Show that tin can what you're made of!"

"Ain't nothing getting past your defenses, Aron! Step it up!"

Both Pokémon were duking it out hard, and neither one was going to back down. Eventually though, they realized this, and both backed off, stepping away. As they got space, Charmander had a red aura envelop him, increasing his Speed.

Watching from the wall, Nic had arms folded alongside Greninja as both watched the battles unfold ahead of them. They remained in the shade with placid looks as they saw everyone learning step by step.

"Looks to me that everyone's starting to pick up the pace a little." Nic said.

Greninja nodded. "So it seems."

"It's been nearly a few days after Jefferey's visit. You'd think they'd be doing their usual business again."

"Looks like those practice battles really knocked some sense into them. Even Natsu's starting to learn a few new things from what I've seen."

Natsu swiped his arm, giving a command. "Use **Ember!** " Charmander opened his mouth upon command and expelled a blanket of orange and yellow sparks at his opponent.

Gajeel balled his fist tighter. "Ya think so?! Aron, **Mud-Slap!** " Aron bored in stubby front paws into the ground, where the ground ahead cracked apart and expelled a stream of mud that slipped through the air at the Ember. The wet mud powered through the Fire-type move, closing in on Charmander.

Acting rationally, Natsu swiped his arm again. "Dodge it!" His Charmander rolled over on the ground, evading the Mud-Slap that splattered in his place.

The Dragon Slayer smirked. "We're not falling for that one!"

As Natsu continued the practice battle against Gajeel, Lucy looked on with her Klefki in admiration. "Wow, I can't believe how much more adept Natsu is getting at this." The blonde said.

"Aye! He's getting better! Just you wait!" Happy insisted. "You haven't seen anything yet!"

Juvia was a little farther down, cheering for Gray. "You can do it, my darling!" she cheered. "I won't bare to see you lose another battle like this!"

Gray, however, was staring at her as he was eating his lunch. "Cool it, Juvia. The food isn't going to kill me if your yelling won't." He chomped on another piece of veggies, thankfully with his clothes on…this time around. Snover was beside him as a bead of sweat dripped down his face.

"Is she always like this?" he asked his Trainer.

Gray shrugged. "Yeah. Trust me, you're better off just rolling with it."

"You can gain the strength you need to win for us next time!"

Gray sighed.

Nearby Nic, Erza walked up and gave a sincere smile. She saw how relaxed he was despite all these changes. Normally, like Natsu, Nic couldn't handle things like this so well, but he seemed to be handling it decently. "Things all well with the guild?" she asked her husband.

Nic looked over, grinning. "Hey, Erza." He answered. "As well as can be it seems. Everyone's looking pretty well with these battles."

Erza watched Natsu and Gajeel battle, a nod showing. "So it would appear so." She watched as Charmander closed in for Scratch, while Aron used Harden to increase his Defense. When the Scratch landed, it didn't even faze him. Gajeel ordered a Headbutt, and that's when the close-range was enough for Aron to score a headbutt square in Charmander's gut, sending him sliding back several feet across the dirt.

As the battles went on, she faced him. "I thought you were at home doing that portrait."

"I was. I was just taking a little break to come by and see what was going on."

"Well I better not see that portrait unfinished the next time I come home again. We need something to make that space beside the window more lively."

Nic sighed. "I know…but it's not exactly easy trying to draw Pokémon in a clear pond, especially underwater."

Erza beamed. "Well, it just so happens that I might have a few suggestions that could help…"

"Erza, we talked about this." Nic backlashed. "Who's the artist in the family?"

"And who wear the pants?"

Nic raised a brow. "You're wearing a skirt."

Erza sighed heavily at Nic's persistence. She folded her arms and just dealt with it. "Fine, but I want to see it finished as soon as tomorrow comes."

Nic leaned towards her, grinning. "Do I ever disappoint?"

Erza scoffed teasingly. As she looked back at him with am amused smirk, he returned it in kind. They looked at each other and off towards the battlegrounds the guild sat up. As they watched the practice battles unfold, something in particular came to mind. And it involved seeing a certain duo with their own Pokémon.

Joey spread his legs out, looking at his Chespin with a crouch. "Okay Chespin, ready?" he asked eagerly.

"Uh, Joey, are you sure about this?" Chespin asked in worry. He didn't seem too confident in Joey's plan.

Joey flashed a smirk as he balled a fist. "Trust me, I've been practicing myself you know." He spread his arms out to the side, acting like a target. "Now let it rip!"

Chespin acquiesced and let it slide. "Okay, you're the boss. **Rollout!** " He curled into a ball and started for Joey with incredible force. He closed in while his Trainer remained completely still.

Thinking back to the very few textbooks Dereece insisted Joey to read, the Trainer took in a deep breath and quelled his nerves. _'Okay then…quiet the mind.'_ He tried to think of nothing, leaving his mind a blank space. _'Take a deep breath of the ethernano around you…picture what you are trying to create…and expel it from every pore in your body…'_ When he felt assured, he opened his blue eyes again, reaching his arms out. "Okay let's go!"

He reached out with all his might, yelling out as his palms faced Chespin incoming. However, nothing happened, and Chespin rolled right into Joey's stomach. The 18-year-old spat comically as he could feel the rolling grind into the gut, making his left eye twitch as he fell backwards with a thud.

"Ow…" he groaned.

Chespin landed and gave him a guilty look. "Oops. Uh, sorry!"

"No, no, it's all good." Joey slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head as it ached. "Man that hurt though…" He grunted as he recovered himself, opening an eye to look at his Chespin. "But man you're strong. That's better than when you started."

Chespin sheepishly rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You know, maybe you're going at this all wrong." Dereece said. He and Heracross were standing off to the side. "I don't think trying to force magic out is all that healthy."

"Well hey, at least I'm trying, Dereece." Joey said in an offended tone. "I don't see you trying to get a cool power."

Dereece rubbed the back of his head. "Well, i-it's not exactly right to say I haven't been trying myself, but…"

"AHA!" Joey pointed an accusing finger at him. "So you _do_ want magic too!"

Dereece angrily hunched over. "Well at least I'm trying to be more sensible about it!" he sniped. "I mean, just look at Duncan. For all we know, his magic could be developing from just what he's doing right now." To demonstrate what he meant, he gestured over towards Duncan.

Both Trainers watched as Duncan was using a practice dummy provided my Mirajane. He was using the kendo stick he always carried and was currently exercising for his own benefits. His kendo stick went on the head of the dummy, making a hard smack sound that reverberated from the wooden stick. If it were a real person, it probably would've hurt.

Joey looked discouraged at his teammate as he was practicing, and here he was trying to get some kind of power that could not even be possible. He just wanted to try, is that so hard to ask? He looked down at his palm, trying to picture what he was going for again…but he didn't see anything. He didn't know what he was supposed to see to begin with.

Dereece knelt and gently put a hand on Joey's shoulder. "Just give it a little more time, okay? I'm sure we'll all get the basics eventually."

"He's right." The voice came from nearby. When the guys looked over in surprise, they saw Vanessa present with a smile. And following by her were Nic, Greninja, and Erza as they decided to join in as well.

Instantly, Joey could feel his heartrate increased. "V-Vanessa-senpai…!" he stammered. "I-I was just…"

"It's fine. There's no need to rush yourself. Trust me, I was the same way." She chuckled at the memory, even if it was so long ago. Seeing Joey try the way she did was nostalgic in a way she could reciprocate. "You can imagine how much stress it was for me when I first tried to learn magic. I thought it would never come."

Joey's eyes widened in amazement. "R-really?"

Vanessa nodded. "I didn't get my magic until…well, let's say a certain event that caused me to realize myself." She looked down at her hand, displaying her teal aura as it enveloped her whole right hand. "It takes more than just concentration. Sometimes it's the incentive, and what type you've been exposed to. Some of which cane even be from something deep down you never thought you had to begin with."

Nic and Erza were off to the side with soft smiles on their faces. In a way, they could tell that last part was from Vanessa's own experience. She got her Aura Magic because it was hereditary, but it didn't come around until a few weeks into Earthland. Even later came the incident that reveled in her Second Origin.

"So then, you really think we can?" Dereece questioned.

Nic stepped forward. "I don't see why not."

"N-Nic-senpai!" Joey squealed.

Nic kept his composed smile. "Your Chespin and everyone else started using new moves because of the way you're training them, right? My powers and magic alike are the same. What my sister says it's the truth. If you're exposed to a certain magic, you'll pick up on its traits. But there's a lot more to that even I'm not aware of."

Erza nodded afterwards. "My magic's origins came from my childhood experiences. I was locked inside of a tower…and I watched Grandpa Rob give his life for my own." She could feel a tight chord sting at the memory of him being erased in front of her eyes.

Nic put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a comforted smile, one that she humbly returned.

"But what matters is what drives you." She continued. "The more exposed you are to magic, and what you are used to…I'm sure you'll both learn magic in no time."

From the corner of it all, Duncan swung his kendo stick. However, after his recent swing, he stopped and glanced from the corner of his eye.

With his confidence restored, Joey stood up proudly. "Right, thanks guys. You really are awesome! And so cool~!" He looked so cheeky as he had his fists to his chin and sparkles around him as he was beginning to dawdle into his lala land again.

Dereece shrugged. "Well, I guess it's not a big deal now. We do have our Pokémon after all, right?"

Vanessa nodded. "Right, and that'll be more than enough for you for now if you want it to be."

Nic smiled as well. "If it's all the same, I think I might have an idea that'll help us shake off some of this anxiety."

Joey flashed out of his fanboying. "Y-you do?!"

Nic nodded. "I think we should all try and find a job together. Some field experience also helps with growth as a person."

"Well I say what a splendid idea, Nic." Erza smirked. "And we can invite a few more if we want, too. The more the merrier."

Vanessa looked jovial at the prospect. "Would it be alright if Sophie and I came along?"

"Sure, we wouldn't mind." Nic said.

Joey looked so excited as his cheeks flared pink again. "This is going to rock so hard~." He squealed. "Me and Nic-senpai, working on a job together…it's like a dream come true, baby! Woooh!"

Dereece did another eyeroll.

Joey swept around and faced his team. "Yo, Dereece, Duncan. Listen up you Freaks! This is your order from your Captain, we're going on a job with Nic-senpai and a few more, so better buckle up!"

Duncan seemed mildly amused at the prospect. "Whatever you say."

Nic looked towards Erza, a casual grin growing on his face. "Looks like that space on the wall is going to have to wait." He mused. His wife simply scoffed teasingly.

"I still find it shocking how you find your way out of any predicament."

"Trust me, we tried to question that…but these things are better off left alone." Nic said, Greninja nodding right beside him.

* * *

In another part of Fiore, more accurately along the coast of Crocus, things were as busy as ever, if not more so. Staff were either doing so little or so much to where they couldn't even tell their own names apart, that was how exhausting it was for the Cambire Foundation at this time. With the ever-growing fad of Pokémon, the supply and demand ratio has been throwing everyone for a loop. Even the founder and president of the company was hardly sitting still in his wheelchair with the rushes going on.

Arthur shuffled the small stack of papers that was right in front of his desk, flipping them over each other due to the clipboard they rest on. As he went through it, he was beginning to stir up some prospects. He hummed quietly as he went through the papers one after the other.

"Sir, you're taking a lot of time." Marie said. "Is there something troubling you?"

Arthur sighed, setting the clipboard on the table of his still-in-progress temporary office. "It's nothing."

"The look on your face says otherwise."

He smirked. "Hm, nothing gets passed you, Marie."

Marie embarrassedly grunted.

He lowered his head, looking at the sheets of ink and numbers. "Truth be told, I was just thinking is all."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Well…how do I put this?" He raised his head to give a straight face to his employee. "Do you ever feel like there's more that you know is right there? It's there, and yet you can't see it. It feels like a tide; just swaying in and out until a full moon brings it closer to you."

Marie's face began to look puzzles. "You mean like something's wrong somewhere? Well, I guess that would make sense."

"Charlotte's been pushing for stepping up our boundaries, and Jefferey has been no less insistent. I can understand why…but we both know that further pacing ourselves is going to give a wrong impression." He sighed once more in his own grief. "Maybe I'm just working too hard."

Marie tilted her head in honest confusion. In a way, she didn't see this as a big deal, but knowing Arthur, he wasn't as straightforward or practical with it as Charlotte was, and Jefferey was just as forceful with dealing these matters. But Arthur was a more precarious person. She had to empathize with how he reasoned with his own doubts.

She looked down at the ground, giving it a furrowed brow. "…if you ask me, I say it wouldn't matter in the end." Her look shot back at him. "Because no matter what, in any case, you'll always make the choices that benefit us all. Not just yourself, not for everyone else. You try to improve lives as a whole; I think that's ample enough reason to go at your own pace."

A moment of silence fell before another smile tugged on the corner of Arthur's lips. He closed his eyes chuckled low. "Well, suppose that's one way to dismiss a pointless thought in my head."

"You never make pointless thoughts, sir. You consider everyone's agendas."

"As you say. Still…could you be a dear and find me some wine?"

She shot him a serious look. "It's too early for this again."

"Well supply and demand isn't going to run on full steam all the time you know. Even dreamers need a _little_ laxative from time to time." He laughed lightly, much to her chagrin.

The black door knocked, getting their attention. "Yes?" Arthur asked. "Who is it?"

"Arthur, we need to talk." The masculine voice behind the door was all too familiar. It's what made the conversation he and Marie were having suddenly simmer to a low heat in this broiling fire.

Holding his tongue, Arthur sat straight up in his chair and let his jovial nature get taken over. "Enter." He ordered.

The door opened, revealing Charlotte and Jefferey waiting rather impatiently; Charlotte more so. She entered first, with a slower Jefferey in tow as they made way towards the desk. Charlotte stood before her superior with a disappointed scowl.

"Arthur." She greeted dryly.

"Yes, Charlotte. What is it?" he answered.

"I believe Jefferey has something interesting to share with you, again." Her tone was rivaling even her own sense of impatience. She stepped off to the side, allowing her coworker to walk up to him and share what it was that she meant.

He sat the sheet on his desk. "This came just this morning." He forewarned. "I think you should read it."

Hearing what he had to say, Arthur looked down at the sheet out of whimsical curiosity. The longer he scrutinized the contents, the more surprised he looked. By the time he reached the end, he seemed to have understood their resentment.

"I see." He said low. "So it's happened again."

Marie had a small gasp escape.

"This is the third shipment ransacked this week." Arthur noted. "All those supplies and items that we've worked hard to manufacture, and this is what's been reduced to."

Arthur looked at them both unsoundly. "So it seems."

"It seems that someone doesn't intend on having us going anywhere with this line of work." Charlotte said in an inquired tone. "The circumstances are now most alarming."

"They are indeed."

"Arthur, we're serious about this." Jefferey insisted. "This situation can't be ignored any longer. We need to do something!" As he spoke, he slammed his fist on his desk, the thudding alarming the tension rising.

Arthur shot him a look of defiance in return. "I know, Jefferey." He spoke in a defiant tone of his own. "I'd prefer it that you don't fret over something that could otherwise disrupt our current standpoint, let alone our overall morale. It's concrete knowing we have begun legal action with oversea shipping of our supplies, of which for the most part has been funded and taken care of promptly."

"Then explain why we're being hijacked and not doing anything about it?"

"Probably the very reason that you're doing right now." Arthur's leer was grazing into Arthur's pupils. The resource manager was starting to get the feeling he had a hand in this innuendo and chose to back off from his desk. Arthur leaned back in his wheelchair, trying to think critically.

"There can be a number of reasons why a percentage of our supplies has been 'substantially hampered', but at the moment, we're doing nothing more than pointing fingers at thin air. And if you're insisting there is a spy, then do you intend to interrogate everyone and bring an alarm to our production?"

Charlotte's glare hardened. "Well I fail to see how that _wouldn't_ be a start."

"Maybe that's a possibility, Charlotte, but we need to keep an open mind. We'll find the answers we're looking for, but force at this point won't draw in the needed attention from perpetrators." He turned his whole wheelchair to roll and look at the window, seeing his patented reflection. He seemed mildly well, despite how intrigued he was inside. A short silence fell before his assistant spoke again.

"Sir, what do we do?"

He folded his fingers and put them up to his lips. He stared out as he watched all the interns learning outside in open land, oblivious to the scandal that's going on. "Whoever is responsible, it's clear they don't approve of our actions. Someone's out there…but who, and why?"

The silent note left everyone wondering in their own absence of mind.

* * *

The daylight hours soon turned to late evening. The orange sky burned brightly outdoors and illuminating the air like a roaring open flame, like the few fires that were put out on the ship's open deck. The smoke had long since went away well in the morning, and the ship and crew had been recovered, but otherwise held for investigation.

With authorities having been cleared scouting and surveying the boat, it was left unattended for a small group of people to take to their own hands. However, this wasn't the same group as before. Instead, this was a more familiarized group that's made a name for itself.

Surveying the whole scene, the man with blue hair frowned as he saw the damage done. "Looks like we were too late." He said regrettably.

Ultear stepped up to his side. "It looks like we missed them by a day. Could've been less."

"So even after all that calculating, we were still short." Meredy said.

Jellal's glare set foot ahead. "But not by much. We were able to track them better than last time at least, and it seems they're the same ones from before as well."

"You'd think all that glob on the side of the boat was a dead giveaway." Sorano said in a disgusted tone. "Bleh! Just looking at that stuff makes me wish that didn't come out of someone's mouth."

"The rudders looked sliced up as well." Macbeth noted. "Richard, what did you find?"

The tallest of the group looked down at his comrades. "Regrettably, not much. Their cargo hold has been completely picked clean like a dried bone!"

A somber look on Meredy began to creep a hopeful smile. "Well, at least there weren't any casualties this time. That's something to be proud of."

"Yeah, this time." Sawyer repeated. "But it's clear whoever's doing this isn't just after the goodies. They wanna get rid of anyone that's in their way. I'm surprised just a _few_ people ended up badly beat."

Ultear's eyes narrowed. "Thieves _and_ headhunters, and they still target certain shipments at night."

Erik scoffed. "I don't know if I'm supposed to be impressed or annoyed that these guys stay one step ahead of us all this time."

"It's been going on for two weeks now." Meredy frowned. "A lot of people are hurt, and we still don't know why."

Jellal looked down at the ground with a grim expression. "And that makes them all the more reasonable to be put to justice." He looked at his group, seeing that one was still missing. "Where's Bellona?"

"Somebody call?" A hair of heels was heard from the side, followed by a large sway of hips. Everyone turned to see who it was that came around, and they found it to be a woman with sky blue, bouncy hair with equally bouncy cuffs.

Jellal turned towards the voluptuous woman. "Bellona, what did you find?"

The woman now revealed as Bellona stopped before Jellal, her weight to one hip as she gave him a look. "Same as before, the ship's structure and its material were identical to the last one ransacked." She said. "It seems clear to me that they're targeting more than just random shipments now."

Erik raised a brow. "Huh, so you're saying these guys are targeting ships of the same kind?"

"Yes. Ordinarily, when a country departs a certain ship, you can tell where it came from just from its shape and the material its made of. This ship has a more metallic filament than wooden, meaning that it's supposedly not meant for shipping to begin with. As far as we know, that is."

Ultear crossed her arms. "I think I'm starting to picture it. So what you're saying is that this is a clandestine ship, but was otherwise operated under the same origin."

"Meaning all these ships attacked in the past two weeks came from the same place!" Meredy gasped.

"Exactly." Bellona said.

Sawyer didn't seem too pleased with all this. "Okay, so we get that. These guys are kicking asses and taking Poke Balls and other knickknacks. But what's about this kind of ship that would make you want to hijack its goods to begin with?"

Sorano shrugged nonchalantly. "Well maybe if it wasn't so tacky then maybe I wouldn't be so suspicious."

"You get the point!"

Richard put an edged finger to his equally shaped head, humming weakly. "Hmmm…"

"Do all these ships have something in common?" Meredy insinuated.

Ultear turned towards her, giving a knowing look. "Yes. In fact, I can guarantee that all these ships were meant to carry goods and food supplies that the Cambire Foundation is sorting out. They're all exports to other countries who are still waiting for their supplies to handle some Pokémon dilemmas."

"So then this means whoever's behind this is making off with Potions and Revives." Bellona said in an undoubted tone. "Somehow, just somehow, I have a feeling whoever's doing this doesn't want the Cambire Foundation to go there."

Jellal furrowed his brow, turning to give the wood he stood on another good look. He could tell from its texture that it was much thicker than normal wood. It had to be ironwood tree bark even, which was a rare bark that would take more than a chainsaw to pry off. An upon first glance, the metal the ship had was recognizable for suitable durability against giant waves, meaning it had to have come far to get to wherever it came from.

Looking at everything around him, there was something vaguely familiar that the ship held, something that even Bellona caught onto. They knew that this shipment was ransacked for a reason, and it had to do with the cliental. Whatever odds were made were heavily breached, and it was up to them to dig into that breach to find answers.

"Search every part of this ship." Jellal stated. "There's a reason why this particular breed of ship brings an offense, and that's why the shipments here are being hijacked. Search every available compartment, even documentation to prove this could be a farce. If they really came here for the Cambire Foundation's services…then we have to be sure they truly mean business and nothing more."

Erik smirked. "I hear that."

Ultear looked out towards the sea, watching as the orange rays of the horizon slowly beginning to grow dark once more.

* * *

While matters for the Cambire Foundation and for certain vigilantes have been preoccupying any means of fair results, other matters were attended to by the likes of those who were yet to catch whim of this disease spreading. For Fairy Tail, the matter was handled in their own line of work, and that's where they came in.

Currently on a job, the description took place in Columbine, a rather lavish city known for its lively evening events, whether be legal or not. Nic stood alongside the group comprised of Team Natsu, Vanessa, Sophie, Juvia, and The Freaks. They all stood on a red carpet within a rich domain surrounded by a number of patrons.

"So that's the bargain." Erza spoke up. "Our job is to ensure your own safety for this night if that's what the description upheld."

In front of them all, sitting on a leather chair, there was an average sized man with brown hair with equally brown eyebrows. He adorned a red and white priest-like hat, only much smaller like a sailor cap. He adorned a red mantle over a white robe, and surrounding him were numerous lady servants who were otherwise sharing his own modest smirk towards the guild before them, for reasons apparent.

The man's modest smirk was cascaded onto all the mages apparent. "My, my, I must say that you've left me at a loss for words." He said with an equally modest tone. "Whoever in their wildest dreams could've predicted that Fairy Tail would send the prestige and mighty Nic Pularis of all people to look after this estate. I feel so safe that it's giving me shivers."

Nic ignored his candor and got the matter assessed. "So you hired us to ensure your safety because of a threat that has been assessed by you and you alone?"

The man nodded. "Yes. I'm sure you're well aware of the rumors going around, have you not? Piers and ports have been on rather high alert since these attacks. I'd rather not find any trespassers making a fuss in my city, especially with our fair share of trade being so high."

Lucy turned towards Sophie. "Why do you think that is?"

The second blonde crossed her arms and formed a frown with her lips. "Probably because of the Cambire Foundation. Their growing stocks have been spreading like a virus all throughout Fiore already. The Council is currently making embassies pass stock regulations across other countries so that they can get their fair share."

"Precisely my point." The man said. "I've been doing my job the best I can for my fair town and folk, and services could not have been better. It's also been rumored that these alleged raiders have been notorious for bodily inflictions."

"You mean might come for you since you're such a big deal?" Happy asked.

Wendy looked up, pointing an index finger to her chin. "Well, I guess there would be a point there. You are allowing this all to happen after all."

"So if they intend a secondary target, that's where we come in." Carla deduced. "Understandable, but I still don't see why you want us here and not at the ports?"

"The ports aren't ready for a shipping as of yet, I checked." Vanessa said. "Tonight is just preparations. They intend to get the next shipment exported by tomorrow."

The man grinned. "Well I see where you're all coming from. If it's all the same, I think we should be in fine hands. I'm counting on you."

Nic spread his feet apart a little. "Can't guarantee what you don't know…but we'll make it so you're the priority here."

"You have my blessings." He bowed his head as his servants gathered around him. "Now then, I think we should all sit back and relax for a while, don't you think?"

The group got the consent and fanned out. They left the lavish estate as they entered city streets with lots of lights and lavish stands. The people around make it equally as palpable for a festive time. The group began to converge as they made way towards the doors.

"Well that guy certainly is a charmer." Sophie said with a smug tug on her lipstick.

"Yeah, no kidding." Gray said. "The guy really gives me the creeps."

"His servants surroundings him isn't welcoming." Juvia noted.

Wendy walked behind them, alongside Carla in her human form. "Yeah, maybe, but doesn't that mean he has a lot of money?"

"Makes you wonder where he gets it from." Carla inquired.

Natsu snorted. "Hmph, well as far as I can smell, the guy certainly smells weird."

"Maybe, but it's still our job to protect him from, well…anything." Lucy noted. "The job is still a job, and I need a little rent money."

"Lucy is right." All eyes went towards Erza as she stood at the top of the staircase, looking over the city and its festive wonders. "The job entitles us to protect him and do just that." Her armored arms folded beneath her chestplate. "But that doesn't falter any suspicions."

"So then what's the plan?" Joey asked.

Dereece stepped forward. "Yeah, we do have a plan, right?"

"Now let's think for just a minute." Nic's voice once again drew the attention of everyone there. He looked out at the city much like Erza, but his gaze was more down towards his own feet and the flight of stairs, where even there, a couple of Pidove were ruffling and cooing. "Before we overthink too hard, we have to consider why this is all happening. There's a reason why he's feeling targeted, and I can say it's more than just because of his recognition." He turned around. "Vanessa."

"Yes?"

"You said that the exportation's tomorrow, right? Tell me, what do we know so far that the Cambire Foundation has been selling?"

The younger sister looked down as she put a hand to her chin, critically thinking upon the matter. "Well, from what I can remember…I I think it's standard items and berries they prepared beforehand. You think there's more?"

"It's just a feeling." The wild Pidove all took off right before his eyes, soaring over the building. "But being threatened means you have something or have done something to upset someone else."

"I've read up some reports while we were on the train." Erza pointed out. "A recent shipment was attacked last night carrying supplies, but the culprits are still at large. As far as we know, they could very well be in the city for the same reason."

Nic faced his wife. "That's something that I think is a possibility. Meaning whatever is being shipped must be the reason this is all happening." His brow furrowed. "Alright then…" He faced the others and gave a definite glare. "Looks like we know what we need to do then. Everybody ready?"

"Yeah, I'm sure as hell fired up now!" Natsu balled his fist with a bright smile on his face.

"Aye, sir!"

Joey gave a thumbs up at his idol with a glimmer around his face. "You can count on us, Nic-senpai! We won't let you down!"

Duncan continued to look unamused at the scenario. "So then I guess spreading out and covering more ground is the answer, right?"

"It's our most likely bet." Nic answered. "We'll still need a good number of us still around our client still. Vanessa, Sophie, can you both stay around here? Your Aura Magic and Memory-Make will help with a radar in case something happens."

Vanessa nodded. "Sure."

"Tov."

"Alright then. We just need another group to look around the building."

"Oh! Oh! Pick me! Me!" A hand went up in the group, getting everyone to turn and see the very anxious leader of The Freaks volunteering for the sake of Nic.

Wendy looked at him with surprise. "You, Joey?"

Joey pointed a thumb to himself. "Don't get your pants in a knot. With Dereece, Duncan, and I _especially_ , we'll be looking on the outside of the building to make sure Vanessa-senpai isn't going to be in any danger. Right, guys?" He turned towards his team, hoping they would back him up. As far as their expressions showed, they seemed to agree.

"You know, I kinda agree with you, Joey. Not such a bad idea I guess."

"Hmph. Alright then."

"Yes!" Joey smiled as he pumped his fist.

"Then that just leaves the rest of us to blend with the crowd and search for the attackers." Erza's testimony was drifting off in tone, one that the others picked up on and knew what she meant otherwise. "And be careful…you never know who will be listening in on us."

As the group spoke about their plans, they were unaware at the time, far away, within the alleys of the city, the silhouette of a shadow frowned. It's as if they were aware of something wrong was coming.

"Orion."

The figure turned his head back into the shadows, his disposition fading as he focused. "Everyone, stay sharp." He said as he walked back into the darkness. "We're approaching our hour. Be weary of anyone who comes around you."

* * *

Lucy walked beside her Klefki, Natsu, Wendy, Happy, and Carla as she admired the many features the city upheld. "Wow, I can't believe how many people are still out already." She continued her stroll down the boulevard with growing surprise at the many decorative stands. Even the ice cream stand was tempting enough as it was.

They all head a lot of conversations along the way, but nothing too keen that Natsu and Wendy's Dragon Slayer hearing didn't pick up on. There were some close instances of accusation, but even more traits showed less of this. As far as they were concerned, it was all innocent people out spending Jewel and having a good time.

"I wonder what the occasion is all about?" Happy wondered. "Is it always like this?"

Natsu opened his mouth wide and chomped down on a large piece of meat on a bone. He practically tore off the whole thing and savored the skin, meat, and all. "Well if you ask me…" he chewed before resuming his muffled speech. "It's gotta be all this Cambire stuff going on about."

"That would make sense. The supply and demand would bring about a steady income to an economy." Carla said.

Wendy smiled as she held a waffle cone with creamy white vanilla swirled into it. "Hey Carla, have you even tried this? It's really good."

Carla looked intrigued. "That so?" She gave Wendy a questioned look, but her smile proved to be nothing more than an infectious one that made even her smile form. She took the cone and held it close. "Why thank you, Wendy."

Wendy giggled as she watched her enjoy the sweet treat.

"I'm honest when I think the others may have something to off of." Lucy said. "What do you think they're doing right now?"

Natsu continued walking, sinking his jaws into the next flesh morsel. "Beats me. There's a lot of fresh scents around here to even tell who this so-called bad guy is. Guess we gotta play it out by ear."

As they bickered on, an average-sized individual with dark pants and a brown jacket with a hood made way through the streets. He raised a small flask of alcohol to his lips, making small sips before having his fill. Once ingested and down the gullet it went, he took a small sigh as his breath needed a raise.

As they trekked on, the festivities the stands and the folk had and provided was pretty entertaining. The food was one thing that certainly got Natsu's attention, much to Lucy and Carla's sniping. Sure, blending in and not looking at all suspicious does help, but that didn't mean they had to be picked bone dry of jewel so soon. But even so, the stands themselves supplied quite the amusement that drew people away from any suspicions. Even some people had Pokémon beside them, and they seemed to be enjoying it as well.

Klefki looked around as she stuck close to Lucy, seeing the many shiny objects glimmering. Lucy took notice of Klefki's curiosity and looked towards her.

"Something wrong? You seem distracted?"

Klefki looked around, her face growing disgruntled. "Nothing, it's just…" She faced Lucy with wavy tears running down her face. "Why aren't there any keys~?"

As Klefki whimpered in her obsessions, Lucy deadpanned with disbelief of her own. "You serious?! You have like a dozen keys on you right now! Ain't no way that you can handle anymore!"

"But I _really_ like keys! Can't we just use your closet and-""

"No buts! Do you wanna get inside your Poke Ball again or what?"

Natsu and the others offered no intake on Lucy's personal issue with her greedy Klefki. They just retained their positions as the peanut gallery as they made way through the next wave of people. But this time, however, Natsu picked up on something.

As his eyes slowly widened, time drastically slowed down for him and everyone. His gaze remained forward as the wave of people brought along someone who had his bangs covering him, and covering those was a hood. The figure slowly passed the Dragon Slayer, their elbows nearly touching as they bypassed one another.

They were so far, and yet so close. That's what it felt at that moment with what he knew was wrong. Natsu's head and eyes slowly turned to pick up on the figure's features as his brown jacket concealed him. In a flash, time slipped back to forward as the figure walked along with the crowd, as if ignoring the scene entirely.

Natsu faced the direction of where he was going, his attention so drawn away that he forgot about his friends for a while. They soon picked up on his lagging and turned to see him focused.

"Natsu?" Happy questioned.

The Dragon Slayer didn't listen. His brow furrowed as he kept leering at him. The look he had made it clear that his gut feeling was taking over. As far he was concerned, he just found a lead on.

* * *

"Gray, isn't this just beautiful?"

"Yeah, I guess it isn't that bad."

Gray and Juvia paired off in another boulevard the city had, and just like Natsu and Lucy, they were taking a small shine to what the stands and the departments had to offer. It was all amazing and fun to look at, but for Gray's interests, they were more along the lines of following Juvia. He wasn't as tacky as her, but he didn't pry in what she fund to be interesting. That included himself.

Juvia looked at the necklace being offered as if it were a prime jewel, even if it was just stringed beads. Still, it glistened like sparkling water that enamored her. "It's so beautiful. What do you think, Gray?"

She looked towards him for approval, in which he shrugged. "It's not bad." He remarked.

As he looked towards it and Juvia, he tried to think of what else to say towards her. She was giving him such an expectant look that it almost made him feel ashamed to offer such few words. However, this was where he knew to be a little more considerate, even if bashful some. He looked away, catching Juvia unsoundly.

"Gray…?"

"And…I guess it suits you." He said embarrassedly.

Juvia could've sworn her heart thumped loudly before it stopped entirely. Her head went blank for a moment before the heat on her face showed. That could be said double for her eyes as hearts thumping. Once again, Gray had to deal with it.

"Uh, Juvia?"

Juvia sheepishly looked away as her face steamed a little. "So if I got this…then you would be happy?"

Now it was Gray's turn to look away. He rolled his eyes as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, sure…I guess."

Juvia's smile brightened. "Then it's settled!" She turned and presented the bead necklace towards the vendor. "I'll take this one!"

Gray sighed. As pointless as it felt to spend money on something like that, he couldn't lie if he was asked if he had a problem with it, because he didn't. He looked away from Juvia as she paid for the surprisingly expansive bead necklace and looked over to another stand, watching as another girl on the opposite side of the street placed a large stack of packaged gum on the counter. He watched as she also paid for it, handing over a small bag of jewel before placing the packaged gum in her sleeve. _'Man, and here I thought these little trinkets were pricey. Is everything around here so high in prices?'_ He looked back towards Juvia, seeing her with the necklace around her neck and wearing it with a smile. Deep down, he knew something had to be off. _'Something's up here, and I can tell it ain't just about security.'_

As he thought on about the problem he saw, the woman leaving the stand reached into her sleeve and pulled out a small piece of gum. She unwrapped it and put the minty piece in her mouth, where she started to chew.

* * *

As Duncan and Dereece stood beside one another, the latter raised a brow at their Captain. "Joey, are you sure about this?"

Joey looked at Dereece like it was painfully obvious. "What? That protecting the minister _isn't_ the point?" he retorted.

Dereece shook his head. "No, not exactly. It's just…don't you think we should've been more practical like scout with the others? Kinda being in the wait for an assassin just brings the heebie-jeebies~." Dereece can feel his spine shiver like an Earthquake in his body. He was far from sure about this than anyone here.

"Well if you ask me, I say it was a pretty bold move." Duncan said.

"Why thank you, Duncan." Joey smirked with pride.

"To have someone who would outlaw libraries if they didn't have books on interpretive dancing, and a deep obsession over the Pularis family, put himself in harms way by being bait to high level hitmen who could probably be looming over us as we speak. So daring indeed."

The sarcasm Duncan exemplified didn't go unnoticed by Dereece, and neither by Joey. Even Joey wasn't that dumb when he knows he was insulted, but it's not like him to return the sarcasm in kind.

"Well thank you, too, Duncan." Joey huffed as he crossed his arms. "Sheesh, write an essay on how you think Friday pizza and movie night is far from healthy while you're at it."

Duncan snobbishly smirked. "I'll keep that in mind."

Dereece, having goosebumps over him, hid behind Joey. He peered over his shoulder as he looked out at the crowds walking amongst the tourists. "Uh, Joey, please tell us you at least have a plan if we have to fight." Joey continued to look out with a serious look. "You do have a plan, right? Right?!"

The Captain of the team leaned off to the side and shot his scared best friend a look. "Geez man, find a towel if you're going to start sweating. Of course I do."

"Do tell." Duncan said.

"It's simple. We use our Pokémon for a reason, you know." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. "We'll be sure to make sure that they dodge whatever they throw and look for an opening. And if he or they happen to get pass Chespin and the others, you and I can always distract them with our booty shaking while Duncan deals a freakishly painful blow with that stick he always carries."

Dereece shot his Captain a look. "And you really think _**dancing**_ our way out of a mess is gonna save us from getting killed?!"

"Well, I would _love_ to hear what you have to advise, Dereece." Joey retorted, this time raising a knowing brow like the answer was as clear as day.

Dereece wanted to say something, but he was getting cold feet from dealing with someone who could be wielding weapons telepathically.

Duncan shrugged. "Whatever you say…Captain."

"There we go! That's the can-do spirit I'm wanting!" Joey snapped. "Besides, if all else fails, we can always play fetch with Pidove. You see? I know my way around a few things other than using my moneymaker, Dereece. Mr. Doubty Pants."

"Oh boy~, yay…" Dereece made a half-hearted fist pump skywards to try and follow what his Captain wanted out of him, but he was still far from liking what they volunteered. He only sulked forward as he couldn't believe his luck. "Oi."

From within the crowd, an unknown figure looming behind some stands with a large, kempt cowlick had a hand to his chin, smirking as he waited for the opportunity to present itself. And nearby, on the corner of a wall, another one, more feminine, smirked wily as she couldn't wait to get started.

* * *

The minister smirked as he toasted another wine glass to another lovely lady he sat with. "And to you as well, darling." He smiled as the lady chuckled at his candor, enacting his charms.

He sat with numerous women as before, his maids there to accompany him with more wines and party drinks. As he laughed and seemed to relish with the women he was fondling with around his presence, on the very far end by the large doors, Sophie and Vanessa seemed less than impressed with his show of generosity.

"How vulgar." Sophie said.

Vanessa kept a more relaxed face, but even she seemed disinterested. "Indeed."

"Why is it that these kinds of men always seem to have the most disinteresting of tastes? Do they bathe in the same bathwater perhaps?"

"A question that doesn't need to be answered, Sophie."

The Memory-Make Mage just sighed as she watched the minister have his ways and laugh off his night. As the two watched him party on like he never asked for a job to begin with, the look on Sophie's face never changed, even with discomfort by the many money-loving vixens making her wish for a bucket.

As more maids passed them with wine and other cocktails, the Aura Mage couldn't help but feel something was wrong. "Sophie."

"Hm?" She looked over, seeing Vanessa's deeply inquired stare.

"Tell me, have you noticed that he has a lot of alcohol? That stuff is expensive, you know."

Sophie looked away, stomaching seeing the many women all over the minister as he laughed. "…now that you mention it, it does ring a bell. Cana's tab is always adding on, and she complains almost hourly about its pricing at the guild." She soon caught onto what Vanessa was saying. She gasped at the realization. "Wait, you mean where all this money comes from."

Vanessa nodded. "Normally taxes are regulated by the minister and distributed, and if an economy is deemed healthy, then prices would be at a steady." Her brow furrowed as she thought deeper. "But with the Cambire Foundation having set up shop recently, it makes you wonder where all that profit goes."

Both of them shot a look at the minister once more. The smell of wine was starting to stain even his own clothes as he was trying to adjust. Another maid approached with a cloth, one that he humbly objected. Instead a fellow 'friend' of his sat herself against his shoulder, tracing her finger on the spot where his mantle was stained.

"Now I see." Sophie said. "That would explain a few things."

"We can't be sure about any of this. Not until Nic and the others find what we're looking for." Vanessa stated. "Until we can fully piece this together…we can only stand here and keep a lookout."

"I know…" Sophie looked back once more, both her and Vanessa biding their own sense of dignities as they personally watched the man in his main chamber with his friends he invited party. "But must we watch this?"

Truly, men with power bare no shame.

* * *

In another part of town, there was another group of certain individuals paired off, and they seemed to be taking the avenue on a more laid-back level. Who better to feel so nonchalant about their own time together other than those who already swore to beside the other for eternity? After all, eternity was a very long time.

Hand in hand, Nic and Erza were both casually amusing themselves as they took to the sights. While they were on the job, and focusing as they should, that didn't mean their relationship was everything beneath them.

Erza took another lick of the strawberry cheesecake cone in hand. When she savored its taste, she looked peachy, like Lucy does after a nice soak in her bath. "Mmmm…so sweet." She praised.

"You like it?" Nic questioned. In his hand…was nothing. Along with Erza's ice cream, she got regular chocolate mint, and just like his casual fast, down the hatch appetite, it was gone as quickly as it was served. Even the waffle cone was gone.

"Why, I just might go back for another." Erza teased.

Nic smirked. "Well I wouldn't mind if it wasn't such a long wait like before. Speaking of which, just how much jewel did we spend?"

Erza looked at him quizzically. "Now that you mention it, the prices were all rather above average." Her spare hand went to her chin as she began to dig deeper into thinking. "And the population here is surprisingly high. Such a crowd is so drawn that it leaves you wondrous of why."

Nic looked ahead with a straight face. "That's exactly what someone hiding would think. Odds are they're either blending in with the crowd or hiding out to get to the source."

"And you think they're close?"

"It's up ahead. I can see it from here."

Erza turned to look to where Nic was referring to. Both husband and wife stopped for a moment to look on from the distance at the many of people who were present before a certain stand.

The stand itself had a big blue banner on top of it and had large white letters that spelled out 'GRAND OPENING' that went in an arch. The long white letters went over a blue tarp-like tent that shielded from any sleet or snow, and inside the tent, the many of folk were pouring in and out with bags of Potions and other medicine for their Pokémon. This was without a doubt the most popular and probably primary reason of the sales and industry of the market: The Cambire Shop.

Nic and Erza shot a glance at each other; Erza more of serious and Nic more of general curiosity. The two looked back before they chose to get closer and enter the shop. When they passed through the open tent way, they looked inside and saw the whole thing.

People were everywhere in the tent the size of a small donut shop. There were long white tables with labels and boxes on them, like open discount sales in summertime sports stores. The boxes all had many of Potions, Super Potions, Paralyze Heals, Burn Heals, Awakenings, Antidotes, even a mass of berries that have been taken time and consideration to grow. There were even pamphlets for those wishing to start farming berries of their own as positive feedback. Even along the walls of the tent, there were even logo t-shirts with pictures of certain Pokémon. It was no surprise the Pikachu and Greninja t-shirts were sold out, the latter much to Nic's chagrin.

Looking all around, so many people were at the registers on the far end of the tent. They were all doing their job and looking like they were really into it. They were so busy dealing with needy customers that this was the chance Nic and Erza looked for.

The duo ventured deeper into the shop, their eyes wandering around the walls for the most part. They looked about ever so casually while trying to ignore the few eyes and stares they were given because of their statures. They looked about for anything or anyone that seemed out of place, but alas all they found was a regular, busy store.

"It's certainly crowded in here." Erza acknowledged, barely missing a customer with a large box full of good and novelties he brought.

"Yeah, it is…" Nic hated being in busy domains, especially kinds that don't give him his space. His own sense of space was what he needed most, and he'd rather pick not so busy cafes to go to for the most part. But this wasn't about his needs, this was about the gut feeling they both shared.

Their attention drew away towards the inner crowd, where they inspected more of the possible routes one could've taken to hide something. They knew something was hidden around here, they could feel it. If one had a secret base or possible hiding spot, where would the entrance be? A lot of options, but all they had to do was observe.

They lingered within the store for a short while, strolling along and looking at knickknacks together like anyone else would. Their eyes casually, if not constantly, drifted towards the walls. They were being patient as they waited for some sort of sign, and as they looked at the Full Heals, they caught onto it.

A regular employee moved from behind the register, where they saw a head pop out from behind the capes of the back. This wasn't unnoticed by Nic nor Erza as they found their opening.

As the employees were too distracted with customers, Nic and Erza quietly moved around the edge of the tent while pretending they were looking at the on-wall commodities. They slowly followed Nic's lead and waited at just the right opportunity when the employees were all focused on customers. Suddenly, when they all turned away, even with heads of customers, their chance unfolded. They zipped closer to the back of the tarp, where Nic peered over and saw a long slit in it. He could see that there was a knob barely protruding from within it. He quietly turned the knob and moved in to slide into the door. Erza was next to follow his example, and quickly closed the door behind without slamming.

Once on the other side, they were now in a white hallway with patterned carpeting. Lights overhead brightened their path so it didn't seem so ominous. "So this shop's intertwined with this building behind." Nic deduced.

"Looks like it." Erza started walking, silence falling with her and her husband. One wrong sound and they were as good as caught.

They looked about cautiously along the walls and up on the ceilings for any security cameras, but they found nothing. It was like the place was designed to be kept secret, even from itself. As they embarked down a large intersection, their attention drew to the hallway that it intersected with. They saw the trimming in the middle of the floor had a silver edging around it, as of forming a large rectangular base. They knew they would be finding something for here for a start.

They heard the sounds of doors opening, however, and that's where they saw a few guys walk in.

The first guy entered, leading two other workers that were carrying two massive crates using pulling carts. On the crates were various goods, and on the second cart, there were a few cages lined up with the other. Inside, there were what looked like some Bellsprout, Rattata, a Poliwag, even a few Bidoof. They all looked distressed as they were stuck in the same cages together, almost clustered.

"Alright guys, you know the drill." The first grunt casually walked down the empty hallway, making himself effortlessly bent down and bang his fist into the carpet. As expected, the carpeting on the silver space suddenly propped open like a cellar door. The guy grabbed the lid and pulled it up until it was high enough. The interior was a mere ramp that went down into darkness. The guys with their carts rolled them into the cellar, where the first guy entered last and closed the door right over him.

From behind an alcove in the wall where a pair of drinking fountains was located, Nic and Erza were lined up with it and heard everything. They remained as quiet as possible as they emerged from behind the corner and glanced around one more time. All clear, they approached the cellar entrance, where they bent down to its level.

Erza gently tapped the cellar door with her armored knuckles, hearing a hollow echo on the other end. "It's hollow alright." She said. "A secret entrance."

Nic nodded and reached for the door's topside. He seized the top and pulled it open. Thankfully it didn't creak as it was lifted.

"Ladies first." He offered.

Erza smirked at him before she obliged to his kindly offer. "Why thank you." In a hurry, she slipped down the underside of the cellar, where Nic looked back to see shadows approaching the closed door. Hurrying, he slipped beneath and let the cellar door close just as the door opened.

Underneath, the two were hidden in darkness, where it was surprisingly roomy. They held tight as they heard footsteps and what sounded like wheels turning over them. They sounded so close that they might pry open the cellar door. The noise stopped for a moment, making them tempted to reach for their Poke Balls. However, the footsteps and wheels went on, making the two back off.

With the upper floor people now tending to their regular shipment their attention drew downwards to where the ramp lead to a lighted hallway that was arched in domain. They slowly made way down the ramp until they reached the bottom. Once there, they stopped at its base and took a look around their surroundings.

The domain could very well reminisce to that of what a cross between a sewer and a dungeon was made up. Behind the ramp, it looked like an ongoing that with brick walls that arched up, and along their way down where the ramp lead to, the path was lit by lights along the side.

"Looks like we found literal underground." Nic said.

Erza nodded. "So it would seem." Her attention drew towards the ramp they went up. "This must have been used as a secret entrance to the lower levels of the city in the instance of an evacuation, but this building is so old that the practice must have been forgotten with its purpose."

"It looks like it's been years since anyone's been down here." He looked towards the way the guys went. "Which means there's one way to use this path now."

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

Their hunches continued to blossom as they made their way down the open hallway. Thankfully for them that the brown, stained porcelain floor wasn't as loud with them thanks to the aging. They treaded fast, but lightly as they made way down the brick-walled territory. Nic lead with his speed and posture leaning him forward, like some ninja.

The two soon saw a large open room up ahead, but in it they saw bodies advancing. Hurrying, they moved to the edges of the arched opening, where there was just enough wall to where it looked like a door long since removed was enough cover for them. They were on opposite walls as they heard voices close in.

"Alright, that should do it. Let's go get the rest and get the few rounds we need."

"Tch, you think those dumbasses would be smart to have already used these things to capture these freakin creatures."

"Whatever, more money for us. I just wished we got paid more because this all seems just to ea-"

A sudden force in the form of a boot and shoe knocked the three guys that came in out. They fell over in one hit, with the two guys stamped and shot back into the one guy.

With them unconscious, Nic and Erza looked up to what it was they were bringing down here. Both their eyes widened in shock as gasps escaped them.

"I knew it…"

The two peered into the room, slowly making way pass the unconscious guards into the large room the size o a battlefield, if not more. It wasn't well lit, but enough from above to tell what was beneath. Crates upon crates of stocked berries was over on one end, and along with it and going along the sides, there was an abundant supply of wooden crates with Cambire goods and merchandise that were being sold upstairs. And moreover, something else that was far more disturbing to them.

Small whimpers came from the side, getting them both to turn and see something else degrading.

To their own skepticism, they saw what looked up an abundant supply of wild Pokémon all inside cages. They looked like they were freshly taken from somewhere, either by force or they were tricked. Some looked like they hadn't eaten in forever. Just looking at some made their stomachs boil, but they held it down..

"Pokémon…" Nic deduced as he slowly turned towards them. His brow furrowed at the confirmation. "So my hunch was right after all."

Erza looked at the other various products at hand, her own brow furrowed in discomforted. "Seems we've caught ourselves in an ongoing black-market deal."

"While the products are sold to the public, they don't know that the real merchandise are right beneath them. And they don't even know." He looked to the lower of the cages to find a wild Pidgey looking ruffled and weakened. As the Pidgey looked at him like some lost puppy, Nic could feel his heart sink at the very sight of these poor caged creatures. While it was sad, he knew pitying about it won't change anything.

…

A large pink cannon attached to a shoulder deeper down the corridor aimed for the brightened path. On its radar right over it was a holographic visual of what looked like two red dots glowing.

"Two targets, one shot." The girl attached to the feminine cannon stayed low as she aimed with diligence.

The figure beside her crossed his arms, observing casually. "Just make sure that the power is lowered this time. We can't risk them getting injured."

"I know that." She chimed. "Jeez, like I _don't_ have common sense." Both eyes were open, revealing her green eyes that quizzically complimented her pink hair. Over them was an orange visor that acted as shades. She smiled knowingly. "This'll be so fast they won't know what hit 'em."

Once the two targets on the green stopped moving, that was her moment. Her eyes narrowed and she pulled the trigger. The pink cannon on her shoulder popped, making a small burst of smoke erupt from the hole as what looked like white missile with a red head zipped down the hallway.

…

Nic gave his wife a sympathetic stare of assurance. "Erza, we're changing plans."

The Requip Mage nodded. "Understood."

Nic's sympathetic assurance turned towards the whimpering Pokémon looking at him with hopeful sickness. "Our priorities are changing. We'll take of this first. I'm sure that the minister and Cambire Foundation would like to know about act of hospitality…" His glance went off to the side all of a sudden, getting his notion to trail off.

Shortly after, Erza caught wind and glanced back, sensing the same thing.

They turned their attention towards the entrance, being swift and clean as they glared at what it was that they saw incoming. They could hear a whistling down that could reminisce of smoke puffing. They stared at the corridor long and dark as they saw what looked like a red projectile shooting dead ahead, and at a drastically high speed at that.

"An ambush?!" Erza gasped.

Nic grunted his teeth at the predicament. He glanced back at the Pokémon as he began to formulate. _'If we move, the supplies and Pokémon will be targeted. Gotta work fast.'_ He crossed his arms as he glowed. His arms thus swiped in opposite arcs as the glow still went on, but a Wide Guard was put up, making a large hexagonal wall erupt to cover everything in front of them like a net. The missile made impact with the barrier put up, exploding with quaking results. The ground shuddered as smoke billowed up, making a smokescreen that blocked view of everything.

Inside the smoke, Erza hurriedly requipped a sword, while Nic was in his Stone Form. He stepped back with his wife to get some room as the cover was for the enemy.

"They're coming!" Erza warned.

Nic's eyes narrowed he quietly as he had to take advantage of the few seconds they had. His body glistened a white aura and remained still as spears of white shot like missiles into the smoke cloud, disappearing moments before they saw another fast moving large net shoot at them.

Erza's turn was next. With one swing of her sword, a glimmer of white slashed skywards as she got in front of Nic, cleaving the net into two and making it fall right to their sides.

They crouched low and Nic glowed, transforming back into himself. They stayed low as the smoke dissipated, allowing two figures to show themselves up ahead.

"You think that did it?"

"Well it should." The girl scoffed. "If that missile didn't, I don't see why the net wouldn't. Can never go wrong with Plan B." She looked ahead to see the smoke clearing, leaving only the ground in a foggy mist. She moved in, revealing herself and her associate.

Now in full view, the girl was rather short for her age, supposedly around the same as Lisanna and Vanessa. She had green eyes with eyelashes, and her long pink hair was tied in two pigtails tied by red bands. Her attire consisted of a white choker that connected to a folded bright pink collar to a pink blouse-like top. Unlike most girls, she wasn't fairly endowed, evident even with the buttoned blouse covering her whole chest. She had shoulder garments of the same color and were very puffy. She had white cuffs at the end of her long sleeves, which held cufflinks to keep them in check. The bottom half of her attire consisted of black leggings beneath thick pink cloths with boundless pockets. She wore white heels that strapped to her leggings. She also adorned the orange visor that held her green eyes from clear visual.

The man beside her was also a man of light skin, even paler. He was much taller than the others, as tall as Laxus even. He had silky yellow hair that covered his whole head, but didn't reach his neck. The bangs barely even covered his blue-green eyes. He adorned a white dress shirt with a dark brown vest atop of it, and even with that was a tucked-in orange handkerchief. He had black pants and equally black leather boots with spikes along the ridges. Over all of that was a coat that almost exactly like Nic's, even measuring directly with how the sleeves were rolled up. Only it was gray for the cuffs instead of dark purple. He had a dead serious expression on his face like he's never seen sunlight before.

The girl sassily put a hand to her hip, giving a knowing expression. "There, you see? Nothing to it. Now, let's get this stuff and alert the o-!" She was stopped when she took a step forward, but fell right into a trap. As if on command, floating rocks in numbers no more than five floated from the sides, glowing white as they targeted them.

"What the heck?!" the girl shrieked.

The guy hurriedly covered up. "Take cover!"

Unfortunately, his warning fell on deaf ears. The floating rocks all converged and crushed them both, creating small white ruptures upon touch. The white smoke around them was quickly dispersing, leaving them to uncover and falter back, surprisingly only a little banged up than squished completely.

The girl was a little dirty, but she ignored her superficial damage and opened an eye. "Gnnngh! A trap?!"

The man was less than effective, but he mentally cursed himself for not being so careful this time around. As he adjusted his footing, the residual white smoke around them was dissipating, revealing two silhouettes beside one another.

"So it was you who set off that attack then." The one feminine figure said. "I thought coming down here was too easy."

The sound made the girl grunt and glare ahead. "Who's there? Show yourselves!"

The white smoke dissipated fully, revealing a dead serious and frowning Nic beside Erza. They stood strong and proud, and didn't budge a step. They looked ready for battle with the eyes that immediately put the two intruders on the defensive.

"Mages." The tall guy grunted.

"So that minister anticipated us then." The girl answered. She reached two fingers to the side of her visor, making the icon on it show. _'We need to be better prepared. We knew we'd eventually be blown, but not this early. We have to keep the edge on our side.'_ The icon on her visor flashed green, giving an okay sign. "Guys, stay sharp out there!" she yelled through her visor. "We have hired mages in the city. I repeat, we have mages in the city. You know what to do!"

The visor then went blank, ending the transmission.

"So then there's more of them." Nic figured, having listened to the message.

"Looks like it." Erza said. "The others will have to deal with them while defending the minister."

The guy stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "Sorry it's come to this, but we're going to have to ask that you step aside. You have something that we want."

Nic didn't move. "The feeling is the same."

The man raised his fist, encasing it in dark purple energy. The girl made a bright shine about her, generating two medium-sized weapons that looked like long rifles. Erza instantly grew intrigued by the latter's intentions of her magic.

' _Requip?'_

The girl aimed them at Erza, looking stern with her visor on. "Then you'll leave us no choice." She warned. "Stand down. I won't ask again."

Nic's serious face and Erza's sword in hand adjusting was all the signals the two needed. They were the expressions of two people who knew what they were doing. They weren't going to comply so easily it seemed. They stood in front of their enemies with the reason to fight being right behind them. IF they didn't who knows what would happen? That in mind, they held ground as the air between them went stale.

"Sorry." Nic apologized. "We may not know why you're here or what you want…" His glare hardened. "But if you want these Pokémon, you're going to have to go through us first."

The man raised his hand, pulling on his glove to tighten it. As he balled it slowly, the leather creaked continuously. "Challenge accepted." He answered. "Strive to find your peace before your death."

* * *

The man in the hood made way up the avenue, where behind him, just following by a few blocks off, Natsu was tailing him at an alarming pace. Behind him where the others as they tried to keep up.

"Natsu, wait up!" Happy urged.

"Yeah! Don't go running off on your own like that!" Lucy exclaimed.

Natsu, however, remained steadfast in his course. He glared daggers ahead like if he lost sight on him he'd be gone. "I got a feeling about this, and I can sure as hell say I ain't letting it slide. C'mon!" He rushed further into the crowd, catching up with the guy he's been tailing for a few minutes now. His pacing was so urgent that it was unnerving the guys even further.

All they could do from behind was look at each other and confirm that Natsu was onto something. The looks on their faces changed as they picked up on his tone and followed with a deeper resolve.

As the unknown guy made way through the street, he suddenly stopped in place, as if having a begrudging feeling creep up. In his ear, a little voice was heard, ushering a signal for him to pay heed.

"Hey, you!"

Hearing the voice from behind, the guy looked over his shoulder to find someone who was coming at him like he was picking a fight. The way the pink-haired boy was moving was a dead giveaway.

"Stop right there!" he shouted.

Instead of staying there, the figure rushed into the alleyway beside him. Natsu caught up to his spot and turned into the looming darkness, taking the turn to where he followed him. When he ventured into the alley, however, he found himself running so much that he realized he wasn't finding anything. He stopped in place, looking ahead at a dark void.

As Natsu remained still, he was caught up to by Lucy and the others. "Natsu!" Lucy approached him, seeing him transfixed on the space ahead. "Natsu?"

"Where'd he go?" he questioned. He looked left and right, looking around to try and find his target. Still, nothing.

Wendy looked around as well. "Did he really come here?"

"Well I don't see why not with Natsu's sense of smell." Carla said. "Anything, Wendy?"

The Sky Dragon Slayer remained still as she tried to pick up on anything that Natsu may have missed. When she started to sniff the air, she was inhaling something that was a mix of alcohol…and lime. A weird scent, sure, but not as strong as Cana. When she heard the sounds of chords, she looked up, seeing something that almost made her skin crawl. Her gasp was audible to where the others picked up on it.

"What is it?" Lucy and Klefki followed her eyes up, both of them looking just as surprised.

Happy and Natsu followed suite, seeing what it was that they missed.

The same guy he was chasing was right overhead, looking like he was floating in midair. He hung over them like a spider would waiting for prey for an ambush, looming with his disposition clear as a bleak shadow.

"There you are!" Natsu created a handheld fireball and threw it skywards. The attack served as a warning shot that passed the guy. The guy tucked on his own fingers as he shifted to the side. When did a flip and landed on a knee, his hood coming off to reveal lime green hair.

Natsu faced him with a growing scowl. "Alright pal, mind telling me what your snooping was all about?"

The others behind him remained quiet as they allowed the two to lead on with whatever it was they were talking about.

"Tch, I was hoping I wasn't being so obvious." The guy said. He got up from his knee and looked at Natsu with a casual expression. "Looks like my luck just wasn't cutting it this time. Oh well." The guy was about Natsu's height, with light skin even. His eyes and hair were both the same shade of lime green, with a small beauty mark on the left side. He had on a white shirt that was tucked into his dark pants, which was held by a brown belt with a yellow buckle. He had black shoes with bright green lacing, and his fingerless gloves were a magenta-brown shade. But over it all was his dark brown hooded coat to conceal himself. "Gotta give you props for picking from the right tree. Usually people don't find me so ambiguously. You must be pretty skilled if you caught on my tricks."

"There wasn't anything tricky about you." Natsu defended. "If you want to hide, try masking your scent first. You smell like a cold brewery."

The guy smirked. "That so? Guess Matilda and Broly are gonna be pissed if they find out I've been drinking again. I'll never hear the end of it."

Lucy stepped up. "So I take it you're one of those guys who came for the minister then."

"Maybe. And I guess you're all mages then." He looked at Lucy and Wendy, mainly the former with her caboose. "Shame, I was really hoping to not fight girls. It's a pain."

"What are you saying?! Do you have any idea on how offending that is?!" Carla retorted with a heavy tick mark on her head.

Natsu stepped forward, looking at him with a steadily gaze. "Well I don't know what your deal is pal…but if you wanna get to the minister, just try and get pass us first."

The guy looked unamused. "Guess I haven't much choice then, do I?"

Natsu sprung forward with a flaming fist. "No you…DON'T!" He reeled his fist forward and unleashed a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, however, the guy before him fiddled his fingers for a second before spreading them out. As Natsu's punch closed in, it was stopped by something invisible, and it was feeling thin and sharp.

Finally pulling away, Natsu landed on the ground several feet away, glaring at him. He gritted his teeth as his right hand ached.

"Careful how you act." The guy warned.

"Natsu, are you okay?" Wendy worried about Natsu's failed attack, but notice something else, something more disturbing. She looked over, seeing that his knuckles were having slits, like a knife cut into it. "His hand…it's bleeding." She realized.

Happy gasped in shock. "Say what?"

The guy folded his fingers together and separated them again. This time, he loosely crossed his arms, this time sending a wave of sharp chords like a net at them all. He flicked his fingers, making it ripple and shoot faster at them.

"Look out!" Happy warned.

Wendy stepped in front. "Don't worry, I got this!" Her hands and arms reached to either side, creating whirlwinds that compressed into elongated funnels around the appendages. " **Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!** " She flicked her arms forward, swiping the whirlwinds ahead like wings. The sharp winds spun and churned into the thin net, causing it to dissipate completely.

The guy looked at them with some level of surprise. "Not bad."

"I get it now." Wendy said. "So that's how you were able to get above us."

"Heh, well no flies on you." He smiled. "I didn't think you'd catch onto my Wire Magic that fast. You're pretty observant."

"Wire Magic?" Lucy questioned. "I've never heard of a magic like that before."

"Useful for trapping and snaring, I know. But it's got other uses that help me." He crossed his arms, looking at them with a serious expression. "I'm not sure if you know…but tighten a wire too much, and you and cut open some skin."

Natsu's glare hardened. "You bastard…!"

' _Thank goodness Aniya gave us a heads up. Now we know we can pull out the stops we really need to get the job done.'_ The guy swiped his arm, sending another wave of think wire at them. The chords reached for Natsu, who dodged to the side. He hurried pass the chords and made way with another flaming fist pulled back. _'Sorry guys, looks like Broly and Matilda are on minister duty this time.'_

Natsu's fist closed in, enveloping everything in a blaze that ignited the whole abandoned alley.

* * *

The bright light of surprising heat could've been seen a few blocks over. The illuminating light didn't go unnoticed by Gray nor Juvia as they turned their heads towards the alleys.

"Gray, is that what I think it is?" Juvia inquired.

Gray's expression hardened. "Yeah, there's no mistaking it. That's gotts be Natsu. Only he could make a fire _that_ big."

Juvia looked back at the light, watching it fade. "Do you think he's found trouble."

"He's always in trouble no matter what he guys. C'mon, we better go what-?!" Suddenly, something from the side in a long, pink glob stuck to his shoulder. Before be could finish, he was yanked into the alleyway like a yoyo. "Woah!"

Juvia reached out, completely shocked as Gray disappeared from sight. "Gray!" She began to look unsound as she gritted her teeth. "What kind of fiend is trying to separate me from Gray like this?"

Before she could have that question answered, she was shot at with an elongated pink string of glob as well. It stuck like to her chest mantle, where it suddenly sucked back in, dragging the rain woman with it.

Together, both Gray and Juvia shrieked out as they were pulled into the alley, away from civilians and fell on their stomachs. Both thudded loudly as the pink strings retreated further, letting remain on the ground to collect what happened.

Gray was the first to get up, rubbing the back of his head. "Man, what was that about?" he grunted.

Juvia got up next, looking at Gray with worry. "Gray!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But who the heck did that?" He looked ahead, in which Juvia followed. Both their eyes traced to the sound of chewing right above them, resonating from a certain mouth.

Standing right above them in a sassy manner was an average sized woman who looked about their age. She had long, dark brown hair that was straight, though it bounced some it seemed. She had green eyes with deep eyelashes and supple lips that were open as she chewed on a piece of gum. She was decently endowed with a dark red V-neck for a top covered by a thin brown cloak-like jacket that Vanessa had in common, though this woman's was long-sleeved. She wore blue tight jeans over her legs and brown loafers to boot. Over her head was a pair of Magic Headphones with a little radio antennae on it.

Gray took notice of the girl, seeing her features with a leery gaze. _'Wait…'_ He began to think back to when they were at the stands and Juvia was getting that necklace. _'That's the chick who spent some good money on gum. What does she want now?'_

The woman continued chewing, looking at them nonchalantly.

Gray stood up and gave her a look. "Alright, what's your deal? You've got some nerve dragging us all the way here."

"That's no way to make friends." Juvia warned.

The girl didn't listen. In fact, as she watched their lips moved, she tapped her headphones' sides and waved her hand, letting them know she couldn't hear…or care for that matter.

"Hey, we're not trying to be rude!" Juvia retorted. "If you can hear us, then at least say something-!" The girl suddenly spat at Juvia with a pink glob from before. It bolted through the air and struck the surprised rain woman in the head, making her squeal and fall back.

"Juvia!" Gray shouted. He shot a look back at the attacker, his annoyance. "Hey, what the hell was that?!"

The woman cocked her brow, purposely mocking Gray as her gum snapping inside her mouth answered for him.

Juvia was on her knees, putting a hand through her hair. As she recovered from that blow, she noticed something was off. As she ran her fingers along her head, they began to feel…sticky. She moved her hand away from her head, but all she was met with was a web of pink glob connecting her hand to her hair.

"What is this?" She tried to get the gunk off, but as she tried to move it from her hair, it began to pull, causing an ache. "Aaaah! It feels like it's pulling out my hair!" she cried.

Gray looked at Juvia's struggle and saw how elastic the stuff was. For moment, he began to think of what it was that was being fired. _'Was that stuff she shot…gum?'_ He heard another spitball from ahead. He looked back, seeing an equally sizeable glob shoot his way. With reflexes this time, he moved to the side and dodged it. Another spitball was fired from her, making him dodge to the opposite side.

He adjusted his footing, glaring ahead with a scowl. "Damn. You're a real piece of work, are ya?"

Once again, all the woman did was chew.

Gray put his hands together, creating ice. "Well maybe this will make you talk! **Ice-Make: Saucer!** " He fired a materialized jagged saucer of ice that spun through the air. It went shooting at her at an alarming rate that it looked like it could cleave her.

The girl took a breath before she began to blow a bubble of pink gum. The bubble expanded to a larger mass that became like a giant shield. As the bubble expanded, the saucer flew right into it. Upon contact, the bubble burst from the deep cut, but as the saucer went in, it was covered in gum, like a web. It was stuck in place like a display, just a few feet away from her.

"She blocked it using gum?" Gray couldn't believe it. And here he thought he was making up some impractical cold puns at times, but this girl's magic or ability to use gum, that was just a crude joke of itself.

Juvia was eventually able to get her hand off of her hair, though the residue was still clinging to her head like dried mud. She shot her adversary a look as she stood with Gray.

"Looks like fooling around is over." Gray said. "Time to wipe out this chick."

"Yes." Juvia nodded.

The girl chewed on her gum a few more times before she unleashed a volley of gum spitballs at them. They traveled at high speed, but not enough to stop Juvia. She moved her arms up, summoning a raging wall over water that defended them from the spitballs. Gray stood behind the wall, ready for his next move.

" **Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer!** "

Large lances of ice shot around the water wall and streamed mist as they converged onto the girl. She remained calm as the attack closed in. She took in another breath before creating another thick bubble that expanded. This time, however, the lances pierced the bubble, or so it seemed. The lances were taken in, prodding them into the airbag and beginning to freeze it over. The girl blew more air into the bubble to make it expand more, making the shield of ice on it crack and spread part like tectonic plates. This time, when the bubble finally popped, the pieces of gum with ice on them went flying everywhere. They stained the ground, the walls, and the most part of it went flying at Gray and Juvia, including the lances themselves.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Gray shouted.

Juvia moved in front, swiping her arm encased in a blue liquid aura. " **Water Nebula!** "

A torrent of spinning water shot up and became a crashing vortex that rushed at the ice and gum. The two attacks bolted great speeds, and the cold ice met the wave. Upon contact, the wave completely froze for a moment, before glistening and dissolving into bits that piled between them and the girl. She continued staring at them while chewing her gum with an open mouth, as if taunting them.

Gray's brow furrowed as an unamused smirk crossed his lips. "Well this is getting interesting."

* * *

"No, Joey. Not happening."

"Oh c'mon. What's so wrong with that?"

"I do not think that having techno and electronic music playing 24/7 as a magical power would be so useful."

Joey looked away with a distained beam. "Hey, everybody needs a little music in their lives, what's so wrong with that? Besides, if I play it in front of someone too long if they don't like it, maybe they'll go away instead."

Dereece groaned as he facepalmed. "I take it back. Pizza Magic sounds better than this."

"Oh! So _now_ you agree with me there, huh? Where was that support just 30 seconds ago?" He folded his arms and looked away. "Honestly man, you gotta make up your mind."

Dereece sweat dropped. "Somebody just shoot me."

Duncan raised a brow at Dereece. "Is he always like this?" he deadpanned.

"Trust me, pal, you don't wanna know."

"Well I guess having magic that allows you to fly wouldn't be so bad either." Joey looked up as he put a hand to his chin. "I wonder what Nic-senpai looks like when he flies…I bet it's so cool!" He chimed so eagerly as he tried to think back to when he watched the battle from PokeEarth, when Nic and Future Nic were doing battle in their Mega Rayquaza Forms. Just the memory was making him feel so giddy and excited.

As Duncan and Dereece merely put up with it, they caught wind of something approaching them from the steps below. "Hm?" Their attention drawn away wasn't the only thing that wasn't unnoticed. Joey also looked down when he heard footsteps.

"Hm? Who's there?" Getting on edge, he and the others managed to focus as a mysterious figure approached and stopped about ten steps below them.

He was a man of tall height with dark eyes that match his dark, large, combed cowlick in front of his head. The bangs must have been incredibly long to make such a length and curve. He had a very muscular build, lean and looking physically strong. He wore a black underarmor that was long sleeve and went up to bare hands. Over that, he wore green armored pauldrons on the shoulders and some green chest armor strapped towards it. On the lower half, he adorned a black belt to keep up his white ragged trousers with shabby edging. He adorned black boots with brown lacing on it beneath as well.

He smirked up at the guys, looking rather amused. "Well, hello, gentlemen." He greeted. "Mind if I cut in?"

Duncan raised his chin to glare down. "Who are you?"

"Who am I, you ask? Well…I guess it would be rude of me to not answer a question." He pointed a thumb to himself, smirking with pride. "They call me Broly!" He pointed at them accusingly. "And I'm here to kick your asses!"

Dereece blinked once, then twice, and finally caught. "H-he-he-he's her to what now?!"

"So then that makes you one of the guys after the minister then." Joey acknowledged. "Am I right?"

Broly grinned. "You catch on, kid. Suppose you going to introduce yourselves since I just did?"

Duncan looked away. "Why bother?"

Dereece was trying to find the right words to say before his opponent, but he was scrambling so much due to freight because of this being his first real confrontation.

Joey, however, seemed to be the only one who looked obliged. "Guess so. Behold, for tonight, you now stand before Joey Haycliff! Leader of…The Freaks!" he declared boldly. "…oh, and Dereece and Duncan too, I guess."

Broly raised a brow. "'The Freaks', you say? Now that's an interesting team name."

Joey smiled happily. "I know, right? At first, it was going to be something more…daring. I was originally thinking 'Super Beautiful Joey-ful Ultra-Mega Funky-Dramatic-Fantastic-Bodacious…'"

As he went on, Duncan was raising a brow, and Dereece was looking blandly at him. Broly, however, was looking stunned.

"'Stunning-Extreme-Awesomely Insanely Exotic-Athletic-Adventurous-Extraordinaires!'…but Dereece said the name was too long." Joey finished in a deadpanned tone. "And the 'Funky Hunkies' just makes Chespin get the giggles."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Dereece asked in a sarcastic voice.

Broly uproariously laughed with hysterics at Joey. Not in a mocking way, no, but more like laughing with him. "You know what, I like you, kid! You got spunk!" he laughed.

Joey bumped Dereece's arm. "You see? Even the bad guys like that name."

Broly finally caught his breath and smiled, but this being a more serious one. "Well then, guess you and 'The Freaks' wouldn't mind giving it your all then, huh?" He spread his legs apart, readying his attack. He folded his fingers, and with that crossed his arm to make an X. "You fellas ready to get a party started?"

Joey balled his fists, looking down with a beating heart. "Okay this is it, you ready guys?"

Duncan stepped up. "Whatever."

Dereece tried to scramble for more words. "Uh, i-is this a trick question? You're serious, right?"

"But first…" He narrowed his eyes, activating his powers. Around The Freaks, a turquoise dome materialized. It looked like glass that shimmered in the night, and the group inside looked shocked.

Joey looked at the walls shocked. "What the heck?!"

"He's boxed us in…" Dereece chimed unnerved.

Duncan glared ahead. He raised a shoe and stamped the window. However, it didn't budge a bit. It actually hurt a little.

"Sorry fellas, but we still a job to do." Broly said. "Alright, you're on!"

"Sweet! Later!" A charming, gruff, girly voice came from behind, where Broly bent down and allowed his back to be a springboard and allow a girl to fly right over his head.

The guys all looked up in shock as they watched the girl flip over the dome that trapped them in. Their eyes followed her as she landed at the doors on a knee, looking away.

"You boys play nice now, okay?" she looked back, giving a wily smirk with a shadow overcasting her face.

"Can do." Broly said. He and the others watched as the swift and wily female stood up and made way through the door. They opened loudly, but the creaking didn't compare to her speed.

Duncan saw what happened and mentally cursed himself. _'So they were baiting us then. They wanted to seal us so that the other can head inside without us interfering.'_

"Now that that's out of the way…let me show you what else I can do." Broly reached out, his palm completely out. " **Barrier-Make: Crash!** "

The dome around the guys finally dissolved, giving them fresh air once more. It was short-lived, however, when a large wall of turquoise appeared right in front of them. Broly thrust his palm forward to shove it ahead with an invisible force, and the shield zoomed into them.

"Look out!" Hurrying as fast as possible, Joey grabbed Dereece from behind and fell backwards. Duncan jumped off to the side to defend his own skin as they turquoise barrier passed them. Joey fell on his back with a thud as his hefty friend laid atop of him.

"Gnnngh, thanks a lot, man." Dereece grunted.

Joey suffered a backlash of his own. "Gnnngh, don't sweat it." He wheezed. "But could you…get off me…?"

As they started getting up, Duncan evaluated the attack that passed them and glared down at Broly. "Your magic, it was barrier manipulation?"

Broly smirked. "Yeah, guessed right. "My Barrier-Make Magic makes me create indestructible barriers. It protects me from all magic, even intangible objects. It's a pure shield if you want to see it that way."

Joey managed to take a stand of his ow, with Dereece following behind. He took a breath before he caught up to speed. "So you mean like an impenetrable defense?"

"That's correct." He adjusted his position, ready to attack. "It's even more impressive in action."

Dereece looked heavily worried. "This is serious, man."

Joey glared ahead with a furrowed brow. _'He's right. This is bad. As far as we know, the others are probably too far away to get in contact. And this guy already let his friend get to Vanessa-senpai and Sophie. That ain't gonna cut it with me!'_ He pulled out two Poke Balls, both expanding in his hands. "Alright, Freaks, time to do our job! Let's get him!"

Dereece nodded. "Alright then…Heracross, go!" He threw the Poke Ball ahead.

"Chespin! Pidove! Let's get to work!" Joey threw his Poke Balls next.

Duncan pulled out what looked like a Dusk Ball. He reeled it back and threw it forward. "Alright, Spiritomb, come out!"

Energy surged forward, revealing Heracross materializing in front. Chespin and Pidove stood right beside him, the bird flapping in the air. And finally, emerging for Duncan was a larger Pokémon, maybe a little less in height than Heracross. It had a hefty gray stone at its base where a gaseous dark purple energy swirled in a whirlpool. In the "face" was its green eyes with swirls, and as a perimeter were green balls in various shapes surrounding it. It gave off an intimidating vibe that didn't go unnoticed by its allies.

"Woah! Who's the new guy?" Chespin questioned.

"A…Spiritomb?!" Joey looked at Dereece, the two sharing a shocked look as Duncan had thrown out his next surprising Pokémon. They looked so see he was unfazed by their own lack of knowledge of his Pokémon, but that didn't stop Joey from pulling out his PokeDex and analyzing Spiritomb as it faced Broly.

" **Spiritomb, the Forbidden Pokémon. A Pokémon that was formed by 108 spirits. It is bound to a fissure in an Odd Keystone.** "

"A Spiritomb, now that took me back." Joey began to reminisce in the days when he and Dereece would always competitively play each other in their video games with the Sinnoh region. It took them forever to get their Spiritomb.

"Focus!" Duncan shouted. "Spiritomb, get ready!" At his command, the Ghost/Dark-type let out a grunt as she floated a little closer. Behind, the other Pokémon readied.

"Well, this is going to be interesting." Broly acknowledged. "So you're all these Pokémon Trainers I've been hearing about…how surprising to find some working together. Let's see how they fair against me then, shall we?"

The group looked ready, especially Joey as he glared at Broly with a sense of seriousness in his eyes.

* * *

Something felt wrong, and that's immediately what registered in the atmosphere. Vanessa suddenly jerked and faced the doorway, her disposition fixed on a serious tone.

"Vanessa?" Sophie inquired of her friend's sudden stance, but she also knew by looking at it meant trouble. She joined Vanessa as she faced the door, both hearing the loud sounds of banging and punching on the other end.

THUD!

The banging of the door alarmed those on the other side. The playful minister was delayed in reacting, but blinked before the alcohol started to wear off. "Huh?"

Another loud thud rung on the other end, this time making a dent in the door.

The room fell dead silent as Vanessa and Sophie slowly backed away, readying for their battle as they didn't need magic to know someone with intense force was on the opposite side.

Sophie took another step back. "Did they get pass Joey and his team already?"

Vanessa followed with her own foot stepped back. "That's not important now. Their auras are still fine."

The door in front of them got an even bigger dent, echoing like a bell.

Sophie narrowed her eyes. "Looks like we're on our own then. How annoying." She and Vanessa remained stationary as the door went silent for a moment, but that's when it happened. They braced as the door was once again struck by a powerful force. The double locked doors dropped completely like two metal plates, making a bone rattling sound that frightened all the vixens in the room, even the minister that was nearly falling over. The two mages posted in front looked unfazed as the two doors stopped on the bottom, and they glared ahead as someone on the other end blew on her knuckles.

Sophie and Vanessa narrowed their eyes as the girl straightened up.

The looked average sized, if not more. She had slightly tanned skin and long blonde hair that was shaggy like Gajeel's. In fact, it was almost like his own hair, only there were two protrusions that mistook them for ears. Her yellow eyes were like those of a wild animal, with an equally wily smirk to boot. She had an endowed figure that was reasonable, with her caboose held by a dark green cloth like Erza's sarashi bandages. Her midriff was exposed, allowing all to see the yellow fur on her sides with leopard spots. Her arms, even legs, had leopard fur as well, with spots. On the shoulders, forearms, and shins, there were ridged brown armored plates that looked attached to the skin. She even had a tail protruding from her dark shorts that went down to above her knees. The tail was yellow in fur and had spiky brown plates along the top. For footwear, she hardly wore sandals as the toenails were like claws, just like her hands that wiped spit from her mouth.

"Well that was a nice bell you had there." She teased so casually like it wasn't anything so caring about. "Oh~, what do we have here? A party? Well I hope you don't mind if I crash and spoil a few drinks for myself while I'm at it."

The minister looked shocked at the break-in by the attacker. All the girls around him began to veer away as he nearly crippled in his seat. "You…you're here for me?" he gasped. "It's you!"

The girl's bangs covered her eyes as she crouched in readiness.

"The minister looked towards Vanessa and Sophie distressingly. "You two! Protect me!" he ordered.

The two women stood in position in front of the woman before them. Their glares were serious as were their Magic Power.

Sensing a strong level of energy, the unknown woman finally took notice of the two Fairy Tail Mages that stood before her. "Well aren't you two just cuties. So that's where all this energy was coming from. I thought it was funny when Aniya sent that message." She bent forward, her leopard claws twitching with sharp nails scraping the air. "Then I guess I haven't got much reason to hold back then. This is gonna be so sweet!"

"Sophie." Vanessa warned.

The blonde woman nodded.

The girl brought her paw back and sprung forward with incredible force, so much that the door cracked into chips that spewed backwards into the lobby. "You have the party, but I brought the _punch_!" She reeled her fist forward towards them for a direct blow, colliding with something that wasn't Vanessa or Sophie.

When her fist reeled into thin air, static flared when it came in contact with a teal dome of aura. The thick filament was enough to throw the girl for a loop, unable to break it and ended up jumping away. She backflipped onto the ground, landing in a crouch and saw what it was she struck.

"A barrier?" she inquired. She looked towards Vanessa, seeing her posture relaxed but urgent. "Well I'll be damned…hm?" She then noticed something beneath her vibrating. Her curiosity fell to her knees as she caught wind of something of a quick vibration beneath. Quickly jumping away, she barely missed lightning-covered stones shoot up in an attempt to stab her. With her in midair once more, she saw Vanessa put down her Aura Guard and fire an Emanation Beam. The thick stream of teal shot into her as the attacker crossed her armored arms. The impact was direct and sent her soaring back into the lobby, thudding and tumbling across the ground. After a few good fumbles, she used her claw of one hand to reach and anchor on the ground. She trailed back several feet and stopped at the end on a long, scraped porcelain ground.

Despite the setback and her arms smoking, she smirked. "Well I'll be. You're not too shabby…"

Vanessa and Sophie made way to the chipped door, where they stood atop of its debris and stood at the chamber entrance to loom over the girl.

"She's got a lot of offensive power." Vanessa evaluated. "She's a wily and hands on combatant who has a lot of energy. She's feeling a lot of excitement from just being hit those few times."

"You got all that from her aura?" Sophie questioned.

Vanessa nodded. "Yes. That means as long as we keep our distance, we'll have the advantage of drawing her away. Sophie, if you would?"

"Not to dampen things here, but your little puppet master is getting away." The girl chimed.

Sophie looked back to oversee the minister. To their surprise, and yet mild indifference, they saw a pair of drapes move near the back of the walls. They saw a pair of boots shuffle and the sound of what was a knob turning meant.

Sophie turned to go after him, but Vanessa was less than enthused. "Let him go." She insisted. "He won't get far from my aura. It's probably an underground passage he's taking, and even there, I'll know."

The attacker stood up once more and smirked gruesomely. "Well aren't you the observer. Got a lot of experience under your belt perhaps? I like that." She balled her fists and gave the two girls a hungry look. "This'll make things a heck of a lot more fun for me when I go for a little hunt after this."

Vanessa and Sophie glared ahead, with the taller blonde standing close beside her friend. Meanwhile, the minister that had just escaped looked back in worry where he closed the door on himself. He grunted in annoyance before he resigned himself to taking the stone tunnel lit by lacrima into sanctuary.

"Alright then…!" The ground nearly depressed as the attacker crouched forward. "Let's have some girl tiiime!" She sprung ahead with greater force than before, making the debris around quake as she zoomed across the ground at cheetah speed towards Vanessa and Sophie. Her pacing across the ground was fast, so fast that it could've matched someone else.

' _Her speed's increased to Nic's. She's trying to close the gap fast.'_ Vanessa evaluated. She again created her Aura Guard, managing just a split second before her claw made impact. The aura shield was crackling as the woman was exerting so much force from her ridged arm. Winds palpitated everywhere as the debris everywhere blew away. Once again, Vanessa held her ground firmly as her shield of aura was quaking.

The girl smirked. "Not bad." Her fist opened so she could grab onto Vanessa's shield. The claws dug deep like nails into a windshield, much to Vanessa's dismay. She gripped even tighter, making cracks run along the Aura Guard to make it crack and weaken. Finally, it all shattered, leaving distorted fragments everywhere flying around the girl.

Time slowed down between the two as the eager woman looking for a fight was closing in on a fall on Vanessa. The Aura Mage didn't deter as she held on, her eyes narrowing with a small scowl beneath her throat.

Suddenly, the fragments of the Aura Guard flickered like fireworks, catching the attacker by surprise. With a gasp, she was suddenly enveloped in small bursts of teal that erupted like fireworks. The crackling pulsated everywhere around her and Vanessa, swallowing the animalistic girl for the most part.

As the teal began to turn to smoke, the woman leaped out of the billowing waves and reeled back in midair. Soaring at her from a steep angle was a volley of spinning fire saucers, where she twisted and flipped backwards to didge. She landed on the ground once more, this time on all fours.

As the smoke cleared, Vanessa and Sophie were seen side by side, the two girls having serious faces as they held their own against the smirking woman.

"She's acrobatic, too." Sophie evaluated.

The woman licked her lips in anticipation and readied to pounce again. "Alright then…" She again sprung forward, reeling another claw back. "Let's have some fun!"

* * *

The waves of the sea were still shallow, almost to where it wasn't even noticeable. Even if still, it ran deep like an abyss, one that would sink even decrepit souls, or those who would try to find mysteries to solve that would plunge chaos into their lives.

In front of the abandoned deck, Crime Sorciere reconvened with everyone near the bow. Jellal looked at everyone with a serious expression. The first one he looked towards was Bellona of all people. "So what did you find?" he asked.

The sky blue-haired woman gave a serious face. "It's just as I thought. There aren't any legal documents related to a shipping. I'm afraid this is all the work of smugglers."

"Heh, figures." Sawyer scoffed.

"And all I found was nothing but metal and scraps." Erik pointed out. "Guess whoever these guys are must have some pretty crappy janitor pay."

Ultear put a hand to her chin, looking off to the side. "Then that would make sense if the loading was at night. No one would be managing much on a night crew, and staff around piers at night is rather low."

"There's also those who apprehended all the cargo." Jellal said. "I'm not sure if I can fully understand this group's ulterior motives, but that doesn't change the fact that they stole from thieves themselves." He faced the others with a dead serious frown. "If we catch up to them, we'll be needing to ask them more than just a few questions."

"Yeah, like why they did all this, or something like that." Sorano said with haughty gesticulation. She sighed in grievous annoyance. "Great, guess I better find that stupid map again."

Macbeth stepped up with his own inquiry. "The fact is that these are no less vigilantes than we are to the world. A message is carried out by this act that they're trying to send out to the world."

Jellal looked down towards the ground again. "That we can understand…but what message are they trying to make…or rather, what kind they're changing for themselves?"

"Hey, guys!"

From farther up the pier, they all turned to see Meredy running up to them.

"Meredy, what is it?" Ultear asked. "What did you find?"

The pink-haired woman looked at them all worriedly. "I think you guys might want to see this."

Crime Sorciere chose to follow their teammate to what it was she wanted to show. They all followed her to the front, where imprinted on the front of the bow, there was a deep grizzly dent that looked like it was blown open and nearly unrecognizable. This caught them by indifference alone.

"So what about it?" Sorano asked. "It looks like a big hole, Richard can make those in like two seconds."

"Oh yeah!" the Earth Mage chimed.

Jellal stepped up, giving it a closer look. As he saw where some pieces were dented, he could see a tint of bright red on them. "…no, she's right. There was something here."

"Well can't blame a guy for trying." Sawyer said. "You got any ideas on how to figure that out since it's, oh, I don't know…obliterated?"

Jellal turned towards the group again. "There's still one way. Ultear."

The Time Mage graciously stepped up, looking as casual as ever with her frown. "Yes, I know." She and Jellal traded places and she was the one facing the ship now. She stood before its open hole and stared long and hard at it. Her brow furrowed as she tried to examine it before she knew what she would do. Once ready, she pulled out an orb.

" **Restore!** "

As her orb shined a bright color, her Time Magic was beginning to glow and envelop the area of the hole. Slowly, the pieces of the mended and destroyed bow began to return to where they belong. The pacing, much to Ultear's dismay, was fairly slow.

"Oh, I see now!" Meredy chimed.

Jellal nodded. "Correct. Ultear's Time Magic can restore or age inanimate entities. I almost forgot before the last minute arrived, now we'll see where this ship belongs to."

Ultear was grunting as she was concentrating heavily, even more so than usual. It was distressing, not to mention annoying. It doesn't take this long for metal to come together again. The pieces were moving so slow, where it should've been restored almost immediately. Her eyes squinted as she tried even harder to speed it up.

Noticing her struggle, Bellona looked up at the metal, seeing that it wasn't moving the way it looked like Ultear wanted. When she tried to realize it, it only confused her more. "Is her magic supposed to strain this much?"

Meredy's brow furrowed. "No, it shouldn't even be this long. Wonder how that's possible?"

"It's got to be the metal." Jellal figured. "Whoever designed these ships must've made the metal magic resistant."

Erik scoffed. "Great, so it's like a giant magic shield. Now I'm just annoyed."

"As am I." Macbeth admitted. His eyes suddenly looked to the ship's bow again, seeing the product come to fruition. "Look there!"

Everyone heard his notion and looked up towards the bow once more. They saw the finished product finally return, and Ultear finally receded. She staggered back a few feet with some labored breathing. She glared up at the symbol that was finally created once more, one that made all in Crime Sorciere look startled.

What they saw even made Jellal and Bellona gasp in horror. What they saw completely turned them off like a switch. Whatever feeling it was that made their spine crawl once again returned, this time more bone-chilling than ever.

Ultear continued breathing heavily, but even her own glare was fixed on it. "So that's it then…"

"No way…" Meredy muttered.

Richard frowned. "Hmmm, the mystery keeps unfolding."

"But it looks like we just got the centerpiece of it." Macbeth said. "…to think we didn't realize this before."

The symbol was hard to read due to it still having scrapes from not being fully perfected yet, but its insignia no less made an alarm shoot up. In the growing waxing crescent in the sky, the moonlight uncovered the symbol, its bright red mantra making Jellal and Bellona look at each other, and then back at the boat with uncertainty.

For Crime Sorciere, and for Fairy Tail to come, they were about to sink into a very dark abyss, one with monsters that swam around like the Huntail beneath the ship's bottom.

* * *

 **Hey guys, so sorry again for making this a really long wait. I was really hoping to get this done at the end of April, but the weekend killed me with work and my usual writing style just keeps piling on, and all that stuff, you know how it is. Anyways, here's the first chapter on the Revenge of Alvarez Arc, with a lot of preluded content that's got a lot of characters that I made or otherwise mashed up from other anime.**

 **I was looking back and watching some videos on some show reviews, including Pokémon and the character development Ash got throughout the series. I'm trying to make this story still show Nic having used his experience and still playing it smart, but I'm also trying to make it so that the dynamics also make him a leadership point for The Freaks. This is a tough transition for Nic that I'm trying to perfect, so getting his actions down as before while keeping insane strong is going to take me some adjusting. They beat Alvarez because of their crazy power, and I am trying really hard not to downgrade anyone here. Downgrading is the last thing I want, so if you feel I wasn't doing a good job with Nic this chapter, let me know.**

 **For the unknown group that was introduced, I mainly got inspired from watching Akame ga Kill. A majority of them I took and molded into something with a little more reconfiguration, while still making their pictures otherwise the same. For Broly's magic, that was inspired by Bartolomeo from One Piece, so there's a healthy picture. I also thought I would help bring a little throwback with Joey's attempt at trying magic with Vanessa talking about her experience trying to find hers in the Tenrou Island Arc of the first story.**

 **Alright, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and this arc's first impression, and I hope to hear some helpful insight and reviews. Till the next one!**


	8. Foresight

There was a shrill intensity in the air within the secluded walls, deep, treacherous tunes ringing within skulls that held stable minds. What was at stake was living beings, capable of providing help, and in the wrong hands, destruction. Two sides; two opposing forces on different battlefields, ready to strike.

The air palpitated as Nic and Erza glared ahead, while the man and the woman held up their respective weapons of choice. Erza poised her sword, while Nic stood relaxed and set. The pink-haired girl cocked her pistols, and the man held up his fists.

From above the ceiling, a solid droplet of water plummeted. As time slowed down, it slowly reached the ground, holding stiff constipation at bay…until it splat against the ground.

The girl began a rapid-fire succession of bullets from her weapons at Erza, while the man went darting right for Nic. The bullets went at tremendous speeds that rivaled Bisca's own might, if not more. But Erza parried the shots one after the other while Nic glared and went running at the man with dark glowing fists. The two went running towards the other as fast as fast as possible, and yet for a moment, time once again slowed down between the two. Their paces were even, and their eyes were glaring harsh daggers. As bullets ran beside them – some deflected by Erza – time sped up to where Nic pivoted at the last second and glowed. As he finished the pivot, he revealed his Fist Form as he swept and brushed the first punch off and kicked his glowing feet into a **Double Kick** as a ladder up the man's chest, finally stamping of his face into a backflip and landing on his heels while the opponent recoiled and found his ground.

Nic thus went into a charge ahead, getting closer range. The man recovered and reeled his fist back coated in dark energy. As he punched forward, a wave of dark purple energy beamed at Nic. He tucked his read and rolled over, avoiding the bodily shot and closing the gap to throw another punch to the gut. The man sidestepped to evade but Nic elbowed to the side with the same arm and made him gag forward. Not giving him a moment's rest, Nic grabbed him and pivoted.

" **Vital Throw!** "

Mustering his strength, he hurled him into the earth beneath, creating a powerful vibration to rattle the ground and send the man in a depressed layer of the porcelain ground.

The man gagged as he laid on the ground, gagging up blood as he tried to recoil. As Nic glared down, he was met with the man opening an eye and grunting. He punched up to send another dark beam skywards, this time with an expanded flare to prompt Nic to jump away. With his opponent at a distance, the man rolled on his back to a knee and got in runner's pose, pressing his hands against the ground. He looked up at Nic, before he finally balled his fists and made the ground burst beneath as his hands propelled him like Natsu's fire would.

As he closed in, Nic waited for him to come closer and stamped his foot against the ground, propelling him to flip over the man and glow. As the man was jetting beneath, as his arm kept glowing, Nic reached down and grabbed the man by the coat. He followed through with the flip and sent the man hurdling back where he came from, where he used a hand to grip the ground, making an intended trail.

The man looked at Nic as he was now seen in his Iron Form, which was his pants being a dark gray, while his shoes were dark gray, white, with light gray laces. The sash keeping his pants up was a shadowcast-like gray. The coat was light gray with dark gray sleeves rolled up and trimming being of the same shade.

The man's eyes narrowed. _'He has tremendous close-range combat skills.'_

Nearby, the woman was using all her firepower within her two rifles to make machine gun bullets pierce Erza, but that was easier said than done with Erza parrying and deflecting each bullet without batting an eyelash. The two were going as far as run circles around the same point to wear the other down.

Once the girl saw that Erza wasn't letting up, she continued to run in the circle while requipping, now holding one small, thick gun that she cocked and pointed at Erza. From it, an electric blast shot, prompting her to bend and jump into the air to evade. As she followed through, she requipped as well, becoming her Lightning Empress Armor upon landing.

The woman remained in spot as Erza held her spear up, creating a magic circle in front that absorbed the lightning attack. It continued to pulsate into the spear, nullifying it while Erza slowly moved around to wear her down. The girl followed her pattern and backed up.

Once the lightning blast was over, Erza began to twirl her spear around, crackling in electricity. She spun it forward like a fan, projecting the same electricity flung at her in a discharge at her. The girl raised her right arm forward, where from it, a small teal brave began to emit a wavy shield similar to Protect. The lightning went straight into it, absorbed much like water.

With the woman's lightning nullified, Erza twirled her spear overhead before repositioning. "So you've created countermeasures to your own deflections I see."

The girl smirked. "Every action must have an equal reaction. Like this!" She cocked her weapon again, this time sending fire at Erza. The redhead tumble to the side to evade the flames. She sped left to avoid further as the girl followed, dragging the flames about.

Erza, however, proved too fast. She closed the gap in an arch and did another requip, this time adorning her Armadura Pidgeot Armor. She folded her arms and wings, soon reaching the girl.

"What-?!"

Erza spread her wings and blades, sending sharp gusts at point-blank range. They repulsed the girl into a shriek and flew onto her back, losing hold of her weapon and tumbling across the ground.

Erza poised her sword once more. "You should try working on your close-range defenses as well."

The girl angrily scowled at Erza and got a knee. She requipped the weapon away and pulled out a longer, wider gun with bullet holes. From them, several small, concentrated magical beams fired. As they closed in, Erza spun her whole body, her dazzling feathers dancing in her spin that cut threw the beams like butter. The residual beams went around her as she posed, busts of energy erupting behind to make her look menacing.

"Heh, you're pretty good…for a Fioirian." She mocked. "But we have a job to do, and we're not leaving without what we came for! Now take this!" From her cannon, she fired more rounds at Erza.

Erza glared at the beams as they closed in. "So be it. HRAH!" She spun once more, diving in the blasts again.

* * *

Vanessa moved her right arm forward, summoning a volley of large tendrils shaped by her aura from her body that went at the attacker. The thick teal appendages soared over the ground, making the air shudder some as they flew at the unknown girl. The assailant nimbly cartwheeled to the side to avoid a few and acrobatically twisted while evading two more. Finishing in a crouch, she ducked to evade the last one/

The girl began to run in a long arch when she found her room, her swift-moving cheetah feet dashing across the ground towards them.

Sophie covered Vanessa's side as she pointed a finger to her forehead. " **Memory-Make: Stone Lightning!** "

From out of nowhere above, the girl's ears twitched as she heard crackling. High above, lightning bolts came crashing down in front of the girl. At the last second, she spun around in a pivot on her heels and dashed to the right. As she ran, volleys of lightning strikes made the ground they touched turn to stone, and their precision was almost dead on if not for her nimble footing.

She slid along the ground and used her claw as an anchor, stopping herself as a wall of lightning strikes zipped in front. She was blocked…or so it seemed.

Without even the slightest hesitation, she cartwheeled between two thin bolts of lightning as time slowed down, her nose or hair barely even so much as grazing the electrons that were making the hairs on her almost stiffen. Time hastily sped up as finished her cartwheel and beelined for the girls.

Vanessa crossed her arms, upholding her position. " **Nugatory Burst!** "

As the girl closed in, she suddenly clawed her way to a stop and began to do large backflips. The reason came as pillars of teal aura shot up like a Fire Pledge or Stone Edge would, and in rapid succession to where the gap made her go far again.

As the pillars subsided, managing to drive her away, Sophie created another chain of memories, making her **Mirrors of Cold Retribution** technique. Dark green blasts shot from icy mirrors forming, but as they zoomed in at the smirking woman, she was cackling an excited laughter as she spun and slashed with her hands, effectively splitting right through the attack.

"She's good." Sophie grudgingly admitted. Beside her, Vanessa furrowed her brow.

"So she is."

The previous attack left the girl's claws steaming from the cold dark beams, but she held them up with a wide, toothy smirk across her feet. "This is getting to be really fun. I haven't felt this jacked up in a while. You girls sure know how to get me." She started to chuckle again with a hungry look in her eyes showing once more.

Sophie held her ground, but the look on her face showed scrutiny. "She's faster than we thought. At this rate, it'll only be a matter of time before she reaches us."

Vanessa wasn't going to let that happen, not on her watch. True she was fast and powerful, but the Aura Mage still had some tricks up her sleeve as well. And one in particular came in the form of a Poke Ball.

"Then we'll give her something she can be familiar with." She threw her Poke Ball by swiping her arm. "Krookodile, come out!"

As the girl readied another lunge, she stopped in her tracks when something appeared in front of her. To her surprise, a large, red, bipedal crocodile was hunched over and straightened up. He roared outwards, craning his head everywhere as the airspace al around was shuddering from his insidious quake. Once finished, he eyes the girl, who looked vibrant with a smile.

"Well I'll be damned." She remarked. "So you're one of those Pokémon Trainers I've heard about."

Vanessa nodded. "I am." She reached out before her, commanding Krookodile with no delay. "Now go, Krookodile!"

"Yeah, alright! I've been dying to get some action in for a while!" he boasted incredulously. "So who's the chick?!"

The girl adhesively smirked. "That's quite a big moved that moves, big guy."

Krookodile pointed towards her. "Let me tell you something, crazy animalistic assassin lady! I don't who you are, or what you are…but Krookodile will move more than just his mouth to kick that butt of yours!"

"I like that mouth of yours. Let's just see you back up that volume." The girl wasted no time in running in at Krookodile, closing the gap against the large-mouth Pokémon.

" **Crunch!** " Vanessa commanded.

Krookodile bared his massive fangs that glowed bright white and proceeded to chomp. The girl went and grabbed the snout and maw with her bare hands, stopping Krookodile with a force that made a small gust kick up from impact. Krookodile pushed for dominance while the girl retaliated with the same force, neither one giving an inch.

The girl adjusted her footing to assert herself, but she found her opponent's jaw muscles to be a lot to handle. "Man…you got some heavy jaws." She grunted impressively. In her commendation, Krookodile raised his head and dragged her into the air. He whipped his head around, sending her flying backwards. She flipped and landed on a knee, where she gasped before she realized it was too late.

BOOM!

A burst of teal aura went off like a landmine beneath her, sending her flying onto her back with a thud.

Sophie pointed another finger to her forehead. "Need to keep her still… **Memory-Make: Pyro Saucer!** " She unleashed a rapid volley of flying, pyro-dynamic flames at the girl.

The girl's eyes opened once more and she got her knees and feet into the air. She flipped back up and jumped over the saucers, sailing high over everyone. She flipped forward a few good times before shooting a foot down in a flying stomp.

"Krookodile, catch her!" Vanessa shouted.

"YOU GOT IT!" The Intimidation Pokémon braced himself as the girl went sailing down, kicking her heel into him with as much force as possible. He reached up and grabbed her clawed foot at the last second, stopping it like lead weight. However, the force applied was so great that it made Krookodile drag his feet a few inches backwards, making an indent in the ground.

Still over Krookodile, the woman was smirking. "Neat-o. You actually stopped my kick, that's not common." With her free leg, she stomped on Krookodile's snout, making him cringe as she scooted back. "You're all pretty damn good, and I mean _really_ good. Honestly, I don't know how much more adrenaline it'll take before I really get jacked up."

"We're flattered you're enjoying this." Sophie said dryly. "So tell us, why are you after the minister?"

The girl's animalistic smirk served to widen. "Beat me up a little further and I might squeak out a hint."

Vanessa's eyes narrowed in insidious retort. She's not one to appreciate such a characteristic, especially in the case of an opponent who is playing on. Beating around the bush won't get anywhere, so she had to take the initiative.

"So be it…Krookodile, let's go!"

Krookodile stepped up, letting loose another harsh growl.

The girl pumped her fists, the fur on her body tingling all over. _'Sorry, Broly, guess I'm a bit backed up.'_

* * *

"Pidove, Chespin, use **Growl!** " Joey commanded with an arm out. Both Chespin and Pidove jumped into the air, each opening their mouths to emit powerful shrieks that distorted the air around them and Broly. The man stood crippling, wincing as the soundwaves forced him to cover his ears.

"Hey, pretty loud there, don't you think? You might wanna tone it down!"

Joey turned towards his side. "Now, guys!"

Dereece nodded and pointed his finger at Broly. "Heracross, use **Horn Attack!** " His Heracross responded diligently as his horn glowed bright white. He aimed for Broly and went right for the offense.

"Spiritomb, **Shadow Sneak!** " Duncan ordered, making Spiritomb float in place on the step as the shadows beneath her darkened and rushed in a straight line right beside Heracross.

Even as **Growl** went on as a distraction, Broly opened an eye and saw the two attacks heading for him.

" **Barrier-Make: Prism!** "

A multi-edged turquoise barrier manifested around him, even making an edge beneath his feet. The shadow streaking went first, but when it reached the bottom, it did little to nothing. Meanwhile, Heracross dove right into the shield, but almost instantly bounced off in a cry of pain.

"Oh no!" Dereece looked shocked as Heracross recoiled onto his back right beneath him. "Heracross!"

Broly dissipated a majority of the barrier, but left a single side up and facing Pidove and Chespin. Even as his ears rung, he shot two fingers ahead, sending the pentagon at them. Both the bird and Grass-type were struck with great force, sending them to the ground.

Joey gasped as they fell, moving to where they were falling and reached out in time to grab them. He looked down, seeing both dazed. "Hey, you guys okay?"

Pidove was seeing stars in his eyes. "Uuuhh, did it work~?"

Chespin held his head tight. "Ow…"

"That was a good move." Broly got everyone to look at him. "But that still won't work on me."

Duncan's stare was cold as he refused to let up. He reached out with his left arm, commanding Spiritomb once more. "Use **Hypnosis!** "

Spiritomb's green eyes began to glow, and the green orbs encircling his body were glowing as well. A bizarre, hypnotic wave eroded from his body, stretching out towards Broly and expanding.

Once more, Broly crossed his arms, making another solid barrier in front of him. " **Barrier-Make: Barrier!** " The **Hypnosis** attack made contact with the barrier, but as much of the hypnotic waves poured out, the less it did against Broly behind his defenses.

Joey looked shocked. "Not even status moves are effecting him?"

"It's like a never-ending Protect!" Dereece exclaimed.

Broly ducked low and lifted his barrier's underside. He ducked ebenath it and ran up beneath the hypnotic waves towards Spiritomb. As he closed the gap up the steps, his fist was encompassed in a small turquoise orb of his magic.

" **Barrier-Make: Smash!** "

He socked Spiritomb right in the Odd Keystone, sending the female entity of malice yelling and slamming into the steps in front of Duncan.

Rebounding, Joey, angrily looked forward. "Hurry! Chespin, **Bite!** Pidove, **Quick Attack!** "

Chespin's large teeth began to glow and he went bolting. Pidove was outline din bright blue and sailed in, creating afterimages that followed him as he sailed at Broly.

Broly had a serious face as they closed in; even Heracross with another **Horn Attack**. Pidove was first, where he backhanded with the same technique as before and sent him away. Next came Heracross who collided his horn with the orb in the fist. The stalemate was easily broken when Broly went for an uppercut immediately after and sent him flying back. Lastly, Chespin flung in and bit onto the sphere, gnawing at its hard surface with his teeth. However, Broly swatted him away, sending him hurdling into steps again. He faced The Freaks again, looking annoyed.

"Is that all you got? Or are we gonna have to get personal?" he questioned.

Dereece nervously looked towards Joey. "Uh, Captain? We're running out of options here!"

Joey nervously looked at Broly as the man looked less than enthused. He mentally cursed himself for being so overwhelmed, but the drawback lied more on the fact he was still new to all of this. If he probably had more moves or had time, then maybe he'd might know a way, but he was too caught up in his distress.

This didn't go unnoticed by Broly, who raised a brow. "The matter? You look hesitant. You afraid?"

"Hey man, I'm trying to think!" Joey snapped. He then turned to Dereece. "Dereece, for the record, I blame you."

"Me?!" Dereece pointed a finger to himself for clarification.

"Yeah you! Heracross can learn Feint, right?"

"Well yeah, but it's not like we're at that level yet, man! C'mon!"

"Well better late than never!"

As the two were pushing each other's buttons, their Pokémon were trying to get o their feet once more, and Broly was looking at them more than a little stupefied by their lack of focus. _'Are these guys even being serious? I don't think they've been in much combat before. If they were, they would've tried to find ways around my barrier by now. Are these fellas even real mages?'_

Joey finally broke away from his banter and glared ahead. "Alright, fine! Pidove!"

The Tiny Pidgeon Pokémon popped his head up. "Yes!"

"Go find help! We need more firepower to beat this guy!"

"I shall obey, master!" Pidove flapped his wings and instantly began taking flight. He sailed over everyone's heads to get into the city. However, as he closed in on the atmosphere, he suddenly crashed into something solid and went plummeting back down towards Joey.

"Pidove!" Joey looked up, seeing that above and around, they were within a dome of turquoise. _'A dome?'_

"Sorry, but you're not going anywhere." Broly said. "Nobody's leaving or getting away until Matilda or Orion gets the message clear. It doesn't matter if you're inexperienced, or the toughest challenge I know…if you're an enemy…then you get no mercy!" The look he gave was dead serious, almost to where it was sending a chill run down their spines. Joey especially.

It was going to take a lot for them to get out of this one.

* * *

" **Ice-Make: Geyser!** " Gray slammed his hands against the ground, sending stalagmites of ice at the woman.

Beside him, Juvia dropped to her knees and unleashed a slick wave of water that traveled alongside the traveling ice that. The two attacks converged in the center, making ice cold water with ice fragments shoot up and reach the girl.

The girl looked down and blew a large bubble of pink gum once more, this time thick enough to not be pierced like before. The ice and water finally shot up like a pillar, sending the pink blob into the sky with the woman still on top.

Gray and Juvia followed her upwards, where they could see the blob high above as the watery ice dissipated. The underside still had bits of ice stuck into it, and the girl blew more to pop the bubble, sending pellets of goop with bits of the ice towards them.

"Incoming!" Gray put his hands out again. " **Ice-Make: Shield!** " The barrier of ice once again showed itself, this time covering them both as pellets bombarded its surface. The gum bullets stuck to the surface of the wall, unmoved and building up to make it so that they couldn't see pass it.

Gray grunted. "She's not pulling punches! We gotta stop her now!"

Juvia nodded in understanding. "Right, I'm on it!"

With the pellets continuing to bombard the shield, Juvia worked around it, running pass it all.

"Juvia, what are you doing?!"

As Juvia pressed on, she pulled out a Poke Ball. She situated herself in front and held it with two hands. "I hope this will work…" She flung the ball up, sending it skywards. "Go!"

The Poke Ball popped open, sending the energy downwards in front. From it came Juvia's Eevee, whose ears twitched with a placid smile on her face.

"Hi!"

The woman landed on the ground, continuing to look at them. As she chewed gum, she looked at Eevee, but the face she was making was looking like she was cooing.

Juvia reached out. " **Baby-Doll Eyes!** "

Eevee's big, large, adorable eyes began to emit sparkles around her as she tilted her head. She looked as cute as possible as she looked at the gum girl.

As the Gum Mage was staring into Eevee's eyes, her strength deterred weakly, but she didn't care. She just cooed and looked at Eevee as her lips parted. She was too speechless for words.

"Gotcha!" A cold, icy force got her from the side, revealing it to be Gray with a wave of ice that shot her along the side. She crashed her own back into wall in pain as her body was stuck to it by ice. This time, she had nowhere to go.

Gray reconvened with Juvia, grinning approvingly. "That'll keep her still for a while."

Eevee jumped up and down, looking so excited and happy at the same time. "Hooray! Hooray!"

Juvia lovingly closed in and hugged Gray's midriff. "Oh, I knew would be able to do this together!" she lovingly exclaimed. Gray, however, didn't look so amused.

"Now's not the time!"

As they were talking, the girl was struggling to move. Her Magic Headphones were nearly blown off her head by that last attack, but hung loose no less. Fortunately for her, she still had something up her sleeve.

All she needed was to blow.

Gray turned towards the woman. "Anyways, looks like we got one of the guys after that minister."

Juvia nodded. "Let's see what she knows then."

The two proceeded towards her, with Juvia returning Eevee along the way. As they closed in, the girl turned her head and glared at them, keeping her mouth shut like glue.

Gray stood in front, arms folded with a glare. "Look, lady, I don't know what your problem is taking us up on this little trick you're pulling, but it ain't funny." His glare served to intensify. "Now you're gonna tell us what you know right now, and we might let you run off free with your friends."

"Gray, are you sure about this?" Juvia questioned.

Gray stepped back, standing and looking right at her. "Don't worry. She knows she won't get far." He glanced from the corner of his eye at her. "Odds are the others are already in some mess already. And you know I'm speaking about Natsu. Right?"

Juvia almost forgot about it. She mentally facepalmed when it came to her that Natsu may still having trouble somewhere else. She agreed leaving her here would be a bad call, but letting her limp away weakened might also lead her to a rendezvous or a possible hideaway. It wasn't the worst decision, but it wasn't best either.

As they were thinking it, they heard the sound of blowing once more, this time being of a thicker content.

"Huh?" Gray and Juvia looked forward, seeing the girl blow bright green gum in a massive expansion. She was using up as much breaths as possible to get this thickening bubble to expand, and its radius was making Gray and Juvia both step back in deep alarm.

Soon, the thick bubble encompassed the whole front of her, looking like bomb about to go off.

"What the heck…?" Gray stepped back, looking at it with slight worry growing.

Juvia, however, stepped up. "I'll stop her!"

She reached her arm across, making the girl's eyes narrow.

"Wait-!" Gray was cut off.

" **Water Slicer!** "

The single blade of water went slicing at the massive bubble of gum. When it closed in at a fast pace, it was all too late. The water met the bubble, and instantly, a sharp, incense eroded from inside. It erupted everywhere, its green blob spreading everywhere and weakening the crescent of water that cut into the ice. The ice shattered, making her fall to her feet steadily.

Gray and Juvia looked around, seeing green goop everywhere. As they looked at each one, their nostrils picked on something very sharp. They could feel a strong aroma erode from the scent the goop gave off, and Gray was the first to feel an inflammation pick up.

He plugged his nose, covering his mouth. "Man, crap! So sharp!" he muffled. "What kind of gum is this?"

Juvia looked down, covering her own nose. "It thought it was the elastic gum!" She began to cough a little. "But…it smells so sharp that-AH!" She was cut off when a massive glob of pink gum struck her entire body, sending her into the alley wall like a bug in a spider's web.

"Juvia!" Gray was caught off guard completely. With his body turned, another glob was fired, sticking to him and sending him into the wall right beside Juvia.

Together, both Fairy Tail mages were pinned against the wall, stuck by a pink, sticky goop that made it hard to move any part of their bodies. Their hands, fingers, feet, it was all pinned pretty good, and all that was left was the head and neck. Both struggled to break free, but they found their flexible prison too absorbent to break out of with strength alone.

Gray grunted with one eye open. "Great!" he sarcastically shouted. When he looked forward, he saw that the gum woman was standing right before him. They were meters apart, but she looked like she didn't give a care in the world.

"Listen, I don't know what you want, but you're far from fini-!" The woman opened her mouth to get inside and pluck out a piece of chewed yellow gum. As Gray talked, she nonchalantly stuck the piece of gum inside his mouth and shut his mouth tight.

The action made Juvia go wide-eyed, so much in fact that she had owl eyes and a triangular mouth. She was far from stable. In fact, what she saw made her mental world almost entirely shatter to a billion pieces.

Gray's face paled from the action at hand. There were two problems that just happened this moment, and that made it really weird. First, it was the matter of the gum shoved into his mouth. For some reason, as it was in his mouth, he could feel everything around him distort. His brain began to grow foggy as a lightheadedness began to roll in.

And secondly, the gum itself. It came from the mouth of someone else, and all the girl did was placidly walk away with a sassy sway in her hips.

Juvia had her eyes on her the whole time. She was gaping so much that she was scrambling to find words, but couldn't. _'Did she just…to my darling…that pieces of gum…gum…'_

She looked over her shoulder one more time before she gave the two a wink. The wink was more directed towards Gray than Juvia, but the man was so disoriented by the gum's effects. With her opponent's incapacitated, she was able to make a break deeper into the alley.

Gray was weakly chewing the piece, its odd but very enigmatic flavor was doing something to him, and all he did was look down with a dizzy look on his face.

' _Everything's so…warm…'_

Juvia despaired as someone beat her beloved to an indirect kiss, and he looked so happy about it in her aspect. "Gray~…" she gurgled. With her condition of despair, she wasn't getting out anytime soon either.

* * *

Natsu took a big leap into the air, coming down with a fist engulfed in searing flames. He punched downwards, swirling flames enveloping the other fist.

" **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!** "

Natsu twisted his body, unleashing lashes of flames from his arm that went at the Wire Mage. The attack roared inwards, but the mage fiddled his fingers and swiped in an X. The really thin threads went in a net fashion that sliced through the fire, dissipating it so the attack went around him instead.

Natsu landed, making his flaming attack dissipate. "Man, you really bite, you know that?"

The guy adjusted his stance. "Thanks for the compliment. Get that quite often from others."

Natsu grew a tick mark on his forehead. "That ain't a compliment!"

"They always say that."

Natsu grunted in sheer annoyance. So far, their battle has been nothing but him going on attack and offense, nothing more, and nothing less. The whole battle itself has been the guy using his wires to pull trickery, a tactic Natsu is vulnerable to. He wasn't stupid, but he knew that keeping distance was probably his best shot. Any closer and he might get snared.

But still, there were a few tricks up his sleeve no less. "Lucy! Wendy!"

The two girls called stood behind him. "We know!" the blonde shouted.

"Yeah!" Wendy nodded. She crossed her arms, beginning to chant enigmatically. " **Ile Arms!** " She reached out, her Enchantment Magic using itself to surround all her friends in an empowering aura. The duplicated spell made energy course even through Lucy, who pulled out her lasso.

Natsu smirked. "Yeah, that's right. Now I'm all fired up."

The Wire Mage smirked. "Some show…" she fiddled his fingers a bit, until he clutched tight. "But I'd rather make this a puppet show."

"Well I ain't no puppet, pal!" Natsu created a fireball overhead, one that expanded and grew to a tremendous size. " **Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!** "

The fireball went bolting across the alley, incinerating everything it came in contact with. Trash, paper, everything was reduced to nothing.

Seeing the attack head his way, the man had a serious face. "Maybe you're not…" He brought his foot back, as did his arm. "But your friends are!"

Happy and Carla both felt an odd tug from their abdomens. They both didn't realize it until they had small threads around their abdomens. They were pulled forward like ragdolls that bolted around the fire, each screaming in shock at the force given.

Wendy and Lucy looked horrified at the sudden drag, but Natsu was looking like he was going to pale. "GUYS!" he shouted.

Happy and Carla were finally dragged around and ended up in front, the wires attached to them severed into thin air. He The guy rolled to the side as the Exceeds were enveloped in the fireball, an eruption of smoke and embers exploding everywhere. The whole alley shuddered from the violent display. But that wasn't the only thing either.

"CARLA!"

"HAPPY!"

Both Wendy and Lucy looked in fright at the scene ahead of them. Taking action, they both rushed ahead, while at the same time, Natsu was standing there cold stiff.

He couldn't believe it, not even if he tried. And here he was, seeing his own recklessness once again endanger others; more accurately, close friends once again. He was so stiff that he was unnoticeable as the flames dissipated, revealing Happy and Carla charred and scraped in some parts.

Lucy and Wendy hurried over, quickly picking up their friends that were used as shields. "Happy! Happy, are you there?!" Lucy worriedly exclaimed.

"Yeah, Carla, stay with me!" Wendy desperately shouted.

Both Exceeds groaned in pain. From the looks of their faces as they groaned, they seemed to be alright. It was amazing they weren't severely charred.

Before Wendy could do any healing, shimmering threads wrapped around parts of them. Once they felt a squeeze, they were too late. In a shocking force, both were dragged skywards, shrieking as they went feet first.

Natsu once again felt a hitch in his breath as he watched the two go up to the sky. He saw them get dangled by their ankles by tight threads connected to a web in the alley.

Lucy and Wendy hung upside down by one leg each, both straining as the sudden pull rendered them completely unable to act for a few seconds before they caught up. Suffice to say for each they were not happy.

"O-Okay, when the hell did this happen?!" Lucy panicked. "Happy! Carla! You okay?!" She looked down to see them straight beneath. Both were still groaning. "Not good…" She suddenly missed her lasso, which fell out of place and onto the ground. "Hey, wait-!" She reached down to it, but as she realized it was too late, she realized something more…embarrassing.

Looking up, she saw that her trimmed skirt was flipped upside down, revealing her underwear. The blonde could feel heat rise in her cheeks – some of which from blood rushing to her head – and she shrieked embarrassed as she tried covering up.

Wendy closed her eyes, doing the same with her skirt. "W-why?!" she shrieked. "D-Did he really have to do this?!"

"I don't know, but get us the heck down from here!" Lucy cried out. "Natsu! Klefki!"

Klefki dashed passed a shocked Natsu up towards her panicking Trainer. "Don't worry! I'll save-!" She suddenly beamed into a thin web of traps that she ran into. The Steel/Fairy-type found herself suddenly laced around the key horn atop and held in place, just mere feet from Lucy. "…you." She dryly finished.

"Aw, you've gotta be kidding me!" Lucy whined.

Natsu was looking ahead with deep shock still on his face. As he remained paralyzed in his own shock, he was seeing Happy and Carla lying on the ground, both in pain. He could feel his eyes dilating from his vision pulsating.

In blurry hazes he could feel his world topple. In one faint vision, he could see what he did as E.N.D on Nic as he saw him lying on the ground in a bloody mess. That alone was crippling. His reckless actions and means of thinking harmed not just him, but recently, also Charmander. He was recalling that battle and how he was at a pitiful disadvantage, and all he did was attack. And now…

"What's wrong? You're frozen."

The voice from behind snapped him out of it. Attached to wires above, the attacker knee struck Natsu in the back. Natsu fell forward, but got his footing and pivoted to swing a flaming fist behind, yet missed as the man tugged on his own wires and brought himself up again. With the height, he stamped Natsu in the face, making him falter once more.

The attacker crouched in the air and used solemnly his fingers in balled fists to latch into webs of wire connected to various places. Natsu looked up angrily, the sides of his mouths being seared in his own flames ready to burn.

"You bastard…!" he growled. "Look what you did to my friends!" he pointed at Happy and Carla to make a point.

The guy didn't seem sorry. "Don't look at me, I wasn't the one who threw a fireball at them."

"But you used them as shields! What kind of heartless jerk does that?!"

"Look, I don't think you understand how the whole world works." The Wire Mage rebuffed so callously that he seemed to be a know-it-all. "Maybe _you_ care, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still an enemy. And in the rules of combat, you have to turn your opponent's greatest assets into a weakness. That's warfare in a nutshell."

"Shut up!" Natsu expelled another searing blast of fire that went skywards, this one nearly as explosive as any other roaring fire he's made. The molten fire made it to the guy, but all he did was fiddle his fingers in fast succession before he spread them out, creating a cross-shaped shield of wire made up of millions of intertwined threads. The fire seared all around it, blazing pass it and into the sky. It ignited the skies that alarmed many of people on the streets, but the ones close by were growing too unsure of the safety.

As the fire dissipated, the cross-shaped wires and the wires themselves were charred, but otherwise were in one piece. They dissipated, allowing the guy to land on the ground.

"That won't work. My wires are made up of an intense alloy that can handle heat when entering the atmosphere. You know how hot that gets?"

Natsu's teeth gritted angrily once more. His patience was running thin as he angrily stared at him. "Are you here to make fun of us or fight? Because I'm giving ya two seconds to answer."

The guy looked casually at Natsu.

"You asked for it!" He ignited his fist in fire once more and reeled forward.

The guy narrowed his eyes again. Beside him, his index and ring finger twitched.

Natsu stepped forward to unleash his punch, but as he bent forward, his foot stepped on a wire. He instantly fell forward, missing his blazing punch that sent a misfired wave of fire pass the guy. All he did was lean off to the side as the fireball went towards a nearby corner, making a small burst of smoke arise.

Natsu tried getting up, glaring ahead. "That's playing dirty."

The man had a serious face on as he lifted his hand. "No…it's called realism." He gripped his fingers, making threads around Natsu's stretched out arm wrap and tangle around it. Without delay, it gripped and tightened, snapping through his skin and making blood pop out. The Dragon Slayer cried out as his flesh was cut into.

"Natsu!" Wendt cried out in distress.

"This is bad. We're really not in a good spot here." Lucy said, still trying to keep her hands on her skirt to keep it down, or in his case up. "We have to get down from here, and fast!"

"Yeah, but how?"

Wendy did bring up a point. They had to get down, but the wire was able to cut up anything. They try to undo it, they could kiss their feet goodbye. But they didn't just have that. They also had something else…the answer lying, or in this case hanging, a few feet away.

"Klefki!" Lucy reached out, grabbing her attention. "Cancer's key!"

Getting the memo, Klefki moved her hands. "Okay!" Her keyring unhooked, allowing her to cycle through the many keys she had available. With no time and a lot of jangling, she held up Cancer's key with a smile. She gave it a kiss of good luck before she flung it towards Lucy, who managed to catch it and make it face skywards.

"Alright, now! **Open: Gate of the Giant Crab – Cancer!** "

Summoned forth on the web in perfect form, Cancer posed with his scissors. "Snip, snip. Baby." He greeted. He looked down, seeing Lucy's awkward position. "Woah, Lucy, you okay?"

"Does it look like we're okay?!" she rhetorically exclaimed. "Anyways, can you try and get us down from here? This wire is sturdy."

Cancer nodded. "Leave it to me." He inserted the scissors into one of the wires in the web. Incidentally, the first snip was rough, but after a few good snips into it, it finally broke. "There! First one down."

As Cancer was working on freeing them, Natsu looked back over his shoulder to see their positions. He looked back, seeing the guy still there.

"It's not my style to do direct combat. That's where we do things differently unlike you guys." Beside him, the same girl that attacked Gray and Juvia walked up, having a hand to her hip and chewing gum. The man continued. "If you wanna stay alive in this world, you gotta use more than just your own wits. You gotta use your own opponent's wits against them."

Natsu grunted as he tried to move, but his arms was already hung in place, not to mention that if he moved, any tighter will probably make it reach the bone. He could only watch in a feral growl as the girl began to blow a big, green bubble.

"Believe me, pal, there's much crueler fates out there than death…" With that, the bubble expanded to where it became a bright green sphere. When it finally popped, green gunk and goop went everywhere around the area, including on Natsu's face.

Cancer kept snipping away, getting the two wires that were holding Lucy and Wendy up. "Okay, this is gonna be rough…" He snipped a few more times on the wires, and finally, they snipped in half, cutting their ankles loose and sending them crashing to the ground.

"AH~!" Lucy fell on her stomach first, next coming Wendy in comical dust clouds. Both plopped like dolls in sand that dissipated as quickly as it arose. Both laid there, completely twitching in pain.

"Owwwie…" Lucy muffled.

"Y-yeah, ditto."

Eventually, both girls managed to get to their knees and sigh out loud. Cancer dropped right beside them and watched as they untangled the thread around their now slightly cut up ankles. Lucy looked over, seeing Happy and Carla both in bad condition. She paused for moment before she turned towards Wendy.

"Wendy, Happy and Carla!"

The Sky Dragon realized where her attention lied, and she nodded "Okay!" She scooted on over and reached out to them both. Green energy began emitting from her arms out towards them, slowly healing the charred bits on their bodies. "Hang on, guys, you'll be just fine…"

As she tended to them, Lucy's attention drew towards Natsu. She saw that all around, there was a lot of green spots on the ground, and even from here, she could feel her nostrils flare from an intensely sharp incense. Seeing Natsu on the ground, she slowly paced on over, being sure to do her best to keep herself from cringing at the sharp, minty smell. Once she and Cancer closed in, she bent down to Natsu's face, while Cancer worked on getting his arm free.

"Natsu…" She sounded so worried, and she had every right to be. She was seeing his try and use his free arm to scrape the gunk off, at least enabling vision prowess. She looked ahead to see where the guy had gone, but he was nowhere to be found. He was gone.

Her brow furrowed as she looked back at him. "Did he really do all this?"

Cancer finally undid the chord in his arm, allowing Natsu to reached and get it off himself. As he did, he looked ahead, ignoring Lucy's statement from before as he seemed deeply lost in his own world. Whatever it was he was thinking, he certainly looked like he wasn't getting out of it.

Lucy looked on, a worried look on her face as she saw Natsu ignore his bleeding arm.

"Uh…somebody get me down from here?" Klefki called from above. "Anyone…? Hello~…"

* * *

A harsh clash created brief static as shimmering metal clashed with dark energy. The man's fists enveloped in darkness that attempted to parry, but Nic's **Metal Claw** was making it hard. Evidently, this lead to the man forced out of bounds to avoid another direct impact. Once he slid back, he found himself by a barrage of shimmering silver spheres that came out of nowhere.

' _So fast!'_ he exasperated.

" **Magnet Bomb!** " Nic forced them all to converge at the speed of light, bombarding him in a horrendous, simultaneous explosion of silver that shuddered the area around them. The porcelain ground beneath once again cracked apart from the force applied.

As the explosion subsided, Nic took a leap back, maintaining his distance in any events necessary. He remained quiet as he studied his opponent.

As the smoke subsided, the man was seen on his knees, grunting in pain. He was profuse in sweat and bruises from the countermeasures Nic's turned on him. In fact, when the man looked at Nic, he wasn't harmed much at all. _'He's supremely skilled.'_ He thought, trying to stand. _'Just where did he get this kind of flexibility? His reaction timing and dexterity are at a high level.'_

"So tell me something, why are you after the Pokémon?" Nic inquired.

The man struggled to stand, but got partially up no less. "And what would we get out of telling you? It doesn't change anything that's already happened."

"Maybe not." Nic readied another position. "I may not know your reasons for doing so, but we have our own as well."

"Our reason is no different from yours!"

Nic looked a little surprised by his sudden snap. He could see the man rise up, a wavy dark aura enveloping his fists.

"You may think that you can comprehend what it's like to borderline death, but the truth is that you can't truly experience it unless you're there and seen it with your own eyes. Even then, the disillusioned would only deny it. So even if we told you…" He brought one of his fists back, readying another strike. "Will that _still_ bring you the peace that you desire?!"

Nic said nothing. Instead, he pondered on his words as he looked ready for battle.

" **Dark Devil's…Fist Driver!** " He punched forward with all his might, making the ground beneath vibrate explosively as a straight wave of dark energy came from the attack and expanded outwards into a large, grizzly fist of darkness.

As it traveled, Nic looked shocked again, but he hurriedly recovered. " **King's Shield!** " He reached out, summoning hexagons that created a shield in front. They blocked the entire fist heading right for him and all around. The residual shockwaves by the attack was making the whole chamber shudder, even as far as made the porcelain ground beneath depress and shatter like stone. Nearby, everything else was shuddering, even the frightened caged Pokémon.

As the attack went on, Nic held his own calmly, but his disposition was surprised no less. _''Dark Devil'?'_ The attack dissipated, as did his shield. When it faded, the man was already gone, but Nic didn't have to turn around to know he was already there with a fist pulled back.

"You left yourself open!" The man roared as he pulled his fist forward, hoping to get a strike. He was so close, and yet so fa. The reason being because Nic's back kick struck the arm, redirecting the punch skywards and dissipating its energy. In the next second, Nic's foot stomped against his chest, sending him back to the ground.

Once gathered his thoughts, Nic turned around, facing the man as he had the wind knocked out of him. "I see…so you're a Devil Slayer then?"

The man responded alright, but in the form of his fist banging against the ground. Catching him, Nic instantly shifted off towards the side, evading a blast of dark energy that came from below that erupted in an explosive manner. It palpitated so ferociously that its shockwaves made debris fly everywhere, making Nic use his elbow to cover up.

The man was back on his feet as the earth shuddered, his serious look flaring with his own spell. "You're sharp…but making peace with the devil is a sin we sharper than any that that goes through the heart."

Nic's brow furrowed. He offered no input as the pillar of smoke arose beside him.

…

The girl unleashed a cry as she shot from a dark pink cannon with a long nose, shooting an electrified net that showered at Erza. The Requip Mage was in her Robe of Yuen and twirled her bisento, slashing clean through it and making it fall to her sides. She stood up again, glaring at the agitated girl.

"Would you just hold still?! It's getting really annoying to shoot you when you're always moving!" she exclaimed.

Erza pointed her bisento ahead of her. "I won't ask again. What is your purpose with these Pokémon and goods? Don't tell me you're thinking of furthering black-market trade."

The girl arrogantly smirked. "Actually, that's none of your concern."

Erza's glare sharpened. The look she was giving made her look even more ferocious. The girl continued smirking despite how petrified she was feeling. She could feel her heartbeat escalate, her hold on her weapon beginning to quiver. Whoever she was dealing with – both of them – they could feel something within them that made them feel something was off.

Erza lifted off her feet and immediately closed the gap. She let out a battlecry as she passed the girl with a knee out, her bisento to her side as the girl behind squealed as a gash f blood spilled from her sides. She was picked off the ground and her weapon was also sliced to shreds.

The girl could feel time slow down as shock arose. _'What…happened…?'_

"I wasn't intending to let you get away so easily…but you've left us no choice." Erza said.

…

The Devil Slayer coated his fists as he repeatedly tried to punch Nic once more, but as he reeled forward, Nic caught the fist this time, bare-handed at that. The thudding echoed, leaving the man shocked as his physical strength was outmatched.

Nic could see it in his eyes. He wasn't going to talk. He was through playing nice guy, and now it was time he got serious. The look in his eyes remained the same, but that calm look had a deeper, more stronger qi emanating that was making the Devil Slayer feel a skip in his heartbeat. _'Those eyes…'_

In the blink of an eye, Nic twisted and did another throw, this time overhead to the air above. With his opponent in shock, Nic glowed, showing another form. This one was him in his Insect Form, but it also had pieces of the Splash Form. The shoes were dark sea blue with the bright laces of the Insect Form shoes. The coat he wore had a dark blue on it with trimming and cuffs of the Insect Form, and the sash he wore was bright green, as to where the pants were dark blue. Meanwhile, his dragonfly wings remained largely the same.

In his Water/Bug Form, Nic cloaked in water and shot up with a vicious look in his eyes.

" **Aqua Jet!** "

He smashed into the guy's chest with no hesitation. Time slowed down as a ripple of water pulsated and the man felt his sternum crack from the gravely impact. His mouth hung open as the force shot them both skywards, smashing through the chamber ceiling into the open streets. The sudden geyser was thankfully in a low populated zone, but it was no less frightening with the people scrambling away.

As they shot up like an arrow, the water dissipated and Nic flipped above the man. He opened his mouth, releasing a **String Shot** from the back of his tongue that latched onto the man's chest. He was pulled towards Nic like a yoyo, where Nic crossed his glowing hands and roared.

" **X-Scissor!** "

He slashed in a sharp X, making another powerful blast of energy pulsate when the magenta and bright blue X made impact when it pulled the devil Slayer in. The attack's intense force was like a crippling saw that coursed through every vein of him, and as such, the man went rocketing into the streets, sending debris flying everywhere and a trail carved from the depression.

Nic found his spot on the ground, landing with a small gust brewing from his wake. He straightened out, his brows furrowed as he watched the dust settle.

There he laid, the Devil Slayer at the end of a massive skid trail and buried in rubble. He was covered in dirt and badly wounded. He looked like he wasn't getting up anytime soon.

Nic took a few cautious steps forward, keeping his distance and remaining silent as he eyed his opponent.

The man was unable to move, let alone keep his conscience from fading. Whatever he thought possible was completely broken by this sudden serious change. _'This man…'_ He was thinking back to those blue eyes of sheer, unbreakable spirit. _'Those attacks…this sudden show of abominable strength…he was holding out on me, and I fell for it! This man, he's…'_

…

The girl Erza knocked down was laying against the ground, looking dazed as her eyes opened once more. However, the first thing she saw was a sword to her face.

"If you're intentions with these Pokémon are believed to be superior, then you failed to prove it." Erza said.

The girl grunted in annoyance. "Why you…" She wanted to move, but she suddenly felt a sharp pain flare where Erza cut her from before. The spot she struck was so fast that she didn't even have time to register it. Even now, she cursed mentally as Erza's glare was paralyzing her.

However, she still had one trick.

The girl's sleeve had something small like a marble roll out on her palm. With Erza's sword to her face she couldn't look away, or else that'll get Erza's attention. She's going to have to go blind on this one.

She flicked the small marble across the floor, pass Erza's boots. The marble rolled outwards, eventually reaching one of the far stack of crates strapped together. Once they made contact, she snapped her fingers.

The whole crate was being electrified and covered in static, a feature that was crackling interest in Erza as well. The Requip Mage turned to see a third of the carts being enveloped in an electric field, much to her surprise.

"What?"

To her surprise, she was seeing the field of electricity expel a distorting force around it all and crackle to an even brighter extent. She watched in horror as the whole flashing array distort into nothing, imploding to thin air supposedly. All that was in its place was charred porcelain.

"It's gone…" She looked at the girl to find some questions, but her hopes were dashed when she saw that the spot where the girl was supposed to be was vacant, instead replaced by char. Her brow furrowed in discontent over the matter. "…teleportation." She looked back over her shoulder, looking at the many Pokémon that were still in one piece. Aside from the cages, a small portion of the crates were left unhinged, though some spots were charred as well.

As she looked in discomfort, she could at least take comfort knowing that for the time being, the Pokémon were safe. But the items were greatly hampered. She looked up to where Nic shot out of with his opponent, wondering if he's doing alright.

…

The Devil Slayer laid on the ground, unable to move as Nic looked over him, having a placid look on his face. As the downed man was struggling to keep his conscience from going out, a small stinging sensation pierced his brain, making him wince weakly.

' _ **Orion, are you there?**_ _'_ A girl's voice spoke inside his head, though the way he felt it was more distorted. _'_ _ **Orion, hey!**_ _'_ she called again.

Mentally, he groaned. _'_ _ **Aniya. What is it? What happened?**_ _'_

' _ **I don't know. But this guy and this chick both are incredibly strong. I barely made it out of there with a small fraction of the parcels.**_ _'_

' _ **I see.**_ _'_

' _ **Hold on, I'll try to get Liz and Griffon over to you after they finish dealing with-**_ _'_

' _ **No.**_ _' he tested dryly. '_ _ **Abort the mission. We got enough for tonight. I'm afraid we've gravely misjudged ourselves this time.**_ _'_

' _ **What do you mean?**_ _'_

The guy paused as his blurry vision was looking ahead, seeing Nic standing with a fixated look on him. _'_ _ **…the one's we were fighting, one of them was Nic Pularis.**_ _'_

On the other end, the sound of a hefty gasp was heard loud and clear. _'_ _ **Wait! You mean THAT Nic?**_ _'_

' _ **I'm afraid so.**_ _'_

' _ **Then what do we do? I think Liz and Griffon are closing in on the minister right now.**_ _'_

' _ **Let Nic and his friends deal with it…we just got cursed tonight is all. Tell them all to fall back, that's an order.**_ _'_

Anise sighed once more. _'_ _ **Fine. Just use that button and get the heck out of there.**_ _'_ With that, the atmosphere finally cleared, his head returning to normal and allowing him to think on his own.

With little nimble work, he weakly used an index finger and pressed a button on his chest. At that instant, the button let out a powerful sound.

A discharge of energy suddenly expelled, swallowing him in a powerful veil of distorting energy and electricity. Nic hurriedly backed away to avoid the sparks and distorting energy. With the space he gained he looked out and saw with surprise on his face that the dimming energy field was collapsing upon itself. He saw the energy finally collapse and diminish, revealing that Orion was gone, and all that was in his spot was nothing but charred concrete.

Nic look at the spot, looking mildly surprised, yet kept a calm face. "A fail-safe." Seeing as how it played out that way, he glowed and reverted to himself. He looked down at the ground, his brow furrowing. _'Another Devil Slayer…'_ He looked ahead, seeing the many people who looked to be in a panic. As he looked around, he could see further action would cause a bigger problem than before. For now, he just looked ahead towards the minister's building, an uneased vibe growing.

* * *

The shoes of the dazed minister were tapping loudly against the ground. He was laboring heavy breaths as he hastily made way through the lit-up corridor. He made one more turn, following the route where lacrima lit it.

Overhead, in another alley, there were wires attached to a sewer cover. The wires were attached to the Gum Mage's headphones, provided by the Wire Mage beside her.

As the minister drew closer beneath, the vibrations went up to the wires and into the headphones. The closer he got, the stronger the vibrations. Once she got enough, he looked back and nodded.

Griffon nodded in understanding and fiddled his fingers to make more wire. "Okay then, let's get to it."

He approached the manhole cover, with the girl chewing gum to get ready. However, the headphones began to get a strange signal, one loud enough to alarm its owner. She jerked up, alarming the green-haired person beside her.

"What is it?"

The girl stopped chewing her gum and looked perplexed as she looked at the alleys. The headphones were getting a message from a certain someone; someone whom was brash and compulsive, yet she meant well.

Wanting to know, the Wire Mage produced wire from his fingers and made them reach the headphone's antennae. He leaned his head into his knuckles, getting the message as well.

The two listened well to Aniya's message, the one Orion told her to tell the others. As she went on in detail of who they fought, the looks on their faces changed to shock. By the time the message was over, they knew it was best to comply.

The Wire Mage grunted. "Damnit…" He looked down at the manhole cover, seeing how the man had already passed them given the vibrations weakening. "Looks like he just got lucky this time. Still, Nic Pularis? That's the last thing we need right now…c'mon, better go regroup for now."

The Gum Mage nodded. "Sure." Finally, she spoke, even if it was just one blunt word, with an equally blunt tone. The Wire Mage grabbed hold of her waist and shot his hand up, reeling him back up towards the wire web that he created in case of overhead attacks while snooping.

* * *

The woman attacking Vanessa and Sophie charged once more with a more energetic, if not angrier, expression on her face as Krookodile charge as well. Both reeled their fists forward, meeting in the center with a powerful gust expelling everywhere. For the umpteenth time, both were trying to overpower the other, this time with the girl reaching and grabbing Krookodile's arm and slamming him into the ground over her shoulder, force enough to make gravel shoot up.

"Krookodile!" Vanessa grunted.

The girl wiped her mouth, a mix of saliva and blood running from the corner and getting on her fur. "Phew! Man this guy is tough." She casually turned towards Vanessa with a smirk. "You must be one hell of a trainer then."

Vanessa didn't verbally respond. Instead, the girl got her response in the form of a pillar of teal aura shooting straight up beneath. She jumped to the side, dodging it, but not the black and red tail swing and crashing into her ribs. The impact sent a shock that she recovered from as she went flying backwards into another skid. She looked up, a smirk on her face with one eye opened.

"Well, looks like gator face has something else to say huh?"

Krookodile stomped on the ground, asserting his dominance, despite how annoyed and tired he was getting. He bared his fangs, claws up to strike.

The girl balled her own fists and held them up. "Alright then…" She began to expel an ominous pressure from her body. One that sounded very gruesome, almost like a lion's roar. A yellow aura began to erode from her body. "Now you're _really_ yanking my chains."

The girls and Krookodile readied themselves as the pressure was making the room shudder. They could see the ridges grow spikier on the girl, but as she started to transform, something seemed off that made her lose focus. It was like an epiphany came to her.

Seeing this made them all back off. The aura visibly seen was starting to erode away, the girl looking away and putting a finger to her ear.

"What was that?" She asked to what she heard. "Oh, so you _did_ get something out of it, that's good…what? Aw man, you serious?! I was about to…!" Her eyes widened in shock. She instantly went towards Vanessa, her shock shown as she felt the level of power Vanessa still had. A long moment paused as she was processing it. "No way…"

Vanessa's brow furrowed as she used her aura. She could feel certain signatures suddenly fade from the city. And others were moving out. In her mind, she could feel this was a retreat.

The girl sighed. "Yeah, alright. I'm coming." She brought her finger away, giving the girls and Krookodile a cheery smile. "Well looks like you really are full of surprises. I was beginning to question where I've seen that face before. I never thought you'd be that Nic guy's sister. Color me impressed."

Vanessa nor Sophie offered their own input.

"Oh don't give me those faces, we didn't harm them. In fact, you guys did a number on our little ringleader. And I guess the shots are down, so, off I go." She shrugged so casually before turning towards Krookodile. "So same time next week, 'kay big guy?" She winked before turning away and stomping, shooting back in the same direction she came from.

"HEY, CRAZY ANIMALISTIC ASSASSINATION LADY! GET BACK HERE!" Krookodile shouted.

"What's going on?" Sophie questioned.

Vanessa held her position firmly. "A retreat."

* * *

Joey was panting profusely, even though he wasn't doing much. All he did was see Chespin and Pidove struggle to find an opening, whereas Dereece and Duncan were no different. They all were looking annoyed as Broly stood before them with crossed arms. He didn't look in the very least tired; in fact, he looked more like he was just warming up.

Broly folded his arms, this time making a wide barrier. Swiping his arms, he sent the barrier up the steps, leveling their edges and reaching the guys. Out of low options, Duncan charged ahead with his kendo stick. He brought it overhead, slamming it into the wall. However, that didn't stop it from pushing. The wall kept going, stopping right in front of The Freaks and hurling Duncan into his comrades. They all fell to the front doorsteps with great thuds, their Pokémon no different.

Once the barrier met its targets, Broly did another trick. He expanded the barrier further, making it surround the pillars and whole outside. In fact, the whole estate's building was barely covered by the turquoise shield.

The Freaks strained to get up, only to find themselves inside the barrier walls. Joey especially looked shocked as he looked around.

"You ain't getting to me until Matilda gets to that minister and your little friends first!" Broly roared, his face showing a grizzly seriousness.

Joey stammered up to his feet once more. "Man, this is getting us nowhere. He's got us boxed in."

They all looked ahead as Broly was making them all feel on edge. Not only did he have an abundant Magic Power supply, the sheer willpower and guts he was giving was making him beyond formidable. It was becoming impractical even. They had to stay alert, no matter what.

A realization Dereece came to made him look shocked. "Wait a minute…that means you can't attack either!"

Joey's eyes widened next. _'He's right! That means this is just a patience game. It'll only be a matter of time before he has to get tired eventually. If there's a time limit and a recharge, maybe we can strike then. If not…'_ A smirk appeared on his face. _'Then he'll be disappointed to see Vanessa-senpai is no laughing ma-!'_

 _WHAM!_

The door flew open right in everyone's faces. The Freaks were shoved out of sight behind the door as the woman from before casually made her way out. She waved so happily.

"Yo!"

"Hey, Matilda." Broly greeted. "So, you done the deed or what?"

The girl walked up, barely missing as the door closed right behind her. Completely engraved in the door, The Freaks were holding poses inside, and then Duncan fell first, while a twitching Dereece and Joey fell atop next. She looked so disappointed as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"Well, actually…"

"Huh?"

Matilda skipped on down towards Broly's side. He lifted the barrier all around to allow her safe passage as such. He leaned in and she whispered into his ear about the details. He looked intrigued, but when he heard of a name, his eyes narrowed.

' _I see.'_ He looked back at her. "Alright then, guess we better hit the rendezvous point then."

Matilda nodded. "Right!"

Joey groaned as he tried to get up, but he found himself more than a little dazed. He shook his head to alleviate himself and saw Broly and Matilda taking off. With both of them taking off, he did what he could to scramble back to his feet. "Hey!" he called out.

Matilda went on, but Broly stopped his running and looked back. He met Joey in the eyes, the two having a long stare; Joey having those clueless but shocked eyes, while Broly had the more superior and devoted eyes. Their long contest wasn't more or less anything like that. Something Joey was starting to feel to make it more than that. It was hard to explain, but somehow, he just…knew. Something about Broly and the way he fought; the way he acted; it was something that stirred inside his head. The way he looked now, it was a dead giveaway of how serious he took Joey, despite how much of a loser he was.

With the silence passing, Broly turned and left, leaving the Freaks and their leader to scramble and get to their feet once more.

Dereece rubbed the back of his head. "Man, what just hit me…?"

Beneath, Duncan was gritting his teeth at his friend's hefty weight. "Would you get off already?" he growled, almost in a threatening tone.

As they were getting up, Vanessa and Sophie ran up to the door, looking up and about to see if their adversaries were around. Sadly, were gone.

"They really are retreating." Sophie said.

Joey looked over, his shock still evident. "Y-you guys! You're okay!" he stammered.

Vanessa turned towards him. "We're fine, thanks." As she looked at him, she saw just how banged up he was. He was covered in some dirt, not to mention the few scratches he and the others got from being tossed around like ragdolls. "Are you alright? I feel like I should be asking you that."

Joey beamed. "Yeah, we're cool! We held off one of those guys for as long as we could." He looked out at the direction Broly took off in beforehand. "Still…sorry we let you down." He began to feel a depression grow on him. He was feeling nothing less than great remorse at failing at protecting one of his idols.

Vanessa didn't seem too bothered by it. "Don't worry, you did what you could. How is everyone else?"

Duncan shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe still out in the city."

"You think they're alright?" Dereece worried.

Joey gave a serious facial expression. "Only one way to find out." He turned towards his Pidove. "Pidove, can you still fly?"

The exhausted Pidove craned his head up.

* * *

The hole was breached as Nic jumped through it. "Erza!" He landed nearby, landing on his feet and crouched, where thus recovered and looked towards his wife.

"Nic!" Erza turned towards him, reconvening in the middle.

"What happened?"

Her brow furrowed. "I'm afraid we were hoodwinked." She looked over, making Nic follow her gaze towards the Pokémon in cages, along with what crates left contained the items warranted.

Seeing the damage, Nic understood. "I see, so that's all they got away with?"

"As far as we can tell." She looked back towards him. "What happened to your opponent?"

Now it was Nic's turn to show resentment. "He mysteriously teleported. He pressed what looked like a button, or maybe some small lacrima fragment, and he vanished when the rets of his body wasn't able to move. I take it that's what happened with you?"

Erza nodded. "More or less. But now I'm worried about the others."

"Yeah, me too." Nic looked over once more, seeing the many Pokémon now basking in the moonlight. "At least the Pokémon here are safe. That's our priority."

Erza smiled in agreement.

The sounds of footsteps came their way. They echoed loud and clear for Nic and Erza to make impossible to miss. They both looked over, seeing a panicking minister enter the same way they came through. The minister himself had raspy breaths as he finally caught up, looking ahead with wide eyes.

He labored in breath, looking at Nic and Erza with shock. "Y-you two! What happened?! Where were you?!" He noticed the big hole over his head, seeing the waxing crescent high above them. He then turned towards the surroundings, noticing the considerable shorter supply of items. "What happened to all of this?!" He looked towards Nic and Erza angrily. "You two. You weren't even supposed to be here!"

Nic and Erza didn't respond. They glared at him like wild animals ready to strike.

The minister looked more anxious than ever. "B-but you gotta tell me! How did they even find this place! If so, how did you track them down? This isn't even part of the-!"

 _SHING_

He was silence when a gust of wind blew right pass him. He was petrified in shriveling fear as two pointed weapons were aimed right for his face. One was a sword, and one was a needle held by Nic, both mere inches away from his eyes. The man was petrified in fear so much that he sunk to his knees at their abominable pressure.

"Make one wrong move, and you'll regret it." Erza threatened.

The man was quivering in place as he had two menacing creatures at their mercy. He knew he was screwed. "Yes ma'am." He squealed.

* * *

In the faraway mountains just outside the port town they were just in, the scenery was phenomenal. One could've seen everything, ranging from valleys to enormous other peaks and ranges across the green land. And this was also an ideal way to hide.

At the tall peak, within the flattened cliffside, there was a small path on the side that lead to a small manmade wooden inlet, with a door, windows, everything. For something so primitive, just making a face alone was divine work.

The green-haired man sighed as he laid on his back nearby the fire. "Aw geez." He groaned. "Well at least we didn't empty-handed after all, right Aniya?"

By the massive stack of fresh cargo, the pink-haired woman with the visor – Aniya – shot a glare. "Hey, give me a break, would ya? I was under a lot of pressure!"

Matilda leaned against the rocky wall, looking over the fire freshly made. "Man, those two baddies and their crocodiles totally rocked. Makes you wonder how well they'd do against my inner beast?"

The green-haired man lazily waved her off. "Well let's not fond out anytime soon, 'kay Matilda?"

Broly looked over towards Aniya as she was using her visor to scan the anatomy of their cargo without having to open the boxes. "Hey, Aniya, are you sure you're able to move around like that?" he referred to her wound she got from Erza. "It looks pretty bad."

Aniya stopped and looked back at him with a smile. "Hey, it's not _that_ bad." She tried taking another step, but when she showed off, all she got was a faltered footing.

"Hey now…"

"And besides." She continued. "If you wanna worry about anyone, worry about him."

Everyone looked over to what she referred to. Over in the corner trying to catch his breath, the man being wrapped by a lot of gauze by the Gum Mage was Orion. He looked to be in bad shape. One could say he looked like death, in which case they can't be wrong. They were all dead inside that way.

"How did he get those serious injuries?" Broly questioned. "Is this seriously what Nic did?"

She nodded. "Afraid so."

Breathing heavily, the tired leader weakly opened his eyes, making one long breath that alarmed the mage working on him. "I was being too predictable." He muttered, moments before he winced at the chest pain he endured. "No…more like, he was being predictable on purpose. He caught me off guard when he was defensive in the beginning, to see the limitations of my abilities. When he got a read and my attack style *cough* he took advantage and went for it. And all it took was just a few good hits." He began to cough some more, this time some blood.

Matilda turned towards the guy laying down. "Hey, Griffon, you still got some of that stuff? I think Orion can really use it."

The Wire Mage – Griffon – reached into his pocket, trying to reach for a small pink glass container. "When don't I? Gotta keep myself from my accidental cuts somehow." He looked at it and lobed it at Matilda, who caught it.

"Thanks." She walked on over, kneeling beside the Gum Mage and presented the flask to Orion. "Here, a little bit of this might do the trick." She dripped a few weak ounces into his mouth. As the contents poured down his throat, it had a bizarre cherry taste to it.

Slowly, his coughing began to subside, and his chest pains were beginning to heal. The Gum Mage kept patting his back to comfort him as Matilda tossed the flask back towards Griffon, who caught it callously.

"We're getting a little low on food and medicine again." Broly noted. "I say we better find the nearest town with an apothecary and market, starting tomorrow. The sooner the better."

Griffon smiled. "And some nice beer while we're at it, too." He received dark looks from Matilda and Broly, both growling and staring at him coldly. Out of his nerves reacting, he slowly shrunk back with a bead of sweat running down his face. "Uh, w-was it something I said?"

"Oh, don't think we didn't find out." Matilda angrily threatened. "I was wondering where all my booze went. Now it looks like the little rat's out in the open."

The girl closed in on her friend, walking silently like a cat as Griffon sheepishly scooted backwards. He tried to get up, but he was getting another venomous aura around Matilda. He could feel a lump run down his throat as she stood over him with red eyes and a smirk of killing intent.

"Uh, w-well you see…I was trying to find some more water and, well…" He desperately tried to think of something to sedate his ally from clawing his heart out, again. "I m-may have been too brash and grabbed the wrong canister…yeah…"

Griffon could see she wasn't buying it. The girl cracked her knuckles and he swallowed a second lump, moments before the first fist exploded into a dust cloud with him waling in agony in the corner by her thrashing about with him.

As Griffon squealed like a sissy girl, Broly looked disinterested. "Sometimes a little tough love is necessary."

"But to think that was Fairy Tail we bumped right into." The Gum Mage said. "I've heard a lot about them. They're the one's who are connected with…"

"We know, Liz." Orion said. "That's one of the reasons we were hired. If Nic and his guild are starting to understand now, then we have a problem." His eyes narrowed his deep, aggravated thought. "And I think this going in the opposite direction of where our client wanted it to go."

The group pondering fell silent as the flames flickered, all while Griffon's screaming echoed in the background.

* * *

After almost half an hour of searching, Pidove was finally able to locate everyone, hence by Joey's _deep_ describing, some of which best left out of line for more suitable descriptions. With everyone reconvening at the foot of the estate, the Rune Knights were stationed everywhere, setting up perimeters through the town and the underground passage.

Passing Nic and Fairy Tail, the shipment of Pokémon and crates were all freed. The Pokémon were all jovially following a trained person the Cambire Foundation sent to coax the Pokémon to follow him into the massive carriage towards the Cambire Foundation. As they were tended to Eliza stood in front of Nic with a stern look.

"I am truly apologetic for this sudden intrusion, Nic Pularis." She humbly said. "We hope we didn't come at an appropriate time. I understand you all were doing your jobs and protecting the minister, however, we were unaware of his actions, and we would be more accepting if you allowed us to interrogate him fully first, if you will."

"You have our consent." Nic replied without hesitation.

Sophie approached, looking a little worried. "Nic, are you sure about this?"

"I wouldn't worry if I were you, Sophie." Nic swayed. "After all, it was the Cambire Foundation's fault this whole black-market started, right? If anyone's to pay heed to regulations, it's for them to _not_ overlook. Right?" He looked towards Eliza, who was getting the message loud and clear.

She coughed nervously, trying to clear away her company's folly. "Yes, well, despite these setbacks, I hope we can come to an alleviation."

Nic nodded. "It's fine. But I have to ask, who's in charge of your shipping and management anyway? Did they know workers were putting portions down there on a regular basis?"

"Not until you solved the mystery, that is. Don't worry, I'll report this to Jefferey and we'll have the Pokémon in top condition, the remaining items recalled, and we will begin the policy of background checks and tests for all of our new hires. But for now, can you be patient until we've learned more about this from the minister?"

Erza walked up beside Nic with a stern look. "We will allow, but we ask what you know in full when the time comes."

"You have my word, Mrs. Pularis." She bowed to them. "We'll be on standby if you need any further assistance from us."

The Rune Knights and the Cambire Foundation hires were thus partially directed to the shop. Regulators and those who were described and left by Nic and Erza were arrested, and the passageway and location the tent held secretive was blocked off until further notice. The items in the store were being transported by boxes and many Machoke and Machop who worked beside men transferring the stuff, this time to a location not surrounded by potential secretive planes.

"Well this bites, talk about a sellout." Joey grimaced. "I feel real bad for all those people there."

Dereece looked down, mournfully nodded. "Yeah, me too. But that's part of the job."

"I know…it's just taking some getting used to is all." He looked down again, his brow furrowing angrily. "But still…" his fists were balling again, but out of spite. "If I wasn't so weak, then maybe some of this wouldn't have happened."

Duncan looked away from his captain to look at Nic. "So I guess the reason you're allowing them to deal with the minister is because we have that group that attacked us, right?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah. The Cambire Foundation's main priority is to focus on their goods and helping the development of humans and Pokémon. That alone is a big responsibility. What's more, I don't believe the Council has coordinates Rune Knights with the Cambire Foundation, so that means they don't have the authority to go about the way we are just yet."

Vanessa folded her arms. "Makes sense. If the Cambire Foundation _did_ have allegations, then they can at least go on more offensive means with these black-markets. What's more, these attackers, they were after two specific things just like you said."

"The minister and the resources he had beneath us this whole time." Erza answered.

Carla, having bandages around her human form, folded her arms. "To think he would be behind this whole mess." She sniped.

"Yeah, that's really messed up." Happy said.

"Not to mention that explains why the town's concessions were so high." Gray said. He was thankfully recovered from his daze well enough to be thinking straight, but he didn't want to push his luck too far. "Well in a sense, if the market didn't bring profit, that did mean plan B was the town itself."

"Sounds like a gross way to drive yourself into bankruptcy if you ask me." Lucy said. She looked over, seeing beside Gray there was something wrong. "Uh, Gray?"

"Yeah?" He looked to see Lucy staring pass him, and Wendy pointed to the reason. When Gray turned around, he saw Juvia hugging her knees, sulking with a small cloud over her head that drizzled over her, literally. She looked anything but a ray of usual sunshine.

"Uuuugh." She groaned in a mumbling fashion.

Lucy stepped forward. "Uh, hey, Juvia? You okay…?"

"Uuuuuugh…"

Lucy retracted her hand. Wendy stood beside her with worry painted on her face. "Wonder what's wrong with her?"

Gray rubbed the back of his head as he looked at her. "Beats me. Honestly, everything's kind of a blur to me." He looked down at the ground, straining as he tried to recall, but couldn't put his finger on it. "That chick that spit gum did something, and then everything after that was a haze. Next thing I knew, I had a piece of gum in my mouth. It's really weird."

Unknowingly, right beside him, Juvia sulked so low her body became a gasping, despairing puddle of water with a sad face on it.

"Well it certainly brings an alarm up as to the air we breathe." Carla said, looking towards the others. "So these people, just who were they exactly?"

Nic closed his eyes as his head was down. "We didn't get a clear answer…but we do know that they're still out there."

Erza nodded. "Yes, and as long as there are still markets to strike, I have a feeling they'll strike again."

A silence fell with the group as they tried to think up what to do. Regrettably, no one had any good ideas to pull out of their pockets. They were less enthused about a celebration than they were of a convenience for their sake.

Happy finally broke the silence. "So what do we do now?"

"Well I say we head back to the guild. We got paid, right?" Gray insisted.

"Yeah, good point." Lucy agreed. She would've said more, but something else crossed her mind. "Uh, hey guys, where's Natsu?"

"Natsu?" Happy looked around, seeing his best pal not around.

Sophie looked over her shoulder. "How odd. I could've sworn he was here a moment ago."

"Well he isn't very far." Vanessa figured. "He's healed enough thanks to Wendy from what I've heard."

Nic said nothing as he instead looked out towards the city, his calm disposition fixed on the Dragon Slayer. _'Natsu.'_

* * *

In the nearby alley, not far from the group, the Dragon Slayer was facing into the darkness, staring coldly at the ever-going alley. It looked like a maze inside, but even then, his hearing and sense of smell could take him to them. But regrettably, that weird stuff his face was bombarded with earlier did a number on his senses. Even now, his nostrils were still recoiling from that sharp minty smell to throw him off. He couldn't think straight until a short while ago, but even since then, he still wasn't feeling the same. The way that guy messed with him, the way he played with Natsu's nature and used Happy and Carla was one thing, but he was the one who hurt them. He could feel his heartrate thump a little as he began to think about the terror of his rampage as E.N.D once again, hating Nic – an act he can never fully forgive himself from doing. And now his reckless nature endangered more friends, and all he got to show for his efforts was wire cutting his arm, which thankfully healed thanks to Wendy.

When he looked down at his arm, he saw that there were no wounds, as far as physical goes. But the mental ones were fresh. Even now, what he said still haunted him.

" _Believe me, pal, there's much crueler fates out there than death…"_

Those words he spoke echoed in Natsu's mind endlessly. His bangs covered his eyes to prevent him from showing the world what he was feeling. In a sudden rage, he punched the wall beside him, making an indent in its exterior from his force. His body shuddered, partly from anger, and partly from adrenaline. "That guy was right about one thing…" he muttered, moments before he lifted his head, his bangs no longer cascading the anger on his face. "There are worse fates that one can be dealt with…" His eyes narrowed. "And he's gonna learn a thing or two about fate that I'd like to teach him about."

* * *

Arthur sat in his seat, and standing right beside him, Jefferey and Charlotte were both attending. Marie was standing in front of the desk, showing the letter with a projection of Eliza with hands behind her back facing the three superiors.

She did what she could in explaining the situation, but so far, the circumstances were bringing grave frowns onto their faces. "…and that's all that happened." She surmised.

Arthur's arms arose slowly. "I see…" Very carefully, he leaned back in his seat, gazing down with a deep look as his fingers folded beneath his chin. He was taking in everything Eliza explained about the mission and configured what he had to know, and what he had already known. "So that's what happened then."

Eliza nodded.

Jefferey stepped closer to the desk. "Good work, Eliza. You've done us a good deed. Please, return and we will look over this case in the morning."

"Understood." With that message over, Eliza's image faded, leaving the letter to sit on the desk and Marie staring on the other end with a deep frown.

There was a long silence that fell within the inner circle o the Cambire Foundation. The top executives were all staring ahead with an ominous appeal around. Finally, the silence was broken by a fist crashing against the desk, belonging to an agitated and regrettable Jefferey. "Damnit, what was I thinking?" he cursed in folly. "I should've known something was wrong before I overlooked all those hires."

Arthur put a hand up. "Calm down, Jefferey, I'm sure we can find a compromise to all of this."

"Oh really?" Charlotte angrily sinuated. "So then tell me, exactly what kind of compromise are you thinking of?"

Arthur felt like he was being under fire, and to be frank, not one person could necessarily blame him. There was a lot of mishaps as of late, but that's not to say that was still their undertake to be at fault for. Still, being a leader and president meant making critical analysis, and it was his job to impose.

"I can't say that we aren't taking responsibility for this. If anything, we might as well be considered the catalyst for this whole marketing system. It was our own supplies that were being shipped after all." He looked up towards his younger assistant. "Which reminds me, exactly how many shipments are we expected to have exported this week?"

Marie looked down to the clipboard she had in hand. She scrutinized the contents and saw the numbers. "About 15 more shipments." She responded. "And with Fairy Tail already dealing with these culprits, it's safe to say that we may have an intertwining mission."

Arthur closed his eyes. "So it would seem."

Charlotte smirked. "Perhaps they could be of some help to us. They _were_ able to enlist enough power to stop a single shipment, is that right?"

"Be as it may, that was just one shipment." He countered. "They were able to find the culprits but allow them to get away. We can't be certain of when they will strike again. If this continues on, I'm afraid the Council will have to ask us to enforce an embargo."

Jefferey looked ashamed as he turned away. "This is all my fault. If anyone's to take responsibility for this, it's me."

"Jefferey…" Arthur muttered.

Marie stepped up. "Sir, with all do respect, I think that it's best that we discuss this further tomorrow. We have to remain on schedule. If things like this keep up, then-" She was cut off when Arthur's hand went up, silencing her.

"No, Marie. I'm sorry, but this matter is more important." He interceded. "May I remind you, the more we push, the more likely they'll pull from us as well. We can't have mere objects and Pokémon being bargained like this without our knowledge."

Marie looked worried. "Then what do we do?"

Arthur closed his eyes and thought for a moment. When he came to a decision, he opened his eyes and glared ahead with a sense of seriousness. "Alright, here's what we're going to be doing. Until further notice, the Cambire Foundation will be decreasing its shipments by 50%. The less we sell, the less likely they take. Jefferey."

"I'll see to that as immediately as possible."

"Right, and Charlotte. I'd like you to tell the Council of this. Tell them of the reasons doing so is for these illegal shippings. Until there is a further investigation into these messes that they must be obligated to, we have to pay it safe."

Charlotte scoffed with a grin. "So be it."

"And Marie, you and I will have to continue looking at these reports. If we can find a pattern, or why these have been happening, maybe we can offer that information to our allies. Support is necessary."

"Alright, as you wish."

Arthur lowered his head, angrily sighing at this decision. He wasn't appreciating the shrewd tactic he was making, possibly a terrible business decision at that, but he put Pokémon and people above his industry. That was just what kind of guy he was. He had to abide by what he stood for. If he didn't, then he'd be less than scum.

And that's the last thing this world needs. Nor what the company needs. "I need some wine, bad."

* * *

Daylight shined upon the Fairy Tail guild, the new day finally coming around with everyone accounted for. With the news of their recent mission being in the gray zone, the scandal aroused many of interests.

Macao sat his mug down gently. "I get it. So that's the deal then." He was taking in everything Nic and Erza along with their friends went through, and suffice to say by his arms folding that he wasn't liking where this was going. "Sounds like you guys were having it rough, huh."

Sophie beamed nonchalantly. "Well we can't say you were wrong."

"But to think there was more than one perpetrator." Vanessa said, getting the blonde's attention. "Not to mention that each of them had a high degree in their skill area."

"Yeah, the guy we fought hung me and Wendy like we were piñatas." Lucy folded her arms in grimace over the memory. Not only was it embarrassing, but it was shrewd and tactical. A witty fighter no less.

"Yeah, and his wires were all over the place." Wendy pointed out. "Even my smell was all over the place."

"And speaking of all over, how many of these guys were there?" Gajeel questioned out of curiosity. "Didn't sound like a lot to me."

Beside him, Levy stepped up. "Yeah, if what I can tell, they must be professionals to take on at least two at the same time."

Joey sheepishly raised his head. "Uh, six for us." He nervously admitted. "The…guy we fought was crazy tough."

"Maybe because you don't have that high of an experience." Pantherlily noted.

Joey shot a look at him. "Hey, we're trying!"

"So these guys are attacking underground deals near port towns and those behind them." The attention drew towards Cana. She was sitting cross-legged while holding a barrel of booze in her lap. "It's gotta mean something if they're not attacking shipments going over borders." She raised the massive barrel to her mouth, wolfing down the contents with massive gulps like a Gulpin would give.

"Sounds to me that we may something to go off of then." Elfman said. "If these guys are after ports, that means other countries that can't be reached by land."

"Meaning it's gotta be sabotage then." Lisanna gasped.

"Nah, I wouldn't go that far." Wakaba interjected. "Besides, does anyone even know where all that stuff they steal go anyway? How do we know they're not just robbing these guys all to make a profit in other borders?"

"We wouldn't know. They didn't say much." Gray remarked. "Not the one we fought anyway."

Macao looked down at his mug, seeing his own reflection as he raised it. "You know, I've been hearing a few rumors about these black markets popping up as of late. In fact, Romeo and I were near Cedar last week to stop poachers from attacking some wild Pokémon, and they were carrying with them some crates, too."

"You mean Pokémon medicine and berries?" Wendy inquired.

"That's exactly what they were able to pillage from behind my back last night." Erza admitted. "This certainly raises a red flag with Cambire's exports to say the least."

"All the more reason why we need to stop these guys before they screw us over." Gray insisted.

Carla shot him a look. "Hate to break it to you, but didn't that already happen?"

"Don't jinx it, alright?" he warned.

Natsu opened his mouth wide, crunching his massive jaws on some meat he got cooked by Mirajane. His back was to everybody else as he chewed. "Yeah, well…" he swallowed before continuing. "If you ask me, we won't let them get away a second time. We got some beef with them after what they pulled."

"That's something I can agree with." Gray said. He wanted to teach that Gum Mage a lesson in sticking her nose – or in this case gum – where it doesn't belong, in more ways than one.

Gajeel smirked as he arose from his seat. "Well if this is a stakeout, then consider an open invitation." He raised a balled fist. "I wanna be sure I'm there to see those punks try and strike back a second time when I'm around."

Elfman crossed his arms with a raised brow. "Yeah right, you? If anyone should be manly enough to go, it's me!"

Gajeel glared at him. "And perhaps you didn't hear me when I say I wanna be there!"

"No, Gajeel's right."

Gajeel and Elfman turned towards Nic. He stood nearby Erza with eyes closed and arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.

"These guys are ambush predators. They won't make a direct assault unless if it's for distraction purposes. What's more, it sounds like there's quite a few skilled in silent tracking. If we go around aimlessly like before, it'll be no different than last time. Sorry Elfman, but if we need someone experienced in stealth, I think Gajeel is our best option."

Elfman didn't disagree with Nic, but he sure didn't like being disregarded. Not that Nic was being rude, but he had to understand that stealth really wasn't his style.

Gajeel patted his shoulder. "Sorry big guy. Maybe next time."

Elfman sulked. "Yeah, I guess."

"So then I take it we'll come up with a plan of attack then?" Sophie rhetorically inquired.

Nic opened his eyes. "If it's what'll dampen black-market deals, then it might be our best shot. But…" he paused, getting everyone's attention. "That still doesn't answer why is it that they are targeting ports. If black markets are all over Fiore, then is it possible they're stopping shipments to a specific place somewhere? If so, why?"

Erza out a hand to her chin. "There's an ambiguous amount of reasons behind this. Extortion is a high probability. And there's another fact. They're not attacking every shipment out there, the ones in the daytime and off towards Ishgar's other countries are left alone."

Lisanna showed genuine curiosity. "So then you think they're targeting other shipments meaning to other continents?"

"Kinana put a finger to her chin as she looked up. "Well, can't be that many. If they're only getting one shipment per night they strike, that doesn't slow down progress _that_ badly, right?"

"There's one more thing." Nic once again got the floor. "What we found, besides the shipment…there were more Pokémon in cages."

Once again, the guild looked shocked.

"Wait, time out. I thought the Cambire Foundation only manufactured Poke Balls and all those goods." Jet reminded.

"So you're saying they're shipping Pokémon to other continents now?" Droy added. "Is that supposed to help in trafficking or what?"

"I wouldn't count on that, guys." Lucy forewarned.

"She's right. The Cambire Foundation said nothing about trafficking Pokémon. Whichever country these shipments are after must be needed Pokémon."

"But why's that?" Happy wondered.

Nic folded his arms. "Well…I can think of a few reasons." His gaze went towards the others. "But we got our hands tied around this case. Until we find out more about these assassins, Pokémon and manufactures goods alike are going to be put up for reasons out of our control. We need to stop them at this next run, if not find a way to cut them off."

Cana looked bluntly at him. "So what do we got? There's gotta be some sort of follow up, right?"

"They don't even lead a trail anywhere. Rune Knights searched everywhere, and even Natsu's sense of smell was blocked when they used this weird gum to stop his sense of smell." Lucy explained.

"Whoever they were had to be very coordinated and know how to make quick escapes." Levy deduced. She put a hand to her chin, looking down with worry. "But…"

Gajeel looked over. "Hm, what's wrong?"

"…nothing. It's just…doesn't it make you wonder where they all retreat to? With such a supply every night, it all has to go somewhere, right?"

Everyone looked confused as to how they should approach the matter at hand. They were trying to make heads and tails, but the matter in its own right was hard. There was no telling where they would go to strike again, and they always left no trace…or so it may seem.

Nic's brow furrowed as he looked down at the ground. As silence fell, something in his mind popped up, something that made his eyes widen in realization.

 _The man struggled to stand, but got partially up no less. "And what would we get out of telling you? It doesn't change anything that's already happened."_

" _Maybe not." Nic readied another position. "I may not know your reasons for doing so, but we have our own as well."_

" _Our reason is no different from yours!"_

' _Our reason.'_ Nic was silent as he thought long and hard about what he meant. The main reason he stopped them was because it was their job. And that's when it struck Nic. His eyes widened with a sense of seriousness, the epiphany ready to become verbal.

"So you're saying if we find the source, then we might be able to find what they pillaged?" Mest inquired.

Levy nodded. "In the ball park at least. I was just thinking somewhere, they might be hiding."

"Well that would make sense in my books." Cana said. "Guess we better start drawing up some…"

"Not somewhere." Once again, attention went away from the thinking group, drawn towards Nic as he walked to the midst of the conversation. Once he got to the middle, he overlooked everyone. "Some- _one_."

The guild looked just as confused as before. They all looked at him perplexed, save for a few who gave him knowing looks.

"Hold up now, you're saying someone's pulling the strings with these guys?" Gray inquired.

Mest looked intrigued. "What makes you think that's the case?"

Nic gave them another look. "It's not that I'm sating that 'somewhere' isn't out of the question, but if you were to pull something this big, you wouldn't ordinarily do it for free, would you?"

In a sense, Nic wasn't wrong. They worked in a guild for crying out loud, of course their service never comes cheap. But that sure did make people happy no less.

"I think someone hired them to deliberately attack certain ships. All of those ships lead to somewhere that is not only carrying illegal shipments, but also carry Pokémon. Whoever is sending these guys must have other plans in mind for this matter."

Joey looked confused. "Hold on, you're saying…" He was cut off by Nic.

"I'm saying, we stop the one in charge, we can cut off the rest. At the very least we'll be able to know who's orchestrating all of this."

Erza smiled and nodded in agreement. It made a lot of sense when Nic said it. Cut the head of a tyrant and the kingdom crumbles. No ruler, all is chaos. Of course this time around hopefully no heads will be rolling.

A fist rammed an open palm, revealed to be a smirking Natsu on a stool. "Sounds like fun to me. I was looking for a reason to bash those guys in for what they did. Now it's time we get some answers. Happy, ya ready?"

"Aye, sir!"

They both got off the stool, both ready and aching for some action.

"Hold on." Their hopes were dashed when they heard the stern tone of Erza freezing them in their tracks. They slowly turned towards her and the others.

"What now?" he groaned.

"Do you even know where they are at the moment?" Mest asked.

"Well they're…" Once again, a moment of silence fell as Natsu was about to say, but he realized that the others had him beat. Realizing his mistake, he stared blankly ahead. "…"

Gray sighed. "Idiot."

Sophie stepped up. "I'll go through the reports and see the dates in which each town was attacked. Maybe we'll find a pattern in which locations are being targeted."

Nic nodded. "Alright, thanks a lot, Sophie." He turned towards the other members of the guild next. "In the meantime, does Laxus know what's going on?"

The guild looked at one another questionably. They seemed to be interested on where this was going, but that was just the problem. A few mumbles were going about here and there, and through the commotion, Mirajane showed up beside the group.

"Actually, about that…" she lead on with a cheery smile. "Well you see, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe left yesterday to attend a guild master's conference. They won't be back until tomorrow."

"A guild master meeting? Is that a big deal?" Joey looked towards Dereece, who merely shrugged at his own clueless mind.

"Beats me. But I think if the teacher conference meetings we had back in high school were any indication, my guess here is just as big of a deal."

Duncan closed his eyes. "In other words, we're flying solo."

"No, we need to let Laxus know about this." Erza insisted.

Natsu looked at her, gravely annoyed. "Hey, wait! No we don't! Erza, we can so do this ourselves!"

It was Erza's turn to give Natsu her own rebuttal. "Perhaps so, but blessings or not by the master, he has to be aware of what's going on. There's no telling what kinds of loopholes will be pulled from this." She turned away from Natsu. "Mest."

Mest appeared from the crowd of Fairy Tail members, having what looked like a Ralts on his shoulder. The little creature resting on his shoulder looked just as casual as he did as the Trainer nodded. "Don't worry, I'll get the message clear to him. What do you want me to say?"

"Tell him everything you've heard. Make sure that he understands. Maybe he can help us."

"If it's dire, don't hesitate to tell me now if I have to bring him back with force."

Erza looked down at the ground, scrutinizing her options. She looked back at Mest, instead giving him something else. A small Communication Lacrima. She presented it to him. "Give this to him. The master's all were supposed to make it to Clover for the conference. While not far, if he feels he has to stay, this should make things easier in that case."

Mest accepted and nodded. "Alright then, I'll let him know right away." With that, he suddenly vanished, using his magic to teleport himself away to do his job.

Nic turned towards Sophie and Levy. "Sophie, Levy, what about you guys?"

Levy was looking at an atlas, scrolling through the pages with her reading glasses. "Don't worry."

"We're already on it." The Memory-Make Mage was doing her part in making sure she was going through documents, of which were shockingly lamented by Freed for preservation reasons. Wanting to not pry, she overlooked the neat-freak act and got back to focusing.

Nic looked ahead and nodded. "Alright then. Let's take a breather and find some fresh air before we get to it then."

Cana raised a mug high. "You don't have to tell me twice!"

In the background, all three of The Freaks sweat-dropped. _'She always so high like this?'_

Dereece looked over, seeing Joey staring in an almost slobbering manner at Cana and her...obvious parts. To snap him out of it, he smacked the back of his head. "Joey!"

"Ow!" He rubbed his head to ease away the pain. "What?" he whined.

Dereece did an eyeroll. "Hormones."

"Tell me about it." Duncan scoffed.

* * *

The Clover conference hall was as grand as it was all those years ago. Of course it was returned to its original stated not long ago, but the point of the matter across was that now with it fixed, meetings were held inside, and with that being a certain time of the month, guild masters all over Fiore were gathering for some drinks and going over what's been happening.

Laxus sighed for the umpteenth time. He had a bead of sweat drop from his face for certain reasons. "Remind me again why you guys are here…"

Behind him, Freed stood with Evergreen and Bickslow, all three beaming with pride. Freed proudly smirked. "Well 'tis the duty of the Thunder God Tribe to follow you, no matter where you go!" he boasted proudly.

"Damn straight!" Bickslow smirked. "If there's someone talking smack here about you, we sure as hell won't stand for it."

Evergreen pushed her glasses up. "And besides, I'm sure the guild's handling itself just fine, right?"

Laxus felt a bead of sweat drop from his face. "Right…" For all intent and purposes, this was called a guild master's conference _only_ , but getting that through his personal bodyguards was no walk in the park. He asked them repeatedly if they could stay behind and overlook the guild in his absence, but Freed, being the loyal and devoted guy he was, wasn't having it. And eventually, the others got dragged in, and since then he just rolled with it. He would've preferred to at least have one of them stay behind in case of emergency calls. But so far in his seven months, there wasn't much of a need for that. "Just remember there's newbie master's here, too. Try not to scare them off." He irritably pleaded.

Freed nodded. "Right, you have our word."

The ninth master just sighed in acceptance. That little piece of silence that followed was interrupted then by a familiar voice from behind.

"Well, if it isn't dear Makarov's pride and joy himself."

The master turned around, catching eyes with Master Bob of Blue Pegasus. Nearby, Goldmine was holding a wine glass eve so casually. "Oh, it's you guys." He said. "Bob and Goldmine, right?"

Master Bib gave Laxus his rosy smile. "You guessed it. I bet it was dear Makarov who told you all about us, right?"

"Yeah, he said a thing or two every now and again." In truth, Laxus hardly paid attention to his late grandfather's constant ramblings about these meetings. He'd go about explaining in some details about Goldmine or Bob, and sometimes even about Obaba. But for the most part it wasn't his concern. He didn't realize how being in his shoes meant interacting with them on the same level, if not more.

Goldmine chuckled at Laxus' blank face. "Well no sense in asking him I suppose!"

Laxus joined in the snickering, but on a more despondent note. A light scoff at best was what he could muster. He wasn't liking the tune playing right now.

The atmosphere around them was getting more than a little uncomfortable, for reasons apparent. Master Bob, however, was able to power through with a sigh.

"Where did those days go by?"

"Gone away like the tide. It's still hard to believe that old horse still not around anymore."

Bob looked down. "Yeah…"

Goldmine tipped his cap, but had a morbid smirk. "Heh, guess we owe ya an apology." He turned towards Laxus. "Didn't mean to, well…"

"Don't mention it." Laxus didn't sound amused, nor did he even look it. Despite how he was being open about it, it was best left to pass. "The geezer's probably snorting in his grave knowing I'm the one in his place. I can still hear his huffing in my sleep… but rather than pulling legs from beyond the grave, maybe we should be more focused on the present."

Goldmine's smirk turned sincere. "Well said, boy."

Laxus continued with the subject. "By the way, how've the guild's been doing? Id the Pularis sibling's info help a little?"

Master Bob's perky demeanor returned. "Why I'm so glad you asked, dear Laxus! Why of course they have!"

"Gotta say, didn't know what they were until you sent those copes. My dogs pulled off a couple jobs knowing all that." Goldmine beamed. "If we didn't owe you before, we most certainly do now."

"It's fine."

"Why dear ol' Hibiki has been busting his hustle with all of these databases he's been organizing with his Archive Magic." Master Bob informed. "Why some days that's all he's been doing."

"And how's everyone else been holding up?"

"They're all doing quite well as a matter of fact! Everyone's getting along very well and settling some of their differences thanks to these interesting creatures! Why, quite a few of our members have been interns for a while now at the Cambire Foundation." He sighed knowingly, recollecting the many faces he sees coming and going that are hardly around the guild anymore. "Why, the guild has been moving steadily now that I can't keep up."

Laxus raised a brow. "That so?"

Master Bob's rosy smile then made a sudden change. Something that made Laxus looked at him with mild surprise. To his complete shock, he saw his cheeriness was overlooked by a half-smile, one of mourn, and of perplexing interests.

"I've been meaning to say this for a while now…but after everything that's happened, I think it's time that I hand my darlings the wings to bear over our guild instead."

"You're stepping down?!" Bickslow gasped.

Freed narrowed his eyes. "Well, this is another surprise I wasn't prepared for."

"But Master Bob…!" Evergreen looked just as shocked as her friends.

The master smiled. "It's great to see you all together once more. To tell the truth, I was honestly sad when you all left my guild. You did marvelous jobs for us that I can't begin to thank you. And Ichiya especially holds his regards."

The Thunder God Tribe smiled in gratitude of Bob's words of praise. They can't deny that their time in Blue Pegasus wasn't as interesting – unless Evergreen's "entertaining" counted as something – and Laxus didn't want to think back in most instances of what he did, but they can't deny they were grateful for everything the guild and Ichiya had done for them.

"So who'll be taking your spot? I'm sure with this decision came thoughts about a successor." Freed said.

Bob smiled. "Well of course. In all honesty, Ichiya and I have been discussing that he should bear the guild's wings."

Evergreen smirked. "As expected by sir Ichiya."

"Hell yeah, that means we'll be catching up at these meetings now!" Bickslow cheered.

Bob laughed affectionately at their enthusiasm. "Well then, suppose this would be a cheerful note to take on my last conference here."

A smile tugged on Laxus' lips. "That's one way to look at it."

Goldmine crossed his arms as he stood off to the side. "Looks like all of us are moving onto other things then. A lot of our friends having passed on, new Pokémon taking our world by storm, and here we are just fiddling fingers. Guess I better still be kicking while I got some wild spirit left."

"Yo!"

Laxus turned away from the old to the new as the younger voice caught his Dragon Slayer hearing. Looking over, the Lightning Dragon saw a familiar face show. Speaking of new masters, this one had a toothy smile of his own to share.

"What's up?" Sting approached with a casual chime in his tone. "I haven't seen ya in quite a while, Laxus? How's it been?"

"Huh, Sting." He casually greeted back. "Been better, I can say that much."

"That so?" He laughed uproariously. "Well then that makes two of us. Let me guess, guild master duties and all that?"

Laxus smirked. "You can say that. I don't know how you put up with all this."

"Honestly I've been questioning that myself. I'm surprised the guild hall is still standing after a few mistakes I've pulled here and there."

"Do we even want to know?" Evergreen smirked knowingly.

Regardless of some of the more embarrassing intervals he had to go through with his guild, and some he wanted to forget, the young master powered on. "Anyways, wanted to say thanks again for your help. This Pokémon deal's really been rattling cages."

Laxus groaned in annoyance. "Everyone's been thanking me all day. Seriously, you're all milking it."

Bickslow nudged his arm. "Aw, c'mon Laxus, don't be like that!"

"He's right. It's not everyday your guild holds those who are from another world." Freed noted. "Without Nic and Vanessa, Erza included, I think the situation would've gone a little more leeway."

Sting nervously chuckled once more. "Hehe, that's for sure." He recomposed as quickly as his demeanor turned. "Still, if it wasn't for the Cambire Foundation or all these special programs, we'd be in a whole other situation entirely. Speaking of which, have you guys been catching Pokémon?"

The last question was so abrupt that it felt so out of left field. Still, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe recovered and took the question in stride, starting with Laxus.

"Depends, I haven't had time to look into that yet."

"However if you're talking about the guild in general, you'll be satisfied to know everyone has been coordinating well with their Pokémon." Evergreen nonchalantly boasted. She even raised her chin with a hint of pride. "We've even been hosting quite a few open field exercises that our most prestige have been supervising."

Bickslow sweat dropped. "Ever heard of overkill much?"

Sting's eyes widened in sheer surprise. "Man, you guys are _that_ far ahead? Man you guys are lucky. I just caught mine recently. I'd show ya, but that'd make me the showoff now."

Laxus smirked. "Maybe just a bit."

Everyone there shared a lighthearted chuckle.

The atmosphere around the group gather suddenly went south when a feeling of magic was sensed. In the blink of an eye, a figure appeared out of nowhere behind Laxus on a knee, a Ralts perched on his shoulder. "Master Laxus."

Turning around, Laxus and the others turned to see Fairy Tail's Mest on a knee. He looked well to say the least, though maybe just a little worn from the Teleporting he had done. A couple long jumps does take a toll on magic after all.

"Mest?" Evergreen gasped.

"Woah there big guy, you're looking a little worried there. What's up?" Bickslow inquired.

Freed stepped up, looking at Mest with a serious expression set. "Mest, why are you here? You know well that Master Laxus is only supposed to attend."

Laxus' eyes dropped at Freed's comment. _'Says the pot calling the kettle black.'_

Mest looked at everyone, giving them an intense stare. "I'm sorry, but this couldn't wait." He looked towards Laxus. "There's something for you that you need in on."

"What is it?" Laxus watched as Mest reached into the bag he had beside him. He saw Mest pull out what looked like a Communication Lacrima.

He presented it to Laxus. "It's best that you see for yourself."

* * *

After half an hour of explaining through the lacrima, the orb showed a picture of Erza. She had just told everything from scratch, and the whole story and what they were able to find out. Laxus listened well, but he still didn't seem to hold back a few short cases of interests.

"I see…so that's what's been going on." He folded his arms, frowning at the information given.

Freed put his hand to his chin. "How peculiar. I was beginning to wonder about those reports. That explains why only port town ships have been extirpated."

"We're currently working on finding a pattern as we speak." Erza explained. "If we can find and figure out their next move, then maybe we can find their client and get to the bottom of this."

"So you're telling me this why…?" Laxus irritably questioned.

"Because, this could very well intertwine with the foundation's agenda. I wanted to clarify this as an operation we can perform. If we get in trouble along the way and they question you had no knowledge, the guild could be in trouble."

Evergreen folded her arms beneath her ample buxom. "Well, you do have a point."

"The master has say and verification as far as we know to anything this big. It sounds more like a heist than a stakeout." Bickslow informed. "If you got hampered without us knowing, then it wouldn't be pretty for us."

"Why I'd certainly have a few choice words to say." Evergreen sneered.

"Laxus?" Freed turned towards the master, wondering what he had to say.

The Lightning Dragon offered no input as he folded his arms and processed everything he could. As Erza was explaining, these ships were an illegal marketing system made by an unknown source. Of course it was natural they would be threatened because this could be a national security. And plus of they didn't do something, odds were that they'd be asked to do something about anyway by Arthur perhaps. If the Rune Knights weren't making steps into solving the case and tracking down these guys, then someone had to do it.

Finally getting the message, Laxus gave them all a serious stare. "Alright, you guys got the OK on this one. I'll allow this."

Erza nodded, while the guild looked appeased in the background. "Thank you."

"But." Laxus included. "This isn't my idea, so I'm putting Nic and Erza in charge of this operation. You understand? You two better not come out of this emptyhanded, otherwise you know what's at stake here if they get away."

Nic nodded. "We'll do what we can."

Laxus nodded back. "Alright then. Get answers down and fast." With that, the Communication Lacrima turned off, allowing Laxus to turn away and let out an exasperating sigh. The Thunder God Tribe looked at him in worry. "Honestly, it's just one thing after another. First it's all these Pokémon, and then the Cambire Foundation making us guinea pigs. And now their goods being ransacked with poached Pokémon."

Freed stepped forward, looking humbled in front of Laxus. "With all do respect, Master, what we are doing is what can be considered a good show of faith."

Laxus looked towards his top advisor and bodyguard. "Good faith you say?"

"Well I guess he has a point." Bickslow replied. "I mean the Cambire Foundation did do a lot their time here. Guess knowing that guilds have been by their side so far, maybe having its back is something we can do."

"Yeah, I get your points." Laxus took a moment to compose himself and his thoughts. The others around him remained silent until he finally managed to shoot a glance towards Mest. "Alright then, I get the message. The conference is almost over. If I'm not back by tomorrow, I'll use a Thought Projection to see what's happening, got it?"

Mest nodded. "Understood. We'll do our best."

Mest vanished from the Fairy Tail group's sights once more. All while from the other side of the conference hall, Sting's Dragon Slayer hearing was making him frown. He looked down at his Poke Ball in hand, a deep look cascading on his brows.

' _Good faith, huh?'_

* * *

The globe turned off, allowing Erza to turn towards Nic. She nodded, in which he nodded back. He turned towards the board, where Levy and Sophie were working. "How's it looking over there, guys?"

The blonde and bluenette were both looking at specific dates the attacks happened. They started from the first one, and went in chronological order. Document after document laid at their feet, while at times Warren was being directed by Levy of the attack locations. He was putting pushpins in the map of Fiore they sat up, and so far, there was a whole spread from the southeast and so far up north passed the peninsula.

Levy looked towards Nic. "I think we've figured it out." She said before looking back down and reassuring her beliefs in the documents. "You see, the first attack happened a few weeks ago, and the next one happened the night after that. And then about two nights later, the attack happened again in another location a little northward. And the night after was near that same location. The night after that, they had no activities." Once again, she looked towards Nic and everyone else. "I think the pattern here is clear. They attack two nights, and the third night they rest."

"Which is also when they reconvene with their client for new directions." Gray deduced.

Nic nodded. "Yeah, exactly." He looked in another direction. "Sophie?"

The Memory-Make Mage turned towards Nic after looking at the board for so long. "We think we may have a pattern of the cities they meet up in. This first attack started in the southwest, with the next one the next city over. After two days, it skipped over a few cities, and it attacked again. This is their style it seems. They always seem to skip cities before attacking the next one over." She looked towards the last pushpin Warren sat into place in the board. "And that right there was where they struck last night."

"Meaning tonight is their meeting point." Erza deduced. "If we miss them here, where their guards might be down, then keeping track here on will become much harder."

Nic turned away to look at one more key component. "Alright, Cana. You know what to do."

Cana stepped up in front, smirking. "No need to tell me twice."

The brunette was so glad she was sober at this time…if 20 minutes without anything counted as such. She stood away from the board, facing it and closing her eyes. She held a card between two fingers and began to use her magic to indicate and read on what was to happen. When she got the answers, her eyes flashed open and she swiped the card. It went piercing the board like a shuriken, its end sticking into a point far east of the recent attack point.

Joey looked shocked. "Woah…"

"So that's how her Fortunetelling works?" Dereece inquired.

Macao nodded. "Yup. The girl got us some good insight this way. She may be thirsty, but she's got it where it counts."

Erza went up towards the board and plucked the card out. Over the point that was titled 'Vervain', the card was shown to have a clock sign with both hands striking the 12, with a moon right atop of it. "Vervain, at midnight." She said.

"Vervain? I've heard a bit there." Levy said. "I was actually there on a job a couple of times. They have some really nice libraries. I also heard their seas can be really cold at night; a popular fishing spot for those trying to find cold water deep dwellers."

"Is it highly populated?" Gray asked. Beside him, Juvia was still silent, and was looking to be sulking still. Gray tried asking her some questions, but all he heard were short mumbles. Really not that helpful.

"Of sorts." Levy answered. "It's not that heard of, but I've seen quite a few people there due to seeing different Water-type Pokémon that inhabit those waters."

Nic's eyes grew dead serious. "Alright then, looks like we have what we need. Everyone ready?"

Once again, Fairy Tail cheered in readiness. They may have been clueless before, but now they knew for certain something was wrong. And as far as Fairy Tail was concerned, they had to at least try and work this problem out. One way or another, whoever these guys were, they were going to learn first-hand not to mess with them.

Erza gave everyone a glance and stood beside her husband. "If the rendezvous they have is at midnight, then that means we have exactly 12 hours to get there and stop them. I think we should come up with a plan to intercept them before we get anywhere from here."

As he glared ahead, a certain Dragon Slayer was stone faced. He was frowning in a dead serious manner. His fists were balled, looking determined with deep onyx eyes.

The Freaks looked just as ready as he was; Joey especially. He looked ahead with hands to his sides as his friends and allies stood beside to await his orders.

Seeing the many faces fixed, Nic looked towards Erza, their smiles returning. They looked back, with Nic giving the word. "Alright then, let's see what we already know…"

* * *

 **Happy Mother's Day! Hope everyone had a good day and was good! I know I was!**

 **So anyways, I didn't do much other than follow what I had intended. I was watching live action movies like the new Avengers movie, and I wanted to make Nic and Erza's first fight scenes on a more dynamic scale. I wanted to picture it in a more realistic light than how I perceive in 3D animation or sometimes manga/anime style in my head. It was just that one and a bit of Vanessa and Sophie's fight as well.**

 **Now for Natsu, he was another case entirely. While Gray and Juvia's incapacitation was for a sense of hilarity in a way, I wanted to show a little rundown with Natsu's personality shift. He's still reckless and all, but he's reflecting back deeper than ever, even as far as back in the deep details I put when he as E.N.D fought Nic back in the prequel. If you guys don't get it, check chapter 75 of** _ **A Contender's Bonds**_ **. He's trying to get better and understand his flaws, but now has to try and think a little so as not to harm his friends like he did with Nic.**

 **So anyways, not much other than hope for positive reviews and what your thoughts were on the chapter. Thanks again guys! :)**


	9. The Clock Strikes Twelve

Dusk had struck; the hours waning down to midnight drew near for the northern port town of Vervain. Past a few mountain ranges northward, the city illuminated the atmosphere's nighttime air as the dark pink and near deep blue in the waning west set, allowing stars high above to illuminate its comforting skies. The port town had a few small cliffs overlooking it from the distance, with its docks overlooking the seas as various Water-type Pokémon swam beneath its surface. One could see Frillish, Staryu, even the occasional Buizel and Wingull roosting in makeshift nests they able to make.

And it was here that everyone was to take their places. Spread about all through the city's populace, while this this town wasn't much on festivals, its portside had an abundance of alcohol to stomach. Near the bars on the same street, Griffin and Matilda were raising mugs as they were surrounded by their opposite genders respectively. They were laughing and seeing many other hiccup, much to their chagrin.

Little did they know, as they were inside their different pubs and breweries, one figure appeared under the cover of darkness in the alleyway, while standing surprisingly on the side of the wall perpendicular was another figure. It was as though he was defying gravity, but in reality, kunai were jutting from his feet to keep him from touching the ground.

* * *

" _So what do we know so far about these individuals, that's the dilemma here." Erza folded her arms as she tried to assess the situation to the best of her abilities. Everyone was gathered around of whom was part of the operation and who was to play part. She looked towards Natsu and Lucy. "Natsu. Lucy."_

" _Yeah, what's up?" Lucy answered._

" _What do you know about the person who attacked you, were you able to get a few clues?"_

 _Carla in her human form folded her arms. "Well, for one thing, he knows nothing but playing dirty. He made and Happy his shields!" Even now, the memory itself was scornful. Even after a soak, she still had some char spots that would take days to remove._

 _Happy waved his arms about. "Yeah, and his magic is really freaky and dangerous. He can shoot wires and pull and strangle you!"_

" _Is that so?" Erza put a hand to her chin, looking down as she tried to think of the many magical abilities she ever saw. Suffice to say by the stumped look on her face that this was a new one for her._

" _I think he said it was Wire Magic." Wendy remembered. "He was able to pull a lot of tricks on us, setting up traps and holding us in place."_

" _There's one more thing." Lucy added. "His wires are fireproof and crazy sharp."_

 _Erza closed her eyes. "I see…from what it gathers, is he assesses traps, that makes him ineligible to direct combat. A head on attack even around him would result in a limb severed. Sounds about right?"_

 _Natsu said nothing to add or deflect the situation. Even though his arm had healed, he could still remember the pain he felt when his arm was cut by that wire. If he pushed his luck, he would've lost his entire arm in one clutch._

 _Happy stepped forward. "So how do we deal with that guy? It's impossible to get anywhere near him without worrying about those freaky strings he has."_

 _A snicker came from canines from a certain Dragon Slayer. "Well then, sounds to me that this is my kind of mission."_

 _Levy looked towards Gajeel. "Are you sure about this, Gajeel?"_

 _Gajeel looked down and gave her a serious expression. "Don't worry about me. Unlike Salamander, I know to keep quiet. And besides, wires generally are made of metal, right?" He grinned. "That's the case, let's see that stuff try and cut me through."_

 _Pantherlily nodded in agreement. "An excellent strategy. Getting through your iron skin would definitely prove to be a challenge."_

 _Another pair of feet stepped up. "Okay then…count me in!"_

 _The group turned towards Natsu, who was the one who declared his bold decision. "Natsu?" Lucy worriedly questioned._

 _The Dragon Slayer looked back to her with an assuring face. "O know, Lucy. I know what you're gonna say." He turned back towards the front, looking down as he recollected his blunder over and over in his mind. "I made some pretty bad choices back there, but now I think I got that guy figured out. And besides, I know what he smells like. I can get us there in no time." He turned his attention towards the Exceed beside him. "Happy, you and Lily make sure you stay as far away as possible."_

 _Happy wanted to disagree with Natsu, but he had to empathize with what it was he was going with. He knew from experience that being around him against that mage in particular would only result in a situation as before. The Exceed acquiescently nodded. "Aye."_

* * *

On the wall held up by his iron cleats he made from his magic, Gajeel glared ahead with folded arms. "So he's in here then, huh?" He followed Natsu's directions and nose, and it lead to here. He was told that he had an alcoholic scent to him, but since he never met the guy, he had to rely on Natsu. Of course the Dragon Slayer hearing made him pick up noises inside the walls.

"You can hear him, too, right?" Natsu asked knowingly.

Gajeel nodded. "Looks to me he ain't gonna be so sober when he takes that first step out."

Natsu nodded. "Yeah. This time, I'm ready…"

As opposed to the unknowing ambush Natsu and Gajeel were setting up, on that same street just several blocks down, the pub was having more fun than the one Griffon was adoring. Matilda held up two beverages in hand while putting two guys in headlocks, holding them close to her supple breasts. Cheers and laughter were all around the festive girl as guys toasted to the new friend they made. This pub certainly drew up a bit of noise, and yet this contradicted the silence two figures under the half-moon held.

The one figure had blonde hair, and what could be seen from the other, she had red hair of the same, long length, if not more.

* * *

" _Sophie. Vanessa. Were you able to get anything on the one who attacked you?"_

 _Sophie stepped up to Erza's question. "Allow me." She cleared her throat, allowing herself to get ready to speak on behalf of her Memory-Make's capabilities. "The person who we held off was a woman, who had some kind of patterned skin and what looked like animal armor."_

" _You mean like a Take-Over?" Lisanna inquired._

 _Sophie nodded. "Exactly. But there was something wrong with her, something that made her more…how should I put this?...animalistic, I should say. The whole time, I didn't see her transform from human, and her entire disposition is extremely wild and physical. She had a lot of energy, not to mention intensive speed and strength that kept growing."_

" _Well she sure sounds spunky." Cana chimed._

" _She was. She was able to drive Krookodile into a corner. And what's worse, she looked like she had a lot of power left before she chose to retreat all of a sudden."_

 _Erza put a hand to her chin. She gathered what she could about this wily character that Vanessa and Sophie had to procure and struggle against. As far as she could tell, she has some kind of similarities to Natsu if that were the case. But putting Natsu against someone like her would be a disaster, quite literally at that._

 _After gathering what she could, she looked towards Sophie again and nodded. "If that's the case, I think it's best that we handle this one, Sophie."_

 _Sophie looked confused. "'We'?"_

* * *

Walking down the market section, Liz had hands in her pockets and had her headphones on. Whatever she was listening to, she seemed to be lost in her own world.

Another piece of gum was coming out of her sleeve. She put it into her mouth and savored its minty flavor,

As opposed to her minding her own business, she was unaware of five figures maintaining their distance. She were watching from behind a stand…well, one was glaring an insane dagger from her eyes. She looked like a crazed beast who wanted to drown her.

A hand reached up to her mantle, pulling her back down. "Get down here already!" A harsh whisper from the stands berated.

* * *

" _Then we get to us, just great." Gray groaned as he had to be the one to explain, not that he mind in any way, but recalling that girl was more troublesome than what it was worth. And Juvia was no help since she was still sulking._

 _Gray powered through his tiresome disaster and began explaining. "Well, from what I saw, the chick uses gum to fight."_

" _Gum?" Natsu questioned. "Sounds pretty ridiculous to me."_

" _Watch it." He warned. "I couldn't believe it either, but she was able to blow bubbles and expand the mass to make my ice bounce back to us. It's like she can change the properties of her gum to make it either stick to anything or inflate like a balloon."_

" _Sounds like getting close to her would be troublesome if she can just stick you to walls." Carla chimed._

" _Yeah, that's what she did after she used a really minty gum to hurt our sense of smell. She's crafty, very crafty. We need to shut her down early or she'll be a real pain in the ass."_

" _Were there any habits you picked up on?" Nic asked._

 _Gray rubbed his head, soothing himself to try and think up a solution. And then it hit him when he gasped. "Wait, yeah. That's it!" he exclaimed. "When I first saw her, she was hanging around the market area buying gum. I think that's a good place to start."_

 _Behind him, Juvia was still sulking with fists clutching. Her entire body was shuddering with bangs covering her eyes. "…that little…homewrecker." Her eyes suddenly flashed, her face going up with determined pride. "I won't give up without a fight!" she boldly declared. "That she-devil is gonna pay!"_

 _Gray turned around to see Juvia's sudden 180. "You okay…?"_

* * *

Broly was looking unruly as he was making way down another street. He was hanging out, looking nonchalant as he was making a slow venture towards the pier. A _very_ slow venture at that. To make things even more interesting, the street he was walking on had a variety of shops that were closed at this hour, meaning he wouldn't be expecting anyone but low-level thugs to come at him. But he wasn't stupid, that was another thing. On the occasion, he was stopping every now and again to get a good look around him. He couldn't see, but he could definitely tell. Something was wrong. In a sudden change of pace, his eyes narrowed as he picked up on something nearby. Making a break for it, he darted to a very narrow alley, silently making way to a more secluded spot.

And he made good timing too, as above him, a Honchkrow and Pidove were perched beside the other. The bird's red eyes glared as he watched the man dive out o their sights, but he was no fool. The Honchkrow took flight and followed. As to where that happened, Pidove took a few moments before he craned his head, seeing Honchkrow leave. He scrambled and followed along, tailing the superior bird and their target.

* * *

" _There was another one you fought, right?" Vanessa turned towards Joey and The Freaks, hoping they had insight to spare._

 _Dereece sulked forward with a shaking head. "Man I just don't wanna talk about it." He was bumped in the arm abruptly by Joey._

" _C'mon, man. Don't be like that." he scolded. "Not in front of Vanessa." He looked back towards the idol with a big, embarrassed smile. He tried to cover up for Dereece's sulking, though Vanessa seemed indifferent to it all._

 _Fortunately for them, Duncan was there to answer her question. "The guy sure packed a lot of power. He was skilled in using Barrier-Make Magic."_

" _So then he's using a molding type of magic just like Gray and Sophie then." Laki noted._

 _Duncan had his cap down as his kendo stick was over his shoulder. "I guess so, if that's what you guys call it."_

" _Yeah, the big guy made these indestructible barriers all around him." Joey added. "None of our attacks were even able to hit him. What's worse, the barriers hardly had scratches on them. He could mold them into so many shapes that it was impossible to get at him from any angle."_

" _Not to mention the big guy punched Duncan's Spiritomb down in one hit." Dereece said. "We gotta have a solid plan if we wanna get pass that kind of fire power."_

" _Sounds like a tough opponent for you guys." Natsu said, his expression growing into a smirk. "Maybe when I', done I'll come over and give ya a hand."_

 _Joey gave what could be described as a confident smile of his own. "Don't you worry, we can handle this."_

" _We WHAT?!" Dereece exasperated. "J-Joey…"_

" _Captain." He corrected._

" _Sorry, Captain. But maybe we should have someone a little more experienced handle this guy? He's got a very strong defense with those barriers, and may I also remind you that Heracross doesn't know Feint yet."_

" _The big guy's got a point." Duncan nonchalantly stated. "Not like we got magic to use anyway. If we can't get pass those defenses, then what good are we?"_

" _Oh way to be so optimistic guys, you're such a big help." Joey spoke with just the right level of sarcasm needed. "Well here's my theory. He's got a barrier, right? Well what's the flaw there?"_

" _Where's this going?" Duncan questioned._

" _Trust me, it's foolproof. All we need are two things."_

" _Okay…?" Dereece trailed off._

" _Well okay, three things. First, we'll need aerial surveillance. We gotta know where he's going so we can ambush that guy. And the next thing. We're gonna need two things: Warpaint…and a whole LOT of tomatoes."_

 _A long silence fell with the group discussing. Dereece looked at his Captain with a bead of sweat dropping as he facepalmed. "Oi vey." He despaired._

* * *

Over the many of rooftops farther into the port town, the half-moon's side illuminated the whole sky. It was so majestic, so lively, and excessively vibrant. And yet even in full view, someone wasn't casting his own light back.

On top of a large roof of a chapel, a silhouette with a dark coat was sitting beneath the moonlight. With how close the moon was, it was like he could fit himself into it, but his body was on the dark half of the moon than the bright one.

Unknowingly, deep down in the city streets, two figures were walking in the darkness. One was shirtless, and the other had a calm aura surrounding her.

* * *

" _Nic, did you fight anyone noted?" Gray shot a glance from the corner of his eye. He looked at Nic, seeing what he had to say about the matter at hand._

 _The expression Nic had was dead serious as he folded his arms. "There's no easy way for me to say this, especially in front of you…but the man I fought was supposedly another Devil Slayer."_

" _He's what?" Gray's eyes widened upon this realization. Nearby, Vanessa also picked up from shock._

 _Erza nodded. "It's true. I was more or less focused on my opponent, but I picked up on the Magic Power the other had. If I had to make any accurate assumptions, I'd say he was the one who is in charge of them all."_

" _The man used Dark Devil Slayer Magic." Nic followed. "He's a close-range fighter who mainly uses his fists embedded with his magic. He's got impressive reflexes that made me lose my step a few times."_

" _Another Devil Slayer?" Wendy showed genuine shock over the whole subject. She and the rest were all there when Atlas Flame talked a long time ago about Devil Slayers, but as far as what she knew, Gray was the only Devil Slayer out there at this point. Or so she thought._

" _If that's the case, how do we deal with this guy then?" Happy wondered._

" _Well if I had to guess, I'd say fighting fire with fire would help." Carla proposed._

 _Erza glanced over at Vanessa. "Vanessa."_

 _The Aura Mage nodded. "You need my experience?"_

 _Lucy's eyes widened. "That's right! I forgot that Vanessa battled against a Devil Slayer before!"_

" _What kind of a Devil Slayer was it again?" Wendy inquired._

 _Vanessa looked down at her feet, thinking back to the Impure Underworld incident. She could still remember that each flash of lightning from Imaci's Soul Armor still made her heartrate pulsate. "He was a Lightning Devil Slayer. His lightning incinerated everything around him."_

" _And you made it out of that in one piece?" Gray questioned._

" _Now isn't the time for remembering good times." Vanessa retorted. "I think it's fair to say to handle this person, we'll need mages who handled their kind before."_

 _Gray smirked. "Well if you say so."_

 _In the background behind him, Juvia was shooting glares at Vanessa. She stood behind a wooden chair with a grim aura around her body. She was so close to shattering the back of it if it wasn't for her focus on that Gum Mage. Vanessa clearly ignored her._

* * *

Aniya had arms and hands behind her head as she lethargically sat on a bench in front of a frozen yogurt stand. She was so glad she was able to make it in time mere minutes before it closed down for the night.

"Mmmm." She took a small lick, the orgasmic tongue flinging thick white cream into the back of her throat. "Man, this is pretty good! Who would've thought there'd be a soft served shop here of all places!" Her cheeks even went rosy from the sheer delight she was feeling from the cream.

After she savored her taste buds for several minutes, the visor sitting on her forehead dropped onto her face. "Okay, let's see what we can look at here…" There were a lot of options displayed on the panel, which expanded into a green field on the visor. A yellow dot was seen, being her. A zoom-out feature activated to show several more yellow dots, being her team's locations. She smiled happily. "Oh good, looks like Matilda's sound, and Griffin is…" Her hair suddenly stood on end. "Wait…WHAT?! The hell is he _there_ for?!" Her teeth began to grit angrily as her cup of yogurt was held onto tightly. "That idiot…if he blows all of our funds again, I'm really gonna shoot his face off!"

Unknowing, silent as a grave, a long shadow slithered out from behind. And it wasn't making a sound.

* * *

" _Then I guess that leaves the one you fought, Erza." Nic looked over to Erza, who looked towards him with her own blunt expression._

" _Yes. The girl who I fought was an exceptional fighter herself, or so to say as long as she held her distance. She uses Requip Magic, much like I would; however, her weaponry ranged from guns to flamethrowers."_

" _Guns you say?" Bisca spoke up, her interests mildly intrigued._

" _Yes, though I wouldn't say as sharp as yours, her versatility is nothing to scoff at. She even goes as far as uses nets and what I could probably guess be tasers as well. I think it was her who alerted the others of us."_

" _Which explains the ambushes." Carla deduced. "Interesting…"_

 _Wendy stepped up. "So…what do we do with her then? She seems pretty dangerous."_

" _Not to mention that with all this technology she uses, she could alert everybody she knows of our locations." Erza put a hand to her chin as she trailed off in her own wonders. To deal with an opponent who, much like her, is able to requip to use smoke bombs or teleportation crystals. However, there was one thing that she knew would help. And it lied right beside her._

" _Nic."_

 _Nic closed his eyes, thinking of a way to deal with her. "…alright. I'll try and cut her off from the rest. But we need to get this right. Staying on target is everything to this operation. We get one shot at this…and it's got to be timed right."_

* * *

"Man, I can't wait until pay comes." She took another lick of her yogurt. "We really cashed it in this time…"

Unknowingly, she missed something with a long tail slither up the lamppost.

When she stood up, she could feel something was off now. Definitely. As she turned her head about, she tried to pick up on anything suspicious, but as far as what her vision caught, nothing.

Then suddenly, a chill ran down her spine. She heard a very low, gravely hiss, and it sounded like it came from above. "Who's there?!" She pivoted, requipping a small handheld pistol pointed skyward. "Better speak up or…or…" As if seeing a ghost, she slowly trailed off as her eyes slowly widened in shrilled horror. Her face began to pale as her body began to quiver. As she began to shake adhesively, her grip on her frozen yogurt slipped. It fell to the ground, splattering white with its spoon as she shakily tried to move, but was paralyzed in fear.

Over her, the shadow of a large cobra hovered over the light of the lamppost. It was still for a moment before it lurched down, roaring with fangs bared.

A loud, quick yelp came from Aniya as terror overcame her. Something in her was completely breaking her down. As she was trying to move weakly towards the alley, Arbok slowly turned towards her, slowly slithering down to silently approach her.

In any normal situation, she would be pulling out something or shooting, but she could barely hold her pistol upright. She was a shuddering mess as she came face to face with the large snake. "No…no…"

Arbok bared his maw at her, as if provoking her. But all he did was intimidate her without trying.

Finally snapping, she dropped her weapon and made like hell for the nearest escape route possible: The alley. She made the quickest break she could, with Arbok slowly slithering behind like a stalking prey. Both withdrew into the alleyway, leaving nothing but a barrel, frozen yogurt, and a pistol as evidence.

Aniya was running as fast as she could to get away. She looked back, seeing Arbok slithering close to the ground and glaring daggers at her. She went wide-eyed and harshly turned back up front. _'I gotta get away…I gotta get away!'_

* * *

As Aniya was being chased by the Arbok, someone was watching from the high cliffs overlooking Vervain. Out of her radar's reach, on the edge of the smallest cliff, Nic was in his Mind Form, which was a pink coat with dark pink trimmings and sash, where the baggy pants were a hit pink, the shoes were the same kind, with hot pink laces on pink and dark pink shoes and soles.

She wasn't in sight yet, but when she is, he'll be ready. _'_ _ **Alright everyone, she's occupied. You know what to do.**_ _'_

Everyone's glares went serious.

* * *

Things with Arthur and the Cambire Foundation have been less than cordial as one could possibly put it. They were all doing their hardest to make their situations work, even with restrictions. However, those who were overlooking the Cambire Foundation and anything beyond that have been strained as well. Authority figures themselves have been on pins and needles, and the Council is no exception.

"No, absolutely unacceptable!" The hallways of the council building echoed with the cruel tone of a councilmen who held his own disposition above all else, and the others held their tongue as Alfredo's fist banged against the ground.

"We can't have your foundation's quota be halved, all because of these 'mishaps'! It's against the principle!"

Charlotte kept her calm as she faced the gruff councilman. While she hates being barked at, it's not to say she had her own ways around of beating around the bush. "I think it would be better if you held your tongue against someone like me, Alfredo." She scoffed. "If you and your so-called Council really were interested, perhaps we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"But what you are proposing is absurd!" he barked.

Hyberion closed his eyes. "Not that I don't disagree with Alfredo's testimony, but he does have a point. We've dealt with black-marketing with magic items before. And even now it is being regulated and monitored, but now what you are doing is to halve your whole output until further notice?"

"The less we have, the less shall be taken."

Maryam put her fingers to her temples and gave a grieving sigh. "But is this absolutely necessary? Certainly there can be some compromise to all this."

"The lady's got a point. I mean your company has been doing its job, why halt it all of a sudden?" Jeff asked.

Charlotte boasted another scoff of her own once more. "Why do you think fish hide in reefs?" The question left everyone in the room to inquire of her statement. Why did they use reefs? There were a lot of food and other fish there, but what else would come about? "Predators. Threats." She said. "Someone just so happens to be illegally shipping not only supplies that we have spent time and good money on, but there has come to light something we have recently learnt."

"What might that be, Ms. Jet?"

"That Pokémon, caught and wild, have also been part of these abductions."

"Wait…what?" Montgomery caught on, surprised by the turn of events.

"But I don't seem to understand." Justice said. "Doesn't the Cambire Foundation offer Pokémon as well?"

Charlotte scoffed for what could be the umpteenth time. "You really are a bunch of idiots. I can see why Nic Pularis never sees eye to eye with square pegs like you."

"Watch your mouth!" Alfredo roared. "You dare talk to the Magic Council like that?!"

"Now, now, let's all take a deep breath. I'm sure Charlotte has her reasons." Ruge managed to hold up his protests in front of Alfredo, keeping him from exploding. He turned and looked back towards her. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"The Cambire Foundation does in fact offer courses for Trainers and Pokémon to behave, but we never agreed to oversea shipping of Pokémon themselves."

"And how are you so sure about all this, I wonder?"

"My associate's assistant had just returned from an arrest following what was a black-market operation. It turns out that shipment was by refugees paid by the minister to send a portion of the items shipped from the Cambire Foundation to an underground market."

"And this also includes Pokémon in cages?" Hyberion inquired.

"Yes."

Wolfheim hunched forward, a deep detestable scowl plastered on his face. "Great, just what we needed. First it's these goods stolen, and now we have regulations even you can't keep track of! If anything, you're sounding like you're casting the blame on anyone but yourselves."

Charlotte glared. "To be fair, it's _your_ department that has these investigations. We're just the distributors. It's just business without security, simple as that."

Ruge put a hand to his chin. "Well, can't say you're not wrong." He sighed. "I suppose we have another thing to worry about now if you're passing this act."

"Not to mention these matters of diplomacy that we are having aforementioned confrontations with." Hyberion added.

Charlotte raised her brow. "Beg your pardon?"

"Well, Ms. Jet, it just so happens that unlike you and your so-called industry, we councilmembers have just as big of priorities that happen to be less than trivial to you. How do you expect us to export your materials if other countries can't even agree to the terms?" The chairman couldn't hold back a sigh anymore as he grew tedious over the prospect. "…but at the very least, I can sympathize with where you're going with this, but this embargo won't be helping anyone but Fiorians."

Jeff nodded to this solemnly. "Then comes political science; everyone wants what they can't have."

Charlotte looked down at her feet, scrutinizing over what it is that she was told. "I see…" She looked away as she tried to find a rebuttal, but for the time being, it's been a blank.

"That being said…" Montgomery took the ropes from there. "These dock attacks have been distressing us to no ends. On top of our political standpoints, we still can't make heads or tails of why these are focused on these illegal shipments."

Alfredo sneered. "I say it's a sabotage. Someone in this industry is behind this."

"And how exactly do you intend to find that out?" Justice inquired. "With the records we have, it could take a week for all the background checks to be doubled over."

"She's right." Ruge said. "The longer we debate, the more time is wasted on dealing with the matter at hand."

Alfredo glared from the side. "Then just how exactly do you impose a reason to stop this then? Do these shipments in fact lead to anywhere _that_ important?"

"As a matter of fact, they do." A voice called from afar.

Everyone's attention drew towards the front, where there, they were looking to see the large doors opening to showcase certain individuals walking down the runway. As they closed in, all of the councilmen stood up in shock, with the exception of Ruge holding his own mild shock.

"Well I'll be damned…"

* * *

Griffin laughed inside the pub he sat in, surrounded by many of people he was talking to. He was so lost in the conversations he was making that he almost lost track of time.

Looking at his watch, he saw the clock was close to midnight, a half hour away at that. "Oh man, look at that." He tried to sit upright despite how sloppy he felt. "Okay then, upsy-daisy…" With one big push, he hiccupped and stumbled onto his feet. With a small teeter back and forth, he wiped his mouth of saliva and waved back to patrons. "Sorry guys, but that's all I got for tonight. Gotta run elsewhere. Stay in touch." He gave them two fingers for a peace sign before he looked back and made way out of the bar. The door shut behind him, the harsh slam from the springs making him almost jump. "Woah, hey now."

Now outside, he looked up at the moonlight. He put his hands to his side and smiled. "Sure is a good night. Better hope Broly's finding an apothecary out there…"

From the distance, a faint shriek of terror met Griffin's ear. The Wire Mage turned towards the sounds of which slammed against his ears, his shock on the rise.

"The hell…" He couldn't see or hear correctly, but he knew that to a degree, that shrilled shriek came from somebody he knew. Even when a little on the high side, his own case of hearing was keen. _'That sounds a lot like Aniya? Did she step on a bug or something again?'_ He shrugged. _'Oh well, if she isn't giving a distress signal, guess I have nothing to worry about. Maybe I should go check on Matilda and drag her out of there. It's around that time.'_

As he started walking, he was making way pass an alleyway. He continued his course until something from the darkness spewed a stream of mud. The mud went right at him, but he caught on and leaned back in time to avoid it.

As the **Mud-Slap** receded, he looked back into the alley. When he did, he saw a weak flame coming from something small. He glared ahead, crossing his fingers and making wire. "Who's out there?!" he shouted.

Suddenly, an iron column shot at him. The wire in front prevented the attack from a direct shot, but it was strong enough to jut him back several feet.

"Damnit." He grunted.

"Peekaboo…" a gruff voice from the shadows sneered.

With Griffin looking ahead, he was startled when he heard a loud stomp above him. "Guess who!" By the time he looked up, a foot embedded in searing flames came crashing down, striking him in the face. The implant sent him flying and fumbling onto his back, stopping just near the edge of the water's edge.

As he was struggling to get up, the side of his face was charred from the harsh blow. He could feel nonstop inflammation continuing to grow. When he looked back, he saw that in front was Natsu, and beside him was someone with long, spiky hair like Matilda. They both loomed over as their Charmander and Aron were beneath them, glaring ahead in readiness.

Griffin's eyes widened upon recognizing Natsu. "You…"

Natsu gave no smirk. Instead, he frowned in dead seriousness.

* * *

From atop the high point, Orion's coat was shifting in the darkness. He glared out at the moonlight that refused to ever cast an eye towards him, frowning ever so calmly.

From the distance, he heard the shout of Aniya as well. His eyes cast towards the ways it came from. He looked over, seeing nothing out there, but he could feel something that all devils could: Fear.

Feeling the threat Aniya was having, he knew it would be best to see what it was. However, his attention drew downwards when he picked up on something in the darkness of the alley. His instincts took over when he abruptly jumped up just as the entire building suddenly was layered in thin ice. He looked back as he was sailing, seeing the attack freeze that entire chapel he was on. With him distracted, he felt some odd force snare around his waist. He was suddenly dragged down into the street straight below, awkwardly by some long, teal stream that was holding him. The teal line dissipated to allow him to flip and land on his feet.

He looked ahead, seeing two individuals come out. He saw one was shirtless, and the other had blue eyes like Nic's; ones that kept Orion's guard high. "You…"

"Sorry big guy…" Gray put his hands together to create some ice. "Didn't mean to haul you in, but saying 'pretty please' after what happened didn't seem to cut it."

Orion's eyes narrowed in deep discern. "You…you're Nic Pularis' allies."

"Yeah. And I take it you're the Dark Devil Slayer he mentioned."

Orion could see within Gray's dark eyes, he had some beef with him it seemed, or so it perceived. He glared over to the person beside him, his own interests piqued as he saw the eyes of another person of abominable Magic Power. "…those eyes. Is it safe you are known as Vanessa Pularis?"

Vanessa raised her arms loosely, taking a stance for her aura. "So you've heard of me then?"

"It's the eyes that see through souls that have been through a very dark road. What I see is just those roads that have been treaded."

Gray glared ahead. "Yeah, you can say hell had it in for both of us." Of course he wasn't wrong, but he can most certainly vouch for himself. If it wasn't for Nic, his Devil Slayer powers would've consumed him forever, and maybe killed E.N.D, or who's to say. For Vanessa, she went through the Impure Underworld, a hell itself that she was able to make peace with on her own.

If only Gray was able to do that. Guilt is a cruel emotion.

"If you wish to stand in my way, just know that you'll be dancing with the devil once more." Orion warned, his fists embedding in a dark aura. "Find your peace before you die!"

* * *

Matilda slammed her seventh beer mug on the table, making the empty mugs surrounding it fumble to the ground. "And that's how you down it!"

Many of the patrons were looking at her with awe, some with a few libidos coming down. Some were just in plain stupor. She downed all the alcohol like she hadn't drank anything for days. And that was her seventh one in less than an hour. They couldn't figure out where she was putting it all.

Matilda was hiccupping with a big smile on her face. Her ears suddenly twitched, the faint sounds from all around starting to get to her. Her expression grew slight surprised as one of the noises was thudding from close by. _'Wait, those shrieks…'_

"Hey, tell us more about your claws!" An excited patron exclaimed. He was caught off guard when the girl suddenly got up. "Huh?"

"Sorry, just remembered *hic* something!" She scrambled for something beneath her cloak, revealing a small sac of change she sat on the table. "Put the rest on my tab!" She staggered in what ways she could manage out of the bar she was in, making way out the door while leaving her new friends in question.

Once she made it outside, her ears kept twitching, and a sharp smell was entering her nostrils. _'Hold on, is that fire?'_ She looked over in the far distance. Even if she couldn't see from the many blocks down, she could definitely see flames flicker, as well as iron thuds. The grunts she heard were no different. _'Griffin?'_

Suddenly, another smell entered her nostrils, this one a lot closer, and a lot more potent. As she looked ahead, she could feel as if something abominable was looking over her. Her eyes widened as her hair began to stand on end. Whatever was giving off this pressure, it was making her body shudder, and not in a good way.

A shimmering entered her ear canals. Her instincts made her flip forward twisting to she how she evaded the slash in time, but the gusts from that one attack were what made her stammer back some. She glared ahead, her eyes focused on someone with red hair.

The sword lowered. "So you're one of the assassins that went after the minister then?" Even her voice had authority to it, much more so than anything else that came before it. Beside that voice, a familiar figure dropped down onto a knee.

"You two…" Matilda's hair was prickling all over as she sensed all this magical energy. It was staggering; and facing Erza Pularis of all people, she was beginning to feel her teeth chatter.

Sophie stepped up, giving a glare of her own. "This won't be like before. We can promise that."

Matilda was caught off guard at first, but slowly, her eyes began to narrow, her sneering fangs showing. "I remember you now." She whipped her cloak off, revealing her body to them in full view. "So you wanna play with the kitty again, eh? Should've known you'd be pesky."

Erza pointed her sword ahead, glaring daggers of her own. "We apologize if we came at such an abrupt time, but we have something we want to know."

"That so? Well I don't mind *hic*!" Matilda leaned forward, her expression darkening. "In fact, now that I got a good look at you, aren't you that girl Nic Pularis is hooked up with?" Erza gave no response as she pulled out a Poke Ball. "Oh! Well this just got a hell of a lot more interesting. I think I'm getting jacked up again~."

"Sophie."

The blonde nodded. "Look out."

The Take-Over girl got on all fours, snarling like a predator would. The red on her face showed she was drunk, but even when she wasn't sober, she looked even more threatening than ever.

Erza threw her Poke Ball, sending out her Aegislash. The Royal Sword Pokémon huffed as she was in Shield Form, ready for battle.

"Alrighty then…you just wanna make my night, then let's PARTY!" The girl lunged forward with great force, heading towards them with ecstasy to spare.

* * *

Liz was bobbing her head up and down over and over as she was enjoying the tunes on her headphones. She really looked disinterested in anything else as she was making do with the little time before her rendezvous with the client.

As she walked along, she seemed oblivious to being followed. Juvia was following right behind Lucy with a grim aura around her face. The blonde was so startled with the many goosebumps that she didn't even want to look back. She was frightened, bad.

"Uh, is she okay?" Wendy asked. She was saving the question ever since they got back from the last job, but there was never a good time to be brought up.

"She's been like this since last night." Carla answered. "As far as I can see, it's probably a Gray thing."

"Yeah…"

Their target up ahead was jamming out to some tunes, walking up towards another alley adjacent to them. As she made it, it looked like she stopped, her expression turning downwards as she picked up on something in her signal.

Though it was a faint signal, she could hear the battles going on around her. She could hear Aniya's rapid panting, followed by the sounds of a chase. She heard a barrier being struck, and from the swishing sounds it had to be Matilda's own swift chasing. She also heard strings pulled, thus indicating everything going on around her.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed, her senses picking up on a magical signature that was evading her. The Gum Mage could feel the familiar energy, as well as others behind. As they drew close, she knew she was caught.

"Why's she stopping?" Klefki whispered.

"I don't know, maybe she's onto us." Carla figured.

Hearing the whispers through the antennae on her radio, Liz knew the culprits were there. She suddenly turned and spat gum down on the ground, where it plopped and began to erode a small black bog from its pours. The bog smelled like horrendous bad breath. Everyone was caught inside of it as it consumed them.

Wendy, however, used her magic and created a quick gust that blew the bog away. When it cleared, it showed Liz was gone.

"She gave us the slip!" Lucy exclaimed.

Using her sense of smell, Wendy sniffed the air and turned her head to the alley. "That way!" Everyone turned and saw a figure against the walls of the alleys.

"I see her!" Lucy exclaimed.

"We can't let her get away! C'mon!" Carla expanded her wings and took flight with Wendy in her arms. Juvia and Lucy took off on foot as they followed the retreating mage in question.

A string of gum was flung and stuck against a wall, used as a swinging rope for Liz to maneuver with. She used her fingertips from her other hand and expelled another thread of gum to attach and swing like jumping from vine to vine. She would've preferred to use Griffin's wires as a bungee and escape faster, but being scattered she had to make do.

A water crescent went shooting from behind, where it, zipped on through the swinging thread of gum Liz was using. The momentum fell against her, and she fell to the ground below in a stammering thud on her feet before tripping onto her side.

Lucy and Juvia managed to catch up to her, having cornered her. "Alright, we have her surrounded." Lucy said. "This time she isn't pulling a fast one like the last guy did."

Liz got up, but found the two busty mages before her. When she turned around, she saw Wendy and Carla landed behind, surrounding all her points of exit. She looked back towards Juvia, a snap in her jaws indicating a harsh pop of a retort.

"You…" the rain woman's eye twitched. "You're gonna pay for what you did to my darling! He's traumatized because of your seduction, now he's not here because you made him feel that much shame!"

Lucy looked at her with a sweat-drop. "Seriously, Juvia? Gray was fine."

But the rain woman wasn't having it. She glared in seriousness as her arms swiped to the side, summoning water to surround her.

The girl cocked her brow and as another pop sound came from her mouth. "Great."

* * *

Honchkrow remained silent as he flew over the alley. Corresponding to this was Pidove as he flew about to cover what ground their target was covering. Beneath the two, Broly was hiding in the shadows of the alley, behind the reaches of the dumpster as the overturned lids acted as a shield. He was hiding out for some time now, and he knew he was being followed, but he couldn't tell specifically by whom.

' _Something isn't right here. I can feel it…'_ He picked up on a growing pressure in the air, causing his eyes to shift away. He looked up towards the sky and felt a large sum of energy that was making the hair on his body prickle. _'There's a lot of magic energy in the air tonight, and it feels like the others are out there right now. This is there Magic Power no doubt. Did someone ambush us?'_

A caw from above alarmed him, getting him to peer over the lids.

"Guess I haven't got time to wait around and have answers come to me then. Someone's bound to be close by. I can feel it. Only one way to find out."

He abruptly took of straight into the deeper shadows of the alleyway. As he went took the straight path down to where the other side of the streets would intersect into an open alley.

Pidove was flying over the alley and turned his head to follow. "Huh? Oh, look!" he said surprised. "He's going that way."

Honchkrow snorted as he flapped beside him. "Hmph, so I see." A moment passed before he looked at Pidove with an angry stare. "What are you doing? Go tell the others where he's going!"

"Okay!" The Normal/Flying-type chirped anxiously as he took off over Broly's direction.

Honchkrow watched Pidove take off, a rather gruff expression plastered as he turned to another direction. "Moron." He berated.

* * *

Pidove cooed loudly as he passed over the opening to the other side of an alley. Underneath, Duncan turned to look up at the signal the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon was giving, meaning their target was closing in. He looked back ahead, standing all by himself in the middle of nowhere. He sighed angrily.

"Is this seriously the plan?" he asked. "This is just pathetic. Can't believe that the Captain thought of this." Nevertheless, he begrudgingly went on with it and sighed.

Pidove cooed louder this time around, getting Duncan to hold his kendo stick harder than before.

Meanwhile, down the alleyway, Broly was as silent as a cat as he dashed with stealth of a ninja. _'Now I know that magical energy is close around here…'_ He made it to the other side of the alleyway, where he was picking up a strong trace of a magic source related to Orion. He looked up, seeing a burst of ice and teal on the other side of the street. _'So that's where it is…'_

"Hey." A voice called upfront.

Broly looked ahead, seeing Duncan standing there like a statue. "Well I'll be damned, I thought I was being lead somewhere." He heard a caw from above, belonging to Honchkrow, who joined up and circled with Pidove high overhead. "I get it now." He looked back at Duncan, seeing his stone-cold facial expression. "Say, I think I know you. You were with those other guys from last night. Where's your other friends then?"

Duncan shrugged. "What friends, haven't seen them."

Broly's expression turned into a frown. _'Wait, if he's here, then that must mean that energy is belonging to…'_

Duncan lobbed up a Poke Ball. Summoned forth in front of him was Torterra, where the Continent Pokémon exerted a low, quick roar as he readied himself.

Broly readied himself. "Looks strong. But let's just see how strong."

Duncan didn't bother with formalities. He didn't acre of his personality or what he was. He had one job: to win. He swiped his arm to the side, ordering the first attack. "Alright Torterra, use **Stone Edge!** "

Torterra mustered his strength to raise himself on his hind legs. He brought his front feet down on the ground with deafening results. The ground shuddered relentlessly from weight as pillars of rock shot up from underground. They went in a straight line towards Broly, but he jumped into the air and allowed the attack to stab into the building wall behind, making parts of it fly everywhere. The Barrier-Make Mage flipped and landed on the rock before the one that stabbed the wall, crouching before he went in a dart atop each rock right for Torterra.

"Now use **Leaf Storm!** " Duncan followed.

Torterra's body was outlined in a green compressing aura as he gathered up great swells of power. He raised his head as leaves expelled from the tree on his back, which suddenly exploded into a cyclone of shredding leaves that swallowed up everything in front of him.

The attack ripped through the Stone Edge recently created, sending its debris towards Broly like he did against Vanessa's Goodra. However, as pieces traveled with the vortex, Broly stopped on a rock and pulled up his arms.

" **Barrier-Make: Cage!** "

A large rectangular barrier surrounded Broly, even from beneath his boots. The Leaf Storm and Stone Edge attack cycled through, even beneath; but the attack was destroying the rock and everything else around the barrier, not even so much as leaving a scratch with each leaf and stone that bombarded it. It was like going through a hurricane and yet the destroyed foundation beneath meant nothing as the barrier held on.

"Maybe you forgot, nothing gets pass my barriers!" Broly shouted through the dissipating storm.

As Leaf Storm came to an end, debris from the Stone Edge laid everywhere. The residual dust showered everywhere as Duncan frowned.

* * *

By the waters of the docks, Pantherlily, Happy, and Levy with her Klink, were all watching out in case anything happened. While there may not be any fighting, that didn't mean they had to leave their guards down.

"You think everyone will be alright?" Levy questioned.

"It's hard to say, given what they had told us." Pantherlily answered. "…but worrying won't do us any good."

Levy nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"And besides, Gajeel is a very experienced mage. It would take something immense just to throw off his guard."

At that comment, Levy began to drop a bead of sweat from her face. "Uh, yeah. Speaking of dropping guards…"

Pantherlily looked confused at what she meant. He followed her expression and finger pointing at the edge of the deck, where right along the edge, their other accompaniment was eyeing the seawater beneath with a wagging tail. The superior Exceed couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Happy, what are you doing?! This is no time for a snack!"

"You think Pokémon are edible?" Happy saw a Huntail swim right beneath him. Following that was something that looked even more appetizing, a school of Magikarp swimming close together. It only served to make the Exceed's drooling escalate. "Oh, if I wasn't so afraid of hypothermia would I kill right now for just one bite…"

Pantherlily nervously sweat-dropped with a grievous sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if that years' worth of training bared fruit for you at all."

Levy began to question that as well, but as she stared out at the sea, another more wondrous thought popped up. "I wonder what kinds of Water-type Pokémon are out there?"

As Happy admires the fishy Pokémon swimming mere feet beneath him, he was unaware of how close to he was to the water. With him so close, something could've popped out and take a bite out of him. Something in fact thrust out of the water, appearing before Happy with tentacles bared. The Exceed wasn't prepared as he shrieked back in shock as a Tentacool jumped out of the water, shrieking as its tentacles reached for him.

"AH~, that ain't no fishy!" he cried.

Levy's Klink immediately went into action. It began to rotate its two gears into the other, creating a charge and cloaking it in electricity. It fired a **Thunder Shock** in a streaky yellow blast at the Tentacool. The Electric-type attack zapped Tentacool before it had the chance to reach Happy, electrocuting it in midair.

The Jellyfish Pokémon shrieked in agony and distress as it felt the shock went through its body. It hurriedly jumped back into the water, swimming away in distress.

Happy fell on his bottom, his face paled from shock. "W-woah…that was a close one…" Another second and those toxic stingers would've done him in.

"Great job, Klink!" Levy praised. The Steel-type spun its gears faster in front of her, showing its gratitude in service.

Pantherlily nodded in acknowledgement. "Well _that_ sure wasn't karma." He looked over at Happy, who was a bubbling mess. From the looks of it, he wasn't gonna try fishing in the sea for a while.

* * *

Aniya was scrambling for her dear life as she ran down the back alleys with a giant snake on her tail. She didn't even want to know how far away it was, what mattered was getting as far away to where it was the furthest thing from her, even across the other side of Earthland if she must. She looked back one more time to see the Arbok slowly chasing her, his slithering form sliding across the ground like it was ice.

' _I gotta get away! I gotta get help!'_ In her panic, she used the earpiece she had from before and tried to get contact. On her visor, she got the image of everyone again on the grid, but to her shock, she wasn't getting any luck from an answer. _'Crap! Crapcrapcrap! It's no good, they're all busy! I'm on my own!'_

She looked ahead, seeing the alley intersect with another alley, making a T. She looked ahead with hopes rising. _'Maybe I can lose him up here!'_ She looked back to see how much further Arbok was from her, but behind was nothing but open air. She didn't know where it went. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks? Maybe her visors needed a repair? But she was taking a left.

Big mistake.

A purple cobra bared its fangs when she turned that way. In a panic, she shrieked in bloodlust terror. She could even see the darkness inside Arbok's maw, a place of no return.

Her mind flash a brief image, no matter how blurry it was. She could still remember the details of a large snake with something inside of it that was making tears in the corners of her eyes show.

In a panic, she made a break to the only other alley available. She went as fast as she could into the right alley, where Arbok went in slow, taunting pursuit. She scurried passed a dumpster, where she knew would be a terrible hiding spot. Up ahead, she saw another intersection, where it only went either straight or to another right. This time, she was going straight.

She went ahead, but suddenly, the same dumpster she passed crashed right in front of her, garbage spewing out of it. The fact it was thrown from the snake behind her startled her further. She looked back as Arbok closed in without delay. She had no choice but to veer right and keep going. Arbok obviously followed.

Aniya had to keep going. She just had to. She was downright terrified, as anyone would. Who could stomach being charged at by a near-12-ft cobra with a body that could crush steel drums. Not to mention they had a persistent nature.

Finally having enough, she requipped the overhead cannon and turned around at the approaching Arbok. "Alright you stupid snake…wat this!" From the cannon, smoke blew from the back as a missile whistled on its way towards Arbok. As it closed in, it broke apart to reveal a large net. Arbok twisted his body and sprung overhead, flipping completely over the net and landing in a wheel towards Aniya.

The shocked mage felt her heartbeat accelerate as she requipped again, revealing a dark red flamethrower with a nozzle. "Alright, try this!" This time she launched a stream of fire at Arbok. The serpent stopped his wheel as he went sideways and used the garbage and trash cans beside him as a shield. He whacked them in front of him, enabling cover as they were reduced to ash instead.

As the fire dissipated, she looked ahead with an expectant smirk. "Ha! How's about you eat instead of…" When she saw the flamethrower simmer down, all she saw was plastic and ash instead of cindered snake skin. "W-what…?"

A harsh hiss came from above. She looked up, seeing Arbok on the support of a concrete windowsill. She panicked and began to run again. Arbok slithered against the wall downwards and kept following.

As they went further ahead, they came at another intersection, this one leading to straight ahead or to the left. This time Aniya had to plan it smart. She requipped again as she went on, facing ahead with her visors showing a visual of Arbok behind her with a lock-on symbol on his chest. The machine she requipped as the same cannon she used when she tried attacking Erza and Nic before, a missile already inside it.

"This time…you better die!" She pulled the trigger, sending the missile just like the last one at him. It did a complete U-turn as it lopped over her head, shooting directly at Arbok behind her. All the serpent did was keep going into the missile's red tip, while Aniya smirked.

The missile was so close, until Arbok moved his tail in front, He coiled around the missile and turned his body, time slowing down as he was turning in midair with so much might. The missile did another U-turn guided by Arbok as it flung back at its sender.

Aniya gasped in horror. _'HOW?!'_

The missile collided with the ground behind her, creating a small-scale explosion behind her. She screamed loudly as she was picked up and fumbled on her shoulder. The impact sent a shock that knocked her for a loop, one that disoriented her body's motions for a bit.

Smoke billowed up everything around her. As her vision was blurry, all the ringing in her ear was reverberating. She could only hear a bleak vibration and that was it. She blinked at the smoke surrounding her that was from the missile that left her dirty and with scratches. If she was struck head on, she'd be in pieces. She tried looking around partially deaf, but in the silence, Arbok's head stuck out of the smoke, making her heart pulse and she made a stumble forward. She ran on all fours until a few meters upwards she was able to scramble to her feet.

As he watched her go, Arbok scaled the building she was turning at. He climbed up its overhead lamppost and watched from a greater height as Aniya traveled down the path leading towards the cliffs. He then looked up, giving a hiss to someone afar as a signal.

* * *

On the cliffs, Nic could see it. He glared ahead at Arbok and turned his attention downwards towards the girl running down the alley. With her now in sight, now he could work his Mind Form's powers. He remained silent as his blue eyes shine din the half-moonlight, his vision reflecting Aniya's scared expression

At that instant, time stopped for a moment as he peered into her eyes, drowning into an expanding black void. He could hear and see so many stars pass through, with each star being a different memory or thought.

' _Gotta get away! Gotta run away…'_

That was her present thought. As he looked deeper, he was getting to a more critical thought she had going.

' _The pier at midnight. On the farthest dock, midnight sharp.'_

' _So that's where it is then…'_ Nic now understood. He could see and now knew where to go. However, as he was pulling out in that second's time, his eyes began to widen a little as the present thought was getting more…drastic as Arbok chased her.

* * *

Aniya was looking back once more as Arbok chased her down the alley. She was making like hell as she went towards the cliffs. She knew Arbok would just keep prevailing. The snake was just that bizarre yet powerful, not to mention evasive.

Finally reaching the bottom of the cliffs, she found herself with nowhere to run. She turned around upon hearing another hiss, staring into the eyes of Arbok.

The Poison-type cobra glared daggers at her as he hunched his body around. He looked like he was prepared to strike her from any angle, but he merely glared at her as she pressed herself against the walls of the cliffs. She looked back, gasping at no room she had.

"Ssso, are we done playing cat and moussse?" he hissed

She grunted with gritting teeth showing. "Shut up…" she sniped back. Her eyes showed a dark shadow beneath the visors. In fact, in her vision, all she was seeing was red, and a large, menacing snake-like creature glaring at her. Seeing creature, it was making her heart thump.

THUMP!

The massive heartbeat in that moment see the image change. She saw a menacing creature that looked a lot like Arbok, yet was much longer, and she had a large, gaping mouth as her eyes had a hypnotic pattern. The creature's large smile made her flinch. Arbok's tongue flicking was what brought her back to reality. With another gasp, she looked forward and glared.

"You gonna come at me or what?! I'm ready you sick reptile!" In a show of anger, she requipped the same gun that she used to shoot lightning at Erza before. She looked through its lock-on sequence, glaring intense daggers with both eyes open.

"I'm not on the menu today, pal! Try a handful of 1,000,000 volts instead!" She pulled the trigger, hoping to make sure the blast of lightning would get him. But nothing fired. "Hm?" She fired again, but nothing happened. Twice, then three times, but regrettably, nothing was working. "C'mon…don't be jammed again…!" She looked back at Arbok, looking a little more frantic than usual. She pressed it and banged its sides so many times she lost it. In anger, she requipped her cannon with a missile again, aiming at Arbok. "Stay away!"

Once again, nothing worked.

"What the hell?! Why isn't anything working?!"

She was so frantic and so desperate that she wasn't even aware of the distorted dimensional room that was around her and Arbok. The Poison-type was just waiting patiently as the girl was cycling through all her equips, but even as she tried her visors, even they were unable to work efficiently.

With even her visors out of order, she was completely at the mercy of Arbok. The look of anger she had was replaced by horror as her entire body was quivering like she was freed from an iceberg. She Was paralyzed by intense fear as Arbok glared at her. But the irony was that Arbok didn't know Glare anymore. This was by shrilling fear alone. "No…not again…not again…"

However, Arbok stayed in place, awaiting something else. He looked dead at her to not get her to look at the glint above the cliffs that was coming down at high speeds. The glint zoomed down with speeds of a comet, phasing clean through the distorted room she was too delusional to realize.

She looked up, gasping. "Wha-?!"

ZWOOM!

Nic landed on the ground with a shadow over his eyes, frowning as he was on a knee and having his arm out with a long purple needle via **Night Slash**. The cross-shaped purple glint picked up Aniya as she was in shock. She didn't even have a chance as she had white in her pupils, devoid of conscience.

"Sorry for this." Was all Nic said as he revealed his eyes glancing back in his Psychic/Dark Form. The bright pink was replaced by deep black, with the pants being black as well, with the bright pink on the shoes turning to that same black as well. Aniya fell behind him, defeated.

All around, the **Magic Room** she ran into finally dissipated. Its walls went down as Nic stood on his feet, looking back at his defeated foe to make sure she was down. Now seeing she really was down for the count, he faced away with a grin.

"Thanks Arbok, you were a great help." He praised. "But I thought she was supposed to chase you…looks like that didn't work out." He looked back at her, seeing her defeat form in the end.

"We got what we needed, yessss, Nic?" the Cobra Pokémon inquired.

Nic nodded with a smile. "We did. Thank you Arbok. Return." He recalled Arbok back to his Poke Ball, his services done for the time being.

With him retreated, he began using his Mind Form's powers once more to carry out another message. _'_ _ **Everyone, meet at the pier at midnight. Farthest dock towards northeast.**_ _'_ Having said that, he opted to depart, but he didn't True, it was his job to stop them, but he couldn't help but look back one more time at the girl he defeated. He wasn't even trying and he wondered why she was running away instead of doing the chasing herself…but that was it. What he saw, he could only sympathize. He frowned heavily for her. He walked towards her unconscious form and knelt to her side. Seeing her face, even when unconscious, he could still see the pain she was in. It didn't seem like it was going away anytime soon, and he wasn't going to just sit there and see this anymore. He put his hand to her forehead, where a faint purple glow similar to Wendy's Healing Magic began to take over. It may not have been much, but at least he was still helping her in whatever way he could.

The memories of the terror she saw, all of Arbok chasing her…he was erasing them. It was crude, maybe, but he didn't know what she went through. As the memories were being taken away, the pained look on her unconscious face was beginning to ease, much to his relief. Once satisfied and erase, he backed off and allowed her form to remain on the ground. "I'm sorry…but what I did, I didn't mean for it to be personal. Hope you can find your peace soon."

With that, he transformed from his dual form to his Spooky Form. He was a ghastly dark purple, almost black even, with dark periwinkle as a sash and a misty black for baggy pants and laces. He faded into shadows, where he disappeared from the scene to allow her to rest in ease.

* * *

Matilda lunged ahead with a claw reached out. She thrust forward into Aegislash, of whom got in front of Erza with **King's Shield**. The attack she created smashed against Aegislash's signature defense move, making a gust pulsate everywhere. She held her ground a blue aura enveloping her, lowering her strength. Erza swung her sword that came with her now-adorned Armadura Aggron Armor, slashing into Matilda with force strong enough to send her flying back. She gripped the ground with one claw, digging in her heels as she slid to a stop and revealed her right arm up, having her heavy plated arm armor steaming with a small scratch.

A wily smirk appeared n her face as she looked up at them. "Not bad. I can see why you're someone who Aniya warned me about." In growing ecstasy, she leaned forward, applying pressure again that made the ground beneath more concave as she lunged ahead at them.

The speed in which she traveled across the ground was exasperating. Erza looked on with shock as she closed the gap, while Sophie put a finger to her forehead. " **Memory-Make: Mirrors of Cold Retribution!** " Hexagonal ice mirrors were manifested, which unleashed dark green beams from them.

Matilda ran head on into the attack, where she jumped at the last second to avoid the green explosion that dismantled the ground she stood on. She flipped right over it and the mirrors, getting atop everyone. She twisted and brought her fist down, punching into the earth surrounding the group. Erza and Sophie moved out of the way to avoid the impact as the ground beneath broke apart. But Matilda was far from finished as her fist loosened and gripped the ground, where she spin kicked with legs out that swung into the girls with intense force. Erza and Sophie managed to rebound and land, but Sophie was less prepared, where she fumbled into the ground with a bruise on her arm.

Matilda got back to her feet with a wily smirk; the other blonde she kicked down trying to stand. _'She's faster and stronger, just like last time.'_

Erza requipped into her Flight Armor, where she reached out and Aegislash assumed her position in her grip with the hands wrapping around the arms and shield held tight. Without a word, she went swinging at Matilda, with Aegislash making **Night Slash**. As expected, Matilda's animalistic hearing caught on and she turned and dodged in time as Erza horizontally swiped.

As she was flipping overhead, she was upside down as Erza looked up. "Oh, that was fast. You almost had me there." She cheekily smirked. "This is gonna be a hell of a blast!"

Once she landed, she and Erza began racing across the street, blind strikes going at the other in relentless fashion. The two mages were nothing short of blurs that were only noticeable by their figments appearing when they clashed claws against Aegislash. As they went on, Matilda was zipping about with a wicked smile, slashing and ferociously striking with gruesome results, while Erza was returning in kind. With each swing of Aegislash and the enemy's claws, the blows became more powerful to where something else was shredded up instead. The ground, a nearby wall, each parry created gusts and sparks, and it only intensified as Matilda got more adrenaline.

Sophie was shocked at the speeds that they were ascending to. She knew Erza was fast this way, but Matilda was actually keeping up. What's more, from the looks of it, she was starting to get through.

"HRAH!" Erza finally swung Aegislash down with a **Night Slash** , which Matilda blocked by crossing her ridged arms overhead. The blow made gusts ripple beneath her footing, but held on all too well. Erza pushed down harder than she ever could to make Aegislash bounce her back, but the girl was holding her ground like a wall.

With her fangs showing, the Take-Over girl let out a malicious howl that echoed through the air like a Hyper Voice. The shockwaves at point-blank completely threw Erza off her and went sliding backwards against the shabby street. She was barely keeping footing until she had to resort to using Aegislash to anchor the ground, slowing down the tread. She managed to break her skid, finding herself at the end of a destroyed field of debris around Matilda.

The Take-Over girl had fangs bared like a tiger would. In fact, her fingers were twitching as the fur on her limbs was beginning to stand on end. She snarled like a predator eying her prey.

In a flash, she disappeared again, but Erza anticipated and let go. " **King's Shield!** " Aegislash managed to revert to Shield Form in front and create her shield, which a high-speed claw struck. The reappearing Matilda's thrust inti the shield made shockwave s go vertical this time, tearing a ripple clean into the ground around once more. She ultimately backflipped and held her position glaring ahead with a growl as a blue aura again enveloped her.

"Her power just keeps increasing with her adrenaline." Erza deduced. "That means the effects of King's Shield won't matter as long as she has blood rushing to all her veins."

"Then what do we do?" Aegislash asked.

Erza glared ahead, seeing the woman get on all fours and ready to strike. She knew it wouldn't matter how many times she would block because her speed and power would just grow. They needed to bring her down in one big blow. And she had to do it fast.

Seeing an opportunity in the form of a certain someone n her feet, Erza gave a sharp look to the side. "Sophie!"

The Memory-Make Mage nodded. "Al tig-ad. (Don't worry.)" She swiped her arm, summoning her **Jagged Barrier** in the form of an enclosure around Matilda.

With black rock rising with sharp ice spikes facing her, the girl was finding herself away from Erza. She looked around, using her hearing as her nose wrinkled and her eyes darting all around. As she was seeing that there was nothing but spiked ice everywhere, she could feel her claws clutch tighter.

"Now, Erza!"

Erza nodded in understanding and glared ahead. "Aegislash, **Swords Dance!** " At her command, the Royal Sword Pokémon remained stationary as illusionary swords appeared around her and circled her. Once they crossed over her head, they disappeared, leaving a thick red aura in its place.

The wall suddenly showed air slashes raking through them for a second, and then the entire surrounding closure completely erupted into shambles. Ice and rock flew in the air over Erza and Sophie, both watching in shock as Matilda was seen inside as pieces came raining down all around her. Her bangs were down as she was glaring forward. Her anger was pressed exponentially as she slowly showed her gaze, her yellow shimmering yellow like the sun.

Sophie could see the glare meant she was meaning business. The Magic Power she was feeling was no less of a sign than anything else. She had to fend her off a little longer. Reaching out with both arms, she created a bright green hemisphere in front that crackled with lightning. She fired the **Baryon Lightning Impact** , which sent the beam at Matilda.

The girl saw the attack head for her by a single glance to her right. She jumped into the air high like a kangaroo, completely missing the beam that erupted in bright green with a crackling energy field dissipating beneath. She twisted high and glared down at Sophie with eyes that showed anger. Thankfully Sophie had been given worse stares that made her bones shrivel. She pointed at her forehead, using more magic to summon **Pyro Saucer**. The spinning, flaming saucers escalated high and went at Matilda, but when they closed in, she swept her leg around in one fell kick that dissipated them all. The gust she created had also blew pass Sophie, but remained undeterred.

Matilda bent her knees and went springing downwards, but Sophie did an acrobatic flip of her own upwards in time to avoid the punch that crunched into the earth beneath. She landed several feet away, where Matilda rebounded and went up close and personal. Thanks to her magic, Sophie was able to memorize the attack patterns of Matilda, at least to where she was able to dodge and maneuver so many attacks until she can feel herself slipping.

Aegislash finished the last possible **Swords Dance** , her Attack now officially maxed out. "Ready!"

Erza readied herself and charged dead ahead. She grabbed Aegislash along the way and went for a dart at Matilda. _'We might get one shot at this…'_ She glowed once more, requipping into her Armadura Fairy Armor. _'Let's make this work!'_

Finally planting a foot on Sophie's thick thigh, Matilda's stomp brought the Memory-Make Mage to her one good knee. She grunted in pain as she felt her bone almost snap from that one good blow. As she looked up, she found Matilda holding a fist up.

"You're good at memorizing, right?" she asked. "Well don't blame me if you can remember the pain you're gonna feel!"

Erza closed in, her target just meters away. She let out a battlecry as Aegislash followed her swing back.

"Huh?" Matilda looked over, seeing Erza make a monstrous lunge towards her. Her eyes dilated to where they shrunk. In a shift, she pivoted and leaned forward. She still had her claw brought back, but it was instead aimed for Erza as she returned the lunge in kind.

As they closed in, Matilda's wild smile was wide, bearing fangs at Erza. "You wanna go hardcore again?! Well bring it on!"

Erza swung forward, Aegislash glowing a blue energy that elongated her blade's reach.

" **Sacred Sword!** "

Matilda and Erza passed each other, the thrust and swing colliding centerfield. It was so fast that they passed each other in the next second. Time slowed down between the two as the air around them was spliced into pieces, the same being said with the ground. The horrendous impact left Erza posing with Aegislash forward while Matilda was still in midair behind, a wily smirk on her face. The winner would be decided when the first got shock running through them.

Aegislash slowly undid her attack, backing off while Erza held the position still. Meanwhile, behind, she was unfazed when Matilda was enveloped in a blue slash that exploded into smoke that quaked the airspace. As it dissipated, the Take-Over girl fell to the ground beneath, her eyes covered up by her bangs as she laid in admitted defeat.

Erza let out a sigh as she looked back, seeing her fallen form. She knew she was going to be out for a while, but she had other worries than her opponent. She looked over, seeing Sophie with a badly bruised knee. "Sophie!"

The blonde looked up, seeing Erza coming over to her aid. "Erza, is she down?" She winced again.

She nodded. "She is, for now at least…" she looked over her shoulder at her again. "But I'm not sure how long it'll be before her metabolism kicks up for that matter." She looked back at Sophie. "But your leg…"

Sophie used the wall beside her as support as she tried to shift her weight to her one good leg. "I'm…alright." She strained as she held herself up against the wall.

"Here, let me help you." Erza requipped back her regular armor as Aegislash detached herself. The redhead moved to put her arm around Sophie's waist while Sophie used her own arm on the opposite shoulder. "Think you can make it from here?"

"Yes, I believe we can." She began to limp forward with Erza. They made way out the alley, heading away from the debris. "Sorry." She apologized.

Erza closed her eyes as they kept moving. "Don't be. If anyone's at fault, it's me. We were too late. We can just hope Wendy is able to fix your thigh." She looked back at her. "But out of curiosity, Sophie…did you hear that?"

She nodded. "The farthest pier northeast."

"We need to move then." Erza helped her friend as they made way in the direction that would take them to their destination.

* * *

Liz fired a barrage of gum globs in a manner similar to bullets at Lucy and everyone else around her in a spin. They all backed off, not wanting to get stuck to again.

Lucy landed, where Klefki handed her a key. She held it to her chest as it glowed. " **Open: Gate of the Archer – Sagittarius!** "

Summoned in a salute, Sagittarius appeared right beside Lucy, with her changing to her Sagittarius Star Dress as well. Both held up their bows and arrows and began to fire. Arrows went firing at explosive rates, meeting each bullet of gum that met in the center. Liz kept up the barrage as the pointed tips were all globbed by sticky gooey masses.

"Go, Wendy!" Lucy shouted.

"Right!" Wendy sped pass Lucy, along with Carla as they closed in on Liz. They were able to get close until Liz was able to pick up on them and hurriedly blew yet another bubble, this one expanding with the same density that blocked Gray's ice. The incoming arrows, as well as Carla and Wendy's feet when they tried to kick, were caught like flies in a spider web. The bubble eventually did pop, sending the girls and the weapons everywhere else. They screamed out as they fell to the ground with harsh thuds.

"Wendy!" Juvia worried.

Lucy stopped firing, as did Sagittarius. "Are they alright?" The Celestial Spirit asked.

While arrows covered in gum were littering the ground, Wendy was getting up. "Don't worry, we're fine!"

Carla was getting up as well, and just like Wendy, her hair was partially splattered with gum. "What is this stuff? Is this what Gray was talking about?" She moved to get the gum out of her hair, but right now it wasn't going anywhere.

Liz, however, ha other plans. She blew another glob around, where it popped in midair and became a large mass of pink that went to the base of the roofs above, where it also covered their sight. A pink, sticky wall was between them and Liz s she used it to run.

"She's getting away!" Carla exclaimed.

"Not for long she isn't!" Lucy undid her Star Dress as she pointed her key at Sagittarius. "Thanks, Sagittarius."

The spirit did a mock salute as he faced Lucy. "Righty-O, I shall be of better service the next time, milady!" With that, he vanished back to his realm.

Back on her feet, Wendy had to ignore the gum that was in her hair to focus on the task at hand. She glared ahead and crossed her arms. She swiped them, summoning a grand wind that picked not just her up, but also the others. "Everyone hang on!" She raised her arms, making the twister rise up with them in it. It arched straight over the gum wall, spitting them out overhead before they dissipated.

Liz was making a break for it across the alley, and she was already meters away. While they descended, Juvia sent a blast of water down in a steep beam at her. The massive shock from the attack reached behind Liz, causing its waves to pick up the lower half of her body and slam into a nearby wall, where she gagged and barely found her legs beneath her.

The others landed on their feet, quickly surrounding her.

"That was for what you did to my beloved…you homewrecker!" Juvia angrily exclaimed. "That's what you get for tempting my man!"

' _Tempted?'_ Lucy, Wendy, and Carla sweat-dropped.

Liz angrily looked ahead again, more specifically at the predicament she was in. She had to make do with her dilemma as she knew time was running out. It was near midnight, and she had to meet her client. If not, it wouldn't be good news.

Like before, she began to create a large green bubble that slowly expanded from her loud. The color of which was alarming Juvia especially. They all backed off as it was gaining mass.

"Uh, what's she doing now?" Lucy asked, a little freaked out.

"I don't know." Wendy answered. "More gum?" Even from here, her Dragon Slayer nose was picking up a very sharp smell coming from the gum. It was making her flinch.

"It's a gum that enflames the sense of smell!" Juvia warned. "Hang on!"

The bubble finally exploded, sending green globs everywhere all around. As they went and piled about, they spread towards the others, but Juvia summoned a wall of water to shield the gum and its smell from reaching them.

"Alright, nice save, Juvia!" Lucy praised.

"Yeah, that's amazing!" Wendy added.

Juvia glared forward. "If this hussy wants to mess with my affection for my darling, she has another thing coming! **Water Lock!** "

Using her powers, she controlled the water to make it move and envelop Liz. The Gum Mage found the water wall having been turned into a swirling mass of water that quickly imprisoned her in a sphere of water.

"That should keep her busy for a little while." Juvia was sure she had her this time at least. She was already a hassle before, but now she was fed up. She was sure this had to do the trick.

Wendy narrowed her eyes, looking into the sphere.

"What is it?" Carla asked.

"Look, up there." She pointed forward, directing them all towards the bubble.

They could all see it, even if it was deceivable as one could say. But in the center f the Water Lock containing Liz, there was what looked like a thick mass of blown gum, and inside, there was a body in it. They could only guess one thing from all this.

"You're kidding!" Lucy exasperated. "She's using air from her own gum to not drown?! That's crazy!"

"Innovative to say the least." Carla noted.

Liz blew more air into the gumball she was in. As she blew like blowing out a birthday candle, the sphere only got bigger, and bigger, slowly expanding through the dense blue liquid that Juvia conducted. It grew more, and more, until it looked like it was finally enveloping the mass of water itself. They all stepped back as the gum looked wet, extra gooey, and covered only by a thin layer of water. If anything it resembled a human brain with its creases.

They all took a step back, but before they knew it, Lucy gasped moments before the wet gum finally erupted. Wet, gooey substance erupted like a volcano that splattered everything all around. No one was safe this time as the light pink substance shot at a faster rate than the green bubble did. Its few strands got on all their arms, clothes, even went as far as in their hair.

Lucy and Wendy especially shriveled as they felt the sticky substance everywhere. They practically shrieked upon noticing how much of it was on them.

"This is just gross! Really!" Carla shrieked.

Juvia found herself having a hard time moving about, this time equally as hard as before. "It's…so dense…"

Liz didn't give any momentum away as she rapidly unleashed gum bullets at them. They struck the four girls head on, sending them flying backwards in shock and distress. They were struck in a few more spots, but the gum was harder, and combined with the wet gum on their bodies, the moment they connected with the ground on their sides, their elbows or hips were having a rough time moving. To add insult to injury, Liz used her fingers and created a long whip of gum rope that lashed out t the girls. It lassoed them into one big clump ring surrounding them all, keeping them in place like captives.

"You've gotta be kidding m-!" Lucy was instantly silenced when a thick glob shot at her mouth. It anchored it shot like a muzzle, leaving her to scream out muffles.

"Hey, what is the meaning of-!" Carla was silenced as well, muzzled with shot gum next. Next was Wendy, and then finally Juvia. All fours girls were – for a lack of better wording – tongue tied.

Truly, one could say this was a sticky situation. No exaggeration.

With her opponents finally submitted, the girl finally turned way with a scowl on her face.

' _She's getting away!'_ Lucy tried to move, but the sticky gum all over her wasn't helping. The more she struggled with the others, the more strenuous it became to get out of. They eventually realized that their magic wouldn't help them escape this time.

But, there was still something they could try.

Lucy's eyes widened when she found out a solution to this. While she couldn't reach for anything on hand, there was one thing she didn't have to reach to be useful. "Hphhi!"

Hearing her muffles, the speedy Key Ring Pokémon showed up in front of Lucy, having backed off the whole time.

Everyone looked t Lucy with shock at her means of making use of the situation.

Lucy kept muffling, but Klefki wasn't understanding any of it. All she did was tilt her head in question until she figured Lucy wanted the restraints on her mouth off. The creature with a thing for keys used her horn and scrubbed it beside Lucy's mouth. It got the majority off and she flung it elsewhere.

"Man that's so gross…" Lucy sighed. "Klefki! Stop her!"

Klefki looked ahead, where she saw the Gum Mage make a getaway. "Okey-doke!" With her impressive energy, she zipped through the atmosphere and off towards Liz.

Juvia and Wendy glanced at each other to see what they were thinking as well. When they picked up on it, they could still feel Poke Balls in their pockets. It was a rough handle, but with enough moving around, they were able to squirm enough to get the Poke Balls to roll out from beneath them. They expanded and popped open, revealing Eevee and Swablu both look at them with neutral expression.

"Hi guys!" Eevee chirped. "Oh, Juvia, what happened?"

"Wendy, you okay?" Swablu asked.

"Never mind us!" Lucy stammered. "We'll be fine! Just do whatever you can to stop that girl!" Wendy and Juvia muffled as they nodded with her.

Both Eevee and Swablu gave the other bizarre looks. They would've questioned more on what she meant or why this happened, but they chose to dismiss and hurry up towards Liz. The followed Klefki as they chased Liz down the alley, closing in as fast as possible.

"She's up ahead!" Klefki shouted.

"Yay! Let me try!" Eevee sprung ahead, passing her allies and zipping in front of the weakened Liz. With her in front, Liz looked down in shock, and admiration, as she was cornered by the adorable Eevee.

Eevee tilted her head, giving a **Baby-Doll Eyes** like she did before. Everything was pink around her as she cooed with bright eyes at Liz.

The Gum Mage found her cheeks turning bright pink as she found the Eevee completely adorable. It was like looking at the cutest pet times infinity, and even that didn't compare to the sparkles in its eyes.

Realizing she was getting distracted, she tried to shake her head to get any cute thoughts out of her system. She spat gum in front of Eevee, giving her a warning shot that stopped the Normal-type's distraction and jump away from shock.

"Now! **Fairy Lock!** " Klefki's body glowed bright gold as her body expelled golden chains all around. The chains went everywhere, stopping Liz when she realized that golden chains with locks on them were all around her. She looked around, realizing she wasn't alone.

As Klefki was doing her job, Swablu flapped her wings beside her. She opened her mouth, where inside, notes began to glow out. " **Sing!** " She began to hum a sweet, soft voice, one very familiar to the one she used to subdue Klefki back when she was still wild.

The musical notes went towards Liz, where they were passing her and her radio antennae atop of her head. The sweet melody was so close that when it touched her antennae, it was like getting hit by a fluffy cloud. Almost instantly, it felt like a small wave of soothingness was washing over her.

Her eyes began to get drowsy, and everything around her was starting to get fuzzy. She tried to turn and get away, but she found her exit blocked by Fairy Lock. With nowhere to go or run, the notes were jumbling everywhere, and the hypnotic notes and humming was finally wearing down her mind. She finally dropped to a knee, her conscience fading.

Eevee smiled wide behind. "Alright, we got her!" She ran back to the others, passing Liz and looking back with the others.

With enough of a struggle, though it was a hassle, they had to take it slow. Lucy eventually was able to extend herself away from the rest, while the others were separating slowly.

"Man, this stuff is nasty." Lucy whined. Once she got enough off her hands, she looked back ahead. "Alright then, now guys!"

"We're on it!" Once again, Wendy and Carla went at Liz with all they had. Winds surrounded the Sky Dragon's arms, as to where Carla's leg was brought back once close enough.

Once up close and personal, they let her have it.

" **Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!** "

" **White Moon!** "

Carla kicked with all her might while Wendy passed her, swallowing the drowsy mage in a turbulence from her arms. The Gum Mage was in shock s she found her world spinning like a top, and she didn't even know which way was up to begin with.

"Now guys!" Wendy shouted.

"Right!" Lucy nodded, with Juvia right beside her. "You ready, Juvia?"

The rain woman nodded. "I am."

The two girls glared forward; brown and blue eyes seething at the mage before them. They were ready and willing, and with what they had, their yellow and blue auras enveloped their bodies. Lucy extended her left hand, and Juvia extended her right. Their fingers interlocked as a radiant whirl of golden energy began to spin around them like a helix. Following that was a small veil of spinning water. The two helixes began to intertwine, becoming a vortex of blue and gold water overlapping one another as it surrounded them.

They aimed forward, the vortex turning ahead of them.

" **Unison Raid!** "

The massive vortex rushed passed them as went speeding with Celestial and Water Magic fused in one spiraling missile that went at Liz. Her eyes widened as she found no way out of this one, and was swallowed in the cyclone that picked her up and sent her soaring, soaked with golden sparkles rain down with the drizzling rain. The Gum Mage fell to the alleyway with a pained thud on her side, her eyes shut as she laid unconscious. The others looked on as they were able to beat her, rejoicing at last.

"Alright!" Klefki, Eevee, and Swablu all cheered.

Lucy sighed in relief. "That was easier said than done."

"I'll say." Carla looked at Wendy. "Just look at you, you need a bath!"

Wendy looked at Carla with a smile of her own. "You can use one, too."

A stomp came from a brown boot that hoisted a certain someone. They all stopped their celebrating when Juvia beamed with pride. "I told you, you would get just desserts for tampering with our undying love!"

A moment of silence fell before everyone finally dropped a unison bead of sweat.

* * *

"Charmander, **Ember!** " Natsu punched forward as he gave the command.

Charmander opened his mouth and expelled a blanket of orange sparks at Griffon. The Wire Mage attached wires above and flung himself above to dodge. While in midair, he let go of the current wires and lashed out more wires down at Charmander.

In the blink of an eye, glints were seen as the wires were cut into pieces before reaching Charmander, revealed to be done by Gajeel with his **Iron Dragon's Sword** extended to the side.

"Thanks for the save." Natsu thanked.

Gajeel retracted his sword back into his arm, keeping a glare fixed on his opponent. "Don't mention it."

"Better be careful, too. If you get too close, he'll pull a trap on ya like he did with me."

"Got it."

Griffon glared at them and raised his hands up. "You think even from a distance you're safe?" To prove contradictory at its finest, he lashed out more wires, spreading them all around. The long wires stuck into walls, against the alleys, going as far as surround Natsu and everyone in a web of wires.

They all looked around as the wires were everywhere, slanted, cutting into everything, it was like a massive spider web that was spread out.

"Man, he's trying to slow us down again." Natsu figured.

"Yeah, this is getting annoying." Gajeel agreed. He looked ahead, seeing as how a few weak threads were surrounding his Aron. The little guy looked around wearily as his space was surrounded. _'The little guy's boxed in. Better play defense then.'_ He reached out, giving a command. "Aron, don't move! Use **Harden!** "

"Okay!" Aron looked back and nodded. He looked back upfront as his whole body stiffened. A shimmering filament temporarily covered his body as a red aura increased his Defense.

Griffon fiddled one of his fingers. "Well I hope you rethink that move." He clutched tight before pointing three fingers at Aron. Three small threads went through the small window in front of Aron and snared his stubby arms, as well as the small horn on his back.

Aron looked shock, as to where Gajeel looked bewildered. "No!"

"And around you go!" Using his wires and hand, he whipped them around, with Aron following in tow. Despite being over 200 lbs. of raw iron, the little Pokémon was picked up surprisingly with little effort. Griffon swung and lashed him everywhere, where the little guy screamed as he whirled around towards his allies.

"Look ou~~t!" Aron warned. Charmander was in his line of site. The Lizard Pokémon was slammed first, falling to the ground.

"Charmander!" Natsu gasped, before Aron whirled around. He ducked, avoiding it in time.

Gajeel was next to avoid as he ducked as well. Griffon recoiled and lashed out again, sending Aron back at them. With the heavy weight he had, coupled with his recent move making his body that much harder, it was like swinging around the world's smallest wrecking ball. With each whirl, he was flailing about with no control at Natsu and Gajeel, who continued dodging the lobs and swings. Finally, Griffon retracted Aron one more time and pivoted, swinging and flinging Aron dead ahead. As he flew, he deliberately undid the wires to give him great momentum to fling.

"AH~!" Aron went sailing with no help, and all he did was pass over the dazed Charmander and right at Gajeel, who frowned angrily.

The Dragon Slayer extended one arm out. One arm, and that was all it took to stop Aron cold. He didn't even slide back a couple feet because he was iron himself. He held Aron by the underside, but held him out with an insidious scowl at Griffon. "Not. Cool." He growled low.

Charmander groaned as he dizzily tried to get up again. "Owww…man. Did someone catch the number of that Tauros?"

"Hey, Charmander, you alright?" Natsu called out.

"Yeah…but quick question. Is everything supposed to be green?"

Aron shamefully sweat-dropped. "Sorry…"

"Told you he plays dirty." Natsu angrily reminded.

Griffon didn't hesitate to attack. He clutched his fingers again, this time making the threads limiting everyone's movements become loose like wet noodles. He whipped forwards, sending them arching like spears at Natsu and Gajeel. Both leaned to opposite sides and dodged. However, as they flew behind, the strands all arched into each other, making wires nets that could border wrestling rings. Griffon pulled and brought them back behind them. As they closed in, Natsu crouched and tumbled. He went clean through the spacing between the two chords, making it to the other side. Meanwhile, Gajeel did one turn and swung his arm, which was morphed into a sword again that sliced the strands back into pieces. The pieces retreated back to Griffon's sleeves as he leered at them.

"You guys are pretty fast thinkers, I'll give you that." He praised.

Natsu didn't seem too pleased by the words. "You just playing around or what? Because I'm not here for a medal just for showing up.

"That so? How'd you even find us here anyway?"

"We've got ourselves some smart friends who know their way around stuff."

"I see…"

"So tell me, why were you stealing all that stuff?" Natsu finally asked. "You know it ain't nice to steal from others, especially when they're just doing their job."

Griffon smirked. "Well what do we have here? Pot calling the kettle black I see."

Gajeel stepped forward. "C'mon, Salamander, these guys are just beating around the bush."

Natsu relented. "Yeah, you're probably right. Besides, I'm not in the mood to talk with him after what he pulled on me my friends."

Griffon's eyes drew to be a dull shade. He looked at Natsu with a less than amused expression. It looked like he was catching on, but he seemed to be seething with anger about something, something that was making the hair on his flesh prickle.

Natsu smirked maliciously. "Let's see how you handle a little noise being made! Alright Charmander, use **Growl!** " The Fire-type did as commanded and opened his mouth, exerting a loud shriek that sent distorting waves out. They passed Griffon as he covered his ears, lowering his offensive power some.

He managed to keep one eye open as he leered at ahead, smirking. "That's some noise you're making!" he shouted. "Let's shut you up then!" From his fingers once more, thick, shredding wire was whipped ahead.

Natsu smirked as he had his own idea come up.

Charmander finished his attack and backed off, allowing Natsu to step in front and light up in a searing cloak of fire. The bright flames were deep and pulsating. As the wires closed in, the heat from Natsu's flames weren't fazing them. But the filament they were covered in was completely shimmering the flame's light everywhere. The light reflected into Griffon, forcing him to cover up.

As the light from Natsu's flame remained bright, Gajeel took a big breath with his mouth open wide. " **Iron Dragon's Roar!** " He opened wide, unleashing a turbulence of silver and gray ahead at Griffon.

The Wire Mage opened an eye and turned to see and expanding dark turbulence heading right for him. He narrowed his vision and swiped his arms to make wires cross. The roar, however, continued its course through, swallowing up and devastating the alley. Dust, debris, and a massive cloud shot straight out and into the open street. The dust went far out into the water as well.

On the very edge as dust cleared, Griffon was hanging by a few fingers physically to the very border of the dock. He was just a few feet above the ocean water, where he would've taken a serious plunge. "D-damn…" he grunted painfully as he tried to get up. Though weak, he was able to turn on his hip and huff.

He caught his breath, battered, scraped, and his clothing and cloak all torn up. Ahead, as dust cleared, Natsu and Gajeel looked ahead with smirks.

"Not bad, huh?" Natsu teased.

"Can't believe the guy actually held on. Didn't think his wire would loosen the blow." Gajeel balled his fists. "So, who gets dibs now?"

Griffon smirked. "Still me."

"Huh…?" Gajeel was in the midst of questioning when he felt something crawling beneath his skin. He looked down at his chest, where he felt what seemed like worms underneath the surface. What he saw instead, was that it wasn't worms…but threads.

Natsu went wide-eyed. "Gajeel!"

Gajeel couldn't feel himself move. The wires that were inside him were worming around his muscles, making it hard to move at the moment. "What the…hell?" He could feel the pain flare as he tried to move, but it was easier said than done. In fact, across his chest, he could actually see vein-like threads travel. His eyes were wide with slight twitching. "When did this happen…?" he strained.

"Those…?" Griffon panted as he slumped to his feet at long last, albeit hunched. He wiped the blood off his lip with his sleeve. "Guess you don't have sharp eyes then, huh? Those wires weren't made just to block. They were made so they could travel along your little blast you gave me, leading right back to sender."

Natsu looked back t Gajeel with a gasp.

Griffon tightened the grip on his wires. "Thought I wasn't that crafty, huh? These wires are tough; even if you can cut them with your body, that's not to say the rest of your insides are mush. Once they get around your heart, it's game over."

"Gajeel!"

Gajeel couldn't move. He was completely immobilized. Natsu would've moved to get him free, but the threads were sharp, and were fireproof. All he did was glare daggers as he was letting another friend of his take blunts because of his incompetence. He was starting to feel his blood boil as his fangs showed. He seethed daggers at Griffon. His onyx eyes sharp as knives.

Inside of Gajeel, the strings were loosely tangling around his insides, especially around his heart. He could feel it. He looked ahead in shock as he saw Griffon reel his arm back, slowly tightening.

"Now…" he flung his arm back. " **Surgeon Strangle!** "

The wires finally tightened, making a loud snap sound echo through the alley.

* * *

Levy gasped. She felt something in her stomach that hurt, forcing her to turn towards the city.

"Levy?" Pantherlily asked. "You okay?"

Levy kept looking out, her brown eyes never leaving the city. She didn't know for certain, but she felt it deep down something went wrong. She looked back at the pier, watching the half-moon hang over the sea and shine its radiance down upon it.

"It's nothing."

* * *

Gajeel was stiff as a board. A silence fell all throughout the atmosphere as a small, subtle wind blew. Natsu was completely silent with surprise, as to where Griffon grinned with satisfaction. Charmander and Aron both looked back, eyes wide in horror at what they were seeing; Aron especially was flabbergasted.

"No…"

Griffon scoffed. "Sorry, pal…it's just the way the world is."

Ny second now, Gajeel's body would fall to the ground, dead. His eyes were wide still from the shock he felt, but as time went on, nothing happened…until he smirked.

"Nice try."

Griffon gasped in dumbfound disbelief. Aron and Charmander gasped as well.

"He…didn't choke?" Charmander questioned.

"G-guess not…" Aron muttered.

Griffon stumbled backwards, almost falling off the border. He looked at Gajeel with utter shock. "B-but how?!"

The Iron Dragon Slayer never lost his smirk. "Guess no one told you…" With one twitch of his entire body, the threads attached to him completely shattered. The veins all inside could feel themselves getting absorbed into his metallic form. "I'm not called 'Black Steel Gajeel' for any dumb reason you know, my guts are made of iron!"

Griffon was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe his trump card completely failed him. He was always able to beat soldiers in any ways this way, even fully armored ones. They would get in the tiniest strands and get through fabric, but not this time. His wires could stand heat, but not iron. That was the flaw, nd now he was gonna pay.

Natsu's surprised turned into a smirk. "…heh, you almost had me worried there."

Gajeel stood his ground. "Wanna finish this?"

"Yeah, lets." He reached out first. "Charmander, **Ember!** "

"Aron, **Mud-Slap!** "

Charmander opened his mouth and fired a blanket of orange sparks, whereas Aron stomped his stubby feet into the ground and summoned a thin stream of mud that traveled with the other attack.

Due to shock, Griffon could only think so fast. In a hurry, he made the same X with many threads to slice up the attacks. As they closed in, however, the sparks and the mud only slipped right through. _'Oh no, my wires can cut pressure and solid, but soft stuff-!'_ Before he knew it, mud and sparks splattered his face. He recoiled away as the searing embers and brown mud stained his vision. He screamed out in pain and held onto his face, wailing on the spot.

As he was wailing, everyone saw the opening they were looking for.

Gajeel looked at Natsu with a smirk. "He's all yours."

The Dragon Slayer was too humbled for words. "Thanks." He faced forward and readied himself. His feet shot fire that burst beneath, shooting him like a high-speed rocket at Griffon. He zipped pass Charmander and Aron, who flinched as Natsu passed them in a streaming fire jet.

Griffon was wiping mud from his eyes when he felt a strong heat signature resonating from close by. She turned forward, but was too late when something hot and fast furiously began to beat into him.

" **Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!** "

Flames enveloped in flames, Natsu was punching with no end in sight. One furious punch across the face lead to another to the chest. And to the chin, to the face, to everywhere along the upper body. As the punches flared, harsh flames expelled everywhere, heated shockwaves pulsating everywhere as the flames smashed and broke the ground beneath, one whiplash at a time.

"This one's for Happy, and Carla! And this one's for my arm! And this one's for all the Pokémon you stole!" Natsu was listing off everything that he could possibly know and judge while flaming bullets bombarded Griffon as he was in midair. His body a loose ragdoll that was flimsily flailing with every punch, until Natsu let loose one final uppercut into the jaw. The guy went sailing skywards, leaving the air around him to shift with his scarf.

"Oh wow! That was awesome!" Charmander awed his Trainer's power, deeply impressed.

"Is that guy that crazy all the time?" Aron asked Gajeel, completely eying Natsu with awe.

The fellow dragon smirked. "Believe me, he's usually worse."

Natsu kept his back turned as the residual flames around him dissipated. Falling from above was Griffon, slamming on his back hard with a grueling thud. Natsu kept his back turned to the tattered and scorched Wire Mage, whose eyes were white blurry marbles. "You remember what you said before, about fates worse than death?"

The man was unable to respond, but Natsu went on anyway with a shadow over his face as he stared out at the half-moon.

"Well there is…it's called living with burdens you need to accept. And if you can't do that, consider yourself worse than scum until someone beats it into ya."

* * *

Along the darkened street, it was all bare, with nothing but darkness casting its presence upon everything around. On the occasion, blue and teal lights flashed, igniting the darkness like fireworks every few seconds.

Vanessa reached her arms out, creating a concentrated sphere of aura in front of her palms. " **Trace Shot!** " She fired the blast dead ahead, beaming at Orion, who didn't bother dodging. Instead, his fist ignited in dark energy and he punched into the attack, dissipating it like vapor.

With the opening, Gray got above in a dark shadow, crossing his arms as large masses of ice started to form.

" **Ice Bringer!** "

He tried passing Orion like he always did when he used the attack. In fact, upon contact, Orion's forearms were covered in ice. He slid back with Gray's intense force driving him away, but he persevered. As he slowed to a stop, he turned to make the underside of his forearms face the blades of ice and he grabbed them. He thrust forward, crossing his arms and shattering the ice to pieces.

Gray looked shocked, which was the opening Orion needed. With a single dark stare from his eyes, he had Gray fixated as he brought his dark-coated fist back. " **Dark Devil's Fist Driver!** " He punched forward, enveloping Gray in a prolonged blast of sheer dark energy that made the ground beneath shake and depreciate. It broke about as the bema traveled across the ground, sending Gray screaming back from the fist end.

"Gray!" Vanessa watched as the attack take up everything before her. The street was nothing by a compressed trail that was broad once the beam dissipated. Gray was sent sailing back, in which she used her aura to reached out and grab him. She gently sat him down on his back in front of her, his front body having some bruises and scrapes on it.

"Are you alright?" she called out.

Gray grunted as he slowly got up. "Gnnngh…" He wiped blood from his lip. "Don't worry…I've been hit harder." He soon stood on his feet, glaring back at Orion. _'But that guy sure packs a punch. Nic wasn't exaggerating when he was a physical fighter, and fighting long-range doesn't do much either. Just how the heck do we handle his Devil Slayer powers anyway?'_

' _It's almost midnight. I have to hurry and deal with these two before time runs out.'_ Orion figured.

Vanessa turned towards Gray. "Gray…"

"Yeah, I know. I heard it, too." He answered. "Nic's got what we needed. Let's just finish up with this guy and be done with this."

Before he could find answers to these questions, Orion's two fists were enveloped in dark wavy energy. He eyed them carefully as he crossed his fists in front of the other before he swung them in opposite arcs.

" **Dark Devil's Wave!** "

An expanding shockwave of darkness expelled from his arms swinging. The two crescents soon became one giant wave of darkness. It traveled like an actual plume from a Lava Plume forwards, disintegrating dirt and debris that it came in contact with. As it closed in, Gray and Vanessa both got misty ice and teal ready.

" **Ice-Make: Rampart!** "

" **Aura Guard!** "

A large glacier of ice formed in front of Gray and Vanessa. In front of that, a large veil of aura acted as a safeguard. The massive shockwave of darkness soon reached Vanessa's veil, in which it struggled to break through. There was a short-term stalemate before both attacks collapsed, creating massive tremor that shook the ground with smoke bellowing up over the rampart of ice.

"Think that stopped him?" Gray figured.

Vanessa narrowed her eyes next. She could feel an immense about of Magic Power coming from the other side. She knew the answer to that question already.

Waves of darkness went through the ice in front of Gray before they all suddenly crumbled to bits. Gray was petrified in shock and began to fall backwards as Orion went through the wall with one dark-coated fist. His glare was ever so serious, and his frown made it almost impossible to tell what emotion he was making. It was like looking into someone who knew death and battle that coincided with the middle.

As time sped up again, the ice dissipated as Orion punched with his other arm, but Gray caught himself and jumped backwards to avoid the menacing blow. Its destructive gusts and rock picked up about and disintegrated around Orion as he slowly picked himself up and glared ahead.

The two readied again as Orion eyed them.

"Is there a reason why you want to fight me specifically?" he asked.

The question towards Gray, the Ice-Make Mage glared ahead. "What gives you that idea?"

"I can see it in your eyes. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, no matter how small that window is. And what I see is someone who's looking for questions."

Vanessa looked towards Gray, picking up on his aura change. It was getting…remorseful.

"How do you know that's what my eyes say."

"Because it's a power we Devil Slayers have." Orion explained. "Pain. Hatred. Despair. Anguish. You can know a lot from hearing from just the mouth, but the eyes are another story. While I heard you Dragon Slayers have heightened sense of hearing and smell, we Devil Slayers have a more spiritual boundary we are able to cross."

"What's that mean?"

"It means I can tell what's in your soul. Your heart is saying the job's important, but you also want to know something more from me personally. That's what I can read."

A looming silence fell between the trio. Vanessa offered no input as Gray stared cold daggers at Orion. His magic was cold, but his stare was chilling. Just looking at them would make anyone freeze on the spot. But Orion wasn't just anyone. It looked like he was pitying Gray more.

"Alright then…" Gray took another stance, fists to the side as he tried to gather energy up. The energy, however, shifted into something that had an odd feeling that Orion could pick up on.

' _What?'_

As Gray was trying to take a breath, he was doing his breath to suck in as much air as Natsu. He was going to try again. As his lungs and the cold vapor inside were starting to mix, he was starting to flash again. He saw a grizzly figure that was himself when he fought Nic and E.N.D. That memory froze him on the spot, leaving him to hesitate.

"Gray!"

The shout came just in time as Gray snapped back to notice Vanessa moving in front in time to put up another **Aura Guard** , blocking the sudden punch from Orion out of nowhere. The whole wall shuddered as a shockwave pulsated outwards.

"Vanessa!" he exclaimed.

Vanessa was able to hold her ground for a moment, until she and Orion were finally able to cancel the other out. They both withdrew their shields and fists and jumped back several feet from the other. Vanessa stood besides Gray as he seemed distraught.

"Vanessa…thanks for that." He looked at her with a frown, but truthfully he was cursing himself for hesitating. He looked back ahead to face the fellow Devil Slayer. _'What was I thinking? Of course that wouldn't work. Not right now at least, after…'_

Once again, a grizzly image came inside his head, the part where Nic in Giratina Form tore through Gray and E.N.D's demonic spirits. He could still feel the sting to this day.

Vanessa looked forward, choosing to stay on task. She knew what Gray was thinking and felt, and she really did feel sorry for him, but that wasn't a problem she could solve. Regret was a strong aura she could see clearly.

Orion looked at Gray and reaffirmed his posture. _'That power shift I sensed just now. It can't be, can it?'_ He could feel the swell of regret in his eyes, deep, deep down in the abyss. There he could feel it. "That magic you tried to use…I see…so you're a Devil Slayer s well then."

Gray didn't respond immediately. "…you can say that."

Vanessa reached for the belt on her side and pulled out a Poke Ball. She expanded a Poke Ball and tossed it up. "Let's go, Mawile!"

Gray shifted his motives; he chose to follow Vanessa's led. "Let's show this guy even more new tricks that can work." He threw his Poke Ball next.

Popping out in front of them both were Mawile, who looked ahead casually while Snover appeared right beside her.

"Alright, guess the big girl needs a helping hand." She sighed.

"Right! Let's show this guy some manners!" Having a confidence spree, Snover curled up some before his body expelled a brief mist. The mist dissipated quickly, but above, small pelts of hail started to rain down on everyone, his Snow Warning Ability kicking in.

"Ow!" Mawile nudged her right wrist. "Hey, watch it!"

Snover sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, uh, s-sorry."

"Right, I forgot Snover's Ability was that." Gray said. "So this hail doesn't affect Ice-types?" he asked Vanessa.

The Aura Mage nodded. "Yes, but every other type is affected."

"Got it."

As they were going over the basis of coordination, Orion was glaring at the Pokémon he was facing, while staring at Gray at the same time. He knew he was going to be different, but he didn't think it would be that different. Fighting another Pularis was one thing, but a Devil Slayer in question was a whole other story. He wasn't sure how to feel, but what he did know was that he wasn't going to let this slide.

"I see you're getting serious if you're bringing in more allies then. Very well…"

The pressure around them all began to change once more. Mawile looked up and about while Snover seemed confused and unnerved. Gray and Vanessa could feel a strong energy shift from Orion as the dark wavy purple energy formed around his fists again. Only this time, it looked like they were condensing.

Gray began to take a step back. "This power…"

Vanessa offered no input as the aura around Orion was starting to exert even more pressure.

The dark mist that was beginning to rise from the wavy energy was beginning to fume. When he snapped his arms, both changed completely with the energy around them, transforming into large, ridged gauntlets with spiked knuckles and deep claws. The clothing remained the same, but his eyes were turning yellow as a dark, negative energy field enveloped his body. All that could be seen now…was black mist from a dark silhouette with yellow eyes with dark purple glowing accents all over the clothes and body. He almost looked like a cross between a shadow and Acnologia one might say from the radiant dark force that was pulsating, making everyone stumble back a foot.

"Then let me show you what a _true_ Devil Slayer can do!"

A few moments later, the entire block was engulfed in a ground-shaking eruption of darkness that spread through alleys and up like an inferno.

* * *

Close by, as darkness erupted in a catastrophic manner everywhere else, it only reached so far to streets, but the open alley intersection where Duncan was fighting Broly was still staff. He reached out, his Torterra once again responding with another **Leaf Storm** attack.

"Wanna fight some more?" Broly reached his arm out, creating another barrier. Same as before, the Grass-type attack crashed into the shield, only to pulsate in other directions. Its shockwaves made large debris around them slice up to smaller chunks, but otherwise nothing more.

Duncan gripped his kendo stick tighter as he opted to attack. His Torterra ceased his offense and backed down, leaving room for Duncan to make way through the debris and lunge ahead with his stick stretched out to give a good whacking.

"Child's play." Broly teased.

Duncan quickly closed the gap and was seen crouching. He quickly jumped up, ready to swing down on the shield. Broly thrust forward, expanding the radius of the dome around his body to jut Duncan. The man went flying backwards, soaring into a tumble in front of Torterra. He rebound easily and rolled, stopping with little damage.

"You guys sure do seem to pack quite a bit of power on ya. I am impressed." Broly reached his right arm around. "But alas…"

The shield around him vanished, instead surrounding Duncan and Torterra. Both Trainer and Pokémon looked up and around, finding their space raptured in a dome. It closed them in on all sides, leaving no way for them to move about and around.

Broly turned away, grinning ever so casually. "Sorry, but I've got a rendezvous. Hope you can understand."

He began walking away, leaving Duncan and Torterra behind. "Wait a sec." Duncan called out.

Broly stopped in his tracks, still facing an open alley between two dumpsters far away from each other. "Don't worry, the barrier won't hold forever. If you send that bird again, I'll have to defend myself somehow."

"Not, that's not it."

Broly looked back over his shoulder. "Huh?"

To a surprising twist, Duncan wasn't seen with his frown. Instead, he was seen with a half-grin instead. "That's not what I meant." He corrected. "I just hope that _you_ understand."

"What?" Broly turned around, facing his captive with a battle-ready posture.

A moment passed, leaving nothing to happen. Soon enough, Duncan finally smirked.

"Now!"

The two dumpster lids finally sprung open, Joey and Dereece popping out with loud battle cries like Vigoroth.

Broly looked shocked. "What the-?!"

"YAAAAH!" Joey screeched, holding tomatoes in hand.

"HAAAAH!" Dereece roared in the other dumpster.

Both them, Chespin, and Heracross were all holding tomatoes in hand as they all roared out. What was surprising was how all four had warpaint on their faces, most notably the black marks on their cheeks. Joey and Dereece had wide eyes with red cracks, showing their insanity. All at once, they started the first throws, sending ripe, mushy tomatoes at Broly. They splattered on his face, making him wince with red on the face.

"Incoming~!" The Barrier-Make Mage cried as tomatoes went at him.

Tomatoes were fired over and over again, with no end in sight as Chespin and Heracross helped with claws and vines lobbing tomatoes. Broly had no choice but to put up another barrier around himself, the same dome kind that now vanished around Duncan and Torterra.

Joey roared outs he somersaulted out the dumpster to bunker behind a piece of debris, where he threw more tomatoes to one side of the barrier. It got splattered with tomato paste all over.

Dereece hopped out and army crawled across the debris field. Once he reached a piece of debris, he popped out and unleashed another lob of tomatoes, splattering the opposite side of the barrier Broly used.

At one point, Joey and Chespin let out cries as they ran across the debris field, lobbing tomatoes to cover the front of the barrier. What was seen next was Heracross using his muscles and carrying Dereece overhead like a plane, where he opened his vest and arms to drop tomatoes above like bombs. At another point, Joey bit into the top of a tomato and pulled the stem out. He threw it like a grenade, where he winced as it exploded paste over the barrier's vision. Nonstop, just nonstop, it was relentless tomato after another, and red covered the barrier and Broly inside.

"ALALALALALA!" Joey and Dereece hollered as they exchanged tomatoes. They roared out like monkeys as parries of tomato went everywhere.

All while Duncan and Torterra watched with blank expressions in the middle.

Finally, after several minutes of possibly a world record tomato pasting, red was splattered everywhere like blood on a battlefield. The entire barrier surrounding Broly was pure red, making it impossible to see from inside and outside. They all emerged from the debris Duncan set up, looking at their holy site with admiration.

"Well…I can't believe that actually worked." Dereece huffed, catching his breath.

Joey panted as well. "See? You can't…beat what you can't…see."

Duncan looked beside his Torterra, showing no signs of impression. "Well that had to be the biggest blunder I've ever seen."

Joey gave a thumbs up. "Thanks again for being the bait, Duncan. Setting up that debris meant big time!"

"Whatever."

Dereece shook his head. "Well I'm still shocked we did this all with just tomatoes."

"Hey, how do you think we won that cafeteria fight back when we were freshmen?" Joey pondered. "We were the Cafeterian Warheads. Ha!" He sighed greatly for the good old days. "I still remember doing that every Tuesday before they took it off the menu. Good times, good times."

"And I remember telling you that 'Cafeterian' isn't a real word."

Duncan stepped in between. "So then we just get him when that barrier lifts, right?"

Joey nodded. "Right." He faced forward, with him and The Freaks waiting for their next point of entry to show itself.

Time passed, eventually minutes, but soon enough, the barrier's underside lifted. Just that small window was key.

"Now Chespin, use **Vine Whip!** " Joey called out.

Chespin extended his green vines once more. They all stretched far and low, reaching the barrier's fading bottom. As it lifted, allowing tomatoes and paste to fall over Broly, the Barrier-Make Mage's feet were tied by sudden vines. He looked down, shocked.

"ATTACK!" Joey demanded.

Dereece dug in his heels and cried out as he went at Broly with all he had, charging in a sprint. Duncan followed, him getting his kendo stick ready again. They both closed in, but once again, Broly created a large barrier in front, blocking Dereece and Duncan's attacks, making the former fall on his back.

"Okay, first you dump tomatoes all over me, now you have the nerve to pull this?!" Broly angrily shouted.

Joey swiped his arm. "You bet your ass! Chespin, throw him!"

"O~key-dokey!" The tiny Grass-type pivoted on his two feet, dragging the vines around Broly's ankles to make the man follow. The shocked individual's barrier went down as he was dragged along the ground, where he was yanked occasionally.

"Hey! Ah! This isn't…RI~GHT!" he roared out as Chespin made one final pivot, sending him skywards.

He went to a decent height, where he was in midair and looking flipped out, literally.

Duncan glared up. "Now Honchkrow, use **Dark Pulse!** "

Honchkrow finally took action above, spreading himself out and opening his mouth. "Alright…you're done!" From his mouth, an intense blast of dark rings with purple outlines shot down at Broly. But Broly was ready for it.

The man straightened himself out, facing Honchkrow above him and created a turquoise shield in the shape of a circle. It took the **Dark Pulse** , not bouncing off at all. "You think it's gonna be that easy?!" he roared. "Ain't no way my spirit done yet!"

Beneath, Chespin shot his vines up, stretching them as far and high as he could to where they were closing in beneath. They were so close, but the barrier suddenly extended beneath in an arch, making a huge U to stop Honchkrow and Chespin's attacks.

"Huh?" Chespin gasped.

Broly looked down over his shoulder, grinning. "Don't think that it's gonna be that easy. I may be covered in tomatoes, but I'm not totally blind!"

Dereece looked up with shock. "Man, he's still so sharp!"

"We need to advert his attention above!" Duncan exclaimed.

Joey had to find a way. There had to be done somewhere, right? At any second, he could turn the U into a hamster ball for all he knew to cushion his current fall. But he had to think.

That's when a coo got his attention.

Looking up, he saw that beside Honchkrow, Pidove was still flying in circles, doing it over, and over, and over, and over; all because Joey didn't tell him to do anything yet. But in his tiny claws, he could see it. He could see that he had a tomato in hand…oddly enough. Instantly an idea sprung forth. "Pidove! Attack with the tomato!" he ordered.

"I shall obey!" Pidove aimed down at the barrier before him and looked at Broly. The Tiny Pigeon Pokémon let loose all his efforts and flung the tomato down at the barrier. As it traveled, his wings glowed, unleashing a **Gust** at the tomato. The winds splattered to tomato into paste, raining down and spewing its ripe chunks all over Broly's barrier, with more coming from the sides.

' _Crap, they still had one trick left!'_ As tomato was getting into his eyes, Broly had no choice but to focus on shielding the front. The radius was so large that it was like a massive umbrella that covered in red as he drew closer to the ground. Broly grunted at the folly made once again, but it was too late.

"Now!" Joey roared.

"Torterra, **Stone Edge!** " Duncan ordered.

Torterra got on his hind legs one more time, where he grunted loud and slammed his front feet into the earth. As the earth trembled, the ground broke with massive pillars of rocks shooting up in linear fashion to where Broly was falling. When Broly finally got to a certain point, the last rock shot up, making him go wide-eyed as he looked over his shoulder, his eyes reflecting the spike on the end.

When his armored back made contact with it, he screamed out in pain as an eruption of stone and dust exploded. It made the ground quake again, exploding with rock and debris everywhere.

The impact didn't stab Broly through, but the shock made him limp as he jutted in the air a few feet above.

Dereece pointed t him. "Quick, Heracross! **Horn Attack!** "

It was Heracross' turn as he lunged from Dereece's side with a glowing horn. "Alright…" He took off in a hurried flight, making way towards the midair man. "Let's finish this! HRAH!"

With one massive thrust of his horn, Heracross made full contact with Broly's abdomen, making a small airwave upon impact. The massive blow shot him back, screaming as he flew far and back towards the dumpster Dereece came out of.

"AH~!" Broly flew all the way out, crashing into the open lid of the dumpster. He bounced right off with a shock running through his body, falling head first as the lid shut on him. In fact, the blow and his weight was so much that the dumpster fell forward, making a loud bang as the Barrier-Make Mage slid out like someone's lunch.

He laid in waste, trash, and especially tomatoes on the ground. With him not moving, it was score one for The Freaks.

"SCORE!" Joey wailed. "We did it! We finally pulled it off!"

"Yeah we…we actually did it." Dereece responded, very surprised that they actually won.

"Well chock this up on our resumé! Hahahaha!"

Chespin jumped and cheered in joy, whereas Pidove descended and gave proud coos beside him. Heracross looked equally as pleased with the rest of the group, standing right behind them.

As they celebrated, Duncan turned towards his Torterra, who looked towards him. "Good enough, for now." He looked unamused as ever as he recalled his Torterra back to his Poke Ball.

Joey smiled ever so proudly. "Man I can't wait! I bet Nic-senpai and Erza-senpai are gonna be so happy with me!" Joey's face grew to be dumbfounded as sparkles took up his gaze. He smiled up above, imagining Nic and Erza with smiles of approval with thumbs up. And then Vanessa would be there to give him a huge band and a tiara on his head, where he would stand atop a stage with Dereece and Duncan looking blank at him as he looked like he won a beauty pageant than praise itself.

"Seriously?" Dereece asked, having been roped into his delusions.

A cough from afar got their attention. They all stopped their mini celebration as a croaky voice coughed up.

"Not bad…" They all looked towards the dumpsters, more specifically at Broly, who was coming around. He seemed to be grinning despite the setback he suffered. "…for rookies."

Joey was taken back by his compliment. "Oh, uh, thanks…I guess?"

"Never thought I'd be handed to by a bunch of tomatoes. One would've guessed Nullification Magic, or maybe an attack from underground…never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed my match would be a tomato pasting."

"Trust me, pal, no one would." Dereece nudged towards Joey. "Take every little thought that's big and crazy with no hopes of acceptation from anyone, and shove it all in one brain."

Joey beamed with pride. "Told you my plan was foolproof."

Broly chuckled meekly. "Well I'll be damned. I knew something was odd about you when we met last time." A small pause fell before he spoke again. "Tell me, were you serious?"

Joey was taken back. "Uh, y-yeah…"

Broly lowered his head. "I see…guess you guys were lucky to have fought someone like me who knows how to take a beating."

Chespin's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you can still…!"

Duncan took a few steps beside everyone and whipped out his kendo stick again. "Should I beat him until he can't move?"

Broly shrugged. "That's what any desperate man would do at a time like this. I don't blame ya." A soft smile came across his face, looking down at the ground where he laid. "Sometimes, the best lessons are learned through the toughest defeats."

Joey stepped in front of Duncan, moving his arm in front to keep him from going on Broly. The Freaks having won for once against a skilled opponent was impressive, but alas, they had important business.

"So what do we do now, Captain?" Dereece inquired. "Do we just leave him here?"

Joey put a hand to his chin, trying to think od what he could do.

Duncan shrugged once again. "Well I say we better get moving. The guy isn't budging, so why bother?"

"I know that, but we can't just leave him here!"

"And I don't see a reason to worry when we have more important problems."

Joey sheepishly scratched his head as he tried to think of what to do. As he seemed strained, he was thinking critically, until at last he got something. He faced the two, who looked to be on the verge of an argument that might go to Duncan's favor. "Guys, you guys just go on ahead. I'll…catch up in a minute."

The others looked at him in shock. "You sure, Captain?" Dereece asked.

Joey nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Just, uh, tell everyone I had to tie this guy up. I gotta take a minute."

Dereece and Duncan looked at each other with wonder, but they mainly dismissed it. With another shrug, Duncan called Honchkrow, who sailed overhead towards the direction they were going. They began to walk that way, with Heracross returning to his Poke Ball before Dereece looked back at Joey one more time, before at long last, he chose to leave Joey.

With them gone, Chespin looked up towards Joey worriedly, while Pidove dumbly blinked. They both followed Joey as he walked up towards Broly, looking down at him with a frown.

A short silence fell between the two before Joey finally broke it. "Sorry about all this. Didn't mean to have to do this to you."

Broly looked away with a cool smile. "Don't beat yourself up over this, kid. You won fair and square." He looked back at him. "But tell me something."

"What?"

"Did you and your friends really have magic on your side?"

It took another moment for Joey to respond. He looked away sheepishly as he rubbed his arm, pink in his cheeks as embarrassment took over. "Er…well we…uh…"

Broly understood. "I getcha." He began to snicker low, in which it began to grow into a small chuckle, which volumized to a loud laughter. The laughing made Joey look at Chespin and Pidove, who seemed surprised by this change of pace. They looked back at him, who finished his laughter. "To think I'd be handed by you guys, it's believable!" he laughed uproariously again.

Joey sweat dropped. "Well, when you put it that way, I…I guess you're right." He nervously laughed along with him, thinking it would be polite.

"So tell me something. If you don't have magic yet, what other skills can you do?"

Joey put a hand to his chin, raising a brow as he looked up. "Hmm, well, how should I say this? I'm the greatest dancer in the history of my schooling career…I have a great fashion sense! Amazing at interior design, as by Dereece said. Bake awesome brownies and cupcakes. Played Pokémon since I was 7. Been dancing since I was 6. Dress in drag. What else do I do time to time?"

"Dress in drag?" Broly repeated.

Joey shrugged. "Yeah, my mom's this big fashion star and she makes me try all these things. Guess I just got used to it." He smiled. "I even went trick-or-treating one year as the tooth fairy in pink."

Broly laughed again. "You're a strange guy indeed." He complimented. "You know this world can use guys like you who can keep everyone guessing. It would make the world a much happier place that way."

Joey gave a toothy smile as he eyed Broly with admiration. "Thanks. So…do I still have to tie you up or something?"

Broly soon groaned, slowly sitting up cross-legged in the trash. "Nah, I ain't going anywhere. You guys pretty much know what we're doing, and knowing you already beat everyone else, that doesn't leave much for me to do. Better go, before I change my mind."

Joey turned away. "Thanks." Before he took off, he looked towards Broly again. "…you know what, you're a really cool dude."

Broly scoffed lightly. "Joey, was it?"

"Hm?"

"Remember what I said last night about mercy. When you get into a serious fight, you need to save your breath…because if you really want to praise your opponent, do it when they care. Otherwise, your guard will be as dead as you."

Joey was surprised at Broly once more. It was kind of right of what he was saying. If he really was facing some sort of demon dragon creature like Nic did, he wouldn't be praising it while he would be clawed to pieces. It wasn't that he understood now, but in due time, he might need this information. With one more look at Chespin and Pidove, they all looked affirmative before they all turned and retreated with The Freaks.

"Pidove, help me catch up to them!" Joey called out.

"I shall obey!" Pidove cried.

As they went off, Broly grinned at Joey, watching his back fade into the abandoned streets that lead to the pier. _'That kid's got a long way to go…but who knows? Maybe he really does have what it takes to handle the cold of the real world.'_

* * *

Erza and Sophie limped down the street overlooking the pier. They looked ahead with vigilance as they knew they had to get to the docks. However, up ahead, someone appeared out of the alley.

"Is that who I think it is?" Sophie inquired.

Erza could feel a bright smile on her face. _'Thank goodness.'_ She called out to the person. "Nic!"

Hearing his name called, Nic turned to his right. There, he was seeing a familiar blonde and a redheaded girl that was making his heartrate suddenly skip a beat. "Erza! Sophie!"

The group all converged together. They met up and inspected the other. Erza looked at Nic with slight worry.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm just fine. I could be asking you the same thing." He looked towards Sophie, seeing her bruised leg. "Sophie…"

The blonde had one eye open and smiled. "It's nothing. That girl just found an opening. I was careless."

"Stay still, I can heal you." Nic glowed on the spot, becoming his Mind Form once more. He knelt to Sophie's thick thigh and reached out. There, he began to put his hands together and opened them out to released wavy pink ripples, via **Heal Pulse**. The move was like the greatest soothsayer one could say as Sophie's bruise began to slowly fade as the sparkles covered it. It was slowly fading, leaving Sophie relieved.

The blonde sighed heavily in relief. "Thank you, Nic. That feels so much better now."

Nic got up, looking at them both with a more serious expression. "So then you took care of that Take-Over woman then?"

Erza smirked. "She was much tougher than we expected, but we were able to nonetheless. I take it you did your part considering the voice inside our heads."

Nic flashed his own smirk. "You sure that wasn't gut instinct telling you?"

"If my stomach had your voice, then yes."

Sophie rolled her eyes as she stood on her own. "Alright lovebirds, save the cooties for your bedroom or bathroom or wherever."

Nic and Erza both had small blushes on their cheeks, Erza more so as Nic looked away sheepishly. Sophie only served to chuckle some more.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones." A familiar voice came from behind. They turned around, seeing Natsu and Gajeel both walking up to them. "Yo."

"Natsu." Erza said.

"That means you did your part then. That's good." Sophie said, turning towards Nic. "That just leaves Lucy's group, Joey and The Freaks, and Vanessa's."

Nic nodded. "Yeah, let me check." Using his Mind Form's powers again, he looked up towards the sky as he created another telepathic link. _'_ _ **Guys, is everything okay?**_ _'_ he asked.

' _ **Huh? Nic?**_ _'_ Lucy answered.

' _ **You again?**_ _'_ Klefki inquired. She was shushed by Lucy immediately for her rudeness.

' _ **Yeah, it's me. I wrapped up on my part. I met Erza and Natsu's parties. We got three so far dealt with. What about you guys?**_ _'_

' _ **We were able to beat that woman with the gum.**_ _'_ Juvia answered as she hurried with her group while taking a left down an alley.

' _ **Yeah, she was really strong.**_ _'_ Wendy answered.

' _ **I wouldn't say that. More like crafty.**_ _'_ Carla interpreted. _'_ _ **So what do we have then?**_ _'_

' _ **Don't worry, we're coming!**_ _'_ On the connection, they could hear Dereece's panting as he ran behind Duncan.

"Hang on…Dereece?" Natsu inquired. "Where'd you come from?"

' _ **Long story, but hey, listen! We finally stopped that Barrier-Make guy!**_ _'_ he sounded so happy at it, even making a small giddy chuckle that everyone could hear.

Ahead, Duncan kept running. _'_ _ **We're coming up to the pier as quick as we can. Our so-called Captain is just finishing up on that fry we had to beat.**_ _'_

"I see." Nic grinned. "Good job, guys. So from the way it sounds, it just leaves Gray and Vanessa then, right?"

' _ **Hope they're okay.**_ _'_ Wendy worried.

' _ **Yeah, I can't help but worry about them.**_ _'_ Lucy admitted. _'_ _ **I know they're strong, but wasn't their opponent a Devil Slayer?**_ _'_

'… _ **now that I think about it, these Devil Slayers are still something I'm trying to figure out myself.**_ _'_ Gajeel added in. _'_ _ **There's us Dragon Slayers, right? Well where did these guys show up?**_ _'_

' _ **Yeah, and where they get their powers anyway?**_ _'_ Natsu inquired.

Before they could inquire any further, they heard a small explosion from far in to the city. Those possible looked out, seeing a pillar of darkness and Magic Power erupt. Even from their respective distance, everyone running along were seeing the pillar of darkness. Juvia stopped for a moment and turned towards the pillar, her heart racing as she looked on with worry.

' _Gray…'_

* * *

Another voluminous shockwave of dark energy shot Gray and the rest flying back. They all landed on their backs, a shock rendering them stiff for a moment before pain flared all over their bodies. They were laying around while Orion was seen in his altered form, a malicious aura still enveloping him.

"Is that all?"

Gray winced as he slouched up. He swiped his arm, sending a linear wave of large spiky ice across the ground like a Stone Edge. But when it closed in, Orion's silhouette raised its foot and kicked, sending an equally powerful shock rippling through the ground like an Earthquake in return. The ground beneath depressed while the closing ice abruptly shattered to fragments, leaving him unharmed.

"Man, you've gotta be kidding." Gray grunted. In the next instance, Orion suddenly appeared over him. "What the-?!" A foot stomped with incredible force on his chest, making an intense dark force depreciate the ground beneath Gray as he screamed in riling agony.

"Gray!" the wounded Vanessa shouted.

Gray gagged up blood as pain traveled from his possibly cracked sternum. It felt like a huge lead weight dropped and went through him, yet at the same time its weight was right there in the lungs. He could feel himself choke up a storm as Orion glowered over him, his dark field and grim silhouette over him.

"So you say you're a Devil Slayer, but all I feel is nothing but regret and guilt." He said. "If that's all that you feel, then you'll never unlock the true power of a Devil Slayer."

Gray was trying to find his way out of this one, but he just couldn't move. His tendons were shot from the shockwaves, and if he tried freezing him, his body would just break out. He was low on options at the moment, and the falling hail was only hindering his friends even more.

"N-no!" Snover cried out. In an act of instinct, his mouth grew bright blue. " **Icy Wind!** " He fired a cool, fast wind with blue sparkles in them. It coursed through the air and went towards Orion, who looked up and jumped to dodge.

Orion landed a few feet away, glaring at everyone else.

"Yeah, take that!" Snover shouted.

Nearby. Mawile was getting up with her Trainer, the Deceiver Pokémon looking unamused. "Well glad s _omeone's_ enjoying themselves in this fight."

"He's a lot more powerful now than he was before." Vanessa evaluated. "Whatever he unleashed, his Devil Slayer powers look like they consumed him."

"So does that mean he's nuts?"

Vanessa narrowed her vision. "No, it's not like that. His aura isn't tainted. It's still the same hue, but it's all so controlled." She fell silent, looking at Orion the same way Nic used his Giratina Form a long time ago. _'Like he's one with darkness itself now.'_

"I can see it as well." Orion told the Aura Mage. "You too have made peace with your own darkness in your heart. You stepped out of shadows and accepted them."

Vanessa glared at him, not showing any regret or defiance. "And you got that from seeing in my eyes as well then?"

"I have. We Devil Slayers can sense the negativity coming from one's heart. I don't say this often, but finding those like you are once in a blue moon."

"You're too kind." Vanessa brought her arms up, crossing them loosely. " **Nugatory Burst!** "

A strong signature came from beneath Orion. The man abruptly shot back to avoid the intense pillar of teal that shot up in his place. When he landed, he looked back to see Mawile lunging at him with an **Iron Head**. Her massive jaw-like horns were metallic, and she swung them overhead and down like a hammer, making contact with Orion's forearm. Despite the strength it had, it only made the airspace shudder between the two for a few moments before Orion used his other altered arm and grabbed Mawile's horns, where he pivoted and swung around to where he flung her away.

Snover looked ahead, unable to move from his own shock as Mawile slammed into him…again. They both fell over, with both groaning in pain. Mawile winced again from damage as hail kept falling.

Orion raised his fist and punched the ground again, creating a tremor as a linear, massive wave of sheer, pressurized darkness tore open the ground and closed in on Vanessa. As everything before her was perpetual darkness, the Aura Mage cloaked both hands in teal aura and gave a massive shout as she slammed her hands into the ground a few feet before the wave reached her. A massive pillar of teal and darkness swirled in a cyclone that tore through the atmosphere. Everything, from the nearby buildings to the streets, it was all enveloped in the quick burst of erupting energy. Gray covered up as the shockwaves were passing him. He was barely holding on as he found himself still sitting in shock with an arm over his face. Finally, he doubled over, landing on his stomach in pain.

As the bursts of energy pulsated all around, everything was nothing but a big blur. The ground was hardly visible, and the booming didn't recede. It was field like this that exemplified Gray's mind.

As he laid on the ground with one eye open, he wasn't able to move. To be more accurate, he didn't. Everything around him was ringing like a siren, and it didn't help to the constant flashing of images inside his mind. All he saw was E.N.D, Nic, and a lot of red. _'What am I doing?'_ He mentally cursed himself for the umpteenth time. _'What the heck is going on with me? I can do my regular spells just fine, but my Devil Slayer powers, they haven't…'_ Once more, the reminder of what he looked like when he gouged Nic made hi wince. _'Damnit!'_

" _If that's all that you feel, then you'll never unlock the true power of a Devil Slayer."_

Gray had just remembered what Orion told him earlier about his powers, and it only fueled his wonders. _'What does he mean by that? Does he meant that my Devil Slayer powers work better when I am in a better mental condition? But how do I even…?'_

"Gray!"

The shout of Vanessa snapped him out of it. He looked over, realizing the explosions were already over. Up ahead, Vanessa was on her bruised and scraped knees. She was panting profusely as she barely made it out of that shockwave with herself in tact. She looked like she wasn't getting up immediately.

"You just need to let go." She said in between breaths.

"Let go…?" he repeated. "But how do you expect me to?!"

"Because _we_ did!"

Gray was caught shocked by Vanessa's snapping.

Orion suddenly appeared in front of the girl, holding a fist back. As he reeled forward, Mawile managed to jump in front in time and use **Protect** , creating a turquoise barrier that absorbed the impact. The impact's shock traveled around the barrier, again breaking the airspace and ground, but enough to where he was repulsed away this time. Mawile landed in front and lunged ahead to attack again.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Gray. How do you think Nic and I were able to survive?"

Gray knew what she was talking about. He looked down in regret. "And you expect me to just forgive myself for what I've done? It's complicated, alright?! What do you know anyway?!"

"I know it all!" Vanessa reached out and fired an **Emanation Beam** that darted for Orion. The man dodged left, and then leaned back to avoid Mawile's **Iron Head**. "We were there when it happened! Erza was there! Lucy was there! Even Juvia was there! We know what you did was wrong, but Nic has long since forgiven you!"

Gray continued looking away in regret. "…even after, he…"

"It's okay to embrace your darkness, we should know." Vanessa took a pause to look over her shoulder, staring at Gray with a distilled plea in her gaze. "Even now, you think light against darkness is the battle?"

"Well, no…"

"There's no true justice out there for any grave sin committed, but there is justice that you can do to make yourself move on. That's part of being human, not just a demon."

That was the reason. It had to be. On the outside this whole time, Gray was able to hold himself up. He was able to move on for the most part, and now he was – somewhat – moving forward with Juvia. He was able to make her happy, but every now and again, there was still that voice in his head that made his heart sink into regret. He didn't hate Nic or Natsu anymore, he couldn't even if he tried. In a way, it was his fault for getting blinded by his own demonic power handed by his father. He told Nic that he was the one who fell to darkness…when really it was he who was the one who did.

He was consumed by tribulation; a false belief was what drove Gray to insanity and into a demon as hypocritical as E.N.D was. He almost killed Nic, and act he could never truly forgive himself for. What was he even thinking? He just had to accept it, that's what Vanessa had to drill in. Even darkness can be good if used for right reasons.

He didn't want to be taken by the darkness again, never. He was guilty, and feared that using his powers again, history may repeat.

Feeling Gray's growing despair, Orion looked over and saw how immobile he was. Not bothering to allow his breath to be wasted, he shifted targets and lunge at Gray instead.

"Gray!" Vanessa warned.

Gray looked up, but it was too late. Orion reached and grabbed his throat, holding him against the ground with a dark yellow glare in his eyes. Gray was choking as he struggled to move off the ground.

Orion leaned in. "You fear the darkness will take over again. I can taste it in the air."

Gray struggled for words, but he was unable to speak as such, or offer any means of a retort.

"I my feel sympathy for a lot of people…but I can see the sins that you have committed. You've left your friends all for a meaningless cause. You wasted power and precious time that could've helped, but all you did was leave scars on someone who you were afraid of. "His yellow eyes were flaring yellow-orange embers on the sides. "He had strength through a crisis you are currently in, and even after knowing that strength, you hold doubt to competence." He raised his spare fist, making the airspace shudder as the fist enveloped in spiraling purple. "The very same kind that makes man stronger!"

His shouts weren't helping Gray at all. What he was saying, it was all true. Even if he was able to make peace with Nic, even after almost a year went about, the magic he was trying to summon instead came in flashes of demons that haunted him his whole life. In Fairy Tail, he and everyone always believed fighting darkness with light was the ethnic, but to defeat and kill the demonic force in him and Natsu, Nic used darkness. But his darkness was like Orion's; controlled, with no anguish…and astronomically deadly. He wanted – needed – that strength, and he needed it now.

As the fist was compressed in more magic, the flashes in Gray's mind only intensified, almost to where they were flashing near milliseconds. His brain was running on overdrive. _'I gotta…'_ He tried to build up magic again inside of him. _'I need…'_

"Hm?" Orion felt something rush inside Gray, and it was going at an alarming rate.

Vanessa was feeling a strong aura surge from surge. The air around began to grow a little colder as she felt something arise. _'Gray's power…it's shifting again.'_

The memories in Gray's head were flashing to where they were blinding him. They made him unaware of the fist daring to come down on him. _'I need to…I…'_ The memories were flipping so fast that it was like a movie. He was replaying it over and over, to Tartaros when he learned of E.N.D, to where he turned against Nic afterwards, and to where he killed them…then more images began to pile on, like his attempted spell to freeze Zeref, and the tears in Natsu's eyes.

Deeper down, it was like his heart lifted. Just for a second.

Finally, what he remembered, was something more important. The hug and smile Nic gave them both. Friends that stuck together, bearing through darkness one way or another.

At that moment, everything went white, and he felt something coming up his throat.

"GOODBYE!" Orion drive his fist down at Gray.

Gray's eyes suddenly opened, flashing a bright purple. "… _ **BREAK FREE~!**_ " In his mighty shout at Orion, the magic Power he expelled finally let loose. Purple icy energy much like a roar expelled from Gray's mouth and swallowed up Orion and his punch before they made contact. The attack went skywards, becoming a sleek, icy pillar that expanded towards the sky where a lot of people could see it. The expanding raging roar was echoing throughout the streets, with icy mist spreading like dust pass Vanessa and the others as they were trying to hold on.

Vanessa could feel mist and frost gather on her forearms, trying to bear through Gray's shout. She opened an eye, seeing an icy roar expel. _'That spell…it has to be…'_

In the ice that continued flowing like a tsunami, Orion's attack was dissipating as he was completely caught off guard. "What-?!" He could feel his whole body get cold as frost and a bizarre energy flowed at him. His eyes widened as his shadowy silhouette was enveloped in frozen ice. His screams went hysterical as he rose with the attack skywards.

After a short while, Gray's shout finally came to a stop. He finally caught his breath, the raspy breathing he was showing an indication of his exhaustion. He was sitting up, looking shocked with the purple gleam in his eyes slowly receding back to their normal shade.

Everyone else was in shock of what they were seeing. Snover was slouching back with blinking vision, barely comprehending what his Trainer was able to pull off. Vanessa and Mawile were equally as surprised. They all stared at Gray as he looked up, seeing the residue of his attack fading into powdered, icy specks.

"What just…?" He reached his hand out, letting purple sparkles rain down on his palm. He looked down, staring at the fading energy. "Was that…my **Ice Devil's Rage**? But I haven't used any of _those_ spells since…!"

Orion was high in the air, his body completely frozen, partially from shock, but mostly from Gray's attack. He began falling at an alarming level straight down.

Mawile gasped at the opportunity. "Vanessa, now!"

Focusing at hand, the Aura Mage nodded. "Right, I see it as well!" She stood up on her two feet, reaching for something that was shiny and on the tie to the belt of her Poke Balls. "Then let's end this here and now!" She tapped the stone, making it gleam a radiant rainbow aura in beams everywhere. Mawile's body began to glow weakly and radiate magenta light waves. Vanessa's Key Stone corresponded with the rainbow gleams turning into light waves as well, reaching out to Mawile.

Snover looked on, completely shocked at the next change of events. "W-wait, what's…?"

Vanessa and Mawile's eyes simultaneously flashed open. The energy waves connected, turning the connection into bright white rays that traveled down towards Mawile. "Mawile…Mega Evolve!" Vanessa shouted.

The white rays finally reached Mawile, where an energy field burst from her body. She groaned and growled out as nearby rocks began to respond to her growing power, defying gravity and slowly crumbling from pressure. Slowly, her body began to morph, reacting with Mega Evolution. Her hakama she was wearing began to enlarge with her body, and her massive jaw-like horns began to split apart into two large crooked monstrosities.

As the transformation began to draw to a close, the creature inside the ominous light turned around to have the monster jaws face forward. The light finally exploded, allowing shock to settle for a second before a gust picked up, making dust blow everywhere, forcing Gray to cover up. As it soon passed, he looked back with shock on his face.

"Hold on, is that what I think it is?" He stared at Mega Mawile, feeling a powerful presence around her. The energy she was giving off was making him grow goosebumps.

As Orion fell straight down, Mega Mawile spread her feet and glared up at the frozen creature. "Alright, Vanessa, ready?"

Vanessa nodded. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

They both waited, until once he was at a height did Vanessa reach out with the command.

" **Play Rough!** "

Mega Mawile let out a loud hum as she reeled her head back and then lashed backwards, or rather in this case forwards. The mouth horns anchored into the ground, where Mega Mawile's body began to flip over like a balance beam and fling herself with her horns at Orion. At takeoff, a small ripple of dust dissipated. She twisted and went flying up at Orion, ready to attack.

The air pressure was beginning to crack the ice around Orion. It was thin, but the shock was finally wearing off. As cracks began to form, his body began to slowly lurch and struggle to break free. It took a moment before his entire body convulsed, breaking the last of the ice around him. As he descended, he twisted his body to look back at Gray. _'That attack, that was no mistaking it…'_ Even with the distance, he could see into black eyes of Gray Fullbuster. In them, a silence brewed. _'So he managed that one attack then. At that moment, he was able to forget and-!'_ His attention drew towards another glint shooting at him towards his right. "What…?" His eyes widened when he saw that similar creature Vanessa ordered about shoot at him, but it was fling with great force.

Mega Mawile cried out as she closed the gap as fast as she could, but she could only catapult herself so far. As Orion plummeted, Mega Mawile was in his face. For a short moment, time slowed down between the two for the Devil Slayer to take in what was happening, before he was finally met with a fist first.

A smoke cloud enveloped Orion, completely swallowing up the cloudy dark shadow he created from his magic release. Inside, bashes and bombarding blows were dished out in relentless fashion. His body was the dummy as Mega Mawile kicked with her right across his face, then the left across the other side, then punched the forehead, making him reel back in a gag, before at long last, Mega Mawile's merciless beating concluded with her raising her horns overhead with a shout, before they were swung straight down on the Devil Slayer's head.

At impact, a ripple of air exerted, immediately dissipating the smoke cloud. The swing followed through, sundering Orion head-first straight below like a raging comet that was thrown off course. Beneath Mega Mawile, the ground broke to diced pieces with dust waves rising, making a web of uneven earth jump up.

The ground palpitated as dust filed out. Vanessa and the others watched. Within their shock, Vanessa was realizing nothing was tapping her head. She looked up, seeing Snow Warning was finally over.

"Huh?" Gray looked up as well, seeing his Snover's Ability inactive. The Frost Tree Pokémon looked up in awe and wonder as well, more or less from the power he witnessed.

Mega Mawile landed on the ground in front of Vanessa, frowning in wait over the dust settling. Slowly, their prayers were answered when the last of the dust was settling, revealing Orion struggling to stand in the center of a crater of depressed earth. In it, the misty of darkness once surrounding him was nothing more than specks of embers barely emanating from the shoulders and other parts. He tried to stand, but he finally gave in, collapsing on his stomach and laying with shadows over his eyes.

A long moment of silence fell as they looked at their opponent.

"We…we did it!" Snover gasped.

Vanessa sighed in relief. "That went less likely than what we expected." She and Mega Mawile looked towards the other. Mega Mawile began to envelop herself in an energy field that flashed, reverting her to her normal state.

Vanessa walked up, smiling down at Mawile. "Are you alright, Mawile?"

The Steel/Fairy-type beamed with pride. "Don't worry too much. I am still standing, aren't I?"

Vanessa giggled lightly at her Pokémon's confidence. "As expected. Still, I had a feeling his Dark Devil Slayer powers _could've_ been Dark-type. Hitting with a super effective Fairy-type attack seemed like the most liable option."

Mawile looked back at the defeated adversary. "Still, he was pretty strong. Just what is he anyway?"

Vanessa followed Mawile's gaze. She was beginning to question that herself. From the looks of it, he seemed demon, but his aura was pure. It was controlled, but the way he made it look so easy. It only left her even more unnerved. "I don't know."

Snover looked towards Gray in his confusion. The supposed Devil Slayer was sitting up, putting a hand to his forehead. He had a knee up to support himself. He was frowning down at the ground in growing regret, but at the same time, his mind was so conflicted. It was making his brows furrow in annoyance. When he thought back to it, he felt like a lead weight was leaning off his heart, but now it was back. But for that one moment, Gray felt that surge of strength that he once had. Now one question remained, and he removed his hand from his forehead to do so. _'How did I do that?'_

* * *

The magical energy that was rampaging about earlier was starting to dissipate, and it was felt almost immediately by everyone, even out by the docks.

Levy perked her head around as she felt a sudden change in pressure. "You guys feel that?"

Pantherlily looked out with crossed arms. "Looks to me that the others are wrapping up."

"Aye!" Happy cheered.

Pantherlily turned back towards the sea. "But don't let your guard down just yet. It's almost midnight. Huh…?" He began to trail off, getting the others' attention.

"What is it?" Happy looked out, his wonders transcending to the moonlight.

Levy turned back, gasping as she saw something heading their way. In the distance, far within the moonlight, they could see a very small ship, almost the size of a sailboat. It was closing in quite moderately, but the distance could be clear to indicate when it could be docking. It just kept closing, much to their wonders.

* * *

Nic ran down the street, heading off towards the docks with everyone else behind. He was still in his Mind Form, wanting to keep the telepathic link up in the events of anymore disturbances. _'_ _ **Levy, are you there?**_ _'_

After a moment of silence, the link got her voice. _'_ _ **Yeah, I'm here. You guys better come quick, I think I'm starting to see something coming into view.**_ _'_

' _ **Is it the employer?**_ _'_ Erza inquired.

'… _ **it's…kinda hard to tell. They're coming in slow. From the looks of it, it should be on the dot.**_ _'_

' _ **Does anyone know what time it is?**_ _'_ Lucy asked.

' _ **I gotcha covered.**_ _'_ Dereece answered. _'_ _ **11:57**_ _.'_

' _ **That's not a lot of time we have. We better pick up the pace then.**_ _'_ Juvia rushed.

Lucy nodded. _'_ _ **She's right. The sooner we get there, the sooner we'll learn the truth of these attacks!**_ _'_

' _ **Well don't count us out of the action.**_ _'_ Another voice prodded into the telepathic link.

Juvia's eyes widened. _'Is that…?'_

' _ **Gray, is that you?**_ _'_ Natsu questioned.

' _ **Yeah. It's me. Vanessa's here, too.**_ _'_

' _ **We're sorry we took so long. That Devil Slayer was much more to handle than we thought.**_ _'_ Vanessa said.

' _ **Are you okay?**_ _'_ Nic asked worriedly.

' _ **We're fine. We'll meet you at the docks with everyone else.**_ _'_

' _ **Alright, just watch your backs guys.**_ _'_ Nic finished the link, leaving him to rush with everyone behind him.

* * *

Inside the Council's room, things were more of a halt than what could've been some form of progression. They say that one should look towards the past to see into the future, but individuals were never truly prioritized as a stepping stone. And that certain individual – or individuals in this case – happens to be a very well-known group of convicts who absentmindedly wandered in front of the Council themselves.

"Wait, hold on…" Montgomery narrowed his eyes at the blue-haired convict. "Isn't that…?"

"Jellal Fernandes." Ruge smirked. "Well I'll be damned. I didn't think I'd be seeing you of all people here. Not like this at least."

Jellal had a modest look on his face. "The feeling is mutual, councilman Ruge the Ethernano Reaper." He could still remember the harsh battle they had back when it was still the Council War. Shadow Jellal had him on the ropes. Even now, that battle he reflected on every now and again.

Ruge snickered. "And I see you've brought a whole bunch of new friends with you. Crime Sorciere, or rather what was once was the Oracion Seis. How has life been treating you guys outside iron walls?"

Sawyer snickered. "Hmph, the big guy sure knows how to beat around the bush."

"I don't know, I kinda like this behavior." Sorano shrugged.

Erik sneered. "Yeah I'll say. Takes one to know one. Still say we should've found another way than just this."

Ultear frowned in disgrace. "Well it wouldn't be so hard if s _omeone_ had just stayed put like I suggested." Her snarkish tone went towards Jellal. He offered no input as he focused on the council at hand.

Bellona pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh.

Alfredo looked down at them, seeing all their faces with anger. "What is this? Why are a bunch of criminals in here?!" He slammed his fist against the desk, making the few pens on the desk jump. "Who let them in?!"

"Yeah! Who are you to show your face after what you did?!" Wolfheim snapped. "Don't think that I didn't forget what you and your little rebellion did almost two years ago!"

"Yes." Hyberion slowly said. "Just what _is_ the meaning of all this, Mr. Fernandes?"

Leiji's face showed uneased fret. "Jellal…" He looked over, seeing the fellow former councilman with another colleague that left him on edge. "Ultear, you too?"

"Nice to see you doing so well, Mr. Leiji." She casually greeted. "I trust that life's been keeping you on your toes."

The man nervously tensed up. "Yeah…"

A throat cleared amongst the council, belonging to Justice. They all turned towards her as she had the floor. "Not to make this anymore frequent than what mishaps we've been having, but what exactly is an Independent Guild with convicts happing to be doing here of all times? I'm sure you have a good reason why we shouldn't call the Rune Knights to take you away."

Jeff shrugged. "I can think of one. Because they can beat them up, that's why."

Erik uproariously laughed. "The old guy's got my favor!" he laughed.

Justice shot her colleague far away a look. "Besi~des that." She eyed Crime Sorciere. "As far as I can see, you have no place in this room, nor even around this land that we're trying to reestablish."

Richard bowed. "Oh, we're so sorry!"

Wolfheim snorted. "So you say…"

"Ignore their commentary." Hyberion said. "However _I_ do want to ask you now…Crime Sorciere, just what might you have here that you wish to share with us?"

Alfredo's eyes narrowed. "Better say something really important or else you'll never make it out of this building in one piece."

Jeff waved him off. "He's just bluffing. Go on."

Mabeth scoffed. "Well, we certainly do have an interesting council going on here."

"So we do…" Jellal took liberties and walked in front of everyone. He stopped in front of the council and looked over, shooting a glance at Charlotte; He looked back at the council, a serious look on his face.

A small silence fell as he exhaled, and then inhaled.

"My fellow Fiore Council. I present you myself for reasons regarding the transactions of our security. You may think that there is a traitor amongst the likes of us…and while there is a scope in that area, my friends and I have found ourselves son another footnote we agreed you should be aware of."

Meredy sweat dropped while Ultear darkly leered. It was all a lie. They didn't agree to sharing this information. In fact, only Jellal thought this would be a good idea. Everyone would've stopped him, but it happened before they even knew it. The only one who seemed to be playing in Jellal's favor, surprisingly, was Bellona.

Alfredo sneered again as he leaned forward. "Hmph! Why would we trust the words of someone whose killed hundreds of lives in the past? As far as I'm concerned, what I see is someone who needs to be atoned. Take him away!"

"Alfredo, please!" Montgomery harshly whispered. He looked back at the guild. "We're sorry. We're just a little conspicuous. At the moment, we're more than a little backed up when it comes to the terms of 'acceptance', specifically from those who were amongst our less than lenient compliances."

Ultear mustered a snicker. "Then I suppose that talk with Nic must've been stepping in cold water then, huh?"

Maryam shot her a look. "More or less along those lines." She cast her gaze away. "At any rate, we were in the middle of a very important discussion with Ms. Jet. So if this is that important, then make it quick."

"Believe me, this involves the Cambire Foundation as well." Jellal's statement made Charlotte raise a brow.

The blonde woman smirked. "So you say? And what exactly makes your investigation that much more important than our industry's advancements?"

"Because, Ms. Jet, it's the reason behind this heist that your company is failing to reach certain areas." Jellal reasoned, making Charlotte shoot him an inquired look. "Believe me, this is vital for all of us."

"Spill it. Now." Alfredo demanded.

There was another moment of silence that feel before the room. This time, Bellona stepped up alongside Jellal. "Well, since he enjoyed talking so much, allow me to share this little bit." She cooed. "Bottom line is, we know who is responsible for this."

Montgomery nearly jumped. "You…do?" He ran his fingers through his beard, his interests piqued to a high degree.

Wolfheim snobbishly raised his chin. "Hmph! They're bluffing. What would they know about an investigation that's been happening for two weeks that we don't already know?"

"The fact is that while you have indeed been looking into this matter doesn't change the fact that several factors have been brought into place." Macbeth said. "For example, all of these attacks have been happening at night, and during those periods, we've discovered that the shipments have not only been carrying Pokémon, but have been targeting certain ships as well."

Justice raised her head. "yes, we have realized that."

"Then did you know that ship's origins is not of legal or political affiliation with Fiore?" Meredy added.

The councilmen all looked at each other, sharing inquired looks of the statement. Slowly, Hyberion turned back towards them. "Go on." He insisted.

Erik picked up next. "You guys were so busy apprehending the guys and questioning them about pointless crap that you didn't look at the big picture in front of you. Those ships all came from one point for certain, but the documents and evidence we were able to scrounge up made it certain these guys are not friendly."

Richard nodded. "Mhm. The men were just doing their job. As far as what was told, they had no information on who they were sending those materials to begin with."

"All the more reason why these shipments were at night, and the facts don't lie when we found some materials and symbols that you guys have been familiar with perhaps." Sorano hummed.

"Symbols, you say?" Ruge inquired. "You mean like for incantation?"

Jellal frowned. "We're speaking about an insignia that has plagued us almost one year ago. It destroyed near millions of lives just to reach this current country."

"Tell us, has there been any contact in regards to the western hemisphere?" Ultear inquired.

"And why would we tell you that?" Alfredo questioned sternly.

"Because that's where those ships are coming and going, that's why."

Once again, the councilmen was left shocked at the information they were given.

"You have been aware of foreign investigations, have you not?" Jellal inquired. "I understand some establishments and lands are still recovering as we speak, but while we have been healing, a certain someone has been pulling strings from another continent. And they're seemingly less than lenient to abide by our conduct."

"Healing? You mean from the war?" Ruge inquired.

"Yes. There's a reason behind all this. Ultear?"

Jellal stepped off to the side, allowing the bodacious female to step in front and present an orb in front of the councilmen. She had a gracious frown as she stared at them all with nonchalant demeanor. "Tell me, are you all familiar with this symbol?" The lacrima glowed, giving off a projection that created a screen high over their heads.

The councilmen all looked up at the huge image that was on the screen. They were looking at the ship, but they saw something on front that was very alarming.

Montgomery's eyes widened as he leaned forward. "Is that…?"

Maryam looked shocked. "No, that's impossible…we haven't heard word of them since…"

Hyberion stared up at the screen with a growing look of worry. His eyes were wide s he sat the wine glass down without looking at it. He seemed too distraught to respond at the moment. One could see the revelation in his eyes.

* * *

Everyone met up at the docks, having been hampered and bruised, but they chose to ignore their injuries and reconvened with Levy and the two male Exceeds.

"Levy!" Gajeel exclaimed. He went up to her, looking down with a serious expression. "Are you hurt?"

Levy shook her head. "No, we're just fine." She smiled. "I'm glad you're okay."

Gajeel flashed her a smirk. "Not like I've died already." He was whacked on the head by Levy. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"That wasn't funny!" she defended.

Gajeel rubbed the top of his head, giving Levy a scowl. "Well you didn't have to hit me about it, geez…"

Lucy looked ahead, seeing something in the distance. "I think I see it!"

Everyone drew closer to the edge of the dock, where they got a closer view of the small boat coming into view. They all could see a person on the edge of the boat as it was slowly getting closer to the edge, where it would soon be close enough to reveal the person's silhouette in the moonlight.

Midnight had finally arrived.

They all went quiet as they watched the boat slowly docked. It touched the end, where on its top, a certain someone was waiting, and their face, even in the moonlight, was bringing back some shock long since forgotten.

Everyone looked ahead with surprise, but the one who showed the most surprise was Lucy as her eyes widened.

…

Justice was completely speechless. "This mark, it belongs to…"

Wolfheim's teeth were gritting from absolute shock. He was staring up with widened eyes as unpleasant failure returned.

Jellal could see they were all in shock. "Yes. This I am certain. The very continent that tried to set up a political meeting but got no answer; the same continent that housed our enemy for many long years for a certain person…

…

The person stepped off the boat, revealing her heels that she wore beneath her humungous coat. She stood eye level to everyone as she oversaw all of their surprised faces; Lucy's especially.

"Nic…" Erza muttered.

Nic's surprise that no less similar. He was speechless at the revelation.

Gray leaned forward in shock. "Hold on, you can't be serious…!"

Wendy gasped. "What is _she_ doing here?"

Natsu was at a loss for what he had to say. He stared ahead at the girl who bared the resemblance of someone who we knew. But while he was caught surprised, his attention went towards Lucy, who took a step forward and stepped up in front of the client behind all this.

The two looked at each other, the oceanic nighttime breeze shifting pass them and picking up Lucy's blonde hair. She didn't budge as she looked into the eyes of the woman she had met not so long ago.

.

"The very continent that was designed for war, that would indeed put magical creatures to work under rigid circumstances…the very continent that we have been at war with that held the late infamous Black Wizard himself."

…

Lucy was struggling to find the words she needed. "It can't be…"

The woman before them was shown in the growing moonlight. The tides crashed against the back of the ship, making water spray and sparkle around the green-haired woman that had been affiliated with Fairy Tail. Seeing her was one thing, but believing was a whole other story. No one was prepared, not even Natsu, who was always so casual about these ordeals to regulars…but this one was special, because this person had an impact on someone who he cared for, and him included.

As the group behind for the most part, the words flew out of Lucy's mouth first for the frowning woman. "…Brandish?"

…

Jellal finished. "Only one continent that holds the largest military empire in the world…the ones who we've forgotten: Alvarez Empire."

* * *

 **Again, sorry for this update taking such a long time guys. I know it's been two weeks since this story's update, but this choked up to 32K, and in about 6 days. No excuses, but I had a few more reasons why there has been setbacks for this update other than lengths.**

 **You see, I was trying to make the flow go in various directions. I was trying to write it compressed like I did in the prequel's Council War Arc, but I had to choreograph on my iPod's Notes first before I went to Microsoft. I got what quotes I would forget down on that first and whatever plot points I would've missed, and I think this end results was more than worth it. I actually feel proud with how I made this all flow.**

 **Another reason why this was backed up was because of my reputation. I just recently lost the support of a long-time fan who always gave me long and detailed reviews, and has been around for the longest time. This story had no luster, or so how one would put it, but even if this story doesn't have the same flare, guys, I'm going to continue, even if I end up getting no reviews in the end. I made it this far, so if I'm gonna crash and burn, I'm going to at least do it knowing I stuck to Nic and Erza's relentless end.**

 **For Gray and Vanessa's battle, I was writing that to what I can be just as important of a plot point as Joey's interaction was with Broly. At this point, deep down, Gray still can't truly forgive himself for almost trying to kill Nic and Natsu. Natsu is trying to move on and remove his reckless behavior, but Gray's own road is more complicated. I feel that with Nic's fight against him so long ago, it tore out the demonic part of his magic, and since then, it's been so weak, or rather dormant, that he couldn't find it again. So by now you get another reason why Natsu and Gray haven't tussled in these past few months. Gray will get his Devil Slayer powers back, using Orion as a reference later down the road.**

 **Anyways, guys, if I am** _ **really**_ **lucky, I might be able to get 2 updates in before my family vacation in the middle of June, but I doubt it. My brother's graduating, and getting almost 40 hours this upcoming week; so I'm gonna be mega busy.**

 **But at any rate, hope this mystery unfolding will suffice for now! Reviews appreciated, and thanks for reading!**


	10. The Empire Strikes Back

"I see. Thank you." The guard bowed before his majesty and turned upon his words. He treaded along the red carpet to the large doors that closed behind him.

In the castle of Mercurius, Hisui, Toma, Arcadios, and Darton were all present and standing where their respective positions were mean to be. The minister and the loyal knight were frowning at the news they heard, but that wasn't to say that the ones they abide to weren't as affected.

"This is most disturbing indeed." Toma grimaced.

"I understand, father." Hisui agreed. "To think hosting that conference would put upfront such an impact for everyone around us. I hate to say it, but maybe we should've thought this through."

Darton closed his eyes and looked down. "Your majesties. With all do respect, you are not to blame. The situation that has transpired at the time was something completely out of our hands. Not one of you is to blame."

"He's right." Arcadios said. "It was an act completely out of our hands. Although, if I can stand to be personal for once, I'd wish the Council was a little more lenient to its own usage of handling predicaments."

"We've opened up so many trade routes and expanding generosity from our fellow Ishgar countries. The Cambire Foundation's extensive efforts have been nothing short of an asset to further that of what others need, and yet we've received nothing but cold shoulders in return from our Western world." Hisui couldn't feel anymore deterred than she was already. "What are we doing wrong you think?"

Toma sat in his chair with a discerning look on his face. "We have something amidst on our hands that needs to be thoroughly addressed." He started. "At the moment, we have neutral political terms with a majority of Ishgar, as we do with the world. Our invitations after this victory has led us to some new viewpoints and legitimate negotiations…however, what troubles me of all people is our efforts with Alakitasia."

Hisui looked down. "Yes, that is troubling, father."

"We've been trying to set up a political alliance with them for the past three months now. I fear that they may not want a treaty with us after all." Darton groaned

"Perhaps they are rebuilding their economy, your majesty." Arcadios pointed out.

"You have a point, Colonel Arcadios." Hisui stated. "We're still cleaning up from the casualties and the mess that the invaders made when they came to us for battle. It took us a great deal to align ourselves and Fairy Tail to the rest of the world about their secret. We were fortunate that the matter was settled to no one's fault."

Toma closed his eyes once more in deep pondering. "Hmmm…perhaps so. They could be rebuilding after the loss of their emperor. Maybe a little more time is what they need."

As they were pondering about the continual failures of their open invitations to Alakitasia, the door to their room suddenly opened with the same guard as before, of whom was accompanied by two more following behind him. The four people in the room turned to look at them.

The three knights immediately stopped in place and looked at them all. "Your majesties." They all dropped to a knee in a bow. "Our most humble of apologies. Forgive us, but we have a very important set of news we've just uncovered."

Darton's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What is it?

"It's regarding the minister that we've have in custody. We were able to get in a full interrogation completed with deep news."

"The minister, you say?" Arcadios inquired.

"Are you talking about the one that Fairy Tail was able to apprehend last night?" Hisui asked.

The head knight nodded. "Yes. Regarding the black market and the illegal trade dismantled at the time, we've found out why this has been happening." He looked up, his glare ever so serious. "However, I fear that you may not like what you are about to hear…"

The room fell silent with Hisui and Toma's stares growing even more anxious with each second that lead on.

* * *

The stakeout team on the docks stared ahead at the figment in the half-moonlight. The small ship she stepped on wasn't even moving, as was the world around them as the client's green hair radiated, in stark contrast to her casual deadpan expression. Of course that's also to say others don't share that same appeal.

"Who the heck is that?" Dereece asked.

"Yeah, and why is she wearing a bikini? Don't tell me it's bikini season already." Joey asked. He found himself looking at Brandish further, more specifically the oversized caboose she had going for her. _'Oh god, I think I just might…'_

"Joey, shut up. Let the professionals ask the questions here." Duncan scolded his 'Captain'.

"Sorry." Sulking briefly in his pointless question, he glanced over to see Juvia, Wendy, and Carla, "Why is your hair covered in gum?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Carla huffed.

Amongst all the shocked individuals present, Lucy had to be the most bewildered. She stared ahead with nothing short of dilating brown eyes. It's been so long since she had seen the person before her eyes, and now here she was, looking at her with that same frown as before. "Brandish…?" she asked again. "Is that really?"

"Yes, of course it's me." She answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Hello Lucy." She looked towards her hair. "I see that you've been doing well."

Lucy was caught off with the gum referred to. "O-oh this? It's just, well…"

"Yo, how've you been?" Natsu smiled and waved casually. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

Brandish turned towards him. "You too, huh?" She looked back at everyone present before her. She knew from a reading of familiar magical energy that there were similarities somewhere in the area, but she didn't peg for it to be because of this. Even her shock was behind her deadpan face. Ultimately, a sigh escaped her lungs. "Why am I not surprised?" she tiredly said. "…then again, that is to be expected of you and your guild, meddling in affairs that don't benefit you in the end."

"Brandish, we're glad you're here and all…" Lucy's face grew uneased. "But…what re you doing here?"

"Yeah, last I checked, you were heading off somewhere else with that crazy chick in your hand." Natsu noted. Natsu wasn't wrong, but Brandish looked like she didn't seem to care.

"It's a long story that I'd rather not bore you with. Let's just say I came here for important business, let's leave it at that."

Nic stepped forward. "By any chance, does this 'business' involve a certain group of mages hired?"

"That's classified."

"Gee, that's funny, considering we beat some mages on our way here. And they all had a certain place in mind." Gray noted. "Does midnight on the far pier ring a bell?"

Brandish's eyes shifted. She knew it was too late to back out now. "How'd you guess?" she half-heartedly asked.

" _That's_ classified." Gray answered.

Brandish sighed. "So we're doing this now?"

"Brandish, please, just tell us what's going on?" Lucy asked, her tone more pleading than before. "Why are you here? And why all this? Don't tell me you're still mad at us."

Brandish's overall mood dared not sway. "On the contrary. I'm far from mad." She said.

"Oh…that's good, I guess."

"I made it clear the last time we saw each other, didn't I? I have no means of seeing you as an enemy. However, I am mad of one thing, but that anger is not towards you or your friends."

Lucy and the others looked at each other confusedly. They could tell by some happenstance that Brandish must've meant what she said, but that wasn't to say they weren't intrigued by this bit of news. To get these answers, they looked back and gave a more affirmative face.

"I can tell you want to know more then. Alright then." She paused. "Right after I have returned home to Alvarez, it wasn't long before everyone found out about my past affiliations regarding myself in your stay. You can imagine the reactions they had."

"What happened?" Happy questioned worriedly. He was afraid of what he might hear, and no one could blame him.

Brandish remained quiet for a short while before her glare hardened. "…after learning everything that I had done for you, I ended up exiled from Alakitasia."

Lucy's eyes widened as she gasped.

Everyone else had more than an assortment of shock rising up from them. For those who shared a history with her like Natsu and Happy, they had expressions no different from Lucy. As to where those who had less of a personal affiliation like Nic and Erza, they had neutral, but understanding expressions plastered.

"Wait, hold on, what was that?" Gray asked.

"Did you say…you were exiled?" Sophie repeated. _'That isn't all what we thought.'_

Lucy finally managed to wake from her shock. "…wait… _exiled_?" she stammered. "But we thought you were…"

"I've been branded a traitor to my people because of my actions. I've failed to accomplish the one thing we of the Spriggan 12 were designed to do; help our Emperor Spriggan retrieve Fairy Heart and annihilate anyone who stood in our way. As such, I've been exiled for aiding the enemy in question."

"No way…" Lucy was at a loss for words. To think that Brandish could be at home now doing something productive, or maybe relaxing soaking. She know she of all people would. She didn't even stop to consider what happened to her friend. She could feel her guilt poisoning her own heart full of ache.

Joey looked at Dereece with worry. The best friend returned the unsound stare and looked ahead again.

"Five months ago, I was kicked out for the circumstances that I failed to uphold or defend. No excuses came from failures after all. After being unfairly sent away, I hence been doing what I can to make by, and not too long after, I've discovered the empire has come to a turn. I suppose you can say it's…a drag."

"What are you saying? Is it possible that they've recovered from the battle?" Erza questioned.

"It's more than that." Brandish responded. "The Alvarez Empire has a new ruler who took the throne before anyone knew it. A dictation that even the likes of Invel nor I could've calculated."

Gray had to cringe at the name. He thought back to the face of the man who sent a chill through his spine and forced him and Juvia to bitterly waver away from each other.

"And who might that be?" Nic asked.

Brandish stopped in her tracks to think for a moment. She didn't see why not. She told them a lot already. No sense in going out of it now. But as she turned towards them, her glance grew hollow.

"I doubt anyone would be knowing of this…but I'm afraid one of our other fellow remaining Spriggans took the wrong leap, over his lust for an 'encore'. His name…is Neinhart."

Erza's eyes widened upon recollection. "Wait…Neinhart?" She thought back to when she, Kagura, Jellal, and Bellona all took to the ship to battle the only Spriggan who seemed to be enjoying himself, bright purple hair, as well as a maniacal face. It was hard to believe that laughable expression could make such a grim impression.

"Neinhart, you say?" Nic didn't know nor meet the guy in question, but when he looked towards Erza, he could see the serious look on her face. He could tell that this guy could make a shiver go down your spine.

"Neinhart?" Natsu questioned. "Uh…"

"That guy you punched in the face." Brandish answered.

Instantly he went wide-eyed, thumping his fist into his open hand. "Oh yeah! I remember that guy now! Man he had some pretty weak wind, huh?"

Lucy looked at Brandish with shock. "But wait, that doesn't make any sense! How could someone like him gain that much power anyway?!"

"That's not important now." Brandish responded. "What matters is what that creep of a man and his empire has been undergoing for the past month." She shifted her attention towards Nic, and then looking towards Duncan. "You two put on quite a show. You've certainly intrigued some powerful people out there. But unfortunately, I think _some_ of us took the message the wrong way."

"And what way might that be?" Vanessa responded. She could read with her aura that the dread in the air was beginning to rise, and she wasn't liking it one bit.

"Remember, the Alvarez Empire is a military empire consisting of hundreds of guilds whose powers have been owned to their maximum potential. If Pokémon were taken in to do battle, exactly what did you think that this empire would do to fulfill its purpose?"

"I'm getting' a bad feeling about this." Gajeel looked down towards his girlfriend. "Levy."

Levy put a hand to her chin, her brow furrowed upon consideration. "The Alvarez kingdom was a force that had at least 2 million men in its rankings. It had a very vast population that spent much of its time in prosperity until the war, where much of its power was lost. So then…" she started making sense. "To fill those numbers and gaps, they'd need…!" She gasped at the conclusion she made.

Nic went wide-eyed at his own conclusion as well. "Wait, you can't mean that…"

"You caught on fast. As expected." Brandish responded. "Yes. The kingdom has been under a revolution by taking as many Pokémon that they could find. They've been taken from many other countries and getting as many weapons and items to boost their strengths in their enslaved work. He intends nothing more than to recreate the very army that you have decimated, and destroy everything and anything that stands in his way."

"They've been WHAT?!" Joey and Dereece exclaimed in unison, hunching over after spattering some. Suddenly, they were caught off and flinched when figures zipped by them. Everyone got on guard for that matter.

As Brandish stood in place ever so casually, the space around her was filled by Orion, who was battered and bruised. The same could be said for the others. Griffon was supported by Matilda, and Broly was looking undeterred, of course still splattered with red tomato paste in some spots.

No one said anything as a long, passive, and yet ominous breeze whip up a lot of hair for everyone. They all could an intense power come from the air, and it was making it hard to break the tension between them.

"You've all been warned. Alvarez may very well have their way with you this time. Make your next move carefully if I were you." Brandish said. "And who knows when that'll be."

Lucy began to take a step closer. "Wait, Brandish-!" She reached out to her, but a bright flare came from Aniya as she held a very small stick in hand. The flash was so bright it caused Lucy to cover up. Everyone behind covered up as well from its bewildering intensity.

The massive white flare went on several minutes before it finally ended. As it eased, Lucy slowly opened her eyes, making a few blinks before she finally gasped. She hurriedly whipped round, but the spots on the edge of the dock were all vacant. Everyone looked to find that she and the mercenaries were in fact gone.

"They're gone!" Happy exclaimed.

"The bastards slipped from us again." Natsu growled.

Lucy was looking out at the waves, the breeze picking up again as she stared with sadness and grief over her friend. "Brandish."

Nic looked ahead as well, but unlike Lucy's sadness, he had a less than ecstatic expression. "This is even worse than I thought." He grimaced. "Alvarez…" Very slowly, his own fists began to ball, and sure enough, they were tight enough to mold clay.

Seeing everyone's grief on their faces, Joey looked at Dereece once more with worry rising. Duncan, however, showed indifference.

* * *

Elsewhere, another place at the same time was working under the half-moon. Many of the people were fast asleep at this time, but many more night owls were awake to work under the cover of darkness. The efforts were put in as cargo holds on ships and carts were unloaded at the back of a large domain.

One by one, hundreds of men were unfolded the bridges that unfolded to allow the men to move down with cages and wooden crates carrying either majestic animals or precious battle items. They all took various entrances into the domain, where they were sentences to two distinct locations. The ones carrying the items went to one way to a possible storage area, while the ones carrying the Pokémon were all going down a single path that trekked to the bottom of a very long staircase with many as a hundred guards; two for each elongated cell with magical staves in the events of an outbreak.

One pair of workers moved into a large set of iron bars, where inside, they crouched and sat the cage containing the basic creatures like Rattata, Pidgey, Bellsprout, even Sentret onto the ground next to another cage that was there for a few days, with a single Nidorina in it that was napping quite uncomfortably.

"Hahahaha! Look at these guys!" One worker mocked. "Man do I feel sorry for these wimps. I don't even know why we got them anyway!"

"This was a big steal for us. Fortunately when we whip them into shape, maybe you'll think twice before calling them out like that." The other worker smirked.

"Maybe, but they'll be taking orders from us now! That right?" He shot a dark look at the Pokémon, all of whom shook in their cage at his demeanor. The worker snickered at the bullying tactic.

Stepping up to talk, a familiar person had hands folded behind his back. "Is that the next order accomplished, I take it?"

The calmer of the two workers turned to salute. "Sir, it is. We are still unloading, but we are expecting no resistance with the precautions you have advised."

"Understood. Resume your work." The man turned away to show his pair of glasses briefly reflecting the lacrima lighting, until he walked into the darkness.

He made way through the domain until he made way inside a large room, his footsteps growing hollow with the very high ceilings and decorations everywhere. It looked to be a very expensive throne room with a massive set of windows with a chair looking to be atop of a flight of stairs, turned to look at the moon.

At the base of the steps, Invel stood tall and did a small bow before the throne. "Your majesty, the latest shipment of Pokémon and materials has been successfully distributed thus far."

On the throne, a creature whose face was concealed by shadows where the moon doesn't shine had a mediocre smirk. "About time."

"The number of successful Pokémon estimated on this shipment has reached nearly 200. That increases our numbers by another 10%." Invel looked up to the throne. "Shall we get started with training immediately?"

The gauntlets of the man on the throne tensed as his grip on the armrest tightened. "Yes. We need them at their fullest. We need them, in order to crush that sniffling Fiore to nothing but ash!"

"My sentiments exactly." A pair of classy shoes made way out of the shadows, revealing a familiar someone who had a bleak and unamused look on his face. He adjusted his tie with his fingers, making it shimmer his rings shimmer while his familiar scowl showed the face of Jacob. "I need a nice drink before we get started."

"Your alcoholic preference aside, I agree full-heartedly, Jacob." Stepping out of nearby shadows next was a woman in armor, who revealed herself to be Dimaria, and she looked pleasant, if rhetorical ever was needed in this situation. "Those filthy Ishgarians are going to pay dearly for what they did to Randi."

"Jacob. Dimaria." Invel noted.

A cackling, bloodcurdling laughter came from a crooked figment in the shadows. "Finally. All this waiting's making my skin itch again." The figment slowly stood up, revealing himself as a male. In what moonlight was available, the figment was seen to be of average height, with onyx eyes and a mouth seen, but the rest of his face was concealed by bandages or otherwise mummified wraps. What was evident, however, was his massive blood red spiky hair slicking back like a prickly massive porcupine. His shoulder were bare to reveal one with a long scar, and another having the Alvarez mark. For bodily attire, it was tough to make out due to his arms covered in bandages. His forearms had black sleeves with red edging that went to the hands, which had thick black gloves with spikes on the knuckles. The fingers especially had extra coating. He adorned a black vest with belts containing a variety of knives and daggers he kept safely tucked away. A brown belt was fastened with silver rings over them to shimmer in the moonlight. It held up his leather pants that had more thick belts with rings with keychains and small knives. The knee caps had silver spikes, and the boots he wore were atrociously massive with silver edging, black laces, and massive knee guards that were heavily thick. And all of that was fastened by bandages to be kept in place. "This world…must have its flesh torn off!" he grimly declared as he stared up at the moon.

Dimaria looked over, giving the man a scoff. "Oh, Sindge." She half-heartedly noted. Hearing his laughter never made her day worth getting up for.

"The stars and planets have told me of those who walk beneath its radiance." Another man walked out, with him wearing brown loafers. The man came forth with a complexion to tell he was well within his late 50s, if not early 60s. He had a less than average height, putting him below Dimaria. He had gray hair beneath a massive top with an eccentric yellow symbol adorning it. He had on a monocle that was over the left eyes and a fat nose over his massive gray moustache and fat lip. He adorned what looked like a priest attire with yellow edging, accents, and a massive mantle was adorned over the shoulders that went down up front and back, with the front being a bright yellow moon and the back being a new moon. What was most shocking, however, that how around him, there were six small hemispheres of different colors in a perfect ring over him. This man was known as Pluto, another newcomer to this unholy group. "The blue moon doth tale of a land most becometh of retribution."

The figure on the throne looked up, his smirk no different. "So you say."

A massive yawn went through the corridor, meaning someone was drowsy. "Uuuh, is it time yet?" A woman groaned. This one was next to walk in, or rather shuffle in. She was a woman of average height, although some could argue taller than Dimaria. She had yellow eyes with sharp sclera in them. She had long red hair like Erza would, but was longer, and was in a small braid at the end; the bangs went and converged over the nose, while the others were fastened behind the ears by two dark purple pins. She had bare shoulders with long skin-tight dark sleeves with yellow edging. The hands were bare, but the nails were red. She adorned a large black bra with yellow accents on it that showed a humungous load of her caboose, but the straps were fastened to the shoulders quite well. Her midriff was bare, allowing a sky-blue dress skirt to flow beneath. In fact, behind her, a monstrously long skirt followed. The skirt measures another twenty feet at a bare minimum. Her waist swayed as she shuffled along the ground, her feet unseen by the others. This was another person who has come to the great ranks that many dreamed of. Lia, a beauty in deep woah. "I hope the time comes soon. I've been wondering how…" She slowly licked her lips, her tongue shown to be surprisingly long. "…tasty, they might be."

A pair of high heels went through another area of the chamber, revealing another woman walking in, and by the pace she was taking, she seemed frustrated. "Honestly, to call us here on such little to no notice. Have you no sense of consideration?"

"Watch it, Miss Glynda." Invel warned through a stoic tone.

Glynda, yet another member added to the new ranks. She was a woman who had a slender complexion and a sassy figure to boot. She adorned spectacles with dark green framing around her slanted navy-blue eyes. Her eyebrows were as thin as her sense of patience could bare. She had Prussian blue, long hair that bounced on her shoulders. There was one bang that bent up and over her right side to almost conceal it entirely, as well as give her figure a more seductive appeal. She had pink lipstick, with a beauty mark below her lip on the left side. She had a slim, shimmering, leathery dark blue top that hugged her body, with a black mantle over the shoulders and chest with neon green edging. There was a Prussian blue cape that dazzled with midnight blue sparkles along it that followed her, and on the bottom half in her deep blue-green high heels, her legs were covered by deep leggings that went up to the small black shirt she adorned. All in all, much like Lia, she had beauty, but the aura she gave off was far from carefree. She sat a hand to her as she looked pass Invel. "Well you can't condone my opinion on the matter. It's not to say that my point." She looked up at the throne. "Right, Neinhart?"

"That's _Emperor_ Neinhart!" he snapped. "An besides…where's the fun in that?"

Glynda sighed angrily, with Lia looking at her unamused. "Well someone sure didn't wake up on the right side of the bed." She chimed.

"Miss Glynda's expectations aren't for the faint of heart." Invel noted.

Jacob took little heed in the many new women that came into the room. His attention, however, drew to a small sound that made him glance from the corner of his eye. He saw someone else appear from the shadows, this one Jacob recognized quite well.

"Decker, so you have arrived as well."

He man noted had white hair that had a long, sleek bang that ran over his right eyes, but over his head was a dark brown hat with blue band with white edging. He had sleek, dark eyes with a dark blue mask over his mouth. His body consisted of a red ninja scarf that was tattered along the ends, with an appearance that made him otherwise look like a ninja. However, unlike Dobengal in Sabertooth, this one's ninja costume was a brighter shadow of blue, with no signs of nets anywhere. Instead, there were bright red braves on the forearms with a sari spilt in two on the sides to cover the knees. They had dark gold on them, with the rippling insides having a pattern of dark blue and bright red. The shoes were dark gold with the shin guards having two spikes on each one. On his shoulders, the pauldrons had the same design and spikes pointed inwards. Decker offered no sound, instead staring ahead with a steady gaze.

"That makes ten of us altogether." Invel noted. "What we have now is Ajeel and Naga."

On the throne, the silhouette's facial expression widened. "Is that so…?"

Suddenly, the room's tremendous pressure alone began to rattle and quiver. The atmosphere began to tremble with the airspace vibrating at an incredulous rate. This got noted by everyone, who didn't seem at all fazed by this exponential magnitude.

"Looks like he's coming." Dimaria noted.

The room's quaking began to cease at long last when the center of the room was cleared away. A bright purple light enveloped the bottom of the flooring, where its dark beams glistened with such a force that could blind anyone who was careless. From the hole, a cyclone of purple flames spun out, expelling everywhere in a voluminous manner. The swallowed up everything, reducing everything around to a Netherlands' terror.

Within that turmoil of negative incineration, a dark silhouette with a wyvern like arch on his body was seen in the dead center. He slowly raised his head, his head eyes refracting light that he created.

Without having to turn around, Neinhart could already tell who it was that showed themselves. "Took your time this time, Naga. I'm surprised you didn't wait until later."

"The violet and ominous flames in the transparent cyclone dissipated, allowing the air to dissipate into thin energy. Standing in the center of them all, the man known as Naga had perhaps the most abysmal of any form of appearance out there. He had the appeal of a humanoid wyvern, or rather a mythical creature known as a Naga itself. He had a very tall and muscular appearance, where his entire body had purple veins shooting all over and resonating from the large ovular dark purple gem on his forehead. He had a massive white headpiece that surrounded the gem; it had two horns curing around the head skyward, with two smaller horns arching around the cheekbones. The horns had dark red veins shooting up the middle to fill the tops like spears. His eyes had red contacts over them, possibly a side effect of his magical pressure. His teeth were sharp and hutting forward, but otherwise shut. He had two massive cape-like wings with decrepit edging behind, which were folded with his power not released. He had a high collared dark purple coat with no sleeves, with the coat as decrepit and tattered as the wings themselves. He had gray boots that held up baggy black tattered pants that went up to a brown belt with a golden edged buckle with a dark purple center-like jewel. Beneath the coat was a thick set of armor that connected to the coat to keep both sides together, with the designs looking like downward plated scales.

The human in question looked up, seeing the throne with his own eyes. I must say, Emperor Neinhart, you really surprise me." He said. "I never would've thought the timing couldn't have been any better myself."

Glynda scoffed. "Speak for yourself."

Coming in next from another part of the area was someone with hands in his pockets and hunched forward, while another one was barely keeping up with a staff to support his elderly body. The men were Ajeel and Yajeel, respectively of notice by the younger in front of the other.

"Uuuugh. Could you be anymore slower. Gramps?" Ajeel groaned.

"My apologies, grandson. My elderly bones are trying as best as they can." Yajeel followed behind, using his staff to make him follow as fast as possible. "But to have such a meeting like this…"

Ajeel looked away in a snarkish manner. "Tch, yeah, I know. Talk about a pain in the ass."

The two eventually made it to the steps, where they stood with the renewed members of the Spriggan 12. They all stood at the base while Neinhart was waiting in his seat, looking up at the half-moon still that shined brightly upon their world.

"Now then…" he said quietly. "Are we all here?...no, not quite. It seems our entertainment is short of its entertainer." The maniacal glare in the darkness shifted off to the side. "Now isn't that right…?"

In the corner of the room, a pair of wrinkly hands shifted over a ball of a crystal ball. The faint glow it had faded, and the picture that was scene regarding many figures in one place was complete. The woman beneath the cloak had her head concealed, but in the moonlight's hidden grasp was the look of a green-eyed woman with red sclera glowing like two small devil eyes. In her mouth was a small cigarette that smoked very lightly, allowing a fume to go up from the side of her mouth.

She removed the cigarette from the side of her mouth with two fingers, enabling the corner of her mouth to expel a small plume of smoke. The smoke arose and dissipated, directly under the moonlight like a geyser holding up an object. "The prophecy is complete. 'Upon the half-moon's radiating shine, the likes of two forces come to realize their clash is to come'." She reiterated. "I believe those were my very words you and everyone else has been keeping in mind.

Neinhart smirked maniacally. "Like a bell's tole." His smirk turned to a somberly smile as he looked down at the ground. His wicked demeanor was seemingly calming down. "Finally, Lady Irene, I hope we have rebuilt to your expectations. I dear hope for that blessing." With those words, everyone behind was smirking. "Those Ishgarians certainly put on one hell of a show…of course I truly wished that the story went in another way. It's too bad that you didn't live to see the empire I have created with your power." He snapped his fingers beside him, in which a dark, floating silhouette of a woman formed over him. The woman's familiar frame glared down at Neinhart, saying nothing as her brown eyes seethed into him the only answer he seemed to interpret. "You asked to take care of Lady Erza and her friends, right?" His voice was starting to quake with slight deranged characteristics. "In the name of you and our glorious late Emperor Spriggan…Fiore and Fairy Tail's nonsensical preaching upon the world alike shall all burn, now that we have the power to do so once more. The gift the gods have given us. This…is our retribution! My fellow Spriggans! MY GLORIOUS WEAPONED CREATURES! MAKE YOURSELVES KNOWN TO THE WORLD OF OUR RENEWED POWER!"

His laughter started with a small cackle, which broke with his eyes shrinking. He raised his head, smiling wide as he laughed up to the ceiling. That spine-chilling laughter echoed all throughout the building, and the empires sleeping wake.

* * *

Morning shined down on Fairy Tail's guild hall the next day. However, rather than upbeat cheers and casual mornings, the guild doors were rushed open with Laxus followed by the Thunder God Tribe.

"We came here as soon as we got the call." Laxus answered.

"Yeah, sorry guys." Bickslow apologized. "Mest sure picked a lousy time to be taking some Zs."

Nearby on a table, a guilt-ridden Mest had his face in his palm as he sighed. He couldn't feel anymore shameful than he was already. His Ralts was banging his head against the wooden table like a woodpecker.

Bickslow realized the predicament and put his hands up in a panic. "Uh, g-geez man, you don't have to be so glum. It was just joking!"

"How rude." Evergreen scolded.

"We were glad overnight trains were operable." Freed said. "I thoroughly insisted Master Laxus to communicate with his Thought Projection. But after hearing the news, he insisted we rode trains overnight get back as soon as possible." He shot another look at Laxus, albeit with a scolding look much like Evergreen was giving Bickslow. He had to warn and watch out for Laxus' health, as was his job, but the Dragon Slayer had to go overboard and insist based on the emergency at hand. He also knew taking the trains even now was a mistake, because Dragon Slayer motion sickness left him for a loop. He still had signs of nausea on his face as of now.

The guild was gathered around via an emergency distress Erza gave to them while they were on the way back. She and everyone were able to rest up a little on the way back, but the revelation left too much for them to sleep on. The guild was lounging as they were caught up on everything that went down.

"I never thought that the culprit would turn out to be Brandish of all people." Vanessa admitted.

"And here I thought I was the only one who thought of that." Sophie answered. "But what concerns me more was her reasoning behind it."

"She was really exiled, huh?" Natsu pondered, his arms folded. "That bites."

"In more ways than one." Nic added. "I don't think any of us were prepared for this."

Erza stood beside him, her arms folded as well. "I can agree there." She put a hand to her chin, looking away in scrutiny. "But something doesn't add up."

"Is it why she was preventing all those shipments to Alakitasia?"

"Precisely. She said she was loyal to her country, right? But she isn't an enemy. She's even went out of her way to hire highly trained mages of extraordinary caliber to make sure that doesn't happen. So exactly what is the purpose behind her actions?"

"You think she was telling the truth?" Gajeel asked.

Pantherlily looked contemplative. "It's hard to say, let alone believe."

Lucy couldn't believe it either. She couldn't possibly comprehend it. She wasn't even sure of it herself, but what she knew at this point, it was meant to warn them. If only she had met Brandish under better circumstances sadly.

Natsu looked off from the side, seeing Lucy's saddened expression.

"I know I wouldn't trust her with a basket full of wine." Cana shrugged.

"I don't think that's how it goes. I believe it's 'all eggs in one basket'." Sophie corrected. Cana merely shrugged.

"Well if you ask me, I wouldn't believe it so lightly." Macao intervened. "Don't get me wrong, I think I get where you're coming from, but after what we went through, I wouldn't think twice of pointing fingers at someone who we had scuffles with."

"Yeah, sounds the most basic way it goes." Wakaba said.

"Yeah, sounds fishy to me." Jet remarked.

"Sounds like a death warrant all over again." Droy muffled with a drumstick in his mouth.

"She wasn't lying!"

The shout silenced everyone. The guild went quiet as Lucy's hitch in her breath was a sign of her gasping. She looked towards Natsu, who stood in front of everyone with a face full of defense.

"I think I could smell a traitor and liar when I know one. She was telling the truth. Those guys really did kick her out for being our friend."

"Natsu…" Lucy muttered softly.

"So then she's been on the lamb this whole time." Happy said.

"It would make sense." Carla voiced calmly. "From our experience, their tactics in handling each other isn't the most soft-hearted out there. I'm surprised they allowed her to live to begin with."

Wendy frowned. "She seemed to be handling her life well at least. But still…"

"Don't look at me, I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel right now." Gray commented, having no shirt on for the last ten minutes now. "Juvia, what about you?"

Juvia looked down with worry. "It's hard to say. I wish I knew, but with our run ins with her hired smugglers makes it hard for me to tell what her motives are."

Sophie found a realization. "She _did_ say that Alvarez was taking in and enslaving Pokémon to maximize their use."

"Using Pokémon as tools and weapons to rule a military kingdom." Vanessa said coldly. "I knew they were deplorable for treating their own with ill-respect, but this crosses a line."

"Yes, my thoughts exactly." Erza declared. "Which is why I think we know the case as it is."

Nic's brow furrowed. He looked towards Lucy with confirmation. "She said she wasn't an enemy, yet she was betrayed by her nation. As painful as it is for her, I think she knows what she's doing is for the best."

"How are you so sure?" Gray asked.

"Well when you think about it, all those ships she and those mercenaries have been after have been going to Alvarez, right? They need as many items and Pokémon as possible, right? And guess who has that what they don't? They want it that badly that they go as far as stealing." He turned towards his wife. "Didn't you read in the news last week that Fiore still wasn't able to get in contact with Alakitasia?"

Erza nodded. "Indeed."

"They don't want us to know what they're doing. They want a full-scale war once more, but this time they intend to use Pokémon and items to their advantage. And Brandish has been secretly short-handling their smuggling in return."

"So then…she's actually helping us." Happy realized.

Nic nodded. "We've suffered enough as it is…" his gaze grew even more resolute. "But I can imagine what those Pokémon are doing under their control. And if I'm being honest…it's making my blood boil."

Everyone around could feel and understand Nic's drive. First it was stealing goods the Cambire Foundation was putting time and effort into making; secondly, the illegal and disrespectful measures that a military empire would be doing to Pokémon that could very well be another Trainer's. That alone is a violation of its choice and free will. And no one was going to take that lying down.

"Alright, I think I get it now." Gray explained. "So Brandish turned on them because they turned on her. She's helping us and stopping the empire from expanding."

"In short, that's what's happening." Erza said.

"Those jerks." Natsu growled. "So one time wasn't enough for them, huh?"

As everyone was contemplating over the predicament, a less than informant group stood off to the side. The Freaks looked at each other without the slightest clue given.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Joey asked.

Dereece gave him a dead serious look. "Joey, this sounds serious. We've been through this. No stupid questions allowed. This really sounds important."

"And since when does the so-called Captain _ever_ think of the definition of 'serious'?" Duncan retorted.

"Hey!" Joey scolded.

Taking notice of Joey and the others, Mirajane turned and somberly smiled at them. "Oh, right, you weren't around when it all happened, were you?"

Lisanna turned towards them with surprise. "That's right. I forgot they just joined us a little while ago."

"My, well doesn't a month add up fast." Kinana chimed.

"Yeah, good times and all that stuff. Now what's this about this Alvarez Empire again?" Joey clarified. "Is this like a rivalry thing going on or something?"

Nic closed his eyes s he began. "It's a long story. We'll try to be as brief as we can for you."

Nic and everyone there told them everything that transpired with the Alvarez Empire incident, including the enemies, their level of strength, and how the emperor happened to be over 400-years-old up until a little while ago. As far as they could go, they told them in simple words, and by the time it was all surmised, The Freaks showed their shock.

"W-w-woah, slow down now." Dereece nervously motioned. "So…so let me get this straight. You guys went at war with this big nation with the world's most powerful mages, who were all designed to destroy Acnologia, and _you_ were the head honcho's younger brother?!" He pointed at Natsu with shock.

"Yeah, kinda."

"A-and this was all because of this Fairy Heart or something that this Black Wizard Zeref wanted, right?"

"In short, yes." Erza answered.

"It was a grievous time none of us were prepared for." Mirajane somberly said. "And that war, it's also where our former masters…"

The atmosphere in the guild began to turn sour full of grimace. Everyone in the area was looking down in slight grief, and some eyes could be seen misting from bittersweet goodbyes. The Freaks looked around to catch the mood befalling them, especially Laxus. Even Joey wasn't that stupid to elude from such a hint.

Realizing he made a mistake, Joey began to fret. "Oh…I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up anything that would-"

"No, it's fine. Honestly." Mirajane dismissed.

"But I…"

"Hey, chill." Gray insisted. "What happened, happened. Can't change that."

"Yeah, you're part of the guild now. You have a right to know. Besides…" Laki trailed off in small mourn. "I know those two are doing better now anyway."

Everyone around was still looking sad, and the mood was centered around Laxus especially. He didn't seem too happy about recollecting his Grandpa's goodbye, but it's as Gray said. It happened, and nothing could be done. He still couldn't believe he got the job. He sighed it all off to ease himself, no use in mourning forever, especially when an example was to be set.

"So then these guys are that powerful." Duncan said, getting the guild back on topic.

"Yes, the most rigorous amongst any creatures we had to stop. It took us everything we had to drive them away." Erza replied. "I find it hard to imagine that they could regroup their efforts in such a short span of time."

"Yeah, considering most of their numbers were blown off the face of Earthland." Max noted.

"How in the heck did they mobilize so fast?" Warren inquired.

Elfman stood nearby with crossed arms. "Doesn't make sense to me. We're still picking up scraps while they're welding cannons for all we know."

"It's gotta be the Pokémon." Nic deduced.

"You sure?" Wendy questioned.

Nic nodded. "I would imagine that would be the case. There's more than enough in terms of numbers where PokeEarth was. I wouldn't be surprised if they were doing just that."

"But…" Lucy took note of something else. "Something else is messed up here. It's this new emperor that Brandish was talking about."

"Neinhart, was it?" Sophie repeated.

"Yeah, how'd that creep rise up so quickly?" Natsu asked. "Doesn't even make sense."

"None of this makes sense at all." Lucy said. "He was powerful against Brandish, but a guy like him doesn't seem like someone I would put my weight on so easily."

"Yeah, considering he couldn't even hold his own up!" Happy intervened. "He was punched down like Natsu's punching bag."

"The man certainly has a shrewd manner, I'll say that much." Erza noted. "From what I've seen personally, he uses his magic to trick and use an opponent's memories against them and bring them to life."

Juvia gasped. "He can do that?" She was wondering how Keyes came back to life while they were battling in Hargeon. Now she knew.

Vanessa wasn't too far away. She was also inquiring at times how Neinhart's power brought Imaci back to life. Now she knew well.

Nic leaned against the wall, looking down in discern. "It sounds like he's a skilled manipulator who pulls strings. I can imagine how he must have done that to overthrow the remaining Spriggans, or maybe coax their empire as a whole."

Erza nodded in agreement. "He was never a man of head on conflicts. When I fought him, he forced me to face the deceased from before. I can tell you that isn't the kind of fighter I respect."

"There's so many questions, but how do we handle this?" Vanessa inquired.

"Yeah, it's not like answers are just going to come walking through the front door." Jet's note was cut off when something upfront got his attention.

The sound of the saloon doors opened, and the closest person turning was Kinana. When she turned, however, she looked shocked at who it was that entered.

"Who's there?" Laxus turned, but he realized who it was that entered unannounced. Everyone else turned to find who it was that was entering their guild. As they all turned, the figures drew to the center. Where they were the big picture for the morning.

Standing in front of them all, Crime Sorciere's appearance with all its members stood before its allies, all of whom had varied reactions.

"I believe someone has something they wish to say." Bellona teased.

Lucy looked shocked. "Crime Sorciere?"

"What are they doing here?" Happy asked.

Nic and Erza looked shocked at them. Everyone else was surprised as well, some in good ways, with others conspicuous. Still, through it all, Droy leaned into Jet's ear. "Way to jinx it, man."

"What?!"

Erza stepped forward, meeting her old friend. "Jellal, what are you doing here?"

The blue-haired man stared at the redhead, his gaze ever so calm.

* * *

In the Magic Council's building, the mood of the situation at hand was finally making sense to where they could breathe again. However, their breathing was far from calm, especially for some of the more gruff members.

"Damnit! How did we not know?!" Alfredo angrily banged his fist against his desk, quite possibly the fiftieth time overnight.

In front of the Magic Council and their expansive seating arrangement, two lacrima screens were in front. A jointed meeting showed Toma and Hisui, with the other showing Arthur with Marie. When Toma got word of something that came up that his guard told him, he made an emergency call; and surprising enough, Arthur was on the line as well. A jointed conversation was breaking down, and right now, not one person was happy with their side of the story.

"We've done a full interrogation on the minister as were my staffs' intentions." Hisui noted. "That minister that Fairy Tail was hired by was paid a great sum of Jewel if he agreed to this illegal shipping of Pokémon and items supplied by the Cambire Foundation."

"I believe Eliza from Jefferey's course informed me about this mess." Arthur noted. "She was the one sent in our stead to give a full report regarding our misplaced necessities."

"Then it looks like we've all carried a different piece to this unforeseen act of terrorism." Hyberion said, setting his wine glass down gently on the small wooden cupholder. He folded his fingers in front of his face and stared ahead with a serious glare that rivaled a vampire eying his prey. "We've been running investigations on nighttime shipments, the Cambire Foundation was hacked, and to make matters worse, our political run-in with Alakitasia was answered with bribery. When you put that all together, the puzzle is solved."

"Just how many more have been conned by these outsiders?" Maryam questioned.

"Enough to make us question each other." Montgomery groaned. "At this point, they're taking us out from the inside."

"Maybe, but we were fortunate those young ones gave us some addresses of those port black markets." Jeff absent-mindedly chimed. "We've got people on the way there already to bring them in."

"Was it necessary to let them go?" Justice turned towards fellow councilman Ruge. The Shambolic Mage offered no words as he retained his humble demeanor.

Wolfheim sneered. "Tch, if anything we should've locked _you_ up for even thinking we should just take the information and nothing else."

Ruge shrugged. "they knew more than us apparently. Besides, it's not like asking nicely isn't going to change anything either." She smiled. "Besides, knowing him of all people, I think he's taking this matter to people perhaps more capable of doing so."

Justice narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Another loud thud made the whole cabinet shudder, but no one was startled.

"This is blasphemy!" Alfredo angrily exclaimed. "I won't stand having a threat like this hovering over like a watch owl! I say we head on the offensive immediately, and sent every mage on Ishgar with our Rune Marines to put these uprisers in their place once and for all!"

Maryam sighed tiredly. "Of course you of all people would suggest such a thing."

Arthur remained passive on his wheelchair. "Not to be rude, Alfredo…but an idea of that caliber is as terrible as your choice of virtue."

Alfredo looked up, angrily scowling up at Arthur. "I would watch my mouth if I were you. May I remind you that it was _your_ foundation's job to handle background checks? What makes you think you have any room to talk about a threat that is none of your business?"

Arthur remained calm, if not humbled by Alfredo's choice of words. But that wasn't to say that he knew how to deal a few kicks of his own to the shins. "…maybe so. But then with _your_ mouth, no wonder Charlotte told me she wished she ran a bullet through your face."

The council grew quiet in shock. Many of eyes widened at the subtle lash back by Arthur. Even Marie looked boss while adjusting her glasses in sheepish embarrassment. Jeff sat on his desk with Poliwag looking clueless, but the man raised an intrigued brow.

The veins around Alfredo's eyes began to show. "What was that?"

"Charlotte told me everything about the Alvarez incident on her way back. I asked her and Marie to look into the files and ask around about this Alvarez kingdom, so I think I know exactly what you're talking about."

Alfredo was looking angrier by the second. "You dare stick your nose where it doesn't belong?"

"I believe that this is our fight, too. It is our goods after all. And besides, from extra files Charlotte pulled up, weren't you a Rune Knight Sergeant who took part in the war as well? I believe it was your entire platoon that was wiped out effortlessly, right? And the only way you happened to make it out was 'tactical retreat'…am I right? So I think I should be telling you this instead, I would watch my mouth if _I_ were you."

The council felt the air dampen as a shadow cast over Alfredo's eyes. His teeth gritted at the bitter cold defeat he had suffered. He could still feel the intense fear in his stare when he saw all his men laying around him like a horde of dead animals. When he felt such monstrous potential from a reaper, he could only scurry for his life. The shame was too great to bare.

Marie coughed abruptly. "Um, sir!" she hinted.

Arthur nodded. "Right, apologies, Marie." He looked back at his fellow councilmen. "The point I'm making here is that rushing in full force like you're suggesting is an act blinded by rage. We'll only be responding a threat with another threat. It's suicide."

Alfredo's teeth clutched tight, before he snapped back at Arthur. "We beat them before, and we'll do it again, now that we have our own Pokémon!"

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying you want to put creatures of their own free will into combat against potentially life-threatening enemies that seek revenge?"

"And what if it is? People and animals are no different from each other. They take orders however they can if it means guaranteeing victory."

Arthur's narrowed eyes bared sharpened sclera. "What pitiful nonsense!" he snapped.

"Sir!" Marie gasped.

"The Cambire Foundation and our world alike has no such respect for principles as those. Using Pokémon for weapons in battle, making use if them as soldiers, and to top it all off, there's enough of abuse as it is from where we come from. If you really wish to go that way, you'll be no different from the enemy."

"And yet they fight and hurt in place of people on PokeEarth." Maryam rebuffed. "Hypocritical if you ask me."

Arthur and Marie both scowled internally at Maryam's retort. In a way, she was right. Pokémon do the battling and the Trainer gives the commands. It's like a general ordering his soldier in that aspect. But that still didn't make it okay.

Arthur took a minute to cool himself down. Before he could rise to anger like Alfredo, he had to remind himself of what was at stake, and he rather not be baited by the likes of sore losers. "You're right. We do have that in our world." He answered. "But our bodies aren't as strong as yours here in Earthland. And besides, we don't have magic, but even so, we still make do with the Pokémon as our aids when we need them the most. Rather than throwing the blame at each other, we need to be compromising."

Justice leered. "If I may say something. I think Alfredo is onto something here."

"Justice, not you, too." Ruge groaned.

"All I'm saying is that we need as much power as possible. We weren't as strong, but that doesn't mean we should pick up pieces and learn from our previous mistakes."

Leiji sighed. _'And yet it's repeating all over again. I don't even know why I came out of retirement.'_

"It's true organizations in our world exist." Arthur said. "They have goals undermining many parts of the world, and they end up misusing Pokémon. We've seen it first-hand what poor Pokémon under poor Trainers and organizations suffer at the Cambire Foundation, and what you're implying is to be just like them."

"Yes, that is _not_ what we are willing to enforce." Hisui intervened. She and her father were still onscreen, observing with their input timed perfectly.

"Princess Hisui." Hyberion noted.

"With all do respect, councilmen Alfredo and friends, what we are aiming for is a positive change to Pokémon. To have them cooperate in fighting that are of grim consequences unlike the example Nic and Duncan showed, then the impression will impact everyone else. The world will turn on us again."

Toma stepped up. "My daughter speaks the truth. Alvarez is a group of menacing mages. Responding to their setup by mimicry would make us no better than them."

"Then how exactly do we stop this mess before we all…you know, die?" Jeff nonchalantly asked.

"There is one way I most certainly know." Hisui noted. "There is one group that I know can pull something as stopping like this off."

Montgomery leaned forward in his seat, glaring at Hisui. "Wait, are you saying…?"

Wolfheim's glare hardened. "Hmph, don't make me laugh."

Hisui nodded. "You may not agree, but I am putting the very faith that I have into Nic Pularis and Fairy Tail. If anyone can stop them, they're worth betting on at these times."

Another thud shuddered the room, this one being of the same origin as the last thud.

"Ha! Now I find _that_ laughable!" Alfredo rebuffed. "Fortunately for you, there are better things to laugh at than a group of mages who weaseled out of hell alive."

"Maybe so, but it was them who ended the war." Toma noted.

"And yet were also the ones who started it." Justice noted. "Don't think that we haven't forgotten about the Fairy Heart incident. They may have ended the greatest threats on the face of Ishgar, but they held back confidential information that we could've used."

"I disagree." Toma snorted back. "Nay I remind you that we're all at fault regarding our secrets kept. Miss Maryam." He turned towards her. "I believed you called Sir Arthur hypocritical, yes?"

"That I do."

"Well then, I suppose my daughter and I withholding the Eclipse Gate means something about our own secrets that hindered us. And let's not forget Phantasm, let alone Face, am I right? Weapons that _you_ were responsible for that lead to the whole continent devastated."

Ruge snickered. "Oh, he's got us beat there."

"Silence, Ruge!" Wolfheim snorted before facing the screens. "What the point I fail to elude from is that I am not putting my faith in a group of whippersnappers that held the power that we don't have! Now where's the logic in that?"

Toma's eyes narrowed. "So this is about jealousy then?"

Wolfheim growled angrily.

Jeff sat back with his Poliwag in his lap. He stroke it, letting his tail wag happily. "Alright, everyone, let's take five. Take five." He received inquired leers from everyone else.

"Councilman Jefferson." Hyberion noted.

"Look, I think we need to look in their perspective is all. Okay, so maybe we were a little…awful. And let's be real here, if it weren't for Nic's delightful group, we'd all probably be dead. Sounds accurate in my stand point at least. All our armies across Ishgar didn't hold a candle, I don't see why we should hold back mages more than capable for the job than officials."

Hisui smiled. "Thank you for the support."

Maryam shot him a look. "So you're saying we should just do nothing and let Fairy Tail deal with this?"

Jeff shrugged. "Sure. What do you think, little guy?" He looked down to his Poliwag, who looked up at him with his small pink lips forming a smile.

The Poliwag shook his head. "I don't wanna fight. Too scary."

Jeff grinned. "See? He knows."

"That's a Pokémon." Leiji deadpanned.

"And it has a brain as capable as our own. We just need to use it to learn from our mistakes, and I think going directly at war will only cause the same results."

"Well said." Ruge said. "It's not that I don't like the idea…but my fellow Wizard Saints were of no use in the other countries. Their manpower and their Spriggans alone were of something you can send a hundred thousand men at and you still wouldn't get anywhere near them before you're blown away. You would know, right former Sergeant Alfredo?" He shot a smirk at Alfredo, who was darkly leering at Ruge beside him. He could tell that behind that underlying insult held a truth in his words.

Hyberion let out a grieving sigh. "The motion is noted."

"What's that?" Justice inquired.

"My sentiments exactly." Arthur chimed in. "You all may be skeptical, but I could see it almost in an instant. Nic upholds great faith. I have no doubt this matter can be solved in another way. You said Crime Sorciere is heading to them now, yes? Well then I say it's already in their hands."

The councilmen all looked at each other with inquiry. They mumbled and leaned into each other for a short while, passing on mumblings like telephone. They talked for a short while, until at last they faced forward with stern, cold faces. Especially Wolfheim and Alfredo.

"If that is what you see will be the answer to this crisis, then we will abide to your wishes." Hyberion finally answered.

Toma nodded. "Yes. We, too, support this decision."

"We'll just have to put in great faith for our allies to pull together and settle this." Hisui said.

Arthur nodded. "It'll save lives. You're doing the right thing."

Hyberion lowered his head. "I just wished this matter could be solved more peacefully."

Hisui's own face nodded. "Unfortunately, chairman Hyberion…peace isn't for the faint of heart."

"So it is."

The video connections finally cut off, leaving everyone to tend to their own business once more.

In Arthur's office, the lacrima turned off, leaving him to give a relieved sigh.

"Sir, if I wish to admit my guilt, I just wish we could do something more to help this case." Marie said, looking away in sheepish guilt.

Arthur folded his fingers again. "Believe me, Marie, I feel the same way." He looked out at the fields once more, now seeing that there were only a few staff members out there compared to the past few days. Jefferey was working on background checks and making double sure everyone was being interviewed a second time. He knew Eliza would be going through records as well to make sure they wouldn't be lying. Charlotte and Travis were both buckling down on disciplining the trainers inside their courses right now. He sighed once again. "What has come to us now?"

"Sir…"

He looked ahead, his gaze growing serious. "I suppose we may only have one chance at this…but I can't help but wonder how this will all go. I want to see just how well mages and Pokémon truly work together in times like this." His fingers tightened. "Otherwise our efforts would've been nothing but a means to an end."

* * *

In another part of Fiore, the sky was cloudy along a secluded isle. Along the rocky shores, waves crashed up every so often to make water spout and spray. The waves were so harsh that even a Wailmer wouldn't get too close. However, on a small alcove where the water was less rocky, a cool breeze ran through while a sizeable boat was in the center.

"Ow! Hey, stop touching me there!"

"Well then hold still and I wouldn't have to touch it there!"

"I was when you-ow!"

"I said hold still!"

"You did that on purpose!"

The Peace Jaegers were residing on the boat, where their client was withholding them for the time being. They all were licking their wounds from last night's battle, and while the winds were loud, Griffon's whining was noticeable even from miles away. And it didn't help that Matilda's claws were getting into the burns inflicting.

"Alright, here we go." Matilda wrapped another roll of gauze over Griffon's arm. At this point, he almost looked completely mummified in the whole upper body, compared to the few bandages on her cheek and wrapped round her abdomen. She finally stood up, looking down with a grin. "There, that should do it."

Griffon laid on the deck over a mat, his body unable to move. "Well that could've been done a lot faster if you didn't poke me every 5 second!" he snapped. "Ow!"

"Ow quite being such a crybaby. You'll be fine." She turned towards Broly, who was behind not too far away and shadowboxing with his shirt off, allowing his intensely string physique to show. "Speaking of which, I'm surprised you were taken to, Broly."

Broly drew back his fist and let out a loud grunt as he punched forward. A small wind exerted, which would've knocked anyone down in his way. Upon hearing her, he turned with sweat on his face. "The guys really got their acts together. What can I say?" He turned around, throwing another volley of punches at thin air. "I just need to train harder!"

Orion was up on the mast, looking down at his comrades as they were dealing with their downfall. The winds blew like a ghastly wave, and yet around him, his hair or coat hardly shifted. It was nothing short of contradictory.

But as he noted the wounds Griffon suffered, and Broly training, he couldn't help but fixate on his fight. _"_ _ **BREAK FREE~!**_ _"_ He could still remember that last spell Gray used, and it was powerful. As he looked down at his gloved hand, he could see the varied shades of gray and black that were worn down over the years. He began to reflect on his own magic, though not that deep enough.

' _To think that there would be another Devil Slayer in this world.'_ He thought. _'But that magic, it was far from perfect. I could still sense the doubt feting on his magical energy. That time alone was a fluke. If his magic energy is that high, and yet his Devil Slayer powers are so low, could this mean that he's suffered_ _ **that**_ _mark?'_

Before he could take his thinking process to another step, he looked to another part of the boat. Down beneath him, at the mast's base, he could see Aniya sitting all by herself.

"…" She was completely silent; in fact, she looked despondent to say the least. Orion could sense it from where he was.

He could feel it all. In fact, he could almost see it without looking directly at her. He's seen it before, and the image and guilt weren't pretty. Sure, she was his comrade, but he never bothered for personal reasons. Still, this didn't happen too often, usually only when she woke up from night terrors, and that only happens maybe twice a month.

Quietly, she began to mutter to herself. "Why…can't I remember?" Her memory was hazy from last night. All she knew was that she was getting ice cream, and the next thing she knew, she was out in the middle of nowhere with an odd but soothing feeling inside her head that made her headache ease. _'I know I wasn't hungover. I was having ice cream, but then something happened to me. If I were violated, I would've known…but this, this just feels…weird.'_

Another grim image of a snake-like figure popped into her mind. She could see how wide its mouth was and how everything looked dark. Her eyes narrowed and her grip on her forearms tightened. Whatever happened, it had something to do with that. She just knew.

Orion's glance down at her finally turned away, facing the alcove's rocky peaks where Wingull were nesting.

Liz was closer to the bow of the boat. The sea breeze was nice, but the girl enjoyed her tunes equally as much. Of course a certain Water Mage she encountered earlier damaged her headphones. She was working on fixing them to the best of her abilities. She was on hands and knees as she was using very small globs of gum to take in the water and let it air out from there. It was taking time, but now she was board out of her own mind.

Although, when she looked up, the bubble popped inside her mouth and she continued chewing. She brushed her hair to the side and bent down again, resuming her tune fixing.

While everyone was busy working on their damages, Brandish was standing at the very front of the ship, sharing out at the small inward cave that was made by two slanted rock formations. She was glaring ahead as the clouds in the sky reminded her of that day months ago

 _Brandish stood amongst her peers inside the empty throne room of the palace Zeref once resided. A domain that was once home to the infamous Black Wizard, now nothing more than a decorative display that no one could've touched. If they could, it would be nothing but an insult that even Invel's magic wouldn't require freezing in place._

 _The remaining Spriggans, Ajeel, Brandish, Jacob, Invel, Dimaria, and Neinhart were standing in the empty room. Even Yajeel was present. While Invel had been doing his same job while Zeref was gone before the incident, the news didn't stop the public from throwing a panic._

 _Outside, people were going about, and up above in the window, one could see them buying goods and merchandise, but it wasn't the same. There were a lot more women out with children since many of their fathers were lost. Truly a grim time._

" _Look at them." Were the first words that left Yajeel's mouth. "They seem to be moving on. But look at us. Our beloved Spriggan reduced to half."_

 _Nobody said anything. What could they say? They were designed to crush Ishgar to pieces, and they almost succeeded, but they still ended up losing, and with a price too great. Their strongest members perished, including August and Zeref together. Brandish couldn't help but frown deeper._

 _Ajeel looked away in annoyance. "Don't remind me, gramps." He huffed._

" _Those Fiorians, I can't believe that even my Stealth was ineffective." Jacob grimly said._

" _You had your eyes closed the whole time." Ajeel retorted. "Did you even try?"_

 _Jacob angrily turned towards Ajeel, meeting his glare. "Well that says more about me being taking on Nic personally than manhandled by one of his fruitless pets."_

" _At least I can handle seeing a naked tramp."_

" _I would watch my mouth if I were you."_

" _Or what? Touch me and I'll reduce your hands to prunes!"_

 _The two mages were sharing a dark tension between them. Both didn't seem at all pleased with each other's appearances at the time. It was enough that they lost, but what they were suffering was sheer insult to injury. And to make matters worse, nobody stepped in to say otherwise._

 _Yajeel sighed. "Enough, Ajeel."_

 _After a moment's glare, Ajeel turned away first. "Whatever." He huffed._

 _Invel maintained his sophisticated gleam. "Barking at each other like children after losing a toy."_

" _But that toy took our emperor with it." Yajeel noted._

" _Exactly why I called us here."_

 _Neinhart was staring out the window still. He seemed to be paying attention, at lest to how Invel saw it, but the man looked far too distant to care._

" _And just what might that reason be exactly?" Brandish inquired bluntly._

 _Invel turned towards her, giving a sharp stare that rivaled freezing her eyes if implied. Brandish could feel an odd intensity arise in the air, one that rivaled ice itself. When she looked around, she could feel the many cold stares that were starting to edge towards her. The Command T Mage was starting to feel something amidst about these circumstances. She narrowed her eyes at Invel the best she could._

" _We're here to finally evaluate your betrayal to the empire." Invel said._

 _Brandish's eyes slowly widened from shock. No matter how big she could make things, she never would've made something this big. "…my what?" she gasped._

" _I think she shrunk her own ear drums by mistake. I think she needs to hear it again. You messed up big time, you tramp!" Ajeel voiced in a loud, rude tone._

" _Grandson." Yajeel scorned in a groan._

 _Brandish looked around one more time. She saw that everyone but Neinhart was looking at her with obnoxious stares. She thought this was a joke, but she realized that this wasn't Fairy Tail. A short while back in the empire and reality struck her at the wrong time._

" _Explain this to me." She demanded._

 _Invel adjusted his glasses. "Myself and my colleagues have been thinking about this ever since we have come back, and while I am resuming my job in the stead of our fallen emperor, I feared for what the others have witnessed. Is it wrong to say that the enemy and you have been in close contact during that time period?"_

 _Brandish looked down in slight guilt. "…"_

" _So it would seem the claims are true."_

" _Invel, I can explain." She defended quickly._

 _Invel turned away. "If it'll ease this case on our hands."_

 _She took a step forward. "The enemy took advantage of me for a short time. Within that period, I was brought to see the war that was waged had no defined purpose. We have lost so many, and for what? Our majesty's cause was for a genocide, not a revolution."_

 _Invel's glance shifted towards Brandish from the corner of his eye. "No defined purpose, you say." He looked at her for a short while longer before he turned away in full. "So you say. Go on."_

" _I was on enemy lines, and what his majesty had told us was exaggerated." As she went on, she was unaware of the grip tensing on Dimaria's forearms as she remained silent. "What they were doing was far from what his majesty had told. True they had an interesting power, but the darkness that he told did not lie in them. It lied in-"_

 _Invel put his hand up, giving Brandish a pause. The green-haired mage looked with a beating heart as suspense filled between her and the Ice Mage. He continued looking away with a vision that made him indescribable._

" _My apologies, Brandish…but did you say they had no darkness inside them?" he asked._

 _She nodded. "I did."_

" _Then tell me of Gray Fullbuster and E.N.D."_

 _The girl on defense felt the weights fall onto her again. She stared at Invel once more, the events of the war and what she saw after Nic's damage to them had done._

" _That is a farce. Every human has darkness inside them. The fact that you said darkness is not inside Nic Pularis is another thing entirely." He grimly glared at her. "He was the epitome of darkness that forced Gray's actions to turn on him. Exactly what kind of light-hearted humans do that?"_

" _The kind that_ _ **you**_ _would take advantage of."_

" _Advantage of you say?" Invel looked back at her directly, his glare hardening. "You're mistaken again, Brandish. I merely showed him the truth. People who have trouble accepting the truth are those who are trapped in darkness. They are beyond the reaches that prevent calamities like the fall of Irene and August."_

 _Jacob stepped in from the side. "And I heard that she tried to negotiate pointless peace with August in the enemy's stead." He smirked. "Now what do you call that?"_

" _Jacob…"_

 _A snicker came from Ajeel. "Heh, now that I think about it, I hardly saw you at all on the battlefield. You were making buddy-buddy than messing with all those Fairy Tail punks to their deaths, right?"_

" _But I was just-!" Brandish gasped in realization. She realized that she slipped up, in more ways than one. When she looked over at her last line of defense, all she got was a friend distantly looking away. "Dimaria…?"_

 _The Time Mage stayed close to the pillar, unable to look her friend in the eye._

" _Seems the jury has spoken."_

 _The voice got everyone's attention. When they all turned, they saw that Neinhart's arms were folded behind his back. He was looking out ahead of himself while acknowledging what it was that he knew all along._

" _Neinhart." Brandish angrily huffed._

 _The mage smiled mischievously over his shoulder. "Well I'm not wrong. I saw it with my own eyes after all. You betrayed us for those misfits; the ones that dared to raise their voice to Lady Irene and all our powers. What do you that says about you?"_

" _My thoughts exactly, Neinhart." Invel said._

 _Brandish gasped at Invel. She could feel her feet getting cold._

 _Neinhart slowly turned to face Brandish. "I was there. Dimaria was there. And I think we were more than aware of what was going on with you, Brandish." He began to slowly pace himself forward modestly. "Don't get me wrong, dealing with those guys can be entertaining at first…but it's not so fun after a while." Even in the faint light of the abandoned throne room, Brandish's eyes widened at what she saw. "Right?!" His voice arose at the last remark, and he could see the shaking fear in those large eyes of hers. She could see the tattered scar on his cheek where Natsu beat him in. It was still healing, but by now, the bare skin was fully covered by skin graft. "Now tell the truth! We all know by this point! Do you consider them the enemy, or not?!"_

 _Brandish was unable to find the words. At this point, it was all too clear that any words coming out now would be insult to injury._

 _Neinhart snorted, which grew into a voluminous laughter. He cackled loudly in a mocking tone, one that made anyone uncomfortable. "I knew it! You really have grown too soft for your own good!" he exclaimed. "I think someone who doesn't share clear views with us should be dealt with promptly."_

" _Yes, wholeheartedly." Jacob glared._

 _Ajeel raised a brow. "Oh? A punishment? Well that seems right up an alley."_

 _Yajeel lowered his head. "In accordance to this, I suppose a proper punishment is to be carried out for Lady Brandish."_

" _Yajeel…" Brandish began to take steps back, her fears on the rise._

" _A punishment of death for a fellow Spriggan seems to be a suitable punishment." Invel suggested. "However, perhaps a little harsh given what she has done for us all these years."_

 _Neinhart stepped forward in front of everyone, smirking wide. "Well I think I got just the right thought." He chuckled. "Well, Brandish, since you like those yellowbellies so much, why don't you join them. Because as far as I can see, traitors such as yourself are a bother to the empire!"_

" _Neinhart-!"_

" _Quiet!" he snapped. "The way I see it, you betrayed not just Lady Irene, but everyone in this room. I think a death worthy of you is highly considered…but I think I have a much more entertaining prospect in mind." He took one more step forward, his smile darkening to where he almost looked like a sinister ghost. "I say…we sentence you to exile."_

 _Brandish put her foot down. "Exile, Neinhart?! This is ridiculous! You don't even have the authority!"_

 _His eyes narrowed at her. "Oh, do I…?" His eyes glowed for a moment before fading. "Well what about him?"_

 _Brandish wasn't sure what he meant by 'him', just the room's atmosphere grew bitter cold as a chill rn up his spine. Behind, a dark silhouette reveled himself._

" _Brandish."_

 _The voice made her eyes shrink to small pupils. 'That voice…' She slowly turned around, time slowing down as her eyes met someone behind. Her heart hitched deeply as she saw an old man with a cloak and a staff in hand. His calm glare towards her gave him a fatherly disposition._

 _There was a silence around them as all the Spriggans saw it. They stared ahead with some raising their heads in wonder._

 _Brandish turned around, staring at the man in question. As if by remote, she shakily began to reach out towards him. "G-Grandpa August…?"_

" _Brandish." He replied._

 _Brandish shakily reached out for him, but a sudden force blew her forward. She fell on her stomach, thudding in shock as the image of August faded away. She laid on the ground, groaning in pain as Neinhart held his palm out._

" _You see? Weakness!" he sniped. He watched her slowly rise to her knees, seeing her cough from the gusty bullet that struck her back. "But that look was priceless! Hahahaha!" he mockingly laughed._

 _Brandish looked over her shoulder, her leer as deep as lead. "You…!"_

" _This show had no place for failures with wasted talent." He sneered._

 _Brandish prompted to get up and turn. "Neinhart, that's i-!" In the blink of an eye, she found herself turning, but she fell down again, this time with her hands behind her back. Her chin hot the ground, making a loud bony thud. "Gnnngh. What the…?" She looked over her arms, seeing something oddly familiar. She had her hands tied behind her back, and it happened so fast._

' _Magic Sealing Stone? But how…?' She looked over, seeing the one culprit that could be possible that was standing a few feet over her with a menacing glare of disappointment. "Dimaria!"_

 _Invel turned towards Neinhart with a frown. "Neinhart, I do believe you are forgetting who has the authority here. I advise you stand down any further."_

 _Neinhart turned and gave him the wily smirk. "Oh? Why would I forget? Of course I didn't forget. After all…" he snapped his fingers. "He's right there, right?"_

 _Invel eyes widened when he felt an odd, and yet familiar presence in the area. He could feel a shadow loom beside him that smiled mournfully with dull eyes. When he turned, however, the Ice Mage was shaken by the fact he was looking into a dark corner where the curtains shifted. When he looked back at Neinhart, he showed signs of wear._

" _Now then, I think this can work out quite nicely for all of us." He slyly said. "Don't you think?"_

" _Neinhart!" Brandish struggled to break free on the ground, but all she did was toss and turn. It was no use. "Just what do you want?!"_

 _Neinhart's head turned towards her. This time, however, she could feel a chill run deep down her spine when she saw the grim look of his face. His eyes were having a bleak shadow over them as his chin arose. "…entertainment." He answered. "Who cares about what happened now? It's not like_ _ **you**_ _or anyone else here can pull strings that I can!" He turned away, calling out to the guards nearby. "Somebody get this tramp out of my sight! She's nothing but trash!"_

" _Neinhart!" Brandish struggled more, but two guards quickly came at his call. They rolled in as fast as possible and began to drag her away. He kicked and screamed out as the others watched her get dragged along. "Neinhart! You egotistical maniac! What's going on here?!" she screamed. "Somebody tell me!"_

 _Neinhart smirked maliciously while everyone else watched her go. Dimaria refused to look her in the eye still._

" _Invel! Jacob! Ajeel…Dimaria!" she cried. "No…NOOOO~!"_

Brandish looked up at the sky again, staring at the blanket of gray that reminded her of that treacherous day. "What a drag." She sighed.

* * *

A new day has dawned within the revolutionized empire. As one would think, people were going about their business the best they could, but even the most frequent of bystanders were beginning to feel dread whenever they went outside, and it wasn't because of the weather. The forecast was overcast for the day. The answer lied in the massive palace that overlooked everything. They couldn't explain it, but lately it's been having this odd, ominous appeal towards it.

Through the long corridor, a stave was held onto by a pair of freckled wrinkly hands. Yajeel shakily made way alone down the hallway to the closed door. There were no guards posted, just as Neinhart wanted. Just space all to himself.

When he got in front, he shakily reached for the expensive handle. The door slowly opened without much sound, and as it opened, so did the other door. There on that far end of the room, there lied the current ruler of the empire, who was sitting on his throne with gesticulation that signaled boredom. He approached slowly, his cane's echoing silenced by the red carpet he walked down. He reached the end in a matter of minutes and lowered his head.

"Your majesty, you have summoned me?" he stated. He waited for a proper response, but he was left for his question to hang loosely in air. "Your majesty?"

One couldn't tell if Neinhart was half-asleep or paying attention. He sat on his throne rather restlessly as he overlooked the cloudy skies. A sigh escaped his bored expressive mouth. "How does the emperor put up sitting on something like this all day?" he muttered. "It's so boring."

"Beg your pardon?" Yajeel asked, having heard nothing but faint whispers.

A small "Hm?" escaped Neinhart as he perked up. He turned to glance behind his throne, seeing the elderly advisor present. "Eh? What do you want now? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"So I've noticed." He nodded meekly. "You called me here for something important, did you not?"

Neinhart raised a brow, before he caught onto his track of mind. "Oh, right~, _that_." He mused. "Tell me about this training that's going on right now. Are those animals looking stronger yet?"

Yajeel bowed. "As Invel had been watching over them the entire time. He told me to inform you that last week's recruits have gotten significant results since the training has begun."

"And…of everyone else?"

"The rankings and the choice of Pokémon they have made have been finalized based on your design, your majesty."

From the corner of his lips, a smirk made way on Neinhart's lips as he folded his fingers. "Good. Very good…"

An odd but also very discomforting silence fell on the two as Yajeel waited anything from Neinhart. However, he was met with silence. The man wasn't even moving from his seat. He was spacing out like someone who woke up from the best dream ever. It was a short while before anything could've been said.

"…well then, if there is nothing else, I think it's best that I be on my-"

"I think we're ready."

Yajeel fell silent in his tracks. "Pardon?"

"You heard me, old man. I said that I think we are ready." He repeated.

Yajeel had a bad feeling of what he meant by that. He didn't peg for it to be any kind of blessing given the tone he carried. "Your majesty, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean by-"

"Don't play coy with me, old man!" he snapped accusingly. "You know exactly what I'm talking about!" He got up from his throne, facing the man at the bottom of the steps. "I'm tired of sitting on this throne waiting for results. It's time that we take matters into our own hands, and move forward to final mobilization at once." He whipped around gain, facing the windows and not a humble Yajeel.

"Your majesty, we need to think this through." He pleaded. "Is this what you want?"

Neinhart glared from the corner of his eyes. "You dare question your emperor, when he gave you a clear answer to what he wants?"

Yajeel would've said something if it meant procuring the good name of Alvarez, but he was remembering that this wasn't Zeref. Neinhart wasn't like the previous emperor, who was at least willing to hear him out. But Neinhart was an antisocial, selfish prick, who scoffed at anyone else.

When he thought about it, he didn't like it, but he sighed in defeat. "And do you truly believe that the Pokémon are willing to help us in our cause?" he sounded so hollow, as if the answer wouldn't matter in the end.

Neinhart gave another snort as he glanced back at the window. "Hmph, it's been long enough. I say those animals are good enough."

"But what of the new shipment from last night? Are you serious about-?!" A gust breezed past him, leaving Yajeel to stay immobile as he stared at the palpitating wind pressure gathering around Neinhart.

Winds began to course around him as he angrily glared forward and away. By his abominable aura, he looked like he wanted to murder somebody, him in particular.

"Then get them trained faster." He warned through his gritting teeth out of impatience. "I don't care how it's done as long as they're up to speed. We need all their power, to revitalize our nation that was smeared by Lady Erza and her misfits that dared to make us look weak! I'M FED UP WITH WAITING!"

Yajeel knew that at this point there was no turning back. The winds around the room began to dial down as the man's temper began to simmer down. He was looking to be on the verge of a breakdown if nothing was to get done soon. If he didn't do something, he may very well kill somebody.

Yajeel sighed in defeat. "Very well, as you wish."

Neinhart finally subsided his flare and looked ahead. "Good. Now leave."

"But when do we…?"

Neinhart groaned angrily at Yajeel's insistence. He looked angrily down for a few moments before he turned towards Yajeel. "Fine. We'll begin the attack the night of the new moon! Now, I said…leave."

Yajeel paused for a few moments before he ultimately turned away. He walked with his staff back out the door that shut behind him. Neinhart whipped around to glare at the window again.

"Pffft, stupid old man. Oh well, at least I have something to look forward to." He smirked excitedly for when the time comes when he could show the world his truly divine might.

* * *

Yajeel slowly paced down the hallway once more, taking note of Neinhart's incredulous demand. While it wasn't desperate, it was a long the lines of a tyrant's impulse. If anything were to be done about him, it was out of his hands by now.

As he made his way towards Invel, he took notice of Ajeel nearby. He saw him with another Pokémon, one that looked like a freakishly large orange ant. It had a round orange head with snapping jaws and black eyes with white star-like irises. In comparison to the head, the body was smaller, having stubby orange limbs.

"Ajeel?"

The creature looked sheepishly at Ajeel as he glowered over it. "So is this really what you can do?" He had just seen all of his moves, and while it held some resemblance to his own, it still wasn't anything so impressive to the likes of him. "Tch, this is just sad. I get a freaking ant that can crawl at the pace of my old man! Maybe he should've gotten a slowpoke like yourself."

The Trapinch lowered its head in shame at his new master's words.

Yajeel came from behind, looking at the scene with modesty. "Ajeel." He got his attention. "You should try and be a little nicer to your colleagues. Maybe you'd feel better about yourself."

"Grandpa?" Ajeel looked at him before he dismissed the idea. "Why would I do something like that? It's not like can do anything."

"You never know, grandson. Sometimes it's the least you'd expect that makes a difference."

Ajeel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, heard that before."

There was a small silence that fell while the Ground-type Ajeel had looked up at Yajeel, who looked down at him. The two didn't have anything in common, except for possibly one emotion: Displeasure. Yajeel looked back at the ground as he pondered.

"What do you think of all this?"

Ajeel raised a brow. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Everything. Lord Neinhart's ambitions. The neglect we are giving each other. Treating these Pokémon. Everything. We're all so caught up in our wounds inflicted that we are all blinded by rage. We only wish to make others share the wounds we were inflicted, but that does nothing more than bring greater wounds to ourselves. Soon as you know it, the world feels nothing but grief and pity for you."

Ajeel squinted at his grandfather. While he did had a hint of what he meant by what he meant, that wasn't to say that he didn't agree. Sure he respected him – to a degree – that wasn't to say that he held his own beliefs. As far as he was concerned, he was still pissed at Nic and Fairy Tail. "Well it's better than just sitting around and doing nothing like you." He shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I've been meaning to get back out there again. And this time, I'm just itching to grind my sand into their bones and disintegrate them from the inside!"

Yajeel offered nothing for the sake of his grandson. He's always known him to be strong; one of the strongest mages ever known alive. He had power, but there was still much needed wisdom that words alone wouldn't be able to break through his sand body.

Finally, he sighed before choosing to walk away. "Sometimes the real enemy is the one you have to find in yourself."

"Huh? What's that you're saying?" Ajeel questioned rudely. "You must be deaf if you can't understand what you're saying."

"Never take the life you make now for granted, boy."

He left to make way down the hall, leaving Ajeel to look away. When his grandfather was out of sight, he began to speak to himself. " 'The real enemy is the one you have to find in yourself', 'Never take my life for granted'…" He wasn't sure what any of that meant, but for now, he shrugged and chose to focus on himself and his goals. "Whatever."

* * *

Yajeel made way out to the palace's midway courtyard. The doors shut as he walked through the beautiful yard, all alone, with nothing but an overcast overhead and fountain water for music. When he made it to the far reached of the courtyard's reaches, he looked straight ahead at the massive imperial city that was being looked over. His eyes then drifted down to the citizens, seeing many trying to buy and sell goods as usual. But one thing felt missing, something that everyone had that they didn't; even Alavrez's military had this.

Pokémon.

Yajeel's gaze lowered, a mourning sign following. "Dear Emperor, what has happened? Look at this dear home that you have left behind. At one point, I see a sovereign realm, and have seen my whole life. But now when I look at it…not one person smiles." He paused for a moment to allow his thoughts to race around the empire's citizens below. "To allow something as treacherous as this to befall a kingdom, would one call it such a thing anymore? What can an empire gain out of displeased citizens, nothing but hate and depression. Hate, a very stinging emotion; and depression, an infectious lack of drive. With these two factors, it's what makes a world, our very land, one truly of pity."

He looked up towards the sky, seeing the many birds flying overhead. Some were so far up, and many other were Pidgey, or perhaps Pidove that were in flocks. They were free, as should be human and spirit alike. He loked back down, thinking how the renewed Spriggan 12's drive was anything but free. Neinhart especially was far from free. He claimed he was going to make the empire great again, but it was for a lost cause. And Invel wouldn't do anything about it, and if he did, odds were a Historia might intervene to allow Neinhart to get a backway out of this.

' _Hate truly is a regrettable emotion that overwhelms the easiest of minds…'_ His attention drew skywards when he heard a caw. When he looked up, he saw that in the skies, a fellow Wingull flew down, perching itself on the end of his staff. The man watched him pick at his wings as he roost for a short while before speaking. "My friend, how have you been?"

The Wingull looked down, smiling at Yajeel. "Hi, mister!" it cawed. "It's great to see you again."

Yajeel chuckled. "Yes, it's good to see you as well." He looked ahead of himself to stare at the empire once more, his gaze growing subsequently serious. An urge grew inside of himself as he thought about his grandson, and how Elfman and Lisanna were surprisingly nice. They truly weren't bad people, but his empire was.

He knew now what he can do.

"My friend." He reached into his pocket, which held a spare envelope inside of it. He looked at it briefly before giving it to Wingull. "I have something I'd wish you could do for an old, frail man such as myself…"

He told the Wingull what to do and waited a few minutes as the letter was written in place. With no one around, the message was given to Wingull's beak and it took off with the wind. He sailed into the air as far as possible, making way far over the empire and out of Yajeel and everyone's sight.

He lowered his head, sighing once more. _'We need a miracle in this land, and I fear this may very well be our only shot. Only you can be the bridge between these two nations, child. I'm counting on you.'_

Watching from behind the door, his grandson was leaning against the ridging, his frown full of inquiry and slight anger at what his grandfather was pulling.

* * *

Everyone was surprised to say the least, that much could be said. It wasn't exactly easy to compensate the fact that supposed convicts found their way out of a jam on multiple occasions, taking advantage of even the Tartaros incident. But even after the Alvarez and Acnologia incident there some spots that were iffy for others to handle.

"Well I didn't see this coming." Gray said.

Jellal grinned. "The feeling's understandable. I trust that you all have been well?"

"Of sorts." Nic grinned. "Gotta say, your timing's not too shabby."

"Sounds like modesty coming from someone with that sort of gift." Jellal teased.

Nic rolled away sheepishly. He wasn't wrong though, it just happens. Not that it's in his power anyway.

Laxus stepped forward, folding his arms. "Not to be rude or anything, but what exactly did you think would happen just by barging into our guild? We're not exactly in a welcoming mood, no offense."

Bellona stepped forward and nodded. "Our apologies. This was a last minute situation. We came over just as soon as we finished settling a matter with the council."

"You guys talked to the council, too?" Happy gasped.

"Man, here I thought Nic started taking big gambles." Gray noted, much to Nic's raised brow. Coincidentally, it's what made Gray sweat drop as well.

Jellal nodded. "So I've heard." He looked elsewhere, more specifically at an old friend. "Erza, been a while it has."

Erza returned the nod. "Yes, it most certainly has."

"I take it you're doing well?"

She smiled. "Indeed." She meekly snickered. "Although I wouldn't go as far as say everything's heading down the way we imagined it would be right now."

Jellal returned the snicker as well. "You can say that again."

"Now that Zeref and Acnologia have been fully dealt with, all we can do now is continue our eternal purge of forces across this land." Ultear informed. "In a world that is full of revolution, even the brink of collapsing is far from impossible."

"Still the same as ever I see." Gray joked.

Ultear returned the smirk, though with her face turned away and shooting a glance at him. "Well that's not to say about you. Like being naked around other women still I see."

"Huh?" Looking down at his wardrobe, Gray realized he was without a shirt…again. All he did was sigh, and Ultear mockingly chuckled at him. "Yeah, yeah, just rub it in."

Nearby. A certain someone was watching the two get along since the moment they've met. The Water Mage that was Juvia was on the verge of gritting teeth with angry white eyes and shaking fists fixed on her arms. _'First my darling gets hit on by that gum tramp, and now his master's student has returned?! Why does fate always have to do this to me?!'_

"Wow Vanessa, you look really well!"

The sound of a familiar pinkette cut Juvia off from her daily dose of rivalry issues for a short while. Her attention drew away from the scene to Meredy and Vanessa behind, the two girls catching up after such a long time.

"I could say the same to you." Vanessa replied. "Is that a new cloak?"

"It is. I kinda like this shade."

"It suits you."

"Thanks! How's Goodra been?"

Vanessa held up her Poke Ball. "Well would you rather see for yourself?"

Juvia watched the scene and looked back at Gray and Ultear. When she took a moment to stop and think, really Gray wouldn't _really_ leave her for Ultear, even though she had a much more curvaceous figure, straighter hair, far more supple lips, and a lot of other stuff that was beginning to make her fear for the worst once again. Needing a distraction, she turned towards Meredy, getting out her own Poke Ball. "Meredy, did you want to see my Pokémon too?"

"Oh, Juvia!" Meredy chimed. "Yeah, I'd love too!"

"Heh, so this place is still kicking I see." Sawyer mocked. "You can smell the booze a mile away."

Cana held up a mug by the bar. "Thanks for the compliments." She winked.

"My friends, we meet each other once more! Oh what a splendid occasion!" Richard rejoiced.

Nic crossed his arms and grinned. "Well I don't know about 'splendid occasion'...but it's nice to see that you're still doing well, Richard."

"Ah, Nic! I trust that you have been doing astonishing well as ever." He replied.

Nic looked up and away. "Well, to be frank, more or less." He glanced back at Richard. "I don't mean to get personal, but how have you been with your search for Wally?"

Richard seemed more humbled than of regret, thankfully. "Well unfortunately, we of Crime Sorciere are taking our steps. I'm afraid my search for my brother has still lead little to know."

Nic softly grinned. "Well I know he's out there, somewhere. Just do what you did before and stay positive. That's what we all have to do this time around."

Sophie smiled. "It'll be fine. I'm sure he made it out alright."

Both weren't sure themselves. In all honesty, they still don't know who made it out of the war several months ago. It was a long ways from wherever they were, but imagining the worst wouldn't do any good. For Richard's sake, they chose to leave it at that.

"Well if it isn't the blondie." A familiar voice called that made Lucy and Natsu turn towards its origin. Not to their surprise, they saw Sorano present.

"Oh, you!" Lucy chimed. "It's uh…"

"It's Sorano." She pouted with puffy cheeks. "I thought you'd be smarter than last time, but I guess I was wrong."

Lucy sheepishly dropped a bead of sweat in nervousness. "Oh, uh…r-right. Sorry."

Natsu raised a brow. "Hey, you're that Angel chick that nearly drove me and Wendy to death!" he angrily fumed. "How come you didn't warn us?!"

Sorano had puffs of smoke coming from her face as she retorted. "Then you wouldn't have come along for the ride! You'd still be on a boat to who knows where!"

Natsu crossed his arms and turned away. "Well I still don't see why it had to be a vehicle."

"Well probably because you can't exactly walk underwater, Natsu." Lucy said matter-of-factly. "Let's just be glad you didn't lose your guts otherwise we'd be getting complaints for weeks."

Sorano raised her nose to the ceiling. "Exactly right! I can see who's the most sensible one in this little pair."

Natsu looked at Sorano confusedly, but Lucy's face deepened to a bright red of shrieking embarrassment. Sorano turned away and stuck her tongue out with a wink. Happy couldn't help but hold back a snicker.

"What's going on again?" Klefki asked. "Oh! I bet it involves keys!"

"Well the key's gotta go in _somewhere_." Sorano chimed.

"Say what?!" Lucy spatted. Sorano laughed, while Lucy was rendered completely speechless. Fortunately for her, Natsu wasn't that decisive, but he knew some kind of joke was made.

"The heck's going on about this key going in some place?" he asked.

"Nothing! Nothing important!" Lucy shrieked.

"Woah, geez! Okay! Okay!"

While one lover's quarrel was happening somewhere, another kind of love was being made close by. A little farther away from the rest, Erik was looking into the eyes of Kinana. The two distant mages looked at each other admirably, with Kinana looking more than happy with a pleading stare at Erik, who softly smiled down onto her.

"Erik." She said softly.

The Poison Dragon Slayer gave a toothy smile at his "Cubellios" as he remembered her. It's been so long since they've last seen each other, if a few months meant anything. But even after the incident with Acnologia and regrouping in Magnolia, it wasn't to say that they weren't trying to keep in touch when they could. "Cubellios, I can hear your voice clearly now. Such a wonderful sound."

Kinana looked down sheepishly. "Oh, r-really? Thank you." She looked up at him. "S-so you've been well then?"

Erik kept his smile. "Of course. Been busy with my own guild and all…but every time I hear voices from afar, I always seem to pick up on yours. It's always faint, but at least I know it's there."

"Erik…"

Watching from close by, Macbeth chimed a soft smile of his own before turning away. "Truly love is a bright motivation. And it certainly is entertaining to say the least."

"Can't argue there." Duncan huffed. "So then you're allies, right?"

"Yes, of course." Macbeth nodded. "To meet your acquaintance is appreciative."

Joey leaned into Dereece, still glancing at Macbeth. "Pssst! Eh, not to be rude…but does everyone in this world have some kind of style going for them? This guy's wearing lipstick for crying out loud."

"Oh, and like you don't wear maid and dress outfits in the bathroom?" he countered.

"The reason behind that is simple, Dereece."

"Let me guess, it's to maintain your figure, isn't it?" He sounded like it was obvious, in which it was.

Joey beamed. "Yes…" He raised a brow. "Well…kinda. Maybe. Shut up! You know nothing!" He looked away with a huff, where his eyes drew towards the bodacious Bellona right beside Jellal, both talking to Erza. "Woah…"

Dereece groaned with a face palm.

After a while after everyone was finally finished catching up, Laxus stepped up towards Bellona. "Hate to cut the reunion short for you guys, but this isn't exactly the reasonable time to kiss and make up. You told us that Alvarez is docking up for an army, didn't you?"

Bellona's glance shot at Laxus. "We're positive this is what's happening. The signs were as clear as we could see it."

"Yeah, I'm with her in this one." Erik said, taking a moment to break the talk from his and Kinana. "We've been looking at the same ship faction for at least a week now, and let me tell you, it's kinda annoying."

"And while you were investigating that, we happened to run into Brandish at the same time." Nic said. "Sounds more than a coincidence if you ask me."

"That so?" Jellal asked.

"Yes." Erza said, slight guilt running up. "She…was exiled from Alvarez."

"Exiled?" Bellona repeated. "What for?"

Everyone began to recap what events they were transpired with compared to the ones that everyone else has been occupied with. They all began to understand slowly, and by the end of the explanation, Crime Sorciere was standing in front of the guild members.

"Woah, okay there. So you're telling me that this ex-Spriggan or whatever hired a group of mages to help her stop as much smuggling on these ships as possible, which just so happens to be the exact ones we have been looking at this whole time." Sawyer repeated, recapping what he could process. "…well ain't this just great. Going in circles, like I can do in my sleep."

Erik snickered. "Not wrong. Happened once."

"So then we're dealing with another type of guild of her hire." Jellal said. "If that's the case, and she's helping us, wouldn't that make them our temporary allies as well?"

"Allies? With those guys?" Natsu exasperated. "I'd sooner ride a train than spent a minute siding with them!"

"Yeah, sorry, but being buddy-buddy with guys that really smacked us around at one point isn't really easy with us." Gajeel noted.

"Well hey, it's not like we share the same sentiment ourselves." Sawyer said. "How do you think we feel?"

"It's true that we may have been enemies at one point in our lives, but now times have changed." Macbeth said. "If we are to overlook what actions have brought us out of the darkness, we must first pass the judgement we each carry for another."

"Macbeth is right." Jellal noted. "We need your cooperation as much as you do ours. If we are to put an end to this smuggling and save Pokémon, all of us have to put our pieces together and bring an end to Alvarez' ways."

Everyone looked at each other, but Nic, Erza, and a few others agreed almost instantly. They stared at Crime Sorciere knowing stakes like these were as important as could be. Gajeel agreed, though he would've preferred not to after Macbeth's attack back in the Infinity Clock incident. But like everyone else, that was a long time ago. No use in crying over spilled milk as if it were their own blood. Even Elfman seemed to be agreeing.

Natsu smirked. "Well alright then, guess we're gonna have a big party then." He balled his fist, making veins show. "I'm gonna make sure I beat every one of them in for what they did to Brandish."

"Now hold on." All excitement from everyone was stopped cold when Laxus' voice rung like bells. The Lightning Dragon Slayer took a moment to allow them to settle down.

"What? Wait, why?" Natsu asked.

"Now don't get me wrong, guys. These guys were a pain in the ass before, but they haven't exactly did anything to make us want to attack _back_ , you get what I'm saying?"

Mirajane looked down at the ground, a hand to her cheek. "I see. If we attack first…"

"Then that'll put us at fault." Lisanna finished. "The council and the Cambire Foundation might be mad at us."

"Maybe not." Nic said. Like Mirajane, he was looking down at the ground, arms folded and pondering. "It's not my kind of thinking since I never paid much heed, but the world and public would get the wrong idea about what we mages would do with Pokémon." He leered at everyone. "They'd lose their trust in our way of thinking. Our judgement wouldn't matter because we'd be at fault a possible misunderstanding. And I'm not say that it is one, but they might not know that. We've been in enough battles to know that the first strike sets up the attacked next move."

"Which is why I say until we are absolutely certain that they are going to attack us, the motion is that we remain on standby." Laxus stated.

"Say what?!" Natsu fumed in outrage. "That's not fair! I wanted to kick their asses now!"

"Well not all of us are that eager to blow down forts like you, idiot." Gray retorted.

Natsu grunted. He moved away and glanced off to another direction. He may not like it, but he, himself, was wrong. When he stopped to think about it, the others brought up a point, one that he couldn't argue about. He would've went head on, but that happened too many times and he misunderstood his chances. Greatly in most cases. Ultimately he grew morbid and grunted. "Well yeah…guess you're right."

"But that's not to say that we should be prepared ourselves." Erza countered, saving Natsu from complete despair. "We may not be willing to make a move without proof, but we also don't know when Alvarez might make their move either. We should at least retain caution from here on. For as far as we know, they could be as ready as in a month, maybe a week. We don't for certain."

Nic nodded.

"I got that but remember guys, these are just wounded dogs growling." Laxus referred. "We step forward without them charging first, we'll get bit."

Nic glanced at Laxus next. "We've already got bait for that. Don't forget, the Cambire Foundation is in Fiore. If they came here to completely destroy, they'd have to think because we still have supplies. Besides, we still have Brandish out there. She'll make a decision of what she'll do."

Lucy looked down mournfully. "I sure hope so."

Jellal looked towards Bellona and nodded. The two turned away, beginning to leave for the doors. "Then it's in our best interest that we get going." Jellal said. "We have a lot of work to do ourselves, you know."

"You're leaving so soon?" Gray asked.

"Oh don't worry about us." Ultear looked back, smirking sweetly. "I assure you, you'll see us again soon, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I can feel." He groaned. The way Ultear looked at him was almost too sincere for his liking. He could feel embarrassment rise up from seeing her smirk and walking away. He could feel a chill run up his spine when he thought Juvia was looking back at him. He stiffened.

"Well it was fun catching up, guys!" Meredy chimed, waving back as she walked way. "Make sure you keep in touch with us, okay?"

"You can be certain that you have our support for this fight." Jellal said. "But make no mistake. Whatever Alvarez is doing, we can't let them misuse these creatures that can make the biggest impact Earthland may forever know." He continued walking, with Bellona nodding in agreement with a smirk.

Kinana watched as Erik turned to leave, her smile so sincere. "Erik…"

Erik left with his guild, waving back without looking. "I'll hear your voice later, okay?"

Kinana let go of her urge to stop him, instead smiling with acceptance. "Okay."

"Till we meet again." Bellona and Crime Sorciere left the guild hall, walking out with little to no other words to be said, leaving the others to stop and wonder of their moves to be made.

A short passed before they all caught on, leading them to dread of what was to come.

"So we just wait." Carla deduced.

"Seems to be the case." Pantherlily answered.

"A war?" Joey looked back at Dereece and Duncan, the former looking equally as worried, whereas Duncan began to narrow his vision.

As everyone else worried, Nic looked out the door, staring at the saloon doors ever so incredulously. Erza took notice of his intense stare, her worries rising a little for her husband.

* * *

The door to the washing machine shut with a loud click, being left for Nic to reach for the shelves above and grab the detergent. Having it in hand, he poured it into the insert and filled up to the limit. He sat the detergent back on the shelf and set the settings to a cold wash for the clothes. As soon as he heard water spritzing inside, he took in a big sigh and exited the laundry room.

"Good grief." He exasperated. It was enough that he did his own laundry, and his own set was hardly as much as a few pairs of anything. He could get by just fine the way he was now. It was Erza who had the laundry problem. _'She wears so much I'm surprised our washing machine didn't explode yet.'_ As amusing as it would be to think, it wouldn't be pretty to see Erza if her laundry didn't smell as nice as her.

Finally having done the laundry, he exited his house out the back, where the little cottage-like cabin domain had a roof and support beams with smooth rock under its space. He passed the small domain to sit out of, he sat on the small step beneath. He sat in between two rows evenly spaced out and growing Leppa Berries on one side and Sitrus Berries on the other.

He looked towards the sunset sky above, silence befalling him as he frowned.

"Nic? You didn't do my reds with my whites, did you?" a voice called from inside. "Nic?" Erza exited the house next. She opened the door to the backyard and looked around. She turned left and right, before she finally noticed the space ahead occupied by a black coat with black hair.

She made it her business to wander over and beside the step Nic sat on. She looked at him to find him so spaced out that it made it look like his heads were in the literal clouds above. She looked up as well, seeing enigmatic sky radiating beams of sunlight soon to fade over the tree line.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just thinking a little." Nic answered.

"About what?"

Nic put his elbow to his knee, hunching over. It took him a moment for him to try and explain it, but he was never good at that. "…do you always get a case of déjà vu?"

Erza blinked at Nic's question of answer. She chose not to sway as she faced the open fields and pond outback. "That's hard to say. We do the same stuff every day. Go on jobs, we sleep…" her eyes narrowed at the last note she was catching onto. "We battle."

Nic continued looking at the sky. "It's a passion for a lot of people like ourselves. I don't think I can go a whole day now without having a least a few minutes to let loose and stretch out my fibers."

Erza grinned at the statement. "I can agree. Battling really is a lot of things that I've learned over these years, especially from you."

Nic arms folded over the other. "Siebold of the Elite Four once told me something, that battling is an artwork of its own." A smile fell on his face at the recollection of the Elite Four member all those years ago. He still remembered his Arbok against his Barbaracle. "It's beautiful, but underlying that beauty is something deeper." That same grin slowly frosted over by a frown. "There's no one point of view to anything, and that's saying something to interpretation. We battle for a lot of reasons, don't we? We battle because we _want_ to, but also we _need_ to." His gaze cascaded to the field out ahead of them again. "…no. We battle, because we _love_ it. It's something that's a part of us, a part that brought us together."

Erza grinned and nodded at Nic's testimony. She felt the same way he did. She never would've appreciated Pokémon if it weren't for being open to Honedge a long time ago.

"I love to fight, I can admit to that. But not a fight that means to see bitterness and death spilled from my foes. That's a moral we conscious Trainers tend to not forget. Art and battling…they're both able to be interpreted however one sees. I'm not going to force Alvarez nor anyone to see the way I see Pokémon battling, or rather the way _we_ see Pokémon battling; but the way they see it is the kind of interpretation that makes everything about the masterpiece collapse to look like nothing but a mess." His gaze grew persistent, his brow furrowing as he stared at the setting sun with its radiance gleaming in his blue eyes.

"I don't appreciate war, it takes away a lot of things we hold dear…but it's what also brings others closer. We won't win this with just ourselves. I know that. But whoever joins us or is against us better learn eventually the means to using Pokémon is to beside them."

A warm, tingly feeling pressed against his cheek, the supple feeling making his heart almost skip a beat when it was revealed to be Erza kissing his cheek. Once she had her fill, she pulled away and smile. "Just like how we beside each other." She said.

Nic managed to calm himself and give his wife a smile. "Right."

"It's true we may have lost Master Makarov and our First Master…but we've gained just as much out of this than what others realize, and we'll use that newfound experience, so that we can win this and share our views with everyone in the end."

Nic couldn't agree more himself. Now it was his turn to sympathize with her. Though they do love battle, but hate war, the two clashing forces blossoms brings out two outcomes in the end: A winner, and an understanding. Against Alvarez, it was more about understanding than it was the victory itself. Even if it took them another year, they wouldn't sit around to see Pokémon enslaved by those befitting to that meaning.

Freedom of expression only goes so far until those willing to seek justice use their instincts to do the good things for others. That's the ideal simplified for Nic and Erza.

The redhead stood up, turning towards Nic. "Speaking of battling, we need to catch up on some of it. We do need to stay in shape if we're to pull through after all."

Nic smirked at Erza's leisure. "You had me at 'battling'."

The two made way to the center, just in front of the pond where calm, clear pond water was shuffling. The two pulled out their Poke Balls, ready to get some exp in.

Erza threw first. "Slurpuff, up front and center!"

Nic threw second. "Kecleon, go!"

The white energy expelled from the Poke Balls in front of each Trainer. In front of Nic was Kecleon, whose body was in a relaxed battle stance. Slurpuff's stubby arms were up, ready for action.

"You ready?" Nic asked his wife.

Erza gave an amused chuckle. "Like you need to ask." She reached forward, readying her first move. "Now Slurpuff, **Cotton Guard!** "

"Sweet!" Slurpuff's red eyes grew serious as a white aura encompassed her body. That aura slowly bloomed cotton puffballs that grew to a point until they vanished altogether. A thick, red aura enveloped Slurpuff, fading as her Defense rose drastically.

Nic reached out ahead of him. "Go, Kecleon!"

Kecleon tilted her head as she crouched. "Oven already preheated!" She crouched deeper, creating a gust that spilled in her spot as she lunged in a green blur at Slurpuff. "Let's get cooking~!"

* * *

Juvia tapped on Gray's apartment door. She waited for an answer to come, but nothing happened. "Gray, are you there?" She tried again, but with the same results as last time. She was trying for a few minutes a little earlier when she happened to be coming down his street. She seemed a little worried about something, and for once it didn't involve a rival stalking him. It was something more…pressing that was getting her attention.

"Gray?" She made one more attempt at a call, but ultimately failed to get him out of his apartment. "Maybe he's not home. I guess I should try to-"

"HRAH!" A loud shout was followed by the sound of crystalizing, one that was all too familiar to Juvia.

She gasped in shock. "Gray?"

"HNGH!" The sound was clearer than before, and it sounded like it was coming from behind the complex. Behind it, a weak glimmer of icy light illuminated behind it, which was noticeable upfront where Juvia stood. It happened again, followed by another weak light.

Making it her business, the Water Mage followed her liquefied gut and made way around the building to its open lot behind it. As she drew closer, she could feel how cold it was getting, almost to where frost was starting to show along the alley. With hurried running, she finally made it to the backside of it, where she turned and saw the one responsible for it.

Her stare grew stale as her body relaxed. To her ease, she saw that it was Gray, surrounded by nothing but ice. He was standing on ice even; everything was frosted over at least, explaining why it was so cold.

Gray was bent over without a shirt as expected. He had his hands to his knees and trying to catch his breath after expelling Magic Power for well over an hour. It was taking him everything he had to try and remaster his Ice Devil Slayer powers, but it wasn't anywhere as easy as he thought it would be. He didn't think to know that his magic levels were still the same as ever, but something about him just didn't feel the same. It was like that same weight that was holding him down that he was attempting to lift. He was able to lift it once before, but he didn't know how to keep it off. As much as he used his casual Ice-Make, he needed his Devil Slayer powers if he was to get out of a situation. But there was one problem. He can't. Ever since Nic went Giratina on his demonic form and tore the devil right out of him, he wasn't the same. He wasn't able – or perhaps capable of – performing any of his Devil Slayer techniques; not even that tattoo was visible anymore. It never showed, and neither did that power. When he fought Orion recently, another Devil Slayer who seemed to have full mastery and sanity over his soul, was he able to pull off that first spell in almost a year. He had to that again, but the trick he was trying to get around of was how to do that again, or rather, get that feeling.

He glared ahead, beads of cold sweat condensation on his face. _'That spell I just used…I know what it was.'_ With one big hitch in his breath, he stood up once more, looking determined. _'That was my Devil Slayer powers I felt. I thought I lost them for good after what happened. But I guess I was wrong.'_ He looked down at his fist, staring at his palm. _'I don't know what happened to make me lose my guilt for a sec…but I know that spell happened because of it. Even if it was a fluke.'_ His fist slowly turned into a tightened grip. _'It happened because I was able to let go. If I can just keep it that way, then maybe it'll come back. But, do I really want that…?'_

A pair of footsteps walked closer. "Gray…?"

Hearing the familiar voice, the Ice Mage turned around, seeing his girlfriend-in-question standing a few meters away with a worried look on her face. "Juvia?" he questioned. "Yeah, what is it?"

A sudden instance was rushed when a pair of arms found themselves draping around his waist. He went wide-eyed when he was pulled in by a force that drove him into Juvia's front. The Ice Mage was at a loss for words as his naked upper body was in contact and in an affectionate hold of Juvia. Sure it's happened before, but something about this was catching him completely in a less than discomforted mood.

When he looked over, ignoring Juvia's hat, he was seeing how she was holding him tight, but not in a charming way like she always has. This one was more of discomfort, like he had lost someone important to him and he wasn't the one to feel depression.

"Gray…" she started. "It's gonna be okay. I promise you, I won't do what I did before to make you walk down that path. Please…just let me be there this time."

Gray didn't get what she meant at first until it struck a few seconds later. He recalled how they committed the double suicide to prove their loyalty and love towards another, and when Juvia "died", he snapped in half like Natsu did when Lucy didn't wake. He could feel how guilty she was for letting that happen, and it's what made him frown.

As Juvia held onto him, Gray's arms slowly found themselves behind her back. The rain woman held on as he did to her. The cold air around them was oblivious as their beting hearts filled the other with deep warmth.

"Yeah, me too." He answered. "I won't do that again. Not ever."

After a few moments of silence, the two finally pulled apart.

"Alright then. Come on, let's get some practice in. I don't wanna show up unprepared after all."

Juvia nodded, pulling out a Poke Ball. "Right!"

* * *

Within the lair of The Freaks, via Joey and Dereece's stay, Duncan was called to them, despite his personal intentions to be anywhere else. Still, he chose to stick around and see what was happening. Although it wasn't what he had in mind.

"So Duncan." Dereece started. "You really think of all this?"

Duncan held onto his kendo stick as his hat shield his eyes. "Hmph, well if you ask me, everyone's getting worked up over nothing." He explained. "If the enemy didn't bring the fight to us yet, why fret over it to begin with? Sounds like a waste of breath to me."

"Well, these _do_ sound like some scary people we're dealing with." Dereece reasoned. "You heard what they said, those guys conquered this whole continent before they got to the guild. Maybe we should try and sit back and let the pros handle this one."

Duncan did an eyeroll. "Suit yourself, I really don't care."

"S-so you're all for it then?"

He turned towards Dereece. "I just said I don't care. If you care so much, why not just whine about it all day until they get here?"

Dereece raised a despondent. "Well you better be hearing whining from me than the other guy. You think I have it rough with stress, just try Joey."

The two teammates turned their heads in unison, looking at who could be best described as the king of stress himself.

Joey was sitting at the foot of his couch in the living area right beside the island/kitchen area. He had his knees up as he held a tub of vanilla ice cream in his one hand and continued dipping a spoon into it and into his piehole. He was shoving it in as he was whimpering, if not dementedly laughing. It was hard to tell with a mouth full of ice cream.

"Mhmhmhmhm!" He questionably exclaimed. He opened his mouth to insert more ice cream. "W-we're actually be fighting! Fighting for Nic-senpai…in an actual fight that might get us killed! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO FEEL!" He munched on even more ice cream, munching sadly and swallowing what he can. "And this ice cream is so damn good!" he added.

While Joey was stress eating for what my be his final time in his standards, his associates were looking less than impressed with how their "Captain" was acting.

"How sad." Duncan groaned.

"You have no idea." Dereece answered.

As Joey despaired, whining about stuff mumbled about "Nic-senpai" and "attractive and charismatic" and "death" for several more minutes, Duncan finally stepped in. He walked on up to Joey as he reached near halfway with the tub of vanilla.

"Look, if you're just going to be like this the whole way, then just sit there and finish that ice cream." He retorted. "This isn't the time to be a big baby."

Joey struggled to swallow before he finally achieved it. "What? You're crazy!" He stood up. "No, I gotta prove to the guild and Nic-senpai I can be as useful as anyone else can! If you're saying I'm a wuss fine, but after I finish this tub, I'm ready. Just wait and see!"

Duncan groaned tiredly for his Captain's behavior. It was degrading to say the least. Committable, yes; sensible, no. Duncan was ready for battle since ever. But Joey, the way he was eating his stress was not only unhealthy, but it was also just sad to watch. He turned away. "Whatever keeps that hed of yours on your shoulders. I'm going out to train."

Duncan walked away and left the complex, leaving Dereece to be Joey's lifeline.

"Joey, are you sure about this? They can kill us!"

Joey swallowed again. "I know, Dereece…I know." He paused. "But Nic and Erza, even Vanessa went through this. Plus you saw how tough everyone was when they beat Acnologia in our world. If we don't help, who will?"

"Uh, _actual_ mages?!" he exasperated.

Joey raised a brow. "Now look who sounds like they wanna sit and eat ice cream all day, I'll let you borrow my maid outfit if you want…though I think you may want to stay away from ice cream for a while there, buddy."

Dereece sulked his head down in a deep groan. "Somebody just dig my grave already."

* * *

As the sun had lost its luster upon the land, it set along the glistening sea where the isle and cove met. The sun's remaining beams illuminated the wood of the ship's bow, where there, still lamenting given the look on her face, Brandish stared with disinterest.

As cool winds that passed through and surged all day were receding, the Wingull that flocked the alcove finally went to their nests. The sea-dwelling creatures such as the Corsola and Shellder took their final plunge into bedrock and sand beneath the water.

Orion walked up from behind the banned mage, giving her a serious look. "The time for us to resume our duty. What is it that you ask of us to do?"

Brandish looked back, seeing that it was just Orion present. She looked farther out, seeing Griffon was still napping, and Matilda was no different, albeit snoring like a wild animal. The only other person who looked ready was Broly, who was seemingly napping while leaning against the mast's pillar. "Your allies don't look the part. Would you rather wait for them instead?" she asked.

Orion shrugged nonchalantly. "It's fine. Our overall health does not concern the other. That's part of the agreement of being a Jaeger. It's either you're up for it, or you're not, but regardless of the circumstances, it's our own independence in the end that deems us fit."

Brandish looked absentminded at Orion's proclamation of individuality. She thought for a moment back to Fairy Tail and how in their experience, had to rely on the other frequently. However, seeing Orion willing to do a job alone if he had to made her sigh.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing."

As Brandish wandered off in thought to think of what could be done, a caw from the air brought her back to really. She looked up, noticing something coming in from the skies above.

She and Orion could see what looked like a Wingull just like the others. It sailed lower as the breeze dialed down, where it flapped its wings until it slowed enough to where it gently sat itself in front of Brandish.

Brandish looked down at the Wingull to see that there wasn't anything wrong with it, but she did take note of the envelope that was inside Wingull's mouth. She knelt down to reached for the note, which the Wingull didn't fight over.

"A messenger?" Orion asked.

Broly walked up from behind, standing beside Orion with hands to his hips. "So what's up? We got work to do?" He saw Brandish taking a note from a Wingull that roosted in front of her. "Well, what do have here?" he smirked.

"Hard to say." Orion guessed. "Could be a threat letter for all we know."

Broly shrugged. "If it were that, they would have to know where we live first." He looked towards the client again. "So what's it say?"

Brandish furrowed her brow as she looked at the one side. On it was nothing; not even a seal or an address of where it came from. But she had a hunch of what it might be. She opened the slip tentatively, where there, she saw that it was a piece of paper; a letter.

Quietly, she began to read the letter:

 **Young Brandish or to whom this letter gets to,**

 **I, a representative of Alvarez bids you a fair warning to what is to befall. It is with a heavy heart that I admit to which that Emperor Neinhart has finally made the call. He, as well as what Alvarez has agreed to unceremoniously, are to make their move the night of the new moon.**

Brandish's eyes widened. _'Neinhart, he what…?'_

 **I know this is a lot to ask of you, young one, and I did not have enough time to make this. I may not be of similar grounds, but we share a common enemy who we once respected as our associates. The very land that we once roam has turned to darkness by the blight of revenge. It's easy to repair buildings, but it's not as such to hearts and pride. The pride that I speak of is that of an Alvarez citizen and minister who wants to see his nation great again. And to do so, I ask you to make this bridge connect these two roads that have been walked. The decision is yours, but I know somewhere, you will make the right decision. For everyone.**

 **Yajeel**

Brandish finished reading the letter, in which she stared at it tentatively. In a way, she was holding life and death itself. The look on her face showed nothing but discomfort for what she had read. _'Neinhart…that maniac.'_ She thought angrily. _'So he intends to attack on the night of the new moon. That's not even in a week. He must be truly impatient. As expected of him.'_

"What is it?" Orion asked. "Anything to worry about?"

Once again, for possibly the umpteenth time in a row, Brandish gave another tired sigh. "What a drag."

After a few minutes of attempting to get everyone's attention, the members who were looking spacy were brought in to hear out what Brandish had been told. Suffice to say that most if not all seemed more than understanding, like it wasn't a big deal.

"I see." Orion said. "So that's where it stands then."

"So then our efforts have been for nothing then." Matilda scoffed. "Well ain't this a kick in our pants."

Liz blew another bubble of gum, having her headphones on her ears after repairing them all day.

"So then this means Fiore's gonna be in some hefty big trouble." Griffon remarked.

"That's an understatement." Aniya retorted. "As far as I'm concerned, we did our part. I say we make like a bird and fly away."

"That's not our call." Orion rebuffed firmly. "We do as we must. The world's problems don't concern us. We are to be paid to do as the job carries. That's part of the peace we deem. So if we are paid to fight, then that is our quest."

Aniya sighed angrily. "Do we really have to? There's like only six of us."

"And it doesn't matter. If we die, we do so having to achieve our own peace. We accept the consequences and embrace death knowing we lived our lives to what we have wanted them too."

"Well said." Broly smirked as his hand was to his chin.

Matilda glanced over towards Brandish, who was looking ahead with a contemplative look on her face. She stepped forward to get a little distance between them severed. "So, what's it gonna be. No pressure, right?"

The ship fell silent as the Peace Jaegers looked towards Brandish as the exiled mage was standing on her two feet and facing away. When she thought about it, she didn't want any part of this war to come. It was a waste of time and breath to her, and rather than fight, she'd rather take her leave. But if she did that without informing someone, then they would be subjugated to hell. It was her decision to make, and a lot was on the line. She could tell Fiore or a guild, or she could do something else about it and stop them herself, or the third option, flee and have no part in a one-sided domination. She rather not see a big mess made, especially one made by herself. But no matter how she saw it, there was going to be one in the end. Alvarez wants anything but a peaceful resolution after all.

But on the contrary, when she thought back to an event, she recalled Natsu's punch that blew Neinhart away. That was her overconfidence and miscalculating the chances they had against Fairy Tail. She was always known for having pride in Alvarez, just like Yajeel, but after the war and getting to know Lucy, it felt like something inside of her was doing backflips, and it wasn't her stomach. It was more directed to her heart.

Whether she wanted to accept it or not, she was very disappointed in Alvarez' actions. It had to be said that she wanted to see Lucy and her friends again, and she did, but she wanted to feel proud. She was on the run for a few months and ultimately made the decision to "beside" Fairy Tail and hire the Peace Jaegers to stop as many shipments as possible. And now war was waged once more.

Another image of Lucy's sincere smile appeared in her mind, making her close her eyes and sigh.

"So what's the verdict?" Orion asked.

Ultimately, she made her decision. She turned around and look at her peers in the eyes with a dead serious glare. "Peace Jaegers…I have a new job I wish to hire you for." She started. "This country is at risk, and my friends are here. We shall align with them, and stop Alvarez once and for all."

"Wait, hold on." Griffon said, still bandaged like a mummy. "By 'friends', are you saying those guys that we ran into?"

"Yes."

Aniya immediately fumed in anger. "Are you freaking serious?1 No way am I gonna work beside those guys! They're crazy!"

Griffon meekly raised his arm. "Yeah, sorry. Hate to say it, but I don't think that pink-haired firebreather would wanna see my face anytime soon. I'm not disagreeing or anything, but it's the truth."

Matilda beamed with a look of interest. "I won't be the first to say that it's not the best decision…" a big smile crossed on her face. "But truthfully, I've been aching to see that girl's Krookodile again. That guy just riles me up!"

"Is that really what you're going for?!" Aniya retorted.

"Aniya." Orion said solemnly. "It's up to you if you wish to help or not. But if you do it because of what they did to you, then do as you see fit. But know this, your peace with death won't be taken lightly."

Aniya looked down with angst. "W-well I…" She hated to admit it, and she most likely never will given her qualities, but the main reason she didn't want to do so revolved around the fuzzy feeling she had last night. She knows what they did made her feel uncomfortable and bring back unpleasant memories of the past, but wasn't at liberty to say.

Brandish looked at them bluntly and unamused. "I'm paying you to do your job."

Broly smirked. "Heh, well I'll be damned. Seems like a fun idea to me." He said. _'I wonder if those guys will be part of all this?'_

"Liz?" Orion turned towards the Gum Mage. She stared with indifference at everyone, blowing a bubble that popped and resumed chewing. "Then it looks like we have our job. If you wish for this, then I'll do what I can to assure you find your peace. That is the job of the Peace Jaegers."

Brandish looked at them in understanding, seeing and guessing that Aniya and Griffon were going to be sulking for a while. But nevertheless, she gave a nod of thanks and turned away back towards the fading sunset. This time, however, it was a gaze of resolute than hollow.

"Bring to me the Communication Lacrima."

Orion reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a small orb. He handed it to Brandish, who looked into it and frowned.

After a few minutes of fiddling with it, she gave a despondent stare as the screen inside its lustrous smooth rock was showing brief static. It wasn't until a few seconds later that the picture showed Freed.

"Yes, hello?" he asked. "This is Fairy Tail. What can I do you for?"

"Do you have a master, or perhaps know of someone by the name of Lucy Heartfilia?"

Freed's suspicions arose. "That depends, who wants to know?"

"I do." She said sternly. "There is something that I wish for you to pass onto anyone you know…"

* * *

A few days went by in the blink of an eye for most people for Fiore. However, that blink was so fast for some that they didn't have time to prepare. For a certain group taking charge, it was a matter of doing what they needed to do. For those who were setting adrift for daylight hours, those who arose with the sun were up and ready, and that was no exception for those ready for battle.

Hargeon port, sunrise, and slowly making way with the sun rising on their sides, the air felt suspenseful and heavily dramatic as a figure walked in the beaming sunlight. Right behind him, an armored companion followed, both walking towards the docking area with many more following. Pink hair was seen next, followed by raven hair joined by blue hair. Others soon to follow was someone with bouncy boobs, with a blue feline flying across the ground. Many, upon many others joined in one the march towards the port, where soon, the beaming sun lifted to reveal the mages of Fairy Tail.

"If it's a war Alvarez desires…" Erza started.

"Then it's ours to end." Nic finished.

Fairy Tail, the first guild to arrive at the port. Many of the mages there ready for departure were sent for one reason: Stop Alvarez before they reached Ishgar. The other morning, Freed told everyone what Brandish explained to him and how she had proof that Alvarez was to attack soon. Now with a reason to fight and go to them, Fairy Tail readied its combatants that wished to go. Of course not all of them went. Some stayed behind to man down the fort, including Laxus himself. With approval by the guild and convincing to Arthur and the Council's acquisition, they allowed for this unconstitutional attack. The mages who chose to go comprised of Team Natsu, the Exceeds, Gajeel, Juvia, Vanessa, Sophie, Elfman, Lisanna, Mest, Nic, and surprisingly four others. The Freaks for one, and the other being Kinana, much to everyone's surprise.

Natsu ram his fist into his open palm, a serious look on his face. "So this is what we've got then, huh? Then let's make it work."

"Aye, sir!" Happy exclaimed.

"Is this really happening?" Wendy asked.

"I'm afraid so. There's no way out of this for any of us." Carla pointed out. "If we don't act, who will?"

"Better safe than sorry. Those soldiers we have didn't stand a chance before." Gajeel stated.

Pantherlily nodded. "It would be better to send the best that we can offer in place of numbers. Fighting fire with fire is the most ideal solution to this kind of crisis."

"But there is one difference this time." Sophie reminded. "The fate of many Pokémon and lives alike are at risk."

"Which is why we're going." Vanessa confirmed. She looked over, seeing that beside her were The Freaks.

Looking over, Joey was looking to be on the verge o sweating, but he held his ground as confidently as he could. It took a lot of willpower and enough reason – and excessive whining – to get his best friend to agree, but he looked just as ready. Dereece looked no different, though he seemed more reserved. And as expected, Duncan was looking as indifferent as ever.

"We should've stayed behind, man. You sure about this?" Dereece whispered harshly.

Maintaining his composure, Joey swallowed a lump. He could feel his heart beating so fast that it may as well jump out of his chest. "I-I'm okay." He nervously answered. "We…we can use the experience, right?"

Dereece grimaced again for the potentially fatal mistake Joey has made, but knew nothing could be done about it.

"So is this where we're supposed to meet?" Lucy asked.

"This is where we agreed to, I hope." Juvia confirmed.

Happy looked around, turning left and right and about. "I don't see them anywhere."

"Maybe they're running late or something." Elfman said. "Better not be a joke just to ambush us."

"Calm down, Elf. I'm sure it's nothing like that." Lisanna eased. She turned away to look over at Kinana, who looked as ready as anyone else. "Though I have to say, Kinana. I'm surprised you actually thought of coming along."

"Yeah, why the change of heart all of a sudden?" Natsu asked. "Never pegged you to be the fighting kind of girl."

Kinana nervously dropped a bead of sweat as she glanced away, scratching her cheek with her index finger. "Well, a-actually…"

Sophie smirked at Kinana, knowing full well of her intentions. She pays attention all too well. _'She wants to see Erik again.'_

Gajeel looked towards Mest, giving him a glare. "So what's your reason for coming along?"

Mest crossed his arms and beamed nonchalantly. "This is my choice, too, you know. I'm coming along to make sure we have an escape plan in case things don't go our way." He reasoned. "Besides, you need my insight since I've been there before. Their geography needs navigating you know."

Gajeel shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat."

Mest began to ease up from any suspicion. He was less than enthused about going against Alvarez again, and he most certainly wanted to avoid confrontation. His experience with last time certainly didn't go the way he thought, especially regarding August.

Natsu shot him a leer, making his nerves heat up again. "Hey…just so we're, you make anything rash like before, and I'm burning you to a crisp, are we clear?" His threat had a deep, bloody warning to it, like he knew well of Mest's intentions. He wasn't going to let that happen again, not on his watch.

Mest nodded solemnly. "I'll keep that in mind."

Nic looked ahead at the docks, where there was a large Alvarez shipped that seemed abandoned, or otherwise incapacitated. As he stared at it, it didn't elude him that voices were coming from close by.

"Hey, I think I see them!"

"Yes, as do I."

"Hey guys, what's up?!"

"Hi~!"

Looking over, the Fairy Tail group cast their attention to the next party that entered the docks. Natsu looked pretty excited to see the crew again. "Hey, Sting. Good to see ya."

Sabertooth, the second guild to enter Hargeon's docks. To ensure they gain even more of an advantage, everyone agreed to get in as many others as they could to ensure their victory. Natsu was reluctant at first, but after some brief reflection, it was for the best in mind. The mages that were joining in from the guild comprised of their master Sting, Rogue, Minerva, and Yukino. Lector and Frosch also entered for good measure.

Lucy looked at Yukino with modest surprise. "Yukino!"

The white-haired mage blinked before recognizing her old friend. "Oh, Lucy. Good to see you here!" she waved.

"Happy! Lily! What up, guys?!" Lector rejoiced with the two other Exceeds. Frosch joined as well, as did Carla in her human form.

"Haven't seen you since the conference. You look well." Pantherlily smiled.

"Aye, we've been great ourselves!" Happy noted.

Lector smiled. "Yeah, I can see. You all look super strong. Those Alvarez jerks are gonna wish they've never chose to go to war a second time this time around." He beamed with lustrous pride, before he turned towards Carla. "And Carla, fancy seeing you here as well. Love the wardrobe."

"Nice to see you, too, Lector." She greeted.

Happy shot at leer at Lector, making the Exceed feel an odd chill running down his spine. Pantherlily made it his business to put a paw on his shoulder to keep him in check.

"So what's Sabertooth's master doing here?" Gray questioned. "Seems pretty irresponsible if you ask me."

"It wasn't my idea, I can say that much." Rogue modestly admitted.

Minerva displayed equally as much modesty. "We verbally insisted we'd go, but after overhearing the incident in the conference, he's been rather anxious." She explained.

Sting smiled jovially. "Come on, guys, lighten up." He insisted, but his face then turned to grow a little more serious. "It's true that I didn't make the best decisions before when they showed up, but I'm not backing down like I did before. This time…I know I can do this."

"Yeah, that's the way!" Lector cheered.

"Fro thinks so, too!"

"So then does this mean that you all have Pokémon, too?" Lisanna asked.

Minerva smirked. "Yes. Though I wish to reserve for a more appropriate time."

Erza grinned. "Well we're pleased to have you with us. Your help is truly appreciated."

"Hey, it's what friends are for, right?" Sting smiled back. He looked off to the side, his hearing picking up more footsteps. "Speaking of…I think we have more of us coming around."

More heads turned to stare at two more figures coming from close by.

Guilds number three and four: Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel. Like Sabertooth, they offered mages for the campaign to stop Alvarez in their tracks. Unfortunately, however, due to incapability and how much they had to offer at the time, the only ones who volunteered or were willing to represent were Lyon and Kagura. Both mages walked side by side as they closed in on everyone else.

"It's Lyon!" Wendy chirped.

"And that Kagura chick from Mermaid Heel." Gray noted. "Looks like they weren't holding back this time."

Lyon approached them with a grand and prideful smile. "Gray." He said calmly.

The fellow Ice Mage smirked. "Where's Jura? Would've pegged your guild would've sent him along with you."

Lyon boasted a nonchalant chuckle. "Typical of you." He chimed. "I take all this time to get here and you can't even muster up a single hello. Well I suppose there are better things to do than waste breath on pointless commentary when the threat of war is at stake."

Gray half-grinned. "Geez, sorry man. Just yanking your chains."

"It's fine. And I'll have you know that your emergency came at quite the unfortunate time. You see, Jura couldn't make it because he's been on a job."

"Man, that sure blows." Gray chimed sarcastically.

"But worry not. Now we may not have Jura, but I, too, have acquired my own Pokémon for this upcoming fight. And I can assure you that it's not to be taken lightly."

Kagura made it her business to meet up with Erza first of all people. She approached the married woman with her stern gaze and held her composition. "Erza." She greeted.

Erza smiled. "Kagura." She said happily. "Glad you could make it on time."

Kagura nodded in return. "My apologies if my person isn't enough. I'm sure Millianna would've at least been willing to see you off."

"Just knowing she's safe and you're here is enough for me." Unable to hold back her excitement at seeing her "sister" again, the pushy redhead closed to give the purple-haired mage a tight embrace, one that the receiver wasn't prepared for.

The swordswoman blushed strongly at the hold. "L-let go of me! This isn't the time for making up for lost time!" she sheepishly squealed.

"All the same, great to see you again."

Kagura was struggling to break free, but she was met with a smirking Nic. It only served to make her embarrassment rise higher. "S-stop looking!" she shrieked.

"What's wrong? Not a fan of hugs?" Nic chimed.

"Don't add salt to the wound!"

Joey looked around, admittedly surprised. "Wow, there's a lot of people here. And they all got some pretty neat designs on them, too." As he paneled left and right, he was seeing how the color schemes were going admittedly well with the individuals. Being part designer, he had to admit such a quality was impressive. And in most cases, he was seeing than just ample room that Kinana and Minerva were showing. "Ohlala."

Dereece rolled his eyes. "Anyways, are there anymore coming that we know of?"

Mest turned towards him. "I've heard that Blue Pegasus is sending someone as well. They should be here soon."

"Hang on, is it Ichiya?" Natsu asked.

Mest shook his head. "No, unfortunately not. You see, Blue Pegasus is going through a shift in guild masters right now. Bob is currently stepping down and taking sir Ichiya under his wing. It won't be long until he's the new master now."

"Man, that sure bites." Gray grimaced.

"So I guess that goes for the Trimens then, too, right?" Lisanna inquired.

"Sounds like it to me." Elfman answered. "And it sounds like someone who can't give us a ride on their airship."

"Unfortunately, no." Erza said, breaking away from Kagura at long last. "I spoke with Freed and Laxus before we left. We may not have aerial transport with us, but they are sending someone who has been remarkably talented." She noted.

"That so?" Duncan asked.

"Yes. From what I've heard, he was another Pokémon Trainer, much like you all." She referred to The Freaks.

"For real?" Dereece gasped.

"You mean that another Pokémon Trainer is here, too?" Joey was awfully curious of this certain individual that they might meet. From his experience with other Trainers, he prayed that it wasn't anyone who liked showing up in beds with creepy Venipede.

"Yeah, I heard about that, too." Pantherlily added. "According to what I heard, he said he came from a similar region called 'Kanto'. That's as rough as what I could translate."

"Kanto, huh?" Natsu smiled. "Sounds interesting. Wonder what the guy's like?"

Wendy turned in another direction. "Look, I think that's him over there!" She pointed west, where everyone's eyes and ears turned towards the spot where they saw someone stroll in.

"Who's that?" Joey asked.

Everyone watched as a pair of shoes carried someone on leg at a time. The man came in with an exaggerated stride that made him less than dramatic than he was comical, yet in a suave fashion. The man was around average height with messy yet point short brown-orange hair with one bang between the eyes, with the rest barely over the forehead. The atmosphere around him was supposedly playing some suave beat to enunciate his exaggerated charm as his brows were slanted, with clean, brown eyes and a nice smile. He was light-skinned and seemed to be slim, if not reasonably in shape to run if needed for someone looking to be 19, if not 20. For attire, he adorned a dark blue dress shirt with a folded collar over black dress pants and regular with and gray shoes. And for accessories, he had on black sunglasses that hid his eyes away and a silver watch on his right wrist.

Everyone said nothing as the guy strolled in and stopped a good distance away. He took a pose as he lowered his sunglasses to wink at the crowd. "Hello, ladie-AH! OH GOD! STUPID SUN! AAAHH!" He flipped his sunglasses on as he flinched away. With him facing east with the sun rising in the distance, it didn't help at all to be looking at ladies and the sun alike, even though both were hot.

Joey looked at Dereece confusedly before looking back at the despairing guy.

"And…this is our guy?" Gray deadpanned.

Wendy nervously sweat-dropped. "Uh, maybe he just lost somewhere else."

"Let's hope that for our sakes." Carla sighed.

Sophie took liberties in making way towards the man who continued to wail about from the accursed sun. She stopped and looked at him like nothing was happening. "A-ni ya-khol la-a-zor le-kha? (Can I help you?)"

"Aw man…" Making his head stop spinning, the man pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to collect himself and looked up at Sophie. "Phew, sorry about that. I thought I was going blind from seeing so many ladies in one place. Though if that happened, I would've gone blind years ago." He teased.

Sophie dropped a bead of sweat. "Uh…thank you."

Rogue turned towards him. "Are you with Blue Pegasus?"

The man shifted his attention and sunglasses to look at the Shadow Dragon Slayer. "Oh, sorry, Got a little distracted." He turned around to lift up his shirt, revealing a reasonable physique, though not as impressive as Natsu, Gray, nor even Nic. On the lower back was a bright red Blue Pegasus mark, confirming his allegiance. "Do I check out okay?"

Sting nodded and looked towards the others. "Yup, this guy's with us!"

Carla sulked her head. "Good grief."

Lyon stepped forward. "Well the pleasure to meet you, sir. I trust that you have a name you go by?"

The mage looked at them and smirked. "Why I'm glad you asked." He took another prolonged pause, one that made everyone look at him in question. "I am known by many names. D-Lord. The Sickening. The Unthinkable. Some call me Mister P even…but you can call me…Kevin." He said in a dramatic tone.

"…Kevin?" Lucy asked.

"Kevin."

"…Kevin."

"Kevin." He looked over at Lucy, seeing her admittedly big juggs. It was thankful he was wearing sunglasses to conceal his vision otherwise he may get questionable stares, more so. "Well it's nice to see you all." He looked over at Kagura, where he looked to her legs, but when his eyes went to the skirt, he frowned. "Meh, skirts." He muttered.

"What was that?" Sting asked.

"Nothing! Nothing." He answered. He looked over at Minerva, seeing not only her own caboose, but looking at her own dress from the lower body down, the heat for him turned on. _'Oh yeah.'_

"Is he okay?" Lisanna asked.

"I don't think I want to know." Elfman said defensively.

Having wanting to move along with any awkwardness, Nic went over and stood in front of Kevin. The Blue Pegasus Mage looked at Nic and gave a generous smile. Oh, Nic Pularis." He reached his hand out. "Pleasure to meet you."

Nic reached out, accepting the handshake. "A pleasure as well." He let go. "So I've heard that you were in Kanto, right?"

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, you can say. I'm from the Kanto region. It was night when lights traveled across the sky. I was coming home from my part-time market job in Vermilion City when…well, you can get the idea."

Nic nodded in understanding. "I see, so you were coming home when you were struck by a light."

"The same thing happened to us! Right, Dereece?" Joey looked towards Dereece, who confirmed without say.

Kevin shrugged. "Well in any case, I'm here now, and I gotta say…I don't even know where to start with this world!" He looked around everywhere, especially paneling right and left with ladies. "There's this odd air I can't get enough of, Pokémon…and whole lot to see."

Nic didn't have to question what the last part was; he could tell as clear as day by the way his eyes were rolling. In all, he couldn't blame him really. I'm sure Joey feels that way, but at least Joey was kept in check. This guy was all over the place in regards to the "sights" Minerva, Kinana, and many other girls had to offer. Still, he did his best to keep his respects. "Well I hope that you're willing and ready to face the consequences to come."

Kevin nodded. "Don't worry. I won't let you down."

"It seems we are all here then." Another voice said. "Good."

Everyone turned to the voice that came from the north, where Nic and Fairy Tail came from. From there, they saw Crime Sorciere walk towards them, no different than from the other day.

"You've made it." Erza greeted.

Jellal smiled. "We wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Well to be frank, the world may very well be at stake anyway." Bellona chimed in.

Once more, in the crowd, Joey was spacing out. _'The world's at stake…and I'm going on a life and death quest alongside Nic-senpai and his guild!'_ He bit his lower lip and balled his fists tight, looking like someone who was trying to contain waste from squeaking out. _'Just the thought of saving a world myself just makes my heart skip beats!'_

"Well hello~?" Kevin was quietly muttering to himself as he was looking at the girls of Crime Sorciere. For Meredy, he couldn't tell where she lied in age, so he chose to dismiss her. But when he looked over at Ultear and Bellona, seeing their thighs and wide hips made him feel things best left out of context.

"Looks like this is everyone we were able to contact, right?" Nic questioned.

Erza nodded. "Yes, this should be all of us. As far as campaigning goes. I was hoping the Cambire Foundation could spare some elite Trainers if possible, but then again, it may not be the place for them to venture."

"You have a point."

Kinana looked towards Erik again. Seeing him once more made her smile return to her face. "Erik…"

Erik looked over and smirked at the purple-haired mage.

Yukino was looking shocked as she saw Sorano once again. The elder sister of the white-haired mage looked over to have her blue eyes meet Yukino's brown ones. The two siblings had soft expressions on their faces as they could see how distant they were, yet so close.

"…hey." Yukino greeted.

Sorano mustered a wink. "Hey there. Ya miss me?"

Looking from the side, Minerva recognized Sorano once more. "I remember you. You were that…individual who supported us in the war."

Yukino sweat-dropped. "Yeah…ehehe…" When she thought about it, it's no wonder why she stayed distant.

"So then I suppose we should wait until we meet _them_ again." Natsu said.

Happy turned to look at the Alvarez ship in front of them. "Well I don't think we'll be waiting for long."

Not anyone's surprise, their attention drew towards the reason behind this gathering. Appearing in front of the ship and staring them down, the fully recuperated Peace Jaegers, with Brandish standing before them.

"Brandish!" Lucy gasped happily.

"I see you've heed my contact." She answered. She looked t the many faces that were before her, seeing those willing and able to compromise for this adventure. "So this is who was able to volunteer their lives. Not as graceful as I had imagined."

"Well we may be small, but we got might to spare!" Happy exclaimed, with Pantherlily giving a subtle nod right beside him.

"Damn straight. You can count us out just yet." Gray smirked.

"Yeah, we haven't even begun to show off what Fiore's made of." Gajeel teased.

Brandish half-grinned. "So I see." The Jaegers started walking around her to congregate. "Everyone, I hope this isn't the wrong time, but I would like to introduce the ones who I had help from."

"So these are them, huh." Meredy eyed the Peace Jaegers as they followed Orion's lead. They all walked up and stood several feet in front of the large group gathered. The pinkette's attention drew towards Liz, who was chewing gum.

A silence fell between the two groups as they stared at each other. Orion crossed his arms as he stared coldly at Fairy Tail specifically. They too returned that grim stare, though more so from Gray. Natsu was leering distinctively as well, but unlike everyone else, those two were the only ones that seemed troubled.

"Greetings to you all, and thanks for accepting our cooperation." Orion greeted. "The Peace Jaegers here, at your service."

Vanessa stepped forward. "Come to think of it, we've never learned the name of your association."

"That's because we never gave it, sweet cheeks." Matilda winked. "Oh don't give me that face, I'm just playing."

Nic stepped up next, giving them all a clean and relaxed posture. "So the Peace Jaegers then?" he repeated. "Then I guess we should introduce ourselves then."

"There's no need for that." Orion rebuffed. "We've done research on you and your guild yesterday, so we are aware of the many names you and others carry. You are Nic 'Luminous Pularis." Orion looked at the others beside him. "And Erza Pularis, as well as Vanessa Pularis. Fairy Tail's renown Salamander, also known as Natsu Dragneel, and Gray Fullbuster. Hope I didn't come off as condescending there."

Nic nodded. "It's all well and good." His attention went towards Aniya, who stood on the far end of her pack. The others seemed casual, but she looked hesitant to even look Nic in the eye. He didn't blame her though, but there wasn't anything to be guilty for in the end.

The person to step up next was Natsu. The Dragon Slayer got in front of his guild, glaring at them all. "Hey, you."

Griffon looked ahead, his body having healed.

"Listen, I may not be willing to completely overlook what you did…" Natsu's glare darkened. "But make no mistake, I still don't like the way you do things."

Griffon nodded in acceptance. "Dually noted."

"Good." He turned his back towards them. "We've got a common enemy, so I'll allow this. But make no mistake." He looked over his shoulder, staring angrily at the group in general. "If you hurt any of my friends while on this trip, you're gonna pay dearly. That goes for all of us here, too."

"Natsu…" Happy nervously urged.

Orion kept his arms folded and nodded. "Understood. But keep in mind this as well, consider what your enemy thinks about what they're doing as well. By then, we'll come to respect your ideals."

Natsu's leer met Orion's but otherwise, the note drew flat there.

Broly walked up to Joey and The Freaks, having a grin on his face as he drew in. Dereece and Duncan kept their caution and tensed, while Joey took a step back. Still, despite that, Broly bared no ill will. "Ah~, so I see you guys are joining in as well then." He commented casually.

Duncan's glare hardened. "Yeah."

"Woah, easy now man. I'm not gonna do anything bad to you." Broly teased lightly at Duncan's aura. "Seriously, I was honestly surprised knowing you three would be here. Must be some twisted stroke of fate or something." He reached out to them gentlemanly with a hand. "Name's Broly, pleasure's all mine."

The Freaks were hesitant to agree to shake hands with the Barrier-Make Mage, but it didn't take long for Joey to step up and give Broly a grin in return. He looked up, shaking his hand gently.

"Joey, nice to finally be on the same side." He greeted.

Broly gave a charismatic smile towards the young man. "Yeah, kid. Same here."

"How can he seriously trust him this easily?" Dereece whispered to Duncan, but all he did was shrug.

"Don't ask me, you're his so-called best friend. His naivety is on your watch."

Matilda stood with beaming pride. "Well now, guess this is gonna be a fun ride!" she chimed happily. "We should've brought some booze for the trip!"

"Maybe later. Right now, we gotta address the situation." Griffon insisted.

"He's right." Orion motioned. "Now listen well, all of you. We not see each other eye to eye just yet, or in some cases not at all in the end, but that doesn't change the fact that however this goes down, we're here in the behalf of Brandish's request. We will give 100% of our cooperation in full to get this job done. In return, we expect you to at least consider what will happen in the worst-case scenario. Around us and Alvarez, you can never let down your guard. That's how close you re to death right now."

Everyone glared ahead with determination and understanding. They came here because of those risks. Odds were some of them may not even come back at all. If not, then it would be no one's fault but their own.

Hand arose in the pack. "Uh, quick question!"

Orion turned towards Wendy. "Yes, what is it?"

"It's nothing important." She shook her head. "It's just…well, how do we intend to get there anyway?"

At the mention of transportation, Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, Rogue, and Erik all went wide-eyed.

Brandish turned her head to look up at the massive Alvarez boat. "This ship is one that we were able to stop as of last night. We were able to procure what items and Pokémon were available…however, for this assignment, I asked one difference."

"And what might that be?" Gajeel asked.

Brandish looked towards them. "If we're going to Alvarez, there's no doubt security. They may as well have inspections for ships that are imported. If we're to infiltrate, I asked the Peace Jaegers to keep the Pokémon aboard."

"Is that necessary?" Wendy nervously asked.

Erza folded her arms. "It's hard to say, but at least that'll give us some sort of plan to follow in case something onboard goes wrong."

Nic nodded. "Alright then. But what about the crew?"

Matilda gave him a wink. "Oh don't you worry about that, we took care of that part, too!" In reality, what she and the Jaegers did was pummel them to bits on end. They roughed them up pretty bad at that, but also for good measure, they were tied by Liz' gum and were thrown into a private cabin on the ship.

"So then I guess that's it then?" Ultear established. "Then I say we should start as soon as possible."

Brandish nodded. "Yes." Once more, she sighed. "Come, everyone, it's time to make things right for a misplaced country."

Everyone started walking up onto the ship that they allegedly commandeered for a ride. The regular boats they had would be nowhere near as fast as Alvarez', making this not only efficient, but at the same time give an illusion. Soon enough, everyone was fixed up and board up on the walkway. Nic and Erza went first, along with the rest of Fairy Tail. They all filed behind one another up onboard, and soon enough half the people were on the ship.

When Kevin was walking up the walkway, he filed behind a distance behind Vanessa. Despite her thin blue cotton jacket covering up decent part of her, he could still make out her thick, meaty thighs and the large massive buns that were the prize. _'Dear god almighty…'_ Look no touch, that was the rule he followed.

Finally, to be dragged in the back were the Dragon Slayers. All six were dragging their heels s they slowly got up on the ship. They were tempted to stay off; Natsu even tried to sway Happy to fly him, but he'd never make it to Alvarez before they sunk. In defeat, they all held onto their stomach and sulked in unison with despairing dread clouds over them.

"The poor things." Matilda pitied.

Aniya huffed. "Serves them right."

Liz half-heartedly blew another bubble that went back into her mouth.

Once everyone was aboard and made themselves comfortable on the massive deck space they had, Orion made way into the main chamber where the controls were. Eventually finding and operating auto-pilot, he st the course and exited the ship's main room, reconvening outside.

"It's all been arranged. The ship's on its way right now."

"Good." Brandish faced the high seas, ready with a half-hearted expression. A nice, cool, breeze in the seawater brushed through her. She remained vigilant on her path that she has chosen, and she would've had another way if possible, but after reflecting, this was for the best.

Beside her, Lucy walked up to her. The Celestial Mage turned towards Brandish and gave a reassuring smile, one that Brandish soon found to be infectious. Her own soft smile crept on her face and she faced forward; her, Lucy, and her Klefki floating beside ready to take off.

"This is it." Joey said nervously. "This is really happening."

Broly nodded. "Yup. Welcome to the big leagues, kid."

Nic immediately found his spot at the very front of the ship, overlooking everything running about. The man who has made a name for himself was silent as he stared ahead with readiness in his eyes. He meant what he said before about hating war, but loves to fight.

" _I don't appreciate war, it takes away a lot of things we hold dear…but it's what also brings others closer. We won't win this with just ourselves. I know that. But whoever joins us or is against us better learn eventually the means to using Pokémon is to beside them."_

Those words bounced around in his mind as much as the sea breeze pounded his face. As he was lost in his train of perpetual thinking and resolution, he felt something touch his hand. He looked down to find that his hand was held by Erza, who had a smile of confidence and closure. Nic offered one back, his words as deep as a Fissure attack would be. _'We won't give up.'_ He faced ahead, his glare hardening. _'Not by a long shot…'_ "Alright then…Alvarez, we're coming for you."

The massive docked boat finally towed through the waters, setting sail west for the turning point of their collaborative adventure towards Alvarez.

* * *

 **PHEW! Man am I beat! Took me a freaking week just to write this one chapter! It wasn't long before I was able to make 2of these in one week, now look, I can barely crank out one now. This calls for the one thing that I spoke of before. That's right! Vacation! And as I have been doing traditionally, I will be backing off and leaving my FanFiction at home, so that I can stay away and clear my mind and rethink of a few matters. So next update may not be until 2-3 weeks. Remember, on top of family vacation, I have** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **that I have to pay attention to.**

 **Just a little side note, I have been playing Pokémon LeafGreen again after such a long time, and last night I finally got my Lv 55 Dragonite that knows Wing Attack, Thunder Wave, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower.**

 **This would also be a good time to warn you of my new OC from Kanto, Kevin. He will be playing a small part of the story as support, but on another note, I will warn you of his tendencies are more Rate-M, at least to what you were picking up on. But it's more for comedic intentions than anything else.**

 **If you guys were wondering how in the heck I chose Neinhart of all people to become the new emperor, well it's because of the way his personality is; defiant, arrogant, and he believes his power is above the other Spriggan out there, as per the manga and wikia. So I played along the typical tyranny bent on retribution. On that note, I have lined up the new Spriggan 12 with OCs the way I designed them, as well as a lot more that will be assisting them in this upcoming arc.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, the interactions, as well as the twists and chronology I fiddled with, and I hope to see you again with a new chapter! Till then! :)**


	11. Return to Caracole Island

The massive vaulted doors were opened promptly when some personnel walked towards the entrance. The guards immediately saluted before they opened the door themselves to allow the person inside. The doors closed behind almost immediately, and the person entered what was a large room with the vast majority of the Spriggan 12 assembled. The person revealed himself as Jacob, and when he found his seat beside Dimaria, he slowly looked around a moment to see the many faces that were already assembled. Seeing as how they were all assembled promptly, he tied his tie, and he took his seat.

Dimaria glanced over to give him an inquired look. "You sure took your time."

Jacob humbly looked down in shame. "Apologies."

Dimaria waved him off, dismissing his excuse.

Invel adjusted his glasses and remained passive inside his seat next to Ajeel; Yajeel being behind as an observer. "I believe that we are all assembled then."

The room, the very room that they sat in now, it was the very one that called for the Spriggan 12 to a summit before the war that happened a short while back. Since then, the room had been abandoned, like a ghost haunted it if anyone dared to even think of opening the doors, especially at night. Today was the first time the room had been used, and the air couldn't get anymore stale, whether from anticipation or lack of amusement.

Ajeel folded his arms and sat back nonchalantly. "Heh, about time we get this little party started. So, what's the attack plan?"

"Ajeel." Yajeel tenderly chided.

"At ease." Invel thwarted the Sand Mage's lust for a fight so soon. "The discussion isn't until our Emperor arrives."

In his seat, Pluto had his eyes closed as he held a small yellow hemisphere in the air between the palms. He looked like he was concentrating hard, if not being so casual about it. Beside him, Decker remained equally as silent.

"Ooooh! Well when are we gonna have this over with?" Lia whined. "I'm starting to get a little hungry."

"Patience." Invel voiced. A small wind finally blew in the room, his hair shifting in the breeze. Upon realizing, his eyes sharpened. "He's here."

Suddenly, a small twister formed in the center of the table, making all the members look up at the wind surging to see the man responsible for their union appear. When the winds faded, it showed Neinhart on the table, standing in an applauding fashion, or rather deserving of one.

"Welcome to all, my Spriggans." He greeted. "I trust that the wait was well worth it in the end."

Lia happily clapped for his introduction. Dimaria, however, didn't show amusement. "Well we _would_ be if you just appeared in that seat." Her break in Neinhart's momentum, earned her a look from the corner of his eye.

"Don't feel like sitting down." He dryly said, though it seemed more like a growling intention to dismantle her. She shrugged to keep it all under check.

"Alright, so what's this about?" Sindge croaked.

"Yeah, why call all of us here again?" Ajeel smirked. He knew the answer was obvious, but he just wanted to play along with the act.

Neinhart rolled his neck and head and gave him a wily smirk. "An excellent question." He nimbly moved his body like a slouch and postured in a glamorous exaggeration as he walked along the massive table. "My fellow Spriggans. It has come to my attention that our numbers and our manpower has been growing rather steadily now thanks to this little fall from grace. We've accomplished quite a bit the last few months now; the empire, the potential…and more importantly, the pretense." He turned and started walking back. "With this in mind, I've come to the decision that the time to show the world our goals is right now."

Glynda's eyes narrowed. "Your majesty, are you saying what we think you're saying?"

Neinhart shot a smirk at her. "And if I am?"

Glynda didn't bother to oppose, nor did she say anything against. She just gave him a scolding stare. Her index finger tapped against her forearm with no less of annoyance.

"I thought so." He looked back at everyone. "As I was saying, this is the chance that we, the fallen Spriggan 12, have been looking for. By now, the Cambire Foundation, and those impudent Fiorians have realized what we're doing. If not already, then I say this is a blessing we must take to our advantage."

Sindge adjusted himself in his leather seat. "I like where this is going."

Neinhart looked down at his fist, slowly clutching it with a wide, grim smile. "Those Fiorians…that guild holding our Emperor's belongings…they made a mockery of us, and they got away with it." His voice was cracking with hints of deranged intentions. "Now wouldn't that make the likes o you bitter? They _dared_ , ne desecrated, the good name of sir August and Lady Irene. And now look! They're gone!" The look he gave them was sickening to where they had some deep frowns on their faces. That last word had a small echo that rung in their ears. "So now, it's left to us to leave a legacy that Alvarez can be proud of. We will take back what Lady Irene asked of us. No one will tell us what to do. Fate. Pffft! What nonsense! I say we control the fates here on! Those foreigners don't even know what they're talking about! _We_ are the Spriggan 12, and _we_ have the power to prove it! So now…I dare say, we make this world understand the pain we endured."

A majority of the Spriggan 12 smirked at his notion. They were with him entirely, though some were looking neutral about it. In the end, however, all they could do was ready for battle.

Others, however, were less than cordial about the circumstances.

Yajeel moved his staff closer and pulled himself between Invel and Ajeel. "Why this had to come?" he asked low. "Your majesty, forgive my intrusion, but why of a circumstances must we resort to this?"

"Sir Yajeel." Invel warned from the corner of his eyes. "It would be best if you try not to test our emperor now.

Yajeel lowered his head, but his baggy eyes glanced at the emperor's right-hand man. "Sir Invel, I highly respect the decisions that are carried out with our Spriggans, but as a man of reason, would you, yourself, drag on a matter like this?"

Invel dismissed the question and adjusted his glasses again. "That's not in my place to say."

"Aren't you he who is in charge when Emperor Spriggan was absent?"

"Perhaps then, but that was a long time ago."

"How is now any different, I wonder?" He looked back at Neinhart, who continued rambling on to his Spriggans about the glory and how pathetic everyone else was. "I was wondering something else while we're on the subject."

"And what might that be?"

"Why didn't you stop Neinhart?"

There was a small silence that fell between the cold, icy man, and the minister who did everything and a lot in his time. The old man could feel his skin get a little cold from the demeanor Invel was giving off. "…because it's pointless." He admitted.

Yajeel looked surprised. "Pointless?"

"It s pointless to fight fate. It is pointless to fight the inevitable when you alone have but not the strength. You recall that there was a time when I believe I thought light and dark were just those two things, correct? Nothing more. But then I came to sway to personifications."

Yajeel remained silent as he was hearing Invel dismay. He sounded regretful, but it's also saying he had but no say if they were the bad guys and lost to bad guys as well. In a way, it made sense, yet it didn't.

"I believe now even after realizing we all have darkness, I used my very own to corrupt the light of our enemy, and I have. However, when my own darkness was defeated by their own, I failed to purge both. The light and dark, the two forces no matter how they are flipped, it does little for me if I failed to purge such bitter dark with my own. If that is the light within this darkness, then there is but little point in amending what has already been corrupted."

As Invel fell silent, the minister looked down and sighed in a mix of exasperation, as well as disappointment. To hear that Invel has given up on saving Alvarez was truly the opposite of what he wanted to hear. Alvarez has fallen into chaos, and he was letting that happen, all because Neinhart's darkness and ambition grew too great. At this point, he was but a simple armrest for Neinhart, and cold on that remained by his side.

The matter itself became duty, not heart. That's the Winter General, and duty always came first to the Emperor.

"Heh, so what's the plan?" Ajeel asked. He was remained unaware of his grandfather's worries, much to Yajeel's dismay.

Neinhart smirked maliciously at the question. "Well now, what better way to start a show than a little prologue, am I right…Hoshina?"

In the one seat, Hoshina was looking into her glowing crystal orb. She took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew a small stream of smoke into the air. S small coarse grin appeared on her lips. "Well now, let's see what fate holds for thy now." She moved one of her hands over the crystal ball, removing the pink swirling cloud inside to zoom in on a large ship in the ocean.

* * *

"Someone save me." Natsu groaned.

Beside him, Sting's cheeks looked like they were about to burst.

"Why me…?" Gajeel gagged over the side of the ship, his face completely devoid of any color.

Wendy, much like her fellow Dragon Slayers, was lurched on the side of the ship. Her adolescent stomach was trying its best not to blow chunks into the water…unlike Natsu who did so 5 minutes ago. Some still couldn't believe how she of all people got motion sickness, but nonetheless had to suck it up. Fortunately for her, Carla was there to comfort her.

"Please…stop talking…" Rogue strained to talk. His body went limp as his strength was all but gone.

"The poor things. I hope they're okay." Yukino worried.

Minerva sighed in her own musings. "I'm sure it's fine. A little degrading no less, but it can't be helped."

"Talk about sour milk. Maybe we should've flown there instead." Lector intervened.

"Fro think so, too." Frosch prodded.

"Heh, speak for yourselves there. I kinda prefer my own two feet on the ground anyway." Sawyer chided. "And besides, we wouldn't be fairing better than we are now, now would we?"

Lector sweat-dropped. "W-well…I guess you're right."

Right beside them, Griffon was looking at the Dragon Slayers all trying to save their own stomachs. "Well I'll be damned." He grinned. "I didn't think things would turn out like this for us. I most certainly didn't even think those guys would make me feel pity for them."

"Hey pal, just because they got motion sickness, don't think that it's fair to pick on 'em!" Lector shouted.

"Yeah!" Frosch jumped.

Griffon put his hand up dismissively. "Relax. It's not like I care or anything. I'm just saying is all." He looked back at Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy, all three Dragon Slayers lurching over the boat together. "But really, when I think about, losing to those guys, it's almost sad."

Sawyer smirked. "Heh, tell me about it."

Aside from their own alliance, the entire boat ride to the northwest was somewhat of a tense friction that treaded upon water. One could ram a Sharpedo right underneath and they would all jump as high as a Frogadier. They were less than enthused about this whole thing; some of them were less than open to the prospect of being buddies to people that they wanted to kill before. That goes without saying when it came to the Peace Jaegers and Crime Sorciere. While they were at least able to get on somewhat of a mutual level of conversations, the problem itself lied with Fairy Tail. The guild's members weren't as active when it came to the others. At least they were able to stand and walk around without feeling _some_ discord. Bellona was surprised when Kagura came up to have a small conversation with her, even Jellal was surprised at her mild disposition, but that showed how trusting she's become. If Millianna were here, that may be a stretch. But for the time being, the past day that they have been sailing was stiff.

The door to the cabins opened, revealing Mest as he walked out to the deck towards Erza.

"How are things looking?" she asked.

"As well as can be, I suppose." The Teleportation Mage answered. "The crew is still locked up, but I think they got food and water."

"I'm just glad we've got enough preserves as we did before." She admitted with a grin. She would've thought they'd run out by now, especially with Natsu's appetite. But seeing as how he hasn't eaten at all since the trip, that saved a lot of empty stomachs.

"Don't get too ahead. We still only have enough left for two more days. We'll be lucky if we head to Alakitasia with grumbling stomachs." Mest took notice of how Erza was alone. "Where's Nic?"

Erza's grin cascaded skywards, her red hair shifting in the winds. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

Mest looked up to what she meant. Up high over the masts, leaning against the firm sails, the humungous white sails blew winds, and yet Nic leaned against the mast, taking a long nap it seemed. And from the looks of it, he was out.

A bead of sweat crossed Mest's face. "Is he serious?"

"You'd be surprised how often I find him in the trees than in our home." Erza mused.

"That's certainly putting it mildly." Sophie said, walking up to them out of the blue. "I'm still amazed at how some one like him can just climb."

"You'd think having those powers turns him into an actual Pokémon." Mest joked.

"Yeah."

As they were talking about Nic, a certain someone wasn't going to be left out of a conversation so easily. Seeing Nic from afar with his team, Joey was gleaming up at Nic's relaxed form with sparkles around him. He couldn't take his eyes off of Nic as he breathlessly was napping in the cold, cold breeze. _'That's Nic-senpai's signature capabilities. He's actually able to sleep so casually in trees, and anything off the ground so fruitlessly! He's got such a great balance, not just in his body, but also his mind! He's been through so much to make himself something as that tall look so tangible!'_ His fists were clenched so hard that he looked like he was about to cry. The internal monologue he had going on didn't go unnoticed by anyone around him. His allies and team especially gave him less than cordial looks.

"And there he goes again." Dereece said.

"What a wonderful breeze the sea does offer today." Richard smiled.

"Well I can't say the same for Erik for his fellow Dragon Slayers, that's for sure." Macbeth stated. "Speaking of which, where is Sorano, Richard?"

"I think I saw her feeding the Pokémon shipping with us." Pantherlily answered. "Come to think of it, Didn't Elfman and Lisanna go as well?"

"You think that's such a good idea?" Happy asked.

Pantherlily shrugged. "Hard to say."

* * *

Sorano lugged a massive load of food in a trash bin. More accurately, she waddled over with strain as her muscles weren't that supportive. "Gnnngh! C'mon! Geez! How many times do these tiny things have to eat?! Seriously!"

She waddled closer to a cage in the cargo hold of the ship, where there, she finally sat it in front of Lisanna, who looked over and smiled nonchalantly.

"Oh, hey there. Glad you made it." She cheerfully said. "I just finished with the water. You think you can get the bowls lined up a little?"

Sorano looked up towards Lisanna with a threatening glare. She gave a despondent leer that showed bitter tiredness, and the fact her hair was a mess meant more. "Well, good for me." She sarcastically exasperated. "Why not just throw a big golden saddle on my back while you're at it and ride me to my grave?"

Lisanna sweat-dropped at her anger. "Uh, y-you okay?"

"Here." An arm reached down and poured the heaping bin of food into a tin bowl. Elfman poured and held up the tin bin like it wasn't filled with anything. The man really knows how to be a man. "A real man doesn't let a lady do the heavy lifting."

Sorano beamed with a smile. "Hmph, well now, at least _someone's_ considerate around here."

"What are you talking about? We volunteered to do this." Lisanna rectified.

"I wasn't. I was just so whimsically brush in with the lot of you!" she fumed.

"Woah, hey. Take it easy."

A pair of footsteps came to the door on the other end of the hold. It slowly opened, revealing Yukino popping her head on the end. "Uh…yeah. Is everything in here alright?" she sheepishly asked.

Lisanna and Elfman turned to look at the newcomer. "Oh, Yukino." The former stated. "What is it? Is there something wrong?"

Yukino looked away. "N-no. Nothing's wrong. It's just, well…"

Elfman finished pouring the load to the brim and stood up. Sorano looked towards her sister with inquiry written all over her face. The way her younger sister looked could be described as adorable.

"C-can I…would it be okay…if I helped out a little?"

Lisanna and Elfman looked at each other while Sorano saw the pink in her sister's cheeks. What she meant was the truth, but underlying that she knew what her real intentions were.

Yukino began to grow worried of what they would say, but she saw a smug grin form on Sorano's lips.

"If you want."

Yukino's lips formed into a smile of satisfaction. She nodded and took her liberty to enter the room with them to help feed and help the Pokémon with the voyage.

* * *

"I'm sure as well." Carla answered.

On another part of the ship, Vanessa was sitting on a lounge chair, the Aura Mage catching some sun while at the same time making sure her mind was up to speed. She looked like she was sleeping if not for the radiance of the sun. She almost thought Nic used Sunny Day just for that.

As she reached over to the table beside her holding her glass of freshly squeezed lemonade with a lemon on it. She paused for a moment before she looked at the glass. Rather than get the glass, she instead reached for the lemon slice first. As she did, a distorted image of a certain girl smiled excitedly.

"Heeeeey!" Matilda popped up from the other end of the table with a great big smile. Vanessa dropped the lemon slice into her own mouth. "So _you're_ the girl whose got Gator Boy, huh?"

Vanessa swallowed the lemon piece and looked at her. "Hm? Who? Krookodile?"

Matilda winked. "Well you're pretty perceptive, aren't ya?" She leaned in and bumped her arm. "Hey, hey. You know, it's a little boring on this ship. Would it be okay if I got just a little peek? Hmmm?"

Vanessa knew her game. She smirked. "Perhaps another time. When we're not on the verge of drowning perhaps."

"Aww, you're no fun. C'mon, just a small spar?" Vanessa reached for her lemonade glass with eyes closed. Matilda turned away with a pout of disappointment. "Aw man, bummer. Well then I guess I'll have to find _something_ to do here then."

A piece of gum stuck out from a girl's hand. Matilda looked to see Liz right beside her, offering a piece.

"Oh." She took the yellow strap with a smile. "Nice, thanks Liz." She cheerfully plopped the piece into her mouth, her expression turning happy at the flavor covering her tongue and teeth. "Mmmm, orange."

Liz chewed on her gum casually.

Vanessa sipped on her lemonade while the chewing gum of Liz went on. Slurp, and chew. Both at the same time. Taking in these two noises, the girls turned towards the other, looking in silence as they relished in their favorites.

Seeing their mutual attention at a peak, Matilda couldn't help but smirk. "Awww, I see you two look like you're getting along! Well isn't today a blast, huh?" she teased. She moved on over towards Liz, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Well now, I'd like you to meet Liz. Say hi."

Liz continued chewing her bubble gum casually while nodding her head at Vanessa. "Hey." She said dryly.

"It's a pleasure." Vanessa replied. "You're the one who uses Gum Magic, right?" To a response she was hoping to get, Liz blew a bubble. It grew very slowly, so much that it took about ten seconds of waiting for the bubble to top and return to her mouth.

Matilda meekly shrugged. "She's just shy. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but Liz here's actually the nicest out of all of us."

In a show of respect, Liz reached into her sleeve and pulled out a piece of yellow gum. She handed it to Vanessa, who hesitated for a moment before choosing to accept it.

"Thank you." She looked at the piece with scrutiny before looking back at Liz. The Gum Mage did nothing but stare expectantly, and that left Vanessa more than a little pressure. Evidently, she chose to eat the piece.

As she chewed, she noticed how the flavor was amazing. "Lemon?"

"Surprise." Matilda winked. "That's Liz's special gum that changes flavor to suit the chewer's taste buds. Betcha like lemon then, huh, sourmouth?"

The little tease of a name left Vanessa to chuckle. "A little early for nicknames…especially with the acts that have been pulled now, have there?"

Matilda shrugged in defeat. "Meh."

Liz half-heartedly chewed. "Pushy."

"I wasn't aware that some of these creatures had a less than amusing appetites." Kagura noted.

"Well I'm sure that we all have some of those moments." Bellona said. "Some more than others." She shot a look at Meredy, and it wasn't just her. Ultear smirked at Meredy as well.

"W-wait, what?! What are you saying?" she chirped sheepishly. "Are you saying that I'm fat!"

"Well I never said that." Bellona teased.

"But you were thinking it!"

"But you can't prove that now, can you?" Bellona's teasing and bantering had Meredy in a frenzy. It's true that she may have had a few too many cupcakes as of late, but her weight was nothing to scoff at, especially when she was – still – growing quite beautifully.

"Don't listen to what she has to say about, Meredy." Lyon, sweeping in from the side, remarked. "Why I say you look lovely."

Meredy looked back to notice Lyon, but she was more stricken with his gentlemanly comment about her weight. "Oh, t-thanks." She sheepishly smiled, much to Lyon's satisfaction.

"Why, my pleasure. Anything to a smile on that face of yours."

Ultear and the others smirked at the flirtatious play; even Jellal looked amused.

Watching from afar, Gray and Juvia were seeing Lyon work his flirting out on Meredy. It was a surprise to Gray since he was always targeting Juvia, but to the rain woman, it felt like a lead weight lifted off her shoulders.

"Huh, you know, I thought he'd be all over you this time around. What gives?" Gray asked.

"I'm not sure myself." Juvia said. "Should we be worried?"

"That depends, is the matter that necessary?"

The voice caught Gray and Juvia's attention, making them turn to find Orion there. Almost immediately, Gray felt a chill run down his spine upon seeing the superior Devil Slayer. "You." He said defensively.

Orion held his position away. "We meet again, I see."

"Yeah, so I see."

Juvia approached the former enemy in question. "You're that Devil Slayer, aren't you?"

Orion snickered. "Guilty is charged. Can't say being a proud one suits a devil though." He glanced over towards Gray. "Tell me, are you feeling well?"

Gray was caught by surprise. "Well how?" He had a pretty good idea of what he meant by that. It wasn't by the means of physicality, no, that was well taken cared of. He meant something deeper.

Orion took a moment of silence to look into Gray's eyes. He could see it, whether he wanted to admit verbally or not. The Devil Slayer understood fully and backed off. "I see…" He turned away. "Guess I'll see if we caught anything in the nets."

He started to leave, but before he got too far, Gray hesitated, but finally took a step forward. "Hey, wait!"

Orion stopped many of feet away.

"Your Devil Slayer powers. There's something that's been on my mind."

"Gray." Juvia worried.

Orion said nothing. He looked over his shoulder and gave Gray a grim eye.

"How did you get your powers? I wouldn't think they came naturally like mine did either. There's something different between our magics that I felt. I can't tell firsthand…so then, what's the reason behind your powers?"

"Gray, I don't think-"

"So you're really that desperate." Orion's note stopped Juvia and Gray from backing down. The man slowly turned around to glare at Gray directly. "…very well then. If you insist, I'll try to help you guide you to your peace."

Gray furrowed his brow. "…"

"Now then, I suppose where my magic came from is in order. As blunt as it gets, the real reason of where it came from was my master."

"Your master was a Devil Slayer, too?" Juvia questioned.

"Not exactly." Orion interjected. "He wasn't _technically_ a Devil Slayer. Rather, he was the magic's origin." He turned away. "Every magic has an origin to bear. Dragon Slayers got their magic from dragons. Some by lacrima. And the God Slayers themselves, some still wonder about that. To be honest, even I am not positive about their origins. But the origin behind Devil Slayers starts with the base of their most bewildered of curses that lies within the heart of darkness' personifications: The Demons."

"Demons…" Gray trailed off. His experience with them have been less than awesome.

"Those who have been plagued by demons and darkness early in their lives are easily influenced by darkness. The Demons that hate humanity are those who seek retribution; the xenophobia of us is truly unmatched. So great, that they even fear of each other."

"So what's that got to do with your magic?"

A moment of silent fell between them. Juvia fell into silence too. The air around them began to grow stale as the Devil Slyer turned to look back at them, his glare so intense that both were a little freaked out by the change in mood. "You see, my master was the Demon of Darkness, Demora, from the Book of Zeref."

Gray and Juvia felt their hearts thump with a heartbeat of shock and adrenaline run through them; Gray more so than Juvia. They were far from expecting anything like this. They would've thought that they had humans for masters, or maybe some forbidden technique to learn arts. No one could believe that easily that a devil raised a human, it's like raising a lost soul.

"W-wait, hold on." Gray stopped. "So you're saying…that your master was a…a demon?"

Orion nodded. "That he was."

"Crap…"

"But how is that possible? Most creatures like that wouldn't take a human so precariously." Juvia accused.

"No, but this one did." Orion turned to the side again. "I wasn't exactly happy when I started walking. I wasn't brimming with a livelihood of others, and I starved most of my days. Eventually though, that all changed. Demora found me when my village was being attacked, and he took me in. Eventually with the capabilities to survive, he taught me how to use Dark Devil Slayer Magic. I guess you can call me a 1st Generation since I was taught directly from a demon."

Gray's stare dared not stray away. "So you were taught by a demon."

"In short, yes. I can guess from your tone that you're skeptical of the powers we both have. So then, who did your powers originate from?"

"My dad."

"And was he a demon as well?"

Gray looked towards the ground. "No, that's the thing. You see, he was human. He passed his Devil Slayer powers over right as he passed on…it's my only way of remembering him."

Hearing the tone of his voice, Juvia could feel her own heart sink. In truth, it was her who caused this pain to Gray, and even though it was settled, she can never let go of the fact she was forced to kill someone Gray loved. It wanted her to run away.

Orion processed and nodded. "I see. Then that must make you a 2nd Generation Devil Slayer if it was passed down to you. You got something like a mark or a tattoo at first, right?"

Gray gasped. "Wait, hold up! That mark, you know that, too?"

"I have. You're not the only one who was given that insignia. It's a sign of a Devil Slayer. The mark of someone who has yet to conquer the demons that took over his heart."

"'Took over his heart'…" Gray's notion trailed off as his gaze wandered downhill. He glared down as his mind trekked back to an unpleasant train that lead to Zeref, as well as the misunderstanding of Nic and his darkness.

Juvia looked on in worry, unable to over any advice at this time.

After a while, Gray looked at his arm, seeing as how it was as normal as could be. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be feeling anything off it. It's been that way since Nic defeated him. And really, perhaps that was for the best. At least to what he thought.

But now was not the time. He needed to know more if he was to get through the Spriggan 12 once more. Everyone needed him, and he wasn't going to let them down. His glare hardened towards Orion. "So what's about this mark? Why is it so important?"

"When Devil Slayers first receive their powers, the marks are an imprint of that proof. It's a little handicap for those mastering this particular breed of dark magic. However, there is always a drawback to this mark. You see, much like Dragon Slayers and their drawbacks, the Devil Slayer powers eats away at your own heart. It's either you keep your sanity and slay the demons…or the mark's influence takes over, and Demonification happens."

"Demonification." Juvia tried to process that word, and when she did, her eyes widened. "Wait, hold on! Dragon Slayers suffer Dragonification! Does this mean that this magic could turn its caster into a demon as well?"

"That is the test." He answered. "If you're consumed in your own sense of revenge and bitterness, the magic will eat at your heart like a parasite. I can only guess that's what happened to you at one point." He turned towards Gray, who stared at him cold in the eye. "I see."

Orion was right, about everything he was saying. The facts about his magic, and how ever since he got it he was being rather strange, as Juvia put it. It was a long, dark road, and even with Porlyusica looking at it, even she was unable to help him with Demonification. He was unaware, and that explained his obsession of E.N.D; about avenging his father's last request. Revenge was what drove Gray to where he almost slaughtered his friends and ignored them. It was as desperate as the attempts Natsu made at finding Igneel. He was demonized, and that very demon was slaughtered by Nic. He never saw that same mark again, nor did his body ever feel the same. It felt better at least, but that same feeling was gone. It was torn out, along with the revenge. As of now, what filled him was regret, guilt…very fuel that wasn't making his powers shine.

"That mark is gone permanently." Orion said. "At this point, since you failed to do that, your only grace for becoming a "true" Devil Slayer is to do so without the handicap." He turned away from them, looking back out towards the stern. "A true Devil Slayer never awakens until he gets past his mark. That thing is nothing but a…well, I guess the appropriate phrase would be an 'aim to great claim'. It's a small, but ideal price to pay. Only after you have conquered the demon inside of you – forgiveness – only then can you truly regrow as a Devil Slayer."

With another word of prompt, the Devil Slayer took his leave. Juvia reached out to him, but Gray offered nothing else to say. His stare was as cold as ice as he leered at Orion's back. While he still didn't trust Orion to any degree, the words and advice to a Devil Slayer was allowing him to be at least a little open, even if it was confusing. Juvia relented her own thoughts to give both their much needed space.

" _Only after you have conquered the demon inside of you – forgiveness – only then can you truly regrow as a Devil Slayer."_

' _Forgiveness, huh?'_ Those words echoed in Gray's head over and over. What exactly does he mean by "forgiveness"? Nic forgave him already, and that was a long time ago. But deeper down, he knew that answer lied with something else. _'Forgiving my own sins…'_

* * *

Orion continued his way down the ship's side. His black boots tapped on the wood ever so lightly, in spite of how heavy they were. It was like he was a ghost, walking silently through the shade of the overhead roofing covering him.

As he wandered straight forward through the shade, a grimacing frown crossed his lips. The talk with Gray was beginning to boil up some less than bittersweet times, some that he had almost forgotten at this point.

" _Get up."_

 _A stomp of what felt like an armored boot leg thudded against the crisp forest floor. Foliage churned beneath the pointed armored boot that awoke a young boy that was lying on his side._

" _Gnnnngh…hmm…?" A tired moan came from the exhausted child. The child had simple blue jeans that were worn on the thighs, but otherwise intact. He had black and white sneakers that were run down, but still well enough that no sticks could poke through the soles. A cotton red zip-up jacket went over a tattered white shirt._

 _The blonde-headed boy turned his neck to look up, his blurry vision catching a glimpse of the boot's owner. "…you." He said tiredly._

 _Orion, 9-years-old, and already he thought his life couldn't be anymore miserable._

 _Getting up in the middle of the woods, bugs crawling everywhere, and to see the sunlight in a hue very much like sunglasses every single day, if not at all. Everything around him had a dark hue around him, even fire itself had a faded black hue whenever it was lit on cold nights. When he looks up at the gleaming sun, the sky-blue sky was more of a navy blue. He couldn't even recall the last time he ever saw actually sky. And it was all because of the man that woke him._

 _Demora, from the Book of Zeref: The Demon of Darkness. Unlike Deliora, or perhaps Lullaby, this demon in particular was human-sized, like the ones of Tartaros. In fact, Demora's own perpetual strength was so questionable that it could be said his magical energy is spilled into suffocating darkness. And yet within it, Orion slept like a baby, whenever he can that is. The demon was clad in shadowcast armor. It was a dark silver with a very black tint to it. The armor had a deep black visor on it that showed deep darkness from within. It was like looking at a hollow void inside, almost like a Dusclops. Shackles and chains encompassed the wrists and shins, making him look like he was prisoner to somehow. "Get up. Time to hunt." He ordered._

 _Orion rolled onto his butt, foliage still covering parts of the side he slept on. "Do I have to?" he groaned._

" _If you want to survive in this world, you must make the meaningless of tasks the more vital ones."_

 _Orion's eyelids dropped halfway. "You said that already like a hundred times."_

" _And how many times did you imply that?"_

 _Orion gave a glare at the demon. It's been nothing but sheer hell with this guy, since Day 1 if recollection was implied. The fact that he didn't try to kill him himself was something else, but these tasks and living out in the outdoors all this time was doing that for him. "This is stupid." He got up and turned away. "Why don't you do me a favor and just get it over with?"_

 _The monstrosity didn't bother to move accordingly. He just stood in place and watched as Orion dared not look at him. "Hunt. I won't ask again."_

 _Orion begrudgingly felt a weight drop on his shoulder. He only started to hunt on his own for the fast two weeks now since Demora showed him how to do it just once. And even then it didn't seem easy. Placement, bait, the wiring, all of it. He got the hang of it now, but the facts didn't lie when his efforts were less than fruitful._

 _But hunger drove the young boy, and he knew now the demon wasn't feeding him his captures anymore. "Fine." He exasperated. He walked over foliage-filled ground, where he stepped over a fallen tree log and on he went._

 _Demora's dark hue never left the area, no matter how far he went away from the demon._

 _In the distance, the boy found an ideal spot where a possible squirrel or maybe a rabbit if lucky got to and began to set up the net-like trap. He applied the spikes to the ground to keep the tree branch above close to the ground. Once the rope trap was ready, it would be enough to possibly pull up a fox and dangle it like a piñata. It happened before, and he had enough to eat for two days. Ashe set up the rope, the darkness all around him was ever so annoying. It was suffocating. How was it that he wasn't even dead yet? Once he set up the trap, he backed away to hide in a nearby shrub. As he observed and waited, he looked down at his arm, which covered the Devil Slayer tattoo it had glowing beneath. 'One day, I'm gonna put that demon out of his misery before me.' As he exasperated his thoughts, the tattoo beneath the sleeve glowed, spreading some darkness over the arm._

Orion stepped out of the shade, entering sunlight that beamed down on his face. His eyes squinted at the harsh sunlight, but not enough to completely blind him. Once adjusted, his attention went towards someone who happened to be close by.

Aniya was glancing up in the shadows of the ship. She had her visors on, but she wasn't in the sun the whole time. No, the visors shielded her eyes because she was glaring at a certain someone who just now awoke from his nap. She watched with an anxious stare as Nic came down and was talking to his wife. The whole ride, Aniya had been notable quiet; something far out of characteristic for her. She was normally quite snobbish, if not rude. At any time, she'd be working on getting machine tech and other gadgets to work properly, but ever since that night, she's been spacious.

Nic and Erza continued talking to one another, but all she saw was someone who creeped her out. Whatever he had, it left her feeling spite flow in her veins.

"Aniya."

The girl was brought out of her trance when the voice of her leader came from behind. Turning around, she looked towards the Devil Slayer. "O-Orion!" she gasped.

"Why so surprised? You're always the one to know your surroundings better than any of us." He reasoned casually.

Aniya's brow furrowed. "W-well…you just got me when my guard was down."

"My apologies. Wasn't my intention to scare you." A short silence fell a bit, the air becoming stale as their conversation took another turn. "How long have you been like this?"

She scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Aniya."

"I'm serious, I'm fine!" She snapped. Her glare resumed its trajectory towards Nic again, who was now looking out at the ocean, unaware of the stare she was giving him. "It's just that stupid Nic guy is all."

"Is that all?"

"No, far from that! This whole thing is just stupid! Why on Earthland are we really risking our lives to coordinate ourselves to stupid people who can't even understand their own problems? I mean, c'mon! We're w _ay_ better off without those heavyweights!" She gestured over to the Dragon Slayers all lurching over the sides. "We're better off doing this ourselves without such a big number! We're basically going to get ourselves exposed and mess up!"

As she went on a tirade about the cons of her feelings towards them, Orion closed his eyes and sighed through his nose.

"And besides." She continued, her attention towards Erik and Kinana, the latter comforting the Dragon Slayer as he was unconscious from throwing up just recently. The stare underneath her visors grew more fierce than ever. "Those guys especially have been creeping me out."

Orion's gaze went towards them. He didn't see the issue within the Dragon Slayers, nor Nic, nor Kinana. When he looked at Aniya, that's where he saw the problem. Seeing into her eyes was all that he needed to know.

"This is about your 'problem' I take it?"

"They're snake lovers. I just feel it whenever I look at those three." Aniya's fists balled so tight as her teeth grinded against each other like two heavy maces. "I just wanna shoot them in between those eyes and just-!"

"I understand." Orion said, stopping her from her actions. "Your pain is dear, but you must remember, these people we are aligned with are our allies. Just because we all have our differences, doesn't meant prosecution is in order, no matter how much you may think so."

"But…they…"

"And what if they were? You've been put through a lot, and finding your peace before you die is up to you to decide that. But don't take it out on those who haven't meant it. Don't force your life or drag others into it. Of course I'm not saying I'm telling you to live your life. Just for now, please bare for just a little while longer."

Aniya looked down in regret over herself. She knew her deducing was wrong, but she couldn't help it. She hated snakes, and there was a reason. She knew Nic contributed somehow, and she wanted to know what he did that night, but she didn't want to out of fear. "…" Ultimately, she chose to decline her previous intentions and huff in defeat.

"You're doing fine. But please, at least try to interact with some of the others." Orion walked away, leaving the pinkette to look back at the alliance with a tight half-grin of displeasure.

* * *

"Aw yeah. Awww yeah…yeah this is good going on." Mutters came from a dazed Kevin as his eyes were wandering about on the ship. To be more precise, it revolved around the fact that his wandering eyes resorted to ladies the majority of the time. He was off minding his own business, watching as Minerva assisted Frosch with handling Rogue and guiding their way to the cabons. His attention went towards her bust almost immediately, and when she passed him, he looked ahead like he wasn't paying attention to her. "Yeah, I think I'll save that one." He muttered.

"Save what now?"

"Ohgeez!" In a gasp, he swiveled around to see Joey standing there with The Freaks. "Uh, w-what are you doing here…?" he nervously asked.

Joey shrugged. "Meh, call it curiosity."

"You know you _could_ be a little discrete." Dereece cocked his brow at the implication.

"You don't know that. Can't prove nothing." Kevin immediately denied.

Dereece slowly nodded with a smirk. "Ri~ght."

Kevin immediately chose to sway from the awkwardness and looked towards Duncan. "And you've gotta be that Trainer Nic fought, right? Name's Kevin, how's it been?"

Duncan half-heartedly looked away, disinterested by the tendencies happening around him. "It's fine."

"Okay then…"

"Sooo, Kevin!" Joey intervened. "I heard you're from Kanto, right? Nice place? Good cities, food, all that stuff?"

Kevin appealed to a solemn shrug. "Yeah, guess so. To me that is. Where're you guys from?"

Joey gave a smile and pulled Dereece in from the side, while he pointed his thumb to himself. "Well Dereece and I came from the Kalos Region."

"Hey."

"And Duncan over here came from Sinnoh." He looked at Duncan, who looked even more unamused than ever. "Really hard to tell what this guy's thinking. He's always looking so grumpy that I mistake him for a Gloom sometimes, right?" he chuckled in his own amusement, though the others half-heartedly let on with the joke.

Dereece turned towards Kevin. "So how did you get roped into a guild, huh?"

Kevin chose to accept his attention. "Well that's a story I think I can shorthand at the moment. You see, when I was swept into this world, I immediately found myself somewhere alongside the edge of a town. I was a little nervous when I found myself inside woods, so I figured I would make haste and skedaddle before anything wild would try and pounce me."

"That's what I'd do." Joey said. "Sorry, go on."

"Anyways, I eventually found myself into the city, and there, I guess I found myself in the middle of some plazas. I git kinda lost even after knowing my way around a bit."

"How'd that happen?" Dereece asked.

"Well a few times, I took a few wrong turns. And maybe a couple more times, I guess I found myself a little…sidetracked." He smirked up to the skies about his little leeways here and there. His turns mainly involved some girls and their lower-halves, presumably those who wore tight leggings, or rather had the hips to show. "Man were they fine." He sighed.

Dereece and Joey looked at each other in wonder before looking back at Kevin wandering off in his musings…and possible libido.

"…huh? Oh yeah! Anyways, I eventually followed someone to a local joint, where I think I saw two guys were about to throw down. I thought about leaving, but then al of a sudden, this wild Misdreavus popped out of the pub wall."

"A Misdreavus, you say?" Duncan inquired, proving he was paying attention.

"Yeah, and guys were freaking out, so I chose to fend it off with my Pokémon right then and there in the pub. It wasn't a big deal. We won easily, but it got away. That's I met Hibiki, who commented about my Poke Ball and started asking questions. And I guess that it went from there."

"Well that's one way to get known at least." Joey smirked. "You sound like you got better luck than us. We fell right atop an Ursaring and realized our Pokémon can talk."

"I know, what up with that?"

"Oh! What's your Pokémon like? You a Trainer?"

Kevin sheepishly shrugged. "Meeeh, I wouldn't go that far. I just worked in the market area in Vermilion City. I only carried the _one_ Pokémon with me because I found it crawling alongside the apartment complex and it spooked me."

"So then…you're not a real Trainer?" Dereece inquired.

"Look, don't go pointing fingers, alright? I might not practice and all, but I've been taking care of it. Not exactly what you'd call someone who lives under a bridge or all that stuff people try to say. One Pokémon just happens to make me a big deal around here, so I just rolled with it."

"What is it?" Joey asked.

"I'll save that for a more appropriate time." Kevin noted, though the notion was more of irony coming from someone who was staring off at womanly goodies. The others chose to press on.

"So, you got magic?" Dereece inquired.

Kevin smirked with pride. "Believe it or not, why yes. I do." With a snap of his fingers, a small, holographic screen appeared in front of his face, startling the group. They saw a few panels appear on the screen, one with a stat screen in the form of a pie chart, one with a variety of other descriptions, nd one holding a picture atop; this one being Joey.

"Hey, that's me!" Joey pointed out. "And it's git my good side. Nice."

"You're Joey Haycliff. You are 18-years-old, have an intense love of dancing and fun; have a deep passion for Nic and all the things he does, and strive to be as awesome as he." Kevin recited. "You're 128 pounds, have dancing for your exercise. Loves pizza, donuts, and playing Pokémon video games with your best friend."

Dereece whistled at the notion that lead on. "Wow, right down the middle, too."

Kevin snapped his fingers again, this time changing the screen to Dereece's profile. For a brief moment, it then shifted to Duncan, then to Nic, then to Jenny Realight, then to Vanessa. "I call this my Search Magic." He proudly stated. "I can search up anything about anyone as long as I have their name."

"Wow, that's pretty handy." Dereece stated with slight admiration.

Kevin's pride boomed. "Exactly my thoughts."

"Don't sugarcoat it." Duncan groaned.

"What else does it do?" Joey asked.

Kevin looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention. When he saw that he was in the clear, he leaned in towards them and mischievously smirked. "My Search Magic has a few more bits of it that make it to die for. It allows me to know their personalities, their stats, and even their locations. And what's better…" he smirked. "Are the perks of being able to save certain people in a file I made."

"Certain people?" Joey asked. "Wait…!" Suddenly, he got into Kevin's face, a grim, dark shadow over his forehead. "Don't tell me you're following Nic or Erza-senpai, because if you are, that's gonna be a big problem between us, pal!" he threateningly growled.

A bead of sweat dropped from Kevin. "Uh…I don't look up guys or married woman." He confessed.

Almost like a switch, Joey backed off. "Oh okay then."

Dereece facepalmed.

"But if you _really_ wanna know…" He used his five fingers and contracted the holographic screen in front of him to hand-size. He held it like some mobile device and clicked on a small setting, where there, he clicked on a file, and he expanded a picture. There, what they saw was…

Something that was onscreen made Joey go wide-eyed and stare longingly, as to where Dereece looked away and shut his eyes. Duncan tipped his hat and veered away.

"Man! You seriously look at that stuff?!" Dereece snapped. "What the heck's wrong with you?!"

"Shhh! Not while we're around people!" Kevin harshly whispered.

Joey continued to be tranced by the visuals he was seeing. He was looking at the many, upon many, pictures that Kevin had going for him. He saw legs, thickness, and through it all, the leader of The Freaks…nodded with a smirk. "Not bad."

"I know right?" Kevin nodded back. "My friend, whish do you think is better?" He leaned in, whispering into ear. "The racks or the meat below?"

Joey veered away and looked back like it was obvious. "What are you, crazy?" he exasperated. "The bootay."

"Nice." The two perverted guys high-fived.

"Someone shoot me." Dereece groaned.

"What's going on here?" Lucy came over to see the four boys converged. "Oh, hey guys. What's all the commotion about?" The blonde looked at what Kevin was showing Joey, and she saw that the screen was so tiny that her brown eyes had to squint. "Hey wait, isn't that…?"

"That's my cue! See ya!" Kevin's magic instantly dissipated and he zoomed out of sight, leaving a fading dust trail behind him.

"What the…?" Lucy watched him go, left stupefied in wonder. Her brow furrowed as her hands went to her hips. "Well that was just rude." She turned towards The Freaks. "Hey, what did he show you anyway? Was that his magic?"

Joey went wide-eyed as he slowly looked towards Dereece, who shared the same expression. Both were a little stumped with what to say to the big-boobed blonde. What was to say exactly?

Thankfully Duncan was there to give an excuse. "It's none of your business."

Lucy backed off. "Uh…okay then…?" She awkwardly walked away from them.

When she was out of reach, Joey sulked forward with a bead of sweat. "Man that was close."

"Tell me about it." Dereece huffed.

As the two were thankful for the save by Duncan, the experienced Trainer's own thoughts fell off to another note; one a more appropriate one. When he watched Kevin scuttle away to Arceus-knows-where, he was drifting to his own magical abilities. He was probably in Earthland just as long as them, and already, thanks to his "habits" and supposed "hobbies", that he got his magic. And to be frank, it was making him worry somewhat…on the inside. When he looked at his kendo stick that he always held, he looked at it intensely before he huffed and turned his head away.

"But that's awesome." Joey remarked. "He's got magic."

"Yeah, that is pretty something, man." Dereece noted. He noticed the frown forming on Joey's face, making him wondrous. "What's wrong?"

Joey's stare drifted down to where his feet lied. He looked puzzled at his own imagination coming to a grinding halt when there were his insecurities that were catching on. "Nothing, it's just…" His eyes squinted. "It hasn't even been a month yet, and already someone like us got his magic. What does that say about us, you think?"

Dereece almost fell if it weren't for his own wonders. He's been drilling that into Joey for a while now, but just now it caught on. Though he can't exactly call him out when he wonders of he too would ever get a magic al power for himself.

The blonde leader of the team began to show discern through his glare down at his shoes. _'We've been working hard for weeks just to adapt here, and I think things are okay as they are now…but I didn't think Kevin would get his faster than the rest of us. Are we even…?'_

"Joey…" Dereece trailed off as his best friend's worries – something that ever showed – began to overwhelm them, and at a time like this.

"If you're worried about magic, don't be." A voice said. "You'll be fine."

The Freaks were brought out of their thoughts when they turned around to stare at the sender of said voice. To their surprise, it was their first, and possibly most difficult, opponent thus far.

"Oh, you." Joey said. "You're Broly."

The Barrier-Make Mage smiled genuinely at the crestfallen Trainer. "Don't feel so hard on yourself just because you might have got the short end of the deal. It takes a lot of encouragement for one to master their magic. But who knows, you just might find it sooner than you think."

Joey didn't look so convinced. "But…how?"

Broly put his hand to his chin. "Good question. But one thing I know for a fact, is that anyone out there can learn magic. I should know that for a fact."

Hearing this brought some glimmer back to Joey's eyes. "Really?"

He smiled. "Oh yeah. Trust me when I say, there's always potential in anyone, whether they see it in themselves or not. Not too brag about myself or nothing, but I didn't get my magic until was probably your age." This fact made them gasp. "Sometimes it's those late bloomers who make it far. You never know. So don't give up kiddo, okay? So tell me, why is it that you want to have magic anyway?"

The last question left Joey with a small mental halt. It was sudden to him, but the answer was the exact opposite. It just didn't show on his face. "B-Because I wanna be as helpful as can be to Nic-senpai."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah…" Joey sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I know it sounds cheesy and all…but a guy as awesome as that can't be ignored. Just thinking about it makes me wanna…" He was beginning to show giddy for his fantasies and his dreams he always had when he realized reality. "Well, anyways, Nic and Vanessa, they're both really strong. I just wanna be as strong as them."

Broly sympathized with Joey's goals. He could remember a time when he was in his shoes and looked up to a certain someone. Though his own tale was a different consequence than what Joey had in mind. Out of his own sympathy for the naïve fool, the broad man reached down and put his hand on Joey's shoulder, surprising the younger guy.

"Uh…"

"Kid, I wish I could tell you of happy trails…but that path of strength comes with great sacrifices. There's no such word as easy when you want strength. If the strength you want is that meaningful to you, then be ready to bear that weight."

Joey looked up to the superior with wondrous eyes. He didn't know exactly what he meant by those words, nor was he able to process them, but it sounded important. With a shrug and a definite nod, Joey smiled back up. "Sure."

Closer towards the bow, the sea winds shifted Brandish's coat. As cold as they were, the mage seemed far from deterred. She was looking ahead for some time that one could've mistaken her for a statue.

Upon the many that were conversing, or at the very least tried to, Lucy walked from behind to close in on Brandish. Once close, she stood a few meters behind the mage. "Brandish." She waited for an answer, but the mage didn't give one so heartedly like Lucy would.

"What?"

Lucy could hear the flatness in her tone, nevertheless, she chose to persevere. "How are you feeling?"

"Chilly." She deadpanned.

A bead of sweat dropped from her head. "Uh, g-guess that makes sense…" she shook her head and trudged on. "What I mean is…are you okay?"

"I said I'm chilly."

"Well then, het some pants or something! Look, do you want me to be worried about you, or you'd rather worry about your sense of fashion?!"

Brandish sighed in exasperation. Even through the few winds that howled, she could hear Lucy's own impatience. It was rather cold of her, but that was just her.

Lucy caught on, looking down sheepishly. "I get it. It's a little conflicting, isn't it? Having to deal with people who betrayed you and all…"

"And to whom are you referring to?" Brandish inquired.

"W-well…" She thought back to the time she spent with Brandish during the war. While not dealing with the betrayal ordeal personally, she was rather speaking on behalf of her own personal experience seeing Natsu and Gray betray Nic for their own ambitions. "Maybe I haven't been in your shoes because everyone I know holds me dear…but that doesn't change the fact that you're _my_ friend. Whether you accept it or not, I'm gonna be there for you. Because that's not what backstabbers do." A confident smile crossed her lips.

The green-haired mage stared at her from the corner of her eye. While she isn't exactly enthused with Lucy's go-lucky demeanor, she can't lie when it is something that makes her feel better after everything she's been put through. It was a nice change compared to the strict principles the empire laid on her childhood all these years.

"Do as you will." She looked back towards the sea. "Not that I'm going to stop you." She muttered softly.

Lucy picked up on the last words spoken and tilted her head. "Hm? What was that?"

Brandish grinned softly. "It's nothing." She turned to face Lucy and the others. "We're approaching our destination. We should be there shortly."

"Really?" Kinana asked.

"And where might this location be?" Sophie interjected. "Last I checked, Alakitasia was another two days from here."

"We're not heading directly to Alakitasia. There's a pitstop in between here and there that we need to visit first."

"Last I checked, there were no borders of land that laid between here and the continent." Mest said. His face showed ever growing shock. "Except for…"

"That's right. Caracole Island." She answered. "We'll have to go there before any proceedings can be made."

"Caracole Island?" Lucy looked towards Gray with confusion.

The man who was down to just his boxers now step forward. "But wait, we thought you…"

"Yes, I'm aware of that." Brandish backlashed. "But since my exile, I needed a place to hideout and lay low. And coincidentally, that spot happened to be secluded."

"I suppose that would make sense." Ultear said. "Having an island as a base does make it hard for others to scope you out."

"And that makes it easier for us to regroup and refuel!" Meredy chirped.

"Exactly. It was also during my time there when I happened to run into my little hires." She admitted.

"Your hires?" Lucy repeated. "Wait, you're saying _that's_ where you met the Peace Jaegers?"

"You make it sound like it's a big deal." Brandish rebuffed.

Orion walked on over and folded his arms, chuckling. "Believe it or not, she's telling the truth. That's where we were hired."

"No way!" Happy chirped.

"Indeed. You see, we were wandering around looking for work to do at the time. We only had so much money on us at the time, so we had to restock the small ship we were renting. Aniya was less than enthusiastic, and in turn, used her shares for a Star Mango."

Hearing her name, the pinkette puffed her cheeks and turned away.

"Coincidentally, I was at the repaired shop at the time." Brandish went on. "That's where I introduced them to the work I hired them for."

"How interesting of you." Jellal smirked. "Meeting on such twisted fates. I would call this a blessing in disguise if it weren't for the situation being more pressing now, wouldn't it."

"So it may." Orion said. "At any rate, we should be arriving there shortly. I assume you all have a plan to get ready for the docking?"

Nic approached with a discerned look. "What are you saying exactly?"

"You guys!" Elfman shouted. "Look!"

Everyone looked towards the burly man, seeing him point ahead with his younger sister.

"Hey, yeah! I think I see it, too! Is that it?!"

All able-bodied personnel, went towards the edge of the boat, where they caught up with Brandish to point out and see something that looked like an island in the shoreline ahead.

"Hey yeah, I think I see it, too." Sawyer said. "That the place?"

"Yup! The place where all this crazy shit just got real!" Matilda cheekily smirked.

Erza stood beside Nic, her stare as serious as could be. Her husband's stare was no different as her own. _'Caracole Island. It looks exactly as it was before.'_ Nic looked towards Brandish. _'So she's used that tourist island to hide all this time.'_

"Uh, guys? I think I see something else!" Happy pointed out.

Pantherlily looked over the bow next to him. "I think I see it as well. There's something else there."

"What is that?" Sophie narrowed her eyes to get a better view of what was ahead. Even though it wasn't too clear, it wasn't vague either. She saw ever so clearly of some form of obstructions up ahead.

Gray squinted as well. "Are those what I think they are?"

Floating atop of water dead ahead, everyone could see a picture of large ships. But not just any ships. It was the ships belonging to the enemy, the reason the ships were transporting items and goods.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Griffon exasperated.

Mest's shock was no less appealing than a Scary Face. "No way! Alvarez Empire navy ships?! Here?!"

"Déjà vu." Sophie deadpanned.

"But…what are they doing here now?" Lucy wondered.

"Yeah, last time it was because of a spy. Now what's the bog idea?" Happy added.

The look on Brandish's face failed to show remorse. "It's part of Emperor Neinhart's expansion I'm afraid. He's made Caracole Island his now."

Everyone looked at her with shock. "No way! He owns the whole island?! Is that even fair?" Joey exasperated.

"Nothing is fair I'm afraid." Brandish replied. "Neinhart took over the island. And of I had to guess, this is where trades are made with ships with the Pokémon and items they're taking to the continent."

"I see. So it's a rest stop for the Alvarez ships as well." Erza deduced.

"Well this sucks. We can't get near them now." Gray pitied.

"No, I think we can." Nic argued, earning questionable looks from his peers.

"You really think so, Nic? How?" Happy asked.

Nic looked calm about the situation. "Well for starters, we're on a ship we stole, right? At least for the moment, they don't find us to be a threat, so I think we'll at least be able to dock." His face fell to the wooden deck as he tried to think. "However…I doubt that after last time we were here, things won't be the same as last time."

Mest folded his arms. "Yeah, that's a good point."

"We got caught almost instantly." Carla said. "Odds are their security measures are going to be tougher than they were before."

"And that might include facial recognition." Nic continued. "I'm not too sure about this, but if that's the case, then we'll need something more clever than last time. Odds are they're going to want to inspect the ship's crew and the cargo."

Erza put a hand to her chin. "That would make sense. They are shipping Pokémon after all. If a ship didn't have that, then there could be a scam within this black-market."

"These ships were sent out to steal Pokémon, right?" Jellal said. "Coming back empty-handed in a corrupted empire's hands would led to some unbeknownst punishment. We'll need a disguise plan if we want to fully blend in."

"Yeah, and they'll also want to believe that we're part of the crew." Bellona noted. "Do they have any extra sets of armor perhaps?"

"For a ship _this_ size, odds are hardly." Gray said.

Nic looked towards Mest with an affirmative look. "Mest, you know what to do, right?"

The Teleportation Mage nodded. "Yeah, no worries. I'll make the crew we captured think that they're on our side. They'll help us then."

Nic nodded. "Alright then, we're counting on you." He let Mest go, leaving him to walk into the cabin and get to the work needed. There was one more trick he thought would work, but he had to be sure. To do that, he needed something else. "Hey, Lisanna."

The white-haired girl looked at Nic with an inquired face. "Um…yes?"

"There's something else I need you for?"

She pointed at herself. "Me?"

Sawyer smirked. "Heh, this should be good."

* * *

The ship eventually found its way to the island. With it being a fellow navy vessel, the camouflage was a grand way for them to enter the primary port where most of the navy ships were located. They found a reasonable spot for hard access, and the warped crew's permission to board went through.

"Ugh, do I really have to wear this?" Sorano held up a spare suite of armor that was passed out to a lot of people. "The colors are stale."

"Stop complaining." Meredy reprimanded.

"She's right." Jellal commented, not too far away from the group getting a knee guard on. "This will help us blend in once we get the inspection. Mest's efforts with the crew is allowing us to use these."

"Oh yeah! Lucky for us, they come in sizes, too!" Richard chirped, his armor fully coating his body, all but his massively bushy hair that stuck out beneath the helmet.

Natsu was trying to get his own armor on, but it was taking forever to do just that. Lucy's was taking an equally long and harder time to do so, but they knew the efforts would be worth it in the end. Everyone else was trying to put on their armor themselves, but while that felt complex, the attire felt simpler than what it looked like.

"I never knew…just how much work it took…to get one piece of armor on." Kagura strained to get her armor on with the leg's attachments. "Why are they all men sized to begin with? Erza, exactly how do you do this?" She got no answer. "Erza?"

She turned her head to look at Erza, but she looked completely unrecognizable. She was cloaked head to toe already in her armor piece, though the top she requipped to a metal she had to better foot her caboose.

"Wow, she works fast?" Lucy admired.

"I'll say. Being a Requip Mage has its perks." Gray commented.

Elfman tried to flex in his armor. Thankfully it didn't break. "Takes a real man to do it like that!"

"She's not a man, you muttonhead." Erik retorted.

Minerva smirked. "Well, to think the great Titania would be so flashy in such armor. Why I hardly even recognize her myself."

"I'll say." Sting grinned. "Hey, Erza, how'd you get that on so fast anyway? Think you can teach us?" He waited for a response, but Erza didn't respond. "Uh, Erza…?"

While everyone was working on their armors, Erza was standing like a statue in the far-off distance. She was there in body, but not in spirit. Her mind was on pins and needles as she thought back to how Nic asked Lisanna of all people. Lisanna! It was enough that he asked someone who he had little interaction with, but a certain part o her was making it her business to try and drill deep into what Nic planned. Unfortunately, fate had other plans when Nic simply told her "Just trust me."

Why was she getting so worked up anyway? Why would she be annoyed that Nic asked Lisanna and not the one person he swore to be with for all eternity and nobody else, right? Erza knew that he wouldn't _really_ do this to her, right? Why go to that animal-loving girl when he can just stand by his bombshell of a wife? What does Lisanna have that she doesn't? It may not be a big deal in hindsight, but the thought was driving her crazy.

Every fiber in her bones wanting to scream out to know. If she were Mest, she'd be gnawing someone's head off. Spacing out too long, of course, rives consequences.

"Erza? You who? Earthland to Erza." The voice calling out to her and the hand waving in front of her visor. She snapped out of her trance to find Lucy there.

"O-Oh, Lucy." She stammered. "I'm sorry, what was it you were saying?"

Lucy could feel Erza's anxiety even from a few feet away. "Geez, relax Erza. No need to make a big deal out of it." She assured.

"Yeah. Nic's not _that_ kind of guy." Natsu noted. "If he were, he'd be like Gray."

The stare Gray gave was as cold as his ice. "And what's that got to do with me?"

Erza cleared her throat, but beneath her visor, her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. "I-it's nothing like that! I know that?"

"You sure? Because it seems to me Titania is having a hissy fit." Minerva teased.

"Well you can't blame her though." Ultear added insult to injury. "Why I'd give anything to have a man like that in _my_ clutches."

"Hey guys, don't add fuel to the fire now, c'mon!" Sting worried.

Yukino sweat-dropped. "Oh goodness."

"All little couple's drama." Lector sighed.

"Fro thinks so, too!" Frosch added.

"Knock it off everyone!" Rogue snapped. To ease the tension, he tried to take a cleansing breath. "Honestly, how immature."

The comments were dialing down, but the fuel to the fire inside Erza burned as hot as her Houndoom's Inferno. Now she was more worried than ever. The thought of Nic cheating on her now came to her mind. She must be hanging around Juvia for too long because before she knew it, she was seeing Nic and Lisanna in her head walking off hand in hand. It only served to rile her up further. Before she got out of hand, she recalled the mission. She shook her head off of any impending thoughts of Nic's numerous affairs to get through this challenge. She would get to the bottom of this later, but for now, she would just have to trust Nic with whatever he had planned.

His plans were by means of improvising after all.

They all heard a massive plank drop from topside. They all looked up and knew what that meant.

"Sounds like docking's locked and loaded." Dereece said.

"Indeed." Sophie answered. "Inspections are here, too."

"So what now?" Kinana questioned. "I think this may not be an appropriate time…but there isn't enough sets for all of us."

"It's fine." Brandish said, coated in armor of her own. "Not all of us need to be here anyway. We still need a team to gather up fuel and supplies for the next few days."

"So you want scouts then, huh?" Broly answered. He pointed a thumb to himself and grinned. "Alright then, I'll go."

"Really?" Joey gasped.

Broly put hands to his hips. "Sure. We need someone out there, right? And besides, the island is on high alert right now. Odds are they want as many recognizable personnel attending their vessels."

"He's right." Orion said. "We're not well-known as well. I think it's best we settle for a scouting party with hardly anyone recognizable."

"Which means we better not go." Mest said. "The empire knows Fairy Tail's names and faces. Even without armor, our guarantee won't be as high."

Everyone looked around to see who it was that was available. Aside from Fairy Tail, about half of the alliance wasn't recognized by the empire. Crime Sorciere was mostly known. Lyon and Kagura most certainly were. At this point, that left the Peace Jaegers, as well as only a few other candidates.

Seeing volunteers shoot up already, Joey raised his hand. "Uh, hey! Hello?" he got everyone's attention. "I hope that it's okay to ask…but what about us?"

"Huh? You guys?" Griffon inquired.

"I think I get it." Vanessa said. "Joey, Duncan, and Dereece; they haven't been in Fairy Tail very long to be known by the empire."

"Hey yeah, that's right!" Lucy gasped. "They weren't around when the attack happened. I think that would work."

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

Carla sighed heavily in exasperation. "I suppose it can't be helped."

"It'll be fine, I'm sure." Wendy assured.

Duncan huffed with no visible signs of exasperation. "Well if you say so." He turned towards his Captain. "So what exactly are we going to do?"

"We're going to find supplies and scout for any information that'll lead to the empire." Orion said. "We'll have to be discrete though. We can't guarantee yours or our own safety. You can't keep your guard down in enemy territory after all."

"So…we need a diversion is what you're saying." Joey interpreted.

Orion and the others wanted to interject and say something about Joey's logic, but there really wasn't much to point out that wasn't already spoken, let alone known. The fact that diversions do help in the end at some points left Orion to rethink the steps that need to be taken.

Broly, however, seemed intrigued. "Heh, well I like the way this guy thinks."

"Are you freaking serious right now?!" Aniya snapped. "What kind of a diversion are you even thinking?!"

Joey clasped his hands and rubbed the palms together with glee. "Oh trust me on this, I think it'll rock." His head slowly turned towards Dereece, a mischievous smirk that began to worry the best friend.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

* * *

Caracole Island; even after almost a year, the tourist spot once reduced to a foothold still upheld its charm. The many of expenses that the island had were left untouched, aside from the spiraling rock mountain top, which was more flat than slant now. The shacks and the huts that once reprised the tourist realm were all restored, and everyone was coming and going ever so happily. They all seemed pleasantly happy, or at least if one was blind. The repair of the island was smooth sailing, but déjà vu never failed to rise up on this splendid resort like the sun did. All around, Alvarez soldiers were walking around with the same weapons as before, spears tipped with lacrima. But through it all, despite the soldiers, there wasn't anything too strict to worry about. Unlike last time, there was no need to scout and inspect people.

A finger pointed towards the sky. "Hit it!"

Another finger went down on a button.

Rapid Hawaiian drums bet so fast and so loud through speakers that it got numerous people's attention. Ultear, who was looking through a crystal ball with everyone else, raised brows at the sight.

Joey swiftly turned towards the crowd, a flower in his ear. "ALOLA!" Joey – of all people – of course, lead the distraction. He wore his white short-sleeved dress shirt as usual, but his coat was replaced by a flower ring on the hand, and on the bottom, he wore nothing but a long, grass skirt and no shoes. Beside him, his Chespin had a miniature grass skirt with a similar flower on his head, with his tail sticking out. Behind him, Orion, Broly, Matilda, Meredy, Mest, and Duncan all stood, where Dereece was the middle ground holding up his boombox – bare chested to show his big-boned skin and wearing a grass skirt as well. The way he was dressed was one thing distracting, but the funky Hawaiian theme going on with the hula was hypnotizing. "I~f you're hungry for some more, get right up when you hit the floor! Shake it to the left, shake it to the right! Do it again and you will win this fight! YEAH!" He maneuvered in a suave hip fashion as the grass skirt followed his flow as he danced. The way he moved was disturbing, but at the same time, enigmatic. "Chespin, hit it!"

Chespin wasn't as good as Joey. He was mainly in one place swaying his arms in arches and doing arm rolls. But when it came to moving, he was just as eccentric…though his singing was more like cheering. "1, 2, 3, 4! COME HERE AND GET SOME MORE!" He stuck his tail out with one stubby leg off to the side.

Off to the side, the others in the party were at a loss with what they had to say. For one thing, it was original, but all around, it still felt no less bizarre to look at than imagine. If Aniya were here, she'd shoot them for stupidity points.

"…seriously? _That's_ his plan?" Lucy sweat-dropped from the ship.

Kagura had nothing to say. She morbidly shook her head in disappointment over the distraction.

Natsu couldn't keep in his laughter. "That guy sure knows how to make me laugh!" he uproariously exclaimed.

"Hey, keep it down." Gajeel warned. "The guys are up on the deck already." True to what he said, the footsteps were heard above their heads. Small creeks went everywhere, and more accurately, from the few soldiers that were assigned to inspecting.

"We better get to spreading around the ship." Macbeth said. "They'll find it unnatural to have so many of us in one room."

Jellal turned towards Ultear and Aniya. "We'll be leaving it up to you both. Make sure if they see or hear anything, you let us know."

Ultear graciously nodded. "As you say."

Aniya crossed her arms. "Alright, fine." She certainly didn't sound as cooperative as her associate, but nevertheless, she had to put up with them for the time being. "I still don't get why you didn't send that snake-loving Dragon Slayer out there."

"Because Erik is known as well as us. Him being in the empire's custody would cause problems." Jellal answered. "Besides, even from here, his hearing can help pick up pieces from here that the others might have missed."

Aniya sighed once again in frustration. "Fine, but don't think I'm doing this because I want to."

"We understand." Jellal turned around. "Come, everyone."

Everyone departed from the room, leaving Ultear and Aniya to be hidden behind wooden crates that closed them in. Hopefully this way they wouldn't be noticed, if not for a few minutes.

Back on shore, Joey was whipping up a storm with his hula with his Pokémon. Many were already taking snaps and possible videos of his dancing, and if he was honest, he was loving the attention he was getting. Nothing could ruin this for him. Right?

"Why me?" Dereece half-heartedly groaned.

Mest looked away from the embarrassment of a sight without batting an eyelash. "Can't believe this is really happening. But unfortunately, we got important things to do."

"Indeed." Orion agreed. "I suggest we split up into two groups while our ship is being refueled. One group will look for food, and one will scout for information."

"Well, you can imagine that we're already having a third party." To rove his point, Mest pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the crowd that was whistling at Joey and Chespin showing off for patrons. "Should I get them as well?"

"I say leave them be. They're not hampering our priorities at the moment."

Broly stepped up. "Yeah, I'm with ya on this one. Besides, it's kinda amusing when you look at it."

Meredy chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so." Her laughter was short-lived, however, when something picked up around her. "Uh, guys?"

"What's up?" Matilda questioned.

"Where's that one guy? The Blue Pegasus Mage, right?"

"You mean Kevin?" Mest looked left and then right, his eyes catching no sign of the Search Mage. "That's weird. I thought we assigned him to our squad. He seemed insistent about it, too."

"I think he said something about 'getting information'." Orion repeated. "Whatever that is."

While everyone seemed confused about Kevin's lead ahead of them, Duncan had a good idea, though only for a second did he care. But otherwise, a blank face plastered his lack of care.

* * *

Among the many sights in Caracole Island, it's the kind that come and go that always entrance people. Plays, shows, concerts, all of those come and go, and rare opportunities as such don't always happen, so people have to make use of them. And for a certain mage with some "problems", he was certainly taking in as many sights as possible.

"Aww yeah…" Kevin muttered as he walked slowly through the hut area, seeing many women, some in pairs or groups, walking along. When he saw one with a thick lower body, he felt heat rise. "Yeah." He moved onto another chick, his face falling. "Bleh, short jeans. Lame." He moved onto the next. "Too thin…too flat…"

Being a picky Mandibuzz really wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but Kevin couldn't help it. His masculine hormones were just aching for something good to look at, if only to stabilize him for a few hours. He was surrounded by busty women through whole ride, but as a mage of Blue Pegasus, and a marketeer, he knew one thing.

Work came before the goods.

It was annoying, but he'd rather be caught snooping about elsewhere with no one familiar sneaking up on him. But at the same, he may as well savor the possibilities available for him and his eyes alone. The bust was great and all, but the meat beneath the waist was another thing – possibly more – intriguing.

After wandering about for a short while, Kevin took his seat at a fellow hut, exhausted from the "sights". _'It's a good thing I'm wearing these sunglasses. I'd be burning up with how hot it is.'_ He told himself. After catching his breath, he turned towards the vendor in the shade.

The vendor, being someone in their possibly early 30s, had a Hawaiian short on with a hat. He looked at Kevin with a half-grin. "How can I help you?"

"Hi. What do you sell here, exactly?"

The vendor turned towards his merchandise in wonder. "Well, let's see…we've got some nick-knacks, kinda those seashell bracelets, keychains, plastic jugs…"

Kevin mentally chuckled at the last word. As the vendor looked on, Kevin's eyes wandered to the merchandise that were all around. It was more like a trading post that upheld some degree of goods and necklaces. It wasn't anything pricy, but he'd rather not make any bold decisions.

His eyes soon wandered to the side, seeing folded lamented papers next to a stack of pens. "How much for one of those maps?"

* * *

In another part of the conjunctions of huts and people, Orion and Broly were walking beside on another as the muscular duo were scouting for anything perpetually needed. But with such a populace and such a variety, finding proper food when there are snow cones and ice cream everywhere really didn't leave such a large set of options to choose from.

"I don't see anything wrong in this sector." Orion said, observing all around.

Broly had hands to his hips and turned his head about. "I can tell. The people here look like they haven't anything to complain about."

Orion could hear the tone in the experienced fighter's voice. He wasn't dumb. They both knew something had to be wrong if there were so many soldiers around, yet so little complained. When he looked over, he saw one soldiers walk by a kid and absent-mindedly bumped into him. The ice cream the kid held fell to his feet, leaving him despondent.

"My…my ice cream!" the kid whined. He started to tear up and cry, getting the father right beside him to look back over his shoulder.

"Hey you!" he shouted.

The soldier stopped.

"What's the big idea, huh? You just bumped into my son and just kept walking? You better tell him you're sorry!"

The soldier turned around to face them. "Blame that stupid kid. He's the one who got in my way."

The kid cried louder, upsetting the father. Before the father could do anything about it, he heard clanking, and before he even knew that, he and his son found themselves surrounded by two more Alvarez soldiers, and at their feet were two Poochyena that were growling.

"What's going on here?" one of the soldiers asked in a threatening tone.

The kid was sniffling and hiding behind his father. The older man looked at them and shot a nervous glare. He had no choice but to back down. "…nothing. I'm sorry for my son."

The soldier they bumped in scoffed. "Sniff them out. See what else they got."

The soldiers escorted the son and father away to get them checked out against their own will. Both looked disheartened as their vacation was ruined, and Broly and Orion watched the scene with their own half-hearted glares in return.

"Come on, let's go before their Pokémon catch our scents." Orion turned to leave.

"Right." Broly followed.

* * *

In yet another part of the island's attraction, two pairs of lips bit down on spoons holding delicious fruity desserts. Their cheeks instantly ignited with red from the sweetness.

"Mmmmm! This is so good!" Meredy chimed with squinted vision. She had to hold back a squeal from how delicious it was. It wouldn't be too feminine of her otherwise.

Matilda chuckled. "I know, right?" She lifted another spoonful to her mouth. "Believe it or nor, I never would've liked it until Aniya's pushy self drove us all here."

On the ship, Aniya stared at the crystal ball with a tick mark. Ultear smirked to add Brine to the damage.

"So this is where it all started?" Meredy asked. Before her question was answered, the vendor placed another bowl of the dessert in front of the pinkette. "Oh, thank you very much."

The vendor waved with a generous smile. "Please, help yourselves." He handed Meredy the sherbet, which she held in one hand. "So then, where are you all from?"

Meredy grinned. "Oh, nowhere really. Just sightseeing is all."

"Yup, from the south really." Matilda lied.

"Oh really?" The old man smiled. "Sounds pretty hot down there."

"Meh, getting warmer since summer's around the corner."

The vendor laughed at her expense. "Well I hope I have better luck there than here if lady luck ever smiles down upon me." He sighed again, although this one was of grimace, something which caught Meredy and Matilda's curiosity. "Ever since that faithful war, can't say things have been smooth sailing for many bystanders here."

Matilda had a hunch what it is, so she chose to shoot through the dark. "It's because of the emperor, huh?"

The old man somberly nodded. "Aye. That it be." He looked left and right to see if any soldiers were listening in on them. When he found the coast being clear, he leaned in. The girls leaned in, too, their ears open to hear what was to be said.

"You didn't hear this from me, but apparently, the emperor forbids any socializing of this island with any Ishgarians."

Matilda and Meredy's interests were piqued.

"After the war, the Alvarez came here and immediately claimed it on behalf of the emperor's name. What I noticed was how none of the tourists were going to nor from Ishgar. It's a shame really." He shook his head in shame. "I repaired my hut, and now it looks like my dreams of touring are gonna be just that. A dream."

The girls looked at each other with frowns growing. They couldn't help but feel sorry for the old vendor and what he wanted. Even at an old age, people could have dreams too, no matter how foolish. Whatever people decide is up to them, but looking at it now, they can see and feel how some people felt knowing the war has affected the island's economy.

And it explained one more dilemma at hand. Why they haven't seen any ships heading east to Ishgar but more navy ships.

"But don't listen to me. It's not so bad here." The old man spoke in a neutral tone as he was cleaning glass next. "Sure a few scuffles here and there, but I'm sure it's no big deal."

The sound of wood breaking came from behind, followed by a light screaming. Meredy and Matilda turned around to see another scuffle like he was talking about, only this one was more long the lines of robbery.

"No! Please, sir! Don't take him!" The angry tourist shouted. The soldier she was yelling at was holding a Zigzagoon over his shoulder. The little Normal-type was struggling to break free, but it proved useless,

"You know the rules here. Any and all passengers here are prohibited the bringing of other Pokémon." The soldier said. "Confiscation must come to this."

The woman tried to lunge at him for the Zigzagoon, but two other soldiers held her by the arms to keep her back. The woman yelled out in agony, but the soldier walked away with the Pokémon struggling.

"Quit it, you stupid animal!" he retorted. "You'll get yours yet, just not here."

The sight was making Meredy's blood boil. Fortunately, she knew better than to keep herself in check. But the sound of porcelain breaking got her attention as well. When she looked over, she saw Matilda's fists clutching so hard that the one she held the sherbet in cracked the bowl.

The Take-Over woman's glare on the soldier taking away the small innocent creature was that of a loin waiting to pounce. She even growled like one. For now at least, she would have to stomach it. But that didn't mean the guy wasn't going to get his just desserts yet.

* * *

Mest was looking around with his perception at its highest. As he was walking around with a shoulder bag, he was making sure to purchase essentials with what money available. It wasn't much, but he was making sure to buy as much grain as possible, and use leftover funds for anything else.

However, being a mage of such high caliber, there was yet another thing he was paying attention too. To his eyes, he was noticing the prices were a little higher than they were before, and a lot of vendors were looking to be advertising less than enthusiastically.

' _A lot has changed since our last encounter here. Everyone's looking more weary than before.'_

As he went on, he noticed soldiers were either scanning and searching people, while others were keeping a sharp eye out. As he passed one person, he watched as a soldier pinned him down and seized his belt, which had three Poke Balls in it.

"No! Please! Just let me go!" the person insisted.

"Get up!" The soldier yanked him to standing up. "You're coming with me for questioning!"

Mest watched the man being taken away with a sour look on his face. _'They confiscate tourist's Pokémon here, too. That would explain why I haven't seen any newcomers or outgoers with Pokémon beside them.'_

He didn't want to make any false assumptions that could lead to misunderstandings. He didn't quite understand why there weren't anyone allowed to have Pokémon except the soldiers, but deep in his gut, he had a pretty good guess as to why that was.

Within his wonders, something else caught his eye. Something more distracting. As he saw a few little girls in swimwear wandering with their mothers, he could feel time slow down as pink surrounded the atmosphere. It was like looking into a frame; a really weird, hot frame that was making him dazed.

 _Snap! Snap! Snap!_

"H-huh, what?!" Brought out of his delusions, the Teleportation Mage whipped around to the disturbing sound. To his surprise, he found that it was Duncan. "Oh, Duncan…it's you." He said dryly. "So what did you find out?"

The Trainer with a kendo stick looked unamused. Not that was any different than what he normally was. "Didn't find much. All I really got were a couple of drinks and that's it."

Mest sighed. "Okay, guess that's better than nothing." He turned left and right again, observing the people and soldiers around him. "Still, it's hard to imagine anyone relaxing with all these soldiers here."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Well, aren't you bothered by it?"

Duncan shrugged. "To be honest, I couldn't care less. The only reason I came along with this part of the trip was to scope out anyone who can offer me a decent battle."

Mest gave Duncan a half-hearted glare. "We're not here to draw attention to ourselves. Hate to burst your bubble, but if you even mention anything about Poke Balls, they'll take yours."

Duncan leered off to the side, noticing how one passing soldier was giving him and Mest a sharp look through the visor. It was more of a warning glare, but the silent message was as clear as day to the sulky Trainer. To this, Duncan backed down.

"But I'm sure we won't be out of the woods yet." Mest reassured. "We'll be needing you eventually. We'll need everyone for this operation, so don't bail on us when we'll be needing you, understand."

Duncan didn't care, but he shrugged in exception anyway. "I'll try."

"Yo." From the side, Kevin appeared. He held a lamented brochure in hand as he approached Mest and Duncan.

"Hey, Kevin, was it?" Mest greeted.

"Yup, that's me." He answered.

"Did you find anything we could use?"

Kevin shrugged. "Nah, just a brochure." He handed Mest the brochure. "This place really ain't all that it's cracked up to be."

"Not an interesting place I would want to go." Duncan noted.

Mest was looking at the map with scrutiny. He stared at the layout with a deep discretion at hand. As he analyzed its contents, he noticed something was very wrong with the geography. _'That's weird. Why are the northeast beaches undisclosed to the public? Last I checked, they were part of the attraction?_

"Also…" Kevin continued. "Is that supposed to be there?"

Mest looked up to Kevin again to see him pointing at something in the distance, more inland past the palm trees. He wasn't dumb, but from her, he mentally cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. "Huh…?"

The far distance, closer to the bedrock of the place, there was what looked like a large station that overlooked the attraction. It was gray, but at the same time seemed oddly familiar to a radio tower. Even its antennae and satellite seemed similar to that extent.

"What the…?" Mest was at a loss for words. He knew or a definite fact that wasn't there before. Now he knew for a fact something was wrong. First the hunch he had about the concepts of the creatures taken, now unknown closings of spots, and just a few seconds ago, a massive radio station that was there for Arceus knows how long.

"Is that part of the brochure?" Kevin asked suspiciously.

Mest's eyes narrowed. He felt disturbed on so many levels.

* * *

"Phew! Man, that was a workout!" Joey sighed as sweat poured down his face. He found liberty to plop his butt on a stool at the nearest hut. He was dancing the hula for so long and so many people were dancing alongside him that it became a dance party. In fact, off along the beach, there were still many people still dancing to instrumental music that people brought with them in replacement of Dereece's boombox. The mentioned sat beside Joey and slumped over, sighing in relaxation.

"Well I'm glad _one_ of us had fun." Dereece groaned.

"Oh! Oh!" Chespin raised his hand.

"Okay, _two_."

"Oh don't be such a whiny-puss, Dereece. There you go." He handed a fellow girl an autograph of himself. And surprisingly, on the frame he drew on, he wrote in such fine cursive. "Besides, you always said that you wanted to go to the tropics, right?"

Dereece did in fact remember that, maybe a few times. He was actually surprised Joey remembered that. "W-well, yeah. I think I did…but it was mostly your idea."

"Meh, just the hula part. I mean look around ya! It's a party man! Am I right, peeps?!" He raised his frozen lemonade in a plastic cup high, and everyone around him cheered and danced to the funky hula music

Dereece sighed again. He was too exhausted.

"Besides…" Joey sat down beside him again. "All things considered, I think getting enough people in one spot would better help spread the goodies to us, eh?" he winked.

"That's…" Dereece trailed of, shock beginning to overwhelm him. "…actually not a bad idea."

"Uh-huh. So, while _I_ get to the exercise and talking to the ladies, that's where _you_ sneak about and listen like a creep. Right, Chespin?" Joey looked towards Chespin, who nodded at Joey's statement.

"Yeah, Dereece! Sneaky~. Like sneakers!"

He sweat-dropped. "I don't think you know how that works, man." Regardless, he eventually found his footing and stood with Joey. "Okay, well we better find _something_ within this crowd."

The crowd was pretty loud and boisterous, especially with the instrumental music that Joey had inspired. Of course within this crowd of cheers, that also brought along attention from soldiers patrolling the area. A few were coming their direction, and thankfully, the people gathered were turning to see them coming.

"Huh?"

"Dude, what is it?" a surfer asked. He turned to see the few soldiers heading their way.

"Oh man, it's the fuzz!"

"Crap!" A guy tapped the shoulder of the guy in front of him. "Dude, pass this on!"

The crowd from behind began to coordinate and the message was being told towards the guys in front of them. As it went on, the knights drew closer. The party began to scatter like cockroaches just as they got to where the first guy was.

The message finally made it to the last guy, who turned towards Joey with an anxious stare.

"What up?" Joey asked.

"Hurry, put that guy away. The fuzz is coming." He warned, pointing to Chespin.

Chespin looked confused. "Me?"

"Yeah, hurry." Another girl answered. "They'll take it away."

Joey wanted to say something or question, but when he looked over their heads to find some of the people in the back stepping off to the side. He could hear budging and feel the air shift. In a hurry, he turned towards Chespin and scrambled for his Poke Ball.

"Uh, r-return!" Joey recalled Chespin back into the Poke Ball, where it was put away and he evasively jumped over the bar. Dereece wasn't as lucky.

The dark-skinned man looked up to see that knights were looking around, giving suspicious looks to everything and everyone. They could all see anxiety plastered on their faces, and it was obvious that the atmosphere they once had was gone.

"Alright, what's with all the noise?" one soldier asked.

Many of people looked at each other and confusedly talked to one another.

"Well if there's nothing here, then scram!" another soldier threatened. "No private parties permitted without permission!"

Begrudgingly, the party was cut to a close. They all groaned and whined as their fun on the prison island was short-lived. Many of them fanned out, and many more hung around to talk in groups and get to know each other. Sure, maybe the party was a little distracting, but something about Joey starting it had many people taking light conversations with another. In fact, this was the first big talk many had that they seemed to be enjoying.

As many cleared away, the soldiers took their leave. With them gone, Dereece leaned towards the hut behind. "Pssst. You're cool."

Joey slowly peeked over the counter, seeing what could have been soldiers slowly walking away. Once out of sight, he rose to his feet with a short breath. "Phew! Okay, now _that_ was a close one."

"Tell me about it." Dereece said.

The last guy to pass the message nodded. "You're welcome."

"But…why?" Dereece questioned.

The guy smiled. "Because…" he pointed at Joey. "That guy right there, he's awesome!"

A girl swept from the side into his left arm and held him tight. "Yeah, he really knows how to bring the party! Hats off to ya, big guy!" she winked, holding a sake bottle in the one hand.

Joey was a little uneased with how the people were smiling and happy about all this, but at the same time, he felt a little grateful. It's good to know party animals don't rat each other out like that. All he could do now was sheepishly smile in return.

"So…why would they need Joey's Pokémon again?" Dereece asked.

The girl smacked her lips and waved him off. "Oh, it's not just you. It's every Pokémon here, babydoll. Nothing personal."

" _Every_ Pokémon?" Joey and Dereece gasped in unison. "Why?"

The man looked left and right, and he eventually waved Joey to get closer. Joey, wondrous of what it was, aimed his ear at him and let man speak into his ear.

"You didn't hear this from me, but I heard these rumors that they're taking these creatures and taking them to the western continent."

Joey's eyes glanced towards Dereece, who returned the glance and looked back at the two.

"I heard the reason they're doing this is so that they can get another war started."

"O-ouch…" Dereece knew all along that this was true. His guild realized it way before they did. But he thought playing dumb was the best course of actions.

Joey, however, looked at the two with a furrowed brow. "Really…? How do they do that?"

"You have a death wish or something?" the girl asked.

Joey shrugged. "Probably. So what's all this about?"

The guy and the girl this time looked at each other with worry before they looked back at them. They figured why not, but they had no idea that what they were spilling was gold for the operation.

* * *

Joey ran through the plaza of huts with Dereece on his tail. Both were scrambling to find something – or rather someone – that they needed to find. They heard everything the duo said back on the beach. They just had to find everyone and talk about what it was they were told.

"Where are they?" Dereece labored. "Where?!"

"Keep your grass skirt on! I'm looking!" Joey turned left and right, trying to find anyone. Sure enough, he saw Mest. "Hey, guy!"

Mest heard someone call from the distance and turned towards Joey. Coincidentally, Duncan and Kevin were by him as they caught up. "Huh? You two?"

Joey and Dereece labored in breathing, trying their hardest to catch their breaths.

"Geez, you look like a horde of Vigoroth tried to run you over." Kevin noted. "What happened?"

Joey caught his breath first. "Okay. Okay…first…Duncan." He pointed at the Trainer. "You're a lazy party pooper." As expected, Duncan had a blank space. "And second, gather up everybody that came. We got something very important!"

* * *

It all happened in a matter of minutes. Using Aniya as a messenger with her technology, she relayed a message from Orion to everyone on the island as the scouts to gather underneath one giant hut where many were ordering food. It was reasonable cover, and soldiers wouldn't think too highly of checking food joints, at least to Joey's standards. Once they were all situated, Joey told them everything that he was told by the party guy and the girl. Dereece helped in some parts, but the overall reaction everyone had was of shock.

The first to react was Mest with a gasp. "And you're absolutely certain about this?" Even his tine had anxiety in it.

Joey nodded. "Well we wouldn't be gathered here otherwise." He took a bite of a corn dog without flinching for it. "Okay, maybe also for this because it's good, but I'm sure it's true." He muffled.

Kevin's brochure he purchased earlier was laid out over the tabletop. "So you're telling us that the Alvarez kingdom has flying ships that transport the Pokémon and items from the ships that they sent out?" Broly inquired.

Orion put a hand to his chin. "That would make Caracole Island the rendezvous trading point if that were the case."

"That would explain the number of soldiers we've been seeing as well." Meredy added.

"Yeah, and why they've been unlawfully taking Pokémon, too." Matilda sneered. "Both ever-loving bastards…" Beneath the table, her fists began to shudder.

"Well if that's the case, then where are these flying ships?" Kevin asked. "Sounds like something out of a movie if you ask me."

"They exist." Mest assured. "Sorry guys, where is this located he said?"

Dereece looked down at the map with inquiry, but the sound of crunching came from the side. His ear twitched again, and as Joey ate his corn dog with a placid face, he gritted his teeth and took the corn dog. "This is not the time for that man! C'mon!"

Joey whined sheepishly, much like a dog.

Dereece refocused and pointed at the general northeast beach area. "Somewhere around here, he said that's where the ships dock. There's a line of palm trees that cuts on that part of the island to give cover."

"The northeastern beach." Mest's eyes narrowed. "I see. Now it all makes sense. I was beginning to wonder why that part of the island was closed off to the public. Looks like Emperor Neinhart's been doing a little more than just rerouting."

"Okay, so what do we do from here? I mean you know what _I_ would be doing right now." Matilda snickered.

"We need to think this through." Orion retorted. "Regardless of what others think, I think that the best course of action is to find a faster route to Alvarez and stop them at the heart. That's the assignment."

"If you're implying what I think you're saying, then it sounds pretty risky." Duncan bluntly said.

"Yeah, sounds crazy." Joey said. He then leaned in towards Dereece. "What is he saying again?"

"I'm saying, Joey, that because of this information, we should try and steal an airship." Orion answered.

"And I have t hand it to the man. I think this just might work in our favor." Broly smirked.

Mest put his hand to his chin. "Stealing a ship is one thing, but planning it out is another…" his brow furrowed as he thought deeper into his prospects. _'If we use the ship we have right now, then we'll still be vulnerable on our way to the empire. If we use an airship, we'll have an aerial advantage to get over the land. But, this is going to take some more time for us, and they're expecting us to transfer-!'_ That's when the inspiration took in. _'Wait…maybe that can work!'_ He looked back at everyone and gave them a serious look. "Listen, everyone. I think we can still take the airship, but I'm going to need everyone else on this first."

"Understood." Orion reached to his ear, where the lacrima where Aniya's chip was placed turned on. _'_ _ **Aniya.**_ _'_

' _ **Yeah, yeah. I heard. Give me a sec…**_ _'_ A few grunts came from the other line. A few seconds went by, and some static went inside everyone's heads that quickly simmered down. _'_ _ **Okay, you're on.**_ _'_

' _ **Everyone, can you hear me?**_ _'_ Mest asked through the telepathic link. _'_ _ **What's going on?**_ _'_

' _ **Mest? Are you there?**_ _'_ On the one end, Erza spoke.

' _ **What is it?**_ _'_ Griffon asked. _'_ _ **Must be dire if you need Aniya for this message.**_ _'_

' _ **It wouldn't be otherwise.**_ _'_ Orion retorted. _'_ _ **Listen to all, we have some news that we have to include you on.**_ _'_

Orion and Mest explained everything that they learned in detail, and that goes for Meredy and Matilda's side of the story as well. They all remained quiet and waited until the end, and when they did get to the end, some seemed shocked.

' _ **You serious?! You wanna do what?!**_ _'_ Natsu roared. _'_ _ **No way!**_ _'_

' _ **Sorry pal, but that ain't flying for us Dragon Slayers!**_ _' Gajeel retorted._

' _ **I…I'm not too sure either…sorry.**_ _'_ Wendy nervously said.

Mest sighed at the Dragon Slayers and their reluctance. Of course they would be the ones to say no to a plan like this. _'_ _ **Look guys, I know it's not easy, but this may be our quickest shot to the capital. If we hitch along an airship still disguised, we'll be unnoticeable until we reach the empire's base.**_ _'_

' _ **And you're positive that this is a sound strategy?**_ _'_ Kagura inquired.

' _ **At this point, nothing can be so sound.**_ _'_ Mest argued. _'_ _ **So you guys in?**_ _'_

' _ **If it'll assist us, then yes. Count me in.**_ _'_ Pantherlily immediately stated.

Another voice popped up, this one being Carla. _'_ _ **I suppose so. But we better make it quick.**_ _'_

' _ **Aw yeah! Let's go rob us a ship!**_ _'_ Happy cheered.

Jellal's chuckling was heard. _'_ _ **Well it seems we don't have much of an argument now, is there?**_ _'_

' _ **I wouldn't think so.**_ _'_ Bellona mused. _'_ _ **So how far ahead exactly have you planned this?**_ _'_ she asked Mest.

' _ **I haven't worked out the minor details yet, but the overall picture should be simplistic. On the other island are a few possible airships. I'll use my Memory Manipulation to alter the memories of the two crews to make them think they are scheduled to transfer ships and crew members. We'll be transferring our supplies to the ship and dock from there. From then on, we'll do critical thinking.**_ _'_

' _ **Works for me.**_ _'_ Elfman agreed.

' _ **Understood. Thanks to all of you.**_ _'_ Erza praised. _'_ _ **The inspections have passed. It's safe for you to return to the ship now.**_ _'_

' _ **We'll be back, but by then, everyone should be ready.**_ _'_ Mest's final statement drew to a close. The connection by Aniya's equipment was cancelled and left everyone ready for the next course of their plan. Mest got up from his seat and looked at everyone apparent. "Alright, is everyone ready?"

Matilda stood up next. "Sure. This island's starting to bore anyway."

"Yeah, I'm ready." Meredy said.

Mest looked around to find everyone present and ready. With one more nod, he accepted their nods and looked ready. "Okay then, time to head back."

Everyone thus left the massive shack towards their ship, readying their objective.

* * *

Within the island's inner domain, past the palm trees, the unclear view of the station that Mest was seeing before was something that was rather discrete, but otherwise, but many would've seen inside would rattle their minds. In the tower's observatory top, many soldiers were working on holographic screens that broadcasted various parts of the island. One could've guessed they would be seeing every corner of the island.

"Sir, we're catching wild Pokémon roosting along the tree lines along the far crags." A soldier sitting in front of one screen said.

One soldier stood above the rest. He paced around and, much like the others, had the standard uniform, albeit he had a red cape to signifying his higher ranking. "They're just roosting. That part of the island is tough to get to."

"Sir." The soldier nodded and resumed observing.

"Sir!" another soldier exclaimed as he rushed from the side. He stood in front of the head general and saluted. "Sir, we have brought in 17 Pokémon from the visiting tourists."

The general nodded in understanding. "Very well. Add them to the inventory we are scheduling for transfer."

"Sir." The soldier hurried away, going to report what he was told to the others in the inventory.

The general looked around to see the many workers hard at their duties. He was giving a discerning eye to everyone he was observing, and they could feel it. Already, two soldiers were reprimanded for slacking off, and they rather not deal with a third slacker. That much interference would cost them too much of their pay checks. The general wasn't taking his job lightly either. Being promoted meant serious responsibility, and by no means was he going to fail the kingdom when he knows he may suffer death for failing to uphold their newest base.

"This newest load better please the empire." He muttered. "Maybe I'll be promoted sooner faster that way."

"Sir!"

The third call for him made his brows furrow beneath his visor. With a loud groan, he faced the incoming soldier. "What is it?" he asked angrily.

The soldier ran up and saluted. "Sir, we have sightings from the new post!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes, sir."

"Show me."

The guard took the general to the new station that was right at the bottom of a stairwell/ The stairs went down to a flat floor with a massive view of the island behind its glass frame. Standing in the center in front of the window happened to be a large, feline creature that had its head within a pair of binoculars, which were connected by wires to a lacrima screen above to show what was being seen through its point of view. The creature showing had primarily black fur with a spiky mane flowing backwards. It had three yellow rings on the paws and a long lack tail ending in a yellow star. Its gleaming eyes were glaring daggers ahead, and no one was allowed to disturb him except his superior.

The general walked down the stairs towards the Pokémon it had forced working. "Alright, what's this about an emergency?" he asked.

The soldier that asked him to come looked towards the feline. "Look back at the ship." He harshly ordered.

The feline's eyes adverted from the beachgoers to the recent docking of the Alvarez ship from Fiore's Hargeon port. Up on the screen, it showed the ship itself, but the metallic front was translucent through its eyes. The vision, in fact, went through the solid front and zoomed inside. Thanks to the binoculars, it could peer inside the whole ship to show many of the soldiers on that ship entering a single cabin, where they seemed to be talking. Some even had helmets on, and the faces seen were automatically scanned by the sensors attached to the binoculars. One showed Natsu's face, and immediately a dialogue and long screen, followed by Fairy Tail's symbol showed. The soldiers in the room all looked at their screens changing in coordination to the creature's priority setting. The general and the soldiers alike all had shock written on their faces as they were seeing the intruders through solid metal.

"So it's true." The soldier said. "This thing really _can_ spy through solids."

The general looked up at the screen, seeing mages of Fiore, from Crime Sorciere, and especially of Fairy Tail showing up on the screen. The look on his face didn't show…mostly because he had his visor on. _'Well, well.'_ He thought. _'Seems I'll be getting that promotion faster than I thought.'_

* * *

Further up the island, the sight of many large, fresh metallic ships was a site to behold. One could have mistaken it for a fleet. Another one came sailing in from nearby, where it had a slink, purple coat on it. It had a massive wooden deck and silver, anti-magic metal alloy for edging and an overall coat. At the base of the ship, there was the Alvarez insignia that rest upon it.

The ship's anti-gravity lacrima it had beneath lowered its power, and the fin, like wings on the sides folded inwards as it slowly lowered. A massive gust of sand went everywhere that the soldiers all covered up from, and as it settled, they looked back to see the new ship fully set.

The latch opened up, and slowly, the incline lowered. Waiting at the top of the incline, two guys were instantly the first thing everyone saw.

"S-sir Marin! Sir Vlar!" a soldier greeted. "Welcome! Your arrival is as expected.

Once again, the Spatial Mage, Marin, was on the island. He walked down the incline with a disgruntled expression. "Why did that old fart Pluto send me with you?" he huffed. "If he sent me some girl, then he would pass."

"Be calm. I'm just here because my leader Spriggan asked of me to keep an eye on you." The mage following behind revealed himself as Vlar, a high-ranking man beneath the command of Pluto, one of the new Spriggans. He had on a brown beret-like hat that flopped on his head, and his brown eyes matched his brown, glossy priest-like attire with white, almost gravel gray accents all over the shoulders, sleeves, and the front part of his attire. He looked to be the same age as Marin, though his disposition seemed more spiritual than his.

Marin shot him a threatening glare. "Just remind yourself who was in the rankings longer, got it?"

Vlar nodded in understanding. "I'll keep that in mind." He knew this was the way Marin was gonna be. He knew he was sexist, and he would've preferred being with a girl. But it wasn't in either's place to say.

Marin scoffed and looked ahead. "Let's just get this shipment over with."

From the distance, two more soldiers followed up to the ship to meet with Marin and Vlar with a salute.

"Sir, we've come with an urgent message from the base!" one soldier exclaimed.

Marin raised a brow. "Oh really?" he smirked. "Already? What's it they found…?"

Vlar's eyelids dropped as he observed carefully. His sandals remained still on the ground as he felt the grains of sand grind against the sole. Something told him something was wrong. He looked ahead, his brow furrowing in seriousness over the situation.

* * *

"Thank you." Mest thanked the soldier he brainwashed and closed the cabin door. He gave a grieving sigh and shook his head from the stress today was putting onto him. "What a day…" he muttered.

Erza chuckled. "You can certainly say that again."

"Agreed." He turned around to look at everyone back together. "Is everyone ready?

"Ready as we'll ever be." Sting answered. "Right, Lector."

Lector nodded. "Yup. Sure got a lot riding on this."

"Quite literally at that." Rogue implied.

"The transfer is being made right now. The arriving crew is expected to have transfer documents for this ship, and we'll be moving to the airship itself. However, due to priorities, the Pokémon will be transported first."

"So then we just gotta wait until they're all gone?" Happy asked.

"Well that seems simple enough." Kinana cheerfully said.

"Works for me." Erik said. "So I take it that they're moving them right now?"

"Yes. Shouldn't be to long now." A loud clang came from nearby, getting Mest's attention with shock. When he looked over, he saw that there was a fist-engraved indent on the side of the cabin. "Elfman!"

Everyone looked towards the brawny guy as he faced the wall with a shadow over his eyes. He gritted his teeth, his anger as solid as his biceps.

"Elfman?" Sophie asked.

"…I'm sorry." He apologized. "I kinda lost it there for a second."

Gray looked at the taller man with upmost sympathy. He was leaned against the wall in his armor – which he almost stripped out of at one time if not for Erza – and looked at Elfman. He could take a good guess why. "Let me guess. Lisanna?"

The man lowered his head in shame. "Yeah."

"She's been gone for a long time." Sophie remarked. "I'm starting to worry about her."

"Yeah, me too. Wonder where she's gone?" Wendy worried. "Hey, Vanessa? Can you track them?"

Vanessa remained relaxed, despite the lack of ease she was feeling with the situation at hand. "I've tried, but my magic isn't filtering as it should in here."

"And what exactly does that mean?" Lyon inquired.

"She means that the ship's metal is magic proof." Ultear interjected from behind. "Believe me, I wouldn't have thought so myself if I hadn't tried. It's hard getting through the material when the cabins themselves have sealed doors of magic in them."

"Well isn't that handy." Gray sarcastically rolled his eyes. "Well, guess we gotta get this done without them then."

Everyone looked reluctant without knowing where Nic and Lisanna were, but the former is always hard to keep track of to begin with. Even Jellal's own hiding capabilities wouldn't be enough to match Nic's. He's quiet, not to mention stealthy. For all they know, he may be of doing his own thing, but as for Lisanna, that was tough to determine.

However, no one was more stressed about this than Erza.

The redhead was off to the side with her visor on, just like everybody else. She was spacing out as she leaned against the wall right beside the circular window that opened like a latch. She had eyes narrowed beneath the visor and seething intense thoughts flowed through her mind. _'Nic wouldn't be doing something like this without me knowing, right? And in a war of all times.'_ Her mind was racing at underdeveloped speeds she couldn't keep up with. _'If Nic were missing around this time when we need him most, would it really make a difference? No, I'm overthinking it aren't I? Of course he wouldn't make me worry. I'm his wife after all. Yeah! I shouldn't really fret over my husband's actions…no matter how infuriating it can be with him having me on my toes and…'_ As she was lost in the corner about her worrying and fretting over Nic, the others gave her a suspicious look. She looked like she was gonna combust the wall.

"Uh…is she okay?" Lucy sweat-dropped.

"Trust me, I believe we've asked that to ourselves almost every day." Carla sighed.

Orion offered no expunges nor aforementioned affinities to Erza. His attention, instead, went down to the shore through the window that had the soldiers transferring the Pokémon.

"C'mon! This way!" a soldier waved over.

"Yeah, yeah. We know the drill." Another retorted. "Remember, don't let them out of your sight!"

"Got it!"

Magic seals floated across the ground slowly in a straight line through a certain direction through the shore. It went off towards the palm trees that had a short clear path towards it that lead to the airships that had one docked and open for departure. The many Pokémon being transported didn't look happy at all. Some even looked annoyed, but even though some could try to fight back, just one look at the armored men was a dead giveaway that they had no power to push them back.

A pair of soldiers were pushing the next cage onto the belt of magic circles, but this one was a lot heavier than the others. "Geez! Just where…did we find…something like this?!" one strained.

"I…don't know! But it's a big one!" The other pushed again. "This guy's…really packing some weight! Gnnngh!"

With one more push, the two soldiers shoved the cage onto the belt with everything they had. The whole thing started moving as the huge cage containing a big purple scorpion went sailing along with the other Pokémon.

The one soldier dusted his hands by brushing them together. "Alright, that was a challenge. Now then…up comes the next!" He held the cage containing a Froakie all by itself on the belt. "There."

The Froakie had blank eyes as it followed the massive scorpion's cage. As the two cages went on, drifting away towards the new ship, the scorpion looked back, and yet the Froakie was completely solid like stone. It turned back and faced forward.

"Is that the last of them?" Sting asked.

Minerva peered down the window, using her own judgement to solve the question. "It appears to be."

"Then it's our turn next." Kagura declared. "Everyone, ready for departure!"

"Right!"

Everyone grabbed their things and readied to leave the cabin one final time. As Sorano was next to leave, the last person was Gray. He turned to close, but from the corner of his eye, he looked back and saw Erza gleaming out the window. "Erza?"

The redhead in disguise was ready to go, but when she looked out the cabin doors, she couldn't help but feel something off; something that drew her away from the mission. When she looked at the Drapion, she felt something was off. _'That Drapion…I didn't think that was in the inventory. Unless we miscounted. And that Froakie, something that rare isn't found so easily. How did they…!'_

She suddenly gasped. It came to her then. How could she have not seen it before? She knew Nic better than anyone, and that's when her attention went towards the shipment down below. _'Nic, don't tell me. You and Lisanna, you…'_

"Erza."

"Sorry, I'll be there." Gray's shout drew Erza from her epiphany. She took one more look out before she drew towards the cabin door and closed it.

* * *

"Alright, that should be the last of them." The guard said.

"Yeah, still a pain though." Another guard exasperated as he rubbed his head. "We gotta transfer here now."

Another guard sighed. "Yeah, this bites." He straightened up. "But orders are orders. Let's ready!"

They all straightened up and scooted out of the way. They allowed the cargo load to be fully open and have the others file out. Slowly, one by one, they all filed out of the ship and onto sand for the first time in forever.

' _It feels like relief being on land again.'_ Rogue thought. Being on ship was a pain, but as for land, he would savor every bit of it until the next appearance of hell.

' _So far so good.'_ Yukino filed behind.

"Everyone keep quiet. We're following the Pokémon ahead." Mest reminded in a harsh whisper. Along with the request submitted for a transfer, he also managed to coax for extra armors for cover. The alliance members were all being transferred away from the ship, and the closer they got to the airship and palm trees, the closer they were to a ticket to hovering over the kingdom.

As they all followed the last of the yellow magic seals, the soldiers on the sides remained stationary and watched them leave. The looks they gave was making Natsu feel on the verge of throwing a jab or two, but he knew better after so many experiences, and from last time.

"Natsu." Lucy whispered.

The Dragon Slayer begrudgingly nodded. "I know. Man this sucks."

"Just hold on a little longer." Mest said. "We'll be there soo…" He started to trail off when the path to the airship was blocked off by more soldiers who came from all around. They stood behind another soldier who had a red cape on, and they acted as a blockade for the group.

Time slowed down for Mest and the others as they looked at the man with the red cape. For some reason, the look he was giving beneath his visor didn't seem all that pleasing.

"Excuse my intrusion, but may I ask what this is all about?" the general asked.

Mest played along, giving an involuntary salute. "Er, sir! We'll scheduled for a transfer of crews. We're doing so as we speak."

The general looked around, seeing the soldiers all following and looking at him for what to do. He looked at the other aisle and saw them clueless as well. He looked at Mest and gave him a serious look, like someone who committed a crime. Because he did.

"I see." He said. "Then you wouldn't mind showing me the transfer documents right now?"

Mest was caught by surprise yet again. _'What? Transfer documents?'_

"Every crew member requested for a change of position or crew must have a warrant on them two weeks in advance. It's protocol, and no exceptions."

"Oh, uh, right. Sorry. We'll…get those as soon as possible." Mest looked back at Orion and Jellal behind him. They both showed serious glares that meant something was up.

The general took a step forward, getting in Mest's face. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear." He threateningly said. "I said now, that's an order."

Natsu's fists were balling tight. He was glaring through his visor so hard that he looked like he was going to melt through it.

"Natsu." Lucy hushed.

Mest didn't have anything to show for it. He glared back at the man to try and show his own strength, but his demeanor was much more ambitious. "Now." He reiterated. He shifted his cape, allowing for the group to give view to a four-legged feline creature and prowled behind. The creature growled at the group and gave them a threatening glare.

A majority of the group seemed surprised; others were more unnerved, but through it all, Duncan peered through his visor with narrowed eyes. _'Wait, that Pokémon. Is it a…?'_

Vanessa's own glare hardened. _'This is bad.'_

' _Aw snap. You've gotta be kidding me.'_ Joey worried. _'We screwed already?'_

Many of the others could see the worry on the other's face. As they looked about, they could see and feel some dread climbing as the soldiers were starting to shaky prospects about attacking. They could hear it in the general's tone he was just taunting them to try and prove themselves wrong.

Mest looked back at everyone one more time, seeing the situation dragged out too long. There had to be something done. He looked back, staying silent before speaking.

"…I'm sorry. We don't have it."

The general gave him a disappointed look. "Then I'm afraid we can't let you pass." He gestured to the knights around him, who readied their weapons. The creature beside him snarled as it crouched a little lower to the ground, s if ready to attack.

The glares the crew gave was as justified as they could get. They all readied, glaring at each other for preparation.

The general approached. "I'm afraid you'll all going to have to come with-!"

"NOW!" Mest roared.

BAM!

Almost everything in the area erupted by an eruption of dark matter, resonating from Jellal and Orion alike. The two hemispheres combined into one that blew away almost all the soldiers, while others fumbled away. The eruption could've been seen from far inland, where many tourists turned and looked shocked at the sight.

As dark waves ran like fire everywhere, the general used his red cape that blocked the magic. He peered back at the source of the darkness as everything shook around him. _'I was right. It is them…'_ As he looked deeper, he saw silhouettes of different shapes.

As the dark waves diminished, a pair of knuckles cracked. "About time we get our shot."

Another wave ceased, revealing a naked chest with a Fairy Tail mark. "Yeah, started to sweat in that rusty thing."

A gauntlet was in someone's hand as a fraction of it was missing. "Can't believe I was actually wearing my lunch. This stuff tastes stale."

The soldiers getting up looked ahead as the darkness ceased. Many recoiled at the site.

"W-whoa! Where did they come from?!"

"I don't know…but it looks like they tried to trick us!"

"Wait, is that…" A solider saw a red Fairy Tail mark, belonging to Natsu as he smirked in front of everyone else behind him. "It is! It's the Fairy Tail guild!"

Another recoiled. "Wait, the guild that…?!"

Natsu smirked at them all. "So you guys ready for some more?" The residual dark waves were swept up by flames that enveloped his body. Without warning, he lunged at the soldiers. "Because this is for Fiore!" He unleashed a flame-coated punch that had fire exploding everywhere. All around, guys were swept up in flames that had them shrieking in agony.

Gray leaped back with Juvia to gain some distance. "Well, looks like no getting out of it now." He said. "Juvia."

Juvia nodded. "Right. I'm right here."

Gray smirked. "Alright then." He had hands clasped together and generated bright mist. "Let's do some damage to these punks!" He reached out, sending a wave of ice that enveloped wailing soldiers.

"Right!" Juvia immediately faced a soldier and raised her arms up from arches, sending two spirals of water that sent him away.

Kagura approached Erza's side. "Looks like we're going to have to force our way through."

Erza requipped a sword, poising to strike. "So it would seem."

Orion held up his fist as wavy darkness shrouded it. "You've all made a grave mistake to have stopped us from committing ourselves to peace. May your souls rest in the netherworld with the devil's one eye on you."

The general paid no heed to the commentary and clutched his fists. "So what the Pokémon saw…it was mages of the enemies. I should've know…but now…" He reached out towards them. "It's time for Alvarez to enact our new cause! All soldiers and Pokémon…ATTACK!"

The soldiers all pulled out Poke Balls and brought their arms back. "GO!" They all threw them, sending out a large variety of Pokémon that appeared in white flashes. Each one had many characteristics, ranging from Foongus, to Roselia, to a few Sandile, to Corphish, Surskit, even several Zubat.

Erza aimed her sword forward as she pulled out a Dive Ball. "Everyone, don't hold back! Make for the airship at all costs!"

"Yeah!" They all shouted.

Soldiers took a head charge with magical spears. They yelled out as they went for the alliance with all their might.

"Oh, so they wanna play huh?" Sawyer crouched and took a running start. "Well then try and keep up!" His suit had a slight glow to it as his magic activated. He bolted in a straight line so fast that shockwaves sent men flying behind him. "Too slow!"

Sting flipped and did an upside-down spinning kick infused with light. The approaching guys were weary to advance, and that's when Rogue dropped in between them.

" **Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!** "

With one swing of each of his arms, a cyclone of shadows stormed the area in front of Rogue, sending many of soldiers flying. As the turbulence provided cover, the nearby soldiers not hit by the shadows were finding their footing off. They all looked down, shocked as they were seen sinking.

"H-hey! What?!" one soldier shrieked.

"Why are we sinking?! I s this quicksand?!" another panicked.

Richard held up a peace sign. "Oh yeah!"

"Nice work, Richard!" Sorano reached ahead. "Now it's my turn!" She used her magic and summoned white angel-like creatures that went swarming at the guys. They all screamed as the wave of white entities enveloped them, running into them like mad bulls.

In another part of the area as the combat went on, Kinana was looking around wearily. She was observing the battle carefully. When she turned around, she saw three men jumping with their spears and highly calibrated swords in hand.

Before they made contact, however, a wave of black and red venom swept them away. As the venomous blast dissipated, it reveled Erik with his arm reaching out beside him. "Hey, fellas."

"Erik!" Kinana gasped.

The Poison Dragon Slayer smirked at the competition. "You know it ain't nice to harass a lady. Especially when she's not yours." He raised his arm and drove it into the ground, creating another shockwave of poison that spouted beneath the soldiers' feet.

Catching a whiff of Erik's statement from several meters away, Lyon teasingly smirked. "The sentiments can be assured there." He turned and saw that in the nearby field of battle, Meredy was sending energy swords flying at many soldiers. The impacts sent them flying back, and while she was focused on them, many more got her back.

"Huh?" Feeling something off, she turned around and saw soldiers closing in. Like what happened with Kinana, they pounced for her with weapons in hand.

FWOOSH!

Before their feet could touch the ground, a massive cold wave brushed through them. Meredy covered up as the mist and fog brushed past her, which made frost cover her cloak. When she opened her eyes again, she blinked once before looking back to see the many guys frozen in place like icicles in a glacier.

"How did…?"

"Sorry if that caught you off guard." The voice from the side was Lyon, much to her surprise. "I trust that you're doing well?" he smiled.

Meredy smiled back happily. "I am, thanks to you."

A shock ran through Lyon as his heartbeat pulsated. He could feel his whole world stopping as his cheeks flushed red at Meredy's appreciation, which in his terms meant something entirely different. _'She…she just…'_ The atmosphere in his mind became fluffy and pink, almost borderline rosy. _'She and I were meant to be…'_

Meredy, clueless as to his staring, looked unsound. "Hey, you okay?"

Vanessa crossed her arms and kept her wrists loose as her power built up. " **Nugatory Burst!** " Around her, voluminous pillars of teal light shot up, enveloping the soldiers that were heading for her. As they diminished, the soldiers laid at her feet. "Is there an opening we can take from here?" she asked as she turned to Ultear.

"I'm afraid not. We're surrounded for the time being." She answered.

An iron fist clanged against a visor, denting it in and sending the guy to the sand beneath. "Then why don't you all quit stalling and get to making one?!" Gajeel uppercut another soldier's face. Then morphed his arm into an **Iron Dragon's Sword**. Where he turned around and slashed on a long arch that cut clean through the numbers.

Natsu shot a guy back with his **Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow** , sending him packing away and wiped his mouth. "My thoughts exactly!" He turned around to unleash an eruption of fire beneath five men charging for him.

Erza created a bright flash, one that got attention. " **Requip!** " The glow soon faded to reveal her adorning her Heaven's Wheel Armor, which an abundance of other swords behind her. Facing soldiers that were in her path, she leaned forward and went speeding at them all.

" **Blumenblatt!** "

She slashed through them all, and to follow her wake, the many swords followed through and pierced so many. She remained vigilant as her swords kept going, unwavering from the cause at hand.

A soldier backed up a few paces out of shock. "W-whoa, these guys are packing some power!" He wasn't safe either as Pantherlily in his Battle Mode slashed at him, creating a shock through the sand that fell him.

Another soldier nearby was left uneased about all this. When he looked forward, he saw that Lucy and Wendy and Carla were present, as well as Klefki and Wendy's Swablu.

"Wendy."

The blunette nodded at the blonde's words. "Yeah, let's do it."

Klefki and Swablu came forward, readying themselves as the soldier before them carried a crossbow.

Lucy was the first to enact. "Now, Klefki! Use **Metal Sound!** " Her personal key ring floated a little higher and had the key-like top shimmer a metallic filament. In the next instance, Klefki unleashed a loud shriek that expanded metallic soundwaves across the area towards the soldier. The waves passed him, making his ears shriek to where they were borderline breathing.

The soldier covered his ears in aching agony, which to Carla, was the opportunity she saw. "Now, Wendy!"

Wendy nodded in understand and readied her offense next. "Alright then. Swablu, use **Disarming Voice!** " Her Swablu opened her mouth and expelled a loud hum, one which sent expanding pink hearts that enveloped the area and soldiers before her. They all were caught by surprise and covered their ears from the loud attack, but had did little as some fell over from the force the attack had,

"Now…" Wendy took in a deep breath, gathering up as much wind as possible. " **Sky Dragon's Roar!** " With all her might, her adolescent lungs shrieked out, unleashing a raging cyclone of whirlwinds that was a vortex of mayhem for the soldiers that were caught within Swablu's attack. They all were sent flying, screaming away in pain and agony.

As the men were slammed against the ground, Lucy smiled. "That was good work, Klefki."

Klefki floated to her side with glee. "Aw, thanks." She chuckled. "So…can I have their keys?"

Lucy shot her a look. Klefki dumbly smiled. "Oh geez."

The general saw the mages fighting back, but he seemed far from swayed from his course. "Hmph! So, these mages have the capabilities of handling their own Pokémon. Very well then." He reached out, giving a swift and prompt command. "Luxray and the others, destroy them as I command!"

"Yes, master!" The feline, now revealed to be a Luxray, stepped up and looked at ongoing fight. The Pokémon gave a loud roar to the battlefield, and that's when the other Pokémon in the surrounding area stepped up and surrounded everyone.

The large group turned and saw that they were surrounded by small Pokémon, and some being basic. They all were giving harsh glares towards them, but even those were less than challenging.

"Looks like the fun's starting to show itself around here." Gray joked. "Should we deliver in kind?"

Juvia nodded to him again. "Yes." She pulled out her own Poke Ball.

Gray was about to pull out his Poke Ball containing Snover, but he drifted off in his epiphany. _'Wait.'_ He gasped. _'Snover's Snow Warning could hamper the others. Crap, and on top of that…'_ As he was lost in his thoughts, he was open to a sword by another guy.

Juvia looked back, seeing the action. "Gray, look out!"

"Huh?!" Gray looked towards his right, seeing a spare soldier coming down with a blade.

When he slashed, it was short-lived when a blitzing blast of dark energy picked him up and bolted him across the battlefield. Many of other guys that were in the distance were shocked when the black blast with the one guy enveloped them, and in turn everything went white before a dark rupture happened in the distance.

Gray and Juvia looked shocked for a moment, but then they saw a shadow move in front of them, revealing Orion on a knee and ready to fight. "It's you!" Gray yelled.

"You saved him?" Juvia gasped.

Orion stood up and stayed assertive towards his front. "Don't drop your guard, even for a second." When a soldier came at him, he enveloped it in darkness once more, but this darkness had thick dark waves around its negative colors.

" **Dark Devil's Rampart Wave!** "

The fist unleashed a point-blank eruption darkness that enveloped the soldier heading his way. The wave went so far out that it traveled across the sand until it reached the seawater far out. The trail was voluminous as it eroded out to the open. Orion's fist held in as steam eroded from it. Even after the attack was launched, he faced a few soldiers off to the side and glared, startling them. "Make sure you watch your back." He said.

Gray was still surprised by the action Orion showed. Still, he couldn't afford to shirk like he was now. "Got it." He looked towards Juvia. "Sorry, Juvia. Snover's ability won't do any good. Can I leave it up to you?"

Juvia nodded in understanding. "Don't worry." She faced the open and threw her Poke Ball. "Now then, Eevee…go!"

The Poke Ball went out before her, and popped open and summoned to battle, Juvia's Eevee came to assist. "Okay! Let's play!" she exclaimed.

Nearby, what looked like a Corphish caught whim of Eevee's battle cry. The crustaceous creature turned and crawled up towards Eevee's front, snipping its pincers in challenge.

"This one looks tough." Eevee worried.

* * *

Erza swiped her arm to the side. "Cloyster, **Hydro Pump!** " In front of her, her Cloyster had his shell open and unleashed a voluminous torrent of pressurized water that barreled clean through ten soldiers that went right for it. A massive mist cloud erupted that expelled everywhere.

With the mist as cover, a harsh swing of something silver went glistening through. A soldier in the area was caught surprised when something tight went around his arm. "W-what the-?!" He saw his arm get tugged, showing that string were connected to it.

Behind Erza, Griffon faced away as he yanked the air with his Wire Magic. The sounds of blood splattering and screams of pain were clearly heard, even with little visibility. He faced away nonchalantly as he stood back up and remained clam, despite what he had done.

"We cool?" he asked.

Erza glanced back and gave no verbal reply. Instead, she darted ahead and requipped into her Flight Armor. She sped into battle, where her cries were heard as she leaped into the morbid fray.

Griffon looked back at her and grinned. "I'm gonna take that as a yes." He looked back to see an opposing soldier swing an axe. He crossed his arms and pulled up another hatched wire barrier, which blocked the axe successfully. As the guy recoiled the wires bent and constricted the guy like a puppet.

"H-hey! What the-?!"

Griffon smirked as he applied the last wire through the wrist. "Now we're getting somewhere." He lashed them forward, sending the guy forward in conjunction with his string. " **Marionette!** " As soldiers came to attack, Griffon swiped his arms to move the soldier he caught in front. They all slashed at him instead, which his axe blocked.

"I'm not one to make use of humans as play things…but seeing as how you use these creatures out of torture sickens me!" Griffon glared. "Let's see how you like being made what you don't want to do!"

* * *

Guns were blazing up a storm as guys were mowed down all around Aniya. She was blasting left and right with her visors on and mowing down with a high-powered machine gun that bolted magical bullets that fell so many in a few second.

Overhead, a shriek was heard that got her attention. When she looked up, she saw that it came from another Pokémon trained by the empire. It appeared to be a horde of Zubat, roughly enough that alarmed her.

When one Zubat opened its mouth to attack with **Bite** , when it closed in, Aniya requipped her machine gun to a smaller pistol that shot lightning, like the very same that she used on Erza. The machine gun unleashed a clean bolt of lightning that electrocuted the Zubat, making it twitch in the air before falling towards the ground.

"Hmph, annoying bat." She exasperated.

The many Zubat surrounded her, flapping their wings and closing in. The guns girl looked around annoyed and hurried another requip, but she found one closing in faster than the rest.

" **Confusion!** "

A call made Aniya gasp. She saw all the Zubat enveloped in a purple outline that kept them immobile. For reasons unknown, she was seeing them all fly away by an unknown force that forced them away.

She looked back in shock, her surprise evident when she saw that it was by Mest, who had his Ralts out…who, by means unknown, was banging his head against the sand, repeatedly. "You!"

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Aniya gave Mest a scornful pout. She faced her head away and huffed. "Hmph. Just fine, thank you very much."

Mest nodded. "Alright then. Ralts…" he looked down, seeing Ralts continue banging his head against the sand. "Ralts." When he was called this time, he stopped. "Come on, let's go."

Aniya watched Mest go to work with his Pokémon. As her eyes were focused on the mage and his Pokémon working together, she could feel some bit of her lift…but that was just a small bit. "Hmph." She requipped again to another machine gun and pointed it ahead. "Alright, so who's next?!"

* * *

A Herdier gave a loud, aggravated ruff as it looked at Aron and Gajeel. Aron angrily spread his feet apart and readied for battle.

"Alright buddy, let's see what you can do." Gajeel challenged. "Go, Aron!"

"Right!" Aron held his ground, waiting for Herdrier to come to him.

The dog-like Pokémon gave another loud bark as its body was enveloped in a bright golden forcefield of energy. The energy charged up as its speed was slow, but it looked to be gaining momentum that couldn't be taken lightly. As it closed in, Aon remained firm.

' _Still haven't got much on types, so I gotta last as long as we can!'_ Gajeel raised a fist. "Aron, use **Harden!** "

Aron held his footing as Herdier closed in. His head lowered and the dog bashed his head against his own, creating an airwave that picked up sand and dissipated it around them. Through the collision, Aron's weight as well as his disposition, didn't allow him to falter against Herdier so easily. Herdier pushed harder than before, but that only made Aron slide back an inch.

"Gnnngh…" Aron tried to hang on the best he could. "I've got…more than enough juice…to take…THIS!" His large blue eyes widened as his feet spread beneath him. The front two feet instead shimmered than what Harden did. They instead grew metallic, something that caught Gajeel's attention.

"What the…?"

Aron lifted his head to break the stalemate with the slightly higher leveled Herdier. The Steel/Rock-type used the upward momentum to get on two feet for a short bit before the one claw came around and slashed. "HRAH! **METAL CLAW!** "

"Huh?!" The Herdier was caught completely off guard when a stubby but hard claw raked against his face. The force of the attack sent him flying back, howling in pain as Aron returned to all fours.

Gajeel looked ahead with shock at what Aron did. "Wait, that wasn't what I asked for." He realized. He knew from experience that Aron had Headbutt, Harden, Mud-Slap, and Rock Tomb. In no way did he recognize that move before. Could it have been a new move that he just now learned.

Aron raised his head with pride. "How did you like them berries?"

The Herdier staggered back up and shook his head. He looked back at Aron and gave an angered growl.

Getting over his initial shock, Gajeel smirked. "Oh well. Guess I better roll with the punches then." He punched forward again. "Alright then, use that **Metal Claw** again!"

Aron's front paws glowed and shimmered metallic once more. He made a charge for Herdier, who in turn wagged his tail and went pouncing at Aron in the middle.

* * *

Matilda flipped in midair and stamped her foot against a soldier's chest. She landed with her back towards Sophie's.

"How's it looking over there?" the Take-Over mage smirked.

Sophie's expression wasn't as laid back. "As well as can be." She swiped her arm, giving a command. "Abra, **Psyshock!** "

Her Abra floated in place as psychic energy created purple energy in the center of his body. The energy pulsated into and orb that he focused forward and unleashed several beams that dispersed and fired at a Roselia. The beams converged onto the startled creature, enveloping it in a bright purple explosion. When it dissipated, the smoke and sand dispersed to show it having swirling eyes, meaning it fainted.

"Hey, that wasn't half-bad." Matilda praised.

"Thank you." Sophie smirked. "But there's still more to come."

Matilda rammed her fist into her palm, the sound reminiscent of bone-breaking was music to her ears. "Yeah, that's right. Just keep 'em coming."

* * *

"Manly attack!"

"Manly!"

Elfman punched his way clean through one guy, while Machop used **Karate Chop** and fell a Patrat. The two were fighting side-by-side, and they were mowing down competition the best they could.

Elfman looked back, seeing Kevin standing off to the side. "How're you doing over there?" he called out.

A little weary, Kevin seemed rather sufficient. "Uh, d-doing just fine! Thank you very much!" It was a bold-faced lie. He was far from fine. In fact, he was in the middle of a battlefield, with a big guy throwing guards around like crazy. And he wasn't doing better than anyone else in the area.

His magic wasn't like Hibiki's. He didn't have any offenses or anything like that. It wasn't meant for beating up people, it was for information. And for his perverted mind, this was a death trap. _'Oohh, this is SO not what I had in mind for an island vacation.'_

Another guy flew in front of him, making him shriek in fright. "Oh I _really_ wish I was on that ship right now!" He looked over in shock as another soldier reached his arm out, commanding what appeared to be a Paras. It lunged at his with white claws, via **Fury Cutter**.

PLOOP!

A spat of gum shot from the side, hitting the Paras. The soldier wasn't too far as he was gummed down as well with a shout.

Kevin was surprised to say the least, but when he looked towards the side, he saw Liz walking up with chewing gum in her mouth. As she snapped another bubble inside her mouth, she walked away from the field behind her, revealing dozens of bodies covered in gum that prevented them from movie.

"Thank you!" he waved.

Liz kept chewing. "…word." She casually gave a peace sign to him.

* * *

Soldiers quickly surrounded The Freaks as they tried to hold their ground. They looked far from sound as Duncan was the only one with a kendo stick. One soldier quickly attacked with a sword, whereas Duncan hurriedly parried and held it off until he planted a kick on the soldier's abdomen. More soldiers slashed, and Duncan parried them. He deflected one parry, and then another. But when one got too close, he veered away back towards his group.

The Freaks all stood like lost lamb as they had soldiers, Sandile, Darumaka, even Cacnea all surrounding them. Joey balled his fists in anger as he couldn't find anything he could do.

"HRAH!"

A loud roar came from above. A soldier looked up to see what it was, but his head was immediately bashed when a fist embedded in a turquoise sphere hammered it. The soldier fell with an earthshaking thud, revealing Broly to be the one to have punched him down.

To Joey, his shock was all too clear when he saw Broly's serious face. _'Whoaaa…'_

"HNGH!" Broly socked another guy with his barrier-infused fist with drastic force. He ducked from a spear and uppercut, breaking a jaw. He backflipped and spiral kicked with the one leg having the turquoise sphere on it. When he flipped over again onto his feet, a soldier ran up to attack head on, only for Broly to sock him with a barrier-infused fist that sent him into other guys like bowling pins.

"Whoa." Dereece was caught surprised, and much to his own lack of admittance, Duncan showed some sense of surprise as well.

With the field around them clear of soldiers, Broly stood tall without much of a bead of sweat on him. From the distance, Joey couldn't believe at how fast that was, nor even how powerful his strikes were.

' _That's insane. Is that really…the power of combat-infused Barrier-Make Magic can do…?'_

"You're still pretty new to a battle against large groups, aren't ya?" Broly asked.

The Freaks were caught surprised by this and remained silent.

"Even without magic, you still can win a battle. You just have to let your body get a good feel of the battle. Just try and pick your opponent's carefully, and no matter what…don't let them see your weakness. They won't care any less of you."

Joey was a bit shocked at Broly's words of warning, but he accepted them with understanding. He nodded and turned towards Dereece with a serious look. The two best friends looked down and saw that they had Poke Balls already out. In unison, they faced forward and threw out their choices for battle.

"Pidove, go!"

"Heracross, show 'em!"

The two Poke Balls opened, and summoned forth, Pidove took immediate flight, while Heracross appeared in midair before thudding against the sand harshly.

Joey reached out at the Cacnea that was ahead of him. "Pidove, **Gust!** "

"I shall obey, master!" Pidove's wings glowed bright blue and he began to flap his wings repeatedly. He picked up a strong wind that created a gust that was forcing the Cacnea to try and hold his ground, but the Grass-type eventually failed to do so and went tumbling back.

"Awesome!" Joey smiled. "Nice job!"

The Cacnea finished rolling backwards, where it groaned and looked up at Pidove above. The cactus's eyes angrily seethed at the bird and its needle-like arms aimed at him. The eight ends showed purple lighting and poisonous barbs shot in **Poison Sting**.

Joey raised his arm up again. "Send it back! Pidove, **Gust** one more time!"

Once more, Pidove's wings glowed bright blue and he held his position as the Poison-type move closed in. "Okay!" he dumbly exclaimed. "Must blow away all plants!" He repeatedly flapped his wings again, making another powerful maelstrom that reached the incoming attack. The **Poison Sting** immediately turned around and went sending back at Cacnea, who was completely shocked. The Flying and Poison-type attacks met their marks, even as Cacnea attempted to hold its ground. It was quickly pushed back by the attacks and sent soaring back into the sand.

Pidove lowered towards the ground, staying in front of Joey.

The Cancea swayed back up, trying to give one last push to get back Pidove. The Grass-type had a white glow over its body, one that made a red aura envelop its body, via **Growth**.

' _I have to end this as fast as possible.'_ Joey thought. _'What that guy said was true. I can't dawdle, at least not here. I had my fun for now, so let's get to work!'_ "Pidove~! **Leer!** "

Pidove leered straight ahead at his foe. As he glared ahead, Cacnea's body was then enveloped by a blue aura, lowering its Defense. The opposing Cacnea, in return, didn't rest as it shot forward green beams in the form of **Absorb**.

"Pidove! Dodge!" Pidove did as told and evaded the attack to the best of his capabilities by ascending. "Now, **Quick Attack!** "

Doing as told, Pidove cooed loudly as his body was outlined in bright blue. As he targeted Cacnea, blue afterimages shot behind him as he propelled himself ahead. "For my master~!" He dove at a high speed that startled Cacnea. Pidove crashed cleanly into the spherical cactus, making an airwave that rippled upon contact. The impact shot Cacnea backwards with a loud scream of pain as it slid across the sand to a grinding halt. When it stopped, it was revealed to be trying to stand up before ultimately thudding again, fainted.

Joey pumped a fist with a smirk. "Now that's how it's done."

"HRAH!" Using a **Horn Attack** , Heracross rammed his horn into a Sandile, sending it flying pass the two other Sandile that waddled up to the challenge.

"Man, they just keep coming!" Dereece exclaimed. He heard the sound of feet from behind. When he turned, he saw a soldier making way for him.

The soldier drew in so close with a hammer, but before it could make contact, a rectangular turquoise wall crashed from the side, sending the man flying halfway across the domain with an aching wail.

"What did I just tell you?" Broly said with a serious tone.

"Well I-!"

Broly's eyes immediately shifted elsewhere. He turned in front of the guys and put up a barrier as something with intense static ignited the atmosphere in front of it. They all looked with shock as the energy didn't fade away until the barrier went down, and the source ell to its four feet.

In front of them was the one foe who had more power than the rest. The Luxray had its eyes shimmering yellow with an intense vibe resonating off it.

"Well what do we have here?" Broly inquired.

"That's a Luxray." Joey answered. He pulled out his PokeDex, where the device went up and showed a picture of the creature.

" **Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon. When its eyes gleam gold, it can spot hiding prey – even those taking shelter behind a wall.** "

"A Pokémon that can see through solid objects?" Broly inquired.

"So _that's_ how they figured us out." Dereece gasped.

From behind Luxray, the general walked up and stationed beside the Electric-type. His own glare was the same as Luxray's even with the visor on. "Now then, mages of Ishgar. By order of the emperor himself, I will be taking you into custody."

"This guy's really strong." Joey worried. "Luxray don't evolve until Lv 30 in the games we've played. That's gotta mean something for us here." As he contemplated, Duncan bypassed him to make it in front. "Huh? Wait! Duncan…!"

Duncan didn't listen. Instead he stood in front of his team and gleamed back at Luxray. The feline's yellow eyes would've sent chills down a normal man's spine, but Duncan looked to be challenging that.

"Get him!" The general's order was swift and clear, and Luxray roared as he lunged to attack.

Duncan pulled back his spare arm that didn't hold the kendo stick, revealing an Ultra Ball. "Magmortar…start!" The mechanism was launched, and summoned forth into battle and blocking Luxray was Magmortar. In the sand, the Blast Pokémon stood with an intense heat around his fiery, wavy body. His taller frame glared down at Luxray, putting him on the defensive end almost immediately.

The general saw this and immediately took a more aggressive front. "You really defy the power of the Alvarez Empire? We'll show you what happens to intruders who stick their noses where they don't belong!" he reached, giving a swift arch. "Now then, attack!"

Luxray opened his mouth and his four teeth glowed and elongated, revealing **Crunch**. The feeling made a beeline and darted straight for Magmortar, who remained vigilant and held on. He moved his cannon-like arm in front and allowed Luxray to jump and sink his fangs into it. Upon impact, a white burst of energy clouded up and force Magmortar several inches backwards into the sand.

"Crap! He's hit!" Joey exclaimed.

Dereece seemed worried as well, but skepticism arose. "Hm? Wait a minute…"

Luxray landed a few paces away from Magmortar. The creature looked completely fine while Magmortar staggered back up. As Luxray growled, there was a sudden burst of flames that expelled from his body, making him wail in pain before vanished away.

"What?" the general questioned.

"The heck was that all about?" Broly questioned. "…wait. Could that be these powers that these creatures possess?"

Joey's narrowed eyes of wonder finally opened out of sheer shock. He realized what it was that happened. "Wait! Magmortar's Ability! Flame Body!" he exclaimed. "When Luxray made physical contact, it got burned!"

"And that means good for us, right?" Dereece inquired.

"Well I sure hope so."

Duncan slowly motioned his arm up as his head went down. "If that was the best you've got, then we'll be done here. Magmortar, **Sunny Day!** " Upon the harsh command that Duncan gave, Magmortar's arms were loose and his posture was upright. His claws both began to congregate energy into golden orange orbs that he brought together into big orb. He raised his hands high, making the orb overhead dissipate into massive rings that expanded towards the sky. A few moments later, sky and the sun began to get brighter, glistening to a harsh extent to where it was almost blinding.

Erza looked up, using her hand to shield her eyes. She was perplexed by the sunlight, but she could feel a heat resonate from the atmosphere.

The general was unfazed by Duncan's threat. The longer he stood there, the more annoyed he felt. He swiped his arm and shouted out again. "Go! Attack again, I order you!"

The Luxray growled at Magmortar again before he took off for him once more. Magmortar huffed as he watched the Electric-type close in, but otherwise did little to nothing for compensate his opponent's efforts. When Luxray went to attack again, this time its body was enveloped in a few static bolts, which multiplied into many sparks, via **Spark**.

Duncan cared very little. "End it. **Flamethrower!** "

As Luxray closed in with a primal shout, Magmortar aimed his cannon arms and opened them, revealing darkness inside. In a matter of little to no time, two torrential blast waves of fire shot out and expanded across the sand, making it split apart beneath. Luxray continued charging in, but it was proven futile as the enhanced Fire-type attack swallowed him up. His screams went hollow within the roaring blaze that went on towards the general. The stupefied superior was at a loss for words as the blaze closed in on him, too big for him to escape from. In a rushed panic, he tried to make a bold move and pull out a sword, by like a hurricane, the attack blew it away and swallowed him. His screams of anguish went as white as the space itself that followed. Moments later, everything erupted like a volcano in front of Magmortar, from the magnitude the ground unleashed, to the massive burning smoke cloud that billowed skywards. And through it all, the rampage was unmistakably awesome to many eyes, especially to Joey and Dereece.

With a gaping mouth, Joey gawked at his teammate's power. He watched as Duncan's coat shifted t=with the sand. _'I knew Duncan was stronger than us…but I didn't think he'd be_ _ **this**_ _strong!'_

The billowing subsided at long last, allowing the visualization to be seen. The Luxray remained standing for a short while until it wobbled a bit and fell over. Soon to follow, the general fell onto his stomach, both unable to stand.

"Pathetic." Duncan exasperated.

* * *

Juvia reached her arm forward. "Now, **Quick Attack!** " she commanded.

Eevee gave a loud shriek as her body was coated in a bright blue outline. She went zigzagging with afterimages following towards Corphish, who was unable to keep up. With a head-on slam, a shockwave expelled upon Eevee's head meeting with Corphish's temple. There was a moment's struggle for stamina, but ultimately, Corphish couldn't keep up anymore. His legs finally lost hold and he went soaring backwards from the critical hit. He slid across the ground to a stop and laid there, fainted with swirly eyes.

Eevee panted as she had a few scrapes from the battle, but she was okay nonetheless. "Oh thank goodness." She sighed tiredly.

"Eevee, are you okay?" Juvia worried.

Gray looked around, seeing the many soldiers that were wasted upon the ground by ice and other means throughout the area. "Well then, guess that covers it."

"It seems to be the case." Orion said. "Is everyone alright?"

Everyone seemed to be in one piece supposedly. Despite some Pokémon looking tired, some battles were wrapping up, and others didn't seem staggered at all. Over in the distance, he could see Liz shooting gum at a few arms sticking out of gum piles, whereas Matilda was standing atop a pile of bodies with a victorious smile.

Natsu rolled his shoulder and made it pop repeatedly with each one. "That wasn't even a warmup." He scoffed.

"Yeah…hehe…great…" Kevin half-heartedly said. He didn't do anything at all, but he didn't want to admit that out loud.

Lucy sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. That was a relief. I thought for sure that it would be a lot worse than that."

"Oh, uh…sorry if that wasn't what you wanted." Yukino meekly replied.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that!" she defended.

Lyon smirked. "Well then, if that was the case, then perhaps we should head onwards then. No sense in staying here any longer."

"Yeah, bummer." Erik sarcastically snickered. "So much for our little operation gone wrong…" However, slowly, the Poison Dragon Slayer's pacing diminished as well as his voice. He stared ahead with uncertainty as something within his Dragon Slayer and Sound Magic alike picked up on. And if he was honest, he was disturbed.

"Erik?" Kinana questioned.

Erik's disposition lowered and frowned heavily. "We've got more company."

They all questioned what he meant by that, when suddenly, the ground beneath them all began to shudder. The palpitations were extremely unsettling, but that wasn't what made them feel unsound. No. It was the magical energy flowing through the earth itself.

"You guys feel that?" Natsu questioned.

"I do." Sophie looked towards the ground. She scrutinized the sand shifting and felt dense vibrations flow. _'What is this feeling? Is this Earth Magic?'_ Suddenly, a stone column shot up from the ground. Almost denting her face in.

"Sophie!" Gray exclaimed. The sand burst around him and Juvia as well, shooting up slanted columns of rock as well.

Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Aron turned as another column shot up behind. Erza turned and saw yet another one. Lyon did as well. One by one, many of columns shot up in a circular pattern around everyone. As they shot upwards, they all slanted right over their heads until they connected at the top, creating a cage of sorts.

Ultear's eyes narrowed as she glared above. "A cage?"

"Well it looks like it's not only Pokémon these guys love to keep caged." Sting remarked.

"So it would seem." Minerva remarked. Her sultry vision caught a glimpse of something else, which got her to glare ahead.

"Milady?" Lector questioned.

Frosch looked ahead. "Look! There!"

Lector looked as well, seemingly shocked. Everyone else turned to see two other figures on the edge if the earth cage, their silhouettes coming into view.

Feeling a familiar Magic Power, the general, barely conscious, strained to get up. "Y-y-you…sir…"

"Well, well…" One of them said. "Looks like someone isn't getting that promotion after all."

Mest stepped forward with Ralts on his shoulder. "Damnit, of all the places to be here with _him_!"

Gray recognized one of the guys almost immediately. "Him again…"

Stepping forward, a wicked grin was plastered on Marin, whereas Vlar stepped from behind to keep his distance. The Spatial Mage stepped forward with a rosy expression, but beneath that, one could feel the animosity underlying that truth.

"That guy again?!" Lucy gasped.

Brandish gave a meek expression with a bored expression. "Marin…"

The Spatial Mage gave a meek bow with a wide smile to his former superior. "Welcome home, Lady Brandish."

* * *

 **Well guys, well within 30K, and to be frank, this wasn't where I wanted to finish the chapter. I wanted to finish at a point a little further than this, but I think I'll have to save this for next chapter. I really am disliking how I'm personally going over limits like this, and with how long I'm making these chapters already, I'd rather not have this chapter no more than till chapter 18 like in the prequel. So I'm going to have to reinvent here a bit and officially redo my plans, at least to where they would make some critical sense. But don't worry too much, I made sure that some kickass action came from out of this.**

 **So this chapter, I gave The Freaks a little more spotlight as intended, as well as some spotlight with Orion and his history. I'm gonna try to shorthand what I can to make next chapter at the very least end in a cliffhanger as well, and then maybe be caught up to speed.**

 **I also hinted a bit of Aniya's phobia, and how it affects her mentally with interacting with Erik and Kinana, as well as Nic. This will be resolved indefinitely within a few chapters, but you'll see how.**

 **Anyways, I brought back Marin, and I also introduced another OC under Pluto's command, Vlar. I thought adding maybe 1 or 2 underlings for their command would serve me well with some form of battling, and what not. More OCs will come indefinitely, so will another update. But for now, I have a long work schedule coming my way.**

 **Please review and let me know what you thought about this chapter. Thanks a ton guys!**


	12. Shipping Up To Alvarez

In a spacious cargo hold, many boxed crates carrying items were neatly stacked along one end of the hold. On the other, workers ad soldiers were carefully maneuvering and organizing the cages, Hook were placed on them to prevent from moving too much.

Among the many, the larger cages were placed on the bottom, holding Pokémon from Nidorina, to Ekans, to Parasect, to even the one Drapion that wasn't putting up much of a fuss.

"And…" The soldier placed the cage containing a Phanpy on last. "That should do it. Alright fellas, that's the last of them!"

"Thank god. I was wondering when that freaking line would end."

"Yeah, now what?"

The head soldier shrugged. "Now, we just wait for sir Marin and Vlar. They shouldn't take too long to deal with those spies I bet. Nobody gets past Marin."

Another soldier scoffed. "Yeah, serves them right!"

As the soldiers were busy making conversation amongst themselves, they were neglecting the weak and hampered creatures they had locked up. The Drapion remained stiff while the Froakie that was above its cage was staring bluntly. It was hard to read, let alone willing to be looked at. But something was off, and it wasn't just the way they weren't squirming around. No, something less noticeable was uprising amongst them.

"Let's head back to the bridge." The head soldier stated as his followers followed. "Two of you, stay behind and watch these things."

"On it." Two soldiers volunteered and stepped to the side. The others left the room and had the door slide shut behind them. A short silence fell once the echo stopped, one that was soon broke by a soldier.

"So, how much do you owe me?" The one guard looked towards his associate as he begrudgingly reached into his pockets for loose change it seemed. He forked over a handful of bills which counted up fast to 20,000 Jewel. The one soldier smirked. "Hehe, told ya."

As the guy grumbled in annoyance, the Froakie was observing with a meek stare. He didn't know what it was they bet on, but that's not important. It held its tongue until opportunity showed itself.

The soldier turned away with annoyance shown. "Tch, whatever. I'll get more next time." He turned his attention towards the many Pokémon that were bored or sad. Amongst them, the annoyed look that Froakie was giving was making him glare back. "What are you looking at?"

"…" The Froakie spoke of nothing as its blank eyes refused to change.

The soldier walked up towards the cage and gave a cold glare at the misfortunate Water-type. "Hey buddy, you know what we do to animals like you who give us that kind of look? Huh?" his tone was that of a harsh whisper. "You guys, you _starve_. That's right. Whatever energy you need, whatever you want to do…you're playing by our laws now, and if you don't do as we say, you can kiss your next few meals goodbye. So I say quit with that damned look."

To go with his demand, the Froakie lowered his head a little to gaze down at the cage floor it had.

"Heh, that's what I thought." The soldier looked back at his associate. "You see? These little guys aren't so-!" He turned around to get a big blob of frubbles to the face. He fell on his back loudly with shock.

The other soldier looked shocked. "What the-?!" A pincer extended from the cages towards the soldier's neck. The grip was as tight as an actual brace. He gagged when he was pulled towards the cages, unable to stop the momentum as he slammed his head into the bars of Drapion's cage. The soldier slumped down in unconsciousness, whereas his associate strained on the ground to get the frubbles off.

Drapion retracted its pincers and glanced up at the Froakie. The Froakie in return nodded and glowed. It began to emit a strong enough light as the cage it was confined in began to shake and creak apart. Until finally, the small cage erupted, and the next sound to be heard beside bars clanging against the ground was a pair of feet.

"Figured as much." The person regarded his statement before he chose to turn towards the Drapion cage. He looked down and scrounged the fallen soldier for a key. "And…right here." He held up a key, which shimmered in the lighting above.

"Agh! Damnit!" Meanwhile, the other soldier was prying the frubbles off his face. He swatted at them to make them go away, but it was taking a while. Before he knew it, he heard two pairs of feet ahead of him.

"What was that about making me starve?"

The voice got the soldier's attention. When he looked up, he found himself face to face with someone who spelled disaster all for him, and right beside him, a white-haired girl. The way they looked seemed dark, and bad news all over.

"You know, it's bad enough that you treat these guys without care, but having them starve when they have to work for it, now that's just a low blow. Lisanna!"

"I hear that, Nic!" Both pulled out one Poke Ball each, holding them up with readiness.

' _N-Nic…'_ The soldier was at a loss as that name rung a serious bell. "Wait-!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the soldiers out along the bridge outside were playing either cards, or were busy counting poker chips. They looked to be playing a game that involved gambling to help pass the time. As they all looked at the cards, one placed one on the table.

"Boom! Beat that!" he cheered. The other soldiers groaned and rolled their eyes as they dropped their cards out of defeat; some out of frustration. He nodded with a smug smirk. "Aw yeah, show me da money."

 _ **BOOM**_

They all felt a shrilling wreck in their guts when the sound of a door flying caught their attention. They all turned to see the large door holding the Pokémon inside was against the other side, having been bisected clean through. To add shock, the soldier was lying on it, groaning with a gash over his chest.

"W-what was…?"

"The heck?! They run loose?!"

Their accusations and shock went south when a serious frown was seen within. "You guys like games, do you?" Nic presented himself with folded arms, and in front of him, Kecleon creepily tilted her head. Lisanna stood behind in her Drapion Take-Over, and above her, Rufflet flapped his wings.

"Well mind if we step in?" he finished.

Kecleon's head tilted a little further to the side. "King me."

The soldiers all looked shocked as they didn't even have time to process what was happening. They were all petrified as they were faced with something odd. "…oh crud." One muttered.

* * *

A hardy, slow handclap echoed through the air as the many mages and their Pokémon gathered were seething daggers at the one responsible for the clap. It wasn't the Earth Mage it seemed, but in reality, more along Marin's role. The man sure loves to remark so highly.

"This guy again." Gray grimaced. He remembered him last time, and he wasn't appreciating it even now.

Brandish gave the Spatial Mage a blunt but icy cold stare. "Marin."

The clapping slowed to a stop and he smiled. "Why, Lady Brandish, welcome back. Why, of course you pass. You remember me!"

"How can I forget someone who attempted to choke me while I was in chains?" Her cold tone was as rivaled as her Magic Power. The memory was far from pleasant for her tastes, and seeing him now, she was more than tempted to blow him up on the spot.

Marin shrugged. "Aw c'mon, Brandish. I thought we were okay with that?"

"What do you want, Marin?" she demanded. She was in no mood for such antics. She had something to do, and she wasn't going to have someone like him in their way.

Finally seeing her way, Marin nervously backed down from foreplay. "Very well then…" He took in a big sigh as he tried to catch his breath. He looked at them all with a grand smile. "Well, Lady Brandish, me, as well as Vlar here, we have been sent to help with this shipment's coordination apparently." He answered. "You see, there has been trafficking going on, so we wanted to make sure the reports here on this _lovely_ island passed…unlike _some_ people." He snickered low with a dark tone underlying his last comment. Many could possibly guess what that meant, amongst such cases probably being women. Being sexist was a poor trait to bear.

"So then we came at a bad time then." Mest stated. "Typical."

Marin shrugged again. "Oh well, I suppose you all will have to do for now. I was hoping to have the lot of you to pass…but I'm afraid you caught me at quite the time to fail. And so…" His smirk turned evil, his grin growing wide with a vein popping up on his forehead and side. "You lot failed! _Failed_!"

Natsu looked a little surprised by his attitude change. "Crap, he's losing it again."

"Aye. I think he's already lost it." Happy shuddered.

"This is bad. We need to get to the ship, and quick." Lucy worried. She remembered full well what a mage like Marin can do, and that made her and Erza's powers less than adequate for the situation. Neither could manipulate space like Marin can; that wasn't their magic's style.

Mest wasn't anywhere near that length either. He was a sitting duck much like them. Teleportation was using space to shorten distance. He had little to work with, but maybe it wasn't a big deal, hopefully that is.

"Now then, to how do we deal with you first? Hmmmm?" Marin's wicked smirk was accompanied with more veins sprouting on his head. "Hmm, oh! I know!" he chirped. "Vlar, the men, if you will!"

The Earth Mage nodded. "Understood." He raised both hands and made a harsh clap in the atmosphere. Underneath most of the men, the sand shifted and churned, and then thick arches like anchors of rocks arose.

"Huh?!" Natsu looked down, seeing his feet anchored.

Gray looked down, a heavy weight holding down his. "Crap!"

All the men in the area were being held down. Joey, Duncan, Dereece, everyone possible was being withheld by Vlar's dense earth-like anchorage. As much as they struggled, the materials failed to decompose. The more they all struggled, the more each of them had earth slowly rising up to encase them in tombs each.

"Gray!" Juvia reached over, but Marin appeared right in her path, a rosy smile plastered on his face.

"Why, you pass!" he chirped.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Erik looked down, seeing as how his lower half was completely encase in thick stone. He couldn't even move his fingers if he wanted to. Ashe struggled, the tighter it was for his chest to take in air. "I…can't…"

"Erik!" Kinana cried. When she reached out ahead of herself, her hand suddenly deflected. "Ow!"

Lucy gasped as she looked at her surroundings. Everything through her and the other's eyes were beginning to get distorted. "What's going on?!" She couldn't make heads nor tails, the same being said for Erza as space was being warped.

It wasn't just them, but bubbles of distorted space were surrounding the girls. The guys were enveloped in earth from below.

Marin smirked evilly as he looked at the victims he was going to have fun with. "Well then, looks like you've all passed." He turned towards Vlar. "And you, you haven't failed. Good for you."

Vlar nodded. "Shall I handle the rest?"

"Please do. As for those who pass…" He turned and reached out, beginning to distort even Erza and the others. "They can join my personal collection."

"Marin…!" Brandish glared through the distortion around her, but everything around her was spinning out of control. She couldn't tell which way was up.

Marin again shrugged. "Oh don't worry, Lady Brandish. I have something _very_ special for you."

Natsu strained as he tried to escape the earth-covered energy that was devouring him. As he tried to get out of it, he could hear the cackling of Marin from earshot. His eyes went over to the Spatial Mage, the onyx eye he had becoming more and more enraged. "You…!" Suddenly, the rock spreading around him began to glow a deep red underneath. The Dragon Slayer was beginning to steam some.

Vlar took notice of Natsu's signature, making his curiosity shine. "Hm?"

Natsu growled low as steam continued bubbling from the pores of the rock around him. His body heat exponentially increased to where the heat levels started to make lava-like cracks within the hardened rock. They continued spreading like a virus, making chipping sounds as the heat from Natsu was reaching a prime point.

"What?!" Vlar shrieked.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed.

Hearing her loud cry for him, Natsu's eyes sharpened as his teeth were bared. "Okay pal…you wanna go that route…!" The rock unable to spread around him finally cracked apart, expelling into molten rock that fell to his feet. "THEN COME GET SOME!"

From his loud shout, the Dragon Slayer's external heat signature erupted like a volcano. The heat all around maximized to a hot flash that forced Vlar and Marin to cover up from the increase in temperature. Beneath them, even their shoes could be felt getting hot all of a sudden. It was borderline unbearable.

With the heat wearing off their opponent's concentration, Marin's space surrounding the girls began to fade away. All the girls in the space were beginning to feel free again as their visions and surroundings corrected again.

Aniya turned her arm to look at the backside of it, seeing it clearly. "Alright, looks like we're out!"

"About time! Man that stuff was thick!" Matilda chirped. "I almost worried there for a sec."

Able to turn his head, Macbeth looked towards the slab next to him. "Richard!"

Nodding, Richard knew what to do. "Oh yeah! Sit tight, everyone! **Liquid Ground!** " Using his own form of Earth Magic, the earth surrounding all the men began to liquify. It all molded into wet, clay-like paste that eroded off their bodies and legs. Many immediately looked down and moved their legs, and some moved their arms to turn and see them clean as a whistle.

"No!" Vlar shouted.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Gray smirked.

"That makes two of us." Griffon cheered.

Orion frowned as he turned towards his back. "Broly, do it!"

"Alrighty then." Broly sucked in a massive load of air before he shot his arm up above him.

" **Barrier-Make: Hemisphere!** "

Eroding from the air above, a teal barrier in the form of a dome eroded down to surround everyone and box them in. Underneath their feet, the barrier helped them make a support that cut them off completely from the ground as well.

"Awesome!" Joey cheered. Marin, however, seemed far from impressed.

"Tch, you think you've passed? Well too bad! You fail! All of you!" Pointing forward, the Spatial Mage tried to use his magic to get inside the barrier, but for some reason, he wasn't going. The closest he got to was to the actual barrier, and he stuck to it like a fly to syrup. "Ooof!" he groaned.

"He's blocking off our magic entirely?" Vlar gasped.

With cover at long last, the group could finally make a recovery plan. They knew they couldn't hide that long forever, not while they were on defense here. They had to turn tables, and fast.

"So what do we got?" Gajeel asked.

"Can't go charging. They'll trap us again." Elfman said. Even for a man of muscle, even he had some common sense.

"But we can't stay in here forever. There's only so much air anyways." Meredy worried.

"Everyone relax, we'll find a way through." Jellal calmly insisted.

Bellona looked in another direction with a smirk. "Such a bold statement. You care to back that up?" she teased.

Jellal groaned at Bellona's infectious teasing. She knew him well enough to know they had to have some way out, but when it came down to it, it wasn't like it was supposed to be easy. But he did have intellect, and that when he looked ahead to find something that could be worked with. He stepped up, seeing the small gap between Vlar and Marin.

"What is it?" Ultear asked.

"I think that if we can mold this barrier, we can shape it to a passage to get around them."

Lyon smirked. "I could've thought of that even in my sleep. That is the purpose of Molding Magic now, isn't it?"

Orion nodded in understand. "Very well then, but we'll still need someone to try and hold off those two after us."

One of the many people who looked rather eager for something like this was Natsu. "Heh, well you just read my mind."

Meanwhile, as they were formulating inside of the barrier, Marin and Vlar finally converged and looked at their foe again. Both knew from unleashing spatial bombs and from earth attacks that they weren't going to be getting anywhere as they were now. But that also meant their opponents, at least to how it worked for them.

"Their barrier isn't going down at all." Vlar stated. "Is it Nullification kind of magic?"

Marin shrugged. "Meh, they fail either way. Once they try to get out, the laws of space are still mine. They can't get anywhere out of here without-!"

"NOW!" Broly cried out.

"Eh?!" Marin backed from shock.

" **Barrier-Make: Tunnel!** "

This time as Broly swiped his arms to opposite side, the while hemisphere of turquoise solid molded into a tunnel that shot along the sand like a tube outwards. It ran into one of the stone bars Vlar made earlier via his magic, smashing it to crumbling bits.

"NOW GUYS, LET'S GO!" Broly roared.

"Right! Everyone, follow me!" Erza lead the charge as everyone behind her tailed along. They made the full charge towards the end of the tunnel, making way pass the two adversaries who were still rebounding.

"They're getting away!" Vlar exclaimed.

Marin fumed in anger. "Well don't just stand there! Get the end of it and-!" Suddenly, the space in front of him exploded out of the blue. Odd colors swallowed the space ahead of him as he fell onto his back, grunting loudly in pain.

As the green wavy energy was dissipating, a smirk was seen inside. "Another mage of space, I see."

Marin's ears twitched at the sound of the voice. To him it was of shock was he looked back to find the energy dissipating to reveal Minerva, having come out to play from an opening in the tunnel.

The Spatial Mage of the alliance meekly smirked at her sexist opponent. "Seems as though some annoying fly ought to learn not to buzz in _my_ territory now, shouldn't he?"

Marin's face began to drop beads of sweat as he looked at Minerva. "You…mold space too?"

Minerva smirked. "Come now, what do you say we see just who is fit for these laws of space now?"

On the opposite side of the tunnel, Vlar readied to take off and sprint with rocks beneath, But an opening in the tunnel revealed itself, and from it, a voluminous plume of flame exploded, throwing Vlar towards the ground.

A pair of feet stomped against the ground, exiting the portal with a white scarf whisking in the air. A toothy smirk could be seen as pink hair shifted in fire. "Guess it's my turn now. Finally." Natsu eagerly cracked his knuckles, ready to begin.

"Aw yeah, you go, Natsu!" Happy cheered.

"Don't worry, I know Milady won't let us down!" Lector boldly stated.

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch dumbly agreed.

"Everyone, we should be making haste. Go for the tree line! If we make it there, they won't scrounge so easily." Rogue informed, running beside Sting as they were making good timing.

"He's right. Pick it up, guys!" Sting ran faster, and not far behind, so did everyone else away.

As the enemy was getting away, Vlar staggered back to his feet to see they were now out of reach. He looked back towards Natsu, who smirked maliciously at the ready. Seeing as how this wasn't going to go the way he thought, the Earth Mage reached into his massive sleeve. "So this is how you intend it then? Alright." He pulled out a Poke Ball from within the massive sleeve. "For my Master Pluto, I shall make the earth feast upon you!"

"Just try it, pal! I dare ya!" Natsu threw his arm back and spread his legs. As the back trailed dust, he whipped his arm forward, calling his Pokémon. "Okay Charmander, let's get going!"

The Poke Ball opened in midair, revealing an energy was went towards the ground and reappeared as Charmander. The lizard readied his claws at his opponent with a growl of retort.

Vlar whipped his arm back. "By the power entrusted by the earth we stand on, I call upon you! Dwebble!" Shoving the Poke Ball forward, the capsule went spinning forwards.

Appearing on the sand, there was a Dwebble, which was much like an orange hermit crab with a many layered rocks for a shell. Its eyes were dark as it braced por possible battle.

Natsu's smirk grew more intense. "Now you're making it interesting."

Vlar scoffed back. "Natsu Dragneel…"

* * *

Fleeing into the palm trees for cover was simple enough as it was, but for such a large group who had a variety of methods and speeds to get to a certain destination, it wasn't exactly easy to keep even the fastest like Sawyer at bay. For what it was worth, however, a good portion – the faster of the group – trekked moderately through the small stretch of cover.

"Is Natsu going to be okay back there?" Juvia asked Gray. "I feel we should've helped out back there."

Without looking back, Gray showed confidence. "Don't worry about it. That lunatic's got it covered." He stated. "If anything, we should worry about that other guy."

Pantherlily nodded. "That would be an understatement."

"Sure is, plus Milady's pitching in as well! Those guys are toast!" Lector boasted.

Rogue pumped over a fallen palm tree. Darting right beside Sting. "How much further is it?"

Sting's brow furrowed as he trekked. "Don't ask me, this is the first time I've been here."

"The northeastern beaches should be trekked all the way up here." Mest answered. "Shouldn't be too long now."

Joey sped right beside Broly. As if it were like he wasn't running at all. He was practically flying across the forest line. No doubt from all of the excessive jumping, flipping, and the bodacious dance moves he's practiced. "Faster you chunky monkey!"

Falling behind, Duncan jumped over a regular rock and landed in the moist, muggy soil. Farther behind him, Dereece was barely keeping up. He grunted as he tried to get over the rock, borderline crawling up on it like a salamander. He wheezed frantically as Joey and Duncan went on. "Somebody just wait a few…?"

"Pathetic." Duncan scoffed. "Hurry up back there or you'll be left behind!"

Dereece's brows furrowed in annoyance. "Well aren't you helpful today." He sarcastically chimed. Suddenly, in a swift motion, something plucked him up and held him high. "Whoa! What the-?!"

"Alright, let's go!" Matilda cheerfully zoomed through the forest at cheetah speeds, carrying Dereece like he was some prized trophy right over her head. As she passed people, even his own teammates, each one of them showed some kind of shock.

"Woah! Slow down! Hold it!" Dereece pleaded.

Matilda's energy was too high to thwart. She powered on like nothing could stop her. "Now this is a workout!"

"WAAAAH~! MOMMY!" Dereece wailed.

Being of the many people passed, Erza paced through the leaves and shrubs without any haste or delay. She went on and lead the pack, until, that is, some odd voice started to speak in the atmosphere.

' _ **Guys, can you hear me?**_ ' a voice asked.

Hearing a familiar voice, Erza's head perked up. _'Nic?'_

"Hold on…Nic, is that you?!" Lucy exclaimed. "Where the heck were you?!"

"Yeah, you missed out, man! Can't even describe it." Gray added.

' _ **Sorry if I worried you. Didn't mean to startle you too badly.**_ _'_ He apologized.

" _Too_ badly?!" Carla snapped. "Do you even know what happened?!"

"Hey, Carla, be nice!" Wendy calmed.

' _ **I understand where you're going with this, Carla. I'm sorry I didn't fill you guys in. Lisanna and I will explain the best we can, right?**_ _'_

"Lisanna's there, too?" Elfman gasped.

' _ **You guys doing alright?**_ _'_ the Take-Over girl asked. _'_ _ **We couldn't see much from where we were.**_ _'_

"Just where the heck are you anyway?!" Gajeel shouted as he ran.

' _ **Alright…**_ _'_ Nic began. _'_ _ **Just try and contain yourselves…**_ _'_

"Yes, Nic-senpai!" Joey happily chirped with a goofy smile. At least Joey tried to be contained…in his standards anyway.

For those who were conspicuous, aka a certain wife to the telepathic voice, she was all ears. Nic was going to have to have a lot of words to scramble to get him out of a mess she might make him clean up.

* * *

Vlar's hands slammed into the ground, making the sand shift violently as waves of rock arched around his Dwebble and Charmander and headed for Natsu. The Dragon Slayer jumped high as the rocks converged to where he was originally. When they collided, a single large stalagmite shot. Natsu's feet ignited in a searing blaze and he used a spinning **Fire Dragon's Claw** that blew straight into the rock, crumbling it to pieces. As dust and rock spread where Natsu had fallen, Vlar looked dissatisfied.

The dust was swiped away by an arm, revealing Natsu. "Charmander… **Flame Charge!** " he shouted as he punched forward. Charmander got on all fours and growled at Dwebble briefly. His body seared in flames of his own and sprung off the ground, sailing like a rocket over the sand at Dwebble.

" **Withdraw!** " Vlar instructed. Dwebble immediately retreated back into his rock shell bottom, his red aura indicating a Defense increase. Charmander's flame-coated body made full impact with Dwebble, making the rock slide back in the sand. As soon as Charmander landed, Dwebble emerged out of it, looking unaffected.

"This Pokémon's defenses are much higher than yours." Vlar noted. "Getting through our defense isn't likely."

Natsu, however, looked far from deterred. "Well how about this then. We weren't even warmed up that time." He swiped his arm. "Charmander, use **Ember!** "

Coping with the command given, Charmander brought his head back and held it for a moment before expelling a blanket of orange sparks at Dwebble. This time, when the attack hit, Dwebble retreated into his shell again, but the blankets enveloped the shell completely, sending it flying back at Vlar's feet. Dust was created as cover and obscured Vlar's vision from the rest of the world.

With knowing of his opponent, be asserted himself in a hurry with his arms up. His Earth Magic materialized a thick, dense wall of stone to arch up to defense him from a possible frontal or aerial attack.

Suddenly, he felt something hot from behind. When he turned around, his eyes widened.

" **Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!** "

Vlar extended the arch of earth overhead at the last second to stop Natsu's flaming hand in a slash position from making full impact. To his shock, the earth barrier of rock was broken, and the shambles hurled into Vlar, shoving him through the front of his shield. He slid back in the sand with his shambles, and among them, Dwebble.

' _How did he get that distance shortened so fast?'_ he grunted as the dust and sand subsided, revealing Natsu as he frowned seriously; Charmander joining him on the opposite side of the battlefield. _'Was the brother of our late emperor always this strong?'_

"I told ya." Natsu said. "We're just getting started."

* * *

Back and forth, vanishing without much of a trace but their own magic to follow. Marin and Minerva paced back and forth and vanishing from one point to get around the other. When Marin appeared behind, Minerva used her magic to switch positions. It was one point here and gone the next. It was a vanishing act that turned into a tedious game of meddling with proximity. This was a battle of Spatial Mages.

Marin reappeared in front of Minerva to get close and personal with his future trophy. He punched forward, but using her acrobatic might, she used his arm as a balance and flipped. She spun upside-down with her legs out, mesmerizing the Spatial Mage for a moment's notice for her to literally get the drop on him with an axe kick to the head that sent him into the dirt.

Minerva backflipped and landed on her heels in the sand.

Marin had his head down as he shakily began to stand once more. "You…how can this be…?" Even his own voice was quivering. "The space I wield is mine alone, right?"

"I'm sorry, but perhaps I didn't make myself terribly clear before." Minerva challenged. "When it comes to Territory, anything within my sight is mine to command."

Maron's hands tightly gripped the sand beneath. "No…IT ISN'T!" Raising his head again, veins covered a vast majority of his forehead while his dark side surfaced. He reached out to create a blast wave of space, enveloping Minerva in its wake. Moments passed, and as expected, Minerva reappeared in front of the spot, unharmed. "YOU LITTLE BITCH, SPACE IS _MINE_! YOU FAIL! _FAIL!_ "

Minerva grew serious as she saw Marin's controlling attitude rise up. She could see that her opponent's anxiety was rising, and that meant his powers would fluctuate. If she would've mocked him, then she would've attacked when she had the chance instead.

Marin continued fuming out of rage. He teleported beside Minerva to kick her in the face, but she narrowly leaned back to avoid the stamp. Marin rolled his other foot and this time kicked her across the face, sending her into the dirt.

"I will not be made fun of! The king of space isn't made fun of by prissy wannabies who think they would even have a chance against me of all people!" He reached down, using his magic to create a blast wave that went barreling at Minerva. Before impact, Minerva opened an eye and saw the incoming attack before she used hers to switch places with Marin. And, as expected, Marin teleported at the second later to avoid the sand exploding from his blast.

The Spatial Mage reappeared beside her, and she turned to see a distorted fist heading her way. Using her own mastery of combat, her fists were enveloped in green orbs and she parried his fist with her own. Their collision caused the atmosphere to send airwaves everywhere as sand beneath rippled out. Time slowed down as Marin's face could be seen having anger, which was leaving Minerva to narrow her own.

Marin let out an annoyed roar as he erupted a distorted wave of magic that forced Minerva to cover up. The female space controller found herself leaning back as Marin's smirk became more deranged.

"Don't think that a queen can ever be better than a king!"

* * *

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu opened his mouth, expelling a massive beam of fire that ripped right over the sand. The heat radiated light reflecting off of Vlar's clothing and he was forced to take evasive action once more.

" **Imperial Fortress!** " Clasping his hands together, the sand shuddered as a gigantic wall suddenly arose all around him and Dwebble. The enormous wall of rock and stones supposedly to resist heat was like a bunker that the roar struck. The horrendous wave of heat and fire made full impact, spreading into a plumage of flames everywhere around the defense.

The steam cleared to show Natsu wiping his mouth with his wrist, leering at the foe without a word to say.

"There hasn't been such an attack that was successful in breaking down this defensive spell!" Vlar announced from inside. "Your fire will not be enough for me, brother of the late emperor.

"You talk too much!" Natsu exclaimed. "C'mon, Charmander!"

"Right behind ya!" The Fire-type made a dash behind Natsu as he went racing towards the wall.

Vlar's eyes narrowed. "Nonsensical." He said low. "Even without sight, I can tell where you are. **Precipice Wave!** " With a small sweep of his boot in the sand, it was like that small wave expanded and multiplied. It became a shockwave that ran through the sand until it got outside the wall. It prodded up a small row of stone, which multiplied to a large wave of spiked sandstone that multiplied towards Natsu and Charmander.

As Natsu ran right at the wave incoming towards him, he yelled at Charmander. "Charmander, hang on tight! It's gonna get bumpy!"

"Got it!" Charmander sprung onto Natsu's shoulder and clutched on as tightly as he could. Natsu took another step forward closer towards the spiky wave, and then his footstep depressed into the ground. A wave of fire expelled in all directions from the one foot. Ina stream of whistling flames, he shot up like fireworks into the sky, avoiding the wave altogether. Really high up, he looked down as Charmander clutched on like a kid with eyes shut.

Down below, Vlar was relying on his magic to sense the ground. "…from the sounds of it, I'm detecting no movement. I guess that means…" He trailed off when a bizarre whistling sound shimmered through the air. "Hm?" He looked at the huge wall around him, seeing where it was coming from. "Where? Did he go around the wave that fast?"

Dwebble looked left and right as well, but then he looked up, catching something above. "Look!" he pointed up.

"What?!" Staring upwards, he fell short of response as a comet of fire came down and crashed in front of them both. Dwebble and Vlar were both blown away by hands and flame waves alike. They screamed in pain as they sailed off.

Within the field of fire that now laid where they once stood, Natsu slowly rose, with Charmander swinging off him and ono the ground. Natsu opened his eyes and glared daggers.

Having recovered from that impact, Vlar stood up shakily. "You…jumped over?"

"You really don't think ahead, do you?" Natsu mocked. "That muscle guy back then put up a better fight than you."

"What did you say?!" Vlar exclaimed. "I'll have you know, that my Earth Magic is of its prime. I was taught personally by the likes of Master Pluto, to learn and speak and learn language of stone. Such a power even the likes of you Ishgarians cannot comprehend!"

"Then I bet he didn't teach you not to brag about your powers during a fight either!" he retorted. "Charmander, **Flame Charge!** " Charmander once again crouched and cloaked himself in searing flames. This time than speed like a rocket, he dashed across the sand with a deep lunge.

Vlar's eyes narrowed and reached forward. " **Rock Blast!** "

Dwebble grew sturdy as the rocks on his body began to glow bright silver. The front edges all were launching patterns of silver with the same edging as hard as rock. The first pattern went head on, but Charmander knew from experience taking it head on was reckless. With increased speed, he zipped left to avoid the first, then he zipped further left to avoid the second. He found himself going in an arch towards Dwebble's side, where he zipped in front to throw Dwebble off with a yelp.

Vlar grunted in annoyance.

"You guys piss me off!" Natsu ignited in searing flames. He balled his fists tight. "Always going on about your abilities like they're the world to you…yeah, maybe I like a little fire…" The flames around him began to surge into his fist. "But how's about I show you just how much rather than yammer about it?!"

Vlar's eyes widened. Even from here, there was an expulsion of heat even he couldn't handle. It was making him feel more and more overwhelmed. _'This…this…the power of…no. He was just messing with me! Is this seriously not the extent of his power?!'_

"Charmander, **Ember!** "

Continuing his dash, Charmander stopped cloaking in flames and dug his claw in the sand to anchor and turn towards Dwebble's direction. As the Bug/Rock-type rebound and shook his head, but he was open from the side, where Charmander was. When Dwebble turned, it was too late when a blanket of sparks and embers rushed and plopped its side. This time, enough forec sent it flying away as orange bursts enveloped it.

"Crab of the earth! What a disgrace!" Vlar roared. He watched in shock as Dwebble shrieked loudly before it sundered to the ground, thudding painfully in the sand, where it laid in unconsciousness. His eye narrowed in annoyed anguish. "Tch…"

Meanwhile, Natsu bolted in with his fist in a swirling mass of fire. Streaks of the flames spiraled behind him as he closed the gap with Vlar. The Earth Mage turned to see Natsu closing in on him. Using his magic, he tried to anchor him, but with each step, flames expelled, melting the earth to char beneath him.

All the man could do was despair as he whisked his wrist up, creating a thick slab of earth.

Natsu took a leap with the flames following his path, reeling back and throwing the fist ahead.

" **Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist!** "

No matter how hard, no matter how solid on a defense the minerals held up, the moment that explosive punch made contact with the thickest elements possible resistant to fire, it was crumbled down like crackers. Vlar screamed in agony as he was enveloped in the horrendous wave of fire and explosions, which erupted in an expanding manner all the way to the other side of the wall, where it shattered as well. The debris and the rock tumbled down as the immense wave continued on.

"What?!" Stopping their battle for a moment, Marin and Minerva looked over to see a shockwave of fire and ruptures shake the earth beneath them. They both covered up as the shockwaves of the attack continued their path to the now vacant watch tower. The base of it was enveloped in ruptures that came to blasting halts. The quaking caused the support of the tower to melt away,

The tower slowly creaked, very slowly falling over like some tree. In a matter of minutes, the whole structure hit the ground in a loud thud that rung all throughout the island. It was a giant bonfire that scorched a clean that down towards its origin.

Natsu held his fist out, which still steamed incredulously. He seemed unfazed as within the far distance away from him, caved in the sand's char and partial crystalizing, Vlar's body was charred in some areas, whereas in some areas, his skin was cracked with rock.

"Heh~?" Dumbstruck by that blast passing him, Marin looked over to see his associate lying like a dead animal. He was so distraught that he forgot something.

From the corner of her lips, Minerva smirked knowingly.

" **I RAGH!** "

Marin didn't have time to register the spatial eruption beside him. A small burst got his side, sending him to the earth right beside him. He thudded painfully as his side steamed.

Minerva daintily put her hand up in a regal manner. "Oh dear, looks like 'His Majesty' lost his way."

Marin shakily got up. "You…!"

"If I recall, he who has the rules set in stone has control, right? This principle applies to both our magics now, doesn't it? Well now, seems as though we have reached a predicament upon our hands. Your Rules of Area and my Territory can't seem to get along, which means we're just down to a small fist fight no less." Her eyes narrowed. "Unless you have something else to say."

Marin's patience was at a thin end. No one was supposed to be better at Spatial Magic. Nobody. Just him, and him alone. His veins continued spouting across his face as he held up his hand. "A-alright then…" His voice quivered in angst, as if broken as well. "If that's how you want it…then bring it, bitch!"

"Gladly." Minerva pulled up a Poke Ball, one that she was waiting to try out. "I request you by my side, underling!"

The Poke Ball popped open, expelling energy in front to reveal a small, blue, bipedal Pokémon with a rugged head. It had a bulbous snout with a yellow belly and maw, with stubby arms. This was Minerva's Pokémon, Bagon.

"A…Pokémon?!" Marin shakily questioned. Suddenly, flashes of his memory erupted. It was just this instance where he was taken out by a Pokémon because his magic was useless, or otherwise cancelled out. Borderline fuming a snarky glare at Minerva, he opts to fight back. "FINE! YOU WANNA PLAY THAT WAY, I CAN BRING MY OWN ARMY!" With a snap of his fingers, many of soldiers suddenly teleported around him. "YOU SEE?! SO WHAT IF OUR MAGICS CANCEL OUT?! I HAVE NUMBERS!"

"Care to look?" Minerva chimed.

"Huh?!" Marin looked down confusedly to see what she meant. To his shock, all the soldiers were lying unconscious in the sand. Every last one of them. "What the-?!"

"Seems as though something went wrong." Minerva mocked in a facetious tone. She already knew the answer, she had a god hunch about it.

Marin looked frantically around to find them all unresponsive. He went as far as kick someone to get them up. "GET UP! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU FAILURES?!" No response came. "WELL~?!"

"I had a funny feeling this would happen."

Marin's eyes widened as a gasp escaped him. "That voice…"

Minerva's smirk widened. Natsu turned to look over at the convenience, his smirk showing. "Yo. Where have you been?"

Someone smirked. "Over there."

"And here." A creepy girly voice followed.

Marin could feel a chill run down his spine. He could feel himself growing paralyzed from just thinking about it. Mustering the strength, beads of sweat narrowly rolled down his face as he looked back, and what he saw made him stiff as stone.

Nic and Kecleon stood in the center of the defeated platoon, not a single scratch on them as they looked ever so calm about the situation. "So it _was_ you then." Nic stated.

Marin's paralysis ran all over. He couldn't make heads or tails as he found himself with two figures frowning at him from either side. And not just them, but their magical creatures were also giving him the look. His platoon was wiped out. His magic was useless. He could feel everything around him getting dizzy.

"Mind if we do this together?" Minerva teasingly asked.

Nic nodded. "No problem." He reached out, giving a command. "Kecleon… **Brick Break!** "

"For the spleen~!" Kecleon's fist enveloped in a bright glow. As she brought her arm back and crouched, the airwaves emitted from her pressure made sand and dust billow everywhere like a storm.

Minerva daintily swiped her arm. "Bagon, if you will? **Bite!** "

"As you WISH!" Bagon opened his maw and went running after Marin with a shout. At the same time, Kecleon vanished from her spot.

Marin tried desperately to teleport or switch places with someone, anyone! He couldn't look in any direction because distortions he was trying to create were cancelled out by Nic from one side, while explosions of space by Minerva from the other. With nothing else, he screamed violently for it to end, and soon enough, Kecleon's attack struck his back, while Bagon's mouth gnawed his stomach. The shock created a powerful airwave from both parties; Kecleon's being much bigger. Due to the force coming from both sides, Marin didn't fly off out of control. Instead, his eyes were devoid of pupils and shivered weakly as he slumped to the ground, slumping in defeat.

All around they laid. The forces of the island and of the airships, both incapacitated and taken cared of without fail. And with the tower destroyed, it was a big win for the alliance – this time.

Natsu rolled his shoulder, making it pop. "Aw man, well that was a letdown. I was hoping for a bigger warmup than that."

Minerva snickered. "Quite the energetic one as ever I see."

"Yes! Score one for us guys, up top!" Charmander held his claw out to Bagon and Kecleon. He held it up, waiting for a response, which was taking a long time. Time passed, and Bagon seemed disinterested. And Kecleon…slowly tilted her head, allowing her tongue to fling out of her open mouth and touch Charmander's claw. The Fire-type sweat-dropped with a chill running down his spine. "Uhh…"

"I was wondering what might have happened to you and that other girl." Minerva remarked towards Nic.

"Yeah, everyone's waiting at the ship." Nic informed. "I just filled them in on everything."

"Hey yeah, what _did_ you do anyway?" Natsu asked.

"I'll explain. For now, we should probably get going. Minerva, please?"

Minerva smirked. "Well, it's good to have someone with manners around. Absolutely." Encasing her hands in orbs of her magic, a green, distorted field enveloped her, Nic, Natsu, and their Pokémon. The bubble remained large for a second before vanishing from the spot, leaving nothing but vague footprints in the sand.

As Marin laid in the sand unresponsive, a shadow slowly came into view, slowly covering him. His eyes winced in pain as his spine and stomach were practically destroyed. When he opened his eyes, he saw a vague but familiar image. "Lady…Brandish?"

Appearing before her fallen foe and traitor, Brandish gave a sharp glare down at Marin.

* * *

" _In here." Nic guided Lisanna into the room where she fed the Pokémon before. Once inside, she, and Nic, both found themselves alone with nothing but the caged animals all around them._

" _Nic, what is it?" Lisanna asked. She asked the question at least three times on the way here, but every single time, Nic didn't give a response. She had to wait until now to get what she asked for, and frankly, it left her very much unsound._

 _Nic took in a deep breath before sighing. He got towards the door to signify that it was closed. Once he confirmed that he backed away. "Okay, guess it's clear."_

" _Clear for what? Nic, why in Earthland did you ask me to here of all places?" Lisanna's patience was coming to a thin end. Sure Nic was tolerable, and he did mean well, but when he asked her for something, she didn't think he'd do so privately. Frankly, alone, it was giving her creepy ideas that her sister drilled into her on occasion._

 _Turning towards her, Nic gave a serious expression. "I'm sorry. I wanted to keep this between us. I didn't think having this in the open would do any good…not that matters anyway."_

" _Why's that?"_

" _Because of Erik and the other dragons. Odds are they can hear us, but this is a magic proof vault. Hopefully it'll keep us from earshot at least." He looked towards her more seriously. "But listen, you're the only other one here that might be able to pull through if anything happened to the others or me."_

" _Me?" Lisanna pointed to herself in confusion._

 _Nic nodded. "I would be a boldfaced liar if I said anything contradicting that."_

 _Finally catching Nic's drift, the Take-Over girl looked back at the Pokémon to see how some were sleeping, and others were looking sad or otherwise confused. They looked like scared animals who lost homes and are in shelters with no hope. She knew from heart that for Nic to bring her here along with himself would have something to do with them. He wouldn't do this for selfish reasons. That wasn't Nic at all. She reaffirmed her serious mood and furrowed her brow._

" _Okay then, what did you have in mind?"_

" _We use our powers. Your Take-Over as Drapion, and my_ _ **Transform**_ _. They'll come up for inspections, but I think they might do something else with the Pokémon. If we transform into them and blend in, they may not recognize us."_

 _Lisanna was shocked at Nic's plan. "Wait…you mean you really want to hide?"_

" _You might not find this surprising, but I have a feeling the Alvarez might see through our plan. Believe me, it's happened before. It's not unlikely that we'll be spotted. But in case something like that happened, I want to at least make sure that the Pokémon come first. That is the reason we came here after all."_

" _Nic…" Lisanna was surprised to say the least. He was right. That was the main reason they came here. And in a sense, he wasn't wrong about keeping this plan of theirs a secret. She knew Natsu would somehow screw it all up, and knowing Joey's fanboying, that wouldn't make things any better. Although one issue still presented itself. "But wait, what about Erza?"_

" _Because…well…" Nic nervously sweat-dropped. He looked hesitant to answer to Lisanna._

" _Well…?"_

 _Nic sighed in defeat. "Don't tell her this…but her acting really isn't the best out there."_

" _Oh…Oh! Right!" Lisanna mentally facepalmed herself. Of course Erza and acting didn't mix well. It was no wonder why every job involving her with a play of theater she came up a little short. Still, as passionate as it was for her to try, it was times like these that the artist of the family stepped in._

" _So what do say Lisanna? Will this settle well with you?"_

 _She didn't need to question the motives at hand. She already knew how to answer. The girl clutched her fist and nodded in confirmation. "Right. Let's do it."_

"And _that's_ what happened?" Mest summarized what Lisanna had told them. He was still catching up on some parts, but the picture overall he was formulating, and to a degree, he understood.

Lisanna winked. "Yup, gotcha good, didn't we guys?"

"Yeah I'll say, we didn't even tell you apart from a regular Pokémon. You sold that pretty well." Gray smirked.

Lyon returned a mocking snicker. "The art of creative illusion. As expected of someone from Gray's guild."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gray warned.

Before things went too far, Ultear got in between. "Well in any case, that _did_ save the trouble of fighting for a ship." She said. Beside her, Meredy nodded in agreement.

Sorano chuckled. "All's fair in love and war."

"Uh, yeah…" Yukino stood right beside her sister, wondering the same thing.

Elfman took a huge sigh of relief. "Well that's good. Mirajane would freak if she found out anything happened to my sister."

Lisanna slid to her brother's aid. "H-hey now, we didn't do it as a joke! We just thought a backup plan would be helpful is all."

Natsu crossed his arms, giving a pout of his own.

"Hm? What's wrong, Natsu?" Lucy asked.

The Dragon Slayer's brow furrowed in annoyance. "Still say that I should've known about this. I wanted in on this operation too you know."

Happy patted his back in comfort. "Sorry pal, but I think Nic's better at selling stealth than you."

"Oh some friend you are!" he snapped.

Orion had a hand to his chin, thinking deeply. "In hindsight, I guess it was a clever move. Thinking _that_ far ahead did have its uses if it came to an infiltration."

Matilda smirked. "Hell yeah, that worked out quite nicely."

Nic sighed low in his own relief. "Well then I guess that makes more than one of us in this little thought." He turned towards the others as they were all gathered. "At any rate, we should get going now. We may not have long before anymore company arises."

"I hear that." Griffon said. "I say the sooner the better, too." He turned towards Aniya. "You got the mechanics going yet?"

Aniya snobbishly chuckled as she twirled a wrench in her hand. "Like you know it. The ship's up and running."

Orion stepped in front of the group, walking up a flight of stairs to the deck. "Very well then. We don't have long, and the sun is soon to set. If we leave now, we'll arrive at daybreak at the latest." He stopped at one of the top steps and kept his back turned towards the group. A strong silence fell, one that seemed to make the air frankly hollow around him. "…this is probably the wrong time to say this, but I appreciate the support you all are giving us. You have our gratitude."

Many people like Gajeel meekly grinned. Wendy smiled up in her own gratitude. Others like Aniya looked at Erik and Kinana, but as they looked towards her, she puffed her cheeks and turned away. At the moment, it looked like tension was easing after their little first run-in, but it was never too late to soil that memorable frontier passing.

"Oh yes! What a joyous time we are having today!" Richard cheered.

Duncan scoffed. "Yeah, whatever. Now are we going to get this over with or what?"

Griffon shrugged. "You heard the man, let's get going!"

Orion nodded. "Agreed. There's not a moment to waste. Let's begin." He walked up to the massive ship's deck, where the stairs led.

Everything was week for everyone, but for Lucy, something felt out of place. "Hey, where's Brandish?"

"She's not here?" Happy looked around in question to see if Lucy's statement was right. When he looked about, he saw that anyone with green hair – besides Griffon – was vacant.

"I _am_ here." A voice deadpanned behind Lucy.

The blonde turned around to see the hatch occupied by the person in question. "Brandish! We thought you went somewhere!"

"I did. I had to take care of something before we took off." She passed Lucy, remaining unemotional as always. The blonde, however, didn't seem all too sure of what she meant by that.

"Uh, w-what was it again?"

"Nothing important." She stopped for a moment as another thought came to mind. "Oh, and by the way. If it's not too much trouble, try and keep those Dragon Slayers at bay this trip around. I'd rather _not_ step in another one of their expectorations."

At the notion, the 6 dragons gathered all cringed. They totally forgot they weren't done with flying yet. Poor souls they were.

Natsu tried sliding pass Lucy. "Suddenly swimming a long distance seems like a great workout." He nervously chuckled to escape from the transport, but Lucy grabbed his scarf like a leash.

"Not so fast, buddy boy. _You're_ coming along, too." She ordered.

"Aw man." Natsu sulked.

"Now then, if we're all finished, we can get going now." Brandish ordered. "Depart at once!"

"Yes ma'am!" the Peace Jaegers all got around to working at her demand, as per their contract inscribed them to do. As they got ready and prepared the ship, Lucy, Juvia, Minerva, and Yukino helped the Dragon Slayers settle in some ways to get them to lie down as the ship began to take off.

The ship eventually eroded from the water, making humming sounds from its engines powered by lacrima to help it fly. The engines were operated by Aniya and she pulled levers by the massive steering wheel inside the cabin. She nodded towards Orion, who look out at the humungous deck that was as big as a football field.

With everyone gathered, Nic and the others all looked forward with expectant stares as the sun was beaming in their eyes. They all glared forward in new hopes and of determination to get this corrupted tyranny to understand its problems, whether they had to be the ones to do it or not.

The ship's wings finally extended, enabling it to take off like an airplane skywards. For them, next stop: Alvarez.

* * *

Meanwhile, things on the resort island were more chaotic to those entering. If anything, more people were scheduling for deportation, and no one could blame them. The island was a mess, especially the beaches. The strangest part of it all, was that wherever anyone went, they couldn't find a single soldier.

Within the chaos, even a little light shed. Not far from the wreckage that was the observation tower, bushes shriveled and shrugged as something moved inside. After trekking for a while longer, a Zigzagoon that was taken earlier popped its head out of the bushes and looked around. Seeing the coast clear, she scurried across the woodland area towards the hut area. There, the Pokémon scuttled until it found the woman that was its partner. "Zigzagoon!" She cried happily as Zigzagoon ran up and jumped into her arms, rejoicing as it was reunited with her once more.

As many more patrons were scrounging around and finding anything they may have lost to the tyrannical soldiers, they were unaware that within the wreckage of Vlar's little fortress, which now looked nothing more than ruins, all the soldiers that were on the island were trapped within a large circle of rocks. They would've gotten out, but the head soldier's Luxray was confiscated by Brandish. And unfortunately for them, Vlar was in no condition to use magic.

Among the shrunken, Marin looked around to see everyone unable to do anything, considering how small they've gotten. "Eh, hehehe…?" He nervously chuckled at his own folly. He even looked down to find himself having Magic-Sealing Stone on his wrists. "L-Lady Hoshina…uh, I-I'm sorry, but…Lady Brandish appeared to have…gotten away."

A small quake got his attention. When he turned around, he saw that it was a Sandile that dug up from under the sand, no doubt one of the ones they caught and enslaved to do their bidding. It looked at Marin curious as the Spatial Mage paled at the sight of the now larger reptilian creature tilting its head at him.

"Lady Hoshina…? You predicted good fortune, right? Lady Hoshina?!" He nervously backed away, only to provoke the Sandile. The creature jumped for Marin, making him scream for his life.

* * *

In a dark room with no lighting, the black silhouette that was a massive cloak overshadowed a faint glow coming from a crystal ball, showing the fate of Marin to Hoshina as she removed the pipe form her lip. She lifted her head and gave a loud sigh, exhaling smoke into the atmosphere. "I already know, Marin." She muttered. "I never said it was for you."

* * *

The evening sun set along the horizon, radiating the sky with a cloak of dark purple, blue, and a little bit of orange and faint yellow that brought what looked like a rainbow to the setting day's end. It was beautiful, much needed after a paradise gone wrong today.

The ship went flying with its wings all spread. To ride a plane was one thing, but to be on a flying ship was something out of a fantasy tale for the faint of heart. But for those never being on a ship in general, it wasn't too bad of a view.

Joey leaned over the side, peering down with Pidove on his shoulder. He saw cloud right beneath him. "Woooooow." He awed. "Now _this_ …this is a view." He gasped as he saw a sea of clouds being passed through by the ship. They were so close that he could touch them. He was tempted to that is. "Is this what it's like to fly, Pidove?"

Pidove dumbly blinked on Joey's shoulder, flicking up one wing. "Yes, sir!" he happily chirped.

Joey looked back over the edge. "Interesting…"

Dereece walked up with Duncan behind his tail towards Joey. "Well Captain, all things considered, I think we got out of that pretty okay."

"Hmph, speak for yourself." Duncan snarked, tapping his kendo stick on his shoulder. "Those guys were a joke. If that's really the Alvarez' best, then this will be nothing more than a waste of time."

Dereece put his hands to his hips. "Oh okay, Mister Superior. You sit back and enjoy the easy life just so we newbies can handle the hard stuff then." He mockingly retorted.

Duncan nonchalantly turned away, shrugging at the statement. "Do what you want. I'm gonna go down below and catch some shut eye." He walked away from his teammates, leaving Dereece and Joey both by themselves again.

Dereece sulked with a sigh. "Even after a hard-enough job dealing with this, he still gets under your skin."

Joey waved dismissively. "Eh who needs that sourpuss? Besides, I'm sure by tomorrow morning, everyone will feel a little better."

Dereece chuckled. "Yeah, probably…!" He stammered as he saw Joey's attire. He looked back at Joey, looking as casual as ever. "…really? You still wearing that?"

Still consisting of the Hawaiian grass skirt he used as a disguise on Caracole Island, Joey sought to it being something more of his style, much to his associate's chagrin. "What? Believe it or not, it's actually ticklish. And you can forget about borrowing it, pal…" he hugged it collectively. "Because I'm _never_ taking this off!"

Dereece sighed. He chose not to argue about Joey's wardrobe habits and instead regarded his own need for rest. He too walked away. "I think I need to lie down."

Joey looked at Pidove, but the bird looked equally as confused. He dismissively shrugged. "Meh, his loss. So, dinner?"

Pidove smiled wide. "Yum!"

Orion walked out of the cabin entrance to where the engine was, Aniya in tow. Both walked up to Brandish as the mage gave them a look.

"So what's the situation?"

"The coordinates are in place." Orion answered. "Aniya had it set to auto-pilot with a steady output. We should indeed be there by daybreak."

Brandish sighed yet again. She never thought she would be so close to home again, at least not like this. She'd rather have the smoke clear than deal with these matters. But frankly reality taught her a lesson that gave her a good kick in the bikini bottom. Some situations you just can't overlook, whether a big deal or not. "Very well then. Carry on." She turned and walked away from the two, leaving them to mind their own matters at hand.

Aniya watched their contractor walk off, the girl rolling her eyes and putting hands behind her head. "Man, I can't wait until our contract is over. This has been a real pain."

"As sentimental as that is for you, I can't say looking that hopeful towards the future is critical now." Orion rebuffed. "Remember who it is that we're dealing with here."

"I know, I know. Just saying is all."

Orion looked away from his teammate to get a good look around his surroundings. What he saw wasn't all that surprising. Members of Fairy Tail, as well as Crime Sorciere, were actually talking in small groups about the battle they had, and amongst them, ever so casual, Matilda and Griffon seemed to be on the brighter side of the room sort of speak.

"Man, you guys really know how to kick butt." Natsu smirked.

Matilda chuckled at the compliment. "Aw you!" She punched Natsu's arm, which actually stung a bit from her strength. As he winced, the cheeky girl laughed.

"Well those two seem to get along well." Lucy nervously sweat-dropped.

Yukino nodded. "That's a relief. I was hoping we could all get through this, uh…" She trailed off as she noticed Lucy's Klefki giving her an expectant stare. The Steel/Fairy-type was seething leers at the white-haired mage, which started to get a little uncomfortable. "Uh, c-can I help you…?"

"Keys~…" Klefki chimed. Yukino shrunk away, urging Klefki to grow red glints like a devil as she advanced for her prize.

"No, bad Klefki!" Lucy shouted. She had to restrain Klefki before she got too far away, which made Klefki less than cordial about it.

Griffon slumped down and sat right beside Elfman, who was resting. "Man~." He groaned. "What a day."

Elfman took notice of the Peace Jaegers' assassin specialist, frowning at him like he was speculating. He looked back towards his feet, staring with heavier scrutiny. "Yeah, I guess so…"

The tired tone in his voice was a dead giveaway to Griffon. He chose to coincide again. "Hey, you still bummed about that secrecy they had?"

Elfman looked over towards him.

"Look, I get it. You didn't ask me. Nobody asked me. All I'm saying is that people like myself can relate. If you want something done right, you gotta use your own judgement. That's just what Nic did, and lord behold, it worked. Sometimes the best action is to get around the action. That's my approach that is."

Elfman still wasn't sure to make heads or tails if he could completely agree with that. He was always a man of frontal action and muscle, that was just the way he goes at it. His Machop and No Guard Ability was living proof nothing gets past him. But when he thought about it, he did recall the B-Team set up to help with retrieving Makarov back during the previous war, so in essence he didn't have anything to complain about. And, as it turned out, it made itself into a nifty escape plan that turned in their favor. With this in mind, the big guy could feel a part of him knowing it was okay without telling anyone. It sure surprised their friends when they picked them up of course.

He snickered low, catching Griffon's attention. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He grinned. "Just thinking is all."

Griffon opted to see to his own business. He closed his eyes and allowed a grin to plaster his own face.

As Orion watched the alliance grow a little more subtle, he heard footsteps from the side, getting him to turn and see Gray with Juvia approaching.

"Hey…" Gray took a pause as he locked eyes with Orion. The two former foes and Devil Slayers were locked in a short stare down that made it seem hard for either to guess what was on their minds. That is, until Gray spoke again. "Just wanted to say thanks, for earlier. I didn't know what came over me back there."

Orion was surprised at Gray's word of thanks. When he looked towards Juvia, she could see her bow towards him with apology. Frankly, this made Orion smile.

"It's fine. Really, no trouble." He said. "I understand. Just try and be a little more careful when mentally debating, alright?"

Gray sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I learned that the hard way."

Juvia looked on with placid expectations. She felt something tap her shoulder, getting her to turn in question to see Liz standing there with a blank expression, gum chewing as always. "Oh, it's…you…" She looked over towards Gray, seeing him still talking a bit with Orion. With the distraction, she looked back and gave Liz a more serious glare. "Just so we're clear, Gray is mine, you hear?"

Liz tapped the side of her magic headphones, indicating Juvia's words were ignored in some way. The rain woman looked more than annoyed by this, but she'd rather not show it. What she did show however, was surprise when Liz held out her other hand, which had a blue piece of gum sticking out of it.

She looked back at Liz, who had the same face, but cocked a brow. She motioned her eyes towards the gum, and Juvia looked down at the piece, staring long at it. Whether this was a piece offering or just some random gift she wanted to give boggled her for one thing, but even now, she wasn't exactly sure what to do about the situation. But after considering that now that they were allies, Liz wouldn't stoop that low…right?

Out of being nice, Juvia nervously accepted the piece. "Oh, uh, thank you…" She accepted the piece and looked down at it. She hesitated for a moment before she finally bit on the gum, commencing chewing. When it met her taste buds, she could taste a rich blueberry texture swimming along her moist tongue. Her eyes widened at how delicious it was. Her face puckered at how delicious it became. "Mmmm!"

Gray looked over his bare shoulder now, seeing Juvia's face looking like something sour but good was eaten. "Huh? Hey, you giving out gum again?"

Liz bluntly held out another piece of gum towards Gray. "Cool Mint." She said.

Looking down, Gray plucked out a piece. He held it up with curiosity and inspected it out of wonder. He remembered the last time he had gum, and it ended up with him loopy. But everyone deserves a second chance, that's what he's learned. He also chewed on the piece, and as Liz said, it had a sharp but cooling chill that ran along his tongue.

"Not bad." He muffled.

Liz held up a peace sign. "Word."

From afar, Matilda gave an uproarious laugh. "See that?" she winked at the group comprised of Natsu, Vanessa, Sophie, and Sorano. "Told ya she can be nice."

Sorano puffed her cheeks. "Well I want one, too!"

Matilda gave a cheeky smile as she whistled off towards the other side of the boat, getting Liz's attention. "Hey Liz, got some customers over here!"

Sorano waved her over. "Lemon-Lime, please~!"

Though everyone looked situated, Aniya was still looking less than amused. She snorted at their actions. "Hmph." Her attention went towards Nic, who was up ahead and looking out at the setting sun ahead of them. She looked at the back of his head with a mournful look.

She thought back to her conversation with Orion, and how she can't fight these accursed snake lovers. She didn't like it at all, but for the sake of the mission, she was willing to uphold her grudge, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

Nic sat cross-legged on the flat top of a barrel, looking out at the sun setting in the distance. He watched as it radiated to a low level to where it proposed one of Nic's few favorite times of the day: Dusk. Black in the air above, transcending to blue, to yellow, and orange in the skies descending down towards the sea. It was a conjoined array, and ensemble of many colors depending on emotion.

From behind, a pair of footsteps was heard. It was clear from the way that they sounded that they were heavy, and he didn't have to turn around to know who it was. He kept his serious face as Erza approached his side.

"We've had a long day, haven't we?" she started.

"Sounds like an understatement coming from you." Nic responded in a light tone.

Erza chuckled in response. "Yes. You could say that." She looked towards Nic, a smile creeping up her face. "You always seem to know your way around, do you?"

Nic lowered his head and smirked. "Come on, don't start being a kiss up now. It's not like you."

"My apologies. I thought you'd feel flattered." She teased.

Nic chuckled. "You sound like you didn't know me before."

"Well I most certainly didn't think you'd surprise me the way you did."

Nic's smirk widened. "I thought you'd catch on." He looked ahead towards the dusk rays setting, the darkness creeping to show darker clouds drifting in like a sea. "Just aim to please I guess."

The redhead looked ahead as well, a smile creeping up from the corner of her lip. When she thought back to earlier about her fantasies of Nic and Lisanna, she could've laughed out loud at her own silly thoughts. "It's hard to imagined that I was worried over that." She mused.

Nic looked towards her. "About what?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

Nic wasn't sure exactly by the smile she had going on. She looked like she was going for a good chuckle over something hilarious. He chose to disclose it and found Erza's hand holding his wrist. "Woah, hey. Erza." He was yanked off the barrel and skipped across the ground, Erza dragging him like a lead weight.

"Come on. What do you say we go find a better spot to look out at?"

Though he was confused, Nic's curiosity eroded into a smirk as he followed his wife's lead.

* * *

While the married couple went to find a better place to stare up at the space on the flying cruising ship, others below deck were coping with turning in for the night. They needed their rest, and while many like Crime Sorciere and a majority of the Peace Jaegers were dozing off, someone had to watch the Dragon Slayers as they quivered in one of the enclosed cabins in the hall.

"Typical." Gray stood half-naked as expected. Lucy, the Exceeds, Kinana, Meredy, and Lyon were present as they thought it would do good to tag along to check up on them. Of course, that was supposed to be the case. Lyon hitched on because Meredy wanted to check on Erik. He just followed.

"Well this is a problem. They'll be puking their guts up all night." Lector said.

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch cheered.

Pantherlily crossed his arms. "Well I doubt them having bunk beds would change anything. If anything, it makes things even worse." He looked over towards Gajeel, who was twitching on the sheets on a bunk atop of Wendy, who was down below. If he spewed, it wouldn't do well for anyone.

"Oh man." Meredy sighed. "Well I guess we should try and put them to sleep somehow."

"An excellent idea, dear Meredy." Lyon chimed in a swooning fashion. "Why I think that plan is quite lovely. Someone like you could think this up so well."

Gray looked from the distance, sulking for his sibling student. _'Is he serious that much into her now?'_ He shook his head to dismiss anything distraction wise and tried to formulate. "Well, guess we could find someone with a Pokémon that can put them to sleep or something."

"That's great, but where are we going to find one?" Kinana asked, sitting on the lower bunk where she pat Erik's back in comfort.

Lucy's eyes widened in realization. "Hey, wait. Wendy's Swablu knows **Sing**. Maybe that can help."

Gray shrugged. "Works for me. That cool, Carla?"

The Exceed in her white cat for gave a look. "Just don't do anything you would regret."

"Yeah, got it. Now where's all their Poke Ba-!" Gray was cut off when an energy expelled from his Poke Ball in his pocket. He and everyone looked down to see Snover pop out into the open arbitrarily.

"Huh?" Happy inquired.

"Snover?" Klefki questioned. She hung by Lucy's side, finally quelled by the many Heartfilia girl's warnings of being stripped of her keys if she touched any of Yukino's keys.

"What's up, bud?" Gray's inquiry was unanswered when Snover bluntly waddled up in front of the group. He stood before the Dragon Slayers as they were all sickly groaning like sailors keelhauled.

The Snover looked unsure for a moment, but then he seemed brought his leafy hands up. "Uh, okay. L-let's try this…" Slowly, his hands began to glow bright green and he put where a mouth to be towards it. He blew into it, making an eerie but quite sensitive pitch that could be heard down the hall.

The odd pitch was leaving a sting in Lucy's ears, forcing her to cover up. "Yeesh, what is this sound?"

"Beats me, but look!" Happy pointed ahead, referring to the Dragon Slayers.

Lucy and everyone else watched them all stopped their groaning as their draconic hearing caught wind of the entrancing tune. They all saw their dull circular eyes slowly fall shut, and their twitching bodies started to sink into a nice tranquil slumber. To everyone, it was a dream come true.

"Are they all…?" Kinana trailed off.

"I think so." Meredy answered. "They're asleep."

The strange melody Snover emitted finally came to a stop. He let his arms down and looked back at the surprised group. Seeing their faces made him sheepishly scratch his snowy hat top.

Gray blinked. "Snover…what did you do?"

"I, uh…"

"That was **Grass Whistle**." A voice said behind the group. The whole group present turned around towards the cabin entrance to see a certain trainer present.

"Kevin?" Lucy inquired.

"Sorry, I was trying to find a toilet around here when I heard. That was **Grass Whistle** , and it's a Grass-type attack that makes an opponent go to sleep."

"So just like **Sing** then?" Lucy inquired.

"Pretty much."

"Wow, that's so cool! Gray's Snover just used a new move right in front of us!" Lector awed.

"That's so awesome!" Frosch cheered high-fiving the fellow Exceed.

"Wonder what he forgot to make room for that one?" Happy wondered. He remembered that Pokémon can only know 4 moves, and he knew for a fact that Gray's Snover had 4 moves already.

Lyon chuckled amusingly at the sight. "Well now, seems things have gotten rather convenient for us, haven't they?"

"Yeah, you can say that again." Meredy chimed.

Kinana breathed in and out with relief. "Well I'm just glad Erik will be able to sleep this night." She looked over, seeing the mentioned Dragon Slayer out like a light. And by no means was he getting up anytime soon.

"Well then, consider that two of us." Carla voiced, glad Wendy wasn't going to lost anymore of her stomach…this time.

Gray looked down towards Snover, putting his hand on his icy head. "Hey. Nice work." He praised. "We're gonna need that, and you this time around."

Snover was a little surprised with Gray's regards. He wasn't used much the past few times due to his ability being a hindrance, but hearing Gray saying he was needed brought his hopes of service to his capable Trainer made him feel pumped up. "Right!"

Meanwhile, in the lower levels of the cabins, Orion had a room all to himself, blacker than shadows themselves. It was here that he heard the hopes rise from above when he heard the air ducts echo those words. The man sought to a pleasant slumber as his darkness was his blanket.

* * *

In the halls of the Alvarez Empire's corridors containing their most elite warriors, Emperor Neinhart sat on his throne, staring out at the night sky as the near full moon radiated his purple hair. His eyes were covered by a bleak shadow as he looked to ponder.

Behind him, Invel stepped forward and knelt before the emperor's back. "Emperor, I have some with news. It would seem that Caracole Island has been breached by the intruders, just as Hoshina predicted."

Neinhart gave no reply. He stared out ahead into the calm night. Invel opted to open and ask what was wrong, but he saw Neinhart slowly lift his head to gaze up at the moon.

"Did you hear that, Lady Irene?" he equivocally asked to the heavens above. "Lady Erza's acquaintances are quite the tough crowd. Why, that tramp of a person they call Brandish really did have to be the spoiler to my fun. Hadn't she…?"

Invel saw that he was talking to himself. He didn't feel Irene's magical presence anywhere, even with Neinhart's power. Of course he can't say that he was delusional, at least not yet. He sleeps sometimes, and he eats, but he is so spacey that he never listens to him. Even now, he doubts that speaking to him would do good. Nevertheless, he tried once more. "Emperor Neinhart."

"Heh?" He turned his head to look back, showing a disgruntled expression. "What do you want?" he sniped. "Can't you see I was busy?"

"Apologies, but I would like to inform you that the airship that was stolen from Caracole's port has been pinpointed. It's within Alakitasian space."

Neinhart groaned in annoyance. "So?"

"…so, what is it that you propose? You have directives?"

Neinhart waved his arm dismissively at Invel. "Tch, I don't care. Do as you see fit. Just make sure that ship goes down." He ordered.

"Sir." Invel bowed before turning to leave. Before he got too far, Neinhart chose to give one more order.

"Oh, and one more thing…" he paused. "If you can…find Brandish, Nic Pularis, and Lady Erza…and bring them _personally_ to me. I want an audience to see what a show is like."

"As you wish." Invel dutifully exited, leaving the doors to shut and echo.

The spacious emperor was left to stare up at moonlit sky, a sadistic grin growing on his face. It has been hours since the announcement of war, and the time of reckoning for Fairy Tail and Ishgar was upon the next 24 hours. Tomorrow night would be the full moon, and that was the time they would be ready. But for now, with this bit of information, he couldn't be anymore enthused with how the situation has turned out. A weak, maniacal chuckle made his shoulders shrug. "Did you hear all of that Lady Irene? Whatever those putrid Ishgarians did to us before, they would have wished we wiped them out long before any of this happened. I promise you, I will make your last wish come true." His evil smirk grew even more fierce as his Magic Power made a grim, black silhouette of a sultry woman float behind him, her brown eyes glistening like orbs as she narrowed them down at Neinhart. He looked over his shoulder and smirked up at her. Both looked at the moonlight once more as the hour was coming. "What a nice opening to this grand of a show we will put on for the world."

* * *

"Gahahaha!" Ajeel laughed enthusiastically as he walked down the hall with stomps like an upbeat soldier. "I called it! I knew that creepy troll would goof up! Now I get permission to take the new fleet for a spin?! Invel sometimes you make the best calls!" he laughed happily as he went down the hall.

As he walked down the hall, he made it to an intersection where Yajeel was slowly stepping up. The old man came to a stop when he saw his grandson walking by.

"Yo, Gramps!" he exclaimed as he walked by. "Guess what?"

"Hm?"

Ajeel pointed a thumb to himself with a wide grin. "Guess who's gonna go kick some ass on those Fiorians?"

Yajeel didn't need to ask. He already knew the answer was as clear as day itself. He just lowered his head a gave a grievous sigh.

"Well, I don't know about you, but reducing those guys to sand sounds more amusing than anything else right now!" He started walking away to get ready for his chance to shine.

"Ajeel."

Hearing his name, Ajeel turned to look at Yajeel. "Yeah? What do you want, old man?"

"Please…don't go too far down this path." He warned. "It's never too late to turn back."

Ajeel raised a brow and turned fully towards his grandfather. "Man Gramps, you must be deaf or something, because even after I told ya, I still don't know what you're yapping on about. Sheesh!"

Yajeel sighed in a deep grief. "I would've thought so."

"What?"

He looked up with a plea towards Yajeel. "You know who we are dealing with here. It isn't just the very Ishgarians who spared your life. Don't think so highly of yourself because of your accomplishments or your failures. Neither matters when it's your life that you alone hang upon this pedestal."

Ajeel's patience was wearing thin. He angrily looked at his grandfather and sneered. "Gramps, for God's sake, just spit it out already!"

Ajeel lifted his head. "Fine…I want you to stop fighting."

Ajeel's eyes widened at the request he was given.

"Our kingdom is in shambles because of not our loss, but because of the choices that have been disregarded. We of the Spriggan 12 have faltered greatly because we chose the wrong path and have not learned from the mistakes that have been made by us. Now Ajeel…exactly what do you hope to gain from this fight, when it's nothing more than pointless meaning?!"

The words rung through his ears like rivers through a canyon. Ajeel's brow furrowed as he angrily looked at him with a scowl. "Pointless?! POINTLESS?!" he snapped. "Those guys have been scratching too deep into our backs, and you're saying we should just let them waltz in and show us up?!"

"I'm saying!" Yajeel snapped. "That we should consider evaluating ourselves than our enemy. So tell me, grandson…" his eyes narrowed. "Have you thought of who the enemy is?"

It was true that Ajeel did in fact ponder about Yajeel's words from time to time, but only once per day, and those were almost immediately dismissed. Ajeel raised a brow and tried to come up with an answer, but he didn't exactly find anything to counter.

"I take it from the look on your face that you haven't. That is your judgement and yours alone, but please, consider more to life than just the blood that you dry up. Consider it more than just that." Yajeel shakily turned and went in the opposite direction. His stave tapped the ground constantly as he got even farther away from his own grandson. Not that he was close to him to begin with.

"Gramps…"

Before he got too far, Yajeel stopped in his tracks and had his back facing him. "Ajeel…someday if you really consider the voices of those around you, you might hear things that may impact what you want to do. Your father heard voices that I'm sure he would've regret if he were you right now. Mistakes are foundations that reconstructs one's purpose. Don't forget that."

Ajeel gasped at the mentioning of his late father. "Wait, did you just say…! Old man, wait-!" He reached out to Yajeel, but he stopped himself when the old man was walking away with regret in his eyes. The Desert King watched with shock as his grandfather took his leave to a location where he may as well rethink his own matters, and Ajeel could only think about fighting, his prime weakness.

As he stood there, processing his warning, Yajeel's words rung through his mind again. _"Sometimes the real enemy is the one you have to find in yourself."_ His head lowered as he actually began to think to himself. "…the real enemy, huh…?" He looked back the direction where he was supposed to go, where his new fleet was ready to be test fired. He took one more glance over his shoulder before he dismissively walked down that path.

' _Whatever he's saying, it's starting to bug me.'_ As he walked, a malicious smirk crawled on his face. _'Maybe a good war will be just what the doctor ordered. After all, there are plenty of enemies there.'_

* * *

The flying ship through the night sky was quiet as could be. It sailed over clouds on end with what looked like no end in sight. It was impossible to make out the limitless vapor's horizon eve. The only indication was the ship's head having a compass directed north, right next to the steering wheel where Aniya had set to fixed Alvarez.

With it still being night, most if not all of everyone were sound asleep in the few rooms available. With the massive space, it was easy to space out of needed. Crammed in one of the few rooms was Sawyer, along with Richard, Gray, Happy, Griffon, Dereece, Duncan, and Broly.

It was all quiet, until a small bang was heard. Broly was jerked awake by this small sound. Slowly getting up, he looked at his surroundings, catching note of how everyone was sound asleep still. What he also noticed, was something more crucial. An empty bunk.

Another thud was heard above, getting Broly to look up. He maneuvered out of the room and moved towards the sound, which was the boarding above. It was faint all the way, but he traced it towards the stern, where he made it to the opening. There, he saw through a circular window outside in the night. What he saw caught his interests.

"Okay Chespin, one more time! Use **Rollout**!"

"Okay then!" Chespin grew tired of asking why his Trainer wanted to try this, but it felt like it didn't matter at this point. He just curled into a ball and went rolling across the deck towards Joey, who held his ground and put his arms up. He braced as Chespin's Rock-type attack made contact with his elbows. The impact made Joey grunt hard, but he did what he could to hold on despite the complications.

Chespin's attack refused to give in as he rolled further, getting Joey to slide across the deck several meters back, until at last he lost his momentum. Joey fell onto his back, but rolled back onto his knees as Chespin landed several feet away.

"Uh…are you okay?!" Chespin called.

Joey – still wearing his hula skirt for his own reasons – got up to a knee and smirked. "Don't worry." He stood up again. "Man Chespin, your **Rollout** is getting tougher. It's gonna be hard for those Bug and Flying-types to keep you down now."

Chespin smiled happily at his Trainer's praise. "Yeah!"

"I know I probably got a way to go…but I know I'll get my magic somehow." Joey's face showed an intense seriousness. Through the howling of the ship cruising through the air, its audible roaring was low due to the ship's engine. "I won't let Nic-senpai down, and I got you and Pidove to count on and support, too." His fists started to ball from his growing frustration. "It's just like Broly said, maybe it's those late boomers who shine out more, that's why this way, I'll get the incentive to defend myself. Now let's get back to it! Switch to **Vine Whip!** "

"Right!"

As they trained on the far side of the ship, Broly watched from the window, a knowing smile crossing his face. Seeing that determination was a nice way to wake up.

Finally choosing to get up and go, the door opened to let him out. As Chespin readied his next lash of his attack, he stopped to look behind Joey, who turned to see Broly walk up as well.

"Huh? Broly?" Joey stammered. "What's up man?"

Broly stopped several feet away from the two and smiled. "You know, if you really wanna get a workout in…" he pointed a thumb to his face. "The you can sure as hell bet I'm willing to pitch in."

Joey looked surprised by this change of pace. "Wait, you'd really do that?"

"Of course. We are allies, aren't we? Now how's about instead of all talk, let's get some action in, alright?" He pulled his fist back and embedded a turquoise barrier out of it. "Her I come!" He lunged swiftly at Joey with no restriction, surprising him.

"Huh?! Hey, wait-!"

"There's no waiting!" Broly snapped. "Remember what I said about a battle in life or death! Gotta keep your guard up at all times, and save your breath for your actions!"

Joey covered up, with Chespin bracing as well as Broly roared as he closed the gap.

* * *

On the other end of the ship, the front, there was someone wearing his mainly black attire that shrouded him within the dissipating night sky. It almost made him invisible, making him capable of readying a strike anytime or anywhere. This was Nic, and as one expects, he was up before the sun was.

He stared out longingly at the dark haze in the distance, withholding any negative emotions he might have for what's to come. In fact, the look he had was expectant. He wasn't expecting the battle to come. No, far from it. He was expectant of the effort each side will put into it.

He knew from experience that Alvarez wasn't going down without a fight. They had their dignity to uphold, something that Nic wasn't so concerned about. He wasn't a man of honor, nor of deep pride. He just fought for whatever he believed in. Mainly, for others, and to survive in a decrepit world's monarchy. It's what he knows, or rather, what he can believe in. There are better things to fight for other than one's self. That's the folly he sees in the empire, and as a Pokémon Trainer, he was going to make sure they realize it, no matter how many times it takes.

"I thought you would be up." A voice said from behind.

Nic looked over his shoulder to see Erza walk up right beside him. "Erza. You're up, too?" He looked back ahead towards the daylight to come. He saw a little blue in the distance.

"It wasn't my intention. Lucy's Klefki was making a scene with Yukino's keys while she was sleeping."

"And all that jingling rattled you. I see."

Erza pinched the bridge of her nose as her temper was fuming. "I swear, Lucy's got to get ahold of that Klefki's adhesive habits. Just thinking about it makes me wanna…"

Nic snickered. "Well it can't be helped. That's the way most Klefki are, at least from what we've seen, right?"

Erza let go of her fuming over the rude wakeup call and took a lighter note to Nic's testimony. "I suppose you're right. It's all well until slumber is an issue."

"I guess that's one line we can draw there." Both Nic and Erza shared a small chuckle, finding their little musing of insomnia humorous to hindsight. Once the matter was finished talking about, Erza sought to change the subject.

"So why are you up so early?"

Nic's relaxed disposition deepened. "Nothing, just thinking is all."

Erza stepped forward. "About…?"

"About our enemy…how they must feel."

Erza feel silent at Nic's testimony. She held no argument as he resumed.

"If we were in their position, then maybe we would be able to understand what they're going through. We've lost people most dear to us, but they lost precious people too. When you stop and think about that, we're s just as much to blame for the cause of this as they are." His frown deepened as his brows furrowed. "It makes you stop and ask yourself so many questions. But as many of those questions as you ask, there's only one that is important in battle…just who is the real enemy in this crisis?"

Erza stopped whatever she was thinking and thought of Nic's own words. In a way, what he says is the truth, at least to what she can comprehend. They lost Mavis and Makarov, and to an extent, Erza lost her own mother. But Alvarez lost their hopes, their retribution, their ranks…really what they had to fight for was whatever they had left.

"In our eyes, it's Alvarez who is the enemy. They attacked us first, and they want to do it again without second thoughts. But to Alvarez, the enemy at fault could be us. They lost, but so did we. In war, I really didn't think anyone won. It's just how it was interpreted. To Alvarez, they didn't see it the way I, or rather we, did. Which makes me wonder if the real enemy is the one inside yourself."

"Nic…"

Nic looked over his shoulder and gave Erza a confident and reassured look. "We didn't conquer our internal enemies. We made amends and peace, and now we've moved forward together." He grinned. "If one made amends and forgave themselves first, then maybe they can forgive their opponent on the real battlefield. We can only hope that if not us, someone on their side will set this straight for them. For all of us."

The look on Erza's face had eyes glazing on Nic completely. Her eyes softened on him as he looked back forward with hopes, if not resolution. One way or another, the enemy was going to realize its mistakes. And that alone was enough for her to put everything she had into him. She leaned over, kissing Nic on the cheek as he sheepishly accepted it.

"Yes. We'll fix this for them, if they cannot themselves." Erza affirmed.

She and Nic both looked forward, seeing daybreak within the wake. The small rays of light illuminated the atmosphere and the clouds, giving them a brighter shade for them to see through. With partial views of the incoming daylight, the ship could be seen reaching the edge of the sea of clouds, allowing a gaping view of the land below.

Far below, they could see nothing but water. It looked like a huge basin because of its edging, and yet around its edging, it looked like forest lining. Beyond that, they could see a stretch of wasteland before moving to something faded behind clouds in the distance. As small as it was by distance, they knew it was grand.

"There it is." Erza said.

"Yeah…"

Both knew their target lied ahead. Alvarez. It was within sight now, a sight most grand for an enemy indeed. When they looked down again, they could tell that it was the forest that Nic and Ajeel fought, and much to Nic's surprise, there was a massive change to it regarding the huge basin it held.

"That's strange." He muttered.

"What is it?" Erza asked.

"When Ajeel and I fought, that basin wasn't there before. Did the water from our battle soak into one spot…?" He was drawn out of his aspiration when he heard a whistling from ahead. It grew, getting him to look forward to see something flying their way. Nic readjusted with Erza and both prepared as the strange projectile drew closer.

Erza and Nic both narrowed their eyes, their vision sharpening with their artificial eyes. T=What they saw in a zoom-up, was what looked like a prolonged laser that coursed through the clouds like a torpedo at them directly.

When they processed that, Nic took action. _'An attack?!'_ He reached out, using **Protect** to make a large shield in front. He grunted as he held his ground upon impact. The deck's front was enveloped in a magnitude that shuddered the whole ship, a smoke cloud billowing. Inside the ship, everything rocked, waking everyone up and startling Happy.

"Huh?!"

Lucy looked up, heard a boom above. "What the heck?"

"Did we land or hit something?" Meredy worried.

Kagura held up high suspicions as she turned her head towards the bow's direction. Something in her gut told her to get ready for something, and that's what she did.

Joey and Broly stopped their training when they heard the blast wave from the far end. They turned and looked at the daybreak light with shock. "What the heck?!" Joey shrieked. "What was that?!"

Broly's eyes narrowed, his suspicions also rising. _'Looks like trouble already.'_

Moments later, the smoke on the ship's bow dissipated, revealing a chipped pointed end of the bow, where nothing else was damaged or broken. Nic's shield went down, revealing him and Erza unharmed.

"Damnit…" Nic grunted.

Behind him, everyone was exiting the cabin entrances and catching up. Joey and Broly also followed along the side to catch up with everyone except the Dragon Slayers and Kinana, who volunteered to watch over them. Once they were all caught up, they looked out with surprise at the view.

"Hey, we heard a big bang! Something wrong up here?!" Gray exclaimed. He reached ahead, where he gasped in shock. Juvia stopped as well.

Lucy, Happy, everyone, all came around to show their surprise with what they were seeing. Nic and Erza were glaring at the new dawn, as though itself was a nemesis. Normally sunrises meant good and new beginnings, as well as settings of woe, but frankly, the woe chose to stay around a little longer.

All showed shock as they continued to sail through the clouds, but where they were sailing to were figments that were bleak but comprehensible.

Orion's eyes narrowed. "Looks like they came for us as well."

Heading in their direction, all eyes laid on the 50 ships that were flying through the skies. They were of the same design as they were back in Magnolia, with armored gliders, but all of their sizes were to make up for their speed. In measurements, each battleship was maybe a third of the massive ship the alliance took. In the center in front, there was one larger than the rest, which made it half as big as the ship. And on that ship carried someone who was working his way into the fray.

Staring ahead, Nic's eyes narrowed. He could see who it was coming their way, and he wasn't pleased either. "You…"

On the large ship, there was none other than Ajeel, who had a big smile on his face as he looked at the incoming group.

"Hello, Fairy Tail." He sneered maniacally with sharpened eyes. "Did ya miss me?"

* * *

 **Well, here it is, and may I say that I think I did a good enough job with this one. I managed to keep it under 20K for once. And, believe it or not, I actually started to cut back just like I said. So yeah, maybe there will be more chapters than necessary in this story here on out, but to make it more tolerable, I think it'll be worth it. Besides, this is a long arc.**

 **So what I'm gonna try now is keep my chapters around a range of 11K-17K. That should be enough for you guys to tolerate, right? It'll fit just enough to make it bearable. I hope I was able to make each scene segmented short enough for you guys rather than prolong them. So, in light of this, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading!**


	13. Shipwrecked

The massive altitude roared as loud as the velocity each and every ship in the flying arsenal Ajeel had. All their engines roared so loud that it would've broken the sound barrier, making Ajeel's heart for battle thump just as loudly. He smirked at his enemies as they closed in, impending doom on the rise.

Nic's glare hardened as he recognized his foe. "Ajeel…"

"Crap, isn't that the sand creep we've met before?" Gray exclaimed.

"Aw man, not him again!" Happy whined. "We barely got out the last time!"

For those who were on board with the whole Makarov rescue mission ordeal, they remembered full well of Ajeel, and everyone else recalled his arrival in Magnolia with his fleet then. Making sandstorms, and nearly getting away is something that still made some of their hearts race to this day.

Griffon's eyes narrowed as he saw the numbers ahead. "Just look at the size of those things. Just how many are there?"

"Don't know, but we're in big trouble if we don't fight back, and quick!" Matilda groaned. She of all people wanted to get hands-on against the empire, but she didn't have any capabilities of doing battle this high off ground. Plus, she could never hope to leap that far and not be picked up by the air currents.

Ajeel glared ahead as many of the people on the other ships got to battle stations. He snickered low as cannons reloaded, while others were charging up to attack. "Let's get this welcome party started, shall we?" He reached out ahead. "Alright, fire on my signal!"

Even without perceptive hearing, many could see the signals. "Everyone look alive, he's about to make a move!" Erza warned.

"Uh, anyone got any bright ideas?" Lucy worried.

Nic frowned at the circumstances, but not to where he mentally cursed himself. He knew for factual reasons that their aerial dynamics were limited. Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers were being watched by Kinana and Kevin as they spoke, leaving them predisposed. They only had so few on hand who could possibly fly; himself included.

But he wasn't a quick thinker for nothing. He looked down at the bow's damage, seeing how a chink was blown off. _'If this material is magicproof as Ultear said, then those cannons must be at a caliber strong enough to bring things like this down.'_ He took the first initiative at hand. "Everyone, protect the ship!"

"Right!" they all exclaimed.

Ajeel's arm went down and out, giving the command with a glory-filled smile. "Alright, light 'em up! Fire!"

At his command, the 50 ships' cannons all fire prolonged projectile blasts across the sky. Each one whistled as they streamed like comets at the massive cargo ship ahead of them.

Joey was on the brink of paling. Dereece was full-on panicking and wailing as more attacks head their way. Bypassing them, Broly made a dash ahead of them. "Wait, what are you doing?!" Joey exclaimed.

"What I was told to do!" Broly roared. "Everyone sit tight, it's gonna get bumpy!" He passed Nic and Erza as he made his way to the front, where he saw all the blasts heading his way. Now seeing the many projectiles in sight, he reached both arms out in brace.

"Alright! **Barrier-Make: Barrier!** "

A massive glass-like turquoise shield expelled from in front, quickly shielding all away around the entire ship's front. It looked like a massive rampart that all of the projectile blasts shot into. Each one rippled and faded as the shield was undeterred by any means, much to Ajeel's surprise.

"Huh?! A shield?" he exclaimed.

Seeing Broly's impenetrable defense, Meredy look relieved. "Oh wow, that's stopping them all!" she happily exclaimed.

Lyon frowned. "That may be so, but it's far too early for a celebration."

"He's right! We've gotta attack back!" Aniya shouted, requipping what looked like a prolonged light. When it faded, she pointed it ahead, glistening in the sunlight as a massive cannon-like structure was in front of her, having many holes that could unleash missiles. "Alright, time to fight fire with fire!"

Erza turned towards the group. "Lisanna! You and Elfman make sure that the Pokémon are safe!"

Lisanna nodded. "You got it!"

"Leave it to a man to get the job done! Let's go, sis!"

"Right!" Lisanna and Elfman turned away, leaving the rest behind as they hurried back inside the door.

Erza looked at Gray. "How are Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers?"

He furrowed his brow at the redhead. "Not too bright right now. The ship's been a rocky road for them. Plus Snover put them to sleep before. It'll be a while before we get 'em in the air."

Erza turned back around to look forward. She didn't like it, but they didn't have much to work with at the moment. But nevertheless, she knew someone had the plans. She looked over to her husband, who was glaring ahead.

Nic was completely silent as he frowned dead ahead. He could see pass the few yellow ripples hitting the huge barrier that the origin lied with their adversary. He could see the intense glare and wicked smile the Sand Mage was giving them. Even if inaudible, he could tell he was snickering, and he knew better than to ask why. The answer was obvious. And it was because of that it was the reason why they came here.

His disposition changed. He made a dash ahead, startling his wife. "Nic?!"

"Erza, get Talonflame ready!" he yelled. He closed in on Broly, while the Barrier-Make Mage was trying to concentrate. "Broly, are you able to make any openings above?"

Without facing him, he responded. "Yeah, I can! What for?"

"It's as your comrade said…if they want an air battle…" His glare hardened. "Then you'll give them what they asked."

The Barrier-Make Mage smirked. _'He must have confidence and experience if he wants to go for that. And making an opening above would allow an opportunistic surprise, hopefully that is.'_ "Alright, Nic, show's all yours!" Above everyone, the turquoise veil overhead made a small opening, no bigger than a Wailmer possibly. "You've got 30 seconds!"

"Got it!" Nic looked towards Erza, giving her an assuring nod. The redhead, finally understanding, nodded.

"Be careful."

Nic smirked. "No promises. Let's give them what they asked for…" He pulled out a Poke Ball, swinging his arm to launch it. "Staraptor…GO!"

"Talonflame…come forward!" Erza launched her Poke Ball next. Together, both capsules opened, and both birds surged out of into the deck's air above, cawing loudly.

Nic bent down, glowing and transforming into his Sky Form. The sash he had was white as clouds, along with the rolled-up cuffs. The edging was cloudy white around his coat, but for the rest of the way, everything was sky blue. _'There isn't time to waste…'_ His feathered wings spread as he looked up. _'We need to settle this once and for all.'_ He flapped his wings once, making powerful gusts expel everywhere, casing everyone to jerk away and cover up. Nic shot up like a rocket, climbing steeply towards the hole. Talonflame and Staraptor both flapped their wings, the two doing a somersault that made momentum for a shot straight up alongside Nic.

With all their bodies streamlined, they converged and looked like a three-headed torpedo. As they shot out altogether, time drastically slowed down for the three as white and sunlight beamed everywhere.

' _This time…'_ A surge of wind enveloped Nic, pulsating around him, Talonflame, and his Staraptor. "IT'S OUR TURN TO FIGHT!" As he roared, his **Tailwind** activated. A massive wind jetted them all, making them surge like Mach speed bullets. When they left the barrier, a ripple was seen high above, where three projectiles continued a steady and sharp climb into the nomadic blue. As they climbed higher into the atmosphere, they sounded like jets. "Stop those ships at all costs!"

"Okay!" Talonflame exclaimed.

Staraptor's red eyes sharpened. "On it!"

Narrowing his eyes, Nic picked up speed, the **Tailwind** making small streams follow them as they all diverged; Nic being a massive arch over like a rainbow, with the two birds streaming in arching at an angle along the sides. They all flew at monstrous speeds that made them break the sound barrier, and even that was alarming some of the ships.

Ajeel motioned his arm again. "Don't let up! Keep firing until that barrier gives in!"

The ships all did as told and continued their relentless barrage of magical projectiles against the foreign invaders. Even as Broly closed the hole atop of the barrier, nothing was getting through. But still, they kept pushing, just like soldiers were supposed to do.

Orion stepped up to Broly's side, his disposition as serious as ever. "How far are we from the enemy?"

"1 kilometer from how it looks!" he yelled back through his barrier being banged against.

Orion nodded and turned away. "Alright then. Aniya, do what you must."

"Hmph! No problem!" The magenta-haired girl sneered as she held up her cannon. She used the two wheels on her device and thrust it forward. She pushed hard enough to where it stood beside Broly. "Alright, I'm ready!" Broly used his powers again to make a decent opening for just a split second. She pushed forward again, and the barrier closed around the cannon's tip so nothing would get through. Her orange visors she had on began to show translucent monitors and lock-on sequences. Many pinpoints that were red beep rapidly as a signal went off on the visor, spelling 'TARGET LOCKED'. A smirk crept onto her face. "Okay…how's about you eat missiles you pricks!" She pulled the trigger, and the next thing anyone saw were the holes in the cannon firing actual missiles that flew through the air at massive speeds.

The missiles all whistled as smoke trailed behind them as they surged pass many magical masers. Due to their programming, the missiles avertedly dodged the bullets, though one or two got hit, exploding in a fiery display that swallowed up a lot of space. The missiles closing alarmed soldiers on one ship as they screamed and ran for cover, but one missile collided with the ship, exploding with such a range that the whole deck and below was engulfed in flames. The ship went down, and with it, several more missiles surged and hot ships in their wings, their sides, even square center head on. In total, 10 ships were breaking apart and going down like flaming pyres.

Aniya sneered victoriously. "Too easy."

"She took out a fraction of them in just one blow?!" Lyon gasped.

"Well isn't that an impressive feat." Minerva mused.

Yukino stepped off to the side shakily. "Uh…a-are we going to be okay?"

"Don't worry." Matilda smirked. "Don't forget who you're aligned with here. Nothing can get pass Broly's defense and Aniya's weaponry. This won't be a problem at all."

"Don't jinx it, sweet cheeks." Sawyer said.

* * *

The cabins of the ship rocked incredulously. With each projectile fired against Broly's barrier, it sounded like rain outside. Kinana was on her knees, holding onto the bunk where Erik was unconscious. In the same room, Kevin and a recently joined Meredy were holding onto a bunk each to make sure no one fell out.

"I hope they're okay out there." Kinana worried. She looked down towards Erik, seeing his expression of pain and anguish from his Dragon Slayer sickness.

The boat rocked again, leaving Meredy to grip to the leg of Sting and Rogue's beds. On them, Lector and Frosch volunteered to stay behind just in case. But even they were shaken up.

Frosch was quivering on Rogue's side, trying to restrain his worries but wasn't doing a good job. He was on the verge of tears even.

"It's gonna be okay, Frosch. Don't you worry." Lector assured on the top bunk. "We'll be alright, trust me."

Frosch stopped his whimpering and looked up. "Y-you sure?"

Lector nodded. "Positive." He looked back out the window, staring at the projectiles exploding constantly outside. _'I hope…'_

* * *

The ships relentlessly assaulted, not bothering to stop anytime soon. As many of them fired, one of the soldiers on a deck looked up. "Huh?"

"What is it?" another asked.

The soldier pointed up confusedly. "Is it me, or is that a shooting star?"

The other soldier on a ship got closer and looked up as well. He couldn't explain it, but some sort of pressure was coming their way. It looked odd, but it had some sort of flame-like end to it. It came in so fast that it ripped through the pockets of the clouds. Any and all clouds dissipated away into nothing.

"Wh-what, it's coming in fast!" He worried. From closer, it looked like the comet of fire became blue flames instead. "Too fast…too fast…! Quick, fire! FI-!"

The blue fiery comet soared clean into the ship, ripping through the deck and straight out the bottom where the engine's lacrima shattered. A gleaming blue trail shimmered to a thin end as the blaze receded, and it seemed nothing happened. Moments later, the underside of the deck became to beam with flames, and the men aboard covered up and screamed as the ship outright exploded.

Meanwhile, as the explosion spread, something orange blazed skywards, passing another ship.

"What was that?!" a soldier registered the explosion.

Another soldier was distraught as the ship next to them exploded, but then some high humming caught his attention. When he turned around in question it was too late. "Huh-?!"

A spinning metallic torpedo shot at incredulous speeds that it ripped through three ships hauls, including their engines in a split second. As the torpedo kept going, the silence fell again before the engines and lower ends of the ships erupted in a fiery explosion, bringing them down next.

Ajeel gasped as the sound of explosions happened behind him. When he looked around, he saw the closest ships sinking in fiery fashion. His shock never ceased to surmount itself. He could actually feel a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face.

CRAW!"

A loud caw snapped him back to attention. An orange blur sailed right pass his lone ship, getting his eyes to snap open. "Is that…?" He turned his head around, seeing another brown and gray blur sail in an arch above lasers still aiming for the barrier. When he heard another caw, he turned and looked to see the orange blur soaring around again to attack another ship. The fiery bird he practically recognized, making his nerves crawl. "That bird…!"

A blur shot down in front of him.

 _ **BOOM!**_

The entire deck, including Ajeel, was blown away. Dust and debris of the wooden deck almost completely shattered to nothing, while at the same time unleashing powerful shockwaves that made any windows on the largest ship shatter. One by one, they all broke as the shockwaves pulsated. Ajeel yelped as he slammed against the cabin wall, making a powerful dent inside the wood.

He opened an eye through the dust, his teeth showing anger. "What the hell…?" He grunted as he pried himself out of the wall and onto his feet. He peered into the dust cloud, anger rising. "What the hell just happened?! Well?!"

A long pause of nothing came to pass, giving no reply to his outrage. It wasn't until moments later that he heard something else.

"…Ajeel."

The voice made Ajeel's eyes widened in shock. Something in his heart completely stopped him from moving all of a sudden. _'That voice…'_

The dust finally cleared, revealing a pair of blue eyes that seared intense daggers into his sandy heart. Nic Pularis has arrived, and he was ready for battle, as he always was. And, as before, he was in a cross between his Sky Form and Splash Form. The way he was postured and hovering in the air while dust dissipated away from him and his pressure left Ajeel morally stunned.

"N-Nic Pularis?" he shakily replied. "You…?" He was cut off when Nic suddenly appeared above, his wings glowing via **Wing Attack**. Still stunned, Ajeel saw Nic swing down and crash his right wing the back of his head, immediately sending him crashing through the boarding of the ship into the lower levels.

Nic held his wing down for a moment before he inertly flapped gently higher and looked down. He waited a few seconds before getting a response from the darkness inside the hole he created that Ajeel plummeted through. A short moment receded until a geyser of sand shot straight up. It flowed at an alarming rate that its spout reached Nic's elevation. Within the sand geyser and Nic's tension, the air around them was steep with pressure.

The sand geyser slowly eroded out a head, revealing Ajeel's face with an outraged expression. "Lucky shot."

Nic didn't respond, instead, he glared.

"I was hoping I would find you or your pathetic Pokémon at some point. It's good to know that you came to me rather than the other way around."

"It didn't matter either way." Nic countered. "Knowing you, you probably wouldn't be satisfied until your pride was restored…along with your empire."

Ajeel's eyes narrowed in delight. "Damn right!" Streams of sand quickly shot out, but Nic disappeared before they could make contact. "I've been waiting for almost a year to get payback for you humiliating me _twice_! First you, and then that accursed dragon who _dared_ to question the divine Desert King's power! Nobody gets away with questioning my worth and power!"

"That so…?" Ajeel gasped. When he looked up, he saw that Nic was straight above him, cloaked in a mixture of air and vapor from the atmosphere. All that churning pressure eroded into his back, more accurately, his tailbone. The water took over in a cyclone, creating **Aqua Tail**. "Then shut up and prove it!" he swung down.

"GLADLY!" Ajeel's sand body morphed into a jet of sand, which collided with the cyclone of water by Nic's attack. At that instant, the air expelled dust and mist together, which created shockwaves across the ship's atmosphere.

As rain and clumps of sand fell onto the deck, so did Ajeel in his physical form. He slammed on his back har, while Nic swiftly fell to his feet unhindered. He dropped his hand to the ground and took aim. Ajeel groaned, but opened and eye in time to see Nic opening his mouth. Startled, Ajeel morphed into sand and separated in a split second before Nic's **Hydro Pump** launched across the atmosphere. The massive torrent of water was like a huge pressurized wave that tore the boarding beneath, soon to blastclena through the cabin area. The attack continued as a beam outwards, dissipating into an array of sparkles from miles away into the rising sun.

The damage done was shown. Nic remained unfazed as he saw that he eliminated the entire cabin and leveled the ship's entire deck. He even tore off the sail from that powerful Water-type attack. As he looked forward, a blob of sand appeared behind him, where there, a smirk was seen inside. The smirking figure made an axe of sand, swing it horizontally for Nic's back.

" **Ramal Fa'as!** "

The double-edged axe closed in, but without having to look, Nic turned into water, leaving the sandy arm and axe to go through the residual water. Ajeel's eyes widened as he saw Nic's actions and his arm becoming dense. _'He dodged it…'_

Reappearing from water below, a hand reached up and grabbed the dense sandy arm. Ajeel grunted as his body materialized into physical form and was thrown over Nic's shoulder, slammed hard into the deck with a bone-breaking thud. He gagged profusely as the shock went right into his spine, leaving him stunned while Nic maintained his grip.

His face was severely serious, more serious than ever. His very grip tightened on Ajeel, holding him down as a pillar of water swallowed the Sand Mage from below.

* * *

As the geyser of water became a massive mist cloud board the ship, there was another confrontation happening in the skies. Staraptor and Talonflame were cawing out as they soared, evading blasters and shouting soldiers from the ships they passed.

"Fire!" One of the captains ordered. The blasters on his ship unleashed projectiles streams that followed the two birds as they shot straight out and away. When the beam got close enough, as if on instinct, they bisected by splitting left and right, making sharp U-turns while the many beams instead hit the keel of the ship in front, causing it to explode.

As the ship in front literally went up in flames and sunk, many of the soldiers were shocked. "Sir, Number 15 was taken out, by…us!" one gasped.

The captain of the ship growled angrily. "Curses."

Talonflame soared around the ship again, her body giving a faint blue glow. " **Acrobatics!** " She zigzagged through the air at massive speeds, leaving blue streaks to follow her wake as she zipped straight through the right armored wing of the ship, causing it to erupt. With the one wing down, all of a sudden, the entire ship began to tilt off towards its right, causing many to hang onto something or otherwise slide over.

The ship next door was stable, but the crew looked completely bewildered as the ship was tilting towards them. The flyer of said ship was holding onto the steering wheel, but even he was shocked.

"What just-?!" A talon struck his back, zipping him into three other soldiers in a row that crashed into the planks of the side. Many more looked back at the origin to see Staraptor right in front of the steering wheel.

The avian cawed as she opened her talons and seized the steering wheel. She folded her wings and gained momentum for a full spin, hanging on like a parrot to its perch in a birdcage. After making a single turn, the entire ship began to slowly tilt in the direction of the waning ship.

One soldier ran at Staraptor, but when she finished her second turn, she used momentum and shot back skywards as the wheel kept spinning. The soldier grabbed hold and stopped it, but he couldn't stop the ship itself. "Huh?! AAAAH!"

The two ships tilted and collided with one another, their cannons and armament touching to making a massive blasé and explosions rattle the airspace. Meanwhile, as flames and eruptions billowed, Staraptor ascended up and away with ease, making a small arch to straighten up and look down at the damage she and Talonflame were doing.

Before she knew it, cannons were pointing up at her.

"Fire at that bird!" another captain roared. Following command, many of the cannons let loose long-range blasts skywards.

As the projectiles closed in one Staraptor, the avian only saw incoming dazzling lights. " **Double Team!** " She glowed white for a split second before blurs separated from her body, flashing into illusionary copies that evaded the incoming projectiles. The Staraptor clones all diverged in the same fashion she, Talonflame, and Nic did when shooting out, diving and swerving pass each and every barrage with supreme accuracy. Hardly even a clone was grazed.

As clones soared in between ships, the ships themselves made the mistake to open fore on each other. When some clones were hit, they vanished to reveal a projectile beam that many of soldiers screamed and wailed. As explosions ran about, the eruptive wake made clouds of flames billow behind the real Staraptor as she soared on with a bloodcurdling caw.

* * *

Ajeel was already on his stomach as he tried t catch his breath. He was battered so bad that it was hard for him to tell if the lack of oxygen was from being so high up or from Nic knocking him down a couple pegs. Either way, Nic looked down ready as Ajeel grunted. "…heh…those were just flukes!" he retorted.

Nic didn't respond.

Ajeel smirked. "What's the matter? Too tough to talk?" He suddenly whipped up a powerful dust storm around him and Nic. One wave brushed passed him, making him mold into the whirling sand itself. The cyclone of sand whipped and whirled around Nic as he remained stationed on the ground, glancing around to pick up traces of the opposing mage.

A loud, cackling snicker went through the mass of the grinding sand. As it flowed, so did the voice that echoed. "So you really think you can find me? Gods like us are untouchable, you know that! In this form, even you can't completely grasp me!"

Nic morbidly frowned. "'Us Gods', you say…" Suddenly, the pressure over the funnel of sand began to change. Over the expanse that was the wall of grains, a mass of swirling back clouds began to form. "Sorry if I had to be the one to say this, but as far as I see it, we're not Gods, neither of us are, no matter who, or how anybody sees it. We're nothing more than just two men, simple as that."

As he finished his statement, the black clouds above began to deliver a serious downpour, via **Rain Dance**. The attack began to pour dense water that enveloped the cyclone, causing it to become dense and slow down, much to Ajeel's shock. _'Gnnngh…what…? My sand is getting hard to maneuver.'_ He thought. _'It's…it's that accursed rain. Of course-!'_ If he had eyes, he could've widened them when he felt an intense pressure spin right beneath him in the form of water. He screamed loudly as water quickly took him over.

" **Whirlpool!** "

The cyclone of water surged like a miniature tornado all around Nic was within it, the grains of sand dissolved. Amongst the sand, Ajeel was once again brought to his original state, holding his breaths as the water dragged him swiftly and relentlessly. With the sand all gone, the cyclone of water shot Ajeel skywards, screaming in anguish as he tumbled through the air into the planks, making dust engulf his space.

Nic remained passively calm as rain fell over the ship, with the sunlight still peering from behind the actual clouds behind Ajeel, who shakily arose. He was hunched over, wincing as his entire body was enveloped in massive scrapes and bruises from Nic's perpetual assaults. What's worse, arose him, there was a small whirlpool of water fixing him in place. He was grunting as hard as he was glaring in angst.

"Now tell me, why do you think that you're a god?" Nic questioned. "What's your definition of these guys to begin with?"

Gajeel strained to break free, but as futile as it was, he heard Nic's question. "What are you, stupid?! A god is someone who never loses! Someone who has all the power he needs to crush anyone who stands in his way."

"That's more of a tyrant's outcry than anything else."

"Gnnngh! What do you know? You have all this power yet you don't use it for glory of war?!" Ajeel yanked to either side, but that proved worthless as well. "What's the point of power if you can't exercise it?!"

Nic's brow furrowed as he glared at the trapped Sand Mage. "Have you ever thought there was more to life than just war? It's not always about fighting. Don't get me wrong, I love to fight as much as the next guy, perhaps even more so…but there's a fine line that separates us, and that's what makes our love for battle questionable."

Ajeel smirked. "So then you admit you love to fight."

"I do…but the kinds I love aren't the ones I expect you to understand. At least not yet."

Ajeel tried to break free one more time, but he found no use to that. "Oh shut up!" he snapped, glaring seething daggers at his foe. "This coming from a man who made an enemy with the world and had to fight back?! You took what was rightfully ours! You, your little guild! Everything! What makes you think that your power is greater than the Desert King himself?!"

"Probably because unlike you, I consider my opponent's actions and motives…but if you're not listening now, then that's fine by us. If all you care about is fighting for its own sake, then that's fine by me."

"You sound just like my old man. It's so annoying." Ajeel painfully groaned. "Spouting on about crap like _why_ , when I just _want_ to! And you're saying that war itself is meaningless?! You're an even bigger dumbass than he is!"

"…yeah, maybe I am to you…" Nic answered. "But that's how you see it, and that's fine…but far be it from me to _not_ show you why we fight."

Ajeel accepted Nic's challenge with a smirk. Even though he couldn't get outside the attack, he could still reach for his back. "So you really think that you understand me, do ya? That's a boast that I think proves that you're just arrogant. How's about I show you what I meant…" He pulled out a Poke Ball in front. "Is all about!"

Nic's eyes narrowed. He knew what was coming his way, but he opted to skip pointless talking and get to the action.

Ajeel whipped his arm back and threw it skywards. "Alright…kick his ass!" He threw the Poke Ball over the whirlpool, popping open to summon his Trapinch that landed in front of him. He opened his mouth a little to emit a low hiss. "Alright you little ant, kick this sucker's ass or so help me!"

The Trapinch nodded low in understanding. Nic saw the Trapinch's slow head nodding and had one of his gut feelings that it seemed too transparent. He moved his fingers to his mouth and emitted a loud, quick whistle that caught Staraptor's attention. Almost immediately, the bird flew right into the rain cloud, making a large flap to kick up wet puddles that dissipated around her. Once ready, she glared ahead, making a sharp red glare that made Trapinch shudder; not just from her overwhelming pressure, but from her Intimidate Ability, lowering his Attack stat.

Ajeel snickered. "Ready?"

"Evermore." Nic answered.

* * *

The projectiles of what remained of the few ships kept firing away, at either Talonflame, or against other missiles that Aniya fired, or against Broly's barrier, which still was far from going down.

"Keep it steady, Broly." Orion said. "Don't let them damage the wings or haul."

"Got it. HRAAAH!" Broly gave out a loud roar as he concentrated his magical power into the massive barrier. The whole thing became much wider as it stretched out on either side. The blast waves tried to get about the shield, but alas to no avail.

Joey looked around, completely in awe of Broly molding his shield again. "Woah, he's actually molding something this big?!"

"Damn, that's crazy!" Gray exclaimed.

"Don't get too excited now!" Broly shouted back. "It may be impenetrable, but this guy's range can only go so far! Gotta make sure we don't down so easily either, ya hear?!"

As he was keeping the barrier up, more and more ships tried fruitlessly to attempt and get their shots in, but the barrier, even if molding horizontally, didn't budge. It was frustrating. One soldier was manning one cannon on a fellow ship, and he was hardly getting volleys in.

"Damnit, sir! That thing ain't going down!" He wanted to know what to do, but no orders came. "Sir!" He looked over, but what he saw was a petrified captain.

The captain shakily pointed skywards out towards north. "L-look out!"

"Take cover!" another soldier leaped to the planked floor.

The soldier manning the one cannon with both hands looked towards the warning, which turned out to be an intense flaming comet, via **Flare Blitz**. The soldier gasped before he flinched, while the flaming comet went clean through the ship's center, wings and all.

As the entire ship was engulfed in flames by the erupting blast wave of Talonflame's attack passing through, the cannon and the pilot of the weapon on the one end felt his side breaking off. He clutched on tight, bracing for what might be a terrible fall. As he readied for such a thing, he opened one eye, gasping as he saw underneath, as he was starting to plummet, the barrier's range stopped in front of the keel, where the engine was.

Initiating what could be his final duty, he kept one eye open as he went through the lock-on signal. As the ship broke into flaming pieces, he took careful aim, and fired from the cannon, one last projectile beam blitzed skywards towards the engine.

 _ **BOOM!**_

The lone projectile met its mark, making a shuddering wake underneath the massive cruiser that enveloped that one part in flames. The whole ship even wobbled, shuddering as everything inside shook up good, including Lisanna and Elfman, as they were trying to keep the Pokémon cages from falling out of line. Elfman was lucky to have caught some.

On deck, the structure wobbled everyone, making almost all of them loose balance.

"W-whoa! What the heck was that?!" Lucy snapped.

"Shit! Don't tell they got the engine!" Griffon cursed.

Jellal steadied the best he could and rushed over to the side; Bellona soon to follow. Both gripped onto the side and peered over. They saw a large cloud of smoke coming from underneath, and what sounded like churning coming to a slow halt. "It's down!" Jellal warned. The ship shuddered once more, getting to almost lose balance.

Slowly, the momentum of the ship began to work against them. The whole thing began to tilt downwards, and everyone aboard tried to hang on as the end of the slightly damage bow began to fall into the inside of the barrier. The whole structure's front grinded against the indestructible barrier, taking off even more pieces of its refined front.

"You've gotta be kidding me, damnit~!" Aniya cried out with the whole group.

As Joey and Dereece were holding the other tightly and comically wailing for their lives, Duncan used his kendo stick and plunged it into the planks as an anchor. Meanwhile, in the background, Liz held on, still chewing gum instead of screaming.

With Broly hanging on and losing focus, he grunted in frustration. The shuddering was not helping as it made him undo his massive barrier, leaving them open to the last few ships to attack.

"OPEN FIRE!" One brave captain pointed ahead. Responding, the cannons on the few ships remaining fired whatever they had, unleashing projectile beams that zoomed freely at them.

Everyone covered up as they hurried towards the upper deck, running while other were blown upwards by the eruptions of magical beams hitting the sides and front of the ship. Each one never ended, and neither did the suffering that was to come.

* * *

Ajeel's smirk widened. "Then go! Use **Sand Tomb!** " Trapinch did as told and his eyes glowed bright green. His head arose, and beneath Staraptor, what looked like a mess of sand and dirt stirred around in a funnel like Whirlpool was for Ajeel, surrounding Staraptor and keeping her trapped inside. "Heh, just try and get out of that." He dared. "Anything that it touches is trapped just like my…!" He trailed off, his concentration broken by something off. "Huh?"

Nic's stare was so intense that it made it seem he wasn't fazed at all. It left Ajeel even more unsound when he looked inside the attack. Inside, if one looked closely in between the lines of sand, a red glare showed unfazed determination.

"Staraptor!"

Staraptor brought her wings back inside the **Sand Tomb** , making a short but loud huff as she flapped her powerful wings once, immediately dissipating the sand. It all scattered pass Trapinch and Ajeel, making both wince in shock.

The Sand Mage looked back, completely shocked. "What? But how did…?"

"Ground-type moves have no effect on Flying-type Pokémon." Nic answered. "That goes for your sand as well."

Ajeel gasped in sudden realization. When he thought about it, he was fuming on occasion of why when he and Nic first thought that his attacks unable to hit meant something was wrong. _'Wait, hold on a sec. Doesn't that involve that 'type' crap he-!'_

"Now it's our turn!" Nic enforced. "Staraptor, **Steel Wing!** " Staraptor's wings glowed and she spread them, making airwaves pulsated when they tightened. Once accomplished, she zoomed in as an alarming blur.

Ajeel gasped in shock. "Hurry, stop it! **Rock Slide!** "

Trapinch raised his head towards the rainy clouds. Before he could make do with starting, Staraptor's wing slammed a force so strong that it left Trapinch in a moment's worth of suspense. It looked like it was just a bump to the head but moments later, Trapinch floored so hard that the planks beneath dented inwards. A shockwave picked up Trapinch as he sailed uncontrollably over the Whirlpool and into Ajeel, thudding so hard that the trapping attack dissipated.

Dust receded, and Ajeel was seen on his back groaning as Trapinch laid on his lap with swirly eyes unable to battle. His eyes widened in shock. "No way!"

A foot stepped forward. Ajeel gasped as he looked up. He saw Nic with Staraptor behind him, and both looked so fierce and yet so calm that it was alarming.

Ajeel recoiled in shock, he reached out ahead to thwart Nic, but fear was taking him over. "Wha-n-no! Stay away! Stay away!"

As Nic closed in, his clutched fist was pulled back. The **Rain Dance** still went on, making the churning water in Nic's fist enlarge to a claw-shaped mechanic that he raised over Ajeel petrified face.

"No…! NOOOO!"

With nothing to say to the enemy, Nic let out a shrilling roar as he thrust clean down onto Ajeel's face. The moment he made impact, the entire deck collapsed from the force of the pressure. " **Crabhammer~!** " The deck shredding apart was followed by the entire shock imploding by a massive shockwave of water that ran downwards, pressure forcing wood and the gliders to shred up. It all crumbled to pieces, pieces of which that were swept up in a powerful maelstrom of pressure that Nic created.

As the cloud of mist enveloped the atmosphere, surrounded by a large enough piece of wood, a distilled Ajeel looked with one ghastly eye open as he fell to unconsciousness, with the last few ships falling right beside him in fiery glory. He looked up through the mist cloud, but he couldn't see Nic through it. It was a strange feeling that overcame him, but one could've assumed that it was because he was blacking out.

He was feeling many things as he plummeted; disappointment, anger, frustration, shock, and most certainly, distaste. He wanted to see the face of the man who beat him two time now, three if counting Garchomp. He just wanted revenge for his pride, was that too much to ask for? Was he really deserving this?

As these questions boggled his mind, he passed through a cloud, vanishing from sight.

Watching from far away, on the balcony gardens of massive estate where the castle sat for the empire, Yajeel heard a small rupture once more as he saw the many flaming debris fall from the distance. As Wingull sat on his stave's top, it looked down at him in wonder to see his head droop in shame. The old man could feel a small pain in his shriveled chest at the thought of his grandson.

Above the mist cloud, the rain that was pouring in the one area stopped. With the battle won, Nic flapped in the air alongside Staraptor, who clutched the unconscious Trapinch in its talons to prevent a needless fail. As Nic looked down at the cloud, he knew from the low pressure that Ajeel was defeated. Even if he wanted to say something at the end as a last remark, he knew he was an enemy, a foe who didn't ask for his opinion nor condolences.

He just wanted a fight, and that's the respect Nic gave him. The best lessons are the hard-learned ones.

Looking around, debris fell everywhere in the atmosphere as they processed the last of the ships were taken out. A caw came from the side, revealing to be Talonflame, who joined up with them. "Talonflame, you okay?"

Though a little banged up from a few close calls, Talonflame nodded. "Of course!" She looked over towards Staraptor, who had the Trapinch in her clutches. "What is that?"

Staraptor looked down at the unconscious Ant Pit Pokémon. "…someone who needed saving." She answered.

Nic empathized with his Staraptor's statement with a nod. A loud thunder-like sound echoed from behind, getting him to look over his shoulder in wonder. Staraptor and Talonflame saw as well, and what they saw was shock.

The ship they were on had smoke coming out of a few holes the bow had sustained, and the backside was smoking profusely. Everyone was onboard and hanging on tightly, and altogether, they saw the entire ship beginning to dive downwards, with all screaming in anguish.

A hitch in his breath erupt. "HANG ON!" On instinct, he folded his wings and dove downwards at massive speeds. "Staraptor!" Quickly, Staraptor followed, with Talonflame in hot pursuit. They all zipped at incredible divebombing speeds that made them break sound barriers yet again.

Air pressure roared as the ship plummeted like a rock. It was a rather slow fall, but nonetheless, it was an unpleasant one, like anyone would be. On it, a lot of people screamed; Dereece especially. "MOMMY~~!" the man cried wildly.

With his brow furrowing, Joey stood up once again. "There's only one thing to do now…" Seemingly knowing that answer, her turned towards his best friend. "Dereece…HOLD ME!" He hopped into his friend's arms as both cried to the heavens in their fall.

Inside the cabins, everything was shaking up badly. Many of the things, even the Dragon Slayers themselves, were all caught in free fall. Lector and Frosch looked down shocked as they found themselves detached from the bunks with Sting and Rogue. This only served to freak Kinana and Meredy out.

"We're floating?!" Kinana shrieked.

"Are we in free fall?!" Meredy exclaimed.

Kevin reached over, grabbing a wooden leg of a bed and pulling himself down towards it. "Everyone, grab onto something!" Almost immediately, he found himself being a magnet to Kinana and Meredy as they wrapped their arms around him. With eyes wide at first, he tried to register until a prideful smirk slithered onto his face. "This'll do~." He chimed.

On the deck, Matilda was using her claws to anchor herself, and others were faring no less of their own troubles. Eventually though, they finally popped out of the clouds, where down below, they could see the enormous lake.

Nic followed, down the cloud coverage, where he looked down below. _'They're going right for the lake.'_ He peered down, seeing dark blue depths that were hardly visible. _'This is bad! Gotta do this right!'_ He made one final fold, pulsing into a steeper dive with Staraptor and Talonflame.

The three made a harsh landing on the planks with everyone, surprising a majority of the group.

"Nic!" Vanessa exclaimed.

"NIC-SENPAI~! SAVE US!" Joey comically wailed, wavy tears running down his face.

Nic crouched and steadied on the ship. "We need magic that'll help break the fall! We're going to need either a bunker, or something to repel our propulsion completely!" He looked towards his right, his ideas happening again. "Kagura!"

"On it!" The swordswoman moved her sword so that its sheath faced the deck. When she drove it onto the wood, the air all around them was expelling an outward force that went outside the ship. Suddenly, a massive rumbling from below made the ship shudder and slow down, steadying out anyone who was in free fall.

Inside, the girls all balanced out, much to Kevin's hidden dismay.

Lector eyes were covered by his paws. "I-is it over…?" He shakily asked, with Frosch right beside him, shaking like he was thawed out of ice.

Carla groaned as she got up from her knees. "What just happened?"

Pantherlily looked around. "Are we still in the air?"

Wide-eyed, Joey and Dereece looked forward, then at each other. They both blinked once, then twice, and they hurriedly rushed out of each other's arms and went towards the edge. When they peered over, their disbelief mounted as they saw the entire ship stationary in midair.

"What the heck man?!" Dereece snapped. "Is the ship still sailin'?!"

"I-I'm not sure…" Joey shakily turned towards the others. "Uh, i-is it really…her doing?" He pointed towards Kagura, who still was on a knee and concentrating. She looked to be straining if the sweat on her face meant anything.

Duncan glanced over, keeping his calm. "This levitation?"

"To be more accurate, it's her Gravity Change." Lyon corrected. "It's quite a nifty trick if I must admit, though I suppose there are better times to reminisce than now."

"Ya think?!" Gray and Ultear snapped together.

"Kagura, nice and steady now." Erza warned.

"Yeah, I know…" she strained, her breath inhaling a bit. "Everyone stay put, alright?! I'm gonna lessen the gravity! Hang on!" As she stated, she turned her grip on her sword, causing a drastic shift in power. The ship shuddered again, rattling many people as the huge flying machine lowered lower to the tip of the shores of the lake. Slowly, meter by meter, the ship eventually lowered its creaking, smoking bottom into the water, causing a massive wake that rippled water all around. The smoke dialed down, and many of the passengers finally calmed down…well, most at least.

Looking around left and right, Joey and Dereece turned their heads left and right, making sure they hit water this time. Once they processed it, they looked at each other and paused. "…WE'RE ALIVE!" Both wailed as they embraced the other happily, laughing all the way.

Nic sighed in great relief. His head lowered as a wave of relief calmly rushed over him. He looked down, glowing back into himself. "Well, that could've gone better." He muttered. He looked over, checking on his wife. "Erza, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She answered.

"That's good."

Matilda's stiffness eased as she fell on her belly, groaning like a tired-out puppy. "Aw man, that was a little too much adrenaline for my liking…" she groaned exhaustedly. "I think I'm gonna crash for a bit."

"Yeah, that makes two of us…" Griffon sighed, falling onto his butt.

Orion looked around at his teammates, seeing behind that Liz was steadying along the side, and Aniya was no different as she shook her head. Looking at Broly, the Barrier-Make Mage looked towards him to see he was also well. "Looks like we've made it out of the thick of it for the time being." He detailed. "But I still say we're far from safe."

"He's right. Let's get to shore, and quick while we're at it." Gray said. "Juvia."

"Right." Using her magic, Juvia controlled the water beneath the damaged ship. It coursed through the basin with a nice, steady push as Juvia guided them to land.

* * *

The ship soon reached shore, the one end still deep in the water. The damaged wreck stuck out as everyone got off and made it to land. The Dragon Slayers, however, were still recovering from the extra rude awakening.

Natsu lurched behind bushes, gagging contents out as Happy patted his back. "There, there. It's all over now." He comforted through Natsu's coughing.

"I…don't think I can see colors anymore…" Rogue laid on his side, sacked out pretty bad.

Yukino crouched down and comforted their backs, hoping to ease him and Sting right next to him. "Take it easy, you guys. You don't have to go through that anymore, I promise."

"Eh, don't jinx it _too_ soon now." Lector intervened nervously. "We still got a ways to go."

Pantherlily finished placing the groaning Gajeel on his back. "That may be…" he turned his head up. "But look."

Everyone turned to what he meant. The ship that they used was a complete wreck, literally. Holes were blown through basically the entire front of the haul. The bow was almost broken completely, and along the sides were damaged dents and scraped all about. The wings were also damaged, making it appear it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Well this ain't a good sign." Griffon commented.

Matilda had hands to her sides. "Yeah, tell me about it. I can't even tell we rode on that thing. It got blown up pretty good."

Broly lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry guys. I should've been more focused on the bottom. This is on me."

Dereece walked up and put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Hey, lighten up man. It's not all your fault now. Those soldiers just got, eh…lucky, is all."

"Regardless of that, I'm afraid that doesn't change our current condition." Macbeth stated. "We're now down aerial transportation, which means that our surprise advantage is lost."

"Like we had that anyway." Sorano did an eyeroll.

"So what do we do now?" Meredy worried.

"I'm afraid there isn't much choice in the matter." Jellal intervened. "It looks like we'll have to go by foot from here on."

"That it seems." Bellona replied. "And here I thought seeing their faces with us arriving so eloquently would be worth it. Such wishful thinking now." She exaggerated a huff of disappointment.

Over on the side, while everyone was mulling over their stranded position, Nic was over near the trees. Away from everyone else, he looked down at the Trapinch he held. Looking at him now, he seemed quite well for a fact. After Staraptor handed him to the Trainer, he and Erza returned their avian friends to their Poke Balls, and even though it was consequential, it felt morally wrong to just let the Trapinch go without injury. Erza used a Revive, and Nic gave it a Sitrus Berry earlier, giving the Ground-type the strength needed to stand again. Once out in the open, the Pokémon looked up at Nic as he gave a calm vibe. "It's alright now. There's no need for you to be so defensive." He assured, kneeling down to the weary Trapinch. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that, but I hope that you can find it to forgive us."

"I…It's fine…" Trapinch sheepishly lowered his guard. For some reason, by Nic's tone, he felt relieved. Still overwhelmed, but relieved he wasn't going to get yelled at.

"You're free now, we won't do anything to you like the Alvarez might have done. We're here to help guys like you…so you better get going now." With his last words, the Trapinch nodded and turned away. He lowered his head and began to burrow into the dirt, showing his **Dig**. As he tunneled out of sight, Nic turned towards Erza, who smiled and nodded at his actions. Nic returned the common gestures, and both walked over to the group's next action plan.

"So what do we have to go off of? We're not exactly prepared for something like this." Yukino wondered.

Sawyer snickered. "Got that right. If you ask me, should've come with a little manual on what to do if you get shot from the sky."

Mest looked out ahead where the sun was rising. "The Alvarez knows we're already here if they sent that fleet in our direction, and I can probably guess that it won't be long that they'll sent more our way. That being said…" he looked over his shoulder at everyone. "I think it's best that we divide ourselves up for the time being."

A majority of the people looked shocked, though Brandish was less than amused. "Is this a joke? What does splitting up have to do with this?"

"Hey, easy now. Let's just hear him out." Lucy insisted.

"I'm saying that it's probably best that we divide up into just two groups." Mest clarified. "One group will go from here to the empire, while another group stays behind as reinforcements."

"Not to mention that there's something worth protecting on that ship." Everyone looked over to the addition, seeing that it was Nic who spoke up.

"Nic, perfect timing." Gray smirked.

"Don't forget, this ship still has Pokémon on it that they're molding into weapons. If we all went together, the shipwreck would be unguarded, and they could send a couple soldiers around the area to seize them."

"I can just shrink it if it'll just make things easier." Brandish suggested. "It'll make things less of a pain."

Nic furrowed his brow at the green-haired mage. While she was right about her powers being useful in a situation like this, there were still those drawbacks that could still be drawn into consideration. "I get what you're saying, Brandish…but it sounds too easy if you ask me."

"Explain."

"Odds are that they're expecting you. If they capture you, that means they've captured all the Pokémon, too. It's not that I don't like the idea, it's just a lot at stake here."

Brandish sighed and turned away. "How boring you are, Nic."

A pair of footsteps came up with swaying hips. Many turned to see Ultear stepping up; many of whom like Kevin raised a brow beneath his sunglasses. "If it's all the same, I think I could be of some help to the support group."

"You sure about this, Ultear?" Jellal asked.

The Time Mage smiled. "Don't get all dramatic on me now. I'm merely suggesting that with my Time Magic, I can also make repairs to this dented rubble. It would be wise to have an escape route now, wouldn't it?"

Gray's eyes widened in realization. "Hey yeah, you got a point. I forgot you could do that stuff."

"Maybe, but this is kinda different, Gray." Meredy replied.

"What are you saying?" Juvia inquired.

Meredy looked towards her. "This metal is able to resist magic, so it takes a lot more power out of Ultear to fix even one spot. I hate to say it, but I think we might need a better plan to…"

"I'll stay behind."

Everyone turned to look around in confusion at the voice. It took a few moments, but after hearing a loud snap of air from popping, all eyes went towards Liz as she presented herself. "Liz?" Aniya gasped.

The Gum Mage shrugged. "Yeah. Besides…" she tapped her magic headphones, which were now around her neck rather than her ears. "I can hear from here too, you know. If something's up and you need Telepathy, just shoot. I'll know."

Orion nodded in understanding. "Alright then, anymore volunteers?"

Matilda stepped up stretching overhead. "Guess I'll kick back. Would be a shame if I let loose _too_ much before we get to the real fun." She snickered with a wide grin.

Meredy's brow folded as she stepped up next. "I'll stay behind, too."

"Meredy." Juvia gasped. Unknowingly from afar, Lyon smirked at this decision. He wouldn't want to see her get hurt right before his eyes. Though, like Juvia, he knew he had to keep focus and move forward.

"I'll be alright back here as well." Vanessa volunteered. "My Aura Magic will make for radar for the ship."

Orion glanced around. "Anyone else?"

All around, people were waiting to see who would step up, but a lot of them felt like being on frontlines. By no means were the Dragon Slayers staying on the boat, and Nic was essential to this, just as much as anyone else in the operation. In this light, as Joey looked around, he seemed distressed about the situation. He looked towards his teammates; Duncan looking like he couldn't give any less crap than he does now, and Dereece, who was still shaken up from that attack. And when he thought about his situation, and how he didn't have magic compared to even Kevin, his face fell as he dejectedly accepted the facts. "…the…The Freaks volunteer, to stay behind…" he said.

"R-really, Joey?!" Dereece gasped. He was actually surprised at his noble decision.

"Hmph. Well what do you know, the Captain actually made a wise decision for once." Duncan snorted.

Erza walked in front of Joey, seeing his face fell. "Are you sure about this?"

Joey swallowed a lump and nodded. "I…I don't have magic, and I'm still trying to get experienced with my Chespin and Pidove…so really I think maybe we should stay here and, you know, look after things…?" There was a kernel of wisdom in Joey's words, but in his head and heart, he felt morally deprived. It was strange to feel, but after narrowly escaping that, he had to take a little more responsibility, at least for himself. He nearly peed his grass skirt for crying out loud. He wanted to prove to Nic and Erza and Vanessa that he was strong, but a guy has to have his limits. With these weaponries and this Magic Power, it was clear where he lied in the food chain.

Erza saw this inside his gaze, and gave the Trainer a warm smile. "Well Joey, I think you're going to be just fine."

Joey gasped at her words. "R-r-really?!"

"I have no doubt. I think the decision you made was a wise one. We understand how you feel, but keep in mind, this is a battle we must win, and every key element is needed in place." She put her hand onto his shoulder. "Don't think of yourself as inferior nor a liability. You have done more than enough for us in this mission. Take pride in that. Those Pokémon will be relying on you more than us."

"Erza-senpai…" Hearing her inspiring words, the doubt in Joey's gaze began to fade. His cheery smile returned to his face. "Okay, I won't let you down!" he mockingly saluted. Another hand suddenly pressed on his shoulder, surprising him. When he looked up, he saw that it was Broly.

"Now that's a step in the right direction!" the Barrier-Make smirked. "You've got a conscience kid." He pointed thumb to himself. "And just for good measure, I think I'll stay behind as well. My barriers could come in handy in a tight spot like this after all."

Nic nodded. "We're counting on you. All of you."

Broly smirked. "As are we. Now get your asses moving before they come around."

"Understood." Orion looked at the team. "It's time we make our move. There isn't a glimpse of sun to be wasted. Let's hurry!"

"Right." Nic's glare hardened against the sun. He knew where their destination lied, and he wasn't going give up until the bitter end. This is his fight. It's their fight. And this fight this time, they take to them.

* * *

The group that took to their heels made quick work in getting into the woods. Unknowingly, they were unaware of circumstances as their images were seen through a crystal ball in a conference room, where Hoshina loomed over it in silence with the remaining Spriggans watching.

Invel loomed in silence for a few more moments before closing his eyes. "So I take it that Ajeel was defeated, I see."

Hoshina's hidden stare had a half-grin. "As foreseen."

"Then it would mean we are now down 1 of the 12 Spriggans." Jacob noted. Beside him, Dekken nodded in understanding.

"Aw man~. Well isn't that a downer." Lia mockingly pouted. "Well, I guess he scores some brownie points for taking down their nice little ride."

"Emperor Neinhart…" Invel looked towards the emperor sitting next to him, waiting for a proper response.

A looming silence fell across the atmosphere as Neinhart was hunched over in his seat, his gaze directly on the crystal ball. More accurately, certain individuals who were in sight. A zoom-in on the trees revealed something swift moving above the rest. When the figure jumped to another tree, it showed Nic, forming a smirk on Neinhart's face. "Interesting…" he sneered. "Lady Erza and Nic are coming to us of their own free will. Magnificent…" His head arose to look at the massive chandelier that hung above their heads. _'Lady Irene, your last request by you, it shall come to pass. And this time, we are truly prepared to face the greatest threat that the Spriggan 12 has been designed for.'_

"Emperor Neinhart."

Invel's voice rung a distress that shook Neinhart of his wonders. "Huh? What is it, Invel?" he rudely asked.

"I asked what are we to do about Ajeel? Shall we send a retrieval squad to him and the survivors?"

Neinhart eyerolled. "Hmph, don't waste your breath. That fool was worthless from the start. He grounded them, and that's all that he was good for really."

"Well that's not harsh at all." Lia chimed with right amount of sarcasm.

Dimaria supported her head with her palm. "Knowing him, he probably was too excited to know the consequences. Why am I not surprised?"

"Isn't that a noteworthy truth." Jacob sneered. "And now he's gone and left us a big mess right on our doorstep. So who's going to go clean it up?"

Neinhart's dark glare equaled his wily smirk. "Heh, oh Glynda…"

"Yes, your majesty." Glynda stood up from her seat with eyes shut, waiting for a directive in a sassy pose.

"Do us all a favor and go fetch our freshly delivered packages, would you? And, if they don't hand them over to you, then make them."

Glynda bowed. "Very well, if you insist…your majesty."

Jacob cleared his throat loudly as he adjusted his tie. "If I may?" Everyone turned towards him in silence. "Ms. Glynda, shall I have the 3 Machia Knights offer aid in your voyage? I assure you, they are well prepared."

Glynda looked away, folding her arms in disinterest. "If it won't be considered a hindrance along the way, Jacob…then I'll allow it. I'd rather _not_ make the mistake of underestimating our adversaries, unlike certain people." She shot a look at Jacob. While she meant the comment for Ajeel, she didn't exclude Jacob for his past doings. "Honestly, even your own quirks I can't help but pity." She admitted.

"Then it would seem that we are set." Invel stated. "I shall ready the citizens for a Level 3 class shutdown."

"Yes, please do." Neinhart raised his arms high with a grand smile. "Let them have a backrow seat to the beauty of our renewed power! Those pathetic fairies and their ringleaders will look ugly compared to the beauty of our new forces! My Spriggans…let us show what happens to those who dare question our power!"

Lia hummed at the prospect of meeting the new faces. "Not to brag or anything, but I've been wondering what they may taste like? I feel they'll be…" She licked her lips with her long tongue, leaving it coated in saliva. "Filling."

"I am looking forward to when Nic comes." Jacob glared, veins popping out of his darkened expression. This time, he swears to put a bullet right through his head.

Dekken, as expected, remained silent, but beside him, Pluto had palms together as the small planet-like projectiles behind him floated in a small orbit. "May the stars watch over us this fight. May the moons and stars shine day and night their strength for us all."

Sindge snarled in delight, his fangs showing behind his mummified face. Hoshina took in a cigarette and breathed out smoke if a sigh. For Dimaria, she was occupied with a frown, the thought of Brandish on her mind. That image was making her brow furrow in angst that she had to deal with. Coincidentally, another person she thought of in flames crossed her minds. She could feel a shiver run down her spine as she recalled his terror. _'This time, I'm not going to lose Randi to_ _ **him**_ _.'_

Neinhart arose from his seat. "Well then, to my remaining Spriggans…prepare for a greeting that no one will ever forget!"

* * *

Minutes after the meeting was over, Glynda walked impatiently down the corridor, her high heels tapping loudly as she trudged along. "Honestly, that emperor has no class whatsoever." She scorned to herself as she walked. "How someone so spacious and gives to no second opinion about the consequences of these decisions can rise up to power is beyond me. If _I_ gad a right mind, I would've spoken to Invel about these decisions he has to make for the emperor." She stopped beside a massive door, giving a defeated sigh. "But, in spite of this, he is still my emperor." She treaded off from her thoughts as a small thud was heard on the other side of the door. She looked over at the massive door knowing what was on the other side. _'Well, better to have my personal lieutenant to lend his support in this fight. I trust his own set of skills aren't anywhere near as disgracing as Pluto's was.'_ She opened the double doors, seeing a battle waged on the other end.

"Use **Ember!** " A flare enveloped a Karrablast's face as it sailed on its back into the smoothly cemented ground. As it attempted to stand, a stubby dull yellow foot stepped forward.

The creature battling was a Numel, and as it glared at his opponent, a person stood behind it. "Is that all? I would've expected that to knock it out, especially after seeing how it did with the last six. C'mon" The man ordering for more work was a considerably tall and muscularly built man. He has short light yellow spiky hair with sharp red eyes. The left side of his face had scattered fragments of what looked like cement or pebbles that ran up the shoulder and down to his left arm's wrist. He adorned a red bead necklace around the neck and on the right wrist. He wore a massive gray robe with nothing covering the left side that even went as far as cover the knees, where further down below had on white long socks beneath sandals. "Again!" he snapped. "Take your position!"

"Yes, sir." Numel took his position again, readying to attack.

Karrablast stood up once more and shook her head. Once all set, she glared ahead and aimed her horn down, readying for **Fury Attack**. She lunged off the round, zipping swiftly at Numel.

"Numel, dodge." He ordered. Numel did as told and jumped backwards, dodging Karrablast's horn as it blasted into the ground where he stood, making a smoke cloud.

Once Numel landed, he knew what came next.

" **Ember!** " The Trainer commanded.

Immediately, Numel opened his mouth, unleashing another blanket of sparks and embers at the dust cloud, hitting Karrablast in a loud orange flare. As the flare diminished, it showed the Bug-type unable to battle, eyes being big swirls.

The big guy gave a prideful smirk. "That's more like it. 7 in a row. That's a streak I can live with." His attention went towards the magical power behind him. Looking over, he saw his master standing at the entrance with arms folded, like she was waiting forever. Immediately he turned fully in shock. "Mistress Glynda. Fancy seeing you here." He joked.

Glynda ignored her subordinate's easygoing greeting and got right down to it. "Bulcan, I am requesting your power, so listen well…"

* * *

In the lands outside the kingdom, there was a massive stretch of wasteland separating the kingdom from the massive forest. It was so bare that some could mistake it for Route 13 of the Kalos Region if references implied. But at the moment, it wasn't so barren with all the debris and remains of fallen ships scattered about everywhere.

Through the crackling of small flames and piles of wreckages, from a crack in the pile, a small stream of sand poured out, siphoning down to a crater-like spots where it could pool. From another spot, another stream of sand poured. More and more sand poured down openings in the wreckage like miniature streams going down a mountain. It flowed to the base, where the sand eventually created a pool big enough to fit someone. Once the sand stopped pouring, there was a long silence that followed. Suddenly an arm shot up with an open palm. It shook violently with scrapes and blood all over it. The appendage dropped to the sand, where a shoulder rolled to the top of the sand, followed by a head and a chest increasing for air. Ajeel was wide-eyed as he gaped towards the sky, his lungs relieved at long last. He used his arms to support himself as he gaped and breathed like a fish out of water. He couldn't make heads or tails of what just happened, but he sure as hell knew that from how his bones and body were broken like sand clumps, he knew he had lost.

His hands soon lost hold and he fell to his back again. Laying on the sand like a mattress, the Sand Mage was slowly catching his breath as he was processing his defeat. He looked up at the sky, unable to look anywhere else from neck strain _._

" _Now tell me, why do you think that you're a god?" Nic questioned. "What's your definition of these guys to begin with?"_

The sound of Nic's inquiry from earlier rung through his mind, making his teeth grind like sand. What did he know about gods? He was one…right? Gods never lose to such inferior mortals who never had power of their own. He always won, until Nic ruined his streak and made a mockery. How did he lose so miserably? Was he even a god anymore? How could someone like him lose so easily?

" _So then you admit you love to fight."_

" _I do…but the kinds I love aren't the ones I expect you to understand. At least not yet."_

' _The ones I don't understand? What did he even mean…?'_ He wasn't stopping his thoughts from going about haphazardly, they were going by their own accord. He didn't want to care, he didn't want to listen even to what Nic had to say. Could that be how he lost? He was always a man of action and battle pleasure. Nothing but the rush of his superiority to show them he had no equal. He had but one meaning: To prove he was truly strong to all. He never had any other reason to fight. Nothing else mattered. Could that be where the answer lied?

" _Have you thought of who the enemy is?"_ Now it was his grandfather's voice he was hearing. He was lost in his deep conscience; too deep to go back on his own thoughts. _'The real enemy…? God, can't these people make any sense?'_ He stopped for a moment as he mentally gasped as the pieces were put together. Then came a big question, something that even he couldn't help but question.

Just what were they fighting for?

Pride? Revenge? Power? All three were the biggest factors that the empire wanted. That's the sole reason they were created after all. Their power was absolute. Nobody could tell them what to do. The decisions they make were of refined calculations. What use was fighting for anything but that reputation? His gaze turned sour as he was recalling more of his grandfather's words solemnly.

" _Ajeel…someday if you really consider the voices of those around you, you might hear things that may impact what you want to do."_

' _The real enemy we're fighting, huh…?'_ He was brought out of his train of thoughts when a caw got his attention. He looked up, seeing Yajeel's Wingull glide circles high over his head. _'Old man…'_

* * *

In the massive forest that many traveled through, a loud stomach growl echoed through the high trees. "Ooooh…" Natsu groaned as he clutched his stomach. "Man, when was the last time I ate anything? I feel like a hollow log." he whined.

"Quit your whining, would ya? You're gonna make _me_ starve!" Gajeel retorted.

"All of you quit complaining, alright?!" Griffon snapped. "We get it, you were too sick to eat on the ship. Don't go making us deaf on your growling stomachs alright? We'll find rations in the Capital, alright?"

"Speaking of which, when will we be there?" Lucy turned towards Mest, seeing as how he was there before.

The Teleportation Mage kept a stern lead. "About another 8 kilometers from here. There's a stretch of bare land ahead that separates the Capital from this forest. We should be getting close to it by now."

"We better be, because this walking's getting pretty boring." Aniya argued, hands behind her head.

"Well hey, it's not all _that_ bad." Kinana insisted. "It's good to be on our feet again after those two rides we had, right Erik?" She turned towards the Poison Dragon Slayer, who smirked to her.

"Yeah, ain't that the truth."

Aniya shot a dark glare at the two snake-lovers. She couldn't be anymore repulsed than how she already was with just them. She didn't want to be in a predicament like this, and she most certainly did not want to be around people like them who can take pleasure in long, scaly reptilian fiends that left her scorned. When a shadow passed over her head, she looked up to find that it was gone. It must have been Nic. Even more, her glare sharpened in deeper disgust at her assumptions. If it weren't for Orion, she'd probably have guns to their heads and questioning them fruitlessly.

"You think Meredy and Vanessa will be alright back on the ship?" Juvia worried beside a half-naked Gray.

The Ice-Make Mage walked calmly beside her. "I wouldn't worry too much. Those two got out of tougher situations than this."

"As true as that may be, Gray, I think that it was in our best interest to ensure their safety." Lyon prodded in between, startling them both.

Juvia leaned away in shock, and Gray snapped in surprise. "Crap! Where did you come from?!"

Lyon ignored the inquiry and smirked. "Why, the very thought of little sweet Meredy fighting beside us is truly a big step, wouldn't you say. However, if anything were to befall, there would be little to keep myself from taking action. If I were to happen under circumstances, I'm sure Meredy would rush to my side." He could see in now in his mind, the idea of him laying on the battlefield and Meredy picking him up in her arms.

" _Dear sweet Lyon, are you okay?" Meredy worriedly asked._

 _Battered from battle, Lyon opened his eyes weakly and smiled up to her. "Yes, I'm okay…now that you're here."_

 _Meredy grabbed one of his hands and held it tight. "Those vile fiends, laying their hands on you. Don't worry, Lyon. I'll end this fight…for both of us!"_

" _For us…" Lyon chimed, his sentence echoing as everything went white._

Lyon had a prideful smile on his face as he walked, though to others like Gray and Juvia, the look made them both drop beads of sweat. The two looked at each other confusedly before choosing to dismiss their inquiries of their love-crazy ally.

"But we _have_ been eating a lot of crap the past few days." Kevin argued, bringing attention to him. "Nothing but canned food for three days straight. I'm surprised not even _I_ threw up."

"Tell me about it." Orion scoffed. "In all honesty, I've tasted better from raw fish on some good days. Really isn't the kind you wouldn't want every day of the week either."

"I could really go for something fresher than peas in a can. A little ripe fruit can go a long way to give me energy." He raised a brow at his growing implications. "Something like…" His attention drew to the people around him, more accurately, some of the more voluptuous people in the current group. Lucy and Minerva were two prime suspects, but when he looked towards Sophie, she had those plump thighs, meaning something hiding beneath the sarong that made him want to pant. But in sight, her chest was so grand that it made him literally hang his tongue out. _'Melons…'_ he awed.

Orion noticed Kevin trailing off, raising a brow. "What was that?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, you know…like watermelons!" he answered nervously. "Y-yeah! We need water too, right? And they have a lot of that. Especially the hard, ripe…smooth…juicy kind…aw yeah…Mmmmm."

Orion chuckled. "Yeah, haven't had one of those in a while." He frowned. "But we've got more worries to deal with than just food alone."

Nic jumped through one canopy to the next. The others down below were moving at a steady pace, but Nic moved with grace of a ninja, nimble as one too. Once he saw a direct path to open sunlight, his eyes narrowed and stopped atop of the path.

Down below, Jellal took notice of Nic stopping above and felt inquiry rise. "Nic, is there something wrong?"

Nic kept his glare forward. "Up ahead."

Everyone's stare cascaded forward. They all saw pass a couple of shrubs and bushes that there was an exit to the forest. As stated by Nic, everyone looked towards each other and back ahead. "Alright then, let's go!" Natsu made a beeline pass Jellal, making it to the exit with energy to spare.

"Wait for me!" Happy followed behind.

Everyone made use of his infectious attitude and they followed as well. They followed closely behind, and Nic above continued his jumping all the way to the end of the tree line. Soon enough, they all gathered just pass the forest's edge, ending up on the other side, where there was bare dirt all around, and a blistering sun rising in front of them.

Sophie looked out at the setting change, comparing it to the lush forest they were in beforehand. "Well Mest, looks like you weren't kidding. I can see why."

Mest nodded. "Yeah. Can't say that I'm not surprised either. I didn't think they would run their resources dry to this point."

"The Alvarez has been making extensive use of whatever resources were available at the time." Brandish explained. "They even went as far as outside Alvarez jurisdiction to gather wood and fuel for all those ships we destroyed."

"I'm not sure if that says anything good about the empire as it is." Wendy nervously said.

Carla crossed her arms. "Well of course. If they figure they could steal Pokémon from one nation to another, why not steal from neighbors too while they were at it."

"Yeah, guess you got a point…"

Pantherlily turned to look over to his side, catching a glimpse of something. "Hm? Hey, look over there."

"What is it?" Gajeel looked as well, he and the others catching a glimpse of something that was several meters off from their point of view. There, lying in the sun, it looked like a hippo-like creature, but it was short, had stubby limbs, and was currently in a small pile of sand that it had for itself. By the look of its blank eyes that it was napping, so it wasn't a threat.

"It looks like it's napping." Kinana said.

The hippo snorted some before his eyes opened. He turned his head towards the group, gazing at their arrival. It didn't take long before he dismissed them and looked to be back to sleep.

Nic looked over with Erza, catching a glimpse of the creature. "It's a Hippopotas." He answered.

"A Hippopotas?" Out of inquiry, Wendy reached for the PokeDex that came with the supplies she obtained from Jefferey's visit to the guild. She pulled it up and the image of the hippo showed on the front.

" **Hippopotas, the Hippo Pokémon. It lives in arid places. Instead of perspiration, it expels grainy sand from its body.** '

"Well that isn't at all beautiful. Sounds like that creep we whooped." Sorano sourly pointed out.

"I don't know about that." Yukino grinned. "I think it looks kinda cute."

"Cute or not, let's not provoke it. We have more important matters to go upon." Orion said.

Erza stepped forward. "He's right. We have a job that needs to be done. Move it, people!"

Everyone agreed to her full-heartedly, returning to their more than important matters at hand. However, Nic caught onto a small sensation crawling up his spine. He stopped in his tracks, alarming everyone else around him.

"Nic, what is it?" Lucy wondered. She was cut off from further question as the ground ahead spouted a thick gray wall. Everyone's eyes went up towards it as the eruption of the thick wall kept climbing.

"Crap! What now?!" Gray exclaimed.

The wall of cement rose to a high point, where there, its side began to rise as well. A massive alcove of cement blocked them off completely, leaving only the forest in view behind them. The experienced knew to stay calm, while others like Happy, Lector, and those with less understanding were looking about for answers.

"Sorry, ladies and fellas!" a voice called. "But the road ends here for you guys!"

Nic's attention went skywards. He and everyone looked skywards to find that there was someone who was almost directly within the sunlight. His silhouette quickly faded, revealing him to be Bulcan. His arms were crossed and ha a proud smirk on his face. "Oh, great. Another one." Sting grunted. "Man, just when we thought we'd catch a break around here."

Minerva glared at the man. "Shall we have to ask who you are exactly? Or is it safe to assume you're aligned with Alvarez?"

The man smirked down at the black-haired woman. "My, my. You sure catch on fast. Short and too the point. That's the way to turn me on." He boasted. "Guess it better be appropriate if I let them know if I wanna move up in the rankings. They call me Bulcan, lieutenant of the Glynda Operations Unit."

"A high ranking officer?" Yukino questioned.

"Just like that guy Natsu fought back on Caracole Island." Erza thought back to the small cage o earth that Vlar created. They seemed less than cordial about meeting someone of similar caliber. "So there are more of you I see."

Natsu stepped forward with fists clutched. "Out of our way, bub! Or else you wanna end up like your little pal back on Caracole Island with flames all up in your nostrils." He threatened.

Bulcan smirked with satisfaction. "Hm, a little anxious are we? Don't get ahead of yourself." He stomped his foot on the concrete wall he was on. Two columns of hard cement shot down from the height, looking like Gajeel's own Iron Dragon's Club, but larger.

Natsu jumped and dodged the two columns that plunged into the ground. He landed on one and began a running climb up the pillar towards Bulcan. He yelled as he closed in.

Bulcan smirked. "Don't get ahead of yourself." To prove his point, as Natsu made another step, the cement spot suddenly rippled. His foot got pulled into the liquefied part of the cement block, catching him a gasp. The spot immediately hardened, trapping Natsu's leg in place.

"Gnnngh! Crap, my leg!" He tried to pull free, but as hard as he yanked, his foot was deep within the pillar. A snicker from Bulcan got him to face his attention towards him again.

"Sorry, but it takes still to run through my Cement Magic. I can liquify and harden any type of rock and make it rough or smooth to fit my needs. Now then…" his eyes narrowed. "Let's see how you handle a half-ton fall." He snapped his fingers, making both columns dislodge from their bases. The two massive slants began their intense decline, whereas Natsu fell with the one massive pillar, of which began to turn towards the side. And from the looks of it, he wasn't getting out anytime soon.

Erza took action as she pulled out her Net Ball. She brought her arm back and threw it. "Scizor! **X-Scissor!** "

The Net Ball spun outwards, soon opening to summon Erza's Sscizor as the Bug/Steel-type let out a cry. She glided across the arid domain towards the two falling pillars from above. When she closed in, her arms and pincers glowed bright blue and crossed, creating a light blue X with magenta outlining. "HRAH!" In a shrilling swipe across and through, she passed the two pillars and looked away. The two pillars of hard cement spliced into many pieces, all of which shattered to harmless grains, freeing Natsu as he flipped onto the ground.

Once free, he stood back up and looked back at Erza's Scizor. "Thanks for the save."

Scizor looked back, giving a nod. "Sure."

Natsu nodded back, but then a frown started to form on his face. Inwardly he had to curse himself for messing up again. _'Damnit, I threw myself in again, didn't I?'_

Stepping up from Crime Sorciere, Richard let out a loud as he extended a palm forward. " **Liquid Ground!** " With his magic, the cement shield created blocking them suddenly turned into a liquified gray wall that made unstable ground. The liquid dripped to the arid floor, and Bulcan began to lose footing.

"Gngh!" He grunted as he started to topple over. He looked down, his eyes directly on Richard. _'Wait, you mean they had an Earth Mage, too?!'_

"Everyone, carry along! I fear that we not have a lot of time on our hands!" Richard encouraged. "Go now before it's too late!"

Natsu gasped. "What?! But what about-!"

"Natsu, it'll be fine." Jellal assured. He looked back at Richard, who seemed confident in them going along. "Richard knows what he's doing. He's right, we don't have a lot of time on our hands. We'll have to carry on."

Natsu didn't like it, but he was right. They had to press on, though it felt discouraging that they had to leave more behind.

Nic begrudgingly accepted the facts as well. He looked back at Richard and gave an affirmative nod. "Be careful, Richard." He glowed again, putting his palms in the ground in the process. As the glow faded, it revealed him in a cross of the Stone and Earth Forms; with a coat and shoes of the Stone Form, but the rest of the sash, shoe lacing, even the pants were all part of the Earth Form. Not wanting to let his ally's intentions be in vain, he spread his palms out. "Everyone gather close around me!" They all did as told as he took a running stance. The back of his heel tapped the ground, forcing a large piece of earth beneath to come up like a sheet of ice. It surprised many of them, and some barely held on, but Nic stood tall and used one foot to hoist up like a pirate would at the top of his ship. He grunted, swiping his arms in opposite sides to motion the plate of earth to jet across the land. It bulldozed through the liquefied cement, where it jetted across the land like a high-speed jet ski over water.

They all were riding the massive earth slab…well, all except the Dragon Slayers. They all had comical gaping expressions as they wailed, teary eyed water driving them away as they suffered the next joy ride of their lives.

"OH GOD, WHY~~~~?!" Natsu wailed.

As they rode into the sun rising ahead of them, Richard stood his ground as the glob of wet cement dripped to puddled around him. Ahead of him, jumping off his pedestal of gunk, Bulcan landed on a knee several meters ahead of Richard and gave him a look. "You know, if you ask me, that was a pretty stupid move you've just made." He mocked. "You really wanna take me on all by yourself, squareface?"

"Oh yeah!" Richard proudly stated. "Because no matter what happens to me, my dearest of friends shall do whatever they can, and put a stop to your empire's reign of terror!"

Bulcan scoffed. "That's quite a noble tongue you got there. Let's see what other nonsense you can say…after I turn it to stone!" He reached out, sending a wave of cement plates across the ground towards Richard.

"Oh yeah!" Richard reached forward, sending a liquified wave of ground back, as the battle of Earth Mages began their epic clash.

* * *

"Are we sure it was okay to leave Richard back there like that?!" Lucy shouted through the grinding of the plate's bottom they rode on.

"We didn't have time to worry about the consequences! Richard can handle himself quite well!" Jellal replied. "Besides…I'm sure that even he knew the risks of succession were at stake as well."

"He'll be sure to meet up if possible!" Bellona said. "Now everyone, look alive!"

Nic's eyes narrowed as he propelled the plate of earth forward. Something in the distance got his and everyone's attention. Those holding onto the top of the earth got a glimpse of a massive wall with a huge domain of towers and buildings on the other side. As they got closer, they realized but how grand it truly was. "…Alvarez." He muttered.

Gray's eyes widened at the incoming structure. "Hm? Hold on, is that what I think it is?"

Juvia leaned forward in shock to see as well. "That must be the empire!"

"Yes, it is." Brandish answered, getting Lucy beside her to look. "Without a doubt, that is the empire, and we're going straight to its palace." She held her disposition as she drew ever so closer to the one place she was banished from, her home. It was there she was going to have to confront many of her past doing, including acquaintances, especially Brandish. It made her face duller.

A hand was put on her shoulder. She looked over to find that the hand belonged to Lucy. "It'll be okay, trust me." She assured. "We'll help you out, because that's what friends do."

A smile crept on Brandish's face, her attitude lightening up some. "You and your guild certainly are truly annoying, you know that?"

Lucy winked. "Dully noted."

As they closed in on the capital, almost the whole stretch across, there were massive gates that had smooth stones along the edges, with huge watch towers at every corner. As they closed in, the watchers in the watch towers all pulled down their binoculars and nodded at one another. Some of them went over towards compartments along the tower and started to insert functions into holographic keyboards. Down below them, stone vaults opened along the sides, tall enough to allow small things inside.

Looking ahead with her visors on, Aniya caught a glimpse of what they were doing. "Guys! They're throwing something at us!"

True to form, out of the doors, rushed several of the same Pokémon that looked like bright brown donkeys. They were all Mudbray, and on their necks were scarfs with the Alvarez emblem on. They went charging ahead at Nic and the others, making a massive herd that looked like wasn't slowing down.

"Are those Pokémon?!" Happy exclaimed.

Minerva's eyes narrowed. "So it seems they did coincide Pokémon into their ranks after all."

The Mudbray army saw the massive plate of earth shred across the ground. They all stopped in position just like their training inscribed. Each one got on the back of their hooves and stomped down on the ground, causing intense shockwaves to ripple earth like water ahead, via **Bulldoze**. The ripples and shockwaves became massive waves, which closed in on Nic and everyone else.

Nic's intensity hardened, readying a counter. "Everyone hang on!" His attire began to glow again, this time, switch out the Stone Form's rock elements for the Zap Form. Bright yellow cloaked the coat, as did the sleeves and the shoes. As his body crackled with electricity, his palms pressed harder on the slab.

" **Magnet Rise!** "

The entire slab was enveloped in a bright outline, and it began to feel a magnetic propulsion off the ground. It was like it was pushed skywards and continued sailing over the waves of earth that traveled beneath. It was exhilarating for a lot of them as they floated.

"We're floating!" Yukino gasped.

Gray smirked. "Now we're talking." He tried to stand on the flying slab, pulling out a Poke Ball. "If those guys like Ground-type attacks…then I bet they're gonna hate this! Snover, it's our turn now!"

The Frost Tree Pokémon popped out of his Poke Ball, ready and willing. "Alright, my turn to -AAAAH!" He nearly fell off the massive floating roller coaster, if not for Gray reaching back at the last second and seizing his sleeve.

"Hang on, I gotcha!" he exclaimed.

"O-o-o-okay!" Snover whimpered.

Gray nodded and pulled him upfront, where he placed Snover ahead and supported him from behind. "Alright, see those guys down there?" he referred to the massive arrays of Mudbray continuing their charge at them, even from below. "Get ready, we're gonna do some damage." He smirked.

Once they were almost directly above, Gray did not hesitate to give the order. "Now, Snover…use **Icy Wind!** " Snover did as told and inhaled. His mouth glowed bright blue and exerted a frosted, sharp breath that expanded down, creating mist upon impact. The Mudbray down below were all screaming as they were all being hit by the super effective Ice-type attack. Many were blown away so easily, and others tried to hang on the best they could.

"Ice-type attacks are super effective on types like those." Happy remembered.

"Aw yeah, this is gonna be easy!" Lector boasted.

"Juvia, can you give me a hand here?" Gray asked.

"Right." She nodded. Maintaining a strong enough balance, she moved her arms forward. On the ground, a summoned wave of low pressure washed up in front of the residual Mudbray like a weakened Surf. The herd wailed as their legs were struck, and thus sweeping them up and into one another. That, coupled with Snover's attack, proved too much as they all had swirly eyes, meaning they fainted.

"The Mudbray vanguard has been struck down!" a soldier announced.

"Bring the aerial fleet in for rebound, stat!" another exclaimed.

The floating rock continued to ski over the ground, ripping dust behind its wake. As it got closer, from the left side of the left watch tower, people could turn their heads to see aerial figures flap their wings and arch towards their direction.

"Looks like we have more!" Lyon warned, with Kinana gasping behind him.

Nic glanced off to the side, his glare hardening as he saw many of Fearow sweeping in from the air, with harnesses with the Alvarez marks on them. As they cawed, it was revealed they had Alvarez soldiers with whips on their backs.

"Get going!" He lashed his whip over a Fearow's head, causing it to flap harder and dive at the group.

"Here they come!" Sophie warned.

A foot pressed harder on the floating rock, swiftly leaving to shoot a figure up at the flock. The figure zoomed at an intense velocity, catching everyone off guard.

Through many wondrous gazes, the one who seemed intrigued was Erza. Her eyes narrowed as she saw who it was that shot themselves up. _'Is that…?'_

The figure pulled out a Poke Ball, and as it sailed skywards, the ball popped open, creating a powerful flash.

 _ **SHWING!**_

When the flash subsided, slash marks shined brightly. In a powerful blazing glory, Kagura, and what looked like a small Pokémon with knives for hands showing **Metal Claw** , passed the vast of the flock. As the two looked away with eyes shut out, the Fearow and men all were enveloped in bright bursts from the slashes they received.

"Kagura!" Minerva exclaimed. She looked over, her eyes getting pass the molting feathers of the Fearow to get a glimpse of the Pawniard alongside Kagura. _'Is that…her Pokémon?'_

Kagura sheathed her sword as she descended to the ground. "Get going!" she yelled. "We'll hold them off for as long as we can!"

Nic nodded in understanding. Without hesitation, he picked up the pace and the plate closed in on the gate. They had a velocity of a Dodrio, if not a Rapidash. They were sailing amicably.

As they closed in, a few spots dented in the ground ahead of them. Then, holes were created, which burst with dust and dirt. Out of them, Drilbur all shot up, claws bare at them.

"Drilbur! Incoming!" Erza warned.

The many Drilbur in numbers as large as the Mudbray all shimmered their claws, readying for their incoming. However, from the side, a Drilbur saw a glint of something and turned in question. "Huh…?"

In a blinding blur, Sawyer lunged from the side, beelining clean through the Drilbur in his path. They all spiraled out of control as he smirked. "Too slow!"

"Sawyer!" Jellal exclaimed.

Another figure smirked. "Why should you have all the fun?" The figure jumped off the slab, swiping her arm in midair down at the five Drilbur beneath that jumped for her. Immediately a swarm of white angels expelled in an arch from the side of her body and swept them away.

Yukino jumped next, following her lead. In midair, she twirled and pulled out a key. " **Open: Gate of the Balance – Libra!** "

Once she landed, the key was pointed forward, and a magic seal showed itself. Appearing in front was Libra on a knee, and she lifted her scales up as green outlined her body. Gravity intensified in front of the Drilbur in front of her, stopping their movements.

"Just leave this to us as well." Sorano smirked.

"You guys go! We insist!" Yukino exclaimed.

"Guys…" Though they were down four more guys to handle the raid, Nic knew he couldn't waver. His fixation hardened further as he leaned forward. "Alright then, here we go!" His body crackled in electricity, the static channeling into the massive plate. It zoomed faster than before, accelerating at alarming speeds dangerously close to the gates.

"If you're going to bust through, find another way!" Brandish exclaimed. "Those gates are immune to magic!"

Nic's body crackled harder in electricity, making his glare more intensifying. "Then we won't!" Covering in electricity, his entire body had a cloak of intense lightning the made for a veil. Everything shuddered around him as he made the plate zoom behind for greater momentum. The lightning that was roaring was like a veil that surrounded the outer front, like a forcefield, and Nic was the center.

Nic brought his fist back, roaring out with all his might as the electricity blistered into his body.

" **VOLT TACKLE!** "

His fist collided first, then his shoulder, ramming with the force of the plate to completely erupt the gates in an explosion of lightning. Smoke surged into the empire's compounds, sending the doors screeching across the street and making trails within the concrete. Eventually, the gates fell like pillars, dented, destroyed, and all along the city, dust and smoke trailed all the way back towards its gates, where the majority of the smoke was.

There, within the billowing, a silhouette slowly eroded out of the cloud, his figure standing with red crackling electricity for recoil. But he looked undeterred by the effects nor the collateral damage purposely made. Behind him, many more silhouettes slowly eroded up from their feet out of rubble created. Some were shaken, but many more were looking to be excited.

As the smoke faded, the empire watching from their windows all got a view from around and above. And the first face they saw come out…was a man with black spiky hair and blue eyes, a serious look on his face.

As the wind shifted and blew away the dust and smoke, neither him nor his comrades were unfazed. They have finally arrived…Alvarez Empire.

* * *

 **Good enough to stop here I guess. I would've preferred to go a little further, but I didn't want to extend my 17K limit I placed upon myself. But I think I got just enough in this chapter to satisfy everyone. Comedy, fair-length fighting…yup, all good! Reviews are appreciated as ever! Until next time guys! :)**


	14. Curtain Call to Arms

The dust finally settled along the streets, or rather what was left of them that is. Rock and debris were in a straight course that lead back to the gate's main entrance, where there, everyone part of the group was glaring ahead at the empire's inner circle.

Natsu staggered up from the broken plate, his eyes showing a haze. Happy used his wings and helped him up. "Easy now."

"You okay, Gajeel?" Pantherlily asked the Iron Dragon Slayer.

Gajeel's pale facial expression was unsettling. "Uggh…" He covered his mouth. That answered Pantherlily's question alright.

"Take it easy, Wendy. Nice and easy." Carla was in her human form, helping assisting Wendy with an arm over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Carla…" a shaken Sky Dragon Slayer gurgled. Droopy blue lines were over her head as she sulked with a bubbly stomach. "S-sorry…"

A loud whistle came from Kevin, whose sunglasses reflected sunlight. "Well _that's_ an entrance!" He looked around with wide eyes, getting a glimpse of Alvarez. "So this the place?"

Mest nodded. "No doubt. We're in enemy territory now. The heart of it. There's no telling what's going to happen from here on."

"He's right. Everyone stay on guard." Erza ordered. She looked back at Nic, who offered nothing to say, In fact, he took a few steps forward ahead of the others and looked far out.

The Trainer took many of steps forward to a halt just as his two feet planted on a flat piece of rubble. He looked far out as the eye could see. He didn't need Staraptor or anything in particular to know something was wrong. Or rather, had oppositions methods of the setup. For example, he noticed that as a hollow wind blew, it felt like the breeze of a cold, crisp morning, not at all warm and soothing like it is in his backyard. It was like winds of the abyss reaching out to them. Secondly, what caught his attention was how there were no people around. No citizens. No soldiers. They were expecting _some_ kind of stalemate since they were in the heart of it all, but no. It was a ghost town. Or rather, a ghost empire.

' _Looks like they were expecting us.'_ Nic figured. Inside, he knew it would be the case, but his eyes narrowed. _'If they don't have enforcements here, that means…'_

Before he could think, something sharp went into his mind, like a cringing headache that hurt for a brief second. With eyes wide, he, and everybody else heard static loud and clear, echoing through their minds.

"What's this?" Jellal felt his head. He gasped in realization. "Is someone trying to…"

' _ **Greetings, and welcome to you all!**_ _'_ A voice exclaimed, giving great exaggeration in its tone.

Brandish's eyes narrowed. _'That voice.'_ She, as well as Erza and the others, had a good feeling of whom it was.

' _ **Many of you may be clueless as to who I am, so allow me to indulge you with myself a little. They call me Emperor Neinhart, and I welcome you to my illustrious empire! I trust that you all had fun with experiencing my welcoming committee that I had arranged.**_ _'_

' _He's taunting us.'_ Erza glared. _'So he_ _ **was**_ _expecting us.'_

' _ **You all have done so admirably against us and our forces. Why, taking down Ajeel was admittedly impressive, but still, for the glory of Alvarez, and for those who have fallen from before, I, your gracious host Emperor Neinhart, will take it upon myself to give you a formal invitation to my empire's palace. I trust there, you will be 'humbly' greeted and compensated for your efforts.**_ _'_ Nobody present was that dumb to know that it was another trap set. They all glared ahead with vigilance and ready, if ever implied. Even Kevin looked ready, and his magic wasn't all that helpful in combat. It just goes to show that this emperor was someone who didn't feel challenged, despite how others felt. _'_ _ **Don't keep me waiting too long. Let's have a good show to share.**_ _'_ With a snap of a finger, they felt the discomfort in their heads fade away. Everyone there looked at the empire's palace far up ahead, something that wasn't too easy to miss.

With the greeting/challenge over, there was an intense silence that followed. They all knew this was the one and possibly only way to get things done, and they knew probably that others might not come out unscathed. This was going to be tough, and there was no easy way in, or out.

"I know a few ways into the palace." Brandish said. "Although by now, I'm sure we're being watched."

"Which means no matter where we go, there's no point in avoiding." Sophie stated. "It's a forced dare."

Griffon stepped beside her, smirking. "Yeah, typical tyranny for ya. Always playing God and watching with a little wine in hand."

"Well then, suppose it would be rude for us to _not_ oblige." Bellona mocked. "Thoughts, anyone?"

Erza looked at Nic, seeing him facing forward in silence. "Nic."

Nic stared forward, looking fixated with a serious look. At times like these, any right-minded leader may as well go ahead with a motivational speech, but not Nic. It seemed like he was intending to focus more on what was their true objective. _'Brandish might be right. They may have blocked off all the possible side exits and paths to the empire's base. I wouldn't be surprised if they set traps for good measure if we strayed off course. So then, there's only one thing to do.'_

"Nic?" Erza questioned again. She saw Nic glance over his shoulder to look at her. She looked shocked to see his small grin, and his warm blue eyes gazing right at her.

"You ready? Be rude like Bellona said if we don't offer our thanks for his kinship."

Getting Nic's notion, a smirk worked its way on Erza.

"Alright then…" Natsu glared forward and smiled. "Let's get going!"

* * *

Watching from the throne room's grand windows, the emperor who announced himself was doing as expected. He was standing and looming down pass the extravagant courtyard and smirking evilly at the street barely in view. Even now, he knew his message was well received. He could feel it.

"And you seriously think they will come?" Glynda questioned. "These are professional mages we are dealing with here, I highly doubt they would be so gullible to fall for such a trap."

"Trust me, they'll come." He countered casually. "After all, if they were so bold as to come here to begin with, they clearly know who they're doing with…I say we prove them wrong."

Glynda sighed. "Whatever you say."

Suddenly, Neinhart glanced at her with a scowl. "What are you still doing here? I thought I told you to get ready to take what is ours."

"Exactly why I'm here." She adjusted her glasses. "With your permission, I would like to depart now."

"Like I need to repeat myself." Neinhart bluffed. "Just go already."

"As you say, your majesty." She turned and walked out of the doorway. Once she stepped out, the door shut, where she stood quietly ahead. "Now then, I believe Jacob had sentenced you here for a reason, am I right?"

To whom she directed to were three figures just outside the room. Down on one knee each, all their heads were bowed to honor and respect her presence and magical power. Not a one look at her in the eye. The three figures all had various shapes and sizes. While all three were still humanoid in shape and design, there was a tall and slim one, a slightly shorter but more muscular built one, and a shorter, child-like one. The tall one had fair skin with a broad white moustache that curled at the ends. He had spiky white hair that went in a ponytail down to the shoulders behind. He adorned a black butler-like tuxedo with a white blouse beneath, amongst which had a blue bowtie. He adorned black dress pants and shoes, and at the ends of the rolled up white sleeves were gloves with blue rings on the middle fingers. "Whatever it is that you command us to do, Miss Glynda, I, Viridian Kriegs, shall be at your loyal heed to the end." He said humbly.

The muscular one had slightly darker tone of skin compared to the first one, but had a stubble and thick sideburns to accompany his dark blonde hair, which was short yet spiky sideways. He adorned a thick leather jacket with black upper body armor beneath. For the bottom, over the blue pants, black armor shielded the thighs, the ankles, and the shins, all the way down to the feet. "That's right, as allies to the Alvarez Empire, Tyson Hammar of the 3 Machia Knights is here to serve."

Lastly, the smaller figure had a teen's short physique and other large green eyes. He had a wicked smile as his short blonde hair that went in many curled locks around the neck up towards the chin, with bangs curling to the forehead. On the ears were massive buds that weren't connected by a headphone. He adorned a short black jacket with long sleeves yet an overall size that went down to the midriff, where there was an exposed chest with a small red gem where the diaphragm would be located. He adorned black pants, black shoes, and like the others, looked down from Glynda. "As for the honor and will of the great Wahl Icht, I, Pixy Vilgance, offer myself to crush anyone for the sake of his name."

Glynda smirked as the three presented themselves with dignity. "Good. Then let me remind you this. Your service is for the empire's sake, not for the fallen Wahl Icht, that is the deal Jacob made clear when he hired you into his ranks. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Milady." Viridian stated. "Excuse our ways. We Machias have no excuse."

"It's fine. Now then, we have a job to do. I expect you all to carry this out with your lives." She started walking pass them as they kept bowing, but she stopped when another note came to her. "By the way, is anyone aware of where Decker is?"

Viridian lowered his head. "Milady, I believe that he's already departed."

"Finally, someone who takes their position seriously." She huffed. "Very well, let us be on our way."

"Yes, ma'am!" All three stood and followed her.

* * *

For those unaware miles away, they had no idea of what they were going to get into. They were in enough trouble already with the ship down, but many were still anxious for any possible enemies to come.

A pair of hands reached out, glowing faintly as a small part of metal and wood slowly moved back into place. It reshaped, as if time went backwards and fixed itself. With that pieces fixed, Ultear's hands fell to her side as her eyelids closed halfway. She was about to fall over when Meredy supported her.

"Ultear!" She gripped her adoptive mother and looked up at her with worry. She saw her laboring her breath as her magic's toll started to sink in. _'Her skin is a little pale. I can't believe her magic's taking this big of a toll on such a small space.'_

"She alright?" Matilda asked.

"I'm fine." Ultear proved this by staggering back up on her own. She looked up at her handiwork, frowning as she that the results lead to the whole ship's outside being fixed. "I managed to fix the ship's exterior damage. There shouldn't be anymore on the outside to worry about."

"That's good to know." Meredy sighed. "At least we won't worry about flooding."

"Yeah, but there's still the interior damage to worry about." Broly intervened. "Not to mention the engine itself. If this ship is made up entirely of material resistant to magic, then it'll take the whole day at least until we work our way around to fixing it."

Matilda scratched the back of her head. "Uuugh! Maybe I should've joined the others. I was hoping maybe a punch or two would calm me down." A hand with gum in it offered itself in front of her. She looked over, grabbing the gum. "Oh! Hey, just what the doctor ordered. Thanks, Liz!"

Liz' gum snapped in her mouth as she bluntly nodded.

Dereece sat on a wooden box as he looked down. "Well this can't possibly get anywhere less than hopeful."

Joey waved him off. "Eh don't get a big head over it, Dereece. You know what they say? Sticks and stones break bones, not despair, silly?"

"Where's the logic in that?" he deadpanned back.

"Trust me, I'm too wise for even myself sometimes." Joey boasted happily.

"Sure~, let's go with that."

Duncan tapped his kendo stick against his shoulder. He pivoted away and started for the deck's cabin entrance. "You can do as you want, I really couldn't care." He said. "If there isn't anyone battling, I may as well go below deck and wait until the ship is fixed."

"Duncan does have a point." Dereece noted before yawning loudly. "…I need some shut eye after that rude wake up call. What about you, Vanessa?"

The 18-year-old Pularis girl started walking. "My aura won't be as effective inside as it is outside. I think I'll stay out here where I can keep an eye on things at the stern."

Broly nodded dutifully. "Gotcha, then me and this guy got this side." He pointed a thumb at Joey.

"W-we do?" Joey stammered.

Broly pulled Joey into his arm, smirking gleefully. "Aw, what's the harm? Besides, still could use some more lessons kid. I'd be happy to show ya with this open space we've got."

Joey was caught by surprise, but he looked up to Broly and felt fairly secure. He smiled and nodded. "Sure!"

Unknowingly, as he looked over his shoulder, Dereece saw Joey smiling sincerely at Broly. A smile crossed face as he shook his head, continuing his way.

Ultear let loose a sigh as she started next. "Guess I'll head in a swell. I'll need to recover some more magic is I'm to fix the interior damage."

"Wait up, I'm coming with you!" Meredy followed along. Next to follow was Matilda, who had arms overhead and looking bored as ever.

With everyone dividing around the ship, that left just Liz, who had a halfhearted look on her face. She opted to look around and wandered off aimlessly, while Joey and Broly stayed upfront and held their positions. With them gone, the Barrier-Make Mage faced Joey with a smile. "Don't worry, we'll be just fine." He winked. "But no promises, okay?"

* * *

A snot bubble slowly expanded and contracted with every soft breath a wild Hippopotas took. It was so soothed, and so tranquil. It'd be a crime to let such a peaceful creature be awaken…

The ground erupted with rock-hard cement that gushed with fury. The Hippopotas went flying into the distance as the cement arched in the other direction. In fact, two were arching on either side down onto Richard as he stayed completely still.

In fluent motion, he moved two fingers in front. " **Liquid Ground!** " The ground around him liquefied into ripples like water. When the heavy arches came down, the ground splashed geysers of moist earth that blocked the hard cements. The wet earth then hardened some, containing the cement arches in place.

Bulcan's eyes narrowed as he smirked. The two cement arches suddenly shot two arches from either side, making four smaller arches snake in all directions towards Richard. They closed in and created a powerful eruption of shattered cement and wet ground.

Bulcan snickered. "Someone a little crushed?" He didn't expect an answer at all, but suddenly he started to lose balance. "W-woah, hey!" He looked down, seeing the ground rippling and waving. It was liquefying. He gasped when he looked round to see the earth around shifting and molding. He looked left, and then right, unaware of a magical pressure beneath. Before he knew it, a geyser of wet earth spouted beneath, gushing him skywards while Richard emerged from beneath unscathed.

"Oh yeah!"

In midair, Bulcan grunted and straightened himself out. _'He dodged by sinking into the ground like water!'_ He started to descend, where he summoned a platform of cement to land on a knee and reached both arms to the side. _'My magic makes cement hard and soft, while his magic makes ground soft. Maybe I should change my approach on this…'_ He raised both arms up to heighten the platform into a pillar, where he then reached forward.

" **Wet Cement Rush!** "

He jumped off the pillar backwards, where the whole structure began to ripple as well before breaking into wet cement that rushed towards Richard. Richard held a serious face as he pointed two fingers forward, making a shockwave emit from his eyes. The ground ahead of him turned into mush again and summoned waves of wet earth all around. A typhoon of earth rushed at the wave of cement, only to collide in the center. The two waves swirled and spewed everywhere, gushing high and loud for anyone miles away to hear shifting.

Bulcan landed on the ground, looking ahead with a smirk. He snapped his fingers, in which the wet wave suddenly began to solidify. It crackled and churned as the massive geyser eroding became a stale wall of cement mixed with earth.

"Interesting." Richard stated. "However…" His eyes had an orange outline surrounding them, signifying another shift.

' _As an Earth Mage himself, he can detect my presence while I'm on the ground.'_ Bulcan thought. _'But let's see him try and find me when I do this trick!'_ He then ran into the wall of cement he made. In a surprise of his own, he molded his own body into the cement, absorbed to a full stable state. He was now part of it all.

" **Cement Dragon!** "

From the wall of cement, a beam of cement shot at Richard. As it traveled, it began solidifying into the head of a Chinese dragon that sailed over the earth. Unknowingly inside, Bulcan raced with it. _'He can't liquify the ground where I'm standing because I'm not on the ground!'_

" **Liquid Ground!** "

Richard's counter made Bulcan gasp. "What?!"

As the cement dragon raced, the hard wall it traveled from began to liquefy. Its base began to deteriorate into mush as the cement and wet earth sunk into the ground. The dragon was cut off from supply, and like a statue with no legs, it dropped to the damp earth, where the body and head cracked and shattered.

Bulcan jumped out of the wreckage and hurried to midair, where on his left, a serpentine wave of liquid ground went at him. " **Cement Wall!** " He created a wall of hard cement to block the wet earth, where it splashed about around the wall and allowed him land on the ground once more.

His breathing labored as he glared at Richard, who seemed to be taking the fight well. "Well you sure have a way of pissing me off, pal." He mocked. "Are you even trying?"

"Oh yes! Indefinitely!" Richard exclaimed.

"Tch, well your noble tone certainly says otherwise. Guess I should kick this up a notch." He held up a Poke Ball close to his face, smirking maliciously, which left Richard mildly surprised. "Alright Numel, kick this guy's ass!"

The Poke Ball was flung into the air, spinning before it popped open. Numel landed on the ground and raised his head, snorting at Richard with a dull look. "Uhhh…hey…" he slurred.

"A Pokémon?" Richard questioned.

"Surprised? Well here's some tricks for you pal!" Bulcan reached forward to give a command. "Alright you camel, give them a **Magnitude!** " Numel gave another snort as he lurched backwards as told and slowly came forward. Once his front feet slammed into the ground, a tremor erupted. Visible shockwaves were seen reaching and expanding outwards towards Richard, who put up a liquid ground barrier. However, much to his surprise, the shaking of the earth dissipated the barrier.

"What's this?!" Richard was struck by the shockwaves, which pulsated right beneath his feet. Even with partially liquefied earth around, the waves made it hard to absorb parts of the impact.

Nearby, as a shockwave was rampaging, the Hippopotas earlier shook his head and groaned. "Oh man, what happened to a peaceful mor-AAAH!" He was sent tumbling in the air again as the **Magnitude** also got him.

As the quaking receded at last, Richard found his sudden loss of balance hard to manage.

Bulcan gave a hardly sneer at his foe's lack of coordination. "You like that? How about this?! Use **Ember!** " Numel opened his mouth, where he gushed out a blanket of embers and orange sparks at Richard.

This time, Richard was sure of his strategy. "Ha! **Liquid Ground!** " Once again, the ground around him liquefied. Went the ground on either side created waves curving inwards, they blocked the embers entirely. "Sorry my friend, but an attack like that will have no effect of that caliber!" He used two fingers and pointed them forward, controlling the waves of wet earth that surged towards Numel and its Trainer.

Bulcan smirked. _'Now's my chance!'_ He slammed his hands on the ground. " **Cement Dragon!** "

Below Richard, he didn't have time to react due to no solids beneath. Like a fish out of water, a Chinese dragon-shaped ram shot straight below, sending him skywards. Richard's own attack completely dropped to plain ground as his focus was off, leaving Numel and Bulcan unharmed. The dragon arched when it was at a high enough point, sending a yelping Richard into the ground with a loud, dusty thud.

As the dust was trying the settle, the dragon receded back into the ground, making a small tremor that picked even more dust up. Though after minutes, Richard was seen in a crater, struggling to get up from the shock that his body endured.

Bulcan sneered once again. "No surprise there, noble boy. You thought it'd be wise to rush at Alvarez when you know we've prepared specific Pokémon for each and every one of us by choice. Now then, you wanna continue or give yourself up?"

Richard groaned as he tried to stand again. That last attack caught him by sheer surprise. If he were able to make the ground liquid before the impact he would've sustained much less damage. But even with mishaps, he had to buck up and handle it all with pride. With what he had in him, he managed to stand again.

"Such impiety." He managed.

"What?"

"Even if…I were taken down…the circumstances doesn't change that I have things that must be done." He managed to his feet, glaring with outlines around the eyes. "I believe that someday, my prayer will come true. And until that day comes, I shall testify against the lord, as well as you."

Bulcan's frustration began to rise. "You stubborn Ishgarians…" he muttered. "Fine then, you wanna die that badly, be my guest! Numel, get ready!" Numel dully presented himself with a slow nod. "Let's shake him up some more then, use-!" Suddenly, a billow of dust arose from out of nowhere, catching him and Numel off guard. "What the-?!" He covered up to avoid sand in the eyes.

Richard covered up as well, but quickly opened and eye, noticing how he felt secure. As he looked around, he was shocked to see that everything around him was enveloped in a sandstorm of churning sand and dust.

Through the howling sand, Numel and Bulcan looked around, startled by this sudden change. "Where's this sandstorm coming from?" the latter yelled. "Ajeel? Is he still alive?"

A pair of feet stepped forward. "You did this."

All three looked forward with some sense of surprise at the bloated tone. It was so not Ajeel.

"I was just trying to have a good sandnap when all a sudden your cement and earth shaking had to ruin it…" A silhouette could be seen inside the sand, slowly walking up. As it showed itself, Richard looked surprised as he saw a light brown foot. "I wanted to just nap all day, now I can't until you two go away. So let's go!" The sand blew away, revealing a certain Pokémon that was blown about several times already.

"Who the heck are you?!" Bulcan exclaimed.

"Hippopotas?" Richard questioned.

Hippopotas spread his feet, snorting sand out. "Is it cool that I battle with you?"

Richard was caught surprised by the Hippopotas' offer. He wasn't sure what to say exactly, but whatever the case happened to be, he knew at this point he needed help. He nodded humbly. "Oh yeah! Very well, my young friend, let us proceed to battle!"

"Right!"

Despite the sudden setback of another member joining their little party, Bulcan found his resolute to fight again. "So, you got help too eh? And here I thought things couldn't get anymore satisfying."

"Mock all you want, but I dare speak less of myself than of you!" Richard pointed forward into the sandstorm created by Hippopotas' Sand Stream Ability. "Now, let's go!"

"No problem!" Hippopotas took a deep breath through his nose, creating a vacuum that sucked up the stirring sand. " **Sand Attack!** " He then blew out, expelling sand that picked up and went at Numel. When it hit Numel, the Fire/Ground-type was forced to look away as a thick blue aura enveloped his body, meaning a sharp accuracy fallen, due to his Simple Ability backfiring on him.

Bulcan grunted and reached forward. "A little sand doesn't hurt us! Use **Magnitude!** "

Numel tried to shake his head and recover, bit in his eyes, everything was blurry. He got up on his two feet and came down again, exerting another round of shockwaves that traveled across the ground…a little to Hippopotas' left. They went on through the sandstorm, only the ground trembling beneath the hippo being weak.

"What?" Bulcan gasped. "How can you miss! He was right in front of you!"

Hippopotas spread his feet again. He opened his mouth, where the stubby teeth glowed white, via **Bite**. He lunged ahead and bit into Numel's side, causing him the flinch and wane away in agony.

"Oh yeah! Excellent work!" Richard praised.

Hippopotas backed off and looked at Numel flinching. "And there's more! **Yawn!** He opened wide, expelling a few sprays of pink bubbles. They went at Numel, where they eroded around him in wonder. When he recovered, he opened his eyes only for them to pop all around him.

"Gnngh!" He shook his head again, trying to clear his senses. "Huh…what just…" His eyes began to lower. "Ha…ppened…?" He began to feel drowsy all of a sudden. His vision was blurry, and now he was ready to sleep. It was strange.

Bulcan ignored the circumstances and pointed forward. "You're fine! For Alvarez! **Ember!** " Numel couldn't aim well, but hearing his voice was all he needed, no matter how distorted. He open-fired a blanket of embers with all his strength forward, this time striking Hippopotas and making him slid back.

Richard gasped in shock.

Bulcan sneered. _'Heh, knew it'd make no difference.'_ "Now finish it! Use **Magnitude!** " He waited for the ttack to come, but oddly enough only a single thud was heard. "Huh?" When he looked down, he saw Numel was surprisingly on his side, sleeping. "What the-?! What are you doing?! There's no napping on the job!"

Hippopotas readied himself. "Now you'll know what it's like to have your sleep interrupted… **Bite!** " He opened his mouth wide as he ran through the sandstorm brewing.

"What?" Bulcan gasped. He looked to see the circumstances changing. He had to end it, and quick. He reached forward without a thought. " **Cement Wall!** "

" **Liquid Ground!** " Richard countered.

As Hippopotas went running, a wall of cement blocked his path, only to liquefy moments later. He ran through the mush and to the next wall, which again liquefied. After a few repetitions, the Ground-type made one more leap and opened wide. He finally sailed down, clamping his mouth on Numel's neck. With a massive turn, he pivoted and used his jaws to swing and let go, sending the sleeping Numel flying into Bulcan, knocking him over.

Hippopotas looked back, giving Richard a nod. "Okay!"

Richard nodded in understanding, setting two fingers for. "Now…to end this! HRAH!" With all his might, Richard made the ground tremble as waves of wet earth were summoned around him. He jutted forward, sending a raging cyclone of liquefied earth at Bulcan and Numel.

The Cement Mage looked flabbergasted as he was suddenly swamped by erupting gushes of liquid ground. The ground swayed and stirred like waves of an ocean, and the sandstorm around them was just shifting and subsiding as the waves also began to ease. Richard and Hippopotas looked forward in anticipation, both seeing their opponents lying on their backs in defeat.

"Oh yeah!" Richard cheered. "The power of our conviction succeeds again!"

"Yes! Finally!" Hippopotas cheered. "Now I can sleep again!"

Richard looked down at Hippopotas with a smile. "My young friend." Hippopotas looked up to face him. "I cannot express my gratitude enough that you were willing to help me in my time of need. Thank you. I am in your debt."

Hippopotas blinked once as he looked back at Richard. He looked up at him and blinked again, before a smile crossed his face. "You're welcome."

A short silence crossed between the two as they were rejoicing in their victory together. They didn't know each other, yet they helped each other out. It was a win-win, and plus believe it or not, it felt satisfying. To Hippopotas, it was a good deed well-earned.

Richard continued smiling, but an intense force suddenly rattled his body. His eyes jutted wide from shock as he felt a sharp sensation overcome him.

Hippopotas gasped in shock as he saw Richard in anguish. He couldn't believe what he saw.

As Richard fell to the ground, someone shady with a hat and armor on had his hand out, grasping a kunai-shaped lacrima. His face was concealed as winds shifted his clothing, yet nothing happened. He held his pose as Richard fell with a gash to his side, dropping like a log.

"Oh my gosh!" Hippopotas hurried over to Richard's fallen state. He looked worried as he tried to find a way to help. "H-hey! What happened?! Are you alright?!" He looked back at the figure again, seeing him facing away. "H-hey! What did you-?!"

He didn't have time to finish before the figure became a blur and turned around, lunging at the gasping Hippopotas as everything went black.

* * *

Arthur sat the stack of papers down in front of them, giving a large relieved sigh. "Finally, finished." He had a long night. A **very** long one. He would've preferred to get as much sleep needed, but his office work and these documents confirming the temporary embargo were weighing him down heavily. He wasn't even sure the last time he slept. "Honestly, how did I get myself into this mess?" he sourly mused.

The door to his office knocked. "Enter."

It opened. Coming out to the open was Marie as she sternly walked in. "Arthur, I was requested to take in the documents you were supposed to instate." She looked at his condition, shock on his face. "Sir, what in heaven's name…?!"

Arthur lazily slipped the stack of papers across his desk towards her. "Morning to you, Marie." He greeted. "Here they are."

Marie took the moment to ignore the papers to look at Arthur's desk. There were smudge marks everywhere from spilled ink, and vast levels of materials in the garbage. And sitting at the corner of his desk was a wine glass, and empty one. Marie sighed heavily. "Honestly, sir, staying up all night isn't beneficial by any means. I keep telling you."

Arthur sourly chuckled. "Sorry. A lot of work needed to be done."

"So I see." She most certainly empathized with what her boss was going through. If she were in his position right now, she could understand the stress of being under this much fire would feel like. All these demands and these altered regulations were doing numbers on him and the foundation alike.

Arthur sat back in his wheelchair, which reclined to his liking. " _Now_ I think I can take a short break."

Marie walked on over and took the stack of papers. "For all our sakes, you'll need more than just a break." She turned and went for the door. "Honestly, this little mess being made is out of control."

A frown formed on his face as he looked at the see-through ceiling in construction overhead. "Marie…"

The assistant stopped in her tracks at the doorway.

"Tell me, how are things going with our friend and his acquaintances?"

Marie kept herself turned away as she adjusted her adjusted. "Well, sir. If what I believe is to be right, they should be within the reaches of the continent as we speak. I wouldn't be surprised if they're engaging as we speak."

"I see…" His fixation on the ceiling intensified. "And this empire was said to have been created for the sole reason of defeating Acnologia, the dragon that Nic and his Pokémon defeated. Interesting…" A small silence fell as a grin worked its way onto his face.

"What is it, sir?"

"It's nothing. Just thinking of their efforts for us and the Pokémon alike. These guild mages have me intrigued is all."

Marie nodded in understanding. "Yes, sir. I can agree there. Their magic that we've seen from quests over by the tutoring district has gotten many Trainers intrigued. Why you wonder about them?"

Silence fell again as Arthur smiled. "It's nothing."

"Then if it's all the same, I'll be taking my leave. Is there anything else you need?"

"Yes, actually. Be sure to plant more Lum Berries if needed. We're on a strict supply of them as it is."

"I shall."

"Also…some more wine if possible." He smirked.

Marie sighed and turned away. "Nice try." She left with the documents.

Arthur shrugged. "Oh well, worth a shot." He looked up at the ceiling again, falling intrigued by his thoughts of the events of Alvarez and Nic's team. _'I wonder, Nic, how are you and your friends going to combat the hate and Pokémon of this world?'_

* * *

"Coming…THROUGH!" Sawyer made a beeline clean through a path of Drilbur, creating enough force to kick them off their feet and knock them down. "Hehe, too slow." He smirked.

Yukino swiped her arm. "Libra!"

"Yes, as you wish." The Celestial Spirit swiped her scales to the sides and raised her arm. From below, the Drilbur in front were all shot up from a force of gravity shooting up from the ground, sending them wailing through the air.

A gleaming cutting wave surged through the air, revealing Kagura as she swung her sword, passing another flock of grounded Fearow and men thanks to her magic. She had her eyes shut as she held her pose as the numbers fell right behind her.

Nearby, her Pawniard let out a cry as she flipped over a flying Fearow's head. " **Metal Claw!** " She crossed her arms, where the claws shimmered a metallic filament. She swiped in an X, making silver streams follow that knocked the Fearow out of the air and slammed into another soldier, knocking him out.

Pawniard landed right in front of Kagura, both withdrawing themselves as Sawyer, Yukino, and Sorano all regrouped themselves together. When they looked around, they could see that they had their work cut out for them. Laying all around, many of men were sprawled, possibly in hundreds along with either Drilbur or Fearow. It was thanks to Libra and Kagura with their gravity that they were able to compress the area enough for Sawyer and Sorano to smack them around a bit before either getting cut down or otherwise another fate. But with nothing else, the group gathered around the entrance with varied levels of wear.

"Phew! That was exhausting." Sorano wiped sweat from her forehead.

"Easy for you to say, what did you do?" Sawyer questioned, earning a pouty look from his teammate.

Yukino sighed in relief. "What a relief. I sure hope the others got far enough ahead."

Libra approached her master and gave a bowed. "Am I free to go now, Miss Yukino?" she politely asked.

Yukino looked at her and nodded. "Yes, thank you again for all your help. Get some rest." She aloud for her spirit to fade away back into the Celestial World for recovery.

Kagura turned towards her Pawniard and held her Poke Ball. "You've done well, Pawniard. Withdraw for the time being." She ordered.

Pawniard lowered her head and nodded. "Yes, Mistress Kagura." She went back into her Poke Ball, where it was then put away.

"Sooooo, what now?" Sorano asked. "I doubt being around here would be a good idea. Anyone?"

Yukino nodded. "Yes. We should make sure that the others are alright ahead of us. Who knows if they made it in alright?"

"I wouldn't worry to that extent." Kagura noted. "Still, it's better to go ahead than remain here. We may not have much time on our hands."

Sawyer smirked as he turned towards the gates up ahead. "Then better get moving than beating around the bush." He got into running position, readying to run. "Alright ladies, I can get us caught up one at a time, so who's going fi-!" He was cut off when a force shot him from far behind, propelling him in a harsh tumble forward.

"Sawyer!" Sorano gasped.

Sawyer fumbled on the ground as the force was revealed to be a net with lacrima knots in them. When Sawyer stopped fumbling, the net produced a powerful shock that electrocuted him. Every fiber in his body rattled tremendously as he screamed out in agonizing twitching pain. When the shock ended, he fell back to the ground unconscious.

Yukino went wide-eyed as she turned around at the attack's origin. However, to her surprise nothing was there. It was just wasteland. _'That's weird, I thought that attack came from…!'_ She looked around in question, but her attention drew towards Sorano, her eyes widening in shock.

Sorano gave her a suspicious look. "What?" However, little did she know, a silhouette loomed behind her.

"Sorano, be-!" Yukino warned her sister of the impending doom behind her, but as she finished her last sentence, the last part wasn't coming out right.

Sorano saw her sister yelling and warning at her, but she got no audible clearance. "What?"

Yukino ushered more yelling from how her expression and desperate looks were, but surprisingly nothing was coming out. It was like her vocal chords stopped working. _'Wait, what happened? Why is my voice not coming out?!'_

A blur blitzed past Sorano as the mage felt an incredible pain bypass her. She opened her mouth and ushered a hollowed shout of pain, but like Yukino, nothing came out. Yukino could only watch as blood sprayed from the side wound her sister was inflicted with.

"SORANO~!"…is what would've been yelled for Yukino, but nothing came out. She only watched as her sister fell to her side. Her breath hitched in heaping gasps, but even those weren't audible. In her own despair, a force of its own chopped at the back of her neck, making a shock run through her nerves that made her fall to the ground unconscious.

Kagura looked with vivid shock of her own. ("What's happening?!") She went wide-eyed at the realization of her voice muting. ("Wait…what…?") She reached for her vocal chords, trying to speak. She felt vibrations sure, but still nothing came out. _'Something's wrong. It's like my voice is gone, yet my chords are still…'_ Realizing she was digressing, she looked back to see all three of her teammates were down.

Standing right in front of her in plain view was a man who had arms crossed, with a cowboy hat and a long scarf. It was hard to make out him being either a ninja or an actual cowboy. But the way his eyes glared at her, she could feel a strong course of Magic Power.

Kagura's glare intensified. _'This Magic Power…'_ She reached for her sword again to defend. ("You…")

The figure and the space around him was completely silent. Not even wind could be heard as he glared ahead. He pulled out three kunai-shaped lacrima, which were placed between his fingers.

Kagura crouched and went lunging at the man, and like her, he lunged back. Both slashed sword with kunai as they bypassed one another. In a swift shimmer, time slowed down as Kagura passed the mysterious man and vice versa. When Kagura passed, she received no visible damage. She was safe, at least for now. When she looked back, however, her eyes widened in shock.

Instead of the man being there, instead there were sliced rocks that took his place. It was like he vanished and substituted himself.

' _A substitution?'_ Her questioning made her forget a shadow looming over her. Realizing her folly, time sped up show the man above, swiping his arm to hurl shuriken at her. She quickly moved to use her sword to knock them all away, but the man came down and pressed his hand on her sword, like it was a placemat. Upon contact, the palms of his hands had shock lacrima light up, releasing static that buzzed all around Kagura. However, neither buzzing nor Kagura's anguish cried could've been heard.

As she was twitching in place, the man jumped off the sword and on his knees. He glared out and raised one of his knees, striking her gut hard. The shock completely overwhelmed Kagura, both physically and mentally. The mage's eyes grew hazy as she fell forward, while the man stood over her in earnest.

All around him, now it was his adversaries that were down. Sorano had a gash on her side. Yukino and Kagura were unconscious as well, and Sawyer was already bound by a net and electrocuted. Suffice to say his job is done – Decker's job that is.

With the air finally creating volume again, a pair of footsteps got his attention. Tuning towards the gate entrance, there stood a woman who looked no older than 25 at the most, though a little shorter than what was expected. She had long auburn hair that flowed down her back, with a black witch's hat with a red stripe. Her slender and voluptuous figure was hugged by a one-piece blue dress with no straps atop, with a black sash along her waist. Down beneath was a long cloth both forward and back with the Alvarez symbol in bright red in the front. She had black shinguards and armor on the forearms, but left the hands bare. Her auburn eyes and pink lipstick also completed the ensemble. This was Valeria, the subordinate to Decker.

He gave her a subtle nod of command. Valeria understood and gave a gracious nod of her own. She faced the unconscious Kagura and reached out. A magic seal appeared in front and shot pink rope. The rope constricted the unconscious mage's upper body, ending in a cute tie behind. She proceeded to Sorano next, reaching out to her.

All while Decker turned away and walked back to the capital, his disposition entirely unchanged.

* * *

With the group closing in on the palace, Klefki slowed down, having a shiver run down her body. She looked back in worry as to the odd sensation she felt. "Shiny keys…" she muttered desperately.

"Hey, Klefki! C'mon!" Lucy yelled.

Against every nerve and urge in her body, Klefki reluctantly followed Lucy with the others.

"Is anyone else worried here?" Lector asked. "The others are taking their time back there."

"We can't worry about them at this point. We just have to keep moving." Pantherlily insisted.

"Lily's right pal. Don't sweat it too much." Gajeel said.

Kinana looked towards the person beside her. "Erik…"

The Poison Dragon Slayer kept going, remaining awfully quiet for someone even of his stature. It was a little distressing due to the fact that his Sound Magic and mighty hearing could pick up on anything from miles away, and in all honesty, when he heard nothing for a full minute, he couldn't help but wonder. In his head, he could feel something off, but couldn't pinpoint it. He didn't hear Sorano, Sawyer, nor even Richard. Oddly enough he could hear the rattling of the grass skirt Joey wore from here. It was that area between that left him unnerved.

"Erik?" The sound of Kinana's voice brought him out of his little world. "What's wrong?"

"…nothing. It's fine."

"Hmph! Easy for you to say." Aniya exasperated beside them. "What makes you think that _I'm_ fine like this?!"

"I wasn't talking to you, half-pint!" he retorted.

A tick mark grew on Aniya's head. "What you call me?!" She requipped a short pistol and cocked it. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow you through?!"

Erik glared daggers at her as he kept running. He heard every nerve in her body full well. They were aching for his blood for some reason. He could hear the sounds of aching inside of her, and the anguish of snake loving bastards, or rather something along those lines. He would've bothered, but he faced forward without a care.

"Well?!" she snapped.

"Aniya, quit it! Get up here!" Orion shouted.

"Fine!" She kept her gun out and leered at Erik and Kinana. "I'm watching you, and that Nic guy for sure." She walked along, getting herself upfront.

"What was that about?" Kinana wondered.

Natsu hurried with his own gusto, glaring ahead with a fire in his eyes. Beside him was Lucy and Wendy, both anxious as could be. Gray had a cold but ready look set on dealing with those who messed with them, and Juvia was by his side. Brandish had a blunt facial expression as she tried to hide her nerves of coming back to face her nightmares come true. The Twin Dragons and Minerva were all set as Griffon and Sophie were. Jellal and Bellona glanced at one another to see each was ready, but not as much as the ringleaders of the whole mission. Nic and Erza, both in front and set to battle, their blue and brown eyes ahead with nothing but resilience to win.

"We're here." Mest said.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked up at the open golden gates to the humungous palace. There it lied, the battle's territory to take place. Its size was so grand, perhaps even more so than Mercurius back in Fiore. It was twice as big even. A perfect domain fitting for a military empire's cordial comeuppance.

"This is the palace, huh?" Sting looked up, seeing the gates as big as his guild hall. "Figures."

"Wow, it's even bigger in person." Wendy 'marveled'.

"Don't compliment the enemy, Wendy!" Carla sniped.

Griffon shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe a little flattery will be enough to catch them off guard."

Sophie faced ahead. "So our battle lies beyond these gates, is that right?"

Orion nodded. "Undoubtedly. We're in enemy territory now, and I can tell even from here this is a bad idea…but we don't have a lot of options now, so there's no point avoiding a narrow path with a hole in it."

Gray rammed his fist into his open palm. "Then let's stop talking and make the jump already."

"Right." Juvia nodded.

Erza looked towards the gates, seeing as how they were already open. "It looks like they were expecting us, just as they wanted."

Nic's glare never left his face. "Yeah…" he looked back over his shoulder, seeing how everyone was set. He looked towards Erza, who looked at him and nodded. He faced forward, ready to take the next few steps. "Then let's go."

With nothing else to say, they all walked beyond the gates into the lair of the remaining beasts to be slayed. Immediately entering, they were presented with a grand courtyard with paved roads and an expansive boulevard leading all the way up to the grand palace that lied within arm's reach. Wendy once again was in awe as she saw the huge space the entrance took up. Everyone else kept their thoughts in reserve…well, almost everyone.

"Boy, Alvarez sure knows how to flaunt an opening huh?" Gray noted.

"Yeah, got me there alright." Griffon mused.

"The courtyard wasn't established until Neinhart took over." Brandish explained. "It was originally smaller than this, but due to this Pokémon dilemma taken advantage of, he reserved construction and military funds. You can imagine how the public's taken it." She sighed in grief. "What a pain."

"Well no sweat. Once we teach these jerks a lesson, I say we show them what sharing's all about." Natsu insisted.

"Go ahead and try. I'm sure everyone here resigned themselves to death before listening to you."

"And these guys remodeled themselves for the sole purpose of vengeance, right?" Gajeel asked. "Talk about a hollow cause."

"Agreed." Pantherlily said.

Nic remained passively quiet as he listened to what everyone was saying. While he can condone some parts of what they are saying, he's not at liberty to tell in detail what he thinks of this. Mainly because it would be seen as hypocritical. What he said this morning to Erza applied to him, about who the blame lied, or rather who the real enemy was? The one right in front of you? Yourself? But what he can agree with is that if they don't respect that and understand themselves or the faults in front of their faces, then someone had to stop them. He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw someone at the entrance, and he looked like he wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

They all stopped in their tracks, glaring daggers as in the entrance to the palace was Pluto as the many planetary structures orbited around his head. "Gravity…" he muttered. "Planets. Moons. Galaxies. All these share aspects of life that centers around one star. One origin where everything revolves around it. It is the center of which makes us one. And that, is how life is structured."

"Who is this guy?" Sting questioned.

"Not sure." Rogue's caution arose. "But his Magic Power is staggering. He must be one of the new Spriggan we were told of."

Mest could feel his uneasiness arise. He glared at Pluto as he was feeling a massive amount of power that was making his heartbeat shrivel. _'This guy, there's no doubt about it alright. He's a Spriggan. A strong one.'_

Natsu stepped forward. "So who the heck are you? You one of the honchos or something?"

"Natsu, watch it please." Lucy nervously asked. Although like with August against his power, she hovered behind him for security sake.

"I am. They call me Pluto, and to you I welcome, Ishgarians, where you now stand in the center of Alakitasia, its star. Its life. Its gravity."

Natsu's glare challenged him. "I don't know a thing about astronomy, but you're far from lively from where we stand."

"That is because from where you stand, you are on alien territory. You are not of our system of purity. It is not uncommon to believe such ideals are alike, just as there are but two stars of a kind out there."

"I take it you know a bit about astrology if you talk so boldly about space itself." Jellal questioned. "You speak so calmly about them as though you center around it. Quite ambiguous if you ask me."

"Hypocrisy at its finest." Pluto retorted. "Everything centers around one thing or another, just as how a group centers around a leader, just as planets center around a sun. Just as we surround our beloved emperor."

Aniya stepped forward and pointed at him. "Listen, we don't know nor care about this star crap your going about, but we've got a few complaints we wanna say to your emperor!"

"I couldn't agree more. Please be a gentleman so we can talk this through." Lyon asked.

The planets around Pluto didn't change orbit around him. "I will take that into consideration. However, where we stand is of no relevance. It is where _you_ stand. You chose to invade, and thus makes you aliens, and that makes you bound within our gravity; our rules. And it is here that you will be judged by the stars themselves."

Kevin put his hands up. "Hey now, I didn't come here to be judged." He looked around suspiciously. "…not that I did anyone wrong…right? Hehehe…"

Nic shot a leer at the man before him. "We're sorry. We didn't intend to let it come to this…but you guys are putting great risks out there using Pokémon as you have." His eyes narrowed. "And we don't appreciate the way you've been receiving our cooperation with them in kind."

Pluto glared at Nic. "Nic Pularis, slayer of Acnologia. The true nature of an alien. This matter that has happened revolves around these creatures that you have plague our lives with. From another planet, from another galaxy…from another universe for that matter, you have intertwined a cosmos that should have never come to pass. You have disrupted balance, and the heavens will judge you well."

"And you're saying this chance is a curse?"

"It is a folly by an alien and his pets' doing."

Natsu stepped forwards next. "Hey man, listen here." His fist balled. "I don't appreciate how you're talking smack about my friends like that. You wanna judge someone that bad, how's about judge your own character first."

"Natsu Dragneel, slayer of the late Emperor Spriggan." Pluto voiced. "Apologies, but only the heavenly bodies themselves may judge me and yourself."

"We'll see about that." Natsu's fist ignited and he readied to lunge forward. However, something was holding him back. "What the…?" He looked up, seeing one of Pluto's small planets hovering over him.

"Natsu!" Lucy worried, but then she found herself losing gravity with Happy and Brandish right by. They found themselves floating near the small orb, gravity coming off strong.

Pluto sent more of his planets at them, with one being left in front of him. The planets quickly hovered and began to use their atmospheric gravity to pick up random mages off the ground and hovering beside one another.

"H-hey! What's go~ing on?!" Wendy nearly did a somersault in the air.

"Is this gravity?!" Carla exclaimed.

"Crap! This is bad!" Mest cursed beneath his breath. He tried to teleport away, but the gravity was pulling and stationing him too close to back out.

Pluto put his hands together and firmly clasped them together. "May the heavenly bodies judge you well…begone!"

"Watch out!" Jellal activated **Meteor** and broke out of his gravity field with the speed applied. He quickly seized Bellona and zipped in time before the orbs all glowed a bright light and became streaming comets that separated across the palace sky. Jellal and Bellona reached the ground and looked in shock as they watched their friends being pulled in light guided by orbs that separated into the palace openings.

Once they were out of sight, Jellal and Bellona looked towards Pluto in shock, both at a loss for words. "It would seem that heavenly body has chosen me to judge you personally." Pluto said. "Very well then. Jellal Fernandes, user of Heavenly Body…" In lightspeed, the shimmering glints behind Pluto beamed into orbit around him again, returning from dropping off his foes. "May your sins be judged in kind."

* * *

A magic seal moved like a clock in front of Ultear's arms as she stood before a window. Once the pieces of it finally returned to the state it once was, it gave off a short glint and she sighed heavily, dropping to a knee in exhaustion.

Meredy looked over her in worry. "Are you alright, Ultear?!"

Ultear breathed heavily as she looked down. "I told you I was fine, didn't I?" she exasperated, but she was anything but fine. In fact, even with small amounts of rest, her magic didn't recover at all. She needed much more time, and too bad for her that's something even her powers couldn't achieve.

"You really need to take it easy, alright? Don't strain yourself too much or your body will give out."

Ultear slowly got back up. "I'm well aware of that." She tried to divert the subject. "Speaking of which, have you checked up with the Pokémon?"

Meredy shook her head. "No, I think I saw Dereece heading there a while ago."

"Then how about you assist him. I'm sure he could use a helping hand."

"But…Ultear…"

The Time Mage sighed. "I know, Meredy. Fine, if it'll make you stop worrying, I'll hold off for a little while until my magic recovers."

Meredy shot a look at her. "You promise?"

"Yes, I promise." Ultear said dryly. "Now you better get going otherwise you'll end up with wrinkles worrying about me." In spite of her joke, she did feel a little shame with how she was sending Meredy off. The mage that was her adoptive daughter unsurely took off to double check, and that left Ultear to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Honestly, sometimes she worries too much for her own good. If nothing else ends me it'll be…" She was brought out of her wonders when she heard footsteps from behind. She turned around to find Duncan walking in her direction. "It's you." She spoke. "You're that Trainer with Fairy Tail, aren't you?"

Duncan shrugged as he walked passed her. "Yeah, so what about it?"

Ultear took note of Duncan's snobbish tone and watched him pass her without giving a glance. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to give a girl a look every once in a while, especially one that works hard." She pouted.

Duncan eventually stopped in his tracks and finally shot a glance over his shoulder, but it wasn't one of merry or glee. It was searing, and uncaring. "Is it that big a deal to you? You're doing your part, so why complain?"

Ultear's brow twitched as a tick mark grew on her head. She gave a dark hum back at the Trainer. "Why, if I weren't so drained I would…" Her eyes were drawn towards the kendo stick he carried, which piqued her oddly. "Wait, hold on. Have you been carrying that over your shoulder this entire time?"

"Yeah? So what of it?" he retorted as a matter-of-factly.

"It's just that I don't think I've seen you without it." She adjusted to where she fully stood. "Are you _that_ on guard, even around your own allies?"

Duncan closed his eyes and snuffed his chin up. "Not like having it down to begin with benefits. You never know when someone's gonna strike you…especially in a world like this."

Ultear could agree with Duncan to an extent. Being reflexes and well aware of your surroundings benefits in enemy territory, but last she checked Vanessa's Aura Magic was a radar, so there wasn't a need to worry unless something came from land or underwater. One could accuse it as habit.

The more she questioned, the more her own thoughts wore down. She noticed Duncan turning around, but not to face her. When she turned, her heart almost skipped a beat when Liz was standing there with a half-hearted look as she chewed gum.

"My goodness, where did you come from?" Ultear questioned. She was surprised when Liz offered her a slim piece of bright green gum. She at it with wonder.

"Chew on this." Liz said. "It'll help stabilize your Magic Power."

Ultear furrowed her brow in question at her ally. By no means was she sure of her intentions, but if it benefit her, she may as well give benefit of doubt. She took the piece of gum and gave it a look before plopping it into her mouth. As she chewed, her gums were instantly flushed with a crisp spearmint flavor. It was like chewing on it was making her weary body feel restored. The look on her face showed surprise. "Mm…thank you…" she muffled.

Liz kept chewing as she offered a piece to Duncan next, but the Pokémon Trainer turned away.

"No thanks. I'll be in the spare cabin nearby." He walked off in his original path, leaving the group behind to do as they pleased.

Ultear wanted to question Duncan's motives and attitude, but she sought better to dwell on matters that didn't overdo her spirits. She kept chewing as her attention drew towards Liz, who was looking at her headphones and adjusting some settings manually. "By the way…" she got her attention. "Not to sound rude, but you seem to carry quite a lot of gum on you. Is that to stabilize your magic as well?"

Liz popped a bubble inside her mouth as she cocked her head sassily. "Something like that." She moved the headphones over her head and smacked them between her ears. "I just like gum."

As Liz kept chewing, she turned and began to walk away. Ultear looked at her, choosing to believe her words. But deep down, she knew there was something wrong. No person carried that much gum unless it was either an addiction or prescribed. It's like saying Natsu or Gray needed ice constantly, which wasn't necessary. "…you know ignoring the problems in life aren't always solved by chewing out of it, you know."

Liz bobbed her head up and down as she jammed out to her headphones. She walked off without a care to the world. In a way, Ultear couldn't help but see Liz her off, yet the way she bobbed her head was like Nic when he used to listen to heavy metal back in the old days. Someone who didn't face his own struggles beforehand, instead filtering it another way. In a way, her own remedy for now.

Out of respect, Ultear chose to focus on chewing. She was going to need it for more repairs.

* * *

"And~…there! All set!" Dereece wiped a bead of sweat as he sat the last food bowl in front of a male Nidoran's cage. He slowly approached and began to sniff it. "Phew, man. Well that sure took some time, right Heracross?"

Directing attention to Heracross, the Bug/Fighting-type passed himself a scoopful of food served for his own share. He looked up towards Dereece and nodded. "Yeah, guess you can say that again." He looked down at his plate with a sullied look. "Though I wish this was Honey…"

He chuckled before turning towards the many Pokémon feasting, while some continued resting. "I didn't think the Alvarez wanted so many."

"I know. I know it sounds bad, but even I'm shocked at how many they were willing to come for."

The door to the chamber then knocked, getting them to look over. There, they saw a blob of pink hair jut from the opened entry. "Um, excuse me? Dereece?" It was Meredy, and she popped in with a questionable look. "Is everything okay in here?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, sorry, what was your name again?" Dereece sheepishly questioned.

"It's Meredy."

"Right, sorry. Man, so many names on this trip that I can hardly keep track…" Dereece murmured. "Huh? O-oh right. Yeah, we're good, right Heracross?" He gestured towards Heracross, who looked at his food bowl like it committed a crime.

Meredy worked her way into the domain, slowly looking around to see the many Pokémon that were caged up. She was a mix of awe and slight pity as she saw the many who were eying, yet some were getting the rations needed to fill their stomachs. "So many Pokémon here…" she marveled.

"Yeah, exactly what I was saying." He responded. "To think they'd go through all this trouble."

"Yeah…" She took one more look around before something caught her attention. "Hey, wait. Aren't you the guys who's always around Joey?"

Dereece looked at her like it was no big deal. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just kind of a shock is all. I mean I don't think I've seen you both apart until now."

Dereece woefully shook his head towards her. "Trust me, leaving Joey unattended is the last thing anyone would do. You don't wanna know what happened the last time I rushed to the bathroom during a science project back in high school." The memory made him cringed to tis day. Unfortunately for Dereece that day he had a bad stomach and rushed to the restroom, and Joey was left alone with a small chemistry set with Stun Spore in a vile. By the time Dereece came back, he found everyone on the floor twitching, and Joey was in the center, twitching up a dance. "Joey sure wasn't pleased with his grade that day, I tell ya."

Meredy chuckled at the story's amusement. "Seems like a fun guy. If he's that dangerous, why be here?"

Dereece smirked. "Well, I think I can let it slide this time." He said. "After all, it looks to me that Broly's taken a liking to Joey for the time being…and I think Joey feels the same way." He looked away knowingly. "It's surprising to know someone's admiring him other than me…but I think it's good for Joey. He'll be fine this one time without me."

She could rebuff, but not only would it be rude, but it would be hypocritical of her. She left Ultear to check on the Pokémon, and she never leaves her side. And here was Joey's right-hand man, absent of Joey's rambunctious benefits. She smiled in knowing things would be okay if Dereece was this sure of Broly and Joey together.

"Though I tell ya, what he sees in Joey is a mystery that even _I_ can't figure out." Dereece finished. "He's as spontaneous as Metronome."

Meredy chuckled. "Looks like I was write about him being interesting, huh?"

Once again, the open door knocked, quite rapidly at that. Matilda popped in with a big smile. "Hey~, heard some voices, and wondering who's talking about who now?" she chimed.

Meredy looked over with a surprised look. "Oh, hey, Matilda. Good to see ya. We were just talking about Joey and Broly is all."

She walked in. "That so?" she snickered. "Well you're not the only one surprised. Believe it or not, even Orion was questionable of Broly's kinship with that party animal. He's got me intrigued as much as…as.." She dawdled off in thought as she slowly stopped in place. When she looked around, she saw the many cages of Pokémon present. It was like something went off that left her fixated in wonder as she saw the many who were sprawled and sleeping, maybe depressed. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone present.

"As what?" Meredy finished. She didn't get a response. "Uh…Matilda?"

"Is something wrong?" Dereece questioned.

Her stare was of wonder as she looked at the stacked cages of creatures held against their will. She could hear some whimpers from the few giving her the puppy-dog eyes, and some looked far from happy. She knew deep down that waiting could suffice because there was a war going on, but in the darkness of her mind, a red-eyed animalistic figure snarled. It made her eyes get covered, her fists balling and shaking.

Dereece and the others were taking notice of her growing pressure and began to worry. They looked at each other before Dereece decided to speak up. "Uh…Matilda…is everything alright?"

Everything was not alright. Matilda was stiff as a Sudowoodo trying hard to blend in. When she gazed at the cages some more, all she felt was growing spite; anger; might. A caged animal. That's what tore her mind up. Her teeth finally bared harsh canines as she growled low. Without warning, she punched a cage, breaking a bar that startled the few Pidgey that sat inside.

"W-what are you doing?!" Dereece panicked. Heracross jerked back in fright.

Matilda kept punching into cages, strangling the iron bars that imprisoned the helpless creatures. One by one, she furiously tore open bars that she flung to random parts of the room; some barely missing her comrades. When she finished one cage, she hurriedly went another, tearing that one up.

The Pokémon in the many cages were flipping out haphazardly. They all either flew out of their cages or remained huddled in the backs of them until Matilda began to claw at the cages' sides. They all fled pass Dereece and Meredy to the now shut door, where they remained as far away as shredded bars flung themselves against the wall. Even the hardy Nidorino that were captured were startled by the animalistic anxiety she was exhibiting.

"What's wrong with her?!" Meredy shrieked. "Has she lost it?!"

"I-I don't know!" Dereece panicked. "But I think we ought to stop her before she loses it!"

"You're right." Meredy made a brave front as she went towards Matilda. As she walked ahead, a Pineco and Shroomish scuttled pass her. She remained steadfast on her way as bars and parts of cages were flung everywhere. She got behind Matilda, who was growling as her claws ripped through iron. "Matilda, stop!"

Matilda didn't listen. She rasped corners like a rabid animal. It was getting worse to stand around her.

"Matilda, you're scaring everyone!" Meredy reached for her shoulder. "Hey, that-!"

"WHAT?!"

Matilda snapped so loud that it was a roar that echoed through the room. It was so massive and so harsh that it made Meredy freeze in place. Dereece and Heracross both stared wide-eyed as the whole tone of the room fell dark and stale. Not a single muscle moved out of fear of her insidious look. The deep eyes she had were sharp, like a predator that was smelling the fear of prey. Meredy was right in the middle of it, and her heart was beating so fast that it made her almost fall over.

Taking a gulp, Meredy ultimately backed away slowly. "…nothing. Sorry…"

Matilda panted like an animal continuously as she watched over her shoulder as her friend and ally kept her eyes on her while backing up with Dereece with the other Pokémon. She sneered before she clawed clean trough another cage, resuming her rampage out of no social order.

"Whoa." Dereece muttered sullenly. "Hey, Meredy, are you…"

"I'm fine." She said flatly. "But…I think we need to keep our space."

He could hear the dryness in her voice. She sounded like she was going to croak, not to mention how low it was compared to the cheeriness it normally had. And he couldn't blame her. He looked back at Matilda, seeing her rampage with every cage and freeing Pokémon out of fear. "…yeah."

Heracross remained passively quiet as iron bars clanged against the ground, the sounds of tearing and metal ripping burning into his and the others' eyes. Yet through the carnage Matilda was creating, a recently freed Yanma fluttered out of her recent cage hurried out of range and quickly reached for the nearest perch possible. In a panic, she landed on Heracross' horn, surprising him and Dereece alike. As she remained on his horn, Heracross blinked in confusion at her choice of rest. "Uh…hello?"

The Yanma looked down, blinking back and tilting her head. "Hm?" she paused before looking at Dereece, tilting her head again. She looked back at Heracross, and finally tilted her head back into place. And finally…blinked before looking calm. "Hi."

"…hi?"

All while everyone watched Matilda let out her fuse, shredding the cages that tormented her.

* * *

Joey ran across the deck with a fist pulled back. "Here I come!" He ran towards Broly who stood patiently for his opponent to close in, a serious look on his face.

"What did I say about wasting breath on choice words?" Broly roared as a bright flash eroded over him, revealing to be another turquoise barrier.

Joey showed his teeth as his next footstep came to a twirl around. With his dance-like movements, he spun around like a top around the barrier off to the side. _'Alright, he's open!'_ He jutted his leg to the side to kick.

A smirk showed on Broly. "Don't be quick to assume."

"Huh-GAH!" Joey was struck before he even came feet to Broly by the barrier extending in an arch to his side in the blink of an eye. The recoil shot through Joey's leg as he fell forward. The barrier went down and Broly instantly grabbed his leg and threw him off to the side, tumbling across the deck to a slumped side. "I'm okay~." He groaned as he waved his hand around lazily.

Broly put his hands to his hips as he looked knowingly at him. "A fake out is cliché, but it's underhanded. You thought good working around the barrier, but you left yourself vulnerable the second you stuck your leg out. Got that?"

"Y-yeah, I think so…" Joey dizzily arose and shook his head to rid said handicap. "So keep guard up and watch my own movements, got it!"

Broly smiled at his enthusiasm, but enough was enough. He loosened his body and grinned. "What do you say we stop here for now. Don't wanna empty the batteries before the storm, wouldn't you say?"

Joey sulked forward with a tired sigh. "Okay~." Instantly he slumped down. While he was having a blast at learning how to fight thanks to Broly, he couldn't lie when he felt begrudgingly tired.

Broly laughed. "Rest makes the best." In a short while, he and Joey found themselves on the side of the ship's cabins. They had wooden crates and boxes around them as they looked out at the deck. "Man, I never realized how bog this deck really is. From this angle you can't even see the end."

"Yeah…" Joey stared off towards the deck, looking at it with a bored expression.

Broly looked over to find Joey's stare intriguing him. He could see those eyes, the ones of yearning. It made him curious. "Say, mind if I ask ya something?"

"What?"

"Who was it that you looked up to again?"

Joey went wide-eyed as he gave him a shocked look. It was a surprising question to him especially that he didn't know how to respond. "Uh, N-Nic!" he spouted nervously. "A-and also Erza, and Vanessa! They're all super awesome! Yeah."

"I see." Broly smirked. "Even that Vanessa girl huh? Sure it's not about other things ya see around her?"

The mischievous tone was a dead giveaway. Even Joey wasn't that stupid. A small blush billowed on his cheeks as he scrambled for words. "Uh, uh…I-I mean yeah-er, no! I mean she's got great, uh…y-yeah! Wait! I mean maybe-no! Definitely…uh…" Ultimately he flatlined clean through the noggin. "Wait, what was the question?"

Broly gave a hard chuckled as he looked out. "It's fine. Just curious what makes them so inspiring is all. I can see why with what they can do, but I was just wondering what you just was all."

Joey looked at Broly and turned to look back out. He stared ahead with a furrowed brow as the heat on his face cooled down. "…honestly, I think only Dereece can process what I'm saying. Mostly because he knows me all my life…" a smile crept onto his face. "But seeing Nic in action was probably the coolest and scariest thing I've ever seen. When I saw that battle against those Dark Legendaries, I was shocked. But, seeing him in action was awesome." He thought back to that night, where he and Dereece were in his room trying a dancing video game. They were interrupted when they were in hemispheres along with every single person observing the battle of the millennia. When he saw Nic and his future-self battle as Mega Rayquaza, all he saw were flashes across the sky. "It was awe-inspiring. Scary, sure…but I never saw anyone like him go at it like that." He thought back to a news report of seeing Nic's Kecleon against another player's Mega Tyranitar. When he saw him again beating Mega Tyranitar, his mouth gaped with twinkling stars. "Seriously, you'd never think a nobody could just outright show the world what you're made of, and now he's made such a big gap between everyone from all these hard battles." He looked out again, this time with a softer look. "Sometimes I wish I could be someone like that; someone who could be looked up to instead of down on…I wanna be great."

Broly glanced at Joey in trying to understand what he was going for. A fanboy who had little ambition until someone with dumb luck showed up and made a name for himself. It made a smile cross his face and snicker. "You know, you and I are a lot more alike than I thought."

Joey looked at him in confusion. "Really?"

"Oh yeah, sure." He looked down at his crossed knees. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I was probably the exact same as you a long time ago. Someone who didn't have much worth. Little drive for anything. Hell I didn't have much to go for that I went and joined the revolutions against our empire in the far east of Earthland." He looked up with a proud smile, remembering his ole glory days. "It was a ruckus back then, I tell ya…but there was one man who I eventually looked up to…the General, my teacher."

Joey saw the look in Broly's blue eyes then. They spelled one thing he was aware of: Yearning.

"I was envious of the way he was. I worked hard and found myself no longer slacking off. You see Joey, a leader arouses his colleagues to follow his lead. And the way he drove up and pushed with walls was something that inspired me. It was thanks to him we never lost a battle, as well as myself learning my own magic."

A soft smile crept on Joey's face. "He must've been a great teacher."

Unknowingly to him, the comment made Broly smile back to the old days. An image of a middle-aged man with slim but long white hair, even a moustache to give him a more sophisticated look. He had narrow emerald eyes and a decently tones figure beneath a white cape. He could even remember the bandages around the wrists and gray pants he wore. A loose-fitting general one might say.

 _Broly, 20-years-old, and he was in awe as he looked up to his general as he watched his General not even move a finger as a turquoise barrier slid across the ground, breaking into a tree's trunk without effort. "Woah, awesome!" he marveled. "Mr. Percival is that your Barrier-Make Magic?"_

 _Percival, the General of the empire's revolution army, stood across an open field behind his tent, He looked over at Broly as winds shifted. "Oh, did you enjoy seeing that?"_

" _Yes, sir!" he saluted._

 _Percival chuckled. "No need to be so formal with me. Please, just call me Percival. We're not in combat you know."_

" _O-okay, yeah!" Broly took a step forward as the General sat on a stump. "So how does that magic work? It got something to do with the air or something and solidifying it?"_

 _Percival glanced up at Broly's pure innocence, seeing no valid reason to distrust a soldier that he's known and felt compassion for 2 years. A soft smile crept on his face. "Actually, there's a lot that I don't even understand myself about this magic. I am only one man after all."_

" _And there's no other mages like you?" Broly's eyes widened at the realization._

" _Yup, the only Barrier-Make Mage there is. At least, that's what I believe. These techniques – this magic I was granted – it was a passive gift from those entrusting their lives to me, and I swore to protect with my life against those who beseech them."_

 _Even his speech was inspiring to Broly. "So then, is it possible I can learn it someday?"_

 _Percval looked at Broly one more time, locking serious eyes with him. The way he looked, even if said no, it wouldn't change his compassion the boy felt for him. He was a leader, but even he was limited. He needed someone he could trust. A soft smile crept onto his face as he looked towards the blue sky._

" _Maybe someday, my boy…if a time ever comes…"_

"He was." He answered solemnly. "A man who knew responsibility and compassion, even when I didn't see it. Someone who had what it takes to be a leader…kinda like you."

Joey smiled softly as he looked down sheepishly. "Compassionate and responsible…" his smile grew wider. "Thanks, Broly. Nobody ever thought of that about me." He chuckled. "You really think that, Broly?"

"…Bro."

Joey looked at him in question. "What?"

"You can call me Bro from now on. No need to be so formal around me anymore. Got it?"

"You sure about that?"

"Hey, I wasn't taught to be a liar." He countered. "So how about it?"

A silence fell as Joey blinked. He grinned and gave a cheeky thumbs up. "Cool. Sure thing…Bro."

Unknowingly, on the other side of the ship's stern, Vanessa was looking out as a soft grin showed.

* * *

White light surrounded everything, making it almost blinding. It took mere moments for the light to vanish, allowing Nic to uncover with an eye open. _'What was that?'_ He began to process the last thing he saw, which was a planet-like gyro over him taking him somewhere. _'That hemisphere, where did that take me?'_ He turned to look around, immediately seeing a mop of red, silky smooth hair. Immediately he recognized it. "Erza?"

Uncovering, the first thing her brown eyes laid eyes on was her own husband. "Nic?"

"Are you alright?"

Erza took notice of her stability and nodded. "Don't worry. I'm fine. More importantly, what happened to us?"

Nic's eyes narrowed as he felt an uneasy tension around him. A magical pressure and small growls were heard as he turned his attention off to the side. "If I had to guess, nothing good." Like him, Erza's guard was also up, realizing they were swarmed from all around.

In a chamber within the Alvarez's grand palace, Nic and Erza were among the many groups transported in random spots within the domain. However, as expected, they were surrounded by a stadium's worth of men and their Pokémon, many of vast variety with harnesses and marks of Alvarez on them. Varied sizes, shapes, and weapons were held as thousands of men were waiting at a chance to kill the ringleader. Their battle cries were a dead giveaway.

As they glanced at the many faces, they realized they were al alone. "Looks like we got separated from the others." Nic evaluated. "They can't be too far if those planets shot us within palace grounds."

"Which means they could be in the same situation as us." Erza guessed.

"Maybe, but it looks like we got a little work to do." He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "You ready?"

She smirked as she crouched, requipping into her Flight Armor, yet wielded her Black Wing swords. "Is that an open invitation perhaps?"

"There's the intruders!" a soldier pointed out. "All forces, kill on sight!"

Many aerial Pokémon slid overhead to block their skyward path, while many men charged on foot to confront them head on. However, little did they know, they were closing in on death itself.

"Is this the part where you showoff?" Erza asked her husband.

Without looking, a grin fell onto his lips in a mix of muse, but mostly rising adrenaline. He leaned forward, his eyes closing as pressure began to spout. When his eyes flashed open, small embers buffered from his body. "…yeah." Suddenly an eruption of flames expelled outwards like an atomic wave of heat. It immediately caught the soldiers in front and made their figures fade into the growing hemisphere, sending many more flying away with the shockwaves, Pokémon included.

Shockwaves superheated the earth beneath as rows upon rows of soldiers were picked up or covered as the hemisphere of swirling flames shook the massive chamber. Stray heat waves surged like clouds, searing many flying enemies and blowing them around like they were in a funnel.

"W-WHAT IS THIS?!" a soldier shrieked before looking down, noticing his armor beginning to weld and melt from the heat. He panicked greatly amongst others, moments before a draconic roar bellowed through the flames.

They all looked up, petrified as the hemisphere of swirling fire left the ground itself in a blaze. Swirling spirals of fire led to the thinned hemisphere exploding into a tornado of pressurized fire expelling skywards with stray waves everywhere. They all adverted their gazes skyward, a shriek like a dragon seething through flames.

A pair of sharp blue eyes opened, revealing Nic. Erza smirked knowingly up at the firestorm right behind her.

The tornado exploded, sending flares everywhere as the shockwaves resonated from Nic as he remained stationary in the air, mouth wide open with a beastly roar. His coat had a midnight blue gleam to it, with the edging being a sharp bright red rather than coral red, as were the makeshift claws on his royal blue shoes. His pants were a dark red, while a coral red sash held them up. The sleeves were just as blue as the rolled-up sides were bright red. The draconic wings displayed were dark blue, with bright red membranes. " **Fire/Dragon!** " he exclaimed, bearing himself before his enemies in hot-blooded challenge.

Many of soldiers backed away, immediately regretting their boldness before. Nic's eyes narrowed, his pressure scaring them to paling sweat.

" **Twister!** " One solemn flap of his wings and he began to spin in place like a drill, generating a powerful windstorm that expelled a barrier-like cyclone around him sending whirlwinds everywhere. The grounded soldiers were either swept in the winds or tried to fruitlessly hang on.

 _ **SWOOSH!**_

For those on the ground trying to resist, they were suddenly met with a bright glint before numbers of ten to twelve either sent soaring by a sword, soon to be plucked up by the winds generated. It revealed to be Erza as she stopped to reposition herself. Glaring ahead, she darted right in, zipping with speed and power into many more numbers, with sashes of equal strength.

With one roar and a swing to the side, a shockwave kicked up dozens of soldiers and dust, making more despair as they were next to either be blown away, or cut down.

The raging cyclone shaking the room continued rampaging until it shortened, instead actually starting to pick up speed. The winds traveled faster, soon generating into another blazing tornado that suddenly elongated like a spring shooting in a thin fashion. Those below covered again as the recoil of the "jump" the tornado took blew even more around.

The tornado snaked through the air with a bolting fiery front. The top arched down and swerved in an angle with Nic guiding as he was broiled in flames. " **Heat Crash!** " The tornado made a complete dive into so many at once as it did not crash into the ground, but instead bulldozed with the tornado of fire boosted from earlier **Twister**. The heavy blast waves made large-scale explosions that enveloped so many and shook every inch of the chamber.

As many screamed before bolted into by a fiery source, others were cut by Erza as she cried out, and Nic bellowed a roar as the pair continued their rampage.

* * *

A wave of pressurized water from Juvia swept up soldiers in her path. She covered for Gray as he was facing another direction, freezing guys in place like statues. The pair were making sure to stay on their toes as enemies flanked them left and right without rest.

"Just where in the heck did all these guys come from!" Gray shouted before dodging an axe. He drove his knee into his face, sending the soldier back. He evaded another sword from the side and adverted away.

Juvia jumped backwards to evade a barrage of **Air Cutter** that Zubat hovering above unleashed. As they exploded in front of her, she found herself back-to-back with Gray, "Their numbers are so high that I can't keep track." She noted.

"Looks like they planned for this little welcoming intentionally." Gray responded. "That's funny, I would've figured they'd be so kind as to give us a committee than an audience."

"The others must have been separated from us." Juvia's attention drew towards a Makuhita charging at her. She embedded her hands in water and stretched out a whip of water, which snaked around the Makuhita's arm. " **Water Cane!** " Raising her rm, the whip of water followed and brought the Makuhita skywards, slamming it into many of the Zubat above. She then brought it down and round, making the Pokémon a wrecking ball that crashed into many soldiers.

As Zubat fell around her, the Water Mage glared ahead. "I'm sorry."

Gray put his hands together, creating misty frost. "They'll understand later. For now let's give them what they ask for!"

Juvia nodded determinedly. There would be time to apologize later, but for now they were the enemy. She brought her arms together, readying more magic as the many soldiers surrounded them. They all raised weapons and bared whatever needs available. They all charged at them while they were facing opposite directions.

As time slowed down, everyone was ready to get at them, but that chance was swept away as fast as a cold, frosty wave expelled from out of nowhere. Everything as far as the eye could see was enveloped in frosted mist, and to Juvia, this was a surprise.

"Gray?" She turned towards Gray, seeing the surprised look he shared.

"Wasn't me!" He went wide-eyed as he saw everything around him and her completely frozen like statues. In fact, the roaring looks of the men right before them looked like sheer ice. They weren't covered in ice – they _were_ ice. Their skins wouldn't be icy blue underneath for nothing.

The cold tundra air was making Gray see his own breath. He looked down at his own palm, seeing any possible sweat turn into frost and crumble away. "This magic…"

A pair of footsteps trekked slowly along the frozen ground. "I was expecting you both."

The familiar, icy tone sent a shiver running from their ears to their spines. Instantly goosebumps arose as their breaths hitched. _'That voice…'_ Gray and Juvia turned in shock, eyes wide as a figure walked with hands behind his back to present himself.

A pair of lips frowned as icy eyes glared underneath kempt bangs. "So we meet again I see. How unfortunate."

The shiver going down their spines made the pair shudder in a mix of shock and fright. As Gray eyes him, a flood of horrid memories surfaced. Images of blood and Juvia lying in his arms was making his pupils dilate out of control. _'Him…'_

Invel Yura stepped forward with a half-ninja sign, his fixed glasses glaring the eyes of someone who wasn't pleased to see him. "Gray Fullbuster."

* * *

Down a massive corridor, there were no doors. It was so long that it was hard to tell how far two figures walking beside one another were going for.

"How long have we been walking for you think?"

"Ein li mu-sag. (I have no idea.)"

"Sorry, I don't speak gibberish."

"It's Hebrew. And sorry, fragmented habit."

"Ah it's cool. No skin off my bones at least."

Griffon and Sophie were the two walking down the lone corridor, and just their luck as the rest, they seemed to be all alone. Griffon was being sure to stay laid-back while Sophie supported him, although their actual sense of direction wasn't getting them anywhere. As far as Sophie recalled, they passed the same portrait of Zeref twice now.

Griffon had hands behind his head as he looked away. "So you guess that the others must've gotten split up like us? I can imagine that happening."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that were in fact the case." Sophie answered. "What surprises me is that they weren't attempting an ambush the moment we were transported here."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. I set up wires everywhere now from a little ways back. If anyone gets close I'll know."

"That's innovative to say the least." Sophie's glance cascaded towards him. "By the way, I'm vaguely curious about something."

"If it's about my interests, as generous as it is to offer, now isn't the time sweetheart." He casually said.

"Charming. But I'm intrigued. Exactly, what _are_ the Peace Jaegers? I know you're an Independent Guild that travels around the world, but I don't think any of us truly get who you guys are. I'm just wondering is all."

Griffon glanced over and saw the inquiry in her green eyes. He didn't think it'd be fair to leave her hanging, but it wasn't something he was fond of sharing. "Mmm, well how should I put this?" he paused to gather his thoughts. "Well I guess you can say we're a group of mercenaries in a nutshell. Is that good enough?"

"But you also kill for money." She said accusingly. "I wouldn't consider mercenaries of that caliber to be so skilled."

Griffon smirked. "Heh, you make it sound like we're the bad guys."

"I'd be a liar if we all didn't think that at first."

He sheepishly scratched his green head of hair. "Well guess I can't blame you. A lot of people think that way because of our reputation. I'd explain a bit more, but that's just _my_ reputation. You see, I'm the one who mainly does that stuff."

"And you're proud of it?"

"Whoever said I was proud of what I do?" Griffon could now see more of her viewpoint. For an alleged assassin like him to be taking pride in his work would be like holding up a knife to Sophie's neck. "Maybe you guilds might not be too keen on killing, but there's a much bigger world out there, and it's kill or be killed. It's a need to survive." He looked ahead as he stopped; Sophie soon to follow. "But you know, there's more to us than just killing and stealing you know. Sometimes we're hired to protect, and if it involves killing, then that's just how it is. No matter what, we're at peace with the decisions we've made."

Sophie fell silent as Griffon continued. She would've said more about the whole slaughter and ask how many lives he's taken, but then again, she may have taken a few back in the war. Even an accuser's hands can be sullied.

"Orion made the Peace Jaegers of his own convictions, about 17 years ago I think…uh, yeah, I think that's about right. He's 31 right now. Anyways, he made the principle of those who have lost all worth and have been forsaken by the world's needs. Some of us joined to find a purpose to fulfill. All that we could do from that point on is to achieve our goal: Make our peace before death." A soft smile crept on his face. "And some of us did."

"Some of us?" Sophie repeated the last part as the inclination was starting to sink in. "You mean…"

"Yeah, there were others before us. You gotta ask Orion about that since he keeps track, but it's a pretty high number we've lost. But, believe it or not, we still found more."

"I see. So long have you been with the Jaegers for?"

"Me? About 3 years now. Aside from Orion, who still kicks it with the guild he made for 17 years, I think the oldest here is Broly at maybe 10 years. Matilda at 7 I think. Aniya for about 3 years now. She joined about two weeks after I did. And Liz just recently joined 11 weeks ago." His smile never faded, rather it grew morbid. "She actually came around 2 days after another one of us…well, you know."

"I see." Sophie began to feel dejected. "I'm…sorry for being so…"

"Eh it's cool. You asked. The important thing to know is that whatever we do, the world's problems don't concern us. We've resigned ourselves after we fulfilled or lost our previous purposes and are making peace with what we do now."

Sophie glanced at him again. "Then…if it's alright to ask…why did you become part of the Peace Jaegers? Or maybe, why did they recruit an assassinator?"

"Well, if you really wanna know…get down!" Suddenly he grabbed Sophie's head and jut her down on a knee, just in time as something sharp zipped right over her head from behind. With the blonde down, Griffon looked back to see the very thin strings he made plucking themselves, like an orchestra. His eyes narrowed in evaluation. _'He's moving his arm back!'_

Moments passed before he reacted then. " **Wire Fence!** " He swiped his arms, protecting him and Sophie as a projectile hit the wires he crossed to make a fence. When the projectile ricocheted off, it revealed to be a knife that clanged against the ground.

"Are you alright?" he asked Sophie.

Sophie got up again, albeit startled. "Yeah, I am. But what was…" She looked ahead, her eyes widening a she felt a familiar magic. _'This magical energy…'_

A tie adjusted. "Well played." A voice from ahead got their attention. They looked up, seeing Jacob standing in front of the wire field that he managed to get around. "I almost didn't see them from ow thin they were. Impressive."

Sophie's eyes narrowed as she met a man she remembered well of. "Jacob." She sneered.

"We meet again, Sophie Lednick." He greeted. "This time, I will be taking you on personally."

Griffon smirked as he stood a ways in front, his fingers loose as wire began to extend. "Well buddy, hate to break this thing you two have going, but it looks like it's my turn to step in. Hope you don't mind."

Jacob's glare darkened as he eyes Griffon's collective demeanor. "The more the merrier."

* * *

Neinhart smirked as he stood in front of his throne. "Now, it's time." He said. "Now! To my underlings and Spriggan! Go! Let Alvarez and Lady Irene's retribution fall onto these weaklings' shoulders! Show them the power we now have!"

* * *

 **Done! Better than last time, a little lower, and I'm thankful for that. I got just enough in and so many scenes that I am too proud right now! Hope you guys liked this chapter a bunch!**

 **Now I will say this before I forget, and that I am currently reading Edens Zero and the sequel of Fairy Tail, the 100 Year Quest. I like Edens Zero, but the 100 year quest, I do not favor. So many things felt wrong about it that I can't explain well…mostly because I don't have time and have to work after uploading this. But point is, if there were Dragon Gods, or that Dragon Slayer, why didn't they enter the Timelapse when Acnologia summoned all the Dragon Slayers? Sounds crummy to me. And as I spoke with a few of my colleagues, I think that my sequel, this one you're reading, I feel makes more sense. I have originality heading along this path, so don't think that I'll include the 100 Year Quest or any of that, at least not now.**

 **Also, I like to give credit to Warmachine 375 for the 3 Machia Knights, as well as Valeria at least for the names. I still wanted to imagine their images the way I sought them, but I allowed the first names at least. I still wanted my own spin, as well as more of an Akame Ga Kill theme that I have going on right now.**

 **I haven't decided what I'll do yet, but after a couple days rest and reviewing stories and art, I'll be taking a short break from the story, about a couple weeks. I want to get the big battles in 3 chapters, so I'll pack those consecutively, but to compensate, I wanna do 3 chapters of my Bakugan story, so I'll do that before getting back to this story. So until next time guys! :)**


	15. Silent but Deadly

In the wastelands far out of the empire's walls, the sun was beaming down on the dry land. No winds howled. It was quiet, so quiet that one could hear sand shift beneath their feet, or in a certain person's case, drop from his body. Limping slowly across the land, a battered Ajeel grunted with every strained pull he mustered. The wounds inflicted from Nic were still fresh, and after everything he's been told and went through, they weren't healing anytime soon.

With deep breaths, his ribs stung like acid. His teeth gritted as he tried to hold in every yelp. He would've lied down and waited a little longer before attempting to move, but recent thoughts of what certain people said to him left him seeking for answers.

" _So tell me, grandson…have you thought of who the enemy is?"_

 _Ajeel smirked. "So then you admit you love to fight."_

" _I do…but the kinds I love aren't the ones I expect you to understand. At least not yet."_

From his talk with his grandfather, going to his conversation with Nic, it was rattling his cage so much. Until recently, he never cared for anything but fighting and pain; the two things he knew best. "Tch! Damn these thoughts. Why can't get these stupid things out of my head…?" He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt the ground vibrate beneath him. He looked down to find a small bulge of rock starting to lift from below. "Huh?" he squinted.

With a small 'POP' sound, the rock beneath burst open, revealing a familiar Trapinch that resurfaced and blinked. "Huh? Phew! Man that was scary…" he sighed. He looked up, getting notice of his surroundings. "Did I get far away?"

"What…you?" Ajeel inquired.

Hearing the familiar sound, Trapinch turned and went wide-eyed. "M-Master?!" he squealed horrifically. "I…uh…" Realizing his mistake in resurfacing in the wrong place and time, he bowed his head and cowered, bracing himself. "I-I'm sorry I failed! Please have mercy!"

A vein popped on Ajeel's head. "Grrr…! You've got some nerve showing your face you little…!"

Before Ajeel could get rough, a shrilling caw got his attention. When he looked up at the sound, his attention was drawn towards the Wingull that circled over his head. Oddly enough, when he looked at that Wingull, he was starting to get another sense of what his grandfather was saying. _"You should try and be a little nicer to your colleagues. Maybe you'd feel better about yourself."_ Once more, his grandfather's words stung his body. He winced again, showing a pained expression as he clutched his side.

As the Wingull sailed about, his brows furrowed as he looked down at the Trapinch again.

"I-I'm sorry!" Trapinch squealed. He waited for whatever punishment was to come, but the longer he waited, the more pressure he was. But the punishment never came. Actually, Ajeel was walking pass him. "Wait…Master…?"

Ajeel didn't bother looking back. Instead, he was limping back home. "…do what you want. I couldn't care less…I'm too tired to deal with you right now. You just got lucky this time, that's all."

"Master…" Trapinch watched him go, leaving him confused.

Ajeel continued his course, limping to the empire very slowly. All while deeply thinking as the Wingull guided his way.

* * *

A bloodcurdling draconic roar shrilled through the atmosphere as Nic's maw opened to fire an explosive **Inferno** that expanded in a sea of blue flames, swallowing soldiers and enemy Pokémon. As the land crumbled beneath, the heat from the attack ripped many soldiers airborne while others with melted armor and body parts were pushed back.

Nic closed his mouth, looking intimidating ahead. "Charizard… **Heat Wave!** "

As soldiers were caught adrift, Charizard spread his wings, creating a short but harsh gust on either side before swinging his wings forward in an equally bloodcurdling roar. A boisterous and incinerating hurricane of orange winds cindered skin and blew everything within his line of sight away. Any blue flames lingering were swept up with the many soldiers unable to fight back.

One soldier was barely hanging on, his armor melted with a look of terror on his face. "…t-these guys…WHAT ARE THEY?!"

Nic and Charizard's mouths opened, which Charizard charging **Flamethrower** and Nic with **Dragon Pulse**. The swirling energies unleashed ripples as they were launched, combining into a multicolored dragon-shape blaze that obliterated levitating shreds of the earth towards the screaming man.

Elsewhere, two pairs of slashes created power waves that cut down soldiers and Pokémon. Erza was adorned in her Black Wing Armor as she fought alongside Scizor. Around them, there were numbers already at their feet, with many more wavering from the distance.

A soldier reached out. "Attack, now!"

At his command, a Magmar unleashed a **Fire Spin** , while an Eggxecute using **Barrage** , and three Skorupi firing **Poison Sting** at Erza and Scizor.

Erza turned towards the incoming attack wave, holing her sword to intercept.

" **Moon Flash!** "

Swinging her sword in a cross-shape, the wave of the attack shredded clean through all the attacks, knocking and defeating the Pokémon in one go.

"What?!" the soldier was left speechless before a red blur passed him. Faster than what he could trace, a silver glint cut beside him, making him scream and fall in pain.

The blur went to a stop, revealing Scizor with crossed arms fading from **Bullet Punch**. "You let your guard down." She muttered. She caught whim of a Raticate jumping from the side, which she countered by keeping arms crossed and used **X-Scissor** , making a deep blow that knocked it to soldiers behind.

Erza held her pose while Nic landed behind her, both back-to-back as they faced the flames surrounding them. "How many more can you see?" she asked.

"Not many. Scavengers are coming up." Nic evaluated. He glanced back. "How are you holding up?"

She smirked. "Don't worry. In fact, I'm just getting warmed up."

Nic looked back ahead and smirked. "You sure that's not the temperature talking?"

"Perhaps…but we have to hurry."

Nic frowned. "Yeah. We gotta regroup with the others…let's go, Charizard!"

"Ready!" He unleashed another roar skywards, expelling ripples through the air. He flapped his wings and went sailing ahead with a forming **Dragon Claw** , while Nic flapped once and got airborne. He flipped constantly into a fireball, via **Flame Wheel** as everything was brought to flames.

* * *

Another guy was thrown into ten soldiers at once like bowling pins, knocking them out almost instantly.

"Crap! Where did that come from-?!" another soldier was suddenly struck by a pair of pincers from the side, knocking him down.

"Sorry, but you asked for that!" Lisanna in her Drapion Take-Over chimed. She then looked up. "Rufflet, **Fury Attack!** "

"Roger that!" Rufflet's beak glowed a faint white before he dove down on a soldier's helmet. He pecked profusely making the soldier wane away, where behind, Machop was waiting.

Once close enough, he attacked. " **Low Kick!** " He kicked the soldier right behind the legs. The soldier screamed in pain before he tripped backwards, where he thudded clumsily before Machop. As he laid on the ground, Machop and Rufflet gave each other smiles.

Close by, another soldier swung his sword, only for it to shatter against Elfman's Lizardman Take-Over skin. As the pieces scattered, he gasped.

Elfman glared over his shoulder at the man. "Nice try." With one grizzly backswing, the soldier shot into the wall, creating a crater that the guy was embedded in.

With a gruff huff, Elfman reverted back from his Take-Over and reconvened with Lisanna and their Pokémon. They all looked around, inspecting the many soldiers that they were plagued with previously.

"Looks like it's over now." Elfman said.

Machop crossed his arms. "Hmph. Yeah, looks like it. Shame."

Lisanna sweat-dropped. "Eh, I would think that's a _good_ thing." From the look on Machop's face, he didn't seem satisfied. She sighed. "Good grief."

"Well I guess that wasn't so bad." Rufflet said.

Lisanna coped. "…yeah. To be honest, I think that went better than the time at Caracole Island. I think we got lucky!"

Elfman gazed at the ground, looking to be pondering. "…yeah. But wouldn't you think they had more firepower or something? I mean those guys were pretty weak."

Lisanna tilted her head. "Huh?...now that you mention it, I guess they _were_ a little bad."

"A little?" Machop repeated. "Pfft! Those guys didn't even have the strength to pick up forks! It'd be a whole lot tougher if they had Pokémon with them. Now _that'd_ make things harder."

"But if that's the case, where's the rest then?" Rufflet inquired.

"Not sure." Lisanna said. "…but knowing Alvarez, if I wanted the most powerful threat dealt with, wouldn't I throw everything at them in one spot?"

"Yeah, sounds like something they'd do." Elfman figured. "Can't say for certain, but maybe someone else is handling the bulk then."

"You think it's Natsu or Nic?"

"I don't know…but I'm not going to just sit here and wait for an answer." He turned and faced a hallway. "The others have to be around here somewhere, and we gotta find them and fast, before a Spriggan shows up."

Lisanna nodded. "You're right. C'mon, guys!"

"Gotcha!" Rufflet followed his Trainer.

Machop tailed behind. "Fine, but I call dibs on the first guys we see!" he yelled as he ran with them.

* * *

Gajeel groaned as he started to stir awake. His eyes weakly opened, his stomach churning finally subsided. "Gnnnngh…" he mumbled. "Man…what the hell kind of transportation is…uughh." He covered his mouth, trying hard to not think about it. "Crap." He lurched on the ground.

"Looks like he's starting to come around." A voice said.

"So I see." Another said.

Hearing a set of volumes, the Dragon Slayer's eyes shot open. _'Those voices!'_ When he sat up and looked around, he saw that he was in new surroundings. He noticed that they were still outside, but it looked like they were within palace grounds. The stone ground was smoothly paved. The bordering was clearly marked as they seemed to be residing in an open training ground area. When he turned about, the voices earlier resonated from Pantherlily and Macbeth. "Huh? Lily!" he exclaimed. "And you!"

Macbeth looked humbled. "I would prefer it if you call me by Macbeth, thank you."

"Gajeel, are you feeling well?" Lily inquired.

The Iron Dragon Slayer calmed and slowly got up. "Yeah…just that last sendoff left me a bit…" Before he went too far in, he chose to move on. "…but what happened?"

"We're not sure. But it looks like that Spriggan managed to separate all of us."

"What?!"

Macbeth nodded. "It's true. It seems we're the only ones in the area for now."

Gajeel understood by the look on his face, but he sure didn't seem pleased about it. "Well isn't this great. Looks like they got us right where they want us then."

Lily looked around. "Agreed…but something's wrong."

Gajeel glared. "…yeah, I feel it too. Where is everybody? You'd think they'd ambush us or something."

"We've been alone for quite a while now." Macbeth stated. "I haven't seen any soldiers or enemy Pokémon since our severing. I wouldn't think they'd forgotten us conveniently if that's the case."

Meanwhile, while they were speaking, they were unaware of a silhouette at the tiptop of a tower spike blinded by sunlight. His scarf swayed as he faced the three way far down.

Pantherlily faced Gajeel. "Are you able to pick up anything?"

Gajeel's eyes narrowed as he tried to use his Dragon Slayer senses. He sniffed the air and his ears twitched, but alas, even then something felt wrong. "Not much. All I'm ready getting are just a few feint whiffs. But the place is so big I can't tell."

"Where's the closest scent?" Pantherlily questioned.

"…not that far…" his eyes narrowed further. "But…"

"What is it?"

"It's like…I can't hear anything." He strained to talk about it, but it was just hard to process it. "…I don't know what it is, but all I can hear is just you guys. Not even wind…" His nose crinkled suddenly, making him gasp.

"What's wrong?" Pantherlily looked up, realizing what was being smelled before it was too late. Macbeth saw as well, but they weren't fast enough.

With quick thinking, Gajeel sharply turned skyward and swung his arm, which became a sword of iron to clang against something. A moment of silence passed as he posed, and the next second, what looked like a red-tipped kunai pierced the ground. With his arm still out, he winced as a pain went through the iron. It showed his sword arm had an acidic scratch in it.

"Crap. What the hell was that?" He caught quick wind of more kunai shooting from above.

"Hrngh!" Macbeth reached up, this time using his own magic to distort and refract the kunai around Gajeel, piercing the ground instead. "On your guard." He warned.

Gajeel recoiled. "I know!" He looked up, seeing where the attacks would come from. In his vision, he saw a silhouette drop from above, swerving and slashing in streaks down onto him. He used his sword rm to block the attack. He managed to deflect, but the iron had suffered deeper acidic marks in them. He grunted as it felt like real acid.

The swift figure swirled as he was recoiling in midair, sending a net at Gajeel. Pantherlily transformed into Battle Mode and swung his Musica Sword, slicing the net and making it fall pass them. The figment went to a single handstand before doubling over behind a pillar, leaving the others out of sight.

"Gajeel, are you okay?!" Pantherlily exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Gajeel morphed his eroded arm back to normal. Once in place, he saw his iron-hard skin had something they didn't normally have – gashes. They stung. "What the hell? Where did these come from? Gngh!" another pain went through him.

With swift and silent movements, the silhouette that attacked nimbly flipped up the column and onto its flat top. With it looking down on them once more, now closer than before, the others could see who it ws they were dealing with.

"Everyone, up there!" Pantherlily warned.

Gajeel and Macbeth turned towards the pillar's top to find someone staring down at them.

The man appeared to have a short ninja scarf flowing in the winds, which were now heard. The silhouette looked like an armored ninja, with a cowboy top hat. His glare was serious as he leered at everyone down below, deep silence resonating from the air around him. But what wasn't silent was the Magic Power that was flowing from him. It was making their heartrates faster. Decker had come out of hiding.

Gajeel took a step back. "Who's the ninja playing cowboy?" he grunted.

"Hard to say." Macbeth said. "But judging by his Magic Power...I would think he's one of Alvarez."

"A Spriggan." Pantherlily deduced.

Macbeth nodded. "It seems we have no choice then. I take it that this is the part where we have to cooperate?"

Finally working through the pain, Gajeel smirked at Decker. "Fine…but make sure you don't get in the way."

"Dually noted. Now then…" Macbeth took a stance, readying to attack. "In order to reach our comrades, we must take down this Spriggan, together."

"Heh! You took the words right of my mouth! Lily!"

Pantherlily took a battle stance. "Right! Count me in as well!"

Decker glared down at them. With not even a snort, he pulled out a Poke Ball. He tossed it, sending out a Pokémon to battle. The popping sound was heard, and out flapping its wings was a large owl-like Pokémon with dark brown wings with a lighter brown body. It had red eyes with black rings around them. It gave a loud hoot as it leveled to the adversaries.

Gajeel narrowed his eyes. "So he's using Pokémon too. Wonder what that one can do?"

"Well, suppose we'll find out, won't we?" Macbeth said.

With a sharp snap of his fingers, the large owl let out a shrilled cry as its eyes glowed, via **Confusion**. A telekinetic force picked up the three and sent them flying backwards. Gajeel and Pantherlily landed first and glided across the ground, as to where Macbeth landed and the next second Decker was in his face. Macbeth was so surprised at how fast it was that he didn't have time to process the elbow to his gut.

"Bleh!" The Refractor Mage gagged as the elbow met his gut, shooting him back further.

With the distraction, Gajeel and Pantherlily charged from both sides, with the Musica Sword massive and Gajeel's **Iron Dragon Sword** active yet again. Both roared as they closed the gap on Decker, swinging at the same time.

 _ **SHING!**_

Sparks flew as both met something solid. Gajeel smirked. "Not so fast when you're in midair, are you?" His taunt was met with him realizing that splinter flew everywhere. "…what?" Instead of Decker, he and Lily realized they split a wood dummy to pieces. It fell at their feet, leaving them shocked.

"It was a fake!" Lily yelled.

"How'd he even do that?" Gajeel wondered. His nose crinkled again. "Huh?"

Macbeth grunted as he tried getting up from his last blow. He gripped his stomach and looked up, seeing Decker right over the guys' head. "…a-!" He meant to finish what he said, but his warning fell mute. He saw that the others didn't hear him, so he tried again. But nothing came out, leaving him startled.

High above, Decker began rotating. His lack of sound made pins and needles shoot down like shuriken towards Lily and Gajeel. Both didn't realize until the last seconds, where they blocked using their weapons. While pins and needles stung and shot like bullets, they pierced the ground, and the impact's recoil made both mages recoil.

Gajeel stepped back first, and in a split second, Decker reappeared crouching at his feet. His cowboy hat shrouded his eyes as he reached for Gajeel. With cat-like reflexes, Gajeel pivoted to avoid, getting to the side to deal a kick in Decker's gut. The attack landed a mark and sent him through the air, where he flipped and landed on the side of the pillar. With his own reflexes, the lacrima shin armor shimmered and he instantly disappeared again, leaving a crater within the pillar's side.

' _So fast!'_ Gajeel exasperated moments before an intense pain went through his gut now. This time Decker surprise attacked with a fist embedded with brass rings. The impact sent Gajeel flying and screaming in anguish.

"Gajeel!" Pantherlily shouted.

Decker straightened up and snapped his fingers twice. The Noctowl faced Pantherlily from above, getting his attention. "You!" Lily braced himself. "Prepare yourself-!" He was ready to exclaim and ready himself, but his own phrasing was cut off. He stopped for a moment and blinked. He tried to say something, but never came out. _'My voice-!'_

In sharp quick motions, Decker slashed his kunai in his prepared hold. He grazed Lily across the chest, sending him on his back with a muted scream. Even his thud was mute.

"Lily!" Gajeel grunted.

Pantherlily attempted to get up, but suddenly wire and spikes cuffed his muscular arms. He was once again shocked as he looked left and right, seeing how braced he was with the ground. When he looked up and without the Musica Sword in reach, the owl faced him head on.

Decker snapped his fingers again, making the owl's red eyes glow and radiant waves emanated, via **Hypnosis**. The status attack wavered towards Lily's line of sight, where everything around him started distorting. His mentality began to shimmer and crack, and the tough beady eyes he had grew hazy. With strength fading, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and shut as he fell to the ground, fast asleep.

"Lily! NO!" Gajeel went to attack again, but a kunai was launched right between the legs, making him veer back with Macbeth. He faced Decker with anger rising. "You…who the hell are you?!"

Decker said nothing as he held his arm out. Noctowl landed on his shoulder, waiting patiently as another magic signature was being sensed. Both looked to the side, which Gajeel and Macbeth followed.

Slowly, with swaying hips showing, Valeria walked out the palace entrance. She had an unemotional expression as she introduced herself physically. She gave a meek bow before the foes ahead of her.

"The hell is this chick?" Gajeel grunted.

"Another enemy, if I had to guess." Macbeth answered.

The mage snapped her fingers next. Using her magic, bindings coils slowly eroded from inside, lowering down a massive net containing figures that left Macbeth and Gajeel completely dumbfounded. Staring wide-eyed, both fell silent as they saw the many figures inside. A bead of sweat went down Gajeel's face.

"No way…"

Inside the next over Valeria's head, it showed a wild Hippopotas, with Richard, along with the others that he had thwarted along the way. They all looked battered and exhausted, some unconscious.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Gajeel gasped. "That Mermaid and Sabertooth chick, too?"

Macbeth stared up at his friends, moral horror all over his face. "Richard…Sorano…Sawyer…" he was at a loss for words as he looked down at Decker. "Are you saying…that this man was responsible for all this?"

Gajeel shot another glare, but this one being more unsound. "Just what the hell is going on…?"

Decker was dead silent as ever, with Valeria and Noctowl by his sides as he held up kunai.

* * *

A straggler finally fell to his defeat before Nic as he, Erza, Scizor, and Charizard were all standing in a correlated group amongst many of thousands of soldiers in the spacious domain. "Looks like that was the last of them." Nic figured. "For now that is."

Erza nodded. "Their numbers were decreased drastically from last time." She requipped back to her default armor. "But knowing them, they might still have more traps and soldiers ready elsewhere."

Nic nodded in understanding and transformed into his Mind Form. He glared off to the side as he tried to connect. _'_ _ **Is anyone there? Can you hear me guys?**_ _'_ He waited for a response, but he wasn't getting anything from the others. "…no good. Not even Mest is picking up."

"They must have walls designed to counter our connections." Erza figured.

"Maybe it doesn't work _inside_ , but let's try and get outside. We might be able to find the others then."

"Right."

Both Trainers turned to their Pokémon and returned them to their Poke Ball and Net Ball. Once fastened, both looked for the nearest entrance taken and headed in that direction.

* * *

In the empty corridor, Sophie and Griffon were side-by-side as they squared themselves as they faced a familiar foe, at lest to Sophie. The Memory-Make Mage was glaring at Jacob as he flexed his knuckles and heard his bones crack. Saying she was unsound would be an understatement.

"Sophie Lednick, and acquaintance…t'is a pleasure to see you here of all places." Jacob started.

Griffon gave a meek smirk as his fingers were loose. "Please, good sir…you're far too kind."

Jacob's expression darkened. "So you say?"

Sophie's glare was deep. "So you're the person Nic told me about. I remembered you were in charge of that army intended for us back when you were on _our_ turf."

"Believe me. The memory is all too clear as day, Miss Lednick. Not a day goes by in this country when _your_ guild's actions have dared sullied our late emperor's desires."

"He wanted to die. And he got his wish…whether we liked it or not." There was a hint of pain in Sophie's phrase. She recalled Mavis dying with her lover, and that wrecked just as much pain on them s it did their foes back then. "But what _I'd_ like to know is why you intend on doing this?"

Jacob chuckled. "Well…that would be telling now, would it?"

Griffon stepped in front. "Don't let him get to you. You know what he wants. We're not _that_ stupid as you think we are."

"Right, my apologies." Jacob humbly sighed. "I should've known Brandish would turn to the guild that imprisoned her. You Fiorians truly are despicable."

"As to you. Using Pokémon as weapons. Exactly what are you hoping to gain out of this?" Sophie asked.

Jacob craned his head up and glared from an angle. "I don't believe you are right about that claim, young one."

"What?"

"Tell me, do you actually _see_ any Pokémon around here?" Jacob gestured to the whole room around him. Sophie and Griffon glanced about to find his accusation true. "Now tell me, exactly what kind of assassin would I be if I relied on such low-level creatures to do the job for me…I'd much sully my own hands."

"So you're certain you came by yourself?" Griffon chided.

Jacob's head lowered as he smirked. "Oh trust me, I believe that I'm _more_ than adequate for the job. Among the newly reformed Spriggan, only so many of us use Pokémon. And many others do not have subordinates or understudies, such as I…but I believe that's enough talk now, don't you think."

Griffon frowned. "I should've said that a long time ago."

Jacob smirked as swiped his arm across. "Then let us commence, intruders!"

"Sophie, get back!" Griffon hurried in front. " **Wire Fence!** " Swiping his arms, a fence of wires from before materialized. It blocked something invisible that struck against it.

The invisible object retracted towards Jacob and he used his magic to disappear next. The mage's presence was unseen, but they knew he was around somewhere. As the two thought on their feet, Griffon's defense managed to uphold.

Sophie gasped at the thought that came. She swiftly turned around. "Behind us?!"

Taking a gander, Griffon heard and understood. His arm swiped around, making his wire arch behind in time before something made contact with it. Time slowed down as Sophie stepped off to the side, narrowly evading a split bullet from the wire. She and Griffon found themselves surrounded by the wired fencing with very little inserts. Once more, another object hit the fence, followed by a succession of anther. And another. It kept coming, and Griffon and Sophie were finding themselves being grazed as they ducked and tried to avoid shards of split bullets.

"Crap, he's got us pinned." Griffon ducked as another bullet went over his head. "Hey, can you get him?!"

Sophie was on her knees as she concentrated. "Yeah…" She put a finger to her forehead. _'He may be invisible, but he's still here.'_ " **Memory-Make: Scorn of the Armored Winds!** " Around the fencing, iron winds with shredding power like Gajeel's roar churned into a small cyclone. Sophie's arms spread apart, expanding its radius and roaring outwards.

Inside the turbulence, Jacob was reversed out of his magic, covering up as he was being shredded from all sides. _'Damnit! An omnidirectional attack!'_ he sniped as the winds subsided, reveling him airborne.

With the fencing down, Griffon made his move. He reached up, expelling wires that went towards the ceiling. Once fastened, he reeled himself skywards until he was close to Jacob. Once over him, the Wire Mage dropped a little, giving a bungee kick to his chest and sending him to the ground.

Griffon reeled himself up until he was at the high ceiling, hanging a massive height like a spider. When he looked down, he saw that Jacob was already getting up. "He's sturdy." He muttered.

Jacob smirked. "Understatement." He whipped his arm up, unleashing something invisible up towards Griffon. He used his knees to cover, but in actuality, the projectile was a slick knife that pierced the ceiling, cutting through the wires. In shock, Griffon began to fall.

"Griffon!" Sophie's worries were redirected when Jacob suddenly appeared in front of her, holding another knife.

"Now it's your turn." Jacob jabbed forward, to which Sophie narrowly dodged. He kept swiping and slashing with precision, with Sophie narrowly dodging each blow; parts of her hair were barely cut in the process.

As Griffon fell, he opened and eye and saw how close he was getting towards the ground. Using his magic, he extended wires all around, attaching to both walls. He hung in the middle and hung by a loose thread, much like a spider. He looked down then, finding Sophie on the defensive.

Sophie adverted to hand-to-hand combat, but as her acrobatic kicks swung about, Jacob easily blocked and parried with a knife strike, which she had to steer clear from. When Sophie found an opening to kick, Jacob maneuvered around and grabbed the back of her heel. Rendered in shock, Sophie was pulled around by Jacob until he slammed her into the ground, sending a shock through her gap. The man quickly found himself over with a knife.

"You seem to have been aware." He sniped. "I'm quite…versatile." He went and struck with his knife. As it closed in, Sophie found herself pinned, unable to escape.

 _ **VWHIP!**_

Suddenly like a puppet, she was dragged skywards, yanked out of the potential stab to the neck. "What?!" Jacob followed his gaze up, seeing Griffon upside-down and pulling Sophie up. "You…!"

"Alright, show off!" Griffon exclaimed.

Recoiling and getting over the shock, Sophie smirked. "How kind of you." She rhetorically said. The wires let go of her and she was over Jacob, a finger to her forehead.

" **Memory-Make: Pyro Saucer!** "

Flaming saucers from above rained down onto Jacob. He was forced to cover up as the flame-like bullets attacked bombarded his jacket. He held his ground as embers obscured his vision. As the attack subsided, he looked up to find Sophie coming down with an acrobatic axe kick. He blocked with a forearm, rolling it down and throwing a sucker punch to Sophie's face, sending her back. He then heard a shout from above, revealing Griffon coming down with a staff made completely of millions of wired fibers. He brought the staff down, which Jacob dodged. As he slid back, the assassin flicked his fingers, sending invisible weaponry at the green-haired mage. Griffon twirled his staff around, showing his dexterity as his hips swung within each turn, knocking away every gun and knife blow. Around him, knives and bullets dropped like rain, and Sophie was in the back, recovering from her recent blow. She was amazed at what she saw.

' _He's so fast…'_

Griffon kept twirling while Jacob kept firing. Neither one let up until seconds passed, resulting in a deadlock. The wired poll Griffon had was held in hand, while Jacob balled a fist. Each glared at each other like it was personal, which was starting to be the case.

"Heh, you're starting to annoy me with your little tricks." Jacob sneered.

Griffon smirked. "Gee, that's funny. I'd thought you of all people would be amused by my little tricks." His eyes narrowed. "Sound like a hypocrite if you ask me."

Jacob adjusted his slightly tattered tie. "Ha! Such mere words coming from someone who uses traps than mere weapons. I'm curious, exactly hoe many people have you caught victim to your playing around?"

The sounds of chords pulling came from Griffon's wrists and fingers as wires receded away from his poll. He gave Jacob a serious glare that made even the Stealth Mage unsound. "…you really wanna know?" he asked coldly. "You really wanna know just how many people I _killed_ to get to where I am now?"

Sophie fell silent as she gave Griffon a look. She recalled them about to talk more about him, but this felt like something she shouldn't relate to.

Jacob raised a brow. "Do tell, because of the countless men I have slain, they haven't come close to the countless I have taken over the years."

Griffon sneered. "Really? You don't care enough to count or remember the faces you've killed. Well, hate to break it to ya, but you know how many faces I've seen and remembered? I had to remember 211,746 faces…and every one of them is still there in my dreams."

Sophie's eyes widened at the number he stated. She couldn't believe he stated that many with deep scorn.

Jacob's eyes narrowed grimly. "…is that so? Well then…" He clutched his knuckles tight. "I won't take such a claim lightly after what I've seen. Let's see just who has what it takes to be a _true_ assassin, shall we?"

"Heh, funny, I was gonna say the exact same thing." Griffon waved his arms, summoning wire to ready his next move. "Courtesy from one assassin to another."

* * *

"C'mon! C'mon~…crap! Are you freaking kidding me right now?! Just what the hell is this?! No signal?!" Aniya gritted her teeth in rising anger as she found herself in a tight spot. She tried continuously to use her technology to locate and communicate, but she couldn't get anything out. She was exasperating by the second. "Well isn't _this_ just great." She groaned. "Of all the people to get split up with, I had to get the short end of the stick."

Behind her, she wasn't alone. Wendy, Carla, Erik, and Kinana all happened to be there right beside her. They were transported with her to the palace's upper level gardens. It was spacious, open, and isolated.

"Hey, it's alright." Wendy assured. "It's not that bad."

"Wendy, I wouldn't encourage her if I were you." Carla insisted.

Aniya glared at the Dragon Slayer. "You think?" she didn't sound convinced. "We just got split up just a minute ago, and you're saying it'll be okay?"

"W-well I…"

"Alright, don't get all snappy, princess." Erik defended his fellow Dragon Slayer. "You know it'd do you a lot of good if you just shut up and listen."

Aniya snuffed her nose up and turned away. "Hmph! And why would I listen to a creep like you?"

"Because this 'creep' actually can hear things. Now look, I'm hearing a few things here and there, and a lot of muffling is inside those walls. Odds are most of our pals are inside."

"Then what are we standing around for?" Aniya turned towards the closed doorway on the other side of the courtyard. "The sooner we get back together, the better for me." She started down her path, making way to get back with her team, and away from specific people that make her sick to the bone. As she went on, the others talked behind her.

"Well she's certainly a peach." Carla sniped.

Wendy sweat-dropped. "Y-yeah…but, I'm wondering, is she always like this?"

Carla shrugged. "Not that I haven't been paying attention to her, but I don't think she's being very open. Frankly, I feel something about this is wrong."

"You think?" Wendy looked towards Erik. "Hey, Erik. What do you think?"

Erik knew. He could hear all the swearing inside her head and thoughts. She wanted to get as far away from him and Kinana as possible. She could hear just as much venom from her annoyance as he could unleash himself. But rather than leave it to Wendy's problem, he chose to keep quiet. "…beats me." He shrugged. He and the others were cut off when Kinana walked pass them. "Huh? Cubel…uh, Kinana?" Erik watched her walk towards Aniya.

Kinana stopped behind the girl, holding her ground. "Um, excuse me?"

Aniya glanced back. "…what?"

"Did…we do something wrong to offend you? I mean, we didn't mean to do anything. It's just…"

Aniya stood in silence as she glared over her shoulder. She acknowledged Kinana's worries, but looked away. "Don't worry about it. It's none of your business…just keep your distance from me."

"O-okay…but you know, you can always talk to us. I mean we are allies, right?"

Aniya harshly turned further. "Right, keep telling yourself that. I'll let you know when I can make time for a play date."

"But-!" Kinana was stopped cold when Aniya turned towards her harshly.

"Alright, look here, girly! Why don't you and everybody else just get off my case already?!"

Wendy, Carla, and Erik all looked shock at her outburst at Kinana. The mage was holding up, but she along with everyone else was startled by the seething stare Aniya had. It spelled hate all over.

"You really wanna know why I'd rather bob for apples than spend another second with people like you? You wanna know why acupuncture sounds like _incredible_ therapy right now? It's because people like _you_ make me sick!"

"People like…us?"

"That's right." Aniya venomously retorted. "You guys that _appreciate_ those creatures that slither around with no manners! You guys that actually thinks those _things_ are okay. Well not me…" she seethed squinted daggers. "…those damn snakes."

"Snakes?" Kinana went wide-eyed at her point given. She looked back at Erik, who offered little but a straight face.

"Yeah, I said it. I _hate_ snakes! And everybody who sides with them!" Aniya snapped. "You have any idea how repulsive those things are, with those bodies and everything about them? Why, how can there even be snake-like Pokémon, too? I can't believe that Nic and you guys are okay with those venomous creatures!" She sharply turned away. "And don't even bother asking…I just know, okay?"

"So then…you hate us because we're comfortable with snakes?" Kinana inquired.

"Well that certainly is a crude reason." Carla exasperated.

Aniya snuffed and walked off. "Hmph, maybe it is, but that's the way I am. Now you happy? Good…now don't get in my face again…or I'll have to go back on what Riaan asked of me."

Kinana reached out to say something, but Erik put a comforting hand on her shoulder. The two looked at each other, with one of worry, but the other encouraging. Erik knew it was best for space to be left between them, at least for a little while.

"Wow. That wasn't nice at all." Wendy said.

"Very big understatement." Carla said. "All because she has a grudge against snakes, so she takes it out on others…I fear we may have to find the others faster than what I thought."

In the shadows somewhere, there was a pair of sultry lips that created a smirk. A sweet yet powerful smell entered her nostrils, her lips moisturizing. "My, what's this taste in the air? It smells…" She lustfully licked her lips, leaving saliva on them. "Delicious."

Aniya walked closer towards the entrance, unaware of this presence. She tried to connect again, but with no luck. "Gnnngh…drats. These Alvarez guys must be cutting off our communication somehow. They must have a lacrima somewhere, or someone's taking in all the signals so that they know who's where. Great. That means we have to play guessing games, my least favorite."

Far behind, Kinana nervously sweat-dropped again. "She sure does like to complain, doesn't she…?"

Erik shrugged. "Well not all of us can be picky you know. That chick's just got problems for all I care."

"Yeah…" Wendy followed behind, but she and Erik stopped in their tracks. Both Dragon Slayers looked startled as they were hearing something.

"Huh? Erik?" Kinana questioned.

"Wendy? What's wrong?" Carla questioned.

Wendy sniffed the air. A very strange smell enflamed her nostrils. Her brow furrowed. "You smell that?"

Erik nodded. "Yeah. I hear it, though." He tensed up. "We're not alone."

Aniya noticed the small chitchat behind and looked over again. "Hey, what do you guys talk about?" She suddenly heard rustling and turned around. "Who's there?!" She requipped a rifle, prepping it for an attack. "Come out, now!"

There was a silence in the air before the group began to tense up. They were starting to feel a Magic Power with an odd, chilling sound that was like a tongue flicking. It especially left Aniya stone cold. "My~, my~." From behind a pillar on the side o the entrance, a figure swayed her hips and emerged. "My goodness, so _that's_ where all these scents were coming from! Well isn't this a treat for little ole me!" The others glaring saw the woman emerging had a massively long skirt that dragged itself across the ground. Her clothing was a little skimpy, but otherwise seductive. She gave a charming smile as she looked at them all with her beguiling eyes. Lia had arrived.

"An enemy?" Carla asked defensively.

"Wow, such ravishing company I have today, oh lucky me!" Lia chimed. "Now, just _where_ is this delicious and sweet smell coming from…?" she scanned everyone, until her attention fell towards Wendy. "Oh~, well this smell and taste, from you? Oh you're so cute!" She chimed, though her eyes narrowed with the smile thickening. "Why, I could just eat you up."

"Eh…thanks." Wendy wasn't comfortable with how her enemy was treating her, but she persevered.

"Who is this, Erik? A Spriggan?" Kinana questioned.

"Don't know. But watch it…she's not in the right mind."

Lia looked all around, smirking at the many feasting upon her eyes. "Oh dear, who would send a sweetiepie like you here of all places? Those Fiorians really are savages, huh?" She faced Carla. "And you…oh, quite a smell you have. It's making my hair stand on end. Ohhh, I'm almost shaking!" she giggled meekly before facing Erik and Kinana. "And you two…hm, well, don't you have such magic. What a taste." She said dryly.

"A taste of magic?" Erik questioned. _'Is she saying all that stuff because she can 'smell' our type of magic energy?'_

Lia lastly turned towards Aniya, giving her a raised brow. "Oh, and what do we have here? Another cutie? And who might they call you?"

Aniya didn't answer. Instead, she stared at the woman with inquiry. She still had her rifle up, but her guard was down. She was staring at her and her face with such a trance. It was like she knew her. _'Wait…do I know this woman?'_ Her brow furrowed. _'No, it can't be. But those eyes…they remind me…'_ Her mind briefly flashed back to when she saw that same disgusting image. She shook her head and remained wary. _'Stop it! Get a grip! You're here to beat these guys, right? So get serious!'_ She aimed for Lia. "Look you, don't answer to enemies so easily. Just who are you anyway?"

Lia pointed to herself. "Who? Me?" she feigned shock. "Oh~, phooie. Well, guess some better than others I suppose. I guess I can let you know…if you let me?" she chimed.

"The heck's that mean?"

"Oh you'll know." She faced Aniya and the others, smirking lustfully. "So tell me, my sweet guests…" her eyes began to ripple, turning into a hypnotic pattern that was mesmerizing. "How would you like to stay a while? I promise…it'll be fun."

* * *

A pink head of hair was patted by a comforting hand, this being from a familiar blonde. "There, better Natsu?" Lucy chimed.

Up on his feet, Natsu cracked his neck by tilting his head like Kecleon would. "Gnnngh…yeah, that's the spot." He sighed. "Man, how does Nic's chameleon thing do this every second."

"I guess we can count that as one of the seven wonders of the world." Happy chimed in.

"Well _I'm_ just glad we didn't get seriously hurt. Right, Brandish?" Lucy turned towards the last member of their company, Brandish. The Command T Mage shrugged.

"Speak for yourself." Natsu grumbled before he arched his back backwards, making rows of bones pop.

For this group in particular, they were transported to another part of the palace's insides. The hallway they were in was rather spacious, with mounted decorations on walls all around them like knight armor, paintings of landscapes, and through it all, they too found themselves isolated. Natsu was dragged along, and of course he wasn't feeling so hot…especially with Lucy and Brandish falling on him upon landing. As rough as a mattress as he was, he took one for the team, even if he didn't like it.

Happy looked at his surroundings. "Where are we?"

"It looks like we've fallen within their reaches after all." Brandish said calmly, eyes narrowing. "We must have been teleported into the palace. I would imagine we were diverged from the others as well."

"I get it. So they can pick us off one by one then, huh?" Natsu guessed.

"More or less. We're not exactly on fair ground either. I wouldn't be surprised if Neinhart went and set up traps or ambushes around here for us to clumsily stumble in." she gave a deep sigh. "Typical of him to not even think of his surroundings when a worker can just walk in and get killed."

Lucy faced Natsu, smiling. "Well, I think we'll be okay. We have Natsu's smell and hearing. And trust me, nothing can get past those." She chuckled.

"Aye!" Happy chimed.

Brandish sighed in mild exasperation. "You're too cocky for your own good. But I suppose it can't be helped. Heaven knows I've tried."

Natsu shrugged. "C'mon, you make it sound like it's a bad thing. It's nothing new for us." He turned away, facing a hall. "Anyways, guess we better get going in _some_ direction. I can't make much scent where we are…this place has a weird smell making things hard to pick up. You guys smell anything?" He waited for an answer, but didn't get one. "…oh, sorry. Forgot, guess you guys can't smell well, huh?" He turned around to face them, but instead of meeting them so casually, the Dragon Slayer's eyes widened slightly when he saw how stiff the three were. It was like they were statues. And to make matters all the more disturbing, they weren't even blinking as their poses were the same. "…guys? Guys?" he called to them. "Lucy? Happy? Brandish?" Getting a little freaked out, he moved in front of them, staring at them in varied angles. He saw how not even their pupils were moving when he moved a hand in front of them. It only served to make him even more discomforted. "Guys? Hey, snap out of it! What the hell's going on?! Hey!" He went to move Lucy by shaking her shoulders rapidly, and yet when he touched her, it was like all her weight fell with each lever. He let go of her, shocked to see how she was at an angle after shaking her. He stepped away, a distilled terror in his eyes. "What the hell…?"

Suddenly, a sharp incense got into his nose. This one made his eyes shrink as he stood in place. Facing away, behind him, a familiar figure equipped for battle stood motionless. Natsu slowly turned around, making one harsh turn to lock eyes with a familiar blonde. He stood in shock as Dimaria stared at him with cold, distasteful eyes to pierce his soul.

There an unrelenting silence that picked up between them. Natsu's shock was slowly calming when he recognized the woman from awhile back. His shocked eyes quelled and instead stared questionably at the Time Mage. "Wait, aren't you…?"

"Demon…" The venomous, cold tone Dimaria had was loud and clear for Natsu to hear.

He looked confused. "What? Demon?" He looked back at his friends, but they were still suspended. He faced Dimaria again.

"You monster…you have some nerve showing yourself here…with the very friend that I entrusted everything with." Dimaria's teeth gritted with anguish. "Just how can you go so low as to make Randi trust _you_ of all sniveling creatures?"

This only served to confuse Natsu further. "What the heck are you saying? I'm not following."

"Don't play coy with me!" Dimaria snapped accusingly. "You know what I'm talking about…how else are you moving within 'my' time."

"Your time?"

"Yes…" She looked down. "Do you not understand…how it was to have a world where you alone ruled…to be invincible? To have everything to your control?" Her fists shuddered, her whole body starting to quiver. "And you Fiorians had to go and take _everything_ away from me!" She faced Natsu with a sharpened glare. "Chronos left me…I was imprisoned…and my best friend…she chose the lot of you…the side that holds the monster that's you!"

"Monster?" Natsu's mind was beginning to pick up pieces. "Wait, you mean that one time I-"

" _You_ …once E.N.D…even now you make me sick." Dimaria darkly sniped. "Even when others claim it, I can still see all that bitterness inside. That's why you're immune to my Age Seal, right? That has to be it."

It was a slow turn, but Natsu soon caught onto her delusions. Her problem was all too clear now. She was bitterly scarred from the unconventional terror he inflicted upon her back then, He made her suffer because of the demon that finally emerged; the one that hurt Nic out of his jealousy. But even if he did understand now, when he looked back at his friends standing behind right now, he knew why he was here. Once more, he faced her, an understanding but equally as determined look in his eyes. "…I'm sorry. I don't quite get why you're saying all this about me…but you're the one who hurt my friend. And your own." An image of Nic's scars flashed in his head for a moment. "…we both hurt people important to us, but I don't see why you should be hung up on something that wasn't your decision to make in the first place. But listen…" His fist enveloped in fire. "I can handle being called a monster by you guys, and I can take a blow or two for someone who can't stand up…but what I can't forgive…is how you're treating your friends and Pokémon. That makes me sicker than what you feel."

Dimaria's eyes shrunk when her anger spiked. What Natsu said plucked a dense chord in her mind. "How can something like _you_ feel?"

Natsu held up his flaming fist. "Believe it or not, I actually _have_ a heart. And it's telling me if I want to make sure we win, I'm gonna have to get rough…even against someone like you."

Dimaria shakily stepped back. Her need for revenge was starting to sway by the deep onyx eyes that seethed into her soul. She shook her head to get any thoughts digressing out. _'No. I can't back out of this now. I have to do this! I've prepared for this demon. I can do this, and take Randi back by force!'_

Natsu took a foot into the ground, summoning fire that he used to spring himself forward. "I'll knock some sense into ya…THE HARD WAY!"

Dimaria pulled out a Poke Ball, which popped open as Natsu's **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist** jetted ahead.

The impact finally landed a mark and expelled horrendous blazes everywhere. His explosive fire power lived up to the name as the canvases and armor along the walls were either blown away or burned to charred crisps. The voluminous flames soon dissipated, Natsu holding his fist out and glaring ahead. He expected to hit her, but when the embers faded, he found his fist connected to the head of something warm, and admittedly fluffy.

"What…?" he gasped. Out of caution, he backflipped out of range and glared ahead. "Who's that?"

Dimaria's half-eyelids seared daggers. "…my weapon against you, demon."

The Pokémon she had out was a quadruped mammalian Pokémon with big dark blue eyes with a head crest of fluffy yellow fur in the shape of a waterdrop oddly. The orange fur covering the body twinkled before fading, and a mane of fluffy yellow fur was accompanied by an equally bushy tail. It leered at Natsu, empowered by his flames and fit for battle.

"So you got your own Pokémon now, huh?" Natsu figured.

"That's right, and this is my Pokémon, picked personally to thwart your evil. Meet Flareon."

Flareon spread her paws apart. "So you're the demon I was trained to defeat. Make no mistake, fiend, I will end your terror with my powers." She boasted.

"So you wanna go that route, huh?" Natsu questioned. "Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for this!" He took a large leap skywards, flipping until his flaming heel was above Flareon. "No hard feelings!" He brought his heel down, making another boisterous axe kick expel flames everywhere around him. For a second time, the air was explosive and cindered the walls. Natsu made sure it was direct this time, but when the embers cleared, he found Flareon staring up, unimpressed. "What?!" he exasperated.

Flareon flicked her head, getting Natsu to back off. She used the chance to use **Tackle** , charging into Natsu's gut and making him slide back a few feet. She landed, giving him a scowl.

"My Pokémon has an ability of its own." Dimaria said. "Its ability is something called 'Flash Fire'…which means anything of fire is ineffective, and empowers it instead."

Natsu gasped. "Wait, you serious?!" He looked at Flareon, seeing sprinkles of ember absorb into her fur.

"That's right, which means your fire will not work." Dimaria's glare hardened. "This time, I won't lose in my zone against you."

Natsu eyes narrowed as he glared back. He still wasn't fully aware of the concept of Pokémon, but he couldn't believe they included full nullification of attacks relating to his element. And to make matters worse, his attacks revolved around nothing but fire. _'Crap, looks like she's got me figured out then.'_ He reached for his own Poke Ball. _'Guess I've got no choice then…I'm just gonna have to fight fire with fire!'_ He brought his arm back. "Alright, you asked for it! Go, Charmander!"

The Poke Ball popped open, sending Charmander out to battle. "I'm ready! Let's kick some butt!" he shouted.

Flareon braced herself while Dimaria scoffed. "So you rely on these creatures too. Alright then, let's see how you handle my trained defense." Charmander readied as he looked back at Natsu.

' _I gotta watch it. These guys might have some moves or something else.'_ He thought back to his battle against Max and lost due to poor commanding. _'Not falling for that again. Gotta see what I can do.'_ He reached forward. "Alright Charmander, use **Growl!** "

"Roger that!" Charmander took a deep breath and opened his mouth wide, expelling a large range of distorting soundwaves at Flareon. Her ears scrunched up as a blue aura enveloped her body, lowering her Attack.

Dimaria looked unimpressed. "Is that how you got here? We won't fall for that." This time she was the one who reached out. "Flareon, attack his monster with **Ember!** "

Doing as she said, Flareon took a big breath and her body temperature arose. She opened her mouth, expelling a harsh blanket of embers that surged into Charmander. The Lizard Pokémon covered up and was truck hard. It felt like painful stings against his body as he was pushed back, thudding hard on his back.

"Charmander!" Natsu gasped.

"I told you before. My Fire-type attacks are stronger now." Dimaria reminded. "Use them as much as you want, but nothing will work." Her eyes narrowed. "This is all for Randi, the one _you_ sullied.

"Crap, this chick's really lost it." He looked down as Charmander staggered back up. "You good to go?" His Charmander gave a wavered nod. He faced forward. _'That means_ _ **Ember**_ _and_ _ **Flame Charge**_ _are out of the question…shit! We can't do much of anything!'_ This was Natsu's flaw. Revolving too much around fire. It was a simple recipe for his taste, but his taste buds are souring now thanks to his moral discomfort. He could only use **Scratch** and **Growl** now, and those don't do much. But this time around, he had to play it as safe as possible. "Alright, **Growl!** " Again, Charmander let loose distorted waves as he cried out. Flareon again felt her Attack fell as a blue aura enveloped her.

Dimaria reached again. " **Ember!** " Once more, Flareon expelled another harsh blanket that ran across the ground.

"Charmander, dodge it!" Natsu commanded. Charmander tucked and rolled off to the side, evading the blanket that went at Natsu as he covered up. The attack made sparks flare around him, but otherwise he was fine.

Charmander looked back. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, don't worry!" Natsu exclaimed. "Just use **Growl** again!"

Charmander was getting really concerned for what Natsu was having him do. But he had to be thinking of something. He chose to trust his judgement and opened his mouth again, expelling distorted waves that enveloped Flareon again, lowering her Attack again.

Dimaria's patience was starting to thin. She watched Natsu carefully with annoyance and growing frustration. "What are you doing?" she mocked. "Are you taking this seriously?"

Natsu held his ground. "Trust me, lady, nobody's taking this anymore serious than me right now."

"Then why won't you fight me?!" Dimaria snapped. "Are you afraid of using your power again, against me? Because you know I'll stop it?"

Natsu remained vigilant. "No, it's because I'm actually learning from my mistakes…unlike you!" He gave another command. "One more time, Charmander!"

Charmander did another **Growl** , expelling more soundwaves to lower Flareon's massive Attack. The opposing Fire-type ringed her head around and gave an annoyed shout as her ears twitched. "Gnnngh…are you trying to deafen me?!" she exclaimed.

Charmander ended his attack. "Depends, are you gonna can it?" he faced Natsu again. "We good?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, that should do it…now to give her what she asked for! Let's go, Charmander! **Scratch!** " Without hesitation, Charmander followed the command promptly and went charging at Flareon full on with a snarl.

Dimaria gave a gruff snort before she opted to stop Natsu. "You demon, I'll show you power…Flareon, **Tackle!** "

Flareon went charging across the ground towards Charmander. Both Fire-types raced with everything they had in their legs and gained momentum to strike. Once they were close enough, Flareon gave one last lunge while Charmander swung his claws. Both attacks met in the middle, making a small crack sound in the air. There was a stalemate between them for a short while, while either side struggling to push. But the breakage finally ceased, and it was Flareon who was pushed back with a yelp.

"What?!" Dimaria exclaimed. "But how?!"

Natsu showed a smirk. "Heh, guess watching those battles back then really did mean something." He thought to Lucy and Gray's battles, then to Joey and Dereece, and how they used status moves. "I gotta say, I'm not used to all these moves, but I know using these non-damaging moves helps my Pokémon…though it still feels weird using them rather than attack though." He chuckled.

Dimaria's eyes narrowed with her anger being mocked at. "Maybe…but you're still not fast enough! Flareon, **Quick Attack!** " Flareon recovered from her blow and faced Charmander. Her body was outlined in bright blue and spritzed into him in the blink of an eye, hitting him square in the chest and sending him on the floor again.

Charmander grunted, but he opened and eye and staggered back up. "Gnngh…is that all?" he mocked, startling Flareon. "Let's go, Natsu!"

Natsu smiled determinedly. "Hell yeah, now we're talking! Use **Scratch!** "

"YEAH!" Charmander raced into Flareon, jumping into midair and came down with a slash of his claws. Flareon staggered backwards and tried to shake off the pain, but Charmander slashed again, making her yelp. "We're not done yet!" He scratched the side again, making her falter. "That's for the others that you enslaved! And this one-" He used **Scratch** yet again, striking her. "Is for me!"

"Yeah! Now we're talking! Keep it up!"

"My pleasure!" With another huff, Charmander kept up the attack.

Dimaria watched in growing shock as she was seeing her only defense against Natsu lose ground. Her mind had already withdrawn from the battlefield and back into the crevice it came out from. _'What's going on here? This isn't the same monster I was facing…this…this is more controlled, and less angry. But why…this isn't…'_ She started to mentally break down to that horrifying image of Natsu moving within her time. It still left scorch marks where they still seared. "You're not…you're not…you _can't_ be human!"

"What?" Natsu gasped.

Dimaria violently swiped her arm. "Flareon, **Quick Attack!** " Upon command, Flareon's eyes widened as Charmander's next claw came to strike. Her body was outlined and she started to zip and zag around Charmander, leaving him confused. With him startled, Charmander was brushed hard by Flareon passing from the left. With him stammering away, Flareon suddenly charged into his side again. He staggered towards the side, only to be intercepted by Flareon.

"Wha-?!"

" **Ember!** "

Flareon opened her maw and expelled a point-blank burst of smoldering embers. The sparks were like fireworks that sent Charmander flying through the air.

"Charmander!" Natsu exclaimed.

Charmander slammed into the ground hard, making dust dissipate. As he laid for a few precious moments, everything around him was fizzy. "Oh man, what just-OOF!" A pain went through his claws, coming from Flareon as she pinned him down. Struggle as he did, there was no success. "Gnngh…!"

"Charmander!" Natsu exclaimed.

"This isn't what I wanted." Dimaria snorted.

Natsu faced her. "Say what?"

"The monster I remember doesn't make such moves. He blew me away, and made the very people he called 'friends' get hurt…what makes you think you could be possibly different than what you were before? All I see is a demon who's afraid to use his power…and prove to me how he stopped Zeref." At her snap of fingers, Flareon applied more pressure on Charmander. "Show me, you monster…so I can save Randi from you once and for all."

He finally got it. Now he saw what she was after. She was afraid. Natsu gave her a serious frown. "…that guy you know, E.N.D, is dead."

"What?"

"…yeah, maybe I did lose control back then. I lost everything then and there, and I paid a price. I let my own hate consume me…" he raised his head. "But I'm not that same guy anymore. _You_ may still think so, but I know what you're going through. You're just trying to take back something that you wanted all for yourself. You thought it was all yours until someone came along and took that from you…well let me tell you, that's only what brings hate!"

Dimaria was silent at Natsu talking her down. It was leaving her unsound to no end.

"I used to feel that way, too." Once again, Nic and Acnologia flooded his mind. "I wanted to believe that I was strong enough to save everyone, that I could be depended on, that I got so jealous of others and their power. I thought if I worked hard, I'd get to their level and above…but that only fueled my hate for them even more. And you know what happened? I never got what I wanted in the end…and I deserved that. Brandish wasn't the one to betray you, you did…because you fear me, right?"

Dimaria glared daggers. "What do you know…?"

"That's fine. Like someone once told me. You can hate me for as much as you want…but I'm who I think and choose to be…and E.N.D is dead because of him. And now I say I'm the human: Natsu Dragneel! Charmander…" The lizard struggling beneath Flareon's paw opened an eye, glaring at Flareon herself. "…let's kick their asses and prove who we _really_ are! Ya with me?!"

"Gnngh…yeah! Just as soon as I get this thing off me!" He no longer struggled, instead opting to open his mouth, taking a deep breath.

"Forget it." Dimaria said. "Use **Growl** or a Fire-type attack, but we won't sit down while you…" her sentence was cut off as she saw Charmander's breathing creating a strange blue glow within his stomach region. As he kept inhaling, that energy swirled into a spiral that left even Flareon unsound. "What?" Dimaria snapped.

Natsu smirked. "Alright Charmander, show 'em who we are!"

"You got it!" Charmander mustered all the compressed power in his stomach and managed to upchuck it. His mouth glowed blue as he let out a roar. Flareon was so in shock she was swallowed in a black and blue dragon-shaped beam that sent her skywards. The beam carried her high until and flipped and crashed into the ground, right in front of Dimaria.

"Flareon!" Dimaria shrieked. She looked ahead, shock overwhelming as Charmander was up on his feet again, showing the scratches on his body. She saw the tail flame expand a little, an orange aura glowing around him. His Blaze Ability had activated.

Seeing Charmander huff out smoke, Natsu looked happy. "Whoa, Charmander! I didn't know you could do that!"

"Neither did I!" he replied. "…but how's that for a **Dragon Rage**."

" **Dragon Rage**?" Natsu repeated. "Oh, so cool! You learned another new move! Alright pal, let's finish this!"

Dimaria's eyes shrunk as her frustrations arose. She swiped her arm. "You won't get away with that! Flareon, **Quick Attack!** "

"GO DOWN YOU!" Once more, in a high-speed spritz, Flareon zoomed into Charmander, hitting him head-on. But this time, with very little perseverance left, Charmander held on. Those **Growls** paid off.

"Gnnngh…we're not…done with _you_ either!" he roared. "NOW!"

"Right!" Natsu reached forward. "Charmander, end this! **Dragon Rage!** "

Charmander dug in his heels and gripped onto Flareon's face. "Open wide…" He surged blue energy into his stomach. He opened his mouth as a blue glow enveloped it. Flareon screamed in fright, as did Dimaria as Charmander gave a roar before exploding a gush of blue and black energy beam. It pulsated like an intense wave that hammered Flareon's face. Unable to hang on, the attack made a streak skywards, and then into the ground, making a powerful explosion excel in front of Dimaria.

She covered up to persevere the blue and black beam, soon to dissipate. As it did, she saw as the smoke cleared, Flareon was on her side, swirly eyed and unable to battle. "No!" she cried.

Natsu's body lit up. "Now listen!"

Dimaria looked up in horror.

"I am reckless, and maybe I don't think. But if I can say one thing about fear…" he jumped up, looking like a blazing comet. "Is that it won't hold me back anymore!" He pulled his fist up, creating a swirling fiery mesh that petrified her.

Horror filled Dimaria as she looked up. As the fire ignited the air, all she saw was a figment of a monster with venomous eyes seething into her. "No…stay back…you can't…NOOO!"

Natsu let out a draconic roar as he crashed his fist down in the ground in front of Dimaria. An intense explosion of fire erupted from below, cindering the ground in a gradually increasing wave that swallowed up Dimaria. The Time Mage shrieked in horror as the heated blast wave sent her doubling over constantly across the ground, until she slammed into the wall with a grand thud. As she laid on the ground, the smoke and flames dissipated, revealing Natsu as his scarf whisked in the wind he created. He glared at Dimaria's defeated figure with no words needed. He said what had to be said.

With her defeated, time returned to normal once more. Of course this also meant that the angle Lucy was at made her fall onto her butt. "AH!" she squealed.

"Woah, Lucy! What happened?" Happy exclaimed.

"Oww…" she whined, rubbing her bottom. "I don't know…wait, did my heel give out or something?" she looked ahead, her shock widening when she saw Natsu and Charmander. "Natsu!"

Hearing a familiar voice, the Dragon Slayer turned around and smiled. "Huh? Oh, hey guys! You're back to normal!"

Lucy's brow furrowed. "Back to normal? What?"

"What does that mean?" Happy questioned. "Wait, hold on, was he over there a minute ago?"

"Yeah, and where did Charmander come from?"

Brandish looked pass Natsu towards the culprit. Her eyes narrowed at Dimaria as she slouched against the wall, groaning. She knew what happened. "…Dimaria."

Lucy saw her as well. "Wait…Dimaria? Where did she come from?" She faced Natsu. "What happened?"

Natsu sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Hehe…well, it's kind of a long story…" he glanced at Dimaria. "…but what I know now is that we have one less Spriggan to work with, so that's good for us."

Happy sighed. "Typical Natsu."

Brandish walked up to Dimaria. She looked down at her friend with half-open eyes of displeasure as the Time Mage was barely conscious. The two locked eyes with one another, a cold, dense silence brewing as the air around them was so thick one could use a knife.

"Brandish…" Lucy saw how her friend was staring down at their foe.

Brandish shot a glance back. "…we don't have anything to worry about. You two, go."

"What? You mean like right now?!" Happy exclaimed.

"It'll be fine. She's not in any condition now to attack me…even she knows that." She glanced back to her again as she said that. "I have something to settle with her."

Lucy reached for her. "But, Brandish…" A hand reached for her shoulder, stopping her.

"Lucy." The blonde looked towards Natsu, seeing him frown at her in a tone. The way he looked made her know that this was something out of their hands. But she couldn't help but worry some more.

"Don't make me repeat myself again." Brandish insisted. "I'll catch up, now go."

Natsu nodded. "Gotcha. Let's go, guys." Without bothering to look back, Natsu took off down the hall.

"Wait up!" Happy followed behind, with Charmander being held by his paws. Lucy was the last one to go. But before she went, she looked over her shoulder at Brandish one last time. She chose to keep her disposition to herself and leave.

Now, Brandish and Dimaria were alone, leaving them to finally talk. "Dimaria." Brandish greeted.

Sulking sullenly, the Time Mage's eyes were covered by shadows. "…why?" she muttered. "Why would you do this, Randi?"

Brandish closed her eyes. "It wasn't personal. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"But you did…you chose _them_. You chose those householders of that _thing_. That monster…what do you see in them, Randi?" Her voice was breaking down to where it was hardly audible. She was cracking from the shuddering. "…just why?"

Brandish sighed again. She didn't expect her to understand the first time around, nor the time when she was exiled. But she knew this time, after being beaten by him personally, she had to understand. "…are you sure it's not _you_ who's the monster here?"

Dimaria's eyes widened.

"You. Ajeel. Jacob…Emperor Neinhart. Honestly, you all are such a pain to begin with. We just followed the emperor's orders because it was an obligation…but really, that wasn't what made me realize our flaws. No, what I saw…was through another way."

"Another…way?"

Brandish turned her back. "Honestly, Dimaria, you were a really big pain yourself. Sometimes I just couldn't deal with you. I could leave you to die here, or perhaps I can shrink your heart to where your vessels pop. While I could and would've, I've learned something from those misfits when I was captured. Something you and this corrupted place needs…"

"W-what is it? Please, tell me!"

She looked over her shoulder. "Empathy."

"Empathy?"

"I once hated Lucy Heartfilia before. She was the reason that I believed to be my mother's grave. I hated extremely…but then I realized the truth. When you try to be open to someone…you begin to open back, but only if you are willing. You remind of that vulnerable position I was once in. When I lost hope…I was given kindness. When I gave hate, they give care for my sake…that was the empathy I was shown. The empathy you have for that boy, he needs it, more than you. As an enemy, can you try to give what others offer you?"

The Time Mage looked down, processing everything her former colleague said. But she still seemed crestfallen. "…so you're saying I should be empathetic towards that monster? Just how low have you gotten?"

"Low enough to know I still see that you still care." She stepped forward. "So, Dimaria…since I'm trying empathy, would you rather try?" her eyelids lowered again, a grim look showing. "Or do you want this over with the old-fashioned way?"

Dimaria finally had nowhere to go. Her only defense against Natsu was defeated, and she failed to learn that he's not the same as before. She lost everything…just like Brandish did. With nothing else, her eyes began to water and faced her friend with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Randi…I'm so lost…" she whimpered. "Please…help me…help me understand"

Brandish knelt down, embracing Dimaria as Lucy embraced her back then. She cradled her friend tight, letting her anguish pour out as she muffled cries into her coat.

* * *

Jacob fired more invisible knives at Sophie and Griffon, but the latter spread his fingers to create another barrier of wire that stopped the knife. As it ricocheted, he used a loose wore and wrapped it around the base of the knife now visible. He whipped his arm and shot it back at Jacob, who easily leaned right to avoid the head blow.

"You missed." He mocked.

Griffon pulled back. "Don't be so sure!"

Catching his warning, Jacob saw the glimmer of the wire and looked back. But it was too late. His knife came whirling back, cutting the side of his face and leaving blood scraped. The knife went back to Griffon, and he caught it just as Sophie jumped over his head and landed in front.

" **Memory-Make: Charge Blades**! **"**

Once her hands pressed against the ground, the ground rumbled with tremendous force. In a matter of second, crackling electricity surged as precipice slates tipped with lightning went in a linear fashion towards Jacob. The Stealth Mage recovered fast enough to jump out of the way of her attack and roll over. He zipped again just as more shard shot from beneath. He barely evaded another one by jumping into the air.

Grunting as the lack of close combat, he pulled out a gun while in midair, unleashing invisible shots down towards her. She jumped back to narrowly avoid a shot to her ankles. As Jacob landed on a safe part of the ground, he vanished once more.

"He's invisible again." Sophie stated.

Griffon tugged on his own fingers. "Not for long…" With each twitch of his fingers, he made outlines of wire reveal themselves. It created a massive hashed net across the ground. "Let's see where he's hiding…" he saw one wire vibrate. Immediately he pulled. " **Mamba Net!** " He yanked hard on the chords of wire laced to the ground. The netting picked up at Jacob's heels and he found himself falling over.

"What the-AH!" He fumbled backwards, hitting the net.

Griffon didn't stop there. He whipped his arms up and slammed them against the ground. The wires he pulled created a wave that went at Jacob, picking up the net and sending Jacob doubling over. He rolled over, soon stopping to find that he was laced within a layer of wire, trapped. He couldn't believe his luck.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" Griffon mocked. "You may think you can play around with us because you know the place, but we've got more than a few tricks to keep you occupied. You can't cut those strings so easily, and you can't move. Now then…" He slowly gripped his twitching fingers, tightening the netting around Jacob. "Exactly why do you kill?"

Jacob's veins showed on his brow as he glared at Griffon. "Gnnngh…why use such a tone against me-AH!" He felt the netting cut into his skin.

"Tell me!" Griffon snapped. "Exactly why do you kill?"

There was a humble silence looming in the air around them. Sophie offered nothing to say in hopes that answers would come her way. Jacob merely glared at Griffon back, showing a painful annoyance. The longer he waited, the tighter Griffon's netting was getting. He was running out of time.

But he had a plan. He glared at Griffon with vulgar eyes showing. "…you really are demanding, aren't you boy?" he winced. "Why I kill? Because…it's for the sake and duty of my empire. The enemies that have dared to defy us, they are given no sympathy for making fun of our proud country…and I'll make sure those who do not pay their respects know of this."

Griffon shot him a look. "Is that so? Well hate to break it to ya, but I don't find any pride in killing for the sake of someone else. If you ask me, it's either kill or be killed…but that's just me."

"…then perhaps you should learn a thing or two of respect first."

"What's that mean?"

Sophie gasped. "Wait…Ma (What)?!" she shrieked.

Griffon looked over. "What is it-!" Immediately his eyes widened, and his mouth became a triangle. He stared in shock before staggering some as he was witnessing a very bizarre disappearing act by Sophie. Slowly, her own clothing was fading, barely giving glimpses of the undergarments she was wearing. "GAH! W-what the hell?!"

Sophie immediately scrunched up her thick thighs and covered her ample buxom. Her cheeks became a bright pink as she looked down in shock. "What is going on here?!" she shrieked.

Griffon's calmness slowly came over as he began processing. _'Wait, this isn't her doing. Can his magic….actually affect more than just his own weapons?'_

With the skimpy distraction, Jacob moved his wrist and gave the net a sharp cut through. He immediately disappeared from view, heading elsewhere.

Sophie took notice and looked towards Griffon. "Look out!"

"Huh-?!" Griffon suddenly felt a force knock him in the gut. As shock flourished, he didn't have time to process the invisible stamp to the face, with many more harsh blows knocking him around. Another blow to the chin, and knocked about, and he found an intense weight elbowing the base of his spine. Blood spilled from his mouth as he fell forward, thudding harshly. "D-Damn…" He strained to get up, but he found it hard with the bones that were bruised. Jacob reappeared over him, pinning him against the ground.

"Griffon!" Sophie went to move, but she realized the breezes. She was too in shock to move out of exposure.

As Griffon strained, Jacob leaned into his hear. "How's it feel? To have a living hell right before you?" He gripped and weighed him down tighter. "To bear witness to someone with no dignity right before you."

Griffon looked back at Sophie, blinking. He could see what he meant, but when he got a _really_ good look at her, he had to admit her hourglass-like figure was very interesting. "…remind me again how this is hell?"

"Gnnngh…must I spell it out for you, brat?!" He pressed harder, making it so that Griffon can't move his head. "Are you _not_ flustered or embarrassed? A female is right before you! Are you not deterred about this?!"

Griffon smirked confidently. "Well actually, now that I look at her…she doesn't have too bad of curves."

Sophie glared. "I don't know if I'm supposed to be insulted or thankful of that…" She looked back at Jacob, her own eyes scrunching. "What…?"

"Have you no shame?!" Jacob snapped. "A man like must avert his eyes or something!" But that was the thing. Griffon wasn't the one closing his eyes and looking away. No. It was Jacob. And it looked like he was having something sour. Griffon glanced up to find that he wasn't looking. "Even I – a dignified and proper man – cannot bring himself to look! This technique makes those who are my victim suffer.

Griffon looked back at Sophie, seeing as how she was more or less flustered. If anything, it looked like _she_ was suffering. And while he enjoyed the view extremely so, he knew it had to be serious. Using his free arm Jacob couldn't grab onto, he fiddled his finger.

"W-well! Are you suffering?!" Jacob sniped, unable to look.

Griffon smirked again. "It's funny you ask that." His fingers started to slowly close, tightening Jacob's sleeve. "I could ask you the same thing…thanks for the eye candy, dignified prick!"

"Wha-?!"

 _ **GWOOSH!**_

Griffon yanked his arm off to the side in a harsh swipe, dragging very tight wires that flung off…but that wasn't the only thing that flung off. Those wires were laced around Jacob's left arm. And with them too tight, blood spilled off to the side as the whole forearm…was completely ripped off.

Jacob felt a shock at first, but he then saw his arm plop like a dead fish off to the side. When he looked down, he saw his upper arm bleeding profusely. He shuddered before all the pain flourished, making him get up and scream in violent agony.

"Now!" Griffon shouted.

"Right!" With Jacob's magic wearing off, her clothes returned to normal and prepared a counterattack. " **Memory-Make: Mirrors of Cold Retribution!** " She summoned ice mirror around Jacob, making no waste as dark green beams fired at all angles, swallowing him in a grizzly blast wave that sent him soaring and fall to the ground. Sophie reconvened with Griffon as the two watched Jacob stir again.

"Was that your talk of a living hell?" Griffon mocked.

Jacob clutched what was left of his arm, restraining what pain he was feeling while glaring ferociously at Griffon.

"If you were serious about killing me, you should've done it the second you got out of that net. Should've stabbed me or shoot me when you had the chance. When you're seriously killing, don't take chances…it gets the job done quicker…but thanks for the eye candy anyway." Sophie shot him a look, but all he did was snicker. She just sighed and flourished with humility.

Jacob was flourishing in outrage. He glared daggers as his entire face was dark. Veins covered the whole forehead as he leered at Griffon intensely "You…used my own dignity…against me~?!" he growled angrily. "You…you…you truly have no shame."

"Shame's got nothing to do with it." He retorted. "I don't care if it's boy or girl…we're all just human beings just trying to survive in a world where people with power exercise it the wrong way. Those kinds, like you and this empire, it sickens me."

Jacob's boiling point was reached. Not only was he foiled for his own dignity, but his opponent took a piece of him that he needed. A necessity for killing, and it was ripped from him without a second thought. He wanted to scoff so much more…but Griffon's points finally broke him. If he wanted him dead, he had to be serious, starting now. "Very well then…" he slowly got back up, squaring against Griffon personally. "If you want this to end that quickly, the so be it…I shall hide your corpse from this world, to erase what you have done." He raised his palm up towards Griffon. "Bon voyage…assassin."

"Watch out!" Sophie tried to warn her associate, but a powerful array of light expelled everywhere. She had to cover up as Griffon was beginning to erode from the ground up, his body going limp as he saw his body vanish.

Griffon screamed loudly as he started to erode away, the light taking him away.

"Begone…and die in the pocket that is my space where corpses cease to exist." Jacob looked anxiously as he watched the foe vanish, but he felt a tug on his last arm. "Wha…?!" He looked over, gasping as he saw threads wrapped around the hand. "What the-?! NO!"

The wires trace back to Griffon, who held them tight in his hands. "If I'm going down…then I'm taking you with me!" he screamed as he vanished.

"THE HELL I AM!" Jacob screamed in remorse as his body also began to vanish with Griffon's. The wires kept them together, both disappearing in a powerful bright flash, before it all reduced to nothing.

Sophie soon uncovered, seeing with her green eyes that Griffon and Jacob were gone. She looked forward, shock running through her veins. "Griffon…? Griffon…?" No answer. "…oh no."

…

In a blank space of barely any cosmos, two flashes of light came into view. They were Jacob and Griffon as both reappeared. "No…" Jacob looked around, realizing he was in a space where many of his victims died. "No, no, no!"

"Funny, isn't it?" Griffon questioned. "To think that you – of all people – would have your own trump card used against you. Well I gotta say, it's hard to breath here…but if you want me to have slow and suffering, then it's fair you suffer the same way. That's the price we pay if we live too long ya know!"

Jacob glared at Griffon with endless veins spouting. "You brat…" With his right arm still intact, he shakily pulled out his gun, still visible. "I'll make you suffer!"

Griffon gritted his teeth. He could barely move in this space. It was impossible. He could feel his Magic Power slowly decline further as he stayed in here. While he couldn't move at all, he looked at Jacob, realizing he could still move. His green eyes showed shock.

Jacob smirked as he cocked his gun.

 _ **BANG!**_

A close-range gunshot was fired. The bullet was so loud it echoed through the pockets of space. Everything was slowing down and white around Griffon as shock was written on his face. The bullet went straight through his chest, impaling and going out the back. His coat and shirt were dowsed in red, his breath leaving his body.

Jacob's smirk widened as he saw Griffon taking the chest bullet. His body leaned back as it seemed like he was dying. It made him happy. "…suppose one more will do it."

With bangs covering his eyes, Griffon was motionless. The only thing he could move was his fingers. He twitched one, and that's what did him in.

Jacob was ready to fire again. "Now…!" Suddenly a sharp pain like a stab went through him. "AH! What-?!" He looked over, seeing the wires still connecting them from before now under the tuxedo. His body shuddered as he let odd, cold strings work through the veins. "No…what are doing…?!" he strained, uneasiness flowing inside his muscles.

"…I told you…" Griffon coughed. "…If I'm making my peace…it's gonna be taking pleasure in taking down guys like you who hold obligation to corruption! *cough*"

Jacob screamed at the loudest point possible. He couldn't accept this, no way! He aimed his gun with the last bullet, poised to end this…just as Griffon pulled.

" **Surgeon Strangle!** "

 _ **BANG!**_

The bullet fired, hitting Griffon once more. He gagged just as his fingers pulled, the threads inside Jacob finally tightening. The threads wrapped around his heart finally tightened, crushing his heart into a bloody mess. Jacob gagged heaping mounds of blood as his own world had come to an end. Like Griffon, he also fell backwards slowly within space.

Both assassins laid motionless in space for a few moments, before a bright light slowly took the two in.

…

Sophie stood in place until a light flashed in front of her. When she uncovered from shock, she gasped as she saw Griffon and Jacob reappearing in midair, both suspended like time slowed down between them. At the same time, both fell limply onto their backs.

"Griffon!" Sophie screamed as she hurried over. She overlooked Griffon's body with wide eyes, seeing the two bloody spots on his body. She looked horrified at the two bullet holes he sustained, but more so as she looked over at Jacob.

He had his head to the side, blood seeping out of his mouth like a river. And by the way his chest wasn't rising, there's no question that she had to knew. He was dead.

She looked down at Griffon again. "Griffon? Can you hear me? Griffon?!" She bent down to his chest. To her shock, she was hardly getting a beat. "Barely a pulse…" she muttered. She hovered over him and knew she had to hurry. "Uh…s-stay still!" Using her Memory-Make, she tried a spell. _'It's been a while since I used this spell. I hope it works…'_ She put her hands together, creating a sparkling green glow that evolved to a blob of water from thin air, which of course sparkled. " **Memory-Make: Seabed's Miracle!** " She placed her hands and turquoise water onto the two bullet areas. Immediately, the water glowed as it applied healing powers into the wounds. Some water seeped into the crevices of said wounds, fixing them from the inside. "C'mon…" she prayed quietly. "C'mon…"

The spell stayed on Griffon as he laid motionless for a few moments. It looked like he wasn't making it. Sophie began to feel regret what happened. Suddenly a sharp gasp came from Griffon, surprising the blonde. He began to cough a mixture of blood and water, getting his lungs fixed with oxygen.

"Griffon!" Sophie gasped.

The Wire Mage grunted as he laid in pain. "Gnnngh…ow…*cough cough* Wait…am I…?" he looked up, seeing Sophie healing him. "…Sophie…"

"Stay still." She insisted before she winced. The drawbacks of her spell was making her head throb. _'Gngh! I forgot that this spell gives me a headache.'_ She looked over, silence looming as she stared at Jacob's corpse. "Is he…?"

"…yeah. It's over." He muttered.

"I see." Sophie held her head down as another uncomfortable silence came over them. She resumed healing him without any need to talk.

Griffon laid on the ground as his insides were being healed slowly. It didn't feel like vitals were shot, so he was okay. But he still felt weak. He stared up at the ceiling, looking with remorse. "…you asked why I joined the Peace Jaegers, right?"

Sophie glanced at him in silence.

"When I was still a boy, I think I was in my bed early. It was a long day. I didn't hear any noises too well because my door was, but on the floorboards I heard some screaming." He began to recount that painful night. The light that scarred him for life. "You see, my parents and family, we were of high bureaucracy…but because of a small prison break of a very skilled killer forced us to localize ourselves. We made do, at least for a few months…but he found us. And you know what he did?" his brow furrowed at the painful memory. He recalled running downstairs to seeing a graphic sight of stabbing, and wailing everywhere. It was a bloody sight for his virgin eyes of a child. He even recalled how the tall dark silhouette turned and saw him, holding a knife. "…that sick bastard murdered them all."

Sophie had another gasp escape.

"…all my relatives and friends gathered to talk about political stuff. I was too young so I went to bed…but I woke up and saw them all killed…even my own mom when she shielded me…I only survived because I hid under her corpse." His eyes closed as he had the strength to breathe easily now. "I lost everything. My house burnt down. My family was dead…and that assassin got his revenge. Now, it was my turn. I spent my whole childhood chasing after him, trying to find ways to kill him…and I guess you can say I got carried away…because I killed everyone who stood in my way. Everyone."

Sophie's eyes shrunk to peas as she listened to the revenge story. To feel pain and revenge that string…to learn magic to try and kill. What a cruel world it was.

"Ambushes…sneak attacks…just name it, but my Wire Magic was mastered for trapping and killing alone…the body count kept rising, until it took me until 3 years ago that I found the guy. He and I squared off. I nearly lost my head...he lost it all. Then after I finally got my revenge…I found myself bleeding alone. I was in the woods dying, and I couldn't find anymore reason to live now that it was over…"

Sophie looked away, realization rising. "…and that's when you met Orion?"

Griffon smirked. "Nothing gets passed you. Yeah. The guy and his guild took me in. Even after learning the deaths I counted, all of them, no matter what, they resigned to finding their peace before they die. I'm trying to find mine…by ending as much suffering others are feeling from those who don't care. Nobles, even aristocrats; if they leave people to die and angry, I resigned to not have them turn into someone like me. I'm _their_ avenger…until my time comes."

Sophie didn't know what to say. She heard that Kagura's life was much of revenge against Jellal, but now they're allies. She didn't know what to say for Griffon or how to offer sympathy. All she knew was that he once killed to get to one man…but that was then. He fulfilled that purpose and now lives to kill those with abusive power. She didn't know if she was to condone that or not. She never killed before, but she's seen death close to her, especially a certain Celestial Spirit. So in a way, she knew where Griffon was going with this.

"I know that when I die, I'll see all the faces of the people I've taken to their graves." Griffon said somberly. "…but that's the price I've paid. But I'll see them again, but as someone who took lives deserving of hell."

Sophie lowered her head, a small but empathetic smile crossing her face. "…and you found your peace?"

Griffon nodded. "Yeah. I did."

Sophie nodded. "Tov (Good), then stay alive…for their sake."

Griffon flashed her a wink. "No promises."

As he was healed up, Sophie undid the spell and he slouched up. "Hey, guys!" Down the hall, they both turned to find Natsu, Lucy, and Happy all gathered. They all regrouped, finally together again.

"You guys okay?" Happy worried.

Sophie nodded. "A-ni be-se-der (I'm fine). How are you guys?"

"We're fine, thanks." Lucy said. She looked over, her eyes widening as she saw the dead Jacob on the floor. "Wait, is that…?"

Natsu took a whiff of the air. He looked over and stared Griffon coldly. The Wire Mage shrugged like he didn't care. He knew what happened.

Sophie stepped in. "It's fine. It's what had to be done."

Lucy looked worried. "But Sophie…"

"She's right." Griffon said. "We've gotta stop this sick place from its corrupted power. No matter what, we're paid to help you guys whatever we can."

Lucy looked discomforted. "…okay."

Sophie managed a small comforting smile. "We should get going now. The others might be around somewhere."

"Right." Everyone agreed.

* * *

In another part of the prestige palace, Lector flew out of a dark part of the castle, looking down at the two gathered.

"See anything, pal?" Sting shouted.

Lector shook his head. "Nope. Nothing. I can't find others in this direction either.

Sting rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Great. Well this is just what we need. All separated, and my nose isn't picking up anyone." He turned around. "Hey, you. Found anything yet?"

Sting wasn't alone. Orion stood beside him with arms folded and looking at his surroundings. He remained quiet as he concentrated. "…nothing that you can sense. It's just a lot of malice around here."

"Well this bites." Sting groaned. He straightened back up to think. "But maybe the others must have realized and maybe locked together somewhere."

"That's an accurate assumption in my books." Orion noted. "This castle is rather large, so the odds of that are still rather slim." He folded his arms. "But there's still no guarantee that all of us were spread too thin either."

"Then there's still hope!" Lector chimed.

Sting chuckled. "Yeah. Well, the others and Natsu are freaking strong. Maybe we're just overthinking it."

"Perhaps so." Orion countered. "But don't forget. We're still in the enemy's heart. There's no guarantee we're safe either." Just as he finished saying that, he picked up on something. He turned towards the direction.

"What is it?" Sting asked.

Orion said nothing as he glared forward. His Devil Slayer powers were telling him that there was a lot of pain he felt. His eyes sharpened in disgust. "…you feel that?"

"No…" Sting smelled the air, which was different from before. His hair picked up in disgust. "Wait, that smell…"

"What's wrong, buddy?" Lector asked.

"I don't know…but something's wrong." Sting smelled the air again, and it was worse. There was no mistaking it. The smell of something that always made someone gag. Blood. The very liquid that enflamed his nasal cavities made him get his guard up as he heard groaning from afar. "Looks like we're not alone after all." He said.

"So it seems." Orion took a readied stance. "On your guard!"

"Right!"

Both held their positions firmly as they watched the shadows shift. From inside, they could hear low groans coming from so many people. Silhouettes began to move until they drew closer, revealing Alvarez soldiers slumping forward to attack. But something was up. They looked tired, like they rolled out of bed.

"Here they come." Sting said.

"Yeah." Lector said. "But…something seems wrong with those guys."

Sting looked confused as he looked at them. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. They smell strange."

Orion stepped forward. "Forget that. We don't have time to worry."

Sting refocused. "You're right. C'mon, let's nail these guys!"

As the guys began to pick up speeds and raise their swords, Sting and Orion waited until the right time to attack. Orion went first, jumping into the air with a dark-coated fist. He drove it into the ground, creating a powerful blast wave that sent the first row flying all over the place. Sting took up the reinforcements as he passed Orion and knee a guy in the face. He flipped off his face and landed on all fours, immediately surrounded by soldiers. They all converged on him and he countered by swinging his legs coated in light, knocking so many away. Orion ran forward with his turn and used his fist to drive into another man's face, immediately flooring him. When another soldier swung his sword, Orion sidestepped, then again to avoid a second one. When the third sword swung, he caught the wrist of the perpetrator and overhead threw him into the two soldiers from before.

As another soldier came up from behind, Orion still had his back turned. He didn't seem bothered as Sting suddenly appeared and socked the guy's side. "I gotcha!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, keep 'em coming!"

As a large group of soldiers came his way, Sting readied himself as he took in a large breath.

" **White Dragon's Roar!** "

He opened his mouth, expelling a bright laser that shot across the ground, striking down the guys that headed his way. They all screamed as they flew over the place like bowling pins, while Orion handled the close combat with deadly precision. He elbowed a soldier's gut, falling him over, and used his falling body as leverage to do a handstand on the soldiers and fling off in time to avoid an axe. Orion landed on the ground and looked around, finding him being the one surrounded now.

Knowing what to do, he coated his right fist in dark energy and faced the ground. " **Dark Devil's Rampart Wave!** " He punched the ground, creating a voluminous shockwave of darkness that sprouted from the ground. All around him and expanding further, the energy swallowed the many soldiers, causing much more to be sent flying backwards.

Orion pulled his fist up, glaring. Sting looked over at him with amusement. "Showoff." He smugly said before facing the group ahead and slammed his fist into the ground, creating a wave if light that shot into them.

"Yeah! Take 'em down, guys!" Lector cheered. "You guys are doing great!"

Sting and Orion found themselves back to back as they looked at the many injured soldiers. They lazily got up again, even when they were unconscious. This didn't go unnoticed by Sting. "Looks like they want some more." He said.

Orion watched carefully as he inspected one soldier who was already defeated. "…no. Something's definitely wrong here." He saw how they all got up again, with most having white in their eyes. "This isn't normal. I'm not sensing their wills anywhere inside."

"What? You're saying something else is driving them?" Sting asked.

"Possibly. Look out!"

Sting faced forward as one soldier raised his sword to attack, which Sting braced for. However, before the sword could hit, a low, sinister snarl came from the echoing shadows. It halted everything. The half-dead soldiers all stopped and turned towards the sound with the attackers. It fell silent again, and a moment later the grotesque noise reverberated.

"What's that?" Sting questioned. Suddenly he turned as he saw a soldier quivering. He and many more were beginning to shudder as their chattering teeth began to open. It left him confused further. "What the-?!"

Suddenly, as if unable to hold it in anymore, the soldier's gaping mouth expelled a thin stream of red liquid that coursed through the air. All their eyes widened as they watched more soldiers all around repeat the process and streams of their blood went rushing out of their mouth. They gagged endlessly as all the streams coursed like a network into the shadows.

Orion, Sting, and Lector all said nothing as they felt uncomfortable. They all saw the many bodies go limp until just enough blood was sucked out, leaving them to fall over dead. All around, the short streams ended, leaving all the bodies to fall over to expire.

"The hell is…?" Sting trailed off as he watched the blood all stream into the shadows. He and the others tensed up as they could feel a voluminous Magic Power from inside. He gulped. "Guys."

Lector shuddered. "W-what just…?"

"…their blood is being siphoned." Orion deduced. "I think we might find out whom."

There was a looming silence that coursed through the air, like the silence at night when one is alone. It was like hell was ready to pounce from behind. They all remained ready as they heard a raspy sigh in the darkness. Slowly, and grisly, they saw a boot step out…and then another. They saw someone with a lot of bandages and armor on his body walking like a zombie out into the open, and his breathing – let alone power – was what made them feel a shiver run down their spines.

They all observed carefully, and Sting started. "Who're-"

The zombie-like human looked up, his bloodthirsty eyes piercing into their souls with an equally bloodcurdling aura resonating from his open mouth, trickling blood. He smiled wide as he looked at his new victims.

Sting stepped back, completely unsound. "Okay, I don't like the looks this guy has…"

"Yeah…" Lector muttered.

Orion held his ground, glaring at Sindge as he made his debut. He frowned in seriousness, undeterred by his grisly appearance and poised heart.

"I…smell blood." He darkly said, holding up a knife. " _Fresh_ blood."

* * *

Aniya's visors rippled images of Lia's eyes. The pattern she was giving off only made the woman frown in annoyance. But the others weren't so fortunate.

"Wha…what…?" Wendy's eyes began to slowly copy the hypnotic patterns of Lia's eyes. Her whole world was seeing nothing but rainbow patterns distorting.

"I…can't feel…" Carla was also falling victim. Even with so much composure, her stubborn mind was beginning to copy the hypnotic pattern. Kinana's eyes were also copying this strange look. And Erik's one eye was straining as he tried to cover it, but even he was suffering a headache.

"That's right~. Just relax." Lia said, slowly moving closer. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just curious just who might my guests be. I'm sure you've all had a lot of stress the way here. Let's take this time to-"

Aniya aimed her pistol at her, pulling the trigger to fire a projectile magic beam that made Lia close her eyes and veer away. The blast went towards the palace, hitting the top of the door. "No way, lady." She snorted.

Lia shook her head, looking whimsically upset. "Hey~, what was that for?"

With her eyes not working, the hypnotic trance ended. Wendy and the others blinked and tried to catch her breath. "Oh…wait, what just happened…?" Wendy questioned. "My head feels so…?"

Aniya cocked her rifle again. "Everyone, don't into her eyes! She's trying to trick you!"

"Oh, that's just cruel." Lia pouted. "How did I trick you? I didn't even tell any lies yet."

Carla was on her guard. "So her magic is Hypnosis?"

"Looks like it." Wendy said.

"Tch, well isn't that annoying." Erik chimed. "Well, looks like we've gotta go blind then."

"But how come Aniya was fine?" Kinana questioned. She looked at Aniya, seeing her fixed with the visors she always wears on her face. _'Wait, those glasses she wears. Are they immune to Eye Magic?'_

Lia looked down at Aniya, a smirk crossing her face. "Oh look at you. So strong and brave. And quite a cute face while you're at it, too!" she squealed. "Now if only we saw what kind of eyes you have…"

Aniya snickered. "Hm, sorry chick, no dice." She cocked again before shooting another unconventional projectile beam. As it traveled, Lia's brow furrowed.

She sighed. "Another one of _those_ kind, huh? Phooey." She looked serious. "Oh well, we can always have fun other ways." Before the attack struck her, she remained still as her eyes glanced away. Suddenly the projectile followed, making a sharp turn out and continuing into the open air, exploding to nothing.

Kinana gasped. "What happened?!"

"She deflected it. And only with a single glance." Carla said, eyes narrowing. "I that a kinesis kind of magic?"

Aniya held her ground as Lia looked unfazed. "Got any other goodies you wanna show me?"

She smirked. "Thought you'd never ask." She requipped her rifle, making it onto a large cannon-like structure on her shoulder. She knelt forward and aimed with a smile. "Alright…let it rip!" Without hesitation, the cannon fired, unleashing a streaming missile of great proportions at Lia.

Lia yawned lazily as the attack headed her way, and yet as she yawned, the missile phased through her miraculously. Like a ghost. Aniya gasped in shock with everyone as the missile continued its path to the ground afar, creating another blazing explosion that picked up rocks and cement compounds. All while Lia just smiled.

"Phasing Magic?" Wendy whispered.

"What's this about?" Erik questioned. "This chick is starting to look freaky for my liking." He looked towards the others. "Got a way to flush her out?"

Aniya smirked again. "Hm! Too easy!" She requipped again, this time revealing a slimmer version of the cannon, and instead it stood up by itself on a stand. "This little beauty isn't like before. Its missiles are able to detect spectral energy. So good luck phasing again."

Lia shrugged. "Okay. Thanks for the advice." She chuckled.

"We'll see who's laughing after _this_!" Aniya puled the trigger, sending another missile ahead, only this one was intertwined with green and black coloring instead of red and white.

"Alright…" Wendy took in a quick, sharp breath as whirlwinds gathered around her. " **Sky Dragon's Roar!** "

Erik's arms secreted black and red poison and swiped them in a cross. " **Poison Dragon's Twin Fang!** "

Wendy's whirlwind blast surged across the land, with Erik's two poisonous fang waves intertwining. The two fused attacks followed behind the missile's path, streaming into Lia as she remained still. With not even a hum, the three attack created a green, white, and poisonous explosive wave that went up in a pillar towards the sky. All around, winds pulsated as the other held their ground. As the smoke and debris dissipated, it showed that in Lia's spot was a crater and cindered cement caved in.

Aniya smugly smirked. "See? Not even souls can get pass my Spectral Missile. Works like a charm."

"Charm is right."

Aniya gasped at the sound. In shock, he faced the sky, everybody did. They looked up and saw that Lia was in the sky, oddly upside-down; even her massively long skirt was sticking to the air. "Impossible!" she gasped.

"How did she get up there?" Kinana questioned. "Another type of magic?"

"Mmm, you can say that." Lia chimed. "All I really did was just solidify air particles and stuck to them. It's a web but with no stickiness." Her eyes narrowed as her smirk widened down on Kinana and her upper body. "And you know…you all look much nicer from this angle."

Kinana felt disturbed with what she said, especially with how she was looking right at her when she said that. Fortunately for Erik was sliding in front to rescue. "Erik!"

"Look lady, we don't know what you want, but you're serious up about messing with us…then watch yourself." He glared at her in warning. "Unless you wanna die so soon."

"My, my. What a deadly glare that is. You're gonna give me shivers!" Lia literally shriveled in the air while still upside down. "But if you insist. I suppose it's in my best interest to show you what I can do." She reached out to her foes, making them feel an odd force beneath their feet push them up towards her level in midair.

"What now?! Gravity?!" Erik exclaimed.

Lia smirked before she took a sharp breath before gushing out, expelling a clay-like substance that rushed at everyone. In no time, Wendy and the others were covered and immediately sunk back to the ground, laying in the dense material that held onto them. They each were in clumps of clay that immobilized them.

"Eww…what is this…?" Wendy tried moving her head, but she couldn't even move her wrists. She strained further, but with no luck.

"In this a paralysis magic?" Carla tried moving her arm up from the trap she laid in, but as expected, no luck.

As everyone laid helpless, Lia teleported from the air back to the ground. She overlooked everyone with a lustful smile showing. "There, is everybody cozy?" she chimed. "Good. Let's try this again, shall we?" Once more, she slowly showed the many multiple colors of her eyes as they began to hypnotize them again.

Wendy's brow furrowed as she had to break free. "Not today." Using her magic, the Sky Dragon let out a yell as her body expelled a voluminous cyclone of wind, ripping apart and blowing off clay that covered everyone. The moist, heavy clay was blown off everyone while Lia had to cover up from the winds.

The Alvarez Spriggan grunted as clay passed her and winds receded. When she looked back, she saw the others were free, but Wendy and Carla were nowhere to be seen. She looked up, finding Carla having sprouted her wings and carrying Wendy up.

"Now! Carla!"

"Okay!" Carla let go of Wendy, allowing her to fall down and get above Lia. With the woman on defense, whirlwinds surrounded Wendy's arms and she unleashed them. " **Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!** " She lashed them out, making two turbulences swallow up Lia as she used her arms to cover up.

With the distraction acquired, the whirlwinds disappeared, revealing Carla and Wendy coming down with two kicks. They swung down hard, but gain Lia reached for them and stopped them in midair with an invisible force. They were mere feet from her when she stopped them.

"Not bad. A little testy aren't we?" she said a little challenged.

With the two being used as bait, Lia was unaware that on the ground, another cannon was open. This one was handheld, and Aniya smirked as she used a lock-on sequence to aim right for the belly. "There we go…nice and steady…" Once targeted, she reached for the lever to unleash the miniature missile. "Thank you guys. Now…try a little compressed missile action!"

Lia looked at her. "Huh?"

"Take…THIS!" Aniya pulled the lever, immediately creating a shockwave as a streaming smaller and sharper missile shot across the ground at Lia. It twirled its fins briefly before it picked up speed. Aniya smirked. _'There's no way she'll be able to use two magics at the same time. She'll have to do something to stop the missile, but then she'll be open for them to attack from above. But as to where she focuses on them, she's wide open. It's a win-win.'_

The missile closed in at an alarming rate, Lia's eyes widening as her heartrate suddenly jumped. Everyone watched it close in. It was going to hit.

 _ **BWHIP!**_

The missile hit something, but it made them all look shocked, especially Aniya. Her eyes shrunk as she saw what happened. "…wha…?" Erik and Kinana also had shock, but their wide eyes were directed to the thing that gripped the missile. For a moment, the missile was stopped by a dark red tendril that immediately whipped it back to sender. It shimmered through the air into Erik and Kinana. "GET DOWN!" Erik reached and covered for Kinana, just as the missile landed in front of them. The explosive wave sent them flying in screaming pain.

"Guys!" Aniya screamed.

A harsh force suddenly knocked Wendy and Carla out like a whip, sending them tumbling towards the ground beside Kinana and Erik as they landed harshly. They all laid on their sides, struggling to recover.

' _How did she…!'_ Aniya whipped back around, only to have eyes widen in sheer shock over what she was bearing witness to. "Wha…w-what?" She saw something slithering in front of Lia as she charmingly smirked at her prey.

The woman saw Aniya's petrified face and she licked her lips. "Oh dear~. It looks like my secrets out. Well I hope you're okay with it."

Wendy strained to get up, but when she saw the figment her eyes widened. Carla soon followed. "What…?" They saw the dark red scales shimmer on it, making them realize what it is.

Still on the ground, Erik's one eyes showed confusion. "…a…tail?"

"Is that…Take-Over…?" Kinana questioned.

Lia chimed another smile. "Oh well, I guess I can show you." She winked. "Just try to contain your excitement, okay?"

They all watched in anticipation as they saw the appendage come up from beneath the massively long skirt. It continued swaying beneath the helm until Aniya snapped her fingers with beaming smiles. The skirt disappeared, allowing everyone to show shrunken eyes as they bared witness to her lower body. Of the group, Aniya's eyes were the most filled with horror. Beads of sweat ran down her face as she saw the extra 15 feet the lower body had. It was dark red, with an orange-yellow pattern on the underside. It was thin, but looked adhesively sturdy for snake-like images. Lia supported herself higher and smiled at their shock-filled faces. That very smile, and that body, it's what was making Aniya drop her weapon. She was so paralyzed as the pieces from earlier finally came together. Nothing but shrilled horror as a familiar Lia figure with a cynical hiss and a fiery background filled her eyes. Her breathing became heavy as hyperventilating exerted.

Lia gave them all a charming smile – a snake charming smile. "Do you like what you see?"

"What…is that?" Wendy asked.

"I've never seen anything like it." Carla stated. "Is that lower half…snake?"

Kinana raised her head, looking at Lia with no less surprise than she did before. "…half-snake…half-human." She muttered. "…she's a lamia."

"A lamia?" Wendy repeated.

Lia winked. "That's right. Allow me to introduce myself. Lia the Lamia. And it's so nice to be here with you all today. I was just _hungry_ for guests." She snickered.

Aniya shuddered as she stepped back, her small eyes starting to mist. "…you…y-you…" she muttered. "It can't be…it just can't be…it's…you."

Lia tilted her head. "Hm? Is everything alright?"

The others saw Aniya's eyes being covered by her visor, but beneath, her hair was shielding her anguish. "…you monster…I finally found you…" she bit her lower lip. "You were the one…that took _her_!"

"What?" Kinana questioned.

"I'm sorry. 'Her'?" Lia repeated. "I don't mean to impose, but you need to be a little more-"

"Don't play coy with me!" Aniya snapped. "I remember you…ever since that day. You're the one that took my sister from me…you took my sister!" She raised her head high. "YOU TOOK HER FROM ME!"

"Her sister?" Wendy gasped.

"Is that why she's like this?" Carla inquired.

Lia raised her brow. "Oh my, so much hate. Exactly what do you mean, 'take' exactly?"

"Don't play dumb with me." She venomously replied. "You know what I mean."

Kinana looked at the scene with inquiry. "Wait…these two know each other?" She and Erik exchanged looks and then back at the scene.

"…yeah. I know her." Aniya said, answering their question. "It goes back to my childhood. I was with my sister and the townspeople. We lived in peace…until this monster came and took it all from me."

"Including your sister?" Wendy inquired.

Aniya's glare could be seen well through her visors. "She didn't just _take_ my sister…"

The others were confused. But what she said next, was something that no one was prepared for. They looked at each other in worry, and Lia remained calm as Aniya was finally catching her breath. Once she did, the venomous glare she had was beginning to show tears of hate and anger rising.

"No, she did more than just take…she _ate_ her."

Lia smirked.

* * *

Gajeel let out a shout as he fired **Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs** , creating iron kunai that went flying at Decker. The mage did nothing as he instead snapped his fingers once, making his Noctowl fly above and use **Confusion**. The attack caught all the kunai in midair, it which Decker reached out and made Noctowl send them back. Back they went, reversing course into Gajeel. Quickly, Macbeth got in front, reaching out to use his magic and refract it around them.

"This is getting out of hand. We need to restrain them as fast as possible." Macbeth told him.

"Yeah, you're telling me." Gajeel said. Before they could continue, Decker reappeared between the two, doing a spinning roundhouse kick that knocked both away. Macbeth was sent on the ground, while Gajeel was sent the other way. _'Crap! This guy isn't even giving us time to talk! He really wants to take us down!'_ He gripped the ground and eased his traction to a halt.

When Decker looked over, he saw Macbeth staggering some. He whipped his arm, sending a net at Macbeth with electrical pulses. The mage used his mage to distort it around him, managing to withhold himself. But that left him open for Decker to appear in front with a fist.

" **Iron Dragon's Spear!** "

An iron spear lodged itself between Decker and Macbeth, revealing to be Gajeel as he cut Decker off as he backflipped for distance. He remained quiet as Noctowl lowered to his side.

"Thank, I appreciate that." Macbeth said.

Gajeel kept his eyes on Decker. "Don't mention it." He shot a look at Pantherlily, who was now tied up and joining the rest in the big net above Valeria's head. "…listen, we gotta free the others and stop these two clowns together. I'll try and keep this one occupied. You worry about that other one."

Macbeth nodded. "Sounds fair. But be careful." He took off towards Valeria, ready to take her on.

Gajeel faced Decker with a cynical smirk on his face. "Alright pal. If you wanna get Pokémon involved, then let's see how you like this!" He pulled out his Poke Ball, throwing it. "Go, Aron!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing the Iron Armor Pokémon on his stubby legs set for battle. "Alright, who's ready?" he sneered.

Decker said nothing as Noctowl moved on his own. He hovered over Aron, ready to take him on. With a snap of Decker's fingers, Noctowl gave a loud hoot before his eyes shimmered, making a rainboe shield in front, via **Reflect**.

Gajeel smirked. "Heh, gonna take more than that you know." He reached forward. "Alright Aron, use-"

Decker narrowed his eyes, immediately making Gajeel's command go quiet. The Iron Dragon Slayer called out a move, but Aron didn't know which one.

"…uh, what?" Aron looked back at Gajeel. "What was that again?"

Gajeel tried yelling out the move again, pointing at Noctowl for reference. But when he realized no words were coming out, he began to realize. _'Wait…can he not hear me? Did I just lose my voice?'_

Aron's patience was wearing thin. "Uh anytime now-AAHH!" With him distracted by the lack of command, Decker snapped his fingers once, forcing Noctowl to use **Confusion** yet again and create a kinetic burst in front of him, sending him on his back.

("No!") Gajeel tried to yell, but again, he couldn't make a sound.

Aron shakily got back up, shaking his head of the shock. "Man…that wasn't nice."

…

Meanwhile, Macbeth reached forward, using his Reflector Magic to create an invisible scythe wave that went at Valeria. The mage in question said nothing as she instead dropped a lacrima on the ground, which expelled a burst of magnetic energy that blew the attack to pieces.

Macbeth suddenly appeared in front of her, smirking. "You've left an opening. **Spiral Pain!** " With a swipe if his arms, the air refracted and twisted into a cyclone that picked up Valeria. She held in as she was sent soaring above with the cyclone, leaving Macbeth to watch on with a smirk.

At the cyclone's top, Valeria swiped her arm, summoning a lacrima that her hand break. The crystals of it sparkled until it transformed, creating a kite-like figment that she landed on and sailed out of the distortion.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you." Macbeth narrowed his eyes and used his magic. However, as the kite soared around, he found that it wasn't twisting or mending the way he wanted. In fact, it looked unaffected. "What's this?" he gasped. "My magic isn't affecting that kite?"

As Valeria soared on the lacrima kite, she got to one side as she passed Macbeth. She reqipped a midnight blue staff with dark red accents and aimed it at him. The tip began to charge before it fired an intense beam of magical energy. It reached Macbeth, which he managed to distort around him for safety.

' _She's not making it easy to guess what kinds of material my magic is effective against.'_ He thought to himself. _'She might be testing my magic's capacity and what I can't mend. But as long as I keep my distance, I should be safe.'_

Valeria soared around on her kite, making it do a U-turn before it slanted downwards. She deactivated it, turning it to a lacrima state again and stood meters away from Macbeth. Still uttering no words, she faced him with a Poke Ball held in hand. Now it was her turn as she threw out her Pokémon, too.

Coming out in midair, a small purple balloon-like creature with a yellow cross on the face had two beady black eyes, with a puffy white cloud top. It also had two strings with yellow hearts dangling on the ends. This was Drifloon, her Pokémon of choice.

"So I see that you have your own creature to fight with you. Interesting…let's see how it keeps up!" Macbeth swiped his arm, making another invisible scythe.

As Valeria dropped another lacrima, she snapped her fingers. Drifloon's entire body suddenly began to shrink, via **Minimize**. The attack Macbeth made was neutralized when another lacrima created another field to counter.

' _She's using those lacrima to nullify my spells.'_ Macbeth pondered. _'She must have only so many though, but then how many of those anti-magic devices does she have? It's hard to say. Only one way to find out.'_ He reached forward once more, creating a powerful twisting air that went at her. Valeria offered nothing this time as she instead pulled out another lacrima, clutching it to recreated the lacrima kite that she glided on. On it, the twisting air met the kite instead, but was neutralized by its crystalline edging. Macbeth grunted as Valeria waved her staff high to summon an updraft to get the kite going. She ascended to a very high elevation to look over him.

Looming overhead again, Valeria aimed her staff down, summoning more power into her staff. Another magic barrage went beaming down at Macbeth, but they instead hit the ground around him rather than him directly. This created a dust surge that clouded up around him.

' _Is she trying to make me use my magic against her?'_ Macbeth wasn't sure what to say, but as he moved his arm, he found something wrong. It was like something was tugging onto it. "What's this?!" He looked over, finding both his arms had laces around him. When he looked back further, he saw a very tiny balloon making a squeaky sound as its laces were extended to bind him. This was Drifloon, and she was using **Constrict**. "No…"

With her enemy incapacitated, Valeria soared along her kite, passing by in an arch. She requipped the staff away and aimed both arms to create a magic seal. From it, a pink rope much like with Kagura slithered through the air, snaring him. It laced around his waste and his shoulders, making the need for his arm impossible. Drifloon let go so Valeria can whip her arm up, dragging Macbeth skywards. One high enough, they were eye level with shock against unemotional grinning. She whipped her arm down, sending the bound Macbeth to meet ground zero.

…

Noctowl used another **Confusion** attack, creating another pulse that sent Aron screeching and sliding across the gravel again.

("C'MON! THIS IS NUTS! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!") Gajeel mouthed off everything he could possibly say, but with any verbal commands his Aron was just taking hit after hit. With his frustration rising, Decker reappeared in front of him, using three lacrima kunai in hand and slashed. It was so fats that it made Gajeel scream, but it was horribly muted so no one could hear him, not even Aron.

Aron shook his head and rebound again. "Man this sucks. Hey Gajeel, what the heck are you-?!" He looked back, shocked to see Decker putting Gajeel on the defensive. "Gajeel!" He was then intercepted from his Trainer when Noctowl floated down in front of him. "Out of my way! **Metal Claw!** " He lunged at Noctowl with his stubby claw making iron and jabbed, but instead it struck a rainbow barrier that refracted light, causing Aron to recoil back towards the ground. He looked up, gritting his teeth. "Drats!"

Gajeel slid back again, dropping to a knee as he held his chest where it hurt some more. Not only was his arm burning, but now his chest from the same weaponry that Decker had. He looked back up with pain as Decker stood mere feet from him, glaring with crossed arms.

' _This guy…'_ Powering through his pain, Gajeel turned his feet to iron columns and shot at Decker again. He tried to punch him, but Decker not only brought a hand up, but another rainbow barrier came up, taking Gajeel's whole punch. It felt like hitting bulletproof glass because Gajeel instantly bounced off. _'What the…wasn't that the move his owl just used?'_

Once **Reflect** lifted, Decker propelled forward, using his lacrima cleats to jet with extreme force and knee Gajeel's chin as hard as possible. He sent him sliding and making a trail in the ground, but all the sounds as it happened were completely mute. If one heard grunting or even rumbling, they wouldn't be hearing it. Even when Gajeel slammed into the wall, making a powerful thud that was mute.

Laying in the ground, Gajeel struggled to get up. He looked up again, seeing Decker over him with folded arms. He loomed over Gajeel as the two had an intense stare down. As they locked eyes, Gajeel could see the sheer intensity and desire the cowboy/ninja man had. It was making very uncomfortable. Decker then looked around, giving a hand sign to Noctowl.

' _What's going on here? Why won't they hear me? And why…won't this guy say anything?'_ He looked over, his shock showing as he saw in the distance the Macbeth was lying on the ground in pink rope leading up to Valeria and her Drifloon. _'Macbeth!'_ He looked at Aron, who was too low to attack as Noctowl's eyes produced **Hypnosis**. He watched as his Aron fell into slumber next. _'Aron…'_

Not hearing a footstep, he only got a glance up as Decker pulled out one more net. Gajeel's last image was the net thrown over him before a painful shock caused it all the go black.

* * *

Minutes later, Gajeel slowly stirred awake, groaning. "Unnngh…what…huh?" He lazily raised his head. "Where am I…? Wait! I'm actually talking!" He looked down, seeing as how he was in purple rope now. "What the…where did this come from?"

"It's that girl." A voice said.

Gajeel looked over his shoulder, realizing he was back to back with Macbeth. "What?"

"That woman that's siding with him, this is her magic. She's binding us _and_ our magic capabilities."

"That so?" Gajeel grunted as she tried to get his laces undone, but his hands were tied behind his back. His whole upper body and legs were tied so he couldn't move them well at all. That not only went for him, but with Macbeth. And nearby, Pantherlily was with the others in the net. Aron, however, was still fast asleep, but rope tied down his waste for good measure. He faced forward, his teeth gritting. "Damnit. You've gotta be kidding me."

Macbeth lowered his head in sadness. "I'm afraid so. It seems we have failed."

Gajeel gritted his teeth. "Hey, it ain't over until-!" He tried yelling some more, but it was suddenly silence. He and Macbeth both went silent as they realized what was happening. They looked back up in front, seeing Decker and Valeria with Noctowl and Drifloon behind them.

They all exchanged a look, one of bitter remorse for the other. While Decker felt sorry for Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer only responded with an intense look of his own, offering pity and scorn. Their stare went back and forth with no words…just as Decker wanted. No words, just action. That's how he became a Spriggan to begin with.

Decker gestured to Valeria with a nod, and she gave a solemn bow. She reached forward and made a tiny magic seal, sending two small pink rope to tie around their mouths, keeping them from opening again. She then reached up and expanded it, making a large pink rope shoot across the area towards the massive net. She tied it around them both, leaving it they couldn't go anywhere.

Decker's eyes finally closed. He moved out of the way so that Noctowl could fly in front and stare them down. As Gajeel and Macbeth stared, they saw he was preparing **Hypnosis** , and all Gajeel did was mentally curse himself.

' _Sorry…guys…'_

The red eyes glowed brighter.

"HELLO~!"

An odd shout from the distance thwarted Noctowl. They all perked heads high and turned about startled. They had to question where the sound came from.

"UP HERE! IT IS I! THE SAVIOR OF THIS TALE!"

They all looked towards the top of a building, where they could see someone atop of it. Decker and his associate looked up with raised brows, seeing a man with sunglasses shimmering sunlight.

Gajeel and Macbeth both looked shocked. Aron snorted awake, shaking his head as the yelling aroused him. All three looked towards the sky to find their surprises mounting. _'…you've gotta be kidding me.'_ Gajeel thought.

The silhouette basking in sunlight loomed over the tower balcony, smirking. "Hope I wasn't interrupting anything! Just thought I'd drop in since I had nothing better on my schedule, and hello~! Hot lady at 1 o' clock! That's where I come in!" The man undid his silhouette, revealing himself to be a certain Blue Pegasus Mage, of whom has quite the…issues.

Gajeel looked at Macbeth, then back at the scene.

Decker stepped forward, giving his undivided attention at Kevin. Valeria also stepped up with curiosity.

Kevin stuck his foot on the balcony. "I know what you are thinking. 'Who is this man? And why is he here?' Well…I just am." He chimed. "But for those of you don't know, allow me to introduce to Alvarez who this marvel before you is!" Getting dramatic, Kevin puffed his chest out and stared off into space. He beamed a smile of so much pride it was unnerving. "I go by many names you see. D-Lord…The Sickening…The Unthinkable…but my true alias, is known as Mister P…" he took a pause, whipping his head and making his sunglasses shine. "But my real name, is Kevin. And I…am a lady lover."

The comment and intro left Decker and Valeria confused; the latter scooching a foot back for reasons. Gajeel and the others though just went white with sulking shock. _'…I take it back. We're so dead.'_ Gajeel sulked.

* * *

 **Who missed me? Anyone? Yes? Good, then there's what you've been waiting for! A nice big 23 K full of jam-packed battle action! I really hope you all are happy with this, because it took me nearly a week to write this. I nearly had a month off this story to get chapters up on** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **, because I was going to do 3 consecutive updates here after. So here is the first of the consecutive updates!**

 **The two battles I had wrapped up first was Natsu VS Dimaria, and Sophie and Griffon VS Jacob. I felt like I had to get Dimaria's bitterness out of the way first. I noticed in the Alvarez Arc in the last story, she was bitter and distasteful, calling Natsu a demon and otherwise distrusting Brandish. So I thought I would take baby steps starting here. And Jacob, I didn't include his 'dignity' that people wanted in the prequel, so I gave some fanservice for Sophie's matured body, and a look in Griffon's light.**

 **I also gave a deep foreshadow of events transpiring soon, revolving next chapter with Aniya. I noticed that ever since Tenrou Island Arc, there have been less and less mystical creatures in this magical tale, so I thought adding folklore creatures like lamia would spice things up.**

 **Decker is another case. I didn't want anybody who talks or brags about themselves like the other Alvarez people did. I made him all action, and you saw the hard way how he doesn't play around like Jacob does. But his segment will come soon too, as well as our favorite perverted Trainer, Kevin, finally making his move to save the day…Arceus please save Gajeel and the others.**

 **Anyways, it's late and I have a long shift tomorrow. I'll update two more times before jumping ship to normal schedule again. So, as always, review, and thanks again guys!**


	16. Hunger for Power

"Machop, **Karate Chop!** " Elfman commanded.

Machop's fingers folded and the hand glowed. With a harsh chop to the head, another soldier fell to the ground defeated. "Hm, there we go." Machop said.

Lisanna looked around them, seeing the many soldiers around with Pokémon having also been taken out by them. "Okay, I think that covers this area at least." She said. "See anything, Elfman?"

The older brother glanced around, him and Machop inspecting their work accomplished. "No, I think we're good for now. Should be in the clear for a little while."

Machop wiped a bead of sweat from his head. "And here when I was working up a sweat."

Rufflet was about to say something, but he was cut off when his eyes glared in the distance. He saw something.

"Huh, what is it, Rufflet?" Lisanna asked.

The little bird flapped in the air a bit more before squinting. His Keen Eye Ability was making him see two silhouettes heading their way, and they looked to be in a hurry. Instantly he grew alarmed. "I see more people coming!" he warned.

"Enemies?"

Elfman balled his fists and readied himself. "Can't take any chances. Lisanna, get behind me!"

The younger Strauss girl backed off with Rufflet while Machop and Elfman stepped forward. They readied for their next round of foes to run up to them, but as the two sets of feet darted alongside one another, he heard armor clanking, and familiar long hair was seen racing behind. As they drew close, Elfman and Lisanna git a better look, and their shock continued to surmount. For once, they could feel the tension ease when they saw the two faces.

"Look, I see someone up ahead!" a voice said.

A feminine figure gasped. "Elfman! Lisanna!"

The two people emerged, making Lisanna gasp back. "It's Nic! And Erza!" she squealed.

The four reconvened with one another, finally finding levity that at least someone was around.

"Are you all alright?" Erza asked.

Lisanna nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. Thanks." She sighed. "But thank goodness. We were beginning to worry we'd never find someone. This palace is like a big maze. Right, big brother Elf?"

Elfman crossed his arms. "Yeah, can't tell if we're running in circles or not." He then realized something. "How did you guys find us?"

Nic stepped forward in his Meadow Form. "I used my Meadow Form to get a lock on your energies. You guys were the closest signatures we could reach."

Lisanna sighed again. "Well it's a good thing you found us. We were starting to get worn out after all this fighting."

"Do you need a **Heal Pulse**?" Nic inquired.

Lisanna shook her head. "No, we're fine. We should really focus on finding the others before our own injuries." She determinedly said. "And those Spriggan…"

Nic glanced away. "I know what you mean…they're all around here. I can feel it…"

"We'll have to stay in a group for now. It's too risky if we diverge at the moment without a plan." Erza said. "Nic, who's the closest signature?"

Nic narrowed his eyes, his senses all over the place. With his power to sense even malevolence through nature, he detected massive signatures all over the place, and every one of them he could individualize. _'The Spriggan are scattered all over. Each of them has a strong pressure of evil. But…each one of them is around our allies…'_ He faced the hallway Elfman and Lisanna came from. "This way!" He led the way, with the others following behind his trek into darkness.

Unbeknownst, a pair of red eyes glowed.

* * *

Decker and Valeria glared up at the top of the tower with inquiry…and slight discomfort at the man that defied them. Behind them, Gajeel and Macbeth were equally as dumbfounded. Although enemies, they were sharing one thing in common, and that was Kevin was freaking them out.

"That's right. _I_ , am a lady lover." He smirked sassily, cocking a brow at the lustful Valeria. She was unamused. "I was teleported away from the other bodacious babes, and I found myself near this place. Alone I was…and then I realized what I had that no one else had." With a snap of his fingers, a holographic screen appeared in front of him, compiled of a map and various names attached.

Gajeel's eyes widened. _'Hang on, is that…?'_

' _His magic?'_ Macbeth finished.

"That's right! Behold, Alvarez! My Search Magic!" With a snap of his fingers again, the names organized. One file opened, revealing Gajeel's face on it. "With this, there is no lady-er, I mean person alive, that I can't track. And it just so happens that…Gajeel Redfox, was my closest protec-I mean, ally!" he caught himself slipping a coupe times for his true intentions, but he persevered.

Decker glanced at Valeria, who had the same unamused expression. They looked back, ready to advance onto the Trainer.

Kevin shortened Gajeel's screen, making room to scroll down the analyzer on his holographic board to get a visual of his opponent's icon. "…mhm. Okay, I get it now." He read off the board. "Decker Veideleim and Valeria Crosphos, both age 28…" he announced. "…ou la la my kind I like."

Decker stopped in place, showing fundamental surprise over Kevin knowing who he and his associate were. But how? He didn't say anything.

"Decker, a master of a very rare magic known as Mute Magic. You are able to silence anything and everything at will. You can silence yourself to sneak up on people, or silence others so that they can't warn one another. You can even mute inanimate objects for your uses, like breaking through glass or silencing explosions and no one will know."

One again, Gajeel was shocked. _'So that's how he stopped me from talking! A magic that can mute anything…?'_ He felt a small tug on his wrist from behind. When he looked over his shoulder, his shock arose when he saw what looked like a small purple rodent-like creature nibbling at his ropes. ("What the?! Hey, what are you doing?!") he mutedly screamed. But Macbeth looked back showing surprise. Unlike Gajeel, he remained quiet and observed.

The purple rat looked at Gajeel and Macbeth, having big, gnawing teeth out. He looked over, sniffing the air as Drifloon and Noctowl were also distracted. The rat slowly turned back, looking dumbly before its eyes began to slowly drift apart. He commenced with nibbling.

Gajeel strained. ("Gnngh! Hey, what the hell are you doing you rat?!")

The rat continued nibbling, at least until Gajeel kept stirring. As gravel turned against him, the rat's ears twitched and looked over, seeing Noctowl glance back. He went stiff and stopped gnawing. He waited until Noctowl looked away and resumed his gnawing.

Macbeth was starting to see a pattern. _'This rodent…it couldn't be…'_ He looked back at Kevin as he kept talking.

"And you, Valeria. You were Decker's childhood neighbor and…oh, other things." His tone began to drop as he looked at her personality and interests. The flirty tone he had vanished into one of no care. "…well anyways, you use Sealing Magic to bind people together and nullify their magic. You both are proficient in using anti-magic tools that cut clean through ethernano-laced material, including skin. Nets, kunai, even inserting lacrima into rings and cleats to enhance speed and destructive power."

The rat finished gnawing through Gajeel's rope. The Iron Dragon looked shocked as he felt his hands go free. He remained shocked as the rat went over towards Macbeth and gnawed away. Macbeth glared at Gajeel knowing, telling him to stay quiet. He did as he slowly stood back up.

"So now, I ask you people…exactly what do you intend to do now that I figured you out?" Kevin hummed.

Decker and Valeria glared at one another, unamused. They looked back, snapping their fingers to signal Noctowl and Drifloon to ready and attack. Decker pulled out kunai, and Valeria requipped a staff.

"…I would've thought so…" Kevin paused. "Anywho…NOW!"

Decker and Valeria's eyes widened. Immediately they turned around and were blindsided as an iron column met Decker's armored arms, and invisible scythes met Valeria's staff. Both grunted as they were blown a few feet back. With Decker also momentarily off guard, his magic disappeared for a moment.

"Aron, **Rock Tomb!** "

The rat gnawed through the rope with one quick **Bite** , sniping Aron free. "About time!" He raised his head, making a gray outline around him as energy above manifested gray rocks in a ring. Without delay, he whipped his head forward, sending the rocks at Noctowl. The attack hit him as he turned around, making rocks burst and sent him to the ground with a thud.

Decker glared daggers at the folly created. He looked back at Kevin, who had a shrug. Then back at Gajeel and Macbeth, who were able to break free as his data was told. He should've cut him off when he had the chance. Now it was back to square one.

"Looks like that pervert's words were actually some use after all." Gajeel sneered. "Not bad, kid."

Aron faced the Pokémon, revealing himself to be a Rattata. "Thanks for the help." He noticed the Rattata was shuddering and cross-eyes. It made him unsound. "Uh, hey, I said thanks. Hello?"

"Y-you're very welcome!" the Rattata eagerly chuckled. "This…THISISSOCWAZY! HAHAHAHAHA! IWOVECWAZY! HAHA!"

Aron sweatdropped. "Uh…okay…?"

Macbeth stayed close to Gajeel as they faced their adversaries again. "Looks like we get a second chance after all."

"Yeah, so it seems." The Iron Dragon Slayer's eyes squinted. "But now we got a problem. These guys can shut us up so we can't give signals."

"Hmm, that _is_ a problem. Perhaps a little plan in advance would suffice then?" Macbeth smirked.

"Don't get smart with me." Gajeel threatened. "Look, you try and keep that girl busy…I'll handle the ninja and his pet owl."

"And if he silences you?"

The Iron Dragon Slayer showed his fangs in a cheesy smirk. "Don't worry about it. Aron and I know what to do. Now go!" Turning his legs to iron columns, Gajeel roared as he closed the gap between him and Decker. The Mute Mage's immediate response was using his leg lacrima to propel him forward, driving his fist with lacrima in them to parry Gajeel's own fist.

Noctowl hooted as the battle commenced. He watched on before his attention dwelled towards the Rattata as it scurried away. He wanted to go after it, but found himself preoccupied when Aron was in his line of sight. "Heh…this time we're finishing things now, buddy." He sniped.

Seeing Decker and his Noctowl preoccupied, Valeria turned her attention towards Kevin. Seeing him on the tower above, she pointed her staff ahead, ordering Drifloon to advance slowly forward. Meanwhile, she reached into her pockets and recreated another lacrima kite. She hopped onto it, lifting herself and the massive transport with her as they sailed towards Kevin.

Seeing the woman fly towards him, Kevin smirked. "I always knew ladies were drawn to me…" He waited as Valeria showed her staff in front, Magic charged, making him pale. "…oh."

Valeria fired a magic blast at him. He swiftly ducked behind the balcony of the tower he was in. Dust and dirt splattered all over him, but he covered up narrowly. As the wave ceased, he poked his head up, seeing Valeria aiming another blast. He took leaps towards the door to the castle and quickly escaped as she fired again, blasting the entrance wide open.

Now it was Kevin who was finding himself discomforted, in more ways than one. He hurried down the spiral staircase as the wall over him kept bursting from various blasts of magic rom Valeria outside. With each close blast wave, he squealed and jumped, furthering his rapid descent.

Once he made it to the door at the base, he narrowly avoided a piece of debris. "Made it!" He opened the door, immediately finding himself at ground level with the others. He looked up, finding Valeria above with her staff present. "…oh, uh…maybe it's not too late to go back in-!" He was stopped from turning away when Drifloon's tendrils reached out above, using **Constrict** to bind him in place. "Oookay…it's too late." He looked up, seeing Valeria narrowing her eyes on him. He had to think of something, and fast. "Uh…eh…Rattata, **Bite!** "

From the shadows the Rattata from earlier came out cross-eyed and darting right for the human. "HAHAHA!" he cackled an unnerving laughter as he pounced for Drifloon, his glowing teeth signaling the attack as he chomped into Drifloon, immediately making her squeal and let go. "HAHAHA! CWAZY!" He laughed.

Kevin quickly picked up Rattata and tumble-rolled out of the way of Valeria's next magic blast. The spot where he was originally blew up, making her scoff beneath her breath.

Kevin looked up, letting go of Rattata in the process. "This chick's wild…man, if she wasn't taken I'd sooo be turned on." He awed.

Valeria swiped her arm, giving Drifloon a silent command. The creature floated in front and expanded her balloon sac some before spinning, summoning a **Gust** that swallowed up Kevin and his Rattata. Both veered away as they were immobile from the strong winds.

With them distracted, Valeria pointed her staff at the Search Mage. Knowing his magic wasn't around combat, she had the advantage. She charged up another blast, this one firing almost instantly. It closed in on him, but before it could, both the wind and the spell were distorted around them.

Kevin waited for the inevitable impact, but it never arrived. "What…?" he muttered.

Valeria turned around, glaring at the ground behind. A hand was seen sticking out, revealing Macbeth. "I didn't take your gesture in kind before…perhaps we can try that again I hope." He threatened.

* * *

Gajeel swung his arm, revealed to have morphed into an iron sword that parried Decker's kunai lodged between the knuckles. The two glared at one another in close-range, which Gajeel's eyes twitching at the ninja-cowboy's strength. He began to lose weight as the kunai were digging into the iron defense that Gajeel had going. In an effort to shorthand it, Gajeel swung his arm with all his might, knocking Decker away into doubling over and jumping into midair.

In midair, Decker shot the three kunai at Gajeel. He dodged away, making them stick into the ground. With a snap of his fingers, Decker made the three kunai spontaneously explode smoke, which was muted thanks to his magic. The smoke quickly expanded, swallowing Gajeel as he was forced to cover his nose. The Dragon Slayer immediately began to cough within the smokescreen provided, his iron lungs, while immune to decaying, was making it hard to breathe smoke.

' _Crap! Not good.'_ He looked at his surroundings, seeing nothing but smoke surrounding him. _'I can't hear where he's coming from. And the smoke is blocking my smell. He's trying to cut off all my senses.'_

Decker blindsided through the smokescreen, vanishing from one spot to another, much like a ninja. He was a shadow that moved behind Gajeel, then reappeared in front, on a knee with a kunai in hand. A moment's pause occurred and Gajeel's side suddenly bloomed with blood. A harsh gag resonated that he failed to suppress. Decker vanished again to keep Gajeel guessing.

Gajeel lurched as his side ache. _'Damnit! He got he!'_ he coughed again. He saw a swift blur from in front. His eyes traced it, from right to left. It came closer. He saw him.

 _ **BAM!**_

Decker elbowed Gajeel in the gut, again making shock run through him. Decker went to jump away, but something seized his wrist. He looked down, shocked to find Gajeel's grip as hard as iron. He looked back shocked, finding that Gajeel was clad in metallic scales.

("Heh, don't count me out just yet! **Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!** ") With gusto might, Gajeel plunged his metallic scaled fist into Decker's face, flooring him instantly.

Nearby as the smoke was dispersing, Noctowl was squaring against Aron. The Steel/Rock-type let out a roar as he used another **Rock Tomb** , making gray rocks materialize overhead. He whipped his head up and sent them at Noctowl, who remained stationary. The owl instead had his eyes glow, making **Confusion**. The rocks were all surrounded by a blue outline instead of gray and were suddenly sent back towards Aron.

The little Pokémon had no choice but to duck and cover. He crouched as one rock flew over his head, but way more surged and hammered all around him, enveloping him in dust. As he opened his eyes, he saw that he was surrounded by his own **Rock Tomb**. Rather than taking damage, he was completely immobile. A very bad spot indeed.

Looking up, Noctowl was hovering above. The owl gave a hoot as it stared down with the red eyes glowing, showing his **Hypnosis** attack. Instantly Aron closed his eyes.

"No, not again… **Headbutt!** " He lurched upwards, ramming his head right into Noctowl's face. The impact sent a shock through Noctowl that sent him downwards into the ground hard. Aron landed on the top rock and looked down at the struggling owl.

"I'm not through yet!" He lifted his head, making his body have a white outline. Summoned around him were rocks from **Rock Tomb** and he whipped his head down, sending the rocks hurdling into Noctowl, making heavy grains of gravels dissipate into dust upon impact.

Through the dissipating dust, both Decker and his Noctowl slowly got back up, only for an iron fist and a **Headbutt** to cause them to wane away. This made Gajeel and Aron more determined than ever.

* * *

Macbeth swiped his arm, distorting the air to make another cyclone try and get the space around Valeria. She pulled out another lacrima and clutched it, sending another pulse wave out to cancel out Macbeth's attack. "Some piece of technology." He complimented. "Well now, it looks like there might be a way to get to her after all…"

Meanwhile, with Kevin and Rattata, they squared against the Drifloon as it had its tendrils up. Rattata looked cross-eyes at her with his body shuddering.

"Okay, you ready, Rattata?" he asked the hyperactive rat.

Rattata cackled a laughter as the battle begin. "R-ready as I'll be ever be! HA!"

The Drifloon attacked first. Her body glowed white with ripples going up to the puffy cloud. _'_ _ **Focus Energy**_ _, huh? In that case, we need to hit it in one blow, too!'_ Kevin reached out, mimicking the effects. "Rattata, **Focus Energy!** "

As commanded, Rattata began shuddering more. All his power was charging up, with white energy flourishing everywhere to center into the head and vanish. "HAHAHA! FOCUS… **FOCUS MAKES ME CWAZY! HAHAHAHA!** "

Drifloon then went and hummed as she reached with her tendrils for her **Constrict**. "Rattata, **Quick Attack** to dodge!" Kevin commanded. Rattata's body outlined bright blue and he darted away from the tendrils. He speedily zigged and zagged, getting closer.

"HRAH~!" He dashed about, laughing at the adrenaline coursing through him. He suddenly tripped, rolling about and laughing. Drifloon managed to find an opening and reach her tendrils, constricting the fallen rat and holding him beneath her.

"Rattata!" Kevin exclaimed.

As the tendrils squeezed, Rattata was cross-eyed as he laughed. He laughed…and laughed, while the tendrils tightened. This very disposition was making Drifloon upset as she squeezed tighter, but Rattata laughed the pain off.

Swallowing a lump out of worry, he saw Macbeth was keeping Valeria occupied as she circled around him. He looked back, seeing the one shot available. _'I gotta end this before a command is given!'_ "Rattata, **Bite!** "

Rattata blinked. He kept laughing until he stopped. His head slowly craned over and looked at the tendril, awing at it. "Ohhh…YUMMY! HAHAHA!" His bucked tooth and snapped on it. The enemy Drifloon squealed in vivid pain as Rattata swung her around, moving his head around like a dog with a bound. He even growled like one. As if out of his species, he muffled laughed as he raced around the battlefield, giving no care as his enemy deflated in his toothy embrace.

Kevin sighed in relief. "Phew…that was clo-!" A pink rope tied around his waist, stopping him in his tracks. "Ooor maybe not! AAAHH~!" He was pulled skywards towards the kite, screaming for his life.

Rattata stopped his adrenaline and let go of Drifloon after nodding his head against the ground, looking to see his Trainer go up. He stared cross-eyed still. "…oh, look at him go. Ha."

Kevin was yanked all the way until he was pulled up towards Valeria. She undid the rope and clutched him by the neck. She held him at arms length as her magic staff was aimed in the other arm. Magical energy surged to fire at point-blank. She didn't seem pleased with him.

"No…" Macbeth grunted.

Nervous, Kevin tried to swallow a lump…although it was really more from being so close to her ample upper body. "Uh…ehehe…is this the part where I say my last words." He saw Valeria narrow her eyes. "Oh, uh, okay then…well if I could say one thing…it's this."

With a snap of his fingers, he made his Search Magic pop up between them. It showed a picture of Valeria in a modest purple bikini at the beach. The image of her summer weekend made the mage recoil with flushed cheeks.

"You got a hot bod. RATTATA, ATTACK!"

Rattata maniacally laughed as he was called. "CWAZY! HAHAHAHA!" He darted away from the defeated Drifloon over towards the building. With his energy and adrenaline, the rodent ran up and scurried towards the top. He reached a certain point until he took a leap and jumped onto Kevin's head and pounced onto Valeria with his goofy cross-eyed expression.

For once, Valeria let out a high-pitched, girlish squeal as she slowly fell back. Time slowed down for her as Rattata was laughing as he closed in on her. She lost her momentum and realized she was falling off her huge kite.

She started to plummet to an unfortunate spot. With Drifloon out of commission and Macbeth getting back to his feet, he swiped his arms as her eyes shrunk.

" **Spiral Pain!** "

Macbeth used his power to make a direct cyclone of distorted air course into her head on. She reached back for her lacrima in stock to nullify it in midair, but she was a second too shy. The attack swallowed her up, sending her driven into the side of the palace tower.

Kevin had to flinch at that act. He watched in shock as he and Rattata were on the kite and watched the dust clear. They saw Valeria fall to the ground, but Kevin gasped. "…oh what the heck?!" Despite every urge in his body, he tried maneuvering the kite so he could glide down. "C'mon…like this?!" He tilted down further, getting closer. He soared in time to nab Valeria in midflight. "YES-!"

 **BWHAM!**

The kite crashed into the side of the building, just a few feet off the ground. Kevin and Rattata both groaned as they were lodged like paper, unlike several moments later they popped back to form and slumped to the ground. "Okay…ow." He groaned.

Macbeth walked other. "Are you alright?"

Kevin laid on the ground, holding up Valeria's unconscious hand. "Score one for me…yay…" he fell limp into unconsciousness next.

Macbeth sighed. At least that part was out of the way. He looked back towards the real battle, seeing Gajeel and Decker go at it. He knew that Decker would attack him instantly if he intervened. He watched quietly as Gajeel went on the attack from afar.

* * *

Decker dashed into the ironclad Gajeel, pulling his fist back and whipping out a knuckle guard knife. He closed the gap, and at the last second ducked. He pulled back and slashed for Gajeel's gut like before.

However, Gajeel caught his wrist at the last second, holding him in place. The Iron Dragon smirked. Decker muted a snort and pivoted, using his other arm with a lacrima dagger, which Gajeel caught with his other hand. Holding Decker, he quickly used this chance to knee him in the back, sending Decker doubling over. The ninja put a hand down as he was upside-down and pivoted, swinging in a spin as shuriken shot all over, piercing the ground and making another smoke eruption. He used this chance to get on his feet again and used his lacrima propulsion to jet into the smoke. He zipped and disappeared spontaneously, while he got to where Gajeel was supposed to be. To his shock, he wasn't where he was supposed to be. When he realized it, he looked up to see a silhouette above.

Unable to call out an attack, instead he shot **Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs** like many raining iron shards onto Decker. The range was so massive that he had to propel himself backwards again.

While he was in midflight, Gajeel sundered to the ground, causing an indent. He glared forward, waiting for Decker's initiative. _'Yeah that's right. Come get some…I gotcha figured out now.'_

Decker snapped his fingers, getting Noctowl to stop his confrontation and move in front. The owl gave a hoot as his body glowed, giving off a rainbow shield via **Reflect**. The shield soon dissipated, leaving Decker to slip pass Noctowl and drive towards Gajeel.

As he closed the gap, Gajeel held his ground. He watched him vanish from one point to another as he charged. His eyes kept following. _'This guy's not teleporting. What that guy said is true. Those lacrima he's using are boosting his limbs. And that uses magic…I can't hear, but I can feel alright. Let's see…there!'_ Gajeel whipped around, using his forearm to block Decker's roundhouse kick. With the proximity, he smirked. _'Gotcha.'_ Hurrying, he seized Decker's leg, holding him long enough to get a punch into the main lacrima of his shinguard. As the shards shattered. Decker found himself shocked beyond belief. Gajeel threw him away, making him tumble across the ground.

Macbeth was seeing it with his own eyes. He was seeing Decker finally lose momentum. _'Seems Gajeel has figured him out. Very well then.'_ He resorted to looking at the those in Valeria's net. Without a sound, he refracted light to make himself invisible.

Gajeel charged again, with Decker pulling out a lacrima kunai. Gajeel furiously slashed at him, only to be parried. When all was said and done, Gajeel and Decker both backed off. The mage remained silent as Gajeel stepped backed, although Gajeel's arms morphed to original and had laces gashes through the metal. He grunted and waned. This was Decker's chance.

Once more, this time pulling out a katana he had saved, Decker activated it. He swiped it and charged with one leg pouncing him forward.

Gajeel opened and eye, seeing him incoming. He smirked. He looked over, where Aron was grunting from his injuries. He seized him.

"Whoa! What the?! Gajeel?!"

Gajeel let out a muted roar as he suddenly lobbed Aron at Decker. The little creature went wide-eyed as a forced **Headbutt** came to pass. Decker was caught surprised and held up his katana, using it to block. Aron hit the katana, although **Reflect** still popped up. The surprise was long enough to startle the ninja as Aron slumped down, shaking his head and looking up.

Decker looked up as well, and that's when he realized it. Gajeel's whole bottom was spinning like an iron drill, and closing in. The sickest part was he was getting no sound, meaning he wasn't warned. Silence. His folly.

(" **Dragon Slayer's Secret Art – Karma Demon: Iron Spiral!** ")

The Dragon Slayer's legs transformed into a giant iron drill that went down onto Decker. At the last second, Decker put his katana up to block the attack, even with **Reflect** activating again. However, he tried holding but Gajeel's spinning was making the katana suddenly crack. The pressurized force was making it crack further, and further, until it finally shattered. The drill came down on Decker, piercing and drilling him into the ground, this time creating exceptional sound as debris shattered.

As Decker recoiled in the ground, his mask got bloodied as time drastically slowed down. From the lack of pupils in his eyes, even he could see images of his childhood, and they weren't very pleasant ones. _"What so want for dinner, sweetie?"_ And in his child voice ages ago as his mother was doing dishes, he'd respond. _"Hm? Oh sorry, I didn't catch that. What?"_

No matter what, Decker was always told the same thing. _"What?" "What?!" "I wasn't paying attention, what was that you wanted?"_ Whether it was food, or something to do. Images of his mother and father were there. His mother would work. His father would do the same. The problem was they were too occupied with hobbies like scripting or talking to friends on Communication Lacrima whenever they spoke with Decker. That was the one thing he never got – full attention.

" _I wanted pasta. I told you that!" he snapped._

" _Sorry I didn't hear you!" his mother harshly defended._

" _I said it loud and clear!"_

Over and over again. No matter what…every day he was misunderstood. Nobody paid attention…not like Valeria. As he laid there, he looked over to find Valeria lying unconscious. She was the only woman who looked out for him; his neighbor; his only friend…his love. Together, they made a promise. If they weren't going to hear Decker to begin with…then no one will ever again. And that's the birth of his magic. One day, he had enough. Giving his parents the silent treatment. Then the next day. Then the next…and the next…and that evolved to his magic. And all that time, he ever knew Valeria was the only one who understood him, even when he chose not to speak.

He fell unconscious, laying in a crater silently.

Noctowl hooted in shock over their defeat. "Hey, over here!" Noctowl turned, only to receive Aron flung in his face next with a **Headbutt**. The impact went straight into his head, making the already weakened bird fall to the ground, defeated.

Gajeel undid his scaled, giving a sigh of relief. "Man…that guy was a pain in the ass." He looked over at Aron, who walked up to him. "Hey, you doing okay?" Aron suddenly lowered his head, tucking in and lunged into Gajeel's gut, making him gag from being too hurt already. "Gahh…damnit! What the hell…?" he gagged as he fell over.

Aron snuffed his head up. "That's for throwing me…twice!"

Gajeel gave him a look. "C'mon, man! I couldn't talk!"

"Could've warned me _somehow_!"

Gajeel whipped his head away, grunting hard as he sat up. "Hmph, well anyways, we got that guy done and over with…" he looked unsound. _'But the way I couldn't speak…I think I gotta find another way to talk to Aron about this…'_

Macbeth reappeared beside Gajeel. "Are you well?"

Gajeel faced him. "Yeh, barely. How's it looking?"

Macbeth looked humbled. "As well as you can guess." He looked over, referring to the undone net with everyone stirring awake. "That net appeared to have anti-magic incense eroding from it. It made them all drowsy from being inside it too long. They should be fine now."

"Good. And the kid?"

They both faced Kevin as he laid unconscious on the ground, mere meters from Valeria. But as he snored, he turned in his slumber.

"ZZZZzzzzZZZ…mmmm, oh yeah…right there…aww yeah…Zzzzz…" he smirked maliciously. Whatever dream he was having, it made them want to rethink how to approach him.

"…looks fine to me." Gajeel feigned. "Let's wake the others and tie these yahoos up."

"Agreed."

* * *

In a random part of the palace, Mest reappeared. "…looks like no one's here." He realized. He looked to both directions, seeing how empty it was. _'Am I able to use Telepathy here now…?'_ He tried scrunching up for it, but no luck. _'It's no good. This palace must have a lacrima or something to keep enemy communication limited.'_

Beside him, Ralts repeatedly banged his head against the wall.

"Ralts, let's try another spot. Ready?" he said.

Ralts stopped banging his head to face his master. He scooted over and used **Teleport** , vanishing to another part of the domain.

* * *

In the front of the palace, the humungous courtyard stretched so far that one could say it's forever until they reached the actual doors, yet there, in front of them, Pluto's planets orbited overhead as he stared down Jellal and Bellona, the two mages glaring at the Spriggan.

"The stars, they twinkle like an individual life force through our eyes." He said. "Yet they, like power, are unbound by man. This is the wish that our emperor perceives to be."

Jellal shot him a look. "You seem fairly poetic for someone so brash. You've certainly got a lot of nerve to abscond with our comrades like that."

"It was the emperor's orders. Whatever desired, it is our sworn duty as his shields to carry out our star's judgement."

"A rather ambiguous simile, wouldn't you say?" Bellona chimed in. "Not to be perceptive on your astrology, but don't stars also eventually expire?"

"So they do. But as long as our sun burns brightly, the planets that revolve around it will make sure that it never goes out."

Jellal stepped forward. "As a man of poetic courtesy, you seem to also understand. What you're doing is retribution on a faulted scale. Are the lives you take for this retribution _that_ needless to you? If you, I can say I pity a man like you."

Pluto put his palms up to face each other. "Perceive as you will, but I govern this celestial that we live in. The name our galaxy is Alvarez, and aliens as you and your friends are but a virus that must be snuffed out."

Bellona slipped close to Jellal. "Jellal…"

"I know. It seems we have no choice then. If we're going to save our friends…we'll have to start here." He took a stance, readying himself. "Bellona!"

"I'm here!" The Nightmare Mage took a stance to attack.

The Spriggan meters away was slightly elated with their tenacity to challenge him. It was almost laughable it not for their arrogance. "I admire your willingness to change this land that is not yours. It takes a strong will to reach far high…" As his palms faced the other, the orbiting planets stopped and spread out. "Very well then, come!"

* * *

Gray and Juvia were in a deadlock as both their eyes were seething as coldly as possible. But as much as they tried, even Gray himself found his own body cold. Both and Juvia. And it wasn't just from the lack of shirt and just the girdle Juvia had on. Their opponent was Invel, and around them, frozen-solid soldiers encompassed for a clean display.

"So, you showed your face after all." Gray scowled. "Should've known you'd be hiding somewhere."

"On the contrary, Gray Fullbuster." Invel retorted. "Whoever said I was hiding? Simply because I was within my own home doesn't mean that I was hiding within my own walls. Rather, it's you and your allies who are meager trespassers." His eyes narrowed. "Am I wrong?"

Gray grunted. He knew in a way, Invel was right.

Juvia sapproached. "No, you have every right to be defending…but what you don't have a right of is how you're using Pokémon like this!"

"'Like this', you say?" Invel prodded his glasses up a little. "…yes, I suppose we can condone that, but let me ask you this: In what way are these Pokémon and humans alike any different?"

"What are you getting at?" Gray demanded.

When you think about it, aren't we all driven by a command? I am driven by our emperor's wishes, and yet Pokémon even of the strongest caliber submit themselves to a human. We humans work to survive. We take orders and use others every day…exactly how is Pokémon any different if they willingly submit?"

Juvia prodded again. "You're wrong! The reason because they listen to us is because we trust them! We try to look out for them, and they help us."

"Yeah, what she said." Gray said.

"Exactly my point." Invel said.

"Huh?" Gray gasped.

"You seek help from others because you know that you can never do everything alone. And it was this very ideology that was Acnologia's flaw, wasn't it?" His sunglasses shimmered with reflecting light. "We were designed and hand-picked by our previous Emperor Spriggan because he believed Acnologia could be taken down, and although it was accomplished, this world would be nothing if not for Pokémon and Nic Pularis. What I'm merely saying is, that we're doing this the same reason as you Fiorians. To defend ourselves better…does that sum it up for you?"

Gray's brow furrowed. In a way, he knew Invel was right to a degree he can understand. The incidents involving Pokémon left a milestone in Fiore's – no, Earthland's history. What was there to say to that?

Invel closed his eyes. "My case is set. I have lost faith due to our last convenient run-in, Gray Fullbuster…" his eyes opened again. "So now I shall show you the path that _you_ have opened to me and our darkness, and I intend to give you a full demonstration in kind."

Gray tensed up. "Juvia, stay on your guard. You remember what this guy can do to you, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, I am." She remembered how it was his spell that forced the two now-lovers to face off against one another, and it was perhaps one of the gravest pains each had to endure. They still have the scars to prove it.

Invel raised an arm slowly. "But first, allow us some space."

"What are you-?!" Gray didn't get to finish before Invel threw his arm in a sideways chop. Immediately, it clanged against a frozen soldier beside him, and instead of thawing, the soldier shattered like glass. The shockwave from that chop went all around, breaking frozen soldiers and sending pieces and cold winds everywhere.

"GET DOWN!" Gray seized Juvia and hit the iced floor in time to avoid flying frozen limbs and chilled breezes pulsating everywhere. It became a turmoil of chilled frost that kept expanding throughout the chamber until everything finally settled. He looked down. "Juvia, you okay?"

She looked up. "Yes, I'm fine…but what was-!" she gasped in shock.

Gray looked forwards as well, his eyes widening at the graphic sight.

A cool wind shifted Invel's clothing as his rm remained swiped. All around him, the field was spread out into wide open areas across as far as the eye could see. Soldiers far away were still in one piece, but a little closer one could see scattered remained of soldier body part frozen down to the bone, literally. "The stage is now set." He said.

Juvia stammered back up, shock written on her face. "No way…did he just…"

"Just what the hell man?! Those were your soldiers! You seriously just went and killed them?!" Gray snapped.

"Mere numbers that can easily be replaced." Invel retorted. "You're forgetting, that in war there are lives lost. Or did you not realize this when your master Makarov passed?"

Gray's eyes narrowed and somberly glared. His words caused a very unpleasant picture of him and E.N.D squaring off again against Nic, and at the funeral he said nothing. His fists balled in growing anger. Juvia looked down to find her darling annoyed.

"Now then, for retribution, allow me to show you the cold truth of reality." Invel swiped his arm again, this time sending an intense cold wave that seared over the ground. It layered ice further as it closed in.

"Get behind me!" Gray moved in front, making frost from his magic. " **Ice-Make: Shield!** " he extended his arms out, summoning a shield of ice that blocked the frostbitten wind from directly hitting them.

Invel remained silent and observing, waiting to see what they will do.

"Juvia!" Gray exclaimed.

"Right!" Nodding in understanding, the rain woman concealed herself and raised her arms behind the shield.

A pillar of water shot up from their spot, gushing skywards with Invel's attention. He looked up, humming as he watched it go up so high until it had to arch down. It went at a steep angle towards him. "Not likely." He reached up, immediately freezing the water when mere feet from his head. It was nothing but a frozen archway all the way. "Sneak attacks won't work so easily, not when they can freeze.

The ice shimmered before it suddenly shattered in his face. Within the fragments, a pair of bare arms were seen. "Yeah, well guess what…"

Invel's eyes widened.

"That wasn't. This is!" Gray, having freed from the ice, passed Invel with a loud shout as he slashed. " **Ice Bringer!** " He passed Invel in a flash, revealing two blades of ice as he posed behind him. Nothing happened for a moment to Invel until finally moments later, ice erupted around him, shaking the earth briefly. Gray undid his ice blades and looked over his shoulder, seeing Invel trapped in his ice. He looked away, unamused. "Sorry, but we're not in the mood for your mind games like last time."

The ice shimmered before it suddenly burst into pieces, causing Gray to gasp. Juvia equally was shocked. Time slowed down for Gray as he looked back, seeing Invel standing there while glaring over the shoulder.

"And neither am I." he scorned.

Gray was too in shock before it was too late. Invel swiped his arm, sending a cold wave that sent Gray screaming across the ground far away.

"Gray!" Juvia screamed.

Gray grunted loudly as he was pushed along his back. The cold wave soon dissipated, and he doubled over onto his feet in a slide to a halt. He had frost over him, and as before, he was feeling chillier. _'Crap. This guy's feeling stronger…'_ He could feel his brow twitch from the small shivers going down his spine. _'His magic is seeping down into my skin so quick. He's not fooling around at all. Just like before.'_

Juvia gritted her teeth. She had to work around Invel somehow. She reached out to attack next.

" **Water Lock!** "

She immediately trapped him in a bubble of water, which almost immediately froze afterwards. The fragments scattered at Invel's feet as he glared back at her. His seething cold stare was making her heart stop from cold…almost literally. Without warning, he faced Juvia next, reaching him palm out to shoot a jet of absolute zero at her.

"JUVIA! MOVE!" Gray shouted.

Juvia didn't have anywhere to run. In a last-ditch defense, she surrounded herself in a wall of water. The defense took in the blizzard aimed at her. In a bright flash, the whole dome was frozen solid, trapping the chilled rain woman inside.

"She won't escape unless she intends to have her body frozen solid." Invel noted. "Knowing that, I wouldn't give long before frostbite takes her…"

Gray roared as he attacked from behind in midair, holding a massive hammer of ice overhead. He brought it down, which Invel stopped without looking…and with just one hand. Gray tried to push further, but it wasn't working against Invel's sheer might.

"You're weaker than before…" He pressed up against the ice, immediately shattering it all. The pieces flourished like sparkles as he turned around to face Gray. "I'm surprised, honestly. And here I thought you would try and pry me of what I believed yet again with your darkness." He mocked.

Gray stepped back, a confused look crossing his face.

"Come, you know what I mean…exactly, how did you defeat me last time I wonder? Was it the darkness your Devil Slayer Magic had perhaps?" He jumped up and dodged a wave of ice Gray shot from below. The ice mounted into a giant slab that Invel easily landed on. "Even a sophisticate doesn't need a verbal reply. I can tell just from that look."

"What are you getting at?"

"…you're afraid, aren't you?" The comment made Gray's eyes shrink. "You're afraid of the darkness, as we all are. No one wants to accept it so easily, as I can understand." Once more, he jumped to avoid the slab of ice he was on from piercing him via Gray making a small layer beneath. Invel landed behind Gray, making him turn around. "I wasn't willing to accept it either. I believed that what we were was but light itself in sake of what the emperor desired…but now because of your power triumphing over the underworld, exactly what light is there now?"

Gray put his hands together, creating frost. "Are you still hung up on that?"

"Are you?" Once again, Invel's insight made Gray tense. "Rather than fight it, do as I have, and accept it…and give into it." He swiped his arm, making another intense wave of frosted cold pick Gray up and send him doubling over several times until he slid along the ice to a halt.

He gritted his teeth as his skin touched the cold ground. He shakily arose, but his mind was as fragile as glass. What Invel said was making him recall images of when he scarred Nic, when he accused him of falling to darkness that he must slay. He strained to stand. _'I gotta stop thinking about that. I gotta beat this guy again…for good. But the only way I did last time was…'_ His fists balled tighter. He was reminded well of Juvia when he thought she… _'I gotta use my power again. If I try like last time, then maybe…'_ He clutched harder, but as he tried to surge his Devil Slayer powers, images of E.N.D, Nic, and Orion popped in his head, making him grunt. _'Damnit…why can't it just come out like before?'_ He looked back at Invel, his glare hardening as he held his fingers up to attack. His thoughts ran to something else in mind. _'Think…what did that Orion guy say…?'_

Before he had time to think, Invel summoned another wave from the side, knocking Gray to the side. "You're distracted." He said.

On the icy ground, Gray winced as he opened an eye. He started to get back up, his breath frosting over. _'If I don't find out soon…this'll get bad quick!'_

He and Invel glared, ice against ice once more.

* * *

In the dark halls of the palace, dim lighting made Sting and Orion discomforted as they squared off against the bandaged man. He gave off a menacing, bloody aura as he glared at them like a wild rabid animal. Even Orion, who was normally very quelled, found himself unnerved by this stare. The way he sighed showed heated breath waves expelling.

"You guys feel that…?" Sting asked unsoundly.

Lector swallowed a lump. "Uh…uh-huh."

"No doubt this is a Spriggan. You can feel his Magic Power from here." Orion said with fists up. As bizarre as it was, the way he looked was bloodthirsty. He should know. It was making him think back to himself years ago.

Sindge let out a raspy huff as he glared at them. "So, you're the fresh meat that wandered too far from home. You really thought it was bright coming here of all places?"

"Perhaps not." Orion countered. "But we're here for a reason."

"So I can sympathize. You came to give these creatures their freedom they deserve, didn't you?"

Sting stepped forward. "Yeah, that's right. Sorry about this, but if you're not gonna give us that request, then we're taking you down."

Sindge exerted another animalistic snarl. "Is that so…?" his eyes shrunk, fixating on his foes. A very grim look showed, giving deep definition to his whole face. It was nerve-wrecking. "Well then, if you really want to fight, I guarantee that blood will be spilled."

Sting and Orion braced themselves for battle. Light shimmered in one arm, while darkness shrouded the other. Despite this sickening feeling in their gut, they had to remind themselves why they were here. For Sting, it was to help preserve the Pokémon and stop Alvarez' revenge. For Orion, it was to guide those willing to find peace. He found his peace, and now he at least had a reason to live, no matter who or what he has to take on.

Seeing both set, Sindge craned his neck. "I see…" a wicked smirk crossed his face. "Then what are we waiting for?" Without a second to spare, he charged with immensely fast movements, surprising them. He closed in while pulling out a dagger. He reappeared in midair right between the two, a dark, hungry look showing as he readied to stab.

Sting grunted as he saw the position the dagger was aimed. It was for him. At the last second, he jumped out of the way with Orion, narrowly evading the stab. While he recoiled, he was shocked when he saw Sindge suddenly glare over to him. The mage reached out in his direction, sending two knives hidden inside his sleeve at him. _'He's fast!'_ He leaned to the side, narrowly avoiding the knives that impaled the wall. When he looked back, he saw Sindge was midair with a long knife. _'Too fast!'_

"Sting, watch out!" Lector warned.

Sindge brought the knife down, but a dark blow from the side swooped in.

" **Dark Devil's Cowling!** "

Orion's fist collided with Sindge's face, driving him off to the side. He doubled over and slid along the ground, glaring at Orion. He stopped, soon getting back up to stare at the Devil Slayer.

"Woah, thanks for that." Sting thanked.

Orion faced Sindge. "Don't mention it. Just focus!"

"Right!" Sting darted forward, sprinting with great might. "Then let's try this! **White Drive!** " Using his powers, he expelled a powerful light that outlined his body. It made him faster against Sindge. _'If I'm gonna hammer this guy, I'm gonna have to be faster than what he is now!'_

Sindge grunted at Sting's enhancement. Sting closed the gap with a punch that Sindge sidestepped from. Time slowed down again for a moment as Sindge pulled out another dagger, and Sting faced him. The two met, with Sting sweep kicking the dagger out of his hand and clanking against the floor. He rebound and pivoted to unleash a light infused uppercut that Sindge evaded by craning his neck up. The Spriggan glared at him and seized his arm, holding Sting in place.

"Nice try!" Sindge opened his mouth to that a bite, but rather than flesh, he met a foot to the face, catered by Sting midair kicking. With Sindge letting go, he doubled over onto his feet again as Sindge met the floor.

"Sorry pal, but you'll have to do better than that if you wanna get through me." Sting scolded.

Sindge laid there, seething a bloody leer. "Noted." He whipped his legs up, with the soles of his feet exhausting secret knives he had hidden in them. He flipped forward, plucking them out of midair and swung down on Sting, who veered away to allow Orion to advance on the frontlines.

The Devil Slayer closed in, a dark-coated fist pulled back while Sindge noted that and veered away. He dodged Orion's first and second punches, and continued to evade. Sting used this chance to jump overhead, getting behind Sindge and coat his fists, too. He pivoted and drove his fist in. Sindge noted both attackers heading his way, punching from either side. With his head down, he used his opposite arms to grab both punches, stopping them cold.

Sting realized he couldn't move. "What?"

' _He stopped our attacks. With just his bare hands alone.'_ Orion awed.

"Your attacks are fruitful, but still…" He swung his body, sending each flying into opposite walls with gruesome crashes. "FUTILE!"

The shock both felt from that swing left them to gag blood. Sting's body went limp while Orion's sturdier physique made him grunt.

"Sting!" Lector panicked.

Sting grunted in pain as he come around, while Sindge's silhouette beamed at him with red eyes. "You're a cocky little one, I can say that much about you." He slouched a few steps ahead. "But make no mistake, the people that I've taken were even more arrogant than you. What do you think that says about you?"

Sindge's words were making Sting stammer. He quickly focused on the battle. He sprung for Sindge again, only to end up being caught by his bare hand in his face. Sting muffled screams as Sindge's grip was like iron.

"I'm only gonna say this once for you and your friend, just because I don't want to make this any less inconvenient for my sake. Keep your distance if you value your lives."

Sindge spoke, but behind, Orion had already recovered and pulled a dark-coated fist back. He let out a roar as he reeled forward, but Sindge looked back and saw it at last second. With lightning-fast reflexes, he pulled out another knife, twirled it, and used it to block Orion's fist. The gloved fist met the knife, causing a stalemate. Orion tried pushing, as did Sindge, but they weren't getting anywhere. They reciprocated the harsh glares the other had.

The deeper Orion stared, the more he saw red in Sindge's eyes. Red from the blood that he could see in his soul. He could see and feel it, the bad habit that became a profession for the corrupted mage. It was hell, much like he used to be.

"Quit your staring. It's disturbing!" Sindge slashed again, this time wearing Orion away. While he was turned away, Sting grabbed Sindge's arm and managed to flip over it like a springboard, finally loosened and right above. "Wha-?!" He was met with a harsh axe kick of light to the head, flooring him instantly.

Overhead, Sting smirked. "Forget something?"

On the ground, the bandaged man gritted his teeth.

Sting landed on all fours and slid to a stop. Orion landed beside him, stepping back while Sting took the initiative. The Dragon Slayer growled as light gathered in his maw. "Alright pal…you really want distance? We'll give you distance!"

Beside him, Orion pulled his fist back, enflaming it in darkness. At the same time, Sting opened wide as Orion pulled forward with all his might.

" **White Dragon's Roar!** "

" **Dark Devil's Fist Driver!** "

An intense beam of light coursed across the ground, alongside a dark beam in the shape of a fist. The two attacks were so close to another as they roared across the ground that they spiraled. The cyclone of light and dark went into Sindge as he stared wide-eyed at the incoming wave. Everything for him went white as an immense explosion caused pulsing shockwave to spread. Gusts ripped open cracks within the wall. They ripped the flooring up to where Sting and Orion stood up, seething into the smoke cloud.

"Aw yeah! That's the way!" Lector cheered from behind. "Wait a go, guys! That was awesome!"

Sting grinned forward, deactivating his spell that enhanced him. "Yeah, guess that should do it."

Orion glared forward, seething dark daggers himself. The smoke began to dissipate, revealing a barrage of silhouettes standing up.

Sting narrowed his eyes. "Hm, what the…?"

As the smoke dissipated, the silhouette of Sindge showed. "That was a close one." He admitted. "You almost got me there…almost."

Sting and Orion's eyes shrunk at the sight. They couldn't believe what they saw.

Lined up in front of Sindge, there were dozens of soldiers who had paled faces and dead looks on them. They were all the soldiers from before, and they shielded the attack with arms out, leaving Sindge unscathed with his sword up.

Sting's eyes shuddered. "No way…but I thought those guys were…"

"But that's impossible…" Lector muttered.

Sindge smirked maliciously at his prey. He lowered his sword, allowing all the men to fall over abruptly dead yet again. "That was smart of you heeding my advice like that. Not a lot of people aren't easy to hear." He complimented as he stepped over one of the corpses. "It's guys like you that the world needs. Those who actually are aware of what others say than listen to themselves. That itself is self-destruction, and I intend to exploit that out of you…" his bloody eyes glowed weakly, sending another chill down their spines and back away.

Orion was the only one who held his ground, he stared at Sindge grimly as he analyzed him licking hi own lips. _'Those soldiers were already half-dead from before. But from that rush of blood we saw, there's no way they're alive. Unless…'_ His eyes widened, a small hitch in his breath showing.

"Judging by that look on your face that you figured it out." Sindge smirked. "Bravo. Not a lot of people realize it that fast. I use Blood Control Magic. With it, I can consume as much blood from anything I need to gain power. I can even mold it into a weapon if I have to." His eyes narrowed. "As long as that same blood is in my system as well…" He lifted his sword again, causing the men around him to limply wobble up like zombies. "I can use your body as puppets as I see fit! Just one drop is all I need, so tell me now, you really think you're safe from me?!"

Lector shrieked in shock. "This guy's a freaking lunatic!"

"Crap! What the heck? He's using others' corpses to fight?" Sting exasperated. "That's just sick!"

"Maybe so, but the world itself and what people do to themselves is sick. That's just the truth." Sindge's eyes dilated. "I am 'Blood Loco' Sindge, and you'll remember that as long as I hold a knife to your throat. Now, get 'em!" He swiped his sword, using his magic to maneuver the dead soldiers to charge at them.

Sting adjusted himself. "Looks like we've got no choice now."

"So it seems." Orion readied. He readied to fight the incoming wave of corpses, but his attention lied beyond them and towards Sindge. The way his eyes looked spelled hunger and blood, a very familiar feeling he also once had. _'Those eyes…I can deeply reciprocate. Blood Loco Sindge, I understand that pain, as I too wanted blood from another for what he did…'_

* * *

 _Orion fumbled onto his bottom again painfully. His face had a bruise on it from a blow from Demora._

" _C'mon, is that the best you can do?" he threateningly questioned. "How do you expect to defend against wild animals with that power?"_

 _Orion shakily got back up, though he found it hard. "I'm trying…!" He was instantly blown off the crisp foliage floor of the forest by Demora's heavy gauntlet clashing against it with thunderous force._

" _THEN TRY HARDER!" he roared._

 _Orion screamed and thudded on his side. For the umpteenth time, he hit the forest floor with pain. He strained really hard this time to sit back up._

" _You know I don't take pleasure in this. This is for your own good, I hope you understand that."_

 _Orion used a tree sit up on for support. He glared at Demora as his Devil Slayer mark on his right arm was glowing, spreading a thicker virus around him. "Really?" he panted. "I don't think so…" He strained back to his feet, glaring down the demon with half his face with the black virus. "Why else would you try and beat me senseless like this, huh?" he coughed. "This is some kind of sick joke to you, right? Why else would you keep me around? You can just leave me to die, but you insisted on making me learn all these stupid survivalist techniques. Where's the fundamentals in that, huh?"_

 _Demora gave a long sigh to his foster son. "You still don't get it, do you?"_

" _Tell me now!" Orion charged into him with his fist ignited in the dark energy. "DEMORA~!" He closed the gap between them, making a full impact with his fist into him. Instantaneously, a_ _ **Dark Devil's Fist Driver**_ _ignited, swallowing everything in front of Orion in a voluminous blast across the forest._

 _Orion exasperated an exhausted breath as his eyes were covered by his bangs. When he glanced up, his right side was spreading a little more with each raspy breath. The blast wave he realized was stopped bare-handed by Demora, single-handedly very calmly._

" _Why won't you just tell me…why didn't you kill me then?" he pleaded. Demora threw him off to the side, making him floor in pain._

" _I_ _ **saved**_ _you. You may think this is suffering, but I don't expect you to get quite yet what I'm proving to you." He said. "Believe what you want now, but now you can hunt, can't you. That's what_ _ **I**_ _could offer that_ _ **they**_ _couldn't."_

 _Orion laid in pain on the ground. The virus he had on his body began to recede from the lack of magic he had now. He rolled onto his stomach and looked at the ground, wincing in his own frustration._

 _Demora sighed again as he walked over to a nearby plant. He plucked a leaf from a nearby aloe. He knelt down and peeled it. The juice fell onto Orion's face as he sat up and looked away with a grunt._

" _Look, Orion…believe what you want for now, but one day, you'll see what it means to want to be free from suffering. To understand what_ _ **I**_ _want to feel, too." He saw that he wasn't answering him, instead the virus from his marker was beginning to slowly grow again. He chose to give up for now and walked off. "My patience is running thin, son. Soon I'm gonna get tired of all this…then you'll know the hard way what I mean."_

 _Orion was left alone, but he watched Demora's back as he went to rest. Someday, he knew it too that he was going to kill him. He wanted to so bad, so that he could be free. 'I swear, Demora…you really call this love? What does a demon know other than suffering?'_

 _Demora's face was concealed in his darkness he gave off as he walked away._

* * *

' _Demora…thank you. For opening my eyes during that time.'_ Orion roared aloud as he charged with Sting, pulling a dark-coated fist back. _'I didn't then, but I do now. You did save me…from suffering that those people endured. You gave me a chance at finding real peace, and now I am living as how I can now, thanks to you.'_ He pulled his fist forward, swirling dark energy unleashed in a harsh blow. "Find your peace in death!"

Everything went to black and purple as his attack swallowed everything.

* * *

Saying they were at a loss for words would be an understatement. They were left more than shocked to say, though to say their shock outweighed their rising disgust would be a stretch. Thank goodness Wendy and Erik didn't eat well during their flight, because either wouldn't be eating well later this recent news.

Aniya was heavily breathing as she glared daggers at Lia, who was smirking nonchalantly, despite the history afflicting the former. She was seeing borderline red after confronting the lamia that took her sister away.

"She…what?" Wendy gasped.

"My goodness…" Kinana muttered.

Erik glared ahead, narrowing his eyes at the scene. _'So that's what I heard after all. I thought something was messed up about her.'_

Aniya was borderline hyperventilating as she balled her foists. Lia was seeing this anger and decided to mingle with it a little. "Oh dear, what's with the face? You look like you're about to scream."

"YOU ATE MY SISTER!" Aniya horrifically snapped.

Lia blinked. "…wow, you actually did. But did you have to actually shout? I have ears you know."

"I know! But you…" Aniya trailed off, her visors continuing to shield her pain-filled eyes. "You…you, monster. You took my sister…she was the only family I had…and you swallowed her like she was lunch. You make me sick."

"Your sister, huh?" She put an index finger to her chin and looked up. "Sister, sister…let's see…" She thought hard for a moment, but she only drew up a blank with a stupid look. She shrugged. "Sorry, can you be a little specific? I mean I _do_ eat quite a few people that look alike, but-"

"Tabatha." Aniya snapped. "…that's her name. That was 10 years ago." Her eyes squinted fiercely. "In Bermuda."

Lia hummed again with the same finger to her chin. "Bermuda. Now let's see…" She pointed a finger to her forehead. When it touched, there was a rainbow shine as an illusionary wave projected out around them.

Wendy looked at the settings change, growing shocked. "Memory Magic?"

"She must be displaying her memories." Carla figured.

The setting around them fixed. They were standing still in a small town within lush mountains at night. Lames enveloped houses as Aniya stared in vivid horror. Lia tilted her head. "Now let's see, does this look accurate?"

They all fell silent, while many screamed pass them.

* * *

 _It was a recruitment raid. It wasn't something Alvarez did often. They were a still growing nation that prospered, but they needed more men and firepower to support their absent emperor and his Spriggan. To support this, they spread far and wide, even as far as the far southwestern region of harsh humidity. This was Aniya's home, and she and her sister were also targeted._

" _Come over here!" a soldier grabbed a smaller Aniya as she struggled. The young girl squealed frantically as the soldier yanked her harder. "Come on now, don't make it any harder than it has to!"_

 _He was suddenly slammed hard by a powerful plasma whip to the helmet. It dented in so hard it broke his cranium. He fell over with a thud, leaving Aniya to turn back with shock. "Sister!" she gasped._

 _Tabatha, elder sister of Aniya. He had a darker shade of pink hair than her sister that flowed down her back to her shoulder blades, with the bangs separating down the middle. She had pink lipstick and green eyes. She had on tight black leggings and had slick brown sandals that accommodated her green tank top that showed much of her well-endowed bust. She looked to be around her mid-teens and her plasma whip-like magic went back to her slender arms._

" _Tabatha!" Aniya hurried over and hugged her sister's waist. The elder sister knelt down and had a hand on Aniya's head._

" _Are you okay, sis?" she asked. Aniya nodded. "Good." She looked around, frowning at the grim sight. Flames engulfed houses, and people everywhere were being forced into carriages to transport them to the city. It was sickening to watch._

" _Sissy, look out!" Aniya squealed._

 _Soldiers advanced onto her quickly. They rushed her, only for her to turn her arm into plasma and do a full circle, whipping and lashing everyone away._

" _Aniya, get in the bushes!" she said. "They won't find you there!"_

 _Aniya gasped. "But, what about you, sissy?"_

" _Don't worry." She whipped another guy. "I'll be right behind you." She lashed at another one. "These guys are no trouble. They're nothing I can't handle." She looked over, winking at her sister. "Okay? Now hide, and no matter what, don't come down until I say, so okay?"_

 _Aniya was worried, but as her sister whipped more guys, she had to obey. Though scared, she scurried off, getting towards the nearest hiding spot she could find._

 _Watching her sister go, Tabatha smirked. She looked forward at the many soldiers ready to attack. "Okay, who's next?!" she challenged._

 _Soldiers readied to take the girl in, but a shadow slithered from behind. "My, my. What do we have here? A delicious Magic Power I smell?" Tabatha and the soldiers turned in shock. Before them was a younger Lia, who looked a little older than Tabatha. She slipped pass the soldiers and smiled curtly at the resisting mage._

" _Miss Lia, ma'am!" a soldier squealed. "But, I thought you came to supervise?"_

" _I did, but I got bored." She looked at Tabatha, her eyes narrowing on her. "And this one looks like she wants some fun…leave her to me, okay?"_

 _Tabatha readied herself. The other men didn't argue out of fear and hurried off to find more resources and manpower for the empire. This left Tabatha and Lia alone, just as the two wanted._

" _Well now, look at you. You sure got spunk going against soldiers just doing their jobs you know." The lamia chimed. "Now isn't that just a poor, poor image-maker."_

 _Tabatha fiercely glared. "What do you know. Those guys came here burning down our home."_

 _Lia shrugged. "Well to be fair, you heard about the active volcano 50 miles from here, right? Said it was erupting, so is you ask me, they're saving you. So you're saying you want to die?"_

" _That's funny coming from a snake." She barked. "Why should I believe anything you say?"_

" _Mmm, well…" She sat her face in her hand. "That is a good question. Why should you? Well…you could go along with it, or…" she licked her lips seductively. "We can have an alternative."_

 _Tabatha narrowed her eyes as she activated her plasma arms. They wiggled in the air frantically. "I don't know what you're thinking about all this, but I'm not going anywhere with people who think taking memories away is considered saving!" She lashed her plasma arm, sending the whip at Lia._

 _Lia smirked casually. She suddenly teleported away, vanishing before the whip could tap her. Tabatha gasped in shock before Lia reappeared behind her, close to her ear. "Mmm, you sure about that? There's always persuasion~."_

 _Tabatha suddenly turned, lashing horizontally. Once again Lia vanished. Tabatha looked around, wondering where she would end up. She sensed something above, and she went wide-eyed before a magical force erupted in her place. She squealed loudly as she slammed on her back with a thud._

 _From the dust cloud ahead, Lia slithered out with a smirk. "My, you sure play hard to get."_

 _Tabatha sat up. She lashed her two plasma arms, but this time, instead of making Lia burn, Lia's own skin had a hot sensation that caused the plasma whips to sizzle and recoil to Tabatha's sides. She yelped as her slender arms ached with stem on them. "What…that was hot!" she grunted._

 _Lia smirked. "You thought I was hot? Aw, how flattering from a girl like you." She whipped her tail forward, snaring it around her and coiling around Tabatha. The girl struggled as her limbs were constricted tight, and Lia used this chance to ger close and cup her face with a seductive smirk. "But you know…I can make this even hotter if you let me?" she chimed._

 _Tabatha strained to break free, but she found it hard to move. "Gnnngh…let me go you…freak…!" she gagged when Lia used her tail and got a small coil around the neck._

" _Aww, how mean." She cooed. "Here, I see your stressed. What do you say we work something out…" She stared at Tabatha, her eyes making multiple lights that were a hypnotic pattern._

 _Tabatha grunted and tried to break off, but to no avail. She opened an eye, finding an odd light rippling in front of her. Strangely, the longer she looked, the more tranced she got. Her one eye began to copy the pattern, with the other eyes eventually opening and copying the spell._

" _That's it, just relax." She cooed. "I'm not here to hurt you. You can trust me…"_

 _Tabatha's stubborn mind was waning dramatically as she looked into the eyes. She was waning and drowning in the odd sleepy sensation she had and felt her strength fade. With what strength she had, she muttered weakly. "…Ani…ya…help…" The next instance, her mind finally gave in, fully under the spell. She smiled dumbly at Lia as the seductive lamia smirked at her coiled prey._

 _She snickered some as her hypnotic eyes continued. "There…we're all relaxed. Now then, since you were so kind as to meet me, why don't we get to know each other more?" She licked her lips again. "What did they call you?"_

"… _Ta…batha…" she mumbled._

" _Tabatha. Mmm, tasty. Well I'm glad I got to meet you, little lady. Now then, why don't you relax…" She hoisted herself a little higher, hovering above her. They locked eyes as Lia slipped her tongue over Tabatha's face like a snake would and got her scent. It was peachy. "Let's take you somewhere 'fun'. Ready?" Tabatha dumbly nodded. "Good…"_

 _The lamia hovered high over and slowly opened her mouth. The maw began to widen more, enough to almost be 150 degrees. She let out a hot breath as she lowered onto Tabatha, the smiling female staring hypnotically into an esophagus as everything went dark._

…

" _Sissy's been gone for awhile now…is she okay?" Hiding in underbrush, the little Aniya scavenged around in silence. She made sure to stay quiet as she hovered behind bushes and underbrush._

" _Over here!"_

" _I think Miss Lia needs help!"_

 _She heard two soldiers nearby. Instantly she ducked in the underbrush again and waited until they passed. She slowly poked her head out, hearing calls just a few meters away._

" _Miss Lia, are you alright?" a soldier asked._

" _Mmmm, yes. I'm netter than alright." She hummed as she laid on a stretcher. Soldiers carried her along a very longboard, but the lamia had something different. She looked sleepy, but more importantly, there was a rather large, human-shaped bulge in her snake-like lower half. The bulge even wiggled a bit and made her sigh. "This trip was…satisfying."_

" _We'll take you back to Alvarez, ma'am. All soldiers, fall back!" With the command, the soldiers left. They walked off, carrying with them the carriages of people to relocate, and a stretcher for the full Lia._

 _Once they were gone, Aniya emerged from the bushes. She watched them take off, her eyes on the snake woman. She looked confused before she looked down. To her horror and shock, she found a pair of sandals all too familiar to her. She picked them up, looking at them before staring ahead at the bulge in Lia's belly. She then heard something even from ear distance._

" _Tabatha…such a delicious name." the lamia hummed._

 _Aniya's eyes shrunk. Time slowed down as the sandals fell from her hands to the floor. "TABATHA~!"_

* * *

The vision faded, reverting everyone back to the present. Lia snapped her fingers with a smile. "Oh yeah! Now I remember!" she chuckled. "Man, I was still a rookie back when I joined, but they made me come along. Man, what a nice little trip that was! Haha!"

However, unlike her, the others were looking horrified. Aniya was seething ferociously, while Wendy, and everybody else looked like they've seen a ghost. No words could be spoken to make sense of what they were feeling right now. Disgust was one thing for certain. Wendy and Carla were speechless.

"She…she really did eat…" Kinana trailed off.

Erik clutched his fist. "Okay, I know I'm cool with snakes and all…but even _I_ know that's messed up right there." He admitted.

"Aniya…" Wendy faced Aniya, who was shaking in her heels. She was trembling so hard it looked like she was gonna pass out.

Aniya couldn't say anything. She was at a loss for even how to speak. She watched the day her sister was taken from her, again, and Lia was treating it so fondly. Her shoulders shuddered madly to boot. "How…how could you…?" she whimpered.

"Mm, beg your pardon?" Lia hummed.

"How could you…treat it so fondly?" Aniya venomously snarled. Tears kept going down her face, even as she looked up. "That was my sister…a human being…and you treated her like dinner. You're such a sick animal!"

Lia looked honestly offended. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get personal or anything." She defended. "It's not easy to remember every meal. Besides, I only eat once every 2 weeks to a month. So I can only eat so much."

"THAT'S NOT THE SAME!" Aniya snapped. She sulked over, shuddering madly in anger. "You ate my sister…you took her…and you eat more people…how can you be so cruel? How do you sleep at night even?"

Lia sighed. She crossed her arms beneath her ample buxom. "Look, don't get all dramatic. We lamia have to eat something. We're carnivorous, we _have_ to eat humans. It's just survival." She softly grinned. "If it makes you feel better, your sister isn't totally gone."

Aniya gasped and looked up. "She's not?"

"Nope. You see, when a lamia digests something with magic in it, we not only get stronger, but accumulate their magic as well. So I now have your sister's power, among others...so you see? She's not all gone."

Aniya shuddered. "No…"

"So she hypnotizes people in order to swallow them, then gains access to all their magic?" Erik surmised.

Lia winked. "That's right." She pondered upwards again. "Now let's see. If I at maybe 12 to 24 times a year, and multiply that by 29, let's see…hmmm…" She closed her eyes, using a blank space in her head as many mathematical equations showed. It showed she ate someone with numbering magic. She snapped her finger. "Oh! That means I ate about 500 mages altogether. Simple!"

Wendy put her hands to her mouth, shock filtering through her. "No way…"

"You're saying that…she has powers of over 500 mages?" Carla exasperated. "That's inconceivable. Then is that how we sense so much magic coming from her?"

Aniya slowly picked up her weapon again, getting back up. "For 10 years, I've been waiting to find out where you were…" she snarled. "I hated snakes because of what you did…I'm not taking this a second longer!" She aimed her weapon at Lia. "You ready? Because you just had your last meal! I'm gonna avenge Tabatha if it's the last thing I do!"

Lia chuckled. "Aw, that's so cute, trying to avenge someone you loved." Her normal sultry smirk began to grow sinister. "You wanna know a secret? I've met people like you who wanted to get revenge on me, and you know what happened? They all ended up the same…" She licked her lips, implying what she meant. "Now then, since we _finally_ got that out of the way, it's been a few weeks, and I'm starving. So…which one of you should I try first, hm? How about~…you!" She pointed at Wendy. She instantly slithered to advance. She was fast. "Come to me, sweetheart!"

Wendy balled her fists. "Not gonna happen!" She summoned whirlwinds around her arms, swiping her arms to expel a wind that managed to stop Lia in her tracks. With her withdrawn, this allowed Erik to get close and seep poison in his arm.

"Heh, try and eat after THIS!" He punched the snake girl in her snake-like belly, making a powerful force that repulsed her.

"Yes! That affected her!" Kinana chimed.

"Owowowow…" Lia whined, clutching her sensitive belly. "Man, that really stung." She glared back at Erik, her canine teeth baring venomously. "Grrr…so, you fight with poison, huh? I never found that stuff tasty. I tastes like raw lemon acid, and let me tell you, I don't do that!"

"Heh, well that's what you get. Now try this you bitch! HRAH!" Aniya fired another magic blast at her in rapid succession. They all closed in, but they all got so close until one of Lia's magics made them deflect everywhere else. They all erupted in the air around her, and the lamia smiled through the voluminous eruption.

Erik grunted. "She's a slippery one."

Lia smugly smirked and extended her arms down. Her usage of another magic made her mold all the explosive fire and push it downwards towards them. A massive fire wall closed in one them, allowing Wendy to take in a deep breath.

" **Sky Dragon's Roar!** "

A tornado expanded from her mouth, creating a turbulence that managed to nullify the explosion heading their way. However, something was wrong. Lia wasn't in the air.

"She vanished!" Aniya Carla gasped.

"Where do you think she's gone?" Wendy looked around with Carla, both trying to sense where she was at.

Aniya glared in silence, her anger still intense. _'She's not getting away this time! That snake!'_ Her visors began to glow. They suddenly moved to an inferred camera. Everything began to look thermal through her vision. She looked around and saw a slender blur off to the side. "I GOT YOU!" She requipped a medium-sized rifle in her hand. She used it to shoot a straight bolt of magical energy at the cloaked Lia.

The invisible Lia saw the bolt, and she slammed her tail on the ground. The ground suddenly erupted a dust wall, which absorbed the attack to contract briefly before expelling dust everywhere, shrouding everyone again.

"A smokescreen!" Aniya coughed. "Shit! This snake woman *cough*!"

Wendy opened an eye and swiped an arm. She screamed as she summoned more wind to quickly dissipated the dust, only to reveal Lia in midair right over her.

"Come to mama!" she hissed.

"Wendy!" Carla warned.

Wendy was too in shock as Lia was coming down onto her. She drew so close, until something grabbed her from behind and snatched her from her spot. "Carla!"

Using her wings and grabbing her, Carla flew around with Wendy carried. "Wendy, are you alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine!" She looked back down, seeing Li shake her head from that uneven plunge. "But she's very strong."

"We'll have to give it our best shot. You ready?"

"Yeah!"

Wendy hold on as Carla ascended. The Sky Dragon and her Exceed ascended higher and screamed at the top of their lungs. They continued climbing higher and higher, and as they did, a sparkling aura enveloped Wendy as her hair and eyes turned pink. A tailwind picked up as her Dragon Force made them go so high that the palace was so tiny to them.

Once they got a lock, Wendy glared down. "Okay Carla, now!"

Carla let go of Wendy and the girl was allowed free mobility. With her Sky Dragon powers, she pushed against the wind and became a high-speed comet that soared down at Lia.

The lamia looked up, seeing Wendy incoming. "Oh, look at that." She wickedly smirked. "Okay then-!"

As she fell, Wendy suddenly disappeared.

"What?!"

Behind, Wendy reappeared. She punched Lia in the back as she turned around, sending the lamia in a whirlwind across the courtyard into the fountain. The pieces exploded everywhere, surprising everyone with her power.

Aniya looked at Wendy, shock written all over her face. _'How did she do that? Did her magic just get stronger?'_

Wendy glared forward, her pink hair shifting as her Dragon Force surged. She watched the dust dissipate, revealing the lamia stirring in the rubble with her hair silky wet.

"Nnnngh…what…power." She mumbled. "So that's the power of a Dragon Slayer…it's so…" her eyes dilated, her pain rushing to her head making veins seethe around her hypnotic eyes of lust. " _Tasty_!"

"Get her now, Wendy!" Carla shouted.

"Right!" Wendy suddenly vanished, showing her enhanced speed as she appeared behind the lamia.

Aniya's eyes narrowed as she aimed upfront. "You won't get away! For my sister!" She charged up her cannon, shooting a projectile blast at the lamia.

Wendy closed the gap by shooting with all her might. She roared as she stuck her leg out, attempting to kick the girl. With all her might, the projectile and the kick struck at the same time, creating an eruption of wind and energy that swallowed Lia.

' _Let's see her take on that.'_ Wendy thought. Through the winds, her eyes suddenly widened. She felt something inside her leg that surged. In her system, she felt an intense snap, making her pain receptors flare up and try and suppress a scream.

"Wendy?!" Carla gasped, seeing what happened. She along with everybody else was shocked at what they were seeing.

Wendy was in pain as she tried to recoil her leg, but a sultry voice hummed. "I must say, you got spunk. I like that." The winds dissipated. It revealed Lia, her forearm up with the front part shimmering like a mirror. Behind, her other palm was out, sizzling from bouncing the projectile from behind. Lia had a pained look, but otherwise smirked.

"She reflected the damage back?" Kinana exasperated.

"That was too close. You almost had me there. But still…" She undid her magic and seized the pained Wendy, pinning her by the neck into the ground. "Not good enough!"

Wendy gagged again. She didn't realize how physically strong Lia was as the wind was knocked right out of her. With her leg shot and her body in shock, she found herself paralyzed and looking with one eye at Lia.

The girl began to show her hypnotic stare into her prey. "Now, just relax…and all that pain will go away…"

Carla soared downwards. "Leave her alone!"

Lia growled angrily at the incoming cat. "Don't mess with my lunch!" She smacked Carla with her tail, sending her flying.

"Carla!" Wendy gagged.

The Exceed went fumbling across the ground, doubling over until she stopped on her side. She laid in pain, clutching her rib cage as where that was her stricken point.

Aniya looked shocked, but she realized what she was doing. This was her chance. She readjusted and aimed at Lia as she faced Wendy and began hypnotizing her. "Now I got you." She pulled the trigger again, making another projectile blast shoot across the ground at Lia.

The lamia glanced over, her visible seductive look now plastered with annoyance. She teleported away, leaving the blast to swallow up Wendy in a terrifying shout.

"Wendy!" Kinana gasped.

The smoke cleared, revealing the Sky Dragon Slayer flung through the air. Her body glowed, deactivating from Dragon Force as she doubled over onto her stomach. She laid there, balling her fists as she groaned.

Aniya grunted annoyingly. "Gngh! Damnit! Stupid snake got away-!" She was cut up when a shadow teleported behind her. Her body immediately stiffened.

"Oh, how shameful." The lamia chimed. "You know you should really treat your friends better than that." She didn't allow Aniya time to attack before her tail swung. Aniya scowled as she fell over next, losing hold and her weapon requipping away.

"No. Aniya…" Carla grunted.

Lia approached the fallen girl with her face as a shadow from the sun overhead. "You know, you and your sister have a lot in common. You're both pretty big risk takers, aren't do. I'm not sure if risk is appetizing…but I guess we'll find out, won't we?"

Aniya twitched as her body was in shock still. "No…"

Lia went to attack, but she was struck behind again by a double poisonous slash. It made her gag as it revealed Erik, smirking. "Forgot something?!"

"Erik!" Kinana happily chimed. She, Carla, and Wendy all looked relieved.

The Poison Dragon Slayer landed in front of Aniya, blocking Lia off and squaring against him. The Requip Mage looked up, giving him a pained stink eye. "You…what do you think you're doing?" she growled. "I don't need you, snake lover. Get away!"

Erik didn't bother looking at her. "Pipe down. You really wanna die that bad?" his comment made her go quiet. "Look we get it, you hate snakes. That's the moral." He looked back at her. "But don't think that's the only thing that matters. We're here for our reasons too, and as a pain in the ass it is, I'd rather keep my ears to myself than have some chick have my hearing." He smirked at Lia. "So, you wanna go?"

"You…" Aniya glared holes into Erik's back. "Stupid snake-loving bastard."

Lia looked down at Erik, her disposition souring. "Oh look, a male." She groaned. "You know, as sexy as men are to play with, they don't taste that sweet."

"Heh, well who said I was sweet to begin with?" His hands lit up in poison. "I'm a Poison Dragon Slayer after all. I'm anything but sweet!"

' _Erik…'_ Kinana watched Erik step up to the plate now. She saw how brave he saw going up against another snake. And she was here, and she hasn't done anything. With her hand balled to her chest, she knew she had to help somehow. "…Erik, hang on!" she hurried over.

"Cubellios?" Erik questioned.

Lia saw the woman coming to help, her eyelids going halfway. "Another guest?" she sighed. "Well, this might be interesting after all. Oh sweeties~!" She snapped her fingers, beckoning out loud.

As Kinana hurried over, she was stopped when two serpentine creatures slipped pass her and halted her path. She gasped in shock as her path was cut off by two snakes. One was a purple snake with a yellow underside and rattle for a tail. And the other was larger. It was a scrunched by dark blue serpent with red fangs and a sword-like tail.

"My goodness!" Kinana was met with a hiss from the Ekans and the Seviper she faced. They both were looking at her determinedly.

"Hissss! You won't go further, human." The Ekans warned.

The Seviper gave a menacing hiss back. "Sssay your prayersss…" the snake snarled.

Wendy perked up. "Pokémon?!" More pain shot through her leg, making her grounded again. "Gnnngh…Kinana!"

Aniya looked at the two snake that arrived. She was staring at them as her body was shuddering on the ground. _'M-m-more…more snakes?!'_ She looked at Ekans. It looked too small, but she could see it opening its toothless maw. It looked like it could swallow her. A flash of Tabatha showed in her mind. She closed her eyes, choosing to look away.

Erik saw Kinana in trouble, looking back at Lia as she hissed at him. Without any provocation she swiftly slammed her tail into him. At the last second, he jumped to dodge the tail slam. In midair, he shot a leer at Lia, who gave him the same kind of stare back. Her arms suddenly became plasma whips. While Aniya's eyes shrunk at the attack.

"I heard that coming a mile away!" Erik barreled to the side to avoid the lash. She lashed again, but he leaned back and flipped onto his feet. Once he landed, he looked up, meeting Lia in the eyes again.

She gave a retorting hiss before she thrust her palm at him. Using Gravity Magic, she pushed him into the air. She slithered skywards towards him, but as she closed in, Erik had his one eye opened and smirking.

" **Poison Dragon's Spiral Jaw!** "

Landing a poisonous kick on her head, ripples of poison expelled everywhere. She hollered as she slumped to the ground with a pained thud. She opened an eye and watched Erik from above. "Heh, you're sturdier than I thought if you're not decaying from my poison." He mocked.

Lia smirked. "Don't sell a lamia's anti-toxins too short!" She swiped her arm, sending a wave of wind at Erik that pushed him further upwards.

Already high up, he found his momentum. "Gotcha!" He put his fingers down and created a dark orb. " **Poison Dragon's Scales!** " Volleys of scales descended like rain down onto Lia. They bombarded her and the area she was on, causing dust to dissipate.

Within the smokescreen, she grunted as her vision was momentarily blocked. "That little…!" She saw a glint inside the haze, causing her to vanish out of place as a yellow projectile wave shot clean through the attack. She appeared out of the dust wave, glaring.

With the wave ceasing, the figment inside revealed herself to be Aniya. She glared daggers as she cocked her magical projectile again. "Missed." She sniped. "But next time you're dead." Erik landed beside her. "And you…stay out of my way. She's all mine." She huffed with puffed cheeks.

Erik's only response was a smirk at their foe. "Here we go again."

Lia's expression soured as her bangs' shadow hovered over her eyes. "This is really making me work for my appetite. This is going to fill me up for a _long_ while…" Her senses also picked up from the sides, noting and teleporting in time to avoid Wendy and Carla's kicks from behind.

They jetted themselves right beside Erik, all of them rebounding to stop Lia once and for all.

"Wendy, how's your leg?" Carla asked.

Wendy tried to hide the pain, though her leg was severely bruised. "…don't worry. I'm fine." She watched Lia teleport near them again. "But we gotta be careful. Her magic's totally unpredictable right now."

Lia's smirk widened. "How brave. Then let's have some more fun!" She lifted her arms, this time summoning a ring of rainbow fire that swirled around them. They all looked around, realizing they were trapped. Meanwhile Lia licked her lips.

* * *

Kinana gasped frantically as she landed, only to jump again when Seviper slashed her **Poison Tail** on the ground again. The attack caused a dust cloud that separated her and Seviper. Without much room, a long row of **Poison Sting** from the side went at her. Once again she had to evade out of the way. She found herself cornered as the smoke cleared, showing Seviper and Ekans side by side.

The Snake Pokémon rattled her tail to intimidate her. Seviper bared fangs to show her ferocity.

"You're very determined, aren't you?" Kinana challenged.

"Yesss. Our Massster insssissstsss that we do our besssst." Ekans chimed in. "And that'sss what we're doing."

"Against your own will?" Kinana's inquiry was met with Seviper slashing another **Poison Tail** at her. She backed further away, and away further to avoid Ekan's **Bite** that would've gotten her ankle. That last attack made her trip over, now at elevation with Seviper and Ekans.

She looked up with an eye open. As she winced, Arbok opened her maw and red energy bloomed inside. She exerted a high-pitched shriek, revealing soundwaves that enveloped Kinana, via **Screech**. She had to cover her ears to keep them from splitting open.

"Ssssurender." Ekans sneered. "Or we'll make sure massster hasss you nexxxt."

Kinana tried frantically to come up with something, but her mind raced to one thought. _'Erik.'_

* * *

Wendy pivoted on her one good leg, creating a powerful spritz of wind that dissipated the rainbow fire surrounding them. The embers themselves twinkled as she and the others found Lia already within arm's length of the Dragon Slayer. Immediately her snake tail found its way to coiling around Wendy's neck, pulling her in.

Lia held Wendy close as her eyes began to show hypnotic spirals again. "C'mon, this is getting a little tiring, isn't it?" she cooed.

Aniya screamed aloud as she aimed her requipped bazooka. From it, she fired a powerful electrical net at Lia. It got the lamia just as she was looking, causing her to squeal as the netting sent a shock through her body.

Wendy was freed, staggering some as Aniya advanced. "She won't get out of that! That netting nullifies any magic from whoever's inside! No way she's getting away now."

Lia's eyes inside the netting opened. She heard Aniya's claim. With her nails and bare hands, the lamia let out a growl as she mustered her strength to struggle out of the netting.

Aniya aimed another requipped cannon at her. "Now…die you stupid snake!" A torrential blast of fire shot from the opening. It unleashed a blaze that enveloped the net, along with Lia.

The entire net was lit, with char and embers roaring with the lamia's muffled anguish.

As the flames enveloped in front of her, Aniya's glare behind her visors was deep. The orange reflected off the lenses. It reminded her of her burnt down village where she and her sister lived peacefully. Her brows furrowed as she hung her head. "Sister…I miss you…"

"Look out!" Carla warned.

Aniya gasped before the net fire suddenly erupted. An expanding dome of force-like magic sent charred net pieces and fire everywhere. It closed in on her. Wendy quickly came to her aid and swiped her arm, making the embers and char net dissipate.

"Are you okay?" Wendy asked.

Aniya looked shocked. "You…I thought I told you guys to stay out of this!"

"Sorry." She apologized, but glared forward. "But we need all the help we can get."

"But…she took something from me."

"Save it. We already know ya squirt." Erik said. "Besides, she looks like she's wearing down already." True to form, what he said was true. Lia looked like she's used up a lot of her stamina already. She had bags under her eyes; she was hot, sweaty, and looked like her cravings were making her crash. "I say we wrap this up! This lamia's got cold feet!" He pulled his arm back, igniting poison in it. Besides them, Wendy had whirlwinds, and Carla prepped herself despite the rib injury.

Aniya looked peeved as she aimed her bazooka again. "Fine, be my guests…but I'm having this last laugh first!"

With all of them against her, Lia's anger was rising. She sulked back up, panting weakly as her eyes seethed at Aniya and Erik especially. The latter's taste and smell was repulsive. With shrunken eyes, she growled. Above, gravity intensified, immediately flooring Aniya and everyone hard.

"GAH!" Aniya planted on the side of her face. Her visors cracked from the force from the side. She struggled, but no was she getting up.

"She's…using gravity again." Wendy strained.

"That's right~, and one more thing…" She swished her finger like a hand. Above Erik, gravity intensified so hard it felt like he was getting crushed. The Poison Dragon Slayer screamed out in vivid pain.

"No!" Wendy shouted.

Erik's pained cries were rather weak, but even they could be heard through Kinana's covered ears. It was like Seviper's attack wasn't fazing her. _'Erik…he's in trouble!'_ She looked over, seeing with her own eyes Erik unable to stand from intense force driving him into the ground. _'No…'_

Kinana's mind had a painful flash again. She recalled a vision of a giant purple snake with Erik at her center. She could see another with an enemy Arbok against her. It took her a long time to realize what those were, until Fairy Tail came back, when her magic was discovered. She realized who she was, and who was her friend…and she wasn't going to lose him again, not to another snake.

The look in her green eyes started to mold. They started to exhibit slits. _'Erik…I can hear your voice of anguish. It hurts…'_ She looked back at Ekans and Seviper, seeing the attack finally ending. Seeing two serpents made her slowly stand on her feet. _'It took me forever to realize…but I know now. Erik…your voice…is my strength!'_ Kinana's glare began to sharpen. The year's worth of magic she tried mastering finally came to fruition as a purple aura enveloped her body. Her venomous glare made Seviper and Ekans gawk for a moment. They both blinked, before they finally saw Kinana's face concealed in darkness and glaring eyes of a snake. "GRRRRRGH!" she venomously snarled.

The serpent recoiled in shock and slight fear as they shadow a shadow slowly rise over them, hissing.

Erik and the others were caught under gravity at a compressed point. Nobody could move. They all strained as Lia slowly maneuvered over, humming mischievously as she slithered over towards Erik first. "Now, just what do I do with you?" she questioned the downed Dragon Slayer.

Erik glared up with his one eyes. She was giving hypnotic rays, making him close his eye again.

"Aw, what's wrong? Not a fan? I thought girls like me turned on a lot of guys…then again, guys were a bit hard to break down. If I'm being honest, out of everyone here, I think you have the most disgusting magic." She reached down, her tail snaking and holding Erik above the heavy ground with one coil over the neck. "The blue-haired girl smells delicious, and that pinky there isn't half-bad…but you, I hate poison. It's so…distasteful." She tightened her hold on Erik's neck, attempting to run him dry of asphyxiation before he could do anything.

Wendy tried to move, but even she was having trouble. They all were watching in horror as Lia was doing things the hard way. Erik gagged as blood was starting to spray once. Panic was in the air.

"Now, let's rid of this foul air…time for a feast." She dropped him, allowing her gravity to surge again.

As he laid on his back, he opened his eye again, gritting his teeth as Lia raised her tail. She was gonna slam him and he couldn't move. As he saw death, many images flashed in his mind, more specifically his allies. _'Guys…my Cubellios…!'_

"HRAAH!" Lia went to slam her tail with gravity's force, but something harsh bit into her bit. Her eyes shrunk.

Everyone watching was wide-eyed as well. They couldn't believe it. Aniya especially was petrified.

Lia was stiff for a moment before she was suddenly thrown off to the side. She squealed as she thudded against the ground. She bounced several times, bowling into Seviper and Ekans and sending all three into a whirl in the cement. As they laid there, Lia groaned as she tried to get up. "Owww…hey who's the wise-!" Her eyes widened, her heart beating profusely at the sight before her.

Something purple hissed. It made Erik's eyes shrink as well. It even made Aniya's heart pulsate. "…no…"

Something longer than Lia, a giant purple snake with a milky white underside, craned its head and opened its fanged maw. It let out an impressive but shrilling hiss of challenge at the lamia. The opponent immediately got up, her slithering body mimicking the snake's movements.

As the two circled, others were beginning to realize something. "Is that…Kinana?!" Wendy gasped. The giant snake let out a bloodcurdling hiss ahead.

"When did she learn to do that?" Carla gasped.

Erik was at a loss for words. His one eye couldn't be blind yet, right? The Poison Dragon was staring as Kinana – or Cubellios – had finally returned to her other state. She let out a hiss again, moving in front of them to defend. _'It's really you…Cubellios.'_ He saw the snake glance back at him, flicking her tongue once. He fell silent with a smile as he saw her fight.

Kinana exhibited another shrilled roar at Lia. The two circled a little more, until finally the lamia snarled. "Hmph! That smell…how unappetizing!"

She started her attack. Using her hands, she fired a thick blast of darkness at Kinana. The giant snake immediately ducked, avoiding the attack that sailed and wrecked another part of the garden afar. With her ducking, Lia went for a lunge at her, but Kinana moved to the side at the last second. She opened her maw and bit hard into the snake-like lower body of the lamia, picking her up and sending her flying into a nearby pillar. The pillar snapped clean in two, with Lia plummeting on the other side.

From the dust and debris, a pair of devil-like wings expanded and flapped. Lia flew up and sneered as she ascended. "Well, you certainly are strong…but try this!" She flapped the same set of wings, sending crescents of darkness grazing across the ground at Kinana.

The serpent looked up and slithered around the attack as it went on. Parts of the palace gardens again were destroyed by the explosive attack.

Lia lifted her arm up and used an invisible force to lift Kinana into the air. Gravity worked against her as she was immobile, allowing Lia the flap and swoop in after her.

"Alright, how's about a little-!"

A harsh smack to the face struck Lia, causing her to double over in the air. She caught herself and shook her head. Once the haze cleared, she now saw a pair of wings that made her own eyes shrunk. Now it was Kinana who was able to fly.

"You little…" Lia smirked maliciously. Despite her annoyance, she could feel adrenaline work through her. "Alright then…come get some, snakey!" Using more of the magic she digested in the past, her fingernails sharpened and elongated to grizzly nails. She sailed after Kinana, attempting to slash again. Kinana maneuvered and dodged. Lia followed in pursuit against her and Kinana kept serpentine through the air until she got behind Lia. She went to bite her again, but Lia dodged back and continued to glide.

Both serpent woman slithered over everyone's heads, all of them fixated with shock and mild surprise. However, Aniya's eyes were hazy.

Lia and Kinana next slashed and bit. Nails and fangs collided and the two threw each other into the ground. They sundered painfully and made the ground shudder.

As everyone tried to cover up, some were pulling away. But those like Ekans and Seviper knew they had to do something. Slithering on over, they rushed towards the dust cloud, only for Lia's tail to swat them back to the ground painfully.

The lamia arose, her face concealed in darkness. "You…you're starting annoy me~!"

Kinana emerged from the dust, giving a loud snarl as she ascended right back into the air. She and Lia glared daggers before the lamia decided to shoot vines from her fingers. Kinana this time slithered around into a spiral towards her. She opened her mouth to try and bite her. Lia maneuvered out of the way, making Kinana ascend again. The lamia glared and decided to hitch a ride. She held onto Kinana's tail, yanking her back down to the ground.

The snake laid there, slightly distraught while the lamia immediately body slammed her. She used her weight to keep Kinana at ground level, yet the snake slithered in spirals to pry her off. Round and around they went, and she held on. Kinana hissed annoyingly and sunk her fangs harshly into Lia's side. Now it was the lamia who was clung onto.

Kinana spiraled high until she whipped her head down, sending the lamia to the ground. She observed from a weak height as Lia sat back up, looking peeved. "You're making me sick…" She exhibited a cough. Though immune to poison affects, the actual venom was still numbing. "You really are ruining my appetite!"

She lunged again, but Kinana whipped out a trick. She opened her maw, unleashing a blast of pure poison at Lia to push her back. The attack was heavily intense as Lia covered up. Parts of her skin were already patched of decay. Viruses were weak, but she glared back. With a violent shout, she pushed back the magic with sheer wind. The wind made the cloud surround Kinana, keeping her vision blocked.

"How do you like that, huh?!" The poisonous cloud was thick, and Lia readied another attack, but suddenly she heard the sounds of slurping. "What…?"

Inside the poisonous cloud, a pair of blue eyes were seen. They were dull, but he smirked as streams of poison entered his gullet. "You're not the only one who eats magic, too."

Lia's eyes widened. "What?!"

" **Poison Dragon's Fang Crush!** "

The poison cloud immediately dissipated, revealing four fangs of poison reaching back to Erik. Lia leaned back to avoid the attack and looked at Erik. Though battered, he mounted Kinana with a malicious smirk as poison streamed from his entire body. "Just like old times." He mused. "Thanks, Cubellios."

Kinana hissed and looked up at Erik. He looked down sympathetically.

"You infuriating little…fine! Be that way! I got a few tricks of my own, too ya know." Lia suddenly glowed. She suddenly multiplied, illusions of herself spreading everywhere across the garden. "Can you try and take us all on?" they all called in unison.

Erik smirked. He could hear. "I know the answer. Cubellios!"

The snake hissed. The two went into battle flying like a dynamic duo.

Along the sidelines, Wendy and Carla were at a loss for words. "This whole time…I never realized that Kinana was really…"

"Yeah, I know." Wendy finished. They watched as Kinana swerved through the air, dodging wood-like crescents from below. While at the same time, Erik was using his **Poison Dragon's Scales** to smoke out the clones leading to the real one, which was behind a pillar. "She was with us the whole time."

"What a small world we live in."

"Yeah…" Wendy looked over, seeing Aniya. "Aniya…?"

Aniya was looking up with wide eyes. As explosions of poison rained through the sky, her pupils were shrinking and expanding, partially from slight delusions. So many thoughts rushed into her head she watched Erik and Kinana descend, with a bite and slash combo that Lia evaded by teleporting behind. Kinana's tail swatted, sending her flying and hit the ground again. In her mind, it was starting to go too quick for her.

"Aniya…you okay?" Wendy's voice was hard to make out, but the way she didn't respond was unnerving.

Blood pressure arose as her heart raced. Her glance went from Lia to Erika and Kinana. Three snake people; not just any snake – two giant snakes, big enough to swallow someone…someone like her sister. Her mind pulsed with another image of that night when Lia was towed away with a full belly. Her breathing began to grow heavily to where she was sweating.

One heartbeat. Then another. The background around her was nothing but constant thumping that was her own heart. Her dilating eyes were only seething red as she glanced around. It was like she was a wild animal. She looked at Ekans and Seviper. Her blood spike surged. She pooled at Erik and Kinana, again spiking. Then she looked at the one responsible for all this…Lia. The lamia that made her this way. Her beating heart served to increase.

Wendy noticed Aniya's body shaking. The grip she had on her weapon was so tight it looked like it was going to break. "Uh, Aniya?!"

"Aniya! Snap out of it!" Carla cried out. "Aniya!"

All those shouts of her names distorted in her mind. The echoes soon edited, sounding like her sister's shouts for her name.

All at once, it finally snapped. When she saw Lia and Kinana's mouths open for each other, her mental psyche shattered like glass.

' _Aniya.'_ Tabatha's words echoed. Pools of tears streamed down her cheeks.

"HRRAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Aniya's screams of anguish roared as loud as a shrilling banshee. Out of sheer adrenaline and anger for the creatures she loathed, she cocked her magic rifle and began to spout gunfire like crazy.

"Aniya!"

"What are you doing?!"

"SNAKES EVERYWHERE!" she violently roared. She aimed at Wendy and Carla. They hurriedly dodged. "DIE! YOU STUPID MONSTER! DIEDIEDIE!"

Seviper and Ekans heard magical bullets, but they were too slow. A gust of wind blew in front of them, revealing Wendy as she used her magic to create a wind barrier that redirected the bullets elsewhere.

Blinded by her own revenge, the snake hater screamed at the top of her lungs as she fired at the three battling afar. Erik looked over with Lia, both startled at the bullets heading in their direction.

"Cubellios! Move!" he warned. The giant snake hissed and began to serpentine for cover. Lia, however, used her magic and started having shots phase right through her like a ghost.

Aniya was screaming out of fear and anxiety. It wasn't stopping. Wherever she saw, she could only see people who are okay with snakes, or are snakes. Neither was okay. "DIE, ALL OF YOU! SNAKES ARE EVIL! YOU'RE EVIL! HRAAAHH!"

Still covering her nonstop rage, Wendy kept up the wind wall. "Carla, what do we do?!"

"I don't know Wendy! She's acting out of bloodlust! We can't control her!"

The bullets sprayed nonstop, they were targeted especially around Lia. The bullets poked holes in the ground. In the pillars. They were going to nowhere yet everywhere. They weren't stopping. And they weren't going to until they were all dead.

Erik hid behind a pillar with Kinana as bullets passed him. "The chick's gone blank! She's not thinking rationally!" Beside him, Kinana hissed out of worry.

Lia looked over, surprised by Aniya's nonstop bullet attack. "My goodness, dear."

"HRAAAAHHH!" Aniya cried viciously as her attacks blasted everything in front. With Lia the only one in sight, she focused fire on her. "DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE! Why don't you just…DIIIIE~?!"

Lia looked back at Erik and Kinana. She saw that they were completely incapacitated. Despite the slight decay from the poison that was making her drowsy, she knew one remedy that would fix that – a meal. She looked at Aniya, seeing the perfect opening. Still enveloped in her magic to keep her phased, a small snap of her fingers made a small earth wave split open to expel geysers of dust that rushed at Aniya's feet. The spout hit its mark, stopping her for a moment.

"Aniya!" Wendy gasped.

Lia darkly smirked. She undid the phasing and went slithering across the ground at Aniya. "Let's get you some space!" The lamia swiped her arms around, creating a steel dome that had conjoined points reach the top. Immediately it sealed Lia and Aniya off from the others.

"Oh no!" Wendy rushed up, looking up at the metallic dome with shock. "Aniya!" she called her name out, but all she got were echoes in return.

Erik and Kinana slowly emerged, both looking up with shock. "…the hell just happened? That chick just snapped like a twig."

"…I think the trauma finally made her vulnerable." Carla solemnly said. "I think the pressure of all these snakes around made everything just let out."

Wendy frowned. "Oh no…"

Kinana looked down at Erik. She gave him an urging hiss. "Hngh? What?" He was nudged by Kinana. "Hey!" he was pushed forward towards the dome. "Gnnngh…seriously? Ugh. Man, this is a drag…" He glared up. "I know I'm gonna regret this… **Poison Dragon's Roar!** " He unleashed an intense blast of poison from his mouth, gushing it against the metal dome's glossy outside. The poison kept gushing, until finally he let up. It showed that the poison only left a very small spot sizzling. It hardly did anything. "You gotta be joking! Metal?!"

Wendy crossed her arms. " **Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!** " Whirlwinds expelled from her crossed arms. They surged into one part of the dome, but they didn't do anything. "It didn't work?"

"I'm afraid not." Carla said. "It's going to take a lot more than just poison and wind to break through this mess."

"Yeah, well that isn't good." Erik said. Beside him, Kinana was returning to her normal state. "I can hear gunfire inside. She's not doing so hot."

"Now human again, Kinana looked at the dome with worry. "Well, there has to be something we can do…"

"If we don't act soon, I'm afraid we'll be too late." Carla muttered. "She might…"

"Don't say that!" Wendy snapped. "There has to be a way! That roar managed to rust up a spot. Maybe some more will do the trick?"

"Don't bet on it, squirt." Erik said. "My Poison Dragon Slayer Magic can decompose, but it doesn't get that far in an area. Only where it strikes. And against surfaces like these aren't that effective, you know?"

"That's true. This isn't good." Carla looked down, narrowing her eyes. _'There has to be a way to get through there. We only have a few minutes. We can try to find a way over…but if we try going physically, Wendy's leg might do in again.'_

"Well there has to be some way." Wendy muttered. _'But…what would Natsu and Gajeel do? Gajeel would eat his way through, and Natsu would go through it no problem. But my magic can hardly scratch the surface. Erik's poison is barely corroding…if only…!'_ Her eyes suddenly opened, shock running through her body. _'Wait-!'_

Erik looked at Wendy, hearing her thoughts loud and clear. "What the…?" Hearing her plan, he showed shocked. "Wait, you serious?"

"What is it?" Kinana wondered.

Erik looked hesitant to answer. "This kid thinks combining our two elements might work."

Carla's eyes widened. "Wait…you're saying…like when Natsu and Gajeel ate elements not their own?"

Wendy nodded. "Yeah."

"Wendy, I think you got knocked down too hard. In no way am I allowing you to ingest poison from _him_! Especially when it can kill you!"

"But Natsu and Gajeel did." Wendy glared forward. "Maybe I can, too."

Kinana approached nervously. "Wendy, what's going on? Where's this coming from all of a sudden?"

"I think the cat's right. You hit your head in one too many places." Erik said. "Don't get me wrong though, that's not the first crazy thing I've heard in my life, but are you sure?"

Wendy looked down, unsure. "Honestly, I don't know…I think with my Healing Magic I might be able to neutralize it inside of me, but…"

"Then that's enough for us to _not_ let that happen!" Carla exasperated. "Wendy, we have to be rational about this. If we use your enhancement spells, we can-!"

"Carla we're out of time!"

Carla fell silent. They all did.

"I know it's risky, and maybe it won't work…" Her fists balled. "But we can't stop to think at a time like this. You have to take a chance, even against impossible odds…" She glanced at her. "Remember?"

Carla's eyes widened. Her mind flashed back to when she and Wendy went to thwart FACE a long time ago. Wendy has grown so much that she took down the most bloodthirsty of Tartaros, Ezel. Even her haircut after was deep signifying of her resolve. _'…Wendy…'_ Carla thought humbly.

Wendy smiled. "I can do this, Carla. I'm a Dragon Slayer. Trust me."

Carla closed her eyes, giving a grave sigh. "Guess Natsu's stubbornness has got you, hasn't it, Wendy?" she hummed. "…well, only if you're sure."

Wendy nodded. "I am. Thanks." She turned and faced Erik, arms spread out beside her. "Okay, Erik, I'm ready!"

Erik's brow furrowed. "I swear, your guilds crazy, Cubellios."

Kinana chimed a chuckle. "It tends to happen in the best of us. Just look at Natsu and Gray."

Erik smirked. "So I've noticed. Okay kid…" His fists were coated in poison again. "Don't say I didn't warn ya!"

Kinana and Carla swallowed gulps together. They clutched their fists together and hoped for the best.

Erik let loose a loud shout as his fist drove spiraling venom towards Wendy. The Sky Dragon held her ground as her mouth was open, the venom spiraling in…

* * *

"HRRAAAHH!"

Nonstop, bullet by bullet, the magical attacks were being launched from Aniya's weapon in hand into Lia, but she stood still as the bullets bounced off her skin, like it was made of rubber.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE?!" Aniya screamed fearfully. "You snake! Why?1 Why are you still here?!"

Lia's only response was a meager smirk.

"STOCK MOCKING ME~!" She fired one more huge magical bullet. With it so huge, it traveled slower. This allowed Lia to trace it and instead mold her arms into all too familiar plasma whips that swatted the bullet away. It crashed into the ground beside her, exploding to mush.

Aniya was taken back by this. She went to attack, but with lightning quick reflexes, Lia lashed at her, knocking her weapon out of her hands. She looked back, horrified.

"You're letting your anger get the best of you." The lamia chimed. "It doesn't look good on you. It most certainly didn't for _her_."

Aniya's eyes dilated. She angrily requipped another blaster, but like before, Lia knocked it out of her just as fast. Momentarily startled, Lia smirked to taunt her. Aniya requipped again. "STOP IT!" Her weapon was shot out again. "STOP IT!" Again, Lia knocked it out with ease. Over and over, nonstop, Aniya backed away as Lia used plasma whips to continuously beat every last weapon she requipped. Cannons. Rifles. Pistols. Missiles. Net launchers. Every snake-trapping tool need to bait her. No matter what, Aniya was losing it. She couldn't believe her enemy would her magic. Her sister's magic. She couldn't be anymore insulted than she was now. It was insulting to Tabatha as well.

One last time, Aniya turned with another requip, but Lia smacked with incredulous force with just her tail alone. The new weapon shattered like glass, and with it, Aniya fumbled over, her visors falling off her face. They shattered, much like glass next.

The girl laid there, battered, whimpering, and broken down to despairing pieces. Lia moved in, a somber frown on her face as she saw Aniya struggling as streaming tears went down her face.

"…this…this isn't fair…" she sniffled. Tears dripped down to the ground. "Tabatha…Tabatha…"

Lia stared at her opponent's woe with pity. In a way, she could understand what she feels. She may not have had siblings, but she knew from past experience with mages see's eaten that they all share a familiar pain of losing something important. She, too, was craving something. Aniya, craving for the comfort she didn't get all these years. Lia, craving to survive and go on instinct. By no means was it fair to either side. Not in a war like this.

"I hate you…I hate you so much…" Aniya mumbled to the ground. "Just…just die…like she did…" She gritted her teeth, silent tears plopping one by one to the ground.

The sight was getting too pitiful for Lia. She had to end this, and fast. After all, enemies wait outside. She can't take chances. She carefully moved her tail around Aniya's body, snaring her in coils as the girl cried helplessly. Going in circles until completely constricted up to the neck. Aniya's teary face looked at Lia's morose expression.

"…you really miss your sister, don't you?" she asked pitifully.

Aniya looked sadly with a nod. "…more than anything."

"Then perhaps you would like to see her?"

"But…she's gone."

"No, she's still here. She's with me. All you have to do…is just look, okay?"

Aniya knew this was wrong. Every fiber knew this was a trap. Still, something in her heart reached out for its ache. It was a crude fate to come, and yet temptation and need was leaving Aniya to wane. Her teary eyes misted further as she stared at Lia's comforting face. "…okay." She nodded.

Lia smirked. "There's a good girl." Immediately with her prey's will hampered, she started her hypnotic eyes once more. Aniya's eyes immediately started to reflect that same coloration. Her eyes copied her own, the girl's whimpers and struggles calming with every muscle in her body.

The hypnosis was sinking in. Aniya could actually see it. As she looked at Lia, she started to see the figment of what was her sister. Their smiles were so alike, it made her so happy. "…Tabatha…" she happily groaned.

"That's right, your sister Tabatha…" Lia cupped Aniya's face and held her in her coils. She hovered above and smirked. "Just keep thinking about her, and you'll see her…just relax…"

Aniya's closed her hypnotized eyes. She gave in and embraced the reunion she wanted so badly. Lia lowered her head, opening her maw wide and expanding. Her hot breath touched Aniya's face as she inched closer into the incoming darkness…

 _ **CRACK!**_

Lia glanced over. "Ah?"

Another crack somewhere showed. She closed her maw and recoiled away as she saw cracks form on the dome everywhere surrounding her. She looked up, seeing parts of it slowly crack.

She held her hand out, seeing something fall that she caught. When she looked at it, she realized how brown and rusty it was. _'Corrosion?'_ Another crack nearby caught her attention. She looked at it with shock. She saw brown spots show on the insides and beginning to spread like a virus. Her eyes slowly narrowed at the bad feeling she was getting.

 _ **SWOOSH!**_

Outside, she could hear a loud wind hum. It sounded harsh, and it was growing. The more the wind surged, the more it howled. It was a bloodcurdling kind of howl, and even from inside, her nose wrinkled with an all too familiar smell. _'That smell…it couldn't be…'_ she looked down at her hypnotized prey. _'I gotta hurry before…'_

Suddenly the brown spots on the side gave in. The metal dome finally started to piece away, revealing a cyclone that quickly tore apart the corroded metal. Lia covered up to defend herself, but at the cost of losing hold of Aniya. The hypnotized girl slumped to fumbled halts to the side.

"No!" Lia reached for her, but a white blur brushed first, getting her. In her shock, she stared with er back turned as purple winds surrounded her. She smelled a very powerful magic, and it was so good, but the taste of it through the air was making her sick. The longer she processed, the more pieces of metal turned brown, picked up and thrown to various parts of parts unknown.

A silhouette stood behind her, sending a chill down her spine. Lia, slowly turned around, her eyes widening as nervousness got the best of her.

Carla reappeared behind the purple cyclone with Erik and Kinana, holding Aniya in her arms. They all looked forward, seeing a pair of vermilion eyes staring before her. "She really did it…" the Exceed smiled.

Lia's lips parted, her shock too great to handle. "No way…how did she…?"

Purple winds surged around a teen's body. The teen's fists were balled as her skin was the same tone, if not slightly paler. Her hair had also changed color, like Dragon Force. It was now a silky-smooth vermilion, and all around her body, with winds surging, poisonous streams sizzled out, making winds purple. Her vermilion glare was like venom that was exhaled into the winds. It made it hard for Lia to breath.

"The kid's done it." Erik chimed.

Kinana nodded. "She has…"

Wendy's vermilion eyes seethed into the lamia, her strength untouchable. This was Wendy Marvel – Poison Sky Dragon Mode. And she was ready to end this distasteful fight once and for all.

* * *

 **Phew! 3 days, and in overdrive! Man! I went WAY too far with Wendy's part of the fight. I really made it that long, and I'm so sorry about that, but I felt I had to get as deep as possible with this leg of the battles waged. I should be able to make the last part next chapter. I'm hoping no more than maybe 4K, that way I can get the major parts also done next chapter without exhausting near 30K again. But now Natsu has Lightning Flame Dragon Mode, Gajeel with Iron Shadow Dragon Mode, and now I decided to get original with Wendy and give Erik's Poison Dragon Slayer a mix. Behold, Poison Sky Dragon Mode!**

 **I also thought I'd use this chance to give Kinana some time to shine. We haven't seen much of her, but I wanted her and Erik to show how close they were and how badass she can still be as a snake.**

 **Okay, so maybe next chapter will take a while. Maybe a week perhaps? There's a** _ **lot**_ **of good stuff I gotta plan starting tomorrow. Hope you guys stick around for more!**


	17. Bloodcurdling Combat

Purple venomous winds circulated through the entire garden. The plants littered all around them weren't brimming with life, rather, this wind was deadly. The poison killed the plants almost instantly, and the wind centered around the established Poison Sky Dragon as she stared with vermilion eyes at the distressed lamia mere feet from her.

"A Poison…Sky Dragon?" Lia gasped. She looked right into Wendy's eyes. Just her gaze alone was enough to make her eyes burn.

"Wendy…" Carla murmured.

"Carla, can you watch Aniya for me?" she asked. "I'll make sure this snake is kept busy."

Lia's momentary surprise returned to a smirk, her confidence restored. "Well, you're a rather bold one, aren't you? And here I thought _I_ took chances with big catches, but you just-"

"HRAH!" Wendy swiped her arms, sending an intense wind of deep purple into Lia. The wind caught the lamia by surprise as she covered up. Immediately, the winds that were once so casual and harsh before, they felt like broiling acid against her scales. She could feel her very skin burn from the touch.

' _My scales and skin…they're actually-!'_

Wendy jumped from a single foot off the ground, jetting at Lia. Lia uncovered as Wendy's fist collided with her face in a split second. The impact propelled enough poisonous force to send Lia sailing across the landscape and graze into the deteriorated palace gardens. The lamia gritted her teeth angrily and suddenly transformed her body into a gel-like substance. The amorphous creature swerved into a spiral that closed in on Wendy. At the last second, the substance curved around her, attacking from behind.

"Wendy! Behind you!" Kinana warned.

The slime closed in, but the second it touched the poisonous winds Wendy gave off, it slowed it down enough for Wendy to turn and pivoted.

" **Poison Sky Dragon's Wave Wind!** "

A torrential tornado of poisonous air expanded around her, dragging the slime up and away. Within the tornado, Lia was forced into her original form, letting out a cry of pain as her resistant skin was steaming from the harsh cyclone's toxins. Wendy looked up and saw Lia in midair. She suddenly disappeared in a vermilion blur, which ricocheted off the winds and bouncing skywards until she was above Lia.

" **Poison Sky Dragon's Claw!** "

Wendy spiraled in the air continuously and swung her good leg down cloaked in poisonous wind. Lia only served to block at the last second with her forearms and making them reflect like a mirror, but the winds got to the skin milliseconds before the actual foot did. It deteriorated the magic, making Lia open. _'No way!'_ With her in shock, Wendy stamped on her burned forearms, sending her packing into the ground harshly.

As the purple winds dissipated, Wendy landed on the ground on her knee, glaring ahead at Lia.

"That's amazing…" Carla was astounded beyond words. _'This force she's using, Wendy is able to create winds now that can eat and decompose the magic particles in her attacks. That makes it so that Lia can't defend so easily anymore or get close. What a devastating combination Wendy made.'_

"Here we go!" Wendy jetted forward, yelling as she went at Lia.

The lamia glanced forward and glared at Wendy incoming. Keeping track of her, she opened her mouth and expelled a torrent of rainbow fire. The flames gushed out like an explosion that rattled atmosphere around her.

The two forces collided in one another, but the poisonous winds Wendy continued producing were eating away at the fire. The winds were blowing through them, eventually reaching Lia and sending her flying yet again. Wendy remained resolute as her adversary was put on a merciless defense.

"She's really increased her abilities, too." Kinana gasped. Her thoughts on Wendy were drawn away as she looked back at Carla, who was trying to wake up Aniya. She fell silent at the sight.

"Aniya? Aniya! Wake up!" Carla shook her, trying to get her up. Unfortunately it was easier said than done. "C'mon, wake up!"

Lia slid across the ground to an anchored stop. Her slightly eaten nails gripped the ground and stopped her from sliding too far. She glared up at Wendy as she stood mere meters away, yet the winds that were between them kept her from getting too close. "That little…" She had to find a way to get through, but how?

That's when she got an idea. She looked over towards Ekans and Seviper off to the side. Maybe if she couldn't get through, maybe Pokémon can solve her problems. She didn't see why not.

"Come here!" She reached out and used a telekinetic force on them, plucking the two off the ground and dragged over towards her.

"Masssster!" Ekans pleaded.

Lia didn't listen. Her patience was far outweighed by her hunger. She used that same force and threw them both into the winds for a distraction.

In a jet of seeping poison, something lunging in front caught the two snakes, with Ekans screaming and stopping as she found herself around a neck. The person revealed himself to be a certain Poison Dragon that found the chance to take out both snakes.

"Erik!" Kinana chimed.

The Dragon Slayer smirked. "I can hear their fear." He slid to a halt, Ekans over his shoulder with Seviper under his arm. "As much as I love the sound of pain, hearing it from snakes grates my ears!"

Lia snarled at the passing mage, leaving her distracted for Wendy to zip on in and slug her with a poisonous windy fist. It caused immediate decomposition in the cheek as it floored Lia instantly.

Seeing the foes momentarily preoccupied, Carla tried to shake Aniya again. "C'mon…what's wrong? Aniya!" She snapped her fingers to shake the hypnosis off. "Are you awake…Aniya?"

Inside the Requip Mage's mind, it was a dark, gloomy place. It was nothing but black everywhere as she walked around. She was far from the point of hearing anything outside as she drowned in her darkness. "Where am I…?" she wondered. "Sister? Sister?!" She looked left and right, hoping to find her sister somewhere. But as expected, nothing. Her face showed deep depression. "…sissy…I guess you really are gone. Even after all that…"

After she said that, she felt a sliver of warmth on her back. From behind, a radiant light shimmered like an angel.

"No, you're wrong." A voice spoke. "I've always been here…you just hid yourself too long behind those silly glasses, silly."

"That voice…" Turning with a gasp, Aniya's attention was towards the light. She stared longingly at it as its image began to simmer, taking an image of a familiar human being. "It can't be…"

The light finally ceased. It revealed a person around her age, and she was smirking with a hand to her hip. "There she is." She chimed. "There's my sweet little sister."

"Tabatha…" Aniya hitched, tears starting to swell at the corners of her eyes. "Tabatha…Tabatha!" In a hurry, Aniya desperately lunged at her, reaching the light's embrace in a warm and dear hug that she waited so long for.

She held onto her sister as the person softly smiled, holding her sister as well.

"Tabatha…I've missed you so much." Aniya sniffled. "I…I'm so sorry. If only I wasn't such a weakling…then those stupid snakes wouldn't have…"

"Sssshh…no." she hushed. "Aniya, there's no need for you to feel sorry. I'm the one at fault here. It's my fault that you were left alone all these years."

Aniya hugged her tighter than before. "All I wanted was to have you back…that's all."

Tabatha stroked her sister's hair. She was impressed with how long it's gotten. "…was it worth it?"

"Huh?"

"Was what you wanted worth it?" She pulled back, looking her sister in the eye. "Look, Aniya. You're a sweet girl, you know that? It was never your fault that I was food to her. You shouldn't beat yourself up over this…especially for this long."

"But…I just wanted you back." She sniffled.

Tabatha sympathized with her dearly. "Yeah, I've missed you too, little sis…but stay strong, okay? Just for a little longer." She pulled her sister in for one more warming embrace. "I love you. So try and live your life for me? Just try…please."

Aniya sniffled again. She wrapped her arms around her sister's neck and cried into her shoulder. "…okay." She whimpered.

She smiled. "There's a good girl…it'd be nice to let people see those eyes of yours. I know I do." With those words said, Tabatha slowly faded from Aniya's hold. The Requip Mage looked on in shock and slight dismay as she felt the last warmth of her sister finally sink in and fade.

"Sissy…"

"Aniya…Aniya…" a distorted voice called from the distance.

Aniya turned in the other direction. There, she saw another light was she found herself drawn towards. It enveloped her, casting out all darkness and making her see blurry images move around her. One was right in her face. "Nnnngh…wh…what happened…?" she mumbled.

"Aniya! You're awake!" Carla shouted, with slight impatience in her voice. "What took you so long?"

Aniya sat up groggily, shaking off whatever hypnosis was left in her. "I'm sorry…it's just-"

"Look out!" Kinana warned.

Lia unleashed another dark blast from her palms that Wendy managed to dodge. But the blast arched out of bounds and curved into Carla and Aniya. Both girls saw the incoming beam. Carla's heart raced, yet Aniya was petrified with shock. She just woke up and recollected everything, and she was too slow to react in time.

"Guys, no!" Wendy shouted.

Aniya closed her eyes, waiting for the attack to come. However, the longer she waited for a possible end, the more anxious she got.

A cloud collision was heard, but Aniya didn't feel anything. "Aniya!"

Aniya opened her eyes again. When she blinked, she realized she wasn't harmed. She then looked ahead, her heart racing at the sight. Instead of her, a large purple snake with green eyes had spread wings, unleashing a toxic cloud that battled against the black beam. Poison sprayed all afront while Aniya shakily got back up. "You…but why…?" she mumbled.

The dark beam dragged out long enough to dissipate. Kinana also let up, leaving another stalemate. The snake looked back at Aniya to check her condition. As the two eyes stared at one another, Aniya was in a small trance that she didn't find hypnotic. Yet after that experience, she looked at Kinana with a more curious look than one of deep loathe.

"Er…t-thank you…" she mumbled sheepishly.

Meanwhile, back with the battle, Wendy spread her arms around, summoning a torrential wave of purple winds to surround Lia. They wrapped around her like her own coils would, but of acidic winds that decayed even more of her scales. It even held an intense squeeze on her that she would a foe she would normally eat alive. Irony was too deep this time – skin deep.

"We're ending this now!" Wendy declared, intoxicating cyclones whirlwind around hysterically.

"I couldn't have said it better myself!" Lia grew her nails out thanks to some slashing magic. She crossed them, slashing into the winds. But upon crazing, her nails were almost automatically decayed. _'No! My attacks are decaying too fast! And this wind, my body's starting to numb…I can't move!'_

Purple winds surged through the atmosphere around Wendy. With her arms spread, a purple wind barrier flowed like water that trapped her and Lia within a cyclone. The lamia was unable to react due to numbness as the wall contracted around Wendy's arms.

Lia screamed in fright as Wendy moved her arms forward, seething vermilion everywhere.

" **Dragon Slayer's Secret Art Revision – Shattering Light: Poison Sky Drill!** "

All the wind shot in a decaying beam that struck Lia head-on. The lamia unleashed a shrilled cry as the attack blitzed her into a pillar, but the attack kept going and shot across the courtyard gardens and in a straight line through the city. The purple gusts from there eroded into the thin air, dissipating to purple sparkles over the hiding citizens' heads.

Meanwhile, Erik and the others were wide-eyed as Wendy stood in place, her vermilion eyes glaring at the crumbling pillar. The eyes and the hair's vermilion colors soon faded, slowly returning to normal as Wendy started falling over.

"Wendy!" Carla warned her friend. Fortunately, with Kinana still as a snake, she slipped underneath Wendy and caught her. The snake also reverted to her original form, holding Wendy in her lap as Erik and the others converged. "Is she alright?!" Carla snapped.

Kinana examined Wendy, seeing her panting. "I think so…" she hoped. "That was a lot of poison she digested."

"Oh Wendy…" Carla mourned.

In Kinana's lap, a cough came from Wendy. She coughed again, this time spitting up some purple saliva. "Did I *cough* do okay?" she asked. "Guys…?"

"Wendy!" Carla cheered. "Dear heavens! You had me worried sick! What in heaven's name were you thinking back there?!"

"I'm sorry…"

She crossed her arms. "Well can you stand at least?"

"Y-yeah, give me a sec…" She hesitated for a moment, primarily because Erik's venom was surprisingly strong. Her Healing Magic neutralized it for the most part, but all those toxins made her wobbly. "See? I'm fine. Really."

"Well, you most certainly could've fooled me." Carla exasperated.

Erik glanced over, his one eye shooting a dagger at Ekans and Seviper. It was enough to make both submit in displeasure. "So you guys still wanna fight or what?" he asked.

Seviper and Ekans shook their head. "No, we ssssurrender." Seviper claimed.

"Tch, just as I thought." He then looked over at Aniya, who was fully conscious and staring ahead somberly. He could hear her head a little clearer now. The emotions going in her head were hysterical to where she was breaking down. Her mind was completely loophole with seeing her sister again, even for a brief moment. He chose to stay quiet about her moral contemplation.

As they were all trying to have a small celebration, not too far, a mount of rocks were in place of the pillar that Lia was struck into. Like something out of a horror movie, a wrinkled arm shot up, twitching uncontrollably. Its deteriorated claws scratched at the rubble, pulling something out.

Everyone heard a low growl and turned over, seeing something claw out of the rubble.

"You…little…brats~!" The lamia's entire body was completely shaken up as she unearthed herself. Unlike her sultry and seductive appeal before, she now looked no less appealing than an actual snake. Most of her bottom-half scales were chipped, revealing molting blood. Her durable skin was thin and wrinkly. Any normal person would've been numbed at the very least, and poisoned heavily at that. For a lamia of her caliber, she was severely weakened. She was laying on her stomach, slowly crawling over with what heaping breaths she could manage. "I…I'm not gonna rest…until I have one of you…in me…" she adhesively retorted.

As she clawed across the ground helplessly, the others knew she couldn't fight back. Most like Kinana and Wendy almost pitied her. They frowned as she closed in.

"What's wrong? Shaken by fear…because I'm a snake…? Well, I'm just getting started…"

As she closed in, they were about to step in, but out of the blue, straight-faced Aniya walked up, surprising them all.

"Aniya?" Kinana questioned.

The Requip Mage stood facing the lamia, a straight frown as she looked at her condition. Without one word, she somberly saw the anxiety and pity all over her face. It was sad. It reminded her of her own desperation. She couldn't believe she was almost eaten for something like this.

"You…you finally wanna see your sister again, do you…?" Lia shakily asked.

Aniya didn't respond. Instead she picked up the nearest weapon at her feet. A simple pistol she hardly used.

"You must…really miss her…don't you?" Lia shakily got back up, getting eye-level with a hysterical gaze as her eyes started to show the hypnotic patterns again. "…well…come join her!"

"Aniya, look out!" Carla warned.

Lia lunged ahead with everything she had, her eyes working hypnosis in the process. Aniya looked forward and didn't waste a single second to take the hypnosis like before. She pulled the trigger, shooting a simple bullet right through Lia's head. It made a red hole right between the eyes.

Time slowed down as everyone looked shocked at the move Aniya made. They held nothing to say as the mage stood tall and stern as the lamia slowly swayed one way with the hypnotic eyes still on. She fell to her side, thudding hard. As she laid on the ground, the hypnosis eye pattern slowly faded away, revealing regular snake-like eyes that closed for the last time.

A strong silence filled the air as Aniya looked down at the dead lamia. She took a few more paces over and loomed over the body. She stared coldly, looking hard to the snake-like bottom that she last imagined her sister in as a bulge. With Lia finally put to rest, so was Tabatha. The late sister could now rest in peace.

A small tear dripped to the ground. Aniya sniffled as she was finally done. She fulfilled what she wanted to do. She avenged Tabatha. The pistol fell out of her hands as she silently started to weep emotional tears. She slowly slumped to the ground, the tears soon to come in streams as her own peace was finally brought.

The others silently watched, mourning while Aniya was finally freed from the lamia for good.

* * *

The throne room was a desolate place. It has been since the days that the war from almost a year ago came to pass. Even now, when the new self-proclaimed emperor took to his own desires, the palace's air was far from the way it used to be.

Neinhart sat on his throne, having his cheek against his knuckles as he was enjoying the show. Holographic projections showed the many battles taking place over the palace. He had modest surprise with some aspects, while others were making him revel in his little world.

The doors to his chamber opened. Yajeel slowly walked in, giving a modest bow. "Your majesty."

"Eh? What do you want old man?" the emperor begrudgingly asked. "Can't you see that I'm busy?"

Yajeel looked up and saw the many holograms plastered in front. In one, he saw Natsu with his group darting down a random hallway. Another one showed Gajeel and Macbeth getting everyone captured earlier up on their feet. The enemy was making their comeback, he saw that. He chose to disregard and continue.

"Well?" Neinhart impatiently asked.

"…my humblest apologies. I wanted to inform you that Glynda and the Machia Knights that we have sent out have finally left the city confines. They should be scheduled to be there within the next hour."

Neinhart looked back at his screens, giving a grueling sigh. "Is that all?"

"No, your majesty. The communication interception program has also been functioning at full capacity, just as you asked. We were able to intercept any perceptive thoughts thus far."

"Good." A soft snicker let itself out as he saw another lacrima screen. It showed Mest teleporting to another part of the castle, only to fail in finding someone there, too. This was entertainment. This was Neinhart's passion he sought. "Let's see just how much more fun this can be when they can't communicate properly." He said. "Like little rats…it's almost pitiful if you ask me. Hehehehe."

Yajeel didn't approve of this, but he had no say, less he'd lose more than just Neinhart's unchecked ire. He politely bowed once more. "Then shall I be dismissed, sire?"

"Do what you want. Just make sure that you leave that Nic and Lady Erza to me…I want to have my own entertainment as well."

"As you wish." With that, Yajeel bowed and slowly retreated behind the doors, closing them. Neinhart was left alone, looking at the screens tirelessly.

"You hear that, Lady Irene? You'll be seeing your retribution first-hand."

On the other side of the doors, Yajeel let out one last sigh of grief. He somberly pitied what the empire has become, but he had no power. He knew it had to be stopped somehow. He looked out the window, seeing the blue sky beginning to cloud up overhead.

* * *

" **Jiu Leixing!** "

Jellal summoned forth nine blades of lightning in midair, directing them all into Pluto beneath him.

Pluto did nothing as the planet-like figments around his body moved in his place. Each one slipped passed him and intercepted each sword. They used a gravitational force to keep them all in place while Bellona slipped in from the side with dark galaxies spiraling in her palms.

" **Nebula Hold!** "

She swung her arms, but Pluto's perception was too deep. Just a mere glance made all nine planets follow in a loop, dragging the swords like ragdolls that intercepted Bellona's attack. The blades got so close she was forced backwards and landed on a knee.

Pluto redirected the planets back upfront, but their patterns was different. They instead withhold a ring-like base and began to spin swiftly, using their gravity to propel the blades back at Jellal. Thankfully, Jellal encompassed his body in **Meteor** and dodged them. He swerved into an arch and showed himself for a brief moment as a fist was reeled back, ready to jab from the side.

Time slowed down, but Pluto didn't seem fazed. "How interesting…"

Jellal followed through with his attack, but one of the planets around Pluto zipped pass him. It pulled Jellal's fist away at the last second with gravity. "What?!" He didn't have time to react as a second planet-like sphere moved in front of his other hand. Using their strong gravitational force, they ascended, holding Jellal's fists and upper body higher and higher away from Pluto.

"Jellal!" Bellona shouted.

Jellal struggled to break free of the hold, but it served no help. The unknown gravitational force the rocks had were making it so his upper body was rendered useless. Suspended, he looked down, finding Pluto still unwilling to move from that one spot.

"Before there was life, there was nothing." He spoke poetically. "Just an empty cosmos of endless directions. Untapped by anything that could possibly contaminate it."

Bellona created two dark galaxies in her nails and swung them skywards. They sailed swiftly and gracefully pass Jellal, getting behind him to converge to one point. Once there, they created a dark explosion that expanded, projecting enough force to free Jellal of the planetary clutch and send him into Pluto's direction.

"Purity is as finite as resources." He reached out, using one planet to block Jellal and used anti-gravity to push him away. Bellona came next, swiping with galaxies that even more planets were able to intercept. "One land can only hold so small a population, before the resources are used up. Thus, expansion is required, otherwise may collapse fall."

Jellal made his signature stance, creating balls of light around him that he commanded to go skywards. They circled with a golden tail behind each one until they became a bright shimmering star over his head.

" **Pleiades!** "

The many golden bodies shimmered brightly before separating once more. They shot down like meteors that closed in on Pluto as fast as actual meteors.

Moving one hand in front, all the planets he controlled moved to the front, clumping so that all the falling stars were targeted for them instead. Once the lights made impact, a bright golden flash enveloped the space between Jellal and Pluto. This was the distraction Bellona needed to get behind again with a galactic spiral in hand. _'This is it! All his planets are used up. I have to hurry and-'_

Pluto didn't have to know. He just felt. The planet told him. With two fingers like a ninja sign, he waited for when Bellona was close enough to get her. The ground behind him cracked, getting Bellona to glance down in realization. It was too late as Pluto summoned forth rocks from below, sending Bellona sailing backwards again.

"Bellona!" Jellal exclaimed.

The light finally dissipated, leaving the planetary spheres to orbit around Pluto once more. "Enlighten me, how is it that this planet has been alive for so long?"

Jellal stared bluntly. He looked over and saw Bellona stir back up. He glanced at Pluto again.

"Why do we have one moon? Why do we thrive on just one planet? Have you ever stopped to think of those questions? You see, there are other planets and galaxies, as far out of reach as untamable power. There are planets with two moons, perhaps three. And there are planets so large they could be seen in the skies of other neighboring planets. And yet, why so close…why are they so far?"

Jellal and Bellona zoomed in the attack from both fronts. They zoomed in just mere feet until one planet went around Bellona, dragging her away by gravity and coming around, dragging and tossing her into Jellal. He felt surprised and slid back as he caught her bridal style.

"Bellona, you hurt?" he questioned.

Bellona stirred in Jellal's arms, groaning softy. "Gnnngh…his magic…it's like he manipulates gravity."

Jellal glared up again. "Yeah, I've noticed." He saw how Pluto hadn't even moved from his spot still. _'He's conducting his magic into those spheres. They seem to be his overall defense and offense. Then where does that leave his own body?'_

"Like two lovers, gravity and human spirit can push and pull them apart. Time and space itself is but astronomical means that these two fates can intertwine. Enlighten me, do you know what I am saying?"

Jellal and Bellona looked to each other for answers. In a sense, they could've sworn that he meant them. It was flattering, but otherwise a little embarrassing. Shaking those feelings out, Jellal started to get a sense of what he really meant. He said it.

"Nic and Erza, am I right?"

"Precisely. Two faces of two different worlds, combining to recreate a cosmos that has been changed by their force alone." He looked up towards the sky, seeing the sun about to be blocked up entirely by clouds. "I was a man who studied the art of astrology. I have dedicated myself to studying everything there is to know of extraterrestrial confines, even if it makes my whole life pointless in the end. The knowing of such unexploitable inhabitants was a passion even I couldn't ignore."

"Studied astrology?" Bellona questioned.

"So then that means you're familiar with celestial constellations then." Jellal deduced.

"Beyond that. I always knew there had to be some kind of life out there…never did I look too far to realize that there was another galaxy – no, another universe, that proved me right. Now, as one who is a Spriggan and a governor of the heavens themselves, I make it to now how these two worlds came to be. _That_ is my purpose." He used two fingers to send three planets around him at Jellal and Bellona. They glided over the ground and zoomed in until they did a sudden U-turn. Their gravity caused the courtyard ground beneath to be picked up and send shards of concrete at them. Jellal and Bellona easily separated and dodged.

Off to the left, Jellal glared. "So you find it an obligation to figure out Pokémon?"

"It's my obligation to understand why they were there and not here." He phrased. "Why did the celestials leave such power…such gruesome power…to one planet…to one man? Why did the stars go out in the sky for seven years? That time of disbelief and understanding, to this day it is a puzzle in astrology that even I cannot understand!"

He put his palms together, making the planets return to orbit and become a perfect ring at his knees. He remained passive as the planets were all beginning to slowly rotate close to the ground.

Bellona's eyes narrowed. "What's he doing…?"

Jellal stared as he watched Pluto work his magic. The ground beneath the planets began to slowly crack apart, chipping off pieces of debris and courtyard that gathered around each individual planet. The faster they rotated, the more rocks were picked up from around Pluto. Until finally, Jellal saw it. "…Bellona, move-!"

" **Graviton Field!** "

Separating his conjoined hands, the planets all rotated at monstrous speeds to give the illusion of an asteroid belt. The small pebbles and dense rocks carried by each one went in all directions. Each single rock had to the power and capacity of a bullet that punctured the ground. Dust scattered everywhere as nearby pillars were shot down in an instant. Jellal rushed in front and used his magic to recreate a golden shield made by his magic. Some pebbles clanged against it, but as more kept coming, cracks began to show along the shield.

Jellal winced as one stray pebble grazed pass his cheek. A scrape of blood was on his face as it zoomed into to ground far back. Thankfully, Bellona was given enough time as a cynical purple eroded around her, the land beneath shaking profusely as she gathered up her magical pressure.

" **Sentient Bolt!** "

Just as the wall shattered, an immense pillar of dominating pressure sprouted from out of nowhere. The presence of a goddess with accents inside of it reveled itself. The pressure was so strong that any of the incoming stones were immediately repulsed, sent back towards Pluto as the shockwaves ripped across the ground.

As the dust cleared, Bellona and Jellal were seen standing beside one another, both staggered a little.

Inside the dissipating dust, the sound of a voice spoke. "So you see…with this power, these Pokémon will help reshape the meaning of astrology." The dust dissipated, revealing Pluto unscathed. His glare was as deep as a black hole. "It is my ambition with the emperor's will that we shall show both worlds what retribution is. My own…is for the stars that I could not examine."

Bellona panted weakly from that exposure of magic, but she persevered. "Jellal…"

"I know, Bellona…I have a bad feeling about this."

Pluto pulled out two Poke Balls from his priest sleeves. "Now, come forth, those who define the sun and moon!" He tossed up the two Poke Balls, summoning forth two Pokémon beside him. One was in the shape of a sun, and one other was like a crescent moon with a beak.

The Solrock and Lunatone glared forward, both passively calm while Jellal and Bellona glared.

"May the cosmic judgment be upon you!" Pluto reached out, commanding both Pokémon to brace for their turn to fight.

* * *

The hallways was desolate in the decrepit castle that was no longer a proud place to be. It's within one of these many hallways did something appear. Teleporting, Mest and Ralts found themselves filling that gap. Just them. Again.

"Looks like another dead end. Great." Mest sighed. He was getting really sick of all this. He lost count as to how many times he teleported around the palace, but it was the same result, no matter what. "Finding anything yet, Ralts?"

Ralts banged his head against the wall like a woodpecker. He banged so hard that he was making small indents. He only stopped to face him and shake his head before resuming his migraine-inducing habit.

"Not you either, huh?" he rubbed the top of his head. "Well this is getting us nowhere…"

Unknowingly, he was watched. He and Ralts were unaware as a shadow with a head looked from afar. It got Ralts' attention.

"What is it?" Mest looked over, seeing a shadow. "Who's there?!"

The shadow began to gradually grow in size, catching them by surprise. "Relax. I'm not here to fight." A voice called out.

' _That voice…'_ For Mest, he recognized it well enough. His defenses dropped again. "Hold on, aren't you…?"

Emerging from the shadows, the black figure showed his true coloring. It was Rogue, and he seemed grateful to meet someone else.

"Rogue?!"

"Apologies. I didn't mean to startle you." The Shadow Dragon Slayer responded. "It looks like you came alone then?"

Mest calmed down. "Yes, I'm afraid so. I was teleporting around to find anyone…unfortunately, this castle's like a maze."

Rogue glanced down the corridor they were in. "I know what you mean. That blast caught us all off guard." His eyes narrowed. "And unfortunately, I can't even find Frosch in this place. You're the first person I was able to come across."

"I see. Then for now, I think it's for the best we try to stay together. Knowing the others, they might have already found others and are forming large parties. That'll make tracking their magic probably easier."

"Understood." Rogue nodded. He wanted to find his members as fast as possible. He knew Sting could take care of himself no problem, and Lector wasn't that dumb either. Minerva wasn't even worth the time because she's that competent. However, what really freaked him out was Frosch. Heaven knows what the ditzy Exceed may have gotten himself in? He could be captured for all he knows…or worse! Images of Frosch being found by Nic and Greninja flooded Rogue's mind. Red showed on his shuddering face as he could see Greninja holding him while in his little Greninja suit. It was so adorable it was sickening. _'No…no…NOOOO~!'_ he despaired. _'DAMN YOU, GRENINJA! DAMN YOU!'_

This action, however, wasn't unnoticed by Mest. "Uh, hey…you okay?"

"I'm fine! Let's hurry! Who knows what's happened to Frosch?!" Rogue immediately dashed one way. It was like determine exploded out of the blue for him.

Mest blinked. _'What's with him all of a sudden?'_ He faced Ralts. "C'mon. Let's get going."

The conjoined team thus rushed down the hallway, hurrying towards darkness awaiting them.

* * *

Solrock ascended into the air a few meters, letting outa shrilled cry before the head rock glowed a bright orange. From the headpiece, a spiral of smoldering fire went at Jellal. The mage went speeding right towards the fire, using **Meteor** to blitz away at the last second before impact.

Jellal reappeared above Solrock, making it look up moments before a foot planted on its head, sundering the Meteorite Pokémon.

As Jellal zipped back into the air, he found himself followed by Lunatone as the moon was already in midair. The Lunatone created a dark pink orb of energy in front of the beak, which fired many beams that zoomed into Jellal.

" **Pleaides!** "

Jellal swiped his arm to send more golden arrays of beams at the attack. The two attacks met in the middle, creating a pulsating explosion of light that caused both to come to the ground. Although Lunatone only got a second's grace before a few glints from the sky caused it to look up. It saw a few stray sword come down for it.

Jellal used this to his advantage and cloaked himself in his Heavenly Body Magic. He blindsided Lunatone so fast it couldn't keep up. "Sorry about this!" He stamped his foot into Lunatone's backside, sending the crescent moon twirling skywards in a panic. It was so out of control it couldn't escape the residual blades that exploded upon impact.

In a streaming smoke cloud, Lunatone fell like a meteor, crashing into the ground harshly. Jellal appeared on the ground and glared forward. He watched the dust clear, revealing Lunatone and Solrock slowly eroding back up. He readied for another round.

Meanwhile, Bellona braced herself as more pebbles and rocks were shot at her at bullet speeds. The planetary ring around Pluto shot them all at her, giving her no room to attack as she used her Nightmare Magic to make a swirling galaxy shield.

' _He's keeping his distance from us. He mustn't want us to get close.'_ She figured. Suddenly she got a bad feeling. When she felt a heavy force behind, her glance went back as a planet was there, staring down her back. Her heart raced. _'He snuck one around me.'_

Pluto reached out. " **Gyro Hemisphere!** "

The planet began to spin incredulously. Much like a familiar Steel-type move, a small blue ring enveloped the outside of it, creating a ring like Saturn. The planet spun into Bellona, but she pivoted on one leg and used her other arm to create another galaxy wall. The dark spiral stopped the planet, keeping it from ploughing through.

Pluto's eyelids narrowed. "I have other ways to search you know."

Bellona was too distracted to realize. It was too late when planetary hemispheres surrounded all her sides, having familiar gyro rings around them. She didn't even have time to register her own shock before they crashed into her, creating a powerful eruption of dust and darkness by her own magic.

Bellona screamed in pain as she crashed onto her stomach, facing away with an aching body.

"Bellona!" Jellal yelled. He was so distracted he almost forgot to dodge another spinning flame.

Bellona strained to give herself support, but Pluto gave no care as the planets around him returned to orbit. "Your will is too weak." He said. "If you wish to pass judgement, then prove thy self!" He shot all the hemispheres at Bellona again. They congregated onto her, surrounding her every side with gyro magic rings reenergizing.

Bellona wasn't going to take that. Her fingernails clutched the ground. Her eyes shimmered for a flashing second as everything went white.

" **Goddess Bellow!** "

A shockwave of intense energy erupted from her body. The landscape beneath expanded as a dome of Divine Empress Magic was expelled from her body. It enveloped all the planets and shot them away, much to Pluto's surprise. The shockwaves even went as far as making him cover up as dust went pass him.

In the skies in his **Meteor** again, Jellal looked down, noticing the massive dome of magical energy beneath. "Bellona…" He abruptly saw an opening with Pluto covering himself. _'An opening?'_ He suddenly saw Lunatone and Solrock blocking his path.

He had to hurry. He didn't have a second chance after this. He furrowed his brow and suddenly jet in a light spritz. He was so fast that Lunatone and Solrock were unaware until Jellal's passing made a shockwave between the two, separating them.

The mage let out an intense scream as he descended at the speed of a meteor. Pluto looked up in shock as Jellal descended onto him.

' _This is it…right now!'_

Jellal flipped and went feet-first into Pluto's head. The impact in conjunction with his magic made a momentary shock freeze in place before time sped up with it. An eruption of earth and light swallowed up where Pluto was as Jellal sprung back into the air.

Above, Solrock and Lunatone got the perfect backshot of Jellal. Solrock readied another blast of flames, as with Lunatone with an intense pink orb.

"NOW, BELLONA!"

"Right!" The explosion of energy finally dispersed. The pulsating waves dissipated completely to reveal Bellona with galaxy spirals in her clutches. She looked up, seeing Solrock and Lunatone focused on Jellal and not her. _'We're sorry for this…'_

Solrock and Lunatone fired. Jellal flipped in the air and somersaulted. Bellona swung with her hips.

" **Nebula Hold!** "

She threw the galactic spirals up at Lunatone and Solrock. She accuracy was almost spot on as they were staring at Jellal. They didn't realize it before it was too late. As they turned, dark explosions swallowed them, making a black smoke cloud in the sky. As Jellal fell from the height, so did Solrock and Lunatone. He landed next to Bellona, while the other two crashed into the ground harshly.

As the dust cleared, both were laying on the ground, wincing and stirring like they were having a bad dream. In a way, they were. Bellona's magic was going to have them occupied for sure now.

Jellal faced her. "Bellona, thank you."

The Nightmare Mage flashed the other blue-haired man a smirk. "My, Jellal. How flattering of you."

Jellal maintained his calm as they shifted their attention towards Pluto.

The planets all hovered over a breach within the dust cloud. A raspy cough made it confirmed someone was inside of there. Slowly arising, Pluto coughed again as his body was seen with a few scratches. Otherwise, his old body was hanging in there. Jellal wasn't amused to see him like this, and neither was Bellona.

"I must…admit…" Pluto coughed. "You…surprise me…Jellal and friend. There aren't many who can hit me so fluently. All honesty, I'm impressed."

"Your impressions on us aren't in the very least our concerns." Bellona stated firmly.

Pluto chuckled. "No, I can imagine not." He shakily got back up. "Not one person of this world can understand what it means."

Jellal's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"To have every fabrication you know being altered at your expense. Logic is the base that holds a person's entity together. To have that taken is like taking your own life away."

Jellal and Bellona looked at each other confusedly before Pluto went on.

"A scholar I was, a fascinate of the stars…when I was but a young lad, what thou ever wanted was to know what life was beyond our world. Each twinkle was a life yet to be exploit. Dedicated I was, studied I have, in order to know our world's great astronomy. We as humans want to survive…but what good will it do if our population rises? We need space. Space itself is that very answer."

"So that's why you chose astronomy?" Bellona inquired.

"Yes. Search far with the telescopes I have, seeping into quasars to find stars and any planets reminiscent of our own. I thought I came close…that is, until the stars went out, for those seven crusading years. You remember them? Don't you? The darkness that shrouded the universe…all because it came from a planet that I have yet to discover…" the tone he was giving off was beginning to grow dark and remorseful. "If I had known, then with the power of Pokémon and stars, the worlds I sought so curiously for could still be sought, even in those times."

"I understand how you feel."

Pluto looked at Jellal with surprise.

"Believe me, you're not the only one who thought so highly of an outcome. I'm sure many of us reciprocate…as do I."

"Jellal…" Bellona muttered.

"Every single person, no matter where. Suffered. It was not in your power to begin with, as it was not mine, nor the Council…or perhaps Zeref and Acnologia even…but you must understand. The past is but history. Dwelling on what could have been won't bring you forward."

"…no, you're absolutely right." Pluto glared up in a dreading silence that followed. "…but the Pokémon world's technology will."

A second wave of shock went through Jellal and Bellona.

"Perhaps the power we of Earthland had was of no bounds, but the land from which Nic Pularis and the few who have come over, we saw when we spectated the conference. The technology. The advancements that this strange world of familiar qualities has. Why, I've heard rumors even that they can build ships that can send them into actual space. Now tell me, why don't we have that? With such potential, I would be able to locate a home beyond reaches, and create a world from there; a continual network that will bring many more to reach. This shall be the _true_ binding of the universe, the way I saw it."

Bellona's glare hardened. "So that's it…now I understand. If you were to take the Cambire Foundation's as associates, they'd have the technology needed for your over-the-top desires. I don't know whether to consider that a gamble, or a selfish turn wasted."

"So that's why you joined the Spriggan." Jellal noted.

"Precisely. Whatever it takes, now with the power of Pokémon, my dream shall finally be realized!" He turned towards the Solrock and Lunatone sleeping soundly. Within the area of which his planets orbited, they all went above their heads.

The nine planets aligned themselves up like a pillar, with the sun's last rays still peaking over the incoming clouds. That last ray shimmered, making a powerful cosmic chain as the small planet-like hemispheres glowed. The rays became a pure beam that compressed with each planet it went through. It enveloped the Lunatone and Solrock, stopping them from stirring. They both opened their eyes, finding out they were awake.

Bellona's shock was evident. _'What happened? Did my Nightmare Magic get dispelled?'_ She looked at the planets as they hovered back to Pluto. _'Did those planets actually nullify my magic?'_

Lunatone and Solrock also floated in front. Pluto directed them at their foes. " **Confusion!** " Both their eyes glowed and a telekinetic aura surrounded them, which reflected on Jellal and Bellona, immediately anchoring them against the ground.

Both mages found themselves pinned down by the force provided. As shocking as it was, even Jellal was unable to escape this time.

"I suppose now is as good as time as any to tell you what my magic is." Pluto said. He gestured to the nine colorful planets around him. "You see, the power I handle is that of Planetary Magic. My magic…is that of which fell to Earthland's reaches eons ago. I discovered an archeological crash site that dated back to 500 years ago. It was very small, but within the earth, I found what were pieces of the moon."

Jellal gritted his teeth as he strained. _'The moon…?'_

"By adding lacrima to give the moon pieces a sense of gravity, and adding natural elements, I can give them composition and control them at my very will. It is with this power, and the power of Pokémon, that will give the empire something greater than power. That…is knowledge!"

Jellal glared up. "His fundamentals aren't sound in the slightest. He's right, we can't understand."

"Then I _would_ say his mind is up in the clouds…but it's too high to even recognize." Bellona stated. "His astrologic ideals are poor it's sad." The longer she stared, the more she stared at the many pieces of the colored moons he had. _'But still, to think he was able to implant magic and used lunar power…so that's why my magic was nullified.'_

Pluto raised his arms overhead. "Now…I shall show you proof that true power lies beyond our planet…" He slowly raised his head, glaring up at the sky. "Behold!"

Jellal and Bellona turned their heads well enough to get a glimpse of the now clouded sky. They could feel an unfathomable magical pressure that was weighing them down harder than the Lunatone and Solrock were.

"What's…happening…?" Bellona strained.

Jellal's eyes narrowed.

Pluto entire body looked like it was convulsing as the nine spheres around him were slowly orbiting like a ring once more. They slowly rotated as they went clockwise. The speed increased s each glowed a powerful different color. The colors moved so fast they looked like a rainbow ring. Like them, Pluto's own eyes shut before opening. They too were rainbow.

…

Within the atmosphere, in space's confines, a very small rainbow glint was seen on Earthland. Far up, the moon close to earth did little to nothing. At first it was stationary, but in a very, very small area, no larger than what could be the size of a football field, a rainbow glow enveloped it.

The rainbow area suddenly cracked once, then twice. It looked to be pulling away…

…

A short while had passed, and Pluto continued to surge his magic through the lunar pieces fragmented above him. Jellal and Bellona were straggling incredulously. The weight of the telekinetic force with the heavy magic pressure was making it hard to breathe.

Bellona coughed. The pressure was already too much to take.

"Bellona…" Jellal's worries were short-lived as he heard a small rumble. It sounded oddly like a jet engine, and yet the sound sounded more enflamed than technology racing through the sky.

Far away, still barely reaching the city's limits, Ajeel was walking a little better than before. It was here he heard that strange sound as well. He looked towards the sky, hearing a loud, decimate roar. "This magic…" his eyes widened in realization. "Pluto…?"

In his throne room, Neinhart smirked. "My, looks like Pluto sure knows how spoil this. What better way to give show a little life…without fireworks?"

Both members of Crime Sorciere looked up in shock. Not just them, but members inside and outside the castle were feeling an intense rumbling from outside. It distracted them briefly from combat and running long enough for them to question what was happening.

"Now you will feel the power of the moon itself, and all of its divine power." Pluto stated.

Jellal couldn't think of what to say. Neither could Bellona. They stared wide-eyed as the clouds above swirled and slowly eroded away, revealing the blue sky. However, the sky had many rainbow glints, and they were coming down with fragments of white rock the size of them crumbling from a bigger slate and falling down onto them.

' _It can't be…'_

' _Impossible…'_

Pluto brought his hands down, guiding the attack to roar and close in on Jellal and Bellona exclusively. The pieces were far from ordinary.

" **Absolute Planetary Magic: Selardi!** "

The very thin crust of the moon's already thin pieces were expelled in that small area. And yet, to control such magic was breathtaking to Jellal and Bellona. So much that they almost forgot their current situation. They were pinned down, unable to escape as Lunatone and Solrock were pinning them down.

"Je…llal…" Bellona strained she turned towards Jellal.

Jellal could see it within her. He could see the consoling levels of fear she was giving off. The heavens were literally roaring as they sent fragments of moon rocks down at them. Against such magic, he was gritting his teeth as well.

That is, until he got an idea. "…Bellona, hurry! Make an illusion!"

Bellona's eyes widened. "What…?"

"If we can distract them long enough, their focus will deteriorate! Hurry!"

Jellal had a point. Bellona could see it. If she could use a spell to divert their focus, there might be a chance to get away by the skin of their teeth. As degrading as the alternative might be, she couldn't despair. _'Jellal's right. What am I doing? I can't give up now.'_ She glared at Lunatone and Solrock. _'I have no intention of expiring…at least not now. Please Jellal, give me your strength!'_

"May the heavenly judgement be upon you!" Pluto rejoiced.

Concentrating, Bellona focused hard on Lunatone and Solrock. Her eyes began to narrow with a dark tone to them.

" **Living Dread!** "

Lunatone and Solrock pressed them when suddenly the atmosphere around them darkened. They both looked around to find a cold chill shrilling around them. It was disorienting.

"What's…happening?" Solrock murmured.

"I don't know." Lunatone responded. It looked forward to see Jellal and Bellona unable to move, yet in front, materialized and growing, it and Solrock saw an amorphous creature slowly erode in front. It gave off a sinister red aura that paralyzed them both.

The figure's red eyes glimmered. It stared down with a big grin showing. The whole thing looked to be forming a Gengar that had grizzly cackles. It left both shocked.

"No! Don't pay attention you fools!" Pluto retorted.

Around Jellal and Bellona, the **Confusion** subsided. The aura concealing them was free, giving Jellal the chance to seize Bellona's wrist.

" **Meteor!** "

In a blitz, Jellal cradled Bellona with his upper body and bolted away from the eminent impact. He zipped across the landscape as the lightspeed drive of the falling rocks whistled before making varied impacts into the courtyard.

From the distance, one could've figure it was relevant to a small meteor shower, yet the way the attack looked was like rainbow rain shooting down from the dark heavens themselves. They just kept falling, and explosions of cosmic energy erupted to no end.

"Jellal!" Bellona screamed.

Jellal zipped left and right, charging at Pluto as very small meteors kept plummeting. Their individual strengths created a pulsating geyser of debris that rained down everywhere. That itself was sharp against Jellal's cranium. Still, he had to persevere.

"Futile!" Pluto gestured towards the sky, where falling, a large fragment fell at blazing speeds. He dragged his arm down, guiding it down in an arch that rocketed into Jellal and Bellona.

Looking up, Jellal could see how fast it was coming in. He looked down at Bellona, who had worry plastered all over her face. He upheld his confidence, for her sake. _'Bellona…don't worry.'_ He took one more step in front, his own speed in his magic making him disappear. The next instance, he appeared behind Pluto as time slowed down. _'My own strength wasn't mine either from the beginning. It's thanks to certain people who cared for me that I picked myself now. Now it's my turn…to show what that strength is!'_

Pluto looked back. "What?" Suddenly Jellal grabbed him. "Hey! Unhand me you fool!"

"You sure about that?"

Pluto was caught flabbergasted at the blindsiding, but he realized his own mistake. He looked up at the meteor the size of a house coming right for him. It was so bright that he almost had to look away. He grunted at the situation he was in. He knew what Jellal was trying to do. "Damn you…!"

"You want to die by your own folly so soon?" the mage bargained.

Pluto glared forward, his narrow eyes squinting as he realized what he had to do. To defend against the meteor coming for him and the others, the rainbow ring above his head started to charge up a small compressed energy sphere in the center. It was small, but it was familiar to the likes of plasma. Pluto let out a cursed roar as he relinquished the energy into a photon-like beam that shot up from the ring. It scaled higher, and higher, until it disappeared into the downwards meteor.

The deafening roar of chilling intensity did nothing at first. It continued course like it was, until it suddenly emitted a strong enough light that made anyone unfortunate feel an intense burn reminiscent of the sun.

 _ **BOOM!**_

A brief flash compressed into a ball of energy in midair before the ground everywhere ripped open. The entire courtyard's level completely diced into pieces before caving into an immense wave of force that quickly raced across the ground. Shards pulsated into walls, buildings all over the town. And the palace's base was being pelted and dented in by explosions and shockwaves ripping off durable parts of its exterior. The pillars all over the yard were caught in an avalanche of intense magical surges that immediately broke them like crackers.

Years of construction reduced to milliseconds of destruction as the roaring smoke and dust echoed for miles on end. It continued like this until the last bits of smoke and dark debris ceased to shower like rain.

On the ground, the dust was slowly dissipating. Many coughed, which of course was Bellona and Jellal. Their clothing was all torn up, and from the looks of it, they were still kicking. They grunted heavily as their skins were nothing but dirt and blood as they laid close to one another.

"Bellona…" Jellal strained to get up, coughing. "Are you…alright…?"

Bellona ushered another cough as she strained incredulously. "…yes…I believe I am…but…"

Jellal understood. He looked over into the dust dissipating in the distance. There, he and Bellona saw Lunatone and Solrock were both dazed and swaying from all that intense shock. Disorienting would be one word for them. Pluto was no different. He waved dust away as he was shown to be shaken up incredulously by the attack. His priest attire was in rags, and his moustache had layers of dirt on them. They all looked to be in bad shape, but otherwise strained to stand.

Jellal and Bellona stirred up. On their shaken feet, they glared at Pluto.

"You…insolent…" The Planetary Mage glared at them with cold hard daggers. "You _dare_ to turn the moon's power…into your own? To sink so low…you wretched non-celestials have no place to be amongst the stars now!" He pushed forward, commanding his spheres to attack.

But nothing happened.

"What…?" Pluto looked up, seeing they were absent. "What happened? My planets!" He looked down at the ground to try and find them. When he saw it, his eyes shrunk in horror. There he saw. All the spheres that he had, but amongst them, they were nothing. They were all crumbled rocks with shattered lacrima crystals sticking out of their loose gravel. Pluto sunk to his knees, his face falling in deep dejection. "No…no…this can't be…" He shakily reached down into the rock deposits, shuddering as it was nothing but dust that was picked up by the wind. He gasped as he reached for it. "No! Come back!"

"The moon is a very lovely thing to look at."

Pluto looked down at Jellal. He saw him joining his hands and spreading two fingers from each hand to point at him.

"However, what you just did is beyond forgiveness. You took power that you thought you were ready for, and now look. The heavens themselves judged even you to have gone too far."

Pluto took a heavy step back. "No, you're wrong!" He reached out, making Lunatone and Solrock move in front of him.

"Perhaps it's hypocritical to say, but to desire something you know is impossible…it makes you realize it's what you have already that gives you worth." Above his head, seven magical circles formed a constellation. They hovered over Pluto as he looked shaken to no end. "The beauty of life isn't what is beyond your own reach. Rather…it's the ones right in front of you!"

"STOOOOP!" Pluto's anguish cries went unanswered as he could no longer fight back.

Jellal thrust forward. The seven magic circles shined with golden lights.

"Mya the seven stars brings judgement upon you! **Grand Chariot!** "

The circles above glinted for a split second before seven intense beams of cosmic golden light roared down onto Pluto and his Pokémon. The Spriggan let out a vile scream that went deaf within the roaring lights. The land shuddered as another shockwave passed beneath Jellal and Bellona as they stared at the light pillars before them.

The attacking lights finally dissipated after so long. As they shimmered away, the sky above was slowly starting to recede to the way it was supposed to be. On the ground, Lunatone and Solrock were defeated, and yet behind them, with a deeper sense in the crater and smoldering earth, the smoldering body of Pluto itself was there, charred, gaping teeth bared as he looked unrecognizable.

Jellal looked at his handiwork solemnly before turning away. "It's done."

"Yes…" Bellona nodded. "Do you believe we were too harsh?"

Jellal paused for a moment to think over things. He looked up at the sky, seeing the last bit of blue fade within the storm clouds. "…it's hard to say. We all want to achieve great things that no one else would think possible…" he looked down at Bellona. "But I think it's just as important to know some beliefs you can't do alone."

Bellona nodded at the sentiment. She and Jellal looked at the crater as the dust settled. While in the distance, the last dust of Pluto's moons and lacrima were swept into the winds.

* * *

 _Disease. Famine. Mistreatment. Any one of those would make any one person suffer. People suffer every day, even if it's not from nutrients. Rather, it could be from actions that they did not fault themselves for. When one gives warning and they cross lines, they may find themselves challenged only to end up in a place worse than what they ha expected. Hell._

 _And life itself was nothing short of a hell, at least for the thin people of the town that was crumbling._

 _People in rags were stumbling and running for their lives. People coughed before they stumbled forward. If they fell to the ground, they'd be trampled to death by the healthier individuals still on the move. With that in mind, many had to turn away from others as they scurried off, but they only found themselves cornered by a rock wall that enclosed them in._

 _Desperation, survival. Two things that intertwined. People would be separate to survive. And the same is reversed. People would survive by being desperate. Even if it meant discarding possessions._

" _Mommy!" Orion, a thin but still somewhat healthy little boy. He watched as his pale mother in rags fled for her life with the other citizens in one direction while watching from an alley that she left him in._

 _In the darkness he was. It was shocking when the whole town, even in broad daylight, it had a dark hue that subdued a majority of sunlight. And the next thing they knew, darkness swamped them, literally. Orion remained hidden as he watched as a passing blast of darkness flooded the one street. The sounds of screams made it certain people met their misfortune._

 _Slowly getting out, Orion looked down the street where he watched his mother go. Amongst the burning houses and hundreds of dead bodies, he could tell one of the thin ragdolls was his mother. He stared with no emotion as a cold chill went up his spine. Something was behind him._

 _When he turned around, he was face-to-face with the monster that was passing through. The monster had shadowcast armor with shackles around the wrists. Its void-like visor was directed down on the child that dared to remain put and not wet himself._

 _The two had a long stare, so long that it felt like an eternity until the demon finally chose to spoke. "…kid. Run."_

 _Orion didn't listen. "Who are you?"_

 _Demora calmly stared. "…you ask who I am, and yet you should be running, just like I said…" He stopped to see a sickly ragged man stumble pass them. He didn't waste anything but a simple swat of his hand to make the chain around his wrist sway, smacking the diseased man on the head so hard it crushed his skull._

 _Orion looked over in shock, but then faced Demora, who crouched down in front of him._

"… _you have a strong face. Tell me, child, how are you so strong to stand before darkness?"_

 _Orion swallowed. "I survived. I did what I had to do."_

" _Even in a diseased world, there are still those who strive to survive…how very interesting." Demora stood up. "What's your name, child?"_

" _Orion…that's all."_

" _Orion…" Demora turned around. He looked at the diseased people who laid dead all around them. "Well child…it would appear that this is most fortunate…for both of us, in fact." He looked towards Orion. "Tell me…do you know what it means to suffer?"_

 _Orion was confused. He didn't know how to answer such a question. But Demora's grizzly gauntlet extended down towards him. He looked up, seeing a foreboding dread coming from the monster._

" _Then allow me to turn that suffering you bare into everlasting peace."_

* * *

A limp corpse went flying back while others dashed stiffly ahead. Orion wasted no time punching them all with dark-coated fists that knocked them down just as hard. With the next wave covered, he looked up, seeing the already fallen soldiers staggering back up like zombies.

In the far back, with glowing bloody eye, Sindge stared motionless as he used his magic. This didn't go unnoticed by Orion.

' _His magic relates to blood. If someone gets cut, he can manipulate them, dead or alive. That means distance is essential.'_ Brought out of his thoughts, he looked down as one of the dead soldiers prodded their arm, up trying to puncture him from below. He narrowly evaded by sliding back meters away. He glared ahead as the many corpses were brought up once again by Sindge.

"Is that all you got?" the Spriggan challenged.

Sting swung a light-infused roundhouse that knock another guy over. He continued with the momentum and shot off another guy's chest to avoid another sword that cleaved into the other guy. Sting flipped and landed outside the huddled group's space, turning around to face them.

" **White Dragon's Roar!** "

He stood on two feet as he unleashed a high-pressured laser of light that ripped across the ground. It swallowed the dead bodies as they turned to attack. Sting glared forward as a massive dome of light roared skywards, making ripples exert upwards.

"Is there no end to these guys?" He questioned. He watched the light fade into oblivion. He saw the many bodies with charred limbs get up again like groggy zombies. "Man this is so creepy. They just keep getting back up. Just what magic is this…?" A small chill went down his spine when he felt something looming behind him. A dark silhouette with bloody eyes held a long dagger that glinted.

"Sting! Look out!" Lector warned.

Sting turned around at the warning, and thankfully in time as the dagger swung diagonally by Sindge. Time slowed down for the White Dragon as he stared at the space ahead of him. The dagger's swing was mere inches from his nose. If he weren't warned, he'd be cut in the back. He pivoted and got distance as Sindge towered in front.

"Not bad reflexes, kid." He complimented. "You and your pal over there know how to move." He swung his sword in a commanding way. "But let's see just how long that lasts!"

The dead group behind Sting stirred. When Sting turned around he saw all of them lunging for him, swords and weapons ready. Sindge smirked as he caught Sting off guard, taking a crouch before lunging after him from the front.

Sting looked back, realizing the folly. _'Crap! Pincer attack!'_

"Now DIE!" Sindge lunged forward at incredulous speeds.

Another black and purple wave shot from nearby. It cut a path that intercepted Sindge and made him recoil before he got too close. He cut into the ground and roosted on the helm of his blade as it sped to a stop. He glared ahead as Orion swung an arm, sending another torrential blast that intercepted the soldiers behind Sting.

"Thanks for the save man." Sting praised.

Orion swooped in front, glaring at Sindge. "I thought I said don't mention it…or to let your guard down."

Sting grew serious. "Yeah, sorry."

Sindge's eyes narrowed. "Tch, I'm getting sick and tired of this. Should've figured this drag out till their corpses were mush."

Sting focused on Sindge. "Well if you ask me, seems like you're not far off."

"…perhaps not. Let's fix that then." He pulled out two daggers from pockets within his cleats and twirled before catching. With his arms at his sides, he motioned the attack to commence. The dead soldiers behind the Dragon and Devil Slayers were up again, but were motionless until Sindge jerked his elbows back. Gushing from their mouths, thin streams of blood spewed ahead, making the bodies quiver before their pale forms went limp.

Sting and Orion looked back, seeing a barrage of thing blood streams heading their way. They dodged as they continued their path towards the master. Sindge remained perched on his sword as the same blood all converged into loops around him in midair. Red liquid circled around him like a barrier as he glared at his prey.

"Look out!" Orion warned.

"I got it!" Sting exclaimed.

Sindge crossed his arms, slashing in an 'X'-shaped chop.

" **BLOOD SLICE!** "

Following with the swat, the bloody swirl became intense crescents of blood, similar to Juvia's attack or an Air Cutter. The attack shot across the ground and closed in on them. They hurriedly moved off to the side. The bloody crescents continued their thin course towards the limp soldiers standing like statues, cutting clean into them. Time slowed once again as their figures were seen in white, cut up like paper into pieces that the blood connected with. Sting and Orion looked back with wide eyes at the horror as blood sprayed the carpets, the walls, and the stained armor…what was left of it that is.

Sting looked morally horrified as he saw the sacrifice made. "That's just sick…"

Sindge darkly smirked. "What's wrong? Red not your favorite color? Well then…maybe you just need a little convincing, my young friend." He reached back for something large attached to his belt. He pulled out something that was stashed within a pocket and began to turn the lid.

Sting's eyes narrowed. "What the…?"

The top turned, releasing a supercooled mist around Sindge. He took the top off and began to drink from the thermos. With each swallow, he guzzled down ounces of blood that he's saved. When he finished the whole container, he gave it one last swallow before lurching forward. The thermos dropped to the ground, his glare blooming with blood red. "Now we're talking…"

Orion balled his fists. _'He's consumed blood. His Magic Power's even stronger now.'_

Sindge remained passively quiet as his eyes dilated with a bloodlust fury. Veins around the head slowly pulsated as the blood entered his system. "Let's get going. **Blood Spiral!** " Just by craning his head, the splattered blood on the stained ground began to recollect into a blood rush that became seeping streams that rushed behind Sting and Orion. The two looked behind to find they were suddenly encompassed in a helix of warm, gross blood that caged them in.

Lector gasped.

Sting looked at the walls of the spiral with disgust. "Now he's molding blood on command?"

In a spritz, Sindge reappeared above the spiral, a sword ready to plunge.

"Above you!" Orion warned.

Sindge roared as he plunged his sword downwards. Sting managed to jump away from the impaling attack in time and back away. However, he cut it a little close as he jumped to the edge of the red barrier. The blood actually touched his back, sending goosebumps up his spine.

Sindge smirked. "Looks like you're out of room, kid." He spritzed after Sting, going left and right in sweeping fashion. He quickly closed the gap on him and Sting, holding his sword again in midair, shrieking like a psychotic banshee.

' _No good! He's quicker than before!'_ "Watch it!" Orion warned, knowing he wasn't going to make it.

"Sting!" Lector worried.

Sting braced himself as Sindge closed the sword on him. "Nice knowing ya, punk!" Blood began to magnify from fragments of the spiral into his blade. It made a small helix of blood that made the attack more potent. " **Red Karbia!** "

The sword came down, but as time slowed down, Sting stared up as everything in the background went white. _'…I don't have anywhere to go…guess this is it.'_ He reached for his pocket. _'I hoped for saving this for later…guess it's time to shine.'_

Sindge let loose a cry as his slash finally met something with a powerful glowing essence from it. The bloody spiral surrounding them dissipated, splattering all over the ground around them like red rain. Sindge held a slash pose as Orion and Lector looked shocked beyond comparison.

"Heh, sorry kid…but you just didn't make the cut-!" He heard a crack from his sword. "Huh?!" He looked down, his eyes widening when he noticed the edging around his sword was chipped. He stared with surprise. _'No way…my sword was…was chipped? How?'_

A dark blue claw grazed from the side, catching Sindge off guard as he looked back to be delivered a blow to the side. He went tumbling across the ground several times until he sprawled on all fours. Once around, he shook his head and looked up, leering with curiosity.

"What…?"

Sting, unfazed, smirked. "Looks like it's your time pal…give 'em hell."

The Pokémon referred to had his sharp draconic yellow eyes glisten in the room lighting. His rugged red head was attached to a bipedal primarily dark blue body. The wings were rugged with red plates on the back. The Pokémon let out a shrilling roar, which reverberated throughout the area. It made Sindge's own glare harden.

"The hell…?" Sindge locked eyes with the draconic beast, their grizzly stares deep and unrelenting on one another.

"Guess you didn't know." Sting grinned. "Meet my Pokémon, Druddigon." Once again, Druddigon roared. "Gotta say, pretty choice timing. His Rough Skin Ability really packs a punch."

Sindge's eyes narrowed. "Rough…Skin?"

"Yeah, crazy right? Turns out, whenever Druddigon is hit physically, the attacker gets hurt as well."

"…I see." Sindge looked back at Druddigon, his stare as deep as can be against his hard scales. The spikes he had also didn't help. "In that case, why don't we even things out?" He put two fingers to his mouth and let out a high-pitched whistle throughout the corridor. Within the darkness above them, a figure's eyes glimmered like a demon.

Druddigon looked up in confusion.

"What's that?" Sting questioned.

Descending from the shadows, a massive blur zipped down and flapped its wings above Sindge's head. Sindge smirked as above him was a large bat-like Pokémon with a gaping mouth with four protruding fangs shown. "Well now, guess now we're back to square one…meet my little associate – Golbat!"

The Bat Pokémon let out a loud shriek of its own that made soundwaves throughout the area. Everyone held their ground as Sindge and Golbat glared with bloodthirsty ferocity.

Sting held his prime. "Looks like we're doing this now. You ready. Druddigon?!"

Druddigon rammed his fist together. "Yeah!"

Sindge's eyes glimmered. "Pathetic!" He reached out. "Golbat, bring me their blood! Use **Leech Life!** " At his command, Golbat flapped its wings and went sailing after Druddigon from above.

Sting balled his fists next. "Alright Druddigon, wait for it…" He and Druddigon remained patient as Golbat swooped in, closing in to take a bite. When closed and mouth open, he swiped his arm. "Aim for the mouth! Use **Dragon Rage!** "

Druddigon roared as his stomach began to glow a blue spiral. As the energy flared, Golbat closed the gap quickly, but Druddigon opened wide and expelled a voluminous black and blue beam that swallowed up the massive bat. The beam sailed skywards, sending Golbat into a whirl.

Sindge's glare hardened. "Damnit." He realized something else. As he looked ahead, Orion closed the gap on him as well. He swiftly evaded an incoming punch. Orion swung again, and he dodged away. Swung again into the ground, and Sindge slid back for his own distance. They both adjusted.

"Don't forget your own battles as well you know." Orion spoke.

"Believe me, pal, I wouldn't even dream of it!" Sindge suddenly spritzed into a blur, darting at Orion. Sword against fist as Sindge let out a shrilled cry as the damaged sword closed the gap.

Meanwhile, Golbat's wings glowed to signify a **Wing Attack**. He swatted one wing down, making time slowdown for Druddigon as the recoil made his head fling back. He clawed against the ground and stopped his slide a few feet away, sneering at Golbat. The bat in return remained stationary in place, his wing showing a bruise. He winced at the pain.

' _He's damaged. Gotta strike hard and fast!'_ Sting thought. "Alright Druddigon, **Hone Claws!** "

Druddigon's glared dilated. "Gotcha!" He spread his claws out, in which he scraped the nails into one another. As they sharpened, a red aura enveloped the body, increasing his Attack and accuracy. Once set, he took a pose and smirked. "Alright, let's take this bastard home!"

Golbat adjusted from the recoil and went to attack again.

"Use **Slash!** " Sting roared.

Druddigon's claws glistened white and elongated. He let out a roar as he and Golbat came together again, and he slashed. He followed through with a white trail, but Golbat ended up behind him, startling him. After a gasp, Golbat's fangs pierced his shoulder, making Druddigon roar in pain.

"Crap! Druddigon!" Sting exclaimed. _'That bat is too fast.'_

Druddigon recoiled heavily as **Leech Life** worked its magic. The partial blood was being drained, and a green aura enveloped Golbat as his energy recovered. Golbat's eyes narrowed as the delicious ounces sapped, but then a sharp pain went through the teeth. Rough Skin had taken effect again.

Seeing the opportunity, Druddigon took it. He pivoted and brought his arm around with **Slash** , managing a direct glow that caught Golbat by surprise. The raking wave sent the bat shrieking and sliding back across the ground in deep pain.

Druddigon adjusted with Sting. "We're not done yet, pal!" Sting exclaimed. "Druddigon!"

"YEAH!" the Cave Pokémon roared.

Golbat sat up, squinting angrily at his delicious yet stubborn prey.

Sword against fists clashed, clanking hard as refine steel parried with dark gloved fists. With each blow, Sindge was nimble with his flips and turns, dodging Orion's backfists and jabs. As opposed to that, when Sindge found an opening behind, he horizontally slashed, only for it to miss when Orion backflipped to do a dark-coated axe kick down onto Sindge. The kick was narrow, but it didn't strike as Sindge rolled backwards to get further behind.

Crouched down, the Blood Control Mage smirked. _'This guy's more close combat than I thought. His attacks and mine are almost completely alike.'_ In his mind, he replayed the limited long-range spells each used. _'So no matter what, he's sticking to a hardy gamble. Be admirable if not insane. Then again people call me that.'_ He stood up, giving a sneer. "Alright, you're crafty, but let's see how you like this…"

Orion looked over his shoulder, seeing more compartments on Sindge's belt unfasten. The corks on them all were undone as inside, it looked like small containers of blood. _'More blood.'_

Sindge smirked. " **Blood Spear!** " Swiping his arms to either side, the blood in the vials rushed out into a multitude of condensed spears of pressurized blood with velocity of arrows.

Orion backflipped constantly as the spears of blood arched down to follow him. As he flipped, the arrows followed. It was only when he lost momentum and dropped to a knee did he realize he was surrounded by the spears. They all came down onto him, shooting at intense speeds.

Sindge's dark glare looked satisfied. "DIE!"

The spears closed in, but Orion slammed his fist into the ground, letting out a roar equal to a dark shockwave that pulsated in all directions, dissipating the blood in an instant.

Sindge grunted as he was forced to cover up with his forearms from the shockwaves. As the roaring darkness was making him lose ground, he was open as Orion closed the gap, time slowing down as his fist went right for him. Sindge's eyes widened as the dark fist balled and let loose.

" **Dark Devil's Cowling!** "

The fist crashed so hard against his forearms that Sindge felt an intense shock run through him. His world shuddered as he slid on his heels backwards until he finally fell onto his back, thudding hard.

He laid there, grunting in pain. "D-damnit…" He lazily attempted to get back up, but only managed to get to his knees when his breath was raspy. He could feel his cells getting as light as his head. _'Shit. Controlling all this blood and drinking it is starting to get to me. I better end this and fast-!'_ He was about to get up, but his eyes went to something that disturbed him.

In the corner of his eyes, his shock went wild as he saw it for himself. Like a groaning zombie, Sindge noticed that his forearm bandages where Orion struck. They were gone. Instead, there was the underside.

Flesh. Raw, unadulterated flesh. It was red, blotched, with bubbles of pus barely noticeable. The longer Sindge looked at it, the more his eyes and mind started to dilate away from reality.

It went back to the time of his early teen years. Even as a boy, he never had any demented problems. He was normal…at least as normal as best could describe someone out there. He was well in shape, sociable…only he had one habit, a _really_ bad habit. At times of conventional study, he would read or lay in bed, but in all those times, he'd be nipping his teeth against parts of his fingers and fingernails. Day by day, it would be ripped off. Skin; epidermis needed to make blood stay in. But around 12, that all started to deteriorate, literally.

He'd come to school with gauze over his fingers, and even then they'd still bleed. He was prescribed to stop, but like all bad addicts, some lessons just don't die as easily as people do. Bandages didn't help. He'd wait until they would heal…so that he could do it again. And again. And again. Just nipping against fingernails and his finger's skin until it was raw. Until they bled.

Blood would stain his sheets. And the smell of iron in the blood didn't make it better. It made him ferocious. As much as it hurt, he nipped away, until nothing but pain against raw skin refrained him. But the sensation and smell of blood was too irresistible at that point. He'd grit against his fingers down to the knuckles. Any blotches he would lick to suck up the tasty blood. Until finally, he went up the arms.

The habit was so bad he had to be hospitalized to keep his mouth in check. But the doctors weren't safe. Just one day, one could say he snapped. Just one needle, an arm, and the taste of blood was in his mouth. It was delicious.

To this day, the madman wears bandages so he'd never have to bother his blotched arms ever again. Just looking at it now was making him sick to where he shuddered like a rabid animal. His eyes shuddered unknowingly as Golbat's wings were gripped by Druddigon.

The bat was suspended as the Dragon-type was holding him back. "Keep it just like that, Druddigon!" Sting exclaimed. "I'm going in!"

Sindge slowly turned around, his distraught expression on Sting as the White Dragon blitzed right for him. He watched silently as Sting pulled his fist back, creating a ball of light for his next strike. When he made his jump, his reflection was within Sindge's eyes. As his punch let loose, his eyes shrunk drastically.

Sting fired and explosive light from his punch, hitting the distraught bloody mage as the attack ripped open a large base. Orion returned to a safe area and watched as Sting's attack swallowed up the man. The roaring wave of light echoed through the area, while Sting looked confident.

"…Did that shut him up?" he wondered.

Within the dissipating light, rippling blood was mixing with it. A passing blood wave revealed a grizzly, highly-defined eye.

"What?!"

The light fully dissipated, revealing Sindge behind a rippling wall of blood he molded as he turned around. It stopped Sting's attack brutally cold. He looked at Sting like he really wanted to murder him. He growled angrily as well.

Orion's eyes sharpened. _'He stopped his attack with blood of that density!'_

Sindge released the wall and immediately seized Sting's wrist. The shocked man realized his mistake.

' _Crap!'_

Sindge gave no words as he craved blood. He swiped a dagger across Sting's arm, gashing blood that made him scream in agony as he recoiled. He clutched his arm while Sindge held the bleeding dagger to his mouth.

"Sting!" Lector cried out. Sting clutched his arm in pain. He got to a knee as Lector flew down to check the wound. "Are you hurt?"

Sting opened an eye. "…yeah, I'll be fine." He looked ahead, him and Lector realizing the flaw. Sindge evilly smirked as he had the blade to his mouth. Sting's eyes shrunk. _'Oh crap!'_

"NO!" Orion crouched and went for a sharp lunge at Sindge.

"I wonder how this tastes?" Sindge opened his mouth and gave the blade a small lick. When the blood touched his tongue, a shock went through Sting, leaving his heart to momentarily stop. He gagged as his eyes dilated, his body convulsing through the cold chill flowing through his body.

"Pal? You okay…?" Lector got no reply. "Sting…?"

Orion closed the gap on him and Sindge. He let out a roar as the punch came forward, but Sindge wasn't worried.

"Moron."

Orion was suddenly struck rom the side. The mage felt pain on the left side as it showed Sting driving his knee into Orion's gut. The impact sent him into the wall, sitting up in distress.

Druddigon looked over at the sudden change of events. With him distracted, Golbat's eyes squinted and he reeled away. He ascended high until he was safe enough to flap his wings once, unleashing a light blue crescent of air that was **Air Cutter**. The attack struck Druddigon with explosive force, sending him into the ground.

"Druddigon!" Sting looked back, but an unknown force swung him back around and make a harsh stop in front of Orion.

With Sting's shadow over him, Orion looked up. "What…what is…?"

"Crap! Sorry!" Sting abruptly punched ahead, but Orion leaned to the side to dodge. Sting used the other fist to try and attack. Orion also dodged that.

As Sting punched right and left, over and over, Sindge turned his back, smirking.

"Crap! That guy's got Sting under his control!" Lector exclaimed.

"I wonder…just what a taste of dragon blood is like…"

"Wha-?!" Sting was thwarted from his barrage against Orion when his gash in his arm started to bubble intensely. He glanced over, his eyes dilating as he watched small strips of his own blood leaving his body and flowing into Sindge's mouth.

Like a Dragon Slayer with his element, Sindge had his mouth opened as he took a small sample of blood from the strip of red flowing. Once gone, the blood flow in Sting was weak to where he staggered a little. Lector worried a lot, but even more as the blood was swallowed by Sindge. His eyes opened, looking up at the ceiling as his raspy breath had a hot mist. "Aaahh! So this is Dragon Slayer blood!" he cried out. "This is power!"

"This is bad! We have to run, Sting!" Lector warned.

"I'm trying…but I can't move…" Sting ushered his body, but to a fruitless avail.

Sindge harshly turned towards them, his bloody red eyes glowing. "…I want more."

Sting cringed.

"Give me your blood~!" Sindge lunged into the air as he held a dagger overhead. He roared as he was ready to skewer Sting's head.

Sting's eyes widened as Lector cried out. The blade came down, in fact hitting something that gushed blood in a stereo splash. Sting's eyes were shut as he thought he was dead, but he opened them, shocked beyond belief. "What…?"

Between them, Orion used his forearm to block the dagger from Sindge's blow. The two were in an intense standoff as Sindge thrust a little harder with a growl, but Orion's teeth gritted as he held his own, despite the blood seeping from his wound.

"Crap! You okay?!" Sting exclaimed.

Orion grabbed Sindge's wrist, holding him in place. "I'm fine." He grunted. "But you! Get out of here now!"

"What?!"

"You're not safe around here if he can take al your blood in an instant! You have to buy some space!"

Sting looked hesitant. "But, what about…?"

"Forget about me!" He used his strength and pivoted. He swung around and threw Sindge backwards. The Blood Mage easily landed in a slide and glared back at Orion as he held his ground. "…this is your only chance kid…now go."

Sting was hesitant to answer, he really was. He and Lector watched as Orion's dark-coated fist crashed against Sindge's blades, making a gust between them as they stood off intensely. He wanted to keep going, but he knew he was in no position to. He balled his fists and looked dissatisfied. But he knew better than to argue.

He faced Orion, giving him a sharp glare as he faced Sindge. "…okay. Be careful." He made a sharp turn away. "Lector!"

"Right!" The Exceed used his magic to create Aera wings. He picked up Sting as they glided off to the halls awaiting them.

"Druddigon, return!" Sting recalled his struggling Druddigon along the way. The red laser sucked him back into his Poke Ball as they departed. With one more glance back, Sting looked worriedly at the fading Devil Slayer and his chances, but shook his head and focused on getting away. His face grew determined as they faded into darkness.

Back with Orion and Sindge, the Devil Slayer locked eyes. "There. Now it's just us."

Sindge smirked. "Heh. If you asked me, your friend there made a wise move." He jumped back to get his own distance from the Devil Slayer. "Guess you'll be the first to know even my own Blood Control is limited. It only goes as far as I can see them, so I think you made the right decision…no matter how foolish it was."

Orion didn't answer. He rolled up his sleeve to fasten the spot where he bled out from the dagger.

"Let's see what _you_ taste like…" Sindge held the dagger up to his tongue, licking it softly. Slowly, the tongue touched and guided the blood into his mouth. He looked back with a scoff, but that scoff turned to shock. This time, it was his body convulsing. "Gnnngh! What the hell…?" He faltered a bit. "I feel…" He covered his mouth as he sunk to his knees. He coughed into the gloved hand, red gushing out from between the fingers that splattered against the ground. He continued coughing it all up, and Orion was oddly calm by it.

"So then it's true then. Devil blood is poisonous to humans." Orion deduced. "…talk about coincidence."

Once coughing was over, Sindge glared up at him, eyes narrowed, "You bastard…"

Orion held up his fist in readying for the next round. "I have a job to do…so allow me to say this to you once more. I hope you find peace in your death."

Sindge stood up. He held up two long knives as Golbat flapped behind him. He lunged. "That's…MY LINE!"

Orion lunged forward. The two mages of bloodlust engaged one more time.

* * *

Gray joined his hands to congregate ice particles once more. " **Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer!** " He jutted his arms out, making a right icy flash that shot lances of ice in accelerated fury at Invel.

The Winter Mage remained stiff as ice itself as the lances all made impact with him, instantly freezing him within its cold embrace. Moments later, the ice glistened, breaking to shattered fragments as his glare seethed through the pieces

"Damnit."

Invel gave him no time to recuperate. He adjusted his glasses before his irises flashed an icy blue. A vile frosted aura expelled in all directions, swallowing Gray up and forcing him to cover up. The frost immediately covered his forearms to shield his face. Instead of being shoved back, he used his magic to make small footholds for his feet to anchor. He strained incredulously as his body temperature felt like dropping.

"Your unwillingness to fight isn't a moral compromise." Invel taunted through the frosty aura. "It would do yourself well to try and fight back."

Gray was being parted, and he was hating that. He had to mold his magic again like before, but as he attempted at thinking, he fell short as a thought of Nic's scar appeared again. He grunted before he chose to swipe his arms forward, sending two precipice waves of ice arching into Invel.

Invel's eyelids lowered. He watched the two waves reach his destination. He stuck two fingers forward and immediately force the ice itself. The entirety of the two waves were stopped cold…literally. Gray's glare only hardened on him, but Invel took no amusement from it. He put his hand to the tip of the ice and flicked his index finger into it. Upon impact, the shock made the ice fully shatter to pieces before the shock finally caught up, expelling cold waves as the ice shattered all the way towards Gray, sending him flying into the icy dome that housed Juvia.

The shock went through his back, making him gag before he slumped to the ground, gagging. _'No good…I can't even get close to him like this.'_

"How very disappointing." Invel scorned as he walked forward.

Gray looked up, scorning his teeth back at him.

"To think that I was defeated by the likes of you, someone whose will was of great respects, if not for that vulgar rush you had for another. What pity."

Gray's eyes widened at a part of Invel's sentence he spoke. He looked back to the wall he hit. He looked knowingly at it, knowing someone was trapped inside. He realized he may be out of time. When his hand touched the ice beneath him, he took another stare down at it. Then back at the dome.

Then and there, it hit him. His attack plan. He faced Invel with his back facing the wall.

Invel noticed the stare and adjusted his glasses. _'That look he has. Does he intend to fight back now? No matter the case, it's my duty as a Spriggan to fulfill our emperor's divine wishes.'_ He crossed his arms. _'No matter what…this will end it!'_

Gray prepped himself as he watched Invel's every move. His eyes squinted as the Ice Mage swiped both arms, projecting another freezing wave that rushed at Gray. As it traveled, it made frost and ice on the ground itself crack.

' _NOW!'_

Everything went bright blue as the freezing wave made impact with something. A tremendous level of ice voluntarily shattered to pieces while Invel's glare remained stable. As the ice shards around the air turned to frosted blue crystal, it was clear to the Spriggan what happened.

Gray's eyelids slowly opened, revealing a cold stare ahead. "…forgot something important."

In front of him, the entirety of the ice dome surrounding Juvia was turned into a molded shield with arches of ice along the sides like railing. It was a last-second save, and Gray's usage of molding the barrier from behind to upfront did more than save his frosted behind. It also saved someone who was laying on the frosted ground, bits of ice scattered across her clothing.

Invel's eyelids lowered to the same level as Gray's. "How interesting…"

Gray rushed over and knelt to the freed woman's side. "Juvia? Hey, Juvia! Are you alright?"

Juvia's eyes weakly opened, the cold forcing her to conserve her energy. She looked up, her blurry vision deepening resolution to find Gray above her. "…Gray?" she mumbled.

"Yeah, I'm here. Are you alright?"

Juvia weakly nodded. "I am. I used my Sierra to try and slow down the cooling inside…unfortunately it didn't last too long. I'm sorry."

Gray shook his head. "Don't be. Can you still fight?"

Juvia staggered back up, with Gray following her lead as she faced Invel once more. "Yes." She said. "Now then, I believe this man owes us for what he did, don't you think?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

Invel said nothing as Gray and Juvia faced him. His glare was as icy as ever.

Taking similar stances, Gray took the lead. "Whoever said I had to use my Devil Slayer Magic to turn the tables on you, pal? Don't forget, I can still mold whatever you freeze over-!"

 _ **CLICK!**_

Gray and Juvia's eyes widened. The pupils shrunk as something cold touched their necks.

A small cynical grin appeared on Invel. "When history repeats itself… **Ice Lock**."

Gray and Juvia simultaneously looked down. Horror strung their hearts as they saw icy collars connecting the two by a long icy shackle that clanked like actual chains. Their dark and blue eyes were the size o peas as they were processing what was happening.

The world around them was slowly rotating. Their minds were drowning into a deaf realm of which that lead them to flashing images of their previous encounter with this spell. The spell that unchained Gray's beast.

Juvia's eyes shuddered as she slowly turned towards Gray. "Gray…" She remembered a brief image of herself stabbed, while Gray was stabbing himself.

"Juvia…" Gray's mind flashed with pained visions of falling over with Juvia, and crying tears of anguish when he lost her. His teeth gritted as his eyes were covered by his bangs. The inner frustration he was feeling was escalating. Juvia mimicked this as well.

"Now, I believe same rules apply as last time." Invel spoke. "Only one of you will walk away. You have zero say in the matter."

Gray glared at Juvia, the attention given towards her was making his heartbeat louder. And with each loud thump, a different painful memory flared from that battle, until finally it lead up to Gray's demon slaughtered alongside E.N.D.

At the last memory, an intense pain went though his heart. It was cold that it made him flinch.

"Gray!" Juvia wanted to do something, but the more she was fighting the urge, the more her own body stiffened. It was tough enough to stay still.

As Gray grimaced in painful scorn, Invel watched from the sidelines as he watched Gray specifically. _'The woman is of no importance. However, this man on the other hand…he is a different concern'_ He watched diligently as Gray was shuddering in place, the memories making him so distraught he looked like a statue. _'He's the one most truly scarred. For him to come out of this, his inner devil will have to come forth, or else-!'_ He stopped in his thoughts when he looked towards the side. Ice-like projectiles headed his way. He swung his arm, shattering them in an instant. Time around him slowed down for a moment as he registered the ice-like attack. _'What?'_

Gray and Juvia were taken back as well. They glanced off to the side to see the distraction.

"Who goes there?" Invel claimed.

A boot stepped in front. "It looks like we've made it just in time." The figure looked over, revealing himself to be Lyon. Beside him was a small white and blue bear cub-like creature with a massive snot drop from its nose. The head was blue, with huge eyes shown like a cuddly teddy bear. With it, Lyon also looked at the scene, processing the stalemate. "Gray! Juvia!" he shouted. He gasped as he proceeded the ice chain keeping them bound together. He could feel any icy chill coming from it. _'What's that around their necks? Are they shackled by his magic?'_ He slowly gazed over at Invel. Just looking at him, his cold stare was leaving a shiver down his spine. He persevered. "Tell me, are you the culprit behind this?"

"Yeah! Are you?!" his Pokémon pointed like a kid. He sounded like a kid with a cold.

Invel hardly took regards to him. "And to who might you be?"

"I was about to ask you that." Invel paused as he realized. "Are you perhaps associated with these two?"

"I am…but unfortunately, that doesn't answer my question about you now, does it? No, I take that back. Judging by your Magic Power, you're a Spriggan, are you not?"

"I am. I do apologize, but if you intend in being in my way, then I'm afraid this where you meet your end as well."

Lyon smirked. "Presumptuous, aren't we?"

"Lyon…"

Hearing a familiar voice, Lyon turned his attention towards Gray. He could visibly see the intense shuddering and shape his body was suffering from. "Gray…" He looked at Juvia to find she was also in the same predicament. "I see…you two truly are tethered to one another." He mused. "How I envy you."

Gray's hazy eyes shuddered. He was in no mood for Lyon's snarking. He realized this and frowned.

"Can you still fight?" he asked.

"They cannot." Lyon turned towards Invel. "They're indeed tethered to one another. However, the tethering you refer to is but the opposite. For you see, I have locked away their minds and hearts. Only one will stand in order for that chain to break."

"I see. So you would go as far as to take human free will. You Alvarez truly are deplorable."

"To you, Fiorian, but what we desire is something we have every intention on reclaiming."

Lyon closed his eyes. "And here I thought you were smart enough to learn from experience." This comment made Invel glare. "Unlike myself, Gray has had more than enough experience to reflect on his own past mistakes made." His eyes narrowed. "And that's why I know because of this that his experience will get him through this as well…just as it always has."

Gray remained silent at Lyon's words. He could hear his ally's words preach towards him, yet the words spoke were mumbled. At the same time though, he could coherent parts that made his head throb. His mind hurt as it was caged and churned.

"I speak this now because he once said something, that he knew in his heart he had to move forward." Lyon took a stance, gathering power for ice. "And only _that_ Gray will be able to break free. Cubchoo!"

"Yeah!" Pouncing in front, Cubchoo readied for battle.

Invel closed his eyes. "So you say this Gray you know will move forward? Well…I suppose there's only one way to truly find out, isn't there?" An icy blue aura enveloped his body. "Not one heart can break free once darkness swallows it!"

An icy aura enveloped Lyon. "It can when they find the strength to move on! Perhaps I need to give you…a _demonstration!_ " Lyon slammed his hands on the ground, sending a shockwave of ice that raced at Invel. The stalagmites sent in waves at him grew in numbers until they closed in from almost every corner.

When they were close enough, Invel's glasses shimmered before he swiped his arm, freezing every ice spike and made it all shattered. As the pieces crumbled, he and Lyon glared, with Cubchoo sniffling.

As Lyon covered for them in the distance, Gray and Juvia looked to one another with deep distraught stares. They looked mesmerized as they could see and feel the words Lyon said sink in. It wasn't immediate, but wedged within the crevices of their caged mind, it felt like at least a small part of what he said was making Gray really feel.

"G-Gray…" Juvia wavered. She could feel her body move on its own to a combative stance.

Gray, however, was stiff as a statue. He balled his fists as he continued to remain stationary like a statue. The immense feelings he had inside were swelling so much that his body was shutting down.

" _I speak this now because he once said something, that he knew in his heart he had to move forward…And only that Gray will be able to break free."_

His teeth gritted tighter. _'That idiot…what am I doing?'_ He shakily glanced off to the side, seeing Lyon shoot waves of ice from a distance that Invel pointed at. The ice waves maneuvered around him, shattering to more fragments. _'I can't believe now I'm the one like this. That guy just spoke like I was an inspiration…but…I thought I really was moving forward. How am I when I…'_

Before he could respond to his own inquiry, he narrowly dodged a heel from Juvia. The rain woman spun around and shot a wave of water from her kick. He dodged by ducking and grabbed her heel, throwing her. She flipped onto one foot and poised herself, both having distraught glares as their minds were already drowning.

' _This is bad. Gray and I are already fighting!'_ Juvia fret. _'On top of that, he's still…'_

Gray saw an opportunity and his body reacted. A single step and a wave if ice shot at Juvia's feet. He watched her dodge thankfully. _'Juvia…'_ His mind wandered away as his will was redirected to the embrace she gave him back before they departed. As he thought about her, his eyes narrowed as he tried to withhold restraint. For a brief second, his foot grazed in the slide away from a blast of water from Juvia.

The two slid to opposite sides, circling one another as the chain intertwined them. As they kept circling, Gray's own heart was thinking back to Invel's previous battle against him. With each second, another memory made his insides ache. He winced again, and it only made Juvia somber. "Gray…"

Gray winced at the literal pain, but as he did, a small stir in the air made his and Juvia perk. _'_ _ **Guys, are you there?**_ _'_ a familiar voice asked.

Their eyes widened, moments before waves of ice and water flourished between them. As the icy waves sprinkled the atmosphere, they came to realize something about the voice.

' _That voice…"_ Juvia mumbled.

' _It can't be…'_ Gray blocked a punch with his forearm. As the guys parried blows, the telepathic conversation continued.

* * *

A soldier raced up with a sword, but a swift kick to the face sent him packing. The sword pierced the ground at the same time his head hit the floor. It came from Nic as he retracted his foot in his Mind Form. He, Erza, Lisanna, and Elfman were currently engaging foes.

"Is anyone there?!" Erza called out. She dodged another soldier and swung her leg into his face.

' _ **Wait, hold on…Erza?**_ _'_ The sound of Lucy's voice was clear as day. _'_ _ **Wait…what's going on?!**_ _'_

"It's a long story, okay?" She slashed down two foes with one pivot. "Listen. Everyone, we need to find each other, and swiftly…"

' _ **Tell us something we don't know!**_ _'_ Natsu exclaimed. He sounded like he was having a blast elsewhere.

Nic waved his arm, his eyes glowing green. "Natsu!" He swiped his arm, using **Telekinesis** that went and outlined each soldier in green psychic energy. "We're trying to find a rendezvous point. Listen, we don't know if anyone's listening, so pay attention!"

' _ **Wait, hold on.**_ _'_ Mest said. _'_ _ **We've been trying to use Telepathy Magic the whole time. Nic, what happened?**_ _'_

' _ **I believe that's our doing you can thank for.**_ _'_ A familiar voice said.

' _ **Lady Bellona?**_ _'_ Rogue questioned.

' _ **Yes. Apologies, but I think Jellal and I were responsible for that. The Spriggan we've defeated had a lacrima inside his uniform. Thankfully he dismantled it. Now it looks like we'll be talking freely.**_ _'_

' _ **I still don't think I have a good feeling about this…**_ _'_ Lucy grimaced.

Nic swiped both arms, using an omnidirectional pulse wave of **Psychic**. The attack's capacity made a dense crater that dropped him some before the shockwave spread forward and back. All the soldiers far up and away were sent flying at Mach speeds into darkness. He adjusted, looking back at the others with a reassured stare.

* * *

' _ **What's happening now?**_ _'_ Wendy asked.

' _ **Wendy? Is that you? Is Carla okay?**_ _'_ Happy wondered.

' _ **Happy? Yes, I'm fine. How are you and Natsu?**_ _'_

They all heard a snicker. _'_ _ **We're just fine! Right, Charmander?**_ _'_ They all heard a weak grunt. _'_ _ **Oops, sorry. Forgot you're worn out…but guys, listen, we took down a Spriggan!**_ _'_

' _ **Really? That's great!**_ _'_ Kinana chimed. _'_ _ **We managed one as well!**_ _'_

' _ **Anybody else got anything to say, or are we gonna discuss a rendezvous?**_ _'_ Erik's voice broke the little tender they were all having.

' _ **Erik! YAY!**_ _'_ Sorano happily cheered. _'_ _ **Guess this, Yukino and a lot of us were taken by this creep, and Macbeth and Gajeel saved us!**_ _'_

' _ **Nice to see you too, Sorano.**_ _'_ Macbeth said mildly.

' _ **So what do we got? Can't imagine we're all close by, right?**_ _'_ Gajeel said. Shockingly enough, he and the others were still outside as they were tying Decker and Valeria up. He looked up, staring at the huge balconies skyward.

' _ **Look, everybody stay calm. Let's work through this.**_ _'_ Nic insisted. _'_ _ **Let's all try and meet up at the courtyard again if we can, alright?**_ _'_

' _ **Sounds like a plan to me!**_ _'_ Natsu chimed. _'_ _ **Alright then, let's go, Happy!**_ _'_

' _ **Aye sir!**_ _'_

' _ **Okay, we'll be careful. You as well.**_ _'_ Sophie's voice clocked out of the communication.

With everyone making a plan of attack, Gray and Juvia were still throwing themselves around like wild animals. As one was racing with the chain between them, the other parried. Yet the other so lost in the talk that they couldn't keep up with their bodies not listening.

Juvia whipped her arm, sending a snake of water at Gray. The moment it touched his forearm he used to block, it shattered. Time slowed as Gray stared forward, pain clear in his eyes.

' _Gray…'_ Enough was enough. Juvia knew she had to get through to him somehow. But while she couldn't at the moment, she knew someone else could. _'_ _ **Nic, are you still there?**_ _'_

' _ **Juvia, hey.**_ _'_ Nic responded. _'_ _ **What's wrong?**_ _'_

' _ **It's nothing, I'm fine.**_ _'_ She lied. _'_ _ **It's Gray…**_ _'_ She sideways dodged a wave of ice from him. _'_ _ **Something's wrong with him. I need you to speak to him.**_ _'_

'… _ **what?**_ _'_

' _ **Nic. Please…**_ _'_ she sounded desperate. _'_ _ **It's about 'that'.**_ _'_

A moment if silence filled the telepathic airspace. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Nic knew what Juvia was talking about. There was a silence through the air as Nic's brow furrowed. He frowned heavily.

' _ **Nic?**_ _'_ The silence left Juvia uncomfortable.

' _ **Yeah, I hear you, Juvia.**_ _'_ He responded. _'_ _ **Okay, I'll see what's up…**_ _'_ He made a few adjustments to the connection it became private. After localizing Gray's signal, he spoke. _'_ _ **Gray, can you hear me?**_ _'_

' _ **Nic?**_ _'_ a surprised Gray blocked Juvia's **Water Claw**. It created a wave that pushed him back a few feet. He adjusted and settled himself. _'_ _ **What's up?**_ _'_

' _ **I don't know. Juvia asked me to talk to you. About 'that', right?**_ _'_

Gray's eyes widened. He could feel his head race with a vision of Nic getting slashed in the shoulder by him. It made him wince.

' _ **Gray…it's okay, honestly. I understand what you feel. I was there, too.**_ _'_

Gray parried Juvia's blows with his own. He raced up and met her in the center. _'_ _ **Nic…**_ _'_ He thought for a moment of what Orion said on the ship about a Devil Slayer's true power, and how forgiveness unlocked it. _'_ _ **…I don't think this is the time.**_ _'_ he lied as he jumped away.

' _ **You sure?**_ _'_ Nic's own tone was questionable. _'_ _ **Gray, if you're in a tight spot, just tell me. We'll come and-**_ _'_

' _ **No man, it's fine!**_ _'_

'… _ **Gray…**_ _'_

There was a deep pause in the air. Gray was silent at first. The sudden snap at Nic was a sheer tell he was lying. His face contorted with pain as he gritted his teeth. It was time to come clean. _'_ _ **Nic…just how?**_ _'_ he paused. _'_ _ **How are you able to forgive yourself and us so easily?**_ _'_

' _ **Gray…**_ _'_

The memories Gray were flashing back to were being read by Nic simultaneously. He could see the events of Invel and the pain he caused him in the psyche battle. He could feel the darkness that was taking in his friend's guilt.

' _ **Look, Nic…I'm sorry. I can't bring myself. I don't think I can. I thought I could for a little while. But after meeting Orion and knowing we're here again, I'm not sure I can take it. I lost Juvia once…and my Devil Slayer powers aren't coming up. Nic, how can you forgive the darkness so easily? How did you forgive Giratina?**_ _'_

A strong silence fell. From the other end, a sigh was heard.

' _ **And Natsu said I was selfish.**_ _'_

' _ **What?**_ _'_

' _ **Did you really think I forgave myself so easily after the Impure Underworld? A million people died because of Giratina. Something like that is hard to forgive…but it's just something I knew was needed, in order for me to move on. How do you think I would feel if I hurt Erza? Or if something happened to Vanessa?**_ _'_

Once again, Gray was shocked. He had a small picture in his mind of what Nic would be like, and it wouldn't be pretty.

' _ **Honestly, I wouldn't forgive myself so easily either. I don't think I ever would…but I know it's what they would've wanted. We've all been hurt in some ways. You and I were pulled into darkness, but why did I come out while I had to drag you? Why did I save you? You remember what I said to you and Natsu that day?**_ _'_

Gray thought back to the day he and Natsu were tricked to talking with Nic. They saw the new scars he had on him, and he forgave them and himself, because in no matter what way, he saved them from their selfishness.

' _ **I told you guys that you could hate me for as much as you want, but no matter what…I'm thankful to have you.**_ _'_

' _ **You do?**_ _'_

' _ **Believe it or not, I think Natsu's feeling the same way you do. But I think he's learning from his mistakes and moving on just like the rest of us. So maybe you did try to kill us, and Giratina tried to damn me as well. But it's better to forgive and see what good came out of the darkness. I freed my Uncle because it's what he wanted. To be free is to be open and understanding to another…and I was thankful to darkness for opening my eyes.**_ _'_

' _ **Nic…**_ _'_

' _ **Just forgive…that's the strength that guided us, and me to save my friends…I gotta go. More enemies are heading my way. Gray…just remember, thanks for being beside me, even in those times.**_ _'_

' _ **Nic…**_ _'_

The telepathic connection turned off, leaving Gray on a meaningful scale. He stood motionless as he looked own at the ground, processing everything that Nic said. Even after not forgiving himself for what he did, Nic was glad to have met him and still be his friend. Nic forgave Giratina because he found even greater strength in that monster. He was damned and cursed by him all his life, and yet he was courageous enough to see good in the deeds made by him.

Then something else came to mind when he looked ahead of him. Juvia. The woman who had his back, even when he wasn't looking. She loved him, even after what he did. She'll always love him. He could hate himself forever, but she made it perfectly clear that no matter what, whoever stood between them…she'll be there. That's what friends were for. That's what love was. Loyalty, even when you fail.

" **Ice Blades: Swan's Wings!** "

Washing his arms forward, Lyon summoned a plethora of sharp wings made of ice that soared through the air at unlimited speeds.

Cubchoo took in a deep breath. " **Icy Wind!** " He blew out of his mouth, which glowed bright blue. An intense wind of sparkling blue blew with the blades, sweeping them in a frigid tail wind that became a tornado of slashing airwave that swallowed Invel. The impact created a maelstrom of swarming ice blades that roared like a hurricane in front of Lyon and Cubchoo.

As the winds roared, the cool shockwaves were making them cover up. Lyon looked over his shoulder at Gray and Juvia. "How long are you going to keep standing there?!"

Cubchoo gasped. "Look out!"

Lyon looked back, but to the horror that was a silhouette in the darkness of the cold. Piercing eyes gleamed through, seeping at him. As he stared, the cyclone literally froze into solid ice; even the blades were frozen in place. In another second, it all exploded into every direction, icy shockwaves that whipped up a tremor that made Lyon's arms frost over before he went doubling over and slid onto his back. Nit far behind, Cubchoo also wailed as thudded onto his stomach, making his grunt in pain.

Lyon winced as his face had shivers and frost layered. "He…froze my magic…"

"So you're a conductor of molding magic as well. I see."

Lyon looked up. His eyes widened at the gruesome display.

Before him, the shockwaves dissipated. They revealed a fine layer of thick ice that crafted in a gauntlet. Another wave cleared to show body armor of ice. And finally, a headpiece around a man's eyes.

The bead of sweat on Lyon's face turned frozen solid. It hit the ground, shattering to pieces as the gauntlet braced itself, revealing Invel in the same armor that he used against Gray. "If that's the case…then perhaps even you can mold the ice of hell."

Lyon was left voluntarily speechless. _'This Magic Power…how did he…?'_

Juvia was still in place trying to restrain herself. She was seeing Gray look at her, the best he could through his limited mind. _'Gray…I know you can do it. You're strong. You just have to believe you are as well. Please Orion, Nic…make him realize that.'_

Gray was completely silent as bangs covered his eyes. As he frowned, balling his fists, he began to feel an underwhelming surge work through him. _'Nic…you forgave me, even when I couldn't myself. Thanks…I really owe ya. And Orion…'_ He thought to the fellow Devil Slayer. His thoughts of him ran to their first fight, when he could see into Gray's heart; something he couldn't do. He could read his hate, his pain, and his anguish…because he felt that before and forgave himself. He made peace. Peace with the darkness that was his Devil Slayer powers. _'…wait, that's not right. I should be thanking the darkness, shouldn't I? Even after all that, to be free…'_

Darkness was what Gray feared. He feared that would take over him, and make him harm his friends. He knew that, and he knew he had friends who would love him even if that did happen. They would pull him out if that were the case. Nic did. And he'd do it again. How many times it took, as many times he hurts Nic, that darkness he controlled would bring him back. Now, he knows he'll never feel guilty.

In a dark void that could be his mentality, that same light he felt back when he fought Orion. _'Thanking the darkness…for giving me something I have now…to find peace…I get it now. Thank you…'_

It all went completely white for him. Silence loomed, and then it faded, revealing his eyes showing determination.

Lyon struggled to get up, as did Cubchoo. Both strained as the ground beneath them was beginning to freeze over. It anchored Lyon's elbows into the ground, making it hard for him to move as Invel closed in. "All unlucky ones who touch my ice shall freeze…forever." He looked down at Lyon and Cubchoo. "Even you…"

Both struggled to get up, but to no avail. _'Damnit, I can't get out in time!'_

Invel closed a fist, driving it up. "May you realize…your darkness shall never compare to my own!"

Lyon's eyes reflected the downward fist heading for him and Cubchoo…

 _ **FWOOSH!**_

A white flash enveloped everything. An icy wave of energy suddenly slung through the speeds of light and created an intense wave of mist that exploded. Tremendous creatures across the ground raced as the chamber sprayed with a blizzard of intense proportion. The frosted waves never ceased until one clear wave showed Invel's fist still out. He could feel the impact freeze up the part.

"It's over…"

The wave receded, revealing a frown. "Yeah, I'd say so, too."

Invel's eyes widened. He gasped as he looked ahead. To his incredulous disbelief, he could see it with his own eyes. Gray was standing before him, bare chested as expected with nothing restraining him. What's more, he had a calm ferocity as he held a prolonged blade of ice-like energy in one hand. He shielded the attack on Lyon, and to make matters worse, the shockwave completely freed him and Cubchoo.

Invel's eyes widened. _'What?!'_

Gray followed through with the icy swing, easily overpowering Invel's punch and spiraling him into the ice nearby. The quaking roared as the wavy energy sword Gray held dissipated. He glared forward. "Hey, you good back there?"

On a knee, Lyon opened an eye. "Never better…" He noticed a figure walking up beside him. "Juvia?"

Juvia looked in the same condition as he was. Battered, but she was still standing. She looked at Gray's back, a serious look on her face. _'Gray…'_

Gray held his ground as the mist dissipated. With a wave of his hand, Invel got back up and had a gash in his armor. _'How did he do that?'_ Invel angrily questioned. _'He shouldn't have been able to break free unless he…'_

Gray held something in his hand in front of his face. It looked like a piece of an icy chain.

Invel's eyes shrunk. _'No…he couldn't have…'_

Gray held the piece to his mouth and took a bite out of it. He chewed and slurped on it, and to Invel's horror, he watched it all go down his throat like noodles. With one more swallow, Gray glared back with a renewed sense.

"You…you couldn't have…that's impossible!" he outraged. "My spell should've locked your heart!"

"…but I didn't lock my mouth." Gray countered. This once again left Invel staggering. Gray's fists ignited in icy frost, but the frost had a grim-like energy towards it. "Alright, where were we?"

Invel realized it, and he was at a loss. _'This can't be…'_ His anger began to rise. _'Did his Devil Slayer power return? I can feel it…it's much stronger than before.'_ His gauntlets clutched tight from the growing anxiety he was feeling arise. _'Does he now have full control? That can't be, unless his heart truly gave into the darkness.'_

Gray swept his feet across. He took in a deep breath as energy spiraled within. Once ready, he opened wide.

" **Ice Devil's Rage!** "

A voluminous roaring ice blast expanded like a trembling erosion that left Invel to process its intense range. The man covered up as the bitter cold attack engulfed him, creating a massive wave of ice that expelled into a mountain of ice shards that glistened before erupting. The shockwaves of that attack made a body graze across the ground, revealing Invel as he doubled over.

Time revolved around him for a moment as more pieces of his armor were broken. He crashed onto his stomach, laying there as the mist resonated off Gray's mouth.

"You say I should give into my darkness…" he wiped the mist from his lips. "Well let me tell you something. I didn't give into it. It's called peace."

Invel didn't understand. He glared ahead impatiently as his will was driving him. Taking a running position, he abruptly sprung ahead to deal one deadly blow to another. He punched and jabbed, but Gray easily dodged, until one faulted punch left Gray to catch it bare-handed. He looked ahead with shock.

"This isn't like last time…" The ice slowly forming on Gray's arm began to crawl up his arm. "There were a lot of things I was sorry for that I am now. I couldn't save Juvia…" his eyes narrowed. "And then I gave into darkness because I was turned on people that I cared most about…but then I learned something."

Invel looked desperate as he saw the ice on Gray's arm mold. The gauntlet around his own arm and morphing around Gray's. The grip tightened on him so that he couldn't pull away.

"…and it's that I have to thank you, even if I don't want to." He pulled back, dragging Invel into him as the gauntlet pulled into a fist. "Because it's what makes me STRONGER!" He smashed his ice-clad fist into Invel's face, the impact creating a shock that made the ice beneath tear open. The impact shot Invel and his shattered armor away and onto the ground. He laid there as Gray towered meters away.

"That mark I had, it was given by my old man…someone who was able to find his peace. I didn't think I would until I fulfilled his wish, and then I realized the mistakes made. But you know what…so what?"

Invel staggered back up, a hazy look inside his eyes.

The gauntlet around his fist began to mold into an energy bow. It had an intense icy aura that resonated great frost as he aimed. "A certain Devil Slayer told me, that in order to become a _true_ Devil Slayer, that I'd have to be open to other's hearts, and forgive…even to creeps like you!"

Invel strained to move forward. "You…can't do this!"

"Watch me!"

Invel roared with all his might. He rushed forward with what was left of his armor at Gray. With all he had, he roared as his gauntlet pulled back with all the bittersweet frost it could condense. One blow would freeze Gray and shatter him like glass. And Gray held his stance, aiming the bow and arrow at his prey.

Seeing the sickened dark look of Invel, his eyelids dropped. "…I'll guide you to peace."

"DIE!" Invel punched forward.

Gray let go.

" **Ice Devil's Zero Destruction Bow!** "

The energy bow sprung to life and crashed clean through Invel's gut. The attack created a shock that made his eyes immediately go white as the sound of a jet engine roared as the shockwaves from the bow's fire made ripples around Invel. The arrow lodged itself into Invel, making him gag uncontrollably in midair endlessly.

Gray watched the struggle. The shockwaves ripped all of his armor off. He saw the ice suddenly explode through Invel's chest, impaling and stabbing every part of his insides. The gags of blood running from his mouth as he fell was a sure sign of victory. Juvia, Lyon, and Cubchoo watched in shock as Invel plundered to the ground, thudding with ice spikes in his chest and body.

He laid on the ground, twitching at the loss that he was suffering. He looked like he was trying to say something, but no words were spoken.

"…it's over." Lyon saw it and knew.

"Yes…it is." Juvia nodded.

Gray frowned as he deactivated the bow. He walked up towards Invel as he gagged with the stalagmites of ice inside of him. He looked down at his face, seeing the sickening wails he would've given.

"Damn…you…" Invel's teeth gritted with what dying strength he had. "How can…you do this? To have forgiven…such darkness…is impossible…"

Gray looked down in remorse. "I know…I thought so too." He raised his chin. "But even a demon needs to know his own fears in order to surpass them. Those who don't will just end up like the rest. Sometimes, you just need to look on another end. That's what I've learned."

"Gray…" Juvia said quietly.

Gray looked back at her, softly grinning.

"You still…cling to hope…even in darkness." The light began to fade from Invel's eyes. "You forgive…even the living sins…you're just like Nic…truly a monster…you've become…" With those last words, the ice shimmered as Invel's eyes rolled shut. His body laid on the ground, finally expiring from the severity of it all.

Gray and the others said nothing. Instead, bangs covered Gray's hair as he silently mourned for the gatekeeper that was his darkness. He hated him, but he had to thank him. Because of him, he knew what he had to do and move on. They all remained quiet as Invel's body slowly began to solidify into ice, slowly crackling and becoming one massive crystal of ice.

Gray murmured low. "Thanks."

The ice shattered, leaving sparkles to shatter in place and twinkle upwards. The others continued to stare up as the twinkling stars of frost went over their heads. As one sparkle came down, Juvia caught it with one hand. It was cold as it made a snowflake in her palm that turned to frost in the palm. She closed it, silently pitying his demise.

Lyon stepped forward. "Gray…"

Silently, the moment ended and Gray turned around. He faced them, reassuring with a grin. "Thanks you guys. I'm good."

Lyon and Juvia looked at him knowingly. They could see he was at peace with what he did.

"We should get going now, don't you think?"

"Right." They agreed.

As they readied to find the exit, Gray looked towards the ceiling. His mind wandered to the voids of his minds, which were now a clear, icy light. _'So this is what a Devil Slayer's peace is like. Orion…'_

* * *

Bloodied sword clashed against hardened dark fists as Sindge forced himself at Orion. The Devil Slayer blocked the attack, but was surprised at the force that was against him. With a hardy grunt, he crossed both fists, swatting Sindge back into midair before he landed in a crouch to pounce again.

' _His fighting style is getting slower.'_ Orion deduced. _'He's not as nimble as before. The blood he's consumed must be wearing off.'_

Sindge grunted as Orion was evaluating him. He pulled out two medium-sized daggers that he twirled and aimed at Orion. A loud roar surged as another bloody wave surged from the vials he stowed away. The waves of blood forced the Devil Slayer to jump back and dodge the impaling spears. With profound distance, Orion figured he was safe.

Until a bat-like silhouette behind made him realize the mistake.

Sindge's eyes had that same dark gleam. " **Wing Attack!** "

Golbat's wings glowed and swatted Orion once he's turned around. The impact to his crossed arms sent him back at Sindge. In a split second, time slowed as Sindge was mere inches from the back of Orion's head with a sword ready to swing.

Orion's strained gaze caught a slim feeling from behind. He dragged his heels beneath him and managed to duck before the guillotine blow. He slipped behind Sindge as the Blood Mage looked over his shoulder, seeing a dark fist in time to narrowly dodge the cross. He adjusted a pivot and swung a dagger across, forcing Orion to once again back away for caution.

"You thought just because I was slower meant you could get ahead of me, right?" Sindge asked. "Well hate to break your heart pal, but as long as I have even one drop of blood at my disposal, I can carve through you like a pumpkin." He raised his blade and licked over the flat end, proving his insanity.

"So I've noticed." Orion glared. His fists ignited in darkness and crossed his arms. " **Dark Devil's Wave!** " He swung both arms in opposite arcs, creating a shockwave of expanding darkness that raced after Sindge.

The Spriggan smirked. "Nice try…" He twirled another sword he had out and swung it forward. A dense wave of blood rushed to the front and created a barrier that the darkness went around. "Hasn't anybody told you how dense blood can be?" he asked as the darkness dissipated. "It's because the blood cells contain iron in them. And it's not easy to disembody iron unless you were _that_ crafty."

The darkness faded, revealing nothing.

Sindge's eyes widened. _'Where'd he go?'_ His attention drew to overhead. He turned around to find Orion above him, fist reeled back as he was closing the gap on Golbat. _'I get it now. So that's his aim. He's try to take out the support that I have.'_

Golbat was weary as Orion drove his fist into him. However, the bat was much too fast to be hit. He swept to the side as Orion followed through, falling to a slide along the ground. Orion hurried to swing around as his foot pivoted, but he turned right into a knife that was thrown pass his cheek. That warning blow made him alert as Sindge easily closed distance between them once more, holding his sword overhead to plunge Orion's head.

Orion glared as his feet coated in black and purple. He pressed on the ground and shot back to avoid the sword that plunged in his place. He slid back continuously for that same distance, but above him, Golbat was tailing.

He looked up as the bat unleashed another wave of **Air Cutter**. X-shaped aerial crescents surged and made impact on him. A smoke surge erupted upon direct contact, sending Orion sliding back further with a strained look on his face.

Sindge saw the opportunity. _'I got him!'_

Orion was in midair as he tried to recoil. He winced behind the smoke cloud that blocked his vision from his adversaries. _'This isn't working. I've taken too much damage from earlier. I need to get in once more and-!'_ His senses went wild as many holes poked through the smoke. They revealed bloody lances that sped to fast. _'No!'_

" **Blood Spear!** "

Sindge's surprise attack sped like long bullets that shot into Orion. The attack's varied blows shot through his right shoulder, as well as his left leg, arm, and the side of his torso. The varied strays of deep sickening red made Orion scream as as blood splattered all over him as he doubled over. He crashed on the ground, laying like a bloodied, limp ragdoll.

He laid twitching on the ground, his eyes dilating from the shock and pain that flowed through him like poison. As he tried to remain calm, he was painfully unaware of the situation he fell into. _'He got me.'_ He grimaced, twitching his fingers and feet. _'He used the smoke as cover, and I fell for it…damnit. And…I can't move. What's happening?'_ He was brought to reality when a sword stabbed his left shoulder blade, making him gag blood from the pain.

Above him, Sindge towered with a serial glare. He held the sword tight as he got Orion's attention. "You're good, pal. Real good."

Orion wasn't able to muster to words he needed to say. He was too in shock as the sword was removed from his shoulder. Blood red spouted and stained his coat.

"Perhaps I can't control you to kill yourself or your other friends…but nobody ever said anything about implanting blood into _your_ system."

Orion's eyes widened. _'That move…'_ He thought of the spears of blood that pierce him moments ago. _'So that's it. He used controlled blood and implanted it inside me. This man…he's insidiously crafty.'_ Another sword stabbed his leg, rendering more shock to flow through his body.

"You talk so incredulously about this so-called 'peace before you die'." Sindge removed the blade again, making more of Orion bleed out. "Maybe I'm hypocritical about this, but the only peace that exists…is the kind when you're dead. When you can't feel any pain!"

Orion balled his fists, but his strength wasn't with him right now. He was cursing as the infected blood paralyzed every part of him.

"To not feel pain is to know that you are a dead man. It's better to be dead than alive because you know no pain. To be hurt, mentally, physically, you can only take so much until you wish for it to be over. But know this…" He licked the blade once more, this time making a shiver went up Orion's spine. "Not one human being can go a lifetime without knowing two things: Pain, and suffering. Only after can they find peace. _I_ merely aim to give that justice meaning." He held a blade up, ready to pierce his skull. "So, Devil Slayer…exactly how can you live being at peace when you're in pain?"

Orion offered no answer. He stared up at Sindge as he saw the bloody face if hell. The deep, intense glare he had with a cackling dark aura was making him recall himself. _'To have found my peace…I couldn't have done it alone.'_ His fingers twitched incredulously as he attempted to find strength, but to no avail. He could only stare up at the maniacal face as everything around him went deaf in his mind. _'Demora…it was you who saved me from suffering that day. You showed me what it's like to finally know peace, even if it took me so long to realize.'_

Sindge raised his blade slightly with his eyes shrinking. He snarled low to end it.

' _Demora…Dad…'_ Orion's eyes slowly closed. Darkness clouded his mind as everything went bleak around him.

* * *

 _The forest enveloped within an endless hue of dark sky was quiet, until a dark flash snapped and erupted a shockwave that decimated a fraction of the forest itself._

 _The darkness was roaring with the shriek of a banshee. The whole wave dissipated, revealing Demora as he stood tall. As everything burned around him, he glared dense daggers at a figure that stepped forward, eroding dark streams from just its footstep alone._

"… _so this is what you desire then…" the foster-father mumbled. "Orion…"_

 _The 13-year-old Orion was seething daggers as his lifeless eyes had dark purple irises. His skin was almost completely within a wavy, fiery cloak of darkness. His teeth were gritting by sheer hate that he felt for the demon that he faced. All over his body, there was black, with the Devil Slayer tattoo on his forearm shimmering an ominous light. His arms were also cloaked in darkness, but this darkness was thicker. They looked like decayed claws that crackled like flames of fading fire. The demonized teen let out an earsplitting shriek into the air as a helix of darkness swelled within his area._

 _Demora glared dark daggers that could pierce one's soul. "What a poor soul you are…to think you'd go this far only to show so little results…pity."_

 _Orion's demonic eyes dilated. "Don't mess with me!" He shot two fists forward, sending the spiraling darkness around him into two condensed funnels that ripped across the earth._

 _Demora watched the attack come right for him. With one pivot, the demon balled his own fist and punched forward. The impact of the darkness he emitted unleashed a massive shockwave that obliterated parts of the earth and created a voluminous black hemisphere that could've been seen from miles away. Within that darkness, Demora glared daggers at his deranged foster-son ripping through his darkness with a fist enveloped in pitch-black and punched._

 _Today was it. This was the day Orion was going to do it. He was going to kill Demora if it was the last thing he did. It was a long time coming, but even Orion wasn't sure. As far as he knew, he woke up an hour ago with Demora hovering over him. If it weren't for his survivalists training he gave to boy, he would've been killed long before then. It looked like he wasn't the only one sick of this._

 _Unable to hold back one second longer, the pain and demanding anger that Orion had boiled up for the years he's spent with the tough demon was cultivated into his mark. The past three months for his mark have been spontaneous to where it spread even when he wasn't thinking about Demora. And when he did, he'd lose control until Demora had to beat him down._

 _Well no more. This day, he was going to be free, free from the monster that slaughtered everyone but him that grueling day. He was going to use his hate to win…even if he had to turn into a monster himself to do that._

 _Demora blocked the punch as shockwaves spread, knocking away logs and rocks that were scattered around their feet. The demon repulsed his son and pulled his fist back, hammering an intense wave of darkness that swallowed up the demon child with horror in his eyes. The shockwave shot across the forest for miles, making it look familiar to a linear wave of black that swallowed the land._

 _As the dust cleared, black energy swelled everywhere. It swallowed everything like fire until a slurping sound was heard. The darkness began rotating into a cyclone that swam into a decimated mouth. The vast majority of the darkness was swallowed by Orion as he was on a knee, panting after wiping away the intense attack he managed to swallow. As his stomach lurched, Demora socked a grim blow to the beck of his neck that sundered him._

 _Demora wasn't holding back either. He was using every bit of his strength with the intention to kill. The demonic aura he had was proof of that. Today, this morning…like it or not, it was time to end the monster that was his son._

 _The two parried blows intensely, vile and vile clashing in sheer willpower. Their combined force as their knuckles collided tore apart the landscape and ripped open tree trunks too close. One blow got Orion's face, but another got Demora's abdomen. It was a nonstop hell that wasn't slowing down. Both demons were aiming to kill, and the longer Orion fought, the more demon he became._

" _DEMORA!" He socked Demora's stomach with a point-blank_ _ **Dark Devil's Fist Driver**_ _, swallowing the demon's abdomen and sending him in a dark skid through the forest floor._

 _Demora gagged intensely as the attack sent a shock through his body. As the end of his skid, he laid on his back as the shock restrained him. He looked up as Orion was already coming down from above, roaring like a banshee as his fist came down with explosive dark force. The explosion that rattled intensely destroyed the ground._

 _Demora roared as he went sailing backwards, parts of his armored body chipped and battered. He landed on his armored heels, facing the dust cloud that eroded away to reveal Orion._

 _Their eyes met, with Orion's dark purple eyes flaming for a hate-filled finish. "YOU MONSTER!"_

 _Demora lowered his head, hesitating a moment as he looked at his son. He then gathered darkness in his fist as he ran ahead. Orion mimicked the same arts. All the darkness each could muster up made stones defy gravity. As they roared, their equally demonic howls shuddered the airspace, producing a magnitude that caused shockwaves of black to expel that swirled into their spheres._

 _Both pulled back once more, each fist going into overdrive like jet engines as pictures of skulls enveloped them. Each one pivoted, punching forward._

 _At that moment, two purple globs of light eroded like magma that was about to burst. The bubbles each had expanded until they condensed, flashing millions of lights per second before two pillars of sheer darkness erupted skywards. The skies above them literally tore open as the any puffy clouds vaporized within the dense waves of atomic darkness. The landscape was destroyed in a split second as trees, rocks, and nearby unlucky animals were vaporized in one small flash._

 _As that every flash dissipated, the roar of their attacks continued fading in the distance. And yet the dust beneath was lifting. Orion and Demora's two fists were past each other as they looked at each other in the eye._

 _Demora's fist was on Orion's left side. And for Orion's fist, it was into Demora's abdomen…where a gaping hole was._

 _The demon looked ahead, realizing what happened. He softly smiled. "Well done…" he fell over onto his back with a thud. He looked up at the sky aimlessly as his unseen eyes beneath his visor were bleak, but he didn't mind._

 _A dark shadow loomed over him, getting him to turn towards his son. The Devil Slayer snarled menacingly at his fallen teacher._

" _Congratulations…you've done it." He said. "Suppose you wanna put me out of my misery then, huh?"_

 _The demonized Orion crackled his knuckles. He wanted to, but he was out of power. All that attacking left him vulnerable as well._

" _I see…" he looked up at the sky again. "So that's where it stands then."_

"… _tell me." Orion's voice was partially distorted. "Why?" His teeth gnashed together. "Tell me WHY?!"_

 _Demora offered no input. He heard his own foster-son let his wails take over._

" _Why…did you have to take me? I should've died that day. I should've…but then you came along and took me in…you made me live…why?"_

 _Demora didn't know how to put it. He looked up at the sky, having nowhere else to stare. "I saved you." He answered._

" _Saved me…saved me?!" Orion drop to a knee and grabbed the demon's throat. His demonic eyes seethed daggers of spite. "I have been suffering for seven years because of you! You taught me all these survivalist skills, and for what?! So you can finally test me like this? To see that I had what it takes to live in this disgusting world?!" The demonized boy was shuddering in place, his eyes completely black from shadows. "Just…why…? Demora…"_

 _He could feel his patience was so thin for answers. He was so desperate that he'd go this far. It was sick. This isn't what he wanted to see the person he raised to become. Not his vision. With what minutes he had, he needed to make it clear so that he could understand._

"… _tell me something." He started. "Did you ever stop to consider your own life beforehand?"_

 _Orion looked away. "What life? The life that you stole from me?"_

" _The life that left you hungry at night. The life that you survived because your own parents abandoned you to fend for their own salvation. Am I wrong?"_

 _Orion wanted to rebuttal, but when he looked at him, he couldn't find any reason to talk. It was true. His village was severely poor, his own father wasn't there, and his own mother was barely taking care of him because she was out doing anything she can to find food to keep her going. He only survived because he depended on himself._

" _We demons…we were created for the sole reason of fulfilling one purpose…" Demora paused, giving himself room to wince. "To bring ourselves back to Zeref. But…there was one that was a fault in my kind. The answer…lied within the humans."_

 _Orion's eyes slowly widened. The vile he had was receding just a little._

" _We were programmed to hate humans. It was written before we were born. My kind, we damned all humans, even I have followed this code once…but, as I watched life move on, I began to realize something. Why_ _ **did**_ _we hate humans so much?" he coughed. "Was it in our biology? Was it Zeref? As sick as it was, my own curiosity has lead me to realize that my own life_ _ **could**_ _have more than one meaning. As humans look to one another, suffering…dying…and many more who feared. There were those who showed traits that triggered this 'hate' that Zeref programmed."_

 _Orion's brow furrowed. "What's that mean…?"_

" _Love."_

 _Orion's eyes widened. "Are you saying…?"_

" _I wanted to know why we hated love so much, why he made us unloved. Every fiber in my body has urged me to not follow this curiosity, for it might in fact kill me…" he snickered at the irony. "Now look at me. Done in by my own will that_ _ **I**_ _wanted."_

 _Orion's glared was still fixed on him, but he was on his knees. He was in a position to finish him for his nonsense…but his human-self was urging him to listen._

" _That hate you feel right now, that's the kind we demons were designed to have for humans. I exploited that…and in doing so would in fact would make me realize that this hate had to be flawed in some way. Tell me, do you remember the very first trap I helped you make?"_

" _Yes…I got caught in the rope instead."_

" _And now look. You can even trap bears. You've made your own fires…and you've learned from the most hated species amongst men." He winced again, holding his abdomen as it was spilling black blood. "When you fixed that trap…I realized something…that I was proud."_

 _Orion looked away, a pained feeling in his demonized face. "So I was just your little experiment? To know what this love is, right?" he shot a steep glare back. "You really think demons can comprehend hate?!"_

" _I'm sorry…I know it's too late now…but believe it or not…everything changed when I saw your eyes."_

" _My…eyes?" Ironically enough, the demonic vibe in the eyes were fading back to normal._

" _Yes…I saw hate. Vile, contemptuous hate. If I could at least try to change one life while changing my own…then perhaps I could possibly go in peace than fall without realizing my own faults. And because of that…I can forgive myself. My dying hope now is if you can forgive me, and yourself."_

" _Demora…" Orion didn't stop to think about until now. His head went down as he began to think about it. In a way, he was salvaged. Demora took him in, and he taught him. Some strife was along the way, but that didn't stop him from going forward. He got stronger, and it was because Demora was willing to out of kinship. The more he thought, the more cracks around his demonic form were showing._

" _I may not have been the right father…but I do admit…I actually…_ _ **did**_ _enjoy the time I had. Even if I did fail you in the end. I lead you down this path of hate against me, and now your hate has you demonized…but…I'm grateful."_

 _Orion looked back. The pieces shattered along his face to show his human skin. Orion's clad hand cupped his left cheek. Out of impulse, Orion caught him and cradled the dying demon. He had shock in his eyes as he saw the face he hated so much look so thankful. "I…I don't understand…you're grateful of me killing you? Why?"_

 _Demora smiled. "To be killed by someone who you made suffer, to try and strive for peace…someone who you came to realize as the same."_

" _Demora…" At this point, the demonized hate he had was gone. Orion's body was back to normal as he looked at the abdomen, seeing a small flurry of purple sparkles erode from it. He gasped as they floated skywards. As they went up, he began to rethink of it all. The hate he had against him was fading. Guilt was beginning to flare as his sole reason to live was finally being put to rest. And yet his teacher and father – someone he couldn't survive without until now – was happy._

" _Orion…listen to me, just for once…even if you do hate me…I just want you to know…I am proud of you. You've become strong now, and I'm thankful to have it been by you who taught me how it feels to care for another…I love you, my son. Thank you…for giving this demon his peace…and your own…" The sparkles around Demora's body began to flow like blood. The black blood he had was vanishing in the sky as Orion watched in horror as the only person who cared and taught him love and hate was fading away._

 _With a heaping asp, Orion began to recollect all the memories they've had together. From saving him, to the years he's learned to hunt and filter water. He's learned Devil Slayer Magic, and to overcome with forgiveness. As he looked down, he realized something as his heart ached. He quickly pulled the fading Demora in, embracing him with tears of love shedding than grief. He held on, daring to not let go._

"… _I love you too, Dad."_

 _Demora's final smile faded as his body went limp. With reciprocated love, a single tear from the demon's visor as he faded into purple sparkles that fluttered into the sky. Orion looked up, staring at the dispersing lights. A pained look filled his face as he sniffled. Of course he was sad, but at the same time, he was happy, because he realized that this was what his father wanted…and he has - must forgive himself. Demora did, and he died proudly for seeing his son be happy._

 _As he looked towards the sky, it now faded. The dark hue Demora once kept him in faded, revealing bright light onto his pale skin. A new light, one that the demon showed him. The mark he had also faded._

 _At long last, overcoming hate and forgiveness, Orion had found his peace, and can now live on._

* * *

A spiral of blood surrounded Sindge's sword as he held it over Orion. "This pain you feel…is mere mercy compared to ache others feel!"

Orion's balled fists tightened. _'You freed me, just as I freed you. You prepared me for what it's like to walk in light when you pushed me to overcome my hate…and I thank you because of that.'_

Sindge plunged the sword. "Goodbye…Devil Slayer!"

As the sword came down, Orion's mind showed Demora's dying face. _'Your peace…IS MY WILL!'_ His eyes flashed a sharp yellow with embers before a dark shockwave exploded from his body.

The sudden eruption of Magic Power made Sindge go wide-eyed. "What?!" The darkness suddenly exploded, sending him flying onto his back near Golbat. The bat looked shocked before it was also enveloped in the darkness. The waves of pitch-black spilled everywhere, dissipating to a dark hue that swallowed the entire corridor.

…

Natsu abruptly turned his head. His nose picked up something as he looked up. The chandeliers above him began to go out.

"Huh?" Lucy looked up. "Hey, what happened to the lights? Klefki?"

The Key Ring Pokémon looked around, looking worries. "I don't know!" she shrieked.

Happy was standing out of the battle, looking around as concern arose. "Guys…does anyone feel that?"

"…yeah, that chill." Natsu smelled the air one more time. This time his eyes narrowed. _'That smell…'_

Nic's group looked around, and they saw the hue around them darken.

"Big Elf? What's going on?"

"I don't know, stay close."

Erza's brow furrowed. "This force…"

Nic's eyes narrowed. He looked off into the darkness. He had a feeling of what was happening.

With Gray's group, Juvia and Lyon were questioning the darkness around them. It even made Lyon had chills. But Gray looked up, having a gut feeling from the way his Devil Slayer powers were acting up. _'Orion…'_

…

Sindge groaned as he got up. He looked around, turning left and right to realize the lights were forcibly turned out. "What the…?" He turned around to find pitch-black in the shadows. Looking own, he could barely see his own feet. This strange chill he was getting, it was all over the place. It was creeping him out. _'What's going on here? How did it get so…?'_

"To help those who are lost, find their peace the way I have before moving on to the next life…that is the purpose of the Peace Jaegers."

An overwhelming pressure caught Sindge by surprise. He felt an intense shiver rattle his spine as he turned around. But what he saw, only made his eyes shrivel in shock.

Glaring from pitch-black, a pair of yellow eyes with dark embers emanating seethed at him. "…I shall show you, what it means to truly know no pain." Orion's silhouette was seen within purple wavy energy flames igniting his own body. Darkness solidified around his body, encasing his arm in gauntlets of darkness like he used against Gray and Vanessa, only this time his entire body was covered in dark armor. Purple flame-like energy molded into energy wings. The pupils around the yellow eyes…were also pitch-black. " **Devil Force.** "

A dark aura raced along the Magic Power Orion gave off. It left Sindge completely bewildered as his own blood was boiling. He stepped back from shock. _'The hell did he do? He…he just got more power, but how? I paralyzed him.'_ He looked at one of the spots he impaled. He saw black blood instead of red. His eyes widened. _'Demon blood? Did his demon cells multiply and expel the cells that invaded?'_ His teeth gritted angrily. _'This man…just what is he?!'_

Intense darkness spiraled around Orion's left fist as he punched forward with all his might. A roaring tidal wave of darkness ripped open the ground as it passed Sindge. The Spriggan remained shocked with parted chapped lips as the shockwave blew his Golbat away, continuing through the darkness and ripping a hole clean through the palace wall. The entire palace shuddered with the impact's brace disappearing into the sky.

Sindge's eyes dilated as he didn't even look back. Golbat was blown to the wall and unconscious, yet further away was a massive hole and torn ground from just one punch. He saw the look on Orion's face.

He was _dead_ serious.

Getting to a runner's position, Orion suddenly lunged at Sindge at lightning speeds. Getting out of shock, Sindge brought his sword up and encompassed it in blood. Orion flew right into him, creating so much force that it pushed Sindge backwards. _'He's gotten even more freaking powerful!'_ Orion completely ploughed through and made Sindge double over onto a slide. He stopped, but Orion ascended into the air thanks to his energy wings.

" **Blood Spear!** "

Summoning waves of blood, Sindge shot them skywards. They all shot like missiles that Orion easily maneuvered around and evaded. They even went as far as follow him, but he easily dodged them all and went into an arch. The spears of blood followed Orion's path, diving right into Sindge.

The Spriggan looked shocked as Orion suddenly faded. He looked up, seeing the spears diving at him. He reached up, immediately dispersing the blood before impact. With him distracted, an unknown force caused him to turn into an invisible punch that cracked the side of his broken face. The impact made him shoot across the air, but Orion reappeared at one point above, leaving Sindge wide-eyed.

Orion disappeared, reappearing and choking the neck that he plunged into the ground. The dark ground caved into the force that made Sindge gag. Shock overwhelmed his body as Orion towered over him, his immense stare making the shock on him shrivel his spine.

Orion backed off, allowing Sindge to shakily get back up. _'This…man…just what is he…?'_ Orion suddenly vanished again into darkness. Sindge remained calm, but he had a strong feeling. He turned and used his sword to parry a dark gauntlet in time. However, the impact made him lose ground considerably. Orion's increased speed made him punch over and over, flying in and making Sindge go on defense.

Each blow made shockwaves of darkness burst all around them. Parts of the wall dented in, and the ground had craters as parried blows sunk in. Glass shattered everywhere as the numbers intensify, and Sindge was unable to keep up.

With one final punch, Orion took his fist back and drove the darkness into Sindge. He shattered the sword with one blow, crashing into his face and sending the mage spiraling out of havoc into the darkness. He slid on his face, then his neck, all the way around until he finally used two daggers while in midair and plunged them into the ground, slowing him down.

He finally slid to a halt, gagging up blood that he suffered from. He panted profusely as his devilish eyes were shuddering out of distraught adrenaline. _'No way…this guy…he's just…'_ He suddenly got back up, swaying about before Orion appeared out of thin darkness in front of him.

" **Blood Spiral!** "

A spiral of blood was created, but Orion used one punch to create darkness that exploded, evaporating blood in an instant and throwing Sindge further back. The man screamed in riling agony as he crashed into the ground one more time.

Orion adjusted. He said nothing as he watched Sindge struggle with his aching breath.

"You Devil…Slayer…" he gagged blood again, almost fumbling over in the process. "You really think…you can end my suffering? Not even in death, will that end my pain…"

Orion's glare was dead silent. However, his own bloody glare was nothing like Sindge's. The blood red in his eyes was around the shrunken eyes as they dilated with each heartbeat. Big, then small. His raspy breathing and his widening smirk showed drooling blood that only a madman would have.

"I am…Blood Loco Sindge…and you…WILL KNOW SUFFERING!" With every ounce of his strength left, Sindge sprung across the ground at Orion. He pulled out his last two knives that he held away. He let out a bloodthirsty roar of a monster as his pupil-less eyes were highly defined. With all his might, he generated magic into whatever blood was within the area that spiraled abound his body. The blood was like a cyclone that shot him at Orion.

Orion readied himself. _'You're right. I do know suffering…'_ He took to his heels and went speeding into Sindge. The devil in the dark and bloodied madman closed the gap on one another swiftly.

Sindge crossed his blades as he licked his lips, cackling.

' _I do know suffering. I suffered in darkness because of hate and pain. I was one-sided…but thanks to that…'_

" _ **DIIIIE!**_ " An annoyed Sindge slashed his two blades with all his might, but Orion suddenly d=vanished like a light going on. His eyes widened.

Beneath the spiraling blood and his abdomen, Orion reappeared, time slowing down as he glared at Sindge, who looked down in growing anxiety. _'…I could find my peace, and live with the example my Dad set me…this is the power of peace!'_

The energy wings he had behind his back surged into his right fist. He poured all his strength back into the elbow and clutched the gauntlet as purple ignited like a rocket engine ready to take off. All that power as he pulled back made the darkness wail, time still slow as the while darkness distorted into a maelstrom that packed behind the punch ready to launch.

Sindge was wide-eyed. He saw the face of a skull emerge on the punch as it reeled up towards his abdomen.

The skull-faced punch shot a shockwave as Orion let out a pure bloodcurdling roar towards the sky.

" **Devil Slayer's Secret Art – Hellion Ultra!** "

The fist drove itself into Sindge's gut. At the moment of impact, a dark bright radiance pierced his entire abdomen. The gut expanded briefly as purple magma built up from inside, and finally Sindge couldn't that it anymore. An intense wave beamed clean through the abdomen, almost ripping the madman in half as the shockwave sent him at Mach speeds into the ceiling. The impact was so brutalizing that the limp man shot clean through the ceiling, making shockwaves quake the entire castle. He broke through another floor. Then another, and another. He continuously broke through it all until a black and purple comet that was now a lifeless Sindge with a gaping mouth shot straight up skywards. He continued skywards, fading into a glint whose force repulsed the clouds that circled the palace skies.

In the courtyard, Jellal looked at the sky brimming with sunlight. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure." Bellona answered.

Gajeel, Macbeth, and those captured looked up. Kevin and his Rattata looked up as well, though Rattata shriveled as he chuckled with cross-eyes. Wendy's group was also looking up. They were unable to realize what happened.

Meanwhile, inside, Orion continued posing with an uppercut directly underneath a series of massive holes that could fit a mansion. Sunlight peered down through the holes, emanating the fading darkness that Orion was in. He frowned as the sun's warmth embraced him, allowing him to revert to normal. He slowly sunk to his knees and hunched over, panting from the exhaustion he felt. "May you find your peace…"

He breathed slowly, allowing himself to be at ease, at least for a little while.

* * *

The darkness inside the palace's main throne room did not recede. In fact, around Neinhart, darkness was what surrounded him. He stared coldly at the monitors before him. All the entertainment before him with everyone beating the current Spriggan 12 left him…unsatisfied. He scoffed inside the shadows. "Pathetic." He sighed. "Oh what to do, what to do…"

* * *

On the main floor, the darkness vanished, allowing Yajeel to glance up at the lighting over his head. He could tell yet another fight had come to an end. _'The lights are back on…'_

A knock from a nearby entrance got his attention.

"Hm?" He turned towards it. "Someone's using the side entrance, I see…" He walked over to the nearest doorway. He stood before it and tapped his staff on the lacrima scanner in front of it. The door automatically opened. Almost immediately, a Wingull fluttered in, cawing as it roosted on his staff. "Oh, Wingull! My friend!" he gasped.

Wingull cawed lightly again, gesturing towards the door.

"What is it?"

"Gramps…"

Hearing a familiar voice, Yajeel turned towards the doorway. To his own shock, he saw someone battered leaning against the side of the door. He looked to be seriously upset, but determined at the same time. Ajeel was back.

"Ajeel!" Yajeel gasped at his grandson's return. He backed away to allow him room to stumble indoors, clutching his abdomen the whole way indoors. "My grandson! Are you alright! Your wounds…!"

"I'm fine…" Ajeel slowly walked pass his grandfather, leaving him worried.

"W-wait, hold on!" Yajeel hurried over towards him, but Ajeel suddenly turned around, giving him a sharp but pleading look. It left him perplexed. "Ajeel…"

"Gramps…" he grunted. "Tell me, where's that emperor?"

* * *

Meanwhile, far out within the wasteland that bordered the forest from the walls of the empire, a pair of hips swayed in a mini-skirt and dark leggings as three other individuals followed behind. The frontal figure used her fingers to adjust her glasses, showing her dead serious eyes.

"Miss Glynda…" Viridian spoke.

Glynda didn't stop her path. "I know. Seems Sindge's bloody antics have finally caught onto him…how unfortunate."

Pixy shrugged. "Well that's what he gets if you ask me. Good thing we Machia don't have blood. That guy wouldn't be so lucky."

Tyson snickered. "Say, these guys sound like a blast if they're causing _that_ big of a ruckus back there. Maybe we should've hung back a bit to watch, huh?"

"Don't ask for the impossible, Tyson." Viridian scolded. "Remember our place. It is our obligation to do as we are commanded by our superiors, to reclaim the lost name of our former leader."

Tyson had his hands behind his head. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Just saying it'd be a show is all."

"Perhaps so."

"Both of you, quiet!" Glynda enforced. "We're on a mission. Do not dwell on those that are beneath you."

"Of course, ma'am. A thousand apologies." Viridian bowed his head.

The traveling group passed one of the ships that had fallen from the sky from daybreak. The smoke had long since dissipated, and the ships all laid scattered around them. The wasteland had become a broken shipyard. The smell of burned wood and bodies filled the air.

As they walked on, a pile of wood shifted. Pixie stopped to turn and look at the shifting in the distance, revealing a very weak soldier. His armor was torn apart, showing char and blood on the whole left side of his body. "Please…help me…" he mumbled.

Pixie meekly smirked. "Oh dear, Miss Glynda. It seems we have some stragglers still. Would you like me to help them?"

Glynda closed her eyes. She frowned as her path was untouched. Without looking, she pulled out a wand from her sleeve and aimed it at the ship and soldier.

"Please…help me…" he whimpered.

Glynda sighed. "…troublesome worth."

With one flick of the wand, all the ship and the guys that could be alive still abruptly exploded. Magic broke apart everything and reduced the decimated ships to splintered pieces. Everything inside was also torn apart. This time, it made sure no one made it out. Around them, even more flames and smoke filtered through the clouds. This made Pixie snicker.

"Well, that happened."

"Apologies, but this was for their own good." Viridian's glare glimmered. "We do not stray, understand?"

"Right!" they shouted.

Glynda didn't care. She swayed her hips like nothing mattered as she marched into the forest with the Machia Knights. They left the wasteland, leaving bonfires in their wake that arose to smoke. This smoke filtered to the stormy sky above, in which growing thunder roared in the distance. More accurately, not far from a certain basin with a ship.

Unknowing for those onboard, the Spriggan's glare was fixed on them, and nothing is standing in front of her job.

* * *

 **Sorry for the wait,** _ **again**_ **, but I did exactly what I said would happen. This chapter was going to jam so much in that it would be near 30K again, and would take over a week. But I made it so freaking long because I wanted to conclude these 4 big fights before we move on with the next part of the arc. Thank god that's over! So now Gray has finally forgiven himself and the darkness that corrupted him, relearning his Devil Slayer powers.**

 **As you can imagine, the main fight this chapter was about Orion VS Blood Loco Sindge. It was a VERY long fight, but I gave depth to why Orion made the Peace Jaegers, and how he's come to make his peace with his decisions and his late foster-father.**

 **So now that we've made it this far, I want to know something. Of all the OC Spriggan and Alvarez soldiers I've made, which of them do you find the most dangerous to be? And who is your favorite Peace Jaeger member so far?**

 **I'm also going to say this now before I forget. I created a poll involving Joey. It's going to be up for a while, but I just thought I'd let you know now before I forget.**

 **Phew! Okay! Well I did 3 chapters, just like I said. Now I'm gonna jump to** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **and then jump back and forth as usual! Glad this worked out! Reviews are appreciated, and thanks for hanging with me these past few updates! :)**


	18. Battle of the Ship

Natsu's bellowing roar swallowed up the entire corridor. The flames blew away soldiers and enemy Pokémon of the highest durability. The flames charred the intricacy of the walls and melted anything else that was too close. Once free from the enemies in his path, Natsu wiped his mouth. "Too easy."

Lucy saw soldiers head her way and stretched her arm out. "Sagittarius! Klefki!"

The Key Ring Pokémon swept in front. "For the keys!"

Out in the open, Sagittarius pulled his bow and arrows back. "As you wish, milady! I shall make quick, and vanish yee-ho!" He pulled forward his arrows, sending them at the incoming brigade.

Klefki jingled to herself as a wind of pink stardust started to circulate around her. " **Fairy Wind!** " She roared out, expelling the wind that surge with the arrows, making them pick up speed and surround them in pink winds. The atmosphere shot back soldiers and Dark-types too unfortunate to be caught up in the combined attack.

Natsu smirked. "C'mon, can't let Lucy have all the fun with Pokémon. Charmander, you still able to fight?"

Though shaken still and bruised, Charmander shook his head and read Natsu's anticipation. "Yeah, ready!"

"Okay then…" he reached forward. "Give 'em **Flame Charge!** " With a swipe of his arm, Charmander suddenly rushed passed him in a flaming comet. He sprinted across the ground in rapid speeds into a Nuzleaf that came too close. Without warning, the Nuzleaf was wide-eyed as a flaming bullet struck him. The shockwaves picked him up and shot him down, while Charmander stood proudly before Natsu. "Atta boy! I knew you still have some steam in ya!"

Sophie swiped her arm, using her Memory-Make Magic to summon forth precipice slates with lightning stringing up beneath enemy feet. Each one exploded like a landmine as she stood unfazed. Whereas behind her, Griffon pulled strings slinging a ripple at the strings attached to other guys' limbs, pulling and cutting them off with their blood staining the floor.

"These guys are starting to get annoying." The Wire Mage sneered.

"I couldn't agree more." Sophie said before swiping her arm, summoning lightning from above that struck and turned the soldiers ahead to stone.

Happy looked at the numbers surrounding them. "Hey, has anybody seen Brandish at all?"

Lucy turned around to realize this. "Yeah, good question. Where is she?"

Natsu adjusted his stance. "Probably still back with that chick I fought." He swung a spinning kick wrapped in fire that stamped another soldier away.

"I hope she's alright. She's taking a long time." Happy said.

Lucy's eyes narrowed. She didn't feel so confident. "I hope she's okay…"

Yelling came from the other end of the hallways. Charmander and Klefki turned with their trainers to find even more armed soldiers head their way. "Well we don't have time to worry about them right now." Natsu approached them, ready and fired up. "We got our own problems to deal with."

The soldiers heading their way were closing in at a dramatic rate; both them and the Pokémon they had of varied regions ranging from basic to secondary evolutions. They closed in, only find themselves suddenly shrunken in a blind eye's notice.

"HUH?!" Lucy and Natsu gawked. Sophie and Griffon also showed quiet surprised looks.

The soldiers all looked around, realizing just what happened. Looking at their surroundings, a shadow cast over them. When they looked up, a giant of a Brandish towered over them with an unamused expression dwelling. "Are we having a problem here still?" she sourly questioned.

Lucy's eyes widened. "Brandish!"

"I apologize for the inconvenience." She responded. "However, I had to deal with something." She glanced off to the side, referring to the person that stood behind her. Dimaria presented herself, glaring at the group with distasteful eyes. Behind her, many of the reinforcements were already cut down as their blood stained the crooked edge of her refined blade.

Happy floated beside Charmander, looking at Dimaria with a deep inquiry. "Huh? Hey, wait a minute. Isn't that the girl you and Natsu beat a little while ago?"

The Fire-type nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Is she here for a rematch or something?"

The Spriggan locked eyes with Natsu for a moment. Both sets of stares were fixed like their lives depended on it. While it wasn't easy to read, Natsu could smell something was different about Dimaria. Though quiet about it, he knew Brandish had something to say about this. "So what's up?"

"Don't be alarmed. Dimaria's not going to do anything." Brandish looked back at her. "She knows better. Right?"

Dimaria looked down, guilt showing as she rubbed her forearm. She wasn't at liberty to say. Brandish's glare made her at least glance back up and give them a meek stare.

"Geez, talk about killing the mood." Griffin mused to Sophie. "She's trying to burn holes through us."

Natsu's serious expression finally lightened up. "It's cool. Right?"

Dimaria gave the "Demon" another strong glare, but she chose not to fight against it. What Brandish said about empathy rung again. She chose to give a meek nod back, her body posture more flexible than unsound.

Brandish looked back. "Shall we resume our ways?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah. Sure. Okay." Although inwardly, she was panicking. _'Man I hope I don't regret this.'_

Natsu grinned. "Well, c'mon slowpokes! Let's get going!" To that, he created a fireball and slammed it on the ground, creating an intense wave that he blasted forward.

Watching from behind, Dimaria looked with uncertainty as the flames made her skin tone flourish. As she watched Natsu's scarf shift in the flames, she didn't see the monster that almost killed her. Instead, she imagined a regular human…or rather tried to. A small huff came onto her mouth as her tension was easing some.

Brandish looked at Dimaria again, sighing in relief. _'This is gonna be a pain.'_

* * *

It was a long hallway. A very long one.

A long, massive hallway lead to who knows where as Nic, Erza, Elfman, and Lisanna all took the lead as they remained on guard. Along the way, nothing in particular happened. For the most part, eerier silence followed by eerier energy lingered around them.

"Hey…" Lisanna started. "Has…anybody else get the feeling that it's creepy."

"It's not just you, sis. I feel it, too." Elfman assured. As he ran on, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "…something's not right here. Nic! Erza! You sure we're going the right way?"

Erza glanced at Nic. "Nic, this is the way, right?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah, it is. No doubt about it." His eyes remained focused on the prize as he stared ahead as the huge hallway of blue tiling beneath. "The emperor is up ahead, his energy can be felt from here…" He was also aware of another thing. He could feel a strong malicious aura, but it was unclear at this point. It was hard to tell where exactly. It was all over the place as far as he felt it. "We're not alone either. We know that."

Lisanna pointed ahead. "Look, I think I finally see something!"

"Alright, an opening!" Elfman roared.

They all hurried themselves into the fray. They all finally slowed down and walked carefully through the last few feet of the hallway to an empty chamber. The chamber had atrociously high ceilings, decorated with gold beams meeting in the center. However, with how dark it was, it wasn't a lively place to be. Even now, the energy that Nic was feeling was greater than before, and he can definitely feel it now.

"What is this place?" Lisanna asked. "It's so big."

"Looks like a meeting hall or something." Elfman said. "Strange. I would've thought we'd meet someone here. Irony."

Erza's glare hardened. "No, that's not it." She earned questionable stares from the Strauss siblings. She glanced at Nic. "Nic, you feel it as well?"

Nic's own blue eyes were fixed forward. "Yeah, I figured as much…we're not alone guys." He stepped forward. "You can come out. We know you're here. A little obvious for a sneaky surprise, wouldn't it?"

Around them, a sinister cackling echoed through the area. The laughter was low, very low. It wasn't much to say, but it had enough backbone behind it to cause the others to tense up. They knew Nic knew. And when he knew something like this, they had to be ready regardless.

"A very impressive observation my young friend." A gravely voice echoed over their heads. Suddenly, a dark energy erupted in a ring-like fashion around the edging of the chamber. Nic and Erza fastened themselves while Elfman and Lisanna were shaken up some.

The laughter began to surge into one spot. A bright purple light enveloped the floor beneath them. Almost immediately, Nic the others jumped out of the way as a cyclone of purple flames suddenly erupted from the void. They all glared and held their guards up as the purple cyclone turned into an expansive burning wave of darkness that encompassed something inside.

The black silhouette inside had eyes shimmered, light refracting to make him even more intimidating.

' _This power…'_ Lisanna worried.

' _Is this guy…a Spriggan?'_ Elfman realized.

Nic and Erza voiced no opinions as they beside one another with battle ready stances. The dark purple vortex faded, leaving charred purple rings of flames around a tattered cape of someone who had their back towards them all. They all remained silent until the Spriggan spoke.

"Nic Pularis and company…what a pleasant surprise." The Spriggan greeted, craning his head around ti show his face from an angle. "You had me waiting for quite a while. I thought you of all people would know that keeping any of us waiting isn't counted on."

Nic remained unamused. "Sorry, didn't think you had expectations."

The Spriggan chuckled. He turned and showed himself towards everyone. "Be as it may, I must say you've caused quite the fuss around here. Please, allow me to introduce myself. They call me Naga." His eyes narrowed. "The emperor was expecting you."

"I thought as much. So he's using you as a vanguard." He guessed.

"Call it what you'd like, but honestly, I didn't think you'd take the bait." Naga snickered. "I would've thought that you would try and pull a sneak attack of your own to get to Emperor Neinhart. How straightforward of you to come to me first."

Nic's glare didn't change. "Doesn't change a thing. Even if I did get pass you, there'd still be a Spriggan around. In that case…" he pulled out a Poke Ball. "Like it or not, there wouldn't be any point avoiding it. Someone was bound to fight eventually."

Naga raised his head, raising a brow. "…is that so? Well then, suppose I should take back what I said before. You flatter me."

Erza stepped beside Nic, both glaring daggers at their perpetual adversary. "Your comrades and army haven't treated us very kindly since we got here." She said. "Do you take responsibility for their actions?"

Naga chuckled. "Why of course I do. But if I'm being honest, the credit belongs the Invel and Glynda. Which reminds me, isn't Invel dead now? What pity."

Nic and Erza were done beating around the bush. They weren't here for such pleasantries. They were here to fight. Naga could see this, and the flame-like dark aura he had made his appeal even more intimidating. His cape was partially extended as he glared daggers at them.

Behind Lisanna and Elfman as they stared in worry, a powerful foot made the land beneath them shake. They turned around, gasping as they saw another person enter.

The person had black armored plating for the upper half of his muscular body. He had the appeal much of a gladiator one might say, with the black helmet with the dark red mohawk flowing to the back. His green eyes pierced daggers as sharp as the javelin he carried, which was reminiscent of a massive dark coating with many rows of spikes that could cut in one fell swing. He adorned a red cape with the Alvarez symbol in black behind it. However, what possibly stood out the most out of everything else…was his lower body. His entire lower body was nothing but a dark armored horse, in a way, making him a Centaur. It was so bizarre but at the same time intimidating. One exhale from his helmet made a hot breath. Lisanna and Elfman stared with growing shock as the Centaur crossed his arms.

"Hahahaha! My goodness, Naga. It seems we've forgot that Nic's brought along guests. Please, allow us to apologize."

Nic and Erza glared over their shoulders.

"Who are you?" Lisanna inquired.

The Centaur gave Lisanna a simple gesture. "My young lady, greetings. My name is Sentinal. Naga's personal aid."

"He works for Naga?" Erza inquired. She looked back at him, but only saw his eyes brighten up.

"You're not the only one who has his allies." Naga warned. "Now then, Sentinal, dispose of the trash!"

Sentinal chuckled as he raised his javelin high. Purple static began charging around his entire body. "Be…my…PLEASURE!" He brought the staff down, making the very tip touch the ground. A massive purple glint ignited the ground before a shockwave of linear purple travels like an explosion towards Lisanna and Elfman.

"Both of you, move!" Erza warned.

The massive shockwave raced towards them as they were stone cold. Their eyes reflected the bright purple blast wave before it swallowed them up in the blink of an eye. A pillar of purple shot upwards, making a gust that whipped up Sentinal's cape as he watched his attack hit home.

"Hahahaha! Too easy." He scoffed. When he saw the smoke clear out, he saw that they weren't there anymore. At first he thought he did the deed, but the gust he made whisked a little to the right. "Huh?" He looked off to the side, seeing pass the ring of dark fire. There he saw Elfman and Lisanna reappear, as though by teleporting out of thin air. "What…?"

He and Naga looked back. There, they saw Nic in his Mind Form, having used his powers to shift them over at the last second.

Naga's eyes narrowed. "How very interesting."

"Elfman, Lisanna, go!" Nic insisted. "We'll cover you!"

Realizing they were safe, Lisanna got over her initial shock and assessed the situation. "R-right! Big brother Elf!"

Elfman nodded. "Yeah, let's go." He turned and ran ahead with Lisanna. "Make sure you guys make it out okay, ya hear!" He roared back at them.

Focused on the enemy ahead of them, Nic and Erza glared as purple flames enveloped the area around them. They remained unfazed. "No promises." Nic said.

Sentinal stomped beside Naga, both glaring as Naga's tattered cape was lifted to make him more intimidating. "Well now, looks like we have your undivided attention." Naga said.

"Yeah, I can say so myself." Nic pulled out a Poke Ball. "Alright, you ready?"

Erza pulled out her own Poke Ball. "I am."

Both swept their feet out and swung up. In unison, both threw their Poke Balls. "GO!" In a bright flash, two intense energies arched and slammed into the ground. The shockwaves each had separated nearby fire as the flames instead swirled. The energies revealed Houndoom and Charizard, the latter craning his head up and exhibiting a heated, shrilling roar that made Naga and Sentinal cover up as dark flames faded pass them. They looked back to see a dragon and dog from hell glaring through them.

"You want a fight, we'll be happy to oblige." Nic said determinedly.

Naga smirked. "What power…very well then…" A mass of dark purple energy swallowed up around him, making an eruption of darkness expel and encase his silhouette to show his glowing eyes. He looked like a shaded wyvern inside his mass of darkness. "SHOW ME THE GRIEF THAT YOU CAN BRING!" he bellowed.

* * *

A billow of smoke whisked into the air. The source came from a lone cigarette that was being smoke between two fingers. The source came from the parted lips of Hoshina as her hooded frame cascaded most of her face. After a long period of silence, she looked back towards the crystal ball sitting her possession.

"To what do I owe thee fortune?" Inquiring about the ordeal, she smirked at the crystal ball's mysterious glow. She peered within it, seeing the face of Nic in a passionate but also serious battle. She saw him jump, in which Charizard flew beneath and the two began a circling aerial attack. She inserted the cigarette in her mouth again, sitting back in her seat like no care in the world existed. She glanced upwards, seeing the pitch-black ceiling of her confines. Once satisfied, smoke billowed up, filling her air with feint, blurry images that only she saw. "How interesting." She hummed. "In less than one hour…a man of black hair and blue eyes…of whom is dear to someone…shall suffer his timely coming." She lowered her head, snickering amusingly. "This…is the coming of the prediction." She blew one more smoke billow, the embers if the cigarette fading to black.

Meanwhile, the crystal ball changed its screen. It's misty inside cleared way to show the ship in the basin.

* * *

A pair of glowing arms radiated in front of a tear in cast-iron metal. The metal glowed and slowly mended together. It was taking everything out of Ultear just to keep her concentration from falling apart. Her brows twitched as her stamina weighed on the last of the metal finally closing. Once mended, she finally gave in.

"FINALLY!" she groaned so loud it was almost of sheer pleasure. She sunk to her knees and hands, hanging her head as beads of sweat stained the wood. "I never thought this hunk of junk would fix itself. Ugh! Man, what I wouldn't give for a meal right now."

In her complaining, a red piece of gum sticking out of a wrapper was given to Ultear. Looking over, Ultear saw Liz staring absent-mindedly as he chewed. She had her headphones on as she jammed out, but that didn't mean she wasn't aware of Ultear's condition.

Ultear accepted the piece of gum. "Thank you." She took the piece and let its mystical flavoring enter her taste buds. It wasn't no five-star meal, but the tastes swelling inside her mouth were making her appetite feel admittedly full.

As Liz stood there, the doors to a nearby bunk opened. The door creaked to a close, revealing Duncan with his kendo stick. "So are you still working on that?" the Sinnoh Trainer questioned casually.

"Oh, it's you." Ultear half-heartedly answered. Her disposition from before hasn't changed. "I thought you were doing your own thing."

"I did. Brushed up on some kendo." He deadpanned. He held his kendo stick and twirled with no effort, sticking it out as a show before huffing.

"Well aren't _you_ Mr. Bravado." The Time Mage exasperated. "Well I hope you worked yourself up enough of a sweat, otherwise I would've noticed."

Duncan turned away. "Whatever. How much longer?"

Ultear finally strained to get up. "…well, it just so happens that I managed to finish the last bit. We should be working at full capacity for the time being."

"I see. Then I guess there's nothing left but wait for the others then." He shrugged. "Fine by me.."

Ultear gravely sighed. She'd rather dismember Duncan for his nonchalant lack of care that a man should have, but she was just too tired to fuss over it. She turned away. "Suppose you're right. I could use a little rest after all that time was used up." She started walking away, waving back at Liz. "By the way, thanks for the gum. It helped."

Liz tapped her headphones. She nodded back and turned another dial. When she did, it went off for a moment. Liz blinked, her eyes immediately widening as her headphones were getting very brief bursts of songs she had in the lacrima. The more she turned the knob, the more the anxious look she showed.

Hearing the dial turning, Ultear stopped and looked over her shoulder. She glanced at the scene with Duncan as both looked vaguely curious at the Gum Mage.

Liz was borderline jamming the dial. Her heartrate looked to be increasing as she abruptly took the headphones off to get a look at them. Hurrying to place another piece of gum into her mouth, the yellow gum filled her nerves with a dulling sensation. Her breathing began to settle from the rapid anxiety as she manually opened the headphone's side. Peering inside, she realized that the old piece of gum to hold two chips together was dried up and fried. In a hurry, she reached into her pocket for any pieces of gum she bought. Unfortunately, her heartrate jacked up again when she realized she had no bubblegum. Essentially in a surge of panic, she scrambled on her knees at any pieces that could be for a substitute. This frantic was so intense that it looked like her life depended on it. The look in her eyes was clearly showing that.

Ultear looked at Duncan as rapid breathing filled the air. The Trainer looked away, prompting Ultear to make her move on the panicking girl.

Liz scrambled as she couldn't find any pieces. As her eyes dilated, she was feeling panic rise until a bodacious woman knelt in front of her. "If I may?" Liz recoiled in shock as Ultear knelt closer towards the headphone pieces. As she looked on, Liz was looking over, hovering like it was that desperate. With what very little magic she had, Ultear raised a hand over the piece and made the whole thing glow. The pieces reanimated to a new state, fixing it fully. She handed it to Liz. "Here. This should do the trick."

Liz took the headphones back and immediately put them over her ears. She quickly paced over a dial, in which in both lobes, her music was playing at a very controlled rate compared to the bits of static she got. As if a heavy burden was lifted, she hunched over and sighed in relief. "…thank you." She muttered. She realized her gum was scattered all over the place and went to pick up the pieces.

Ultear continued observing, remaining quiet. "Not that it's my business, but does this happen often?"

Liz looked at Ultear with mild surprise by the question, but it soon receded to her looking away sheepishly in shame. "…sometimes."

She helped in picking up the gum pieces. "You know, that kind of anxiety isn't good for you." She handed a few to Liz. "I can damage your mental health."

Liz did an eyeroll. "Believe me, you're not the only one whose said that." She said coldly. A small silence rolled as she turned towards the ground. "That's what people should've told my grandmother."

Ultear's gaze got a little more intrigued. And for once, Duncan shot a glance of wonder at Liz as he raised his chin.

"It's genetic. My grandmother had it, then my mom…and then me. All that worrying over the years makes the heart pulse so fast that blood rushes and you get tired. It's been proven before. And one day, it was just too much." Her body sunk to the wall Ultear fixed up as she huddled her arms close to her body. "One day when my grandmother was making lunch, she forgot to buy salt at the store. She nearly tore the kitchen apart until her old heart finally stroke her up."

"So you were living with that relative until that incident then." Ultear deduced.

Liz ignored her and resumed. "When I was born, my family went into chaos. My mother and grandmother were at each other's throats because they worried about my future and protection. Their combined anxiety labeled them sociopaths by a few people I knew. Eventually, they chose my grandmother. I didn't mind though at the time. She was just picky, but it was nice and quiet…" she thought back to her days in a small suburban village. It was nice, tranquil, and had a one-story cottage with an elderly woman baking over a stove. "She was a nice woman. But she worried so much that she would tuck me in personally until I was 10. It…wasn't until 13 until she passed away."

Ultear and Duncan continued their periods of silence. They said nothing as they listened. Duncan tilted his cap.

"So after her heart attack, I moved in with my parents. It was the worst decision I've ever made in my life." She remembered how she was locked in her room at night so no one could kidnap her. She remembered the horrendous time that she had indoors with her parents hovering over her. And if she didn't do what they said, she remembered how they'd yell in her face like banshees. "They were over my head to where I nearly suffocated. They treated me more like a pet they used tricks for. That's why I eat gum." She held up a piece of unchewed gum as a visual. "I realized that I feel better with gum. It's my therapy."

"…and the same with your headphones too I guess, right?" Ultear questioned.

She nodded. "Yeah. It was only a month ago I thought I could finally grow up and leave home. I actually snuck out that night, and almost a few miles out my folks caught up to me. I screamed for help and a pair of wires shot out of nowhere. Next thing I knew, my parents were in pieces and Griffon was there. Guess that's how it started."

Ultear looked down, finally understanding. "I see…I'm sorry. I didn't imagine your anxiety would be that threatening."

Liz looked over somberly. "It's okay. I'm just relieved I can live my life now." She looked at the piece of gum in her hand and began unwrapping it. She turned it around and saw its backside. "But I know my headphones will break and I'll run out of gum eventually…I just hope to find my peace without relying on such things for my anxiety."

With another word, she plopped it into her mouth, commencing chewing. She put her headphones in and commenced with jamming once more. "Thanks for the storytelling." She said, quite loudly as she tucked in.

Ultear and Duncan looked at her before facing the other. In a way, they could empathize with her. She wasn't the only one with parental issues as well. The longer they stared, the more apparent it was asking questions was pointless. Duncan faced away while Ultear sat on the wall as well, thinking to her own late mother. _'Mother…I wonder what it would've been like…'_ she grinned, allowing the thought to be of hopes of what could've been a decent childhood. Her snickering was low.

Meanwhile, Duncan sat on the opposite wall, sighing out loud out of boredom.

* * *

Within the halls of the ship, a certain room was causing some intense noise. Too bad a majority of it was in the soundproof chamber.

Standing awkwardly in place, Heracross looked up at the Yanma perched on his head. "Uh, how long are you going to be there for?"

The Yanma turned her head. "Hmmm, dunno." She chirped.

Heracross shrugged. "As long as it doesn't itches I guess…" A flying piece of scrap metal shot passed him, making him and Yanma stiffen as they realized they were still under fire.

Matilda was on the other side of the room, bending and breaking every available bar there was. Even after the cages were dismantled, she was dismembering iron plating and bars into shreds and stakes that she tossed over her shoulder. They continued hitting the wall behind Dereece and Meredy, both remaining on guard.

"Uh…" Dereece leaned off to avoid another fragment. "D-don't you think you're, uh, good…? Matilda…?" In the form of an answer, a bar was absent-mindedly flung into his head, causing him to flinch.

"Oh dear! Are you alright?!" Meredy gasped.

Dereece rubbed his headband. "Yeah, don't mention it. Trust me, I get worse concussions from Joey."

"O-okay…" a bead of sweat ran down Meredy's head. _'Is Joey really that dangerous unattended?'_

Matilda strained as she attempted prying an iron bar nailed into a dented piece of metal cage flooring. The look on her face showed raw animalistic anger as she slowly undid the welded irons like breaking sticks off a tree branch. With one final snap, she angrily slammed the metal onto the ground, slouching over with bangs covering her eyes.

Meredy and Dereece looked at each other in worry. One of them opted to talk again. "You think she's calm now?" Meredy inquired.

"For all our sakes, let's hope so."

The Pokémon that were hiding in the corner were making sure they stayed there as iron scraps laid around them like a mine field. It wasn't a pretty site nor experience to say the least. They all looked at Matilda as she caught her breath and looked down. It didn't seem like she was happy in the very least.

"I hate cages."

Dereece blinked. "Say what?"

"I can't stand the site of unhappy caged beasts. It makes me so mad…" Her fists balled tighter than usual. "Just thinking about makes my blood…" She started to exhale again, but this one breath, it sounded fiendishly low. And, as odd as it was, it sounded dark, brooding, and bloody.

This made Dereece and Meredy keep their distance. They looked towards the other again with worry as Matilda tried to calm herself down. Dereece chose to intercede. "Uh, not to be personal or anything…but why do you…"

Matilda eased her balled fists and continued looking at the ground. Her eyes had a bleak shadow over them. "…because I'm nothing but one myself." She sourly muttered. "Why else would I look like this?"

Meredy looked in question as she took note of Matilda's body. Now that she's taken notice, she realized now that the odd brown plates on her forearms were engraved into her skin. The patches of fur and clawed fingers were what also stood out. It made her think something was up.

"I-I'm sorry, but could you be a little more specific?" Dereece asked. "You mean your…"

Matilda moved her head away into deeper shadows. She clutched the plating on her arms tightly. "I lived in the southern hemisphere of Earthland for most of my childhood. My town was dangerously close to a jungle where wild predators would come out at night often and try to pick off the idiots who wandered too far. But that's not why I'm like this. It's because…of one animal in particular. The king of all wild beasts in the jungles. It was called the Kajuua. In our old tongue, it translates to 'Jungle Monster'." In her mind, she recalled full well of the image of the menacing beast. In her mind, it was very close to a cross between a leopard and a Smilodon. It had massive fangs with piercing eyes with a shrilling mane of black hair, yet yellow fur had intense brown nail-like armor all over the body. To make it even more terrifying, she remembered when she was so little, it towered at a shrilling 10 feet on its four limbs. "It was the undisputed tyrant of its kind. It's armor and fur were highly resistant to any kinds of magic, so hired mages were killed off with ease. I think it was the last of its kind. That's why it was so rare at the time."

Yanma adjusted her place on Heracross' horn and he looked back at Matilda with the others.

"I was just 9-years-old at the time. My aunt was taking care of me after my mom and dad were both killed and eaten by animals. But one night, the Kajuua got too close, and I was just too curious to understand what happened after…" Her eyelids dulled. "I got too close, and the beast sniffed me with its wet nose…it didn't seem like it was going to hurt me, so I stroke its fur…and I accidentally did a Take-Over." She looked down at her palm to see her nails as sharp as fangs themselves. "That guy's strength was so massive that my own body couldn't control it at the time..."

 _In the middle of a dust cloud, people gathered around as they saw something stir. Of the many people, a fair-skinned female of lavish designs and brown moved closer as she couldn't find her niece. "Matilda? Matilda! Where are you, sweetie?!"_

" _A-Auntie…" a weak groan came from the crater's debris._

 _Hearing the voice, the woman hurried into the crater. "Matilda?" she gasped. "Matilda! Are you under there?" She started to move debris. "Somebody help me!"_

 _Guys came in from all around. A few men and women helped in brushing off what debris fell onto something as it was slowly being unearthed. The first thing that was seen was a spot of yellow hair._

" _Matilda, sweetie!" She moved another rock piece. "It's okay, I'm…" she trailed off as she froze in place. She, along with the other guys that were helping, felt their chords and nerves shrivel in shock as something slowly eroded from the earth._

" _Nnngh…A-Auntie?" a female voice asked. "What happened? Why are you all looking at me like that?" A tired Matilda slowly swayed around, and a sudden jolt to head made her clutch. "OW!" Upon touching her head, she felt something sharp. "Oww…! What?" She gasped as she realized her nails grew. "My nails…my skin!" She looked down at her own skin, realizing how much more bulk it's gotten. Almost her whole body was covered in yellow fur with spots on them, yet the underbelly was still tan. She saw her forearms had plating, and on her back, she felt all her hair extend, which felt like prickly thorns. Even her own face looked like a cross of a leopard and Smilodon, with the snout of one and the intense fangs to boot. She looked scared as she saw the many faces backing up around her. "What's going on here? What happened to the Kajuua?!" she panicked._

" _Stay back…" a man muttered, falling to his backside. "Please…don't come closer."_

 _Matilda turned towards him. "What? Why?!"_

" _No! Stay away!"_

 _Matilda gasped at the sudden outburst. As she looked around, she saw many watchers were weary of her, and other were hurrying away for cover or otherwise weapons. A lot of shouting happened, and it didn't help that she saw her own aunt look at her with shrilled fear in her shrunken eyes. She stood like a statue at the sheer sight of something she wished she didn't see._

 _Matilda was beginning to feel fear rise for her sake. "Auntie…" She reached for her, but the aunt jerked away._

" _What are you?"_

" _Auntie, it's me."_

" _No…stay away!"_

" _Auntie!"_

" _NO! Stay away you animal!" she snapped._

 _Matilda's heart sunk with her own aunt rejecting her. "Auntie…" She was so in despair she didn't realize people with spears were gathering around to draw her in. Matilda only served to back away slowly as four men had a cage ready behind her._

"My own aunt had me caged, for 2 years." Matilda scorned. "She and the entire town were so scared they really believed I was the Kajuua and nothing else. I was dead to them from the start." Her gaze fell deeper into despair as she recalled being in that smelly, infected cage, even out in rain showers. And to make matters worse, not even her own aunt came to throw her a piece of meat or say something. "Those eyes of anger… _they_ were the monsters. They just didn't acknowledge that."

"You were stuck in that same Take-Over…for 2 years?" Meredy's eyes widened at the realization. To add insult to injury, Matilda was caged, that meant no room. And nothing else.

Dereece looked at Heracross and Yanma. Both seemed intrigued but also scared at the same time.

"One day, auctioneers came to town after hearing about me. There was a bidding on my worth, and almost everyone wanted me for skinning and for mounting on their walls. I heard it with my own ears. And you know who else bided on me? My own aunt." She looked over her shoulder at them, a lifeless look in her gaze. "I guess after that, I just…snapped."

"What happened?" Meredy questioned. She feared she wouldn't like the answer.

"…I broke out. And I maimed them all." She ignored the gasps Dereece and Meredy exhibited. "Everyone there…everyone in the entire town…I slaughtered each of them with red in the eyes. The animal they treated so poorly finally bit back." The tone she exhibited was had far more venom than usual. It was grievously terrifying to say the least. "Every man. Everyone who I once spoke with…even kids who threw rocks at me…I slashed and bit every one of their faces off…including my own Aunt." He looked down at her forearm plates, a somber tone following her anecdote. "I was able to find a way to control this Take-Over and the Kajuua, but at a cost. These parts of me that are permanent, they're a result of whenever I went into Take-Over too long. The Kajuua would take over, and everyone around me would be prey…and a few of my friends along the way."

Meredy's gaze fell. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be. I'm just here now trying to find peace with the monster who I'm willing to embrace now. I know I'll never return to the way I was, and maybe someday, my Take-Over will be the end of me…but I can accept that." She looked back, giving them all an intense but much calmer glare. "Because I'm still Matilda, even if my own skin is the Kajuua's. The beast and I will come to an understanding someday, I know it…why else would it be so curious of me to begin with?" She cast aside her previous emotions to give them a wink. The others managed to lighten up some with her optimism coming back around.

Dereece smiled again, but realized Yanma was still perched on Heracross. "How long have you been there?"

Yanma tilted her head. "Hi."

* * *

On the upper deck, Joey was still sitting with Broly. They both were quiet for some time while Chespin and Pidove were out. They were looking to play tag while the two male eccentrics watched.

"Hey Bro." Joey started.

"Yeah?"

"You think the others are alright?"

Broly chuckled. "Couldn't tell ya, kid. Even I don't know. Let's just hope so…that's all we can do."

"Oh, okay…" Joey cradled his knees close to his chin. An awkward silence fell between the two as Chespin chased Pidove across the deck. "Listen, Bro. Can I ask you something?"

"Like what?"

"Like…how did you get so brave, so strong that you can take on the entire world without knowing consequences? Isn't that a little scary to you?"

Broly rested an arm on his knee and chuckled. "It could be. But then again, that's just the kind of man it takes to learn magic, you know." He faced Joey. "Why you ask?"

Joey huddled closer to his knees. "Nothing…" he said quietly. "It's just…I've been thinking for a while and, I was wondering, if that's the kind of person Nic and Vanessa-senpai had to be to get to where they are now is all." His frowned deepened to a small somber. "I'm just worried that maybe…I won't be that kind of person they are."

Broly looked surprised. "You really think that way about yourself?"

Joey sheepishly looked away. "Well…sometimes."

Broly stared at Joey as the teenager was in his own little world. Soon enough, it came to his head that Joey was measuring himself up before he even got started. This made the Barrier Mage chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Joey asked, but a hand touched his head, surprising him. When he looked up, his eyes widened when he saw Broly looking at him with a soft smile.

"Don't sell yourself short ever, okay? That kind of fear being in another's shadow won't help you achieve your own potential. Trust me, I should know."

"Bro…"

Broly ruffled his head some more. "Besides, I've seen what you can do. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. You've got a lot going for yourself to just be narrow-minded. You ask me, you're not doing half-bad in the decisions you make, it just proves how responsible you are."

Joey sheepishly rubbed his head, smiling away. "Well, you know…I'm just trying to be a great guy is all."

Broly smirked, his eyes narrowing softly. "You know, it takes a leader to make great decisions…but it takes a _real_ leader to make the good ones. It's better to be a man of goodness before greatness, in my eyes that is."

The sentiment left Joey to stare at Broly with admiration. "A good man…" He pondered over the thought a while before a soft smile passed over him. "Thanks, Bro. You know, you're a really good _and_ great guy."

Broly faced the ground and smirked. "Practice what you preach…" He had a small glimmer of silence before his eyes suddenly widened. He jerked up, showing shock on his face.

"Bro, what's wrong?"

Broly's gaze grew serious. He turned head outwards, his disposition growing serious. The air's magical current skyrocketed to high levels all of a sudden that he almost immediately knew what it meant. "Looks like they're here."

Joey gasped. Like him, he looked out with shock as well.

It wasn't just them. Down below in the deck, everybody else stopped what they were doing as an intense magical surge shifted through the air.

"Does anyone feel that?" Meredy questioned.

"It's really…creepy." Dereece shivered. He looked over, seeing Matilda stare up with narrow eyes. It looked like she was focused.

The Take-Over woman slowly paced passed Dereece and the others. The way she looked at the ceiling was an ominous foreboding of what could be described as magical energy. The flux was making her hair stand on end.

Across the deck's lower levels, a few doors down, a certain Aura Mage was having a little catch-up with comfortable sleep in one of the bunks. When magical energy pulsated, she stirred in the bunk, eyes opening as she realized from this aura what it was. Her tired eyes squinted. _'They're here.'_

On shore, in front of the tree line overlooking the basin with the ship, Glynda had hands to her hips as the Machia Knights were all kneeling behind her. "We've approached the targets. Moving in now." She copied. "Machia Knights, you know what to do. Take. No. Prisoners. Is that understood?"

"As you command, Milady." Viridian vowed. "We shall create a path for you and you alone. Machia Knights, commence the operation."

"Right!" Pixie and Tyson responded before all three suddenly vanished.

Glynda remained positioned on the overwatch, observing for a moment before she chose to take her time moving.

* * *

Dereece was in a panic as he scrambled to find debris to use to block the door. He hurried back and forth with labored breaths in between each bar and metal scrap Matilda prepared and piled enough onto the door in order to hold them in.

"D-Dereece, calm down…" Meredy insisted.

But Dereece didn't listen. "I ain't going down like this, y'all! Not like this!" He slid to the bottom of the barricade and held it up using his back. "T-this should us, right? Right?" He prayed that it would be so. He didn't want another grizzly experience like he did with Ajeel. He was so warped in his paranoia that he wasn't aware that Heracross and Yanma exchanged questionable stares.

Matilda sighed. "Oh brother. Look, quite being such a crybaby alright? It's not _that_ bad. Besides, we're not the only ones here you know."

Meredy perked. "Hey yeah, you're right! Vanessa and Ultear are here, too! We should be alright."

Matilda smirked. "Don't jinx it. You just might make me anxious."

Meredy sweatdropped. "Uh…right."

"S-so we're good then." Dereece sighed. "Man, don't scare me like that. For a moment, I thought we were actually going to-" Before he could finish, the wall beside them all suddenly erupted. An intense physical force abruptly forced itself clean between them all with shocked faces while the shockwave streamed through the next wall over, making a hole to show the once repaired lower levels of the deck. They all had petrified facial expressions as they heard a small snicker from the big hole, showing the dark clouds outside. "Oh no." Dereece finished.

There, a fist was still out and balled. The person revealed himself as Tyson, who looked happy to see their shocked looks. "Well what do you know, looks like my infrared sensors were accurate. I find the most signatures, that's where the most experience is."

"…is it time to panic now?" Dereece paled.

"…yeah." Meredy nodded.

"Right…HEEEEEELP!"

* * *

Dereece's babyish squeals echoed down the hallways. Ultear, Duncan, and Liz were all running down the halls as fast as possible towards the explosion. "Did you hear that?" Ultear questioned.

"Yeah, sounds like they've breached already." Duncan said as he tailed behind.

"And it looks like they're in the chamber where the Pokémon are." Ultear added before groaning. "Great, and just when I finished fixing up this scrap metal, someone just comes along and decides to piss me off. Honestly, whoever's behind this is going to-!" She winced and almost fell over. Duncan and Liz stopped and looked back as Ultear labored in breathing while on the ground. She clutched her sides as she looked to be exhausted. _'Damnit…my Magic Power's not even back yet.'_ She cursed. _'I can hardly walk now…'_

Duncan grunted and glanced over his shoulder. His attention went upfront as he abruptly pulled his kendo stick into action. Liz looked ahead to see what Duncan was facing.

Ahead on them, a figure approached and stopped meters ahead of them. "We apologize for the inconvenience to you." He started, revealing himself to be rather tall. "My associate, Tyson, is rather brash you see. His systems were programmed in a hurry, unlike my own." His eyes showed seriousness. "I was designed to be rather respectful, you see. As such, I'd rather avoid unneeded arson to get attention."

Ultear grunted. "Just who the hell are you?"

"Milady." Viridian gave a courtesy. "I am the Machia Knight, Viridian Kriegs, at your service. It is my pleasure to be your demise this evening."

Meanwhile, Liz tapped a part of her headphones. They gave a small beep, but was automatically cut off.

"I'm afraid S.O.S details won't work." Viridian said. "Signals inside this ship are easily nullified by the material that it's made of."

Liz grunted in annoyance. To cover her, Duncan stepped forward. "So I guess that makes you the enemy, right?"

Viridian nodded. "Correct. I am under orders from Miss Glynda of the Spriggan 12. We the Machia Knights are here to assist in collecting what is ours. And any who dare oppose…shall have their heads roll. This is the will that we follow, for the glory of Wahl Icht himself."

Duncan's grip on his kendo stick tightened. "Well I'm not sure who this Wahl Icht guy is, but I can say that you want to battle, then get ready."

Ultear's eyes widened. "What? Are you insane?! Are you sensing this Magic Power?!"

"She's right, novice. Even an experienced mage would know how to measure another's magic level. Being a Pokémon Trainer, I doubt you know of the basics." He gestured to himself. "I am a generous Machia. If you stop now, I'll spare your life. I can offer that much."

Duncan had a serious look on his face while his cap made a glare from his eyes look more intimidating. "Funny you should mention basics. As a Pokémon Trainer, it's rather an obligation to take on anyone who I see as an opponent with no say. That's the rule." He pulled up a Dusk Ball. "Those are _our_ basics."

Viridian's eyes closed. "Very well then…" he flashed them open, showing cybernetic networks through the eyes. "In the name of our empire, you shall join your comrades in death!" He swiped his arm, making the wrist jut out a cannon that expelled a saber made of magic. He readied himself. "Come!"

Duncan braced himself as he pulled his arm back. As he did, Viridian suddenly propelled across the ground and jetted right above to slash his saber. Hurrying, Duncan used his kendo stick and deflected the shot and shot back from the recoil. As he dragged himself, he tried to keep his footing while Viridian glared.

' _He's fast!'_

Viridian's eyes glimmered a green network again. "Target acquired." He looked over, seeing Liz lurching forward to shoot gum-like bullets at him. Using swift propulsions needed, his feet jetted air from holes on the bottom and gave him room to glide across the ground s Liz followed, leaving gum on the walls.

Internally, Ultear grumbled with a squiggly over her head. _'Why did I bother…?'_

One stray bullet closed in on Viridian as it closed in on his face, but a flash of white suddenly passed by. The next second, it showed Viridian on a knee in a slash pose as the gum behind was bifurcated, sticking to the ground behind him. His eyes adjusted and he balled his left fist.

" **Spout Lancer!** "

He punched the boarding beneath, creating a small tremor that erupted into columns of water that shot like Water Pledge. The attack closed in, but Liz and Ultear jumped out of the way, while Duncan chose to wait for it to come for him. _'It seems the Trainer is taking his chances against high pressured water.'_

The next spout came up, but Duncan swung his kendo sword down at the incoming pillar beneath. The pillar jetted Duncan skywards, but the stick reduced the blow as he blew onto his back into a roll. He rolled to a knee, glaring at Viridian. A brief stare led to Duncan clutching his Dusk Ball from before and throwing it in.

"Spiritomb, front and center!"

The capsule popped open, revealing Duncan's Spiritomb. The Forbidden Pokémon showed herself and let out a ghastly groan.

"A Pokémon, so I see." Viridian's eyes glimmered as he began to take notes and charts inside his memory. "Accessing data on Pokémon…I see…so that's who this is. Interesting…file saved."

Duncan reached forward. " **Shadow Sneak!** "

Spiritomb groaned as her shadow blackened. Beneath Viridian, his sensors warned him in time as he used his feet and jetted away as his shadow rushed up at him. Evading the shadow, he took notice of Duncan using the opening to swing his kendo stick from the side. Virdian's internal computer went to work and his leg immediately swung to kick and intercept Duncan's swing. Viridian followed through with his kick and slammed Duncan into a nearby wall.

"Not a bad move, but bold nonetheless." Viridian said. "Now then…" Without looking, his saber activated again as he swung. It cleaves through Liz's gum again as she fired from afar. He glanced at her next. He shifted on his feet and jetted at her at massive speeds.

Liz puffed her cheeks and expelled a massive glob of gum. It went flying and expanded into a massive net that blocked her from Viridian's path and view.

Viridian's eyes dilated. As he flew, his arm twitched, showing the saber giving a misty cold aura change. " **Freeze Muzzle!** " He slashed through the gum wall with one swoop, making it freeze upon impact with the subzero saber. The pieces reduced to sparkles that surprised Liz.

In her shock, Viridian closed in.

" **Luminous Minutes!** "

Catching the whiff of the other attack, Viridian adjusted and kicked the air, getting to a cartwheel and slashing with subzero precision into the glowing orbs attacking him, breaking them all in one slash. Landing, he saw Ultear with her hand on a crystal ball, shaken up bad with labored breaths.

"A Time Mage." Viridian deduced. "I see…Ultear Milkovich, she who thwarted Lady Dimaria with her own Time Magic. I understand."

Ultear dropped to a knee again, all her energy completely gone. _'Damnit, I can't fight like this. My magic's being spent too much.'_

"Shall I make it a personal vendetta as well for Lady Dimaria?" Viridian darkly threatened. "I'm sure she will be quite pleased knowing _you_ were slayed." He held up his wrist saber to froze his point.

An arm reached out behind. " **Shadow Sneak!** "

Spiritomb groaned as she made the shadow blacken beneath.

The saber in Viridian's wrist suddenly turned pitch black. "That won't work!" He stabbed the ground with all his might, making the projected shadow explode suddenly and sent its parts as shadowy bullets that got everyone. Duncan and everyone covered up, despite how they were being blown a few inches each second. With one more pivot, the dark saber went in an omnidirectional wave with his slash. The shockwave finally pushed everyone onto their backs, making them grunt from the blow.

"GAH!" Duncan gagged as he plundered onto his back.

Viridian straightened up and loomed over Duncan. "I do apologize, but my systems are well aware of my surrounds. Computing such as this comes natural with a Machia that ages well. Now then…" He raised his saber, making it turn blue. "I believe that I am done playing around."

Duncan's eyes widened.

" **Barracuda!** "

Viridian slammed the blue saber into the ground, sending a linear blue shockwave that shredded across the earth at Duncan. It traveled so fast that he was in too much shock to even dodge it. Suddenly a snake-like sliver of gum slipped right around his arm. He found himself pulled out of the attack as it continued its course towards Spiritomb. The Pokémon was too slow as it was instead struck, making the blue stream erupt like dynamite that shuddered the corridor.

Spiritomb roared as she sundered onto the ground, groaning at the end of an open wooden trail cleaving to darkness below. "Secondary target, hit." Viridian said.

Duncan recovered from that sudden jerk to find Liz beside him. "Thanks." He said. She popped her gum loudly.

Ultear struggled to get up behind. She wobbled up on her weak thighs only to drop to one knee exhausted.

Duncan glanced over his shoulder. He looked at Ultear's condition and realized she wasn't cut out for this fight. He looked forward with his indifferent gleam showing. _'Pathetic.'_ "You really should've gotten your own Pokémon by now." He scolded. "What's the point if you can't defend yourself then?"

Ultear glared back intensely. "Scolding the weak, huh? That's quite a low blow, wouldn't you say?"

Duncan scoffed. "Just stay out of the way." He looked over to see Spiritomb shaken up. He reached for his Dusk Ball and aimed. "Return!" He recalled Spiritomb; a wise choice as he reformed a strategy.

"A wise decision." Viridian spoke. "However, pointless!" He jutted the saber into the ground again, projecting an intense blue wave that soared across the ground at them. As the corridor shook, Liz took the initiative and projected another glob of gum. The mushy filament connected with the walls again.

"That won't work!"

Proving his point, the net of gum only lasted a second before the blast wave ripped right through it. The intense wave would've gotten them if it wasn't for Duncan and Liz scooting to the sides.

As the blue wave dissipated, time slowed down for Viridian as he glared with networks showing in the eyes. "I'm aware of your magic's weaknesses, Liz of the Peace Jaegers. Your gum is able to absorb attacks of physical and liquid properties like normal gum would, but did you account for energy attacks? Especially when compressed."

Liz narrowed her eyes. She snapped gum between the teeth in frustration.

"People aren't aware of this, but we Machia aren't well-known for reasons. We aren't exactly what you would call your typical cybernetics." He sharply said, his saber on his right wrist withdrawing. Meanwhile his whole hand started to separate to show silver chords between the joints. "We were once a race who many feared due to mankind's lack of innate capabilities. However…it was our tribe's leader, the one that I called Wahl Icht…it was _his_ will to remind the world of its own weaknesses! Human and machine never last forever, but evolution only progresses through learning. That's why we the Machia will continue to evolve to a greater extent than you humans! This is our late master's will…and so it shall be realized!" He shot his fist forward in his irate, making it launch like a rocket that shot across the floor. Duncan and the others went wide-eyed as the fist closed in.

Time slowed down as the fist began to beep rapidly. They all paled and began to move away before the fist detonated, creating a powerful explosion like a missile would upon destruction in midair. The propulsion almost caught them all as they were all blasted down the hallway, each one tumbling in great pain until they all tumbled onto their stomachs.

"I admire that humans have tenacity and wills that we were programmed with." A voice said in the smoke. The silhouette inside slowly came out, revealing Viridian. He had another synthetic hand already assembled to replace the older one as he calmly walked in front. "But like all wills, they must be realized, and draw to their ends!"

Duncan grunted as he struggled to stand once more. That explosion left his body in a momentary shock. Ultear was using all her will just to stay conscious. For Liz she struggled to stand, and she was in the best condition for the most part. But something chipped off, and the sound vibrated through her ears.

The Gum Mage's eyes widened from shock. Slowly, she looked down, finding that her headphones, at least the one side. Was severely damaged. The tunes she was playing from before stopped completely. Her eyes shrunk to the size of marbles as her breathing escalated.

The Machia showed them all his hand, which had a small pocket in the center of the palm. The valve opened, revealing energy compressing. "This matter is of upmost importance to us, so we'd appreciate it if you complied and stayed down. **Magia Blitz!** " Once the energy was charged, Viridian held his arm firm with his other arm as a bright magical beam shot across the atmosphere. It had firepower that made any nearby windows shatter as it sailed across the hall towards the three adversaries.

They all were wide-eyed, but Duncan knew he had to work fast. He turned towards Liz. "Hurry! Make another barrier, now!"

Liz was slowly caressing her headphones around her neck. The one side was deeply damaged. It was leaving her too shocked to act.

' _She's no use, pathetic.'_ Duncan glared forward, seeing the attack head his way. He started to get up again, standing in the way of the barrier.

' _This is bad. Is he really gonna try to stop that?'_ Ultear questioned.

Lis finally caught up with her surroundings and looked forward. She saw the incoming attack and gasped.

Duncan, however, stood as his coat shifted. His reached back for something. _'Let's see if this works.'_ As he pulled out, everything flashed to a bright white.

Moments later, the repaired bow of the ship suddenly had two melted parts that slowly formed before bright yellow split the metal open. Two roaring beams pulsated into the atmosphere across the basin while birds and aerial related Pokémon made quick work in scampering off.

As the laser went on, the air trembled as Viridian continued shooting his intense beam. He knew they couldn't have survived. _'Realigning…energy signatures confirmed. Estimated time of eradication accomplished.'_

"You through?"

Viridian's eyes widened. "What?!" He saw that his attack had finally let up. What he saw before them all as dust cleared was Duncan with his kendo stick in hand, but in front of him was another figure. "What…this can't be."

"Sure was a close one, I admit." Duncan whipped out his kendo stick again. "But there's no point of an attack if it goes around." Proving his point, in front of him was a Pokémon that was currently levitating. It had crossed legs and an intense gaze with a magenta headpiece with yellow accents. Its whole body had a light blue outline with arms out. "Nice work, Medicham." Duncan praised.

Medicham ceased levitating and simmered to her feet. She held a pose as she hummed for the next attack.

Meanwhile, Viridian was in shock of his own. _'Inconceivable…miscalculation error! Systems fortifying realignment! Computing strategy!'_

Duncan reached forward. " **Psychic** , one more time!" At his command, Medicham had a bright blue shine as the kinetic energy around Viridian began suppressing him. The Machia found himself incapable of mobility while straining to move his neck. Duncan's gleam darkened as he found his opportunity. Taking a leap, he got airborne and swung the kendo stick overhead.

With a shrilled warrior's cry, he slammed the kendo stick on the Machia's head with all his might. The impact made the stick itself chip a bit in a moment's notice, but also knocked Viridian's vision through a loop. His eyes became static as they twitched.

Duncan's feet planted on the ground. "So I guess that's best you got, right?" his eyes narrowed. "Guess we'll just have to hammer you until your systems cave in." Without wasting breath, he began slamming his kendo stick against Viridian's head, over and over with no rest. With one swing, another bouncing off, but each one was making his mechanical eyes static for each blow. He glared ahead with gritting teeth as Duncan wasn't letting up.

Blow after blow, Viridian could feel his head's circuits beginning to deter some. _'System damage accumulation, rising.'_ Another blow made his eyes static. _'System diagnostics complete.'_ Another blow. _'Initiating…overdrive.'_

Eyes widening, the static vanished. A red pulse shot through him as his systems inside started to churn at a faster rate.

With one loud shout, Duncan went and slammed his kendo stick down, but Viridian's cold saber mode activated, blocking the attack in a split second.

"What?"

Viridian easily held up his end. "Seems you humans…gravely misunderstood your chances!" He followed through with his swing, creating a cold gust that sent Duncan reeling yet again until he tumbled painfully to a halt on his stomach.

"Duncan!" Ultear exclaimed.

Duncan strained to get up, but as he did, he found that Viridian was already atop him. "Such incompetence." He kicked Duncan in the gut, sending him on his back behind Medicham. "To think that a mere Trainer was giving me this much trouble. Such a mistake I dare not make again." He crossed his arms, slots showing on his wrists. "Attack capacity, enhance! Caliber overdrive, initiated!" As he swiped his arms, two bright yellow sabers showed themselves. The shock from the two swipes made the sides of the corridor melt open. The walls had melted gashes in them. "Have you not figured it out by now, mages? I have the power of a machine who can read elements. I materialize the ethernano around me and convert it to power. Channel through my systems to manifest my sabers and cannons. _That_ , my young friend, is the essence of magic."

Duncan laid on the ground. He was trying hard to strain upwards again, but was having little success. He shot glares as Viridian closed in.

Liz moved to spew more gum, but without looking, Viridian slashed through the gum with ease. He kept slashing and melting the gum-like bullets, until finally he closed in and raised his one right saber and held it high.

Duncan gritted his teeth. "Medicham, **Ice Punch!** "

Medicham responded by flipping overhead with fists enveloped in icy fist and bright blue. The two fists came down together, forcing Viridian to cross his twin sabers to intercept. The attacks caused the other to recoil as a gust came between them.

"So, you intend to fight me as well." Viridian charged. "Then come!"

Medicham obliged. The two went Ice Punch to light sabers. Another tense shock rippled between the two before they began a series of intense parries. As Medicham punched, Viridian slashed. It was a relentless struggle neither could afford to hesitate upon. Their clashes were so intense that it made mist and hot winds scamper about the flooring.

Liz scrambled to try and get the piece of gum out of her mouth and onto the broken set of headphones. She needed to fix them, at least somehow.

Duncan struggled to stand. He grunted hard as he finally sat up. He watched as his Medicham went toe to toe with Viridian, their attacks connecting to where they immediately parried the next wave. _"I materialize the ethernano around me and convert it to power. Channel through my systems to manifest my sabers and cannons. That, my young friend, is the essence of magic."_ What Viridian said earlier made Duncan's glare harden. He gripped his kendo stick tighter than before as he strained to get up. He gritted his teeth tighter with each second. _'Damnit…damnit…'_ He gripped his kendo stick so tight that it looked like the bottom half was about to break. _'I'm not strong enough…'_

In his mind, for a brief second, the image of a certain man filled his mind. He had messy black hair like his but older. Even with the simple gestures, just imagining his face was enough to make Duncan's glare harden. His grip was as hard as steel.

Medicham flipped over a horizontal saber, getting atop of Viridian to counterattack. The Ice Punch went soaring down, only to be intercepted by Viridian's saber again, causing a great backlash of sparks between the two as sheer dominance was waged. Each one grunted until finally the stalemate ceased. Medicham plopped to her feet and didn't waste time with another Ice Punch, which Viridian caught with his bare hand. The stalemate there didn't last too long, however, as Viridian scowled.

"You'll have to do better than that, Pokémon…" Suddenly his layers began to get cold. "Hm?!" He looked over, gasping with shock as the Ice Punch's other effect of freezing started crawling ice around the hand and wrist. _'She's freezing my right arm. Was this her intention?'_

Medicham retracted her palms and readied another strike.

Annoyed, Viridian swiped his free arm. " **Spout Lancer!** " A sudden geyser of water created from thin air materialized below Medicham, swallowing her up in a powerful jet that crashed her into the veiling. The spout ended moments later, allowing Medicham to get unstuck from the ceiling and plundered onto her back with a groan.

As Medicham laid there, Viridian walked forward. "Most convenient." He swiped his frozen arm, making a heated saber break through the ice almost instantly over the wrist. "But futile. You all are much too weak to call yourself worthy adversaries of the empire. It's time we end this."

Ultear winced while still on the ground. "Damn you…"

Duncan growled in frustration. He knew better than to charge ahead. It would get him too close and killed. He looked over at Liz to see what she was intending on, but she was mingling with her headphones. He leered ahead as his grip remained tight.

Little was he aware, a very weak aura was surrounding the tips of his stick.

Liz was hurrying away with her maintenance. She looked so desperate that it was like her whole world was crumbling. "C'mon…c'mon…!" She brashly jammed the gum in the area needed to repair and tried working on the wiring in her headphones. Once she wrapped a small lace of gum around the one end, she connected two different colored wires without realizing,

Viridian raised his sabers high over Medicham. "I'll start with you!"

"Move!" Duncan roared.

Finally connecting the wiring, Liz managed to get the cap on and turn the dial. "Please…" With desperation, one of her many needs of sanity was finally turned on. The dial turned, only to emit a very powerful frequency above static. The loud beeping was like that when ears ring. It made Liz and the others wince.

"What…is this?!" Ultear strained through the humming.

Duncan refused to cover his ears. Instead he glared ahead and narrowed his vision.

Viridian was also a victim of the loud frequency. However, unlike the others, his were of more consequence. He found himself twitching, his arms unable to come down to deal the final blow as static started churning. "What…is this?" He winced, struggling to keep himself from overloading. His internal systems were reacting violently, making them force to veer away as the frequency was messing with his usual diagnostics. "Systems…crashing. Energy reaction level…spontaneous. Coordination failing…" He winced again, moments before static charged around his neck, making him tilt it like Kecleon.

Duncan realized the opportunity and took it. _'Now!'_ He darted in, heading for a direct line of fire as he pulled his kendo stick back. He roared loudly as he prepared to swing.

Still staggering, the shaken Viridian trough the frequency grunted. "I'm not done with you!" He did another horizontal slash, but a speeding pink glob of gum stuck to the wrist. His shock surmounted when he found a thin trail leading up towards Liz's mouth

Realizing he was open, Viridian looked back as Duncan closed the gap with no obstruction.

The Pokémon Trainer felt time slow around him. He swung his kendo stick back with as much force as he could muster. The momentum picked up for him as he swung back further as he dashed in slow motion. _"I materialize the ethernano around me and convert it to power."_ He concentrated as he was holding onto his staff, unaware of the rainbow energy waving weakly around the base.

Ultear's eyes widened. She turned towards Liz. "Quick! Try and immobilize him!" In a hurry at her understand, Liz nodded as the frequency continued. She dislodged the gum from her mouth and used one finger to hold it together. Meanwhile, she hurried and jammed other pieces of gum into her mouth.

Duncan brought his leg back as his intense aura began to radiate for a small second. The image inside his mind about that certain man made his angry dark look intensify. His pupils shrunk to peas. He let out a bellow into the halls. The kendo stick's shimmering aura ignited with his will.

" _Channel through my systems to manifest my sabers and cannons."_

Duncan swung with all his might, the glowing staff streaming energy as it closed in on Viridian's wrists/

" _That, my young friend, is the essence of magic."_

Viridian was unable to act due to the frequency. His eyes reflected Duncan's intense ambitions as his swung made full impact with the elbows of the two arms. Shockingly, a bone-cracking sound raged through the atmosphere as the kendo stick's aura made it cleave through both elbows. The mechanical limbs went flying off as Viridian had stone face as everything went white. Duncan followed through with a sheer look. Also in white, his kendo stick completely snapped like a twig upon following the bitter swing. The wood split everywhere, plopping to the ground the same time the mechanical wrists made contact with the wood. Duncan's swing was so powerful even that it made his momentum fall over onto his side.

Viridian stammered backwards, his disposition full of shock as his arms had static on them. He looked down afar, seeing wood and mechanical tendons mixed. _'Impossible…'_ his eyes dilated between static and normal. His vision recalled glimpses of Duncan using that swing packed with force. _'That swing just now…that Trainer…that was…'_

Liz chewed so much that it looked like her mouth was going to burst wide open. With a massive inhale, the Gum Mage let out a massive breath of air that caused all the joined gums in her mouth to slowly expand. The color was pitch-black. It slowly expanded, creating a massive hemisphere of dark air inside the bubble. Once it was ready, she lurched her head back and spread her legs. The Gum Mage faced Viridian with the human-sized sphere of gum and exhaled like she was spitting. The whole thing dislodge from her mouth, heading across the boarding towards Viridian.

The Machia's eyes continued flickering from static to new, but his thought processors were shot. He remained stiff as the black sphere of gum made contact with him, popping into a massive glob of black sludge that left him petrified before the blanket completely swallowed him.

And for the Machia, it all went black.

Duncan groaned as he stirred back up. He staggered to his feet only to hold his one good arm. When he looked back, his lips parted as he saw that instead of Viridian, he saw a replica of a statue of him in black casing. He looked as surprised at the casing.

Viridian was under the gum-like statue. It quickly dried up, making cracks and crevices everywhere. It engraved to the skin to make it a death statue. This was Liz's trump card, and she glared with hostility.

The gum cracked up and hardened at massive rates. It looked as solid as ice even, or rather cooled rock. Seeing the chance, Ultear grunted and reached forward, using her magic and made the whole thing glow. The next instance, the hardened gum began to crumble away, along with pieces of Viridian. The whole Machia crumbled like old rock all the way down to two stubs that were the feet. Duncan and the others stared with serious looks, the Trainer slowly getting up to stare.

"…it's done." Ultear said. She looked over, seeing Liz looking down at her headphones. The Gum Mage looked a little sad at her prized headphones stopped making a frequency, the one side completely destroyed, much to her chagrin. "…I'm sorry. I can't repair something like that I'm afraid." She despondently said.

"It's okay." Liz quietly muttered. "Maybe I can get Aniya to make this into an intercom around my ears. Just one would be enough."

Ultear nodded in understanding. She looked back at Duncan to see him recalling his Medicham into what looked like a Great Ball. _'That power just now…even if it was a little, I know what I saw…'_ Ultear's eyes narrowed. _'There's no mistaking it, that has to be Holding Magic. He channeled his magic into his kendo stick to increase its potential. However…'_ She looked down at the wooden pieces still on the ground. _'That looked like a fluke. He mustered his sheer will into that one swing at a cost.'_

Duncan staggered as he looked down at the broken shambles of his kendo sword. He only held the wooden bit of it, clutching it as he realized what he had done. Despite having the stick for years, it was bound to break eventually. Huffing, he let go, letting it drop to the floor.

"You served your purpose." He exasperated with his cap shielding his eyes.

Ultear looked on in silence. She stared off in another direction. "Now then…did he mention something about an associate?"

Liz looked back down the destroyed hall. Duncan looked back as well. All three stared down the hall as they felt more magic energy. The fight wasn't over yet.

* * *

A pair of fists clanged together, causing a small gust to expel. Tyson snickered as he saw the many faces in the room. "Well now this is what I call a treat! I find some guys to kill _and_ the treasure we've come to collect. Boy am I lucky or what?"

Matilda balled her claws while Meredy readied herself. Nearby, Dereece was in a small panic as Heracross readied himself. However, he was surprised Yanma was still perched. "What the-?! Are you still on my head?!" he exasperated.

"Yes." She deadpanned.

"Well can you please get off?" Heracross flicked his horn meekly, causing Yanma to spiral into the air and catch herself. She shook her head above while Heracross walked forward in the events of a fight.

Tyson chuckled as he saw the adversaries lined up in front of him. "Man, this is just awesome! My energy reserves are so high I think I might actually explode! Two chicks and a guy, and a big bug huh?" he smirked, showing his teeth as he reeled his fist forward. The hands revealed themselves with armored knuckles with spikes on them. "Well I hope you guys don't disappoint!"

Matilda smirked. "So, you looking for a fight are ya?" She cracked her knuckles. "That's funny, I was just itching to get a little wild myself." Once all the knuckles were cracked, she punched her open palm with her teeth showing. "This is gonna be a hoot, or at least it better be."

"Heh, I like your spunk girl." He reeled the arm back and brought it forward. "Battle statistics set. Manual power conversion reset. Now…let's have some fun!" He punched forward.

Matilda sprung at the broad Machia like a leopard. He claw-like hand reeled back and the two fists connected in a split second. The wind pressure between them lowered until it spontaneously exploded, creating an intense pulse wave that shook the entire chamber. Everyone covered up, especially Dereece as he was hiding away. Heracross used his toe claws to make hold, making him distracted to where he blinked. The blink happened again, only for him to look up slowly and finally realize Yanma was perched on his head again, holding on for dear life. "Heh?!" he gawked.

In the shockwaves, Matilda and Tyson sneered at one another. Their stalemate receded to have Matilda in midair. She went and swung her leg, but Tyson used his right forearm to block, causing the shock to dissipate. He then made his wrist turn 180 robotically to grip the leg and pivoted. Matilda found herself swung around and up, following Tyson arm as he roared and drove her into the ground. The Take-Over Mage ricocheted off the dented metal and blasted into wooden crates to splatter wood.

"No!" Dereece panicked.

"We gotta help her!" Meredy insisted.

Dereece nodded. "Uh, right! Heracross, **Leer!** " Dereece's Heracross remained stationary as his eyes made a glistening red aura. In contrast, a blue aura outlined Tyson as he doubled up on both fists.

"That all ya got? It's gonna take more than that, big guy!" He let out a roar as he dropped to a knee and slammed his fist into the ground. The metal beneath trembled before shockwaves ripped open beneath, sending debris at them.

Dereece and Meredy reeled back, but Heracross whipped his horn to flick Yanma off as he dove in front. Using his keen power, he began yanking his horn all around, deflecting debris coming directly at the group.

"Keep it up, Heracross!" Dereece exclaimed.

Heracross continued his deflection until it was finally clear, only for Tyson to have the gap closed and left fist pulled back in an uppercut. He let loose, nailing Heracross and airborne him until he slammed on his own back hard, shocking the group.

Meredy hurriedly moved in and swiped her arm, sending energy swords at Tyson. They rushed through the air until they closed in.

Tyson's eyes dilated only to pull back. "Alright, variety. I like that!" The swords closed in. "Analyzing attack…" his eyes glowed. "Infusion mode set!"

The swords all closed in, but when they did, Tyson pulled back a fist and roared with all his might. The fist went barreling at one sword, immediately dissipating it upon impact, and the shockwave ripped through the other swords in a second.

"No way!" Meredy gasped.

"W-with just one punch…?" If Dereece didn't have dark skin, he'd be paling. Beside him, Heracross showed shock, so much that he was too surprised to not realize Yanma perching on his head again.

Tyson's synthetic teeth showed. His arm suddenly had slots open to reveal finely edged axe blades. "Don't tell me that's all you guys got!" With his energy circuits at mass capacity, he barreled after his foes in a frenzy.

Dereece shrieked in deep fears of what'll happen. Meredy tried again to attack using her energy swords. They went surfing and closed in, but Tyson crossed his arms and slashed through them all with no trouble whatsoever. Meredy looked shocked as Tyson kept slashing clean through her attack like it was nothing, laughing with tons of energy in his reserves.

"Oh no…mommy." Dereece whimpered. "AAAHHHH!"

"You're a nuisance, big guy!" Tyson jumped to attack from above. Once above, he raised his arms to cross them. He was going to slice them in one blow. "You're gone!"

A sudden hemisphere of energy shot from the side. Tyson didn't realize it in time and ended up struck by the attack, swallowed in a small explosive burst that sent him trailing across the ground until he was forced to use his arm axes to hold him down, nearly splitting the ground in half along the way. The ground beneath him suddenly cracked, making him look down just as another force shot up like a geyser to make him airborne again. As he was suspended with wood chips, a red tail swung around and nailed him in his mechanical gut, causing his circuits to temporarily shorthand as he flew out of the ship.

He fell with a pained scream, echoing as he plunged into the water below with a big splash.

Dereece and Meredy gasped with shock.

"Is everyone alright?"

They both turned towards the hole in the inner wall, revealing a Krookodile hunched over with his tail wagging in front of his Trainer, who looked as serious while relaxed. "Vanessa!" Meredy exclaimed.

Vanessa looked at her. "Meredy!" She caught up with them, seeing the damage dealt while around. "Are you alright?"

Meredy nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. Thanks."

Vanessa turned towards the hole that led to the dark clouds outside. "So that explains it. That's why their aura is off somehow…"

"Say what?" Dereece questioned. "Their aura?"

"Everything living gives off an aura. For machines, they're not supposed to have auras. However…it looks like these machines have an aura. But it's fuzzy for my sensors to handle…that's why I wasn't certain until Krookodile and I got here to realize."

"So what do we do?" Meredy questioned.

A sudden splash of water shot up from outside. They all turned with shock – seriousness in Vanessa's case – and saw that water outside ripping as Tyson was airborne and at correct level with the wall.

"HAHA! NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" he roared. "YES! FINALLY, SOME COMPETITION!" His feet planted on the ground, standing tall and ready with a wide smirk. "You're gonna make my circuits go all sorts of wild, girly!"

"Krookodile." Vanessa steadily ordered.

"Alright, go time!" Krookodile responded.

Tyson's axe arms reactivated and crossed them. He lurched forward and began another ecstatic charge.

Vanessa swiped her arm. "Use **Crunch!** "

Krookodile's jaws opened wide as his fangs glowed brightly. Like Tyson, he charged forward. "LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, LIVING ANIMATRONIC AXE-SPEWING PAIN! The only thing that's gonna go wild…IS MY TEETH!" Tyson swung his right arm, while Krookodile used his attack. In one fell motion, the axe was ripped off like paper by Krookodile's intense jaw power. The Machia retracted a few paces as Krookodile shook his head while nibbling on the axe until he spit it out.

Tyson recoiled from that sudden counterattack. He pivoted and swung his left arm at Krookodile. However, a roar came from the room as a yellow blur came down, landing a blow on the downward axe, dislodging it into the ground sideways as Matilda was between them. Once again, Tyson was shocked. "You!"

" _That_ was for earlier! And _this_ -" She swung her leg again, sending him into the wall with a massive thundering crater made. "-is for now!" she finished.

Tyson gagged static electricity as time slowed down. Matilda, however, had a vicious gleam in her eyes.

Vanessa's eyes widened. "Matilda?"

Matilda caught whim of the Trainer and smiled back. "Oh, hey, looks like you're just in time for the party." She looked over, seeing Krookodile again. She snickered. "Well now, long time no see big guy. Did ya miss me?" she winked.

Krookodile roared into her face. The wind from his breath made her hair harden.

"Woooh! Man that breath! Now I'm getting even more fired up!" Matilda faced ahead with determination. "I was hoping I'd be fighting you again. Maybe later, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever."

Dislodging from the wall, Tyson rolled his shoulder, making it pop. "Well now, that was a surprise. Didn't see that coming." He rolled his head, showing a wily smirk. " _Now_ you have my attention!"

Matilda balled her fists. "It looks like he supercharges his limbs with magic to increase the damage. That one throw really knocked me up a little."

"Infusing magic through his circuits?" Meredy deduced.

Tyson smirked. "Damn straight. It's a little thing I like to call Infusion. You see I was created with so much energy that my core isn't able to suppress it. The excess ethernano I have gets jolted into my limbs to enhance and speed up my attacks, that way my energy reserves don't overheat. As long as I have energy to spare, breaking my mechanical mass ain't cutting it!"

Everyone tensed up. "Dereece, try and keep the Pokémon away if you can." Meredy insisted.

He nodded. "Uh, yeah. Sure." He shuffled away with the Pokémon in the corner. "O-okay, everyone stay calm. We have this under control."

Vanessa and the others turned towards Tyson. Their focus realigned, they were set to begin the next round.

Tyson held up both fists with an energetic smile. "My circuits are burning! Man are Viridian and Pixie missing out!" He charged ahead again.

Vanessa reached forward. "Krookodile, **Stone Edge!** "

Krookodile slammed his claws into the ground, making a pulsating tremor before jagged slated of stone hot at Tyson in a linear fashion. The Machia eagerly ran in with all his might, bulldozing through the stones like they weren't even there. He ran clean through each rock piece and got into Krookodile's face, laughing as his fist slowly pulled back.

Meredy gasped she hurried to attack. " **Maguilty Sodom!** " She summoned teal magic blades that shot around Krookodile into Tyson. The Machia was made contact with, creating a powerful burst that rendered him midriff.

In midair, his evil smirk widened. "HA!"

Meredy went wide-eyed. "It didn't work?!"

Tyson rammed his fist on the ground, creating another intense shockwave that caused everyone close by the jump in order to dodge. Meanwhile Dereece wasn't so lucky. Even so, he looked ay the Pokémon and knew he had to act. He quickly moved in front and was hit with a weakened shockwave. It easily pushed him over like a pudding sack.

He landed and smirked. "Machia don't know pain, girly! That's why we're programmed to fight!"

Matilda sneered. "Oh yeah?" She constantly jumped around, flipping until she shifted behind Tyson as he looked back. "Well I bet this will hurt!" With strength from her Take-Over, she punched him with intense force. He shifted and blocked with his big right hand, catching it.

As he sneered, he almost ignored his sensors and looked back to see Krookodile charging with jaws wide open for a **Crunch**. He pulled his arm back in time to avoid the bite, which created a small gust wave that ripped through them all. "Nice try, big guy! Ain't falling for that one! Huh?!"

Krookodile's tail suddenly whipped skywards. It revealed Vanessa was on his tail and was shot above, with hands covered in teal. Tyson realized his mistake and saw her reach down.

" **Emanation Beam!** "

An intense teal blast swallowed up Tyson, shooting a continual ray out towards the basin. Within the beam's roaring rays, Tyson used his forearm to keep himself from taking direct damage, but he was losing ground and gritted his teeth. The more he resisted, the more force wanted to push. Plus one more factor.

Matilda used her other arm and gripped his wrist. "Now it's _my_ turn!" Getting revenge, she flipped him with all her might as the beam dissipated. The intense over-the-shoulder throw made Tyson impale the ground, creating a powerful tremor that sounded like human bones were to snap.

"Oh, that ain't pretty." Dereece flinched.

Tyson laid on his back in pain. He groaned as his systems were still backfiring. With the distraction, Matilda surmounted the big guy and pulled a fist back. Serving to punch his hard in the face. "How do you like that, huh?!" She punched again. "Maybe this! Want more?!" She nonstop wailed on the guy. She punched ferociously as she was bombarding him with fast punches to no end. It was so much that each punch created a small burst and gust that went rapid fire. She didn't stop; even when Tyson was bouncing slightly between each consecutive blow.

Watching her exert energy, the others looked surprised. She really was getting into it that it was startling.

Each punch was like a machine bullet, and yet after so many, the shocking thing was Tyson smirked. "Heh."

Matilda gasped. The next second she knew, a foot stamped her face, sending her impaling into the ceiling while Tyson uproariously arose.

"Yeah, that's it! That's it!" Excited, Tyson eagerly saw Krookodile ahead and made a swift beeline. He was much faster. This shocked Krookodile and the others.

' _Did he just get faster?!'_

Tyson dodged Krookodile's jaws and dove to seize the tail. Once in his clutches, the Machia swung him around once and hurled to 200 lb crocodile away, sending him into Matilda just as she disolodged the ceiling. Both crashed into the wall, creating a powerful shudder.

"Krookodile!" Vanessa exclaimed.

Tyson whipped around, his sudden jerk creating a string gust that forced Vanessa to create a shield of aura to keep herself and Meredy from being blown away. The Machia abruptly turned in another direction – towards Dereece.

The Trainer realized what was happening and hunched over. "Uh oh."

"Oh no, Dereece." Meredy gasped.

"You gonna fight big guy?" Tyson challenged.

Dereece was in a panic. Luckily for him that Heracross jumped in front of him to ready to attack.

Vanessa hurried to stretch aura at Tyson to immobilize him, but he suddenly disappeared before he could be caught. Gasping, Vanessa's glance turned towards Dereece. Tyson reappeared in front of Heracross with a fist pulled back and ready to pummel.

" **Horn Attack!** " Dereece rushed.

The Machia punched forward as Heracross shot his glowing horn forward. The two sturdy fighters collided in a vivid force that made a bright flash between them. White static ignited the atmosphere between as the Machia smirked, while Heracross struggle to hold up. Until finally one side gave in. It was Heracross, just as the stalemate came to an end. He staggered onto his backside and hunched up as Tyson towered over him and Dereece.

"Now, let's be reasonable, and make it easy for all of us." The Machia darkly glared with lifeless eyes as to intimidate Dereece and Heracross. "Move aside, and I _won't_ let your death be a head crushing."

"Dereece, watch out!" Meredy roared.

Vanessa swiped her arm enveloped in aura, creating a pillar of teal aura that enveloped Tyson. The roaring pillar of aura, however, only served to make him grunt and tense up before he exerted a powerful roar. He swiped both arms, dissipating the roaring energy to a dust wave beneath. He looked back at a shaken Dereece and Heracross, smirking with glee. He balled his supercharged fist and readied his next strike.

Dereece only shuddered as fear overcame him. _'Sorry…Captain Joey!'_

Tyson readied the next strike sure to break Heracross and Dereece. Moments before he reeled forward, Yanma perched on Heracross' horn, surprising everyone. "Eh?"

"Huh?" Heracross looked up to see Yanma perched on his horn once again. "What the-?!"

"W-what is it with you?!" Dereece snapped. "Are we seriously doing this now?!"

Tyson meekly smirked. "Oh well. The more the merrier, I always say!" He pulled back and charged the fist a little further. However, that little span of a distraction was enough for a teal coil to snare his wrist. Looking back, he saw Vanessa snaring him. "Not you again." He grimaced.

Still unsure of what to do, Dereece shriveled as he faced the Yanma. "Okay, this has gone on far enough now. We're fighting for our lives here, and all you can think of is finding a perch?! Just get off!"

Yanma shriveled her wings. She looked down at a shaken Heracross and back at Tyson as he was trying to let loose of Vanessa's grip. Then back at Heracross, then Tyson. Heracross, then Tyson. It finally caught onto Yanma.

"…okay!"

This surprised Dereece. "R-really?"

Yanma suddenly got up from Heracross' horn and was eye-level with Tyson. The Machia finally turned his back as he swiped his arm, prying away Vanessa's aura and causing a small gust to jut them back. With him distracted. "Now you're just making me mad!" he roared. However, Yanma saw the back of his head and flew in. Her sudden **Tackle** clanged against his head, making his face contort in annoyance.

Dereece's face turned completely white with beady eyes from sheer astonishment.

"Who did that?" The Machia turned around to give Dereece and Heracross a look. "Hey, where'd your friend go?"

However, unbeknownst, a red blur struck him in the back of the head again. Everyone looked up to see Yanma pulling away into the air above.

"Heh?! So it was you, huh?!" Tyson smirked. "Well now, you're a feisty one. The empire's gonna love guys like you!" He went to grab her in a fast spritz, but suddenly Yanma vanished out of thin air. "What the-?!"

Yanma appeared beside him. Her body outlined in **Quick Attack** and she spritzed across his face, making him recoil from the attack. Shaking his head, he angrily turned to see Yanma again, but found she was again gone. Before realizing it, he was struck again by a passing Yanma in the back of the head.

"GAH!" The Machia shook his head and looked over his head. Yanma was zooming left and right at incredible speeds. The shocking part was that it looked like she was getting faster than before. "What's going on here?"

Vanessa wasn't getting it until she saw Yanma blitz in another direction, evading a garb. She saw her zig diagonally, constantly evading. Her eyes widened upon sudden realization. "…it's Speed Boost."

"What? Speed Boost?" Meredy inquired.

"It's one of Yanma's abilities. After every attack, her Speed increases." She watched as Yanma retracted herself into the air, where her body shimmered before multiplying into copies via **Double Team**. The move made Tyson grunt in annoyance as his eye sensors were picking out multitudes of targets.

"Hold still you little…!"

In his irate, Dereece realized there was an opportunity at hand. Gathering whatever fortitude, he pointed forward. "Heracross, **Aerial Ace**! Sweep the legs!"

"Roger!" Heracross lowered his horn and went for the attack. He lunged beneath the Machia and blitzed dead ahead while he was distracted by Yanma clones sweeping up around him. Heracross darted and connected with the knee cap, immediately sending a static shock that made the bug back off while the Machia almost tripped.

"What the-OOF!" He was blown over by a tail and fist combo by Matilda and Krookodile again and went tumbling off to the side, hitting another loose wall.

Matilda got on all fours, her hair standing up out of blood rushing. "Okay, _now_ I'm pissed." She snarled.

"That makes one more of us." Krookodile sneered, not knowing he earned a raised brow from her.

Despite embedded into the wall, Tyson smirked with satisfaction. "You want some more, eh?" He suddenly vanished and reappeared before the two in midair. He punched forward with all his might, but this time it was Matilda who vanished, showing her increased speed. In midair behind, she swung an axe kick down just as Krookodile moved in for **Crunch**. He swerved both arms on either side to grip the snout and ankle and slammed them into the ground, directing both attacks to destroy the ground and making gust waves impale it, leaving a dent within the haul of the boat beneath. With both distracted, he hammer fisted them in their stomachs, sending them gagging and off opposite directions. Sneering, his overdrive functions churned inside as he disappeared and reappeared in front of Vanessa in midair, both fists coming together overhead. The Aura Mage hurried and snaked a teal aura stream to tangle around the left leg that Heracross had hit before. The constriction made him jolt and lose momentum for her to control and pull him away. Once on the ground on all fours, the Machia snarled as his eyes showed computing networks. His boots suddenly showed rocket boosters at the heels and he tore off the aura and back at Vanessa with a cynical laughter.

Dereece was watching from the sidelines as he had no idea what to do. He was in a mental panic enough already. His body was so shut down that he couldn't even move if he wanted to. Paralyzed by fear just meters away from an overcharged Machia with intense magical pressure was one thing to make your head spin. As teal aura exploded around him, Yanma and Heracross regrouped while the Trainer was trying to gather what thoughts were available.

"K-keep it together, Dereece. Find your courage, man." He swallowed a lump. "Now, what would Joey do…?"

" _I have a plan!" Joey heroically stood before Dereece…moments before he swept behind the bi guy and pushed him forward. "Good luck, Dereece!" Dereece grumbled before he would be punched in the gut, sent flying into a wall._

The thought popped the bubble, making him shake his head back to normality. "No, I can't just sit here and do nothing. I…I joined a guild, right?" He shakily got back to his feet. He faced the battle as he saw Matilda slash, but was swatted away. "My friends are fighting. I've got to do something. Maybe I…" He looked down at his palm, looking worriedly at them. He alternated between each one as his mind raced back to the conversation on the ship. He could hear the words Broly spoke with Joey, but at the same time knew he could be referenced to as well. He clutched his fists and winced. _'Man, this sucks! I…I can't fight! I don't even know how!'_ he looked forward, seeing Tyson spinning his upper body like a Baltoy using Rapid Spin and making everyone jerk away as he rampaged. Knowing in his heart he had to try, Dereece swallowed and steeled himself.

"…I know I'm gonna regret this…GAAAAH!" he roared as he charged with all his might.

Backed away, Vanessa looked over and saw Dereece charging with everything he had. The Trainer looked shocked. "Dereece?!"

Dereece let out a shrilled cry as he ran right into Tyson. The big guy found his arm latched onto as Dereece held it down. The Machia looked over and lifted his arm, seeing Dereece attached like a led weight. "Huh? You, tubby? Well alright then!" He smirked as he supercharged the fist that Dereece tried to anchor down.

The heat and the magical power coursing into the arm was making a strong flow that made Dereece cry out in pain. The dark-skinned Trainer and Freaks member was hugging the arm, daring not to let go.

"Dereece!" Heracross gasped. Yanma hovered over with surprise of her own.

Dereece clamped on tight, even with it stinging his skin incredulously. Tyson lifted his arm and angrily began to spin around. "Wanna go for a spin?!" Tyson began to rotate so fast that Dereece was nearly sent flying in circles. He screamed loudly as he was trying so hard to keep up, and yet at the same time, he was barely hanging onto the limb in hopes of slowing him down.

"Dereece!" Meredy exclaimed.

Dereece clung to the raw magic as much as possible. He grunted hard as he felt the magic surge into his body, and it was painful to even touch. _'No…I have to…hang on! For the Captain!'_ "Jooooeeeyy!" he cried out.

With all his strength, he let out a shrilled cry as his legs kicked out. His bellowing made his feet keep kicking until he felt energy surge into them. The energy from the arm he latched onto surged into the body as the veins felt like they were numb.

Tyson's eyes widened upon seeing something wrong. "What the?!"

Dereece clung tighter as he straightened his legs. His heels churned against solid air like it was a floor. He was slowing down Tyson until finally he came to a halt. Dereece was bracing it all – completely sideways in midair!

"What-?!" Tyson didn't have time to realize it before Matilda's fist connected with his face, sending him sliding and crashing into the wall again as she landed in his place.

Dereece's momentum finally stopped. With Tyson off, he opened his eyes and gasped. "What the…?" He looked down – or rather sideways – to find himself without ground. "Wait, where'd the ground go?!" He suddenly plopped onto the ground, face-first. He pointed a finger up. "Oh. There it is." He muffled.

Vanessa came over, looking startled by what happened. "Dereece, are you alright?"

The Trainer shook his head as he sat up. "Oiiii. What just happened?" He looked down at his hand. He felt the air, with very slight concentration. For a second, he felt like he was touching a wall that he immediately pulled away from. "Woah, what the-?!" He blinked. He stuck his foot out next. It felt like a wall that he didn't slide down on. It was like he was hanging his leg in midair. "No way…" he whistled.

Vanessa blinked. She was at a loss for words.

Meredy came up, realizing what it was. "Wait, did he stop himself in midair like that?" she realized.

Vanessa nodded. "I believe so."

Meredy's gaze grew serious. "Then that has to be Element Walk Magic."

"Element what now?" Dereece wondered.

"Dereece…I think you can walk in air now, and maybe other surfaces, too." She resumed. "I've only heard bits about this magic. I heard you might be able to walk on water and up skyscrapers, or maybe even touch the sky just by walking or running up."

Dereece went wide-eyed. He looked down at his limbs with shock. "Wooow…really?"

Shifting up, Tyson was back on his feet and stomped, catching all their attention. He smirked with glee. "Hehe, well congratulations big guy, you actually learned something useful." He balled his fists, ready to attack. "Let's just see _how_ useful, shall we?!"

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. She swiped her arm. "Krookodile, **Outrage!** "

Krookodile followed Vanessa's command and his eyes began to glow bright red. The Intimidation Pokémon let out an intense bellow as he suddenly pressed on the ground and disappeared, reappearing in front of Tyson. " **BRRAAHH!** "

Tyson's smirk widened so much his synthetic skin churned. "YES!" His punch intercepted Krookodile's. The claws went in a frenzy that the Machia happily countered. Each slash and punch created an intense force that gust picked up. The ground depressed slightly as each one battled for dominance, and Tyson was loving it. He cackled happily as Krookodile was viciously roaring and slashing, until finally each broke off and Krookodile went for another jaw attack. Tyson gripped the jaws with all his might and stopped it, making a pulse wave jut out that severed air currents. Once again, it was another battle of dominance, and Krookodile as snarling like a rapid animal while Tyson's beef mechanical muscles were working overtime to churn energy.

"YEAH! NOW I FEEL THE BURN! THAT'S RIGHT!"

The gears in his arms vibrated so much that smoke was seen. The pulsating pressure was finally humming loud enough to hear a build up until Tyson's arms lurched, making a shockwave that finally made Krookodile airborne, smashing into scrap metal piles that made the landing intense.

"Krookodile!" Vanessa exclaimed.

"That's it! I've had it with you, bub!" Outraged, Matilda got on all fours and sprung in zigzags. Each one got her close to where she closed the gap and reappeared in front of Tyson. Instantly, she began a flurry of her own that Tyson eagerly challenged. Like with Krookodile, gust pulsated with each pressurized punch that intercepted each strike. The charge was making slight electricity between them that conducted into scrap metal flying between them. Matilda was angrily punching away, but Tyson's energy reserves weren't depleting. He was laughing maniacally as his charge made his punches as fast as hers.

Finally breaking off the stalemate, Matilda began zipping from one end to the other. Her light pounces left dents everywhere as she blindsided him, or at least attempted to. But Tyson's internal computer was showing images and projections, showing when she'll strike.

Ricocheting off a wall, Matilda sprung from a corner and roared like a lion with fangs bared. She pulled forward to punch, and yet in one fell swoop, Tyson pulled his fist back, whirlwinds of heated mechanical energy pulsing and jetted as fast as lightning.

The fist to connect made everything for Matilda black. Time slowed down as her mouth was wide open to gag blood. Tyson sneered as he followed through with the gut blow, making airwaves pulsated as Matilda sent straight through the metal wall. She ploughed straight through wall after wall, her back lurching through each wall that she tore through until she vanished from site.

Far down the broken walls, Matilda gagged before it all went black, her eyes rolling to back of her head.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Man, that fun!" Tyson roared at the rows of broken ship walls. "Now _I'm_ turned on!"

Meredy's eyes were shrunk as she stared at the horrific blow with Vanessa. "Matilda…"

"I-INCOMING~!" Dereece warned. But his response time was too poor as Tyson swung his arm, making a powerful shockwave that sent all of his adversaries onto their backs, including Yanma and Heracross. They all laid on the ground groaning.

Tyson uproariously laughed with glee. "HAHAHA! You guys are so much fun I can't stand it! Man, my energy is going wild just because of the time I'm having! HA!"

Krookodile was straining incredulously to get back up, however, the attack left him dizzy and disoriented. A scrap plate slammed into him, burying him temporarily.

"HAHAHAHA! Is that all you got?!"

Dereece stirred as Heracross and Yanma were twitching beside him. He looked over his shoulder to see the terrifying image and winced away. He knew he didn't stand a chance.

Meredy was on the ground, but Vanessa was on a knee. The Aura Mage glared at the cackling robot with her eyes narrowing. Believe it or not, she was having a small blast of her own, but she wasn't having it. She had to kick it up a notch, and fast.

* * *

In the dark room she was blown into, Matilda laid in the shadows, all crippled and broken. Her breathing was so contorted that it's gone hoarse from that blow to the diaphragm. The spot that she was struck was left blue and deeply bruised. It was far from a good sign.

Barely even conscious, the female warrior gnawed her teeth together on the debris pile she laid on. If it wasn't for part of her long hair turning spiky and hard, it would've impaled her. _'I can't believe it. Just how strong is this guy?'_ Mental frustration began to boil up inside as she stirred upwards. _'When my power and speed increases, his does too. It's like he feeds off adrenaline like me when I'm all jacked up.'_

A wide smirk fell upon her as she snickered on the inside. Even with eyes cascaded in shadows, one could tell of the dubious actions she intends. _'Man, I knew this was gonna be a blast, huh? I didn't think I'd get this worked up over some silly robot. These Alvarez guys really know how to turn me on that it hurts.'_

Despite the somber tone that was rising, she was feeling less than ecstatic with how it was playing out. Her time with the Peace Jaegers throughout the many years have been pretty interesting to say the least. Her mind flashed back to the years she's spent out in the wilderness, where she was trying to harness her Take-Over. It was rough, and it made her primitive to a degree, but it wasn't long until Orion and the Peace Jaegers were traveling through the area on an assassination mission. Knowing her pain, Orion offered to help her find her peace, and that she has. And even though there were times she wanted to just die because of the animal she was, it didn't change the fact that she was still Matilda. And that was enough for her.

' _Heh, gotta love you guys. Peace Jaegers really know how to make their own acts stand out, huh…'_ She wily smirked through the pain. _'Well then…guess it's my turn again. Time to come out…so you better play nice.'_

The mental image of the Kajuua rung through her head like a bell. The beast's echoing rage reflected into her eyes as they opened. A loud heartbeat echoed into the darkness as her eyes turned bloodshot and feral.

' _Oh~ yeah, this is gonna hurt…and I love it.'_

Everything then around her turned dark, save for the eyes as they remained bright and spine-shrilling.

* * *

Vanessa swiped her arm, making another teal energy emerged. However, Tyson already appeared in front, forcing her to expel her attack at close range. The explosion made enough force to make her shoot backwards to get distance, but once her feet touched the ground, the teal smoke dissipated as Tyson punched clean through, sending a quaking shockwave that ripped through the room and forced Vanessa to put up her **Aura Guard**. It made a strong enough barrier to make the winds blow elsewhere around her and the others that were laying down behind her, sprawled out of fatigue.

Tyson let out another laughter as the winds from his punch made his hair churn. "Well now, what's wrong? You getting tired already?"

Vanessa grunted as she held her barrier up. She molded it into a small hemisphere in her hands and shot it like an Aura Sphere, which struck Tyson as he used his arms to block. The attack dissipated while he was only budged a few feet back.

"Heh! You humans are no fun when you tire out so easily! That's why we Machia are better!" He zipped in front, blindsiding Vanessa and grabbed her by the throat. The sudden clutch made her gag as Tyson lifted her into the air with one arm. "And plus it's too easy to kill you when you're all tired. Especially when I still got a little juice to burn."

"Vanessa…no…" Dereece gagged. He wanted to do something, but he didn't have a second wind.

Vanessa strained intensely as she didn't have many options. With her oxygen limited now and Tyson's grip fundamentally straining, he had to focus. She closed her eyes, mustering what power she could to encompass her body in a teal illuminating energy.

Tyson smirked. "Oh, more power? Well this is gonna be fun." He watched the light get brighter. "Come on! Make my circuits feel the burn!"

" **GRRAAAAAAHHH~!** "

A bloodcurdling animalistic bellow of erroneous tension shot gust waves that ripped through the holes and metal of the room. Everyone in the room went wide-eyed as Vanessa's tension finally receded. Her light receded as another extreme pressure took over.

Tyson turned in question, but before he could question -let alone hum – a punch to the face was what made static overcharge and sent him packing clean through another wall. This one made the wall break open a hole that pushed him into the next empty room.

Vanessa dropped to her knees, shaken up bad as her teal energy receded.

"Vanessa!" Krookodile exclaimed.

Vanessa shook her head as she was beginning to come around. "I'm fine." Her assurance was short-lived, however, when her aura was picking up a massive level of bloodlust. The shrilling energy made her turn ahead in shock as her hair shifted. Actual winds were being generated that picked up in the whole room.

Walking out of the hole in the wall, Tyson rubbed his head and was instantly feeling actual shockwaves pulsated. "Woah, what the-?!" He looked forward, his mechanical eyes showing shock.

All were at a loss for words. They stared in complication and fixation as a cyclone of energy was resonating from a shaking figure that was on all fours. Twitching and groaning, partial distorted grunts were coming from a blonde-haired girl as yellow static resonated from her body. " **gNNNgHhhhaaaHHH!** "

Meredy looked petrified. "Ma…tilda?"

Matilda wasn't responding. Her distorted grunts were making an intense change happening. Much to all of their horror, they all saw her long blonde hair beginning to lengthen and harden. They looked like bristles that could pierce flesh. Her whole body's muscle mass was slowly growing as the plating expanded, and yellow spotted fur was rapidly growing. Her hands had also grown, making hooked claws sink in and make craters in the flooring.

Krookodile and the Pokémon were also at a loss. He stepped back, for once showing some sense of moral fear as a shrill of terror filled the air. All stepped back while the beast continued to grow in size until it was double what Matilda's height was.

Tyson's eyes widened. "Wooah…"

…

Duncan's eyes widened slightly as he turned his head. Not far behind him, Ultear's eyes were wide as she stared in shock. "Is this magic pressure?" she questioned. She looked at the walls, seeing them vibrate slightly. "Vibrations…what's causing this?"

Duncan looked calmly down at his hands. Despite what he felt, his body was showing a shaking palm. Now that he knew how to feel magic, he knew the level this was. It was making his heartbeat fast…a rare feeling that made him challenged.

Down the hallways, a distorted animalistic snarl went through the air. It made Ultear and Duncan remain on guard.

Feeling her goosebumps shrivel, Liz looked down the hall, an intense look on her face shown for the first time. She knew what went wrong.

…

" **GGrrrrRRRRNgh…** " Her teeth evolved into massive sabers, with the other fangs becoming canines. When her eyes opened, it revealed the upper-half of her face was like the rest of her skin, yellow fur with spots. The eyes – however – were bloodthirsty feral. Even her growls got deeper.

From her backside, slowly eroding out, a tail suddenly morphed. It had two brown spikes on either end like an Ankylosaur.

Meredy looked at her before her eyes shot wide at something making her hair stand on end. For her and Dereece, neither moved an inch. They were seeing something that they wished they didn't see.

Feeling shifts in aura, Vanessa recognized the aura. Her eyes reflected the creature before her as no words were spoken. _'This aura…Matilda.'_

The monster spread its arms and exerted a blood-shrilling roar. The kind of roar that would wake you up at night with goosebumps. The kind that makes you instantly regret something you did to anger someone. The kind…that spells death. This was the roar of a Kajuua, and it wasn't a monster. It was a demon.

The winds from her one roar ripped through the atmosphere like knives. Vanessa and everyone were petrified as the beast's fur prickled all over the whole, humming loud enough to tell they were authentic. Hunched over, her body large and massive, the four-legged beast snarled at Tyson with fangs churning.

The Machia whistled. "Man…wow! The heck whatever this is…I LIKE IT!"

"Matilda." Vanessa gasped.

Matilda's claws gripped the ground. She growled like a wild beast as her head angled low enough to show a piercing stare that could paralyze a full-grown beast of any species.

Tyson cracked his knuckles. "Heh, well this better be good. Show me what you-!"

He never finished. One second was all it took. The Machia found Matilda right behind him, on all fours and her head down. In her mouth, his entire left arm was ripped clean off. No static was shown, only oil and static as Tyson's body waned some as he felt off balance.

"H-huh…?!" Suddenly the shock caught up to him. The gusts from her pounced finally kicked in. He was sent spiraling up into the air and smashed down on his face, his body showing static s he gagged in a bounce.

Vanessa and the others had nothing to say. They all paled as the bloody aura around Matilda's complete Take-Over was incredulous at best. In one motion, they saw her rip a chunk of the buff Machia off with no remorse. Some feared they were next.

Matilda bit clean through the metal in her teeth. It cracked like candy that fell out. _'I've only got 5 minutes in this form. Anymore and that guy will run on instinct.'_ She thought to herself as an overlapping ethereal image of the Kajuua was in her mind. _'Okay big guy, ready get a little wild?'_ The Kajuua snarled in response to her. _'Okay then…let's maul this cybernetic bastard to the junkyard he spawned from!'_

Tyson stirred back up, his body just now processing that his limb was torn off. "You little…"

In a split second, Matilda sped in and rammed his gut like a bull. The impact sent an intense shock through the circuits that made his systems twitch inside. The impact sent him through wall after wall. The metallic fortress was demolished with every massive hole that he crashed into until ten rooms down. Everyone was at a loss for words to speak, let alone say. They all watched the fight in utter silence.

In a scrap pile, Tyson zipped clean out, lunging with jet propulsion gliding him over the flooring. He pulled a fist back. Matilda growled before she closed the gap, meeting him in midair to have a massive claw jut and collide with the fist. The two high-speed attacks made shockwaves break to pieces. Matilda, however, had her other claw and swung it around. She raked it so fast that Tyson's sensors couldn't keep up.

' _Shit! I can't get away!'_

In one fell motion, the arm swung Tyson's side so hard that a pulse wave bifurcated the wall from the shock. Tyson went shooting out like a rocket, screaming in a vivid frenzy. But in the air, Tyson's overdriven body straightened up and he showed his fist to Matilda. The fists cocked and vibrated to expel one fast punch that sent a bullet-like shockwave that Matilda remained stiff for.

The explosion swallowed her entirely, meanwhile Tyson's legs made contact with water. The Machia smirked as his heels picked up on propulsions and he sped like a sonic bullet over the water. _'There's no way that she can get the drop on me, not while I have the speed and distance advantage. They can't speed on water like I can.'_

As he closed in, the smoke stack coming from the side of the ship eroded, before it erupted further. A yellow spritz went straight down the side of the ship, barreling straight across the water with waves ripping open.

"What?!" Tyson disappeared in time before the train of water waves got too close. He arched his body and shot in an arch to get a view. Much to his disbelief, at the very tip, he saw Matilda sprinting on all fours at startling rates. "You shitting me?! She's running on water?! "

Matilda ran like a striking jaguar at abnormal rates. She roared as she followed Tyson's path and vanished. In a blind eye's notice, her path was in an opposite angle over the water.

Tyson maneuvered and open fired his fist at her. Shockwave bullets shot from his wrists at Matilda. But due to speed and maneuverability, she ran pass them and missed the explosions of water behind. Her path changed as she darted right into Tyson.

With a clear shot, he roared as his fist shot one last sonic fist shockwave. The bullet was large and massive, yet Matilda ran through it like it wasn't even there. The air waves dissipated as her speed made her almost invisible.

Tyson knew he couldn't evade. He pulled his one fist back and punched with all his robotic might as her spiky haired head met his fist.

At that moment, a ripple of water eroded between to two spread out, leveling all water. In the next second, the water level depressed, making a crater of blue while a massive geyser flourished all around them. The roaring waves spilled water everywhere as what sounded like thunder echoed between their collision. The winds were strong enough to even reach the ship, where the others felt a heavy breeze despite the distance, causing them to cover up.

Tyson was in shock while in midair with Matilda. His fist didn't break her skull. Rather, it was absorbed by her spiky hair. In his sheer shock and worries rising, the Take-Over woman suddenly vanished from sight. She pounced off each rush of water until she was over Tyson. As he looked up, she let out a roar as she double hammer-fisted him right in his back, severely denting the Machia as he shot at sonic speeds into the crater of water. It was like the water dug a hole deeper because that blow buried him in a geyser of water.

Matilda fell with the rain, but the second she hit water, she darted across it again at ski-jet speeds. Her four limbs were treading water so fast that it was like land to her.

As she ran, her instincts made her hair prickle. She abruptly sped left to avoid a blast wave from below. She dodged left again, evading another one. She spritzed all over at Mach speed, vanishing as bursts of water expelled wherever she stepped. Finally, she missed one more and pounced into the air, looking down at the water in bloodlust.

The water suddenly had a small break in it before a ripple exploded, revealing a damaged Tyson with static flourishing as he cackled maniacal laughter. "I DARE NOT LOSE!" he roared in a distorted tone. "I AM FULL OF ENERGY!"

Matilda unleashed another shrilled roar as she raised her claws and swiped down. The intense blow created one massive shockwave that Tyson used before, only this one was far more powerful. He was instantly blown away, skipping across the water until he was a skidding wave almost half a mile away.

While falling, Matilda growled like a feral animal. Her vision abruptly pulsated red for a moment, making her concentration fuzzy. _'Shit, I'm running out of time.'_ She fell onto the side of the ship, her nails scraping up the haul to anchor her fall and jumped off. _'Okay, let's hurry and finish this!'_

His systems shortening, Tyson's core was feeling itself wear out. The internal engines were shot, and his overall energy stabilized was running low. He only had enough power for one last punch. Steeling himself, the Machia balled his fist as the chords inside were vibrating to a molten red. "Alright, time to end this!"

He spritzed across the basin at sonic speeds, his steaming fist pulled back. Meanwhile, Matilda shrilled a cry as she became a blur, manifesting more shockwaves as she ran over water on all fours.

The two were closing in the center of the basin. At nearly 120mph each, time slowed down between each one as they closed their aching bodies into one another. If one missed, they would die. Therefore, one thing was crucial. Speed.

As Matilda bared her saber fangs, her bloodshot eyes sought to rid of the annoyance. _'I won't lose. I'm a survivor. I am an animal!'_

Tyson let loose with all he had. His steaming fist overloaded with whatever magic his systems had pushed into the one spot. It closed in on Matilda, her eyes reflecting the punch.

At that moment, the reflection faded. It was instead replaced by the vision of all the Peace Jaegers gathered in one spot, each of them smiling at Matilda. She looked at them as they accepted her, despite the bloodlust, battle-loving person she was. All the blood in her systems began to literally boil as her pupils suddenly vanished.

' _And you…'_ She disappeared in a blur, startling Tyson. A bright background glimmered as metal tore with Matilda slashing the Machia clean in half down the middle. She appeared behind him in midair, her maw filled with scrap parts of his head bit through. _'CAN'T TAME A WILD ANIMAL~!'_

Time slowed down drastically as bits of metal scattered through air. Matilda followed through with herself still in the air. The shockwave from her attack was severely delayed…until split milliseconds turned the basin water into a sliced havoc. The rake she made completely cut the water down the middle all the way leading up the shoreline of a small isle. The isle exploded to sliced pieces as sand and water looked like a mushroom cloud in the distance.

As water sprayed everywhere, Matilda's eyes were shadowed by her spiky hair. She smiled as her form finally began to recede. All the pieces eroded back to normal as the fur and plating she had returned to the states they were in beforehand. She snickered weakly as her limp body fell into the water with the scrap heaps.

Sundering slowly, bubbles of oxygen flourished as Matilda lazily lowered herself within the swirling waters. The break that she created eroded back to place, with her swept off into cold blue.

After a long time, the others looking out began to realize what was happening.

"She's not coming back up!" Meredy panicked.

Vanessa didn't waste time. Using her Aura Magic, she traced Matilda's aura in the water and encompassed her hands in teal. She reached out, shooting a beam of teal into the water. It snaked into the water, submerging while the others watched with deep worry.

A few moments passed by, but nothing but waves and bubbles churned where the aura was. Slowly, however, the aura came up, holding Matilda in its grasp. They all looked relieved as Vanessa pulled her back up slowly, placing the mage back onto the boat in front of them. She deactivated the aura and they all surrounded the blonde.

"Matilda? Matilda?" Meredy shouted. "Are you okay?"

"She breathing?" Dereece worried.

Matilda's eyes winced. She stirred awake, blinking a few times before coughing up water. She gagged relentlessly, the seawater expelling from her mouth as the others backed away to give her space. They all remained silent as she was given a few minutes to catch her breath.

Breathing rapidly, she caught up to what was happening. "What happened…?!" She gasped, hurriedly checking her arms and limbs. She looked to see if anything didn't revert back, but as she looked at her back, she mentally sighed. She turned back and sighed in relief. "Looks like I got lucky this time."

Meredy felt a weight drop from her heart. "You had us worried there! You scared me!"

Matilda rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry about that." She winked. "Guess the big guns were a bit overboard huh?"

Dereece plopped onto his backside. "Phew! I don't know about you guys, but I am _done_." He hung back in relief, in which Heracross slumped back with him. To top it off, Yanma perched on his horn, also looking exhausted.

Vanessa looked over at Krookodile. "Krookodile, are you well?"

"Fine." He huffed, turning away in a small pout. "…not that I'm concerned about it."

Laying on the ground, Matilda winked. "Aw, look at that, the big bad crocodile annoyed? Hahaha-Owowow…!" Pain flared in her insides. "Damnit, it hurts to laugh!"

This time Krookodile mockingly laughed. "Ha! Let me tell you something, Matilda the Take-Over mage of the Kajuua! Nobody laughs at Krookodile without laughing back! It's revenge, and it hurts!"

A bead of sweat ran down Meredy's face. _'Uh, in what way, exactly?'_

"Everyone okay down here?!"

They all heard a similar voice. They all turned around towards the hallway to find Ultear, Duncan, and Liz all at the entrance. Upon seeing Ultear, Meredy rushed for her. "Ultear!"

Ultear remained steady as her foster daughter regrouped with her. "Meredy, what happened?"

* * *

They all regrouped the next moment, standing if possible to assess the situation. Matilda, however, was so tired she had to sit down against the wall.

"I see, that explains it then." Ultear looked all over the ship. She saw the many holes and slashes in the metal, breaking into a grieving snicker. "Good grief."

"We're so sorry, Ultear." Meredy apologized.

"Don't be. Besides, it was those Machia that attacked us…to think that just two of them put us on edge like that."

"So the other's hunches were right from the start." Duncan noted. "They sent others around so they can come at their reinforcements," he scoffed. "Well isn't that ironic."

Matilda scoffed back. "Speak for yourselves. That guy was a pain in the ass." She winced as she clutched her gut. "…for machines, they really packed a punch."

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Meredy asked.

Despite the pain, Matilda weakly smirked. "Hey, don't sweat it…I've been through worse. Hehehe…"

"So…we're good then? Nothing to worry about, right?" Dereece asked. For his sake, he prayed it was.

Ultear looked down, putting a finger to her chin. "I doubt it. If they sent Machias after us, that must mean they're in relation to the empire. If I recall, their tribe leader was a Spriggan beforehand."

"So what's that mean?"

Liz kept adjusting the dial and radio on her one good headphone. She was showing signs of annoyance, as well as anger. This didn't go unnoticed by Duncan. "Still no good on that signal, huh?" he questioned.

Liz shook her head, yanking it off. "No. The damn signal's still fuzzy."

"Hmph. Well isn't that just perfect."

"This is bad guys. We're being ambushed. The ship's in pieces again. We can't get a signal out. And who knows how many are still coming." Meredy looked towards Vanessa as she was being awfully quiet. "Vanessa, girl…you okay?"

Caught surprised, Vanessa's attention adverted back towards the girl. "Sorry."

"Don't be…but what's with that face. You looked like you were thinking. Is something the matter?"

Vanessa glanced off again, looking particularly interested. "…their aura. Even if they are machine, I can still feel it."

Duncan raised a brow. "What?"

Dereece shot up. "Woahwoahwoah! Hold up now!" he stammered. "You're saying you still feel? Then…" he started to pale. The implication was starting to get to his head.

"No. Not their auras. I don't sense them anymore…" her eyes narrowed. "But this other aura is what troubles me. I hate to jinx it…but I'm afraid this isn't over."

Dereece gasped.

Duncan glared off to the side. "Tch! So there's another one then, is that what you're saying?"

"More or less." She glanced at the ceiling. "But even with the broken ship, I can't tell where. My sensory of the aura is too thin is this metal."

"So there's three of them altogether that are on the ship." Ultear deduced.

"That doesn't make sense." Dereece interjected. "If there's supposed to be another one, then where could it…oh no…"

All eyes went wide as they looked towards the upper deck. They all stared at the destroyed hallway that led to a certain spot where a certain person was. Almost immediately, the air became ominous with a dark dread crawling up their spines.

"JOEY!"

* * *

Glynda swayed her slender hips with every suave step she took in her high heels. She took her swell time in walking towards the ship, while at the same time deducing what was going on. Suffice to say by the way her face remained unchanged that it didn't seem to bother her. _'All this magic in the air…I can only deduce that the enemy is putting up a resistance.'_ She thought unemotionally and huffed. _'My, to think the 3 Machia Knights would be in such a struggle. I hope they don't prove incompetent. Afterall…of all the three that I have observed, their real trump card lies in one.'_ She quickened her own pacing. _'Because as long as he functions, victory is assured.'_ She chuckled to herself in musing. _'To think Wahl Icht protegees put together matches his power…this should be interesting.'_

* * *

Joey was wide-eyed from earlier. He looked out at sea with his hand over his eyes to scope out ahead. "Huh…" he looked back. "Hey, Bro! I think all those waves stopped!"

Broly had a serious look. "Yeah, so I've noticed."

"What was all that…?" he peered out again with Chespin and Pidove. "That looked like invisible fighter jets or something."

Broly didn't have to guess. Even with a skilled eye, he could tell by the magic energy that it was Matilda. The way his own hair stood on the back of his neck several minutes ago was a clear indication. It almost never happens. But now that magic energy was dialed down, so now he couldn't tell what was going on. He only balled his fists in hopes and readiness for what might come.

"So, what do we do now?" Joey asked. "I'm getting worried about the others."

"…I'm afraid that worrying about them is the last thing we need right now, Joey."

"What, why?"

Broly glanced away, a serious vibe resonating. "…because we're not alone either."

Joey began to understand the message. Feeling something peculiar about the atmosphere, he curiously looked over his shoulder as Broly turned to face something heading their way. They stood quietly as they saw something of Wendy's size slowly make way towards them, smiling awkwardly as meters were apart from them. Joey's eyes slowly widened, while Broly remained serious.

Standing still, Pixie smirked at them in delight. "Well fellas, you look bored…allow me to fix that."

The dark clouds high above roared with the sound of thunder over the deck. The real battle had finally begun…and Joey was in dead center of it.

* * *

 **A little shout out again to my bud Warmachine375 for the Machia Knight names, at least the first names. But I opted to make this chapter in just a very slight indication of what it's like as a Machia. It's not much, then again there are a lot of perspectives I have to barrel through you know.**

 **Now you guys know practically all of the Peace Jaegers' pasts, along with what they're capable of. I gave a little more of a show for Matilda for her Take-Over than Liz. But the bottom line here is that Duncan and Dereece now have magic, that just leaves their party-loving Captain, Joey.**

 **I was very much delayed with this chapter. It took me nearly 10 days to write this, sheesh! And on top of that, I used up my whole morning to beat my Pokémon Y game (I used Beedrill to beat Diantha's Mega Gardevoir by the way). But that aside, work is taking up incredulous number of hours for me, so sorry for that.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter with The Freaks, and now it's Joey and Broly's turn to show what they can do! Reviews appreciated and thanks!**


	19. The Barrier-Make Legacy

" _Isn't she the most precious thing?"_

" _Yeah. Look, she's got your eyes."_

" _I know she's gonna be great out there."_

Words echoed through Glynda as she walked on with a blank face. Anyone could see she was boring holes without trying, but as she walked through the woods to get to the ship, she was lost in the many wonders of her thoughts. It wasn't too often…but often enough to entertain her. The praises she got when she was little were her only motivation.

" _Wow Glynda, you really outdone yourself!" A fellow classmate was amongst others who was impressed with Glynda. At the age of 9, in her 3_ _rd_ _Grade glass, she pridefully showed them a perfect mixture of two bubbling chemicals. They were intoxicating upon the smell, but Glynda knew better compared to others._

" _Woah, where did you learn to do that? Private tutors?" another asked._

" _Yup." She bluntly answered. "Step away before this spills on you." But unfortunately for her, the little girl with a knack wasn't getting the space she wanted. Despite the need for space, all her classmates were bugging her. They didn't realize how crucial it was for her to acquire space for her chemistry set. Some kids even got too close and went to touch valves themselves._

" _Hey, what's this do?" one student questioned._

" _Put that down!" Glynda snapped._

" _Whoops~!" The kid deliberately dropped the valve onto the flooring. The glass spilled onto the tiling, making the liquid seep onto the ground. Glynda's horrified look shown as the kid chuckled. "Whoops, sorry. Guess you didn't tell me that one was important."_

 _Glynda had a malice look shown as the kid continued chuckling. The typical jealous bully who was actually trying to make himself feel good by picking on her brain. In fact, all around her, kids were either too busy asking her questions to notice her anger rising. Until finally, enough was enough._

 _With eyes widening and growling, the bubbling concoction she made began to fizzle and bubble to violent extremes. "All of you. Get…AWAY!" In her irate, her eyes pulsed with anger as the mixture reacted, gushing out at everyone around her. All the kids, especially the poor bully, were unfortunately as the sprays touched their skin and eyes._

 _All that could be heard on that day, especially the poor bully…were screams of acidic anguish._

Glynda's strides served to lengthen. Her heels tapped against the ground as she pushed herself closer towards the ship. She was slow before because she wasn't in any hurry, but unfortunately, the thoughts rushing through her head were forcing her to pick up the pace.

"…tch." She tisked. She kept walking, unaware that behind her, the patches of grass she treaded on started to erode colorful mists. A passing squirrel that was running in by scuttled over, sniffing the air. As it looked at the parts where Glynda's heels created imprints, the squirrel sniffed it.

And just as she took her next step, the rustle of her heel matched the squirrel as it fell over, dead.

" _Glynda, can you help me with my homework?"_

 _Even in Alchemist Academies, Glynda was annoyed with people picking at her brain. She nonchalantly turned another page in her book, while beside her under lighting, there was a small plant with thick leaves she was growing. On the other side of her was a mixture of chemicals she personally experimented with in a clear valve._

" _Glynda, are you busy this afternoon?"_

" _Hey, you know if you can help me with the periodic table?"_

" _Glynda, is it true that you experiment on tulips?"_

 _In response to all these questions, Glynda flicked out a magical wand and swung it in a small rotation. The turn made a book out of nowhere act like a boomerang that knocked the students down as she continued working. "Beat it, pests." She warned. "I'm on the breakthrough here."_

 _Ignoring everything around her, she worked hard in the academy to study chemistry. Top of the class. Extra credit assignments giving her beyond any points of grades. Why, even teachers were startled by how much she knew that she even taught a few lessons. To fickle with cells and chemistry; to mix two things of no compatibility – that was her passion._

 _And yet through it all, she was still not getting what she wanted._

" _Hey, I said help me with this!" a guy demanded._

 _Glynda ignored her fellow students who were only praising her. They were ignorant ghosts who didn't understand her achievements were coming from her noteworthy tests. Now with a concoction in a valve in a needle, the strange bright yellow liquid squirted was inserted into the backside of a lone mouse inside a container of male and female mice._

 _She watched carefully as she was writing down notes. She looked nonchalant as she saw all the male rats in the cage sniff the air. As if on instincts, they all hissed in a threatening manner against the male mice that was giving off odd pheromones. As the males rushed, Glynda nonchalantly plucked the mouse out of the cage before he could be attacked. "Project 912. Experiment number 36…pheromone enhancer serum test negative." She looked at the mouse struggling in her grip by the tail. "Seems instead of attracting mates, you've only attracted male agitators…"_

 _The guy behind her shoved her abruptly. "Hey, I asked you a question!"_

 _In his harsh shove, Glynda lurched. The mouse she held onto went back into the cage, flung directly into the other mice that were attacking it before. The mouse was immediately swarmed as the pheromones made it get buried by males angrily gnawing, making its squeals go in deathly vain. Glynda only watched in horror as her experiment was being maimed, and all she did was stare._

 _The guy behind her held a book up beside her. "Hey, we need help here." He pointed a thumb to himself and the many guys behind him. "Us and the guys need some more help…" he smirked. "And you know, if you want us to_ _ **help**_ _you too-!"_

 _It happened so fast. The needle that Glynda used before stung right into the base of his neck. The guy was paralyzed as he felt the serum slowly inject into him. All his veins pulsed vigorously as he stepped back, twitching._

"… _maybe a mindless heathen like you would make for a wonderful subject." Glynda half-heartedly said before turning away, grabbing her books and tools in a case to go to another class._

 _The guy winced in anguish. "Gnnngh! That bitch! Why she…" he trailed off as he was noticing a strange smell. Sniffing the air, he smelled his skin, noticing how sharp it was. "Nnngh, is that me? Did I always reek this bad?" he turned towards the other guys. "Hey, what are you-!"_

 _A pair of hands gripped his neck in a choking position. The guy gagged as he was pushed to the floor as the other guys were piling onto him. He couldn't even make out words as his bloodshot eyes were seeing the other men had one thing in their eyes – uncontrollable anger._

" _G-guy…s…what are…sto…op…!" he gagged, but the guys kept assaulting him._

 _They all heard vivid wails and chocking down the halls, alerting everyone while Glynda went her own way, while everybody else moved away to clear way for her path._

In the present, the leaves around her had spontaneously turned a red color. Caterpillars and Caterpie eating them noticed the sweetness to them and ate vigorously. And yet in her steps, the ground was rainbow, but lying on them were wild animals that weren't Pokémon, those who had diseases and their bodily chemicals shut down.

"Incomprehensible animals…" she muttered.

* * *

In the damaged ship, the others in the wrecked hallway were worried beyond all reason…well, _almost_ all. Duncan showed little care of the scenario as he was using a Hyper Potion on his Medicham in the background while Dereece was going in a panic.

"Oh man, this is bad! This is _really_ , _really_ bad!" the Trainer and new mage worried grimly before facing the others. "We gotta do something! The Captain's in trouble y'all!"

Duncan finished healing his Medicham and returned her to her Great Ball. "We know." He faced him with his trademark scowling face. "You've been wailing about that so-called Captain for five minutes now."

"Dereece, take it easy." Meredy insisted.

"Yeah, chill out." Matilda said. "You're gonna get a heart attack like that you know."

Ultear looked at Vanessa. "Vanessa, where is that aura coming from?"

Vanessa closed her eyes as she tried zeroing in on it. With her sensory to the signature, it was feint, but there. "…it's not direct, but it's there." She answered. "I can only get a small swell near the deck."

"That's where Joey and Broly are." Meredy realized.

Liz popped gum in her mouth again, chewing her worries off.

"And are you sure about this?"

Vanessa kept her eyes shut as she nodded. "Yes…" her brow furrowed. "But…I'm seeing rising anxiety…and curiosity. And…mentally challenged at severity…"

"That sounds like Joey in a nutshell." He turned towards the wrecked hallway with worry. "Oh man, I should've known trouble would be around _him_ when I'm not around. Who knows what's happening to him?!" Out of the blue, he started whining loudly, like it was too late to help his spoiled best friend.

"Quite your bellyaching, it's annoying." Duncan retorted.

"He's right. I'm sure he'll be fine." Matilda said. "Besides, nothing can get passed Broly. And knowing that eccentric moneymaker, I'm sure trouble will stir itself in a frenzy."

"I hope you're right." Dereece turned towards the hall again and began to move planks. "Help me clear a path guys!"

"I'm on it!" Meredy followed, along with Ultear and Liz. Duncan showed no care as he watched from the sidelines.

All while Vanessa was continuing to sense the many auras around here. The metal in the ship only made her senses dull around the ship rather than farther out, but despite how she felt, even she was feeling her own worries rise for the new Trainer. _'Joey.'_

* * *

No one saw it coming. In speeds so fast that it could put a Ninjask to shame, vermilion and draconic fire swirled in a maelstrom that swallowed up the entire chamber. Flames eroded from the ground, igniting the passionate but serious gaze of Nic as he was in his Flame Form, with Charizard exerting heated snort from his nostrils. The mixture of two flames was so hot that anything touching it would melt. Naga himself grunted at this heated display.

Nic calmly swiped his arm. " **Flamethrower!** "

Charizard's blue eyes shimmered light from the flames before his maw opened. In one lurch, his mouth expelled a torrential roaring flame blast that split fire in their way heading towards Naga. The Spriggan, however, looked confident as his tattered cape flexed.

" **Vermosa!** "

The cape glowed brightly, creating a massive dark purple shockwave that raced over the earth in all directions, also eradicating fire. The two attacks met in the center, creating a powerful blast wave of flames that were supposed to go around.

Naga smirked at the defense, deliberately trying to provoke Nic. But Nic and Charizard remained calm as their piercing gazes showed no holding back. Without a second thought, Charizard exerted another wave of flames, pulsating pressure to make it rip through the shockwave like hot water through ice. Naga looked shocked at how easily his shockwave was melted through and used his cape at the last second to reduce the blowout. The flames beamed into him, erupting him in a voluminous array of flames.

In a streaming smoke wreck, Naga was seen sliding backwards across the ground, grunting at the char on his cape. _'What incredible power.'_ He was s warped in his awe that he didn't realize the ground beneath him was heating up. He looked down, only to be swallowed in a tornado of **Fire Spin**.

The Spriggan's screams of anguish echoed loudly as Nic remained on guard. He glared ahead with the intention to incinerate his foe. Underestimating him is the last thing he needed.

In the cyclone of hot flames, a vermilion and violet shine erupted. The swirling encasement of fire abruptly expanded a bubble until the flames were blown away by another shockwave of darkness by Naga as he used his magic to expel the trap with raw force. "Is that really the best you can do?" he challenged.

Without a change in his disposition, Nic shouted. "Use **Fly!** "

Catching a whiff of he insinuation, Naga looked up, only to realize the Fire Spin was a distraction for Charizard to get some air. Now high above, the Flame Pokémon ricocheted his two feet off the ceiling and dove into Naga. The Spriggan didn't have a second as Charizard's tail spiraled down and collided with the back of his neck. A shockwave of heated air cascaded everything away as Naga's eyes went dull for a second before he shot to the earth, making the ground split apart in a geyser of dust.

Charizard landed with a thundering tremble in front of Nic. "Stay sharp, Charizard." He said.

"I know." He said. "He's not down yet."

In another part of the flames, Erza was flipping while in her Lightning Empress Armor. In midair, she twirled the spear and fired lightning bolts down at Sentinal, who raised his own javelin and spun it rapidly. The lightning didn't make it pass the spinning weapon, making Sentinal chuckle.

As Erza descended, her glare hardened. "Houndoom!"

"Roger!" Racing along the ground, Houndoom sped underneath Erza. She landed on his back as he ran and perched herself to fire lightning blasts as he kept his trek.

"Hmph!" Sentinal raised his staff, grunting as he summoned purplish dark lightning from right up from underground. The ground erupted in darkness and blocked the lightning bolts. "C'mon, let's have some sport now." He thrust his hand forward. " **Force Wave!** "

At his command, the dark matter he created abruptly rushed like a tidal wave across the ground towards Erza and Houndoom.

"Ready? Let's go!" Erza mushed Houndoom into running into the oncoming darkness. The wave continued its course but the Requip Mage didn't falter. She gave one more shout as they raced ahead. "Ready?! **Inferno** , now!"

"Gotcha!" Houndoom had a small hitch as he took a leap into the air. He breathed out a massive blast of blue broiling fire that surged at the tidal wave of darkness. The two conflicting forces met centerfield, making purple static and blue flames of intense energy surges spiral into imploding on one another.

As blue flames took up everything, a silhouette inside glowed before a spiraling scream of Erza slashing a straight path collided with Sentinal's javelin's staff. In the split second, time slowed down as the blue embers gave radiance to Erza's Armadura Pidgeot Armor as her two blades were against his staff.

"Not bad." Sentinal praised.

Erza didn't have the luxury of returning the sentiment. She broke away, and the two began to parry at lightning fast procession. Erza's accuracy, grace, and speed were all of the highest as sparks and gusts from each blow blasted within 10 intervals per second. Hundreds of sparks ignited between them.

If anyone got between or anywhere near them, the winds generated would've cut them.

Finally, Sentinal broke through the parry and swung his staff down, to which Erza crossed her blades to defend. The impact made another gust that held her in place while Sentinal was holding his own. "I must say, you are quite impressive with a sword and spear." He praised. "Too bad for you. Hraaah!" He made magic embed into the spikes of his spear that Erza's blades touch. The brighter they glowed, the less time Erza had.

The next second, an eruption of bright purple broke the ground and splattered rock everywhere. Within the pillar of erupting darkness, Sentinal gave a hardy laugh.

"I would've expected more from you…" But he looked up. "Hm?"

Above, able to dodge, Erza was now adorned in her Wingblade Armor. Her elegance was surpassed by none as her ferocious swipe of her arms sent all the wing-like blades in a shrieking arch that Sentinal had to continually repel away. However, as he kept slashing away, his armor was receiving gashes in them. And they were getting deeper with each sword he parries.

' _Her attacks are landing blows even when not on direct contact?'_ he wondered. In light of this, he saw Houndoom pounce right ahead, making him gasp.

" **Fire Fang!** "

The Dark Pokémon's fangs and maws erupted fang-shaped flames. He sprung in and pounced, biting into the abdomen to make a burst of flames that shot Sentinal back and into dust.

Erza landed beside her Houndoom as they glared ahead at the dust cloud.

With the dust, a spear twirled, dissipating the dust to show Sentinal on two horse knees, but gradually got back up. "Heh, not bad." He grunted. "As expected from Mrs. Pularis herself. But I am no fool…" he showed his spear, the spikes glowing. "Give me all you got!"

In another part, red eyes shimmered.

" **Vermosa!** "

A dark shockwave expelled across the landscape towards Nic and Charizard again. This time, together, Nic and Charizard steeled to defend. " **Dragon Claw!** " Nic shouted. Charizard's claws glowed, a light blue claw-shaped energy expelled, making shockwaves across the ground before he jabbed forward, bisecting the shockwave clean around them. Within its wake, Charizard grunted as he was pushed back an inch, but he followed through and remained calm as it all dissipated.

Both sides cleared, revealing charred ground as Naga's body was up and shadowed by his energy. He chuckled low insidiously.

"Nic…"

"Yeah, I know, too…" his eyes narrowed. "Looks like he's getting serious. You ready?"

Charizard spread his wings, kicking up more gusts. "Always!"

Naga's eyes shined an ominous red as his cackling roared.

* * *

In his throne room, Neinhart disregarded the mess outside and the intense vibrations running through the palace from the fighting. He looked at the screen in front of him showing Naga and against Nic and Charizard. A maniacal smirk crossed his face.

"Naga…such a wonderful specimen." He started to think back to when they were having trials and simulations for Spriggan spot openings. Much to Neinhart's amusement, he saw that with the many initiations, there were various battlefields where tournaments were put up. "All those Spriggans, each of them went through those trials, and out of all the hundreds of thousands in each one…only one from each made it out." He thought to the current Spriggan members. "Sindge, Glynda, all those other ridiculous misfits who lost their luster and what not, they passed with flying colors. And Naga…" His mind thought back to Naga's stadium, where he alone was to face the many mages and the soldiers of Alvarez wanting to become Spriggan themselves. However, in the end, he stomped on a helmet of a pile of soldiers, with others sprawled as they were either defeated or on hands and knees, grimacing in despair. "That fake of a mage, Larcade, his magic gave quite the pleasure to everyone. But it wasn't fun to watch…but Naga. Why he certainly is a riot."

He watched on the screen to see Nic and Charizard setting ablaze everything, and the fire swarmed Naga, but the mage remained still as his cape expanded to allow him expulsions of shockwaves that gave him room once more, glaring at Nic and Charizard.

Neinhart rested his cheek on his knuckles as he smiled dreamily. "I've been wondering, who would be the most entertaining?" He watched Nic ride Charizard's back skywards as they avoided a vermilion ray that ripped the ground open towards the wall. "An alien freak who was given powers to take away _my_ destiny, or someone who was blessed by Agaphvelia?" He snickered low again. "Then again…" Without anymore words, he swiped his arm, summoning another panel to reveal Hoshina.

"Yes, Emperor?" she graciously bowed.

"Dear Hoshina, what can you see? What future beholds?"

"Lord." Hoshina took a breath to take the pipe out of her mouth and blow out smoke. "…the future that I saw…was the timely cometh of one man with black hair, and blue eyes."

Neinhart remained silent for a moment before he snickered, which erupted into voluminous laughter. He roared up to the heavens of his ceiling with joy. "Did you hear that, Lady Irene?! Today, oh yes today, you shall be avenged! Your dream will be realized! Your last wish, it will be for me of which you passed on this will to! I will make this world great for you and only you!" The laughter of this madman continued as everything else around him was irrelevant. All that mattered was avenging the strongest woman in the world. Moreover, to fulfill his boredom. To relish in what must be victory.

Hoshina's panel faded, leaving Hoshina to be in her room alone once more. The woman sat in her cushioned seat as she resumed smoking. In the smoke that went up, she remained quiet as her glossed lips forms a smile.

As she picked up her lighter, her crystal ball was showing a setting that wasn't Nic's battle, but something else entirely, many of miles away, where a certain fanboy in a grass skirt was.

* * *

Thunder roared above the ship. Dark clouds surged as the rumbling left an ominous feel as small winds along the ship picked up. The deck wasn't where anyone would be right now, but unfortunately for Joey and Broly, they were too late as Pixie smiled at them.

Chespin and Pidove remained quiet as they blinked. They also didn't like the feel of this.

"What's with the faces? I was hoping you'd be enlightened to see another face up here." Pixie modestly implied. "I mean, it's just you two, right?"

Broly's eyes glared daggers at him, but smirked. "Yeah, but three's a crowd."

Joey, on the other hand, stared at Pixie. His petite frame was something else, but his overall appeal and magical power was something he couldn't quite get. Finally blinking once, then twice, he tilted his head in confusion. "Uh…sorry, who are you again?"

Pixie and Broly floored at Joey's response.

"Damnit, Joey, what kind of response is that in _that_ tone?!" Broly snapped. "Are you taking this seriously?!"

Joey put his hands up defensively. "Woah, hey man! Take it easy!"

Recovering, Pixie chuckled. "Well now, you certainly don't get out much, do you? Guess I can't blame you though…humans have always been so dull. That's why they build machines in the first place. Now then…" Once back up, the Machia gave them a mock curtsey. "Allow me to introduce myself to you. I am Pixy Vilgance, member of the 3 Machia Knights Corps."

"3 Machia Knights you say…" Broly glanced over his shoulder down at the holes barely noticeable from his position. _'I see. So that's what happened.'_

"Eh, I don't mean to intrude here…but don't knights have to…you know, have armor?" Joey implied.

"It's just an expression. To put it simply, we were once Master Wahl Icht's most devoted servants. We've dedicated our memories and our systems only to him, for it was he who reprogrammed us with the power we've acquired now."

"Wahl Icht huh?" Broly said. "I think that name rings a bell. The other guilds filled me in on the details on the way here. He was a Spriggan until he was murdered in the last war. So then I take it this is your way of avenging him, sounds about right?"

Joey's eyes widened. "That means they _are_ the bad guys."

"Now that's a stretch, don't you think?" Pixie defended, continuing to show modesty. "After all, are we really to blame? Your allies are who ended our precious leader. We're just following programs and fulfilling his desires to show off the Machia. How do you know _we're_ the bad guys?"

Broly held his stance. "Be careful, Joey."

Joey's brow furrowed. "Uh…right." He swallowed a nervous lump. He knew things might get ugly.

"Now then, if we're done with pleasantries, Lady Glynda made it clear she wanted you all dead before she arrives. And too bad for Viridian and Tyson. Oh well, no big deal." In his pockets, he pulled out two red marbles the size of Poke Balls.

Broly's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but Joey and his Chespin and Pidove looked interested. "Poke Balls?" Chespin questioned.

Pidove tilted his head.

Pixie smirked. "Not exactly…" From his center core, the red glow given off fumed. Red circuit-like networks channeled from his core into his arms, where there, the networks connected and made the red orbs glisten like jewels.

Broly spread his legs. He was on guard, but Joey was still unaware of what might happen.

"Your friends certainly put a dent in our numbers." Pixie sneered as the red glow made his synthesized hair shift. "Too bad…but I'm still here. So then…" He clutched both orbs. "Guys…welcome back."

In his musings, energy began to synthesize on his sides. Ethernano condensed into both cores and made a small frequency. The longer they hummed, more digitized energy formed from the ground up, until finally, on either side, two figures erupted from a red glow. Air shifted as Viridian and Tyson were both standing beside Pixie without much harm.

Chespin gasped. "What?! Where'd they come from?!"

"Is this more magic or a trick?" Joey questioned worriedly.

Broly's eyes narrowed. "So that's your power huh?"

Viridian gave a humble nod. "Pixie, I must thank you for giving me another chance. I am in your debt, my ally."

Pixie waved him off. "It's fine. After all, people always seem to forget." His malicious, synthesized smirk turned evil. "As long as I have all our cores, we can just come back stronger than ever."

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad to be recharged!" Tyson flexed happily. "I've got a lot of energy in this body now than before! I can hardly sit still!"

Broly shot intense glares at the two cores Pixie stashed into his pockets. _'I think I get it now. So those guys are the workers and that other one is the support. As long as he has those cores, it doesn't matter how many times we beat 'em…they'll just keep coming back.'_ His fists balled as he braced himself.

Joey intervened. "Hey, hold up now! Time out!" he put his hands in making the "T" symbol. "Now, do we _really_ have to fight it out? I mean, there can be other ways than just…wrestling, you know?" He swayed his hips as he shook his grass skirt. "I'm sure we can try dance fights, right? That sounds more-!"

In one fell swipe. Viridian closed the gap with one swing of his wrist saber. He was on a knee while Joey was still standing. He blinked once, then twice, and then he looked down, seeing with horror that his beloved grass skirt was reduced to twigs that fell at his feet.

"Oh no! MASTER!" Pidove shrieked. Chespin gasped, and Broly leered with surprise.

"You should take your situation more seriously, boy." Viridian threatened. "Machia don't comprehend compliance."

Joey's eyes shuddered as he sunk to his knees. He was in his regular jeans now, with no flare to be appreciated. He loosely gripped the grass with new trauma. "No…no!" he despaired. "No! My grass skirt! Anything but my skirt! _Anything_! Why? Why?!" He gripped tighter. "Now…I'm _less_ pretty! MY GRASS SKIRT! NOOOOOOO~!"

"Master!" Pidove fluttered over with Chespin as they went to comfort Joey as comical tears went down the fashion victim's face. Chespin patted his back while Pidove perched on his shoulder.

Tyson found his sentiments amusing. "That human is rather funny. Mulling over cheap cultural clothing."

"Yes, but his theatrics are rather bothersome." Pixie said. "Let's take him out. The sooner the better."

"Agreed." Viridian rushed with his allies, vanishing from their spots.

Joey whipped his head to the skies. "YOU SHALL BE AVE~NGED!" he roared to the heavens. Too bad he was looking in the right direction though, because the Machia Knights closed in on all sides.

"Joey, watch out!" Chespin warned.

Snapping out of his despair, Joey realized the position, but was too late. They all pounced on him with fists and sabers ready. All he could do was stay paralyzed in shock as the end would be swift.

In the air above, Pixie drove his rotating, vibrating fist down. "You're mine-!"

It happened so fast that a split second couldn't compare. One foot knocked Pixie away, while an elbow hit Viridian's chest. When Tyson's high-powered punch attacked, a turquoise barrier rushed into him, sending him smashing into a barrel on the other side of the deck.

As time slowed down in that instant, Joey was sitting back as he gaped in shock. Without trying, Broly stood before Joey in the stance that he used to push the barrier into Tyson. It faded, and Broly adjusted calmly and stood with passion.

"Bro."

"Joey." Broly's calm voice held a passion that made him stand out in Joey's eyes. "Watch carefully, okay? You're about to see how I use my Barrier-Make Magic in action."

Joey's eyes meekly shuddered in awe. "…Bro…"

Broly smiled back at Joey, but shifted his attention to the front, where all three Machia were back up.

"Ugggh…man, I think my circuits got winded there." Tyson complained. "System diagnostics set. All systems still functional." He faced Broly. "Alright, who the hell is this guy?"

"Name's Broly of the Peace Jaegers." He introduced. "Pleasure's all mine."

Viridian adjusted footing. "I see. Computerized data. System search…" In his eyes, a small icon with a screen showed, revealing a picture of Broly with a small chart beside it. "I understand. Broly, age 34. Former lieutenant of the Mithgand Revolution Army under the late Percival. Went under MIA and presumed dead. So, we're dealing with a veteran fighter. In that case, all systems functioning at 110%."

Pixie stammered back up. "Systems still good…but personality settings, assume aggression." His smirk tuned wider as he glared wickedly. "Settings confirmed. Let's kick this guy's ass!"

"Right!"

"Joey, remember everything I've taught you. Okay?" Broly told Joey behind him. "This is a life and death battle. Be ready for anything."

Joey swallowed a lump. He silently nodded and looked forward.

"Target acquired…" Viridian nudged both his wrists, making two sabers of magic energy flourish. He crossed them before propelling himself forward. Tyson jetted as well and shot like a comet while Pixie stayed off to the side.

Broly smirked as his determination arose. "Alright then…HERE WE GO!" With a running start, wooden boarding compressed beneath his foot as he made a beeline for the two Machia. Joey watched from behind in shock at the speed he used to kick start off. The Barrier-Make Mage roared as his right fists reeled back and embedded in a turquoise barrier sphere. With a shrilled cry, he rammed the fist forward, meeting Tyson and Viridian's fists and sabers in the center. Instant shockwave shredded up boarding beneath as gusts filled the air between their two-on-one stalemate.

Tyson and Viridian tried pushing with force, but Broly's barrier around his fist made it hard, not to mention his overall muscles were impressive. Broly followed through with his punch, repulsing both of them at once.

' _He overpowered us?!'_ Tyson thought.

Viridian used his hand to grip the wood beneath and grind to a halt before his sabers turned to a subzero setting. He lunged again at Broly, slashing in a manner like X-Scissor, but shocking enough, Broly flipped overhead and was upside down over his head.

" **Barrier-Make: Board!** "

Broly slammed his hand down, making a rectangular barrier that crushed Viridian beneath and embedded him in the flooring. Broly landed on a knee on said flat barrier as Tyson appeared in front and reeled a fist forward. Broly made quick work in catching the fist and using the momentum to turn and flip Tyson overhead, piledriving him face-first into the ground. Tyson grunted at the external head injuries his systems sustained, and Broly didn't have much time to process himself as a rush of water below suddenly shot him and the barrier he rode on skywards. The mage maintained balance as he backflipped at the peak of it, dispelling the barrier and fell.

As he fell, Tyson and Viridian both used propulsion to reach the stop where they calculated. As he fell, Broly balled both fists as his entire upper body began shimmering turquoise in the form of a huge brace.

" **Barrier-Make…** " Broly's fist came down as they jutted at him again. His barrier-coated fist and arm one the huge one-piece brace knocked the two away again. " **Brace Fighter!** "

Viridian grunted and adjusted. _'He's covering his whole upper body. In that case…'_ He jabbed ahead. _'Go for the abdomen!'_

But Broly's combat wasn't slowed much. Knuckles in barriers, he parried sabers with fists, safe from being sliced into. At high-speed rapid succession, Viridian blitzed as fast s Erza would, but Broly kept up. Soon, Tyson stepped in, and Broly began doubling his pace to match their punches and saber slashes.

Joey's hair shifted as the two-on-one parry was making intense gusts spread over the deck. He was at a loss for words with Broly's defense and offense. _'Woah~. He's actually taking both of them on at the same time…and he's actually keeping up, too! Man, Bro's really amazing in action…'_ Realizing that his actions were inspiring, Joey's shook his head. _'…Bro's right. This is a fight! I gotta get in there! Just remember what he taught you. Arms up…elbows in…focus on your opponent…and steel yourself!'_ Taking the formal combative stance Broly showed him, Joey glared forward. "Guys, now it's our turn!" he reached out. "Pidove, attack that short one! Use **Gust!** "

"I shall obey master!" Pidove fluttered above as his wings glowed blue. He chirped as he flapped repeatedly, sending a strong gust storm that stopped Pixie in his place.

"Gngh! What the?!"

"Here I go!" Joey made a beeline with Gust used as a tailwind. He screamed loudly as he pulled his fist back and punched forward. Unfortunately though, Pixie's reaction monitors were a bit faster. He used the tailwind to his advantage and pulled back as Joey followed through with the punch, leaving him to fall forward. "Uh oh!"

Pixie drove his knee into Joey's chest, sending Joey flying onto his back with a yelp. "Hehehehe. Man, are you a lightweight."

Broly focused on his parries, but even he knew what happened. "Focus, Joey! You need to watch your opponent's movements as well as your own!" he roared through the flurries.

Joey clutched his abdomen as he felt his insides ache. "Ohhh. Yeah…sorry Bro." he gagged. "Uggh. Anybody got a painkiller on them?"

"You'll need more than a painkiller when I'm done with you." Pixie retorted. He looked over to see Joey's Chespin swinging his **Vine Whip** around, to which he backflipped and landed with ease. "Well now, guess we're doing this then. Okay then." He held up a Poke Ball. "Good thing Lady Glynda was kind enough to give me this. Go!"

The Poke Ball shot up. Summoned forth was a Magnemite. But upon summoned, something was off about it. Normally, Magnemite needed gray coatings, but its magnets were black entirely, and the filament was more of a gray-gold.

Joey's eyes widened. "Woah! A shiny Magnemite?!" he gasped. "Get out! Where'd you get that?!"

Pixie smirked. "You sure get distracted easily. This'll be easy. Magnemite, **Supersonic!** " His Magnemite followed the command and soundwaves of rippling intensity went at Chespin and Pidove.

' _Wait, focus Joey! There's no time! Remember what Bro told you!'_ Joey thought back to what Broly told him earlier.

" _Remember what I said last night about mercy. When you get into a serious fight, you need to save your breath…because if you really want to praise your opponent, do it when they care. Otherwise, your guard will be as dead as you."_

' _I can do this! If I wanna be at Nic-senpai and the other's levels, I gotta buck up. Time to get serious!'_ "Pidove! Chespin! Use **Growl!** " Both Pokémon did as told, and they each produce louds screeches that sent distorted waves at the incoming status move. Both attacks met the center, making the air distort between until it completely faded.

" **Thunder Shock!** " Pixie followed up, making Magnemite coat in electricity before shooting a zigzag electric blast at Pidove.

"Pidove, dodge!"

"I must obey master!" Pidove glided pass the Electric-type move, cooing loudly as he soared along.

"Heh!" Pixie used the distraction to close in on Joey. His wrist vibrated as his fingers morphed into metallic rods that amplified the sound. "Bet this'll sting!"

Joey gasped as Pixie came down onto him, swinging the vibrating rods.

At the same time, barrier knuckles collided with sabers. Broly pivoted and avoided a direct stab. Viridian pivoted and did a full spin, but Broly flipped again into the air to avoid. While in midair, Tyson was above, ready to hammer fist him. At the same time, Viridian summoned a spout of water to jet after him.

In the dead middle, Broly knew what to do.

" **Barrier-Make: Ball!** "

Creating a barrier in a ball surrounding him, Tyson and Viridian made impact with it at the exact same time. As expected, their attacks made no effect. But that wasn't the problem. Broly turned and rolled the sphere in midair. The two followed, sending them to opposite sides. Time slowed down as Broly morphed the ball shape into a rectangular prism with pyramid piercing tips.

With one flick from each finger, he forced the sides to lengthen and pierced both of their abdomens. The Machia both suffered external damage as static flared. They fell to the ship, where Joey dissipated the barrier around him and landed on a knee.

Stirring back up, Viridian grunted. "External property damage…25%. Auto system conversion in progress."

Broly faced Viridian, but behind him, Tyson staggered up as his fist began to vibrate again. Just like with Matilda, the wrist showed the rod it connected to and pumped so fast steam and extreme heat was being made. "Okay, that does it!" he roared. "Ignore system protocol! Circuit breaker 103! Convert all power to quadrant 2!" The systems did as instructed and pulled the fist back. "I'm gonna smash those barriers to pieces!"

Broly looked back with a frown as Tyson suddenly vanished. Wood broke beneath as his immense speed drove him to reappear the next second mere feet with a humming fist with sockets inside showing steam and fire ready to burst.

With a violent shout, the fist drove itself downwards onto Broly. The deck erupted in an explosion of shockwaves and wood that shot up like an atomic explosion. The shockwave was so intense it made an explosion that roared with violence.

Inside the smoke cloud, Tyson had his fist forward as he smirked. He figured he got him…

"Don't be too sure."

Tyson heard through the smoke cloud. He saw that he didn't hit Broly at all. In fact, Broly was still facing away as instead a plain barrier separated him and Tyson. The wall itself wasn't even cracked. "What the…?!" When Tyson looked down at his arm, his eyes went wide as that recoil backfired. His entire arm was ripped off instead. "Gaaah! ERROR! ERROR!"

Broly had his turn to shout as he swung around. He swung his back arm forward as the Machia was malfunctioning from his energy backfire.

" **Barrier-Make: Dragon Ram!** "

The wall morphed into a Chinese dragon-shaped ram made up of the barrier. The Machia was too close to dodge, the ram extended towards the end of the deck in a scaly, sharp line. The edge of the deck itself was destroyed as the ram destroyed the metal.

Broly had a serious look as his magic faded. In front of him, all that was left of Tyson was his bottom-half, which had fire and static. And even that fumbled to the ground, twitching violently until parts exploded, making fire and smoke flare. All Broly did was face Viridian next, like his last attack didn't matter. "Okay…that just leaves you." He said.

Viridian, however, looked calm despite what happened to his colleague. "You've made Tyson's most powerful punch turn against him. There wasn't a magic or defense alive that didn't stand after that blow."

Broly smirked. "First time for everything."

Joey dodged another jab from Pixie. He shifted left and right while keeping arms up. When he went for his face, he abruptly used his dance moved and bent all the way backwards to make an arch. He worked into a flip and looked over, seeing what Broly had done.

"Huh?" he saw the half-body and realized it. "Alright, Bro!"

"What?!" Hearing from afar, Pixie looked back to see Broly facing just Viridian, with Tyson's corpse laying on the ground. _'System confusion. Tyson defeat data reached new record. I didn't think he'd be taken out this early. Oh well, guess the big guy rushed a bit. But it doesn't matter.'_ He pulled out the two cores from his pockets. _'Because I can bring him back anyway.'_

Chespin evaded another **Thunder Shock** Magnemite unleashed and saw the cores. "Oh no! Joey, he's gonna bring that guy back!"

"As if we're gonna allow that! No one messes with Bro's battle!" he pointed forward. "Pidove, **Gust!** "

Pidove fluttered above and flapped his wings again, summoning a gust that struck Magnemite and Pixie, but neither seemed too fazed by the severity of the winds. "Heh, that petty little wind trick again? Big deal! System anchorage increase by 35%."

Joey took in a quick breath as he thought to himself. "Okay Joey, remember last time…" He started for him and Magnemite gain, crying out through the winds.

"Didn't you learn from last time? Magnemite, stop that idiot at once!" Upon command, the shiny Magnemite hummed as electricity started to charge up.

Joey, however, brought his arm back. "Okay…time to showoff those sophomore bowling skills! Chespin, **Rollout** time!" He suddenly whipped his arm forward as he ran, stopping as Chespin went shooting like a midair bowling ball, with Gust kicking up speed.

"WHAT?!" Pixie gasped.

Magnemite didn't react in time as the super-fast Rollout smashed with its face, spiraling with the wind and Chespin and made both collide with Pixie as he was converging energy into the core. They whammed him hard, knocking the core into the air.

"Yes! Pidove! Fetch!"

"I shall obey!" Pidove flapped around to get to the two cores and seized them. He fluttered pass Pixie as the Machia looked shocked.

"NO! Magnemite, shoot that thing down! **Thunder Shock!** " Magnemite readied again for another round of crackling electricity.

"Chespin, **Rollout!** "

"Yeeeaaah!" Chespin wailed as he rolled again, with greater acceleration than before and jumped. He smashed his way into Magnemite, knocking the magnet up for a loop a second time.

Joey reached up as Pidove dropped the two cores in hand. "Thank you~." He chimed with a toothy smirk.

Pixie balled his fists in anger. "Gnnngh…heh, big deal. So you've got them away. You still can't break 'em. They're indestructi-!"

Joey eyerolled as he nonchalantly tossed them over his shoulder, sending both of them into the water below.

"…ble…" He trailed off as he saw Joey stick his tongue out to insult him. Getting frustrated, his systems started to adjust to angrier settings. "Gnnnngh…personality error! Interference must be destroyed!" Angered, both his arms began changing again. When they finished, they morphed into open cannons with turbines.

Immediately Joey paled. "…uh oh."

Pixie smirked maliciously. "So you're light on your feet are ya? Let's see how you like sonic cannons." He fired from one arm, sending a distorted shockwave at Joey. The Trainer squealed as he scooted to the side, avoiding the soundwaves that instead blew up wood where he stood. Upon looking back, he comically wailed as he spiraled, jumped, and scooted to avoid constant blows. He screamed wily like a sissy girl while trying to stay out of range. "Hold still you squirt!"

Viridian opposed Broly as Joey was comically dodging in the background, along with electric shocks from Magnemite aimed for Pidove and Chespin. "It seems your little friend over there is quite the nuisance, isn't he?" he told Broly.

"He's doing his part. I wouldn't worry." The Barrier-Make Mage said. "Though I should be saying that about you."

"You are absolutely right. As long as Pixie is still functioning, our own cores will not break, even in molten magma."

"Oh I get it now, so it's Body-Link Magic you're using huh? That's interesting, so all we gotta do to keep you coming back is kill that squirt. I'll keep that in mind."

"Do _not_ speak so arrogantly." Viridian created two shares from his wrists and readied the next round. "You may have defeated Tyson, but I assure you, I am not even half as irrational as he."

Broly held his fist out, embedding it in a sphere of barrier. "You can try and break me…but my barriers are the one thing that will never be broken!"

"Indestructible as they are… _you_ are not!" The Machia sprung forward in a Mach blitz. Broly did the exact same, disappearing and reappearing in the center with his fist colliding with the sabers. Gusts dissipated between the two again as their stalemate made even splinters rip to shreds as they battle for dominance.

The two ferociously battled as they separated off to midair. In midair, Viridian reached out to Broly, balling his fist to shoot it like a rocket. Broly landed as it came his way and crossed his arms.

" **Barrier-Make: Barrier!** "

Making a trademark wall, the rocket fist connected to create a powerful eruption of explosive intensity. Yet through its rumbling, Broly was unfazed. Unknowingly, underneath, he picked up on waves of water, making him gasp. "A distraction?"

Viridian smirked. " **Spout Lancer!** " He swiped his other arm, summoning an intense pillar of water that shot Broly skywards, making the mage scream out at the pressure he was hit with. The aquatic pillar kept rushing, but he wasn't done. "And now…" He crossed his wrists again as they were back in place. The two sabers in the wrist shimmered icy blue and slashed them against the water pillar. "I freeze you solid!"

In his roar, the water began freezing up. The ice from the sabers rushed up at Broly as he took note and panicked. In the next instance, a hemisphere of ice encompassed the top of an ice pillar that Viridian oversaw.

The Machia glared up with a serious face. "Even with barriers, the cold will still slow him down…he won't be getting out."

Elsewhere, someone smirked. "Heh, you seriously that cocky?"

"What?"

The ice glinted serious all of it suddenly erupted. The shockwaves generated caused Viridian to look up and see that using ice as cover, Broly was in his **Barrier-Make: Ball** and fell down like a cannonball onto Viridian. The Machia was shocked before he had to think of something, and fast. He abruptly dodged, leaving Broly to smash into the wood. When Viridian landed on a knee, Broly started running along the boarding like a hamster ball and closed the gap. Viridian crossed his sabers again as they changed settings to a heated red and defended the best he could against Broly's rolling ball. Broly kept rolling and roaring, and as much as Viridian was trying to keep ground, he had no traction

' _He's not slowing down!'_

Broly crossed his fingers and jetted them forward. " **Barrier-Make: Dragon Ram!** " The hamster ball he was in transformed into another Chinese dragon-shaped ram that stretched and shot Viridian across the deck again. The Machia was still crossing his sabers to avoid direct damage, but the force shot him clean through another metallic edging of the deck and shot into the water, roaring as he plunged downwards.

A pillar of water erupted from his position as the water soon simmered. Broly looked ahead in seriousness before he glanced at Joey, seeing him continuing to dodge again and again.

"Gnnngh! Hold still!" Pixie irritably shouted.

"GAH! No!" Joey swerved off to the side and jumped again like a cheerleader pounce. He continued evading for his own life.

Broly look on, ready. "Okay then…" He was about to help, but he was abruptly cut off when he sensed magic. Facing the water, it all spouted skywards, roaring with shrilling intensity as a pillar rushed out.

High above, bangs covering eyes, Viridian was seen with cores in his two palms. "Nice try…" he muttered. "But water is part of my programming!"

Broly's eyes narrowed. "Damnit."

"Pixie!" He shot the cores at Pixie from high above.

Pixie heard the note and stopped his attack to morph one arm into hands. He caught both in one, in which he smirked evilly as networks of red immediately entered them.

"Uh oh…" Joey gasped. "…Bro, behind you!" This left him open to be struck by the one sonic cannon that Pixie still had active. The ground where he was erupted, sending Joey screaming and slamming against the ground.

"Joey!" Chespin shrieked, but he was too distracted as the Magnemite chimed before sending a **Magnet Bomb** at him. The attack closed in on Chespin just as he had turned. He gasped before he was bombarded and went barreling through the air right beside Joey.

"Joey!" Broly's own thoughts came back to him when he picked up on something. Suddenly pivoting, he created a barrier to stop an abrupt punch from Tyson, who was revived.

"HAHAHAHA! DID YA MISS ME?!" he energetically shouted.

Broly grunted in annoyance. He then realized Viridian was coming down again with two sabers in a downward strike. He lengthen the barrier to cover him in a dome before impact, deflecting both assailants as they had him cornered.

When they all settled, the barrier lifted, revealing Broly. "…so it's back to square one again."

"Correct. We Machia will keep coming back as long as Pixie keeps tabs on our cores." Viridian noted.

"Damn straight. And plus humans tire out quicker than machines, so all we gotta do is hammer away until you dwindle. Sounds about right?" Tyson sneered.

Broly snickered.

"Is there something you find humorous?" Viridian questioned.

"Oh nothing, really. Just thinking is all." He told them. "You Machias really have a big ego. Whoever invented you sure didn't think things through…" His expression turned deadly serious then. "…because in the end, even all the calculations in the world doesn't match the passion of a fighter's will."

"Man versus machine? What typical odds."

"Yeah, what he said. Sorry pal, but it's the end of the line for ya."

Broly smirked. "Well, I tried…"

Tyson and Viridian pounced. Twin sabers of magical energy and axes connected to arms showed themselves as they each went for an opposite side.

A turquoise energy field began to spiral around Broly, making his eyes shrink in growing intimidation. "I'll show you…what it _truly_ means to fight for your life!"

Both slashed with all their might, making great claims in striking Broly. Each one sneered and smirked, but, much to their growing displeasure, they noticed something wrong. The one axe arm and the arm saber were both stopped…by one hand each. The hands were coated in turquoise armor, which went all the way up to the arms. They both went wide-eyed as they saw a feint smirk which belonged to something coated in turquoise armor. It was a one-piece bodily armor, but each accent was deep and slick. The barrier-clad fingers gripped tight, making it hard for Tyson and Viridian to get away.

"The technique that my master created…may this be your end." Broly's glare sharpened beneath the turquoise barrier visor. " **Barrier-Make: Imperial Guardia!** "

Though shaken up, Joey tilted his head up. "Uuugh…Bro?" He blinked several times until his vision cleared. He saw Broly in the armor and almost lurched. _'Woah! When did he do that?! Did he just coat himself in that stuff?'_

Broly's eyes glinted. He gripped tighter, and in a split second spun and drive both Machia into the flooring, making the wood pave trails that they glided through. Tyson smashed into the cabin area while Viridian smashed into the portside of the ship.

Broly adjusted footing and got into runner's position. He abruptly sped into Viridian, and the Machia gasped at his soldier charge.

"Adjust aquatic pressure! Magnification to 300%!" he faced forward. "And… **Spout Lancer – Orochi Abyss!** "

From behind, seawater shot up and snaked passed him, making eight snake heads that streamed at Broly. Each head attacked consecutively, yet Broly was unfazed as he charged through it like nothing. Each wave was blown off without repercussion and he leaped ahead to throw a punch. If it wasn't for Viridian using water to shoot skywards, he would've been hit.

Behind, Tyson clad in electricity with two axe blades smirked. He roared as he swung, but when he hit Broly's back, the axe arms rotated so fast, and yet both of them broke off. Tyson gasped in horror as Broly glared over his shoulder before he hammered Tyson in the gut, making a shockwave that repulsed the Machia in a spiral across the deck again. Tyson gripped the ground as he tried to slow down, but Broly sped at him like a supersoldier. He closed the gap and made a quick jump before hammer-fisting downwards, to which Tyson's bulky forearm tried to cover from. The impact destroyed the entirety of the skin and metal plating, and Tyson lurched as Broly went at close-ranged combat, violently punching. The energetic Machia violently retorted with the same, rapidly punching back twice, if not three times faster than before. With the barrier around him, each blow received only bounced off, and yet the blows that he delivered were grating his metal biceps. The Machia tried to compute, but his energy was all into fighting. He only served to punch faster, and faster, until finally he finally roared and made one last punch let loose, only to be stopped by one hand. The shockwave itself dissipated to thin air, and Broly twisted the arm and pried it off. The shock was immediately followed by Broly roundhouse kicking Tyson into the midair Viridian.

Once the two made impact with one another each Machia felt moment's system crashes. Broly abruptly jumped using his barrier armor's strength. Once recovered, Viridian reached down. " **Spout Lancer – Deep Malice!** "

A torrential geyser of water shot up from the basin. A massive pressure of water arched down pass the Machia and onto Broly. The mage kept going, where he made his left gauntlet turn into a barrier attached to the armor that mowed up the geyser like it wasn't even there.

Tyson smirked. "Now we're talking!" His systems on super energized mode, he suddenly vanished, turning into zigzags in the atmosphere before he shot in a Mach-speed comet with his foot first.

Time slowed down as Broly was sandwiched in front and below the Machias. Viridian readied a heated saber, and the foot continued down. In a split second, Broly morphed his other gauntlet into another barrier attached and used one to stop the top and the other in front. He morphed the two to come together, crushing the two Machia together. He flipped and double hammer-fisted the two down into the deck, turning them to comets that split open the deck into diced shreds.

Pixie was caught in the shockwave, sending him onto his back. Joey, Chespin, and Pidove stared in awe as debris went passed them. No words could be said at this point.

Broly landed on the deck in another split second. He made the ground depress as he zipped in his armor at the debris cloud. Tyson also spritzed onwards, and rocket fists fired repeatedly from the dust, being Viridian's assault. The fists repeatedly bombarded Broly, but as expected, he went through each explosion like flies off a windshield. He met Tyson, whom used his left fist still accounted to punch him in the forehead, but it only damaged the robotic knuckles.

"I told you! You can never break this barrier! **Barrier-Make: Dragon Ram!** " He used his bodily armor to morph and create the same ram again, which jutted at Tyson. Unlike before, Tyson wasn't planted against the ground, so he went flying with the force off the ship.

Viridian let out a cry as he used his magic and directed more water from the sea. Streams surfaced and gathered around Broly, enveloping him in a trapped case of continuous water. All he did was remain still as it continued.

"Even in a barrier, let's see you move in water!" he challenged.

Blue sea enveloped Broly, splashing repeatedly in the one veil. However, two hands split it open, the water literally pried open by Broly also masking his face in the barrier to stabilize his air.

"What?!"

Broly's serious face shot daggers of intensity. He said no words, instead, he balled his fists.

Viridan's eyes dilated. He roared out as his own personality settings changed to deranged. "We'll stop you!" Around his left arm saber, which was a sea-like blue. A cyclone of water began to pressurize. It spun with rapid, small spirals that could shred through steel. The spirals were in multitudes as they centered around the wrist guard.

At sea, Tyson's smirk widened as he went flying across the water. He sped like a jet-ski as he came around and bolted at the ship again, with his one fist now having the same momentum and smoking with steam and fire, just like against Matilda.

"DIE!" both yelled.

Broly didn't move. Instead, he held his ground in his bodily armor as the two Machia went at him. Together, both speeding at monstrous levels, Viridian pierced while Tyson punched with all his might. Together, sprays of water in a spiraling drill fashion and an explosive shockwave ripped through everything. The two attacks together caused a shockwave so big that it could've been seen miles away.

The entire ship shuddered beneath, shaking up everyone inside. "W-what's all this?!" A shaken Meredy squealed. Beside her, Dereece fell over. And Yanma perched on Heracross' head deliberately, making him look despondent.

Looking up, Vanessa gasped at the fiery passionate aura she was feeling. It was so intense that it made her suspicions rise.

On the deck, the roaring wave continued, but the dust was blown away the next second by Broly swiping both arms, sending the two in midair.

Tyson and Viridian both shared despair as Tyson's last arm was destroyed, and Viridian's saber was melted, not to mention the pressurized cyclone backfired and cut parts of his circuits. And as water rained down…not a single mark was on Broly's barrier armor.

Broly took another stance. Two fingers in each hand, he brought his right arm over his left as all the armor on him began to shape off and turn into a metallic, draconic head that growled.

His cried out with all passion as Tyson and Viridian had nothing left.

" **Barrier-Make: Hyper Dragon Ram!** "

Sliding his fingers across his forearm and arching straight into the enemies, the fingers pointed and a larger, faster, and armored version of the Dragon Ram bellowed outwards as it connected with them. Shockwaves shredded through the air as the two Machia gagged as their parts burst into scarps and exploded. The air ignited as the force of the ram sent winds that made Pixie scarce, and Joey and the others covered up as the whole ship shuddered.

Once it all dissipated, Broly was seen with time slowing down to reveal the armor reformed from the ram, his passionate glare harder than any barrier ever forged.

Joey's gaze was seeing Broly in a new light. He stared at him completely bewildered. "Woaah. Bro really socked them…"

Pixie got out of his shock and started converting energy. "Oh yeah?! Well I-!" Before him, Broly abruptly appeared and punched the arm containing the two cores. The arm went flying off Pixie as it slid across the damp ground.

Meanwhile, Pixie was picked up by the shockwave, blown away several feet and slipped onto his side. The Machia felt his systems turn to static while Broly stood proudly in dominance. "I wouldn't expect a Machia to understand…" he deactivated the Barrier-Make Armor. "That it takes a will to drive one and their magic to win."

Chespin jumped up and down, cheering. Joey sat up and looked as happy as could be. "Woah, Bro…that was totally awesome! You beat them all by yourself! Man, the others are gonna be sick after hearing this!"

Broly looked back with a charming smile. "Really?" he chuckled. "Well now, you've seen what it means to fight."

"Yeah, its…look out!" Joey pointed behind in time to warn everyone of Magnemite charging up a **Thunder Shock** and bolted at them. The electric wave missed Broly and Joey, because it was angled upwards.

Above, Pidove chirped. "Oh no! Master-!" Unfortunately for the half-brained bird, he wasn't so lucky as the Electric-type attack was in his path. He screamed as voltage coursed into the body, and he ended up drifting in the air.

From the ground, the disarmed Pixie abruptly leaped into the air. "That bird is so annoying!" He socked Pidove hard, sending him downwards.

"Pidove!" Joey panicked.

Pidove groaned as he went into a tailspin right into an empty barrel. The barrel tipped over, revealing Pidove sprawled on his back, fainted.

"Pidove!" Joey saw that he was out of commission. He quickly got his Poke Ball and aimed at Pidove. "Pidove, hurry. Return!" He recalled the fainted pigeon and angrily faced Pixie. "You're gonna pay for that! Let's go, Chespin!" he took off after him, Chespin following in swore vengeance.

"Joey, watch it! What have I told you?!" Broly warned.

Joey screamed as he and Chespin went ahead, but Pixie's one arm turned into a sonic cannon again and he fired at Joey's feet nonchalantly. The impact sent him flying with his Chespin onto their backs again, both thudding and gagging at the perpetual pain they felt.

"Are you seriously this much of a nuisance?" Pixie taunted. "Man, I can't believe I waste this much time on a weakling like you."

Joey winced as he weakly moved his head up. With one eye open, he saw Broly looking him on him. "Bro…" he groaned. "Sorry…"

Despite the circumstances, Broly smiled. "Don't be. I'm just surprised you got this far without magic is all." He walked passed Joey as he shakily tried stirring up. As he stood before Pixie, he frowned as he transformed into his barrier armor once more. "But remember, Joey. You've gotta keep a level head in battle, otherwise you'll fall apart. Don't worry…I can take this one."

"You? Take _me_?" Pixie laughed. "Well this should be fun. I guess I can spare a moment before I have to repair my friends. How's about we see if _I_ can break through your barrier?"

Without another word, Broly went shooting at Pixie. He soldier-charged as before, and Pixie fired repeated rounds of sonic blasts from his cannon-like arm. The waves continuously hit Broly, but each one wasn't fazing him.

' _Just as I processed. Analyzing data…adjusting settings…caliber increase to enhanced settings…'_ A turbine in the cannon changed as he aimed it at Broly again. "Now…"

Broly charged in as he closed the gap.

" **Frequency Buster!** "

A shrieking, piercing distortion wave went shrilling across the deck at Broly. Broly met the soundwaves, but something was different this time. His eyes widened, and he stopped in place. He felt a piercing, numbing intensity that made his body go numb and screamed in pain.

"Bro?!" Joey exclaimed.

Broly covered his ears as he was trying to save himself, but the frequency was numbing his thoughts. He remained stationary as Pixie kept the frequency going.

"I bet you're having trouble hearing me right now, are you? These frequencies are so high that they can be fatal for a human to handle. And my settings specialize in sound. Not only can I alter settings to make paralyzing frequencies, but I can make them so powerful that just by hearing, the body's internal organs vibrate as fast and wild as the ear drums…until they pop. As long as you hear it, you're as good as dead."

Broly gritted his teeth. "Gnnngh…that's what you think! GRAAAH!" Though his body was shaking, he stumbled forward in his bodily barrier armor. He stumbled quakily, closing the gap despite the numbing of his ear drums.

Pixie snickered as he saw Broly's determination. Closer and closer he got, and he just savored it. "My, aren't you the resilient one. Then here." He made the frequency stronger, making it echo pass Broly like an intense sonic wave that was stopping him in his tracks. The frequency rung in Broly's body so violently that he couldn't even think straight. He shrilled anguish cries as he was mere feet away.

Joey watched in awe and horror. "Bro…Bro…!"

Broly screamed loudly, bits of his barrier armor fading away. However, despite this, he had a venomous determination that could scare a normal person silly. As his armor was fading and his whole bodily figure palpitated, he gritted his teeth and clutched his fist. Now roaring with ferocious determination and spirit, he vibrated harshly as his fist pulled back.

" **HRAAAAAAAH!** "

As blood vessels popped in his arms and veins and muscles shuddered to levels where they tore up, Broly mustered his might and punched with all his might into Pixie's face.

"You got him!" Joey squealed.

Pixie scooted back and held his face. It was partially dented, but he removed his shock and smirked. "…well now, I'll be damned." He looked back at Broly, seeing that even while the armor was gone, he was still standing, albeit barely. "I haven't recalled a single human who could land a hit on me at that extreme level. Most of them died about three feet away when organs shuddered."

Broly's left arm – the one he used – was bleeding profusely. In fact, all the tendons in it were shot from the hearing and the strain. But he didn't care. He had blood seeping from his lip as he was catching his breath. "It'll take…more than that…to keep me down." He glared insidiously, a cold, venomous shrill in his undying spirit.

Pixie chuckled. "My, what courageous words. Sucks that they don't hold up much candle after all that." He chimed. "Besides…I've got the data down, and I know all about your magic." He adjusted footing to glare at Broly. "While it is true that you can make indestructible barrier, there are two major weaknesses. For one thing…" his eyes narrowed. "You can only make one barrier at a time. That alone is a hefty price for unstoppable defense. And the second, well…" he shrugged. " _Clearly_ it's not soundproof."

Joey's eyes widened as a hitch in his breath showed. _'Wait…'_ he thought back to their first encounter, recollecting all the times Broly used his barriers. And it was true, in not one time were there two barriers created. And to make it more accurate, he recalled how Chespin and Pidove's Growl did in fact get through. _'So then that must mean…?'_

Broly smirked. "So you've figured me out, huh?"

"Yup." Pixie aimed his cannon forward and fired another frequency blast. The attack actually hurt so bad that Broly gagged and dropped to a knee rather than get blown away. He covered his ears as he screamed in vibrating anguish. "All I've got to do now is keep this one you until you can't move anymore."

Shaking off his dizziness, Joey stammered back up. "Hey! You leave Bro alone right now!"

"…Joey…" he strained.

"Oh a wise guy, huh? Man are you not bright." He redirected the cannon at Joey, sending shrilling frequency waves that swallowed Joey. The Trainer instantly covered his ears and screamed at the pain. He sunk to his knees and hunched over as he couldn't move.

"Joey!" Chespin shrieked.

Magnemite found an opportunity and fired another **Magnet Bomb** attack. Chespin gasped before he was bombarded repeatedly by light blue spheres. Explosions picked him up, driving him onto his back.

"CHESPIN!" Joey screamed through the frequency. His eyes twitched before he couldn't take it anymore. "GNNAAAAH!" The party-loving man felt everything inside vibrate with his hearing, so much that his eyes shot wide before he fell over on the damp ground.

"JOEY, NO!" Broly roared. He angrily faced Pixie just as the frequency beam was facing him now. Again, Broly's internal organs vibrated violently at atrocious magnitudes.

Pixie walked closer, getting distance pass them. "Don't worry. He's not the target, unlike you. I bet you can't even hear me because you must be growing deaf. That's a sign of your body shutting down, and once that does…" he snickered at the possibilities. "You're dead."

Broly shuddered angrily as he tried to get up. He wanted to fight. However, his knee muscles were quaking. _'I can't think straight…my body…I can't control it. The wrong muscles are moving instead. Damnit! I can't block it out!'_

After prolonged minutes of earsplitting agony, tendons on Broly's body popped. He felt his legs give out. Meanwhile, a dazed Joey blinked as his body's numbness settled.

"Oiii…what just…" Everything around him rung like a bell. His ears had their own frequency that made it hard to hear. Disoriented, he turned towards something that would make his heart pounce.

Pulling his one fist back, Pixie's cannon-like projection turned normal, but the fist transformed to a vibrating turbine around the wrist. "With this…you DIE!"

Broly's eyes reflected the image of the vibrating fist. He gritted his teeth as Pixie pulled forward.

" **Internal Eternal!** "

His fist collided with Broly's gut, creating a voluminous shockwave that picked Broly up. He gagged as time slowed down. The vibrations from that punch sent the shock throughout Broly's body. The shockwaves of the frequency in that punch's blow had also made severe tendons and blood vessels pop. Internal blood streams popped and arteries were cut off as Broly gagged blood. The image itself reflected in Joey's shrunken pupils. He sat up, fixated in terror over what he was seeing.

Time slowed down as Broly faced the sky, his abominable stature finally falling. "He got me…" he muttered before his body went limp on the ground.

Joey's eyes shuddered as they began misting. " _ **BROOOOO~!**_ _"_

Broly remained immobile on his back as Pixie chuckled over him. "Well now, what's this? You still alive? Well now this is a shock. This is more fun than what I've had with prisoners who misbehaved back in the Machia tribe. Man, you humans are so amusing." He cackled uproariously as Broly gritted his teeth, but beyond that he was internally bleeding out, with organs shutting down.

Chespin stirred again, but not as fast as Joey. "You…you're gonna pay for that!" Joey sniped, but he looked down with narrowed eyes, like he was dazed.

"Oh I am, am I?" he faced Joey with the frequency cannon again. "Well how's about you're next!" He fired another frequency wave that swallowed Joey. Joey remained stationary as he looked forward, his eyes narrowing and wincing. He clutched his head as he groaned in staggering disarray. "And now…" he leaped at him with the same fist that he used on Broly. "You're mine!"

Joey clutched his head, but he saw Pixie heading his head. Out of the blue, he shuffled left and dodged the attack, much to everyone's surprise.

"What?" Pixie exasperated. "How did you do that?"

Joey blinked. "…what?!"

Pixie balled his fists as Magnemite joined his side. "Don't play dumb! You shouldn't be moving! The shock from my attack was-!"

"WHAT?!" Joey shouted.

"Gnngh…I SAID-!"

"WHAT?!" Joey screamed louder. "H-HOLD ON! GIVE ME A SEC!"

"What are you…?" Pixie and everyone watched as Joey picked at his ears. He looked like he was getting something out that was jammed in there. "Wait, are you…?"

Joey began turning some kind of knob. "Man, I think that last shot really hurt these guys…" He palmed his ears repeatedly, until finally he was looking better. "Phew that was annoying…okay, what were you saying?" he asked like nothing happened.

Pixie's face scrounged. "Hold on. Are those…"

"Hearing aids." Broly finished. His eyes widened at the realization. "Hold on, don't tell me. Joey, are you…deaf?"

Joey sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Uh…I uh…" he looked away modestly. "…okay maybe I am a little. But it was an accident, okay? It happened when I was like 7 or something…"

 _It was recess and kids were playing outside. Fortunately for this class outside, today's class was special because they got to play with other Trainers' Pokémon. The Trainers who were kind enough to visit and enlist over the week were currently lounging in the school's library while the kids were sliding down a Dragonair's back, or being held by a Charizard as it glided over the swing set, where there, two kids were swinging._

" _So where are we aiming again?" a younger Dereece was swinging with Joey as they were going to see how far they can jump._

 _A younger Joey pointed ahead. "See that Torkoal napping? I'm gonna try and get over that! Ready? You go first!"_

" _Yeah…wait, what?! Why me?!"_

" _Because that way if you don't make it that means it's too far and I'll have to aim closer. C'mon, just one jump?"_

 _Dereece looked uncertain as he looked out. "Eeeerr…o-o-oookay…" he swallowed. "Here I go…" He started picking up momentum and kicked back and forth on the swingset. The chains he held onto were firm so he wouldn't falter. Once he had reached the peak, he followed his rash friend's advice and let go. He screamed so loudly that he could've been mistaken for an Aerodactyl as he soared ten feet ahead. The Torkoal basking in sunlight stirred just as Dereece wailed and shockingly landed on his feet. He stared at the ground in shock, blinking once, then twice, and realized what happened. "H-h-hey…I-I'm actually okay? HAHA! HEY! IT WORKED!" he roared. "JOEY, DID YOU SEE THAT?! I ACTUALLY DID IT!"_

 _Joey stared in awe over his jump. "Wooahh. Man, Dereece…THAT WAS AWESOME! MY TURN!" Joey started picking up his legs and swinging higher and faster than before. He rocked back and forth, practically getting to almost 90 Degrees once backwards. "Okay…WOOOOH!" He glided in the swing with a big smile. "A~nd…LIFTOFF!" He shot off the swings and into the air, screaming in happy joy as he caught some air. They sailed far, and he was getting close._

" _You can't catch me~!" another kid ran across the area, a trained Exploud minding its own way as it playfully followed the kid._

" _What?" Dereece looked at the Exploud passing by and saw Joey incoming. "No…"_

" _WEEEE~!" Joey arched into Exploud, his mouth forming an 'O'. "Ohhh~!" With a plop, everything went dark for him._

 _Exploud nearly jumped when he felt something enter one of his holes. He hitched when he stammered off to find that something was lodged in one of its two tail holes. He shook wildly in a panic. He took in a massive load of air until it all was finally through the other pipes in his body._

" _Oh no! Joey!" Dereece shrieked._

" _Where am I?! Help!" Joey panicked. He heard a small sucking sound and blinked. "Wait, a vacuum cleaner…?" He looked ahead into darkness, but he unknowingly leaned into what was something drastic._

 _That one moment, Exploud's Boomburst nearly shook the entire school._

"Man, I nearly got my head blown off that day. I guess that's also why my hair is slicked back like this." Joey meekly chuckled. "Man, mom nearly killed me that day."

"So you're saying…that my vibrations have no effect on you?" Pixie summarized. "That's preposterous."

Broly was on a completely different scale of awe. As thunder roared overhead, he stared at Joey with a whole different view. _'Wait…if he's deaf. That means…he's immune to sound.'_ He looked at Joey standing up. _'That look…Joey…'_

"Maybe it is, but call it dumb luck." Joey smirked, fists balling. "Maybe I don't have magic, but ever since coming to this world, I've realized it's a lot scarier…but I'm part of a guild that's awesome, and I have friends on this boat. As long as I'm alive, you're not getting past me! Got it?!"

Broly's eyes shrunk at Joey's words. They upheld pride and passion. _'Joey.'_

The longer he stared at Joey's sideview, the more he could see himself. Battered and thrown around as he was, Joey infectious demeanor was just like his…before his master went on.

 _Fire was everywhere. Bodies were being picked up on the battlefield afar as dead men were being counted by officials. The battlefield was scarred by the defeated army led by Percival. The general of the army couldn't feel anymore disgraced than he was already. His men were on the brink of victory against the empire's elite vanguard. He was pushing them back as far as he knew. But there was one thing he didn't account for._

 _Nullification Magic. And that's what caused his army to crumble in defeat in the very first time of his career. But rather than be killed like most, he, along with a few others, were captured and put into cages. He had his head down as Broly, who managed to get around the enemy, got to behind the cage._

" _Broly." Percival gasped._

" _General!" he replied. "Stay still, I can get you out of here!"_

" _No, Broly. It's too late for me. I'm afraid this is where I must take my case."_

" _So you're just gonna give up after one lousy battle? That's bull!"_

" _Hey, I think I hear men over there!" a soldier shouted._

" _Slaughter them. They're not needed." A grueling voice said, belonging to someone of higher ranking._

 _Looking behind, Percival grimaced as he saw men lying on their backs being stabbed in their chest by polearms. Seeing them die because of his arrogance only made him grimace deeper in shame. He faced Broly again. "It's only fitting that the Captain goes down with his ship." He told him. "This is my mistake that I've brought them into. My only repayment is to owe them a proper sentence."_

 _Broly gripped the cage tight, biting his lower lip to hold his tears. "General…"_

" _What happened now is my only regret, but, Broly, there is something I can never regret…and that is meeting you."_

 _Broly shakily stood back and frowned. "Yeah…me too."_

 _Percival looked over his shoulder to see men afar. He knew they didn't have much time. "I'm afraid I have no time left. They're coming back." He gave Broly a serious glare. "Broly, listen. I have something to tell you."_

 _Broly gasped._

" _What I am about to tell you is something I have never told you or anyone before. You recall how my master passed me his magic, yes? Well…I think it's finally time."_

" _Percival…"_

" _I have been giving it some thought, and I think I have decided." His eyes focused on Broly's blue eyes. "In my final hours, I shall pass this onto you. The powers…is the Barrier-Make Mage."_

 _Broly's eyes widened. "You mean…your magic?"_

" _Yes. I deem you worthy, to possess this awesome power that my own predecessors have entrusted to one another. I entrust you with a legacy."_

 _Broly was confused, but for the most part, he was in the ball park. "A magic that can be…legacy?"_

" _Yes…generation upon generation, the Barrier-Make Magic was made from many eons ago. The first mage to create this, he entrusted it to someone, and that power grew and changed. The magic that has evolved with each successor." The general softly smiled. "But I wasn't going to let just anyone be this successor. It had to be someone who I know I could trust my life to."_

 _Broly put the pieces together. "You mean…me?" he pointed to himself. "General…you…"_

" _During your time, you've imprinted well on my magic, did you not? You looked up to me, fought beside me…and you kept improving to be a man. Someone who I entrust a burden to. Broly…give this soldier his last words…and please, grant me your strength." He held out his palms. When he opened the palm, in it was a soft turquoise light. It radiated like a luminescent light that made Broly freeze in place. "It is my legacy and wish to see you live. Do you understand what I am asking?"_

"… _I will." He said. "I swear, I'll make you proud." He seized the light, instantly giving his own body a turquoise shine._

 _The light was so powerful that men on the other side of the hill saw it. "Hey, what's that up there?"_

 _The illuminating radiance shimmered for several more seconds, until finally Broly's eyes widened. Looking down at his hands in confusion, they felt different. He looked back at the general, seeing him smile in gratitude. "General…"_

" _It has been an honor to have you by my side…" From afar, yelling was heard. "I have no regrets in my mind that you will find what you are looking for here on. I wish you good luck…now go." He ushered. "Go! Go far!"_

 _Choking up his tears, Broly shakily walked backwards and started down the opposite side of the hill._

" _Don't look back! Live!" He watched Broly disappear into the woods. Once gone, he smiled. "Farewell…I will see you in another place…at another time."_

 _Minutes later, the soldiers gathered their things and took the man in the caged carriage away. He remained silent all the way to the empire, where he would meet his honorable end._

 _Meanwhile, running through the woods, Broly gritted his teeth as he ran without looking back. 'Percival…' Images of him and the general flashed in his mind, tears streaming down his face. 'I swear! On my life! Your legacy will live on!' He ran faster than ever before, a deep passion in his eyes. 'I WON'T REST IN PEACE LIKE YOU WILL UNTIL I DO!'_

Broly stared longingly at Joey. He looked at his own frame and realized what was happening. He faced him, giving a knowing glare. _'Until I have found someone worthy…until I found someone who will have arduous roads…I swore…I wouldn't die.'_

Pixie chuckled at Joey's heroic words. "Man, you sure have a lot of tough talk for someone who has no magic. Maybe it'll be fun to slowly kill you, too."

Joey balled his fists as Chespin shakily stirred beside him. Both were waning but didn't give up.

"Joey…"

Hearing the weak voice, Joey turned towards Broly shakily on one knee. "Bro…?"

Broly coughed a little blood. "I…can't go on." He coughed. "Joey…it's all up to you now."

Joey's eyes widened as his pupils shrunk to the size of peas. He looked at Pixie and Magnemite again. He and Chespin looked at Broly again as he used what strength left and hazily arose to slouch over.

"But listen, there's still one way for you to win this…you remember…when I said I didn't have magic before?" he coughed again. "Well…I told myself, that this magic will find a better home someday, so that my master can rest in peace. For years, I have been waiting, and now I've come to realize it…Joey Haycliff, use my power, and win."

Joey was startled to no end. "W-wait, what are you…are you saying…you want me to accept your magic?!"

Hearing this, Pixie snickered. "Really, is that all you have left? Trusting magic to a human? According to research, only 60% actually survive magical transfer if their bodies aren't broken. That poor fool can't even tell what a real fight is."

"Hey!" Joey shouted. Suddenly he felt a force hit him behind. He fell to his side, catered by Broly knocking him down.

"Idiot." He scolded. "Are you really going to doubt yourself after everything you'd experienced and dreamed of?"

Joey wiped the saliva off his arm. "Oww. No, but…"

"Look…" Broly stood tall, giving Joey a strong confident smile despite the hazy eyes he had, showing his waning strength. This startled Joey again. "Do you remember the first time we've met? Look at how far you've gotten? You've gained experience, didn't you? You know how to stand against guys like this even without powers. You have friends, family, and loved ones…to risk your life is to symbolize everything they've put onto you, just like my master has done for me."

Joey was up on his feet as he awed at Broly. He heard the thunder above, but he was so focused on the compassionate vibe Broly gave off.

"You've stuck around me so long that my magic signature's practically surrounding you. You've already made an imprint on my Barrier-Make Magic, didn't you? That means you _can_ handle it. I _know_ you can, Joey! You've got a lot to do in your life, so to do good…you need a good magic." He smiled. "I trust you."

"Bro…" Joey looked back at Pixie, seeing him snicker at them. He looked down at Chespin, who seemed unsure. He then looked down. _'He's right. It was my dream to be great someday. But if I wanna be great-no, to be good, I need the strength to do it. Bro…'_ A small but confident smile came across his face. "…nobody's ever thought that way about me before. They always just thought I was stupid and not listening…they didn't think I had capability like you do. I…I'm glad you look to me that way, Bro." Joey took a fighting stance. "So! If you think I can! Then I can-no, I _will_!"

Pixie sighed. "My systems are running a little low, so I think I'm done with human compassion for today." He readied another sonic cannon blast. "Alright, time to die!"

"Bring it on!" Joey challenged. "My burning fire will never go out! Chespin!"

Chespin gave his own roar as he shrilled a cry. "I will, too! Hraaah!" With a cry and what strength, his body expelled a green aura. The fresh aura of strength was Overgrow, his ability picking up.

Broly smirked. "Then it's time…" He stood straight up, posture upright as he faced Joey's back. _'Joey, I know there will be strife ahead of you. But you must remember. With pain comes the price we pay. There will be endless pain ahead of you, but as I have endured, you will too. But I know you'll be strong.'_ His body started to glow in turquoise static. An immense swell of magic pulsated that made an air ripple beneath him. He balled both fists and roared with all the passion.

Pixie looked shocked. "What the-?!"

"I, Broly – successor of the Barrier-Make Magic – hereby pass this gift onto you, Joey Haycliff. As to what my master had entrusted to me, I leave it to you, my pupil. Learn it well…" He let loose another scream, expelling turquoise lightning everywhere that ignited the whole deck. Joey let out his own unison roar as the lightning immediately went to him.

The flashes ignited the air and Pixie looked shocked. Networks in his eyes showed progress magic levels shifting between the two as turquoise surged. "Error! Doesn't compute! Power transfer reading are spontaneous! What is happening?!"

Joey screamed in pain and endurance. He balled his fists tighter as it felt like lightning was hitting him. But he didn't give in. _'I won't…I won't…'_ An image of Broly appeared in his head, smiling. "I won't let you down! HRAAAAHH!" Forcibly, Joey screamed at the top of his lungs as he was now drawing all the magic into his body. The intense rush from Broly's transfer was mow making direct line as the turquoise lightning made shockwave that picked up Joey's flashy coat. Even the black fur lining was crackling with the power.

"Impossible?! Is this human will?!" Pixie outraged. "Gnngh…what is this?! Tell me!"

"The Barrier-Make legacy was passed down for well over hundreds of years. It is a magic that has a prolonged vitality through one's body and mind. In the early eras, it started as a magic that uses air particles that solidify to make a wall. It has come to adapt with each new person it was passed onto, ranging from the experiences, to the environments they've endured, until finally, it has evolved with its predecessors, with new shapes and harder solidity, until it has finally made itself the unbreakable barrier that will protect all."

Joey's eyes began to mist as his emotion drove him forward. He balled his fists harder as he thought of Dereece. Then Duncan. Then Nic and Vanessa, and Erza. To Chespin. To Pidove…and finally, to Broly. His gaze hardened as the lightning surged faster and roared with his will.

" **SCREAM, JOEY! SHOUT TO THE WORLD WITH ALL YOUR SOUL!** "

" **HRAAAAAAH!** "

All the lightning continued making a whirlwind, and Pixie was stiff in computerizing. Joey balled his fist as all the lightning finished pulsating, and finally crossing his arms, dissipating all the turquoise static. Joey stood tall with determination as Chespin with Overgrow stood with him.

"…you guys messed with me and my friends for the last time!" Joey retorted. "Now it's payback time!"

Pixie balled his fists and angrily stared. "Error…error! Not computing! Personality error at high!"

Joey looked down at his fists. He clutched them, feeling something coursing through. "So this is what magic feels like." He said. "I can feel it flowing through my veins…this is awesome!" he looked forward. "Chespin, ready?!"

"Yeah!"

Pixie's eyes turned white as he pulled his arm back. Its functions turned to the turbine arm that he used against Broly. "Circuit programming! Eliminate Joey!" He pounced ahead, with Magnemite igniting its body crackling in electricity, via **Spark**.

Joey cried out as he barreled ahead with Chespin's teeth glowing for **Bite**. Joey's right arm created a sphere of barrier and the Machia and Magnemite met the fist and fangs head on. The two fists made an impact that created a shockwave, and Chespin's fangs met the metal, but was electrocuted.

Both sides held a long stalemate for as long as possible, and Joey felt the shock of his punch make him wince. His bones in his arm fractured heavily, the shock leaving him grunting.

Pixie smirked, but his only arm gave in. The metal fell apart, leaving electricity to static and gasp.

Joey powered through with misty eyes. He couldn't give up. He barreled his left arm back as the barrier sphere vanished, transferring to Joey's other arm as he cried out.

In his mind, a rapid cosmos was ahead of him. One shadowy figure faded to distance, with another following, and then another. _"This magic embodies the undying will that many have risked to see through the never-ending; that it shall protect those of noble hearts and ambitions so that they can see days go on."_ The many silhouettes faded, revealing Broly's back. _"And that it's this strength that I carry despite the pain."_ He smiled as he turned around, handing a turquoise globe to Joey. _"And now, it's your turn. Go far, Joey. Farther than me one day."_ Joey reached for it, making his fist shine.

Joey's eyes widened as he felt strength surge into his sphere. "THIS ONE…" he pulled back. "IS FOR BRO!"

Chespin endured and swung his **Vine Whip** into Magnemite's side, just as Joey smashed into Pixie's core. The core shattered to pieces and the Machia's pieces crumbled. Joey felt his whole arm's bones break. His eyes were misting with tears as he held the fist out while Pixie and Magnemite hit the cabin walls.

The eyes were devoid on Pixie while Magnemite had swirls. Both slumped down, the entire body of Pixie crumbling to pieces while Magnemite fainted. And nearby, Viridian and Tyson's cores also shattered, ending the Machia Knights for good.

Joey panted endlessly, clutching his arm in pain. It was twisted and messed up, but he still stood. Chespin's Overgrow faded, but he was happy. "We won!"

Joey looked down, giving a toothy smile.

As Joey screamed for Joey, Broly was sitting back, smiling and chuckling to himself. "Well I'll be…isn't that something. He actually pulled it off…I knew you could it…"

Thunder roared overhead, but Joey clutched his arm. Chespin closed in but all Joey did was bounce around in wailing pain. Broly just smiled at Joey, thinking back to himself in his soldier days.

" _General Percival."_

" _Yes, Broly?"_

" _Your magic is so cool! Man, I can't imagine anybody else handling that!"_

 _Percival chuckled. "You'd be surprised. Sometimes is the least likely that makes the greatest destiny. Who knows? Maybe you might learn this magic someday, Broly."_

" _You would really do that?!"_

 _Percival softly smiled like a father. "…if it were you, I'd be the proudest man ever. Because I know you will succeed. Why, I'd stake my life on that claim. Hahahaha!"_

' _Master…if only you could see it now. You'd be amazed at the man right before me…'_ he chuckled in his musings as he saw Joey calm down. _'He's got character alright, but know…he's just like me…takes me back to my days with you.'_ He looked up at the sky again, where he saw an image of Percival above. _'You can rest easy now. Your will has finally been given, and I couldn't be happier with who it is.'_ He looked down at Joey, seeing Chespin smile with him. "There's not a single in my mind. One day…we will surpass us both." He grunted at the last of his strength fading. Still, no matter what, he eyed Joey's back. "Joey, thanks to you, I can finally be at peace…I know the road ahead of you will be harsh…but I promise, you will move forwards…I'll see you do that." His eyes began to weakly close. "Go far…Joey…I'll be…watching you…always…and forever…"

It started clear, but then he blinked. It faded in and out, but slowly the eyes closed, narrowing as Joey and Chespin turned to close in on him. His eyes at last finally closed, the mage finally having passed on.

…

Storm clouds raged over. Rain finally picked up as the deck was wet. The dark atmosphere was a perfect setting for the gloominess that hung in the air. Joey and Chespin stood over the body of Broly. The man's bodily figure finally couldn't take it anymore. He bled inside, and now, right before Joey, he was gone. And yet on his face, there was a happy smile, showing the peace he had finally found. Joey knew it was too late, and he clutched his broken arm, which didn't compare to the heart that was broken inside. His bangs covered his eyes as tears swelled in them.

"…I did it, Bro…I won my first real fight because of you." He whimpered somberly. "I'm sorry…for just getting in the way and being reckless like that…I wasn't thinking. Everyone was right, I am stupid." He clutched his arm tighter. "But I swear, I'll get better…I promise. I'll master your Barrier-Make Magic and make you and everyone else proud." He sniffled as his whole body was starting to break down next. "S-so…so before I do that…" he sniffled. "Would it be okay…if I can just cry for you? OKAY, BRO?!"

Chespin's pins drooped in sadness. He had small tears as he saw such an inspirational man go.

Unable to hold it in anymore, all the guilt, the pin, and the mourning let loose. Tears ran down Joey's face as he cried loudly. He sunk to his knees as he cried for Broly.

The anguish cries echoed through the rain, for all through miles out to hear.

* * *

Rain washed the chemical away behind Glynda. The rain touching the chemicals of different colors made acidic mist that she ignored. She continued her path until she made it to where she overlooked the ship from afar. She folded her arms and glared at the ship. "…I see…so the Machia Knights have failed, haven't they?" she realized. She knew their magic signatures were gone. She lowered her head in disappointment. "Even machines are incompetent. I guess no one out there takes it seriously." She fixed her glare ahead. "But…I realized this long ago."

Lightning flashed above, but she ignored it striking the forest behind her. The rain and fire created made a massive mist cloud that she walked through, continuing with resolution.

* * *

Hoshina removed the pipe from her mouth and breathed out again. The smoke blocked her vision of the crystal ball for several seconds before she saw the screen again, the view of the ship turning to a bizarre mist. A luscious smirk formed on her lips.

"A man of black hair and blue eyes…" she repeated. "Has to come to perish."

In another chamber, Nic came down with a blistering **Fire Punch** , and Charizard came down with **Dragon Claw**. Together, they struck Naga, making the ground implode and depress to extremes. The two remained steadfast through the shockwave.

"But now…" she blew more smoke out. "What do I predict next? I know..."

Red eyes glowed and Naga exploded beneath. Nic was sent flying from the shockwave, to which Charizard caught him in midair and settled. They looked down, seeing their draconic fire replaced by vermilion and violet fire. In the center of a huge crater was Naga, his body shadow black to give his glowing eyes more ominous appeal.

Sentinal swung his javelin again, making a strong wave of energy that repulsed Erza and Houndoom alike.

The four congregated together. Their opponents also realigned, with dark static swirling with intense dark hazes. As both Nic and Erza's hair shifted, they could feel the battle change to a grim shadow. Naga's chuckling was followed by his choice of words in his darkness.

"Now…show me the power…OF YOUR GRIEF!" His bellowing raged dark shockwaves at them, echoing throughout all the corridors to hear.

* * *

 **Well can't say saw that coming XD But those who watched/read Akame ga Kill, you probably knew where this was going for Joey and Broly. But now we've seen very important character development for Joey, as this will impact him dearly.**

 **So now that just leaves the big guys now. That leaves Glynda, Naga, Hoshina, and finally Neinhart. Only 4 left, and only a few chapters left of the arc. Man this is getting to be unseasonably long, but I think I'm doing good so far. So now we are in reasonable to full depth with all the Peace Jaegers.**

 **Also, since people keep asking, I'm gonna point this out now. No, I am** _ **not**_ **doing a 100 Year Quest or any of the Fairy Tail movies. I'm going my way…the better way ;)**

 **Plus check out the poll still if you haven't already. Reviews appreciated, so thanks for reading!**


	20. Dark Animals

Bloodcurdling shrieks ripped through the scorching flames, bisecting particles that joined all of the heat ions. Even if it was hot, the shockwaves running along the ground was like leveling rugged fields.

In the air, Nic and Charizard held on as Naga's body was emanating a strong flow of power. Maelstroms of manifested energy circulated into a funnel around him that he compressed into a hemisphere between his hands.

" **Tiberius Disarray!** "

Extending both arms out, the energy erupted into a voluminous mass of chaotic energy that ripped through the air, shuddering everything around like were an earthquake. Flames split apart as the massive tidal wave soared below.

' _We can't dodge. It'll rip apart the whole ceiling.'_ Nic stood on Charizard's back and transformed. "Charizard, **Heat Wave!** "

Charizard huffed expectantly and veered his head back. He bellowed out as he unleashed a massive gust storm of orange winds that ripped through the air, melting anything that came into contact with it. The tsunami of either side met in the center, hurricanes of fire and darkness mixed as Charizard's pulsing Heat Wave had a much bigger range. Despite the attacks collapsing one another, the setback created waves of heat that melted into the flooring around Naga, in which he was shoved back. He was too distracted to realize that through the heat, he was slugged across the face by Nic in his Fist Form.

That one simple punch was all it took to stagger Naga. He stammered away, and when he looked back, he was slugged across the face again, followed by a glowing fist, via **Sky Uppercut**. Nic let out a vibrant roar as the uppercut ingrained a trench into the earth, but that compared little to the shockwaves upon impact with Naga's jaw. The attack was so gruesome that the ground actually depressed a few feet beneath Nic as Naga went skywards in a spiral until he crashed into the ceiling itself. The ceiling diced to pieces, and yet it remained in tact for the most part.

Nic and Charizard reconvened on the floor and looked up. They had expectant faces showing as the dust fell around them, and it soon eroded away to reveal Naga embedded into the crevices. There was a silence following, but it toon was thwarted when Naga's eyes opened.

"Are you just playing with me?" he whimsically cackled.

Nic and Charizard expressions didn't change, even as Naga dropped from the ceiling onto them.

" **Vermosa!** "

" **Wide Guard!** "

A void-like shockwave of high intensity erupted from Naga that ripped through the atmosphere towards them, but Nic reached up and pink hexagonal shields linked and made a dome that surrounded him and Charizard. The ground around them depressed further as the waves of energy were making strong tempests through the air, all while illuminating Naga's glowing red eyes with insidious lust.

' _Those eyes…'_

The dark winds even managed to pick up the others in the huge chamber. The waves made Erza and Houndoom airborne, leaving Sentinal to twirl his staff and swipe it across, sending a dark shockwave like a Psycho Cut through the air at them.

Requipping, Erza became her Black Wing Armor with her Armadura Aggron sword in hand. She hammered down on the shockwave, showing no strain as the attack split beside her. Once the shockwaves receded, she landed on the ground. "Houndoom, **Dark Pulse!** "

In the air still, Houndoom's raspy breath was inhaled before his maw shot an intense and wide array of jumbled black rings with purple outlines. The attack pulsated directly into Sentinal, who merely stabbed the attack. Surprising enough, streams of the attack went around the staff, while the majority of it made him lose a few inches on the ground.

As the attack receded, Houndoom landed beside Erza. "Well isn't this enlightening." He sarcastically implied.

Erza requipped her Black Wing Sword in her other hand and crossed both blades. "Yes, you can say that again."

Through the dissipating black waves, Sentinal twirled his staff and picked up on the pieces of Houndoom's attack. He made the energy converge into his spear tip and made a small orb, which fired diverged blast waves that snaked through the atmosphere at them.

In a surprising move, Erza aimed at the ground, where Houndoom shot another **Dark Pulse** that went across this time. The energy wave exploded into a wall of darkness that thwarted the dark streams heading their way.

"Huh, well I'll be…"

The dark wall dissipated, but the energy again was picked up by a quick moving figure that moved so fast that a hole wasn't even in the wave. Erza spritzed with her Flight Armor now, but she held the same swords in hand as they were laced in the energy. Sentinal braced himself the best he could, but Erza was too fast.

" **Sheer Impact!** "

With the intense speed followed by her Aggron Armor's heavy iron sword, with the Black Wing Armor Sword in the other hand, Erza only needed a split second before she passed Sentinal on a knee. She regained her composure as the Dark Pulse around her swords dissipated, and time went by with neither side moving. The next second, the staff Sentinal had split into two, and the armor all around his body was crushed and sliced to pieces. The Centaur was picked up on his feet before he fumbled to his side in deep pain.

Erza looked over her shoulder. "Had enough?"

On a similar note, Naga glared insidiously and reared his head back before he opened his maw, expelling a distorted dark blast at Nic and Charizard that ripped the ground beneath.

Nic and Charizard didn't move. They instead waited as the attack came in. A bright flash erupted before Naga's dark energy erupted into a pillar of darkness that soared skywards. The ceiling ripped open a hole at Naga's voluminous energy rocketing all around. "Heh, so what now?" he questioned.

" **Phantom Force!** "

"Wha-?!" Naga didn't have a chance as a foot crashed into his head, immediately grounding him. The ground once again diced up below, so much that the flooring was beginning to collapse on him.

He didn't have a chance to act. The ground actually sundered, making him fall to the next floor down. As he descended, the shock was shown in his eyes when he tried to look up, but all he saw was a purple portal fading, and instead an orange bulky knee impacted his chest. The shock ran all throughout his body as that attack did more than just made him see black. In fact, a second impact at the exact same time came from below, revealing Nic in his Spooky Form as he appeared in a second **Phantom Force** attack, driving his nee into his back. Two shockwaves erupted from behind and upfront that broke bone after bone in his body. He gagged sprays of blood as everything went from black to white around him.

And it just didn't stop there. Simultaneously, Nic and Charizard grabbed and arm of Naga and twirled together before they hurled him downwards with spiraling strength. The Spriggan was like a meteor that crashed further down below, breaking into the next floor and making the shock run through the halls. The Spriggan spiraled do deep the flooring actually gave in beneath that. He finally made full impact as he crashed clean through a severity of floors, leaving a tunnel of holes with shockwaves ripping through each one. The Spriggan laid in a crater at the bottom, his body not moving with his maw wide open.

"Master…Naga…" Sentinal grunted.

Erza stood beside Houndoom, both bracing themselves as their adversary was coming around and stirring awake. "I see that you're determined." The scarlet-haired woman said.

Sentinal chuckled meekly. The way it sounded was a mixture of delusion and mocking. Though he was roughed up, he stood on all fours and grinned. "Oh trust me, there's no need to fret over Master Naga."

"Why's that?"

Sentinal's eyes narrowed. "You'll find out…" he trailed off in a chuckle, which soon broke into a laughter that echoed through the floors all the way down.

Naga laid in darkness, not moving. Nic and Charizard were several floors above, but even from the distance, they could still feel something was wrong. As a result, their eyes narrowed in suspicion.

* * *

In his throne room, the shuddering was pulsating through his lustrous chambers. If the lights were on, they'd be dimming frequently from the shockwaves of Nic and Charizard's rampage. Neinhart sat in his chair, slouching forward with a disgruntled expression. His eyelids were half-open as he was looking unamused by the turn of events plying by Nic and Charizard thrashing Naga.

Seeing the images of the broken holes, he scoffed…before that frown turned to a joyous smirk. He chuckled low as he was amused. "Looks like the show's about to begin."

* * *

The thundering roars echoed through the halls, alerting anyone who was close by.

"What was that?" Rogue asked.

Mest looked up to the ceiling as it finished shuddering. However, the abominable pressure he was feeling, it was all too familiar. "I think I might now."

Off to the side, Ralts was banging his head against the wall, again for reasons unknown.

Rogue could feel his spine shrivel as his eyes narrowed. Even now, he could feel it growing. "This power…it's Nic, isn't it?"

Petrified but calming, Mest glared ahead. "So you feel it too, huh?" he looked over in the direction where all the pressure was coming from. "Something tells me he's just warming up somewhere."

"You think we should check it out?" Rogue asked.

"So this is where you were." A voice said behind.

Startled by the voice, they quickly turned behind, seeing Minerva teleport to them. "Milady!" Rogue gasped.

"I've felt the pressure from where I was. I can see that you gentlemen were having the same thoughts as well."

Mest stepped forward. "Well it's good to see you're doing well." He said. "I take it that you haven't found the others either?"

Minerva had a hand to her hip. "Unfortunately, no. I was looking for a way outside as instructed, and then it seems I've stumbled onto you two. I take it you were heading this way as well?"

Mest looked back over his shoulder at the dark hallway. "That was the intention, but…"

Minerva chuckled with a smirk. "My, how the mighty keep getting mightier. Seems we have reached an impasse, wouldn't you say? Something tells me that Nic wouldn't want his comrades getting stirred up in his little playtime, wouldn't you say?"

"Milady, what do you suggest we do?" Rogue asked.

Mest stepped forward, folding his arms. "I'm getting worried about the others on the ship. We haven't had contact them in hours. I feel something's up."

Rogue looked towards him. "If that is what you think, then it's fine. Milady and I can find the others and meet the rendezvous point from here."

Mest nodded in understanding. "Okay then. C'mon, Ralts." He gestured towards the Psychic/Fairy-type in the corner. The little guy stopped banging his head against the wall and walked towards Mest, where he was hoisted to the elbow at eye level. " **Teleport**."

Ralts eyes glowed and he and Mest were in a rainbow outline before they teleported back to the starting point, leaving Minerva and Rogue to tend to their own dilemmas.

Minerva faced her ally. "Shall we extend our search then?"

Rogue nodded. "Yes. I've been worried about Sting and Frosch for a while now. I can't shake this feeling I have." In his mind, he was getting another image of Frosch absent-mindedly running all over the place, where he would be ambushed. As he panicked, Greninja would swoop in from the side and eliminate the guys, while Frosch cheered with stars in his eyes. The image made a tick mark pulse on his head as his teeth gritted. A dark flame surrounded him. _'No! I can't let Frosch go like that! I'll find him first somehow!'_

"Is all well?" Minerva inquired.

Startled, Rogue whipped towards her. "Huh? N-no, everything's fine!" He reached into his pocket for something. "But if we're going to find everyone…then we'll need help in this search."

In his hand, there was a Poke Ball that held their solution. Rogue looked at Minerva, nodding.

* * *

In the haul of the ship, gum streams shot out, sticking to debris parts like spider web before they were thrown to the side. The gum went back to Liz's mouth and the group was clear of obstruction.

"Well that didn't take long." Duncan said with heavy sarcasm. "Would've been easier if you had your Heracross do some work."

Dereece gave him a look. "He was tired man, c'mon." He suddenly felt a weight on his head…again. Looking up, he saw Yanma perched on his cranium and looking down.

"While you're at it, might as well do something about that."

Dereece had to suppress a growl, though whether it's for Duncan or the Yanma is up in the air.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Ultear inquired.

"For all our sakes, I sure hope so." Meredy sod woefully. "I can hardly recognize the halls now with all this destruction."

Ultear's brow twitched repeatedly as an insane smile tugged at the side of her lips. A melancholy atmosphere surrounded her as Meredy scooted away. "All that work and this is the thanks I get." She chuckled venomously. "How gracious, why…I'm so humbled I don't even know what to say…"

"W'uh-oh, looks like somebody went and cracked." Matilda chimed.

"S-should we be worried?" Dereece asked.

Vanessa watched amongst the others. However, her head lifted upon realizing something. She sensed something wrong, or rather off in this case. _'This aura…'_ When she felt it, she looked at everyone. "Everyone."

They all stopped and turned. "What up?" Matilda asked. "Picking up something?"

"Hope it's good news, we can use it right now." Dereece hoped.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed as she was still sensing. "That strange aura from earlier, the one that the Machia had…I don't sense them anymore. It's like they're gone."

"Really?" Meredy gasped.

Duncan shrugged nonchalantly. "Then I guess this means they're off the ship."

"And you're sure about this?" Ultear questioned.

Vanessa nodded.

Dereece felt like a weight lifted from his shoulders. "This means we're good, right? N-no more machines trying to maim us now, right?" He pumped a fist. "Yes! Thank you!" he laughed. "We survived y'all! We survived~!"

Duncan scoffed again. "You just got lucky is all. If it weren't for the others, you'd been dead."

"And you're not a familiar case?" Dereece's inquiry was followed by a gasp. "Wait, hold up!"

"What?" Liz half-heartedly asked as she chewed on gum.

"If those robots are gone, then what happened to…?"

Vanessa's head went straight ahead. She picked something up on her radar that made her teal aura flare around her hands. "On your guards!"

Everyone turned on her warning to what was down at the other end of the hallway. They all braced as they heard footsteps from a mile away…for Matilda quite literally. The Take-Over girl had claws ready as everyone took the initiative. As the figure closed in, Dereece's eyes squinted.

"Who's that?"

Very slowly, a person drenched lightly in water swayed from side to side. He held his left arm as it looked unnaturally messed up. His head was down in shame and had bangs covering his eyes. It was Joey, and beside him, Chespin's pins drooped.

"Joey!" Immediately to run to him was Dereece. Everyone else followed in pursuit and met the Trainer in the center.

"You had us worried for a while! Thank goodness!" Meredy exclaimed.

"Joey, it's really you! You had me worried sick man!" Dereece scolded. "Do you have any idea on what just…Joey?" he got no response. "Joey…?"

Joey looked like he was dead from the neck up. He hung his head in shame as he held his broken arm. He struggled to say as much as a single coherent thought after what happened.

"Joey? Are you okay? Joey?" Dereece got a look at his best friend, eyes widening. "What happened to your arm?! And you?! You look like that time those Mankey escaped from the zoo! Are you okay…?"

Matilda's brow furrowed. Something didn't feel right, and she knew it. She walked up to Joey and stared him down worriedly. "Hey. Wasn't Broly supposed to be with you?"

"Come to think of it, there was that guy." Dereece realized. "He was with Joey while we…" He started trailing off as he looked at Joey. He just now realized why Joey was so banged up.

The name made Joey clutch his teeth. The others were picking up on the mood, and they were getting worried. Matilda stepped closer.

"Joey…where's Broly?"

They all had expectant faces on as they started to inwardly panic. Chespin's pins drooped further as he looked depressed. Joey was much worse. He gritted his teeth as the stained tears on his cheeks began to burn again as more started streaming.

"…I'm sorry…" he whimpered through his tears. "…I'm so sorry…" He tried to contain himself, but it was too painfully obvious to the others now.

Dereece's eyes slowly widened. "Wait, you mean…"

"Oh no…" Matilda realized what happened. Her face went to stone-cold pale as her body shut down from the shock. All the breath she had escaped her lungs, like she was drowning all over again.

Liz snapped her gum in a loud pop as she painfully looked away.

Vanessa was just as shocked as the others. She used her aura to be double sure if what he said was true. Sadly, when she didn't feel Broly's aura anymore, she frowned heavily. She also looked down, painfully sympathizing with Joey's grief.

"Bro…he…he…" Unable to finish, Joey nearly sunk to his knees before Dereece caught him. He held him tight as his best friend whimpered over his shoulder, letting his sorrows take over.

All the others could do was watch in silence in the passing of one ally; another in the Peace Jaegers' case.

Ultear sighed heavily before she spoke. "I'm afraid this isn't the time." She said.

"What? Ultear!" Meredy snapped.

"She's right." All eyes went towards Matilda. "The Pokémon are still aboard. There still might be a chance that more will come for us. We'll worry about Broly later. The mission comes first…that's what we accepted, including Broly."

The others wanted to argue, but deep down, as painful as it was, it was the truth. This was war, and in warm people die. Vanessa and the others knew first-hand what this was like. But The Freaks were another story.

As painful as it was, Dereece had to keep Joey up. "C'mon man…we gotta go."

"Bro…" Joey sniffled.

Vanessa's eyes widened when she suddenly whipped up a shield of aura. "Get back!" In the nick of time, the aura stretched around Joey and Dereece, blocking what looked like massive jets of water that would've blown them away.

"Wah!" Dereece recoiled along with Joey behind the barrier. They got with everyone as their guards were up. Matilda and Liz immediately scooted forward, Duncan included.

Vanessa undid her barrier and glared forward. She swiped her arm and the aura wave dissipated the mist. On the other side of the hall, there was a snarl coming from the darkness.

"What's that?" Matilda questioned.

A slippery tentacle along with many more showed themselves. A blue top with massive red gems also revealed themselves. Beside that, there was a blue and black striped butterfly fish with magenta eyes. And on the other side also appeared to be a light blue angler-like fish with a yellow bulb that illuminated the atmosphere. Everyone could clearly see the distraught looks they all had.

"Oh no…" Dereece worried.

Duncan's eyes narrowed. "A Tentacruel, Lumineon, and Lanturn, huh?"

"You mean Pokémon?" Matilda gasped.

Without warning, the Tentacruel raised its proboscis and shot purple liquid via **Acid**. The liquid closed in, but they all moved out of the way in time to evade while the wood beneath them corroded.

"What the heck? Why are they attacking us?!" Meredy exclaimed.

"It's probably from all the battles that are happening." Ultear guessed. "The waters must be getting rough and are agitated."

Vanessa remained quiet as she used her aura again. Unconsciously, she was picking up red, angry auras from the three Water-types. _'She's right. I can feel agitation…but it's something else.'_ She looked into their eyes, reflecting her own image. To them, it was just a wispy shadow. _'Blind rage. Something's wrong.'_

Before she had time, her aura kicked up another attack. She raised her arms and generated another shield, defending herself from another blast of water coming from the other hall. The attackers were three Poliwhirl, and they looked just as angry.

"We're surrounded?!" Ultear's shock was met with another stream of acid barely missing her and the others.

Liz chewed on her gum and hurriedly blew a bubble. The bubble popped into a net that blocked another jet of acid from Tentacruel. With Liz holding up a side, she looked towards Matilda behind her, but she sunk to a knee.

"Damnit, still low over here." She grunted.

The Lanturn that was beside Tentacruel hummed and opened its mouth, generating a shimmering ball of yellow electricity via **Electro Ball**. Lumineon hummed sultry as the wings glowed before simmering silver gust-like **Silver Wind** flowed along. The gum-like net blocked both attacks for the most part, but the discharge of the static was absorbed, and yet the winds made net weaker.

"Joey! Get up man!" Dereece budged him. "C'mon we gotta go!"

Tentacruel shot one more **Acid** , this one strong enough to manage and break the netting with corrosive power. Liz and the others backed off, minding the severed floor. They all found little room as Vanessa was also against them, the Poliwhirl all bellowing and jumping in annoyance.

All backed against a three-way hall, they ran out of room. Tentacruel, Lumineon, and Lanturn all shot sprays of water again, this time making sure they didn't miss their mark. Just then, it all went black.

Dereece grunted as he waited for pressurized water to hit him, but oddly enough he looked at himself and realized what happened. "I'm not…" Looking ahead, he and the others looked startled. "What the-?!"

With what strength he had, Joey was weakly raising both arms as he made a solid glass barrier. He stirred on his heels as he tried to hold ground, grunting as stained tears filled his vision. Everyone watching was at a loss for words. In no way could even Duncan hold his own surprise.

"J-Joey…?" Dereece gasped.

The barrier stopped the blasts of water as Joey cried out with all his might. He held on to the very end, making definite promise to not lose momentum.

As they observed, Liz and Matilda realized the magical signature. They stared with awe and confusion over Joey and his sudden shift. "Hold on…isn't that…?" Matilda muttered.

"G-GO!" Joey roared. "GET GOING NOW!"

Ultear didn't have to be told twice. She turned towards the hallway and broke into a run. "Right. Let's go!"

"Right!" Meredy sped after her.

Soon following along, the others went as well. Just as Joey's barrier and will finally broke down, the water spray ended. The broken man finally lost his strength to stand and finally fell to his back with a thud. He laid there, grunting as the other Pokémon were starting to come closer. Joey's body unfortunately just couldn't keep up.

"I gotcha!" Chespin's **Vine Whip** shot from the hallway, wrapping around Joey's body and making sure to pull him in. The vines dragged Joey, making him gurgle as his head bonked each time he was dragged.

"Ow! Oh! Ow! Chespin! Agh! Stop! Ah!"

His pained wailings continued down the hall, where all the other Water-types looked down at. They all readied to follow, but a blast of teal aura from the side knocked them all down without delay. As the explosion faded, the Water-types all glared daggers as Vanessa raced down another hallway, hoping to get their attention.

Thankfully, they bought it. They all followed the voluptuous Pularis as she raced off down the hall.

' _I know something's wrong. Lanturn and Lumineon compete for food, so they don't coordinate like this.'_ She thought. _'This aura of anger and threat, it's directed from another source. The aura is stronger this way.'_

Rain poured down on the ship's stern, where there was only a third of space compared to the bow where Joey came from. Finally reaching outside, Vanessa reached the wet surface and found herself alone. She looked around wearily, turning around to look back as the opening was snarling with Pokémon inside.

"I should've known even the likes of machines were heavyweights of junk as well." A voice said.

Without having to look around fully, Vanessa knew where the voice came from. She glared off to the side, where behind, a figure slowly swayed her hips in the rain.

"So I only managed to flush one of you out. No matter…" she stopped in place. "These creatures will do the rest for me. Your allies must be tired after the Machia Knights failed at their job. No matter." The person revealing herself was Glynda, her glare through her glasses as sheer as acid itself. "Animals will always be animals."

Vanessa's stare was dead serious, rivaling that of Glynda herself.

* * *

Coordinates were being out into a search engine. Quickly, a name that started with O and went on with R – I – O – N was typed in. Once put into the engine, almost immediately, the first option was Orion's icon. Being tapped next, the screen popped open to reveal a zoom-in of Orion's location.

"Alright, here's the next one." Kevin said.

Jellal nodded. "You have our thanks." He faced the castle and began to make a telepathic connection. _'_ _ **Orion, can you hear me?**_ _'_

"Alright, so who else we got?" Gajeel asked.

Kagura looked at the list that had a bunch of names on it and crossed Orion's name off. "Well, so far…we have Salamander and Sophie's groups converged. They should be closing in on the stairway leading them to proper levels." She scrolled down the list to more names. "And Gray's group was just contacted."

"And Erik's little fancy party is on the upper levels outside. That should be our most common point." Sawyer said.

"Are we missing anyone else?" Yukino worried.

The groups that got the message earlier were able to converge part of themselves. So far, at ground level, Jellal and Bellona managed to catch up with Gajeel's group. The group made use of themselves and recovered, all while the heavy lifting was by Kevin, who was using his magic to locate the lost group while Jellal used telepathy to guide them to the right direction. So far, they got a good majority, leaving a few left.

"How are you holding up?" Pantherlily asked Kevin. "Does your Search Magic have a limit to how much you can take?"

Kevin deactivated the screen and rubbed his head. "Yeah, but it's cool." He faced the group and smirked. "Trust me, I can go for hours with this on…it only defects if my mind gets tired."

Pantherlily nodded. "Then it's good to see you're in good shape."

"Glad we have someone like him on our side." Sawyer said.

"Oh yeah! Thanks to him, all our friends will have safe returns!" Richard chimed.

"Yeah, that great and all…" Sorano rested her chin on her hands. "But this waiting around is really boring me. Did anybody pack a gameboard at least?"

Yukino sweatdropped. "Eh…sorry. I guess we're stuck here."

Sorano crossed her arms and pouted away.

"How is everything, Jellal?" Bellona looked at Jellal, who was still looking like he was giving telepathic messages.

"…understood. Thank you." Jellal undid the telepathy and faced Bellona. "Sorry. It's all well. Orion is injured, so his time will be rather slow." He answered. "On another note, he did say Sting is elsewhere."

"Oh great, _more_ running around. Just what we need." Sawyer said as he rubbed his head. "Man do we look like headless chickens."

"So I guess we'll be contacting Sting then I take it?" Macbeth smirked.

Jellal's brow furrowed. "Actually, I've been thinking something else. Something that's been bothering me." He looked towards Kevin, who was looking a little tired. "Kevin, can you use your magic to locate Nic and Erza? I'm sure that Neinhart is setting his sights on him the most."

Kevin reactivated the screen for his magic and started typing in their names. "Okay, I think I got…cha…" He started to trail off, blinking repeatedly as his head swayed from side to side. Before he had the chance, he fell over, blacking out again.

"Crap!" Gajeel rushed over and caught him in time. He caught Kevin and laid him down gently on his back. Everyone looked at him quietly with frowns of worry as Kevin was unconscious. The magic wore off, leaving the space he used absent. "Damn pervert…he really got his noggin knocked up back there huh?"

"Well to be fair, he _did_ lead to our victory." Macbeth said. "And considering his lack of abilities, I say it all works out."

"We need to get to Wendy ourselves." Gajeel hoisted Kevin over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I think we found enough to know where they are. Gotta count on the others for now."

Jellal closed his eyes. "Suppose it can't be helped." He started walking towards the doorway leading towards the inside of the building. "We'll have to thank him for his assistance later. Right now, we have our priorities. Have to get moving to the point as well."

Sorano shot up, stretching her arm overhead. "Awe yeah, now we're talking. I was beginning to grow stiff from acting like brick!"

"Let's hurry. I'm sure the others might be in trouble somewhere." Yukino said.

"I understand." Jellal said. "Let's go."

* * *

Erza ran her blade across the ground, slashing at Sentinal and creating a slash wave that made him leap out of the way. The cut slowed down just enough to graze a few strands of hair off. He slid across the side, but that's where Houndoom was waiting.

" **Shadow Ball!** " Houndoom craned his neck around and released a black sphere of darkness with a bright purple core. It shot with deadly accuracy at Sentinal, who caught wind and used his armored forearm to block the attack.

The attack exploded upon impact, swallowing his own arm and making him slid back to his original point. In midair, Erza was in midair ready to swing her blades. Sentinal caught wind of her and looked back with shock, only to see the tip of the blade before he opted to use his other arm's armored gauntlet. The result was a powerful eruption from the Aggron sword that Sentinal was sent into the side of the nearest wall with a quaking roar. It even made more of his bodily armor break off entirely as dust and debris fell with him, burying him in pounds of rubble.

Erza held her blade, keeping her guard up as Houndoom reconvened with her. Houndoom snorted smoke as he adjusted footing.

On the floor below, Nic and Charizard also glared down in silence. They felt a dark pit in their guts as they looked at Naga's red eyes from down below the dark depths. As Nic glared, he began to feel a very estrange pressure swell.

"You think that finished the centaur?" Houndoom inquired.

"We'll see…"

The rubble was vaguely quiet for a moment as the rock settled. Slowly, a muffled laughter came from inside, increasing in volume to cause Erza and Houndoom to tense up.

"A centaur, you say…" a voice said inside. It was immediately followed by an eruption of dark swell, erupting the debris in all directions. Erza requipped her Adamantine Armor in time to click the two shields together and prevent a large rock from getting them.

From inside the dust cloud, a figure slowly trotted out. He was tall and had the bottom half of a horse. "My, a little presumptuous, are we?" the same voice said. "Whoever said I really was such a label?"

The figure came out, leaving Erza to split her shields. What she saw immediately shrunk her eyes with a gasp.

The body of Sentinal revealed. The armor for the horse half was still present, but soon enough, it trailed up to the upper body, where scars were along the lower abdominal region of the man, and black lining was what kept the horse half and his upper half together. Immediately she pieces it together. "…stitches?"

Sentinal smirked. "Surprised, aren't you? Wouldn't be my first time given that reaction. How's it feel knowing you're facing someone who's an artificial hybrid of man, and animal?"

Erza's brow furrowed as she only held her composure. In honesty she was appalled by such a sight, but she knew better than to judge. Sentinal continued.

"You see, back before I was enlisted in the empire's military forces, I was a well-known horseback rider. I've won many of competitions back then…all with my prized horse, who I raised myself." He looked down at his lower half with a meek smile. "My dear friend and I shared many years together. People said I was inseparable with the beast back then…hehe…well just look at me now."

"You mean to tell me that your horse is…?"

Sentinal glared at Erza before he continued. "One day, we were in a simple competition. Nationals to be accurate. We were doing well…but then, there was…an accident." He could still recall the lacrima bomb that his horse ran on. The eruption and the flames engulfing the whole course still frightened those there to this day. "Somebody didn't seem to take lightly of our winning streak. Eventually the perpetrator was found and killed, but…my steed and I weren't so lucky. My lower half was beyond repair, and my horse was rendered brain dead. But rather than let us suffer like this, the empire was kind enough to perform surgery." He chuckled again at the recollection. "Took them 96 hours of relentless surgery all the way down to the right nerve. But, I was stitched to my horse so as to keep us both alive. How ironic. When I say we're inseparable…well, we mean it."

Erza couldn't believe what she was hearing. The stare she had didn't lose its spice. "So the empire went as far as turn you into something you had no say in?"

"The empire saved us!" he retorted. "Now, as gratitude, I pledge my power to this land's services, and no matter what, nothing will break my divine loyalty to this great nation."

"It's not in my place to tell you where loyalty lies…" She stood beside Houndoom as both readied. "But even because of what they did, the empire and its emperor have made great dishonor to what _we_ hold loyalty in. I sympathize with what happened to you…" she thought of Simon and the instance with Kagura back in the previous war. Her body had a red aura surround her. "But even if I must, I will take down your lower half to make sure your horse truly does rest."

Sentinal uproariously laughed at her. "I like your spirits! Consent or not, this way we are together forever! Now if I am reading _you_ correctly, then you prefer to fall with your dog. I'll grant that! Come, Mudbray army!"

The sides of the huge corridors opened. Trap doors opened all around to give view of what was coming. The floor shuddered as a stampede of Mudbray like the ones from the gate entrance were accounted for. Immediately Erza and Houndoom found themselves surrounded.

"This is my personal vanguard." Sentinal said. "It's not much I know, but I don't see much of a point since Master Naga is all warmed up now."

"Warmed up…?" A tingle of fear creeping down her neck, Erza looked down the hole to where Nic and Charizard had made.

Sentinal chuckled again. "Oh trust me. There's more to Master Naga, than I…"

* * *

Nic and Charizard could literally see energy waves from the darkness in the depths of the holes created. Rather than peer into darkness itself, they were looking at a watery black surface that was swirling like a whirlpool. Both held their ground as they could feel Magic Power circulate to an intense level, and neither moved an inch.

Neither said anything as they saw the darkness get wavy like tendrils. They heard a small grotesque laughter as they saw pulsing red eyes. The wavy darkness slowly spread, enveloping the area and the floor to a very dark hue. The only light making it bearable was Charizard's tail flame.

"Oh great Agaphvelia, allow me to feed to you the strengths of the hearts of the misfortune…" Naga said lowly. He cackled a growl as the wavy darkness expelled from his body, the vermilion and dark waves keep going outwards, swallowing many rooms in less than an instance. "I give to you, the grief, and the despair that lay on their shoulders. And in return, give me strength! Hehehehe…"

Nic's eyes narrowed as the darkness swallowed him and Charizard. _'What's this feeling…I'm not even doing this.'_ He realized that his feet were getting cold, and it felt like his head was getting light. _'Is this his magic?'_

Like him, Charizard also felt weary as he saw nothing but a swirling dark spirit down beneath them. Its vermilion and black darkness opened up an eye, revealing a growling red iris with a perk purple feral sclera.

* * *

Neinhart smirked within his dark throne room. He saw what was happening on screen and couldn't be anymore pleased. "Naga…"

From around the domain that was the palace, Rogue and Minerva looked ahead, both feeling a sensation shrivel their spines.

"What…is this feeling?"

"I don't know, but…I feel so…sad."

"Yeah…me too…I'm so worried…" As Rogue said that, dark steam was beginning to lift from their shuddering bodies. They both were sinking to their knees and despaired softly as the dark stream was seeping from their bodies.

Lower and lower, their heads sunk in shame and guilt. As they felt this weight, they began to worry more, sadness and hopes of whatever they had starting to creep out. Their deepest worries, especially those of Frosch, surfacing to steam.

Yukino slumped to her knees, along with Sorano. "Gnngh…why…?"

"Sorano?" Sawyer asked. "What up?"

Dark steam began to radiate from them. But not just them; Sawyer, Jellal, and Kagura were all looking around, seeing everyone falling to their hands and knees as dark steam emanated from their bodies.

"Guys? Guys!" Finally showing worry, Sawyer began to groan, sulking as dark steam slowly eroded from his body. "Why…are we doing this…?" he sorely muttered.

Jellal and Kagura's shock was also what affected them. They began to feel their bodies get heavy, and they faltered to a knee each. It wasn't just them unfortunately. All around them, even when knocked around, everyone was sinking to their knees or sitting down. Dark steam eroded from their bodies as sad or confused looks washed over their faces. They all showed either that, or perhaps grief like Aniya as she had misty eyes.

"Why…why…"

"What is happening?" Carla grunted. "It's so…cold."

"It's like I wanna throw up…" Wendy lurched. "Man, why me…?"

Griffon and Sophie were also victim to this. Both them and Natsu, Lucy, and especially Dimaria and Brandish exhibited disgruntled expressions.

However, in depths that were far out of the other's reaches, there was the sound of slurping. Anything black or any energy waves of darkness afar, they streamed elsewhere. Away from everyone else, it converged into the maw of someone who was already on a knee, but not from despair. The darkness he ate was actually making him feel better as he arose to his feet. Once enough of the darkness was ingested, the streams snapped off, revealing the rest being swallowed and wiped by a sleeve.

Upon clearing out, Orion was seen with a dead serious look. "Anything dark, I can sense…" he said low. "Whoever's darkness this is…its taste is strong."

Neinhart's snickering through his own depression was making him show a more deranged side of him. He laughed loudly as he could feel the atmosphere growing cold. "Now this is what I'm looking for! Entertainment!"

On all the screens, everyone showed varied despairs, either somber or sulking. The only exceptions were Erza and Nic, the latter on the big screen. Neinhart looked up with a menacingly psychotic look.

"And they said Larcade's Pleasure was effective? What's better entertainment than to see your own enemies crumble in despair at your victory? The greatest joy after your own demise, is clearly seeing that your own enemy suffered what you have! Yes…suffer…" his smile served to widen more. "It's too easy to fight pleasure. So why fight the one thing that's easier to manipulate…despair?"

* * *

From below Nic and Charizard, they could feel the floor slowly quake and pulsate. Naga opened his maw and roared out, making shredding shockwaves that caused a pillar of darkness to shoot up and expand the holes that Nic and Charizard made. Nic and Charizard grunted as the pulse waves shot them in a hectic spiral skywards.

The shockwaves and pillar of darkness shot even to the far floor upwards behind Sentinal. Erza and Houndoom looked shocked at the sight.

"What's this?!" Erza gasped. "This magic…"

Sentinal chuckled amusingly as the shockwaves of darkness and vermilion pulsated through the air, like an ominous fog. Nic and Charizard finally straightened out high above to break the ceiling, where they peered down with wide eyes as they saw Naga slowly arising, his body with a red layer of aura beneath a layer of vermilion. It looked like a forcefield of vermilion and magenta mixed together was encompassing him as his cape expanded to make him slowly eye level with Nic and Charizard at the destroyed ceiling, revealing the dark clouds thundering.

The ceiling debris itself was reduced to dust from the dark energy produced. The atmosphere blackened yet again, though not as much as before as it set the mood with Nic now on Charizard's back high in the sky against the corrosive Spriggan.

"What kind of sick magic is this?" Nic foully asked.

"My dear friend." Naga said scornfully. "Why, Dimaria wasn't the only one blessed with powers from a god."

"What?"

"Agaphvelia, the goddess of grief and despair. She was revered as the one who brought sorrow on the weak, and created the survival of the fittest." He balled both fists as he continued, veins pulsing tremendously. "With each slow breath that I take in, I create and eat away at the negativity that she craves. The anger. The frustration. The woes. The anxiety. Every little fabric that pushes you back, she feeds! And in return, she gives me power." He leaned forward with narrowed eyes full of cravings of his own. "And it's a known fact, that it's much easier to bring grief than it is pleasure, so what will you do, Nic Pularis? Will you defy the goddess her cravings and I'll have to take out your will for you, or will you fall to despair?"

His laughter cackled venomously through the air. His dark energy he had shrilled intensely as Charizard glared. "So that's where this power comes from."

"Yeah." Nic glared Naga down. The energy veil he emitted continued to give him cold feet, despite the heat of his Charizard. _'So that's where he got his power from. So he's just like me…given his power by someone else in return for something more…Naga…'_

Naga's eyes flashed wide open, revealing the showing of those same dark eyes yet again. He shrilled a roar again as streams of dark stream came from all around into his forcefield, making his body emit a vermilion aura of greater intensity, so much that it was like swirling vermilion fire.

"Here we go…" Nic swiped his arm, glowing a bright light as he became his Icicle Form. "Charizard!"

Charizard bellowed alongside Nic as Naga roared back, their chilling and heated roars making eardrums shrivel and spines quake in displeasure.

* * *

"C'mon, this way!" Ultear took to her heels to lead the group to safety.

"Yeah, we're right behind ya!" Meredy looked back. "C'mon!"

The Freaks, Liz, and Matilda followed them as they were hoping to make some distance between the Pokémon and themselves. Eventually, after much running, they came to the hallway that was trashed by shockwaves from Tyson and Matilda's throwdown. Once safely away, they all stopped to catch themselves.

"I think…we lost 'em…" Dereece wheezed. "Uh…please tell me we are…right?"

"Ugh…" Joey groaned as he laid on the ground in pain. "Man, I think I got splinters in my spine." He groaned again. "Thanks anyways, Chespin, but man that hurt…OW!"

"S-sorry!" he gasped. "But are you…?"

"Man, I don't know what this is all about, but I'm not sticking around to see myself wind up as seafood. Not the way I wanna go."

"And we still can't contact the others?" Meredy asked Liz, who shook her head. "Okay…but we can't stay here, not like this. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"But what about the Pokémon?! We can't just leave them here either!" Just as Dereece said that, the Yanma from before – again – found a rightful perch on his head once caught up. He growled annoyingly.

Ultear put a hand to her chin. "Well we can't exactly sty here, but we can't have these creatures in their possessions either…" The others thought with her, but Ultear was thinking deeper. _'Why were those Pokémon attacking us? It's obvious they were agitated. But…'_ Her eyes narrowed. _'No, they couldn't be part of the shipment. I can't tell what, but there's a vague atmosphere around here.'_

Behind them, something distorted in the atmosphere. Mest and Ralts appeared, getting everyone's attention.

"Huh? You!" Dereece exclaimed.

Mest stepped forward. "I was getting worried. The others were s well. What's going on?"

Ultear stepped forward. "It's a long story, but we don't have time to explain. Can you teleport the Pokémon in the chamber to a safer place?"

"I can try…as long as you fill me in…" He slowed down in his paces when he picked up on something. "Wait a minute…this power…" He looked up above him, getting a bad feeling. "Is that…a Spriggan?"

"I said we'll fill you in! Now c'mon!" Ultear snapped angrily, causing Mest to shrink back.

Behind, Meredy sweatdropped. "Yeah, she's in a bad mood."

"Well I'd be too if someone trashed my hard work."

"Yeah…"

Dereece looked around, noticing something else. "Huh?"

"Hello?" Yanma inquired.

"Uh, guys?" he started. "Where exactly is Duncan?"

"Wait, what?" Joey looked down confusedly and realized that Dereece was right. "Duncan? Duncan…?" he called out. "W-where did he…?"

"Vanessa isn't here either." Meredy realized the sensation and looked back, a dark feeling crawling up her spine. "Oh no…I've got a bad feeling about all this…"

* * *

Vanessa stood part from Glynda as the classy Spriggan glared down the Pularis girl like she was some wild animal she could tame. Vanessa kept her composure as she could feel her foes magical pressure creating a strong skip in her heartbeat, but she persevered.

"From those blue eyes and the descriptions I've memorized, I take it that you're aligned with Fairy Tail, are you?"

Vanessa chose to play along. "Guilty is charged. Vanessa Pularis, the pleasure being all mine." She said seriously.

Glynda folded her arms. "My apologies, but I don't make it my business to recall faces or names of anything that I care so little for. It preserves the brain cells I need for knowing the more important matters."

"Do I even want to know what you mean by that?"

"I wouldn't dream someone even the likes of you could understand ambition, or what it takes to achieve it. For example…distraction."

Upon her words, the growl from behind happened again. Vanessa turned around to find the Tentacruel, Lumineon, and Lanturn having finally caught up. Vanessa leered as the Water-types all shot either **Water Gun** or **Hydro Pump** , exerting forces across the deck that force for to move out of the way of their attack. She landed on the wood, her overall view now with Glynda and the creatures against her.

"Distractions re a very fickle thing, aren't they?" Glynda opposed. "That's why I choose to disregard any unworthy distractions of my time."

Vanessa chose to keep composure. "Are the Pokémon reacting this way because of you I take it?"

"Not directly. As I was coming here, I was taking special note of all the aquatic creatures that have surfaced. All I really did was secrete pheromones into the water and see how they react. As you can imagine, their senses are in disorder."

"So you'd go as far as use their harm them in their own home?" Vanessa absconded. She pulled out a Poke Ball and glared. "How deplorable…go, Magnezone!"

The Poke Ball opened, and out onto the field, Vanessa's Magnezone was to do battle. "I'm here!"

"All is fair in love and war. I see no reason for hypocrisy when your little misfits sought to come here of all places and invade _our_ home. I'd rather not be stopped to such a mediocre level such as yourself." Her eyes then closed. "By the way, if you haven't noticed, look down."

Confused, Vanessa did as asked and looked down at the deck. She noticed the water was bubbling rather strangely, and the bottom of her heels were starting to steam. To her shock, she was seeing the heels of her boots slowly corroding away.

' _Acid?'_ Making a quick move, she created a teal pedestal of aura that she used to hold herself up. She was safe from the acid below, but she was almost reduced to her socks. _'How did she do that? I thought it was just water.'_

Glynda pulled out her wand and hummed. With one swipe, another change occurred.

Vanessa noticed something else. As more rain kept coming down, her skin began to sting some. Grunting, she began to feel intense discomfort as the cool rain was actually making her skin itch. _'Even the rain?'_ Without much choice, the flux of aura she used became a prism she used to shield herself from all around.

Glynda's glare didn't sway from its fierce ignorance. With the acidic elements on her think blue jacket, Vanessa was left with no choice but to take it off to keep her skin well. Left in a dampened white t-shirt with a low cut, one could barely make out her teal bra she was wearing.

"My magic: Alchemist." Glynda prodded her glasses. "I can break ions and cells to a molecular structure at will and change it entirely. I can alter liquids to change them to another chemical, such as the acid rain for example. Hydrogen peroxide, for example, I can make from altering water molecules. This can include hydrogen in the air, creating combustion."

"So you fight using science." Vanessa was beginning to have déjà vu. It wouldn't be the first time she was up against a Brainiac. Of course she had no time to worry about that at the moment.

"Allow me to demonstrate more." Glynda reached into her pockets, pulling out a handheld plastic case. "Ordinary dish soap, as you can see." She brought her arm around and gave it one huge swish. The liquid moved everywhere, spreading as she squeezed the bottle. The blue liquid went into the water, leaving Vanessa to guess what she intends. "Now…add in iodine potassium." With a snap of her fingers, a strange liquid spread from the bottom of her heels and slowly into the water. It slowly swallowed up the soap and water, making a strange shudder before the concoction erupted into a messy, wrinkled field that looked unpleasant to look at.

The concoction closed in and began to swallow up Vanessa's field of vision. Despite the rain, Glynda snapped her fingers to make the odd formation solidify.

Moments passed as the strange blue, wavy hard surface surrounded Vanessa's shield, blocking her view almost entirely. Moments passed and nothing happened, until suddenly, a teal explosion erupted, breaking apart and shooting away the acid water and the chemical compounds that enveloped her. In another flash, Vanessa was seen on her feet.

All the chemicals she sent into the air were right above her head. Glynda moved her wand around and made all the massive loads to odd substance suddenly dissolve quickly, becoming massive blankets of water. She swiped her arm, spraying even more soap into the air and rain.

"Now, add in hydrogen peroxide, and potassium pomegranate…"

On command, cells changed in the water to make another, more bizarre soap foam that looked scary, if not like a melted rock substance. Time slowed down for Vanessa as the odd blanket closed in.

' _She can even mold chemicals without her body?'_ Swiping her arm, Vanessa countered. " **Aura Guard!** " Creating another teal aura shield, she blocked the bizarre blanket, which laid top her shield like chocolate on a sundae.

It was a good move to an extent, because now the concoction was steaming. It was sizzling, like it was eating at itself, and the shield.

"I would prefer it if I was able to combust hydrogen." Glynda said. "I prefer swifter ends these days…however, since all this rain rather cumbersome, I'm afraid melting you is the best option."

Not too far, the Lumineon swiftly moved through the rain like it was the sea. Its Swift Swim Ability poured a lot of speed that made it "flutter" towards Magnezone. Rather than attack recklessly, Magnezone waited and Lumineon suddenly moved upwards.

' _A speed evasion. I gotta wait…'_

Above, the Lumineon took in a deep breath before it shot a **Water Gun** , spraying a greater volume due to the rain.

" **Mirror Coat!** " Magnezone created a mirror in front of himself and held his ground. He grunted as the attack was doing its damage, but it was worth it for him as he spun his magnets and shot all the water in greater force back at Lumineon, scoring a hit right into the face and sent it splashing on the deck.

Tentacruel retaliated using **Acid** again, and Lanturn went and took a breath before firing a blast of blue bubbles, via **Bubble Beam**. They closed in at the same time, but Magnezone was ready.

" **Tri Attack!** " Generating three spheres in front. The red eye and two magnets had orbs of different colors. Once charged, blasts of electricity, fire, and ice shot ahead. The fire and ice blasts intercepted the two beams, yet the electric beam shot with great precision and got Tentacruel, making it go airborne with intense force.

Magnezone then faced Lanturn. Without waiting, he made his eye glow before a yellow, green orb with a bright red core generating matter like plasma erupted into a powerful hemisphere that was ready to be launched.

" **Zap Cannon!** "

He fired the attack straight ahead, closing in on Lanturn. It generated a massive discharge of electrical energy that pulsated everywhere. Magnezone stood still in the air, glaring daggers at the damage he dealt. But s the electricity simmered, he was startled at what he saw.

The Lanturn looked unfazed. In fact, as the electricity cackled around it, it was generating green waves around the body, making it growl. _'My electric attack had no effect?!'_ He was cut off when he realized a jet of water was coming from the side, which he managed to narrowly dodge. When he found his space again, he found Lumineon and the Pokémon all gathered up, growling. Magnezone's glare hardened as he eyes them. "This is a bigger problem than I thought…"

The Tentacruel let out a roaring scowl before it lifted its front, creating massive breath before a mirror of water was generated. Unleashing another massive **Hydro Pump** , Magnezone knew he had to take the chance.

The massive blast of water worked into him, but instead of dodging, he glared ahead with passion. " **Mirror Coat!** " The pulsing jet of pressurized water with monstrous force smashed into the huge mirror that Magnezone created. The attack was so strong and so intense that Magnezone grimaced and grunted louder as the pain flared all over him. He was losing precious ground, but he didn't sway. With one powerful roar, the Electric/Steel-type spun his magnets, causing the mirror to glow for a moment before the water shot at him suddenly expelled back at Tentacruel with a far greater level of pressure.

The Tentacruel was too in shock to realize it before the vortex of its own attack finally reached it. A massive explosion of water and mist took up everything, and through its quaking, a swift jet of something ripped through the metal layer off to the side.

The Tentacruel was shot over the edge with swirling eyes, fainted and plummeted to the depths of the water far below.

Magnezone grimaced as his body was bruised. He found himself swaying in angst. "…that attack…was more powerful then I thought…" Before he had time to worry, he picked up on a beam of blue bubbles and blast of water he moved out of the way from. Lanturn and Lumineon glared, making him grunt.

Glynda glanced off to the side, making meek to very little appeal. "Interesting." She looked back at Vanessa. "Is that your Pokémon I take it?"

"Yes, it is." She answered.

Glynda paused and glanced back at Magnezone once more. Even from here, she could tell that on his body was slick and clean metal. It reminded her of the shiny Magnemite she gave the Machia Knights. "So it see…how interesting. It looks very well in shape. But I wonder…" she glared. "Are you aware of metal can change its surface?"

Almost immediately sensing an insidious undertone, Vanessa's eyes widened as she turned towards her Pokémon. "Magnezone!"

Dodging by circling around another **Water Gun** , Magnezone hovered closer towards Vanessa, answering her call. He closed in towards her. "I'm coming!"

Glynda frowned. "Iron and steel…iron sulfate."

The rain in the atmosphere started to change yet again. It became green rain that was slowly beginning to pour onto the stern of the boat, where they were specifically. The green downpour of bizarre liquid made an intense reaction, one that made Magnezone stop in place.

The Pokémon began to twitch, his body starting to react rather violently.

"Magnezone?" Vanessa worried.

Slowly on the magnets and surface, the shiny, silver coating he had was beginning to slow him down. His composure was showing pain as coatings of himself were starting to be eaten away and turn brown and crusty.

Vanessa's eyes shot wide. "Magnezone!"

"Iron turns to copper once introduced to this chemical long enough." Glynda voiced. "And since it lives, it must be like an acidic evolution. Painful."

"Magnezone…" Vanessa watched in horror as her Pokémon was grimacing in the chemical rain. She hurried and expanded her shield around Magnezone to keep him from getting harmed, but as the shield expanded, another ball of electricity and a silver-like gust ripped through the air, causing Vanessa's aura shield and Magnezone to be hit at the same time. A bright flash generated, and both the Pularis girl and Magnezone fell on their sides as the rain returned to normal. They found themselves compacted by the Lumineon and Lanturn, which growled at them.

Glynda prodded her glasses and turned away. "Now then, I suppose I'm done entertaining you and showing my tricks." She walked passed the agitated aquatic creatures, which ignored her. "Hope you learned your lesson. I'm done here."

Vanessa's eyes narrowed. She then saw Lanturn and Lumineon ready their next attacks, inhaling before they exhibited agitation and fired one more **Water Gun** and **Bubble Beam** combo. The Pularis girl and her Magnezone, though they felt uncomfortable, stood and braced themselves to counter.

Suddenly, the bubbles and water suddenly did a 90-degree turn, shocking Vanessa and Magnezone.

"Hm?" Glynda glanced back. "What?"

All the water streamed into a vortex into something off in the distance. At the cabin entrance, the liquid surged into something in front of someone who was at the entrance, stepping forward. He reached forward.

" **Ice Beam!** "

Once the water dissipated, a sudden blast of ice shot straight across the deck, freezing up a trail that swallowed up Lanturn and Lumineon. Both creatures cried out before the ice exploded into mist, dissipating to reveal them both covered in frost and unconscious.

"Who did that?" Glynda sniped.

Vanessa looked back, shocked at what she was seeing. To her immense surprise, she saw a certain Trainer with a blue sea slug-like creature with a green top and yellow edging. The Trainer didn't smile. "Duncan!"

Glynda's eyes narrowed. "Another Trainer?"

"I hope that you didn't mind that we got a share of that Exp of yours." Duncan said. "The whole inside was swarming with Water-type Pokémon. Looks like we figured out the little, huh?"

' _So that's why the reinforcements aren't here. He took them out?'_ Glynda gasped.

Duncan smirked. "What's wrong? Never seen a Gastrodon before?" he gestured to his Eastern Sea Gastrodon, which slurred his head up in recognition.

"A Gastrodon?" Vanessa began to recall why Gastrodon specifically. Though she only knew it through her time in Kiloude City's Friend Safari, she remembered an ability that Gastrodon had. "…Storm Drain."

Duncan chuckled. However, behind him, shadows of what looked like Seadra appeared, making him frown. The Seadra corralled behind him, in which they readied themselves. "Looks like I missed a few. Gastrodon!"

They all pumped out streams of **Brine** , to which the streams of saltwater went towards Duncan, yet Gastrodon moved in front, in which his body absorbed the water to make a red aura ignite around him.

Duncan reached out. " **Muddy Water!** "

Gastrodon cried out as his head swung forward, creating a tidal wave of brown water of immense power. The whole inside of the cabins swam with a torrent of intense brown water that swamped out the Seadra, making them all cry out.

Duncan glanced over his shoulder. "What are you waiting for? Get her!"

Vanessa nodded. "Right." Straightening up, she and Magnezone ignored their discomforts and the Pularis girl's teal aura surrounded her hands.

Glynda looked down, sensing a rising eruption of energy beneath her. "What-?!"

" **Nugatory Burst!** "

An insidious bright flash blossomed in place of Glynda as an intense pillar of teal aura vibrated and quaked. Its intense force made the wood beneath depress into uneven mounds as the skyward attack bellowed like a howling wild beast. Within, Glynda's eyes were momentary white as she fell out of the pillar, gasping as bits of her clothes were also torn. She plopped onto the ground, hitting damp wood hard with a gag again.

The Spriggan grimaced as the pillar ended, but she refused to give in to a wild animal. She staggered to her feet, her body beginning to show filaments of shimmering liquid. _'This chemical at the last second saved me from the brute of that…but still.'_

Vanessa glared forward. " **Flash Cannon!** "

Magnezone's eye began to materialize shimmering bright energy before it expelled into a roaring blast of intense white, silver, and bright blue that pulsated into Glynda. Using her magic, Glynda used her wand to combust hydrogen in front of her to create a midair eruption. It acted as a shield for the attack, but the impact created an intense shockwave that erupted the flames, making Glynda shoot into the air in recoil over the energies colliding with one another.

The flames and light suddenly opened, revealing teal aura that snared Glynda, arching and slamming her into the deck with a thud. Through the teal thread, it traced towards Vanessa, who held on.

Her eyes wincing from the shock, the alchemist began to show annoyance. "Persistent wild beasts…" Using her magic, she exhausted a corrosive chemical that ate away at the aura tying her. It quickly went towards Vanessa, but before it got too close she dispersed Once on her knee, she swiped her arm.

" **Golden Rain!** "

Vanessa looked up, she and Magnezone calmly noticing the iodized rain particles assorting to gold. Although before they could take necessary action, a sudden spread of brown water whirled over them, taking in the attack.

Glynda and Vanessa turned again, seeing Duncan reaching out. "Gastrodon, do it!"

Gastrodon craned his head around and released a cry, expanding the massive water vortex. The vortex empowered by rain, adding in the Special Attack maxed from his ability, the omnidirectional brown tidal wave was like a shredding wake that Glynda had no hope of escaping. She cried out as she was caught in the cyclone, whirled and trashed along the deck like an actual wave picked her up and slammed her down hard. As the brown water final settled, Glynda was seen on her side, coughing up water. Meanwhile, Vanessa and Duncan were with their Pokémon as they glared her down.

"So I guess that's the best that a Spriggan can do then." Duncan absconded. "Wow, and here I thought I was going to keel from this mistake."

"Careful, Duncan." Vanessa warned. She swiped her arm, creating more teal tendrils. They began to wrap around Glynda, but her body continued secreting a chemical to eat away at the magic. "She's still fighting."

"Then I guess we better wrap it up then. Gastrodon!" Gastrodon moved in front.

"Magnezone!" Likewise, Magnezone moved in front Vanessa. Both faced her as she arose slowly.

Glynda was slouched up as she stared at them with am agitated expression, yet through her raspy breathing it was hard to express her conflictions. _'These beings…these animals…how are they…?'_ Deep within her mind, she could see the many people who were asking her questions or picking t her brain. They were all endless waves of shadows that her doing nonstop talking, and they got louder the closer they got to her. _'My space. The one thing I need to do my work; those insufficient ruffians and not knowing what's in front of their eyes…'_ In her mind, a wave of a chemical washed them all away, leaving her in the center of a dark swirl that's she slowly sunk in. She prodded her glasses – which surprisingly stayed intact after the trashing – to get a visual of the two Trainers. _'Perhaps they're strong…but even the strongest have a weakness. And I know how to show it.'_

Slowly from her body, a strange steam was beginning to come off her. The others saw how she was remaining still as another chemical surge was being created.

"What is she doing?" Vanessa questioned.

Magnezone looked down, seeing something. "What's that?"

Slowly, a silverfish liquid began eroding from Glynda's body. Globs of it even slowly arose to become amorphous entities. "Human beings, animals…what means of comprehension is there when you can't see right in front of you. I would prefer if you answered your own questions…but you're not capable. So allow me to reveal to you my trump card."

Enveloping her and around her are, meshes of silver liquid spiraled like a Saturn ring that was having meshes conduct to tendrils coming from her skin. The others got on guard as they eyed her, but showed uncertainty.

" **Mercury Tamer**." Without much of another syllable, the streams of mercury rushed at them all.

' _Mercury?'_ Catching onto the chemical, Vanessa created yet another shield of aura, which managed to block off the rush of the liquid. _'She's using mercury as a trump card. I've heard even a small dose can be poisonous to the human system. That's her angle for this?'_

Duncan looked down at his feet. When he saw shimmering silver, he realized silverfish liquid was taking place of the water. Taking action, he swiped his arm down. " **Ice Beam!** Freeze the deck! **"**

Gastrodon did as told and created another icy orb, which shot into the ground beneath. It made icy rays expand slowly across the deck, until it enveloped the ground. Beneath, the mercury below was trapped and squirming beneath all their feet. Although to an extent, parts of were still attached and swirling around Glynda.

"So you fight using mercury, do you?" Duncan inquired.

Rather than verbally reply, Glynda chose not to waste time as she waved her wand, making the many mercury swirls around her compress into many small orbs that shot arrows of mercury at them all. They surged into the aura shield, and although the shield held up, surprisingly, a few broke through. They sped past Vanessa and Duncan alike, barely missing them.

Getting down, the two were careful as the concentration went over their heads. _'We can't survive like this. At this rate, her mercury will reach us when our reaction time slows.'_ Vanessa could already feel more of her Aura Guard starting to vibrate and crack from arrows of mercury constantly hitting one point. _'And my Magic Power and body is still weary from the last fight. Suppose this means…'_

Glynda swiped her arm, grunting as she summoned serpents of mercury that followed her lead dead ahead. The many heads streamed with compressed points to resemble missiles.

' _That I have to use my trump card as well.'_ Standing up, Vanessa started gathering intense levels of aura that started to vibrate around her. "Duncan, please give me some room!"

Duncan eyes Vanessa with discretion, but he found no objections. Feeling her Magic Power swell, he knew she was up to something. He backed off the Gastrodon as the streams of mercury darted for them.

Vanessa summoned a massive pulse wave of teal aura that began to erupt in a light pillar around her. " **Aura Guardian!** " A massive shockwave of teal rushed everywhere, dissipating the mercury incoming and making Glynda and Duncan hold their ground. They both glared forward, but their eyes slowly widened and traced skywards as a huge shadow casted over them.

There, as the deck's dust dissipated through the rainfall, a hulking armored teal creature was on the side of the ship. Standing at over a hundred feet tall, the trump card had Vanessa at its center as it glared at Glynda.

Duncan's eyes were wide with shock and disbelief. This was the first time he saw such a display. _'You mean…that's her full strength?'_ He thought back to when he and Vanessa fought. He knew she must've held back if her Goodra didn't use Ice Beam from the start, but now that he was seeing her in action for the first time, he couldn't help but feel the magic levels make him realize the gap.

"So this is the power of you Fiorians…I see." Retaining composure, Glynda's glare hardened as her own magic levels erupted in a silver aura, which swallowed her in a pillar of mercury. "Then allow me to give you more science lessons."

Accommodating Vanessa's new size, the Pularis girl remained calm as the glob of mercury expanded. It even made it to the sea. To her, what she saw looked like a Muk-like creature that stood at her height. Water swished around as the mercury monster let out a shrilled cry to the world, making airwaves shudder, even at the deck.

In the monster's eyes, it looked like Glynda. She glared daggers while Vanessa seethed back at her.

"Come!"

The two titans of their element leaned into each other, both colliding their body materials to make shockwaves that caused Duncan and Gastrodon to push back.

* * *

On shore, rain fell just as hard. Aligned or hiding in the bushes, the Pokémon were all remaining passively quiet as Mest teleported back to them, this time with everybody else accounted for.

"Alright! That should be everyone, right?!" he shouted. "Ralts, are they all rounded up?"

Near the Pokémon, Ralts was banging his head against a small log. The rate he did t made it almost like it was a Pikipek. Arceus knew how he kept doing that. Mest just watched with a bead of sweat.

"Man, I can't believe the ship's a disaster. Again!" Dereece exclaimed. Again, Yanma was perched on his head, but at this point he chose to ignore.

Joey looked down shamefully. "Yeah…" As rain fell, he was slowly waning away in his thoughts. His frown deepened as Broly's body was on there still. _'I hope Vanessa-senpai and Duncan are okay too…'_

Chespin turned towards the basin, his eyes widening. "Look!"

"What is it?" Joey looked back, only to go wide-eyed as he saw something in the distance that made his eyes shrink.

It wasn't just them who were flabbergasted. Matilda, Liz, even Dereece were all looking out with no words as they saw the whole ship's side containing two oversized monsters. One looked humanoid while another looked fiendishly amorphous.

"Wait, where did those guys come from?!" Meredy gasped.

"Are they with us?" Ultear grunted.

They all saw the huge wake the teal armored giant created when its fist crossed over the mercury beast's face. The shock spilled mercury into the water. The monster's eye, as in Glynda, grunted from the shock and directed the beast to raise a glob of a hand. It was pushed into the armored entity's chest, which shoved it back a few steps, making more wakes in the water.

Watching, Mest stared with a knowing glare. "Looks like Vanessa's finally using her trump card."

Matilda shot a look of shock at him. "Say what?!" she looked back at the battle. "You mean that girl's been holding out on us, this whole time?!"

"She probably didn't want to damage the ship with how much space her spell takes up. Looks like she's using everything she has to get the upper hand on the Spriggan."

"Well for all our sakes, let's hope so." Dereece said. "C'mon, Vanessa!"

"You can do this! Hang in there!" Meredy shouted. Even though it was impossible for her to hear them, she hoped her aura of assurance was enough make her a little easier in mind.

Joey watched in awe and silence. He was staring with shock was he was seeing another big fight, one that was making his heart race after everything that's happened.

* * *

The liquid metal monster reached for Vanessa, but the guardian's huge hand mimicked Vanessa's way of swatting. Vanessa motioned with the best she created copying her. She pulled a fist back enveloped in aura and punched forward. The result was a huge blast wave of teal that roared through the atmosphere. It surged across the aura and into the faraway forest and mountains. There, several glints were made before a massive trail of teal exploded skywards from the impact, destroying parts of the mountain.

The result of the blow was a massive hole in the monster's center. The huge hole was gaping with drops of liquid metal attached. Slowly, the metal bend and swirled back into place, like nothing happened.

Vanessa glared at the scene, catching pieces. _'I get it. So that means the insides aren't the weak spot. Rather…it's her.'_ He looked at the eye of the mercury monster, which held Glynda.

Seeing Vanessa's stare, she could tell what she knew. _'Seems she's aware of my mercury's properties. In that case…'_ She saw Vanessa pull another fist back. _'I'll just have to put this beast on a leash!'_

Vanessa's second punch went forward, but this time the amorphous liquid swiveled around the fist, showing flexibility while Glynda was still attached. The liquid monster molded its head around the arm, but Vanessa pulled back in time. The beast growled as its body released barbs of mercury arrows that were much larger than previously. The Aura Guardian's armor-like aura defended Vanessa as she was creating a hemisphere of teal aura compressed to one point. Once it was charged, the guardian's eyes glinted.

" **Trace Shot!** "

Vanessa reached out, shooting the massive sphere like it was an oversized Aura Sphere. The attack closed in on the facial area of the monster, but Glynda made the monster move its arms so that it could block the aura blast wave, creating a shockwave that spread mercury everywhere.

On the deck, Duncan and Gastrodon found cover in the doorway, where the sprays of the liquid wouldn't get them for the time being. He watched half-heartedly as he knew he had to make a plan. He had to fight. He had to get stronger.

As the shockwaves dissipated, the monster uncovered, but it was too late as Vanessa was already in midair with a tremendous leap. The guardian followed her downwards cry and hammer-fisted the mercury in its head, making it depress into the water. Beneath Vanessa, the mercury creature was rippling in the water with Glynda, but nothing was happening. Still, she knew something was up.

Her aura senses right, spouts of mercury exploded out of the water to surround her, ready to glob. Using the giant's morphing, blades of aura were created and did a full circle. She cut the tendrils clean to pieces that plopped around her. The lower-half of the tendrils, however, were still able, and they multiplied to many more. Before Vanessa had an opportunity, the tendrils snared her legs. They wrapped and stuck to the aura like glue.

Vanessa grunted, but out of the blue, the tar-like entity roared as it sprung from below, growing to where it globbed the Aura Guardian and held on. The massive weight and the added pressure was enough to hold down the guardian.

"Now stay down like a good pet." Glynda said.

Vanessa refused. She started to gather even more energy, erupting an intense shockwave of aura in all directions. The aura was like a forcefield that eroded into the atmosphere, brushing away all the mercury and giving her the space.

As the waves rocked heavily, the mercury beast was unaffected from the intense rocking. "Satisfied?"

Vanessa looked at the Aura Guardian's body. When she saw some part having eroded away by what looked like acidic chemicals, she knew it.

"Combining mercury with other chemicals is rather tedious, but this mixture at just the right frequency for each was enough. Now then…" Glynda reached forward again, breaking the distance in and instant when the liquid beast's arm morphed and stretched towards Vanessa.

" **Aura Guard!** " Creating a shield of aura, the giant was saved from the attack. However, as the tendril retreated, the acidic compounds made the shield dissolve again.

"It's no use." Glynda waved her wand up, manifesting streams of mercury from the monster again. This time, they all wrapped around a different part of Vanessa's trump card, including the neck area. The whole giant strained incredulously to break free, but with each turn, a part of it started dissolving away. Vanessa grunted as she was finding her space running out. "The chemicals will eat at your magic, and the mercury will reach. When that happens, consider it done."

Vanessa was running out of time and options. With her trump card trying to get loose, something came between the two moved beasts, and it defied gravity like it wasn't there.

"Magnezone!" Vanessa exclaimed.

Magnezone glared ahead, defying Glynda. "Do you intend on standing in my way as well? So be it." She swiped forward. "Then corrode away!" She shot streams of the liquid metal at Magnezone, who remained posturized and ready.

"Magnezone!" Vanessa cried out again.

Magnezone glared ahead, ready. "You…get AWAY!" With that massive cry, his magnets began to spin incredulously. He ushered intensely for great force, and much to his and everyone else's surprise, he saw the liquid metal stop in his tracks.

"What?" Glynda gasped in astonishment.

Vanessa looked up with surprise of her own. "Magnezone…?" She was looking surprised at what he was doing. Just his presence was making the liquid metal repel with his anti-gravity force.

As he held the liquid off from getting around, Glynda was still catching up to what was happening. As she observed the magnet at his work, she began to narrow her eyes in suspicion. But that thought was disturbed when a **Water Pulse** shot from the side. She noticed in time and blocked using her mercury's whole arm. The water made a massive blue explosion that sprayed the mercury all over, breaking apart a huge chunk from the arm. If it were a living example, it'd be like an exploding gun bullet that made Glynda nearly get thrown off.

Looking back at the deck, Duncan and Gastrodon were looking up with serious faces. "Forgot something?"

Glynda snarked low. "Annoying roaches."

With her opponent distracted, Vanessa could make an attack, but she realized it wouldn't work. Instead, her eyes were locked on Magnezone, who showed off his power that amazed even himself. As both looked surprised, it caught onto the Trainer of what went down.

' _That liquid…Magnezone repelled it. But that wasn't a move, was it?'_ she thought. _'…no, that's not it. That was something that only the mercury reacted to. But what could it…?'_

She started thinking on a deeper level. What did Magnezone have that she didn't. Her aura can shield, but the chemicals affect them both, and yet the deadly mercury didn't touch her creature. The liquid metal…and anti-gravity. That's when it hit her.

' _Magnetism!'_

A massive glob of a hand reached down slowly towards Duncan and Gastrodon. Both hurried and dodged while the liquid hand hit the wood, breaking clean through the boarding of the ship. Duncan and Gastrodon landed along the side as the hand arose, ready to swat them again.

" **Ice Beam!** " he commanded.

Gastrodon generated another icy orb in the mouth and took a deep breath before shooting icy rays. With added power, the Ice-type attack created an intense mist cloud upon impact, which froze over the entire arm.

Glynda saw the frozen mercury and grunted. Rather than scorn them, she used her energy to focus on lifting the whole arm and holding it over Duncan. With the shadow high, the Trainer looked shocked and knew he had to do something, otherwise end up crushed. As it came down, he tucked and rolled away, barely getting away as the hardened fist hit the deck yet again. Chunks of ice went everywhere in a shockwave, spreading towards Duncan and Gastrodon. Both were hit with small chunks of ice; one of which fell randomly and got Duncan in his gut. The impact shattered the ice, but the shock made him gag in pain as everything went white for him. He sunk to his knees, while Gastrodon tried shaking off the ice.

"And as for you."

Gastrodon looked up at Glynda's words, only to end up feeling stinging below. The ice having shattered, chemicals turned to intense sodium. While Gastrodon were normally saltwater species that live in oceans, the raw salt is stinging, if uncomfortable for the slug. He grunted as he found it hard to sit still.

Duncan was too in shock to take action. The shadow appeared over him as Glynda readied to end it. "You all are just like everyone else, unintelligent. Nobody ever learns…not even in the very end." She raised her fist again, ready to hammer Duncan with endless tons of mercury. "I'd ask for your name if I were honorable…but it doesn't matter. I'm done wasting time on such distractions." Her eyes glared widened daggers. "Say goodbye!"

' _I can't move. My body…is still in shock.'_ Duncan cursed himself.

Vanessa's blue eyes opened. "Magnezone!"

"Yes, Vanessa!" Magnezone hovered closer, until he was in front of Vanessa in the guardian. Once set in front, the air at that moment…went silent.

A small shockwave went through the air as everything palpitated. Intense flares from Vanessa's spell crackles around the body and connected with Magnezone. His own magnetic field caused a static to ignite. Lightning crackled as flares of aura ignited around Vanessa and Magnezone as both glared intensely forward. They both grunted, feeling their energy arise.

' _Magnezone…NOW!'_

Magnezone's red eye glowed. "Yes…let's go! HRAAH!"

Lightning discharged from him as he converged with Vanessa into the chest of the guardian. As he entered, the Aura Guardian began to pulse silver and yellow energy. Slowly, the guardian's physique began to alter. Silver ethereal armor began to fade in and surround the arms, making up for the corroded parts.

As Vanessa and Magnezone were together in the center, silver smooth armor started forming, soon accompanied by a red glowing eye.

"Now…begone!" Glynda bellowed menacingly as she drove her fist down.

Duncan braced himself for the impact, unable to escape. All he could do was curse as the fist came within several feet before the whole thing stopped completely. When he opened his eyes, he saw to his own abysmal that the mercury entity was stuck in place.

Trying hard to move, Glynda found it disbelieving at best. "What…what's this?" She tried to move the mercury, yet it was like gravity was keeping it from facing Duncan. "I can't…"

A sudden force of magnetism caused it to turn away from Duncan, facing the source head-on. What Glynda saw completely surprised her. Audible gasps escaped her lungs.

When Duncan weakly looked back to see why, even he was speechless.

There, defying the gravity in the water itself, ripples shuddered beneath where a floating giant was. It was the Aura Guardian and still teal, but it had its shins and feet coated in that looked like silver ethereal armor with bulbous heels. The knees above was surrounded by a massive skirt-like silver disc that connected around the waist to resemble a Magnezone's upper body curve. On each side were two yellow antennae. Silver armor coated the teal armor with smooth curves, even around the shoulder pauldrons. The shoulder pauldrons even had two small nuts in them. On the head of the giant, a massive smooth helmet was there, covering it all, but a red eye shimmered. On the back where shoulder blades would be, there were two ethereal magnets sticking out that acted like wings. In the center of it all, at the core, Vanessa was atop of Magnezone, glaring in unison.

" **Aura Guardian: Magnezone!** " they shouted in unison.

Glynda was completely lost for words. "Impossible…how did they…"

Moving her left arm forward, the giant did the same. With Magnezone using his magnetism, the hand generated a strong magnetic force that suddenly pulled Glynda and her beats forward. With no say and in shock, Glynda found herself met with the other hand reached out next, which shot anti-magnetic energy that caused an eruption on the mercury. Inside, Glynda found herself buffered by the instability of the reactions.

' _What's going on? It's like the controls for the mercury have been switched off.'_ She looked ahead at Vanessa, whose beats was bringing its hands together created a teal aura, yet it had electrical static inside. _'How is she able to combine with that magnet? It's-!'_

" **Emanation Beam!** " Vanessa shot the teal beam into the chest area of the beast. While it didn't break it, that's exactly what they wanted. Instead, like they had hoped, the attack was being absorbed and shuddered the monster in a violent vibrating frenzy, leaving Glynda buffered again.

While on the deck, shocked, Duncan began to process it. He couldn't help but be wide-eyed at Vanessa's playbook. "…so that was her aim."

The aura blast embedded with magnetism from Magnezone caused the whole thing to go unbalanced, but Glynda kept herself up and glared ahead. _'Now I get it. So that's why…'_

With the beam over, the guardian adjusted with Vanessa again. The mercury monster shot streams of mercury at them, but the red eye of the helmet shined with Magnezone. The magnets on the back of the creature began to rapidly spin, discharging brief static fields that added into the area. That instance, all the mercury streams began to manipulate around the creature. It didn't touch, but surrounded it like a whirlpool, just like Glynda did when she first used it. In the middle, Vanessa and Magnezone remained still.

' _Electromagnetism.'_ Glynda's eyes narrowed. _'Mercury's weakness. I should've known that magnet was trouble! And it looks like the electromagnetic pressure is enhanced when like this. If I use mercury…'_

Vanessa swayed her arms inside. She used the controlled magnetism to make the swirling mercury diverge into arrows that went at Glynda. But since they were also embedded with the magnetic flow, it was essential harm that pierced the mercury mound. Solid mercury pounded away, and Glynda could feel her ground losing itself.

Her eyes locked with Vanessa and Magnezone's for split second. Time slowed down as she began realizing what was happening. _'These humans…these ones from this planet…'_

Magnezone used his magnetism to create another strong field flux. Unable to contain itself, the mercury that Glynda was encompassed in was painfully being pulled along. As much as Glynda fought it, it was futile as the mercury was swaying her with it. She screamed loudly within the vortex, unable to keep her composure as the magnetic control forced her into the water with a harsh slam. Even inside, she gagged painfully from the harsh impact.

In her hands, static electricity coursed through the arms where Magnezone directed his power. It surged electrical pulsed to one spot, where there, a massive green, yellow orb with a red core formed. It was tremendous in size, befitting the guardian.

" **Zap Cannon!** "

The guardian sent the huge hemisphere of electrical energy at the monster. It coursed with great accuracy, and yet it also had magnetic force. Refusing to give up, Glynda rushed to move her wand, making streams erupt from the glob to attack the Zap Cannon. However, it didn't get far as the magnetic force embedded with it pushed the mercury out of the way like an invisible force and drilled into Glynda's creation, much to her horror. A pillar of monstrous electricity discharged with explosive intensity, enveloping it and Glynda in crackling electricity that made her shriek out in paralyzing pain.

On the shores, a massive yellow explosion was like a nova to everyone. They all felt static in the air, making even Matilda's hair stand on end. In the deck, Duncan was holding his own through the dissipating energy.

Once the flash was over, crackling, unstable electricity vibrated through the mercury. The whole monstrosity wasn't able to turn or move at all, like it was paralyzed. At the eye of it, even Glynda was paralyzed, and she didn't have or know a solution that counters the electricity. "No…not yet…this can't…you Trainers and Pokémon, you really-?!" she trailed off, the sight before her realizing she was out of time.

The left arm had fingers spread, holding a very intricate design of a magic circle like a cross. The left hand pulled back onto a flaming aura bow that was behind it, yet it crackled with electromagnetic static. With everything set, Vanessa and Magnezone stared in silence.

Realizing the flaw she had made, Glynda's body had static, yet she still did not move. "These Trainers…" her eyes softened somewhat. "…maybe they're not mindless after all…"

With a fiery shout, Vanessa and Magnezone let go with all that they had.

" **Aura Guardian – Kali Arrow!** "

The arrow was finally let go, shot at speeds no one could keep up with. Shockwaves ripped through the atmosphere as the attack met the head of the monster. Almost instantly upon impaling, a roaring pillar of teal thundered with a deafening tone. The sea, earth, and sky palpitated as the pillar went so high up that it touched the clouds, where high up, a massive discharge of lightning went and ignited the sky in white and streaks of sheer fear. A full-scale shockwave of rippling energy exploded with nothing held back, and yet it was went absent-mindedly deaf.

As the shockwaves dialed down and the waters crackled, it revealed nothing but plain water. The shifting was weak as it should be, and the rain abruptly stopped afterwards. The body of Glynda shot out of the sky and slammed onto the deck, creating a crater that she laid in. She was devoid of irises and was drenched in mercury. She laid defeated, meters away from Duncan.

Though he had seen the end, even Duncan himself looked on. He looked up towards the sky, where he saw the last flares of the Aura Guardian flicker to teal embers and Magnezone gently lowered to the deck. There, Vanessa went off. Moments passed before she dropped to her knees, sinking in raspy panting. Her breath was labored do hard, and her body had some like skin peeling thanks to the rain washing off the body chemicals.

In fact, all over, as the ran finally ended, it revealed that the rainwater finally flushed the chemicals out of existence. Even in the water, the pheromones vanished. Calming any Water-type beneath. Whereas high above, the clouds began to lighten up some, giving way to some brightness after the dark battles they've had.

On the shore, all the Pokémon and everyone looked shocked, but happy at the same time. Meredy had misty eyes full of relief; she even hugged Ultear out of sheer joy, to which the Time Mage accepted. Dereece whistled from we and dropped to his bottom with Joey.

"Man…"

"…yeah…" Joey couldn't believe what he saw. Even more so after everything. His misty eyes swelling tears from all the emotion he had going on was rough to handle. He sniffled before using his good right arm to wipe the tears away.

Mest looked up and grinned. Sighing heavily, he knew what had happened. "Good grief…and here I thought Nic was a showoff." He muttered. "Guess it runs in the family."

"Yeah! That's our girl!" Matilda cheered. "Man, if that wasn't impressive I don't know what is!"

Liz blew a bubble. It kept growing slowly, until it popped into a mesh that covered her lips…she still was stone faced as she chewed.

Shaking his head from shock, Dereece stammered to his feet. "C'mon! They probably need help up there!"

Mest nodded. "Right! Let's get them off the deck for now. Ralts, **Teleport!** "

Following the command, Ralts teleported them both again, just before the clouds overhead started clearing, revealing small rays of light that blinded everyone for a moment.

They all looked up, acknowledging they had survived the terrible front.

* * *

In Alvarez, over the massive palace, the whole roof exploded with a pulse wave of darkness that rippled like a dimension. The intense darkness shuddered and roared throughout the skies of the kingdom, leaving even the citizens frightened. And that's exactly what Naga wanted.

Fear. Adrenaline. Anxiety. All negative atmospheres he could get a feel of; his Despair made steam clouds of darkness flow from these people, seeping into the darkness' cocoon-like center, where vermilion darkened to give Naga a grim perspective. The air was so thick that anyone low of constitution would shrivel and choke. The Magic Power he had was so prominent that it was making gravity itself unbalanced around them.

Nic and Charizard were fending against the wave. Despite how they were keeping cool heads, they could feel everything around them get cold – another reason why Nic became his Icicle Form. But even with the feeling refusing to go away, their glares were as fierce as the grim reaper itself.

Naga uproariously chuckled at the sight, his red eyes glowing with those dark centers. "My, what's this? A brave face you've got…" The energy began to swirl to his center, generating an intense hemisphere of darkness of great gravity. "Let's see how long that lasts. Shall we?"

Nic and Charizard glared as Nic heaved mist from his mouth, while Charizard's wings were brought back.

" **Blackout Crier!** "

Naga expelled the darkness from the very center of his body, making a massive dark blast wave of atomic levels. The roof along the top of the entire palace, no matter how durable it was, cracked considerably as the dark wave swallowed up the entire sky in a voluminous laser outwards. It roared like an actual bomb, and Naga took pleasure in it.

"Heh…" As he continued exerting beam, he noticed two lights coming from it. Both were blue and orange. "Hm?"

The dark energy literally froze on one side, while the other side was set ablaze. The skies far back had ice shattering to frost on one side while the other had warm embers rain down, radiating a softer tone for everyone. The heat and cold went as far as swallow the darkness up towards Naga. The Spriggan ceased the magic and backed off into the air, barely managing to get away from subzero frost and cindering flames, though his sides were crispy and shivering though. In his thoughts, he didn't realize Nic and Charizard right in front of his face, in the darkness itself.

" **Ice Hammer!** "

" **Dragon Claw!** "

Embedding his arm in solid ice and claws of blue energy, both swung down onto Naga, creating a unison pule wave that ran across the palace top as fast as Naga shot back into the palace itself; directly below again to be accurate.

He shot like a meteor back down, generating shockwaves through each floor he passed through again, making Sentinal, who was near the holes, feel himself stumble around. "What the-?!"

Erza smirked. _'Looks like Nic's handling himself just fine.'_

Sentinal looked back at Erza with growing shock. "What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing…just thinking about my husband. Is that so wrong?"

Sentinal gave her a weary look. "…not at all. I'm surprised actually. Hardly anyone I've known is capable of withholding such strong wills when Naga works his magic." He reached forward. "But for now, I'd worry about yourself! Mudbray army, attack!"

All the Mudbray hummed loudly before they all swished their heads and readied to make their stands. They all lifted on their hind kegs and came down, stomping and creating intense shockwaves that rippled across the landscape via **Bulldoze**. And there were a lot rippling their way.

"Houndoom!"

"Right!" Taking a leap, the hound-like creature took off in a pounce skywards. Erza made a leap as well, but shockingly got below and requipped into her Adamantine Armor. All the shockwaves rippled beneath and converged to one point below. The shockwaves made a burst of debris and earth below shoot skywards, in which the intense wave hit Erza's shield, pushing her skywards. With Houndoom on her back, the Pokémon also shot skywards like a propulsion. This bewildered Sentinal greatly.

"What?!"

Erza and Houndoom looked serious and confident. It was like Naga's magic wasn't working at all on them. It was riling him up, forcing him to go ahead and shoot intense dark bolts from his bare hands at Erza and Houndoom. The two broke apart to make the bolt shoot between them.

" **Inferno!** " Erza shouted.

High above, Houndoom's mouth flickered with blue flames that swirled within his mouth and expelled a torrential beam of sizzling blue flames. They roared with charred force that swallowed Mudbray from below in a crisp fury. As he descended, he whipped his body around to continue expelling the monstrous Fire-type attack, creating wave of blue fire after fire that swallowed up countless Mudbray.

Requipping as she went downwards, Erza became her default armor as she requipped her humungous holy hammer. She let out a violent battle cry as she slammed the hammer into the ground, creating yet another shockwave, and yet this one was so intense that everything on the ground's level jumped as the Mudbray were all shot skywards in roaring agony.

"No…WAH!" Sentinal covered up as the shockwaves also got him, sending him to the ground.

As he laid groaning, he was trying to pick himself up. Yet, an intense boom from behind was followed by a vermilion blaze that almost grazed him for being so close. The blaze shot skywards towards Nic and Charizard, revealing himself to be Naga in the dark center.

He closed in so fast on Nic, his claws reaching out for him. " **Roa Comet!** " He bellowed as his attack and dark energy swallowed up Nic with Despair. Nic used hos forearms to block as Naga clutched and shoved him further upwards. Nic didn't bother yelling as he grunted instead.

"Be swallowed by despair! Give my god what you have given yours: Your life!" Naga sailed slowly now as the magic he had was enveloping him and Nic. Neither gave in as Naga's eyes were wide with red and the black energy surged into his maw. "Feed Agaphvelia her cravings!"

As he continued sucking in and gaining power from the energy he was surrounded in, he continued holding onto Nic, and yet the latter was giving a straight face, like he didn't give a crap. Naga continued eating away, and yet through it, no despair was resonating from his prey.

' _What's going on? Is he feeling no fear…? GAH!'_ In a split second, Nic clutched Naga's neck and held on tight, expelling a subzero ice that froze the neck like it was a brace. Naga's entire body froze from the touch, and yet inside, he was too surprised as Nic pulled back his fist for an **Ice Punch**.

With a violent roar of great force, he slugged the ice sheet and Naga in the face. The ice shattered to bits as frost swallowed everything. Naga's body, aligned with fractured ice and frost, felt time slow down as he was devoid of eyes for a moment.

' _Why…isn't he feeling despair?'_

He smashed into the ground beside Sentinal, creating another blow that again slammed the centaur on his other side. With the shock being great, the chunks of ice around them shattered, and Sentinal saw his master beside him. "Master…Naga…"

Nic and Charizard dropped beside Erza and Houndoom, both creating a small gust as they soundly landed and glared daggers, with Nic and Erza returning the way they were before.

Naga slowly got back up again. "You…" he gagged blood, his body shaken up from that icy choke. "How are you both not affected by my magic? Is this someone else?"

"Not as far as I know." Nic glared. "Sorry…but we're not gonna fall to despair again. And neither will it to us."

Naga's eyes narrowed. "It fall to you? Don't make such nonsense. You can't fight despair. It's infinite!" His body gave off a vermilion aura. "Even now, I can sense the deep dread of others from here. Their anxiety is my food offering to Agaphvelia. And even now, her strength empowers me. Can you say you can defy her of what you can't yourself?"

"You wouldn't know." Nic thought back to the hell that was the Impure Underworld, more accurately with Giratina's talk with him. "Yeah, despair is something that'll never end…but whoever said I had do either."

"What do you mean?" Naga growled.

"I don't have to fall to despair, and it doesn't have to fall to me. It doesn't always have to eb one way or the other. That's what most people believe, but us…we couldn't give a damn to that. Why do one or the other…when you can just be okay and make amends with what you fear."

Beside him, Erza smiled at Nic. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She was there, and she felt and understood him exactly.

Naga looked shocked at Nic's statement. "Make peace…with despair…?" His veins showing began to pulsate, though slightly out of anger. "That's ridiculous! Agaphvelia would never allow someone like you to make peace with what she can create!"

"She's not _my_ goddess!" Nic snapped.

Once again, Naga was frozen in place from his own shock.

"Look at yourself, talking about someone who you revere so much. I understand where you're coming from…but I didn't let Arceus or Giratina run my life like I had to fear them. Maybe they were the opposites that impacted me, but I'm not like you who grovels for sacrifices for power. It's disgusting. I'd never forgive myself if I had to feed off of others' sadness or emotions the way you do. But…that's just how I feel. And it's those feelings I have…" He pulled up his Key Stone that was embedded into the edging of his coat. "That'll show your goddess and your empire what I think of her ways!"

Naga stepped back from shock yet again. This was the other blow that rocked him considerably.

Erza stepped beside Nic, reaching her the earpiece she had, which was her own Key Stone. "Nic…I'm with you."

"Yeah, same here." He reached for Erza's hand, to which she accepted. With their hands holding, both tapped their Key Stones, making an intense power shift that levels dirt around them. "Let's show them what we mean."

As the power started to drastically shift in the atmosphere, the pulsating pressure each surfaced began to resonate with Charizard and Houndoom. Both Fire-types stood proudly as they felt the same way, each roaring as heated pressure waves exerted with the Key Stones radiating rainbow light waves before they became tendrils of light, flowing with great force.

"Charizard…"

"Houndoom…"

Raising their locked arms up, the pair made the tendrils connect with their Fire-types, creating intense lights that defied the like of gravity. "Mega Evolve!"

Both Charizard and Houndoom let loose bellowing roars of the upmost intensity. Roaring, shrilling cries of intense heat spilled in all directions, and the two began to morph in unison. Their growls got deeper, and heated spirals of blue and regular flames excelled to intense hemispheres.

"What's happening?!" Setinal exclaimed.

Naga stared as he felt his clothes steam. "This power…"

Before the two realized it, the lights and the fire erupted in a mind-blowing shockwave that depressed earth into an intense crater. Levitating rocks melted and dissipated as fire exploded, melting parts of the ground to make it uneven as Mega Charizard and Mega Houndoom erupted roaring blasts of heated shockwaves to shoot any debris pass Naga and Sentinal, who were both having dilated eyes as everything around them shuddered, steamed, and was otherwise melting. Mega Charizard and Mega Houndoom both lurched forward, huffing hot flames.

Nic glared forward with intense eyes of unemotional cries for a fight. "You ready?"

Erza nodded. "Yes. Let's finish this." Together, they clutched the other's hands tighter.

Sentinal was staggering back, his shock too great. "Their power…were they…" he could feel will seep away. The fears of being defeated were too great, and dark steam eroded from his body into Naga. "Master Naga…they're…too strong…" he lowered a little, despairing while his energy surged into the likes of Naga's mouth.

As the energy surged, Naga's eyes were dilating. The shows of power he was witnessing and everything in boisterous flames – add in this pressure – Naga was having a hard time keeping his composure. "These fools…they really…defy despair!"

His eyes were seething daggers into Nic's. This whole time, not even once, was Nic nor Erza giving to him what was needed. Their eyes were compassionate, and yet they chose their own way. It was making him sick. Yet, their glares…they made his heart race.

' _Agaphvelia…why…are these fools not understanding?'_

He was beginning to think back to his time before he was in Alvarez, before Alakitasia. In the lands similar to Mildian where Dimaria came from, his mind drew to where his own goddess was worshipped: Riolus. It was in the far southeastern lands, even farther from Aniya's home. He could still remember the temple where Agaphvelia's spirit lied, and that it was a forbidden path. As he walked through, the innocent teen that was Naga looked around as he trekked through, witnessing skeletal corpses of those who were lost to the despair they felt upon entering too deep. Though he questioned why he felt depressed, Naga wanted to know more about Agaphvelia. He eventually made it to the back, despite how pale he was, and saw her shrine.

He could still remember the way she heard her voice. _"_ _ **Young one. Who are you?**_ _"_

" _I'm Naga…are you…the spirit of this goddess we call Agaphvelia?"_

" _ **I am. And what brings your poor soul to my fortune?**_ _"_

" _My people were starting to doubt your existence…so I wanted to prove them wrong."_

" _ **I see. How interesting…**_ _" the voice trailed to silence before speaking again. "_ _ **Well then, I think this can work for both of us.**_ _"_

" _You mean you'll help me?!"_

" _ **Yes, dear Naga. I shall grant you your wish as compensation for not despairing so soon.**_ _"_

Even now, he could still see the faces of people everywhere around him sulking and despairing. The village was in a literal depression that no one could get out of bed, and yet Naga was perfectly fine. He proved Agaphvelia existed by giving him some of her power…but the one thing he's come to worship became a nightmare for others. He was cast out, and wherever he went, even the scary animals were whimpering. And yet…he still remembered the puppies he always played with at times. Even as pups, he'd pick them up and they'd lick his face. At least he knew other animals as innocent as him were an acceptance. But this…this was something else.

"Agaphvelia…why do these guys want to make peace with despair…?"

Together, Nic and Erza roared with all their might, both Mega-Evolved Pokémon swirling blue fire in their maws.

"Agaphvelia…is despair…that easy to be okay with for others?" Those were his last words before a blue light quickly swallowed him.

In one fell instance, the entire chamber, let alone the entire floor all the way over, was incinerated to molten char as a roaring blue **Flamethrower** and **Inferno** engulfed everything. It was bigger than any roar Natsu had done. In fact, the entire blue beam had a molten feel to it as it soared right over Alvarez and the courtyard. It all instantly heated into a temperature that was hot enough to cause sweat to vaporize. The double blue blaze of monstrous bellows sailed into town, disintegrating rock and cement on the city street all the way up to the empire gates and melting the doors as well.

As the waves dissipated, a straight wave of intense blue fire shot clean up, all the way from the palace to the very end of the gates, and it was a massive, heaping wall that made an intense ditch all the way back. Even as it dissipated, the steam waves were as clear as day.

Inside the palace, Lucy looked up. "What was that…?" She looked down, realizing she wasn't so sad. "Wait, was I feeling glum before?"

"Aye! I'm back on top!" Happy cheered.

Natsu looked up, smirking.

In front of Nic and Erza and their Mega Charizard and Mega Houndoom, not even Naga and Sentinal were there. The whole floor was melted, and blistering, intense steam subsided along the walls to the open dark sky. The thunder above was beginning to quell some as the view went outwards. There, at the ends of the huge stretch of the ditch and at the gates, both Sentinal and Naga had gaping mouths as they were burned to crisps. Their clothing was tattered and charred away, and neither moved, signaling the end of the fight.

The Mega-Evolved Pokémon let out loud roars as the rainbow light enveloped both, returning them to their normal selves. They craned their heads and huffed steam left over.

Looking forward, Nic saw the battle was over. He had a frown at the end, but of mixed feels. "Sorry…" he grimly apologized. "But I hope you understand somehow."

Erza looked at her husband, giving him a compassionate smile. Throughout the whole time, their hands were interlocked. "We can only hope that they deal with their own demons to realize that…right?"

Catching onto what she said, Nic shook himself and smiled back at his wife. "Yeah."

"Now then, I believe we have a certain someone who needs his own demons rectified. Shall we?"

"Sure." Nic faced Charizard, who flew beside him. Like old times, and forever more, Nic fist-bumped Charizard, grinning. Erza pet Houndoom, thanking him for all that he's done.

With their bonds and strength to move forward shown, Nic glared forward. Now there was someone else who needed to understand, or at least die trying to. And just like him, Erza could also tell. He knew they were here, and she was ready to settle this matter once and for all.

* * *

With the lights having gone out momentarily, they flickered back on for the throne room. Neinhart was staring outwards at the street and the screen. He saw it all, including the fall of Naga. For Nic to use Mega Evolution, and those power level, and especially how he wasted no time as such…Neinhart was feeling something else entirely.

His bangs had a grim shadow over his eyes as he stared at the screen, a deep frown evident with the shrinking eyes. All he did was stare with disappointment, nothing to say on the account of shock.

* * *

Meanwhile, down the halls of his thrown room, a pair of footsteps were seen. Stepping forward, two figures were present.

"Are you sure about this?" one figure asked, his old frail form barely standing up.

The other associate glared. "Yeah…" He walked forward, giving a stern glare as he parted his feet as the doorway was mere meters down from the red carpet. His eyes showed he wanted answers, and like it or not, he was gonna get them.

The older man nodded. "Do what you must."

Stepping forward, Ajeel glared sharply, fists balled. "Don't worry…this won't take long."

* * *

 **Tada! Sorry for the delay! Took me a week (thankfully), but I barely got an update before work. I wanna say more of what will go down, but I can't spoil too much. I know Nic and Erza VS Naga and Sentinal was anticlimactic, but let's be real, they were just warmups compared to what they're used to. This was a show that they don't mess around after their opponents get through speaking. It's either go big or go home.**

 **That aside, I showed off Vanessa's Aura Guardian again, and this time I made sure to add the Magnezone twist to it, like I did for Delphox awhile back. And now you also know all of Duncan's Pokémon through this one arc! You saw half of his team before the arc, and I managed to cram all 6 into this one arc.**

 **Anyways, should be another 2 chapters before the arc concludes. Hope you all enjoyed!**


	21. Inside the Crystal Ball

The quaking energy of Nic and Erza's battle continued throughout the building. Though the heat had died down – literally-the shockwaves ran through the building, making all the shuddering everyone felt come to an end. Lucy looked up in slight worry.

"Is it over?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes. I don't feel magical pressure surrounding me." Brandish remarked. "It must be an end."

Dimaria remained silent. She continued quivering ever so weakly. Natsu's head, however, perked up. "Betcha that means we won this time." He said.

"Aye!" Happy cheered, alongside Charmander.

"Let's not get our hopes up." Griffon was off to the side. He had hid fingers tipped with wire that was attached to the walls and held to his ear for echolocation. "We're still not in the clear. We need to get out of this deathtrap as soon as possible."

Sophie nodded. "Agreed."

A short silence was met before the air was heard with what sounded like adjustments and television static. This alarmed the others gin s everyone in the building was picking up on the signal.

" **Everyone, can you hear me?** " a familiar voice was heard in the air for everyone to hear. " **Is everyone alright? Please, respond.** "

"Jellal?" Happy questioned.

"That same guy again, huh?" Griffon answered.

" **We all felt that just now, is everyone okay?** " Yukino asked.

The voice made Lucy's eyes widen. "Yukino! You're okay, too?"

Of course that wasn't to say Lucy wasn't the only ecstatic one. Klefki shuddered with quivering excitement. "Keys? Keys?! The keys are…alive?!" The epiphany made her screech in joy. "Eeeeek! Yay! My precious keys! My-!" She was abruptly clamped shut by a less than amused Lucy.

"Yes, yes, we get it, Klefki. But would you mind toning it down?" she scolded.

Brandish stepped forward. "I assume this means the others are safe as well then, am I right?"

" **Yup! All in one piece!** " a perky voice belonging to Sorano could've been heard a mile away.

" **Geez, could you be any louder Sorano? We get it.** " Another groaning voice belonging to Erik stated. Unlike her, he wasn't as lively. " **The others with ya?** "

" **Don't worry, Erik. We'll be arriving shortly.** " Macbeth assured with a neutral tone.

Stopping for a moment with the others in the halls, Lyon glanced skywards. "Has there been any word on what's happened regarding the ship? We haven't received anything from them in a while."

" **No, not so far.** " Jellal answered. " **If I were to presume, I'd say one of your allies must have gone back to check in. We should know soon enough.** "

Lucy sulked forward. "Man, all this running around is really making me feel sore…"

Natsu, ignoring Lucy's wining, stepped forward and looked towards the ceiling. He was invested in something else. "…Nic, ya there pal?" he called up.

In a matter of a few seconds, the voice that most, if not all, people appreciated came to their ears. " **Natsu. Yeah, I'm here. So is Erza. What's wrong?** "

Lucy's eyes widened. "Hold up! You mean to tell me that was just _you_ guys?!"

Sophie snickered. "Why am I not surprised? I thought I recalled this familiar power."

" **We're just fine.** " Erza answered, running beside Nic down a hallway. " **We were able to handle a Spriggan for the time being. Is everyone alright?** "

" **Don't sweat it, we're all good down here.** " Sawyer said.

Juvia put a hand over her chest, sighing in relief. "Thank goodness. I was beginning to worry for a moment if something drastic happened." She strayed to thought. _'That explains why I felt gloomy.'_

Jellal and the others walking through the building glanced at the cracked and battered ceilings. "We're glad to hear. By any chance, did you both happen to know of any others that you may have seen?"

" **Yes.** " Erza nodded. " **Lisanna and Elfman passed by us while we dealt with the Spriggan. They should be close to the Emperor's dorms from what Nic sensed.** "

"But isn't that dangerous?" Happy worried.

"It doesn't matter." Brandish answered. "We're here to stop Neinhart once and for all. Any lead is a good lead."

"But, what about…"

" **Happy, we know.** " Carla's voice was heard over the telepathic link. " **But they're not the only problem.** "

" **She's right. We can't seem to get in touch with Minerva or Master Sting. I feel something terrible happened.** " Yukino cautiously remarked.

Staggering through the dark hallways, Orion closed in on the open hole in the wall he made from his battle against Sindge. "That doesn't change our priorities." He sternly said. "If you wish to find your colleagues, do so along the way. We have to keep going, that's the plan."

Nic looked down in slight remorse. There was a kernel of wisdom in what he said, but he still felt unsound by all the people still staggered. But they were capable mages, and as much as it bothered him, it was best to stay together and find the way out from there. "Yeah, okay." He faced Erza. "Erza, ready to keep moving?"

Erza nodded. "I am." Together, the two started taking off down the corridor at a faster pace. "We'll meet you at the rendezvous point!"

" **Alright, but be sure to keep an eye out for the others. There's no telling what else lurks around here.** " Jellal ended the connection, leaving everyone to continue their paths again.

Natsu rammed his fist into his palm, with Nic dashing and everyone having the same thought. _'We know.'_

* * *

Meanwhile, not too far away from the damaged hallway Orion walked through, the wall was still intact, and yet something slowly protruded out. It looked like a skull, and yet had one red eye that swayed from one eye hole to the other. Looking around, the skull face realized that the hallway was empty. The odd creature, slowly fazed into the wall again, vanishing from visible sight. It slipped through boundless walls like a looming ghost would, transcending to a few floors into a dark corridor of wispy candles to where it descended from a ceiling.

Slowly, it dropped on Rogue and Minerva, who waited patiently for the creature's return. "So what did you find, Duskull?" Rogue inquired. "Anything related to our allies?"

The Duskull waved his hands around, much like an actual cliché ghost. "Ooooh~. No, so~rry~. I could only fi~nd cold hard walls. Ooooh~." He wailed ominously.

Rogue looked down with a frown. "I see." He turned towards Minerva. "They must be moving too fast around here."

"Well this certainly makes it harder to keep track." She irritably mused. "Suppose this means we should be running on chance for the time being."

"So it would seem." He faced his Duskull again. "Thanks Duskull, keep an eye out."

"That~ will doooo~, ooooh~." Duskull slowly backed into the shadows ahead, leaving his red eye to bob side to side until it too faded. This left Rogue and Minerva to sweatdrop in unison.

"You most certainly have an…interesting Pokémon."

"Er, right…" Rogue decided to get back on track and walked on. "Let's go." He and Minerva started their path again, but as he walked further, his mind couldn't stop thinking about a certain someone, someone who he worries about 24/7. And it's this thought that's making his hair stand on end.

' _Frosch, just where could you be?'_

* * *

Little did they know, as they were taking strides, Rogue and Minerva's images were seen within a crystal ball sitting on a pedestal surrounded by purple-lit candles in cold, deep darkness. The hooded figure that was Hoshina was casually sitting back in her sofa as she smoked.

Nonchalant, she took the pipe out and blew out a small whiff of smoke. It slowly drifted towards the crystal ball, where upon contact it changed to an image of Lisanna and Elfman. "…what fortune does thy hold?" she chimed to herself. She inhaled rather slowly, before again exhaling smoke. Once again, it drifted into the orb, changing to Gray's group finally reaching an exit. There, they saw the others with Wendy's group and gathered themselves once more. "Fortune of prevailing? Fortune of mishaps? Who's to say fortune itself is what they seek?" As she mused herself with questions, a smirk came across her face. "Of course…who's to say one can rely on such predictions? The future certainly is a fickle concept…"

"Hello…?"

Hearing a sound, Hoshina stopped musing and glanced over her shoulder. "Hm?"

As she stared into the shadows of the candlelight, she noticed something slowly coming to view that piqued her considerably. As she frowned, she noticed the little creature with big eyes, looking dazed.

To add to the frown on her face, what piqued her…was how he wore a pink frog suit.

* * *

"Hoshina?! Hoshina!" Neinhart outraged as he stood up on his throne. He was calling her name for minutes on end by now, and he wasn't liking the waiting. "What is the meaning of this, Hoshina?!" he roared. "You gave me a fortune, and I expected to see results! Nic and Lady Erza should've fallen to despair, and then I would avenge Lady Irene! You said that a man with black hair and blue eyes would perish within the hour, right? Hoshina…"

Neinhart's patience was at an end. Yelling into the Communication Lacrima was no use. The fortuneteller wasn't giving him what he wanted. He looked back at the monitors, seeing as how the last of his forces were all being mowed down as Natsu seared in flames and passed them in a jetting fire comet. On another screen, more of his forces were all being handled as Nic was seen using **Extreme Speed** , becoming a blitz that zoomed pass the 300 men in the hall in a split second, sending them all spiraling out of control. And Erza was flawlessly slashing through endless numbers without even taking one scratch.

His patience as thin as could be, he looked annoyed and glanced away. "Tch, imbeciles. I should've known all those guys were just wastes of talent. What was even the point if they were just going to give the world the proper show?" He stopped scoffing and smirked. "Although…on a positive note. This _has_ been rather entertaining to watch."

On screen, he saw Erza swing her Aegislash attached to her arm. With one fell swing, Nic's wife roared as Aegislash's **Sacred Sword** lengthened and swung clean through the men heading her way. The shockwaves cut through armor and mowed down men like somebody's lawn. The vigor passion for battle and dominance was a look even Neinhart couldn't forget. To this day, it still sent a shiver down his spine.

"She certainly takes after you, doesn't she Lady Irene…"

A shudder shook the throne room, followed by a strong and agonizing shout. "NEINHART!"

The harsh tone made the Spriggan quizzically turn around to give an annoyed look. There, looking battered but annoyed, Ajeel was laboring breaths as he gave his emperor a knowing look. He looked pissed, while Yajeel stood behind his grandson with a passive expression.

"Ah, Ajeel…" he meekly said. "Well isn't this a surprise. I still can't believe that you're actually still alive after that _horrible_ fault you've endured." He shot a leer. "You still cared enough to show your face after all that?" he meekly chuckled. "Why, what tenacity you must have."

Ignoring the sarcasm in his words, Ajeel stepped forwards and shot glares at him. "You and I need to have a talk. Now."

Neinhart raised a brow, smirking in curiosity. "Oh~?"

* * *

Two Pokémon lead the charge ahead; these two were Machop and Rufflet as they stormed ahead to fight. Not far behind them, Elfman and Lisanna followed behind with the same motifs in mind.

"I think all that quaking back there finally stopped!" Lisanna exclaimed.

"That's good." Elfman agreed as he ran on. "Guess that means the fight's over. You think Nic and Erza are alright back there?"

Lisanna showed nervousness as she glanced away. "I think the better question is if the enemy's gonna be alright. You know how destructive those two can get…especially Erza."

"Yeah, hehe. Guess I'm glad we took off after all."

Up ahead, Rufflet was flying above Machop's eye level. Due to his better vision, and his Keen Eye Ability, the eaglet noticed something ahead and immediately warned. "Guys, I think I see something!"

"You do?!" Machop hoped eagerly. "Better be an enemy because I'm ready to knock some faces in this time around!"

"Hell yeah! That makes two of us!" Elfman roared.

Lisanna squinted her eyes. "Wait a sec…" Up ahead, she was seeing familiar figures in the far distance. "I think I see it, too. Is that…?"

* * *

The little Exceed that had wandered to confines unknown left him in the face of the mysterious fortuneteller, the all-knowing eye one might say. But even the eye can be a sight for sore eyes in the face of an innocent enemy carry-on.

"And who might you be, little one?" Of course Hoshina knew who he was. She just chose to play along for the sake of conversation.

Frosch looked a little sad as he stared. "…I'm lost…" he muttered. "I don't know where I am…have you seen Rogue?"

"I'm sorry, little one. I'm afraid it's none but you and I."

Frosch's tail dropped and he sulked. "Oh…okay…" He looked sadder by the second. "Poor Rogue."

Hoshina continued gazing curiously at the green Exceed in a frog suit. Something inside her head foretold opportunity, but she knew better than to expect such a thing. After all, not every fortune is accurate. That's what makes it fun for her. It keeps even the likes of her on her toes.

"I see…" She faced forward, smoking into her pipe yet again. She took a cleansing breath as the smoke fizzled out of the side. "Tell me, little one, do you feel fortunate or misfortunate?"

Frosch raised his hand up. "Fro thinks so, too!"

She ignored the commentary. "Perhaps your friend is close by. Then again, he may not…tell me, would you be curious as to know your own fortune?"

Frosch tilted his head. "My fortune?" He saw Hoshina wave him towards the chair on the other side of the crystal ball. Her hands waved him over, piquing his curiosity. Looking around one more time to see he was all alone, he walked over, slowly hopping onto the seat.

"Now…" She hovered over her crystal ball, in which the ball began to shine. Frosch immediately felt himself entranced by the magical item and looked inside, awing in delight. To him, it was pink mist, but to Hoshina, she smirked as she moved her hands to clear way the smoke inside. The crystal ball shined s long as she hovered over. "You said that your name was Rogue, yes?"

"Uh-huh. He's my best friend." Frosch answered.

"I see. Well then…" She moved her hands hypnotically over the ball, making the mist clear away. "Shall we see what's in store for your friend then?" She concentrated her magic continually as the atmosphere round them continued darkening. The dim-lit purple candles grew ever so weaker s the light of the crystal ball raptured Frosch.

Soon enough, inside, they two could see two silhouettes doing battle. It was hard to make out, but it looked like one was easily beating the other. To make things interesting, they had different shapes, and one didn't even look human.

"How interesting." Hoshina chimed. "I see a battle, one between two that you wished would never cross paths. This battle…it is what you will have to decide on. Who shall you choose?"

"Who I…choose?" Frosch was confused beyond comprehension. Then again, he could comprehend so much. He dumbly blinked. "But, who will it be?"

Hoshina shrugged as she slowly reached for her sides. There. She pulled out a Poke Ball, and what looked like a Dusk Ball. "Who's to say? The question I ask you is…do you wish for it to happen, or will you stop it?"

Before Frosch could give a proper answer, the capsules popped open, instantly making him cover up. When he looked back, he found himself face to face with two Pokémon. One looked like Mest's Ralts, but a lot taller and had two horns on the head with thin legs. Beside her floating in the air, another bizarre creature was like a pink-headed elephant with a purple body curled up.

The two and their presence was enough to leave Frosch unnerved. He shivered in his seat as a bad feeling went up his spine. "Uh…what's going on?"

Hoshina didn't answer. With a neutral smirk on her face, the Kirlia reached out, activating her **Confusion** to hold Frosch in place. Meanwhile, Musharna's forehead expelled a streaky beam of psychic energy, via **Psybeam**. All Frosch could do was quiver and close his eyes to wait for the attack to hit.

But it didn't. Instead, streaky black waves followed by an adjacent blast of flaming blue energy streamed and intercepted the Psybeam. The two attack created a small explosion, and Frosch was mere seconds away before he found himself teleported to a safe distance.

When he uncovered, he found that he was unscathed. "Huh…?"

Ignoring that her chair was shoved off to the side. Hoshina playfully grinned.

"Frosch!" Hearing his name, the Exceed looked forward, finding a Duskull and Bagon intercepted Musharna and Kirlia. Both glared while behind, Minerva and Rogue kneeling beside the feline. Immediately, Frosch looked happy.

"Minerva! Rogue!" he chimed. "I found you!"

Rogue smiled thankfully. "Yes, Frosch, you did." He looked at his body, seeing he was in one piece. "Are you okay, Frosch?"

He nodded eagerly. "Fro thinks so, too!"

Rogue sighed soothingly. "Good. I'm glad." His attention thus changed with Minerva's as they faced the fortuneteller. Together, they opposed with their Pokémon while the Spriggan sat casually with one leg over her other one. She looked more amused compared to them. "Looks like trouble, Milady." He added.

"So it would seem." She answered. "Entertain us, are you yet these Spriggan that's been giving our friends a hard time?"

Hoshina took in a deep breath, exhaling out of the side of her mouth as smoke drifted into the air, her disposition unwavering. "Allow me to give you a proper introduction." She chimed. "I am the Spriggan, Hoshina, she who sees into the future…or rather, the _possible_ future."

"'Possible future' you say?" Rogue repeated. "What does that mean?"

The mysterious Spriggan blew out of her pipe again, making a long, deep breath of fresh smoke arise over her. Once collected, all settled down.

"…have you ever wanted to believe that your destiny could be your own? Who's to say that it wasn't just picked for you by the hands of fate?" She slowly took the pipe out of her mouth, looking up at the dark ceiling. "Destiny and fate are…perspectives. You see a future what you desire, but do you wish to surpass limitations to achieve? If not, then what is your fate then? What course are you to take? Whoever is lost, I merely guide them towards a possible path. _That's_ the basics of my fortunes." She looked half-heartedly at them underneath her hood. "And yet, what I see is what others cannot."

"What does that mean exactly?" Minerva inquired suspiciously.

Hoshina continued smirking. "To many, fortunetelling is just a game, such as life…you're always dealt with the hand you are given. But how do you know that hand is by yourself, or another force?" In her mind, she thought back to the past, where she was just a cloaked figure who walked away from a prestige town as flames and dying people were at her back. "Those who don't take my fortunes too seriously, they don't take the game seriously. They don't think of the possibilities that I offer. And there are those who take them too seriously, which leads to self-destruction. Yet this game of life we play, why, any possibility is still a possibility, am I right? The thunder above…" Just as she said that, they all could hear the echoing of thunder from outside the palace. It was intense; enough to leave Frosch a little scared. "You can never always guess the weather, such as the future…life truly is a mysterious figment."

Minerva and Rogue weren't following. As much as they wanted to know more about her, they had other places to be. If she wasn't going to fight, they didn't have anything to worry about. Rogue turned away. "Sorry, you're mistaken. We didn't come here to hear our _possible_ futures. Come on, Fro."

He started walking away, but Hoshina said something. Something that gravely changed everything. "The possibilities of a future, such as another you…or rather, _that_ future you."

Rogue's eyes widened and immediately stopped. He slowly looked back in shock at the fortuneteller, a flabbergasted look showing. "But…how did you…?"

"As I said, I can see the possible future, and make it for your eyes to see."

Minerva and Rogue glared daggers. It was clear by now she has their attention. A fortuneteller that can see the future _and_ possible future, that keeps things interesting. Hoshina smirked as she led on.

"July 7th, X791. I foretold years ago the dragon attack that would destroy the world. The future in which Acnologia ruled all of mankind. I believe that's the timeline that the one you call 'Future Rogue' came from, correct?"

Rogue remembered that night all too well. He could still remember how hard it was to take down those dragons and still fail. The image of his future-self was equally as degrading that it made his fists clutch. "That may be…but I swore I'd never become that man. He was pure evil, and I'd sooner be dead if I had to turn out like that."

Hoshina chuckled playfully. "Of course, I completely understand. However, I never said you _were_ going to be him."

"What?"

"It's just a possible future that could be real…that is, if _I_ saw it."

"What do you…?!" Suddenly around Rogue, he could feel the air around him thicken. It was darkening some, and it wasn't his doing. A strange, odd sensation crawled up his spine as he felt a very dark power. The air got too quiet for his liking, making his eyes slowly widen future.

"Hello, Rogue."

The ghastly voice sent a shiver down his spine. As Rogue slowly turned around and gazed into the shadows, he saw someone standing there. He was smirking, and an all too familiar magical pressure was resonating that left Rogue's heartrate to skyrocket.

His pupils shrunk as he saw that same smile. "…no…it can't be…"

Before him, Future Rogue smirked darkly.

"Impossible…" Clearly Rogue wasn't the only one baffled by this phenomenon. Minerva looked just as shocked as she faced Hoshina. "How did you…?"

"Making possible futures seen into reality. Choose to believe me or not, it's just what _I_ see." Hoshina gingerly reached and picked up her crystal ball from its pedestal. She held it in her hand as the mist inside continued swirling. It glowed an ominous dark pink as a small rush of magic filled the orb like a luminescent light.

Minerva got on guard with her Bagon. The two glared daggers at their foe while she seemed neutral.

"Enlighten me, Minerva Orland…have you ever thought of what your future would be if not for Nic?"

* * *

Nic pulled out a Poke Ball and threw it. "Alright Greninja…let's go!"

The Poke Ball was hurled into the air, where the capsule popped open and sent the energy down on the ground in front of Nic. There, Greninja had legs spread out like Nic, and the two faced the stretch of guards and Pokémon opposing them. Together, they sent a chill that caused them all to back off.

Through the unnerved crowd, a buff soldier with a Ninetales by his side held up his sword. "Don't waver! We have the numbers!" he swung forward. "Now, attack!"

At his command, the Ninetales opened her mouth, charging up enough force for a spinning mesh of fire. But it was already too late.

One fell swing of Erza's Aegislash with **Night Slash** created a purple slash wave, mowing down Ninetales and the guard in one hit. And not just them, the guards behind were blindsided when a small wind bypassed them.

"What the…?"

Looking behind, they saw that Nic was in his Mind Form, yet with his Meadow Form's **Leaf Blade** activated, and Greninja held the same pose beside with a purple needle via his own **Night Slash**. The moment both sheathed their two attacks, eruptions of screen and purple expelled, slicing up the men and their Pokémon that opposed them.

"This way!" Erza charged without a second thought, the four continued their rush without looking back.

* * *

"What is that supposed to mean exactly?" Minerva glared. She was still wrapping her head around what the fortuneteller spoke just a few instances ago.

Hoshina smirked. "Have you ever thought of what Sabertooth would've been if it wasn't for that night? What you would've been if not for _him_?" she held her crystal ball in hand as the mist inside swirled, showing Minerva's silhouette. "What I see is a strong and independent mage. One who looks down on others to keep her superiority complex at bay. Why, some could even argue as the strongest woman in all of Sabertooth."

Minerva put her hands forward, generating enough power to make one big orb. " **I RAGD!** " She summoned continual blast waves of neon energy that swallowed up the spot where Hoshina was. The intensity made the ground shudder as the shockwaves dissipated. Minerva was certain that would keep her quiet.

"Nice try."

Minerva gasped in realization. When she looked to her side, she saw two figments teleport out of thin air. She saw Hoshina with Kirlia, the latter whom was the escape plan from that attack. Even now, Hoshina remained relaxed in her seat.

Bagon looked up in the air, catching wind of something. "Lady Minerva!"

Minerva looked skywards, seeing Musharna above her. The Psychic-type again fired a peculiar **Psybeam** attack that rippled through the air. In a hurry, Minerva countered. "Use **Dragon Breath!** " Her Bagon had loops around his body, surging to the head before a blue flame-like draconic beam shot skywards into the attack. In midair, the two attacks created an intense explosion, which dissipated between them, leaving either side unfazed.

"Now then, what possible future is there?" Hoshina held her crystal ball in hand, seeing the swirling mist clear up a space. In the center, a projection of the open hole that Nic had made, and above, lightning was flashing. "I see…lightning."

Minerva couldn't let the upper hand slip. Using her Territory, she suddenly appeared above Hoshina with a leg high embedded in her magic.

As if by some kinetic force, over the place, what Hoshina saw came to pass. In an instant, thunder clashed bolts that shot down through the deep holes that Nic and Charizard made. It made impact with the ground, making it shudder and rip apart.

Above Minerva, the rocks and debris started to fall. In midair, she abruptly teleported away a safe distance back to Bagon's side. Both watched as the rocks piled up in front of Hoshina, forming a wall that stabilized as Kirlia was using **Confusion**.

Through it all, Hoshina was taking another smoke off to the side. She exhaled, making smoke whiff out. "You can never predict the weather." She sang musingly.

In the dust, Minerva swiped her arms to the sides, clearing space for her magic to rush dust away. _'I think I understand her now. Her magic is making anything she predicts comes to fruition. That must mean…'_ In the corner of her eye, she glanced at Rogue squaring off against Future Rogue. _'That Rogue isn't real.'_ She slowly turned towards the rock wall where Hoshina was. _'But what she predicts can't always come true, otherwise the specifics will happen to another. There has to be a limit. Let's see…'_ She charged up more spatial energy into her hands, generating enough force that she pulsated into a beam.

The blast wave of her magic soared across the ground, making the corridor roar like thunder. It ripped through the wall of rock and disintegrated it in a matter of seconds. As Hoshina was met with the blast wave, she charmingly grinned.

"I see…a different future." Holding up her crystal ball, the item glowed brightly. All of the roaring blast waves that were heading right for her suddenly converged and began to distort into the crystal ball. Like a black hole, the attack was sucked up entirely, leaving Hoshina unscathed.

Minerva looked shocked. "Impossible. How did she…"

Hoshina held the crystal ball closer. Inside showed another image inside the clearing mist. In it, she saw an image of Nic and Erza darting down the hallway. "Now then…"

…

Nic and Greninja continued leading the group down the hall. They were closing in on the hallway that would take them to an open window that they could jump out of.

"That takes care of the enemy forces on this level." Greninja said.

"Yeah, that just leaves us to find a way out." Nic said. "And it's up a…" his eyes abruptly widened. "STOP!"

Suddenly out of the blue, a massive explosion swallowed up the space in front of them. Fires and spatial energy engulfed everything that would've otherwise blew them away. However, as it all dissipated, they revealed Aegislash was in front, her **King's Shield** being used to block the blast wave for everyone.

Once the waves dissipated, Erza nodded. "Thank you, Aegislash."

When they looked forward, they saw that the sudden eruption had caused a massive wake that breached into the floor below them. For several meters, the piece of flooring was gone, leaving and open hole. They looked ahead, surprised.

"That was a close one." Aegislash said. "If not for Nic's warning, we'd been blown away."

Erza looked down, seeing more rock shards dissipate. "Was that another enemy trap you think?"

"Maybe…" Nic glowed, transforming into his Sky Form, not wasting a beat as his wigs picked up. "But we gotta get out of here."

Erza nodded, using her own Requip to change to her Armadura Pidgeot Armor. "You're right. We'll have to move faster. Aegislash!"

"Greninja!"

The Two Pokémon heard their calls, and Aegislash floated across the sea of thin air while Nic and Erza sailed together. Greninja used his speed and ran along the side of the wall with swiftness until they all made it to the other side and kept going.

…

Minerva saw the projection in the crystal orb. Immediately she felt shock overwhelm her from the circumstances. "What have you done?" she demanded coldly.

Hoshina lowered her crystal ball to her lap. "I have done nothing. I just saw a different future is all." A wily grin crept across her face. "The future is always unpredictable, isn't it?" She fully understood the irony of what she said, but she didn't mind. It was fun to see Minerva get frustrated. She chose to add more. "Now then, Kirlia, Musharna, would you two care to thrill her?" Both Pokémon swept in front of her readying s Minerva's Bagon got in front of Minerva. "Good. Then Kirlia, **Magical Leaf**. And to you, Musharna, **Lucky Chant**."

Musharna hummed as a bizarre hum resonated from her. A pink hemisphere with twinkling stars spread out across the area around her while Kirlia twirled, sending glowing green leaves at Bagon.

Immediately Minerva swiped her arm forward. "Bagon, use **Ember!** " Bagon listened and opened his mouth, sending sparks and embers in a big blanket at the Grass-type attack. As one could imagine, the two attacks fused into a small eruption, which went off like fireworks.

As the attack dissipated, Hoshina's hood made it hard to see her musing, while Minerva was stone set on winning.

Rogue was facing off against what was supposed to be the fake him, or at least that's what he had hoped. What he was faced with he had no idea. For all he knew it had to be a game. This was not a very fun game.

Future Rogue stared at him, bemused by his counterpart's shock. "What's matter? You look like you've seen a ghost." He teased. "It's just me…or rather in this case, you."

Rogue's fears started to arise as he stepped. "No. You're not me…I swore that I'd never be like you."

"Am I? Or am I something that you're supposed to be?" Future Rogue disappeared into the shadows below. With how dark it was, there was no telling where he was. Rogue could barely make out where he was going to be. "Fate is something you can easily tamper with you know." He was revealed as an elongated shadow beneath Rogue. He looked down in surprise, seeing his shadow having a dark gleam towards it as it snickered.

Rogue could feel his own insecurities flourish. "You're speaking nonsense. Why would I believe that you're real to begin with?" Suddenly, without warning, the shadows erupted into a swirling mesh of light and dark at the same time, sending Rogue into the air with a shocked scream of pain.

"Rogue, no!" Frosch panicked.

Rogue crashed on his back, grunting at the shock he took in. His shadow slowly eroded out of the ground as he laid there. "Is that real enough for you?" Future Rogue manifested in front.

Rogue gritted his teeth as he slowly stirred back to his feet. _'His attack…it was from the shadows. Just like my own…'_ He slowly staggered straight up. _'There's no mistaking it. It's that same one she spoke of.'_

"This world and fate can easily be messed with. It just takes the right kind of people to know how to survive after the dragons come and go." Future Rogue said. "You can't deny the darkness forever Rogue. It'll always follow you, as long as it lasts of course. You'll soon realize it soon enough."

Rogue stood his ground, making no attempts at moving. Instead, tendrils of shadows whipped up beneath Future Rogue, stemming from Rogue's own shadow to hold him down. "What the-?!"

"I don't know what kind of timeline you've come from, but that future doesn't exist here." Rogue sternly said. "People still survived. The dragons are long gone…that includes Acnologia." His eyes narrowed. "So I don't need your influence the same as I did before."

Future Rogue looked a little surprised. "Acnologia…was…" Quietly, he began to snicker. "So then, you've already slayed him. This is a surprise. He still lives from where I'm from."

"Save it…I don't listen to arrogant wannabes!" Motioning with his arm, Rogue made the tendril shadows slam Future Rogue into the ground, making him grunt t the show of force. "I've made it clear, _that_ future never happened."

Despite being submissive, Future Rogue glared daggers with his one eye. "That may be…but you still want power, right? Power to keep Frosch from slipping away from your grasps?"

A powerful chord strung in Rogue's heart. It ate at him, and he wasn't taking it. "Shut up!" He lashed both arms, expelling a whirlwind of shadows that spread everywhere. However, time slowed down as he realized Future Rogue was already behind him.

In the closest of time, the Dragon Slayer of another timeline smirked behind Rogue's back. "Who knows? Maybe you will end up like me one day?"

Rogue looked back, only to get another whirlwind of light and darkness to push him along the ground. As he slid, his feet remained stationary as he soon managed to find proper footing on the opposite side.

"All you need is a helping hand. I can guide you to that power…the power to make sure no one hurts Frosch before it's too late." Future Rogue offered. "Frosch is precious to me, so wouldn't it make sense to make sure to be the strongest for him to look up to?"

Frosch was along the sidelines, having eyes shaking considerably. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew Rogue had to get help somehow. "Rogue…"

Rogue balled his fists tighter than before. He steeled himself for the next round. _'I can't let my emotions get the best of me. This guy is speaking nonsense I'm sure. Maybe he is from the future, but that's from a different future, the one we were glad Nic saved us from.'_ In his mind, he recalled the battles of that night, recalling how Nic and the Pokémon of his kind and Legendaries slaughtered the dragons, and Future Rogue. _'We're past that. This is our reality. And I'll have to make that point to him.'_

Future Rogue abruptly vanished, leaving thin air to guess on.

' _I know where he's coming…'_ Rogue turned around, seeing a lash of shadows coming at him. _'There!'_

Split second and Rogue became a whirlwind of shadows, tying in with the manifested Future Rogue and creating a powerful pulse of shadows.

" **Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!** "

The cyclone of blade-like shadows swallowed Future Rogue, making him grunt in midair from the shock the attack possessed. Rogue turned into shadows again, slithering into the ground and slunk around.

Above, Future Rogue glared down and readied his assault. "You think that much power will prove me wrong?" He jutted his palm forward, unleashing a torrent of shadows that launched across the ground. Moments before the shadowy wave swamped the earth. Future Rogue got what he wanted and flushed Rogue out of the ground, where he was in midair. Instantly he molded into a shadow and shot like a bullet at him. _'I got him!'_

But for Rogue, this was opportunity. "Now Duskull, **Astonish!** " Suddenly Duskull faded in between them.

"Who's that?!" Future Rogue gasped.

"You~r worst nightmare~." Duskull's red eye glowed and shot a dark illusion of his face at Future Rogue. While the attack wasn't too strong, it was still enough to strike his face, causing him to flinch and stop.

Grunting, Future Rogue didn't realize Rogue was in his face, smirking. The cocky smirk baffled him before Rogue's fist hit his gut, sending him to the ground. Rogue and Duskull stood beside each other, showing no backing down.

"Surprised?" Rogue teased.

"Not bad." Future Rogue said. "But not enough." He faded into shadows again, vanishing into the darkness to get another attack in.

Rogue glanced around, trying to scope him out. _'He can't hide forever. Time to show him what Pokémon have done for us.'_ "Duskull, use **Foresight!** "

Duskull's eye glowed bright blue before he let out a ghastly moan. It faded into the shadows, making a light blue forcefield expand outwards/ As if by magic, the Foresight cleared away the shadows, leaving a clean atmosphere and Future Rogue fading onto the surface. He looked down, then back t Rogue, who smirked.

"Now you can't turn into a shadow to get around." He noted.

Future Rogue narrowed his eyes. "Maybe…but I still have power! **White Shadow Dragon's Roar!** " From his mouth, he fired a beam of roaring shadows and light fused into one, racing after Rogue.

" **Shadow Dragon's Roar!** " Rogue countered using his own menacing roar, ripping across the land towards the roar.

The two attacks met in the center, where instantaneously, a menacing, shrilling eruption of light and shadow swallowed everything. It hollered like a ghost as Frosch was covering up in the distance, keeping himself from being blown away like the decorations and candles. The intensity spread even towards Duskull, who was forced to even take caution and slide behind Rogue as the maelstrom was making him slide back. The intensity left him open, as through it, Future Rogue's own gut punch made impact, making him fly pass Duskull and hurdle onto the ground.

Future Rogue eagerly smirked. "Is that all this version of me has?"

Rogue strained to get up, but he wasn't finished yet. "No…" he started. "I'm just getting started."

"Rogue…" Frosch had scared eyes as he watched the battle unfold.

Meanwhile, not far, Minerva used her magic and roared out once more. Explosions erupted around Hoshina, and she made sure they weren't going anywhere. However, as expected, Hoshina abruptly teleported behind using Kirlia's help. Minerva glanced behind, before she created another explosion to swallow up the space where Hoshina was at. As that eruption roared, Minerva's eyes narrowed as she glared off to the side, seeing Hoshina again was sitting idly in her seat.

"I predicted your moves." She bluntly said. "I'd prefer to not repeat myself, but any possible future, I can see ahead of."

Minerva glared daggers. _'She predicted them!'_

Hoshina reached out her crystal ball, making it shine a little brighter compared to normal.

" **Warp Rush!** "

Around Minerva, invisible shockwave abruptly kicked her up. They blew her around in an intense pulse wave that caused her to flip and grunt in midair. When she caught herself, she landed on her feet, keeping herself upright.

"I moved the shockwaves from your explosions into the future and around you." Hoshina noted, holding her pipe into her mouth. "I'm not much of a hands-on fighter, but between time and space, I wonder which two forces is more potent. To see, or to bend? Or rather both?"

Minerva ignored her and swiped her arm. "Bagon, **Bite!** "

Bagon shifted in front of Minerva and opened his maw. He began a substantial charged at Kirlia, but Kirlia twirled around and dodged Bagon's fangs. He came around, only for history to repeat.

"Kirlia, **Confusion.** " Hoshina ordered. Kirlia's eyes glowed bright blue and she used another kinetic force wave that forced Bagon back. The Dragon-type crashed into the ground, creating dust at Minerva's feet.

"Hang in there." Minerva insisted. Beneath her, Bagon staggered back up.

Hoshina took the pipe out of her mouth and blew smoke away. "You know, in this case, your other you wouldn't be above using a hostage situation to get by. Wouldn't that be the most practical?" she mused.

Minerva relaxed her stature. "Are you implying to that other me you saw? Don't be a fool. Like I would stoop that low."

"This you, why most certainly. However…possibilities can always happen." Using her fingers, she touched the crystal ball in hand, making it shine brightly. Minerva immediately found herself entranced as the crystal ball's mist began to fade, revealing an image of herself that night when her father let her out in the woods. She was panting, cold, and surrounded by man-eating animals. "This was you, the night that Nic and his Kecleon saved you, correct?" The next image revealed that very same instance, when Nic and Kecleon poisoned and slashed into the monsters that were about to attack. "You've certainly found someone to admire and look up to, I can say that. But what if he wasn't around? Perhaps if Bellona didn't force your hand; what kind of future would that be?"

Minerva's glare sharpened. "You wouldn't dare."

Hoshina was tempted. She chuckled as she cupped her hands over the crystal ball, making another mist cover up the scene displayed inside. Instead, it showed Minerva days later that night, standing tired over dead animal bodies all on her own. Years later, the images shown had her same attires as in the Grand Magic Games, but she held Happy hostage, and she had this wicked and cocky smirk on her face that spelled trouble. "The Minerva I see, is powerful. Feared even. She would do anything to ensure that her power goes without say." The next image revealed what would've been the Naval Battle if it wasn't Nic present. It'd be Lucy, and Minerva saw herself brutalizing the Celestial Mage in a bloody mess. She saw another image, showing herself under the same instance when Bellona took over her. "She was fearless, and didn't rely on others." The images changed, revealing her stabbing Kagura in the back, to her crying in shame as Sting forfeited the games. The images changed to show her as a Dark Guild Mage, and finally, to an unruly sight – Tartaros. "If not for Bellona or Nic, you'd be here, claiming power against those you hated: The weak."

Minerva strained to keep her composure. Would she really have been like that if it weren't for Nic? Would she really end up like Bellona in this particular instance? She remembered what Bellona was like when they picked her up and how she was during the Council War, and suffice to say she thought little to appreciate such a fate.

But that wasn't the only thing that startled her as the mist returned in the crystal ball. "And the strong, why do they crave power? Because they cannot find pleasure in other things perhaps?"

The images showed, and Minerva's composure mentally broke. In the crystal ball, what she saw made her mouth triangular, with her eyes becoming huge white circles of the dumbfounded.

Hoshina smirked. Hovering beneath her, the crystal ball showed Minerva, but her hair was long and straight without the formal curves. She wore a beautiful flowing wedding dress with glossy pink lipstick as she stood beside a silhouette of a potential groom. "In that future, would you be able to find love? Have you ever imagined yourself with somebody?" Hoshina chimed, breaking into a small chuckle. "Well, I mean I can't blame you. A fine woman such as yourself deserves to find a little levity when it comes to power." She swiped the image away, dissipating it to a regular state of the crystal ball. "But how can _you_ make that a possibility?"

Shaking herself of the shock she was feeling, Minerva had it. She swirled her fingers and arms, making a powerful rise in magical energy flourish as space began to distort around Hoshina as she idly smoked.

The land beneath began to crack, and soon enough, flashes of bright magical power flickered before Minerva let it all loose.

" **Yagdo Rigora!** "

The figment of a warrior god-like statue arose, showing itself before the explosion took compressed a split second before roaring throughout the atmosphere. Anyone close would've been brought to sunder as hell broke loose. The pillar of intense energy exploded into oblivion, ripping into the skies and making the thunder and clouds immediately dissipate. The sky opened up for all to look at, surprising many below.

"Woah, damn." Sawyer whistled.

"Somebody must be letting loose in there." Sorano chimed.

Yukino looked up at the roaring skies, seeing the light dissipate into flickers while the others were speechless. Somehow, she knew what that attack was. _'Milady.'_

Many floors down, in the depths of many roles of holes adjacent to the ones Nic and Orion created in the palace, Minerva was in the base of it, and dust rung throughout her space. She straightened back up and frowned at the smoke and debris that should've been where Hoshina was.

She turned her back, walking away…

A small chuckle came from within. "Amusing."

The voice rattled Minerva's cage as she looked back shocked. Eyes went wide as the smoke cleared, revealing Hoshina once again unscathed. To make matters worse, as the smoke dissipated, they revealed something else.

"You've put up a good front there, I admit." Hoshina chimed. "But now I'm wondrous of something. Exactly…who amongst you two is the _possible_ Minerva?" Beside her, she gestured to the reason how she survived the attack. Beside her, it looked like Minerva, but something was different. She had pink bandages and straps over the body, and an eyepatch was beneath an eye. She even had a cape and gloves with sharp claws.

Minerva's eyes glared daggers at her alternate future-self. "Another one."

Neo Minerva smirked evilly at herself. "Well, well, what do we have here? An imitation of me? How degrading."

The two quickly clashed, with Neo Minerva slashing with Minerva using fists infused with space to collide. Meanwhile Bagon rushed at Kirlia and Musharna on his own.

As she watched the power struggle, Hoshina smirked maliciously as she blew into her pipe again.

* * *

The room was quiet with a fierce tension. Yajeel watched from afar as Wingull was perched on his staff. The two watched as Ajeel seethed daggers of frustration at Neinhart, the one who was in charge of this whole mess.

"So, you wanted to 'talk', you say?" Neinhart repeated. Rather than show sympathy, the emperor shrugged and looked away. "I don't even see why I should bother. I already have enough on my plate. Now, if you don't mind, I am _very_ busy at the moment. I'm trying to contact Hoshina, but she's hopeless at this point."

Ajeel looked like it didn't matter. "I said _now_." He reiterated coldly.

Neinhart sighed. "Your emperor said he was busy, now beat it." He glared over his shoulder. "And next time, present yourself formally. You'll stain my carpets with your sand that way."

Ajeel shot bloodthirsty glares at Neinhart. The way he looked was telling Neinhart he wasn't moving. In fact, they looked like they wanted something desperately. Unable to see this, Neinhart just saw that he wasn't going anywhere and frowned.

"Like I give a crap." Ajeel snarled. "Tell me, why are we fighting?"

The question made Neinhart raise a brow. "Why we're fighting?" He couldn't help but uproariously laugh. "Well isn't this a surprise, especially from you!" he laughed. " _You_ of all people question war, when you love it? Don't make me laugh!" But he was laughing anyway, hard in fact. Once he eased up did he wipe a tear from his eye. "What made you ask such a ridiculous question?"

Ajeel thought back to it. He didn't know why, but every time he tried not to think about it, it ached.

" _So tell me, grandson…have you thought of who the enemy is?"_

" _I do…but the kinds I love aren't the ones I expect you to understand. At least not yet."_

Ajeel remembered why he was here now. He never questioned it before, but now that he's taken some time to consider some things, he's to make himself a little more questionable. "…that's none of your business." He answered.

Neinhart smirked nonchalantly. "Really? That's funny considering the position you're in. You look like those weak creatures we used for target practice. Now _that's_ almost laughable!" he chuckled loudly, again annoying Ajeel. He actually expected Ajeel to laugh it off as well, but the fact that he wasn't meant another story.

"I asked. Why. Are. We. Fighting?" he seethed through his teeth. "Better tell me now, or so help me…"

Neinhart finished his cackling, bemused to where he swiveled around and smirked callously. "Or what, dare I may ask?" he challenged. "You really wanna know why we're doing this? You _that_ desperate as to question something so ridiculous?!" he sneered angrily. "I'll tell you! One word…Entertainment."

Ajeel's glare slowly widened. "Enter…tainment?"

Neinhart put a hand over his face s he chuckled. "Man, you've really gotten blown around, haven't you? To think you'd even question something even _you_ need." He paced himself down the steps of his throne, until finally he was amongst Ajeel's height. "Everybody needs entertainment, don't they? It's what gives us joy in our lives! After all the shit that was thrown at us by those bastards that dared sully Lady Irene's will, don't you think self-satisfaction is very much deserving?!" he pointed a finger at Ajeel as he mockingly laughed. "Why, what are you fighting for? Hm?"

Ajeel went to speak up, but another tone rang inside his head. _"I do…but the kinds I love aren't the ones I expect you to understand. At least not yet."_ That same voice of Nic, someone who was like a god who almost never loses, and yet something about the words he said of why he fights. Why did _he_ fight? He didn't get it yet, but all the thinking was filling his head with a throbbing headache.

"Hahaha! That look you have is ridiculous!" Neinhart mused. "That's precisely why I'm doing this! To make them feel the pain we felt! The pin they gave to Lady Irene…the pain that _I_ felt!"

Ajeel remained silent as he seethed daggers at Neinhart. Normally he'd question, but after considering Yajeel's words from earlier, he chose to listen to the tyrant's irate.

"You think that I should get a _little_ amusement?" he scoffed angrily. "I slaved my back when I was just a small child, with nothing to have to go by. No lacrima-vision. No toys. No birthdays. And then slave traders just had to come and take my parents. And what do you think I was left with?!" he was exasperating at this point, quite possibly from the bitter memories of how hollow he was. "I deserve this! I deserve compensation for all the hell that I went through; to see everyone else suffer for my sake! The empire took me and gave me opportunity to see the ones that defied me my right to justice! This is justice! This is for Lady Irene and her will that she entrusted to me…to make them pay…to make them suffer. That is entertainment…and guess who has the front row seat to it all?"

Ajeel gave Neinhart a heavily suspicious look, almost borderline stupefied. He knew Neinhart was delusional before, but he didn't mind. Now that his bell was rung a few good times, even the battle-loving psycho was at a loss for words.

Yajeel stared somberly, disapproving quietly.

"So now you know why I'm doing this, because I want some fun." Neinhart swiveled around, facing the windows. "Now, go get some ice for that head or something, your presence is cramping my style." He waved him off dismissively.

Ajeel, however, stepped forward. "At least I have the balls to actually do what I want than what others tell me!"

"Ajeel…" Yajeel quietly spoke his grandson's name.

A nasty chord struck, Neinhart darkly looked over his shoulder, wickedly smirking with a hint of anger. "What was that again? I don't think I heard you."

Ajeel raised a brow. "Gee, I'm sorry, perhaps I need to make myself clear for ya considering you're too high up there." He took another step forward. "I'm saying you're a coward. I dry up asses because I wanna, not because somebody asked me. But you, you're just following dead people around like a fly. You rely on the dead too much you really can't fight for yourself, can ya?"

Neinhart didn't say anything. He and Ajeel had a short standoff as they glared adhesive daggers at one another. They looked fed up, and at any given moment, someone was about to crack. That one was Ajeel.

Sand rushed with one swipe of his arm, while Neinhart reached forward and expelled a blast of wind, which ran clean through the sand. As sand was scathed in the air, Ajeel used his powers and molded each individual grain and sharpened them, making them sand shards that shot sideways at the emperor. Neinhart casually swiped his arm, creating a wind torrent that surrounded him and made the sand spears dissipate. The whirlwinds expanded further, reaching farther out until they swallowed up Ajeel, making him grunt at the turbulence.

"Ajeel!" The old man behind reached out, but the whirlwind created was thwarting him. Even his Wingull couldn't leave the staff in risk of being blown around.

Ajeel gritted his teeth as Neinhart mockingly laughed at his expense. "You see?! This is what Lady Irene left me! Unmatched power! Someone like you so undeserving and knows only fighting can't comprehend how to use this power!"

Ajeel's breaking point was getting there. He seethed through the whirlwind, getting an idea. His entire body became sand, in which the wind carried him off. As the sand swirled, Neinhart looked casual as he was unaware of Ajeel's plan.

Behind, Ajeel was in midair, his body back together as his arm was a sandy axe. "You're mine!"

Neinhart glanced over his shoulder. "Am I?"

Ajeel swung his sand axe with all his might, creating a shockwave that wrecked through the whirlwind. Gusts shrilled through the throne room, shattering every glass window that was inside; including the one Neinhart looked out at. Ajeel smirked as he looked down.

Another smirk, however, object. "Was something trying to hit me? I couldn't tell."

"What…" Ajeel looked down in shock, realizing what it was he attacked instead.

To his extreme shock, the man realized that his sand-like weapon was edged into the shoulder of someone with fair skin, yet he had accented orange robes with an Arabian vibe to it. His forehead had the eye symbol that Ajeel had, only orange, and he had dark facia hair. To add to it, a lamp-like structure with sand in it was floating beside him, and the lamp's tip was tilted to that sand was running down the opposite shoulder like a waterfall.

The man had shock on his face as Ajeel was wide-eyed. He was at a loss for words to say. "D…Dad…?"

The father weakly reached for his son, looking like he was about to mist in the eyes. Very weakly, the tips of his fingers grazed Ajeel's face. "Son…" But moments later, the body faded away, like grains of sand.

"No! Wait-!" Ajeel what it was, and before he knew it, another harsh pulse wave sent him flying high. He screamed until he sundered to the ground again behind a bemused Neinhart.

"That was priceless!" the emperor arrogantly laughed in glee. "So _that's_ your father, huh? The one you were ordered to kill for treason."

Ajeel strained to get up. He still had a distraught expression from that Historia he had. He was too exhausted to even move now. Neinhart knocked his second wind right out of him.

"I feel sorry for you, Ajeel. I didn't think you'd grow this soft. To think you'd actually show remorse after your had to kill that idiot for treason. Why, I'd do the same thing."

Ajeel trembled as he sat up. "You bastard…"

Neinhart darkly smirked. "There, that's it. That's the suffering that I like to see; to play with such simple emotions like instruments is just music to my ears." He gestured with arms out. "And now to add to my world of a playground, these Pokémon are my dispensable toys. Now there's no way I'll ever be bored again-!" He was cut off when he picked up on above. The shadow he saw was by a falling rock he barely dodged. "What the-?!"

Ajeel looked bewildered. When he looked around, he saw his Trapinch behind him. "What the?! You?!" he gasped. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Trapinch raised his head, continuing his **Rock Slide** attack. The rocks continued falling out of the ceiling, leaving Neinhart distracted.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the emperor continued dodging rocks, which shattered upon hitting the ground.

With Trapinch providing the distraction, Ajeel began to take notice of the opening he was making. He reached out and attacked again, shooting sand across the floor in a hectic rush at Neinhart to incapacitate him.

Neinhart turned just as he dodged a rock. He stared forward in deep shock before he saw the sand rush. With rocks falling and sand piling on, the soul was finally losing his cool and his eyes shrunk. "HRAAAH!" Mustering magical energy, a sudden explosion of wind erupted like a shockwave, breaking through the rock and sand alike. They rushed everywhere else, blowing back Ajeel and Trapinch.

The two tumbled across the ground, with Ajeel thudding onto his stomach while Trapinch was far behind, blown back more. Ajeel was on his hands and knees before Neinhart was above him, a palm swirling a magic pulse.

"Useless tools you are. You're both nothing if not expenses that are a nuisance." The emperor exasperated. "You're better off out of my sights…for good."

"No…no!" Ajeel plead. But it was no use, Neinhart's smirk said so. "I'm not…done yet!"

"Where have I heard that before?" he chimed. "Someone whose failed the empire how many times again? A few too many…goodbye."

"NO!"

The pulse wave fired, shooting like a bullet at Ajeel. The Spriggan was too weak, and could only look away as he heard something being shot. Oddly enough, he didn't feel anything more than a little spat.

"Wait…what-?!" Of course he realized what it was that intercepted, and it left him horrified. His mouth slowly widened s his eyes dilated.

In very slow motion, the pulse wave dissipated as it went through a body that got in the way of the attack. There, looking like an old rag, the figure that was Ajeel's own grandfather was drifting in the air, his chest ran clean through.

Ajeel's eyes shrunk so massively as he saw his grandfather's face look at him, hoping to see he was alright. "A…jeel…" he muttered through his breaths. He fell to the floor with a slow, agonizing thud, the vibrations running through Ajeel's ears.

It took him mere minutes to process what happened. And when he caught on, he knew who it was that was shot.

" **GRANDPA~!** " he wailed massively throughout all the halls in the building.

Neinhart smirked as his palm fizzled away. He clutched it as he pulled back. "Huh? He was still here?" he shrugged. "Oh well, I didn't need him anyway."

Ajeel scuttled over towards Yajeel, hovering over him as white as bleached sand. He was at a loss for words as his heart raced over the sight. "Grandpa…" he wheezed. "No…no!"

Beside him, the Wingull looked down and cawed in shock. She continued to do so in horror while Trapinch was absent-minded.

Ajeel was so lost that he almost forgot about Neinhart as he prepped a second shot. "You bastard…!" he seethed through his teeth. "You piece of…"

"This time I won't miss." Neinhart sourly noted, magical energy converging to the palm again. "As emperor, I hereby sentence all of you to death! Begone, boring trash!"

Ajeel was too distraught to do anything. He stared up as Neinhart made sure his next strike wouldn't miss. Just as it was about to fire, suddenly, another person intervened, this time shoving the arm away into the air, causing the blast to misfire into the ceiling corner. In a matter of second, the ceiling's one side was completely blown away, breaking to pieces. The tapestry fell in the background as Neinhart was shown agitated.

Before him, Elfman was in his Beast Soul, swatting the attack away in time while Lisanna was guarding a startled Ajeel. Their presence alarmed him. "What…? You two…?"

"Looks like we made it in time." Elfman snarled. Behind him, his Machop had Trapinch in his arms, ready to carry the wounded creature off if needed. Rufflet was beside Wingull, and they all looked eager yet unsound.

"Are you okay?!" Lisanna shouted behind.

Ajeel shakily nodded. "Y-yeah…" he looked down at his arms. "But…my old man." He heard coughing from the aged man, making him see he was still breathing.

Neinhart backflipped out of Elfman's distance and raised a brow. "What's this? More fun? Well now isn't this a treat! A nice prelude to a splendid day to come!"

Elfman backed away, sensing the immense power Neinhart was giving off. _'This guy's Magic Power is extreme! Just how high is it?'_ He saw the dark look in his eyes, looking far from normal. "Lisanna, we gotta move!"

Lisanna nodded. "I'm right behind ya!"

Whirlwinds swallowed up Neinhart as he expelled more magic. "I'll blow you all away together!" he shrilled as he unleashed his attack. The winds ripped through the room in a frenzy, blowing off the furniture, the residual glass, even destroying the doors. To add insult to injury, Neinhart's own throne was pried from the ground, tumbling down the stairs at his legs. As the winds dialed down soon, he saw that around him there were no others.

"Hmmm…" he hummed musingly. "Tch, looks like they got away…either that or they were blown off. Oh well." He turned around, where he saw his throne sideways. All he did was smirk maliciously before he stepped over it and back up to where he was. He stood excitedly as he looked out the shattered windows, seeing the courtyard below. "Guess that was fun, but I have other guests that'll cure my boredom…"

* * *

Inside a spare room, not too far away, there was cover. The door was slammed shut and locked inside, leaving the small space reveled. It looked like a cell almost with an opening with magic-proof bars, but it was just a closet with footstool space. Design sure was spotty.

"Is he still after us?!" Lisanna chirped.

Elfman put his ear along the door, hearing anything on the other side. After a few seconds he backed away. "No, I think we gave him the slip."

Lisanna looked down at the ground. "Thank goodness. That was a close one." She sighed. "Hey Rufflet, are you okay?"

Rufflet flapped his wings with energy. "Yeah! I'm good!"

"How about you, Machop?" Elfman asked the Fighting-type beside him.

The Superpower Pokémon huffed his chest and beamed with pride. "Like you have to ask." He boasted.

Lisanna sighed again. "Okay, well, guess we got our work cut out for us." She turned towards the back of the closet. "How bout you, are you…" Slowly, Lisanna's eyes widened in shock, in which the others picked up on. They realized the problem.

Trapinch was far behind Ajeel as he was on his knees. He was hovering over Yajeel as he was on his back on a smooth cement layer with a fluffy coat as a pillow. The Wingull was overhead on a rack, observing anxiously as Ajeel was having a massive panic attack.

"Oh no…" Lisanna paled.

Ajeel was looking down with a frightened child's expression. If anything could describe him right now, it'd be disarray. His eyes were actually misting as beads of sweat ran down his face. He was barely keeping his grandfather alive.

"Grandpa…grandpa!" he snapped. "Grandpa can you hear me?!"

Yajeel continued coughing lightly. His hand was over the spot where he was struck. He was stable…for now.

"Don't move, okay?! I can fix this! I, uh…" He looked around anxiously for something he seemingly needed. "…medicine. Medicine!" he realized. "Out of the way!" He swatted the Wingull above away in order to get to the many capsules and bath cleaning necessities. He looked at each container, reading through the label for the right one. "No! No! That's not it! No!" Each one that wasn't what he wanted was shoved to the side and rolled to the ground. "Damnit! Nit this one either! Where's real medicine around here?!"

"H-hey…" Lisanna reached out towards him, but Elfman's hand reached Lisanna's shoulder. She looked up, seeing Elfman shake his hand. She retreated and watched.

"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! No! None of these are gonna work!" He threw the bottle of toilet cleaner in hand onto the ground, making its contents splatter and stain the side of the concrete. He grew annoyed and realized Elfman and Lisanna were still present. "What are you two still doing here?! Do something!" he snapped.

Lisanna stepped back. "Hey! Wait a sec-!"

"You came to 'help us', didn't you? Well we don't have a second then! My gramps needs that medicine _now_! Get your asses up and do something!"

"But, we don't…"

Ajeel raised his hand covered in condensed sand. "I SAID-!"

"Ajeel…"

The weak moan coming from behind was the only thing that stopped Ajeel from going nuts on the Strauss siblings. He turned round and saw Yajeel looking at him weakly with what strength his aged form had. "Gramps!" Ajeel slipped to his side, getting to his face. "Stay still! I'm gonna try and get some…"

Yajeel weakly put a hand up, stopping Ajeel's statement. All the old man did was stare at his distraught grandson. "Ajeel…it's too late." He coughed again, this time spatting blood.

Ajeel angrily shook his head. "No! Shut up old man! Don't say that!" he defied. "I just need some medicine and you'll be…"

Yajeel raised his hand again, silencing Ajeel. The shaken old man somberly shook his head.

Ajeel got the message. He sunk to his knees, a despairing look washing over him. "No…no…no this...this can't be! It just can't! NO!"

"Ajeel…"

"NO! SHUT UP OLD MAN! YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE THIS LYING DOWN! NO!" he stood up and balled his fists as he fumed profusely. "We can handle this! Gotta get the medics! Just don't…j-just don't…" He was trailing off as his voice was cracking under the stress of the situation. His eyes were as shut as his heart was. At least, until just recently.

Yajeel just stared morbidly as his grandson despaired. He remembered this was how he felt when he knew he had to kill his father for treason against the empire long ago. He was a good kid, until that dy. Since then, he's been high and mighty, but he knew why.

"Ssssh…don't cry, Ajeel." He quietly said. "It was my time anyway." He tiredly looked up at the ceiling, recalling his earlier, ambitious days in the empire. "For as long as I could remember, this empire's been proud and prosperous…even with our beloved emperor not present, we still thrived. I was glad to have seen such days come and go. Things really are changing…"

"Old man…"

Yajeel gingerly smiled. "You really weren't willing to change until the bitter end, weren't you? Just like your father." He cheekily laughed at the expense of his own lungs exhaling blood again, getting Ajeel to be alarmed. "But you know…you can never avoid change, Ajeel. It's okay to change…even if it's for worst…because even I was there your age."

Ajeel's eyes widened. "Gramps…you…"

"But I needed help to change for the better…" His gaze went behind Ajeel. He followed towards Lisanna and Elfman, who were behind them. Ajeel looked back to him with shock. "It's okay if you want help…you don't need to hide it. If you listened to the voices around, you start thinking differently…and you've finally started listening. I'm happy for that…happy that you are finally making a path."

Ajeel clutched his grandfather's hand tight. The once confident, foolhardy man who called himself a god on countless occasions, was completely broken, weighed by loss of pride, strength…and now family. He swallowed a lump.

"All I wanted…was for you to find happiness in some way…for everyone to find it." He could feel his body getting colder by the second. He wasn't even able to shiver because he was shutting down. "Until now, I've been doing everything I could…to make this land feel safe again…to see people move on and accept change…like you. But…if I can regret one thing…"

A shrill caw came from above. Everyone looked up to see the Wingull float down and set itself on the withered man's stomach. The seagull cawed mournfully for Yajeel.

Yajeel looked down at her, softly smiling. "My friend…my only regret…is not seeing what future we could've made this empire together, these mysterious creatures that saved us, and us humans…perhaps there is a future for us all."

Ajeel looked back at Trapinch. The Ground-type tilted his head at him in inquiry. The way Ajeel abused him before was degrading, but after everything, he didn't even know what to do. All he could do was stare until a cold hand touched his face. Ajeel looked back and quickly held his grandfather's hand in return.

"Grandpa…"

Yajeel smiled at everyone with sincerity. "Thank you all…for everything. I know…this empire will see a new light…with your help." His eyes focused on Ajeel alone. "My grandson…it'll be alright."

Ajeel's eyes misted bad. "Old man…"

"No matter how hard you try, know this…I love you…please…move forward…" Yajeel's eyes slowly closed, the last of his strength at last going cold. The strength the minister once had was gone, but the smile on his dead face was a sign that he found peace knowing the empire will change. Even in his final moments, the aged man knew even as Ajeel died, he would have to grow, because it's what he would've wanted.

Ajeel's tears went down his face as his old man's hand dropped. "Gramps? Gramps?!" He nudged him. "Old man…gramps!" Unable to hold it in, Ajeel began to cry tears down his face. The tears dripped and stained his torn pants. He gasped for air as he whimpered, and all while the others looked in shame.

Wingull remained on the dead man's stomach as she softly cooed in mourning. Trapinch looked saddened as Ajeel kept crying. Lisanna was tearing up bad, but Elfman comforted his sister, though he had trouble keeping in his tears as well.

"Grandpa…" Ajeel sunk to his knees, exerting the loudest, painful cry he could ever give out to any possible battlefield. The roars of pain echoed throughout the chambers, for all to hear.

* * *

The whole scene was being watched from inside the crystal ball that Hoshina had in her hand. She smirked in amusement as she saw the whole scenario, only piquing her interests. "How interesting…"

Around her, everyone else was too preoccupied to even get close to the fortuneteller. Minerva was teleporting left and right, switching places with Neo Minerva and parrying blows. Rogue was being lashed around by Future Rogue in a whirlwind of white shadows, with Duskull unable to get any closer. And Bagon's attacks were being intercepted by Musharna before Kirlia used another **Magical Leaf** , this one sending him flying back again.

Minerva caught Neo Minerva's claw, making the two get close into the other's face. Minerva showed angst, but Neo Minerva showed hostile anger. "I'm the strongest! The weak like you couldn't fathom I took to get to here!" She mustered power to slash harder, but Minerva used her Territory and teleported above in time to avoid a direct blow. Neo Minerva went wide-eyed and stared up as her counterpart already had a leg embedded with spatial energy.

The axe kick came down, to which Neo Minerva scooted away. The attack made dust fly with the demon-human hybrid. She and Minerva had another standoff.

"But how…? Neo Minerva gritted her teeth. "My magic and power…it's but mine to control."

Minerva gritted her own teeth. _'She's skilled…but still flawed.'_ She took another stance as Neo Minerva readied herself again. _'To think that this would be me is Bellona and Nic never existed here. I can't believe I'd fall out of line.'_

"You're mine!" Neo Minerva shot forward again, with Minerva returning to resume their fight.

Her Bagon took a leap into the air, using **Bite** again. The fangs struck Musharna, creating a small shock that the Psychic-type veered away from. Bagon landed on the ground again, only for something to teleport behind him. When he looked back, he saw that Kirlia had gotten too close to his back.

"Huh?! Wait, are you-?!" He didn't have a second as Kirlia's eyes glowed, surrounding him once again in **Confusion**. Bagon found himself startled as he was floating above ground level. "H-hey! I'm flying! I can fly!" He always did wish to fly, and technically he was. But his dreams were shattered when he saw Musharna readying another charged **Psybeam**. Immediately he cried out for help. "AAH!"

Future Rogue closed the gap again, creating a point-blank explosion of white shadows that shot Rogue into the air. He screamed out in agony as he tumbled through the air, crashing into the ceiling above. He gagged some blood as everything around him was white for an instant.

"Rogue~!" Frosch panicked.

Duskull went to attack again, where his one eye manifested streaky black energy with red outlining via **Night Shade**. The attack closed in, but Future Rogue swiped his arm, dissipating with a brush of white shadows. "Ooooh~." Duskull moaned.

Future Rogue swiped again. "Stay." He swiped forward, making black shadows reach up beneath Duskull. The Ghost-type suddenly found himself unable to move with all the shadows surrounding him.

Rogue fell to the ground on his back, unable to get up. He mentally cursed himself as he found out he was still in shock. Future Rogue walked over, glaring daggers at the current Rogue.

"You're much too weak if you think this version of you had any chance against me." He taunted. "Face it, you don't have the power you need to protect Frosch now."

Rogue struggled to stand, but it was futile. He was barely sitting up when shadows suddenly arose and anchored him. His head hit the ground, making him look up at the towering monstrosity. _'I can't move…damnit! Is this guy…really the future me?'_

Future Rogue smirked. "See? You're starting to understand. You'll need my power if you want to save what you hold dear. Allow me to help you."

Rogue wasn't sure what was coming over him. Something inside of him yelled to stop, but the longer he stared into the fake him, the more he saw something else, some kind of image involving Greninja and Frosch. It only made his teeth grit. _'Frosch…I'm sorry…'_

Light pink fleet fluttered across the floor, skipping between them. "No! Stop!"

Future Rogue backed off as he looked down. Rogue looked towards the front, his own eyes widening as he saw Frosch between them, arms up.

"Frosch…" Rogue muttered.

Future Rogue grimaced as he stared at the pink Exceed. "You're…"

"Please stop…stop this…" Rogue whimpered. His entire body shook, and he was misty in the eyes. "Leave Rogue alone. He doesn't wanna be you…"

Rogue was completely speechless for Frosch defending him. "Frosch…?"

"You can't do this…please, stop…this is _my_ Rogue. And I don't wanna see him be anyone else. I love him the way he is, so please…stop."

His sot crying was touching Rogue. He stared in remorse as he thought harder of Frosch and what he said. _'Frosch…'_ He thought back to him and Greninja. _'You really feel that way about me after all.'_

Future Rogue stared down at the crestfallen Frosch, seeing as how he reminisced of his own. He could feel his own heart sing at the sight of the green cat in the pink frog suit, but then he remembered when Frosch was taken from him. It was like it was meant to happen.

Bracing himself, white shadows converged into Future Rogue's arm. "You're not my Frosch." He snapped. "The Frosch I had is long gone at this point, but you…"

"Huh?" Frosch could see the shadows arise around Future Rogue, giving him a more ominous appeal. He began to show his scarred face and glistening white shadows over the body.

"GET AWAY, FROSCH!" Rogue pleaded, but his best friend was too stiff to even answer. "FROSCH!"

White shadows covered Future Rogue's arm as he glared like a monster at Frosch. "Your existence…is changing fate." The shadows grew bigger like fire. "CHANGING FATE, IS OUT OF THE QUESTION!" He raised his arm high. "I'LL MAKE CERTAIN THAT FATE BRINGS MYSELF TO THIS PATH, EVEN IF IT MEANS MAKING YOURSELF GONE TO DO THAT!"

Frosch's eyes shrunk drastically. He looked at the Future Rogue and paled in sheer fright. Unable to move, Rogue's mouth gaped as he saw the hand come down.

" **FROSCH!** "

Just as the shadows came down, Musharna also readied her attack to finish Bagon. They were close, but suddenly a white blur and glowing fangs crashed into both, flooring them with sundering force. As the land shook beneath, everyone looked completely surprised at the newcomers that saved the two.

As the two recoiled, Sting was up. "Looks like we made it."

Behind, over a defeated Musharna, Druddigon let out a roar as he signaled his own victory.

"Sting?" Rogue gasped. He and Duskull were freed from their shadowy prisons, but they were too surprised to say or do anything.

Sting looked back, smirking. "Hey, ya miss me?"

Hoshina looked at the scene, showing a smirk at Sting's arrival. "Well…that's another possibility." She chimed musingly.

Behind Frosch, Lector revealed himself. "Hey, Frosch! Are you okay pal?" he asked.

"Lector, hey!" The happy Exceed greeted the other. "You made it!"

Lector gave a sigh of relief. "Good grief, you really scared us, Frosch. Do you know how much trouble we're in already?!"

Rogue staggered back up, looking at Sting with shock. "How did you find us?"

Sting looked at him and shrugged. "I was just running when I picked up your scent. It wasn't that hard…" He winced again, showing pain. "But…getting here was a little rougher than what I thought."

Lector rushed up to him with worry. "Sting, don't push yourself! You barely got out of that scrape with that bloody guy. You gotta take it easy."

Sting straightened up, giving a harsh glare forward. "Sorry Lector…" he stepped ahead. "But there's no time for rest, not when there's this big mess to deal with." He glanced back over his shoulder. "Druddigon, you still good to go?"

Again, Druddigon winced in pain. To be honest, the big guy was about drained. He would've preferred to rest but now wasn't the time. He gave Sting a thumb's up. "Yeah, I think I can take another hit."

"Alright, take care of that other one." He faced Rogue. "And Rogue, we'll deal with this guy together. What do you say?"

Rogue was speechless yet again as he faced Sting. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but before he could answer, a sinister laugh came from Future Rogue, drawing them back.

"You really think that even you can change fate?" he mocked. "In the future, I had to take your life in order to carry out my dream. If I have both your powers, what makes you think you'll be a match for me?"

"Why?" Sting challenged. He cockily smirked. "That's easy. Because we're a team. And Rogue knows better." Behind him, Rogue stared while Sting glanced back at him. "I mean sure he's got this thing for Greninja, but he's not that selfish to forsake even himself. As long as I'm around, nothing's gonna touch my pal!"

"Sting…" Rogue began to softly smile. Slowly, he arose to his feet, standing up beside him. _'he's right. We do everything together. Even if part, I can always depend on him to pick me up…that's my Guild Master after all.'_ Rogue stood by Sting's side, each having a confident smile of assurance. _'Even injured, as long as we stay together…the Twin Dragons won't fall so easily!'_

"Ready, Rogue?"

"Right." He looked back. "Duskull, I'm leaving you to assist Bagon and Druddigon. Can you do that?"

Duskull slowly backed away. "Oookay~…" He shifted backwards, going to help the others.

Rogue faced forward, ready to fight again. "Let's go, Sting."

"Yeah!"

Future Rogue chuckled at the comradery displayed. "So be it…then come! I'll show you just why fate is unchangeable!" He charged back at them, the dragons readying their next round yet gain.

Meanwhile, Hoshina recalled her defeated Musharna and watched Kirlia and Neo Minerva take the battlefield for her. She bemused as she looked into her crystal ball, seeing other things while the battles went on.

Minerva parried blows continuously from the alternate timeline's assault. A nonstop barrage of claws that didn't slow down; fused with Territory and they were almost impossible to keep up. But Minerva managed a break and extended her reach directly forward, expelling a blast wave that shot Neo Minerva directly in the face. The impact caused her to hit the ground hard.

Neo Minerva got up, wiping the dirt off her cheek with a smirk. "Is that all?" she challenged. "I expected more from someone that's supposed to be myself."

Minerva's eyes glared daggers at her opponent. "It's not like it matters. You're only here to fight for that fortuneteller over there."

Neo Minerva looked over, seeing Hoshina looking ever so casual. She smirked wider and faced her prey again. "So I am. But you know, as long as I'm still here, I can throw away whatever weakness I have for myself!" She didn't hesitate for a second when she created blast waves from her magic. It erupted towards Minerva, who reached out and used her own Territory to men the shockwaves and spatial energy around herself.

Minerva continued glaring as she was on defense. In her mind, as she looked at Neo Minerva, she saw Bellona. _'So this is what I would be like. Denial…just like she was.'_

The shockwaves dissipated, leaving Neo Minerva to see that her counterpart was unscathed.

"Please, forgive me for not taking you seriously so far." Minerva said. "By all means, allow me to grant you what you ask for." Her eyes narrowed in cynical delight. "Shall I make you see light?"

Neo Minerva heaved a breath as she charged again. "Just try!" She went and slashed ahead with great force.

Kirlia teleported again in time to avoid Druddigon's fangs. The red-headed rough-skinned behemoth barreled into the ground, leaving a sizeable crater for him to dunk out of as Kirlia reappeared in front of him and Bagon.

Bagon had loops rising from beneath while Druddigon had a blue circling center. The gravity around both swirled as blue lights came from their maws.

" **Dragon Rage!** "

" **Dragon Breath!** "

Two blue draconic beams raced across the ground, heading right for Kirlia, who made no attempts at moving. The attacks met their mark, creating a booming blue eruption that shuddered the ground.

"How do you like that?" Druddigon taunted. His musings were short-lived when he stammered closer towards the ground. "Gnnngh…too much damage still from that bat earlier."

The smoke finally cleared, but when they peered inside, Kirlia looked completely unfazed. It was like they didn't even touch her.

"What?!" Bagon exclaimed.

Now it was Kirlia's turn. She took in a deep breath before she opened her mouth. She cried out as pink-hearted soundwaves shrilled through the air towards them. They expanded and covered both Dragon-types. Both winced and tried covering up, but the super-effective move was doing more than what they bargained. It was so strong that even Druddigon was barely holding his own ground.

"I…I don't think I can hold on!" Bagon grimaced. Despite the effort, even he was pushed back.

Kirlia kept up her **Disarming Voice** , until a blow from the side in the form of a dark illusion blasted her side. Her voice cracked as she fell over, ending the attack and sparing the damaged beasts. When they ll recovered and opened their eyes, they saw a small ghost apparent.

"I made~ it~. Ooohh…" Duskull hummed. "A~re you oka~y?"

Druddigon shakily staggered up with Bagon. "Been better." He exasperated. "But now I'm mad! **Hone Claws!** " Druddigon started to rake at the air continuously, the edging of his claws beginning to sharpen. A red aura enveloped him, enhancing his Attack, as well as accuracy.

"Right, then let's try…" Bagon whipped his head back, taking a deep breath. " **Ember!** " A blanket of char and embers shot from his maw that went spinning at Kirlia. The Psychic/Fairy-type didn't offer levity before she had used her powers and dissipated the attack, much to Bagon's displeasure.

" **Disable!** " Duskull let out a ghastly moan as he stared at his foe. His eyeball glowed bright blue, which reflected on Kirlia. Her own psychic powers flatlined to leave her vulnerable.

Kirlia turned towards Duskull, in which she attempted to use **Confusion**. However, she found that she couldn't, leaving her more than a little surprised. This was the opportunity they needed.

With claws sharpened, Druddigon let out a cry as he went to use **Slash**. He jumped into the air, letting out a cry that Kirlia didn't catch up on until the last second. But it was too late.

With one mighty rake of his claws, Druddigon scored a direct blow on Kirlia, leaving a white trail to follow that sent her soaring. The Psychic/Fairy-type had no levity as she spiraled out of control, crashing into the ground with a booming thud.

As the dust cleared, it showed that she was on her back, her eyes swirls that signaled her defeat. Druddigon but couldn't help but let out a roar of triumph.

Hoshina said nothing. She silently returned her defeated Kirlia and watched the other battles resume their own roles.

Another blast wave of shadows whirled around Future Rogue, which created a strong tempest that brushed Sting and Rogue away like flies. The two went barreling through the air and onto their backs again.

"Is that the best that you can do?" Future Rogue scowled. Swiping an arm, another wave of white shadows began erupting from below.

Sting picked up on it and he grabbed Rogue's collar. He tumbled out of the way, leaving behind a pillar of white shadow just mere feet off to their side.

' _Damnit, this guy's strong.'_ Sting cursed. His mind raced back to his other battle, the reason why he was a little hazy right now. _'And I haven't recovered a lot of blood after that psycho ate some of it. I'm running on empty.'_

"Sting…" A weak voice from the side revealed Rogue. He looked over, seeing his ally in peril. "I know…but we can't lose." He looked at his future-self, seething hate-filled daggers. "Not ever. Not when I swore I'd never be like him."

Sting sauntered up again. "I know. There's gotta be a way to stop this guy."

Future Rogue smirked. "Stop me, you say?" he repeated. "That's ridiculous. You can't change fate, how many times must I tell you that? I have both you _and_ Sting's power. That makes me twice as strong as the two of you together. Face it, you're outmatched."

However, Sting managed his own smirked. "Is that so? Rogue."

"Yeah, Sting?"

"Remember when I battled that creep a while ago? When you gave me your shadows?"

"Yeah…?" Rogue looked at Sting's palm, seeing a light shimmer in it. As he stared at its radiance, the more power he could feel from it. His eyes widened when he saw the smirk Sting gave to him. "Sting…you…"

"As Sabertooth's master, I'm giving ya an order…eat and kick his ass!" Without a second thought, Sting threw the ball of light at Rogue.

The Shadow Dragon watched as it closed in on him. When he stared at the oncoming light wave, he merely smirked. _'Sting…'_

The light swallowed Rogue, as it did Sting. Together, both vanished in the light. Moments later, a spiraling tornado of light and shadow fused and created a shockwave that threw even Future Rogue off guard. He covered up as the shockwaves were making him get pushed back a couple feet every now and again. _'This power…just what are they doing this time?!'_ He angrily seethed into the light, where he saw the light and shadow completely fuse into one. Inside were two silhouettes, leaving him stoned with horror.

A wave of light bypassed Sting's mouth. "Sorry…but we decide our own fate."

A wave passed Rogue. "That's right. You're nothing but a lunatic. Because…"

The shockwaves of their attacks fully dissipated, but streams of light and shadow were rising from both of them. Surrounding both were mixes of light and shadow crossing as their streams intersected. At the source of it all, in the quaking of this awesome power. Sting and Rogue stood beside the other, both having various scales over their body. Like his battle against Larcade, Sting had white scales on his right side, and black scales on the left, with respective flows seeping skywards. Even half his hair darkened. As for Rogue, it was the opposite. Shadowy scales covered his right side while his left side had white scales. The same half had a white shade of hair. "Two is always better than one!" they roared strongly.

As gusts dissipated around them, Lector was shocked. "Woah! What the-?!"

"Sting and Rogue…are both combined…?" Frosch murmured.

Sting smirked in satisfaction upon seeing the shock on Future Rogue's face. "What's wrong? You look afraid pal. Haven't you ever seen _two_ White Shadow Dragons before?" Beside him, Rogue said nothing as he smirked as well.

"Impossible…two…White Shadow Dragons…?" Future Rogue was starting to lose his patience ever so slowly. "Two…two…" Slowly, his one eye shrunk as he started to rise in magical energy as well. Pulsating waves of white shadows overlapped as he balled his fists. "YOU DARE CHALLENGE FATE?!"

In a fit of vile contempt, he swung his fist forward, expelling a white shadowy blast that tore through the ground. The airwvaes rippled, but Sting and Rogue did nothing. Instead, each swiped to the opposite side, splitting apart the attack that instead bored two intense waves into the walls. Endless craters were seen inside.

Future Rogue was stone cold. "No way-!" He was silenced when Rogue and Sting suddenly appeared in front, slugging him with two intense fists of light and darkness. They exploded him into the ground, making everything deaf if too close as the gravity made Future Rogue feel nothing but pain.

"How's that?!" Sting challenged.

Hoshina watched as the battle was spiraling into mayhem afar. She even looked over to see Minerva parrying still. When Neo Minerva went to attack, Minerva used Territory and swapped places, then unleashed another explosion behind her back, sending Neo Minerva to the ground. She continued smoking as she was seeing them fight possible futures. It even made her chuckle.

Rogue vanished into the shadows below, where Future Rogue looked down. He angrily created a sphere of white shadow above, ready to throw it down into the shadows.

Suddenly, a shadow reappeared behind him, revealing Sting with a knee back.

When he looked back, it was too late. The sphere dissipated as Sting's light kick struck the back of his head, causing him to fall forward. Meanwhile, Rogue shot up from the shadows and kneed his future counterpart's chest. The two impact knocked all the wind of out him before the two pivoted at the same time, throwing two punches together that shot him into a wall.

"Oh! That's gotta hurt!" Lector winced.

The crumbling of the wall dissipated. It left Future Rogue to stammer around. As he failed to keep himself upright, he scowled angrily as he stared coldly at Sting and Rogue. Both had strong, confident faces, and he was losing his patience. This was the last straw, and nothing was going to change that.

"Okay…that does it." He growled, streams of light and dark extending to his fingertips. "I'm ending you _both_!"

"We were just thinking the same thing!" Sting grunted. Like Rogue, he charged forward with no means of slowing down. Together, they both closed the gap on Future Rogue, each of them creating small streams of light and shadow in their wakes as well.

"We're telling you one more time! As long as I have Sting and Frosch, and everyone behind me…you're nothing but a dead thought that must be put to rest!"

Future Rogue roared as he went at them. He went full force at them with the streams ready to pierce. The moment he raked forward for his last attempt, Sting and Rogue abruptly sunk to the shadows. The swings followed through, leaving him to gasp at no targets.

The shadows beneath suddenly spiraled, dark and white fusing before rays shot up onto a horrified man.

" **White Shadow Dragon's Rough Silk!** "

Sting and Rogue rushed out of the shadows, slashing pass the future-self of the latter as hundreds of beams of black and light passed through the opponent. The Twin Dragons heard the intense screams of agony by the sadistic man. They landed on their feet as the waves of their magic soon faded, leaving Future Rogue gasping behind as his body was pierced consecutive times.

The man was gagging as his eyes were devoid of pupils, yet still stood. "This…can't be…" Slowly, with his life force draining, his whole body distorted to ill-existence.

"Like I said…" Rogue said. He and Sting deactivated their forms and returned to normal. Future Rogue started falling behind them, dying from the shock as Rogue glared at the darkness. "You're dead to me."

Future Rogue finally fell on his back, finished and defeated. As he laid there, his body slowly started to fade to gold sparkles. In a way, Rogue felt relieved, in more ways than one. He got over himself at long last, and Sting was there to push them in that direction. It was because of them together that they stopped Rogue -again – from possibly falling to the depths of hell.

Neo Minerva charged one last time at her counterpart, roaring as her magic was embedded into her hands. But she was short-sighted, when Minerva simply reached forward, trapping her own counterpart in the sphere of spatial energy. Neo Minerva was so distraught as Minerva frowned at herself.

"…perhaps I was weak all this time." She figured. "Perhaps I would've been like you if not for the others…thank you, for showing me that."

Neo Minerva let loose a vile roar as she tried to claw her way out, but even she had little power. Minerva finally detonated the blast wave and swallowed Neo Minerva in an explosion, this one with her in the dead center.

As the dust and smoke flared, Neo Minerva fell out of it and into the air. Her body was limp as she looked towards the ceiling as she sailed, thinking of her own past. In her mind, she always knew she was weak, but even now, she realized just how far low she's gone. With her eyes softening, she disdainfully vanished, leaving Minerva the victor and a new realization upon herself.

Watching the ends of their struggle, Hoshina couldn't contain her excitement. "So then…this is what you chose for a future…how interesting."

Minerva quickly reached out and used her magic, trapping Hoshina in a spatial barrier like she did for her alternate timeline. With her for contained, she seethed a glare. "It's time that we end this. Bagon! **Dragon Breath!** "

Bagon took in a deep breath as loops appeared below. The Dragon-type again fired an intense beam of flaming blue energy that coursed across the ground at Hoshina.

" **Night Shade** , Duskull!" Rogue ordered.

"Druddigon, **Dragon Rage!** " Sting commanded.

Together, Duskull and Druddigon unleashed their respective attacks. Black streaks raced across the atmosphere, while a blazing blue and black beam shot out of Druddigon's mouth. Together, they caught up with Bagon's attack, in which the three attacks spiraled and molded into one. As they shook the ground upon closing in, Hoshina knew she couldn't move and simply smirked in acceptance. As vague as what her emotions were, her mysterious vibe didn't deter, even when the attacks finally reached her, creating a massive shockwave of rumbling intensity.

" **I RAGH!** "

Minerva swiped both arms, expanding the explosion with her own spatial powers collapsing and breaking apart the air itself. Shockwaves raced everywhere, even through the hole that was made earlier. The pulsing attack waves soon subsided, allowing everyone to pant as they caught up and look at the results. There, where Hoshina was supposed to be, the cloak was sprawled, and the crystal ball was shattered. The chair was clearly broken, meaning that they must have succeeded.

"Is it…over?" Sting labored.

"Yeah…I think so…" Rogue sure hoped so. He felt like he was going to pass out.

A long grueling silence filled the caverns of the dark corridor as the Sabertooth mages and their Pokémon stared at the remnants of Hoshina. They couldn't tell how or what they felt, but they knew for the most part, she couldn't do anything.

Sting glared forward, showing no insecurities. "So you can see and make the possible future real, huh?" he asked. "Well you may have a vision…but we chose to see it for ourselves."

Rogue nodded in agreement. Alongside him, Minerva grinned. Sting looked back at them and shared the same confident look.

"How interesting…" Hoshina's voice echoed through the air. They all grew alarmed as they stared down at her. "How very interesting…" Slowly, her entire form was beginning to erode into darkness. The fragments of her crystal ball began to sweep itself away into the unknown with the fortuneteller. Her chuckles echoed through the corridor as the others grouped closer. "So, you chose to create your own futures. To create your own possibilities…how curious you people continue to be…"

Slowly, her dark chuckles began to erode away. The fragments of her crystal ball continued shuffling until they swept into the darkness over everyone's heads, leaving the source of the fortuneteller truly unknown.

With her gone, the tension still refused to settle. "…you think she's gone?" Sting asked.

"For now at least." Rogue turned towards Sting. "Sting…thank you." He smiled. "If it wasn't for you, I'm not sure what I would've become."

Sting shot him a wink. "Hey, what are friends for? You'd do the same if something happened to Lector, right?"

"Right."

Minerva took in a very long sigh. "Well now, seems we are at least another Spriggan in the clear." She glanced back. "Suppose this leaves little to worry about on our end I take it."

"For all our sakes, it better be." Lector said sternly. "We should get out of here while we still have the chance. There's no telling what lurks here."

"Fro thinks so, too!" Frosch agreed.

"You're right." Sting began to run off. "Okay guys, follow me."

"You sure you know the way?" Rogue asked.

"Positive…I actually found an exit before I picked up on your guys' scent. It's not far from here. C'mon, the others are waiting for us!"

Rogue and Minerva looked at each other and nodded, any lead was still a lead after all. They faced their Duskull and Bagon while Sting faced his Druddigon. "Return!" they all shouted, the Pokémon returned to their capsules, leaving the group to tail Sabertooth's master out.

They all took calm strides; though after those battles, they were exhausted, especially Sting. He took it easy on the way out while the others followed behind.

Meanwhile, as they ran, something went on in Minerva's mind. As disturbing as it was, she thought back to Hoshin and her powers. _'What were those powers of hers? To have been able to make a possible future reality…exactly what is her motives?'_ She wanted to think more, but her mind suddenly went to that wedding dress Hoshina saw her in. She couldn't help but struggle to hide her embarrassment from the others. ' _Hmph! I can take a man…at least I'm sure I am.'_ A weak blush filled her cheeks.

"What's up with Milady? She looks kinda…distracted." Lector questioned.

"Fro thinks so, too!"

* * *

Sophie swiped her arm forward. " **Psyshock!** "

Her Abra floated in place while a purple orb compressed between the two hands. She shot it forwards, expelling purple beams that diffused at the two Pancham that were right in front of her. They cried out in a purple explosion, which soon dissipated to reveal them unconscious.

"Yeah, that's what we're talking about!" Natsu eagerly shouted.

"Aye!" Happy cheered. Beside him, Charmander cheered.

Lucy sighed in relief. "So then…does that take care of everyone around here?"

Griffon stepped forward. "Don't worry about it." In his fists were wires, which were spread about along the walls. "There's nothing coming our way. It's just us for now."

"I would imagine that would make up the last sum of Neinhart's forces." Brandish said nonchalantly. "Which means that if we're to assume correctly…then that means we're almost to the top."

Dimaria nodded solemnly as she clutched her arm. "Right…"

Natsu turned forward, looking ahead with a serious face. "But we're not out just yet." Even his voice was dead serious. "We're still a little far away. I can barely smell them from where we are…hate to say it, but I think we're still a long ways away."

"For real?!" Happy whined. "Awww! We've been running in this direction forever!"

"Actually, Happy, it's only been 4 hours." Sophie noted. "Minus the frequent traps we've been setting and diffusing along the way."

Brandish looked up at the ceiling. "This palace was designed by Invel himself. He's constructed it so that it would be a maze for anyone who isn't a Spriggan. The fact that we were deep within the palace indicates how far the exits were."

"It's gotta run for miles on end at least."

"Yes. It sure feels that way…" She faced Dimaria. "Are you aware of any shortcuts the Spriggan take?"

Dimaria shook her head. "No. Not even Neinhart himself allowed us rights to secret passages."

Natsu folded his arms and looked at the ground. "Man…" He shut his eyes and began to think. He hummed low as he started to get an idea, which soon popped into his head. His eyes widened and he faced Sophie. "Hey wait…Sophie!"

"Yes?" she asked.

"Can't your Abra teleport itself? That would get us to the others."

The others looked at Sophie in question. She looked confusedly at her Abra before blinking. "…Abra, _are_ you able to teleport us all?"

The Psychic-type didn't give an immediate response. Drowsy somewhat, he lazily nodded, though shrugged. "…maybe…"

"Well _that_ would've made things easier before." Brandish said dryly. She pointed a finger at Sophie. "This is your fault."

Sophie shot her a look. "He said 'maybe'. There's no guarantee anyway…but it's worth a shot."

Lucy nodded. "Let's take it."

Sophie nodded in understanding. "Bo ne-lekh. (Let's go)." She faced her Abra. "Abra, **Teleport!** "

Her Abra nodded and began to concentrate whatever fibers of psychic powers he had in him. Facing everyone, he lifted his head and released a psychokinetic charge that teleported all of them from their spot.

* * *

The gang all teleported to another location. They reappeared a few feet off the ground. They all landed, while Abra and Klefki were floating gently downwards.

Yukino looked over, seeing the sudden appearance of the others. "Guys?!" she chirped. "Where did you come from?!"

Sorano looked over. "Looks like they made it out."

Lucy refocused and blinked several times before realization dawned. "Yukino…and Sorano, too!" she looked all around, seeing the many groups that were present. Everyone was there, save for Sting's group, Nic and Erza, and Mest as they were all on the balcony level where Wendy's group had fought. "Everyone!"

Wendy smiled wide. "Lucy, you're okay! Thank goodness!"

"Hmph. You sure took your sweet time." Aniya shrugged nonchalantly. "I almost forgot about you."

"Good to see you're still kicking, Aniya." Griffon said. He looked over, seeing Orion there was blood all over. "Orion, you okay?"

The founder of the Peace Jaegers crossed his arms. "Don't sweat it. It's nothing to trouble over. I was able to eat some darkness along the way."

Lucy looked all around, seeing Kinana, Gray, Juvia, everyone there looking at least in walking shape. "Everyone, you're alright…thank goodness." She sighed happily. "You had me worried there-!"

"Keys! Keys! _Keys!_ " Klefki saw Yukino and immediately went for a beeline at her. "Keykeykeykeykeykeykeykeeeeys!" Fortunately for her, she was restrained by Lucy with one hand.

"Don't get ahead of yourself there." She shot her a disappointed look as Klefki trashed in her clutches.

Jellal and Bellona stepped forward. "So I take it that you were able to find a safe route then?" Jellal asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, we made it out just fine. Are you guys alright?"

Jellal smiled. "A few of us were tossed around rather gradually…but we should be just fine. More importantly, who's that?" He referred to Dimaria, who was looking away in deep regret. The others were staring at her as well, seeing how she wasn't looking so good.

Brandish faced her. "This is my associate. Don't be alarmed, she won't try anything. Right?"

Dimaria clutched her shoulder tighter. She didn't respond. Instead, she meekly nodded.

Aniya cocked a gun in hand. "Well that's fine if you insist, but she makes a wrong move, her head comes off…I'll make sure of that."

"Aniya, take it easy." Wendy insisted.

Gray looked around, seeing the group that was gathered with them. "Looks like we picked some pretty nasty fights."

Lyon smirked. "That's putting it lightly. I imagined them underestimating us was our greatest advantage." He faced the others. "That said, is there anyone else we're forgetting?"

Richard held up a peace sign. "Oh yeah! We must still have someone around here!"

Erik heard something s he looked at the doorway from afar. He and the others stared head. "Looks like we got some more."

Finding n exit t last, slowly exiting, Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Lector, and Frosch all wandered out. "Huh?" Sting gasped. "Guys, look!"

"It's the others!" Rogue realized.

"And it looks like they're all in one piece it seems." Minerva said, following behind them.

Natsu stepped forward with surprise. "Hey Sting! Rogue! Guys, over here!" he ushered them all closer, where they regrouped. "Glad you guys could join the party. You guys alright?"

"Yo, Natsu!" Sting staggered some, until at last he was forced to be held up by Rogue moments before falling over.

"Stay still. You wore yourself out too much back there." Rogue insisted. "Take it easy."

"I'm fine." Sting proved this by managing to stand on his own again, albeit with some slight swaying here and there. He faced the others and gave a serious look. "Sorry for the delay, guys. We got caught up with a Spriggan."

"You too?!" Lucy squealed.

"Yeah, but she took off. So who does that leave now?" Sting looked around, seeing almost everyone accounted for. He rubbed the back of his sore head as he figured something out. "Wait a minute, what about-?!"

The sounds of a window shattering caught everyone's attention. Shards suddenly dropped from the side of a large window overlooking the courtyard as four figures shot out. S the glass shattered and landed, two pairs of feet landed as well, and Greninja and Aegislash were right behind them. The figures slowly arose, revealing themselves to be the very object on Sting's mind.

"…yeah, them." Sting finished.

"Talk about convenience." Lector chimed. "Then again, that's them for ya."

Nic and Erza searched around, seeing all the people that went through their battles. They all gave expectant looks for each one; even Aniya showed some signs of relief. "You guys made it?" Nic questioned.

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, sure did. Right Charmander?" Beside him, his tired Charmander was giving a thumbs up. "See? We're good."

"You okay, guys?" Wendy asked.

Erza nodded. "We're fine, Wendy. Thanks." She answered. "We'll manage. More importantly, is everyone else alright?"

Griffon shrugged. "I don't see a need to worry. We've been through worse."

"Don't jinx it, Grif." Aniya teased.

Upon seeing Greninja, Frosch immediately jumped with joy. "Oh boy, it's Greninja!" He waved his arm around. "Hi~!"

Greninja waved back. "Hey, Frosch."

"He remembered me! He remembered me!" Frosch cheerfully screeched. He was looking at Greninja with such admiration, so much that a certain someone behind was feeling the exact opposite.

Cringing, Sting and Lector kept their guard up as Rogue was shuddering, his hair cascading darkness as a death-like aura was surrounding him. It was keeping all his willpower just to not go nuts. Even Minerva was eyeing him wearily. "I'm good…I'm good…" he seethed through his teeth. "Remember, Frosch is just a fan, nothing else…yeah…" he cracked his voice as it trailed off in a nervous laughter, much to the discomfort of the others.

Sting put a hand on his friend's cold, icy shoulder. "That's it. When we get a minute, we're gonna have a serious talk about your little 'problem'."

"Oh brother." Lector sighed.

As the groups converged, another individual popped out of nowhere, revealing himself to be Mest on a knee with Ralts.

"Woah, Mest! Where did you come from man?" Gray asked surprised.

Mest arose to face them. "Sorry for startling you. I was checking on the others back at the ship." He responded.

Immediately the others grew alarmed. It has been a while since any word got back to them about the others. Even Nic wanted to before this happened. Orion stepped forward. "So then what's the word?"

"They were attacked by another Spriggan coming around just like we thought. The others are shaken up, but they're still okay for the most part."

"Another Spriggan?" Brandish inquired harshly. Her eyes narrowed as she thought of who the possibilities were. _'Then that should leave…'_

Before she could finish her inquiry, Kinana stepped forward. "But wait, has anyone seen Elfman or Lisanna?"

High above, the sound of an insidious laughter shrilled through the palace ground. The echoing was one thing, but its cliché maniacal appeal was what made the other glare around at this unsettling tone. Around them, a gust picked up, shifting clothing and hair like it was about to be blown away.

Brandish glared up with uncertainty. _'This sound…this wind…'_

Erza glared skywards. She knew this sensation all too well. Aegislash got to her side as both seethed daggers at the sky as a massive Thought Projection screen slowly faded into view for everyone. Instantly many recognized who it was.

" **Welcome, welcome, my wonderful guests of wonder.** " The projection announced flamboyantly. " **To those who managed to make it to my illustrious empire, I congratulate you on making it this far.** "

"Neinhart." Brandish absconded.

"Hang on, _that's_ the delusional emperor?" Gajeel grunted, still holding the blacked-out Kevin on his shoulders.

Beside him, Pantherlily folded his arms. "Looks like he's giving us another ceremonial welcoming."

" **I must say…** " The projection smirked musingly. " **You Ishgarians amuse me. You honestly did surprise me. To think that my fellow Spriggan would be so pathetic s to end up at the mercy of such entertaining cockroaches. Especially you, Dimaria.** " The projection went downwards, snarking as Dimaria nervously stepped back. " **I thought you'd want your precious friend back. So much for faith.** "

Dimaria was unsound with what might happen, but Natsu stepped forward. "You leave her out of this." He threatened harshly. "This is between us and you, buddy."

Neinhart raised a dark brow, his anger showing. " **Ah,** _ **you**_ **. I remember you…you're the one who gave me this.** " He pointed to the burn mark on his cheek, where Natsu socked him in their last war. " **It still stings to this day…all because of you. All of you! You made a mockery of the empire and what we stood for! We were designed to break that dragon…and then** _ **you**_ **came along and gave us the boot!** " He pointed a finger down at Nic and Greninja. They were unfazed. " **And you went as far as killed Sir August…even Lady Irene. You reduced us to nothing…so now, we make it our goal to make you and the world remember us as the strongest force in this world. And what better way than to make an army of these pets that took down our target.** "

Nic glared at him harshly. "Bastard…"

" **Since my fellow Spriggan were too pathetic to handle it themselves, I suppose I'll have to take after their messes for myself. How appropriate…** " he smiled wide. " **So, come! And I dare you to give me an entertaining show!** " With that, the projection faded into the high sky. The open cloudy atmosphere continued thundering some as the strong winds felt like they were going to blow them off.

Natsu rammed his fist into his palm, making the knuckles crack. "Dare accepted."

"Aniya, where is he?" Orion asked.

Requipping a pair of binoculars, the vision zoomed in, revealing a visual of the figure with a cocky smirk standing on the flat rooftop high above them. "At the top of the roof." She answered as she requipped it away. "Straight ahead."

"Understood. Peace Jaegers, it's time we finish our business. This fight dragged on long enough."

Griffon nodded. "I'm with ya." Beside him, Aniya cocked a gun.

Erza looked back at everyone else. "Is everyone else ready?"

"Aye!" Happy jumped. Natsu smirked, and everyone was ready to take the battle by storm.

Erza looked at Nic, giving him a knowing smirk and nod. Nic looked at Greninja, who shred the same nod. "Alright then…" He stomped down, dashing straight ahead. "Let's move!"

"Right!" they all roared.

* * *

From high above, Neinhart watched them all with a mischievous smirk. He was seeing the valiant faces as some sped along at alarming rates like Nic and Greninja, and then there were others who were slower. All their expressions made Neinhart's eyes show pure lust for evil. "What do you say, Lady Irene? Shall I grant you your wish at last?" He reached his arm out, generating his Magic Power.

* * *

"Just a straight shot up, right?!" Natsu shouted.

"Yeah, looks like it!" Happy shouted. "We should be up there in no time!"

"Don't jinx it!" Carla exclaimed. "Wendy, you ready?"

Wendy nodded. "Right!"

As they all were charging forward, a hand reached out ahead, swiping harshly.

Nic and Greninja continued running until they came to a halt. In front of them, another set of explosions went off, erupting with pulsating pressure in a straight line across to block them all off. They all rebound as the smoke dissipated, but many were slightly shocked.

"What's going on?!" Gray exclaimed. "An ambush?!"

Through the smoke, a maniacal smirk was seen. "Heh."

Lucy's eyes widened. "No way…" Beside her, Klefki also showed slight shock, even if she didn't know him. But Lucy remembered.

Sophie especially remembered. "You…"

Before them all, Jackal was cackling a laughter as he eyed them. "Well, well…Blondie, and Blondie 2. Did ya miss me?!" he shouted.

"Jackal!" Sophie gasped.

"Wait, that Tartaros guy?!" Happy exclaimed.

Jackal reached forward and expelled yet another explosion. His intense power rushed through the atmosphere with hurried frenzy. He laughed as he continued the assault before at last it slowed down to a degree, at last revealing his smirk. "That'll show ya…"

As the smoke faded, it revealed a watery shield, much to his shock.

"What…?"

The liquid shield was revealed to have been made by Lucy as she was in her Aquarius Form, with the key to her chest as she managed to save everyone inside. Beside her. Klefki looked equally as relieved. The shield soon faded, leaving open air again.

"Guys, keep going!" the blonde shouted.

"You sure about that, Lucy?" Natsu asked, showing signs of worry.

"Don't worry." She gave him a nonchalant wink. "Sophie and I can handle this. Ready, Sophie?"

Sophie swayed her hips as she faced Jackal. "Most certainly." She chimed. "I recall how rather cumbersome he can be…but let's remind him just who we are, shall we, Lucy?" To her fortune, Lucy nodded.

Jackal darkly smirked. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

The others darted around, working their ways closer towards the building. As they did, Neinhart reached forward nonchalantly again. "There's more where that came from…"

Materializing beside Crime Sorciere, or at least what was left of it, an odd dark force was compelling them. When they looked forward, the members comprising the Oracion Seis looked horrified as a man with white hair and red eyes smirked at them.

"You've gotta be joking." Erik gasped.

Zero smirked evilly as he glared at them. "Hello, my subordinates…I trust that you're all well in those current forms."

The others offered no reply as they instead shot daggers. Macbeth stepped forward, giving his own smirk. "Yes, we most certainly are." He replied back ominously. "And how are you enjoying your sleep?" he glared. "Shall we make sure you're well rested?"

"Erik!" Kinana worried.

"It's fine! Stay back!" he shouted.

Jellal and Bellona looked back to see that they were occupied, leaving just them to tend to the charge. Before the two blue-haired people realized it, a dark galaxy came swinging around the side, in which Bellona caught. She shifted on her heels and threw the galaxy away somewhere else, where it dissipated to nothing.

Up ahead, a foot stepped forward. "Well, that went against my calculation."

Looking ahead, Bellona went wide-eyed as her heart skipped a beat. She glared with deep shock as she was seeing the face of a man that was the bane of her existence; her reason that she lived a long time ago. "Father…" she gasped.

"Your father?" Jellal looked at Fernando, flabbergasted.

Fernando adjusted his glasses. "I'm never wrong…especially to bubbling trash such as yourselves. Allow me to prove that."

A grotesque foot stomped on the ground, standing in the way of Minerva, Sting, and Rogue. They stopped dead in their tracks as their opponent was the humungous and heavy man that turned into a demon. He growled with his small eyes glowing hate-filled daggers.

"You…" he snarled.

Ahead of them, the others could feel an intense magic that came from the belittling creature, the very one Minerva threw away long ago. "Jiemma." She sniped. And with her, Sting and Rogue also glared daggers.

Jiemma's body gave off a magical energy that made the ground depress around him. Rocks defied gravity as purple flares ignited with an intense fury. He roared out as his intensity skyrocketed as he lunged at the three, where they charged as well.

Orion and Griffon both went ahead, but even they stopped. The air around them darkness, making a black hue that made the clouds above them look menacing. As they both looked up, chains were herd below. Each showed a harsh stare as they were facing familiar faces.

There, right in front with no words, Griffon glared as he was facing Jacob, whom he just killed. "You." He sniped. "You called me a lack of an assassin…" he growled, veins showing. "Care to test that?"

And beside him, it was an armored demon of darkness, and he breathed out darkness as he glared at Orion. Orion and Demora looked at each other, the Devil Slayer facing his father whom he came to love. No words were exchanged until Orion spoke.

"…Dad…thank you." Orion began to infuse his dark energy, igniting with the same intense dark force that made his whole silhouette as black as night, while his eyes had embers of shrilling intensity. "Now I return you to the peace that you wanted."

As Gajeel kept going with the others, a low growl got his attention. He knew that wasn't his stomach, that much was certain. His spine tingled s he glared back, staring at someone behind. "You…"

There, slowly walking, Bloodman dragged himself and his bodily armor and growled low. A heated breath escaped him as he seethed at Gajeel. "You…"

Gajeel narrowed his eyes. "Lily." He tossed the Exceed the unconscious Kevin. "Take him somewhere…" he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "I'm gonna screw this guy over."

Pantherlily nodded. "Understood." He took off elsewhere, carrying Kevin along off to the unknowns.

An icy wind surged around Gray, Lyon, and Juvia. They all stayed close s stepping forward from out of n icy veil, Invel adjusted his glasses and seethed icy stares of pure intent. "Seems the darkness has returned." He sniped.

Gray glared daggers with Lyon. "You."

A heavy foot was in front of Wendy, laughing maniacally being Ezel as he glared daggers. "HAHA! REMEMBER ME, GIRLY?!" he sniped.

Wendy didn't waste a breath as she began to swirl whirlwinds. They came together as her body became Dragon Force once more. Her glare seethed into the eyes of Ezel. And with her, Aniya cocked her gun, ready to take aim and let loose when needed.

"HAHA! That's the spirit! Let's go!" Ezel challenged, lunging at her with extreme force.

Natsu continued rushing ahead, but even he was stopped when he stared at a black hemisphere. He and Happy both. They had eyes as wide as Noctowl as they felt their own heartrates escalate as they were getting a strong, similar, yet equally as horrifying realization.

The black hemisphere had someone slowly walking out, revealing himself to be someone whom had a passive smile. "Hello, Natsu." A certain someone said.

Glaring ahead, Natsu showed no smile in return. "Brother."

Zeref kept his smile, despite the circumstances. No words were exchanged as the two were at an awkward standoff. "Neinhart is disturbing my eternity of sleep…how disrespectful."

Looking back, Nic was seeing that the others were being occupied. He saw explosions go off somewhere, and white and shadow mixing against a hulking man, and two dark galaxies with a speeding yellow comet closing in. He could tell they were all busy, and he knew this all came from someone. He looked up, showing a serious look as he eyed the emperor as he smugly smirked down at them.

For a moment, all let transparent as they were interlocked with eyes seething. Nic's blue eyes could see into Neinhart, and the emperor saw the determination. He hated that. He wanted to see Nic and the others suffer. The fact his smirk widened was a greater challenge threat.

Neinhart looked back at the others, seeing how everyone – especially Lady Erza – was closing in behind him. He meekly shrugged and turned around. "Lady Irene…it's your daughter…"

Erza suddenly glanced to the side, making a sudden stop. " **King's Shield** , now!"

At her command, Aegislash followed Erza as they scooted to the side of the remainder of the group. They braced themselves as their trademark shield went up, stopping an intense wind blast that rushed through the courtyard so great force. The backlash of the winds went everywhere else, pulsating deep pressure that made the covering up worth it.

"What's this?!" Greninja exclaimed. "A force?!"

Brandish slowly uncovered, her shock evident. "No…that's not it…"

Even Dimaria was beginning to show some shock. Like Brandish, even she was beginning to wane away. Until finally, unable to hold their ground, they both were blown off their feet, fumbling.

"Brandish!" Nic exclaimed, but what he heard next shook him and Erza to their cores.

A small, but sultry chuckle came to their ears. As they slowly turned towards, they showed little to no joy as someone stepped up, showing her sultry figure as she had a big hate shielding her eyes and face. But her lips were seen. "My daughter…"

Her voice left Erza stoned in place. Face to face to a familiar Spriggan and family member, the married couple was staring as the smirk of the revealed woman – Irene Belserion. She gave them a meaningful smile.

"It's been a while, Erza." She said. "And Nic…hello to you as well."

The awkwardness they felt in the situation became one of mourn. Erza's eyes glared softly at her mother. "Mother…"

They both recalled the morbid event. How she was slain by Acnologia, and how, despite what they could, Erza let her die in her arms. Although that's what Irene wanted, so nothing could be said or done about that past event. But even now, the past continues to come back, and all because of Neinhart.

"Irene." Nic said. Even now, he knew he shouldn't let his guard down.

Irene looked down at the ground, giving a mournful sigh. "It seems Neinhart refuses to let me rest…how unfortunate." She faced them both again. "So, what brings you to me?"

The mood was substantial at best. Whether she wanted to fight or not was up in the air, but they knew they couldn't take chances. But between the two, the most assured was Erza. And reasons were clear.

"Nic, I'm leaving it to you."

Nic gave her a look of worry. "Are you sure?"

"Yes…I'm sure we have a bit to talk about." It wasn't so much as that, but Erza knew for safety sake to keep tabs of Neinhart was going to program them with anything.

Nic nodded. "Okay then. C'mon, Greninja!"

"I'm with ya!"

The two darted off, leaving Erza to stalemate with her mother. As Natsu and Zeref also looked at each other, the others were engaging in heated battles. Fireworks and pulsating waves rippled from each attack. The air shook as parts of the courtyard was reduced to nothing, and yet everyone held on. Yukino and Sorano were helping where they could, and the enemies were throwing parries that all countered.

As the battlefield shook, so did Nic and Greninja's heartbeats. As they glared up at Neinhart, the two reflected the man's arrogant smirk with a need to take action. Both their eyes shrunk, and they picked up unparalleled speeds.

"Greninja…"

"Yeah…let's go!"

Together, Nic and Greninja roared valiantly into atmosphere as a pulse wave exerted from both. A cyclone of intense water enveloped them as the spot where they shot from depressed into an open hole on the courtyard. The pillar of spiraling water was like a missile that shot up towards Neinhart, shooting above into the cloudy sky. The Spriggan only watched nervously as the water separated, becoming droplets in midair, and then converged into the formed Nic-Greninja's back and body, creating a dark water cot and medium-sized shuriken on the back.

When their eyes opened, their purple eyes had shrilling power that made even Neinhart drop beds of sweat down his face. They flipped constantly until they at last landed perfectly on their legs, a short shot away from Neinhart as he was turned away.

Between the three, there was a strong, discomforting silence that could spell trouble. The one to break it first was Neinhart.

"I was hoping to have a more ceremonial conversation with you personally." He admitted dryly.

Nic's disposition failed to change. "Sorry to disappoint."

Neinhart musingly chuckled. "Are you really? Or are you saying that just to play coy for the emperor? I'd be considering your opposition if you were more serious or threatening sounding."

"This coming from the emperor who doesn't have the heed in mind to even face an opponent." Nic countered, his eyes narrowing. "Erza told me about your magic. You really put a lot of faith in your historias, don't you?"

"One can never overlook the past. It's something you wish to move on from, but it's still there."

"I know exactly where you're coming from…the past really is unforgettable." Nic and Nic-Greninja's fists balled slowly, tightening with every second. "But it's because of our pasts that we're able to grow. You seem to want to keep the past in the present. You reflect so much that you're not actually learning from your mistakes."

Neinhart's shoulders shrugged as he meekly laughed. He swerved around flamboyantly with a grand gesture. "Why, of _course_ you'd be the one to say that!" he chimed arrogantly. "Why, I fail to see how _you_ people should've learned from the mistake with messing with the Alvarez Empire! We're the strongest nation in the world, now thanks to these pets!"

"And that's precisely why this became our business." Nic-Greninja glared. "What are you hoping to gain out of all of this by the end? It's just going to make things worse."

Neinhart raised a brow as his smirk widened. "Oh really? Then how do you think it should end…froggy?"

Nic and Nic-Greninja didn't bother retorting at this point. They could see he wasn't bending from his already sociopathic course. Rather than tell him, it was best that they showed him their way – the hard way!

They both took battle stances, the same exact kind as their eyes said all that Neinhart needed to know.

The Spriggan morbidly sighed as he shrugged. "Fine. We'll have it your way. Just _try_ to keep me entertained for as long as possible."

Unwilling to properly respond, Nic and Nic-Greninja suddenly jetted across the rooftop, shattering the ground with water spritz as they were like two rockets with craters beneath their monstrous wake.

Neinhart pointed a finger forward. "Come, Azuma!"

Appearing out of a bright magical portal ahead, Azuma glared daggers as he faced Nic and Nic-Greninja. Unfortunately, a purple liquidy spritz zipped passed him, and it kept going.

Azuma was wide-eyed as that happened so fast. He didn't even realize it until seconds later, when a violent purple eruption swallowed him. The shockwaves served to push the two farther ahead as they kept going.

"What?!" Neinhart looked startled to say the least. He glared forward as hurried another counter. "Then comes, Hades!"

Once again, another figment appeared. Hades was again restored, and his glared at Nic and Nic-Greninja as he stood in his path. Slowly, he put two fingers up. "This time, you-!"

History repeated, again. Two high-powered jets of purple glinted past Hades. Before he had the chance, the man was enveloped in bright purple, torn by a shockwave of dense impacts received in nanoseconds as Nic and Nic-Greninja shot ahead like he wasn't there.

Neinhart paled. "What?! No!" He saw Nic was getting closer. He was running out of time. "MARD GEER!"

Materializing, Mard Geer bowed before he evilly smirked at Nic and Nic-Greninja. Unlike the others, he reached forward, shooting thorns at them.

In seconds, Nic and Nic-Greninja were crouched behind Mard Geer, taking a knee as the thorns behind them were still for a moment, until purple cut slashed started from the end and worked towards Mard Geer. Their purple kunai dissipated, signaling their unison **Night Slash** ceasing. They both vanished on the spot moments before a purple gash nearly opened up Mard Geer. The Demon was swallowed in an agonizing shockwave as his figment faded to nothing.

"No…NO!" Neinhart shrieked. "This is ridiculous!"

Nic and Nic-Greninja continued darting ahead, feet leaving the ground as they seethed purple glares of shrilling fear. Neinhart had no words to say or counter. He was already a panting mess. His heartrate continued skyrocketing as he saw two demon-like figments rushing at him.

"S-S-STAY BACK!" he demanded. "GOD SERENA!"

Appearing as he was summoned next, a foot stepped to the side, a pose twinkling, and orange hair whisked in the winds as God Serena's eyes opened. He smirked ahead, looking prepared. "At ease. For I, God Serena, shall-!"

" **HRAH!** "

Nic and Nic-Greninja's fists balled and were pulled back. Deep, pulsating purple aura ignited like jet engines for their **Return**. They bellowed out as they punched forward, landing a groundbreaking blow in God Serena's face. The immense impact made a purple ripple, leaving it quiet before the rooftop depressed once, then twice, and suddenly its top later was blown away in an instant. Neinhart screamed in peril as chunk blew everywhere, and that included God Serena as he twirled and limply smashed repeatedly through rocks in midair. Every impact from there included intense shockwaves that blew up the rooftop a second time, picking up Neinhart in a furious roaring cyclone of purple and wind.

The shockwaves even stretched far high, expelling towards the sky to make a huge and noticeable hole in the dark clouds. It soon faded, leaving a small hole, and debris to rain down around the pair as they held their positions. They glared forward, watching as Neinhart fell with the debris, slamming hard onto his back.

The Spriggan laid there, groaning as he couldn't feel anything for a moment. He strained to move even, but he was still conscious.

Nic glowed, transforming to his Toxic Form. " **Toxic!** " Taking a deep breath, he expelled a purple liquid that seeped through the air at Neinhart. The liquid made impact, causing a purple cloud to arise. Once it dissipated, the Spriggan was laying on the ground, his nerves twitching and his face having a purple het on the cheeks.

Neinhart coughed up some purple as he was feeling lightheaded. He couldn't stop. He was so distraught as he was at the mercy of Nic as he transformed to his Stone Form. He used his powers and manifested a plate from below Neinhart to prod up and cuff his wrists, as if strapping him down. One could say crucifying, but it was to restrain.

Neinhart gagged relentlessly as he glared down at Nic and Nic-Greninja, the former reverting to his standard form. His eyes were dilating from a mix of disillusion and shock. "But…I don't understand…how did you…?"

"That was the past." Nic said. "Yeah, those guys were something else, I can't deny that…" his purple eyes seethed into the enemy. "But being held back like that doesn't make you realize how much is changing around you."

Neinhart's right eye started twitching a little. "You don't make sense." He scoffed, but karma delivered justice when the poison bubbled spurred from his body for an instance. He felt everything get light for a second.

"Maybe not." Nic glared behind. "But they do."

Neinhart looked beyond Nic, his eyes widening in horror of what was beholding him. To his complete despair, he was seeing the mass of his historias being brought at the mercy of others. He was shocked when he was seeing Gray use his Devil Slayer powers and slashed clean through Invel again without hesitation. He then saw Jiemma's blast waves being repelled back by Minerva, while the Twin Dragons were blindsiding him with their combined attacks. His eyes waned to even Lucy and Sophie, seeing Lucy block the explosions with water just to antagonize the dim-witted Jackal while Sophie used **Memoir Hysteria** to deal a devastating impact.

"What…this can't…"

He saw Gajeel as a jet-black dragon and he saw throwing relentless punches against Bloodman, who, even as a grim-like mesh, was no match for Gajeel's iron grim might. Not too far, even Zero was blown skywards by the combined efforts by Macbeth and the Oracion Seis. And not too far, Bellona was dissipating Fernando's attacks while Jellal came down with **Meteor** , leaving the man to scream in agony.

His eyes were a shuddering mess as he looked back down at Nic and Nic-Greninja.

"Look at yourself. You're so warped on the past that you're not even seeing what's in front of your eyes!" Nic exclaimed. "We're all starting to move on from one point and heading for another. Your historias are nothing but our past foes at one point…"

Demora was too slow as Orion was shrouded in darkness. He used all his might to drive a dark-coated fist into his father, releasing a battle cry as he swallowed him in a roaring dark blast wave.

Griffon passed Jacob again, his wires snaring him like a puppet. When he clutched and closed his eyes, he ignored the sound of blood splattering as the pieces of him were fading away to nothing.

"No…NO!" Neinhart exasperated. But in his shuddering wake, he began smirking. "Heh…maybe they're gone…but we still have Lady Irene and…"

The two looked back, and soon Neinhart saw as well. To his horror, he was seeing that Zeref and Natsu were just doing nothing, as was Erza and Irene. Both just smiled, stalling their relatives like there was no personal vendetta.

"Wait…but I thought Lady Irene…" his eyes were shrinking slowly. "Wait…Lady Irene…I thought you."

Irene looked back at Neinhart, making him stop. His background and mind were starting to distort from the mix of poison and the mental instability he was suffering from. Even Zeref was looking back, not lifting a finger towards Natsu and vice versa. In fact, both their smirks were what made Neinhart's eyes pulsate in and out.

The emperor's breathing began to get heavily. He was seeing what he wanted wasn't happening. He didn't even understand why.

Zeref smirked as he faced Natsu. "I see you still have that scar on your cheek, Natsu."

Natsu looked at the scar he ascertained, the one he didn't get rid of, like Nic did with his scars. He grinned back. "Yeah." He glanced at it. "Gotta remember my hardships somehow."

Zeref smiled back. "I can understand."

Irene was facing Erza, but much like Zeref, she had no qualms as well. "You're still alive. That's good."

Erza nodded. "I wish I could say the same…unfortunately that isn't the case." She looked pass her mother, looking at the rooftop high above. "Was this all done truly by you?"

Irene snickered lightly. "Oh come now. I may be a sly she-devil, but manipulation isn't something I typically do. I'm afraid it's all his doing."

Erza mournfully smiled. "Honestly, would you have blamed us as well?"

Irene shared the sentiment. "No. We're a proud empire…or rather _were_." She shrugged. "But what are you gonna do?"

"Leave it up to my husband of course." Erza glanced at the sky again, knowing Nic could still be fighting. Even now, just thinking about him made her warm and fuzzy.

"Husband…I see." Irene smirked. "Congratulations."

Up above, watching the carnage dialing down, the poisoned Neinhart was seeing Irene was just idly talking. He looked like he was gonna pale. "But…Lady Irene…didn't you want…" He shook his head in rejection. "No…no, this…this isn't what I thought you wanted! What is the meaning of this?! All of you!" He angrily faced Nic again. "You! What did you do?!"

"Absolutely nothing." Nic sternly said. "Like I said, it's all about moving on."

Neinhart looked back to see his hostorias losing ground. Wendy and Carla defeated Ezel, and Zero dropped to his back as well. Fernando was hit by Bellona's own Nightmare Magic, leaving him to fall to his back in defeat. His adrenaline was starting to rise. His eyes were jutting out all over the place s he looked bitterly unstable by the second. He started to seep blood from his lip.

Nic and Nic-Greninja felt a drastic shift in the atmosphere as everything began to shudder. The rooftop was quaking irrationally. "Nic…"

"Yeah. Something's wrong." Nic responded. "Neinhart, stop!"

"No…NO…NOOOOO!" Neinhart flashed intense magic pulse waves that shook the ground. Winds pulsed from his body that sent shockwaves, making the two hold on as the delusional man was caught in a corrupted light of his own power. "GRAAAAH!" he snapped uproariously.

Looking above, the light was rattling the entire palace, catching everyone's attention.

"What is that light?" Orion's inquiry was followed by his father slowly vanishing away in front of his eyes. "Demora…"

All around, the historias started to vanish. As Jackal laid there on the ground in defeat, the ground shook as he faded away. But Lucy and Sophie looked around, feeling a very scary power rising.

"What is this force?" Sophie questioned. She turned towards the sky, seeing a weak pillar of light. "Magic Power…"

Slowly, Zeref also began to fade right before Natsu again. Natsu was quiet as he ws seeing the lower-half of Zeref slowly fade away. "Brother…"

"Natsu…" The fading man was gone by the neck, leaving him to smile somberly. "I'll give Makarov and Mavis your regards."

With that, Zeref was finally gone. Golden sparkles were in his place, twinkling until they dissipated. Happy looked at Natsu, but the Dragon Slayer had a serious expression.

"Thanks. I'd appreciate that."

Irene also began fading away, leaving Erza to watch her go. "Seems things are starting to get interesting." She chimed. "It was nice to see you doing well…my daughter."

"Mother…" With that, Erza stared as she faded right before her next. She was the last one, and the redhead sighed in acceptance. "Rest well."

"Erza, look!" Aegislash looked skywards, getting Erza to look at the sky as a bright pillar was roaring like thunder.

As she looked up at it, she could feel yet another change in the atmosphere as the magnitude increased. The winds picked up as her hair violently shifted.

Neinhart was screaming the top of his lungs off. He was roaring evilly as he refused to accept everything. "I'LL FIX IT! I'LL MAKE IT RIGHT FOR YOU!" he wailed to the pillar's top. "LADY IRENE! I'LL MAKE YOUR WILL MY OWN! THEY WILL PAY, I SWEAR~!"

"He's out of control!" Nic-Greninja roared.

"Neinhart, stop!" Nic pleaded.

"NEVER~! AAHHHHHHH!" He screamed a primal shout as a cyclone of Magic Power expelled from his body. The light enveloped Nic and Nic-Greninja as they stared at the delusional man with shock.

It all went silent, until moments later, the pillar abruptly dissipated. The sky glinted weakly before it abruptly parted. The pulse wave caused the sun to shine down on them through the dark peak. The intense magnitude they once had finally ceased. When the two uncovered, they realized they were still standing.

"What the…?" Nic looked at his body parts, but saw nothing. "What happened…?" he faced his partner. "Nic-Greninja."

Nic-Greninja looked at Nic. "I'm fine, too…but…"

Both looked forward, catching onto a figure that was on his hands and knees. There, within the broken slab's debris, Neinhart was panting relentlessly. He sweated bullets as he looked like he was going to pass out t any given moment. Even more toxic bubbles surfaced on him, but it looked like it didn't faze him. Within each heavy breath, it was one weak cackle after another.

Nic stepped forward. "What the hell have you done?!"

Neinhart didn't listen. He was too busy chuckling at the ground to even think of anything but ascertaining victory. He will win, no matter what. Nobody was going to bring shame to him and his empire, not ever.

As he slowly looked up at his foes, he knew what he had done, but didn't care. "Now…let's see you 'move on' from this…" he labored. "You…destroy him."

Nic and his Pokémon furrowed their brows. It was only when they felt an odd chill up their spines did they catch on.

Both their eyes slowly shrunk as they could feel a grizzly wind shift between them and a figure that stood behind them. The silhouette of someone familiar with bare feet and long hair was evident. What Nic and Nic-Greninja felt and knew of, it reminded them of an all-too familiar vibe, in which only a few individuals ever gave him.

As they slowly turned around, their eyes showed honest horror as a wind shifted between, this time far colder; enough to leave nerves as numb as they were now. In the winds, a tattered cloak and long dark blue hair shifted.

The glare of that man was as intense as it ever saw. Nic and Nic-Greninja looked over their shoulders with the chill fully paralyzing them. Purple met dark eyes of pure intense evil. In unison, only one word came from both their mouths.

"…Acnologia."

The Dragon Slayer was brought back, and his glare was set in stone on his murderers.

* * *

 **BOOM! Plot twists! How was that guys, intense enough for ya? Okay? Okay. But for real though, I thought I could do some form of controversy with Hoshina and her fortunetelling. I thought relating this to the actual canon would help spark some keen differences, and otherwise similarities involved. So the Future Rogue brought to reality by Hoshina was the canon one, not the one from the first story, get it? Different timelines can be so confusing.**

 **I also thought this could be another chance for Minerva's Bagon to come out and play. And as you have seen, I focused quite a bit on Sabertooth this chapter against Hoshina, the last Spriggan before Neinhart.**

 **So I hope that you guys were astounded with the fights as usual. I know you might be disappointed with the whole historia thing, but I wanted to get to the topic of Nic and Nic-Greninja back in action against Neinhart. And, as you have seen, the return of a certain OP Dragon Slayer they defeated almost a year ago. So with Neinhart poisoned, he can't do anything but rely on Acnologia to kick butt in his place. I wonder how that'll turn out?**

 **I am aiming for one more chapter to finish this arc, so next chapter will be the end of the Revenge of Alvarez Arc/Saga. I'm hoping at latest will be Halloween, the end of October. Review and let me know what you thought of this chapter! Thanks!**


	22. Burying the Hatchet

"They…they're gone…" Lucy trailed off as she saw the fated enemy, Jackal, slowly vanish from her eyes. She and Sophie watched as the historias around them began to fade from existence, leaving the air rather dry. "What happened…?"

Sophie looked at everyone. "Is everyone alright?"

They all faced another direction, seeing that they all were thankfully in one piece. Although very heavy in breathing for others, some were more so. The members that once made up the Oracion Seis were heaving somewhat, but that was all. Jellal and Bellona were lucky they only got out with a few scrapes, especially after their grueling battle against Pluto. Gray's group, Wendy, and everyone else all had their share of scuffles tucked beneath them now, but now was another matter itself. This was a time of essence, and they couldn't afford to slow down. Even if they wanted to.

Gajeel rolled his shoulder back, popping it into place. "Gowh!" he winced. "Man, that cruddy ninja cowboy really messed me up. The next time I see him, I'm gonna…"

"Let it go." Macbeth insisted. "And besides, we have more troubles to worry about."

Erik was barely keeping himself up. It was only because Kinana was able to get to him fast enough that he was supported so quickly. "Erik…"

Held by his precious "Cubellios", Erik opened his one eyes. "Hey, don't sweat it…" he staggered back up, albeit shakily. "Man, what a pin this getting to be." He mockingly teased.

However, with what he heard next through his sensitive ears, the wind howled as harshly as the spike he felt. His hearing picked up on a rather…disturbing sound.

Orion looked skywards, seeing the open hole in the sky. "Seems that pillar of light is gone."

"Yeah, I can see that too." Griffon said. "What was that you think? Aniya?"

The Requip Mage requipped here telescope again, getting the visual inside the lens to reveal graphs and magical readings. "…not sure. That one magic signature seems to have significantly weakened at this point." She put it down. "Guess the enemy was spurting magic for a last-ditch, but it's too vague to know from here."

"That case, let's get closer." Orion said. He and the others began to trek, but suddenly his eyes widened. _'Wait…this darkness…'_

In a matter of second, the air got insidiously foul. Everyone there could feel it. Natsu and the Dragon Slayers themselves, they smelled it. This familiar sensation of darkness, and this abrupt change in the atmosphere. They could all feel their spines shrivel. Heartrates jacked up uncontrollably. Even Erza found herself completely stones by this Magic Power. No one could explain, but rather than make the ground and air tremble like most magical pressures did, this one was so massive that it was like the earth itself wasn't worth trembling. It was that heavy, and no one could move or say otherwise.

"What…what is this…?" Wendy could feel the world around her slowly spin from this force. "Carla…do you…"

Even in human form, Carla's hair was standing on end. "I feel that too, Wendy…this magic…it's incredible."

"I remember this feeling…" Sophie remembered all too well. She could never truly forget this ominous pressure, not in a million years. "Could it be…"

Gray glared up. "It's coming from up there!"

They all glared up with horror at very vague vibrations in the air. The actual airwaves had a jet-like roar in them that spread across the atmosphere. Some picked up on it quickly -especially Natsu. The Dragon Slayer smelled the air to confirm what he knew. By the look he gave the rooftop, he was right.

Him, and Erza both; the two felt the greatest chills running down their spines as they had a gut feeling of what went down. And they weren't liking it one bit. Only one word spilled from Natsu's mouth.

"Acnologia."

Erza's glare was as sharp as one of her blades. She seethed daggers into the atmosphere with her Aegislash on guard. The battle was far from over.

* * *

To say things were awkward would be a terrible understatement. There was no mistaking it, not to Nic or Nic-Greninja that is. The two could feel it, they knew it was real. This was no illusion; illusions don't give off this kind of Magic Power.

Neinhart musingly chuckled as he shakily arose from the ground. The atmosphere around didn't matter. By this point, his care for his own well-being was far from gone. "HahahahaHAHAHA!" His laughter turned uproarious. "Well now, Nic…just what will you do I wonder, against the greatest threat you had to take on? The threat _we_ were supposed to destroy. The one who _loathes_ you the most: Acnologia."

The air was so sharp that simply staring at one another was like cutting them mentally on the spot. Nic and Nic-Greninja calmed down as they fully turned and glared serious daggers at the historia that Neinhart used all his power for. The intensity on the air was already through the roof, literally.

A sharp, hollow wind passed them yet again, yet their purple eyes didn't leave Acnologia. Not for a split second. They retained their calm throughout the impasse.

"It's been a while, Acnologia." Nic said, a hint of dark seriousness in his tone.

The Dragon Slayer was quiet as he looked up and around him. He saw in the far distance. In his nose, he could smell the vague exotic sensation. He looked down at his feet, then at the distance to see flocks of odd birds flying about. Looking down with sharp eyes, he could see the others down below. He could see Natsu, and beside him was Charmander. Lucy had a Klefki, and many more magical animals that he's come to notice and enflamed with nostrils. Once he's taken it all in, he shot more glares at Nic.

Once more, the wind around them picked up.

"This world…it's different…very much so." He said. "I truly has been a while…new Dragon King."

Nic's disposition didn't seem to change. "I already told you. I'm not someone who's comfortable sitting on a throne." He testified. "Not by himself."

Acnologia silently acknowledged this. "I suppose if I was brought to reality again, that means someone is using me." He shot an intense leer to the side. The way he saw Neinhart grow paralyzed with fear by Acnologia's one glare was all the answers he needed. "I see…so be it."

Mere seconds of silence came between the three. The two-against-one glare was one even Neinhart wouldn't get between. The way Nic and Nic-Greninja looked so calmly, one couldn't tell if they sympathized or not. But they knew what came next, and that's when the wind finally stopped.

It was the exact moment the air grew dead silent when Acnologia blindsided ahead, while Nic abruptly exploded into green draconic bursts of energy alongside Nic-Greninja. A green spritz pulsated across the earth against a blue streak. In the middle did they infuse, creating perhaps the most intense shockwave that ripped open the atmosphere itself.

Neinhart screamed as he was blown away. "WOOOAAAH!"

The entire building's rooftop almost completely collapsed to bitter pieces like an earthquake as three forces conflicted. Shockwaves and magical maelstroms blew everything away in an instant when Acnologia's head collided with Nic, who was in his Rayquaza Legendary Force. Nic-Greninja was equally as determined, his dark and purple waters mixing with Nic's green pulsating energy that battled against Acnologia.

Their combined power made each floor of the building cave in. The shockwaves of their one impact caused a tremendous backlash of the walls crumbling, and the shockwaves soon shot into the ground. The down that was the foundation depressed once, even when it was but half a mile down. The ground was picked up by this shockwave, and through it all, the three weren't fazed in the slightest by that one impact.

Time slowed down as everything around them crumbled. It was time to get the fun started,

"W-whoa man! What's going on?!" Happy chirped.

"The ground is breaking around us! We're gonna fall!" Yukino worried.

Erza turned towards Mest. "Mest!"

The mage nodded. "Got it!" He spread his hands out towards the group. "Everyone stay put!" He concentrated his magical energy around him, suddenly vanishing with the others around him, mere moments before the courtyard they were on started cracking apart.

In mere instances later, they all found themselves teleported to the inner gates of the palace. They looked around themselves, seeing the shockwaves tearing up straight lines through the ground. One got so close to them that it made Charmander veer away.

"Even the shockwaves are reaching here!" Richard shrieked.

"But what in the world could create all this?!" Sorano shrieked.

"I don't know…" Aniya was looking through her scope again. This time, having been covered by Orion and Griffon, she glared skywards. Her graphs on the side were revealing ominous flows of Magic Power. The amount was so horrendous that they were literally ff the charts. Her entire body shivered as she glared up. "This is so messed up…what the hell is that thing?"

Orion glared up at the scene. There in midair, he saw three comets suddenly disappear, only to clash again in milliseconds at another point, and then another. It was continual, and each second, shockwave created literal colorful sparks in the atmosphere. _'This force…and this magic…this darkness that I feel…it's tremendous…it's almost making my own insides feel cold.'_

"Acnologia."

Everyone turned towards Erza. "Come again?" Griffon asked.

Lucy was staggering. "Did…you just say…?"

Natsu said nothing. He was seething daggers of his own into the sky. He watched as the battle unfolded while the earth crumbled around them. But the earth was far from his mind.

Nic's eyes flashed open, releasing a violent roar of bone-shrilling frequency. The air shuddered as Acnologia glared from below. The Dragon Slayer glared up at Nic's roar of challenge, but he didn't forget the fast figure in front. Nic-Greninja reappeared with a serious face, meeting eyes with Acnologia is just for a split second.

The altered Ninja Pokémon suddenly unleashed barrages of punches and close-range combat. Each impact were nanoseconds of sheer blue limbs spurring with dead accuracy and bone-crushing force. But Acnologia parried with his one arm, his own speeds going unmatched to put Nic-Greninja in his place.

"I remember you." He seethed through a swipe. Nic-Greninja ducked in time as he missed the swipe. The shockwave went so far out that the bordering of the palace gate walls had suddenly reduced to dust a few seconds later.

With the low height, Nic-Greninja unleashed his move. " **Scald!** " A ripple of mist exploded as a straight pulsating beam of boiling, pressurized water erupted into hot, skin-burning fury against Acnologia. The pressure shot Acnologia across the ground, to which he tread deeply on for traction. The mist abruptly exploded, creating another humid eruption that bloomed like a Foongus.

From the top of the mist cloud, Acnologia shot clean out, but in the air, that's where Nic was waiting.

" **Dragon Pulse!** "

Seething an intense draconic energy into his mouth, Nic let loose a glistening, laser-like beam of dragon-shaped potency. The attack's head chomped own on Acnologia in midair, who tried covering up. The Dragon Slayer was able to withhold himself for a short while, managing a few grunts until at last the attack dissipated. When it did, he was face-to-face with a green jet-like beam that blitzed into him. He felt instant white in the eyes as the attack shot him into the ground, the **Extreme Speed** , digging up an intense trail that shredded clean through rock towards its bitter end. Yet through the smoky wake, midair debris was picked up, and a blue comet ricocheted skywards. From there, a green and watery bullet shot from below together. Their passing of other debris stones was so fast that they reduced to dust in midair.

The two bolts quickly caught p with Acnologia, sandwiching him in the climb. The two instantly began a continuous physical blowout against Acnologia. But before they could land their punches together, Acnologia seethed a glare before his body erupted in a shockwave of raw magical energy. The shockwave spread out, causing any stones not disintegrated already to do so. Nic and Nic-Greninja weren't blown up, but the shockwaves were a close one as either reappeared on the ground, out of bounds shortly. Yet the winds reached them, and yet they held on.

Acnologia harshly dropped to the earth, creating a volatile tremor that made everything flatten around him. His glare was as vicious as ever. The two returned the glares.

' _Acnologia.'_ Nic thought.

Nic-Greninja also shared the sentiment. _'He's different,'_

Acnologia smiled as he was between the two.

As the three were in another stalemate, watching from afar, Neinhart was glaring at them. He was perched on what was left of the rooftop, overviewing the "entertainment" he was given. With a face still doused in poison, his cheeks had a familiar color of that to his hair. Still, he smirked gleefully as he watched in satisfaction.

' _Now this is entertainment.'_ He smugly thought. He watched Acnologia swipe his arm skyward, erupting two pillars of magic from beneath that Nic and Nic-Greninja easily dodged and closed the distance to strike. _'This power…this rush…the struggle even! Yes, this is truly a sight to behold…now then.'_

Nic swerved through the air backwards, catching himself from being blown away by Acnologia. Neinhart raised a palm to his back with a big smile.

"How's about we make this more fun for me?" he chimed sweetly. _'Now's my chance to take out this fool. They'll all see what big mistakes they've made when I take him down thanks to that pathetic dragon…and, now!'_

He took the shot. A sharp magical pulse tore through the air at Nic's back. The bullet-like projectile closed in, and Neinhart looked so happy… a blue beam intervened, blocking off Neinhart's attack, much to his horror. When he looked at it, he was speechless.

"What?!" Neinhart exasperated.

Nic glanced down nonchalantly, as if acknowledging the hand that reached out beside him. Acnologia's hand sizzled. He frowned angrily as he leered ahead at the attack he thwarted himself.

"H-Hey! Watch where you're aiming!" Neinhart backlashed. "Were you deliberately trying to…" He didn't finish, not when his eyes locked with the three beasts. He could feel all his blood run ice cold. _'W-wha…what the-?!'_

Three animalistic growls echoed through the air. Planes of mental psyche would've been shattered by the sheer force of the straight glare by Acnologia, and the two shoulder glares by Nic and Nic-Greninja. All three said the same thing, and in unison, it was equally as scary.

"Stay out of this." They sniped.

Neinhart wanted to move, but his will was completely broken by the words spoken. All his strength was put into the sweat that froze on sight. He couldn't feel a thing, not even Toxic exhausting his lightheadedness some more.

With the weasel out of the picture, all three immediately shifted their gazes at each other before they respectively drew all their heads back. Acnologia's maw glowed, humidity withdrew into Nic-Greninja, and pulsating black and purple menacing energy flooded into Nic's own maw.

All three opened their mouths wide, expelling intense roars of Acnologia's magic, Nic-Greninja's **Scald** , and Nic's **Hyper Beam**. All three attacks met in the center, where the atmosphere cleared overhead as a pillar of atomic energy vibrated and exploded deep within the earth. Erupting blast waves disintegrated whatever debris there was, while the pillar shot skywards with ripples shooting for miles, wiping away all clouds that went throughout the skies afar. It even went as far as the shipwreck, where it surprised the others.

"Woah, the sky!" Matilda whistled.

Dereece covered his forehead with his hand, shielding from the sun. "Did somebody use Sunny Day?"

"I doubt it." Duncan scoffed. "My Magmortar can prove that. Besides, it'd be brighter. Which means…"

"Something's up." Liz said before snapping her gum. "I can feel it from here."

"Yeah, me too." Matilda looked at her hair. It was standing on end. And that doesn't happen too often. Even here, she could feel the air grow cold.

Vanessa looked ahead, her face cast away from the others. In the darkness lying the shadows of the sun, the Pularis girl was glaring forward. Her aura picked up something, and she wasn't liking it one bit. Even her own calm spine was shivering some. _'Nic. Erza…please, be alright.'_

* * *

The pillar of energy dissipated, but its roar continued outwards over everyone's heads. The glints of residual energy distorted the actual airflow as the battle raged on.

"I see, so that is Acnologia." Orion was told of the creature by the others, and now he caught up to the dilemma. "I've only heard fables about him from my time with Demora. So this is the now fallen Dragon King in action."

"This power…is this really his magic level?!" Aniya was scanning the magical surges, but all of them were through the roof, much to her own shock. "I can't believe this!"

"Just what kind of a man has this much?" Griffon gazed up, looking like he was going to go cold any second.

"That's the dragon that taunted us years ago." Gray added a footnote as he thought back to that insidious time on Tenrou Island. "The only one unconscious at the time was Nic. If it weren't for the Legendary Pokémon coming, we'd be blown off the face of this planet for all we know."

"Legendary Pokémon…I see, so that night on July 7th…"

"You guessed it. But that's a long story as well." Gray looked deeper in thought. "But what I don't get is why that tyrant didn't decide to bring _him_ back."

Happy looked downwards. "Probably because it might be impossible."

"Yeah, didn't Nic eras him and his energy from existence?" Lucy added.

Even now, the sour note was bringing everyone back to _that_ night. First Tenrou Island, then the night that the world learned of Legendary Pokémon taking down dragons, altering time and space, and worst of all…the universal collision between Ragnarok Lysandre and Nic. Just the mere thought alone was enough to paralyze the likes of Erza in her face. Although her face showed more thought than actual resentment.

' _So his magic can't work on those whose existence was altered then. If so, then that means not only Lysandre, but also…'_ The past drew a little further to a certain man who was tainted by the foulest monster imaginable. Nic's Uncle in the Impure Underworld truly was another phenomenon that was intangible, to her that is. For all their sakes it better stay that way.

"Is Nic alright up there?!" Kinana worried. Moments later, another pulse wave ripped through the air, causing her to be blown back into Erik.

"I gotcha!" He caught her in his arms. "You okay?!"

"Erik…" Kinana looked up, seeing her man smiling in comfort for her. It made her all the more assured now.

"If I recall, magic has no effect on Acnologia at all." Sophie said. "Which means, the only reach chance we have, is…"

All three sundered to the ground. The palace foregrounds depressed and erupted to an earthquake when Nic, Nic-Greninja, and Acnologia landed at the same time. The three shared the same confident, but equally as resentful, glares that could melt anything between them. The three released another unison roar before they collided for the umpteenth time, creating yet another shockwave upon physical contact that disintegrated the shockwave debris from their sunder.

The winds shifted pass everyone, and some debris went as far as to their feet, despite the distance they carried. Natsu's glare was fixed solemnly on the battle and nowhere else. Just looking deeper at it now made him think back to his own strife against the dragon. Sure he was a Dragon Slayer, so his pride was on the line, and truthfully, their prides were long extinct when Pokémon showed up. But he's come to accept that. He wasn't going to complain anymore about the circumstances, but the truth was magic has no effect. If this is what it takes to beat Acnologia again, he'll stomach whatever feelings he has. He came to this conclusion the day Nic had slain Acnologia.

But still, just looking at it made him feel _something_. He couldn't tell what, but just seeing Nic and Nic-Greninja go back and forth with the fury of a dragon made a small lurch expand inside his heart. It wasn't the liveliest sensation, but it was proof there were still parts of him that had to get by. Of course this didn't go unnoticed by Happy. "Natsu..."

"Happy…" Natsu faced his best friend, his disposition turning to a genuine smile. "It's cool, right?"

Happy nodded. "…Aye."

Within the rage cloud, shockwaves blew around, and within that maelstrom of madness, bodies of soldiers were being blown away, or in serious cases, crushed. The dire situation at hand was something pressing, especially for two people rushing to find cover.

Brandish turned to notice the people running at them. "Who's there?" Beside her, Dimaria also turned.

A foot stepped forward. "Guys, it's us!"

"Over here!" a manly voice echoed.

They all turned at the sound, getting the hints of the people heading their way. Suffice to say mild shock was shown as Lisanna and Elfman popped out of nowhere.

"Elfman! Lisanna!" Erza exclaimed.

"Erza! Everyone!" Lisanna caught up to them, with Elfman not far behind. "Are you guys alright?!"

"Don't worry about us, we're just fine." Erza's testimony wasn't reciprocated went another shudder from below caused them all to lose balance for a moment. Once it settled, she looked at them. "More importantly, are you both alright?"

"We're fine!" Lisanna shouted through another wake. Elfman got behind in an attempt to shield her. "Elfman managed to get us out before the whole place was coming down! Big brother Elf!"

Straggling a bit, Elfman looked back, giving a thumbs up at everyone. "Don't worry, we're alive. Takes more than a manly just to keep us down."

A shrilled cry of bloodthirsty calling was in the distance. Seconds later, a dark purple line blitzed at a silhouette in the distance, erupting upon contact in a magnetic field of purple and blue sparks. Bolts made dust clouds rage all around everyone.

"That's it. It's not safe here anymore." Griffon pointed out. "We need to pull out before we're annihilated. This is getting ridiculous!"

"Agreed." Orion turned towards Mest. "Are you able to make one more jump?"

Mest nodded. "Yeah, I can try."

"Wait a sec!" Lisanna looked back and forth, realizing something was off. "Something's wrong!"

"What is it?" Elfman asked.

"Wasn't Ajeel right behind us?"

Elfman's eyes widened and looked back. "Now that you mention it, he was behind us as the place was coming down." The ground shuddered again when he saw Nic glide across the battlefield in a straight line, lashing out **Air Slash** as he spun like a drill, sending the saws of aerial pressure down at the ground and around to shred and cause deep, intense ditches that Acnologia had to dodge. "Did he get caught up in the blast or something?!"

"Sure hope he's alright." Lisanna mournfully worried.

"We need to get out of here. It's too unstable." Jellal argued.

"He's right. Let's hightail!" Bellona followed his lead, all of them rushing. Although for Fairy Tail's group, Erza especially, they looked back one more time before Mest teleported them.

* * *

A dust wave dissipated when Acnologia swiped his arm. His cape flared as he stood on the opposite end of Nic-Greninja and Nic, who took the moment to land beside his partner and glare daggers at Acnologia. The contest of sheer unadulterated force made it clear – to them – what was up.

"You feel that too, don't you?" Nic told Nic-Greninja.

He nodded. "Yeah, all too well." Their attention sharpened on Acnologia. "And I think he does as well by now."

Acnologia took a second to look down at his palm. While his body had nothing but a few scrapes, he took another second to look at Nic and Nic-Greninja. He could see both had scrapes as well, perhaps more so. Yet they ignored the stinging to know by their gazes that he was waning. Acnologia couldn't hide it, but he smirked it off.

"Tch, how disappointing." He scoffed. "But no matter…" He smiled wide as he brought his palm back. Almost instantly, the energy spiraled into a heinous cyclone of raw Magic Power that caused the ground to depress once, then twice, and continual shreds rippled beneath his opponents, who were bracing themselves. "As long as I'm standing, I'm fighting to my last breath!"

Out of respect, Nic and Nic-Greninja smiled as their eyes glowed the same color. "Likewise…LET'S GO!" Together with Greninja, Nic raised his arm high with his partner as the purple on his body shined. A cyclone of dense, unbreakable water filtered between the two and caused another depression. It expelled outwards, washing away any loose gravel within the area. As the mist dissipated, it revealed both with one hand up each, holding onto the saucer that was the glistening purple Water Shuriken.

The air between them shuddered to where intense doesn't begin to describe it. The adversaries made the palace grounds shudder to where cracks were opening up, gushing out some dust around Acnologia, and water and updrafts from the atmosphere around Nic and Nic-Greninja. If one looked closer, spiraling air currents were torn between them.

Neinhart looked too frightened to be processing, even from a far away distance. "N-now…hold on! Wait! I didn't think it'd go like-!"

"BRING IT!" Acnologia roared.

The two violently roared in sheer lust for battle.

Neinhart could feel sheer terror fill his eyes. "Wait…WAIT~!"

The two let loose with their ultimate **Water Shuriken** , making a fissure literally explode with waves of water and drafts beneath as it rushed pulsating pressured tides on either side of the ongoing saucer. The saucer closed in at speeds as fast as light traveling. But Acnologia read it and roared heinously before all his pressure erupted ahead. His own fist connected with the shuriken, causing an energy ripple to expand outwards. The ripple shot overhead the entire city, again, dissipating the vapor on sight. Moments later, flashes of light beamed skywards before the bulbous waves abruptly collapsed. The atomic energy of pressurized water and energy, and the drafts created a literal hurricane of unadulterated power. The palace itself was reduced to oblivion, what was left of it of course. Miles upon miles of sheer destruction in the form of a pulsating dome in the center of a massive hurricane of magical energy flooded the city. The foundations tore to shreds, and city streets cracked pen to expel this Magic Power, while other avenues expelled.

Teleporting towards the far ends of the empire's walls, the monstrous wake still reached everyone else as they teleported on sight. Once their feet touched the ground, they were almost immediately picked up again.

"What the-?!" Griffon recoiled.

"Are you kidding me?! The magic's reaching even out here?!" Aniya looked ahead, her eyes shrinking in sheer fear of the massive turmoil and destructive climate the clash created. "Wha…what kind of level is this…?"

"Even from here, the power is out of control!" Macbeth covered up as a small wave of humidity rushed from a crack in the earth beside him. "So this is the power up close. How utterly terrifying."

"Don't worry, Yukino! I'll protect you!" Sorano rushed to hover over her sister protectively.

"S-Sorano?!" Yukino gasped.

Happy was nearly blown away if not for Natsu. "I gotcha bud!"

"Natsu!" Happy shrieked.

Lucy hovered behind as well. She held herself up, but her hair was flowing in the winds. "This is freaking insane! Are they really gonna end up destroying the empire like this?!"

"I don't think I even wanna know." Gray said, before his eyes narrowed. _'But I do know one thing…and it's that guy knows better. There's still people here. He might be having fun now, but he knows it's gotta end.'_

Erza glared forward, holding her lips tight together as those brown orbs were praying for one thing. _'Nic…'_

The shockwaves of their attack were finally coming to an end. Pulsating pressure finally subsided to allow the smoke, dust, and water vapor to clear away what was left…which was nothing but a bare battlefield. The concrete itself was picked up and annihilated.

There, standing in the dead center of it, two eyes of the same color stared down two intense eyes. Scrapes were covering both, but with their feet planted on the ground, the sounds of their roaring shockwaves faded into the atmosphere across the land, their field reduced to oblivion and flat dirt.

The three shared a long, grueling stare once more. Acnologia was the first to speak. "You've gotten strong." He remarked.

"Thanks." Nic half-heartedly said. "I wish I could reciprocate…but I don't."

Acnologia darkly smirked. Nic shared the same one with Nic-Greninja. They seethed more energy around each other and prepared for the next round. Even now, their blood was rushing. Their veins were gushing juice needed to fill their limbs with adrenaline. They both knew it was perhaps pointless now, but they wanted this. They _needed_ this. Just one last time. To give the true respects the once bittersweet rivals had for each other. This was the recognition of a true battle.

Afar, Neinhart was able to use some of his magic to muster up some wind to keep him from suffering direct shockwaves. But still hampered, he was in no way able to get between the scuffle. His dying heart couldn't take this pressure.

' _I didn't think it'd come to this!'_ he gasped in his thoughts. _'I asked for a show, not…this. Even now…why…why don't I get what I want? This is really bad. I have to find a way to get out of here and-GAH!'_ Toxic bubbles bubbled up again. The paling of his face strengthened as he hunched over in despair. He started to cough again, this time gagging poison than actual blood. "Bleh…it's no use…I can't even move…damnit! Damn you!"

They all ignored his calls of pain and cursing. They just focused on each other as they disappeared again, rushing to a high-speed collision.

As another pulse wave blew Neinhart in his face. He found himself unable to resist. Suddenly, he felt a familiar Magic Power behind. Footsteps were made noticeable to him. "Who's there?!" He looked back, seeing Ajeel of all people walk up behind him. "Ajeel…?" he wondered.

Ajeel said nothing. He gave his emperor a neutral glare, not one of arrogance or snark. Neinhart didn't seem to notice.

"Tch, took you long enough! Now hurry!" He arrogantly pointed as he was spilling blood on the sides of his lips. "Find an opening…and take that son of a bitch down. Make him pay for making a mockery of us…"

Acnologia went to strike with his palm, but Nic swatted it away. Off to the side, seconds later, the landscape completely picked up, pulsating shockwaves churning through the former palace borders. It sailed far, becoming a sea of dust that Nic didn't set sights on, either did Acnologia.

Neinhart's face began to twist into further darkness. "Help Acnologia. Give that beast an opening, and let Alvarez know-no, let the _world_ know, that the real enemy has been vanquished!"

Ajeel said nothing in response. He walked towards Neinhart's side and observed without much as an arrogant threat. His once battle lust was filled with a void put there, one that he had to cope with. One couldn't tell if he was possessed or not. All that mattered was that he was given and order, and he leered at Nic's back to ready his shot.

"Yes, do it. Do it!" Neinhart eagerly shouted.

Ajeel concentrated his magic into a sandy bow and arrow. He slowly raised upon his majesty's order to point the spear-like tip at the ever-moving figures. Even now, they were moving so fast, and puffs of gust made it harder to aim.

"NOW! SHOOT NOW!" the emperor roared through his poison-filled tongue. "MAKE IT ENTERTAINING WHEN WE SHOW THEM HIS HEAD!" he broke into a cackling laughter to prove how insanely far low he's gotten. It was far too late to save him.

Ajeel aimed his arrow, waiting for the right moment when Nic would stop moving, or when he dodged into position. Once ready, Ajeel narrowed his eyes.

" _Ajeel. You know what you have to do."_

The voice of Yajeel guided Ajeel. He didn't know why, but he knew somewhere in his heart, he knew what he had to.

When Nic and Acnologia backed off again, their feet touched the ground. Neinhart's smirked widened cynically, and Ajeel let loose.

The arrow of hardened hand fired away until it hit something.

Neinhart was smirking happily, but soon he started feeling something numbing. "Gnnngh…what the…?"

Acnologia stopped to look as well. Nic and Nic-Greninja looked behind as they acknowledged his attention. When they turned, they all went wide-eyed in complete shock. The arrow had fired alright…just at the wrong person.

Neinhart looked down at his chest, seeing a protruding head of sand going right through the abdomen. His shuddering figure quivered in shock and pain. "What…how…?" His shuddering eyes slowly turned, seeing Ajeel's serious expression fixed on him alone. "You…what have you done…?"

Ajeel said nothing. His glare was all he had to know.

"You…you traitor…when I get my hands on you…" He felt something below just as his strength was fading. He noticed how he was beginning to sink lower, much to his confusion. When he looked down, he saw his ankles were already underneath a pit of quicksand Ajeel created. "NOOOOO!" he shrieked. "You…you're a disgrace! You've made a mockery of the emperor and Lady Irene's will! I will…I will get you…I-!" He struggled, but the painful strains only made him gag again as the Toxic finally made his blood turn purple. Sprays of the poison painted the sand purple. Although, within seconds, it sunk right in…just like Neinhart.

"Don't you know it's pointless struggling." Ajeel half-heartedly said.

"Ajeel…" Nic was surprised to say the least, but he and Nic-Greninja felt a familiar someone from behind. When they both turned, they saw Acnologia looking at them, standing still as his body looked to be fading in and out.

"Acnologia-!" Nic-Greninja gasped.

The Dragon Slayer said nothing. Instead, he simply smiled in acceptance as the light faded up his neck.

Nic's eyes narrowed. "…Acnologia."

His whole body glowed, yet the last things to fade was his face. Sparkles of him drifted pass them as he gave them a smirk. "Until we meet again…" Those were the final words, before the Dragon Slayer's imaginary figment faded away, for good this time.

Nic looked down, him and Nic-Greninja's energy finally depleting. At the same time, they both were overcast with energy veils, making themselves regular again. "…yeah. Same here." Nic mournfully said.

Greninja said nothing. He simply looked down with Nic at the small acknowledgement of their fallen foe. Perhaps if their battle had prolonged, it'd be a waste. This was like a little sign, a sign that showed Acnologia is moving along in the other world beyond them. As morbid of a thought as it was, it was the only thing to make them feel better.

But in light of this, they knew the threat behind and turned around.

Neinhart had no strength. He was slowly sinking, much to his displeasure. "This…this isn't…" He noticed the three shadows overlooking him. To his horror, he saw Nic, Greninja, and Ajeel glaring over him. "You…you think this is over? You really think this is your victory?!"

Again, they said nothing. Any kind of retort would've been needed or said for him, but Nic knew better. He knew the battle never ends. What was there to be happy about after everything that just happened. Some things were best left unsaid.

Neinhart was so dizzy as he was on the verge of death. He was up to his neck in the quicksand now, and all he did was snicker. "Well, this was fun…" he mused. He looked towards the sky, weakly reaching up at the blue radiance. In his eyes, he could see Irene smiling. "Lady Irene…your radiance…is truly…hahahaha…hahahaha! HAHAHAHAH!"

The sociopathic antisocial tyrant was laughing himself to no end. He has lost all means of sanity as the sands slowly sunk him below. The poison Nic filled him made his eyes roll to the back of his head as it was swallowed by the sank. The twitching arm he had up was numb as the wrists went limp. Slowly, the three watched with pity as the signals were all too clear. Neinhart's hand slowly sunk last, fading into gunk that was his tomb.

Standing now over a pit of sand, there was an eerie silence between the pair. Nic and Greninja looked at Ajeel, who gazed at them half-heartedly. At that moment, they knew by the way he stared, it showed a different set if eyes. Ones that seemed calmer compared to what he was this morning. Life lessons were learned, body counts were staggering, and a hefty price was paid from both sides.

Finally having enough, the Sand Mage glared daggers at Nic before he finally looked down at the sands again, unable to even ball a fist. All Nic and Greninja could do was silently accept his lack of will to fight back.

On this day, at that instant, the will of the Alvarez Empire, the strongest military force, became loose grains in the sands of time.

* * *

Sunlight had soon dwindled into the distance, leaving the open office windows to allow radiant full moonlight. The lunar-like energy shined brightly against Arthur's back as he was scribbling away at what looked like documents for supplies and demands by fixed clients. Beside him were two empty flasks of wine. Whether it was slight alcohol or his exertion of work strung by threats was debatable.

He stopped for a moment to sit back in his wheelchair. He glanced over his shoulder to stare at the bright full moon. He was more than surprised at how huge it was, and moreover, how bright it was. "Is the moon always this bright at night?" he mused to himself.

A knock came at his door. "Sir!"

He recognized the voice. "What is it, Marie? You can come in."

The door opened, allowing Marie access to his office. "Sir! We've got important word that you need to hear!" she snapped.

Arthur looked genuinely surprised. "Is that so? What's rushing you, Marie?"

Marie scuffled to his desk and stood completely still. "Sir, we've just received news regarding the Alvarez crusade that was about to happen tonight." She started. "Their top forces were all defeated. The brigade that we've sent was a success in thwarting their plans!"

Rather than outright celebrate, Arthur frowned. "…is that so?" That frown turned to a smiled. "I see."

"The alliance we have sent confirmed this. Images were shown to us and we have full consent to take action necessary to the cause." Marie noticed how Arthur folded his fingers and was overall silent. "…sir? Sir?" she asked. "Are you feeling well?"

"Hmph." He chuckled. "Sorry, Marie. Guess I was a little lost in thought is all." He looked back up at the moonlight radiating his white hair. "I had a feeling in my gut that Nic wouldn't let me down."

Marie nodded in understanding. "It seems thanks to him now this embargo we've been approved of can finally lift…hm, wait a minute." She looked over to his side, seeing a few wine glasses neatly filed up beside one another. "Hold…sir! Have you been drinking wine while working _**again**_?!"

Arthur looked back, calmly holding up an empty flask. "Oh, that reminds me. Marie, could you pour me some more. I'm feeling rather excited after this news."

"Sir…" Marie groaned. She knew there wasn't a point. "Fine. Just this once."

"Thank you. Oh, and bring me the whole bottle while you're at it."

"Yes, sir." She walked away in the distance. "If only this world wasn't so scarce on ibuprofen."

* * *

In the lush darkness of the moonlight, another landscape was overlooked by forests and mountains that were flowing out as far as the eye could see. Murkrow flew in a small flock over the tree canopy. They were the bringers of bad luck, a fitting theme to suit the darkness in which the forest had kept.

Deep within this tone's tune, a dark-cloaked mystery figure walked passively through the woods under the masquerade of shade. She had a crystal ball in hand and smoked came from the pipe she had fuming from the side of her mouth. By the looks of things, this Spriggan knew where to go from here.

She silently walked into the darkness, letting out one more puff of smoke before it fizzled to thin air, just like her business in the empire. "What path does the future hold now?" she wondered. "Let's see as this story unfolds…I'm dying to know."

* * *

A day after the victory they've ascertained, the allied forces managed to set up a base camp in the woods after reconvening with everyone else. Since the ship was beyond possible repair at this point, they made do with the supplies they currently had and settled down for a while. Nic and Wendy tended to the injured with their Healing Magic and Heal Pulse, healing the physical wounds. Although, the mental wounds were another story.

The Peace Jaegers learned from Joey about the fate of Broly, and suffice to say that they were less than happy, and no one could blame them. The guilt Joey felt was deeper than any blade, and he thought they'd kill him. But surprisingly they just silently accepted the consequences.

Speaking of The Freaks, things were a little quiet with Duncan without a kendo stick. He knew that when he had to get back, he would have to make plans to find a suitable substitute. As for Dereece, he held two Poke Balls. It took convincing, but he finally opted to capture the Yanma. Apparently the insect was too fond of them to be let go. So, being the nice guy, he caught it, leaving him with two Bug-types now.

Aniya was admittedly quiet as well. She was distraught over the death of her comrade, but equally as such with the experience and trauma of killing the lamia that ate her sister. A lifetime of pain and anger came to an end, leaving her hollow.

The others were licking their own wounds and waiting around for their next course of action. That is, until Ajeel, Dimaria, Decker, and Valeria wandered into their camp. Brandish the one who chose to speak with him. "I see you're doing well, Ajeel." she stated casually.

The Sand Mage neutrally shrugged. "You can say that."

"We heard about what happened to Minister Yajeel from Lisanna and Elfman." she frowned. "I'm sorry."

As painful as it was, Ajeel meekly looked down. "Don't mention it…" he looked up. "How're you guys?"

Brandish shrugged. "As you can see, we're holding…" she looked back at Natsu. "Although, the pink-haired boy truly has a bottomless stomach. Our rations are nearly out because of him."

From the distance, Natsu let out a large burp. "Ah, yeah! Now that's a banquet!" he cheered.

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

Ajeel did an eyeroll. "Well glad _someone_ is happy."

Behind Brandish, Nic and Erza walked up. "So how's it going?" Nic asked. "About the empire?"

Dimaria glanced away shamefully. "Unfortunately, the empire is completely gone. The Spriggan Pluto and Naga in long-standing recovery, as is Glynda. As you can see, Decker is fine…but the rest were all killed."

"And I take it you're not looking for an apology, right?" Brandish huffed.

Ajeel folded his arms. "This is what Neinhart wanted. This is the price we pay for war." A guilty look crossed his face. "And I just now realize what it means to lose so much."

A nudge from the side caused him to look down. He saw that Trapinch was there, looking up at him. And a caw overhead signaled Yajeel's Wingull that found a perch on Ajeel's shoulder, much to his discomfort.

"You have each other. That's something to prosper in." Erza vaguely smiled. "It's never fun to be alone in times like this."

"So what are going to do now?" Nic questioned. "I'd imagine you'd need some time to think things over, right?"

Ajeel sighed. "I've already made up my mind." He gave them all a rather disgruntled expression. "My grandpa let me big shoes to fill, and I just now learned the hard way how to handle real work…so I think I can at least try and do something. Though I doubt it'll go well." He looked down in dejection again.

"You'll be fine." Nic smiled. "If you think you can get passed wars and loss, I think there's a chance for all of us, don't you?"

Ajeel meekly smiled. "I'm not playing kissup for you or anybody." He retorted. "But I think I get it…I'll give it shot, but don't count on it. But tell that stupid foundation that they can start shipping that stuff again."

Nic reached a hand out. "So we cool?"

Ajeel hesitated, but slowly, he accepted the handshake. "Yeah, we're cool." They shook hands, signaling the truce they've made. "Hey, Brandish."

Brandish perked up.

"Guess since I'm in charge now, guess that means I make the rules, huh? In that case…would you be willing to come back?" he pleaded. "We…could use your help."

Brandish's eyes slowly widened. Shock overwhelmed her from the ground up. "You…what…?"

Lucy smiled. "Did I hear that right, Brandish? You're welcomed back!" she chirped. "This is great news!"

Brandish hesitated for a second. She looked away in shame. "Even after everything that's happened…I'm not sure…" she glanced at Ajeel. "How can I even agree to this?"

Ajeel groaned angrily. "I hate doing this. But I guess I got no choice…" he started lowering himself to the ground. "Brandish…everyone…"

They all turned to see with some surprise shock as Ajeel and the survivors were getting down to their knees and were slowly bending over. They all stood atop as the newly crowned man was doing a ceremonial plea as a token of apology.

"On behalf of the empire, we are sorry for everything we have done." He said dryly. "We have caused trouble, and beg for hopes of good."

"Ajeel…"

He lifted his head. "I know it's a lot to ask, but Brandish…can you please come back? We need help to rebuild, and as a pain as it is, we need you."

Brandish looked down with shock. No words could come to mind for the former Spriggan. She gazed down at Ajeel's head with shock overcoming her. What could she have possibly said or do speak of it. When she looked over at Dimaria, she could see a solemn plea in her eyes as well. She started thinking back to when she spoke to her after her loss, so in a way, even now, Dimaria needed help on a path still. Though she wasn't outwardly going to say it, she could feel slight joy pick her up inside. She gave them all a long, grieving sigh.

"What a pain this is all getting to be." She exasperated. "…but okay."

Natsu stood up with a big smile. "Well guess that means we've done good then!"

"Yeah, thanks for everything!" Wendy chirped.

"Yeah, whatever."

Orion stepped up from behind with all his comrades. "Miss Brandish." He got her attention. "I take it this means that the job we were hired to do has been accomplished then?"

Brandish half-heartedly gazed at them and nodded. "Yes. You have been paid in great deal for your services. This means we have now reached the end of our contract."

Orion nodded. "Then this means our business here is over." He looked back at everyone. "Peace Jaegers, get ready to move out."

"Hold up. You mean you're leaving?" Gray gasped.

"I'm afraid so." Orion reasoned. "We've done what we were hired to do. We have no further obligation to stay in the holds of Brandish if our job here is accomplished." He folded his arms. "That said, you should be finding your own way home as well. You came to stop a potential war, did you not?"

"He's right." Jellal stood up. "Our mission in this alliance was to bring justice to empire who was to bring havoc if not for our interference. I'm afraid we have to do the same."

Erza nodded in understanding. "Very well then. Everyone, pack your supplies, we're moving out."

Gray approached Orion, extending his hand of gratitude and friendship. "Hey man, just wanna say thanks for everything you've done…you've really helped me out."

Orion turned towards Gray, smiling as he shook hands. "The honor is all mine, Gray Fullbuster. I was honored to have met another Devil Slayer whose heart is now cleansed."

Gray smiled. "Well I have you and others to thanks for that." He turned towards Juvia, who knew she was one of those people. Hearts filled her eyes, and Lyon smiled. Beyond those, his gaze went towards Nic, who was talking to Ajeel with Erza about their regards. He turned towards Orion and nodded. "Best of luck to ya."

"And to you."

Lucy walked up to Brandish. "So then…I guess you're staying here then?" she said to her friend.

"Yes, so it would seem." She replied. "I thank you again for helping us."

"Yeah, me too." Lucy's smile softened to somber joy. "Maybe, when you're not too busy, we can probably come and visit each other sometime."

"Don't push it." She sternly replied. She went for a handshake as well, but Lucy brought her into a hug. The action left Brandish warm and fuzzy as the blonde held her tight.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too." She said quietly.

Brandish was stone cold for a moment, but slowly, her own gaze softened. Her eyes also started to mist, and she softly smiled as she returned the hug back. She and Lucy held each other, fearing of when the friends would have to go.

Watching the sentimental vision from afar, Dimaria figured she had to make amends as well. A certain someone was nearby that she had a bitter grudge on once, but she chose to follow Brandish's lead and walked over towards him.

Natsu turned towards her. "Huh? Oh, hey, it's you. How've you been?"

Dimaria swallowed a lump, her gaze on him unsound. "De…Natsu." She struggled to say. "I just…want to apologize for everything I've done. I…wasn't thinking straight."

Despite how she felt, the Dragon Slayer offered his trademark smile. "Hey, it's all good, right?" he asked. "Glad you guys are coming around for a change. You've got a lot to do, right?" He reached out as well. "Well if you need help, talk to us. I wouldn't mind seeing ya again."

Dimaria looked down at Natsu's hand, wanting to pull way, but seeing how he was so kind, she hesitated, but eventually she shook his hand. His grip was so warm than an incinerating hot. She looked up at him, seeing his equally warm smile. It was infectious enough to make her softly smile back.

Kevin was sitting on a rock by The Freaks as Valeria and Decker approached him. Immediately he stood up. "Uh, yeah…? Is everything alright?" he asked shakily.

Valeria turned towards Decker, who nodded at her. She nodded back, and she approached him with something her hand that she offered him.

"What…? Wait, are you for real?" She looked down at the small lacrima in hand. When he clutched it, it started glowing, suddenly expanding into the massive kite that she rode on. "Woah, what the-?!" He looked back to them in shock. "Wait, what's going on?"

"It looks like they're giving you a parting gift." Pantherlily said.

Macbeth grinned. "It makes sense. You did save her life, did you not. I believe this makes you even now."

Kevin looked down at the kite, scrutinizing it with surprise. He recalled how well it flew upon command. It honestly made him nervous just thinking about it, but he accepted out of gratitude. "Thanks." He said modestly. "I don't know what to say…"

Of course Decker knew. He had a kunai pointed to Kevin's face the first chance he got. Kevin paled as he gave him a death glare, then shifted his eyes to Valeria, then back to get the message across. Beads of sweat ran down the Trainer's face.

"Uh…got it." He gulped.

Matilda elbowed Vanessa's arm. "Hey, catch ya later, okay girl?" she winked. "Better get the croc ready for another match next time we meet."

Vanessa calmly smiled. "I'll be certain to keep that in mind." She was again tapped from the side, revealing Liz as she offered one last piece of gum for her. "Thank you." She accepted it. "You take care as well."

Liz slowly popped a bubble, nodding her head calmly.

Richard petted the Hippopotas that he was able to befriend from before. The guy was calmly snoozing, while a snot bubble expanded and contracted. "My young friend, are you ready to come along."

The snot bubble popped, and Hippopotas blinked. "Hm? Huh?" He looked up at Richard. "Where are we going now?"

"To our home continent. I trust that you will be of great help from me, just as you were before. Are you willing?"

Hippopotas stood up and nodded. "Sure, okay!"

"Great!"

Richard wasn't the only one to gain out of this. While he was able to capture the Hippopotas he battled with, certain other Pokémon were debated on. More specifically, the ones that piqued Kinana and Erik. With Lia having been killed, and no one else to turn to, the Ekans and Seviper she had as pets had no one. Out of the sheer kindness of their hearts, Kinana and Erik opted to take the in, much to their mild pleasure. Surprisingly, they were very obedient about it.

Kinana petted Seviper head, making it hiss. "Are you sure this okay, Erik?"

I don't see why not, besides." Ekans hissed over his shoulder. He smirked as he scratched the underside of her chin, making her hiss lightly in glee. "I think these guys like us."

Kinana nodded and turned towards Seviper. "We're not like that lamia. We'll take really good care of you, promise."

She and Erik stared at each other, slightly out of adoration. They knew that when the time came they would have to depart again, but they didn't mind. They knew they'd hear each other again. Erik could hear his precious Cubellios from miles away. But for now, they'll enjoy the other's company until their respective guilds depart.

"Uh…hey, listen." From the side, Aniya appeared.

"Aniya, hey, how's your injuries?" Wendy asked.

She gazed discerningly. "They're fine. But listen…" She turned to the group she had battled with, her entire figure shuddering. "I…I…" She hesitated, swallowing a lump. "I just…you know, wanted to say that I was sorry." She admitted shamefully. "I really caused you guys a lot of trouble with my phobia. Really, I didn't want to make you think it was that personal."

Erik folded his arms. "Hate to break it to ya, but it was personal before we even met."

"Erik." Kinana sniped.

"No, he's right." Aniya groaned. "I didn't mean to take it out on you or think badly or anything. It's just…" she clutched her arm tighter in shame. "Those maws took my sister away. I was all alone. But now that she's avenged…maybe…just maybe…we can get along?" She looked at Kinana. "Uh…thanks for, you know, saving me…even when you were a snake."

Kinana smiled. "It was no trouble. I hope your phobia goes down."

"It will…especially after today." She then turned towards Ekans, who was hooked around Erik's shoulder. The serpent looked neutrally at Aniya. Those snake-like eyes once fazed her, but now that she's come to accept things, maybe there was hope for her. Gingerly, and slowly, she reached for the Ekans, although she was off to the side to avoid the maw in case of poisonous bites.

With a gulp, she nervously stroke her scales once. The light brush didn't faze Ekans much, but she didn't mind. Aniya pulled back.

"Bleh…scaly." She deadpanned. The group snickered for her attempt. "Oh shut up!"

Griffon shook hands with Sophie. "Hope you continue making memories."

"And hopes to you and your ways." Sophie smiled. "I hope you continue with the peace you make for yourselves."

"That's what we live for, right?" he winked at her.

Kagura stepped forward to the group. "So then, suppose there's a way to get home? The ship is broken, so I doubt we'll have supplies to repair it again."

"We'll supply you with another ship." Dimaria said. "You can take the Pokémon that were taken to here back as well. We'll work with what we've for." She looked at the Dragon Slayers. "And don't worry, we'll make sure the ships have lacrima to stabilize your…condition."

"Really?! That's awesome!" Natsu cheered. "No motion sickness for this flight! Yeah!"

Nic nodded. "You have our thanks." We looked back at everyone. "Well then, guess this is it. C'mon, let's get going."

"Right." They all agreed.

"Wait…"

All attention went from the others towards someone else. Dereece especially looked over. "Joey?"

Looking down at the ground, Joey was deeply frowning, as was his Chespin. His arm was able to heal thanks to Nic's Heal Pulse, but his heart was gravely wounded. It didn't sit right leaving things the way they were. Normally he'd wanna party, but this tune was different, and he felt obliged to carry it out for a certain someone.

Looking back at everyone, their eyes started to mist a little. "There's still one more thing we need to do…"

* * *

The atmosphere had long gone silent in the joint link high in the sky. When night had fallen, by that time, three aerial ships were prepared. One for the Alvarez, one for the Fiore mages, and one for the Peace Jaegers to head their own way. Once they reached the border of Alakitasia, all three ships had docks loaded onto one giant ship. And the giant ship was for a good reason.

A candle was lit amongst several others. The air was fueled with small candles to set the mood. Meanwhile, beside a bed of flowers where a body laid on, hands dropped objects for each corner. Griffon offered a small empty toast bottle that Broly and him shared once. On another part, Matilda sat a small set of flowers as an offering. Aniya also chose to let go of something as well, as she set her broken visors along the edge. And finally, Liz sat down her broken headphones as her sacrifice.

Everyone was gathered around the two bodies on two beds. On a bed of flowers, Yajeel and Broly's bodies were preserved as their eyes were closed. Offerings from those closest were accounted for to see them off. All heads were bowed, save for Duncan as he leaned against the wall, but still had his head down.

Ajeel overlooked Yajeel's body as he gazed down at his head. Trapinch was off to the side, while Wingull was on Ajeel's shoulder, also mourning.

For the Peace Jaegers, it was also a grave yet honorable loss. They don't do funerals, so this felt out of customs. However, this was what Joey wanted. He wanted to see his teacher off one last time.

At Broly's head, Joey had hands to his side as Chespin, Dereece, and everybody else were offering their prayers for the man who changed his life.

"I uh…I don't even know how to say this." Joey breathed. "But…I always wanted to know what it was like to have a dad, or someone who was there to give you a scolding…my mom, she wasn't anything like that. I didn't have anybody to look to, and Dereece always screwed up."

Dereece shot Joey a look. It was a blind lie, but out of respect, he chose to let it slide.

Joey swallowed before he continued. "I…I never grew up with a dad, or teachers that really liked me all that much. Mostly because they thought I was a nuisance at times when I was supposed to be studying…I try, but…they didn't appeal to me…not until I met Bro."

Orion lifted his head to look at Joey.

"When I first met him, he really was such a badass. He was strong, and confident…but what I think really compelled me was…maybe he felt like me in a way. Someone who tried, and looked up to someone…and he followed in his footsteps, until he had to go and tread his own."

Elfman looked down with Lisanna, and both were mourning for Yajeel and Broly. Though they felt personal with Yajeel, they knew this was just as important to Joey.

"He was a real man, who had compassion, and knew what to do…he was someone who really appealed to me." His eyes began to mist hard, sniffling once. "I never had a teacher who actually took an interest in me, and give me something to really look forward to. I always just admired people from afar, but Bro…he was the first one who was actually there to teach me."

Nic and Erza looked somberly at one another. He then looked at Vanessa. All three were aware he admired them as well, but they didn't help at all. It was Broly who helped Joey.

"He taught me what it was like to really know a connection from someone, a-and to be aware of your surroundings…and know to take fights seriously." He swallowed again. "He was so calm in battle…but he was compassionate, and walked me through it, even when his life was at stake…he helped me, even when I was selfish."

Ajeel could feel his own heart ache. In a way, he understood the pain Joey felt. His grandfather was doing everything to set him on the right path, all the way to the bitter end. And he was greedy, and arrogant, and selfish especially. He never knew how gravely things were different up until recently, now when he looked back at it, he regretted not helping sooner. But that was in the past now.

"I guess in a way…I actually did find the one person to look up to in my life and set me straight. And showed me to be more responsible…and it was you, Bro. You were the only one who gave me that push that I needed."

A small silence fell amongst them again as Chespin quietly drooped his pins again.

Joey began to weep tears that poured down his cheeks. "…I had an awesome teacher." He sniffled.

Gray, Lyon, and Ultear all looked at each other to think the same way. All their thoughts ran to their own teacher, Ur; mother in Ultear's case. In a way, she was the very foundation of why and how they became their own persons, so they could relate to what Joey was going through. Acknowledging the reciprocation, they looked down again.

Dereece put a hand on Joey's shoulder, urging him to continue. With a swallow, Joey continued. "What I'm trying to say is…you never know how precious someone truly is to you, until it's gone…" He lowered his head, silently weeping for his fallen teacher. "Bro…you found your peace because of me. I was so glad to have met you, and to learn from you…I hope that I can try and be a man that you were, and live to be that way until the end…thanks Bro. For everything."

Liz swallowed her own lump to try and keep her cool. Griffon put a hand on her shoulder, hoping it would stabilize her. Matilda and Aniya looked down in remorse. Orion kept a straight face through.

With what was needed to be said done, everyone parted away from the bodies as Brandish forward. "May the spirits of these two souls be free when we go our separate ways. We shall ignite the ship, and let it sail to the beyond. Now…" she pivoted and walked off. "It's time."

Ajeel gave his deceased grandfather one last look before he turned away. Grimacing how, he took a sharp breath before he turned with his group. "

Everyone started following their own ways back through the three tunnels of their own ships. They all went their ways. Although Joey rushed to catch up with the Peace Jaegers before they entered their own tunnel.

"Guys…" he said. "I'm so sorry. I…I didn't mean to have Bro go and…and…"

Matilda shook her head. "No, Joey, you got it all wrong. We could never hate you for what you did."

"But…"

"She's right. Stop making it a big deal." Griffon insisted. "Besides, we all went through the same thing." He looked down at his feet. "We've lost more members than what we can count."

"Number 68…" A silence fell as everyone looked at Orion. He had arms folded as he thought of the random number. "That's the total members we have lost now." He responded. "Listen, Joey, Broly was a long-standing member. He became one of us in hopes of finding peace. If he has chosen you to pass his magic onto, then I am certain he left this world with no regrets. We wanted to find his peace before he died…that's the quest the Peace Jaegers take. And I'm certain that he wouldn't want you to see you like this." He softly smiled. "And besides…for as long as I have known him, not once did he ever let any of us call him 'Bro'. It really shows how much faith he had in you. You're special, Joey. And you should be proud of that."

Joey still had trouble comprehending, but for the most part he got it. "…yes, sir." He said.

"Also…" Matilda rubbed her arm as she looked down. "I didn't want to tell you this because I thought it wasn't a big deal…but Broly told me something before we joined forces."

" _That guy Joey may be eccentric, but he has a passion that spells potential." Broly said. "It actually reminds me of myself at times. Who knows, maybe if we join up on this mission after all, perhaps he can show me more of his potential. I can't wait to see what he can do."_

Joey did all that he could to keep his tears at bay. "Thanks, Bro…" he swallowed.

"We're not going to tell you how to do what you can. That's for you to do." Griffon said. "In the meantime, don't worry about us. We'll go on. The road is a perilous one after all, and it's a job we take."

Rather than say anything, Liz walked up to Joey to hug him farewell. Even she was in pain from Broly's death, but she had to suck it up. Joey reciprocated the comfort, if only a few seconds. Once parted, Matilda lightly punched his shoulder and winked.

"Be seeing ya around, kid." Together, they all turned away.

As he walked away, Orion smiled. "Take pride and live. Live to be the kind of man that Broly saw in you. Until then."

Joey watched as the Peace Jaegers blessed him with nothing but good luck. In all honesty he expected them to hate him forever. He knew he'd hate whoever messed or hurt Dereece or the others. But, when he thought about it, that is what Broly wanted, to die with peace. Who knows? Maybe he'll find his peace someday.

"Captain Joey." Dereece intervened. "It's time."

Joey bucked himself up and nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming…" he looked down the hall one last time to see the mercenary guild take off. He turned as well. "C'mon, Chespin." The Grass-type rushed to follow him.

As the Fiore mages walked down their own corridor to the haul of their own ship, Kevin was falling behind as he waved up. "Uh, excuse me? You?"

Up ahead, Richard turned back with the Poke Ball containing his new Hippopotas. "Hm? Yes? Hello my friend. Is all well?"

Kevin rolled his neck and shrugged. "Uh, sure. But I…" he cleared his throat. "But hey, listen. I kinda looked into it, and Nic's wife told me that you have a brother you're searching for, right? So, I'm not sure if this'll help but…" He reached into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. "I hope this is something."

Richard looked down at the paper and shakily reached for it. He stared down at it, seeing a town, a location, and a name to match. His eyes were wide with sheer shock. "What…d-do you mean…that you…"

"Yeah, she filled me in on the details. I looked up your brother with what I was given and that's as close as I got. I'm not sure if he's still there or not, but I thought after everything, maybe you'd-!"

He was cut off when Richard pulled him into an embrace. The Search Mage was caught surprised, but he didn't fight as the larger man gave him a comforting hug as tears started swelling in his eyes. "You have given me a blessing on this day, my friend." He silently wept. "Even if it is a small note, I'll take it. You truly are a good man."

Kevin meekly smiled. "Nah, I got issues…I thought after everything that's happened, I think we all could use a little closure. Hope for the best."

Mest walked up towards the rest of Crime Sorciere as they made it to the docking area. "Glad you made it, I needed a word with you all." He said.

"About what?" Meredy asked.

"Better not be a side job, because I'm beat after all this." Sawyer scoffed.

Mest ignored them, showing them all a letter he handed to Ultear. "This was set to us just a few hours ago by a messenger Pidgey. Apparently the princess wants to see you all in person as soon as you get back.

"What?" Bellona looked at Ultear. "Is this true?"

The Time Mage looked at the document in her hand. She scrutinized it considerably before she got to the print and signature on the bottom. Her eyes narrowed. "This is legit. It's no fake if the print is on it."

"You mean she wrote that herself, huh?" Erik asked. "Well this'll be interesting, more so than these ships that aren't making me sick or nothing. About time."

"Yes, well, let's not get our hopes up. We still have to get back." Jellal said. "Erza, I trust you and the rest of the alliance will be parting ways once you reach shore?"

Erza nodded. "Yes. Thanks for everything. You've all been a gracious help. We are in your debt."

Duncan walked passed everyone. "Enough said. Let's get going already."

"Yeah, let's move." Sting said, with Rogue and Minerva agreeing.

* * *

Once everyone had left the massive flying ship, the bridges all closed. They retreated to the other ships, leaving them all to slowly drift away. Meanwhile at the sterns of each ship, three small flames were present. Decker with a flaming kunai, Aniya with a flame missile locked and loaded, and Sagittarius summoned by Lucy with an arrow covered in fore thanks to Natsu.

"May these souls' ashes rise to the heavens, free from their bodies and into a new world." Brandish said.

Upon command, Erza chopped forward. "Ready…fire!"

All at once, Decker threw the flaming kunai with precision. Aniya fired a stream of missile-like fire, and Sagittarius fired the arrow. Altogether, the attacks whistled as they arched down onto the ship in different areas. Rather than catch the ship on fire, the strangest thing happened. The wood of the ship began to reduce to golden ash. As the "flames" began to expand slowly, the radiant ashes from embers billowed skywards, escaping into the atmosphere.

All three ships watched sight as they departed separate ways. The Alvarez ship was slowly drifting back to its empire, where reconstruction was to be held. As for the Peace Jaegers, their ways was unknown. They'll go somewhere where they can be. And for the Fiore mages, their course was for home. With destinations afoot, it was time to get going, while watching the flying ship was stationary and drifted magical particles skywards.

Joey was watching at the edge of the stern, his eyes glued to the whole sight. His tear-stained eyes reflected the embers of which consumed the body of his teacher and new friend. Suffice to say that he couldn't contain his memories from flowing.

" _Who am I, you ask? Well…I guess it would be rude of me to not answer a question." He pointed a thumb to himself, smirking with pride. "They call me Broly!" He pointed at them accusingly. "And I'm here to kick your asses!"_

" _You know what, I like you, kid! You got spunk!"_

Joey was thinking back to the events that lead to now. He thought to when he first met Broly on that job, and how he was fond of Joey, despite them being enemies. Just bittersweet memories. Then he started to think about the second time they met.

" _Remember what I said last night about mercy. When you get into a serious fight, you need to save your breath…because if you really want to praise your opponent, do it when they care. Otherwise, your guard will be as dead as you."_

" _You're a strange guy indeed." He complimented. "You know this world can use guys like you who can keep everyone guessing. It would make the world a much happier place that way."_

"Bro…" Joey looked skywards, continuing to look sad, and yet at the same time was trying to be proud. A soft, yet warm smile pressed on his face.

"He really was a good man, you know." Dereece said, standing right Joey to watch the funeral pyre in the sky. "Look, despite what happened, I just want you to know…I'm proud of ya man."

Joey nodded. "Yeah…" Of course when Dereece said "good', his mind went to more of Broly.

"… _Bro."_

 _Joey looked at him in question. "What?"_

" _You can call me Bro from now on. No need to be so formal around me anymore. Got it?"_

" _You sure about that?"_

" _Hey, I wasn't taught to be a liar." He countered. "So how about it?"_

 _A silence fell as Joey blinked. He grinned and gave a cheeky thumbs up. "Cool. Sure thing…Bro."_

Joey looked down at Chespin, who was equally as thoughtful. The blonde softly smiled as his eyes misted again. "…yeah…he really was a good guy, wasn't he?" He looked back, staring at the flames. "Goodbye…Bro."

The flames continued, and the Alvarez people went away. As they watched the ashes flutter into the sky, they started to realize their own follies and realizations. Dimaria was silent, as was Brandish. They were deep about this, but not as much as Ajeel, who was thinking about Yajeel the whole time. As he watched the ashes go up, he was thinking to himself and how terrible he was.

" _I called it! I knew that creepy troll would goof up! Now I get permission to take the new fleet for a spin?! Invel sometimes you make the best calls!"_

" _What are you, stupid?! A god is someone who never loses! Someone who has all the power he needs to crush anyone who stands in his way."_

" _What's the point of power if you can't exercise it?!"_

When he realized how faulty he was he wanted to just shoot himself. He made a big mistake before, and only now after his only salvation was dead did he truly get it. "Grandpa…" he muttered as he stared up at the ashes. The only comfort he was offered was when Trapinch brushed him again. Ajeel looked down, giving him a small glare to make Trapinch fear a little. But only this time, he tried to do something different.

Getting down to his knees, Ajeel stared at the Trapinch and slowly reached for it. Very slowly, the Trapinch relaxed when he felt Ajeel's hand brush his top.

"I'm…sorry." He said. Surprisingly, the Trapinch looked up and chirped a smile. It looked like he was okay with it. He then heard another caw as Wingull perched on his shoulder. He grunted at the sudden affection, but in the corners of his lips, a small tug forming a smile appeared. He looked back at the ship afar, seeing it blooming starlight. Maybe now, this was the beginning of a new path. A path he shall take, and he won't be alone. "…watch over me, okay gramps?" he asked the sky, smiling. "I've got a lot of work to do."

Beside him, Trapinch smiled, and Wingull nudged Ajeel.

"Okay, one step at a time you two."

On the Peace Jaegers' ship, they all watched from the stern as they watched the ashes flow. "It's beautiful." Aniya said.

"Yeah, it is." Griffon nodded. "The big guy went out in style. A Peace Jaeger to the end."

Matilda softly smiled. She folded her arms an acknowledged this fact. "Guess we'll be seeing ya around then." She said.

Liz popped one last bubble. She bent over and watched scene in silence.

Orion had arms folded the entire way. He looked up at the beautiful scenery. As morbid as it was, he was thinking back to when he first met Broly. He was quietly thinking of all the memories, the battles, and the intense moments they had on jobs they were hired to do. And through it all, the man was untouchable. As far as he knew, Broly truly was the greatest shield ever. But even so, even shields need to be laid to rest. He smiled softly, accepting the loss. "Rest well…old friend." He mournfully prayed.

And so, the Peace Jaegers all watched as the remainder of their team drifted off as well to the norm.

"He didn't give up on me like others did." Joey said.

Dereece shook his head. "No he did not."

"Even when I screwed up, he was always looking out for me…" Joey paused. "Even if I was weak, he gave me a hope…and actually something to live for."

Dereece looked over at Joey, seeing how dejected he was. He was also shocked at what he said, but he didn't seem to mind. He was his best friend, so all he did was lean in and patted his back in comfort. "It'll be fine man. We'll get through this."

"Yeah…I know." They feel silent as they gazed at the moonlit sky. The moon's radiance served to intensify the golden sparkles to make them look like fireworks for the Fiore mages to marvel and gaze at. Lucy and Natsu were smiling, but Gray took the scene seriously, as did Juvia. Gajeel had also shown a frown as he and Pantherlily were watching.

Nic stood beside Erza, looking at the fading flames. They were long in deep thought about it, but together, they gazed at each other, trying to half-smile.

"We'll get through this…together, right?" Nic asked.

Erza smiled. "Always." She slipped her fingers between Nic's. They leaned on each other as they would do in battle, and will continue to do so through the grief and pain they would feel in the future. This was one of those times. Their fingers mixed and held onto each other, daring to never let go.

Nic leaned against the side of Erza's head. "Yeah…always."

Vanessa walked right beside them, making her spot closer to her brother as she stared up at the ceremony.

"Something you will never forget the feeling of." Sophie said. "Peace."

And so, they all departed on a beautiful yet somber note. Everyone went their separate ways as they were on the sterns, watching the ashes flow into the Ethernano-filled atmosphere. They were all once enemies, and now they were friends bound by a thread of fate and philosophy that would continue to be there for as long as this very reminder was engraved into their minds. As the ashes went skywards, the parting flying ships saw that the last of the ship burning away, making the ashes shape into two figures. The figures of Yajeel, and the tall and compassionate Broly, side by side as their forms in the ashes floated into the beyond for all to see.

Joey watched the ashes rise, a single tear flowing down his right cheek.

* * *

 **Well guys, that's a wrap! I did it. It was long, painful, and a lot of work that I had to do, but it was worth it! I hereby conclude the Revenge of Alvarez Arc/Saga! This was a** _ **really**_ **long arc that I didn't think would go this far, as it took me 6 months from start to finish. And now it's finally over. And of course, this also means this is the end of the road for the Peace Jaegers and their roles as well.**

 **I want your guys' opinions on the Peace Jaegers. Be honest, what did you think of the Peace Jaegers as a whole? Did you enjoy them? Did you think they made a great impact on Fairy Tail or yourselves? If so, who and why? I just hope you're at peace with your decisions like they were XD**

 **I was pretty proud with the fights to the most degree. I made a TON of fights in this arc, but I felt it was all worth it up to this respectable end. Perspectives were altered (at least I hope), and everyone grew from this experience, including the empire. And yes, the Alvarez Empire will be back, but in a new light. Of course that won't be for a while. In the meantime, please let me thank you for sticking through these last 16 chapters full of ache and months of writing.**

 **Now then, since the arc is officially over, I'll take a much deserving break from this story and move to my Bakugan story. Thank you all so much again, and I hope to hear your thoughts on this arc! Until then! :)**


	23. Setting Example

Lands searched far and wide were always a mystery when they were first discovered. Even in the darkest forests and caves, there were paths that man never realized on their first voyage through. One could take the same route over and over just to be safe and not take reckless chances. The feeling of security is what keeps people happy, if not compels them to continue the paths that bring them to new places.

However, there are some places, where no matter how secure you are of yourself…that even men would never survive.

In a dimension that reminisced much like space. Various shades of purple and violet space dust flowed throughout the unknown confines of this bizarre world. This realm of mystery had floating islands of dark rock. Some were smooth, but gradually were outmatched by formations that were spiky. Some islands had islands beneath them with emerald moss shimmering. In a way, if seen in a child's perspective, it could be familiar to an upside-down spiky castle. As one looks higher up, they become more common.

Inside one of these floating islands, the dark crevices housed the cold temperatures that could make a Beartic's fur stand on end. It's here that someone actually resided. Alone. Wedged between two mossy blue crystal stacks, a figure was shaped in a bizarre prism. He was shivering. No frost nor mist eroded from where a mouth could be, but if he could talk, his very breath could spread for miles on end, making every ear twitch with an uncomfortable sensation. This is the only place for now that this creature could find levity.

"…" For a brief moment, a small tone escaped this creature. All it could see was pitch-black; nothing reflecting off the edging of its own oddly-shaped body.

"… **why?** " He slowly balled his claws, making a tight fist. " **Why do you insist on keeping the light from me?** " He took a small, raspy breath, his body starting to give off a perplexing shine of the mossy green around him. " **I** _ **know**_ **there is more light out there. And I** _ **know**_ **that you are keeping it somewhere…** " Around him, it looked like the light was dimming. The moss all around lost its shine while his body began twitching like some possessed doll. Some parts contorted as he was trying to move them, but it was hardly lubricative. " **Give it to me…give it to me…GIVE IT TO MEEE!** "

His shrilled cry on the last word spread far and ide throughout the dimension. His shrieking, mind-numbing tone caught attention of many creatures who were in their own worlds, quire literally. Their heads perked up, turning towards the sound of a pained cry.

He heaved out another raspy breath, one so bloodcurdling that it would put any wild animal to shame. The light his body had was used up, forcing him to return to a statue-like state. It was like he was suspended in time.

"… **the light…it cannot hide forever. Nothing can…** " The dull look in his eyes sharpened in the pitch-black of his domain. " **Not in the light…** "

* * *

Sweat dripped onto the morning ground. A bare chest was pushing up, and then down. The breaths of this figment taking advantage of the morning cool air to challenge his tolerance.

"18…19…20…" As the numbers grew, so did the ache that Joey felt. His arms were getting shaky from how sore he was feeling. Not to mention there was a sac of heavy materials on his back.

"Your form is starting to break." Nic observed patiently in front. "Make sure you go all the way down."

Joey's arms were feeling like jelly, but with what he had, he arose. "R-right…" straining, he slowly lowered again. "Twenty…one…" He slowly bent down, his arms perfectly at right angles, just like Nic taught him. He pulled up, face red with oxygen scarce.

Seeing Joey trying to grasp his hold on the training, Nic looked over, seeing Dereece having equally as much weight on his back. The big-boned guy was looking just as strained as Joey, though less comical. Both looked to be more constipated than suffering.

"Twen…ty…ugh!" Joey flatlined on the ground. Not too long, Dereece followed. "I can't…breathe…" Joey wheezed.

Nic walked over, bending down to lift the two sacs with ease of their backs. "Alright, that's good. That's one better than yesterday." He acknowledged, throwing the sacs off to the side. He saw how Dereece was looking like he was going to throw up. "Okay, you guys deserve 5. Get some water in ya. We'll pick up on another set after."

Joey heaved as he arose to his knees. "Yes…Nic-senpai…" he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Dereece rolled onto his back, gasping for air like a Magikarp. "Captain Joey, can we _please_ skip the magic training for the day?" he groaned. "My body's about as dull as a paralyzed Muk right now."

Joey slowly arose again. "You can, Dereece…but I'm not." He took in a deep breath to relax his muscles, just like Nic taught him. "If I'm gonna be here and fight like Bro did, I gotta take every chance I can get to make sure I master his magic."

Nic was stretching his arms, limbering up his body. As he prepared, he noticed someone entering the backyard. "Vanessa, you made it."

Vanessa walked up. It was still a little early for the Pularis girl. But she was awake…this time. "Sorry if I'm a little late." She apologized. "I forgot the time again."

Nic shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. Thanks again for coming."

"Is Erza still on an overnight job I take it?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah, but I think she and the others should be back soon. Shouldn't be too long now." He looked towards Joey and Dereece. "In the meantime, you think you can help?"

Vanessa smiled. "How could I not?" She watched Joey and Dereece get back on the ground, the two ready to begin another round of push-ups. "That's odd. I would've thought Duncan would be joining his team's training exercises."

Nic watched them do push-ups again. "Joey actually asked him to join them in their training in the mornings. But apparently, Duncan said he wasn't interested. I think he said he's trying to find a way to control his magic."

* * *

In the middle of the forest, a sword swung with great force, grazing a small tree. Duncan scooted back from the tree as if it would pop out to attack him. He held his sword up and bolted at the tree, a dead serious glare fixed on the single spot that he's been targeting for a while. He darted, clutching it with both hands as rainbow aura started outlining the sword. He took a big leap, slashing his sword into the tree.

"Gngh!" The force of his own attack didn't work out. He slid back with the sword still in hand. _'Damnit! Not enough force!'_ He adjusted his stance, clutching tighter. _'Gotta adjust!'_ This time, as he clutched it tighter. The energy he was pouring into it now swallowed the entire sword. He darted ahead, zipping left and right. This time, when he closed the gap, he added more force into his swing.

 _SHING!_

In one fell swoop, the attack he had had an effect, but the force didn't go his way. He had a steel-hard gaze as he saw the sword break in two rather than slice through the tree. The upper-half went spinning into the atmosphere, coming down to pierce the ground behind Duncan.

He looked back, seeing that once again, another sword was broken. He lost count of how many swords he's went through, but it was enough to drain his pockets this morning. He looked at the broken guard in his hand, grunting angrily. Without care, he dropped it and reached for another sword too the side.

This time, instead of going for the trees, he started from scratch and began practicing his kendo at the air.

* * *

"Yes, I've heard about that, too." Vanessa replied. "Apparently he feels more obligated solo than the rest of us here." She glanced at her brother. "Remind you of someone?"

Nic smirked. "Very funny." He looked ahead, seeing the two collapse once more. They looked like pudding sacs with hardly any show of energy. He walked towards them a few paces, waiting to see them catch their breaths. "Alright guys, that's enough." He said.

Joey shakily looked up. "Are we done?"

Nic smiled. "What's wrong? Thought that was the real thing?"

Joey, though a little flustered, started getting up again. "N-no! Of course not, Nic-senpai! I-I was just, uh…"

Nic crossed his arms. "Relax, alright? Just seeing if you were ready to move on. Alright then, who's ready for some actual combat practice?"

Nic still couldn't believe he was doing this. Neither could Vanessa. If Erza were here, she'd be a _lot_ harder to handle with. She never holds back, but Nic didn't want her to kill The Freaks. Looking at Joey, he began to reminisce on how he ended up being Joey's personal trainer to begin with.

* * *

 _The day after everyone got back, the departed group managed to settle back into their own leisure. While some were at the guild like nothing's new, Laxus was well aware of the news spreading far and wide at a rapid pace of what they did. It wasn't long until rumors of a council and Cambire Foundation argument exploded._

 _Nic and Erza, however, chose to wait out the situation. Instead, they tended to…other matters, specifically the kinds that are left untold in their home. Any kind of evidence of what those details were was the sounds of moaning and bouncing. That all came to a pause when the sound of a knock came from their front door._

" _Huh?" Nic turned his head inside the room. "You hear that?"_

 _The tapping of their door didn't go unnoticed by his wife. "Who could that be?" Again, tapping was heard._

" _I don't know…" Nic was beginning to grow irritated by the second. Whoever was there, they either must be persistent, or have a death wish. Groaning, he got up. "I'll go check. Just stay here and…well…you get it." Opening the door to their bedroom, he came out with him tying the gold sash around his baggy pants. Good thing they were baggy from the start. The knocking grew louder. "Alright, just hang on." He hissed, drawing closer towards the door. "Look, guys, if it's you or the guild, we're kinda busy right-" When he fully opened the door, his look of irritation subsided as he saw a person there with spiky blonde hair with a flamboyant design. But the face he had was what alarmed him. "…Joey?"_

 _Joey looked flustered for a second at how harshly Nic opened the door on him. "O-oh! N-Nic-senpai!" he chirped nervously. "Uh…s-sorry, is this a bad time?"_

 _Nic had to think fast. He wanted to say yes and maybe Joey would leave him and his wife be…but looking at his face told him that something was up. "…uh…" he looked back to his closed bedroom door before facing Joey. "…you're fine."_

" _Then why is your vest and shirt off?" he pointed to his upper body. Joey nearly cringed when he saw the deep scars that Nic had on his body. He imagined something cleaner, not something like this._

" _I was doing laundry." He lied. "So what's up? You come to ask permission to use our battlefield again?"_

 _Joey sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Er…w-well…no. Not really. It's just…"_

 _Joey's constant trailing made Nic take notice of some of Joey's characteristics for a second. Being someone who pays attention when he tries, he knew what was up about Joey. Normally, Joey would be all bright and happy. But today, it felt a little different. He looked like he hadn't slept well, if not at all. During the trip back to Fiore, he and Erza did take some slight notice of Joey whimpering still, even after saying goodbye to Broly. He most certainly sympathized with Joey's loss. Rather than make assumptions, he gave Joey the space needed to try and speak his mind._

"… _well…that trip to stop that war really opened my eyes." Joey continued. "I've got to meet so many people, and people that became our friends…I'm really gonna miss them."_

 _Nic looked down. "Yeah. They're good people at heart." He was starting to catch on._

" _But because of me…I couldn't save Bro. He passed on his legacy to me, and…and now I'm not sure who to turn to." He rubbed his sleeve nervously, fearing rejection. His eyes started to mist. "He really was a good person. I know I've got a lot to do…but…but…" He looked Nic deep in his eyes. "I need your help!" he snapped, surprising Nic. "I need someone to train me!"_

" _Train you?" Nic repeated._

" _Yes! I need your help! I promised that I would make Bro proud of me…but I just don't know how! All I ever know is dancing and partying – with the occasional baking and dressing pretty at times." He deadpanned the last part before returning to somber. "I barely know how to battle with my own Pokémon properly! I don't even know if what I'm doing is right anymore! Please, Nic-senpai?"_

 _He rubbed the back of his own head. "I don't know…I mean, I've never trained anyone before. I've always trained with my Pokémon away from people, so…"_

" _I don't know who else to turn to!" Joey's outburst sent a shock through Nic. The poor, sad teen slowly sunk to his knees, silently sobbing as he held his fists close to his chest. He was despairing right before Nic, begging at the hands of someone who was strong. He couldn't feel anymore pathetic than he did already. "I don't know…if I can do it." He opened his palms, his tears dripping into his skin. "Even after a bucket of ice cream, I still couldn't sleep last night without thinking about him…I can't look at the mirror and see anything but someone who just failed…I CAN'T GET THIS PAIN OUT OF MY HEAD ALONE!" He cried out as he bowed on his hands and knees for Nic. Tears ran down his face as he wept. "PLEASE! HELP ME, NIC-SENPAI! HELP ME BECOME SOMEONE THAT BRO CAN BE PROUD OF!"_

 _Nic was stunned in stone-cold silence. He honestly didn't even know how to respond anymore. Just looking at his plea was all the proof he needed to know that Joey really was fragile. He was obsessing over something that wasn't his fault, but he still took blame anyways. In a way, Nic could relate. He lost a few people that became important to him during their time together, and even now, the bittersweet memories of Pavo, his parents, and Master Makarov were what compelled him. It wasn't just because Joey was an aspiring Pokémon Trainer, but more so. He now knew pain._ _ **Real**_ _pain. The pain that makes a man stronger._

 _If he was honest with himself, he would've said no to anybody. The fact is he likes to be alone half the time. It's just who he was. But Joey needed to be surrounded by those who he looked up to. If he didn't who knows what lengths Joey would go?_

 _As Joey silently wept, Nic bent down and pulled him into a hug. "It hurts, doesn't it?" he said softly._

 _Joey sniffled. "It hurts so much."_

" _This pain you feel, it's not something that you can make go way so easily. I should know. You're not the only one who lost people important to you."_

 _Joey sniffled again. "I know…but how did you stand again?"_

" _Because I wasn't alone at the time." Joey showed genuine confusion as Nic pulled away. "You know I usually like being by myself ay times, but in times of peril, it's important to not rely on yourself. I moved on because it's what I_ _ **needed**_ _to do, for myself, and for those who have fallen. I may not have known Broly like you did…but if he saw someone who could stand when he couldn't, then there's no doubt that same person who loved you will lose faith." He smiled genuinely. "I'm not sure if what I'm saying is helping…to be honest, I have some trouble with what to say as well…but if it makes you feel any better, I think you did a good job."_

 _Joey's eyes widened at Nic's praise. He began to feel a little better. "R-really?"_

 _Nic got on his two feet. "Yeah. You stood against enemies that threatened to kill you, and you fought back despite knowing the consequences. You're a brave person, Joey. And you look out for others. You should be proud of that."_

 _Joey swallowed a lump. He began to wipe tears away and the last of his sniffling seemed to have went away. "Okay." He started. "I think I feel better. But Nic-senpai…"_

" _Don't worry about it. You'll be just fine." He smiled. "Look, I can't help you with your magic…but I think I can help you in some other areas."_

 _Joey's eyes brightened. "You mean…you_ _ **will**_ _train me?!" he sounded happier._

 _Nic smiled. "I'll make an exception this one time. But look, I can only show you the basics. Everything else beyond that, you're gonna have to pick up from there and make your own, sound good?"_

 _Joey nodded. "Yes! I promise, I won't disappoint you!" He pumped his fists. "I'll do my best!"_

 _Nic nodded. "That's good. Just remember, do your very best. Alright, how's about you go get some rest and drink some water? Gotta hydrate if you wanna move around in battle."_

" _You got it!" Joey took off again, but not before waving back to Nic. "Thanks for everything!"_

 _Nic looked calmly as Joey took off, all bubbly and happy again. But deep down, he could see that Joey is still fragile. It wasn't in his place to tell Joey to try and be independent. He's got to learn that himself. For now, what he knew he had to do was make sure Joey strays from the path that he still wants. 'He's got a lot of experience on this mission he went on.' He thought to himself. 'I'm glad I was at least able to cheer him up. Guess I haven't got a choice now.'_ _His shoulders slumped as he sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?"_

 _"Yes. I was beginning to question that myself."_

 _Nic's eyes snapped open when he turned around. He saw Erza standing there, clad in his coat. It was an intriguing picture. "Erza." He said surprised. "Uh, I was just uh…"_

 _"I know." She admitted. "It's fine. There's no need to rush things." She walked on over, standing eye level to Nic with a sot smile. She put a hand to his cheek, one that he leaned into to feel her warmth. "Joey needs all the support he can get. It wouldn't sit well with you knowing someone is suffering because you made the wrong call."_

 _Nic closed his eyes. "Honestly, I don't even know where to begin anymore."_

 _Erza leaned in, placing her forehead onto his own. "He'll figure out his own pace. What's important is that we help him find it; as Trainers and as guildmates."_

 _Nic's smile softened. "Yeah. Thanks."_

 _"Good. Now then…" Out of the blue, she began dragging Nic away by the feet, much to his dumbfounded surprise by how fast she acted. "Let's say we resume, shall we?"_

 _Nic blinked as he was still processing. "Wait, wha-?!"_

 _Erza threw Nic into their bedroom, with her slamming the door behind._

* * *

One week has passed since then, and Nic and Joey managed to work out a deal. Every morning, per Joey's request, Nic would get up and assist them in training. Their training would take place in the morning, for about two hours at a time. Nic would see to it that their bodies got into decent condition for their magic to work, so he made them do all-around bodily workouts. The results would help warm them up for the magic combat portion of the training. Nic was being as easy as possible with them, but even so, he knew himself would be complicated, considering Joey's magic. So on some mornings, he would enlist either Gray or Sophie since they're Maker Mages as well to give pointers. And results have been showing. And after those pointers would be made, it'd be to Pokémon Training.

It was all hell, and Arceus knows how Joey roped Dereece into getting him to play part as well, but believe it or not, the training with his Element Walk has been fruitful, as with Heracross and his newly caught Yanma.

Dereece stumbled a bit as he was currently in midair. He was doing "stairs" as they would call it, and he had almost slipped.

"Don't just try and focus on your actual balance." Vanessa pointed out. "Remember, your magic has to have a balance as well." To demonstrate this, she created pads of teal aura that she walked up on towards Dereece's elevation. She demonstrated such control like climbing up actual stairs. "Try to imagine magic particles hardening at your soles if that'll help."

"O-Okay…" Still shaken a little, Dereece tried his best to remain focused on doing what she said. Of course with him looking down, that proved to be tougher than he thought. He could feel his knees get weak again for the third time this morning before he slowly put one foot up, squinting as he stepped forward. Imagining it, he felt the air as solid as ground. He took that next step.

Vanessa smiled. "Just like that."

Dereece giggled. "H-hey, that wasn't so bad. I…I think I'm getting the hang of this. YEAH!" He jumped in midair, but that proved to be a mistake. His focused was lost, and he blinked before he looked down and began falling. He shrieked like a little girl as he wailed upon descent. Before hitting the ground, Heracross clamped on his back and helped him remain airborne. A few feet off the ground, and Dereece groaned. "Oooiiii…thanks man."

"No probs." Heracross chimed.

Across the battlefield, a blur zigged spontaneously. Dereece's Yanma was maneuvering so fast that it looked like she was invisible. With her Speed Boost Ability, she made for a very crafty target for Pidove to follow.

"Pidove, **Quick Attack!** " Joey commanded. He was cut off when Nic darted for him straight ahead. He hurried to make a barrier to buy time, but he was still too slow as Nic wormed around.

"I shall obey, Master!" The pigeon created outlines of himself as he followed after Yanma. He gradually gained hold of Yanma's treks, and he was about to hit him, but Yanma abruptly flashed bright white and exploded into multiple copies. Pidove bolted through one, which faded.

As he followed through, he turned around, in which the real Yanma already used **Tackle** , hitting Pidove. The pigeon regained himself as Yanma went for him again. This time, he evaded, but barely. As Yanma and Pidove quarreled, the one surveying them was Staraptor. The predatory avian was sky high as she observed Pidove and Yanma.

" **Vine Whip!** " Chespin lashed his vines out at Nic to try and slow him down, but as they traveled, Nic glanced forward and snared the vines bare-handed. Chespin gasped. "Huh?!"

Nic pivoted and swung Chespin away. The Grass-type was dragged with so much force that he was picked off the ground and hit the barrier that Joey used earlier. He slumped down in pain.

"Chespin!" Joey exclaimed.

Nic darted ahead again, getting in Joey's face. "Make sure…that you use your enemy's force against them!" He palm-struck Joey's chest, pushing him back several feet. It was as gentle as could be, so it was like a harsh shove that put Joey on his back.

Quickly, Joey got back up by flipping. He watched Nic come at him again, but he knew to stay focused. " **Barrier-Make: Dome!** " He created a barrier in the form of a dome, one that blocked Nic from getting any further. _'Now!'_ He expanded the barrier, if but briefly. It caused Nic to jump away, getting in front of Chespin, who recovered. "Alright, use **Rollout!** "

"Right!" Chespin screamed as he curled into a ball, rolling at Nic from behind.

' _That'll distract him.'_ He looked up. "Now, Pidove! **Gust!** "

"Yes, Master!" Taking a brief moment to turn, Pidove flapped his wings, sending a gust at Chespin to give him a tailwind from behind. It made him bolt faster at Nic.

Nic turned and saw Chespin becoming a green bowling ball that sailed in the winds. With him looking back, Joey found a chance and molded the barrier into his fist. He charged for Nic with his fist pulled. "NIC-SENPAI! I'M SORRY!" he shouted. He didn't want to hurt Nic, at least not badly. But this was training, and Nic insisted he tried on Day 3, when he finally got the nerve to finally attack. _'I know I look up to you…but you ordered me to hit you! So I'll do it!'_

Of course that was short-lived. Nic casually stepped off to the side at the last second. And with Chespin behind and Joey upfront, the momentum led to each other going wide-eyed before they collided comically. It was like hitting a wall that blew the other off, and it hurt.

"Ow…" Joey mumbled.

"Master!" Pidove shrieked, but before he could fly down to help, he found illusionary copies of Yanma, via **Double Team** , surrounding him. He looked confusedly around, but he didn't know which direction.

Above, Staraptor was observing the battle curtly. _'Let's see if his focus will be able to bring it up.'_

"Gnnngh…" On the ground, Joey whined. "Ow…Pidove! Let's try that new move!" He clutched his aching head while pointing at the sky. "Use **Steel Wing!** "

Pidove crossed his wings and spread them apart. He chirped loudly as they began to glow faintly.

This was another trick taught. As an added bonus, Joey insisted on not only rigorous training, but at the same time, he was trying to cover weaknesses, if possible. For Pidove, he was trying hard to make him learn Steel Wing. Of course Nic's Staraptor helped in that course.

' _This should work!'_ Joey's perpetual thoughts ran wild as he saw Pidove fly at a Yanma, flapping his metallic wings. However, before he got close, the shine faded. _'…or not.'_

Pidove dove anyway, despite his attack not perfected. He only ended up flying into another clone, leaving his backside open for Yanma to use **Quick Attack**. The insect dove and struck Pidove's back, sending him downwards.

"Pidove!" Joey reached up, but the gray bullet that was his bird hit him square in the face. The bird ricocheted off Joey and hit Chespin, knocking both down at the same time. Oddly enough, Pidove fumbled back into the air, flapping and shaking his head. When he looked down to process what happened, he saw a twitching Joey and an unconscious Chespin. He fluttered down to Joey's chest, tilting his head before he pecked it out of curiosity.

"Ooooh. That's gotta hurt." Dereece muttered.

"Yeah, ouch." Heracross shuddered. He remained calm as Yanma perched herself onto his horn again, looking happy as she had gained victory.

"Yippee!"

Nic looked down as Staraptor elevated to his level. "Guess that's that." He said. He looked at Staraptor, then back again. He walked over and loomed over Joey. "Hey, Joey? You okay?"

"Uuuggh…mercy~." He chimed weakly. He slowly slouched up, causing Pidove to flutter off him and onto his shoulder instead. "Oh my head. Is my face still good?" He looked at Dereece. "Dereece? Is my face red? Go get my makeup bag!"

Dereece eyerolled. "Yeah, he's fine."

Vanessa smirked. "Shouldn't be surprised. He is your Captain after all."

Dereece shrugged. "Yeah, you're right…and it takes more than just a few energy drinks to put him to sleep." He looked over as Yanma and Heracross came over. He pet them both.

Nic overlooked Joey as Chespin was coming too as well. "You okay? That blow looked pretty hard."

Joey rubbed his head. "I…think I'm good." His face fell in slight dejection. "At least, I wish I felt that way." His tone had also fallen to a questionable loss. He really didn't feel good after Nic simply swung Chespin into his barrier. And when he used that pincer attack, he didn't think it'd backfire. He only felt worse by the minute.

"Hey, it's fine. That was better than what I thought."

Joey gasped in surprise at Nic's claims.

"I'm serious. Maybe your reaction time is still a bit slow, but that last move wasn't that bad. A fast pincer attack like that could throw off someone if they're too focused on you." He bent down, spraying Chespin with a bottle that was almost magenta colored. It was a Super Potion, and it was healing up his wounds quickly. "You're crafty, and that's what'll give you an advantage in a fight." He reached down, offering a hand to Joey. Joey accepted it, though not without him bushing at an actual handshake with someone he admired. Though it felt like his heart was gonna beat out of his chest, he shot up before the hand reached him. He was too nervous to shake it.

"I-I'm good! Hehehe…" he nervously chuckled.

Vanessa giggled. "Well it's good to know you're doing well." She faced Dereece. "Now, don't forget about the focus, okay?"

Dereece nodded. "On it." He turned towards Heracross and Yanma with their Poke Balls. "Take 5 guys, we'll pick up again later." He chimed as he returned them.

Joey put his Poke Balls up and looked down at Pidove and Chespin. "Yo guys, rest up!" he returned Chespin first. "And Pidove, we'll nail that Steel Wing. So keep it up!"

"Yes Master!" Pidove was returned next on a good note. Once they were recalled, they were just in time as the sunlight glistened clearly in the sky at an angle.

Joey raised his hand high. "Dibs on the shower first! Captain's call!"

Joey darted off, leaving Dereece to follow behind. "He's gonna use up all the hot water again." He groaned.

Watching Joey and Dereece go, Vanessa remained relaxed. "They seem a lot more jovial. I guess it was a good thing Sophie woke me up early then." She chimed.

Nic nodded. "Yeah." He started for the road to Fairy Tail's guild hall. "C'mon, I'm sure they're back by now."

* * *

The guild doors rushed open, revealing Natsu and his team walking through. "Yo guy! Who missed us?!"

"We're back!" Wendy chirped. On her head, Swablu sung sweetly.

The guild greeted them back, all with their same boisterous cheer as ever. Everyone was either doing their own thing, or perhaps they were with their Pokémon out.

That was another thing that was vaguely different. Within the few weeks that have passed since and during their little detour to Alvarez, Fairy Tail was getting a little bigger in terms of Pokémon. Even now, Evergreen had what looked like a pink dog-like creature with a frilly collar in her hold. Bickslow had his tongue out to greet them, along with a purple puppet-like ghost with a horn atop of its head. And Freed also had an avian-like creature with one eye, and very bizarre patterns. Apparently Kinana wasn't the only one to gain Pokémon during their time.

"I was wondering when you guys would be back." Cana winked. She was over at the bar with her Purrloin taking a stool as a seat.

"Welcome back." Mirajane cheerfully said. "I hope your job went well."

"Aye!" Happy cheered.

Carla crossed her arms in her human form. "It wasn't too hard. Turns out those late night raids on those fields were just a bunch of Rattata scrounging around for a couple of snacks."

"Yeah, but Snover's Grass Whistle stopped them cold." Gray smirked. His sense of humor in that pun made the whole room several degrees cooler.

Natsu balled a fist with a smile. "Yeah, but Charmander sent the others packing. I gotta tell ya, that Dragon Rage move is just wonders."

Lucy had hands to her hips as she sighed. "Yeah, well, wonders or not, we only got paid half of what we were told. All because _someone_ told their Charmander to attack in a flammable field." Her look shot directly at Natsu.

"Hey, it's not my fault! That one Rattata caught him by surprise!"

Sophie had her elbow on the bar top, snickering besides Cana. "Seems some things don't change so easily now, do they?"

Cana sweatdropped. "Guess old habits die hard, huh."

Elsewhere in the guild, Romeo swiped his arm. "Go, Litwick! Use **Smog!** " Romeo's Litwick took in a deep breath before she expelled a black gas cloud that engulfed Vijeeter's Lotad. The Water/Grass-type looked shocked as it was swallowed in the attack, giving him no room as the cloud soon eroded, leaving him on his side, fainted. Romeo raised his fist high as Litwick jumped for joy. "Aw yeah! That's three wins in a row, baby!" He opened his arms, allowing Litwick to jump in and embrace his happy trainer.

Macao balled his fist. "Alright! Now it's my turn to score a victory! Litwick, use **Ember!** " His Litwick took in a breath before he expelled orange, burning sparks that went at Wakaba's Koffing.

"Hey! Look out!" Wakaba warned his Koffing, but the problem was that Koffing was confused. It was hit by an earlier Confuse Ray. Add in the burn had from Litwick's Flame Body, and that attack swallowed his Koffing in fire. The gas bomb was seen tumbling out, hitting the ground with swirling eyes. Wakaba looked down in annoyance. "Man." He sighed.

"HA! I win!" Macao declared. "Looks like you owe me a free beer there, pal!"

Although Wakaba smirked. "Not so fast there, buddy. Remember? I beat you the last two times. That just means you only owe drink on the house."

Macao went completely white. He gaped in despair. He had completely forgotten about that bet. Litwick just looked up at him confused.

Erza looked around, seeing the many battles and the friendly spirit everyone seemed to be having. "Seems that everyone is in high spirits today." Beside her, she noticed Nic there, her husband appearing out of the blue. "You miss me?" he grinned.

Erza flashed him her own smirk. "I've seen you've been busy." She took her spot next to Nic. "So, I take it things went well with Joey?"

Nic shrugged. "It's taking a slow rate, but he's getting better." He looked over to where The Freaks were. He could see Joey trying to get Dereece to talk about his training, but it didn't look too convincing. "His focus was just a bit out of practice."

Erza chuckled. "Sounding more like a teacher every day."

He shot her an unamused look. "Very funny." He called down before he inspected the rest of the guild. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only one who's been teaching. Just look around."

Erza looked around, noticing the many guild members that were either going on jobs with Pokémon, or they were battling. She looked out to see Team Shadow Gear gathered around a table, with Gajeel snoozing on the corner, much to Levy's chagrin. She saw Reedus and Smeargle painting on a single canvas instead of just individual ones. "Yes, I'm starting to see your point." She said. "Seems they're beginning to understand more."

Walking by them, Kinana was with her Seviper, minding their own business.

"Oh, Kinana!" Wendy called her.

Kinana turned, greeting the young Sky Dragon. "Oh, Wendy. How've you been?" she asked. "Heard you went on a job."

"Yeah, it's kinda a long story…" she looked over at Seviper. "So is Seviper acclimated yet?"

Kinana nodded. "Mhm! It's alright now. Seviper's been very helpful." She petted the massive serpent's lower jaw, getting a purr-like hiss from her. "She's really sweet once you get pass those fangs. Why, she's been a great help on my last job."

"That's great." Wendy looked up at Swablu resting on her face. "Hey, it's okay. She won't bite. Just say hello."

Her small urge didn't make Swablu any less uncomfortable. The blue bird took one look at Seviper and could tell she might be chow. She didn't want to take chances, especially since she was once an enemy, but she had to at least try. "Hello…?" she chirped hoarsely.

Seviper bared her fangs. "Hellooo…" she cooed, albeit a little darkly. It was enough make Swablu shrivel on Wendy's head, making the Sky Dragon unsound. "Oops, pardon me. Didn't mean to scare you." She apologized, but her tone was so facetious that it was hard to tell if she meant it. Maybe she was caught by Kinana, but she never was told to not play with her food.

With Gray back, Juvia scooted beside him. "Gray, dearest! You're back home!" she cooed lovingly. "You have no idea how lonely it's been without you!"

Gray looked at her, trying hard to not make it anymore awkward. "Hey, Juvia. Don't worry, it wasn't a big deal."

Lucy sighed as she and her Klefki took a seat beside Cana and Sophie. Cana took this chance to find alleviation again. "Aw, someone a little tired?" she showed Lucy her mug. "Well here, this'll perk you right up."

"No thanks, I'm good." Lucy denied. "It's just been a lot of work. Honestly…first this war a week ago, and now it's like the place is booming like rabbits!"

Sophie seemed rather calm. "If I recall, just because we stopped a war, doesn't mean that Pokémon are still not causing problems." She glanced at her and Klefki. "Jingle any keys?"

Klefki had a question mark overhead. For some reason, she thought it revolved around her. "Trust me, you have _no_ idea." Lucy said.

Natsu flashed a toothy smirk. "Well I don't know about you guys, but seeing all these fights have gotten me all amped up." He stepped forward. "So, who wants to fight?!"

Joey's ears perked up at a potential chance to show off his training. He was tempted to, but Dereece said otherwise. "Joey, no." he warned.

Joey sat down again, pouting. "But how am I supposed to show the results of what I did? C'mon man, I wanna prove _something_."

"I getcha man, I really do." He patted Joey's shoulder. "But trust me, people like that guy, you're only encourage." He shot a thumb at Natsu. "We'll find another opponent later on."

Joey looked down in shame. He really wanted to show Nic and Vanessa the results of his training, at lest in some way. He looked down at his reflection in the shimmering wood, almost too distracted when the guild doors opened wide, catching everyone by surprise.

Natsu turned around. "Huh?"

Nic, Erza, Vanessa, and a lot of people turned their attention towards the guild's doors. Duncan glanced over his shoulder as he and the guild saw someone at the entrance.

"Attention, please! May I have your attention!"

From inside his office, the door opened to find Laxus crossing his arms. On his shoulder, a small green dog-like creature was perched. It had yellow lightning bolt patterns all over, making him look streamlined for lightning. Looking out, he saw the woman who became the center of attention. "What's up? He asked.

"Master Laxus, sir." Freed answered. "I'm glad you've come. There's someone here."

"I hear ya." He made his way in front get to this woman. "Yo, Nic. Erza." He called. "Up front! I got a feeling this gots something to do with you."

Nic and Erza looked at each other, nodding before they chose to abide their master's insistence. Looking at the woman, they chose to take to the front as well.

Soon enough, they've all calmed down, leaving the woman to look around. She adjusted her glasses once more, making them all see her serious inspection of them. "So, this is a guild in person." She deduced.

"The heck she saying?" Natsu whispered.

"Beats me. Maybe she's from the Cambire Foundation." Happy figured. "Huh…hey, wait a minute, do we know her from somewhere?"

Natsu raised a brow. "We do…?" He looked up, trying to find a reason to think of her. Unfortunately, his brain wasn't keeping up with tabs. "Sorry, you lost me."

Beside him, Lucy sighed comically. "Of course." She looked at the woman. "But wait, have we met before?"

The woman took another step forward, hands behind her back like a soldier would. "My apologies. I wasn't aware that my presence was only noted so bleakly." She sounded insulted, but she resumed. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Eliza, under the association of Jefferey of the Cambire Foundation's top research facility."

"Eliza." Erza repeated. Her recollection was much better than Natsu's. Unlike him, he recounted seeing her when they arrested that man the night they first encountered the Peace Jaegers. "Ah, yes, I've seen to have forgotten. So you were sent by the foundation as well, right?"

"I understand that you and your guild are rather busy at the moment, but I have a very important announcement." She took another step forward. "And it has to do with you, Fairy Tail…specifically." Her eyes narrowed when she mentioned their guild's name. It sounded rather off.

"Uh…I feel like I'm being judged." Wendy whispered to Carla.

"Hush." She shushed her.

Laxus crossed his arms, causing his Electrike to jump off him and onto the ground. "Alright, so what's up? What's the Cambire Foundation want this time?"

Eliza remained calm as she reached into her pocket. Similar to what Jeffrey had when he came with the parcels, she had her own lacrima-like monitor in a small phone-sized pack. She opened an app, causing a list of options. She hit one, and she heard the lacrima hum. The tablet emitted a screen, this time showing a hologram of Arthur like last time.

"Hey, it's that guy! The one in the wheelchair!" Natsu pointed out.

"I believe his name was Arthur, Natsu." Sophie corrected.

Nic looked up at the screen, a serious tone setting into the area. "Arthur…" He fell silent, allowing the projection to speak.

"Is this thing on? Can you all here me?" Arthur looked around, seeing the connection was a success.

"We hear ya, it's good." Laxus answered.

Arthur seemed more relaxed. "That's a relief." He paused, composing before he spoke once more. "Well now, it's good to see you all once again. Especially to those who held part accountability of stopping a near-collision with another country."

Warren chuckled. "Was nothing at all." He beamed.

"You didn't even do anything." Max muttered.

Arthur continued. "I have exciting news to share with everyone here. Thanks to you and the guilds' combined efforts, we were finally able to bring about an agreement with the Alakitasian nation. Our Cambire Foundation embargo is finally revoked, and we'll be expecting leniency with the nation in days' time."

Fairy Tail clapped for this occasion. Mugs were raised, and many more were pleased to hear that their efforts finally paid off. Nic and Erza smiled at one another.

"Well that's the best news we've heard in a while." Gray said. "Thought they'd pull a fast one for a sec."

"This is certainly prosperous." Pantherlily said.

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

Vanessa and Sophie nodded at each other, to which Cana got between them and gave a toothy wink to the two. They remained calm regardless. "That's my girls! Way to make your mama proud!" she laughed.

Laxus kept on the note. "So that's the good news I take it, right?"

The guild's momentary joy was cut short as Arthur chuckled. They regrouped to allow him the honor of continuing. "Well, you're not exactly wrong." Arthur noted ominously. He folded his fingers on his visible desk. "Aside from that, there's been some complications that's been unclear as of late."

"I've heard about them. This has to do with the Council, am I right?"

Arthur nodded. "Evidently. Following your return, there's been two priorities that are being sorted out as we speak." He held up two fingers to signify his point. "The first one has to do with our own defenses. Unfortunately, it appears that the Alvarez' posthumous mobilization has brought up some uneven alarms within our means of security. Our regulations and background checks will still be certified…but, the Council and I have made…an agreement."

Nic's suspicions arose. He kept silent so as not to throw off any tracks.

"This aggressive act brought some very serious concerns of security to the public. Frankly, because of the Alvarez' usage. I wasn't so lenient, but I didn't have much to oppose the decision the council has made." He took a moment to reach over, taking a suspenseful sip of wine that quenched his throat. Once having a fill, he gently set it back down. "The Council has decided, that in order to show and enforce that we are united with Pokémon, they are integrating the Rune Knights with the Cambire Foundation, with Charlotte appointed the head of the association."

"So then…basically you're giving soldiers Pokémon to use for their army?" Levy summarized.

"Essentially, yes. We are going to make Rune Knights Pokemon Trainers."

Gajeel smirked. "Heh, well if the army wasn't annoying enough, they're adding these Pokémon to add to the dirty work, huh?"

"This would make their training very effective in the field. I can't be sure if this was tactical or overkill." Pantherlily surmised.

Erza stepped forward. "So you're going to make Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon also partake in a service that they may not have allegedly signed up for?"

Arthur shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. The Pokémon Trainers that are currently signed up to the Cambire Foundation are completely independent. Only the Rune Knights and Charlotte's branch of the Cambire Foundation are affected."

Nic's eyes narrowed. "I think that I get the picture…but what I don't get is why you make it sound like it's a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, this sounds like Alvarez all over again…" he stepped up with his wife. "But what's the catch that you're trying to make them so different?"

Arthur paused. He grinned meekly as he lowly snickered. He considered Nic's questions and cleared his throat. "Well…I'm afraid this the part where I seek of your participation yet again."

"In what way?"

"As you can imagine, Alvarez' example has given off…a very poor first impression. We the Cambire Foundation believe that a _proper_ example should be used on Pokémon. So, that second agreement that the Council and I have discussed, it has to do with you."

"Why us?" Lucy inquired. "What did we do?"

"You've all saved Fiore and the Cambire Foundation. You proved to the world that there _is_ in fact another way to use Pokémon than just instruments of battle. Therefore, we are going to be hosting a live seminar of a Pokémon Battle. A _real_ Pokémon Battle."

Upon mention to this, Joey's ears twitched. He looked moderately surprised. His sense of wonder was picked up by Vanessa's aura, getting her to turn at him.

"A Pokémon Battle? That sounds awesome!" Natsu smiled, but his suspicions picked up. "But wait, I thought we already sent ya those videos like weeks ago?"

"Yeah, why not just use those?" Happy asked.

Gray stepped forward. "Yeah, and why go pick on _us_ for this? Don't you guys have a bunch of Trainers that can show off instead?"

Arthur gravelly sighed. "Exactly what I told the Council. But they absolutely insisted that we try and stay 'up to co.'." He snickered vaguely at the irony. "They sure don't make it easy sometimes. As for your inquiry, Gray Fullbuster, I'm afraid that also lies within your involvement. You all partook in a war with Pokémon, therefore, they found it reasonable to allow a mage guild into a battle with actual Pokémon Battling experience. What better way to set an example, than to use one of the very guilds that was successful in demonstrating what we are trying to create?"

"So basically you're using us for your guinea pigs, is that right?" Laxus reworded sternly.

Arthur frowned. "If that'll sedate your assumption, Master Laxus, I won't blame you for thinking otherwise."

Nic glared up. He wasn't looking so convinced at being used as a pawn. "Okay, so what do you want?"

"The Council and I will be hosting a 3-on-3 exhibition battle in Crocus, where the headquarters is, and they would require a member of your guild to participate in said battle. Preferably, someone whose gone with you."

"Sounds like you're drawing down to specifics." Vanessa deduced. "That's quite a bargain you're imposing. And are we to assume that we will be compensated as last time as well?"

Arthur nodded. "Why most certainly. Since our berry production and supply and demand of items has gone back up, we've been thinking your guild gets 10% of the supplies. That should more than suffice."

"I'm no math whiz…" Cana smirked. "But I'd take that bet."

"Yeah. When you consider it being 10% of supplies that a company can create and produce, it's a lot."

Arthur smiled at the convincing argument he seemed to have winning. "If you think it's too much, then consider it part of my thanks for your efforts. It's the least we can do. But all pleasantries aside, who will you have battle for your guild?"

Everyone looked to each other to see who would step up to the plate. When they all saw the others' faces, some could see that some didn't look comfortable if they had to battle in front of an audience. Some seemed rather excited to know about this big event, and some like Macao and Wakaba showed not much appeal to being sent. The little post-Infinity Clock event made them feel used once. But, if they were asked to, they will. Natsu and Gajeel looked a little excited, and the former smirked mischievously as he stepped forward. However, someone already beat him to it.

"I'll do it!"

All eyes went to a certain someone who stepped up. He didn't look eager, but rather serious with his declaration. This brought an alarm to Dereece. "Joey?!" he gasped.

The leader od The Freaks stepped up regardless. "Yeah, I'll do it."

Arthur gave Joey a quizzical look. "I see. So you're volunteering then." As he took a closer look, he smirked upon recalling him. "Now it's coming back, you're that boy who drew attention at the conference reception a month ago." He chuckled. "Thank you for that. The guests were rather lively by your enthusiasm."

As Joey beamed with pride, Dereece looked to him. "Joey, are you sure about this? You don't even know who you'll be facing."

"Maybe not yet." Joey looked ahead, serious in the face. "But I gotta see just how far I've gotten in my battle training. I won't disappoint, promise."

Laxus had his arms folded, showing a lack of interest. "Go right ahead, kid. Just remember why you're doing this."

Joey balled a fist. "You got it!"

Arthur nodded. "Then it shall be so. I'll let the administration know of your decision so we can get matters settled. We appreciate your cooperation on the subject, all of you."

Dereece stepped. "So, when and where exactly is this supposed to take place, exactly?"

"Approximately 3pm. It'll be in the Domus Flau colosseum outside of Crocus. We'll be there in person to give explanations of how the battle will work before it officially starts." He heard a buzzer go off in the distance, getting him to look out before turning towards the group. "Looks like my time is up. This was all the time that Maria was willing to give me before our next meeting."

"We understand. Thank you for everything." Erza said.

Arthur gave one last smile. "I shall see you all tomorrow." The hologram turned off, turning the attention towards Eliza. She put the item away and walked towards Joey with a clipboard with a stack of paper.

"Now then, if you would sign this. This shall confirm your agreement with our conditions of the Cambire Foundation." Joey was given the pen and he adequately signed it. Eliza took the items back and saw his crude signature. "Well, seems that everything is in order. If there are no more comments, I'll take my leave."

"I got a question." Natsu raised his hand. "What about your boss again?"

Eliza shot him a stern look, looking a little bugged by his choice of terminology. "If you are referring to Mr. Bistro, he's back at the department keeping up with the supply intervention. As a head of his branch, he has to keep up with the pace as well. Now then, till next time. We thank you for your time." Eliza walked away, heading back out the doors with hands behind her back. She looked so calm and so cold at the same time. It was disturbing almost.

"Well, she's a peach." Cana sarcastically chimed.

"You can say that again." Sophie noted.

Joey looked really excited. He looked down at his fists and had a serious look. _'So tomorrow's it. I'll get to show everyone how I've trained and also…'_ A picture of Bro dead with his smile flashed in his mind. _'It'll also show Bro that I'm taking the right path. I just gotta stay focused.'_ He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the tap on his shoulder until a few seconds later. "Hm? Yo, what up Dereece?"

"Uh, are you sure about this man?" he asked.

Joey gave him a look like he never knew the earth was round. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"No. I mean…you _do_ know that she said 3-on-3, right?"

Joey blinked. "And…?" It didn't take long by the look of disposition on Dereece to sink into Joey's mind. When he realized it, he straightened back up and blinked again. "…oh."

"Mhm. Yeah, you only got _two_ Pokémon!" he snapped. "So how exactly are you going to battle when you've only got Chespin and Pidove?"

Natsu blinked. "Wait, you mean that 3 Pokémon are a requirement? I thought it was just a suggestion! Nobody told me that!" he fumed in annoyance. "Aw man, and here I was going to let Charmander get in on the action!"

"I don't think it works that way, buddy." Happy chimed.

"Hmph, quite your bellyaching, alright?" The retort came from Duncan, getting everyone's attention. "If you're really making that big of a deal about that, just go find another Pokémon. I'm sure any would work for someone like you."

Dereece shot him a chastising look. "And exactly what is that supposed to mean?"

Duncan shrugged. "Don't look at me, just calling it as I see it." He raised his head, shifting the position to make him more demanding. "But if you haven't got the guts, then just step down and let someone else handle it."

Joey wasn't sure exactly by what Duncan meant by that comment. Something in his gut made him feel challenged, but that was so far down he couldn't bother. He chose to take it as a suggestion. "Hmph! Well _thank you_ for your motivation there, Duncan. Yeesh, okay. If you're going to just tell me to go find a Pokémon, all you had to do was _say_ so." He did and eyeroll before snapping his fingers. "C'mon, Freaks! Let's go Pokémon hunting!"

Dereece gave Duncan a look. He wasn't going to go against his word, but it seems Duncan didn't seem interested. "Just come on." With a strong urge, Dereece got Duncan to follow, though he tailed behind with lack of care all the way outside the guild hall.

Seeing Joey going to fix his problems by catching another Pokémon, it set off a small chain reaction in the guild. Some seemed indifferent, but Natsu was fired up with a big smirk on his face. "Heh, well I don't know about you guys, but I ain't having Joey have all the fun." He faced the others. "I'm gonna go find something to keep Charmander company. Coming Happy?"

"Aye!" Happy jumped.

"What do you think, Klefki? Wanna tag along?" Lucy asked her Klefki.

The Key Ring Pokémon jingled her keys with joys. "Sure! Okay!"

Elfman stood over everyone with a smirk. "Guess that leaves this man to himself. C'mon Machop! Let's go be men!" He took off, leaving the guild in a hurry towards the mountains outside of Magnolia's flat hills.

"Hey, not so fast!" Natsu darted out, getting into a competitive footrace with Elfman as they sped out of the guild as fast as lightning.

"There they go again." Mirajane chimed. "Hope they didn't forget Poke Balls if they're going to do that."

"I'm more worried about what they'll be running into." Lisanna admitted. Rufflet was flapping his wings with Vullaby behind, but the two only ended up falling on their bums and bouncing off the table onto the floor. "I sure hope they don't try and do anything to not make whatever they want on their side mistrust them."

* * *

In Magnolia's streets, The Freaks took to their heels in their leader's arduous quest. Joey confidently – if not casually – strolled down the sidewalk with his head high.

Dereece, still withholding concerns, caught up. "Uh, Captain Joey? You sure you know what you're doing?"

Joey flipped around, now showing off his backwards walking skills. "Oh Dereece, of course you know the answer to that." He laughed hardily. "Of course not." He deadpanned, turning back forward. "But what's a road without a few bumps that you can't run over, right?"

"You know that doesn't make sense! Where the heck are you gonna find another Pokémon anyway?" Just as Dereece finished saying that, he took notice of a wild Rattata that crossed their path. It scuttled to the alleys, leaping into the darkness.

An unsteady silence fell on the area before Joey shrugged. "Oh well, better than nothing." He stormed after the Rattata, bustling into the dark alleys as well. "I hope it has the Guts Ability!" he yelled as he vanished into the darkness.

"Oh man, here we go again." Dereece groaned before storming off as well. Duncan, still having no care, did an eyeroll before he strolled behind. He really didn't seem to care. He honestly was having more trouble trying to find a good enough weapon for his use than worry about his Captain. Still, they followed him into the alley, soon to catch up with him.

As they walked slowly through the alley, they began to take notice of the atmosphere. It wasn't all that pretty as they walked deeper through. Littered all over were some newspaper aged into the ground, and Styrofoam cups rolled into corners of some trash bins they occasionally walked by.

A shiver went down Dereece's side. "Bleh, I don't know what it is, but…it's getting creepy. I don't like this."

"Yeah, I know." Joey still persevered, but as he looked ahead, his nose picked up a disturbing scent. "Oof! Man, Dereece, was that you?" he glared back with disgust. "Ugh! What did you eat man?!"

"I-it wasn't me!" he flustered. He and the others' ears heard the sound of paws against the pavement. "What's that?"

Duncan glared ahead, but he made no reckless moves. Joey instantly got in front with a Poke Ball, but his guard was let down when he saw something stagger out of the shadows. It was the same Rattata as before, but it looked like it's seen a ghost. It was pale, and it was hazy in the eyes.

"*cough cough* Oh god…" he wheezed. "So…so…disgusting…" Unable to find the strength to stand, the rat passed out in front of The Freaks, much to their curiosity.

"Okay…what's up with that?" Joey asked. "C'mon, people. No use standing around like bowling pins."

They chose to hurry up and follow their noses. The deeper they got, the more horrid the smell got. As they looked around, they saw the number of Rattata, Meowth, even a couple of passerby Pidove and Pidgey were twitching uncomfortably. They took notice of the trash that's been littered around was making a trail into the shadows of the alleyway, leading up to a mountain of garbage bags.

"Blek! Is this where the smell comes from?" Dereece held his nose shut. "Man, that reeks! Just how long's this been here for?"

Duncan scoffed, seemingly not caring for the smell. "Well this is pollution. No wonder these guys didn't make it very far. They must've eaten some bacteria from the decayed garbage."

Joey shook his head, trying to get himself from passing out. "Well, as Captain, this is bogus! Dereece! Call a dumpster! Call anybody willing to get this pile of trash heap out of my…o-out of my…" He began trailing off when the rustling of trash bags got their attention.

Backing up, Joey got on guard as he and the others knew something was moving inside. They saw some trash bags roll down the mountain; some spilling more trash on the ground. It wasn't long before the top bag moved suddenly, getting Joey and Dereece to flinch. They crept a little closer, revealing a Pokémon that got Joey's and everyone's attention.

And to Joey especially, his eyes slowly widened in shock.

Turning around atop the pile, a small garbage bag-like figment waddled around and stared blankly ahead. It had white eyes with beady black pupils. It was mainly green, with gunky, pad-like arms with no fingers.

The trash bag-like creature remained stationary, a very long pause brewing between everyone, before at last it blinked one eye, and then the other following. She gave a small, neutral belch before it resumed eating trash like a buffet.

" _That's_ what's been all this trouble?" Dereece couldn't believe his luck. He pulled out his PokeDex, analyzing the creature eating before them.

" **Trubbish, the Trash Bag Pokémon. It gorges on trash until its stomach is full. Then it belches toxic gas. An unlucky whiff of gas will put a person in the hospital.** "

"Well that explains the smell then." Duncan said.

"Yeah, I can see that." Dereece turned away. "Best leave it alone, Joey. Let's find that Pokémon you want." He didn't get a response. "Joey? Uh…Joey?"

As much as Dereece called his name, Joey was in his own little world. He was staring at Trubbish like she was some kind of shrine. When Trubbish perked up upon seeing Joey, she once again did a slow, inconsistent blink before burping. To Joey, he saw an angelic light and heard a hallelujah chime in the atmosphere. There was no going back no for him.

"…I found it." He muttered.

"Found what?"

"I have found it, Dereece! Look!" he gestured to the Trubbish. "I have found it! My third newest Pokémon!"

Trubbish gave off another belch, this one louder than before. A pause came as time seemed to have frozen, but another poor Pidgey fluttering high above sunk into unconsciousness by the horrendous smell. She resumed eating. While she ate and Joey looked overjoyed, Dereece looked far from amused.

"I think the Captain's hit his head too hard this morning." Dereece groaned.

"Don't you see, Dereece? Just look at her! She's _perfect_!" He hopped, skipped, and literally jumped up to her elevation. He gestured up close to her as she ate without care. "Just look! You see that face? That's the face of greatness right there! And that trash coating…" he ran a finger along her side, slicking up with a dry sense. "She's healthy as can be! And look at what she can do!" Gesturing again, Trubbish belched once more, which of course made another passing Pidove overhead drop to the ground. "She's so indestructible that nothing can come close to her! This has to be my calling, Dereece!"

Duncan raised a brow, trying to show no pleasure in Joey's stupidity. But Dereece looked at him and then back at Joey. "Uh, Captain Joey, I know we're on a time crunch and all…but I think we can make an exception this one time, okay?" he tried to sound as polite as possible inside his plea. "I-I know you're excited, but maybe, I don't know…she's might be, uh…"

Joey looked at Dereece with curiosity. "What's wrong? You think she's not a good choice?" he heard Trubbish belch again, making him more annoyed as he pointed at her. "You see that? You just hurt her feelings! Shame on you, Dereece!"

Dereece shrunk back. "S-sorry…"

Duncan turned away. "If you wanna catch that thing, don't let us stop you. An idiot magnet such as yourself can't be held down by someone who doesn't have a spine himself."

"What?" Dereece gave him a look of serious offense. Duncan shrugged it off, earning a groan from him.

Joey scoffed and dismissed them. "Oh ignore those party-poopers Trubbish, they don't know what they're talking about. Now then, how would _you_ like to a part of something great, huh?" Trubbish blinked again. Joey slid to her side, gesturing to an open panel across them that Trubbish watched. "I can see it now. You and me, Trainer and Pokémon, repelling all who dare bring shame to the names we adore! We'd be standing at the top, surrounded by people who love and appreciate the stench of victory!" He lifted Trubbish with his arms and gave her a big, toothy smile. "So, what do you say?"

Trubbish blinked again, processing what it was Joey proposed to her. He paused, and her belly began to gurgle loudly. She looked to be coming up with yet another belch. She was lurching constantly, getting Joey on pins and needles to find out her answer. Even Dereece looked curious. The suspense finally built to a climax, but what came out was not a belch, but a spray of acid that flooded in Joey's face like a pump.

Duncan looked a little disgusted, but Dereece cringed from the Acid Spray. He actually had to cover his mouth to keep himself from spewing chunks.

Once the Poison-type move ended, Joey was still holding Trubbish, but his hair was slicked back like grass from the pressure. Trubbish belched again. Joey, however, looked completely unfazed as he took a huge whiff of the air. "…aaahhh." He sighed dreamily. " _That_ is the smell of success. I take that as a yes!"

He sat Trubbish down and pulled out a Poke Ball. He tossed it skywards, making it come down on Trubbish…only for her to look up and eat the Poke Ball, much to the disbelief of Dereece. Though with her soft mouth, it didn't corrode. The smelly Poke Ball opened inside, sucking Trubbish in. It shook a couple times before it finally clicked, signaling her capture.

Joey picked up the Poke Ball, waving it high with success. "Check it out guys! Victory!"

The others stared blindly, though Joey seemed uproariously happy, they could still smell Trubbish even from inside the Poke Ball. Dereece could only despair. "Somebody shoot me." He pleaded.

"That makes two of us." Duncan murmured.

* * *

Joey wasn't the only one out of a Pokémon hunt. Apparently his little enthusiasm streak got to the best of others, presumably those who have some levels of ambition. While Joey was off doing his own thing and Natsu went off to who-knows-where, Gray was also on his little hunt. In the snowing reaches of Mt. Hakobe, a light snow came down that softly sprinkled his tracks as he walked shirtless up the mountain slope. He didn't have any particular reason to be here, or anywhere for that matter. But with the mention of more Pokémon, he didn't see why he shouldn't have more. Snover has been a very great help, and Gray appreciates him to the fullest. But if he can't fight and if Snover is in danger, then it was better to have more backup. With intuition, he figured the best place to look for an Ice-type would lie in Mt. Hakobe, the same place where he met Snover.

' _This sure takes me back.'_ He remembered the first time he met Snover here of all places. He was very lucky to have been saved by Gray and Juvia that day, otherwise things could've been ugly. He thought about bringing him out for reminiscing reasons, but he thought it was better not to because maybe another wyvern might be around. Still, he smirked at that thought. _'Bet I'll find something inside those caves.'_ Minutes later, he did in fact venture into the caverns, unscathed by any cold. It was decently lit to where he could see in front of himself. Looking around, the floor was covered in ice, making it hard for those that aren't like Gray easy to stand. "Geez, wonder what'll give to have any Pokémon inside here." He thought aloud.

As he walked around, he noticed a few things that surprised him. He noticed that even in caves, there were Zubat hanging from icicles in the ceiling. They seemed inactive at this time, so he got off lucky. Elsewhere, some Geodude were huddled together, minding their own business. He didn't seem too bothered, let alone curious by it all. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a bunch of stalagmites huddled together.

"Wait, were those there before?" He took jobs here before, so he would know a little of the geography of the caves of Mt. Hakobe. It wasn't the number what bugged him, but their shapes. "And why are they all so even…?" He tried to get closer, but upon another footstep, he saw a pair of yellow eyes with purple rings open. Immediately he stopped in his tracks. "What the-?!"

All the stalagmite evenly sized were opening eyes. They all looked at Gray, recognizing they have someone on their tail. The stalagmite began moving, shuffling so as to either get away, or to shift to another spot. They were all scattering, doing so by sliding on the ice.

Blinking, Gray began processing what was going on. "Are they…Pokémon?" His inquiries aside, he noticed one four-legged stalagmite in front, looking at him. Immediately he pulled out a Poke Ball. "Well, guess this'll have to do."

The Bergmite realized that it was targeted. As others shifted around, Bergmite looked readily at Gray. He took a battle stance to signify his claim. "Me Bergmite. You, enemy." He said in a robotic monotone. It sounded like Kecleon, only not as robotic…and far less creepy.

Ignoring that, Gray threw his Poke Ball. "Okay Snover, get out here!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Gray's Snover. "Hello!" he chimed.

"'Kay Snover, here's the plan." Gray said calmly. "We gotta weaken that guy, so we can catch him. You in?"

Snover nodded.

"Awesome, then let's give this guy a challenge." He reached forward, giving a command. "Then let's start off with **Razor Leaf!** "

Snover followed his command and spread his arms out. A green funnel of leaves spun ahead and closed in on Bergmite. The Ice-type, however, had his maw part glow bright blue as he expelled a cold wind with blue sparkles in them. The wind completely dissipated the attack, leaving sparkles to flutter between.

"So it's got Icy Wind too, huh?" Gray deduced.

"Me strike." Bergmite took in a quick breath. " **Powder Snow!** " He expelled a cold breath that was made up of snowflakes that expanded towards Snover.

Gray swiped his arm. "That case, use **Powder Snow** back!"

Snover expelled the same force back. The attack's comprising of cold air and snow created a maelstrom of flakes that enveloped everything around them. The brushing frost alarmed many of the Zubat that were nearby. Provoked, they went to attack. Only to be blown away and frozen over. Geodude were more sensible to roll away. Even as the frost dissipated, the mist cloud created made it the perfect chance for Bergmite to shift along the ice towards Snover.

"Heads up." Gray warned.

Snover heed Gray's warning and saw Bergmite taking a leap off the slide into the air. Energy fangs were created, via **Bite**. He came down, Snover dodging while Bergmite chomped on the spot where he once was, crunching up ice in the process.

"Man, that's some power." He smirked. "And he shifts well on the ice. This'll be perfect." He saw Bergmite shift at them again, closing the gap. "Use **Icy Wind!** "

Snover took in a quick breath and his mouth area glowed bright blue. He expelled a cold, sparkling blue air that closed in and struck Bergmite. The attack was enough to slow him down, a blue aura enveloping him. Still, he went to try and close said gap again with Bite.

"Dodge it!" Gray's command was followed promptly as Snover jumped out of the way of the fangs. "Alright…use **Grass Whistle!** "

Snover's leafy green arms began to glow bright green as he brought them to his face. He took in a sharp breath and a high-pitched, ominous tune played loudly. The vocal notes were visible as Bergmite adjusted. But with him slowed some, he wasn't fast enough to dodge the notes. The melody sunk into his head, his vision getting drowsy as his eyes rolled back and he slumped down to slumber. Gray smirked at this opportunity.

"Glad we learned that move." He swiped his arm. "Alright, hit it hard! **Razor Leaf!** "

Snover let out a cry as he swiped his arms again. "Take…this!" He created another green funnel of leaves that shot into the sleeping Bergmite. A green eruption shook the icy floor in a critical hit. This one was so strong that it actually made the Bergmite airborne, crashing into the ground, facing away with a still slumbering gaze.

Gray held up his Poke Ball. "Alright then…let's see if this works!" He threw the Poke Ball across Snover's head, hitting Bergmite's top spike. The capsule opened and sucked him in, where it closed and plopped to the ground.

Gray and Snover glared forward as they were aware that it may still be trying to get out. Retaining caution, Snover gulped, while Gray maintained a stance. The ball shook several times, but ended up clicking instead.

Bergmite was officially caught. Gray showed a smirk. "There."

"We did it!" Snover cheered.

Gray walked over, overlooking the Poke Ball for a second before he picked it up. He didn't know why, but he had a good feeling about this one. He grinned. "Yeah, we did." He said.

* * *

"Oh, Gray darling!" Juvia groaned in sadness as she walked in the forest. "How could this have happened?! Why did you have to leave me yet again?!" She comically sobbed as she slumped over, a drooling dark aura overlooking her like rain.

Sophie, accompanying Juvia, remained calm. "It's not so bad." She insisted. "I'm sure that we'll find other Pokémon around here."

Juvia's gloom only darkened. "I know…but, I wanted to search with Gray." She whined.

Sophie gravelly sighed.

It was the blonde's idea. Frankly, knowing Gray is looking for Pokémon best suited for his typing, Sophie thought it would be better to look for water, where Juvia wouldn't have to freeze. She volunteered to go with her, but the one dragged on this quest wasn't all that lenient with her beloved near her.

"I'm sure Gray is fine. He can take care of himself without us." She argued. "Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't want your Eevee getting cold, would you?"

Juvia held her Poke Ball in her hands, looking down at it softly. "Well no…" she sighed again. "I guess I'll try. If my beloved can withstand a few hours apart, then I'll do the same! And we can be reunited with bliss in each other's warm embrace!" She yelled with such a passion with the gloom turning to blossoms around her.

Sophie comically huffed. At least she got Juvia's spirits up again, so that wasn't a bother. They were a few miles outside of Magnolia, in the woods where they, too, were looking for Pokémon. She recalled seeing a spring around the area at some point, but that was a few months ago.

Juvia gasped. "Look, up ahead!"

Sophie looked ahead. Pass the shrubs in front, the two voluptuous women made their way to an open grass field, where they could see a small, crystal clear spring. And in that tool, life was teaming.

"Such a lovely spring. Is this the spot you were talking about, Sophie?" Juvia asked.

Sophie nodded in clarification. "Yes. This should be the spot, I'm sure of it." She walked closer to the water's edge, where she got to a knee and dipped her dainty fingernails onto the water. It was cool. She pulled it out and grinned. "It's healthy. This should be a perfect spot."

Juvia looked around. "Um, okay. So…where are the Pokémon?"

Sophie looked around, noticing that the location seemed rather isolated. It was a vaguely small pond, so maybe she overestimated some. "I suppose we'll have to look around. That's what Nic and Vanessa did back in their world I suppose."

"But how long are we supposed to-!" Juvia was cut off when the water splashed. Both of them immediately went on guard.

Crawling out of the water and looking at Sophie, it appeared to be some kind of spider-like Pokémon, but it had a bubble of water surrounding its head. It had big green eyes with dull black pupils that blinked. It had a small body, but three big legs to keep him balanced.

In front of Juvia, something bounced out of the water. It was very small and blue. It had a big blue ball at the end of its black scrunched tail that it bounced on. It seemed jovial as it looked at Juvia, who upon looking at the latter creature, she gasped in shock.

"Well, seems we have our answer." Sophie looked at the two Pokémon as she pulled out her PokeDex, analyzing the spider first.

" **Dewpider, the Water Bubble Pokémon. It can only breathe oxygen that has dissolved in water, so it wears a water bubble on its head when it walks around on land.** "

" **Azurill, the Polka Dot Pokémon.** **Azurill's tail is large and bouncy. It is packed full of the nutrients this Pokémon needs to grow. Azurill can be seen bouncing and playing on its big, rubbery tail.** "

Sophie put the PokeDex away, taking another look. "Seems we've wandered into their territory."

"You bet you did!" Dewpider prodded. "Get lost! I've claimed this spot way before you did!" he shot a look at Azurill. "And how many times have I told you to leave me alone!"

Azurill bounced on her tail jovially. "Oh c'mon! It's never fun being alone! Everyone should get to play every once in a while!"

"And I said I'm fine!"

"C'mon, don't be a poopyhead!"

"My head is not filled with that disgusting human waste!" Dewpider outraged. "It's filled with water! That I need to breathe, thank you very much!"

As the Azurill was chiming away innocently against the cranky Dewpider, Sophie somehow reminisced on a parallel, one revolving around a certain Dragon Slayer and Ice Mage. The memory made her giggle. _'The old days.'_ Though as much as she would love to rethink, she needed a new Pokémon, and she found a good candidate right in front of her. "I'll take Dewpider. Juvia."

"Right, then I'll take Azurill." Getting focused, she pulled out a Poke Ball. "Ready when you are!"

Azurill and Dewpider stopped their dispute when they took notice of the two Trainers before them.

"Go!" Together, Juvia and Sophie threw their Poke Balls. Out came Abra, floating in place, with Eevee beside him, perked and happy.

"Oh! New friends to play with! This'll be fun!" Azurill chimed innocently. She took a deep breath and exhaled. She unleashed several clear bubbles from her mouth that blew towards Abra and Eevee. Dewpider hissed as he took in a breath and shot the same attack as well.

Sophie reached forward. "Abra, intercept! **Psyshock!** "

Abra – who was still snoozing some – snorted awake. "Hm? Huh?" he saw the attack head his way and responded. "Oh, right." Casually, he generated a bright purple orb of energy and fired several beams at the oncoming spray of bubbles. The results were obvious in a large burst of foam and kinetic energy between the two.

"Juvia!" she yelled.

"Right! We'll stop Azurill!" Juvia reached ahead. "Eevee, use **Tackle!** "

"Okay, here I go!" Eevee sprung through the interference, running on all fours at Azurill. The result was a direct hit that shot Azurill in a light bounce off her ball. "No hard feelings!" Eevee shouted.

Dewpider focused on Abra, his annoyance boiling. "Tch, the squirt's got her own problems. As for you!" He began expelling little black, ant-like figments from his body that eroded towards Abra. "Get out of here! **Infestation!** "

Weary enough to not get caught in the attack, Sophie gave a command. "Use **Teleport!** " Abra did as told. He suddenly vanished from sight, evading the buzzing, obnoxious attack that thinned out.

Dewpider huffed, realizing Abra teleported behind. He turned and glared. "Lucky break! You won't get away this time! **Spider Web!** " He turned to make his underside face Abra. He expelled a sticky thread that exploded into a stickier web that snared the battlefield. Abra looked around, realizing he couldn't escape or teleport.

Sophie eyes narrowed. _'Blocking me from using Teleport. Not bad. This Dewpider may be a little cranky, but he's not unwise. This'll make for great practice.'_

Meanwhile, Eevee went charging in for another **Tackle** as Juvia ordered, but Azurill, bounced a little on her tail before she shot up. Eevee ran beneath, completely missing as Azurill landed on her tail, bouncing again. Eevee quickly went to close a gap again, but Azurill jumped again, dodging Eevee's attack a second time.

"Weeee!" she yelled happily. "This is fun! Let's try and make rain!" She took in a breath and expelled water, via **Water Gun**. The attack sprayed Eevee, sending her flying back.

"Eevee!" Juvia watched as a soaked Eevee slid back, shaking her head to get the water off. "Are you okay, Eevee?"

Shaking the droplets off, Eevee glared forward. "I'm good!"

Azurill lightly bounced on the ground again. "Wow you guys sure are fun! Can we have a bubble party? Like this!" Taking another deep breath, she expelled another **Bubble** , shooting them at Eevee.

"Dodge!" Juvia's command reached Eevee in time. She jumped out of the range of the Water-type move. "Good, now use **Baby-Doll Eyes!** " A sweet pink bliss surrounded Eevee as she tilted her head. She cooed deeply at Azurill, who had a blue aura signal her Attack decrease.

Azurill tilted her own head, looking so innocent. "Awww." She cooed back. "We playing cutie-pie now? Okay!" She looked blissfully at Eevee and Juvia, much more so than the Normal-type herself.

Slowly, both their eyes widened at the sight. "Wha…?"

A sincere pink charm-like atmosphere was around Azurill. She chirped sweetly as she giggled with hearts around her atmosphere. This was her **Charm** attack, and it was super effective, as one would put it. It was enough to leave Juvia's cheeks flustered pink while Eevee found herself beaten by cuteness.

' _So adorable!'_ both squealed.

Laughing happily, Azurill got them off guard long enough for her to expel more **Bubble**. Coincidentally, so did Dewpider. Their unisonattack scored a direct hit in both adversaries, pushing them back in front of Sophie and Juvia.

"Abra!"

"Eevee!"

Their shouts alarmed both creatures as they got back up. Dewpider and Azurill looked at each other, though rather than earn a snark from Dewpider, the spider simply smirked. Their teamwork was surprising, even for him. Following up, they smirked at their prey and Dewpider's beak glowed, via **Bug Bite** , and Azurill expelled another **Water Gun** at Eevee.

Sophie glared ahead at Dewpider. "Okay then…" her eyes narrowed. "No more Mrs. Nice Girl. Abra, use **Psyshock!** "

Juvia felt the same way. She reached forward to give a confident command. "Eevee, use **Quick Attack!** "

Both Pokémon were also at their wits end. Eevee grunted as she abruptly accelerated across the grass, making afterimages follow her prancing around the jet of water and zooming at Azurill at lightning fast pacing. Before she had a chance to process, Azurill was sent sailing into the air by the blow. Abra's attack sent several beams at near point-blank range. The timing couldn't have been better as Dewpider got too carried away and his abdomen was struck by purple beams. A small burst of energy sent him rocketing, shooting him into Azurill in midair, sending both crashing to the grass over the pond's edge.

"Ready…" Juvia pulled out a Poke Ball.

"Now!" Sophie shouted.

Together, they threw their Poke Balls at Azurill and Dewpider respectively. They were sucked inside and the capsules plopped to the ground, shaking. They both shook once, then twice, and then a third time…and finally each clicked, signaling their captures. Sophie and Juvia had smiles on them before they turned and high-fived the other.

"Score!" they chimed together. They hurried over, with Azurill's Poke Ball brought to Juvia and Dewpider's going to Sophie. They looked at their catches proudly.

"Well that was sure fun." Sophie admitted.

"Yes, it turned out to be so." Juvia was surprised. She actually had a good time, even without Gray. Maybe she could start trying this more often. "So, you ready to head back?"

Sophie nodded. "Be ne-lekh (Let's go)."

* * *

A powerful slam to the earth by Machop hurled a wild Geodude to sunder. It gagged as the impact completely downed him.

"Yeah! That's the way!" Elfman exclaimed. "That's an awesome **Seismic Toss!** "

Machop landed on the ground, folding his arms. "No biggie." He huffed. "Still, is there _anyone_ who's a challenge out here?"

"That's a good question." Elfman looked back over his shoulder, seeing the many Pokémon that were defeated by Machop. There were a few Geodude, and a couple Onix that fell easy victim to Low Kick. "All we're really getting are Rock-types up in these mountains. I was hoping to find something to match your manliness…" he looked back at Machop. "But I guess you learning Seismic Toss is enough I suppose."

Machop shot him a look. "Says you. I still got energy to burn."

"Maybe so, but who's out here to battle against now-?!" Suddenly the rock beside Elfman burst. The debris flew pass him, crumbling to shreds while he and Machop covered up. "What the-?!"

The dust and the debris settled, revealing something with four stubby armored legs. He craned his head around, snorting. This caught them off guard.

There was more this Pokémon. In fact, its entire body was heavily armored. It had red eyes, and a single horn at the base of its face. It had pointed fangs and had massive ridges lining up the spine. It blinked before it registered what happened.

"Hmm…wait…" he looked up, looking around confusedly. "The berry field wasn't this way. Huh?" he registered Elfman and Machop in his presence. "Who're you?" he questioned suspiciously.

"We could ask you the same thing." Machop scoffed confidently.

Elfman reached back, getting out a PokeDex, which he surprisingly hasn't broken yet.

" **Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokémon. Rhyhorn's brain is very small. It is so dense, while on a run it forgets why it started running in the first place. It apparently remembers sometimes if it demolishes something.** "

Elfman registered the contents and took it to consideration. "A Pokémon with that much force, huh?" he looked back up. "Sounds like a good opponent. Machop, be ready!"

"You know me…" he spread his feet apart. "I'm always ready."

However, that was put to the test. Rhyhorn scowled as it clawed at the ground before his horn glowed and lengthened, via **Horn Attack**. He charged full-on into Machop, who had his arms out to catch him, but Rhyhorn barged into him with such incredible momentum, that Machop couldn't hold his ground as he kept charging, crashing right through another rock and reducing it to rubble.

Elfman looked shocked. "Machop!"

The dust cleared, and Machop was on the ground. He winced as he registered that blow. "Man…that one hurt." He looked up, seeing Rhyhorn's horn stuck out to attack again.

"Show him you're a man! Use **Low Kick!** "

Machop narrowed his eyes and swept his leg below Rhyhorn's front left one. The sweep was grand enough to hurl him to the ground with a grand thud. Machop took the chance to get back up and away, staying weary as Rhyhorn staggered back up to face Machop. His maw opened as a glowing orb was being materialized.

" **Smack Down!** " The orb was launched, shooting across the terrain at Machop. Due to No Guard, Machop was unable to dodge. He took the attack head on, an orange explosion erupting. He slid out of it on a knee. With his opponent weary, Rhyhorn clawed at the ground and lowered his horn for another attack.

"Come get some!" Machop charged ahead, roaring as Rhyhorn bulldozed towards him with a **Fury Attack**.

"Now! Grab him!" Elfman exclaimed.

Machop did as told and seized the plated head. He dug into his heels and tried to fend him off, but Rhyhorn continued pushing. Slowly and surely, Machop was sliding in the dirt, losing footing with every second that Rhyhorn mowed on. He gritted his teeth as he applied even more force, but that was hardly slowing him down.

Elfman observed the battle, his heart racing. _'This guy's tough. I never saw Machop have this much trouble holding a Rock-type back.'_ He smirked. _'This has to be it. Only one way to find out.'_ He puffed his chest and clutched both fists. "Now, Machop! **Seismic Toss!** "

Machop's eyes dilated in intensity. He gripped Rhyhorn tighter and let out a battlecry. Mustering what he had, he roared as he suddenly bolted skywards, taking Rhyhorn with him. Once he was at a peak, he clutched Rhyhorn tight and began to revolve in a spiral fashion. The whole world around them spun as Machop gained momentum and threw Rhyhorn into the ground, breaking the ground to an intense depression that made rocks nearby tremble from the force.

Machop landed, and he and Elfman glared as Rhyhorn was seen in the dust, quivering as he barely had the energy to stand. This was Elfman's chance.

"Okay, now! Go, Poke Ball!" Elfman threw the Poke Ball, hitting Rhyhorn on his head. The capsule popped open, turning Rhyhorn into energy that was being absorbed into the Poke Ball. Once shut, it plopped to the ground, where they saw it shake several times.

The shaking soon came to a halt, and a click sound was heard. Elfman had done it.

"Yeah! That's a manly catch!" he roared. He went over and picked up the Poke Ball. He inspected it and looked back at Machop, who stood despite the damage taken. "Looks like we got another one."

Machop did an eyeroll. "Another hardhead is more like it."

* * *

Elfman wasn't the only one having a winning streak. Beyond the mountainous domains that they've traveled to, Natsu had his Charmander out as they were walking on arid borders. They were getting to dry territory.

"Hey Natsu?" Happy questioned. "Just how far exactly are we going?"

"I don't know. However far it takes till _something_ pops up." He answered bluntly. "Hey Charmander, see anything?"

Looking around, the lizard saw nothing but dry rock everywhere. Maybe an ideal mountainous environment for him, but he wasn't getting anything either. "Nuh-uh."

"You too, huh? Well whatever, we're bound to hit something eventually."

Lucy, who was tailing Natsu with her Klefki, was less than amused at the measures taken. "Yeah, Natsu, I think you're taking this little trek a little too far. This feels more like a vacation than an actual hunt. A very, very dry vacation."

Natsu's face scrunched up. "Alright I get it. Enough salt in the wound much? Geez, if you're gonna make such a hissy fit then we'll backtrack some before we-AH!" Before he could finish, he tripped right onto his face, painfully.

"Oh! That's an ouchie." Klefki winced.

Lucy sighed. "Karma always gets you." She walked over towards him. "Hey, you okay?"

Natsu stammered back up. "Gnngh, yeah, I think so. Guess I tripped on something." He looked back, his eyes blinking as he caught whim of something. And due to Happy and Lucy's equally awkward stares, he wasn't crazy when he thought some red bauble with yellow eyebrows wobbled some before straightening back up. "The heck's this thing here for?" he went over to inspect it. "What is it even anyway?"

"Beats me." Happy gestured. "Looks like a voodoo egg or something."

"Yeah, it's weird." Lucy said. "Are we even sure if it's…hey, Natsu?!"

Natsu wasn't listening. He and Charmander were too engrossed in bobbing it back and forth to one another. They noticed how buoyant the thing was and shoved back to one another. "Hey, check it out! It's not falling down on us!" he pushed it, only for it to straighten back up.

Charmander shoved next. "You should try it, guys! It's actually kinda fun!" He shoved it, only for Natsu to shove harder. It bopped into him, sending him to the ground. "Except for that." He muttered.

"My bad." Natsu apologized.

"Oh! I wanna try! I wanna try!" Klefki chimed as she slowly floated ahead.

"Don't encourage them! You'll only make it worse! Lucy squealed.

Natsu, Happy, Charmander, and eventually Klefki all ended up eventually playing a game. They'd randomly bob it to one another. They kept bobbing, for several minutes straight. For once, the figment stood up straight, alarming everyone enjoying their times. The figment's face began to have the eyes open. They were large eyes with black pupils. They blinked, and then the body jumped in the air briefly, before stubby limbs popped out.

"Hehe!" he chirped. "Man, what a dream that was! Everything was shaking!" he noticed the dumbfounded looks of everyone there. "Hey, what's wrong with you guys?"

Finally, it registered to Natsu and Happy, who shrieked back in unison. "IT'S ALIVE!" they yelled, with Charmander and Klefki also joining in the shock.

Lucy's eyes widened. "Hold up, you mean that was a Pokémon?!"

The little creature giggled as he saw his company. "Oops, sorry. Was I supposed to stay quiet. I couldn't help it. My body was moving, and now I've got this fire inside my belly back up to speed." He jumped to his other leg. "So you guys wanna battle?"

Charmander sweatdropped. "Uh…what?"

Lucy, finally having enough of this mystery, pulled out her PokeDex. She saw the image as it began speaking.

" **Darumaka, the Zen Charm Pokémon. When its internal fire is burning, it cannot calm down and it runs around. When the fire diminishes, it falls asleep.** "

Déjà vu immediately hit Lucy's mind as she looked far from amused by this. "Sounds like some typical Dragon Slayer." She teased begrudgingly. Her eyes widened in realization. "Wait. It says it's a Fire-Type. That means…" She looked at Natsu, who was on pins and needles as he stood tall.

"So you got a fire in your belly too, little guy?" he smirked darkly. "Alright, now _I'm_ fired up. So, if it's a battle you want, we got it. You ready, Charmander?"

Charmander nodded. "Gotcha!"

"So if Charmander is a Fire-type, doesn't that means his fire attacks won't do much at all?" Happy recalled how typing works, but he wasn't so positive on how the effectiveness works with others. And with Fire-types, he didn't understand.

"Well, only one way to find out." Lucy observed quietly. "But Natsu and Charmander have Dragon Rage. Hope they don't underestimate it."

Meanwhile, the battle had already begun. The giddy Darumaka took in a quick breath and expelled a hot breath, which turned to fireballs, via **Incinerate**. Upon instinct, Charmander dodged to avoid the attack.

"Nice work, now use **Scratch!** " Natsu yelled. Charmander rushed ahead, his claws brought back to rake Darumaka. The attack made impact, raking Darumaka and bobbing him back. "How'd you like that?" he questioned.

Darumaka, however, looked fine. In fact, with his body, he bobbed back up and his maw opened to ignite in fire, via **Fire Fang**. He bit into Charmander, creating a decent-sized burst of flames that jutted him back. "OH! Now that's what I call a warmup!" he cheered.

"Lucky shot." Charmander grunted.

Natsu punched forward. "Already, let's use **Ember!** "

Charmander expelled orange sparks as he launched from his maw. The attack spiraled at Darumaka, but he looked jovial as it came at him. He curled into a ball and began rolling towards Charmander, destroying the embers in the process.

"That looks like **Rollout**! Be careful, Natsu!" Happy warned.

Natsu's glare hardened. "I gotcha." He remembered the last time he made a mistake against that move. And unlike before, he knew better. As Darumaka closed in, he timed the attack. "Okay, jump!"

Charmander waited at the last second and jumped. Darumaka passed by underneath, continuing to roll until he turned and headed back for Charmander.

" **Flame Charge** to dodge!" Charmander ignited himself in bodily flames and began dashing about through the area. He shifted his body and Darumaka followed. Charmander sped around again and continued to try and blindside the energetic Darumaka, until he started running circles around him, making a ring of fire.

Finally unable to keep up, Darumaka looked around, his annoyance finally met. "Gnngh! Hey! Let me keep up, will ya?!" He jumped into the air, taking a deep breath before fireballs were made. Using **Incinerate** , he blasted fireballs into the flaming ring, breaking up the embers.

Charmander's eyes widened as his flames dissipated as he ran. "What the-?!" he looked up, and Darumaka used another **Fire Fang** with more explosive force. He screamed as he went tumbling into a rock.

"Charmander!" Natsu exclaimed. He looked back at Darumaka, who was hopping on the ground jovially and full of energy. Meanwhile, his Charmander was straining to stand again. "That guy's packing some power. And he's got some power to pack as well." A mischievous smirk crossed his face. "Okay, now I'm _definitely_ catching this guy."

Charmander groaned as his body ached. "Gngh, man. That stung."

"Here I come!" Darumaka went speeding ahead again, jumping into a midair roll to bulldoze into Charmander once more. He was faster and closing the gap, but Natsu was ready for him.

"Okay, Charmander… **Dragon Rage!** "

Charmander spread his legs apart and a blue energy spiraled into his mouth. Once charged, his maw widened as a blue and black dragon beam-like flame shaped into an actual dragon and soared after Darumaka. The attack's head snapped onto the creature and exploded into a blue smoke cloud. The result was Darumaka being sent airborne, screaming aloud as he sundered to the ground, fumbling to his own rock.

"Oooii…" Darumaka was dizzy and disoriented from that attack, as well as the Rollout. "Someone catch the type of that move…?"

Natsu spread his feet as he pulled a Poke Ball back. "Okay pal…" he threw it with full force. "You're mine!"

The Poke Ball spun rapidly into Darumaka, until it finally hot him on top the head. He cringed before he was converted to energy and was sucked inside. The ball closed and dropped, where it began shaking. Charmander remained ready in case Darumaka chose to come out, but he was sure that last attack knocked his lights out.

The ball made a click, signaling the newest chapter by Natsu. He picked up the Poke Ball, looking at it with a bright smile.

"Alright! Yeah!" Happy cheered.

"Nice work!" Lucy praised.

Natsu looked back at them, smiling. "Thanks." He looked down at Charmander, showing him the Poke Ball. "Yo, Charmander, check it out! We got us a new friend!"

Charmander sniffed the Poke Ball quizzically, to which he smelled it burning. "Is he still having energy to burn? Even after that?"

Natsu threw up the Poke Ball. "Alright pal, get out here!"

The Poke Ball opened, revealing Darumaka. Though he was still dizzy some, he shook it off as he looked at Charmander, then at Natsu's smile.

"Starting today, you're part of the family!" he reached a hand out. "So how about it?"

Darumaka blinked at first, but he accepted it. He happily shook Natsu's hand. "Thais is gonna be fun!" he chirped.

Natsu laughed. "Yeah, I can feel it, too!"

Although Natsu and Charmander were cool with their new hyperactive mirror image of Natsu, Lucy, Klefki, and Happy all nervously sweatdropped. _'Somehow we doubt that.'_ They thought in unison.

* * *

Day soon turned to night for the world of Earthland, at least for Magnolia. With the sun set and the long day's worth of work finally accomplished. Nic found himself on the edge of his bed, shirtless as always. He was surprisingly quiet, almost to a disturbing degree. It wasn't that something bothered him or made him think too har. But rather, something was on his mind, and he couldn't shake it off. He even plopped on his back and sprawled on the bouncy mattress to feel the smooth fabric ease his thoughts, if only a little.

The door to their bathroom opened, revealed to be Erza. She was clad in a cozy, furry pink robe as her silky long red hair slid down her back. "Mmmm…that bath was certainly lovely." She cooed to herself. She stretched her limbs up, getting the rest of the tension out that the hot water couldn't. She strolled on over to the bed and plopped besides Nic. But Erza, being his wife, took notice of Nic's stature on the bed, and in no way did he sleep like that. "Nic?"

The call of his wife made him open his eyes. "Hm?"

"Is everything alright?"

Nic slowly rolled the back of his head. "Yeah, just trying to cool my head down is all."

Erza tossed a strand of hair over her shoulder. She knew her husband and what ticked him. "This has to do with the Cambire Foundation, isn't it?" she surmised. "You worried about the Pokémon and how they'll be used as such?"

Nic rested a hand over his head and gave a grieving sigh. In a way, Erza wasn't wrong. He had his own ethics that he justifies through his actions. But he knew better than to point fingers at anybody for this stubborn side. He'll just have to look pass it.

Erza adjusted so that she was overlooking Nic's head, smiling down at him. "I know how you feel. We've shared quite a history with this dilemma." She chuckled. "But Arthur's been nothing but a respectable ally. You have no reason to mistrust his word."

"I know." He replied. "It's just a lot for me to take in. You end up helping someone who is expanding faster than a Swalot after eating a truck tire. I know it's been good so far…but it's all feeling rushed. And the Council making Rune Knights into Trainers sounds even more disturbing."

Erza cast a frown. "Yes, that is troubling. There are some who may not want to protect a land they aren't familiar with."

"Well for now, guess we'll have to take it step by step. And I guess the first step tat is to make sure Joey does well tomorrow."

Erza smirked again. She slowly bent down, quite slower than usual. "He'll be fine…" her lips met his in an upside-down kiss. A soft second passed before they parted. "He has you for a coach after all."

Nic smirked. "Yeah, I know…" he closed his eyes again, taking in his wife's strawberry scent and the renewed serenity of their space. "Joey's been through a lot as well. And now he's trying to push himself…seems the Cambire Foundation isn't the only one being forced to pace itself."

"Well hopefully tomorrow, it'll help Joey realize what he has to do."

Meanwhile, in the comforts of their place, Dereece slept in his own room, sound asleep, whereas Joey was sleeping on his side, holding his Nic and Vanessa plushies tightly like teddy bears. As he slept longer, the tighter he squeezed.

* * *

The roar of the thousands of crowds crammed into the Domus Flau colosseum shook the ground exponentially. They all had anticipation shown on their faces as the sun beamed down on the colosseum ground. They all looked very excited, and no one could blame them. In special booths overlooking the whole thing were holograms of the Magic Council members able to get a clear view of the event to come. Dozens of cameras were angled to get every square inch of the battlefield that was painted in white outlining. The day had come for the Cambire Foundation to show off more of what this land needed to know.

In the wake of these stands, Lucy looked around. "Woah, just look at all these people!" she gasped in shock. She knew it would be a big crowd, but she never imagined it being this big. "It's feeling like the Grand Magic Games all over again."

"Damn straight!" Natsu beamed. "Man, haven't been here in ages! Sure brings back memories, huh?"

"Aye!" Happy cheered.

Besides Natsu, Lucy, and Happy, Charmander and Darumaka were both out of their Poke Balls, urged to watch the battle from afar like they were. At this point in time, they were invited along with everybody else to watch the battle. The Cambire Foundation requested a handful, and for Nic and Erza to come was surprisingly optional. Fortunately, Nic came. He was sitting with Erza nearby. With them, Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Vanessa, and Sophie were all sitting together, with all their Pokémon out respectively to watch the battle.

"I can't believe that made it this big of a deal." Gray noted. "Would've been better low-key if you ask me."

"I would imagine this would be important. It is a rule, right?" Juvia inquired.

Gray shrugged. "Don't ask me, I'm still new to this."

"Which is precisely why we need to pay close attention to how a proper standard battle takes place." Carla enforced.

"Yeah." Wendy nodded, surprisingly with Swablu on her head.

Lucy paid close attention as she saw something come to view in the middle of the battlefield. "I think it's starting guys. Get ready."

Nic and Erza steeled themselves in their spots, as did everybody else. Those afar were watching on lacrima-vision, especially those of Fairy Tail who chose to stay home, which was the rest of everybody. Still, watching, they all anxiously stared at the screens with their Pokémon out. And it wasn't just them either.

The other guilds also watched on lacrima-vision. Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Sabertooth, even those in PokeEarth were all able to watch thanks to the dimensional cameras they used from the conference a while back. With eyes glued to the screens, they could get underway with the processions.

In the center of the battlefield, Arthur was in his wheelchair, followed by Charlotte and Jeffrey. Both had serious disposition as Arthur had a microphone in hand. He tapped it, getting a good enough feedback. The feedback loop was what simmered down the audience some.

"Is this thing on?" he questioned. "Can you hear me in the back up there?" He waves up to the crowds, to which they cheered back. "That's more like it." He chuckled.

Sophie grinned. "Well he seems to be in a friendly mood." She looked over, seeing Abra float in his sleep. Besides him, Dewpider remained quiet with a small scowl. "Perhaps you should watch him as well, Dewpider. It might help."

Dewpider gave his new Trainer a territorial look. He looked a little bummed about being caught and beaten pretty bad. He tried to hide it, but he wasn't doing so well.

Vanessa chuckled. "Seems someone's a little shy."

"First of all, I'd like to thank each and every one of you, who have come out here and taken time out of your days to partake in something as traditional as family dinners themselves." Arthur started. "In light of the few setbacks that we have endured within the past month, we have finally taken the next big step to helping integrating a steady embrace of you people, and Pokémon…"

As Arthur drone on in the ceremonial opening, others were taking proceedings elsewhere. Walking up to the Fairy Tail members, several other figures were shown standing.

"Pardon us, but are these seats taken?"

Nic looked over with everyone. Standing before them were Lyon, Kagura, Minerva, and surprisingly Kevin. They all looked mildly pleased to see them. "Minerva? And Lyon." Nic said. "And you guys."

"Forgive us for intruding." Lyon humbly bowed. "We understand the need for space."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Gray shrugged. "You make it sound like we did something wrong. So what's up?"

Kagura retained a calm look. "We were requested by the organization supervisors to be seated next to you." she explained.

"They said it was part of the proceedings and that they wished that all representatives of the guilds from last week were together." Minerva added.

Natsu folded his arms. "So it's just you guys, huh?"

Lyon nodded. "Evidently. They wanted a notice of only a handful, but the old hag insisted since I was the only one who participated, it's better for my face alone."

"Oh I get it." He turned towards the rest. "Is that the reason for you guys too?"

Kevin shrugged. "My new Master Ichiya is still adjusting. He said I was fine." On his shoulder, his Rattata's head popped out. "Besides, where's everyone else?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Rattata laughed. "The metal guy with the black hair! A-and then there's the makeup guy and the birdwiththeninjacowboyand all the cwazies!" He looked too energetic at the others as he laughed. "L-look! HAHA! A floating keychain! HAHA!I-it's funny, because keys are fun to bit on, especially since they taste like cwakers! HAHAHA!"

All the other guys and Pokémon there sweatdroppped at Rattata's loquacious demeanor. _'Is he even okay?'_ a majority of them thought.

Trying to get past it, Gray looked forward. "Well, knock yourselves out."

Lyon nodded. "You're too kind."

"HAHAHA! Okay!" Rattata jumped off of Kevin's shoulder and plopped onto the ground. He ricocheted into a wall with a full-body slam. As wanted, he fell onto his back, twitching at the pain he felt. This only served to make the others even more uncomfortable.

"…well that happened." Charmander sighed.

Darumaka chuckled. "I like that guy. He seems fun." He earned a questionable look from Charmander and Klefki. "What?"

They took their respective seats besides them. Lyon sat close to Juvia and Gray, with Kagura taking the spot on the other side of Erza. Minerva took a seat besides Nic, and lastly, Kevin wedged himself rather close to Sophie, taking certain quick glances at her in the process.

"Mind if this seat is taken?" He plopped besides Sophie, who looked over nonchalantly at him.

"Hm? Oh, you must be Kevin. Are you alone?"

Kevin mentally whistled at the split second's worth of innuendo. He persevered. "Yup, just me." He chimed. "Mind if I sit here?"

"No, not at all." She reached out to him. "Sophie Lednick."

Kevin returned the gesture. "Kevin, but my peeps call me Mister P." As he was getting acquainted with the blonde, took the opportunity to shake her hand, but it was just a tactic. With her arm reaching over, it made her turn to return the shake, so that way he got a sizeable view of the low-cup pairs of massive cantaloupes that she had showing. _'Oh yeah, I've got a good view alright.'_ He mentally thought. _'Yup, I can see it all…'_ He was enjoying the handshake, that is, until he heard a hiss from below. Curious, he looked down, and he was met with a cranky Dewpider getting into his face. Immediately he shirked back. "What the-?!"

Sophie sighed. "You'll have to forgive Dewpider. He's still new, and quite territorial at that." Dewpider hissed at her point.

Kevin had a sweatdrop as he cringed back from Dewpider. So much for a close-up view. "…yeah…"

With the little reunion, Erza pulled Kagura into a hug. "Kagura." He cooed. "You miss me?"

A little uncomfortable by Erza's boldness, the Mermaid Heel mage squirmed in embarrassment. "Erza…a little space please." She seethed quietly.

Dismissing her lack of confidence, she only held the hug tighter. "Aw, don't be like that. You've missed me."

"It's only been a week!"

Erza giggled. "A week of bliss I'm sure. Now c'mon, I want a hug, too."

As Kagura was unable to escape her "sister's" hold, this only served to make Minerva and Nic stare meekly, though they had more calm than amusement. "I can see that not much has changed since we've last met." Minerva chimed.

"Yeah…" Ignoring his wife's sisterly affections, he turned towards Minerva. "So, I take it that Sting sent ya, right?"

Minerva held a blank facial expression. She hummed some as she frowned. "Actually…"

"Hm?"

"I was the only one _able_." She clarified. "For you see, upon returning to the guild, we had our annual Tiger, Tiger, Tiger eating festival." She smirked. "But, as you can imagine, I was the one who tasted victory, while others fell to comas."

Nic blinked. He never pegged Minerva to have that kind of an appetite. If she was honest, he was more surprised if he had known about it sooner. It made him wonder how she would fair against Natsu in an eating competition. "Guess that makes sense." He said neutrally, facing forward. "Looks like it's beginning."

Wrapping up his intro and thanks to the public, Arthur held out grand gestures. "Now then, before we proceed to the battle that shall be demonstrated, I would like to give a very special mention to important comrades in arms. If not for them and their noble devotion, this all wouldn't have been made possible. So please…" he reached out to Nic. "Give a big round of applause for the representatives of the guilds who fought against Alvarez! Including our very own Nic Pularis!"

The crowd went absolutely ballistic over the small group. The stadium literally shuddered at a small magnitude as they all clapped and squealed for the many faces they were aware of. Many fanboys and giddy mature women all squealed at Nic specifically. Upon mention, they all stood up to present themselves more, and earned louder cheers.

Arthur smirked at this. "Now then, shall we get started?" The crowd simmered down as he handed the mic over to Jeffrey. "Jeffrey, if you would?"

Jeffrey took the mic. "Thank you, Arthur." He faced the public as a hologram popped open overhead. The screen showed a red box, and a blue box, with three Poke Ball slots shown. "As my trusted colleague was saying, the proceedings to a Pokémon Battle are all self-explanatory. Depending on what Trainers agree to, the conditions may always change. For example…" The screens overhead altered, showing two Poke Balls against one another. "A Pokémon Battle can be a singular battle, where two Trainers each use one Pokémon. In some cases, the rules can be two, or three. There is no definite number, but, at a maximum, six Pokémon can be used for each Trainer. However…" the three reverted to three Poke Balls for each side. "The standard take of a battle is a 3 VS 3 seminar. Furthermore, the victor goes to the Trainer who has been successful in defeating all the other Trainer's Pokémon."

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "He sounds like he knows what he's doing."

"Yeah, even I can get it!" Natsu beamed.

"Now then, to help us with this, we have brought two representatives who have aided us in this preemptive war fought. First off, I'd like to welcome a member of the Mermaid Heel guild. Please, direct your attention…to Millianna!"

Exiting from the tunnel, a figure walked out to the field, surrounded by the cheers of many adoring fans. They all squealed, and Millianna waved and blew kisses at them. She cashed a wink in. "Meow~! Hey guys!" she chimed.

Gray's eyes widened. "Millianna?"

"Hey, I know her." Happy said. "She's that cat-girl!"

"So _that's_ Joey's opponent." Carla deduced.

Looking for other answers, attention went towards Kagura. The Mermaid Heel Mage sighed in exasperation. "She was absolutely insistent on participating. When the Cambire Foundation was looking for a volunteer, she was the one who stepped up." She gazed down at Millianna, who pranced over to her box. "I've made certain that she would behave herself."

"Yes, she does tend to fawn quite often over cats." Erza chuckled.

Back at Mermaid Heel guild, the girls watching were all gathered around screens. Beth had a Bunnelby that was eating a carrot, while Ariana had a Spinarak on a table, quite a distance away at that. Then there was Risley, and she had a Barboach flopping.

"C'mon, Millianna! Show 'em yer stuff!"

"All the chicas are counting on you!"

"Make us proud, girl! We're rooting for ya!"

Millianna chimed sweetly as she adored the attention. She was amused in every angle of it all. Of course that isn't to say that she wasn't prepared. When it died down, she glared forward, smirking.

Jeffrey cleared his throat. "And to assist us as well, we have a representative from Fairy Tail, who has partaken in this war. He, too, is a human from PokeEarth, and he has volunteered to show us his experience. Please, may we welcome…Joey Haycliff!"

The crowd began to cheer, waiting for something to come out. Unfortunately, nothing came out. It surprised them. As it went on, some were showing some questions, but then suddenly, everything went black.

"What's the meaning of this?" Charlotte snapped.

A finger pointed in the dark. "Hit it!"

Another finger hit the play button.

 _ **[Mirror B. Battle Theme]**_

Flashy rainbow headlights dazzled across the battlefield and around the entrance. It all straightened out, leading a colorful pathway to a silhouette tapping his foot against the ground with the bass beat. His blonde head down to hold suspense. When there was a click, his head perked up, revealing star-shaped sunglasses.

As the piano-like organ started to play, Joey shuffled out of the tunnel, shifting weight from hip to hip as he bent his knees here and there. He slowly danced his way across the rainbow colorful path of lights, and as the guitar came along, he bit his lower lip as he began to air guitar his way forward.

Once shocked at first, the crowd was now going completely nuts. As Joey boogied his way in style, some heads bobbed to the funky theme overhead on the speakers. Some were clapping along with the rhythm being played as Joey slipped the shades to give the world a moment's wink when he rolled his head back upon finishing that air guitar.

Back at the guild, his little display didn't go unnoticed by anyone watching. "HAHAHA! Yeah! That's our boy!" Cana laughed uproariously at the bar. "Show 'em your stuff!"

"Is this part of the show?" Macao questioned.

"Beats me." Wakaba shrugged. "But it's pretty entertaining, I'll give him that."

And entertaining it was. As he danced slowly across the field, Dereece and Duncan followed him, though Duncan was stone faced while Dereece was headbanging with the boombox he carried. He smirked, actually thinking this was fitting.

Wendy and Carla were white in the eyes as they had no idea what to say. In fact, that's how a lot of what Fairy Tail felt as Joey shuffled and turned his body. Gray and Juvia were at a loss for what to say, while Lyon chuckled.

"I take it he gets this from your guild." He teased.

"I-it wasn't our idea!" Gray shrieked.

"Woooo! Go buddy!" Kevin cheered him on. "For the ladies!"

Sophie smirked at the display, she was honestly mused. Vanessa was lightly smirking as she was chuckling at Joey's show. It was amusing to see him in such spirits, especially after a rough week. Even Minerva was shown smirking.

"My goodness. Seems he's quite the character." She teased meekly at Nic. "Amusing much?"

Kagura sighed. "This situation hardly calls for something like this." Unlike the rest, she wasn't appealed to the display.

Nic and Erza didn't seem bothered. In fact, like Minerva and the other girls, seeing Joey dance to the battlefield was enlightening. As much fun as it was, they didn't forget that this was Joey's chance to shine. Last night's conversation was still fresh in their minds, so they had to remain weary once it begins.

Once Joey slid into the battlefield box, he struck a pose and Dereece cut the music off. The lights went back on, and the crowd was going nuts for the party animal. Some ladies around his age squealed at his sly moves, and all he did was smirk as he flipped off his glasses over his shoulder, which broke upon reaching the ground.

Millianna chuckled. "Meow! So you're the guy that Kagura told me about. I was hoping for someone of more kitty-cat." She mused. "But you'll have to do."

Joey whipped around in a twirl and blew kisses at everyone. He was adoring the attention, so much that he almost forgot about why he was here. He looked at Millianna. "Oh, sorry, you said something?"

Millianna sweatdropped. "Uh…nothing."

At the guild, Gajeel kicked back in his seat. "Hmph, I can do better."

His comment earned him awkward glances from his guildmates close by. _'You can't even sing without breaking glass.'_ They thought in unison.

"Looks like the big boy's gonna start his fight." Cana said.

Beside her, Purrloin stretched her lower back and looked up at the screen. "Huh, so it would seem." She crudely said.

"Looks like we'll have to take notes on this one." Levy said, Klink levitating beside her. "We might learn some things if we watch a standard battle than a single one."

"GO GET 'EM!" Jet and Droy cheered.

His disposition changed to a serious tone, Joey remained on guard. Especially by Dereece's warning. "Remember, stay calm."

"I know that." He told his best friend. He looked back at Millianna and frowned. _'So this is who I'm facing. This is my opponent.'_ An image of Broly smiling in his death flashed, making him ball his fists. _'No, calm down Joey. Keep a cool head. Remember the reason you've trained for this. If I'm gonna have to surpass Bro and make him proud, I can't dawdle. I have to take every battle like my life depends on it. That's the only way.'_

"Meow! So, you ready?" Millianna shouted.

"Yeah, let's do it!" he replied.

Arthur and Jeffrey stepped off to the side, allowing Charlotte to step up as referee.

"Listen up! The battle between Millianna, and Joey Haycliff, will now commence! Each Trainer is allowed the use of three Pokémon, and the battle will be over when all three of either side's Pokémon are unable to battle! Furthermore, substitutions are permitted!" she announced. "So now, bring out your Pokémon!"

Millianna pulled out a Poke Ball and pecked a small kiss on it. "Alright, I choose you! Go!"

She threw the Poke Ball, and out came a small ink kitten-like creature with three yellow balls on the end of hairs of her tail. "Snack?" she questioned.

"A Skitty." Dereece pulled out his PokeDex, analyzing the adversary.

" **Skitty, the Kitten Pokémon. Skitty is known to chase around playfully after its own tail. In the wild, this Pokémon lives in holes in the trees of forests. It is vey popular as a pet because of its adorable looks.** "

Millianna swooned back and forth with hearts around her face. "Meow! When I saw this cuddly kitty-witty out in the woods, I just couldn't help myself." She cooed. "She's just so adorable!"

Skitty looked ready, but then she felt something sway behind. She looked around, her tail waging enigmatically. "Snack?" Hungry, the cat began chasing her own tail in place. The sight melted Millianna's heart to much.

"I fail to see how this can be seen as professional." Minerva flatly said.

"Yes, I can understand that." Erza mused. "But remember, Millianna is a capable mage. I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you. I wouldn't think differently as a Trainer either."

Joey pulled out a Poke Ball, throwing it. "Okay, get out here! Pidove!"

The Poke Ball popped open, and Pidove fluttered in the air with a chirp. "I shall obey!" the pigeon chirped.

"So Pidove is his first choice." Sophie acknowledged. "Let's see exactly how they fair against one another. Abra. Dewpider. Be sure to pay attention." She told her Pokémon, to which they faced forward.

Vanessa was remaining silent. Her magic was picking up on Joey's jovial senses dying and replaced by a steeply cold and serious vibe. It was like a complete flip. She continued observing with the others as the crowd watched Charlotte's hand go up.

"Challengers ready…" she chopped down. "Let the battle…begin!"

Immediately, Joey didn't give an inch. "Okay, let's start off! Use **Leer!** " He saw Pidove's eyes glow, but they stammered when Skitty was already closing the distance in a flash. "What the-?!"

"Meow! Show 'em, Skitty! Use **Fake Out!** " Skitty chimed as she maintained the gap, clapping her paws together. In a slash, a rippling airwave breached in front of Pidove, causing him to fly backwards.

"Pidove!" Joey's shout made Pidove return to normal, but the dull pigeon blinked, as if disoriented. "A flinch." He cursed.

Nic saw the opening move, his eyes narrowing. "When a Pokémon uses Fake Out, they always go first. It's an attack that never misses, and always flinches."

"Seems like Millianna would have the advantage after all." Minerva cheated herself from calling Millianna unprofessional from before.

Pidove shook his head, brushing off the damage the best he could. Joey began a counter. "Yeah, you're fine alright!" He glared at Millianna and Skitty, retaining a cautious stare. _'Pidove hasn't fully mastered Steel Wing yet. It might be too risky if we try it right now. Guess we'll have to play with what we have.'_

Millianna reached forward. "Meow! Alright, use **Disarming Voice!** " Her Skitty opened her mouth and expelled a loud chime, one that ripped through the air in the form of pink hearts at Pidove.

"Pidove, use **Gust!** "

"I shall obey!" Pidove's wings glowed bright blue and he flapped, creating a strong enough gust that blasted into Skitty's Disarming Voice. The two attacks mixed in a small whirlwind of pink hearts and tearing tempests, which soon dissipated between, giving brief visage of one another.

"Okay, now. **Quick Attack!** " Joey followed.

Pidove shimmered bright afterimages as he spread his wings. He flipped through the air as he soared at a sharp angle straight into Skitty, scoring a direct hit on the head. The impact was strong enough to be considered a critical hit as she fumbled away.

"MEOW! NO~!" Millianna shrieked.

Dereece's eyes widened. "Wow, that was a good shot." Duncan, however, seemed different.

"It's because of Pidove's Super Luck Ability it has." He explained. "Seems he was just lucky from that call is all."

Dereece chose to ignore his banter. Instead he watched Skitty stand backup.

"Glad you're alright, kitty-witty!" Millianna cried. "Now, let's get back at that mean ole birdie! Sing it to sleep! **Sing!** " Her Skitty opened her mouth again, exerting yet another charming tune, though this one was softer as notes traveled towards Pidove.

"Dodge it!" Joey commanded. Pidove did exactly as told. He soared around the musical notes, diving at Skitty with a loud chirpy cry. "Alright, use **Quick Attack** again!"

Pidove unleashed another chirp as several afterimages followed his low-altitude attack, He sailed close to the ground and rushed directly into Skitty, sending her soaring again, much to Millianna's horror.

"Alright, that's the way Pidove!" Joey cheered. "Alright, let's not lose ground. Use **Leer!** " He called for the attack, but it never came. It made him confused. "Uh, Pidove? Leer? Hello?" He looked up at the fluttering Pidove, his eyes widening. "Wait…"

Skitty shook her head and stood up again. When she faced Pidove again, the bird looked different. For some reason, his movements seemed faulted. He was chirping softly as hearts filled his eyes, as if he has found love. And this is what startled many.

"Meow?" Millianna chimed.

"Hey, something's up with Joey's bird." Natsu realized. "Why's he look like Juvia?"

Though unable to tell due to the volume, a small cringe went up the rain woman's spine. For some reason, she felt insulted.

"Yeah, last I checked, cats and birds don't get along well." Happy noted.

It wasn't long before Vanessa caught up on the battle. Her eyes widened at the display. "It's Cute Charm." She gasped.

"At ye-kho-la lakh-zor al ze? (Could you repeat that?)" Sophie said to her. Unnoticeably, Kevin was glancing from the corners of his eyes again, this time to Sophie's thick thighs. Again, Dewpider hissed to warn him.

"It's Skitty's Ability. When a Pokémon of the opposite gender hits it with a physical move, there might be a chance they can get infatuated." She explained. "In other words, lower their chances of attacking."

"Wait, what?" Lucy questioned. "So if Natsu's Charmander or my Klefki hit it head on, they might fall in love?" That sounded so wrong in all the wrong ways. It made shivers go down her spine, as well as Charmander and Klefki.

"You're mistaken. Just Charmander." Vanessa clarified. "It doesn't work on Pokémon the same gender."

Hearing this, Juvia's heart was starting to feel a slight race. _'Wait…if that's true, then even my beloved can…'_ She could picture Gray lightly bumping the cat, only to fall madly in love. He snuggled with the Skitty, who meowed softly in his tight hold on her. Just the thought sent her to another paranoid world. "AHHHHH!" she screamed in panic. "No! Not my beloved! Not him!" Of course her ramblings didn't go unnoticed by Gray or Lyon, who were surprised by her screams.

"Woah, hey! Where's the fire?!" Gray panicked.

Pidove was so distracted being in love that he couldn't hear Joey. Joey mentally cursed himself as he let this happen. _'Snap, I blew it! I gotta get Pidove out of there, and fast!'_

"Alright Skitty, let's go!" Millianna interjected. " **Disarming Voice!** " A shriek expelled from Skitty again as pink hearts shot at Pidove in the air. The attack scored a direct hit, sending the bird tumbling through the air.

"Pidove! Hang in there!" Joey called out. His Pidove doubled over and flapped in the air, but he dumbly chirped with hearts still in the gaze. He knew he couldn't last much longer. He had to go for broke this time. "Guess we have no choice…" he punched forward. "Alright, **Steel Wing!** "

"I shall…love~!" Pidove twirled around in the air, fluttering madly at Skitty. His wings glowed a metallic shriek across them as he closed the gap. He went to eye level with Skitty, but as he closed in further, the wings began to fade in and out. Joey mentally cursed again.

This was Millianna's shot. " **Sing!** " Skitty once again began chiming her sweet voice. This time, with Pidove slowed down some, the musical notes hit home, passing Pidove.

Immediately, the effects kicked in. Pidove's lovey-dovey vision began turning weak from the lullaby Skitty sang. His body grew tired and he wane some, drifting to slumber, as well as Skitty blindly. "Oh snap! Not good!" Joey panicked.

" **Disarming Voice!** "

Skitty took in a deep breath, letting out one more cry of pink hearts shot into the half-sleeping dove heading her way. The resulting soundwave blew the Pidove skywards, fumbling to a tailspin and crashing to the ground. When the dust cleared, Pidove was seen on his back, spirals in his eyes.

Charlotte raised an arm for Millianna's side. "Pidove is unable to battle, Skitty is the winner!" she shouted, the hologram above showing Pidove's icon turning from colorful to black and white.

The crowd cheered at the first battle's conclusion. They all were surprised, if not elevated to Millianna's strategy. This made her jump in joy as her Skitty raced around in circles. "Meow! We did it, Skitty! Yeah!"

Dereece sighed. "Well that didn't go the way Joey wanted."

"You'd think that after this supposed week of training that he should've known to just returned Pidove to wear off the Cute Charm." Duncan explained curtly. "What a waste."

Joey frowned as he returned Pidove to his Poke Ball. "Thanks Pidove. Chill for a bit." He told the Poke Ball. He put it away, staring at Millianna's Skitty as she chased her tail in circles. _'I've got two left. I can't let another mistake like that happen again. I just can't!'_ Another image of Broly entered his mind, making his fists ball tighter. _'I gotta stay calm. The battle's not over yet. We still have a chance.'_ He pulled out another Poke Ball, throwing it. "Alright, go, Chespin!"

The Poke Ball opened, summoning forth Chespin onto the battlefield. "I'm ready!" he beamed.

"So Chespin is his second Pokémon." Nic evaluated. He fell silent as he chose to observe with Erza.

Minerva had a leg folded over the other, leaning forward with a suspicious smirk. "To what do I wonder how a fairy entails a comeback?" she chimed.

"Go Chespin!" Charmander cheered for his old labmate.

"Yeah, kick her ass!" Natsu exclaimed.

With Chespin out, Millianna refocused. "Okay then." She reached out. "Go! **Tail Whip!** " She watched Skitty turn around and shake her tail in front of Chespin, making a blue aura envelop him to reduce Defense, as well as make her squeal _'So cute!'_

Joey punched ahead. "Okay, use **Vine Whip!** "

Chespin took in a deep breath. "This one's for Pidove!" He shot two vines from his neck that zoomed like bullets that elongated at Skitty as she turned around. When she did, she didn't get a second wind as two vines jabbed her in the face, sending her sliding on her side across the ground in a dust wave.

"MEOOW! SKITTY-WITTY!" Millianna panicked. When she saw the dust clear, she saw that her Skitty was sprawled on the ground, spirals in the eyes.

"Skitty is unable to battle, Chespin is the winner!" Charlotte announced, the icon of Skitty now turning off as well.

This time, the crowd cheered as Chespin was beaming with pride over that abrupt victory. Some were surprised, but some were smart enough to process what happened.

"Man, that sure didn't take long." Gray noted. "

"Well what do you expect? It did take considerate damage from Joey's Pidove." Lyon noted. "But it seems like the score is now tied."

Nic and the experienced Trainers wouldn't put their eggs into that basket. They didn't know if things were going to go south or not, but they weren't counting out that last Tail Whip. In battle, even the faintest of status moves can mean the difference in a battle.

"Oh, return Skitty!" Millianna recalled Skitty, looking saddened at her Poke Ball. "Oh, those mean people hurt you. But don't worry, we'll get back at them for you." She looked back at Joey, pulling out another Poke Ball. "'Kay then! Go, Meowth!"

The Poke Ball opened, summoning for a bipedal white feline Pokémon. He had a golden coin on his head, with wide eyes and black ears. He stood on two feet, looking at Chespin. "Hey shabby, nice day we're heaving. Yeah, see, yeah?" he noted in a witty tone.

"A Meowth huh?" Dereece pulled out his PokeDex again, analyzing the purr-fect opponent.

" **Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon. It loves coins, so if you give it one, you can make friends with Meowth easily. But it's fickle, so you can't count on that friendship lasting.** "

Taking of the PokeDex entry, Dereece looked up at Millianna cooing over Meowth, who blindly scratched behind his whiskers. _'Probably how she got him.'_ He figured.

"A Meowth…" Joey nodded. "Okay, let's do this Chespin!"

"Right!" Chespin spread his legs again and readied for another round. "You ready?"

Meowth whisked his one whisker to the side. "Hmph, not feeling it."

A question mark appeared over question. "Heh?"

"I only fight for coins. Nothing personal, yeah, see?" he snarked. "So unless you have something to offer, I ain't doing no-"

"Oh Meowth~?" hearing his name chimed, Meowth turned around. His eyes immediately widened upon seeing a golden coin in Millianna's fingers. "Will you battle for me~?"

The temptation was too strong. As if a switch had turned on, the Normal-type turned around, giving a look that scared even Chespin. "…so as I was saying, shabby, you're on!" he roared.

Chespin sweatdropped. "Uh…okay…?"

Millianna reached forward. "Now, use **Fake Out!** " Meowth got on all fours and vanished, appearing in front of Chespin in a blitz. In midair, he clapped his paws just like Skitty from begore. The shockwave emitted pushed Chespin back, actually picking him off his feet and sliding on his stomach.

"Chespin!"

Chespin groaned as he suffered great damage. Dazed somewhat, he shook his head, only to find Meowth at the ready.

"Use **Fury Swipes!** " Meowth screeched as his claws extended outwards, shining brightly. He pushed forward and closed the gap.

Joey reached out. "Chespin, use **Vine Whip!** "

Chespin elongated vines from his body once more and shot them like lashes. They whipped into Meowth, but the bipedal feline slashed and scratched at the vines, swatting them away. Chespin kept the pressure on as Meowth was prevented from getting any closer,

"Now use **Bite!** " Chespin's mouth opened as he retracted the vines, jumping down for a bite at Meowth.

"Dodge it!" Millianna shrieked. Meowth managed a jump at the last second, avoiding the bucked teeth. "Yes! Now let's use **Fury Swipes** one more time!" Meowth came down again, ready to slash at Chespin.

Joey's face squinted as he knew better as to attack. "Catch it with **Vine Whip!** " Chespin used the same move again, shooting green vines. However, this time, they shot at the arms, snaring Meowth in midair. The feline's eyes widened in shock. "Alright, throw him down!"

"Alright…have this!" Chespin reeled his body back and rocked forward, driving the vines into a slam to Meowth into the earth with a painful thud. The shock was enough to make even a few people flinch.

"Meowth!" Millianna shrieked. Meowth strained to stand at her worried call, but Chespin was already prepared to attack again. Upon Joey's command, he set off.

"Use **Rollout!** "

Chespin curled into a ball and began rolling across the battlefield at Meowth. The attack was powerful enough to send the cat sailing off, slamming on his back a second time. The audience cheered at what was a real Pokémon Battle. An intense struggle for either side, in which they would compete in shows of strength and strategy. It was just like the Grand Magic Games, but with Pokémon. And they were enjoying it. They all saw Chespin roll around back at Meowth, but the cat was witty enough to not get hit again and stepped to the side. As Chespin finished due to the miss, he turned.

Millianna punched forward. "Use **Bite!** "

Meowth lunged forward in a hurry. "Here's a little shabby for you…shabby!" He opened his maw and snapped down, clamping prolonged fangs into Chespin's arm. The attack resulted in a burst of smoke that Chespin screamed in. He slid back to a halt, his body cringing.

"Another flinch?" Joey gasped.

"Use **Fury Swipes!** " Millianna's command made Meowth race up again as Chespin was still in shock. When Chespin looked up, he went wide-eyed before a pair of claws raked across his face, making him stagger back. When he recovered, he was scratched again, harder. Then again, and finally, Meowth finished with a fourth slash across the face, this one sending Chespin to the floor this time.

"Chespin!" Joey screamed.

Dereece flinched at the harsh blow. "Oh, that ain't pretty."

Cana slammed her beer in front of Mirajane, though she remained calm. "C'mon ya little party animal! Show some backbone why don't ya?!" she roared at the screen.

Vanessa continued evaluating the battle as well. "That Tail Whip lowered his Defense, so that means that Meowth's attacks are doing more damage." She saw Chespin struggled to get up after that last volley. "He may only be able to take one more attack."

Chespin was struggling to stand, much to Joey's grief. "C'mon buddy, don't fail me now." He pleaded, his fists balling. "We didn't come all this way to go down like this…we didn't train to be made fun of again in a fight. Right?" He saw Chespin straining some more. "Chespin!"

"I hear ya." The Grass-type heaved. He labored in breath as he glared at Meowth. His body started emitted a glistening green aura, signaling his own comeback.

Millianna raised an eyebrow. "What's that…?"

Joey and Chespin glared daggers. They were ready to finish this.

"That's Overgrow!" Dereece exclaimed. "Chespin's Ability. I think Joey might actually have a chance here people! Go, Captain Joey!"

Joey punched forward. "Alright, use **Vine Whip!** " Chespin let out a loud shout as he projected his vines for the umpteenth time, this time, glowing green for additional strength.

"D-dodge it!" Millianna panicked.

Meowth was with her on that one. He hurried to avoid the lashes heading his way. He beamed off to the side, avoiding a harsh lash. Then dodged again when another came his way. He continually dodged Chespin's empowered vines, but Chespin roared as he slanted one vine, forcing Meowth to make a jump. It made him trip, making Millianna gasp. Before both knew it, a green vine arose and readied for a downward lash.

" **Bite** it!" Millianna shrieked. Meowth saw the vine and opened his maw, clamping down just upon impact.

The shocking move left everyone speechless. Joey and Chespin gasped in deep shock, and Vanessa and Sophie were admittedly surprised.

"Now, reel it in!" Meowth did as told and yanked his head back, causing Chespin to sail towards him across the ground unevenly. "Now, **Fury Swipes!** "

"HYAAAH!" Meowth screeched as he elongated his claws yet again. As Chespin closed in, the Grass-type's eyes were wide in shock as Meowth's claws reflected in his black eyes. His heart raced as Meowth's attack made impact, just one scratch sending him airborne with his vines back at Joey.

"CHESPIN!" Joey cried out.

As Chespin went sailing back towards the ground, he began to feel his senses dull. That last attack did him in. _'Sorry…Joey…'_ His consciousness faded when upon hitting the ground, it all went to black in one thud.

"Chespin is unable to battle, Meowth is the winner!" Charlotte shouted.

The crowd cheered louder at that exciting match. It was very intense, even more so than the last one. Joey, however, looked saddened to where he hunched over, bangs covering his eyes in disappointment. Millianna cheered for Meowth as the two were holding each other's hands and skipping in place. The gesture only added insult to injury to him.

"That's gotta suck." Kevin said. "Now Joey's down to one."

"Yeah, but he doesn't look happy about it." Sophie frowned. "I doubt anyone would."

As Joey returned Chespin with a depressed look, he looked at Poke Ball longingly. He was staring at it, feeling a strong pain in his chest. When Chespin was defeated, he could feel his disappointment serve to climb. Another image of Broly flashed, causing him to grip Chespin's Poke Ball tighter.

This feeling. Anger. Self-disappointment. Frustration. Foolhardy. These were emotions that Vanessa's aura was picking up. She couldn't see the bubbly fanboy that fawned over her and Nic, and partially Erza. Frankly, this obsession to do better was what was making his expectations too high. And this is what Nic was afraid of. What he and the other Pularis girls were seeing, it was all they needed to know that Joey's mindset was completely shutting down. He was trying, that much was evident, but they can't help him in something like this…not right now.

' _I can't believe this. I goofed up again.'_ Joey despaired. _'I thought I was getting better, I really was…'_ He remembered yesterday morning when he and Chespin rolled into each other with haste, knocking both out. His teeth gritted as his frustrations arose. He was slowly losing his grip, but a hand on his shoulder made him see he wasn't alone. "Dereece?" he gasped.

Dereece was giving his Captain a serious look. "Look man, just take it easy, alright? No need to rush things."

Joey looked away in shame. "And how am I supposed to do that, huh? Bro left big shoes for me to fill. How am I supposed to slow down when I have so much to do?"

Dereece grinned. "Because you set your expectations too high too soon man."

"But…Bro had expectations of me."

"Maybe…" Dereece looked away, a thought pressing on. "But didn't he trust you because of _you_?" Joey looked up in shock at him as he pat his back. "I know you had a rough time, but even after everything…I think it's about time you start looking yourself in the mirror."

Joey didn't get what he meant by that. Still, he didn't know what to do, or who to turn towards. Dereece was that only levity.

"You've been crying almost every night since we've gotten home. I'm sorry too, and I know you're working hard and all…" He softly smiled again. "But I think it's important to remember that person that Broly and Nic respected. Okay, _maybe_ this is an improvement on a serious note, but you always make things fun. Don't forget that." He gripped Joey's shoulder tighter. "It'll work out…I'm here."

Joey sniffled as he tried to hold it in, but he couldn't. His misted eyes were wiped away as he stood once more. When he thought he was doing so good, he blundered. He thought he was alone, but it turns out he was being separated from not just others, but from himself. He wasn't the same goofball that shook his booty every ten seconds when a certain type of music is played. He was discomforted in mourn, and Dereece was there. He couldn't believe how long it took him to realize that. "Thank you, Dereece." He sniffled. "Sorry for doubting you…" he straightened back up again.

He smiled. "It's fine, man."

Joey sighed, his smile as bright as rain once more. "Yeah, it will be…once I finish this battle." As he faced Millianna again, he looked back over his shoulder. "Just stick by me, Dereece, you got that?"

He eagerly nodded. "Your orders, Captain!"

"Good, now then…drop me a beat!"

Dereece got the boombox out and began to play again. The Pokémon Trainer made a funky tune expel, similar to the one made earlier, and Joey began to thump his foot and roll his shoulders. He began taking mock stretches as he took deep breaths all around. "Okay…let's get funky!" he cheered.

Sensing his jovial confidence returned, Nic grinned. The shift in a more accepting aura, Vanessa also smirked, along with Sophie.

"Seems that the fallen fairy's ready to spread his wings." Minerva smirked.

Joey began shadowboxing as he shuffled up and down, following the beat of the music. Meowth and Millianna looked confused as Joey as pulling out his last Poke Ball in the music. "Okay! It's time to get down! Time for the trump card!" He threw the Poke Ball. "Now, go!"

The Poke Ball opened, summoning forth Joey's newest creature. In the wake of the summon, a moldy stench eroded outwards, coming from Trubbish as the trash bag blindly blinked each eye individually. She took in a big breath, before she exerted a disgusting roar-like belch.

"Uh…HUH?!" Millianna shrieked. "Is that thing even a Pokémon?" She sniffed the air, plugging her nose. "Bleh! So disgusting! I know cats hang around near trash, but seriously!"

Even from the distance, Natsu and Wendy could catch the whiff of Trubbish. Both their faces paled as a disgusting odor enflamed their inside. Both cringed and covered their mouths.

"So that's the Pokémon Joey caught?" Erza questioned.

"Seems rather…unique." Juvia nervously pointed out.

Gray smirked. "Guess we'll see what it can do." He looked up at the hologram of Joey VS Millianna above. "For our sakes, it better be something."

Back on the battlefield, Trubbish's stench was corroding towards Meowth. The cat took a whiff of the air, his nose cringing in fright. Immediately he shuffled away. "Bleh! Oh god! What did you easy, see?" He shouted. "Millianna, mind setting this one out?"

Millianna held up a coin. "What? No way! What about this?" Meowth looked away. She sighed. "Okay then…" She held up two coins. "If you win, I'll give you two~?"

The gesture made Meowth tempted. Bullets of sweat ran down his face and he finally chose to face forward. "Er…fine1 But only for a little while!" he shouted.

"That's my kitty! Now let's take out the trash! Use **Fury Swipes!** " Meowth inhaled and did his best to keep himself from breathing in the awful smell. He elongated his claws and went racing ahead.

"He's coming, Captain." Dereece warned.

"I hear ya." He grinned as he reached ahead. "Alright Trubbish, use **Toxic Spikes!** " Trubbish opened her maw and faced the sky. A poisonous purple orb with a bright inside and dark core was seen. She belched it up, expelling purple in a spiral. It shot up like a missile before it dispersed into purple comets with purple smoke trailing. It all shot int the ground in purple ripples, fading and throwing Meowth off guard.

Unable to tell what happened, Meowth looked around at the spikes rippling beneath. "What's happening?" he sniffed the air. "Oof! That smell!"

' _He's close!'_ Joey took the shot. "Trubbish, **Double Slap!** "

Trubbish's floppy arms glowed bright as she gave a belch as charged. She closed the gap quickly, or rather, Meowth was too in shock as Trubbish slapped him across the face once, then a second time, flooring him. The feline gagged as he coughed.

"Uh…quick! Use **Bite!** " Millianna screeched.

"Ugh…" Meowth was gonna hate this, but of it meant the coins, he'll pay any price. He lunged at Trubbish and sunk his fangs into the floppy arm, earning a cringing belch. "Hmph!" Meowth backed off, but his mouth was corroding a terrible smell. He paled. "…oh god." He gagged, getting a knee. "So disgusting."

Joey persevered. "You got this! Use **Double Slap** again!"

Meowth looked forward, only for Trubbish to raise her floppy arms at close range and slapped him hard. The slap across the face had a harsh clap to it that made Millianna and Dereece cringe. Meowth went sailing towards Millianna, thudding on the ground hard. He laid there, unconscious from that blow.

"Meowth is unable to battle! Trubbish is the winner!" Charlotte exclaimed.

The crowd cheered again as Meowth's circle turned off. The feline-loving mage sighed as she returned Meowth. "Oh returned." She mourned as Meowth was recalled.

"Yeah man! Up top!" Dereece offered a high-five to Duncan, but he looked away, as if shuffling. "I don't even know why I try." he sighed.

"Yeah, that's the way Trubbish!" Joey exclaimed. He saw Trubbish return to her position as green wavy aura filled her up, and for some reason, she looked well. "Trubbish?" he gave her a questionable look, but she looked fine. He'd take note and shrug it off. "Okay, let's go on."

Millianna huffed as she pulled out one last Poke Ball. "Meow! Okay, that was good, but now it's for my ace! Go, Glameow!"

The Poke Ball popped open, and appearing on the battlefield was a slim gray and white feline creature with a spiral tail. Her yellow eyes had blue pupils, and she smirked. "Hello?" she chimed.

"So Glameow is Millianna's final Pokémon." Erza noted.

Kagura nodded. "Yes. And Millianna's craftiest, not to mention strongest. This won't be easy."

Vanessa pulled her PokeDex out.

" **Glameow, the Catty Pokémon. It claws is displeased and purrs when affectionate. Its fickleness is very popular among some.** "

Lucy nervously smiled. "Seems like there's a pattern here somewhere."

"Yes…" Vanessa looked out towards the field. "But…"

Glameow stared at Trubbish, already getting her corrosive odor. She chose to ignore and get this over with. As she stepped forward, a purple ripple expelled beneath, sending purple shock through her limbs throughout the body up. She winced as her face grew purple.

"Meow! Glameow, what happened?!" Millianna shrieked. She saw the feline ache and she instantly found a culprit. "Hey, what did you do?!" she pointed at Joey.

Joey innocently smirked. "My bad, guess you forgot about Toxic Spikes." He answered. "It poisons Pokémon entering the battle. Pretty slick, right?"

"Hey, that's gotta be cheating! Is there a rule for that?!" Millianna shouted.

Charlotte shot her a look. "It is fair. Status conditions do help in battle. Now battle!" she borderline demanded.

Millianna shrunk away from her intimidation. "Okay…" She looked ahead, giving a glare. "Okay then, guess we got no choice. So use **Fake Out!** "

Glameow did her best to ignore her condition and sprung forward. She closed the gap on Trubbish and clapped in front, creating a shockwave that pushed her back. Glameow landed and smirked, but then toxic bubbles expelled, damage accumulating, while Trubbish rolled back and flinched.

Joey watched Trubbish flinch, unable to attack again. But he saw another green wave expel up her body. _'There it is again. What's she got?'_ he wondered. He shook his head, choosing to focus.

"Now, use **Growl!** " Millianna shouted. Glameow let out a cry as distorted soundwaves echoed outwards towards Trubbish. The soundwaves passed her, making her floppy arms be used to cover up her ears as her Attack lowered.

Being a deaf man, Joey ignored the shockwaves. "Well we got more! Trubbish, belch 'em up an **Acid Spray!** "

Trubbish took in a deep breath and belched an acidic flood from her mouth. Glameow went wide-eyed and she jumped to dodge it. In midair, more poisonous sparks caused her damage, while Trubbish had a green wave flood her body.

With her feline in the air, Millianna used the chance to attack. " **Scratch!** "

Glameow came down, her claws elongating into sharp nails and slashed into Trubbish, quite harshly. Trubbish shrieked in pain, but held her ground.

"You git this, Trubbish! Use **Double Slap!** "

" **Scratch!** "

Trubbish's floppy arms glowed brightly as Glameow went to attack. The two went back and forth, making a parry of claws and trash blobs. But, being a feline, Glameow's limber body made her lighter, and easier to maneuver as she dodged Trubbish's attack, countering the rakes around the smelly trash heap. When Trubbish finally got a smack in, Glameow veered away, but she sneered, whereas Trubbish belched. Once again, poison inflicted Glameow, whereas Trubbish had a green aura.

' _Why is Trubbish doing that? I know he doesn't have any healing moves.'_ Joey was aware of Trubbish. He's played the games before, and they can't know healing moves, unless Swallow applied, but he forgot it they could learn that. But then he remembered something. _'Wait, hold on…'_ And unknowingly to him, Nic was watching, catching the revelation.

Glameow shook her head, wearing away the smell. "Purrr, you stink." She scoffed, clawing the air.

"Let's use **Hypnosis!** " Millianna commanded.

Glameow sneered as her eyes began glowing with a bright wave emitting from them. As Trubbish looked at it, she could feel her own strength decline. Much like Pidove, the Poison-type began succumbing to the ominous light, her eyes shutting and slumping to a slumber.

"Yes! We put that stinky bag to sleep!" Millianna cheered, but was immediately thwarted when Glameow winced from the poison. "Whoops! Sorry! We better wrap this up before the poison does!" she reached out. "So use **Scratch!** "

Glameow attacked again, this time she pounced vigorously and slashed across Trubbish's face. Surprising enough, the trash bag wasn't moved that much. Glameow winced at the poison, and Trubbish had green waves overlapping her body.

"Again!" Millianna ordered. Glameow went and slashed yet again. Again, the same effects happened.

"This looks bad." Gray said. "If that thing doesn't wake up soon, it's lights out for Joey."

"Yeah, this is getting reckless." Lucy warned.

Wendy, however, paid attention to the lights. "Huh? Wait…" As she saw Glameow attack a third time, she saw the poison douse her further, whereas Trubbish gained some. "Something's really weird here. For some reason, it looks like Trubbish is…healing itself."

"How so?" Carla asked. "Is it because of the sleep?"

Wendy shook her head. "No, none of that. It's like after every attack for some reason."

Joey smirked.

Glameow winced as she backed away. "You done…yet…?" she labored in each adhesive breath taken, but Trubbish was still snoring. It looked like she was still hanging in there. "How is she still able to battle?"

Joey snickered. "Looks like the jig is up. Seems they don't know about your Black Sludge, right?" As he asked the question, Trubbish stirred awake. She blinked, before expelling a breath that could kill plantlife. "When I caught Trubbish yesterday, I forgot she was holding this awesome item that heals Poison-types a little after each turn. It's called Black Sludge, and wild Trubbish and a few other Pokémon carry this cool item, too. Right?" At this, Trubbish belched.

Millianna looked shocked. "Say what?! Okay, that has to be against the rules, right?!"

Charlotte looked unfazed by the feline lady's lack of maturity. "It is fair." She sneered. "In battle, such items help. Consider this experience."

Joey smirked again. _"You're crafty, and that's what'll give you an advantage in a fight."_ What Nic said yesterday rung in his head, making him jittery. _'Heh, looks like my luck's gotten through again.'_ "Alright, use **Acid Spray!** "

Trubbish exerted another belch, expelling a close-range blast of acid that shot Glameow. She shrieked as she slid back, the acid making a blue aura envelop her. She glared ahead, but the poison again numbed her. Worse, when she sniffed the air, that attack had extra bile on it. It made her flinch.

"She's flinching too." Sophie observed.

"That's Stench." Dereece recalled Trubbish's Ability. "Joey! Now man! Now!"

Joey nodded with an anxious smile. "I got this." He swiped his arm and reached out. "Alright…finish this! Trubbish! **Acid Spray!** "

Trubbish took in a heaping load of air before she began to churn her acids inside. The bile and acid built up, and the attack soared at Glameow like a flood. Glameow was cringing from the smell and was too distracted. Her eyes went wide when she was struck by the attack, making a purple steam cloud erupt over her side of the battlefield.

"NYAAA! KITTY-WITTY!" Millianna shrieked.

As the dust settled, it had shown Glameow on her side with spirals in her eyes. Her icon vanished.

"Glameow is unable to battle, Trubbish is the winner! Therefore, the victory goes to Joey Haycliff!" Charlotte announced.

The audience and everyone cheered for the outcome of the battle. Joey's face was on every screen, and Cana at Fairy Tail was screaming in joy, spraying booze from bottles that annoyed Gajeel and Alzack. Meanwhile, Millianna sunk to her knees in defeat. All looked happy, and Joey's own shock sunk in.

"We won…? We…we actually won?" Finally grasping realization, he locked eyes with Trubbish briefly. Before long, Joey smiled wide and jumped for joy. "AW YEAH BABY! WOOOOOH!" he roared, darting for Trubbish. "Trubbish, we did it! We actually did it! Give me some love you living hazardous waste you!" He picked up and held Trubbish in a tight up, spinning and jumping in place out of joy. He laughed and smiled as he gave Trubbish a toothy smile. That smile was what Trubbish took a moment to register before she belched again, but this one was short, and she smiled for once.

"I must say, that turned out quite nicely." Lyon said as he clapped.

"Yeah I'll say." Gray said. He looked down at Bergmite. "See that, what do you think?"

Bergmite blinked. "Intrigued. Very lively. Enjoyed greatly." He noted stiffly.

"He really did it!" Wendy smiled.

"Yeah, he was shaky, but he looked like he was pulling through." Lucy noted.

Nic and Erza remained silent. Beside them, Kagura sighed at the results. "She got too carried away. Seems I'll have to have a word with her when this is all over." Seeing her pouting over the embarrassment Millianna was suffering made it a little amusing for Erza as she chuckled, earning a glare from Kagura. The little rivalry didn't seem too vague to tell.

Joey pointed at Dereece. "Hit it!"

Dereece happily hit the boombox again. The theme returned to the same one he used when entering. He shuffled and danced along the ground, showing off for everyone, as well as for Nic and Erza. They stared confidently, and it only made him blush more. He internally squealed and his dancing rhythm made him go into a backflip of joy. "AW YEAH , BABY! WOOOO!" he shouted to the world.

Dereece bobbed his head back and forth, yet beside him, Duncan looked bored. He turned away, tipping his cap to get the sun out of his eyes.

* * *

"Sorry, Kagura. I really let you down, didn't I?" Millianna apologized to Kagura. They were in the lobby area, along with the members of Fairy Tail and Minerva.

"It's fine." Kagura dismissed. "But I do hope you learned from this experience."

Millianna eagerly nodded. "Yeah! I'll train even harder for the guild!"

"Well it's good to know that someone's in high spirits." Gray smirked. He looked around, seeing that people were missing. "Hey, where's Lyon?"

Juvia approached his side. "I think he said he would sit and wait out the whole event, darling." She answered him.

From the distance, the remainder of the group were all looking jovial as Erza approached them, exiting from an opening. "I spoke with the administrators." She said. "The public is being detailed about the battle and what happened. But we are permitted to leave now."

"Finally!" Natsu stretched. "I can't wait to get back to Magnolia! Seeing that battle made me so pumped that I can't wait!" he shouted before facing Lucy. "Hey Lucy, wanna have a round?"

"Say what?!" she shrieked. "Why?!"

"Well it's a rule, isn't it? So c'mon, let's battle!"

Kagura sighed. "Honestly…"

Kevin shook hands with Joey. "You did a good job out there man."

Joey smiled. "Hey, thanks for being here. I can't thank you enough."

"Well actually…" Kevin leaned in, whispering with a wink. "If you think you can get me some nice 'shots', I'll take those."

Noting the innuendo, Joey looked around. When he saw Sophie talking to her Abra and Dewpider, he saw how her back was turned, and her cloth on the left side was exposing the thick met of her rump and thigh. Barely containing himself, he flashed a wink back. "'kay, deal. Same goes for me too."

"What are you two whispering about?" Dereece asked, who was beside Minerva with arms crossed.

"Nothing!" Both straightened up innocently.

Kevin turned away and began waving back. "Gotta bolt! Next time let's battle!"

Joey waved back. "Gotcha! See ya around, Mister P!"

With one last wave back, the perverted Trainer took to his heels and strolled out of the colosseum. He seemed rather mild for a pacer, making sure he was far enough from wandering eyes. Once he had gotten out of the lobby, he took one more look around before he activated his magic. A holographic file opened up and he expanded it, showing various shots of women snapshots in the arena. Specifically, those of young age as like him, if but a little older, with assets to make his mouth water. "Aw yeah, I'll be saving these for the next few days." He mumbled low as he vanished to the distance.

"Guess it's our time as well." Kagura huffed, walking off. "Millianna, come."

"Coming, Kagura!" The cat woman hurried off, but not before turning around and waving at Erza. "Bye, Erzy! See you later!" As Erza gave her a nod back, her attention drew towards Joey. "And you! Next time, you won't be so lucky against me, pal! I'll get stronger! Just you wait and see!" she declared, and finally took off to catch up with Kagura.

Joey watched Millianna take off, seeing to their own way. He was approached by Minerva, getting him to face her. "Oh, hey." He chimed. "You here for an autograph?"

Minerva chuckled. "Cute."

Joey blushed. "I try." It was a lie. It was dumb luck, but far be it from anyone to wreck his ego right now.

Minerva played along. "I was skeptical about you at first, Joey Haycliff, but it seems you've proven me wrong after all. Seems as though what Nic said was true. You most certainly are an interesting individual." With Joey stunned by what she said, she could see the shock on his face. She smirked back at Nic and Erza. "I believe that I must tend to my business as well back at the guild."

Erza nodded. "Be safe."

"We'll be seeing you around." Nic said.

Minerva nodded in compliance. With that, she ignited herself in her magic, becoming a green orb that she stepped into. Once inside, it vanished to thin air, leaving her presence to be questioned.

When Minerva was gone, a shiver went down Dereece's back. "That magic still gives me the heebie-jeebies. Right, Joey?...Joey? Uh, Joey?"

Joey, however, was still stuck on what Minerva had said earlier. He was wide-eyed with a growing bliss that was overwhelming his sense of time, so much he didn't realize that Nic and Erza and Vanessa were gathering in the background. "I'm…interesting?" he blushed. "They…they really think I'm interesting…" His epiphany made his face widened with an inhaling squeal, like that of a giddy schoolgirl. "Dereece! Didyou hear that?! She said that I was interesting!" He shouted as he clutched his best friend's shoulders, shaking rather violently. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygooooo~d! Do you know what this means?!" he gasped as he stared in the distance, unaware he was almost choking a struggling Dereece. "It means that they're taking time out of their days to talk about me. _Me!_ "

"B-but, Nic and Vanessa already talk to yo-"

"I can totally see it!" He jumped off Dereece and proudly beamed in pride. "Nic would be like 'You're a very good person, Joey. Anda good Trainer.', and I'll be all like 'Aw stop, you're gonna make me blush. You trained me, it's all your credit!', and Vanessa will be all like 'Joey, you became so wise, and handsome', and I'll be like 'I do what I can to please you!', and she'll be all like. 'Joey, be my slave and fix me up a nice smoothie', and I'll be like 'With lemons?'" with that out of his system, he gave a long, soothing sigh. "Yeah…" He looked back over his shoulder, seeing the very siblings themselves. He looked back at Dereece and nodded. Moments later, his eyes widened and froze in place. Like a broken dolly head, his neck cracked as her nervously looked back, seeing Nic and Vanessa's neutral stares at him. "Uh…uh…I just…it…uh…." Realizing he made himself an embarrassment again, he blushed up a storm and took off. "Dereece, retreat!" At the speed of light, he darted out of the exit, leaving a trail of fading dust.

"What's wrong with him?" Natsu sked, completely clueless. "Gotta use the bathroom or something."

"Nah that sounds like something Lucy would do." Happy answered.

"Excuse me?!" Lucy shrieked.

Vanessa kept a smirk forward at Joey's nervousness. "Certainly a character, isn't he."

"That's outing it mildly." Nic noted. "But he's taking his steps ahead. He'll be just fine." He looked at Dereece, who looked at him back. Nic nodded in thanks, to which he nodded back. "Keep looking after Joey, alright?"

"It stopped being a job a long time ago." Dereece chuckled.

In the distance, Duncan was leaning against a pillar. He got up and started walking out, hands in his pockets as he filed out next. "…what a joke." he huffed.

* * *

"Cheers!" Joey and Dereece mushed their pizza slices together as they were back home. With their Pokémon eating beside them, they were happily feasting with feet back. "What better way to savor victory than Movie and Pizza Friday, am I right, Dereece?" Joey asked before shoving half a piece of pizza into his mouth.

"No doubt about it." Dereece took a smaller bite.

Joey swallowed before he continued. "Hey, sorry for the seriousness for the past week. I was too carried away."

"Nah, it's fine man." Dereece dismissed. "I understand. But I do hope that you'll be pacing yourself from now on."

Joey nodded. "I know…and I still gotta thank Nic-senpai for helping me. I guess I still have a ways to go, huh…" He looked crestfallen some, but upon looking at Dereece, he grinned. "But hey, I think I'm getting the hang of it. If Bro left his faith in me as me, then that's who I gotta be!"

Dereece nodded. "There's that Captain Joey."

Joey realized he already ate his share of pizza without realizing it. He looked at Dereece's piece, pointing at it. "Uh…you gonna eat that?"

Looking at his piece, Dereece realized he wasn't too hungry. He eyerolled and passed it over to Joey. "Knock yourself out." He saw Joey giddily seize the piece of pizza. "Guess I'll go get the garbage out." He got up, but Joey stopped him.

"Oh, no need for that, Dereece. Leave that to me." He took two greasy hands into his mouth and whistled mouth. "Oh Trubbish~!"

Trubbish waddled over, looking up at Joey as his empty plate had scraps and greasy stains on it. He dangled it over Trubbish's head, to which the contents fell into her mouth. He even dropped the paper plate as well, she ate it without hesitation.

"Our own personal garbage disposal." Joey teased, rubbing Trubbish's floppy ears. "See? Knew you'd fit right in."

Dereece chuckled. He wanted to say something, but after talking bad earlier about Trubbish before, he realized how handy she was, not to mention what she could do in battle. Joey really was lucky.

"Alright, who's up for movies?!"

"YEAH!" the Pokémon cheered. Trubbish let out a belch for her answer. The stink cloud that eroded from her slowly spread to the others. They sniffed it, and immediately Pidove fell over, and Chespin curled into a ball and tried to keep himself from spewing. Yanma flew off, and Heracross paled.

Dereece waved it off. "Yup Joey…" he held in a gag. "You sure pick 'em."

Joey smiled wide, chuckling.

* * *

In another domain, in another house, dusk was dwelling. While the atmosphere outside the house was subtle, the insides of the house were far from that. Someone was sitting in a large throne-like chair, taking a small teacup full of tea and sipping it. He sighed out loud as he kicked back in his seat.

"Ah. Isn't this just lovely, Venipede?" he cooed to his Pokémon beside him, lovingly petting his back. "Nothing like a little television to soothe your mind."

Of course what he watched wasn't just any type of show. In fact, it was a big monitor, to which he stopped on occasion to jot down notes. Over to his side, he already had a whole stack of notes on the video. On it was Joey against Millianna from before. Apparently this guy has been paying strict attention.

Slowly, he clasped his hands together, folding his fingers at the sight of Joey. "So, seems Joey has gotten some new tricks now." He smirked maliciously. "Well then, he's not the only one with a few new surprises, too. Right…Venipede?"

Venipede cackled a hissy laugh, with his Trainer chuckling as well, soon breaking to a loud, evil laughter that echoed throughout the household.

* * *

 **Happy belated Thanksgiving to my peeps! Hope you guys enjoyed it, and this chapter! So I was sue some of you were expecting like a reprieve chapter or something, but nope! We're going full throttle to new events!**

 **So as you could imagine, I had a LOT happen this chapter, with a crap ton of battles and new Pokémon caught. They'll get their screen time for certain, but I had to really work for this chapter and making sure NOBODY was left out, and I thought I sold that rather reasonably. As you have also noticed, Joey is starting to take things more seriously, especially training. Also, I just couldn't help myself but think of that theme I inserted. I was thinking back to Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, and this theme just fits Joey perfectly!**

 **So then, guess I'll leave you to digest this chapter. Please favorite and review, your thoughts are very much appreciated. And again, thanks! You guys are awesome! XD**


	24. Dwelling

About two days passed since the big event that happened in the Domus Flau colosseum, and still people were talking about it like it was a big deal. Even now, lacrima vision networks had broadcasts and news of the battle specifics Joey undermined, and Jeffrey and Charlotte were questioned. As for a certain party-loving fanboy, he decided to treat to himself for the job well-done.

"Here you are." The brunette waitress put down the platter. It was a nice, big chicken skillet with steamed vegetables on the side.

Joey's smile grew ever so bigger. "Alright! That's what I'm talking about! Thanks!"

"My pleasure." She bowed. "Will there be anything else?"

Dereece looked at Joey to see what else he wanted. Shrugging, it was as though Dereece knew Joey's answer. "Better get a small chocolate cake dessert." He ordered.

"Okay, one chocolate cake." She wrote it down on a piece of paper, as per her training. Once accomplished, she took to her heels for the patrons still counting on her. "Okay, I'll be right back!"

With her gone, Dereece looked at Joey. "She seems nice."

Joey shrugged. "Yeah, guess so." He lifted a big fork of steaming chicken and began his splendid feast. Almost immediately, his taste buds swelled with the sweet, juicy flavors that the chicken was cooked with. The look on Joey's face showed ecstasy as he munched on piece after piece.

The two had broke into a silence as they ate themselves away, as well as their platter. It wasn't often that they ate out, mostly because back they didn't know much of any easygoing places. Back in Lumiose City, burger shacks and ice cream parlors were what they were used to, and it was a daily, if not weekly thing. It's only because of the allowance Joey got from his mom that made it all possible. But now working as a mage, he realized just how rough working can be. But he knew better than to complain. He chose this path, and after everything, he couldn't just up and quit. It wouldn't justify all that's been done, and for those who leaned on him.

Before he got too deep, the waitress soon returned with the cake full of cake, with the bill right beneath. "Here you gentlemen are." She sat it down between their near-empty chicken skillet order. "Wow, that sure was fast. Nice job, boys." She winked.

"Don't blame me." Dereece craned his head towards Joey. "Blame the bottomless pit over there."

"I heard that." Joey muffled with a mouthful of meat.

The waitress chuckled and took the empty serving plates. "Well that's good. Hardworking mages need their strengths. Hope you boys have a wonderful day." She nodded, to which they responded with their own nods and she went off elsewhere.

As she was walking off, Joey stopped eating to take notice of the green tight shirt she had on. But his attention went down towards the black leggings. Although when he noted how her thighs and her backside were rather…not so stacked, he resumed eating.

"I saw that." Dereece cocked a brow.

"Don't judge me." Joey swallowed the last piece of chicken. "Alright, let's get to the good stuff…and also this cake."

Dereece ignored Joey's little innuendo and lifted their fork. The two toasted their forks together before they started their dessert.

A couple of tables down, some guys were talking. They all were crowded around a table, via one they reserved for earlier because of their numbers. They were feasting, and of course, they were gonna get a big bill, but troubled stirred itself up.

"Hey, they still talking about that cheap fight?" one slurred, quite loudly.

Before Joey could eat his piece of cake, he and Dereece were hearing the volumes projected.

"C'mon, enough with the ridiculous shows already! We get it! These half-asses can stop with this big show! It's getting old!"

Another big guy nodded. "Agreed."

"You know what I'm talking about! That little battle everyone saw! And who fought again? Someone from Fairy Tail was it?" he scoffed. "Man, I didn't think they'd suck _that_ bad!"

A stouter individual smirked. "Hmph, kid looked way over his head on that one."

"And seriously, could he look anymore ridiculous?! I've seen shabby rags before, but that was just embarrassing!" he uproariously laughed. "Was that a battle or a fashion show? Because all I saw was a big old joke!"

The roar of his lash out had a mug of booze spill onto the ground. Nearly half the tavern was completely silent at the skirmish starting to go down. This included Joey and Dereece, specifically Joey, who was disturbingly quiet. Dereece looked over to his pal to see the shadow over his eyes. He wasn't even finishing that first bite yet.

"HAHAHAHA! Yeah, I could do so much better than that little jackass! I bet he didn't even know how to fight! Using beginning Trainers like that was child's play!"

"Last I checked, Fairy Tail is supposed to be the strongest guild, right? They kicked some serious ass back in that war. How could they seriously let some half-witted wannabe fairy like _that_ into their guild?"

"Hahahaha! That guy even _looked_ weak! I bet I could take him out with one hand tied behind my back! No, not even!"

"Yeah, and what did he have again? Some bucktooth squirrel, some pigeon, and literally trash! HAHAHA! I don't know what's more sad, the fact that the hottie from Mermaid Heel got her ass kicked by a garbage bag, or by the kid who owned that sac of garbage!"

"You ask me, fits that punk to a tee. Living trash." A mage gulped down booze.

"Damn straight. If I ever see that little punk, why, maybe I'll just prove that point! It'll really show how low Fairy Tail's gone. Number one? Yeah right! What kind of half-witted ladies that fill those honkers with booze all day would go for a wimp like that?!"

That was the last straw. As they were speaking trash and laughing, Joey shot out of the booth and made a beeline for the door.

"What the-?! Hey, wait!" He looked back at his plate. "Oh man…" Scraping some money from his pockets in a hurry, he paid the bill, as well was the tip, and hurried with the cake out for Joey. "Joey!"

Joey turned tail and jogged out of the tavern. To anyone passing by it would look like someone in a hurry, or to the dull someone who was on a run in very poor fashion tastes. But to those who took a closer look and took the time to sympathize, Joey had misty eyes brimming with frustration. He heard it all, ever bit of it. From start to end, all that ridicule shook him pretty bad. Normally, someone like him would brush it off because of his shallow ego, but after his experience, his heart began to ache, because he didn't know how to stand up for himself. The only option was to run.

' _I'm not weak…I'm not! I'll show them! I'll make Fairy Tail and everyone else see that!'_

"Joey! Wait!" Dereece screamed from behind.

Nic walked through the downtown district close by. He had two large paper bags of groceries in one arm, and the spare one holding soap products needed for his and his wife. "Hope Erza realizes this stuff went off sale yesterday. When she realizes this she's gonna-" As he was walking back to their home, he noticed a harsh dash from someone close by. He saw Joey, and he looked upset. He then saw Dereece chase after him in a frantic hurry. He thought of calling out, but seeing the tears in Joey's eyes, he knew something was wrong.

He just remained silent as he watched Joey head for the guild.

* * *

"Alright, then! Let's go!" Natsu punched forward. "Alright Darumaka, show 'em your **Rollout!** " Darumaka rolled into a ball and went speeding into Romeo's Litwick. The attack made a perfect strike, sending Litwick soaring.

"Oh no!" Romeo watched as he saw Litwick fall to her back hard. "Litwick!" He took a closer look, seeing that she was struggling to get up. "Man, that little guy's packing some power…"

"Really? Thanks!" Natsu balled a fist. "But there's more where that came from! We're not done yet! **Rollout!** "

"Coming right up!" Rolling faster, Darumaka speedily rushed into Litwick again, continuing the battle. "Coming through!"

As their little battle, Gray was having his own little spar against Juvia. His new Bergmite was against her Azurill, and both looked competitively serious. "Alright, you ready?" he asked. "You can go first."

Juvia nodded. "Right, my darling." She looked down at Azurill. "Azurill, be sure to do your best, alright?"

The little mouse-like creature bounced on her ball. "Oh yay! We're gonna play!"

Juvia chuckled at her child-like demeanor. "Yes, I guess you can say that." Her expression turned serious again. "Now, let's use **Charm!** " Azurill bounced in place as a cute, pink bliss surrounded her. Her eyes blinked multiple times as they made Bergmite weary, lowering his Attack harshly.

"Adorability, great." Bergmite stiffly noted.

"Okay." Gray reached out. "Use **Bite!** " Bergmite did as told and had fang-like glowing projections show. He rushed at Azurill, biting into her ball an making her wince in pain. However, she looked just fine because of her typing, and the Attack decrease.

"Sorry, my love, but you'll have to do better. Use **Bubble!** "

Azurill opened and eye and looked down at Bergmite. "I'm not playing tag, you big meanie!" She inhaled and expelled clear bubbles right in Bergmite's face. The gesture made Bergmite slid back across the ground, quite harshly at that.

"Man, the little guy's packing a punch already." Gray said. "Use **Powder Snow!** "

Bergmite slid back to a halt and finally gained some ground. He glared forward, teeming with glistening bright blue before he exhaled a cold breath with snowflakes. The two attacks battled it out, but they stirred in sparkles and flakes that blew between them. Azurill hopped happily at the dazzling display.

Looking around, a lot of people were hard at work. And those not working were taking time reading pamphlets and learning in Pokémon battling. From the bar, Lucy was wide-eyed with Klefki. "Woah, just look at all this." she awed. "I don't think I've seen the guild this productive before." When she looked to the distance, she was seeing Kinana's Seviper unleash a Poison Tail, which completely downed Droy's Bellsprout in one critical hit, much to his despair. And Lucy looked farther out to see Laki's Bonsly shooting rocks at Jet's Taillow, scoring a direct hit. She thought that was anew move, but disregarded it as Taillow fell straight down in defeat. Even Mirajane was taking a small break to battle with Vullaby against Lisanna's Rufflet. All around, nothing but battles as far as the eye could see, and while others looked frustrated, others were picking up the pace. It was starting to make herself envious of all this hard work.

"Hey Lucy." Wendy's greeting caught the blonde by surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, Wendy." Lucy responded before looking out with a smile. "Oh, nothing. Seems as though the guild is rather over productive is all."

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed. "That's Fairy Tail for ya!"

"I can most certainly understand." Carla said. "Wendy was rather anxious to have Swablu train a little as well."

"H-hey! I can make my own points!" the Sky Dragon squealed in embarrassment. She calmed down and looked up at Swablu. "But yeah, we've been getting better as of late. Haven't we?"

"Sure!" Swablu chimed merrily.

"Seems Joey's battle left than a little impression." Lucy chuckled at the prospect. Joey was rather influential, if not flamboyant. Seeing his battle certainly was something. Another thought rushed to the front though. "Hey, where's Erza and Vanessa?"

Sophie was walking by, hearing Lucy's question. "I believe they went on a job together. They left this morning. I wager they shouldn't be back till about another few hours."

Lucy nodded at knowing the sisters-in-law having a job together. "Say, Sophie, did you just get back?"

The Memory-Make Mage nodded. "Yes. I was needed to stop a little Slugma problem near a village. Fortunately Dewpider and his Bubble cleared the problem."

"Wow, seems _everyone_ is busy." Lucy looked over at the job board, seeing Nab there with his Munchlax still. "…well, more or less." She muttered.

The doors suddenly went open. Popping into the guild was Joey, followed by Dereece. The former looked more than a little rushed.

"Oh, hello Joey." Mirajane greeted. She was behind the bar again, deciding that it was time to get back to work. "You looking for Nic?"

Joey, however, was surprisingly dismissive. He brushed pass Mirajane, darting right for the board. Immediately, he started looking at the requests like his life depended on it. Dereece finally caught up, still holding onto the cake, surprisingly.

"Captain Joey, maybe you should slow down." He advised. "I know you're sensitive, but you don't have to get so worked up over-"

"I know, Dereece." Joey sounded like he was trying to contain his anger the best he could. Dereece immediately quelled. "…but I worked too hard for this. I'm not gonna stand around and have those creeps laugh behind my back." He looked at the jobs higher up on the board. Usually the jobs on the bottom half were low-level requests, that's what Dereece picked up on. Joey looked higher up, one getting his attention. "Let's try aiming higher." Without repercussion, he seized the job flyer.

"Let me see." Dereece looked over his shoulder, staring at the job that caught Joey's attention.

 _WANTED: EXPERIENCED MAGE_

 _Caol Tunnel has been very unstable. Wild Pokémon are crawling everywhere, making it difficult to navigate. Please, I require a strong mage to clear the tunnel. I was able to leave marks before it became too much. Please reach the backs needed for excavation._

 _Reward: Negotiable_

"A strong mage…" Joey's mind was fixed on that part specifically. The job wanted someone strong, and someone independent. Maybe Joey wasn't the best at the latter, but he can be capable. This was the chance to prove how well he works with his magic. "Alright Dereece, let's take this job."

Dereece looked concerned. "Are you sure about this? It's not really specific."

"Don't care!" Nonchalantly skipping across the guild hall, Joey pranced over and showed Mirajane the request. "Yo! We're taking this one!"

"Sure, let me see." Mirajane looked down, noting the request. She hummed as she looked at the location and everything else. "Caol Tunnel is it? Sounds pretty dangerous. Sure you can handle it?"

Joey beamed with pride. "Won't know until we try. Ready, Dereece?"

The man groaned. "Like I have a choice anymore." As he followed Joey out, he looked back at Mirajane, waving her off as she did to them. They soon filed out like soldiers, with the girls watching them take off.

"Was it me, or did Joey seem a little on edge right there?" Wendy inquired.

"I saw that, too. I know that look." Watching his back fade into the distance, Sophie's eyes narrowed. An odd, ominous chill went up her spine when she saw the upset look Joey had when he rolled in. She'll have to remember this feeling if it happens again.

Mirajane sighed out loud. "Well let's hope for the best." For all their sakes, they sure hoped so.

* * *

Torterra let out a roar as he raised up on his hind legs, slamming down on the ground with great pressure. The ground cracked once, then twice, until finally a shockwave of cracking fault lines exploded and shot tons of dust and debris skyward at Magmortar. The Blast Pokémon remembered his training and activated his cannons. He faced down at the ground and expelled a searing hot Flamethrower right into the earth. The projected flames shot him skywards like a propulsion, getting him high enough into the air to avoid the tremor that echoed deeper into the forest, overturning dirt and rock. As the attack subsided into a field of clouded dust below, Magmortar was in perfect angle above to open his maw, expelling a Clear Smog attack that eroded into the dust cloud where Torterra was surrounded in.

" **Leaf Storm!** " Duncan commanded.

Torterra made a shrilling roar as he raised his head, his body having a bright green shine as a whirlwind began picking up, and green energy leaves engulfed it with shredding, pulsating pressure with every square inch. The typhoon was powerful enough to dissipate the cloudy attack, whereas Torterra's attack shot skywards at Magmortar. Magmortar extended his arms down and roared as he expelled another Flamethrower attack at the incoming attack. The results were an immense explosion between the two powerful Pokémon that sent shockwaves everywhere, although Duncan remained unfazed through the winds.

The dust cleared, and both Pokémon were seen standing still like they were before. "Good. That's more like it." Duncan complimented. He readied for another command on the fly, but the sound of footsteps from behind made him turn around to see his "teammates" walking towards him.

"Duncan! There you are!" Joey rushed up towards him. "C'mon, found us a job."

Duncan looked at them before he looked at Torterra and Magmortar. He pulled out their individual capsules. "Return." The balls returned them both inside, which he put into his coat pocket. He returned his visage towards Joey. "Exactly what kind of job is it?"

"Here." Joey handed him the flyer.

Duncan took the flyer and scrolled through it. As he scrutinized it, his face remained unchanged, but underlying those eyes, Dereece could feel a cold chill continue to shake him.

"Wow." He awed facetiously. "Could you be anymore pathetic?"

"Say what?" Joey gasped.

"I may not have been here any longer than you guys, but even I know how a guild job works. There's always a reward posted. Besides, did you even study the place before you went out from the start?"

"He's…kinda got a point." Dereece couldn't believe he would agree with Duncan of all people, but he made a very keen point. He's never even heard of that place until recently. "Maybe, maybe we should-"

"C'mon, it's not that bad." Joey waved dismissively, grabbing Dereece beneath his arm in buddy-buddy fashion. "We'll at least scope it out before we make any choices, okay? Now c'mon! Gotta get a pay going!" He dawdled off, carrying Dereece beneath his arms. The confident strides needed were going to take him far, but his leadership and insight qualities needed great improvements. Duncan was the last to follow, and while he didn't want to, he needed some kind of money.

"Fine…but remember, you're responsible." Duncan reminded underneath his breath. "…not that you would know that."

* * *

The space was rather dark for someone who was working in the shadows. It was hard to tell from the very dim lacrima light set up, but someone was making use of it. Undisclosed, a hand held a lacrima, which shimmered to reveal an overhead visual of Joey and The Freaks taking to their heels through the trail that lead to the destination. A mischievous smirk crossed a pair of lips that could've been seen. Something large crawled up his shoulder, hissing at the lacrima like it was prey.

The unknown figure looking through the dim lighting chuckled low, but it was dark and bone-shrilling. The lights went out, almost like pitch-black.

* * *

Erza and Vanessa walked through Magnolia's bustling streets. In tow behind them, Aegislash and Delphox respectively followed their Trainers' lead back to the guild hall. With their sisterly job completed, they took it in their best interests to check back with the guild first.

"Will you be coming over for dinner tonight?" Erza offered her sister-in-law. "We'll be making some ribs."

Vanessa offered a smile. "Thanks, but Sophie and I are already making plans for dinner." She said. "Well, at least that's what she said."

"That so? That's a shame." Erza whined facetiously. "But if you need anything, the very least we can do is save you a plate."

Vanessa chuckled. "I'll have to take you up on that. Sophie's not like Mirajane…or myself…but she'll make do. Speaking of which…" she looked ahead at the guild hall, noticing a certain equally bodily gifted blonde. "Why am I not surprised. Back so soon?"

Sophie looked over from the small booth she had for herself. She was currently feeding Dewpider some Pokémon Food designed for Bug-types. "Why hello there." She greeted.

Vanessa nodded in gesture. "I take it that your job went well?"

"A-ni be-se-der (I'm fine.). Dewpider was surprisingly helpful." She flashed her feasting spider a smirk. "His ability is most uncanny. Isn't that right?"

Dewpider looked up, seeing his Trainer's teasing smirk. He swallowed and gave an embarrassed huff. "Hmph, I guess. Not a big deal." He modestly huffed before resuming his meal.

Sophie chuckled at Dewpider. "He's sweet once he warms up to you." She looked towards Delphox and Aegislash out of their Poke Balls. "So I take that the job involved Pokémon."

Erza nodded. "Quite so. They needed manual labor in clearing a trail through a woods to reach the riverbank. Aegislash and myself took care of the cutting, and Vanessa's aura and Delphox's Psychic cleared the way."

Sophie crossed her arms. "Seems a lot has been busy. You. Your team, Erza. The Freaks. Quite the productive week this has been."

"The Freaks you say?" Vanessa caught note of the last names. "So Joey went on a job as well?"

Sophie frowned. "Quite so…and he looked upset. He was in some hurry as well."

"Upset how, exactly?" Delphox inquired.

Sophie continued explaining. "Like he needed to be somewhere. He was in and out. And determined. If I'm honest, I would think something provoked the party guy's groove."

Erza and Vanessa took note of the other's looks of wonder. They were well aware that Joey was sensitive, even more so than Natsu. He was a good person, but they weren't there to know or be weary of what made him like that. Likely guess was another emotional night of revelations like he's been having. That's was appeased their intuitions for the time being.

Erza looked forward, a serious glare shown. "And you're absolutely certain he went on a job."

"Yes, and he left just recently." She huffed so much her buxom bounced some. "Let's just hope they don't push themselves like last time."

Erza nodded. "Joey's enough of a handful as it is, but he's become more aware of his surroundings…even so, there's no telling what he might pull." With Joey's eccentric demeanor in mind, another person, one of very destructive, reckless, and otherwise equal unpredictable actions took her conscience. "Sophie…have you seen Nic by any chance?"

Mirajane walked up, carrying a platter of someone's order. "I think I saw him in the market area. He looked like he had quite a bit of groceries." She smirked. "Is someone missing him?"

Erza scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. I was just curious is all." She walked out, heading to the direction of her home with Aegislash following. "We'll see you soon. Come, Aegislash."

The others watched from behind, giving her an uneasy stare. "She sure looks tense. Did Nic do something you think?"

Vanessa remained relaxed at Mirajane's inquiry. "Knowing Nic, it's hard to say." She crossed her arms and smirk. "But he's always one to keep you on your toes."

"That's true." Sophie chuckled.

* * *

Standing at the front of a mine-like entrance, The Freaks looked up and about their job's location. According to the directions, this was the spot, but it was so rugged and unstable that it looked like it could collapse on them.

"This it?" Joey questioned. "Caol Tunnel."

Dereece looked over, seeing the safety tape around it, "Yup, if that's any indication." He pointed at the tape bordering it. "Still say this is a bad idea though. You at least thought this through?"

Joey beamed with pride. "Of course I did. I'm not stupid." He pointed ahead. "Look, the job asks to clear Pokémon, right? And from the looks of the tunnel, it might be cramped. So here's what we'll do." He pointe da thumb to himself. "I'll lead with my Barrier-Make in case things fly or fall over us. Dereece, you can follow in the middle, you know, because I'm better than you." Dereece had to hold an eyeroll and sigh in. "And Duncan, you're the last line of defense, so you get to be in the back. Got it?"

Dereece blinked. He actually considered Joey's intentions and was admittedly surprised. "You know…that's not too bad." He gasped. "Wow, Captain."

"No need to praise me and my awesomeness." Joey beamed. "Save that for after the job." He tilted his head at Duncan. "By the way, Duncan, will that be okay you think?"

Dereece and Duncan looked to what Joey referred to. After so many tries with his magic, Duncan has been getting better control, but all the swords he's used up were shattered. That went double for his pocket money. For now, he had around a makeshift wooden sword that he managed to sand and sharpen. It wasn't much, but until he found a suitable replacement for his kendo stick, it'll have to do.

"It's nothing. So you really doing this?"

Joey nodded. "You betcha! We're gonna show those guys we're not slack offs. It's time we take our skills to new places." He turned towards the caverns. "Alright Freaks, ten hut! Let's get to that checkpoint!" He filed off the dirt road into the domain. Dereece and Duncan were in tow, suspicious looks on their faces.

As they filed into the caverns, the woods outside were quiet. In the leafy shrubs, something faded in and out, string at the cave before it whisked off in a hurry.

…

They all followed Joey into the cavern. For a cave, it was reasonably lit. "Some natural lighting." Dereece complimented.

"It isn't anything new." Duncan chided. "Caves are usually lit well. But if you were so startled to begin with, you could've had a Pokémon that can learn Flash." He raised a brow at him. "You _did_ think that far ahead, didn't you?"

Dereece didn't know how to rebuff Duncan. He wanted to, but he realized that by experience, Duncan outweighed them by a large margin. He was a Trainer who competed in the Sinnoh League, whereas he and Joey are still subpar. When he thought about it, could Yanma or Heracross learn Flash? He didn't think it was possible, but with Earthland, anything's a possibility. He just chose to focus on the front. "So Captain, exactly how far are going to go down again?"

Joey kept his eyes forward. He was looking as serious as could be. "We'll go to the checkpoint. Once we get there, we'll have to see if we can further extend it and make sure a perimeter is set. They said it was an excavation tunnel, so they need some space to work with no interference. Duncan, you keeping an eye out back there?"

The experienced Trainer shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

"Alright, then let's…" he trailed off as he suddenly stopped. Behind him, the others followed his lead and slowed down.

"What's wrong?" Dereece asked.

Joey looked ahead, his eyes squinting at darkness ahead. Even with hearing aids, he turned the dials on them to help him further the frequency. With them, he picked up on flapping. He braced himself. "Get ready!" At that shout, Zubat began flapping towards them, all hissing at the intruders.

"Zubat!" Dereece exclaimed.

Without hesitation, Joey reached forward. "Let's try this! **Barrier-Make: Barrier!** " He reached forward, using his power to create a paneled barrier that blocked the path ahead. All the Zubat flew absent-mindedly into the barrier, bouncing back into the atmosphere. "That'll keep 'em from getting to us."

"That's true." Duncan said. "But, the job said to clear the way?"

Joey's eyes widened. "Oh." He gasped when the Zubat came to attack again. He held the barrier up as they tried nipping into it, only to end up repulsed. "Well then how are we supposed to do that?!" he shouted back.

Duncan sighed irritably. He turned his back from them. "How pathetic." When he looked back, he found that Zubat hanging from the ceiling above were coming down, and Geodude provoked were huddling around. "You're a Pokémon Trainer, and there's a wild Pokémon. Take a guess at what you do." He pulled out a Poke Ball and threw it. "Gastrodon, up front!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing the Sea Slug Pokémon in the waits of a command.

Duncan swiped his arm. "Use **Muddy Water!** " Without complaint, a brown, muggy cyclone began surrounding Gastrodon, which quickly expanded into a vortex all around. The attack swallowed up all the Pokémon, unable to fight the intense currents.

Joey looked back in awe. "Woah, I didn't know he had a Gastrodon."

"Joey! Focus!" Dereece shouted.

Joey mentally facepalmed himself. "Right, right. Sorry…" He pulled out a Poke Ball, as did Dereece. "Let's do some extermination! Go, Chespin!"

"Go, Yanma!"

The Spiny Nut Pokémon popped out, serious and willing, and Yanma appeared above, humming lightly. The barrier came down and the Zubat went to attack. Immediately, some used ultrasonic Supersonic while others soared in for a Bite. Chespin was immediately hoisted by Yanma and sailed around the attacking foes.

"I'll drop their guards, and Dereece, you beat them up. Cool?" Joey planned.

Dereece nodded. "Whatever you say, Captain."

"Alright." Joey reached forward. "Chespin, use **Growl!** " Chespin opened his maw and let out a loud screech. With Yanma holding him, Chespin's distorted soundwaves echoed into the wild Zubat's ears, disorienting them at such a close range, as well as weakening their Attack stats.

Dereece reached out. "Now Yanma, **Quick Attack!** " Yanma nodded and she began zigzagging through the air. Chespin closed his eyes and held firm as Yanma carried him at massive speeds, beelining into a multitude of Zubat at once. "Alright!"

As Yanma flew around, a red outline followed her, and she began to go faster. With her Speed Boost picking up, some Zubat regained themselves as they followed her. But Yanma quickly turned around to face them. The Zubat again fired Supersonic and red lasers at her, via Absorb.

"Dodge it!" Dereece commanded. Yanma scooted backwards using her speed. The sonic waves and the lasers all misfired to either open air or stalactites.

"Alright, Chespin, **Rollout!** " Joey commanded.

"Launch me!" Chespin curled into a ball ready to attack. Yanma did a little flip in the air and tossed Chespin at the cluster of Zubat. He rolled through the air, striking them like bowling pins.

"That's how you roll!" Joey cheered. He watched as Chespin landed while Zubat drop like flies. A lone Zubat, that was still hanging in there, shook its head and glared at Chespin. "Go, **Rollout!** "

Chespin went rolling at the wild Zubat, but before impact, Zubat fluttered into the air, dodging the attack. Once Chespin missed, he stopped and looked up, where Zubat came down for a Bite. Its fangs made impact, making Chespin wince and slid back. He hurriedly gained ground again as he prepared when Zubat launched another Supersonic attack.

"Use **Growl!** " Joey yelled.

Chespin shrieked into the air, making distorted soundwaves reach out and match the Supersonic. The results of the two soundwaves echoing through the caverns, shrieking down the halls and crevices that rattled some of the Pokémon dwelling inside of them. Among them, heads perked up as they all glared ahead.

Once the soundwaves finished bellowing, the air was clear for Chespin and Zubat. "Use **Growl** again!"

Chespin looked determined as Zubat fluttered from the shotback of that loud noise they made. "How's about we try something else?" Chespin glared forward and he took in another deep breath. But instead of a soundwave coming out, small green seeds shot out, planting on Zubat. They opened up, snaring roots and vines around the bat and sapped up energy from the bat.

Dereece's eyes widened. "Hey, that's Leech Seed!"

"Leech Seed?" Joey looked ahead, his expression lightening. "Alright, looks like we've leveled up."

Zubat cringed as the last bit of its strength diminished. It fell to the ground, the vines and roots dissipating to thin air. Chespin beamed with a smile, snickering lightly. However, he heard fluttering above, making him look at another Zubat incoming with wings spread. Chespin was more than ready, but a large white shockwave shot from the side, exploding upon impact. The already hampered Zubat sundered, getting Chespin to look up at Yanma's whose wings glowed and faded.

"Did I get him?" she chirped.

Joey blinked before he flashed his own smirk. "And it looks like someone learned Sonic Boom."

Chespin and Yanma looked happily forward as the Zubat laid around them defeated. Behind them, Duncan had already done his share with Gastrodon, Geodude and Zubat long having been taken cared of by Gastrodon. With the horde dispatched, they began to regroup.

Dereece hunched over in a sigh. "Phew, man. Glad that's over." On his head, Yanma plopped down, making him grunt.

"Don't celebrate just yet." Duncan said as he walked passed them. "Still a ways to go from here. And I can guess that means even more Zubat will come as well."

This only made Dereece grunt. "Yup. Knew this was a bad idea."

Joey exchanged looks with Chespin. The Grass-type nodded in confidence, making him smile. "We gotta push through. This is a job after all." He began walking around the defeated Zubat as they laid around. "C'mon, let's go get that checkpoint and our~…oh…" He looked ahead, his confidence fading when he and everyone else saw what was coming after them.

Chespin's last Growl didn't go out without dying hard. Unfortunately, the soundwaves that bounced throughout the narrow tunnel attracted a large sum of Zubat that fluttered after them in territorial fashion. The sheer number left Chespin to hold onto Joey's leg as he and Dereece hugged the other for their terrified lives.

"MOMMY~!" Their high-pitched wails echoed throughout the tunnel for all to hear.

* * *

Bergmite took in a deep breath as he expelled another Powder Snow attack. The frosted attack traveled across the ground over towards Azurill, who was still bouncing.

"Now, Azurill! Counter with your **Bubble!** " Juvia commanded.

Azurill continued bouncing, her energy lifted from all the exercise given today. "Okay!" she chimed. She took in a deep breath, expelling bubbles again, but something was different. They were far more compressed, and they were clustered into a beam that bolted through Bergmite's attack, shocking the iceberg before he was hit with bursting blue sparkles, sending him sliding back. Gray's eyes widened when he saw the attack hit.

"What the…?" He looked down, seeing his Bergmite strain the get up. He tried getting up, but he ultimately fell over, eyes swirled from the damage he's accumulated.

"Hang on…that wasn't Bubble, was it?" Juvia blinked. She was still wrapped up on that fact that she didn't realize she had won. When she saw Azurill hop in joy towards her, she barely was able to catch her.

"Yay! Juvia, we won! We won!" the little mouse-like creature chirped loudly.

Juvia blinked. "Uh…y-yes. We did." She embraced the jovial mouse, much to the creature's happiness.

Cana, still at the bar with her Purrloin, looked over at Kinana as she fed her exhausted Seviper a Sitrus Berry. "Hey Kinana, girl." She chimed. "Wanna have a round?" she asked, rolling up an imaginary sleeve with a smirk.

Kinana looked over at Cana's request and back at Seviper. "Are you okay for another battle, Seviper?" she saw the snake nod at her, and she responded with the same gesture. She turned towards Cana. "Okay, we accept."

Cana got out of her seat, stretching her thick thighs. "O~kay! I've started to get bored a little watching all this action. So let's say we get ourselves going, eh kittycat?" she teased her Purrloin.

Purrloin stretched on the barstool like a back stretched its back. "Mmmm…sure, why not?" She plopped off the stool, facing Seviper with her tail swaying. "Just try and play fair. Wouldn't appreciated a few fast punches, would you?" The irony was that she was a Dark-type, and she and Cana did nothing but pull fast ones. Taking candor aside, they saw Seviper hiss in retort.

"Alright, we're ready! Seviper, **Screech!** " Kinana commanded Seviper, who opened her maw and shot orange soundwaves that shrilled through the air at Purrloin, starting the battle while others went along.

Mirajane was in front of the guild's request board. She was scrolling through page after page in the binder she had in hand and comparing it to the ones on the board that were still available. But there was another reason why she was doing this, and after the job that Joey took, she only served to make her flutter through each page a little faster than before.

Deciding to take a break outside his office, Laxus approached the barmaid. "What's up?" he questioned. "You look like you're being rushed. Is it busy?"

Mirajane noticed her master. "Oh, Master Laxus." She greeted before resuming her duties. "Not really. Just making sure that all these requests made are up to co."

"I see…" Even as an S-Class Mage, Laxus could feel some form of hidden motif behind this act. He always knew that the jobs and binders are always synchronized when the guild doors open first thing in the morning. So to have Mirajane do this in the middle of the day must be some kind of mistake.

As she compared the requests to the binder, Mirajane scrolled through this week's recent requests and pointed up and scrolled through the many jobs. Ultimately her face fell. "I was afraid of this." She sighed, backing away from the board. "Seems there was a job miscounted after all." She turned towards Nab, who was at his daily search for a job. "Nab, what about you?"

Nab crossed his arms, raising a brow. "Hmmm…"

"You sure you didn't miscount it in the records?" Laxus inquired. "It happens time to time. Can't be some kind of prank now, is it?"

Mirajane shook her head. "No, it couldn't be. It was the job that Joey took with Dereece. The one for Col Tunnel." She went through the humungous book again, rising a brow. "I've been digging around, but that specific request isn't in here. There weren't any for Caol Tunnel from today's incomings."

Nab looked troubled. He stared at the board a little longer before something popped up. "Wait! Hold on!" he yelled.

"What is it?" Laxus inquired.

"I just remembered something!" he shrieked. "Now I remember. That job that they took, I remember scanning through it once. It didn't look interesting, but I thought something was out of place." He rubbed the back of his head, groaning annoyingly. "It wasn't there before felt something sting my back. After that, everything got all fuzzy for like a second."

Mirajane looked over at everyone battling. "You think one of their attacks misfired?" Just as she said that, Natsu's Darumaka shot with a Headbutt attack, but it missed Sophie's Abra when he used Teleport. He shot into Mirajane's face, instantly falling her over like some dummy, while Darumaka also flatlined.

"Oops! Sorry about that!" Natsu waved.

"Oh dear." Sophie gasped.

With Mirajane having swirls in her eyes, Laxus could see that there needs to be an issue taken cared of. The master sighed at the predicament. _'What would the geezer do at a time like this?'_ he thought. _'Probably scold them or something. Hmph! Guess I should tell them to take the fights outside from now on.'_ He frowned at Nab as he rubbed the back of his head. _'Still, if this is someone's idea of a joke, they'll have heel to pay. And I can guess whoever took that sucker will have that same exact thought.'_ He walked towards the board, staring at it coldly. "Nab."

"Uh, yes Master?" he nervously asked.

"Keep an eye out." He slowly turned and walked off. "I have a hunch that something's not right either."

Nab was shocked at Laxus' reliance, but he didn't object. "Uh…right." He nodded, watching Laxus walk over to tell them all to battle elsewhere. _'What's going on around here?'_

* * *

Joey swiped his arm. "Pidove, use **Gust!** "

The pudgy bird's wings glowed bright before he summoned a powerful wind, stopping all the Zubat heading their way. Some were blown back by the strong winds, knocking some out from his ability adding extra power. For those unwilling to submit, Yanma went abruptly speeding pass them, using the Gust as a tailwind for his Quick Attack through the mob of bats that have been infesting them for ages now. The flock fumbled like flies for the umpteenth time, leaving Pidove to perch on Joey's shoulder while Yanma rested on Dereece's head.

Dereece sighed exhaustedly, his hands on his knees. "Phew. Okay, now _please_ tell me we're in the clear." He almost sounded like he was pathetically begging for the torment to stop.

"Yeah, we've gotta be clear by now." He looked over at Pidove, who looked a little exhausted. "Okay bud, thanks. Take a rest."

"Yes, Master." The pigeon retreated back into his Poke Ball, leaving Joey and The Freaks to their own air.

Joey took in a big yawn before shaking his head, trying to get the sleep out of his head. "Okay…let's take a break." He sat on a small rock. "Like right now."

"Finally!" Dereece exasperated before plopping on his butt. Duncan calmly stood, unfazed by the whole trek. "Ugh, how far down did we get even? Anybody know?" Dereece questioned.

"Beats me." Joey shrugged. "Just following this safety tape…I'm surprised it got this far." He turned towards the mine-like walls, rotating on the rock before it stirred. Alarmed, he abruptly shot up, revealing the rock to have two brown feet and a hexagonal core. "What the-?!"

The rock jumped angrily. "Hey! Get off my head!" he shouted. "Do I look like a chair?!"

Joey stepped back. "Woah man, geez. Sorry."

"Hmph." The agitated Roggenrola hopped away into the darkness ahead, leaving Joey and everyone else to watch it hop like a rabbit.

"Geez, this place literally is crawling with Pokémon." Joey muttered.

"Welcome to the real world." Duncan chided lightly, leaning against the rock wall, getting them to look at him. "You know, it's not exactly bright to be in a place like this if you're looking to take a break. If you're really going to rest, did you make sure to bring Repel?"

Joey blinked. He and Dereece exchanged confused looks before realizing the mistake. "Well…no…but…" He saw Duncan spraying himself with a can of Repel, making his eyes widen. "Woah, hey! That the stuff?"

"Hmph."

"Gimme!" Joey seized the repel from Duncan, looking at the spray can like it committed a crime. Before long, he tried spraying himself, but sadly nothing came out. He looked at the bottle again and realized it was empty. "Hey." He growled. "Not cool man. Not. Cool."

Duncan shrugged. "Wasn't my fault."

"Well, you got some more on ya?"

Again, Duncan shrugged. "Hate to break this to you, but that was my last one."

Dereece facepalmed in frustration. "Oi vey."

Joey let out a long, undesirable groan throughout the dark caverns. "Well this is just _great_. First we get Zubat every two feet, next thing you know, you end up sitting on a rock that can talk back at you. Just…just…" Joey's small irate span suddenly turned 180 when he blinked. He blinked several more times, rubbing his eyes to make sure what he saw was right. "Hm? Wait…" he pointed forward. "Is it me, or is that safety tape up there?"

"Say what?" Dereece got up, thankfully no talking rock berating him. He looked ahead to see the safety checkmark ahead, and it seemed faded.

Duncan glanced forward as well. All three got up and noticed the darkness in which the Roggenrola stopped t. It looked back at them, before he turned and walked into the depth, beyond the faded tap. The Freaks followed, getting to the edge as well.

"This looks like the checkpoint." Dereece said, his voice forewarning dread.

"This is as far as they've gotten." Duncan turned towards Joey. "What now?"

Joey could sense the doubt in both comrades; Duncan sounding far more neutral than Dereece's anxiousness rising. A part of him wanted to back out, but that was just a part of him. He steeled himself, prepared to see this mission through. He stepped forward. "Follow me. Stay careful."

Dereece and Duncan found no objections. With one person having Repel, they may as well stay close. They followed Joey beyond the checkpoint into the darkness of the cave. They all walked in, and it all seemed…quiet. The hush tone left a sense of anxiousness for them to keep track of.

"Uh…is anyone else feeling a little creeped out here?" Dereece asked.

"No…" Duncan began. "It's quiet. Too quiet…" He scanned the darkness, seeing anything that might pop out. With Joey looking dead ahead, he was unaware of something that Dereece caught above. "Above you!"

Joey snapped up to find rocks falling down onto him. Immediately he activated his magic. " **Barrier-Make: Hemisphere!** " He hurried manifesting a dome of his magic, surrounding himself and his teammates. The rocks all fell onto the barrier, crumbling away.

The barrier lifted, leaving Dereece in a state of shock. "Where id that come from?! Look out!"

"What the-?!" From ahead, rock darts shot with heavy precision. Joey leaned back as he created another barrier, stopping the attack as well. Once it was gone, he lifted the defense. "What's going on?!" He looked around them, his eyes wandering to two shits along the widened caverns.

Two massive boulder-like chains slowly eroded from the side. Looking down at them were two rock chain-like snake creatures that had horns on their heads. They growled low at Joey and his team for entering.

"Onix!" Dereece yelled. He pulled out a PokeDex, he hurriedly analyzed their opponents.

" **Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. It usually lives underground. It searches for food while boring its way through the ground at 50 miles per hour.** "

"Oh boy…" Dereece looked back up, seeing them glaring. "They don't seem too friendly."

As if he was on the mark, the Onix let out a territorial roar. Both raised their heads as gray energy manifested into rocks, via Rock Throw. Without warning, they launched them at them again.

" **Barrier-Make: Barrier!** "

Joey quickly created a barrier in front, avoiding rocks that could've crushed them. The bombardment of rocks continued pelting Joey's barrier, leaving him busy. "Guys! Get out your Pokémon!" he grunted.

Dereece and Duncan did as told, but as they got out their capsules, they heard shifting from behind. By the time they turned around a horde of Roggenrola were there. They all kicked up dirt and sand, via Sand Attack. The sudden wave of sand caused them both to tough and cover up.

"Is this…" Dereece coughed. "An ambush?!"

Duncan grunted at the predicament they were getting in. He couldn't believe this was happening to them.

The Onix roared, and one Onix raised its head with a gray outline over the body. A shimmered gray energy shaped and separated, turning into gray rocks, via Rock Tomb. Rearing its head forward, the Onix hurled them at Joey. He hurried to adjust the barrier.

" **Barrier-Make: Ball!** "

Molding the barrier into a massive ball surrounding him and his teammates, the blinding sand was thwarted, as well as the crushing force of the rocks as they crumbled away at the barrier's wake.

"We gotta do something, and quick!" Dereece pointed out. "Look out!"

Another Onix reared lower, hurling another Rock Throw attack at the barrier ball. However, this force pushed the ball backwards, causing Joey and his team to lose balance inside. They all screamed as they fell onto one another. The ball barrier fell onto the Roggenrola horde, who all raised their hexagonal heads and lifted the ball up.

"What's happening now?!" Duncan exasperated.

The Roggenrola all shouted as they moved the barrier, making it shift over them over to a ledge. Far below, it looked like a steep dive like a naturally formed slide, though looking very rough stalagmites popping out.

Joey swallowed. "…uh oh."

The Roggenrola all shoved Joey and the others off, sending the barrier ball rolling down the bumpy hill to the depths of the caverns. They all screamed as they ricocheted off every corner of the ball like a pinball machine. The ball itself was hitting stalagmites every now and again, similar to that of a pinball machine. Each harsh blow jutted them inside, and in some cases bumped right over some Geodude. They plundered down the bumpy steep hill until everything went black.

By the time they started coming around, The Freaks weakly got to their feet. "Ugh, man, what a rush." Joey said, his eyes still spinning. He pressed on his own head to simmer down the dizziness. When it settled, he looked around to notice the atmosphere was cooler than what it was. "Uh, guys? We might have a problem here."

Looking around, the atmosphere was unlike that of the narrow tunnel they had to get through, the one that really ticked them off and their Pokémon to no end. It was still barely lit – surprisingly – and small caverns connected at the ledges, one of which that they slide took them to. They were in solid ground with open space, and around them were startled cave-dwelling Pokémon, from Onix, to Geodude, to even Roggenrola, with Zubat far high up on stalactite ceiling.

"Where the heck are we?" Dereece asked as he stumbled around.

A slow, ominous clapping sound was heard, alerting them as they turned towards the direction of where it came from. "Nice of you to drop in." a sly, eloquent voice chimed.

Joey and everyone's eyes widened as they were seeing someone step out of the shadows, and they did not like what they saw. Joey's gasp was loud enough to make it sound like he forgot how to breathe. His eyes narrowed as the figure stepped into light.

"It can't be…"

Appearing with a Venipede purring in his hold was an old foe, who had charm, with equally as much vice that made him devious. The same guy who messed with them before, and would do so again. "Don't celebrate." He smirked. "…not yet at least…"

Kane was back.

* * *

The door opened to Erza's home, her Aegislash in tow. Once inside he closed the door and took in a deep breath. "Good work today, Aegislash. Suppose this calls for a break. You should rest up for now." She held up her Poke Ball. "Return." With the command, Aegislash reverted to energy, recalled into her capsule. Sighing again, Erza felt some of the tension relax. "Honestly, it's just one job after the next. First Natsu goes and makes a mess, then the slack needs to be picked up the day after." She snickered at the irony. "I must be delirious if I'm complaining this much. And here I thought I lost my mind long ago when Natsu and Gray made up." Such bittersweet memories in the atmosphere for her. It didn't feel like it was long ago before the fall of Zeref and Acnologia, and even then, stakes were high. But before she could fall back on such thoughts, her mind wandered to a pit on her stomach, and empty pit. "Suppose I should see what Nic is planning for tonight." She wandered into the kitchen area, looking around to see if her husband was there, but there was nothing but empty space. "Nic?"

She didn't find Nic like she wanted, but to the knight's surprise, there was a little folded piece of paper. Curious of what it was, she reached over and picked it up. She opened it, taking careful consideration of the words in cursive.

 **Erza,**

 **Went out for a bit to pickup some things. I have the ribs in the fridge ready to be put in the oven. I should be back by the time they're ready.**

 **The husband you can't go a day without,**

 **Nic**

Erza had a feeling Nic was just pulling her leg at the last part, but the message got through to her. The inside of her stomach turned from hunger to slight worry. "I had a bad feeling about this?" She looked out the window, her stare getting anxious by the second. "Nic, what did you do now?"

* * *

Wild cavern dwellers surrounded The Freaks as they found themselves unable to get out. They were at odds before with numbers stacked as high as before on Caracole Island, but this time they were alone. To make matters all the more terrifying, the self-proclaimed archnemesis of the party lover himself was added for extra salt to the wound.

Seeing his rival once more, Joey scornfully glared. "Hello, Kane." He sourly replied.

Kane feigned surprise. "Why, Captain Joey, you _do_ remember me. One should remember their archnemesis after all."

Joey raised a brow. "Really? I just thought you were some crazed fan of me who desperately sought my attention."

Dereece gave Joey a stern look. _'Is he serious?'_

Kane chuckled mockingly as Venipede scurried up his shoulder. "Well, you're in the ballpark at least. Your attention _is_ a part of this grand scheme after all."

"And what's that?" Joey asked. "And wait, why the heck are you here anyway?"

"Why, to defeat you naturally." Kane answered matter-of-factly, petting Venipede in the process. "I suppose you're wondering how it is that I came up with such a brilliant scheme to lure you all the way out here."

Joey crossed his arms. "No, not really." He deadpanned.

"Good, cuz I'm going to tell you." Kane countered. "You see, after Venipede and I woke up from our…concussion, we've decided that in order to succeed in your eminent defeat, we had to find a way to make sure that no one would come and help you like before." He gestured all around him. "That's when we found this wonderful hiding hole just crawling with Pokémon."

Joey and everyone looked around to see his valid point. Dereece didn't sway. "But how did you know we'd be here? You wouldn't know unless…" he trailed off, picking up on the sense of it all.

"Unless I _knew_ you would pick the job?" Kane finished, looking at his nails nonchalantly. "You see, those mages that were at that tavern, they were another guild that's in Magnolia, last I recall: Twilight Ogre. I knew you two didn't get along, so, I made use of that."

Dereece stepped forward. "You mean…you paid those guys to talk smack…on purpose?"

Kane snickered. "I see you pick dots fast. So while they were doing that, I timed it just right for while your guild was busy…" He flashed back to when everyone was having battles in the guild. He knew Nab was there, and with a snap of his fingers, Venipede's Poison Sting stung his back, getting his attention long enough for him to slip pass him and plant the fake request before bolting away from a confused and disoriented Nab. "I snuck the job in a split second, and with that, the bait was set. Given Joey's mental state of being jealous, and getting carried away, I knew that when the word 'Experienced' was seen, the bait was taken."

Joey's vision squinted. "Okay, that was pretty interesting." He complimented. "But sucks for you, because that makes no sense…" he blinked confusedly. "Right…?"

"Oh! But that's the best part!" Kane uproariously replied. "Unlike before, we're deep in the caverns underground, where _no one_ will come and pull you out just like before! And to add good measure…" he snapped his fingers, making all the Pokémon around glare at The Freaks ominously. "I've secured a little trusted help."

Dereece glared. "How'd you get them to work for you?"

Without needing to use verbal answers, Kane pulled out a small sack from his coat pocket. He reached inside, holding up a nice aged stone. Almost immediately, the Onix, Geodude, and Roggenrola turned with looks of delegacy written all over their faces. "You see, Joey isn't the only one who can have reinforcements of his own." Kane mocked.

"And the Zubats?"

"Oh those were just a bonus." Kane shrugged, fiddling his fingers. "Really, those things are so fickle to deal with. Even _I_ wouldn't waste my time with such any winged rodents. Now then…" Venipede hopped off his shoulder, with Kane getting out another Poke Ball. "Time to get down to business."

Joey immediately grew serious as he knew he couldn't run out like before. He pulled out two Poke Balls, while his teammates prepared as well.

"Keep those two busy!" Kane ordered. "And leave the middle one…to me."

Dereece and Duncan immediately found themselves swarmed with wild Pokémon, including Zubat swooping down. In a matter of seconds, Joey was helpless as he found himself isolated from his friends and forced in a duel against his nemesis. He gave a serious glare back at Kane, ready for battle.

"Yes, that's the look I wanted to see." Kane hissed eagerly. "Such vile contempt, such luxury. Why, isn't this perfect? Light and dark, facing off yet again! So then, Joey, to whom shall this victory belong to, and to whom shall be left buried alive?" He tossed both Poke Balls. "Let us begin! Go!"

Venipede hissed as he was already out, but appearing next to him was an orange weasel-like Pokémon. He had a creamy yellow belly, with two ovals on the back. He had two tails connected like a propeller, with blue fins connected to the arms. The intricate part about him was his flotation sac around his neck. He folded his arms in seriousness.

"A Buizel?" Joey pulled out his PokeDex, analyzing Kane's creature beside Venipede.

" **Buizel, the Sea Weasel Pokémon. It inflates its flotation sac around its neck and pokes its head out of the water to see what is going on.** "

Joey put the PokeDex away and glared at Kane's style. _'So he's got another Pokémon, and it looks strong.'_ He balled his fists. _'If I use Trubbish, Toxic Spikes won't work. My Pokémon are still worn out from being dragged down here, and I didn't have much time to heal them.'_ He grunted again at his lack of assortments needed. He needed to make note of this. _'Guess I have no choice. It's all I got for now!'_ He pulled out two Poke Balls, throwing them out. "Alright! Chespin! Pidove! Go!"

The Poke Balls opened, revealing Chespin and Pidove once more. Each one chirped and chimed respectively against their opponents, hearing them growl and hiss.

"Very well then…" Kane squinted. "Let us begin! Buizel use **Growl**!" Buizel took in a breath before he screamed out, expelling distorted ripples that reached out towards Chespin and Pidove, shrieking through their ears. With their foes immobilized, Kane got to work. "Now, Venipede! Use **Rollout!** "

Venipede hissed before he curled into a ball. He sped into Chespin, closing the gap in a hurry.

Joey, however, wasn't the only one having some trouble. Dereece was feeling himself cornered with the Roggenrola and Geodude crowding around him. _'Gotta get to Captain Joey. He needs help!'_ Hurrying mentally, he found a quick solution to this dilemma. He activated his magic, taking steps into the air. He hurriedly went along, getting over the Pokémon that were bargained by Kane.

"Heh, guess this magic really is good." He realized, but his joy was cut short when he saw a glistening orange-like orb at the base of a Roggenrola's core. "Uh-oh…"

The Roggenrola launched the orb, hurling through the air and quickly struck Dereece. The impact of the Rock-type attack created an explosion, one that Dereece fell straight down from in a frantic wail. This time, no one caught him, and he plopped on his side like he fell out of bed.

"Owww…" he groaned weakly, stirring back up. "Smack Down…great." This was a problem for him. Yanma would be at a significant disadvantage if she were let into battle. He had to hurry and think, and fast. He pulled out a Poke Ball. "Okay, go Heracross!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Dereece's Heracross at the ready. "You call?" he inquired curtly.

A wild Onix roared as it created a blue aura around its body, and soon two red auras flashed consecutively, via Curse. Some Roggenrola went for Headbutt, and others went shooting rocks, via Rock Throw. Heracross maneuvered all around them.

"Use **Horn Attack!** " Dereece commanded.

Heracross's horn glowed brightly and he aimed for the Roggenrola clustered beneath. He roared as he went to sunder like a missile, making an intense burst of rock and energy that sent them all flying off in various direction. "Like that." He said, but a shadow overhead caught his attention. When he looked up, he saw rocks falling from the ceiling. "GAH!" he shrieked as he fluttered out of the way, avoiding the crushing blows that shook the earth. He scurried through the atmosphere in a hurry, but was blown down when a Zubat daring enough swooped from the bite and had wings glowing, putting Heracross back on the ground with a thud.

Dereece tensed at the uneasiness he was feeling. "Oh man, not good…" He looked around, finding that he was being surrounded by bats that were alarmed by the battles. "Shoo! Shoo! Go away! Waaaah~!"

Duncan, however, looked around his surroundings. At the corner of his eye, a few Geodude went to attack, but being smart he gripped the makeshift wooden stick and used his Holding Magic to amplify its striking force. With one swing, he batted the Geodude away into the distance behind some more Geodude and Onix. They all slowly crept towards Duncan, but unlike the problem with Dereece, Duncan was keeping a strong perimeter.

Taking a glance around, he recognized that the number of Pokémon around him were drastically shorter than the wailing Dereece had. The Zubat themselves are barely getting down to him without being repulsed by some smell. _'That last Repel must be in effect still. Good.'_ Taking sheer advantage of this opportunity, Duncan pulled out a Poke Ball and threw it. "Gastrodon, **Muddy Water!** "

The capsule opened, summoning forth Gastrodon a second time. The Sea Slug Pokémon let out a cry as he raised his head almost immediately, summoning another vortex of brown water all around him. The attack spread about the area like a vicious blue whirlwind, swallowing up all the Pokémon in the area.

As the waves diminished in the distance, Duncan continued looking around, finding that even more wild Pokémon were being attracted now. He looked left, and then right, and his glare hardened in a fury. "Okay then…" he started. "Seems like we'll be getting _some_ Exp. from these guys after all."

Chespin slid across the ground, avoiding Venipede's attack. He came to a halt, but Venipede blindsided him. He came from behind, forcing Chespin to spin out of the way. Venipede rolled back around and continued his onslaught, leaving Chespin little room to counter.

"Pidove, give him some cover! **Gust**!" Joey commanded.

"I shall obey, Master!" Pidove chirped, his wings glowing bright blue as he flapped them, summoning a strong wind at Venipede.

"Don't think we've anticipated this!" Kane rebuffed. "Buizel, use **Sonic Boom!** " His Buizel's tail glowed white, and he swung it, sending a large white shockwave up to the tempest that aimed for his teammate. The attack sliced until it dissipated with the winds, leaving a stalemate.

"Alright, use **Quick Attack!** "

"Buizel, **Quick Attack!** "

Both Pokémon either chirped or snickered. Afterimages followed the two as they soared at one another, colliding once with one another. They backed off, only to follow into parries with the other each second they collided. Pidove dove for Buizel again, and Buizel shot up for another interception. They both soared as they collided head-first with the other, leaving another stalemate that left the air to shudder. Moments later, after a long struggle, Buizel growled out and reared his head forward, sending Pidove paddling backwards in the air.

Buizel landed on a knee, smirking. "Got him."

Joey swiped his arm. "Chespin, block Venipede!"

"Aye!" He stood his ground and steeled himself as Venipede went rolling on ahead. "Alright, come get some!" Holding his arms out, Venipede went rolling into him. He caught Venipede in his clutches, tumbling considerably until the rolling came to a tough halt. With him in place, the next part could begin.

"Now use **Bite!** " Joey shouted. Chespin opened his maw, readying to bite down on his rival's exoskeleton.

"Not so fast there!" Kane shouted. "Use **Sonic Boom!** "

Buizel obeyed the command and this time swung his tail from the side, making a crescent-like shockwave travel across the ground on Chespin's side. By the time he registered the attack it had already hit him, making him airborne.

"Now, use **Poison Sting!** "

Venipede followed up next, hissing as he reared up on his lower-half and exerted poisonous purple barbs at Chespin. The attack landed a clean mark, sending Chespin sliding back in pain. He groaned as he tried standing, whereas Pidove regained some balance. Kane's Pokémon returned to their positions again.

Joey saw how beaten up his Pokémon were. He grunted in annoyance. _'He's gotten stronger for sure.'_

"As you can see, Joey, I have taken measures in counteracting your Pokémon." Kane mockingly explained. "Now, let's see who's the brilliant mastermind this time! Buizel, **Growl!** Venipede, **Rollout!** "

Buizel released another shrilling cry that distorted through the air towards Chespin and Pidove again, lowering their Attack stats further. As they were in distress, Venipede me another attempt at rolling across the ground, this time into Pidove. Kane eagerly smirked.

"Well we've got some new tricks as well!" Joey reached out. "Chespin, **Leech Seed!** "

Chespin slid in front of Pidove, glaring at Venipede. "Alright, roll yourself out of this!" He took a deep breath, exhaling green seeds that dropped on the ground where Venipede was heading towards. The attack sprouted out of the ground, snaring Venipede and making him hiss as vines and roots tangled him up.

"What's this?!" Kane gasped. "My sweet Venipede!"

Venipede hissed and struggled to break free of his hold on the roots snaring his body. Unable to break free, Chespin felt himself get restored a little. This was their chance, and Joey saw that. "Use **Rollout!** "

"You got it!" Chespin curled into a ball, rolling right along into Venipede. The super-effective Rock-type attack scored a crisp blow in his face, sending him flying onto his back, much to Kane's horror.

"VENIPEDE!" he shrieked. He saw Venipede struggle to get up as Chespin began rolling about. Anger rising, his glare darkened as he reached forward. "Give Venipede some cover! Buizel, **Sonic Boom!** " Buizel's tail glowed and he swung it around, sending a crescent at Pidove to keep him occupied.

Seeing the shockwave head their way, and knowing that their Attack was reduced, Joey had to act fast. "We gotta block…" he tensed up for the next move. "Pidove, try **Steel Wing!** "

"I shall obey, Master!" Pidove saw the shockwave head his way, readying himself. Remembering his training, Pidove's wings began shimmering a weak metallic gray coating. He chirped loudly as he soared at the shockwave. With a cry, his wings busted through, dissipating it and leaving him to bolt towards Buizel.

"It worked! Alright!" Joey cheered. "Pidove, **Steel Wing!** "

Pidove cried out as he closed the gap with Buizel with his wings glowing. He was close, but before impact, his wings faded back to normal, the energy dissipating. Shocked by this, Pidove lost balance, to which Buizel took advantage of and jumped atop the misbalanced bird.

"Use **Sonic Boom!** " Kane commanded.

Buizel let out a cry as he spun in the air, creating a white shockwave directly above that Pidove was unable to handle. The shockwave's impact sent Pidove to the ground, crying upon his terrible thud.

"Pidove!" Joey shrieked. He mentally cursed himself upon the faulty move he called for. Choosing to focus on the battle than his lacks, he reached forward. "Chespin, cover him! **Rollout!** "

Chespin continued rolling throughout the ground's wake, churning gravel as he spun faster into Venipede. The leeched centipede remained still as his prey came for him.

"You know…" Kane smirked. "You didn't really think we didn't have a backup plan, did you?"

"What?" Joey gasped.

Kane reached forward. "Alright, **Protect!** " Venipede's eyes opened and he created a translucent turquoise shield. The rolling Chespin struck the shield with intense force, but the barrier didn't break. Instead, Chespin ricocheted back into the air, crying out form the repulse.

"Venipede learned Protect?!" Joey exclaimed, but he saw that Buizel was already set. "Snap! Chespin look out!"

"Too late! Use **Sonic Boom!** "

Buizel let out a cry as he spun his tail yet again, sending a white shockwave into Chespin from the side yet again. Chespin was too slow to act before the attack struck him with deep force. The shockwave sent him doubling over onto his stomach, several meters from Joey. He grunted in pain, even while some of Venipede's energy was sapped again back to him. Buizel and a slightly shaken Venipede regrouped, facing Chespin as he was struggling to stand.

"Chespin…" Joey looked over, seeing even Pidove a little disoriented as he was trying to get up.

"It's over, Captain Joey." Kane's voice alerted Joey's attention. "Despite your remarkable gifts…you could never fathom what it takes to have real ambition. So now I'll show you…" he reached forward. Getting ready to command his Pokémon around the dazed Chespin. "Venipede! Buizel! Time to finish up once and for all!"

Joey was losing precious time, as well as patience. He looked back to see Dereece being overwhelmed by the cavernous Pokémon, and Duncan was doing just fine without any help. Their team was so scattered, and Joey was seeing Chespin surrounded as Venipede hissed, and Buizel bent his knees for the final strike. When he looked over again, he saw Pidove in the distance. As dizzy as he was, the bird was given no attention. Perhaps Joey did have a chance after all.

"Pidove! Stop them!"

Pidove's dizzy expression turned upright when he heard Joey's command. He saw him pointing to Buizel and Venipede as they surrounded their ally. Asif oblivious to all else, Pidove stood up. "I must obey master!" he took off ahead of them, ascending above to attack.

"Now what?" Kane scoffed. "Buizel, stop that buffoon of a bird!"

Buizel and Venipede looked up at Pidove, seeing him over their heads. They readied and attack, but they saw Pidove had his eyes closed before they flashed open. With a loud chirp, Pidove cried out as he flapped his wings, sending-shaped light blue crescents at them.

"What the-?!"

Buizel gasped in shock. He pivoted and fired yet another Sonic Boom, but the crescents Pidove shot were in greater numbers and strength. The crescents rained down with deep force, impacting Buizel with explosive results. The crescents reached for Venipede, but he whipped up another Protect, shielding himself while Buizel went flipping into a feral scream overhead.

"What?! No!" Kane screamed, watching Buizel thud on his back, fainted. He looked ahead, horrified at what happened. "He…he took him out. With just one Air Cutter."

"Air Cutter?" Joey looked at Pidove, completely shocked. "Woah, that's awesome! Pidove, you learned Air Cutter!"

Finally given room, Chespin looked up to his savior. "Pidove, you…you saved me! Again!"

Dereece screamed as he was overwhelmed by the sand that the Roggenrola were all shooting at him. He was coughing as Heracross could barely keep up. Zubat swarmed around their heads, hissing ad waiting for the dust to clear.

" **Muddy Water!** "

The sounds of roaring water washed away everything. Dereece and Heracross covered up as a rush of brown water encompassed everything around them, including the wild inhabitants. They were spared as the waves bypassed them. Once the waves cleared, the Pokémon surrounding them were all downed, except those who had Sturdy. They were pushed back a fair distance, more than enough for Dereece and Heracross to regroup.

"Heracross, wha…" Dereece looked over, seeing the culprit and his Pokémon walk up. "Duncan!"

A rogue Onix shook its head, still holding on from that wave. Blinded with an accuracy loss, Duncan casually walked forward and swatted his wooden sword with Holding magic. The added force, downed the Onix, making the ground shake.

This sunder had another effect, one that made tunnels within the cavern have a very weak vibration. The thud was heard from another distance, this one alarming something in the dark. It growled low, as if annoyed.

Duncan disregarded his defeated opponent, looking at his hand as the wooden sword was chipped. "To much power." He said lightly, before a Geodude came from the side, only for his Gastrodon to Body Slam it. Even then he remained calm.

"Buizel!" Kane got to his knees, looking down at his defeated Buizel with shock. "What have they done to you? Hurry and rest!" He hurriedly recalled Buizel, leaving him and Venipede to battle. "Well now, seems you have done it now. Kudos on your 'talents' at dumb luck." He balled his fist. "But now, _this_ is-!"

" **Kroooaahh!** "

A loud echo shrilled through the caverns. This alarmed everyone there, stopping them from their battles.

Joey went wide-eyed. "Uh…that wasn't my stomach.

The echoing roar bellowed again, alarming the wild Pokémon even.

A chill went up Dereece's spine. "Oh no…what now?" he whined. He looked towards Duncan, seeing as how he seemed deathly serious. He looked back to the direction of the roar in the distance.

Many of them in the area began to scuttle away, whereas Onix began to grow weary. They could feel an ominous chill run up and down their bodies as they stared with uncertainty at the direction of the echo. The low growls coming from one of the tunnels made it clear that something was heading their way.

Joey looked over at Kane, figuring that it might be his fault. But by the stumped look he had, he could feel this wasn't his doing. He looked concerningly at the growing noise.

In front of Kane, Venipede began hissing. "What are you talking about?" Kane asked, to which Venipede hissed and squealed. "You mean…" his face began paling. "Oh dear. Seems this situation has gone out of control."

" **KRROOOAAAH!** "

The entire cavern shuddered at the soundwaves that shrilled through the cavern. The entire underground pulsated uncontrollably those with great hearing could feel their ears bleed. Joey, having hearing aids, reached in and lowered the input, lowering the volume to a muffled bit. He looked ahead, his eyes widening at their uninvited guest wandering out of a rogue tunnel.

It appeared to have been a rather large, bipedal Pokémon. It was primarily purple with yellow accents on the body and sides. It had massive tubes running all throughout the head, including two massive tube-like tails. The being had a massive, gaping mouth with two teeth on the top and bottom.

Upon seeing the Pokémon, Dereece paled. "An…Exploud?!"

"WHO'S MAKING ALL THAT NOISE?!" the loquacious creature boomed, loud enough to quake the earth beneath them. The shockwaves of its roar sent small airwaves traveling across the ground, blowing away some Geodude.

Uneased by all this, Joey pulled out his PokeDex, analyzing the third party in this fight.

" **Exploud, the Loud Noise Pokémon. Exploud triggers earthquakes with the tremors it creates by bellowing. If this Pokémon violently inhales from the ports on its body, it's a sign that it is preparing to let loose a huge bellow.** "

Seeing this made a shiver went up Joey's spine. He remembered the last time he got into an incident with an Exploud when he was so young. Just the mere thought made him subconsciously graze his hearing aids.. Such a scary memory that he never wanted to go through again.

Exploud took in a deep exhale, taking up as much air as he possibly could. Once he was ready, he quickly went to attack.

"Joey, make a barrier, now!" Duncan screamed.

"Uh, r-right!" Joey reached out, surrounding himself, his Pokémon, and a gathered Dereece and Duncan and their Pokémon in another hemisphere of barrier.

"Hey! What about me?!" Kane screamed, but he looked over and his eyes widened in shriveling fear. "Oh dear…"

Exploud shrilled a loud, menacing roar, one that shook the cavernous domain and all the inhabitants that lived in the area. Its Roar attack shrilled through the atmosphere, causing many Pokémon to either be blown away by the shockwaves or flee in fright. The rampaging area calmed itself soon, leaving nothing but dust and dirt to clear to reveal nothing but the defeated Pokémon within the area that Duncan had already took care of, leaving nothing but Loudred still standing.

Off to the side, Kane was on the ground with Venipede, both stirring awake. "Gnngh…what happened?" He looked around, gasping in despair. "No…my reinforcements!" he looked at Exploud. "This wasn't part of the deal! Who are you to interfere with me and my nemesis' epic battle?"

The Exploud turned towards Kane, his annoyed look serving to give a less than pleasing vibe. Almost immediately Kane regretted provoking it, because it raised it foot and prepared to stomp down on Kane.

"Look out!" Joey screamed for his rival.

Kane quickly pulled out a lighter, and in an instant, the little ember went out on command. Everything went pitch-black as Exploud's Stomp stamped on something hard. When the lights came on, Loudred and everyone looked down, finding that Kane and Venipede weren't there.

"Looking for something?" Turning towards a cliff's edge, Exploud and everyone looked up to find Kane and Venipede perfectly fine.

"How'd he get there so quick?" Dereece wondered.

Joey briefly remembered this trick. Back a little while ago, he recalled when Kane left his room when the lights went off. It was only now when he finally picked up the pattern. _'Wait…if that's his magic, does this mean he can teleport using lights or something?'_ He was cut off when Exploud took in a deeper breath. "Oh snap!"

Exploud expelled another omnidirectional shout, shrilling shockwaves all throughout the atmosphere. The shockwaves made the ground tremble in fear, as well as made everyone inside Joey's barrier cover their ears, except Joey. The shockwaves were enough to make the ground beneath Kane and Venipede crumble away. They cried out and fell, before Kane managed to grab hold of a small ledge and dangled with Venipede on the end of his coat, whereas the rocks fumbled straight down to the bottom. He looked down, looking a little frightened.

Duncan and Dereece grunted inside Joey's barrier, along with their Pokémon. They all could hear the tremors and the pulsating pressure banging against their feet. It was enough to mistake for a dynamite eruption. As everyone was immobilized inside the barrier, Joey's hearing aids were dropped to zero. In his ears, all that was heard was the constant ringing. Everything around him had no other sound. He looked around to find his other Pokémon were also incapable of doing anything. This opponent's Hyper Voice was strong. Very strong.

Being a deaf Barrier-Make Mage had advantages, but not for those inside who could still hear. _'I gotta do something. The sound is still getting through.'_ Joey was on pins and needles as Exploud's tremors ripped through the earth constantly. _'Man, all I can do is defend!'_ Joey was at a total loss here; outmatched with Exploud's very high level.

The Normal-type readied a steady charge, rampaging after his opponents. Each step he took shook the ground in a fury, and Joey only swallowed as everyone else was still disoriented. _'It's all down to me…'_ Images of Broly again flashed. His teeth began gritting. He held his ground as Exploud closed in.

Just as the rampaging beast closed in, something held him back.

"What…?" Heracross muttered.

Exploud grunted as he felt something pull on his tail tube. "GNGH! WHAT?!" he shook, but it didn't loosen the hold. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Before he could expel a roar, a harsh force dragged him into the air, hurling him into the ground with a thud so impacting that those who watched flinched at how harsh that was.

"Oh! That's gotta hurt!" Dereece winced.

Joey looked at the savior of their overwhelming opponent, which looked like a long, sticky string that wiggled away. Almost immediately, it clicked. _'Wait, that tongue…!'_ He and everyone followed the tongue to the darkness of a wall nearby, almost completely disappearing from sight. _'Was that…?'_

A figure stepped forward. "I thought something was fishy." A voice called out from the darkness. "So then you staged all this."

Everyone turned around at the voice. When they turned, their eyes lit up upon seeing a person with short spiky black hair with the deepest, heartfelt blue eyes, and yet he looked so calmly as he walked up to them.

Joey rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "N-Nic-senapi?!" He was taken back by Nic casually walking up to them. "H-how d-d-d-did you…?"

Kane was still dangling, his eyes shooting wide upon seeing and feeling who this person was. _'That's Nic Pularis, in the flesh?!'_

Seeing how they were all gathered and partially scraped, Nic scanned The Freaks, ignoring Duncan's cold stare. "You guys alright?"

Dereece, barely able to comprehend the situation, slowly nodded. "Y-yeah, we're good." He answered. "But…how did you find us?" From the corner of his eye, he saw something fade into view besides Nic, tilting her head oddly. "Wait, is that…?"

Nic pet Kecleon's cheek using the bottom of his knuckles. "I had Kecleon tail you just in case." Nic answered promptly. "Sorry, I know this wasn't my business…" he looked at Joey. "But when I saw Joey down at the market today, I thought something went wrong. That's when I went to that tavern and learned about the truth." He shot a look at Kane, who was kicking and grunting up on the cliff. "So he's the one who paid them that sum to talk smack about the guild, that right?"

Kane was unable to answer. He was kicking frustratingly at the air. He and Venipede just couldn't pull themselves together to even answer right now.

Kecleon noticed Exploud getting up, her head tilting in curiosity. "The stereo system got rebooted."

Nic glanced over, seeing Exploud in fact rising up, and he looked more pissed than ever. Turning with seriousness, he readied for battle. "I'll explain more later. Right now, we've gotta wrap this up. You guys okay with this?"

Joey and Dereece slowly nodded nervously. Though Duncan wouldn't admit it, he was vaguely disappointed with the interference, but out of respect of Nic's status, he voluntarily backed off this time.

"Alright, thanks." Getting the message, Nic glared forward. "Kecleon."

Exploud let out another shriek of anger. "MORE NOISE!" he stomped ahead, charging at Kecleon in the way. "YOU ALL ARE MAKING TOO MUCH NOISE~!"

He raised a foot over Kecleon's head, stomping down onto her. However, that was put to a halt when Kecleon reached up with one clawed paw, stopping Exploud's foot in place with just the limb alone. He blinked once, frozen in place when he saw the creepy crane in Kecleon's neck. He paled in fright.

"Use **Brick Break!** " Nic roared.

Pulling her spare arm back, Kecleon balled the claws as the entire arm glowed bright white. Straightening her head, she let loose an impact straight into Exploud's head, creating a bone-shrilling shockwave and tremor that made dust and dirt spread all around. The shock from the overwhelming strength sent Exploud whistling skywards. He was nothing but a purple blur that shit up to the ceiling of the deep cavern, creating a massive crater that crushed the stalactite beneath. The echo of that attack was so dense that everything went silent again.

Kane stared up in shock, almost forgetting to maintain his hold. The Freaks stared up at the defeated Exploud embedded in the ceiling by that one move, catered by the green creature that adjusted – which slowly craned her head to the side again, blinking twice like nothing happened. They were at a loss for words alone. Dereece swore his heart stopped for a second.

"Woah." He gasped.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Joey muttered. He looked at Nic's back, seeing how calm he was about the situation. It made him envious as well as scared at the same time. _'Nic-senpai and Kecleon are so strong…'_

Slowly, gravity began to work against Exploud. The creature got torn from the ceiling, leaving the crater to collapse upon itself. Rocks started falling from great heights, plummeting down from the ceiling that was starting to shudder.

"O-oh snap! This is bad!" Dereece shakily warned.

Duncan looked around, seeing rocks crumbled around them. "This cavern's roof is coming down!"

Snapping out of momentary shock, Joey went wide-eyed. "GAH! You're right! I'm too young and pretty to die!" he wailed.

Nic jumped to their side, glowing and reverting to his Earth Form. "Everyone stay close, and hurry after me!" Nic raised both arms into the air. " **Dig!** " Using his bare hands, he sundered into the ground, creating a hole that was bored through. "Hurry!" Nic shouted through the hole.

"Return!" Joey and Dereece quickly returned their Pokémon to their Poke Balls; Duncan did as well with Gastrodon. Without complaint, Joey and Dereece jumped into the hole, just before rocks fell to bury it.

"W-wait! What about me?!" Kane shouted, but the ground shuddered beneath, terrifying him. Looking up, he saw a huge piece of the ceiling crumble onto him, panicking him to trying and reach for his lighter. The light turned on, and just as the rocks came down, Kane screamed in fright before all went black.

* * *

The shuddering was dimmed outside as a hole opened on the side of the entrance. The hole flooded out dirt and soil, before Nic and Kecleon jumped out, the former reverting to his normal self. He looked back, seeing Joey and Dereece tumble out, the big latter being used as a cushion for Joey's fall.

"Oh…" Dereece felt air inflate his belly as he rolled over after Joey got up. "Yup…I'm fine." He grunted.

Joey labored in breath, completely out of oxygen from that near-death experience he just narrowly escaped. "That was a close one!" he wheezed, leaning back against the wall. "I thought I was gonna be a pancake…"

Nic stood off to the side, remaining rather quiet for them to catch their breaths. Being respectful of their space, he chose to leave them be as he nodded at Kecleon for a job well done. Once she was returned, he looked back to see them on their feet.

"You okay, Dereece?" Joey asked.

Dereece coughed as he brushed his huge shorts off. "Yeah, I'm fine. All thanks to that guy." He gestured his eyes towards Nic.

Joey looked over, finally processing Nic's appearance. "N-Nic-senpai! Y-you saved us! Again!"

"You sure you guys are okay?" Nic asked again.

Joey was thrown off by Nic's inquiry. "W-why wouldn't I be? I-I mean I'm not broken or anything…"

Nic frowned. "Sorry, I meant about what they said about you."

Joey trailed off from Nic's testament. He slowly realized what he meant, about the tavern incident. His face began to fall when he couldn't hide his feelings.

"I was honestly worried you know." Nic admitted. "It's okay to be honest, Joey…I won't judge you for what you did…" his brow furrowed. "But condoning what you also did is something else. You realize what you did, right?"

Joey held his arm, a shadow overcasting his shame in front of Nic as he swallowed a lump. "N-Nic-senpai…I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry or anything. I-I was just…"

"Upset, I know. In all honesty, I feel the same as you." He snapped Joey back to facing him with shock. "You know, you can talk all the smack about me as much as you want, I couldn't care less one bit…but if you talk about my friends or my guild like that, that's another story."

Joey swallowed another lump. "But…but I hate it when people talk badly about you, Nic-senpai. I really do." He gave Nic a pleading stare, almost desperate. "How do you handle that? How do you handle all these emotions just bottling up inside of you?"

Nic blinked at Joey's question. He rubbed the side of his head as he looked away. "Well…that's a good question."

"Because he's more mature and less compulsive, that's why." The sound came from behind. Turning around, everyone saw Dereece standing outside the cavern entrance, not a single scratch on him.

"Duncan?" Dereece gasped. He looked at the hole, then back at him. "But I thought you…"

In Duncan's hand, there was a think brown laced rope. "I used an Escape Rope to get out. Unlike our _Captain_ , I actually came prepared." He looked specifically at Joey, walking pass Nic to stand in front of Joey. "And I can't believe that you let yourself get caught up in something as ridiculous as this trap setup by a second rate creep."

"Duncan." Dereece growled.

"It was enough that you let your little emotion spree run wild that you took it out on something as a job, but dragging us along when you yourself wasn't prepared is just plain pathetic. You should be grateful that you're still allowing Nic to hold your hand as he is now, otherwise if not for him, you'd be dead. Unlike you, he actually has experience, and he thinks two steps ahead at the very least. If you're really looking to match up to someone like him, you're mindsets' the first thing to get fixed."

"That's enough Duncan!" Dereece shouted.

A strong silence fell around the group. The atmosphere's tension grew adhesively cold, one that could make one lower their heads. Joey especially was this example.

Seeing Dereece's stare against him, Duncan closed his eyes and turned away. "Just speaking the truth."

Nic remained silent as he glanced from Duncan to Joey.

Joey, finally taking in a sigh, slowly stood up, though his head was still down in shame. "…you're right." He nodded acceptingly. "I…I messed up again. I'm sorry I dragged you both to my problems. I wasn't thinking at first. I just…wanted to show how strong I can become…but it turns out I went down that wrong path again." He sighed mournfully again. "And now look. I put you guys in harm's way…"

"Joey…" Dereece moved to him, but Nic beat him to it.

Joey expected a big scolding from Nic, especially with how reckless he was. He closed his eyes, waiting for what will happen. Moments later, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He opened his eyes as Nic had his head down.

"If it makes you feel better…I think you did just fine in there."

Joey's eyes widened. "You…do?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah. To be honest, I wasn't planning on interfering at all until Exploud showed up. I was keeping an eye ever since you guys went into the cave." Nic recalled when Kecleon came and got him. Using his Ground/Rock Form, he embedded into the caves and watched the team from the walls. "I told you that my style's all about improvising, right? You did just that with your magic. You held it together all the way up to that battle. And that goes to your teammates as well." He shot a look at Duncan, who scoffed. Dereece rubbed the back of his head. "So Joey, just because you've made a mistake, doesn't mean to have to out yourself down so hard. I won't say what you did wasn't the wisest thing…but I can't condone all of what Duncan said either." Again, he shot a look at the Trainer. "I have trouble handling my emotions at times as well, and, well, I still struggle at times…but I don't let them eat me from inside, because I have people who love and worry about me. And believe it or not, Joey, you're one of those people we all worry about."

Joey's eyes shrunk to the side of peas, his cheeks flourishing. "I…I am?!"

Nic smiled. "Yeah." He pulled away, crossing his arms. "To be honest, I'm not too tethered to my guild as my wife is, but I still look out for them the best I can. We're people who you can turn to, Joey. And we don't take lightly to being messed with. If someone is being talked smack about Joey, especially from our guild…" he trailed off, turning away. "Well…to be honest, I'm not the guy you should ask that part about. That's for you to decide. You have a mind of your own, so you can make that choice, whether good or bad. Got it?"

Hearing Nic's speech to him left Joey completely stoned. He didn't even know what to say until he slowly evolved a smile across his face. Out of respect, he bowed to Nic. "Thank you very much!" he shouted.

"Alright. So I guess that also means that you can fair well now for yourself. You're on your own for training from here, can you manage that?"

Joey nodded in encouragement. "Yeah. I'll be just fine now. Thanks, Nic-senpai."

Nic smiled. "Don't mention it. If anything troubles you…don't keep it bottled up to yourself. I realized something during my time in Fairy Tail, talking to someone, even when you don't want to, really does help."

Dereece took in a big sigh. "Phew. Well, glad that's over with," he looked back at the cavern entrance. "Still…Kane really was crafty. He staged a whole setup. I don't even wanna know if he got out of there so-AH!" he floored, having been hit by some rocks that fumbled from the hole Nic made.

"Ouch! Hey, Dereece, you okay pal?" Joey knelt down, nudging his buddy. "Dereece?" He looked at the rocks, which got his attention. "What the…?"

Nic stepped forward. "What is it?"

Joey picked up the few rocks, looking at their intriguing symbols and accents on them. He squinted, trying to recall their pictures. "Wait a minute…" His brain began thinking back to the pictures of the video games he played in his childhood. He went wide-eyed when he recognized the patterns. "Guys! Hold it! I just found something!"

Duncan raised a brow. "What now?"

"Take a look at these?" He gave a rock to Nic first, then to Duncan. They looked at the various patterns. For Nic, his was a shield-like plate. For Duncan, it looked a lot like a sail. And for Joey it looked like it a fang or some scary pattern on it.

Nic gasped. "…fossils?"

"Yeah! Pokémon fossils!" Joey cheered. "Can you believe this?!" He smiled wide. "First Chespin and Pidove learn new moves, now we're finding fossils in this world too! Man this is so cool!" he snickered in delight.

Duncan looked down at the fossil, but he chose to divert the gesture towards Nic. "So what do we do?"

Nic furrowed his brow. "Honestly, not sure myself. First Pokémon, now fossils are being brought up." he chose to make a decision. "I think this is a job for the Cambire Foundation to sort out. Maybe we'll get some hints on how they got embedded into the soil and the caves."

Duncan shrugged. "Fine with me."

Joey then thought of something. "Wait a sec…" he looked back at the cavern entrance, staring at the darkness inside. "Were these found in there? Or did they fell out of Kane's pockets when he teleported?" he rubbed the back of his head in confusion. "Then I guess that means they would've been found elsewhere, huh?"

Nic wasn't so sure himself, but rather than dwell on it further, he chose to look at the fossil one more time before taking in a moment's worth of serenity. He pondered deeply about something; it was just a thought, but one that could spell a revolution. But right here wasn't the place to think about it. He needed some time, as well as space. "Now then…" he turned and walked back towards the forest. "We should be getting back soon. My wife's expecting me to bake the ribs tonight…otherwise I'll never hear the end of it from her."

The Freaks understood. They could settle this fossil discovery at another date. For now, it was getting late, and they were hungry. With Dereece finally regaining some consciousness, Joey supported him as they slowly trekked back home. But before they got too far, Joey took one more glance back at the cavern's darkness, He didn't know why, but he felt like this wasn't the last of Kane.

Disregarding his wonders, he picked up the pace. "Hey, don't leave your Captain hanging! Not cool!"

* * *

Deep inside Caol Tunnel, it was still dark, save for the one candle light from a wick that Kane held. After the inner caverns had collapsed upon themselves, he narrowly escaped the carnage, but not without some heavy loss. He sat on a lone rock on the edge of a huge wall of boulders where the safety tape ended, marking where the whole cave-in happened.

Venipede crawled up to him, hissing in an upsetting manner. He looked upset.

"Shhh, it's alright, no need to cry, my Venipede." Kane picked up his precious Venipede, softly blowing air misses at the centipede, who began to purr and coo softly in return. "It'll work out. Believe me, I know how you feel." He softly stroked Venipede's face, making him purr louder. "We've been duped by our own logic yet again by Joey's genius. And what's worse, it seems that our beloved fossil collection has been misplaced in the rubble. How sad. Perhaps we've given this a little too much thought." He brushed his sharp chin with his fingers as he glanced off. "Instead of targeting Joey, I believe what we've should've done is take care of that Pidove. That's _twice_ now that the little mindless drone of a bird has swooped in and saved that excuse of a man!" he angrily paced around, fuming with his raised tone. "But to do that, we're going to have to find a defense or it…but how?"

Suddenly, the rubble behind began to shake. Both turned startled and backed away as the rocks began shifting. It looked like something was digging itself out. Kane and Venipede remained weary as they saw it shift and churn, until it finally came out.

"Gnnnnngh! C'mon, c'mon…" with a frustrated grunt, the Roggenrola shot out of the dead end with a loud 'POP' sound. He fumbled to the ground on his back, kicking and gaining momentum to jump onto his feet again. "Phew! Man that was cramped!" he looked around, realizing he wasn't with other Roggenrola. "Hey, where is everyone?" he looked up to see a confused Kane and Venipede staring him down. "Huh? Oh! You guys! You're the ones who gave us those delicious stones! How ya doing?"

Kane blinked in surprise. He slowly turned towards Venipede and they began stirring up something. Slowly, a dark smirk crept onto Kane's face as he fiddled his fingers together, humming at Roggenrola.

Roggenrola, seeing his mischievous gesture, tilted his head. "Um…hello?"

"Venipede." Kane said. "I do believe that I have found a solution after all…"

Kane started a low chuckle, to which began expanding to an insidious laughter. Venipede soon joined in, both rejoicing in yet another masterful plan to take down Joey once and for all. All while Roggenrola nervously chuckled, no idea that he was to be part of something grand in a mastermind's life.

* * *

 **Alright, so here's the last chapter of the Joey Arc! I wrapped up a bit of Joey's personal character development, at least enough to show how sensitive he is, yet at the same time while he has become serious and is being himself from last chapter, that he still has to be prepared for himself in the future. So if you guys were looking for an overall agenda of Joey, this was the message.**

 **As you saw, a lot of Pokémon learned new moves again, including Joey's Chespin and Pidove! Hope you guys liked the attention they and Dereece's Pokémon got!**

 **Alright, now that Joey's little arc is over with, Nic can finally get back upfront and lead everyone to the next arc, the Glacidia Arc but before that, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to take a little step back for a while and work some stuff out. December is here, and I have some art and some holiday matters to attend to. Plus I have to plan the next few arcs. So I will be updating again this month, but I don't know when. In the meantime, bear with me and I'll be sure to make sure this next arc really knock your footwear off!**

 **I also chose to finally end the poll, so to those who voted and gave your thoughts, thanks again!**

 **Okay, for real though, please share your thoughts in a review, let me know what you thought of how I made Joey learn his lessons these last two chapters, and I'll see you guys next time! XD**


	25. Arrival in Glacidia

The light of daybreak beamed through the cracks of the curtains of Nic and Erza's bedroom. Another morning had dawned, albeit rather early. However, with the rays to Erza's face first, she came to a rude awakening. Moaning, she slowly arose to wake.

"Hm…?" she lethargically slouched up, her supple womanly frame still sore from yesterday's job that she went on. She squinted as he glared out at the curtains, seeing light beaming through. "It's morning so soon." She sighed. She didn't want to get up so soon, not that it mattered. She got out of bed…clad in nothing but her underwear, not that she cared. She opened the curtains to look up at the sun barely beaming through the tree line far out. When she looked farther up, she saw that due to it still being partially dark, the waxing crescent of the moon was bright.

She took a moment to take in the serenity of the daybreak light compared to the moon. Both looked so beautiful when seen. She slowly turned away with a grin. "Guess it's time to wake up then. Nic, are you ready to…" she trailed off when she turned to her husband, only to find a sight to behold.

Nic was on his side, facing Erza as he was out like a light. His upper body was covered by the thin fleece blanket he preferred since his body doesn't vent heat too well to sleep. But his frame, and the way he was sleeping, it almost made Erza regret calling out to him.

She didn't think about it often, but Nic doesn't normally sleep in. She didn't look down at all on it, but seeing like this was…cute. He was sleeping like a baby. Seeing his own frame breathe in and out so softly made it practically a crime to disturb such a sight.

Erza's warm smile upon her hard-working husband finally getting some shuteye made her see no rush. She opted to face the curtains, sliding them shut to block out the sun. She traced back towards the bed, laying on her side as she watched Nic sleep peacefully. For now, morning can wait a little longer.

Erza leaned in, giving Nic a soft kiss on his forehead. She embraced him as Nic subconsciously moved his right arm to hold her. Both slept in as the moon shined right over their house.

* * *

While they slept in for once, daybreak rays shined elsewhere. Others who felt more committed were already up, training hard elsewhere.

"Again!"

Armed men struck their fists out, punching air with hardened cores. They were accompanied by an armored man who walked back and forth, studying the age group each one was in. He leered intensely as he paced back and forth, watching all of them mimic the same exact movements as per their training. "More ferocious!" he roared. "You! Keep those arms tucked in!" he called out a middle-aged man his age. The man did just as told, punching the air with a tight fist. "Good."

"Keep coordinated!" another shout roared across the campus. "No time to second guess! Keep those attacks in line!"

Another armored man with a middle-aged complexion had the same coating of armor, only of inverse black and red accents compared to the other general. He watched carefully as he overlooked a pupil reach his arm out, giving a Houndour a command and expelled a Smog across the battlefield. "Don't just reach for the air! Grasp it!" he exclaimed to the trainer-in-making.

"Yes, sir!" the soldier replied. He punched forward, staring intensely. "Go! Use **Bite!** "

The Houndour charged straight through the black cloud that had the Slugma disoriented and poisoned. As intoxicating bubbles made it cough, Houndour slipped in front and snapped his glowing fangs onto the lava slug. The force raised it up and slammed to the ground, creating a force that dispelled the Smog. When it cleared, Houndour stood triumphantly over the defeated Slugma.

The general nodded. "Good. Just like that." He turned towards the soldier in armor that lost. "You! Drop and give me 30 pushups!"

"Yes, sir!" As per discipline, the soldier immediately dropped to do the first set of pushups. "1…2…"

As he did that, the General looked towards another battle, seeing a Darumaka roll into a Numel, creating enough force to make it fumble over. He remained studious to his gazing as other soldiers were battling all around him.

In this bizarre warzone, it could've been mistaken for a bootcamp, if not for the massive iron walls that governed the perimeter of the whole estate. The ironworks bootcamp sat alongside the northern edge of a coastal cliff with plenty of hill space. It gave a beautiful array of the seas far out, with a beach sitting along the southern area of the camp where men and their Fire-type Pokémon able were helping each other carry supplies onto armed ships fit for battle. It's here that another general also looked them over, watching carefully as the supplies were often held by two men. As a large inactive crossbow was rolled up the loading dock, his head turned towards the camp's massive palace-like estate that watched over the domain.

Inside, it was dark, with only the first rays of sun illuminating the room. It had a massive panel window that gave a man inside a full view of the hard-working force he has going. He watched the show while sitting back on his lavish seat, holding a morning beverage.

"Looks to be another morning." He said casually, his gaze fixed on the sunlight. "The sun is looking bright for us today…as is the moon." Taking a glance over, the corner edge of his panel window showed the moon. He stared at it with a look of suspicion before he looked back down, seeing the sun's rays radiate his army as they did unison fighting techniques. He felt a nudge from the side, making him turn towards something.

Beside him, there was a huge dog-like Pokémon. It had a massive creamy tan fur coating that was like a massive mane all over the face, chest, and the mohawk. It had orange fur with black stripes, much like a tiger.

The man who was covered in a lavish black coat with red outlining moved his hand over, stroking his pet's chin. "At ease, Arcanine." He chimed. "We'll both get what we want." With a snap of his fingers, the door slid open behind, presenting a butler who walked in with a massive platter of food.

"Here you are, sir." The butler generously bowed as he presented a hardy plate of eggs for the man. He also had a very small fruit bowl, with patty sausage and a small orange juice cup. "And here you are." The butler presented Arcanine with a plate of Pokémon Food, which he immediately dug into.

"Ah, sunny-side up. Excellent work, Jenkins." The man complimented, looking at his eggs. "Now then…" he looked back out at his fighting force still practicing. "When shall we be ready?"

"By our estimates, I'd say by tonight."

"Good." The man chuckled as Arcanine was scarfing his food bowl. In no time, it was gone. Satisfied. Just as he wanted to feel as well. He took one more glance at the moon, smirking before he ate as well.

* * *

With the sun bright and early, the glass windows of another lavish office refracted the warmth onto Arthur's back. Confined to his wheelchair, he scrolled through his paperwork as his Stoutland napped on the floor beside him. Arthur's back was to the sun, snuggling him enough to perk his mood despite the uproarious amounts of paperwork on his desk.

He read through the contents of another report, showing lines amongst a contract with another town in need of supplies. He scribbled his name, creating the contract and slid it off to the side for the next document. This one was a new Trainer hoping to join the Cambire Foundation. He scrolled through the background information briefly before he was interrupted by the door opening, revealing Marie.

"Ah, good morning Marie." Arthur greeted. "You're looking ready for the day."

"Good morning, sir." Ignoring soft-heated pleasantries, Marie presented Arthur with an updated documentation.

"I see you're already on the ball this morning." He teased, accepting the documentation. "Why am I not surprised."

Remaining on task, Marie began citing what she had learned. "That report of gave you, it's the detailed progress of the machine that Jefferey had been making." She watched as Arthur was scrolling through the documentation and blueprints as she went along. "Its progress should be on schedule, but the supplies are still of high demand."

Arthur sat the clipboard down. "I see. So about another two weeks at least." He slouched forward, resting his elbows on his desk with fingers folded. "And tell me, what have you uncovered from the fossils that Fairy Tail has uncovered?"

Marie prodded her glasses up to place. "They are preserved just as you have asked. When the machine is past the testing stages, they will be ready."

Arthur grinned. "I see…" He lightly snickered at the rapid change of pace that's been going as of late. In all honesty. He would've thought that their progress would be behind, but it turns out it was the opposite. After that exhibition battle demonstrated, he was getting more reports of people and mages who were starting to capture more Pokémon. Not only that, but more 3-on-3 battles with them being official were popping up. He had a lot of thanks because of Fairy Tail, especially because they've been his entire backbone that he's sitting against. He almost felt guilty for relying on them too much, but the symbiosis they've created has been of fruit bearing for everyone. It's all for one and one for all.

His thoughts aside, he looked towards Marie. "But Marie, remember this. No authorized testing with those fossils." He firmly said. "It's Fairy Tail's call, since they were the ones who found them, they get to decide how they should be used. Is that clear?"

Marie nodded. "I understand, sir."

Arthur sat back. "Good. Now then, what's the progress of our trades marked?"

Marie pulled up her own clipboard and began scrolling through the pages. The pages flipped were loud enough to make Stoutland's ears twitch. "So far, nothing too drastic. Our profits and exports have been up 35% in the past 3 days. Ajeel of Alvarez has been accepting supplies and remedial guidance that we've been steady on."

"And looking at these documents, we're getting some new recruits that I need to schedule on." Arthur noted, taking a look at the many documents that he's already signed and went through. "With this amount of work force, we should be covering on experience. Charlotte's been occupied incorporating the Rune Knights' safety and protocols into her schedule, so that leaves the Trainers she was tending to for Travis to handle on his own."

"Should we be worried, sir?" Marie inquired, genuinely curious of Arthur's lamentation.

Arthur shook his head. "No, Travis is more than capable of sustaining many jobs under Charlotte…what concerns me is something else."

Marie stepped forward. "And what might that be?"

Arthur glanced over at a document that he's had off to the side. He reached and slid it over to Marie. She caught it and picked it up, reading over the detailed report. She could see that the numbers were not good.

"That report specifically; it says that no trades nor exports have been accepted in that region specifically. Meaning that we've been met with some signs of confrontation with the natives."

Marie took a look at the name of the continent it was based on. "Antarcia…" She scrolled deeper through the contents to get thorough insights. "Glacidia…" her eyes narrowed as she put the pieces together before Arthur. "And you believe this is where the problem lies?"

"I have no doubts." Arthur's tone was firm and stern. "Listen, Marie, our goal is to help this world understand what it means to have Pokémon by our side. To help them grow and learn. If we're met with this kind of force, then it means that another form of practice must be evoked. We need to do everything we can to make sure that everyone is on the same page."

Marie sprouted an idea. "If that's the case, would sending Charlotte be an option?"

Arthur looked down as he out a hand to his chin. "I get where you're going…" he sighed. "But no. You know how Charlotte can get. She doesn't take resistance too well. If we show up with an army, that'll only give the wrong impression."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Arthur folded his fingers together. "What we need is a subtler approach to this nation's capital." He grinned. "And I think I know just the person to convince them otherwise."

Marie had a feeling about this. She sighed in defeat. "I'll call Fairy Tail and inform them of the situation."

He watched Marie walked out of the door, sliding closed behind her. Arthur smirked as a meek chuckle escaped. "As always…on the ball." He mused before resuming his cited documents.

* * *

Cold waves swayed about, Gyarados seen below breaching before diving once more to deep depths. The massive blimp drifted along the air currents, its rudders unhinged despite the air. Looking out the window, Nic looked a little bored. He stared at blue sky endlessly, envious in the eyes.

"Someone's a little restless?" Erza chimed, sipping from a cup of tea that sat on a stand in front of her. "I know what you're thinking Nic, and the answer is no."

"I got it." He sat back with crossed arms, very annoyed. "But sitting here too long isn't…my thing."

Erza sighed. She always knew Nic would hate this kind of transportation. It wasn't that she was never on a blimp before, but she won't let a new experience deter her from savoring it. Nic was another story. He's always used to _not_ using transportation other than Charizard. While she didn't see it to be an issue, she didn't exactly condone with the idea…this time. "Don't get me wrong, I'd like to get there myself. But this was supplied by the Cambire Foundation. It would be very rude to not use what Arthur had given to us personally."

Nic sat back with a small pout. To a degree Erza was right; he trusted Arthur, but he didn't have to feel so spoiled. He hated that feeling. But marriage made him realize that he had to make some sacrifices, so for Erza, he would have to stomach not wanting air crash against him.

A gulping was heard from directly across. "Yeah, so just chill for a while, 'kay big guy?" Cana chimed as she held a half-bottle of wine. "These expenses aren't gonna use themselves ya know."

Nic sighed in defeat. He was gonna get bored again, he just knew it. The least he could do was look out again. He saw a passing flock of Pidgeotto fly by to the south. It only made his left eyebrow twitch.

Gray sat back in his chair. "Yeah, so just chill. We'll be there soon."

Juvia nodded. "A few more hours, I'm sure."

"Yeah, according to this atlas, we should be on the right track." Levy said. She was sitting next to Cana as she had a few textbooks on her lap. She was reading the geography and the map provided on the blimp.

"Well we better be…" Gray glanced over his shoulder, seeing Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy all slouched in their seats, groaning in gurgling sleep. "Otherwise we'll never be hearing the end of this." He pulled out his Poke Ball, and popping out was Snover.

"Yello!" he chimed.

Gray pointed his thumb at the gurgling dragons. "Make sure they stay asleep until we get off this thing." He asked, though it was more like a groaned plea. Thankfully Snover got the message and waddled over, readying a Grass Whistle.

"Good grief." Lucy sighed.

The group of mages from Fairy Tail - comprised of Team Natsu, Nic, Cana, Sophie, Levy, Gajeel, Juvia, Vanessa, the Exceed squad and The Freaks - were amongst the selected that were chosen to handle the request that Arthur had sent them. Rather technically, Freed was the one who orchestrated them. Sending Nic was one thing, but he felt a party would help better the odds. And as an added bonus, to get to this continent, the Cambire Foundation, supplied a lacrima-engine powered blimp. A flying ship felt more practical, but it would be too cold for the material to handle.

Vanessa was looking out the opposite window, making her off guard by Sophie's inquiry. "So your world makes these contraptions called…airplanes, right?" the blonde asked.

"Yes. So to say." Vanessa replied, getting over the surprise question of Sophie. "Though to be honest, I haven't been on one. I heard they're quite nice. Especially their first-class seats."

"Well can't beat what we're getting here." Gray remarked, raising a glass as an assistant came around to pour water for Gray's drink. "Thanks."

The waiter made his way over, presenting a small plate of lemons for Vanessa as well. "Thank you." She gestured, and the waiter nodded before he resumed his regiment. Vanessa turned and picked up a piece of the finely sliced lemon for her water, like Sophie did. But instead of squeezing it, she ate it, skin and all so complacently.

"There you go again, sourmouth." Sophie chimed, but Vanessa remained deeply relaxed. Sophie turned to Gray. "That is true. We don't normally get services like this on transportations. PokeEarth's customs really are taking quite a shine, aren't they?"

"You got that right girl." Cana winked. "Hey, can I get another round over here?!" she yelled at the waiter from across the blimp, waving her empty bottle.

Erza sighed irritably. "Honestly Cana, why must this be necessary?"

"Oh it's fine. It's not like I'm driving this thing." She beamed in victory as a waiter politely came over to accept her empty booze bottle. "Thanks." He uncorked the next one, handing it to her before walking away. "Anyways, it's no big deal. Besides it's like you said, it's rude to _not_ use what Arthur gave us, right?"

"Yeah." Nic shot a smirk at Erza. "It would, wouldn't it?" he teased.

Erza sighed a second time. "Sometimes, you're just unbelievable." Whether it was to Nic or Cana or both didn't really matter. She knew they were doing it just to get under her skin. Nic and Cana high-fiving really didn't help her case either.

Lucy realized something. "Hey wait, why are you even on this trip anyway Cana?"

Cana looked towards her. "What? You make it sound like a crime or something."

Lucy sweatdropped. _'That's not what I meant.'_ She turned towards Vanessa and Sophie, hoping to find answers in them.

Sophie sighed. "It was Mirajane and Laxus' idea." She explained. "Her tab was getting big again, so they're making her come on this quest in agreement to pay off a part of it."

"Oh…okay…" she watched as Cana resumed her downing of another bottle of the liquid. She had a feeling it wasn't going to change anything.

Snover returned to Gray's side, seeing how his Grass Whistle had put the dragons to sleep in the background; Happy too apparently. "Good job, buddy. Thanks." Gray grinned, returning Snover back to his Poke Ball. Afterwards, he felt something urgent as he got up. "I'll be right back. Gotta find the restroom around here."

"Take your time, my love!" Juvia cheered. "I'll be right here for you."

…

"Do you see that?! That's just too rich!" Joey uproariously laughed with Dereece as he pointed at the TV screen in front of them. Unlike the others, they were given privilege to sit in first-class luxury. It was originally meant for Nic since he was a key, but he chose to kick back with the others and gave The Freaks the spot, much to their joy. It had a TV, lavish seating, painted walls, and velvet ballroom music playing in the background. Joey and Dereece were laughing themselves to death as they were eating shrimp and classy finger foods while watching a montage of bloopers in mock Pokémon battles. Some birds crashing into each other like planes made him wheeze. "Man, how is that even possible?!" Joey laughed, watching a Swellow dive into a mound of dirt. "Now _that's_ funny! Isn't that right, Duncan?!"

Unlike the uproarious duo taking full advantage of the compartment, Duncan had no say. He just kicked his feet up as he was reading a guidebook on strategies and combination attacks that he took notes of.

Poking his head between the velvet curtains, Gray's head appeared. "This it?" He looked around, his eyes widening. "Man, this is classy…"

Joey was bouncing in his seat, laughing with Dereece until he saw Gray. Immediately the wide smile gaped to shock. "Woahwoahwoahwoah! _Woah!_ Time out!" he shouted at Gray. "Uh, sorry but would you mind going the other way? This is kinda first-class." He picked up a shrimp and inspected it. "It's nothing personal…it's just that you all suck, and we don't." his eyes widened when he got an idea. "Oh! Dereece! Dereece! Go long!"

"I'm open!" Dereece got out of his seat as Joey stood on his chair. He aimed and chucked the shrimp at Dereece as he hung his mouth wide open. The shrimp landed in Dereece's mouth.

"Ayyyye!" they both yelled.

"Oh! My turn!" Joey hopped out of his seat as Dereece switched places with him.

Gray could see where this is going. He exited behind the curtains, looking for another place where the restroom could be.

"Hit me! Hit me!" Joey had his mouth wide open as Dereece threw the piece of shrimp into the maw. It was a perfect shot and Joey swallowed. "Sco-ah! Ah!" Joey lurched as he started gagging. He clutched his throat as his eyes crossed. "Gah! Oh god! Oh god!" he weakly coughed. "Dereece! A little help!" he choked.

Dereece gasped. In a rush, he rushed over to Joey to hold him in the Heimlich position. "Stay with me! Stay with me! And one-!" He lurched Joey's abdomen, making him gag. He gagged again.

Duncan glanced over, seeing the stupid act. "Pathetic." He groaned as Joey coughed, sending the shrimp flying over Duncan's head, landing in his glass of water. He wasn't drinking from that again.

…

Gray walked back into the direction he came from. "Man, I don't know what's bigger, this blimp or that ego Joey's got." Dismissing, he saw the signs in the far back. "There it is." He walked towards it, passing his friends again as Levy was going through another history book.

"So where are we going? Tropical island?" Cana inquired on a more sarcastic note.

"Arthur made it clear that we were heading to a capital known as Glacidia." Erza explained. "It's there that we're to help negotiate a solid reason for them to ally with trading with the Cambire Foundation."

Nic looked towards Levy. "Levy, what's that?"

The petite mage was rummaging through the book, her reading glasses taking in the large sums of words in a short span of time. "It's an encyclopedia of Glacidia, at least that's what I've been told." She answered as she turned another page. "I was just reading their history section. It's pretty interesting."

Nic nodded. "I see. So what's this about? Anything about their background we can use?"

"Let's see…" Levy turned page after page, until she found a suitable spot. "Oh! Here's a good spot! So listen to this…" She cleared her throat to begin the speech for everyone. "Glacidia is the capital of Antarcia, a cold continent that lies in the northeast of Ishgar. Roughly 400 years ago, the dragon wars were beginning to travel to Ishgar. People were growing scared, so those daring fled north, where the cold, harsh environment would keep them safe."

"So they chose to settle where they couldn't be touched?" Lucy asked. "How did they survive?"

Levy continued. "It was a rough journey, but finding shelter in the snow and ice to make igloos was a small start. Soon enough, the small group grew into a single community, which blossomed into a civilization that specialized in fur and fish found in their waters alone."

"So they made do with hunting and fishing." Erza surmised. "That's a reasonable way to get by."

"They've adapted quite well. Anyways, after the dragon wars came to an end and died out, people around the world were rebuilding what was lost., and some were willing to trade certain sums and riches in exchange for the fur and fish that Glacidia was prized for, making it grow into a refined nation. In fact, their demand was so high and rare that some people couldn't afford it. And that lead to other means of getting them."

"Pirating and hunting for themselves." Nic deduced.

"Correct, but they weren't adapted like the others in Glacidia, making it almost unbearable. But because their own sources were finite, and demands starting to get to be overwhelming, Glacidia eventually closed off its borders for certain periods of time so they can regroup and harvest for themselves. Some periods lasted maybe 1 year, to maybe even 5 years. There's been one record that showed Glacidia actually closed for 50 years even."

"50 years?" Vanessa's eyes narrowed.

"That must have been a very complicated era." Sophie deduced before facing Levy. "I'm sorry Levy, go on."

"So anyways, once they were ready, the borders would come down again, but only the prestigious rich would be allowed to trade. And even now, Glacidia is considered the stomping grounds of the survivalists and traditional of the world. Even when more smaller cities branched off, they didn't go too far, because Glacidia is the crown jewel of its coldest winters."

Cana whistled. "Well ain't that something."

"Yeah I'll say." Lucy awed. "I thought we were coming across some empire, not some kind of place that lived on ice."

Carla put a hand to her chin. "So these people are indigenous to the cold waters and specific trade partners."

"Sounds to me that we're coming across picky people." Pantherlily deduced. He turned towards Levy. "Tell me, does it say that if their borders are open seasonally or at all?"

Levy shook her head. "I'm sorry, but no. It only goes to that far back. This book was dated to X767, so it's still old. Antarcia isn't a continent that gets around to others often."

Gray walked up from behind, having returned from his business. "So if their gates are closed, that means we'll have trouble negotiating."

"Do you think they would at least hear us out? I mean this _is_ important. We can't have them hunting Pokémon." Juvia worried. She detested the image of something cute like her Azurill being hunted down for her tail.

"We'll just have to make them see reason." Erza said. "Remember, the Cambire Foundation is counting on us. We won't let their own trust nor the customs of these people change that. Isn't that right, Nic?" she shot a look at her husband, seeing what he had to say.

Nic had a stone-cold serious look on his face, although it was masked well by the calm look he had. "Yeah." He looked out the window again, watching as they drifted over a glacier. It was a sign they were getting close. "If they won't see reason, we'll just have to do what we can to appeal to them. And if that doesn't work…" he glanced at everyone else. "Well, let's just hope they try to understand. Better to try than not do anything at all."

Erza genuinely smiled at Nic's words. She knew what he meant but chose to keep the note silent. They don't want to make another enemy against the Cambire Foundation.

"Look!" Happy pointed to the waters below, more specifically at the glaciers beneath. "Woah! Is that a glacier?!"

"Let me see." Carla moved next to him, looking down at the drifting block of right. "He's right. That must mean we're in arctic waters now."

"Meaning we'll be there shortly." Pantherlily deduced.

"About time. I was starting to get a little anxious there for a moment." Gray replied.

Vanessa was looking out her window, she watched the scenery of blue yonder drift below. When she noticed the passing glaciers, she turned her head northward. It wasn't just her, Nic also looked out, his glare serious as he could see it as well: Their destination.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I can have your attention for a moment." The pilot's voice was heard in the intercom throughout the blimp, alerting everyone onboard. "If you look out your windows, we'll be seeing our destination afoot."

Erza peered out the window besides Nic, leering at something in the distance. "There it is."

Everyone who was able got out of their seats and moved to the nearest set of windows possible. In their eyes, the air was so clean and blue. The passing glaciers below grew in size as they all drew towards sheets of ice that solidified to an open frontier of snow and ice. Through all that ran a short canal into a humungous wall of solid ice and snow that was carved to look like a dam that reached as high as Mercurius itself.

"Damn." Gray marveled.

"You can say that again." Cana remarked at the irony.

"So that's Glacidia." Levy couldn't believe it. "I wonder what'll be like?"

"Only one way to find out." Erza said before getting to her seat. "Back to your seats people, we'll be there shortly."

* * *

The blimp had briefly set foot on the thin stretch of ice near the dam of ice, occupied by a number of guards that had magic spears and artillery for defense. The deported group set foot on the ice, clad in their warmwear.

"Freedom!" Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy all cheered. They fell over on the cold, hard ground groaning in salvation. Gajeel had a thick black coat, as to where Wendy had a nice green coat on. Natsu – due to his magic – was already at stable temperature.

Lucy shivered in place, her teeth chattering despite the long furry pink coat she had on. "Brrr…it really is cold here.

"Yeah…" Levy, clad in an orange furry coat, shivered beside her. They huddled together for even more warmth.

Everyone else was behind them watched as their ride slowly drifted back into the air. Any last calls for anything they needed was now up in the air, along with the booze that Cana wanted to drag down if not for Sophie and Vanessa holding her back. The majority of everyone present had long and thick coats on. Cana had a magenta purple coat with gray fur lining, Vanessa had a teal fur coat, Sophie had a gold fur coat with brown lining. Juvia wore her standard attire, Gray was shirtless – not surprising – Erza had a bright purple coat on, and Nic…was in normal attire. His years of training in cold environments north of Kalos made it all worth it. Duncan and Joey were the same, though Joey wore navy blue gloves, while Duncan wore brown. And Dereece wore bright red coat and gray sweatpants to fit his physique.

"Well we're here nw. So what do we do?" Cana questioned.

Gray turned towards the dam. "Well there's no point in waiting around here, not unless you guys are wondering what frostbite would be like."

"Yeah, no." Lucy deadpanned. "I'm sure you and your Ice-types would love it here, but we're not taking too kindly, right guys?"

Getting around Lucy's point, Nic looked over to the couple of gatekeepers that were looking at them strangely. They all had magic spears aimed for him, but he remained relaxed. "Sorry for coming in like this." He started. "I understand you're all a little confused about this, right?"

A guard prodded his staff at Nic. "Identify yourself."

Another guard readied. "Otherwise, no passing without authorization."

"I'm Nic Pularis. And I came here with my friends on behalf of the Cambire Foundation to have a talk with your people about Pokémon."

It was short and to the point. It's what got the guards to lower their defense as they looked at each other confusedly. The name rung a bell, but they weren't looking so confident. They gave nods to each other and shot glares at Nic.

"Our apologies, but you'll have to wait for a minute." The first guard ordered.

"Yeah, sorry. But we'll have to get into contact with our Minister first."

Nic looked back to everyone to see them alright, of course Lucy and Sophie looked like they were about to complain themselves to shivering death. He glanced back. "Alright, do what you gotta do. We'll be out here waiting." He turned back and went walking towards everyone, who were all giving expectant looks at him.

"So what's the word? They gonna let us in?" Gajeel asked.

"They need to clear it with their Minister first." Nic explained. "My guess is not too much longer."

Natsu raised a brow. "Say what? That ain't right. These guys should know who we are, they gotta let us in."

"Natsu, weren't you listening on the ride?" Lucy retorted. She looked at Natsu's confused expression before she realized it. "…oh, right, sorry." She apologized. "These guys aren't exactly sociable. They probably don't get out much in the real world. For all we know, we're just regular traders to them, got it?"

"Indeed." Erza nodded. "We'll need to be tactful and weary on how to explain the situation. So for now, no adhesive force. Is that clear?" Erza's little statement sounded like a promise of bodily harm underlying that stern tone. It was enough to alert Natsu but not enough to make him feel lowered.

"I gotcha." He shot a look at the dam. "But if they pull any funny business on us, they're gonna pay."

Soon enough, the guards that explained everything to the Minister got permission. They faced the dam and pointed their magical spears to one spot. The tips glowed, and by some show of force in unison, the staffs angled lower in unison, bending and molding down a passageway that went up to a waterway. The downward stream had a small basin inside, where there were a few prestigious boats waiting.

"Guess we're taking a little boat ride." Dereece said.

Joey shrugged. "Works for me!" He shuffled along the ice pass the guards. "Excuse me, fellas." He slid across the frosted ground until he worked into a backflip into the boat. "Perfect 10!"

"Well, guess there's no point waiting around any longer." Levy started for the boat.

"Y-yeah…yippee…" Wendy half-heartedly replied. She, along with Natsu and Gajeel, once again paled as they lazily followed behind.

"Uuugh…why me?" Natsu groaned. He was one of the last people to get onto the boat, where he almost immediately collapsed. He hung over the edge with the other Dragon Slayers as all got aboard.

When the guards saw that the people were in the three boats, they gave affirmative nods upwards, alerting two guards overhead as they oversaw the wall. They raised their magical staffs as they turned around. The dark blue tips glowed as they gently lifted a little. The current beneath the three boats began to go in reverse, slowly trekking water back up the eddy towards the streams that connected to the canals. As they all were lifted with the water levels, they were brought through the tunnels, their eyes widening upon seeing Glacidia.

"What the…?" Lucy gasped.

"Oh wow." Levy awed.

Nic looked around, catching glimpses beside Erza. "So this is what lies beyond the dam." Erza said.

Glacidia, was unlike anything they expected. They were expecting a bunch of stuff made of ice and snow, with frozen water, but that was far from the case. There was certainly a ton of snow for ground, but a lot of things look so modernized. Around the base of the cold water canals were a lot of fishing spots off in some alleys, and stone bridges arched over the riverbanks that connected the two sides. Some buildings were white, but a few were modernized. They looked all around the city as they crossed canals and turned corners. Fountains and waterfalls of cold water spouted in a lot of areas, including in plazas and displays in front of stores.

"Get real." Cana looked up, eyes widening. "That a casino?!"

"Try and contain yourself." Vanessa told her.

"I can't believe how fancy everything is." Sophie admired, seeing a lot of shops and goods that were out in the open. Even the people looked like they were unfazed by the cold. "I don't recall ever such conditions being so pleasant."

"I'll say. Just look at all this! It's so lavish!" Lucy awed, her boat passing by a smooth waterfall. It looked so clean that she saw her own reflection as clear as day. It was like looking through a mirror.

"This is so cool." Happy awed, though he was looking at the arctic salmon stand that they were passing. His mouth was watering from just looking at all the salty salmon flopping in fishing nets.

"Do try and contain yourself, Happy." Carla chided.

"So this is the capital of Antarcia." Juvia stated. She looked around, noting how the water was so cold, and yet so crisp. She leaned over the edge, allowing her fingers to graze the water's top. It felt so smooth; cold, but smooth. "Just refreshing water runs through these canals. You think any Water-type Pokémon live here, Gray?" she asked hopefully.

Gray was leaning back, arms crossed as he was looking around. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He looked away. "I've been wondering about Ice-types myself honestly…but you know…"

"I know…" Juvia looked down at the waters. They were so blue, but she could get a feeling of uncertainty. There wasn't anything that looked like Pokémon that swam in the currents.

As they traveled through the riverbanks that lead them to the capital's head branch, they were coming across a medium that separated streams like traffic. As they went one way, a few more boast traveled another way, although one boat in particular was lavish with blue accents, and on it were two guards, with one using a magic staff to tread water.

"Check it out Dereece, that a bake shop?" Joey pointed at a baking center above, which confused Dereece.

"Wow, just when you've seen it all."

"I know, right?" Joey kept looking around, his wandering eyes traveling to other places. He looked about, briefly glimpsing at Sophie's rich lipstick for a moment. His tendencies were making him avert to even seeing Vanessa's wide hips, and the coat she wore surrounded her curvature quite well. When he looked all around, he could see other women around the capital, though the coats and figures were spontaneous, and some caught his interest.

' _I wonder what kind of ladies there are? I hope they like to paaaaa~…'_ Joey's attention drew to the other side of the medium to a passing boat. When he saw someone on there, time briefly slowed down so that he could get a good look at her.

The woman on the prestigious boat looked to be about his age, if not slightly older. She was fair-skinned with a slender yet very voluptuous body. She had long purple hair that was wavy down to her lower back, with curved bangs hanging over the right side of her head. She had hazel eyes and dark purple lipstick over her large lips. She adorned a fur lined navy blue coat with a massive white fur drag hanging around her shoulders. Beneath those was a dark purple dress that hugged her curvature.

For a brief moment, Joey was caught staring her and her beauty. He was so lost in the moment that he didn't hear anything else, nor see anything else. For a glimpse of a second, he saw that the woman looked in the corner of her eye at him, making his heart pounce slightly. As her boat passed, he found himself dragging his weight to the back, continuing to stare at her as they went down different ways.

"This place sure is lovely." Sophie admired.

"Yeah…it is…" Joey muttered, dreamily staring at the girl still. Duncan and Dereece looked at each other confusedly.

The boats they traveled on continue their way, all the way up to the basin that lead to the center of the city canals. There, everyone slowly got off, where they made way up the carved stairways to city levels. The guards posted escorted them until they had found drop off points. They were all guided by different guards roughly about every other mile, until finally they came to a massive white temple-like domain with a huge plaza-like plateau that they all stopped at.

With everyone accounted for, the many guards posted around the area gathered, with two walking down a light of massive white stairs that lead up to the temple. They all glared at the newcomers, seeing they weren't from around here. Remaining weary of them, they all gave leers that told the other to be on guard.

"May I have your attention, please!" A middle-aged guard announced, he had tribe-like clothing on him, with a bigger spear compared to the rest. "To the guests that traveled afar, please, welcome the one who has graced you with his gift of entry…Isaac Farlock!"

The gestures all went to the temple stairs. Their heads turned up as they glared at the man coming down from them.

This man was of late middle age, but he held a healthy complexion. He was tan-skinned with a slim white moustache and beard combo, with white hair slicked back and tied in a bun. He had narrow crystal blue eyes, with a blue coat with white fur trimming. He had hands behind his back as he was accompanied by his advisors as he came down to talk with Nic and his allies. From him, they could all feel a cold, icy chill run down a majority of their spines.

"Yeesh, talk about taking a chill pill." Joey whispered to Dereece.

Isaac caught wind of the whisper and gave Joey a look, making him shrink back in fear.

"So this is the head honcho huh?" Gajeel grunted. "Guy sure looks like it."

"Alright, so what do we do?" Natsu questioned.

"For the moment, I think we should listen." Juvia advised.

Everyone fell silent as Isaac approached them all. He shot a look at all the women that were present, giving studious appeal to them all. His attention soon drew towards Nic, who had hands in his pockets and looked surprisingly relaxed. At his gesture he raised a brow.

"So I take it that you're this infamous person that we've been given word of, is that right?" He shot a look up and down at Nic. "To be honest, I was expecting someone of more…impression."

Despite the offense, Nic waved a dismissal. "Can't say that I aim to please." He straightened upright. "But we didn't come here to be judged."

"I see. And what exactly is it that has caught wind to your ears?" Isaac sternly asked.

Erza stepped forward, taking the reins for the conversation. "If I may explain…"

Erza explained the situation as detailed as she knew how. She made sure to go into detail about the creatures known as Pokémon, and how the world has been changing because of them, and how they are acting as ambassadors to the Cambire Foundation.

After taking in the information, Isaac remained firm. "I see, so that is the reason of your visit. You want us to open our borders to allow trades for these goods that can help us with these…Pokémon." He strained.

Erza nodded. "Yes. Are you familiar with these beings?"

Isaac put a hand to his chin. "…incidentally, there _has_ been some of these pests that have been around our nation." He explained as he glanced away nonchalantly. "We've been trying to see if we could make use of them, but they've been making things…rather difficult to some degree."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Nic inquired.

Isaac sternly raised his nose. "Nothing that can concern you. Just know that these creatures that can defend themselves makes it rather hard for use to use them. I'd rather not have our waterways sullied by these things that could ruin our livestock."

An advisor from behind walked up, getting close to his ear. "Sir, may I need to remind you of our ongoing shortage of supplies?"

Isaac turned towards him with a glare. "As I am aware…but, that situation revolves around food, _not_ how to handle this infestation problem. I believe that we can settle with a solution just fine."

Sophie stepped forward. "You say that, but how can we be so sure?"

"Are you questioning what I think is best for my people?" Isaac countered.

"It's not just about the people." Erza interjected. "It's about them and the Pokémon. If what you're saying is true and that your solution benefits your folk, can you guarantee this for the Pokémon as well?"

Isaac stared at all of them. He gave a long, icy stare at everyone, one that could've frozen them in place if it were magic. He looked towards his advisors to see them silent; unsure, but also silent. He turned around and gave them all another cold look. "We have our borders closed for a reason in Glacidia. We don't just associate ourselves with others just because they _think_ they know better than the rest of us. Unless you're willing to have a high price on your hands, exactly what makes you think this is worth the time at all?"

Natsu began growling beneath his breath. He wasn't liking the way this guy was talking at all. If it wasn't for Lucy putting a hand on his shoulder he would've started melting the snow beneath him.

"Glacidia relies only on the business partners that are willing to give us what is needed. If to survive in this land means to use these creatures, then by all means, convince us otherwise."

"Are you saying you'd resort to enslaving Pokémon?" Erza inquired.

"If they become such a hazard." Isaac told them. "But these creatures have such powers that intrigue us. We've been keeping them out of our capital grounds to play it safe, but what concerns us is if they continue to meddle within our supplies. We've been keeping a steady supply of fish, and if they intend on ruining the supply, then measures will be met."

"Have you ever considered there being other less defensive measures?" Nic inquired. "You don't know if they're just trying to find a home of their own, or maybe they're just curious of this world."

"And if not? Then that would mean that the measures that we are taking are of upmost necessary for our survival. Intelligent beings or not, pets or not, no one enters into _my_ Capital, and tell me what is best for _everyone_. I'm sorry, but I believe that I have made myself clear. We do not associate with those who aren't of promise business." Isaac gave Nic a stern glare. "How can we even we sure that this 'Cambire Foundation' can be trusted?"

"Would you like to see for yourself?" Erza looked towards Sophie. She gave a nod, to which Sophie understood. The Memory-Make Mage pulled out a Poke Ball, which alarmed a lot of the folks.

Isaac raised a brow. "What's this?"

"Just watch." Sophie gingerly lifted the Poke Ball, tossing it up. "Come out!"

The Poke Ball shot open, summoning forth Abra in front of them. Immediately a lot of people were shocked; hummed whispers crossed ears as they saw the sight. Isaac was amongst those who was surprised.

"You…you summoned a creature?" he stuttered.

"Sorry if we're not speaking on the same level." Nic insisted. "We're not trying to enforce this onto you, but we need you to at least hear us out."

Isaac fell silent at the tone displayed. He's heard a few fables here and there about Nic Pularis; the instance a few years ago was a dead giveaway. He could tell just from looking at him he was serious about helping, but he still abided by his traditional customs. Though, when he looked at his advisors, he saw how surprised some of them were, and looked to him for answers. If it could benefit his people, then would it be worth it?

He looked at Nic, raising a brow. "…tell me, just who exactly is the Cambire Foundation associated with?"

Erza stepped forward. "That would be us. We are mages of Fairy Tail, here to appeal in their stead."

Isaac's face went stone-cold. "…a mage guild…" It was like a switch went off inside of him, because when he took another look at everyone his glare narrowed. Instantly he turned way. "Get them out of here."

"Yes, sir." A soldier said, gathering men around.

"Wait, what?" Natsu gasped. He looked around to find himself surrounded with his friends by Isaac's forces.

Gajeel looked around, raising his fists. "The hell's up around here?"

"Yeah, we didn't do anything!" Wendy chirped. For her sake, she hoped that she was right. Though she really hoped it wasn't about the vomit in the water on their way here.

Remaining calm, Nic remained stern at Isaac's advances. "What's the meaning of this?"

Isaac gave a cold stare as he replied. "I'm sorry, but we prefer that our affairs remained untangled with the likes of your advances. I do appreciate the offer you are giving, but my answer to you mages is no. Get them out of my sight."

"You heard him, everyone line up. We'll escort you out." The soldier from before directed his mean to close in on Nic's group, unaware that all they were doing was getting themselves closer to an unfair warfare.

Natsu balled his fists tighter. Literal steam could be seen resonating from his body as a warning to everyone around him. It was strong enough to make Lucy quickly recoil and keep her Klefki close in case she needed her keys. Everyone was giving off an intense magic level, one that alarmed even the guards as some were hesitant. Before things got too far, Erza held her arms out, interjecting the tense air.

"Everyone relax." She said. "It's unwise to have a pointless tiff."

"Tiff?" Isaac scoffed. "These 'tiffs' that you mages cause, I would go as far as call them more than just that. If what I heard was right, then this so-called war that happened on Ishgar happened because of you mages and your uncontrolled power, is that right."

"Is there a point?"

Isaac scoffed again. "My point, young lady, is that I would rather not associate with such people who claim to be allies with these people who may _think_ they know a way to handle these invaders. This Cambire Foundation must have less faith in its own stability if it thinks sending mages would change what I have said."

Hearing enough of this, a foot stepped forward. "Enough!"

The harsh shout silenced everyone. The air grew vividly chilly as Nic's shout alarmed the plaza. Joey and Dereece nearly turned to popsicles upon shock at Nic's expense. With Isaac and everyone quiet, Nic walked towards him.

"Listen, I don't know what you have against us mages and our work…" he stopped several feet in front of Isaac, arms folded to mimic his defiance. "But if you're seeing us as a nuisance, then wouldn't that mean you're still looking at one end of a spectrum."

"It's not 'one end', it's a fact." Isaac retorted.

"Yeah, I won't deny that. Mages _can_ be destructive, but there are those who use their powers for purposes besides those. That's the same principle with Pokémon, and we should know. We've seen them in all kinds of shapes, just like people…and just like them, they have their own stories as well."

Isaac still looked unamused. "If you're implying that I open my gates to understand them, then I'm not interested. The decision stands. I refuse to open these gates to trade. Do you intend to ask the same question until I have to call every guard to the plaza?"

"If it means that by the end some sense is seeped into that head of yours, then it's worth the shot. Better to try than do nothing at all."

To a degree, Isaac looked stumped at Nic's bold choice of words. A little cliché, but effective. He had to admit the truth to this, but he chose to keep his position firm. "…interesting perspective." Isaac smirked, stepping forward. "But, to be fair, I suppose that there is a way that we can better settle this negotiation we are having."

Erza joined in on the foreground. "And what might that suggestion be?"

"You mages and Pokémon seem to know a lot of how to handle a situation. We've also been taking note as to how these creatures have been able to perform these…magical attacks. So then, if it'll be the case, shall we agree to a battle of skills?"

Everyone's eyes widened at this. "You mean…like a Pokémon battle?" Wendy inquired.

"Is that what those are called?" Isaac mused. "Huh…interesting ring to it. Very well then, a Pokémon battle. If I were to win, then that proves that your efforts were unnecessary. But if you win, then I just might be willing to hear your thoughts."

"And can you guarantee this won't be a farce?" Erza inquired.

"You have my word."

The tone he had was anything but a farce. Its sly, arrogant tone made it sound like it was too easy to be considered true. Nic didn't have to use the Mind Form to know that there's an underlying hint there of discretion, but for the sake of the Pokémon and his friends he had to think this through.

He looked back to Natsu and the others. They all gave nods and expectant looks, relying on Nic for the answer. He turned towards Erza, his stare being the sign that she was reading. She faced Isaac. "Very well."

The knight shook hands with Isaac.

"Very good. We will have our battle at sunrise tomorrow. And be sure to pick your mage well. I'd rather _not_ feel too cheated by the end of this bargain we are having." He turned away from them, heading back towards the temple with a few guards in tow. "You all will be allowed to roam freely in this district for the meantime, but I shall give you this one warning…" he looked over his shoulder giving them all a harsh glare. "If any one of you proves to my point about mages, I will guarantee you will never set foot anywhere around this ice again. Dismissed."

He departed on that icy note, leaving Nic and Erza to glare at his back with cold stares of their own.

Joey leaned into Dereece again. "Eh, I don't he likes us." Certainly nothing gets pass Joey.

* * *

The day had soon turned to night as the group soon found themselves at an inn. It wasn't too shabby, but fixed enough to accommodate their needs. They all had connected suites, with Team Natsu, Sophie, The Freaks, and Vanessa all gathered in Lucy's suite, much to her dismay.

"Uh, why are we in _my_ suite again?" Lucy inquired. She had a feeling that it didn't matter anyway.

"What's the big deal? We always end up in your place and you're just fine with it." Natsu shrugged.

"What the heck gave you that idea?!" she shrieked. "Besides, that's just _you_!"

"So this is what we got to work with, huh?" Gray remarked, getting back on track. "Honestly I expected a little more of a welcome."

Juvia looked towards him. "I don't believe they roll out the red carpet for just anyone my love."

"Unfortunately Juvia is right." All the attention went to Erza as she sat on the sofa with Nic and Vanessa beside her. She looked deep in thought as she recounted the disposition Isaac had. "Isaac's behavior isn't very welcoming. He's a stronghold to his customs and beliefs…and what's even more concerning is how he reacted upon realizing we were mages."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too." Gajeel noted, folding his arms. "What the hell's his deal with mages anyway? It's not like we're here to hurt him."

"Maybe not just him." Levy pointed out, reading the same biography of Antarcia. "Remember what I said, this country's hard to reach because of its tundra landscape. Their sources are finite, so I think they're worried about us harming their economy." She put a hand to her chin. "My question is why hey choose to keep their borders up when their economy is finite?"

"My guess would probably be that they're cautious." Sophie noted. "Or rather, perhaps something from before that caused them to keep them closed in the first place."

Nic had his own arms folded as he looked down, thinking about Sophie's inquiry. What could've caused them to close to begin with? It could be personal or political, but dwelling on it wasn't going to change anything. "Whatever the case may be, we need to convince him to at least open the trades to the Cambire Foundation." He insisted.

"And you really think that a battle will settle the score?" Happy asked.

Carla glanced at him. "It'd be hypocritical to say, but we don't exactly handle our problems peacefully either. You're all aware of what he said about us mages. I only fear this proposition will prove his point regardless."

"So he's got us pincered either way." Vanessa pondered.

"Precisely." Pantherlily nodded. "I'm afraid for the time being, we'll have to play by the hand we're dealt with. Besides, any hand is better than an empty hand." He smirked. "And we've had worse hands dealt."

Everyone fell silent as they were processing everything. Even if Isaac was unyielding, they knew there was more than one way to prove a point that benefits everyone, they just needed to find a way to make Glacidia open to that. Before they could all strategize, Natsu picked up on something. "Hey, hold up?" he looked around, noticing some people weren't there. "Where's Joey?"

Happy looked around, realizing he was right. "Hey yeah, wasn't he here before?"

"Dereece and Duncan aren't here either." Levy realized. "And where's Cana?"

"Last I recalled, them and Cana left a little early." Sophie acknowledged. "I think they wanted to check out the capital district for a little bit."

Nic stood up. "Sounds good to me. If we dwell on this too much, we might end up wearing ourselves out before tomorrow. We can probably use a small break before we regroup anyway."

"I'm down with that!" Natsu pounced off the bed, grabbing Lucy's wrist. "C'mon guys, let's see the sights!"

"Woah! W-wait! Natsu!" Lucy embarrassingly shrieked as she was dragged on her heels in a dust cloud out the door. Happy of course tailed behind in a hurry to catch up.

"Nic's right." Sophie stretched skywards. "This stressing is going to ruin my complexion. C'mon, Vanessa. We better go find Cana before who knows what happens to this capital's brewery system."

Vanessa calmly obliged. She followed in her best friend's footsteps and made way out next.

"C'mon, Gray." Juvia eagerly pulled on her man's arms to nearly drag him. "It'll be just us two! We should enjoy it as well!"

"Okay, okay, just hold on already would ya?" a reluctant Gray tried to calm the rain woman. Despite them being 'together', that wasn't to say he was still getting used to it. Calmly following out next, Levy was next to drag Gajeel.

"C'mon Gajeel, I'm not gonna let you sit in here and try to eat the inn's pipelining as a snack…again." She testified.

"Hey now, that was just one time! C'mon!" the Iron Dragon Slayer complained, but he saw the glare Levy gave and he relented. "…tch. Fine." He flustered, leaving Levy to pull him with a big smile.

With the stale air finally gone, Nic took in a deep breath. He looked up towards the ceiling. He just now realized the skylight was showing off the incoming full moon. It was surprisingly bright. He could see practically everything. _'The moon's very bright tonight…'_ The lunar radiance was enchanting in a way. It was strange, but as he basked under the moon, he could feel its shine call out to him. It was a strange feeling, but in a way majestic. It was bringing him back to some nights of full moon he had when it was clear along Frost Cavern. Such memories.

"Are you going to just stand there all night?"

"Huh?" Nic looked up, seeing his wife above him with a stern glare.

"I do believe that there are better ways to enjoy yourself than just lie around. You coming?"

Nic blinked. "Uh, yeah. Sure-woah!"

"Good. Then let's go." With a smirk, the pushy redhead dragged Nic along, with him barely catching up behind her pull. For now, even Nic could use a breather as well.

The moonlit room was left dark, shutting behind them.

* * *

Glacidia was a very vibrant city during day, but when night soon fell, it was like the city had completely transformed. The raw, bright moonlight shined brightly over everything like its own light source. Those outside having late night dinners were hardly fazed by the cold as waitresses presented them fresh steamed and baked meats. Lacrima lights were dim because of moonlight shined everywhere, including on the calm waterways. The people were just as lively now as they were in the day, perhaps more so.

Cana was inside a makeshift brewery made of stone and snow finely carved. She was downing one load of booze in a matter of a few gulps before relenting. "Yeah, now that's the ticket." She smirked, wiping her mouth.

"We had a feeling that you would be here." A voice called from behind.

Cana turned around, finding Vanessa and Sophie at the entrance. She looked pleased. "Hey, there you girls are. I was wondering when you'd be showing up." She reached out with a bottle. "Wanna drink?"

Walking inside, Vanessa dismissed the offer. "You're too kind, but I think I'll pass."

"And as I recall, the drinking age in Nic's world is 21." Sophie shrugged, making an excuse.

Cana shrugged. "Suite yourselves." She resumed her drinking habit, downing the last of the bottle before she slammed it down in front of the surprised bartender as he turned around.

"Woah, that was fast." He stammered. "Someone's thirsty."

"You can say that." Cana chuckled. "That was a little brisk down the throat if ya ask me. What's in that stuff anyway?"

The bartender looked towards the empty bottle. "That? That has a special blend of some of the snow that comes from the outside. We just mix it in with citrus and let it simmer."

"Well that's new to me." Cana smirked. "Not bad." She placed another bill with a lot of zeros on the counter. "Say, how's about one more of those?"

The bartender looked at the dollar bill and back at Cana. When he read the currency exchange, he had a questionable look on his face. "You not from around here?" he asked.

"Can't say we are." She answered, raising a brow. "Why?"

He held up the dollar bill to Cana. "Well, we do have a slightly different exchange rate in Glacidia. I'm not sure what you pay for wherever you came from…but this will only get you half here."

Cana looked completely dumbfounded by this revelation. Her quenched throat suddenly got dry from the earlier drink she had that it was almost hard to breath. "You serious?"

The bartender waved his hands up. "I just work here. But listen, because you're not from around here, I'll let you have or weekly discount on that drink."

That made Cana feel a little better, but she still didn't look happy. She groaned as she sat her head on the countertop."

Being the watchful eye from a nearby table, Sophie rested her chin on her palm. "I have a feeling we won't be here very long."

"Apparently so." Vanessa agreed, but as she watched Cana pay a little more than what she had liked, she looked up at the board suspiciously and compared the amount that she brought as well. She shot a look at Sophie, leaving both discerning the worth they have.

* * *

"Mmmm! Oh so yummy!" Happy moaned as he salivated on a fish that he got from that earlier fish stand while gliding. "You've gotta try this, it's delicious."

"Just watch where you fly, got it?" Carla chided. "You hit a wall with that pudding face it'll lead to Wendy healing."

In the back, Wendy sweat dropped. "Uh, it's okay. Really."

"Yeah, chill for a while guys." Natsu bit down on another small steamed fish stick, which slid off the stick and he munched the whole thing in one bite. "Besides, we're just checking places out."

"Yeah you're right." Lucy said as she watched Natsu enjoy himself. She looked away as she smiled at the lights all around her. "Just look everywhere, it's like a winter wonderland."

"Yeah you're right." Wendy chimed, looking across the riverbank. She noticed something in the distance in another plaza across from them. "Hey, wait."

"What is it?" Happy asked, having ate the whole fish.

Wendy pointed ahead. "Look there."

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked towards the other side of the canals. It was faint, but they could make out a fine dining place out in the open with a balcony. There, sitting there in two seats, two people that they recognized were having what looked like an expensive meal. Upon further inspection, they saw that it was Gray and Juvia.

Everyone present looked completely stupefied with wide circular eyes and triangular mouth. "…say what?" they all muttered.

On the other side of the street, Gray looked like he was explaining something to Juvia, and the rain woman looked genuinely intrigued. The longer he talked, varied expressions were told on her face. They saw her giggling, and at one point shock. But that shock didn't compare to what the others felt.

"Woah! Are they on a date?!" Happy squealed.

"It appears to be." Carla said. "…that or this is all a dream."

Wendy was looking at the scene with her face flustered in beet red. She gasped as she was seeing Gray and Juvia in a romantic setting. "They're…having a moment…" She flashed back to when she learned that Gray and Juvia have been living together during their time apart. That load of information was enough to leave her fainting.

"Wendy!" Carla rushed over to catch the unconscious Dragon Slayer. "Speak to me Wendy!"

Wendy looked distraughtly at the moon. "A…date…" she murmured.

"Uh-oh, looks like her brain kinda overloaded." Happy worried. "Should we do something?"

Carla activated her Aera wings in her human form. She picked up Wendy as her eyes were in spirals. "I suppose we'll just have to take her back to the inn. Coming Happy?"

"Yeah, okay!" Happy glided off with Carla, carrying Wendy away from the group. "We'll be right back!" he shouted from afar.

"Hey, wait! Don't go too far without…" Lucy warned, yet she trailed off as she realized they were out of earshot. "Good grief." She sighed.

Natsu shrugged. "They'll be fine. We promised no funny business, right?"

"Er, right. Yeah…" Lucy nervously agreed to Natsu, but the problem wasn't for Wendy. It was more about Natsu. Talk the talk, but walking that walk always leads to fumbles with him specifically. She didn't even know how long it would take for him to break something or melt snow on accident.

As she drifted her vision back towards Gray and Juvia as they shared an expensive cooked fish, she could see the two continuing their conversation, like a normal couple would. It boggled her enough to know that Gray was actually taking Juvia seriously, but even more so that they were looking genuine. She already knew Levy and Gajeel were a thing months ago, and Nic and Erza had already tied that knot that same time. But where exactly did that leave her?

When she looked at Natsu, she could see how fixed he was on the bright moon. "Man, it sure is bright here, huh?"

Lucy didn't even know what to say about her relationship with Natsu. In all honesty, she didn't even know what went inside his own noggin. Part of it stems from his ignorance, and another because of her own doing. She was never straightforward with these kinds of things. In fact, she didn't know where it stood to begin with. Were they just friends? Were they boyfriend/girlfriend? Or were they just that kind of couple that kind accepted where they are and rolled with it? The third option was the road she felt Gray and Juvia took, and the second option was what lead to Levy and Gajeel. But what concerned her was the first option. Was that all she and Natsu were? Just friends? She can't lie to herself when she felt more than just that feeling at times from him. He's been there every step of the way for her, through thick and thin. She's held onto that same faith in return, despite the whole E.N.D and Nic incident. A part of her wished she knew what to do with herself and Natsu, but another part of her was holding her back. One could say it was fear of rejection, or maybe Natsu would never see her beyond a close friend. But that couldn't possibly be the case…right?

The longer she watched Gray and Juvia enjoying themselves, the more her own heart yearned. Something inside of her was making her jealous of that kind of attention. But she just didn't know how to approach it.

"Lucy?" Natsu called out to her, snapping her to attention. "Hey, you sure you're alright?"

Lucy shakily stammered before she finally found ground. "Oh, y-yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Really…"

Natsu frowned in concern. "Are you sure?"

Lucy smiled and nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

Natsu wasn't exactly an idiot…well okay, he was, but he's been maturing quite a lot as of late. He learned that there were other ways than with just heart and passion alone, though accepting that at first after his dispute with Nic still took a while to sink in. But even when he had trouble accepting change or something he didn't like, he knew better than to fake it. Seeing Lucy when she frowned at Gray and Juvia's affections made him a little sad. In a show of a big smile forming, he grabbed her wrist.

"Woah, what the-?!"

"C'mon, let's go find another stand to snack on!" he smiled back. "That'll perk you right up, right?"

Though he could be brash, as Natsu dragged Lucy, her brown eyes were staring at his genuine toothy smile. She could never forget that. All the doubt and questions she had about them seemed to have lifted for that one night. "…yeah!" she cheerfully shouted.

"Alright! Then let's go!" Natsu raced across the distract, with Lucy in tow.

"Hey, not so fast! You're gonna slip you flamebrain!" Lucy scolded.

* * *

In another part of the district, Levy was seen holding Gajeel's hand as they were walking around; Pantherlily was behind, though he was more of commentary. For the time being, she actually enjoyed being around Gajeel.

"This city isn't bad." She started.

Gajeel looked at his surroundings in question. "Yeah, I guess so."

Hearing his neutral tone, she looked up at him. "What's wrong? You don't think so?"

Gajeel looked down, seeing the concern on her face. "H-huh?" he stammered. "No, uh…it's nothing."

It's been an hour since the two have been walking. They didn't have any particular aim per se, but didn't have any reason beyond that. They just wanted to. But of course Gajeel wasn't exactly sure of what to say, or rather how to take the situation, about Levy. She would try to talk to him, but he'd end up stammering with what to say. He wasn't exactly the brightest when it came to speaking of random stuff. Still, he had to at least try.

"So…" he started. "…you like it here?"

Levy looked at him, this time giving a confused look. "Hm? Yeah, that's just what I said."

"Oh right. Sorry."

"It's no big deal." Levy looked up towards the full moon over their heads, seeing how majestic it is. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen the moon this close before. It's like you can just reach up there and grab it."

Gajeel looked up at the moon as well, catching an idea of where Levy was going with this. "Yeah…it's really something huh." He smirked mischievously. "Of course _I_ can reach up and grab it."

"Hey!" Levy whined. "Not fair."

Gajeel laughed. "Just kidding. Geez take a joke." He looked up at the moon one more time. "But you know…it really is kinda nice when you look at it."

Levy calmed down and stared up as well. "Yeah, it is."

It wasn't often that Gajeel took notice of the beauty of nature, at least that was what he used to be. But since becoming part of Fairy Tail, he's become much more…serene. The evident appeal came from the Alvarez and Tartaros attacks. He wanted to protect his friends and those who came to appreciate and loved him. One in particular was Levy. When he stopped to watch her bask in the moonlight, it was like all those nerves he once had washed way. Seeing her in the light, her brown eyes and bright smile twinkling, it made him realize how far he's come, for himself, and for her.

Levy was too distracted with the moon to realize Gajeel's stare. When she did, her confused look was fixed on the small blush he had. "You okay?" she asked.

Stammering, Gajeel coughed. "Yeah…I'm good."

Levy lovingly smiled. "Yeah…I'm glad."

Watching them interact, Pantherlily smiled and snickered.

* * *

An overview of the forever winter landscape of Glacidia seen. The rooftops were all neatly flat to have glistening frost litter its top. In a way, it looked like another world, one of calm blue shine. On a flat rooftop, this was where Nic had taken Erza. Sitting on a small wool blanket they borrowed from the inn staff, they sat down to just watch everything around them from such a tall height. And just like everyone else, the moon shined directly in their glowing faces.

"It's beautiful." Erza said.

"Yeah, it is." Nic agreed. He looked at Erza briefly to see her small smile. He wanted to say how beautiful she was too without sounding so corny, but it was hard to come by.

Erza glanced at him, smirking. "What's the matter? Do I have something on my face?"

Nic shook his head. "No. Just thinking is all."

"You're always thinking." She commented.

"And you don't?" he chided back. "It's just…I was just thinking how you and the moon have a lot in common."

"What do you mean?" she asked surprisingly.

Nic sat back on the wool rug and looked up at the shimmering moon. "Well…the way I see it…I guess you both shine at your brightest. When you really try, when you let others know how you feel, you let yourself shine on others. But we both know that isn't easy, for either of us." He meekly chuckled. "It's funny, but that's why I guess the moon goes to phases before it fades away for a while."

Erza didn't stop to think about it, but she felt appreciated by the compliment by her husband. It was enough to make her smile. Sure anybody could say such a thing and compare it to some intangible figment like the moon, but Erza knew Nic better than anyone. She knew what she meant, and though not easy to read, what he says matters to her a lot.

"And you know, here, it feels even closer. It's like you can reach out and touch it…." His eyes softened. "You're both very beautiful." He muttered softly. He trailed off in a soft thought as he watched the moon, until he felt a palm graze his cheek and turn him to face Erza. Her smile made him see she looked pleased.

"I'm really glad that you think of me that way Nic, I really am." She said. "But there is something that I am that the moon isn't…and it's that I can be touched." She demonstrated this by seizing Nic's hand and holding it to her own cheek. "See? Yes, maybe I do shine quite often on those who see me that way, but not just anyone can see my beauty. It's by those who truly believe strongly and know that I'm there for them. Even if they can't see me, I'm never truly gone. I watch over them, and lift their spirits until they make it through the night." She snickered low as her eyes softened. "Nic…you really need to work on your corny jokes."

Erza's laughter only made Nic's face scrunch. He flopped onto his back. "Well give me points for trying." He huffed.

"I know." Erza slowly went to her side, laying besides Nic. "But hearing you call me beautiful makes it worth it."

Nic said nothing. Hearing her acceptance made him sigh in relief.

"You know, if we're going to be making comparisons…then if I'm your beautiful moon, then that makes you my radiant sun."

Nic rolled his head to stare surprised at Erza.

"You give a world a sense of warmth, even when you are blocked by clouds, people still know you're there. When the darkness swallowed the universe, wasn't it you that cast away that darkness with your warmth and light. You give lives meaning, and when you really try, you shine on those who really need it most…" her mature and supple lips formed a luscious smile. "A world just isn't the same without a sun, and a moon can't cast its light without the help of the sun. You help me with that, Nic. You're _my_ light I look forward to seeing, everyday, whenever possible."

She hovered over Nic as she closed in, the two sharing another soft, long kiss. Once satisfied, Erza pulled away with an alluring smile. Nic shared that same one before he faced the moon.

"Thanks Erza. That really means a lot." His confidence rising again, Nic looked deeper o the basking white radiance above. "You know, I think I know how we'll win them over tomorrow."

The two laid there, ignorant of the cold as they snuggled up together to bask in the moonlight in peace.

* * *

Over one of the bridges that connected the two sides of the canal together, Joey was leading the pack with spirited strides as he had a big smile and hands behind his head. "Man, they actually have pretty good sushi here, huh?" he chimed.

"Yeah, it was good." Dereece said. "But you have any idea how much that cost?"

Joey did an eyeroll. "Yeah, I just figured that out when I paid the bill."

"Again, that was _me_ who paid that bill." Dereece chimed.

"Okay. I get it. No need to be a drama queen, Dereece. We get it. Yeesh." Dismissing his friend's bantering, Joey looked ahead. "So you guys wanna find where a dance club here is?"

"Why would we do that at this time?" Duncan chided.

Joey stopped in his tracks, sassily craning his neck. "Boy, do you not know me by now? There is never _not_ a time to get some funky hunky down. Just ask Dereece." He said, pointing at him.

"For him, yeah." Dereece muttered despondently at Duncan.

Joey turned away happily again. "Good, now that we got that settled, let's go find some pla-a-aaaa…" he slowly trailed off again as he froze in place. His teammates behind looked at him confusedly before they saw Joey staring at someone heading their way from the other end of the bridge.

There, slowly walking in the basking moonlight, two guards followed behind a woman around their age with long purple hair as before. The very same one that Joey saw on their way inside. Joey could see even inside the moonlight, she looked even more beautiful.

"G-guys. Guys!" he harshly whispered. "Are you seeing this?!"

Dereece was taken back by his friend's harsh tone. "Yeah, I can see alright."

"T-that's the girl from the canal earlier." He pointed to. "S-she's coming this way! What do I do?!"

Duncan, clearly not interested, turned away. "Why ask me? I'm not a love expert."

"D-Duncan!" Joey turned towards Dereece. "Uh…Dereece, quick! I gotta do something! Uh…get a beat going!"

"You sure you're alright?" Dereece almost immediately regretted because of the desperate plea in Joey's eyes. He looked at the incoming girl of luscious form and knew better then to argue. He groaned as he reached and pulled out the boombox again. Once set, he pushed the button.

 _ **[Darude – Sandstorm]**_

The music was loud, loud enough to alert the purple-haired girl and her entourage of something ahead of them. When the girl got closer, she saw someone dancing on the side of the bridge.

The blonde-haired boy with admittedly large earrings and blue eyes was wearing a magenta coat with black spots and black fur lining. He was dancing to some electronic music, his body being rather stiff. When she stopped to take a look at him, she could see that he was more like doing the robot, with each stutter in the beat making him stutter and stiffen.

She paused as Joey was beginning to quicken the pace and little as he was jogging in place, rolling his arms and hands until he put them both up in combat position, but his arms started moving like fans with his breathing and stare fixed on her. He shuffled left and right, like an electric mambo or noodle. It was hard to tell, but he was really trying with each robotic nudge in front of her.

Once the song had reached its peak to a stop, Joey held his position, breathing lightly despite the small beads of sweat of his face. The air had gotten a little too subtle for everybody's liking as Dereece and Duncan were off t the side, trying to act invisible to Joey creating raw stupidity.

Joey panted as the song was over, but he cocked his brow at the girl alluringly. "Slick, right?" he asked dumbly. "I've been working out."

He dumbly gave a toothy smile at the girl, earning a facepalm from Dereece. Duncan showed nothing.

Realizing he may have came off strong, Joey looked around wearily and whistled nonchalantly. He saw that the girl didn't even seem at all fazed by his showoff, but she wasn't saying anything either. "Uh…o-okay. I uh…guess we should be going now." Very awkwardly, he slipped away from her. "Uh, l-let's go guys~. We're _very_ busy and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." He shrunk to the distance, almost out of earshot for the girl. "You know! Because it's not like we were busy at all! Yeah! HAHA! Yeah…yeah…"

With Joey shuffling away, he took off in embarrassment, and Dereece and Duncan looked at each other again despondently before facing the girl.

"Sorry about that." Dereece apologized. "He can be a little…eccentric."

The girl nodded politely. "It's quite alright." She replied, but suddenly her guards stepped forward. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I have to go. I promise I can pay your friend later." She grinned as the guards escorted her passed Dereece and Duncan, making sure to leer at them in threatening warning. They maintained a safe distance until the girl was finally out of reach.

"Uh…okay then!" Dereece shouted. Once she was out of sight, he finally realized something. "Wait…WE'RE NOT STREET PERFORMERS!" he shouted annoyingly across the district.

Duncan started walking away, finally losing his interests. "No, but apparently the Captain is." He scoffed.

With the team having turned in, Dereece facepalmed. "Oi vey."

* * *

Inside the temple-like estate that Isaac was in, the place was surprisingly desolate at this time of night. Isaac was looking out the massive vaulted window of his own home was he frowned towards the moon. While others were embracing the moonlight with beauty, all he saw was something that he dreaded.

In the shadows behind him, a pedestal with a communication lacrima beeped. Without having to look, he looked expectantly ahead as the screen in the darkness illuminated, revealing someone's face.

"Good evening, Sir Farlock." A male voice greeted darkly.

Isaac sighed angrily as he faced forward sternly, away from the chastising voice that's been bothering him, even in his sleep. "Hello…Emmanuel." He begrudgingly greeted.

"Oh come now." Emmanuel swooned. "Don't be like that. If you're going to talk to someone, at least have the guts to face them."

Isaac reluctantly turned around, staring coldly but calmly into the face of the lacrima. Inside was an image of a middle-aged man, possibly no older than him, if not in his early 50s. He had no hair, meaning he was bald, but he had a dark goatee and moustache combo with slick dark eyebrows with equally dark eyes. He had on a primarily black coat and armor with red patches and accents on them. He seemed to be sitting down with an Arcanine by his side that he petted.

The man smirked. "Ah, there's that face I haven't seen in a while." He chimed. "You have no idea how much I've missed seeing you."

Isaac wasn't sitting around. "What do you want, Emmanuel?"

Emmanuel put his hand up in innocence. "Calm yourself, brethren." He insisted. "Why, I'm just checking up on you is all. After all, we still have an agreement, do we?"

Isaac's eyes narrowed. "I'm aware."

"Is that so?" Emmanuel questioned. "So then, I take it that you're still at odds with these Pokémon? You know, they're not bad once you get to know them. Isn't that right, Arcanine?" The humungous creature gave a knowing bark as if he somewhat agreed, wo which Emmanuel continued stroking his fur. "You see? So tell me, why is it so hard for you to just open those borders to let these creatures in?"

Isaac turned around, clearly not wanting to hear from him anymore. "You know exactly why, Emmanuel. You don't have to remind me."

"That so?" Emmanuel frowned. "Then you tell _this_ , Farlock, if I am aware of this, then how come _you_ fail to come to terms? We have a deal."

Isaac's teeth began gritting. He was starting to fume in frustration, but he'd rather not see his acquaintance see his stoic expression turning sour.

"It's been 6 years, Isaac, and I have paid my half in full. Just how long do you intend to hold out my patience for anyway?"

Isaac strained to find an answer. "…as long as it takes." He coldly replied. "As long as I don't stoop to your levels, I _will_ keep this nation the way it should be. Safe."

Despite the rebuff from Isaac, Emmanuel looked amused. He darkly smirked as he chuckled. "You can continue playing this little waiting game for as long as you'd like, Farlock, but we both know you can't hide forever. You and I both know what happens when I find out that you're holding out on me any further."

"I'm not."

"…not yet anyways." Emmanuel smirked. "I won't wait around forever. Continue testing my patience. See where that gets you then…goodnight, Farlock."

The lacrima turned off, leaving the message to sink into Farlock's skull. He continued staring up at the moon with cold eyes, colder than they were minutes before the "friendly reminder". He sighed heavily as a wave of dejection overwhelmed him.

"Why did this have to happen?"

From the crook in his door, the sound of footsteps could be heard as someone was seen inside. "Father…"

Hearing a familiar voice, Isaac turned around, seeing a purple-haired woman who looked at him concerningly. "Camilla." Gasping, he adjusted and calmly straightened. "I see that you've come home, safe and sound."

The daughter nodded and stepped inside. "Yes, I've come home."

"…you were late." He scowled. "By five minutes." He raised a brow to her. "So tell me, what nuisance of an excuse made you late for your curfew…again."

Camilla mulled over that boy who danced in front of her, showing off his slick moves in flashy display. She kept a straight face. "It's nothing, Father."

"Was it a mage?" he coldly asked, his eyes piercing icicles into her eyes. "What have I told you about mages?"

Camilla nodded. "I know, Father. But I wasn't certain…he was possibly just a street dancer looking for some loose change."

Unaware as much as Camilla was, Isaac seemed to have bought it. He turned around and faced the moon once more. "I see…"

Camilla could clearly see the distaste in Isaac's tone, even more so on his face. It was clear to her something else went awry today. "Father…was it _him_?"

Isaac gravely sighed once more, giving a dead giveaway to the answer Camilla needed to know. "There's no need to fret, Camilla. I'll make sure they never touch you." He declared. "That's a Father's job. Now, go get some rest."

Camilla frowned. She didn't know what to say, but she didn't hold onto her Father's words. She couldn't feel such promise emanating from such a chilled tone. "I will. Goodnight."

She walked out of the room, walking into the shadows with a worried frown as the door remained cracked. Isaac continued staring at the moon, his stern, stubborn traditional look fixed.

Underneath that same kind of moonlight, the Fiore Mages were back in their inns. In Nic and Erza's bed Erza was sprawled on Nic's side while Nic was sleeping soundly, the skylight directing the full moon onto his sleeping face.

* * *

The few rays of daybreak shined over the tundra's glaciers as light refracted into bright rays. The frozen water shimmered as sunlight peered over the horizon as dawn approached.

In front of Isaac's province, all the mages were gathered by guards that escorted them from their district to the capital estate. There at the top of the stairs, Isaac stared at his challengers with cold glares. Besides him, Camilla was staying perfectly still, seeing her father's challengers come as well.

Joey's eyes widened when he saw Camilla again. "Wait…what is she doing here?" he gasped. When he looked towards Isaac, he started getting a very bad suspicion as they held the same posture. "…oh." He gulped.

"Oh boy." Dereece groaned.

Isaac slowly made way down the steps, observing everyone suspiciously. "I see that you all have made it on time…surprisingly." He admitted. "I thank you once again for giving me such a _plentiful_ experience."

"The honor is all ours." Erza replied, sharing the same impatient tone.

Noting to the point, Isaac moved right along. "Now then, to whom shall be my adversary for this challenge?"

Among the many mages present, there were a few ready to take this arrogant snob down a peg. However, stepping up calmly, Vanessa made her way to the front to the edge. She took the position and stared back at Isaac. "If it's alright, I would gladly accept your challenge." She answered.

Isaac raised a brow. "You?"

"Wait, Vanessa's gonna battle?" Lucy inquired.

"Wow, that's a surprise." Happy noted. "I would've pegged Nic would crush him or something."

"Oh don't worry about our girl." Cana winked in a hint, earning questionable looks from the others.

"Believe me, I think Vanessa knows what she's doing." Sophie beamed. "I wouldn't question her just yet."

Wendy looked ahead concerningly. "Yeah, okay…" she balled her fists and looked prepared. "C'mon, Vanessa. Show'em." She eagerly said.

"We're counting on you, Vanessa." Nic told his sister. "Remember why we're here."

Looking calmly back and smiling, Vanessa's smirk was all that was needed to tell everyone she knew. "I'm aware." She looked ahead. "And I'll be sure to show him that too."

"GO VANESSA-SENPAI!" Joey eagerly cheered, waving his arms around maniacally. "GET THAT JERK! SHOW HIM WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU MESS WITH A PULARIS!"

"Not so loud there, Joey, yeesh." Levy veered away. His obsessions needed to be toned down some.

Isaac overlooked Vanessa with conspicuous interest. "So _you're_ my opoonent?" Isaac scoffed. "What's this? Are the mage men of very poor lack?"

"Say what?" Natsu growled. Once again, Lucy held him back.

Juvia, Cana, and Sophie all shot leers at Isaac. He clearly ignored them.

"My apologies. I wasn't aware you were picky with whom you'd prefer to pick on." Vanessa chimed, though she did her best to dismiss the sexist taunt. "Am I to say that I'm not to your standards?"

Isaac cocked a brow as he scoffed. "Nothing gets pass you mages. It's only fair that two men to agreement in battle than rely on another partner to fight in their stead." He shot a look at Nic, who was the sole reason for all this.

"And last I checked, we didn't agree that _I_ would be your opponent." He reminded. "Isn't that right?"

Isaac lightly scoffed. "So be it." He stared at Vanessa. "But do try not to dismay me so soon. It'd be a shame if I went too harshly on such a supposedly _strong_ feminine figure."

A tick mark grew on all the females present as a dark aura radiated above them. It was taking Dereece everything he had to hold Joey down from wanting to beat up Isaac. Camilla herself lightly coughed.

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't." Vanessa replied calmly, defending the challenge without rebuff.

Isaac glanced over, seeing several guards bringing something that was on all fours heading his way. "Now then, your opponent…"

Everyone turned as well, all of them fixated on a less than cordial sight to behold.

It was taking four men that were barely on their heels as they withheld chains that connected to a muzzle laced around a massive polar bear-like creature with an icy-like beard. The Ice-type looked well agitated as it was being tugged by the guards, its forepaws dug into the ground every other step, meaning some signs of resistance.

A guard tugged harder. "C'mon, move it. Just up here." He and the others nearly dragged the creature to the center. "Don't make it any harder for yourself now."

The muzzled bear shook its head to try and pry the chains off, but it soon relented, continuing to follow to the center with the four guards at each corner.

"A Beartic." Nic said neutrally.

"A what?" Natsu questioned.

Gray gave a focused look on the Beartic in front of them. He pulled out his PokeDex and analyzed the icy beast for himself.

" **Beartic, the Freezing Pokémon. It freezes its breath to create fangs and claws of ice to fight with. Cold northern areas are its habitat.** "

Gray's face contorted with the information given, hints of curiosity on his face shown. "So it fights with ice too, huh? Interesting…"

"What do you think Vanessa's going to use?" Lucy questioned.

"Beats me, but whatever it is, she better pick something big to match that kind of raw muscle." Cana said.

Vanessa reached down to the belt hanging from the side of her hip, plucking out a Poke Ball. She went and tossed it skywards. "Go!"

The capsule went flying open, summoning forth Vanessa's Mawile. The Deceiver Pokémon had her horns facing the humungous bear with her taunting smirk behind. "Somebody called me?" she chimed.

"Mawile." Erza identified. "Interesting. So Vanessa's going with type advantage on this one."

Nic remained sturdy. "This is Vanessa; she isn't just relying on type alone. Mawile may not have much physical strength the way she does normally…" Nic glanced ahead, focusing on the battle. "But we'll see how she uses her moves."

Duncan remained very much quiet. He was paying full attention.

Seeing Vanessa's Mawile, Joey was trying really hard to not hyperventilate, but it was getting to be too much for him. "T-t-that's Vanessa-senpai's Mawile! Her Mawile!" he pointed out. "Dereece, where's my camera! I need my camera! I need it for the scrapbook!" Of course knowingly, Dereece eyerolled.

The four guards all carefully unchanged Beartic's muzzle, weary of his many harsh claws. Once the chains and clicked the Beartic's muzzle dropped to the ground. Immediately the bear growled and the men backed away. It looked ahead to recognize that it had opponents waiting.

The bear slowly arose on his hind legs, taking a massive stature that would put even Elfman to shame. It growled down at Mawile. "Who're you supposed to be?" he scoffed.

Mawile flicked a lock of hair on her toss. "Your worst nightmare, what else?" he teased.

Beartic glared menacingly. "We'll see about that."

Isaac looked far from impress, and he wasn't afraid to say it. "If that's what you choose, so be it. But don't think you will be taken likely because you're a small fry."

Hearing the insult, Mawile turned around to face them both, though she didn't seem too happy. "Big words coming from an ogre." She mocked back.

Isaac's brow twitched in spite. "I would've thought you mages would teach these things some manners. I'll have to it myself. Now, go! Attack!" he ordered.

The Beartic released a powerful roar that made the land beneath tremble from the pressure. His body shined a vibrant blue aura as clouds above began to cover the battlefield overhead. The dark clouds hovered, leaving everyone confused.

"What the heck?" Natsu questioned before something dropped on his head. "Ow! What the-?!"

Looking all around, everyone saw that it was beginning to lightly hail across the plaza. Small pelts of ice fell from the cloud onto the battlefield, forcing Mawile to use her horns and shield herself from the chunks buffeting her.

"Hail?!" Lucy gasped.

"Just like Gray's Snover." Wendy realized.

Gray nodded. "Yeah…and I get the feeling that Vanessa's gonna be in trouble." He was speaking out of experience with using his Snover before. Hail was cumbersome for others that weren't Ice-type after all. But he remembered when he lost to Lucy awhile back. That didn't mean he didn't held faith.

"Stay calm, Mawile." Vanessa said.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Mawile grunted, looking around. "Now where's that big tub of…!" She felt a chill from behind and turned around, seeing that Beartic was already there. Before she realized it, Beartic began slammed his fist into her backside with a shrilling roar. Mawile screeched as she flipped in midair, barely catching herself in a slide back.

Beartic returned on all fours, exerting a brutal roar as he began repeatedly punching at Mawile, whereas the tiny creature was bracing for the blows.

"That looks like **Thrash**." Nic said, though by the tone, it wasn't one of worry.

As Beartic's next big strike came, Vanessa timed it as soon as the fist reached its peak. "Mawile, **Protect!** "

With a scoff, Mawile brought up a translucent turquoise shield as Beartic pounded furiously into the barrier. The fists rained down as a furious bellow from the wild bear shrilled through hear canals all around. "C'mon, that all you got?!" Mawile taunted.

Beartic's fuming only enraged as he continued the barrage, only with nothing getting through. Each fast blow only ended in failure and soon enough he relented. Mawile lifted her barrier, where some ice pelted her, inflicting damage.

"Is that the best you can do?" Isaac taunted Vanessa. "As you can see, the Pokémon we've held are aware of what they need to-!" He stopped when he noticed Beartic was looking disoriented. He shook his head, grunting in a haze. "What's this?"

Vanessa watched as Beartic was shaking his head, a distressed look in his eyes. He grunted as he banged his head against the ground, hitting himself repeatedly.

"What's the matter with you?" Isaac shouted.

"It's an effect that Trash has." Erza explained to her friends. "When the move ends, the user in turn suffers fatigue, and that can lead to confusion."

"Just like Vanessa's Krookodile with Outrage." Sophie recalled.

Seeing an opportunity in the hail, Vanessa took the shot. "Use **Iron Head!** " Mawile rushed in across the plateau towards the disoriented Beartic, taking a lunge at the last footstep to get above and brought her horns back as they shined brightly. With a strong cry, she swung them down over Beartic's head, sundering him with force that depressed the ice beneath him.

"Alright!" Happy cheered.

Isaac grunted at the repercussion taken. He watched his Beartic stammer back up, a hazed look in the eyes still as it didn't seem to recognize anything. He wasn't like that. He knew what he was doing…or at least, that's what _he_ believed. He reached out confidently. "Attack!"

In Beartic's ears, it sounded like a muffle, but he heard and roared. He raised his head high, sending Mawile into a spin into the air. With her midair, he opened his maw and expelled an intense icy blizzard that exploded into a subzero maelstrom. The cold rush immediately enveloped Mawile and she was blown back towards Vanessa by the shockwaves into the ground.

Vanessa glared forward, recognizing the attack. _'Blizzard.'_ She realized. _'It never misses in Hail. This Beartic may be wild, but it's very experienced.'_ She looked down at Mawile as she staggered back up, wincing from the hail damage. _'Attacking head on won't benefit. We'll have to find another weakness.'_

Isaac smirked. "Troubled are we?" he reached out. "Attack again!"

The wild Beartic's head shook about, the confusion still active. He grunted as he opened his maw as a light blue aura enveloped his whole body. He pulled the head back as a spiraling frost began to generate from inside.

"That looks like **Sheer Cold**." Nic said, containing any surprise from such a high-levels move it had.

Vanessa reached forward again. " **Protect!** "

Beartic's wide maw shut for a moment, making light beams shimmer from the cracks. He got on all fours and shot out a sheer bright blue beam with frost racing along its edging. That same beam caused so much frost that instant stalagmites of ice formed as it traveled towards Mawile. Mawile brought up the shield again, defending herself from the intense attack. The blue beams separated upon impact, diverging into streams that froze everything that it touched. Ice stacks appeared around Mawile as she was gritting her teeth.

Vanessa's hair shifted through the cold winds, with a stray beam heading her way. Using her magic, she created a small wall of teal aura that blocked the beam's tracks. With her and Mawile both on defense, they both looked at each other, their eyes meeting in expectant behavior. Together, they hatched an idea.

"Mawile."

Protect lifted, leaving nothing but cold air again as hail did even more damage. "I gotcha girl."

Beartic shook his head, his beady eyes returning to sanity. "Gnnngh…what the…?" he looked ahead, seeing Mawile as his opponent again. When he processed it, he glared and suddenly sped across the ground in a flash.

"Woah, that's fast!" Natsu gasped.

"For a big guy, yeah!" Gray exclaimed.

Beartic's Ability, Slush Rush. Thanks to it, Beartic was blitzing left and right, until he finally closed the gap with a fist, via Thrash.

" **Crunch!** " Vanessa commanded.

Beartic roared as his fist came down, but Mawile rushed at him, barely rolling pass the fist and tumbled between the legs. As she slipped beneath, she anchored her jaws with the move and snapped on the knee, making Beartic scream as Mawile unhooked herself and got to midair. But Beartic winced and swatted her away in frustration, but not without a blue aura lowering his Defense.

Mawile grunted as she used her open jaws to bite at the ground. She broke her way through spare icicles still engraved from Sheer Cold, until one finally stopped her slide. She grunted as even more hail fell down on her.

"Finish this mediocre at once!" Isaac ordered. "Do it, and you shall be freed."

Beartic was tempted. He stomped on over and glared down at the Mawile pinned against the icicle. She didn't look all that impressive, and he wasn't too enthused by the damage taken. "Nothing personal." He scoffed before opening his maw. Inside swirling energy began to manifest into frost and bright blue energy.

"Vanessa!" Dereece shouted. Beside him, Joey was on the verge of a heart attack. Duncan's eyes narrowed as he inspected the battle with suspicion.

As Beartic readied his final move in hopes of ending it, Vanessa times it just right. "Now!"

Mawile grunted. "About time!" She pivoted in place, swinging her horns around and biting off the icicle that they were pinned against. She threw it into Beartic's maw, making him bite down on it and caused his attack to explode inside his maw. The frosted explosion swallowed Beartic in a cloud of mist and frost.

"What?" Isaac gasped.

Cana smirked. "Now that's a mouthful. That's our girl!"

"She waited at the last second to find an opening for the mouth, clogging up the attack." Sophie indicated as she saw the frost clear, revealing Beartic stammering backwards. "That's using experience."

Beartic gagged as ice and frost was coughed up. He fell onto his back with a pained thud. He laid there, trying to catch his breath, but when he looked up, something bright was seeping through the clouds. The position he was in made him visible to sunlight as Hail dissipated. His advantages lost and distracted by the sun, Mawile jumped overhead and came down.

Vanessa gave the command. " **Iron Head!** "

Mawile flipped constantly as her metallic horns shined. She cried out as she slammed her horns full force onto a shocked Beartic's chest. The impact created an intense crater that made ice levitate off the ground momentarily as frost and ice erupted from their position.

Isaac gasped in horror at what he was witnessing. As the settlement showed, he saw the Beartic had swirling eyes, with Mawile standing proudly on his chest. She scoffed lightly. "And people say I'm cold." Ending the battle on that note, she turned away.

Nic grinned. "Look like that's that."

Dereece took an intense sigh of relief. "Man, glad that's over. I nearly got a heart attack there. Joey…Joey? Joey!"

On the ground, Joey had a big smile on his face as wavy tears fell from his face. He looked so happy that he was crying. But his chest was in pain it seemed. It was another Joey breakdown of ecstasy. "Bless this day." He sniffled. "THANK YOU!" he screamed to the heavens.

"She won! Vanessa actually won!" Lucy shouted, double high-fiving Wendy in cheers.

"Well that was crafty." Cana winked. "Girl had _me_ on my toes."

Isaac looked down at the ground, completely puzzled by this phenomenon. He was in disbelief by being defeated fair and square for one thing, but beaten by a girl was just insult to injury. Just watching Vanessa praise and telling Mawile she did a good job made him all the more annoyed.

"Father." Camilla looked concerned.

Isaac looked far from happy as he began approaching the Fiorians. He cast them all a panel glare at them, showing them his deep loathe. He looked back at his daughter, who was right behind him with a concerned look. He thought back to the conversation he had with her last night. He was going to protect her. No matter what.

An eerie silence fell across the area, leaving a cold breeze to pick up on his chill.

He sighed. "Get that thing out of my sight. It's no use to us." He told the guards. He turned and gave them all a harsh glare. "And with these mages, do the same."

"Say what?!" Natsu yelled. "You bastard, you…!" he began approaching him with deep ire, but thankfully for all of them that Lucy held him back.

"Natsu, just wait!" Lucy insisted.

The guards began to envelop their perimeter, pointing magical spears at them. "I'm sorry about this." One said. He began to approach, but they were all stopped when they thrust their spears, but they shattered in midair upon hitting something solid. All the guards gasped as they looked at their spears, which were broken-tipped. They all looked forward, stupefied by what looked like a turquoise dome around the Fiorians.

"What?!" another gasped.

Camilla's eyes were wide as she looked at Joey using his magic. She blinked in surprise at the revelation. _'Wait…'_ she recalled the man that she saw last night trying to woo her. Instantly it clicked. _'You mean, he really was a mage?'_

Joey stood in front, looking angrily at them. "Sorry, but scum like you aren't even worth Nic and Vanessa-senpai's time!" he roared.

"Joey?" Dereece gasped.

"You've made an agreement with us that you would hear us out. First you have the audacity to scoff Vanessa-senpai, and now you're cowering away because you're a sore loser?" He recalled how Duncan berated him the other day. He really didn't own up to his mistakes until too late. "You're not a man at all."

Isaac's eyes narrowed at the lack of respect given towards Joey specifically. "You punkish outsider."

"Better a punk than a coward who hides behind walls all day."

Before Isaac could make a witty retort, a menacing roar shrilled the air. He and everyone looked over to see bodies flying off of Beartic. The massive white bear was agitated. Men were trying to muzzle him, but they only ended up being swatted away by the bear's annoyance.

"Get that deathtrap away from me!" he swatted another man with a chain, sending him on his back.

Isaac moved to get a chain and handle the problem himself, but when he reached for one, he was cut off when a paw stepped in front of him. Looking up, his face was painted in a show of fear upon seeing Beartic glaring him down. The massive tundra bear looked far from pleased with how he was treated, and he wanted to make Isaac understood his pain.

"You…you stay away!" he ordered.

The Beartic opened his maw, inhaling to make icy spirals circulated inside. The temperature dropped drastically as Isaac was too paralyzed to move.

"Father!" Camilla shouted.

All Isaac saw was a blast of bright blue that he flinched from. He prepared for a fitting end being frozen in fear, but he didn't feel a thing. When he looked at himself, he realized he wasn't frozen. Instead, he looked up, his eyes widening in shock.

Beartic's blast was unleashed…in the wrong direction. The beam was blown right over his head into the atmosphere. It dissipated to thin frost, while Beartic himself was restrained. The tundra bear was held at the shoulders by sharp fins and claws hooked around him. When he looked back, a Garchomp was holding him back with a cold glare.

"That's enough." The voice coming from the side alerted Isaac. He turned and saw Nic standing a few meters away.

"Nic?" Wendy gasped.

Dereece's eyes widened. "But wait, I thought Joey…" When he turned to where Nic was supposed to be, he saw a large hole. He saw another hole outside, making the connection. _'So he tunneled underneath!'_

"Hmph, good thinking." Duncan shrugged.

Nic slowly walked between a shaken Isaac and the struggling Beartic. The man was scared out of his heels, making Nic look towards Garchomp. He gave the Pokémon a nod, and Garchomp understood. He unhooked the bear, making him go on all fours again as he slowly approached Nic.

Nic held his ground as Beartic closed the distance. Isaac was stunned as he was balling his fists to attack, but Nic began talking.

"I know change can be scary. Believe me, it's not easy." Without hesitation, he stepped forward, giving Beartic a calm but also sympathetic look. The two shared a stare down and Beartic's growling began to simmer by Nic's relaxed tension. Nic slowly reached forward, gently stroking the top of his head. "It's not easy accepting things you're familiar with…but treating them always as outsiders is the same as pushing others away."

Isaac gritted his teeth. He refused to admit to this fault. Nic glowed and became his Mind Form in front of everyone's eyes.

"But you know…maybe for once, you need to think in another perspective." His hands began glowing two orbs; one that he reached for Beartic's head, and another for Isaac's chest.

"What are you-?!"

"Just stay calm… **Heart Swap!** " Nic's eyes flashed pink, allowing everything in their psyches to completely go black.

Beartic and Isaac both went stone cold as they began to feel themselves distort. _'What's happening…? Why do I feel so…?'_ When he blinked, he realized something was off. He gasped, finding himself looking down, he was on all fours, and the white fur surprised him. When he looked up, he was shocked when he saw himself. _'Wait…is that me?'_

Beartic was also completely surprised as well, but neither could say anything. But through Nic, they were feeling the other's emotions, seeing everything they saw. But more importantly, this same feeling both had…fear.

Contempt. Anguish. Confusion. All these mixed emotions that they were both sharing that Nic was transmitting they were feeling. And yet Beartic felt it, the fear of the outside world that Isaac kept shut. And Isaac could see through Beartic's eyes, the imprisonment of people when he just wanted to find a home.

When these emotions were fully sunk in, both started to look a little guilty. Nic finally let up his move, reverting them both to their own minds. Both of them were completely stuck in place to process everything.

"Father!" Camilla rushed over to Isaac, seeing his distraught look. "Father, are you alright?"

Isaac looked like he was ignoring Camilla. He was so warped on that inverted feeling as he looked down at his palm. It was shaking, trembling in shock.

"I know what it's like to not accept change."

Beartic and Isaac snapped out of their shock when Nic began talking again. Garchomp regrouped with Nic from behind. Nic gingerly scratched his neck from over his shoulder.

"You don't want to accept it because it's not something you're accustomed to. Nobody likes to do something they don't know. Sometimes the appeal just comes off the wrong foot. When I first came to this world, I didn't know a thing either."

Isaac frowned as he turned away. He looked displeased with where Nic was going with this.

Nic continued. "But I found people that were willing to embrace me than to cast me aside because I wasn't one of them. But now look." He looked over to Fairy Tail, specifically his wife he looked t him expectantly. "I always preferred being alone to, you know." This made Isaac gasp. "If you don't know something, don't be afraid to ask for help. It's not always fun when you're doing everything alone."

Isaac didn't know what to say. He was sullied greatly and made a mockery of himself in front of people who bested him. Here he was, being treated nicely, yet he deserved to be slammed to the ground. He suddenly felt a grip on his hand, making him turn to see Nic making him reach for Beartic's snout.

The backs of their minds were telling them to back off, but Nic's warm hands were alluring. Isaac oddly found himself looking into Beartic's eyes, both of them fearful and stoic at first, soon turning soft as their hands and snouts began to slowly touch.

When they touched, it wasn't like the other expected. Isaac expected a cold prickly snout that would freeze him. But no, this felt…still cold, but soft. Beartic felt this same feeling from another human hand. They both looked a little more relaxed.

"Just give it a try." Nic said. "We'll help you."

Isaac was complacently quiet about it all. He was stunned silent for a moment before he finally took a quick breath. He stepped away from Beartic as both backed away, though neither had the will to fight. Isaac looked towards Camilla just one last time, seeing the neutral look she had. He looked back at Nic to give him a serious look.

"…one." He started. "One chance. That's all that I'm giving you." He turned towards Camilla. "But make no mistake. If I find this to be a farce, I'll be _very_ displeased."

Nic accepted the challenge. "That's fine with us. You have our thanks."

He and Isaac finally shook hands, their agreement finally acknowledged. Everyone smirked and liked where this was going. Camilla, however, still held a neutral look, like it didn't matter. In fact, she looked even more worried than before.

This didn't sit well this Jory as he stared at the beauty.

Erza smiled proudly with hands to her hips. "very well then. Looks like we've got work to do around here."

"Now we're talking." Natsu eagerly smirked.

"Aye!" Happy cheered.

The rising sun shined brightly on everyone that morning. It was probably the warmest day that Glacidia has felt.

* * *

The bright sun radiated down on another pupil elsewhere. Stepping onto a deck, trained soldiers all went in tandem with Fire-types beside them as they entered the last boat; the biggest boat on the dock. Once the last of them entered onto the deck, the general that was in charge of the shipping turned towards the loading area.

"That's the last of them." The general said. "We'll be leaving shortly."

"Good." A familiar voice came from the loading area. Walking up, the general and all the soldiers loaded saw their leader walk up with his Arcanine in tow. In his hands was a massive black cane with red accents, and at the tip of it was a massive red jewel the size of a bouncy ball. His black cape shifted in the winds as he stepped onto the deck, a proud smirk on his face.

This was Emmanuel, and behind him, soldiers of many sizes with the same armor and numbers on 100 different battleships were all waiting for his orders.

"Ready whenever you are, sir." The general stated. "The fleet is finally complete and ready to set sail."

"I know." Emmanuel said. "Those progress reports weren't wrong. Excellent job, General Bigge."

The general bowed in respects. "You're far too kind, sir."

Emmanuel walked closer towards the bow, getting an overview of the rising sun in their position. He could feel its warmth giving him confidence as the moon was to the back of his head. "It's time that we pay our old friend a nice, warm visit…set a course for Glacidia due north!"

All the ships began emitting smokestacks. Their coal inside was being shoveled in by soldiers while Torkoal, Slugma, Numel, and many more Fire-types were spewing fire or embers to get the flames going to power up everything.

"And General..." The ship general heard his name called. "You made sure he was set before departure?"

Bigge walked up beside him. "Rest assured, Emmanuel. He made himself perfectly prepared for this visit."

"Good." Emmanuel stroke Arcanine again, making the massive beat raise his head as his chin was scratched. "I'm sure they'll be delighted to see him so soon."

Farther out at sea, also heading north, a lone boat was sailing through the ever-shifting waves of the calm blue. It was vast now, but it was closing in on the cold waters farther up. On that one small black and red ship, there was a white accent like tiger fangs imprinted on the front. At the front was someone who had a straight posture as all that could be seen was a rude smirk. He looked like he couldn't wait to get to where he was going.

They've been very patient for their dues. And when one doesn't pay…that's when patience is tested. One side will break first. The question here is which side it will be.

* * *

 **Here you go guys, here's the start of the Glacidia Arc. I tried my very best to make it as condensed as possible, and I have to say that I feel quite proud of myself. Not so much action sadly as many of you would like, but plenty of buildup for the next 3-4 chapters. And, for good measure, I've added NicxErza fluff to add coziness to this winter season!**

 **If you guys noticed, I've taken a little inspiration from watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was thinking about the North Pole Arc and I found a great idea to put a little Fairy Tail/Pokémon spin on the idea. As for the concepts I'm also incorporating, you'll just have to wait and see.**

 **For now, I guess this is time for me to say thank you for everything guys. It's been a great year as of 2018, but for the rest of December, I'm going to be focusing on** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **. So when this story picks up again next month in 2019, you'll be seeing more craziness from me. So for the Glacidia Arc, reviews are very much appreciated and until then! XD**


	26. Magic of the Moonlight

Cana raised a wine bottle high. "Hey, let's get me some more of that good stuff over here, would ya?!" she yelled out, shaking the bottle in her hand. Funny enough, her Purrloin wasn't budged much at all as she was curled up on the table beside her. Though it did surprise Wendy's Swablu some.

"Uh, maybe not so loud…" Wendy nervously chided.

"Not so loud? How about not so much." Carla chided. "The woman's going to get a hangover if we don't do something."

"I wouldn't worry too much." Sophie said. She was currently walking around with her Abra, heading over to another table to help people with how to interact with Pokémon. "We were promised a banquet in our honor. I wouldn't think Isaac would think of trying to go back on his word a second time."

"Yes. But we'll see." Pantherlily said. He was currently sitting next to Gajeel, who was scarfing his face full of food.

"Well that ain't gonna be because of me, I'll tell you that." The Iron Dragon said. "If anything you just gotta keep an eye on ole Salamander over there."

"Hey! I heard that!" Natsu shouted from across the table. Dragon Slayer hearing did benefit at times.

He wasn't wrong one bit. Nobody would've believed it if they hadn't been there. It was just this morning that Isaac lost the battle fair and square, and back then the capital felt rather chilly. But remarkably under this moonlight, everything radiated with warmth despite how cold it was supposed to be. Lucy guessed that it had to do with light lacrima that take in solar energy during the day. If that wasn't surprising, the fact they were having a feast out in the open like it was a reception was an eye-opener. People were dressed up for the occasion, and what's even more shocking was how casual they were about it. Women wearing sleeveless dresses were up and about, conversing with cohorts or significant others without chattering teeth. Same with the men. To honor their aid, Isaac officially vouched for this gathering, and many – if not all – were invited. And not just them, Pokémon were also let in, provided that they were accompanied by humans. A lot of Water and Ice-types were surrounding people, and they were surprisingly generous with meeting these people. Despite some hiccups here and there, it wasn't anything extreme. It was amazing how quickly everything turned in their favor.

Lucy sighed. "I'm just glad things didn't spiral out of control just yet." She looked around, realizing something was off. "Hey, where's Erza?"

"Yeah and I don't see Nic." Wendy pointed out.

Vanessa was currently surrounded by many people around the area, many being younger kids with smaller Pokémon. Some of the older kids were having more suitable thought, and judging by their aura, Vanessa could tell. But she outright chose to ignore it and focused on the task. "Okay everyone, calm down." She instructed to the crowd of people and Pokémon. Delphox was right beside her for this instruction. "Now listen, there's a lot more to Pokémon than just their natural qualities. There's also the fact that they need attention, and that they can voice it if needed." She demonstrated this by reaching for Delphox's head, petting the furry top. Delphox hummed lightly at the affection her head was receiving. "You see, even the biggest Pokémon can also have feelings…"

As she went on in instructing the many people that have Swinub, Snorunt, Delibird, and other magical creatures by their sides, Erza watched from afar, with Isaac and Beartic also joining in with them.

"This is looking to be rather well for a start." Isaac examined. "I must say, Mrs. Pularis, your teachings and methods have proven effective…so far."

Erza nodded in thanks. "You don't need to thank me. Honestly, I don't think I did much."

"Don't be so modest now, have a sense of humility. But now that you mention it, where exactly is the one responsible for all this?" Isaac turned left and right, finding no signs of his target in sight.

Erza pinched the bridge of her nose. "Honestly…you'll have to forgive my husband. Nic isn't…particular about outings. He can be very…difficult at times like these."

Isaac raised a brow. "Is that so? You know, people tend to look down on others who don't show up to their own parties…especially in their honor."

"Would you believe me if I told you that actually happened?" Erza chuckled, though she knew Isaac didn't seem too pleased. "Just leave him be. He hates the spotlight to begin with."

"If you say so, I'll pardon his reasons. Now then, I do believe you are owed recgnition."

With the pleasantries out of the way, everyone soon came together at their tables with their befriended Pokémon. They all rise as Isaac did as well. He raised his glass high. "May I have your attention please." Everyone stopped talking and they turned towards him. "Tonight, we feast under the full moon that's blessed us, to honor and respect our new friends and acquaintances who have traveled from afar to offer us guidance to these creatures we have come to once as our enemies, now friends and partners. Let us hold great thanks to those whom we now know…Fairy Tail."

He gestured to the mages all accounted for, giving everyone a round of applause. Lucy and Wendy grew embarrassed by the attention, but Natsu and Charmander beamed for the attention proudly. Those humble like Juvia and Gray waved to the crowds, and many others accepted the gratitude in kind. Erza bowed her head in gratitude.

"Let us celebrate in their name! May we find peace with the new trade partners we've acquired! Now, to honor their assistance, we shall hold our heads high as they now demonstrate the bonds of man and Pokémon alike! Rejoice!"

Many clapped in applause as Gray and Juvia approached the center, with their Azurill and Bergmite by their sides. Once the atmosphere quieted own, they got ready.

"You ready?" Gray asked.

Juvia nodded. "I am."

Just as they have rehearsed earlier, Juvia summoned water everywhere. Currents flowed from the ground up in a spiral around her. Once they got high enough, Gray gave the word, and Bergmite took a deep breath before he released an Icy Wind attack. Though the attack doesn't freeze Pokémon, it was still cold enough to freeze the water. With the water spiral now frozen, Gray used his Ice-Make Magic and swiped his arm, flattening it into a slide. He held a charismatic smile as he and Bergmite backed off.

"Are you ready?" Juvia asked Azurill.

The Polka Dot Pokémon nodded. "Yeah!" Juvia nodded and she threw Azurill skywards. The mouse sprung into the air with a peppy smile as she made it to the top of the slide. Going down it, she used her tail as a sled and laughed as she slid down the massive spiral. She smoothed down it so well, so well in fact that it looked kinda fun. Nobody could argue otherwise, but when Azurill made it to the end, she arched on the tail and shot up, spinning in the air.

"Now, **Bubble Beam!** "

Azurill kept her rotation going as she began projecting blue bubbles in a spiral around her in midair. With her in place, Gray used his magic one more time, frosting over the bubbles to make them sparkle with satisfaction around Azurill.

The performance ended with Azurill falling into Juvia's arms, where they smiled and bowed. They were all given a great round of applause by the spectators and friends alike. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed that display.

* * *

As everyone was enjoying the reception, the cold air out at sea was anything but welcoming. It didn't help that a small ship was drifting over their heads. It was making way through the waters and ice, making a one-shot course through the territory towards Glacidia. It was drifting along so sternly that it seemed like not even steel could bend its course.

The Seel and many more up ahead were dozing off when they saw the massive ship head their way. Bursting with energy, they dove into the water in time before the ship plowed clean through their ice slabs.

The ship soon enough came to its destination, stopping as anchors from both sides dropped on the ice. Up ahead, the guards that were stationed were holding affirmative stands as they could see the ship, as well as people boarding off it, but couldn't see the actual people.

"Hey, who are they?"

"Beats me." He looked ahead, his eyes widening. "Wait. Isn't that ship…?"

They watched as what looked like a few soldiers were following in orderly fashion ahead of someone. The guards stationed prodded their spears in defense, but the soldiers stopped twenty feet away, seemingly waiting for something.

A pair of boots walked in tandem with one another, the soldiers immediately clearing way for the front. As the figure made tracks in the ice, he made way to the front, leaving the guards to go wide-eyed and realize their mistake. They straightened their postures, just as the figure smirked.

Unknowingly, their shift under the moonlight was being watched by something isolated enjoying the moonlight on the ice. High on a glacier point, away from everyone and once enjoying peace and quiet, Nic looked down, watching them in silence.

* * *

Lucy and Wendy danced around, showing off with smiles as their Swablu and Klefki drifted in fashion over their heads. As the two mistresses of Fairy Tail were spinning, they pivoted and aimed at each other. As though on cue, Swablu fired a Disarming Voice, while Klefki expelled a Fairy Wind right back at her. The two Fairy-type attacks created a dainty flash of pink sparkles and hearts that drifted over their trainers as they winked at the audience while tilting their heads cutely, instantly infatuating many of the spectators with beauty and grace at the same time.

"The girls look like they've been practicing." Natsu muffled from eating a chicken drumstick.

"Yeah, no kidding. It took Juvia and I all morning to prepare our small stunt." Gray explained.

"Hey yeah, that's right. I was wondering where you two have gone." Happy said.

At the nearby buffet table, someone was also biting off more than what he could chew, and he was having an earful from his teammates.

"Uh, Captain Joey?" Dereece asked with a raised brow. "You sure you don't want to save dessert _after_ you have your meal?"

Joey looked to him in confusion. He was referred to by the massive plate in his hands. There were a few vegetables sure, and some meats, but almost half the plate was filled with nothing but desserts. "What's wrong with this, Dereece?" he inquired, jiggling his plate full of food. "You wanted some, just say so."

"That's not the point." Dereece sighed. "Captain Joey, we talked about this. Duncan, please me u…!" Dereece went wide-eyed when he saw Duncan on the other side of the banquet table, finishing his plate's making before walking off somewhere. "Wh-Duncan?!" he yelled, but it was too late. "Oiii…"

Joey shrugged it off. "Don't be such a killjoy, Dereece. Liven up a little. It's a banquet, so go crazy." Joey offered kindly. "Besides, I think I see some key lime pie with your name on it~." Joey shifted to reach it but he ended up staring at Isaac's daughter again, Camilla. She was watching the festivities along with her father at the top of the steps on her high seat. Immediately new thought pilfered the others inside his noggin. "D-Dereece look! It's her, it's her." He pointed in a hushed whisper to her general direction.

"Yeah, I see." Dereece answered casually.

Joey began looking nervous. "Uh, quick! What do I do?"

Dereece shrugged. "Beats me man." He took a look at her to see her stature. "Though, maybe if I'm being honest…I'd say let it slide. She seems a little…high class, don't you think?"

"W-what?!" Joey gasped. "Oh don't be a Bug Buzz kill Dereece, c'mon! Just look at her! I gotta at least try, right?"

"Yeah, and she mistook up for homeless street performers. Joey…" Dereece trailed off when Joey started giving him something not many out there could possibly resist: the puppy dog pout. His bottom lip quivering and his eyes big and glossy, he looked like he was about to cry. Dereece sighed. "Oi…I'll get the boombox ready."

Immediately a 180 turned on Joey. "Yes! Look out Glacidia, because you're gonna get a bootyful of Joey tonight!"

Once Lucy and Wendy's performance was over, almost immediately Joey slid to the front. He held his pose as Chespin had come to his side, also sharing the same pose. Now on stage, the banquet hall's light miraculously turned off, and everyone saw the moonlight pinned on Joey like a stagelight. He took a deep breath, calming himself before he focused. Once he was ready, he felt the pressure build up.

Dereece moved to his side. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you…JOEY!" he pressed a button on the boombox.

 _ **[Everybody Dance Now]**_

The beat started, and Joey was rolling his shoulder back, with Chespin mimicking the fashion. Once it got passed the first three words, the lights went on, and Joey began to rock and roll. As many were watching, some were chuckling, but many more were surprisingly in awe. Other ladies were admiring Joey and Chespin as it looked like looking through a mirror. When it came to jumping to the rhythm, he literally did. When he landed, he swiveled back to place, and he proceeded to continuing the dancing.

"Well there he goes again." Lucy sighed.

"Y-yeah." Wendy replied. She and the others watched him go on with his booty shaking antics. "You know, at this point, I think none of us should be surprised anymore."

"Well I'm just surprised he hasn't set anything on fire for this stunt." Carla chimed.

Cana laughed in her seat so much she nearly fell over. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" She raised her bottle up. "Work it, Joey! Woooo!"

Joey danced in the funky rhythm, repeating processes as needed. As he moved his body, he saw Camilla with her father t the pedestals behind him. He turned around, sliding back and forth to get forward and back. As he drew closer, he chimed as he gave Camilla a charismatic wink and cheeky, toothy grin.

The woman chuckled low, but Isaac was far from impressed. He leered at Joey like he was issuing a warning. Joey clearly ignored, but he spiraled and went to facing his public again.

* * *

At the same time outside that banquet hall, those who weren't attending and out on the streets were turning towards something going down the streams. Them, along with their Pokémon, were all staring with curiosity as they were seeing a black boat with red accents on it sail across the currents. The few men on board were all remaining passive and quiet behind the man on the front.

The very man put his boot on the end, looking up with his spiky white head of hair at the massive hall they were heading to. Hearing the music and whistles, one could see another smirk cross his face.

"I wonder what they're celebrating?" he questioned, as if he already knew the answer. He was going to find out soon as the current carried the boat further in.

* * *

"Go Joey!" Sophie and Cana shouted together.

Joey and Chespin were working up sweat once they got near the end. When the music soon reached its end, they both fist-pumped into the air.

A long paused filled the air, before everyone began clapping for the finale. They all whistled or seemed delighted as Joey's dance moves. Any stood up, and Joey blew kisses at them all with Chespin.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Joey bowed. "You're a wonderful crowd! I'll be here all week!" he laughed.

As Joey was being given all the attention, Isaac watched his back carefully. He still didn't like him, but he held his tongue for the time being. It wasn't until one of his Elite came close, whispering into his ear about something. As the cadet was talking, it was like all the disdain he felt for Joey was replaced by utter shock at something. In a sudden whim, he shot up from his seat and gazed out.

"Father? What's wrong?" Camilla asked.

Isaac stared passed the happy community, fixated on the entrance of the banquet hall. His brow furrowed as he steeled himself. "…he's here."

Natsu's hearing brought him out of his food crazies. He looked up, eyes wide from unpleasant steps being heard. _'What's that sound?'_

The doors shot wide open, proceeded by a loud clang that echoed throughout the reception hall. Everyone who was enjoying the displays and eating alike turned towards the loud noise. Joey froze in place – in the middle of blowing air kisses to his public – and the Fairy Tail group immediately sensed something coming.

All eyes adverted to the looks of what looked like armored soldiers walking in. They all had black armor with red accents on them. It was traditional streamline wear with similar helmets on the fronts. Six soldiers entered without warning, all of them filing off to the sides.

"Okay…what gives?" Gajeel asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." Levy answered. "Must be part of the show I guess."

"Something tells me this isn't part of the act." Pantherlily said, his tone heavily on guard as well.

Sounds of footsteps walked in, slowly making way towards view. When the man finally came into view, the light in Isaac and Camilla's eyes faded.

A scoff came from the man that entered. The man revealed himself to have spiky white hair that covered the top of his head. He had bangs that framed his face, with what looked like a silver mantle framing his face. His cheeks had two purple stripes on either side, and on his face showed a displeased scowl. He had a black short jacket with red fur lining, and on the shoulders were silver pauldrons with similar fingerless gauntlets for bare-handed combat. He wore nothing beneath, exposing his midriff and toned abs. He adorned black cloths that hung on the sides with red outlining. He had on black pants with silver shinguards down to his black boots.

"I'm not getting a good feeling about this." Lucy whispered to Levy.

Joey looked confusedly back at Camilla and Isaac, noticing the straight look both were giving. Yet, underneath those eyes, one could've sworn there was a hidden dread. Unnerved by this, Joey looked back at the man waltzing in.

Ever so casually, the man sauntered into the hall, taking a moment to look at everything around him. Looking at a random table, he snatched a few blueberries from the plate, eating them with his mouth open. He bounced on his heels with each slow step that he took towards the center, noticing the variety of Water and Ice-types the guests had. He cocked his brow to show intrigued signs, but what really got his attention was the Beartic that Isaac had. Once he stopped several feet behind Joey, he was at the center of the hall, looking around one more time before he spat the blueberries out of his mouth. It stained the ground, leaving Isaac visibly annoyed.

The man gave a crude look before he slowly grinned. "Well, well, _well_. Look at all of this." He crossed his arms smugly. "Just what exactly are we celebrating?"

Isaac's eyes narrowed. "Victor."

The man, now known as Victor, scoffed smugly. "Been a while old man." He looked over, catching a glimpse of Camilla. "And as for _you_ , it's been way too long. Right?" he slyly smirked at the woman, unknowingly catching the glare of Joey behind his back.

"We weren't told of your arrival." Isaac pointed out, trying to get attention back on the subject.

Victor shrugged. "What's the big deal? You never told us you were throwing a party. Did you forget to send invitations?" He casually reached over to a nearby table, taking an uncorked bottle of wine and began downing it. After a few gulps, he sighed. "Man, that _is_ some good stuff."

Everyone gave suspicious looks of the individual. For some reason they were getting a bad vibe off this character. The way he was talking and acting so smug shot up red flags. But for now, they held their tongues as they listened to the conversation.

"What do you want, Victor?" Isaac questioned crudely.

Victor sat the bottle down and looked back at him. "Nothing, just came by to see how things were in person…and you know, catch up. That _is_ what colleagues do, right?"

His lead on didn't sit well with Isaac. He gave a crude stare as no words escaped him.

"The old man sent me ahead for a surprise visit to see how well you're doing. He wanted to make sure that he wasn't being played for a fool by such a 'reasonable friend'. You guys had a deal, am I right?" He looked back to inspect everyone. "I can see why the old man had his hunches about you after all. Just what exactly will he say about all this I wonder?" he smugly taunted.

The way he spoke sounded very much like a threat, but with Fairy Tail they could easily hint the uneasy tension of blackmail in the air.

"So, is it safe to say by all this that you're finally ready to pay up yet?" Victor asked.

"I've said this to Emmanuel before." Isaac responded. "We still need more time to-!" he was cut off by the harsh banging of hands against the long table, making silverware leap.

"Don't give me any of that shit old man! Just how dumb do you think we are?!" Victor yelled. "You know by now that you can't hide out forever. We had a deal…" his eyes narrowed. "And you both shook on it. You know what that means, right?"

Isaac was stone-cold in silence. Either he knew but refused to acknowledge it, or he wasn't getting it.

Victor scoffed as he leaned back up. "Whatever. You know what they say: Cowards who don't take action don't make history. Just keep that in mind. In the meantime…" he turned his attention towards the lustrous Camilla, a smirk crossing his lips. "Camilla…I've seen that you're doing well for yourself."

"Hello to you as well, Victor." Camilla said, keeping her disposition intact, unlike her deterred father.

Victor leaned against the table, smirking in her face. "C'mon, don't be like that? You can drop that formal act in front of me. I won't mind."

Despite the offer, she remained studious. "I'm quite alright…but your concerns are appreciated."

Victor chuckled. "Yeah, well, you'll be appreciated of me when we get this over with." He raised a brow. "Unless of course you're trying to hold reservations as well."

The look in Camilla's eyes didn't change one bit, though if one paid attention, they'd see ignorance. "I don't. It's not in my place to say I'm afraid."

"You sure?" The suspicious look in Victor's eye darkened. The tone sounded more like a threat than an actual question.

Being composed, Camilla held her tongue as the look in her eyes showed it all. It was a silent message that he took as definite and backed off.

"Good. So then, when do you wanna get this over with? There's a nice, beautiful ship your name all over it just waiting for you."

"Um, hello~?"

Of course, someone else had a say in the matter. The call from behind got Victor and everyone's attention. All eyes turned towards Joey as he stepped up. Immediately Victor turned. "Uh, excuse me, hi. I hate to interrupt this…thing here, but uh, what's going on exactly?"

"Joey, what are you doing?" Dereece quietly asked.

Facing Joey, Victor raised a brow. "Heh? Who the heck are you supposed to be?" he asked rudely.

The vibe Joey was getting was less than comfortable for his liking, evident by the tension in his ligaments. From here, he could feel his Magic Power, and it was pretty high, even by his standards. The way even his face looked how easily provoked he was. A part of Joey wanted to shrink back, but something that Broly once told him made him think twice.

" _You know, it takes a leader to make great decisions…but it takes a real leader to make the good ones. It's better to be a man of goodness before greatness, in my eyes that is."_

This being one of those times to try and do good and help the girl get space, he diverted the attention for himself. "Look, I'm not sure exactly what's going on between you guys, but we're kinda partying here right now. And this…thing, is wrecking the mojo."

"That so?" Victor took one more look back, seeing the décor and creatures of different sizes. He looked back to Isaac, giving him a suspicious look. "So tell me, exactly what's this for anyway?"

"That would be us." The womanly voice proclaimed from afar, getting Victor's attention. When he looked over, he saw the voluptuous beauty beside Joey, backing up his bravery along with Chespin.

Seeing this mess come to life, Isaac coughed rather loudly. The signal, however, wasn't reached through all the way.

Victor leaned into Erza, giving her a scoffing glare. "Heh? Great, who the heck are you supposed to be?" he then noticed the emblem on her arm. "Huh? Hey, wait a minute…" He looked at both, seeing their emblems. When he realized it, he actually looked angrier than before.

"What the hell? Fairy Tail? I heard of you." He started. "You're that bunch of Fiorian mages who stopped that upcoming fight with Alvarez?" he smirked smugly. "Well if that's the case, then where's that big all-powerful Nic Pularis then?"

His taunt was something Erza wanted to answer, but Joey beat her to it, much to her surprise. "He's got better things to do than deal with someone like you."

Victor scrunched his face, glaring closer to Joey's face. "Heh? That so? Do you have any idea who the hell you're messing with right now buddy-boy?"

The sound of flames boomed. "That depends, do you?"

Before Victor realized it, his eyes widened when he felt a booming magical pressure. His blood stopped momentarily when he saw the rest backing up Erza and Joey in filed fashion. His soldiers copied and Natsu was shooting glares just as intense as molten lava itself, and Gajeel's was as tough as iron. He didn't know why but they looked like they wanted to murder him.

' _The hell…?'_

Once again, Isaac was giving threatening looks to everyone, telling them to back off. And yet again, it didn't work.

"Look pal, I don't know what your deal is with this place…" Natsu stepped up. "But you need to back off."

Victor didn't listen. "Oh yeah? Who says?"

"No one but us, punk." Gajeel said. "Don't forget, this is still a party…and some of us would like to get back to it."

Looking again he wanted to say something against them, but looking up at Isaac he could see the hints of fear behind that stern glare. Cold as ice he was, yet fragile as it would be as well. Victor wasn't swayed, but he chose to refrain for the time being.

He scoffed angrily. "You've gone soft old man. To think you'd be relying on a mage guild of all things just to keep away. You really are a coward." He turned away, his men backing off. "Whatever. You're not worth my time anyway. Have your little fun for now old man, but your time is up. You have till noon tomorrow for that answer, or you'll know what's gonna happen…" he stopped in place, his disposition souring. "And not even a bunch of second-rate pansies are gonna get in my way."

"What…?!" Natsu dared to continue but Erza shot her arm in front to refrain him.

"Oh, and you." Victor glared over his shoulder at Joey, getting his attention. "Just remember who and your friends talk to." As blunt as the statement was, it was more of a promise of harm from the tiger-like stare he was giving poor Joey.

Swallowing a lump, Joey watched with a stiff look as the man and his soldiers filed out, the doors shutting so loud they echoed loud enough to shake up snow. An awkward silence fell upon the banquet hall. Many appetites were ruined from that disturbing sight, and no one could blame them.

"What was that about just now?" Happy questioned, finally breaking the tension.

"I'm not sure." Carla answered. "But it sounds like something related to Isaac and his daughter."

"I can tell that much." Pantherlily nodded. "He said something about a deal that's been made."

Swablu was nuzzling Wendy's head, fears still seen. Wendy patted her head to ease her worry. "Hey, don't worry, everything's okay. He's gone now."

With the questions hanging in the air, everyone turned towards Isaac to see his stern face. Many knew from the bitter look he had beneath that cold exterior something was wrong but refused to acknowledge it.

"Father…" Camilla gave her father a neutral frown.

The father continued his stern stature, at least until Erza approached him. "Isaac, is there something the matter you need to explain?" her tone sounded more like a demand, one that easily ticked off Isaac.

"It's nothing. Just a minor dispute in deals we're having with our other business partners." He lied hoping anyone would buy it, but the bait wasn't taken. Even Beartic didn't think so.

There was another silence befalling them, one this time that Erza took liberties breaking this time. "Isaac…we understand what it means to keep things important to yourself away from others. Believe me, we know the consequences as well as anyone." She thought to the First Master and the Fairy Heart incident for a moment. "So I'm saying this on behalf yours and our sakes alike. We're allies. We're business partners and cohorts, and trust is am important part to that." She looked back at the public still in shock. "And if it affects your people as well, then it's gone too far."

Isaac looked out again. He was seeing how many kids were huddling close to their mothers after being frightened by that display.

"So I'm going to ask you one more time…tell us, what's troubling you?"

It was getting harder every second for Isaac to keep it all in. The more he resisted, the more it felt disturbing to his stomach. He wanted to throw them out and forget any of this ever happened but knew that wasn't going to happen. He and his daughter gave one more passive glance; the daughter nodding in compliance, and slight plea to his case.

Ultimately with nothing else to lose, Isaac sighed in defeat. "I suppose…that's it's time that you do know. The _real_ reason as to why the borders are kept closed."

Everyone stared in silence. They began following Isaac as he left the table, heading to the source of it all.

* * *

While the Fiore group was heading off to the answer behind Glacidia under peril, the soldiers filed out with Victor. As they were heading out, his feet stopped cold in the frosted snow. He couldn't explain it, but he felt like something was watching him. Taking a look left and then right, he found nothing surveilling him. He looked to the high glaciers afar, seeing how they could touch the moon. He stared at them for a while, partially admiring the moonlit atmosphere before he chose to resume his route instead.

With the high-ranked officer making headway, his suspicions were left unchecked as upon the glaciers far up, something faded into view. It was Nic, kneeling from using Camouflage as he was observing them. Nic was in his Normal/Psychic Form, seeing what was in his mind.

He saw a lot of things, including what the history seemed to be. The reasons behind his actions didn't change how Nic felt about all this. _'So that's what's this is all about.'_ Keeping his thoughts shut, he stood up to overlook all of Glacidia. The city was vibrant and beautiful at night, just as it was the night before. _'Better get to that ship and see what I can-!'_ Before he planned his next move, there was an eerie howl in the cold winds. The wind prickled the hairs on his head, alerting him of an odd sensation. "What the…?"

He looked up at the familiar white radiance brightening up the darkened night. Turning towards the full moon, its basking light illuminated Nic with its beguiling serenity.

Nic couldn't explain it, but he definitely felt it. As he stared at the bright moon, the winds brushed against his face, an odd but growing twinkle coming from it. It was like now it was…calling to him.

Taking a few steps forward, he gazed at the lunar opposite of the sun, its bright light reflecting in Nic's eye. _'This voice…is it…coming from the moon?'_

"…"

His eyes widened when another cry came from the distance. It was faint, but he felt it coming from within the city. It vaguely sounded like the cry of the moon, albeit distanced.

He took one more look towards the city, seeing the bright moonlight seemingly concentrating. It was pointing a beacon at something far within the city, close towards the back of it all. Nic looked at the moon one more time, gazing at it in fixation and slight gratitude. He glowed and transformed into his Spooky Form, following the moon's light as it guided him across the city. Fading from view like a specter, nobody below or around could visibly see him.

While following Isaac with her group, a shock went down Erza's spine. She stopped for a moment to lookup, seeing a vague image fly over her group's direction. _'Nic?'_

Still casted in the ghostly light, Nic followed the lunar rays to what looked like a vaulted dome with an open top carved to the base of a cold river waterfall falling from glaciers. _'Right here.'_ Looking around one more time, he realized no one could still see him as he gazed at the dome. _'There's no mistaking it. It's leading me here…but why?'_ Cautiously, he slipped over the dome, and upon entering the surface, he looked down with shock. _'What the…?'_

Even he was caught surprised at what he was seeing. Down below, there was grass. Warm flowers spread in a very small bed farther out to a few meters before it came to frost and snow again. There were a few small islands connected by Chinese bridge designs, linking all of them to the massive island far back at the bade of the waterfall, which pooled water beneath the islands.

' _An oasis…in the middle of a tundra. Amazing…'_ he descended, noticing how much warmer it's gotten. It was like a heat perimeter that made it feel like spring. He pressed his feet down and morphed to his regular form, taking in all his surroundings. "So this is where it lead me too…"

"…"

Hearing an odd cry again, Nic turned to the front. His attention drew towards the strange pool of black liquid in the center. His hairs stood on end when he sensed an odd magic resonating from the water. Curious but also cautious, he drew closer until he was near the edge. _'This pool…is this what it's trying to tell me about?'_

"…"

The cry was louder this time. Nic gazed up at the moon. It was straight up overhead, radiating bright moonlight down on the pool alone. As the waters glistened, Nic could feel this sensation – this power – flow all around him. It was nature. _Pure_ nature, beneath full moonlight.

"Nic?" Nic was brought out of his serenity epiphanies when he saw Erza approaching him. She was accompanied by Isaac, and the rest of the team as they trekked along the bridges towards him.

"It's you guys." Nic said casually, keeping his surprise in check.

Once everyone caught up, Lucy spoke. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, where the heck have you been?" Natsu asked. "You missed out on all the crazy stuff at the party."

Nic didn't respond. Instead he looked up at the moon. It shimmered down on the pond before him, glistening brightly.

"You." Isaac stepped forward angrily. "How did my guards let you in without permission? This is sacred ground territory off limits!"

"Sacred grounds you say?" Nic repeated. He looked down at the pool, its strange energy drawing him in spiritually. "…"

"Where the hell are we anyway?" Gajeel questioned, looking around to scan his surroundings.

"It looks like a miniature spring." Pantherlily deduced.

"What's this magic I'm feeling?" Wendy questioned. "It feels so…pure."

"Not sure. But…something about this place feels warmer." Lucy stated.

"Yeah, it's so warm out that I can take my shirt off." Gray joked.

Cana slid beside him. "Why not just take your pants off too since you've already checked that off the list." She joked, pointing out Gray's shirtlessness. Though at this point, Gray didn't care.

Erza paced around the grass, noticing how the conditions were so ripe. "The ground is so fertile. There's even flora budding." She gasped when she heard humming above. When looked skywards, seeing Polar patterned Vivillon flutter across the sky, leaving scales and powder behind to twinkle a trail.

Everyone watched the powder and scales sprinkle down, and many were truly captivated. Some didn't even have the words, while others still have questions.

Sophie looked over to see Isaac staring down at the pond, looking less than fortunate. She walked up to his side. "Is there something wrong?"

Isaac sighed, looking gloomier than before. "…you've asked me what their reason is, didn't you?" he said. "Well…it's right here."

"What's that?" Natsu and the others joined in, looking over the edge of the pond. "You mean this pond's the reason why those guys are on your back?"

"Bet it has a bunch of super are fish, right?" Happy asked, though the image of rich fish was making his mouth water. "I know I wouldn't wanna share that treasure load…"

"I highly doubt this has anything to do with your fantasies, Happy." Carla chided. For her sake, she hoped that was the case.

Vanessa leaned over the water's edge, peering into it. Her aura reading was picking up lively waves of energy. The way her vision saw it, the volume saw through to the bottom, and what she saw made her gasp.

"What is it?" Sophie asked.

"This water…" Juvia said. "I sense it, too. This level of magic, it's unlike anything I ever felt in liquid before."

Gajeel's nose wrinkled, catching Levy's attention. "What's wrong Gajeel? You sense something?"

Gajeel recovered, frowning down at the water's surface. "Something's really wrong with this pool. For some reason it smells sharp…I can't explain it."

Wendy's curiosity soared. "Yeah, this smell is like sharp mint. You smell that Natsu?"

Natsu stared at the water, his gaze ever so serious. "Yeah I can smell it alright. Gajeel's right…something about how this magic smell is off."

"Isaac…" Erza turned to Isaac one more time. "What is all this?"

Isaac turned to everyone one more time to see them fully invested. He looked at Nic to see that he might already have an idea. He looked towards Beartic last, and seeing that it's come to this, he gave in.

"This right here, is the crowned jewel of Glacidia, of all Antarcia…Moon Drip."

"Moon Drip?!" Natsu, Lucy, and Happy all gasped.

"Wait a sec…" Gray thought back to Galuna Island. "Lyon's group tried using Moon Drip on Galuna Island all those years back."

Lucy's eyes widened upon realization. "Hey yeah, that's right. Those creeps that were treasure hunting in Sun Village also had that stuff." She remembered facing the Treasure Hunters back then with Wendy and Vanessa and Flare backing her up. She couldn't believe how far back it was.

"I was wondering how they got that stuff in liquid form to begin with." Erza contemplated. "From what I've been told, it originally started out as that concoction that Lyon started, wasn't it Gray?"

Gray nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought too."

"…the recipe for Moon Drip of those you spoke of, they're both wrong." Isaac said. "In its purest form, Moon Drip is perhaps one of the world's most rare forms of magic. And quite possibly, one of the oldest."

"Intriguing." Erza stated. "And how is this possible?"

Isaac looked up. "The moon."

"The moon?" Vanessa repeated. She looked up, staring at the bright full moon along with everyone else.

"There's a reason why Glacidia started here of all places. People say it's because of the natural resources we've managed to dig up and use, but the real prize is this one spot. You see, due to the geography and natural climate, Glacidia is the only location in the entire world, where the moon is full and in view every single night."

Lucy gasped. "It…never sets?"

"That's right. The moon is angled and aligned on our atmosphere of Earthland. And that moonlight is drawn specifically to this very spot. This pool was found by our ancestors because it contained Moon Drip. The moon shines directly above, and since the moon empowers water, that lunar energy supercharged the ethernano over thousands of years. The aging has transformed the cold water's magic power into purifying particles that are stabilized through constant lunar force. In short, you can say that the moon…purified the water."

' _Purification Magic…'_ Erza couldn't believe what she heard as she looked to the night sky.

"Magic that's born from moonlight. That's amazing…" Levy was at a loss for words. She never heard of something so pure before in her life.

"So let me get this straight." Gray started. "So you're saying, that all the Moon Drip in the entire world comes from this small pool?"

Juvia turned to Isaac.

"…that, too, is wrong." Isaac said. "You see, this Moon Drip is the most purest magic in the entire world. Therefore, it's so valuable that it's impossible to get. It's estimated that 16 ounces can range to about 2 million jewel."

Cana's shock showed. "You're kidding! That much for just a little bit?! That's insane!"

Sophie put a hand to her chin. "But if you stop to think about, it kinda makes sense. Authentic ancient magic like this is hardly known in the world. If people were to find its origin in this reservoir…"

"Then everybody would be getting their hands on it." Pantherlily said. "And from the looks of things it's as finite as anything else."

"Which is precisely why my ancestors build this shrine and vault, to keep it safe from harm's way." Isaac said. "This purity magic is far too powerful. If any mage were to touch it directly, raw Moon Drip would almost immediately cleanse them of their magic. The result…would be death."

Everyone fell silence upon the ark note. For Gray, he felt a bad notion coming along. If what he said was true, and that Lyon did in fact had the raw Moon Drip, it could've freed Deliora almost instantly. He was glad that wasn't the case.

Nic crossed his arms. "Okay, so what's this got to do with your daughter? Or is it something more?"

Natsu's eyes widened. "Hey yeah, what's the deal anyway with that guy and your daughter anyway?"

Isaac closed his eyes, lowering his head solemnly. "That was a tale that started, a long time ago. For you see, I wasn't the only one who had knowledge of this sacred magic. A cohort of mine also made himself aware of this purity magic. His name is Emmanuel Durandel, and his ancestors were once close associates to my own. But one day, my ancestors realized that when they were willing to bargain with his family for the Moon Drip, Durandel used that Moon Drip, and he sold it off for a bigger profit. The results…weren't very fortunate. There was telling that a Black Wizard cult he sold it off to tried to use this in Black Magic, and as a result, thousands including the cult was wiped out in the chemical reaction. My ancestors thus banished his from ever trading or stepping foot in Antarcia again. So, using the money they had, Emmanuel's grandfather spent and built up on a private military nation in the far south of the world. We were able to hold up our end and seal up the Moon Drip from trades ever again…but that all changed, roughly 5 years ago…"

 _5 years back, in the southernmost region, natural hills and cliffs made ideal spots for safety and coverage from enemy attacks. The very nation was still small, but outside people were practicing like any other day. Yet inside the estate things were much different._

 _Emmanuel chuckled. "Well now, Farlock, this certainly is a surprise. I never would've guessed you'd come tome of all people."_

 _Isaac had his head down as he was on his knees, giving a ceremonial bow of plea to the man as he sat on his throne-like chair. It ached him to have come this far, but he had to._

" _Honestly, Farlock, what could you possibly want from me? Don't you already have everything you've wanted?"_

" _I wish I could say so, Durandel." He said._

" _Please, drop the formalities." Emmanuel insisted. "I'd rather you call me Emmanuel if you don't mind."_

" _Very well…Emmanuel."_

 _Isaac began explaining everything to Emmanuel, the two finding themselves in the dining area where waiters were serving them up food and wine. By the time Isaac finished explaining, Emmanuel wasn't too impressed._

" _I see. So, you're asking of me to give you some food and some money, all because your business partners cut off ties from you having the gates closed to trade." Emmanuel reiterated, swishing wine in his glass side to side. "A very callous mistake on your part, Farlock. I'm not impressed."_

 _Isaac slammed his hands on the table, sitting up in outrage. "You know why we kept the gates shut, Emmanuel!"_

 _Emmanuel frowned in displeasure. "As I am aware._ _ **But**_ _, that was my grandfather's doing. Is it really so wise to just hand over a grudge because of something that happened long ago?" he sipped his wine from the flask, emptying it. He sighed as he gently placed it back on the table. "You know, instead of coming to me you could've easily opened the gates to trade. Are you still afraid of what might happen if the world finds out about_ _ **that**_ _?"_

" _Even if that is the case, they won't get it." Isaac crossed his arms. "It's sealed away, so getting to it is anything but possible."_

 _Emmanuel scoffed. "Come now, don't you think at this point that maybe a few people out there haven't figured it out already?" he chastised. "True, maybe they couldn't handle the real thing but I've heard rumors of a few raids every now and again, right?"_

" _Please, Emmanuel. All I ask is that you give us the supplies and funds. We'll pay you back in full in due time."_

 _Emmanuel tuned away. "And how could I possibly take your word for it? Your currency doesn't go anywhere."_

" _Emmanuel." Isaac's tone was sturdy and crude. "My people are starving. Our livestock is becoming scarce. Lots of people are wanting to leave. Do you honestly think that I will just sit by and let that happen?"_

 _Emmanuel glanced back. "Ha! You make it sound like I owe you for nothing. I hate to be the one to tell you this but I'm not the one who made those decisions. That was your doing I'm afraid. So, if you intend on blaming me for your arrogance, so be it." He got up from his seat and started walking away. "But unless you are willing to own up to them and show me some worth, I suggest you find another wealthy man who's willing to waste time with an icicle like you."_

 _Isaac gritted his teeth. His patience was wearing thin. As Emmanuel was leaving, he turned desperate. "No, wait-!"_

" _Forget it Isaac…just leave things be." Emmanuel scowled._

 _Once more, Isaac slammed his hands on the table. "PLEASE EMMANUEL I'M BEGGING YOU! I'LL YOU ANYTHING!" he yelled across the room with echoes._

 _Emmanuel stopped in his tracks, a smirk rising. That was the ticket. This is what he wanted. "Is that so?" he questioned. "Anything?"_

 _Isaac cursed himself. He couldn't believe he blabbed that out, but it's what brought Emmanuel back._

" _Good,_ _ **now**_ _you're learning business talk, Farlock." Emmanuel sat back in his seat, legs crossing as he held his staff lazily. "So then, what is it exactly do I want you ask? Well, I can ask for my loan to be paid within 3 years if that would suffice, or perhaps, maybe we can work out a better deal."_

 _Emmanuel was growling harshly. "Emmanuel…if you're even thinking about-!"_

" _Calm yourself, Farlock. I'm not going to ask for that in compensation." Emmanuel replied calmly._

 _Isaac calmed down, his curiosity rising with his shock. Something about this felt wrong, it was written on Emmanuel's face. Still, he continued. "Then…what is it that you want?"_

 _Emmanuel rested his cheek on his knuckles, snickering low._

"His deal was one that was hard for me to turn down." Isaac continued, trying to maintain composure. "So instead of asking for the Moon Drip, he proposed to arrange his son to marry my daughter as payment for his service."

Everyone's eyes were wide from his tale, but more so from what the deal was and how it related to the Moon Drip. Part of it made sense but other parts didn't. Some were just too baffled to ask questions.

"Wait…for real?!" Lucy finally gasped.

"An arranged marriage? Is that even allowed?" Wendy questioned.

"Apparently so. This is one way political standards are built on." Carla said.

"She's not wrong. Arranged marriages occurred every so often in Edolas kingdoms. That's why the capital was the way it was before we left it." Pantherlily spoke from experience. Thinking back to Edolas now, he wondered how Mystogan was.

Isaac fell silent, pondering deeply of his own folly.

"But I don't get it." Happy interrupted. "If he could've asked for the Moon Drip directly, why not do that?"

"Because a political marriage would be far more effective in the long run." Sophie answered. "Stop and think Happy, if you were able to marry into a family, you'd get equal custody of everything that's their own. In Isaac's case, since his family owns the Moon Drip…"

"Then this Emmanuel would get legal custody of it." Cana realized.

Isaac nodded. "That's right. And that means he's able to do as he wishes with it without repercussion. I've known Emmanuel many years. He's a businessman, and he'll do anything to make money for his growing nation. If he got his hands on all the Moon Drip, and use it for his army…there'd be no telling what can happen." He lowered his head in shame. "I only realized this after I had returned."

"So let me get this straight." Natsu stepped forward, showing anger in his eyes. "You went and sold off your only daughter to marry someone whom she doesn't care about, and now you're backing out because you're too scared?!"

"Natsu!" Lucy chirped.

"Peoples' lives are at stake man! Including your daughter! Don't you think that your own flesh and blood is more important than some dumb pond?! Look at yourself! You're tearing yourself apart from not doing anything but hide like a scaredy cat!"

"Natsu!" Erza snapped. "That enough!"

"But Erza-!"

The knight gave him a sympathizing glare. "We know what Isaac did was selfish, but we need to consider his position for a minute. This is a sacred shrine, one that could very well damage the magic world if anything went wrong with it. He had his reasons for doing what he did, so don't be so hard on him. And besides…" She looked at the sullen Isaac as he seemed like he was about to cry. "I think he regrets his decision enough as he is."

Natsu turned away in annoyance. To a degree he had to say what Erza said was right. But his morals were still too stubborn to be moved. He couldn't condone what Isaac had done but neither could Fairy Tail.

"This is all my fault…it's all because I refuse to let my daughter go…" Isaac showed pain as he gritted his teeth. "I can't let them take her. I can't let them have this Moon Drip. I can't let them take anything!" he banged his fist into the ground in frustration. He was shuddering, and for the first time, his eyes began to mist in his bottled grief. "I have to do something, but I…I don't know how…I'm sorry, I just can't…"

As Isaac was breaking down, a hand pressed on is shoulder, with Gray providing comfort. "Don't sweat about it. You just let us help you."

Isaac lifted his head.

"Yeah, we can try!" Happy said.

Pantherlily nodded. "That is what business partners do with each other, don't they?"

Lucy and Cana pumped their fists, and Sophie pulled Vanessa in for a cheeky hug. Everyone looked ready to pitch in however they could, even if the problem wasn't their own. Isaac was so grateful that he could almost cry again.

Erza turned towards Nic. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done. You in?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah. Guess so…" He faced the moon again, staring up at it one more time. He'll have to figure out that strange energy he was getting later. For now, he'll have to pitch in, his way of course.

Isaac looked towards the moon, his solemn look radiated by the bright moonlight. _'Camilla…'_

* * *

In another district outside the oasis compounds, a lavish inn far better than the others in Glacidia was being occupied by another resident. And inside one of the suites, that's where a certain discussion was being held for certain people.

"Fairy Tail you say?" Emmanuel was talking to his son, Victor. He was in the face of a communication lacrima standing on a stand while Victor paced back and forth.

"Hey, you didn't hear it from me old man. The guys in the report filled you in already." His son argued.

Emmanuel looked down, having a hand to his chin. "So Isaac's gone as far as a guild for protecting his daughter and sacred treasure huh?"

"Heh, well if you ask me it's just a minor setback." Victor ceased pacing and looked over his shoulder. "So when are you gonna get here?"

"The helmsman had set the coordinates. We should be there in about a day and a half at most." He raised a brow, smirking. "By the way, Victor…is Nic Pularis amongst the members you encountered?"

He shrugged. "Not that I've seen. And even if he was, he'd think twice before messing with us." He laughed uproariously to amuse himself, though his father seemed less than appealed to this.

"Don't be stupid." He scolded.

Victor's arrogance was short-lived as he turned towards his father. "Heh? What's with that attitude? C'mon! You really think a half-ass wannabe like that would think about taking us on? We've got an entire fleet heading this way! They wouldn't last a second!"

"I told you to cool down!" Emmanuel hollered, causing Victor to acquiesce. "Now listen, even if you may _think_ he isn't there, don't take them lightly. We may have an army but they also have Pokémon experience…experience we need."

Victor scoffed. "So then what do you've got in mind?"

He smirked again. "Perhaps we can make an added arrangement to our plans, but for now, do as you will. I'll be there shortly." With that, the communication was cut off, leaving Victor to his own needs.

"Tch, whatever. I'm gonna go get a few drinks." He turned and walked out the door, slamming it shut.

* * *

Taking a late night stroll, Camilla was staring up at the moonlit night. After the reception was back on track and ended peacefully, she told her guards to help in cleaning up the mess so that she can tend to a few tethered guests. But in reality, she just wanted to get away. Isolated beyond a bridge, she finally found her peace, for once. But for how long? That question she didn't know.

"Hey, Camilla!" Hearing her name finally called, she turned and looked to find Joey with his team. They caught up to her, with Joey a little farther ahead. "Camilla…hey." He said.

"Oh, it's you." She said, straining from any signs of shock. "You're that…street performer from last night. Right?"

Joey nervously chuckled, not noticing the displeased aura above Dereece and Duncan. "Well, I guess so…hehehe…"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were a mage." Camilla apologized. "I wasn't aware that you and your friends were apart of Fairy Tail."

Joey stepped forward. "No, it's our fault. We should've told you sooner." He looked a little crestfallen upon seeing her frown. "Look, I'm sorry for crashing the party. I didn't mean to stir things up between you and…him." He glanced away annoyingly. Just the thought of Victor was enough to deter Joey's ego.

Camilla looked away, grinning. "Your apology isn't necessary. Still…" she looked back to Joey, smirking. "Seeing someone stand up to Victor was really something, I can say that."

That compliment caused Joey to explode in steams of blushes, with beady white eyes. As he stood paralyzed, Dereece budged his shoulder, urging him to compose.

"And if I must say…" she went on. "Your dancing was humorous. Tell me, what's your name again…Joey, was it?"

"Yeah."

Camilla smiled back. When she looked at Joey, she could see the innocent but cheeky smile he had. Perhaps he was an outsider, but the signs were as clear as day he had no ill intentions. Who knows? Still, it's precisely because of that reason that she couldn't stick around. The frown on her face returned. "I'm sorry…I shouldn't be talking to you right now." She turned away. "I have to go." She started to leave.

"Camilla, wait!" Joey called out. Thankfully she stopped before she got too far. "Listen, I don't know what mages did to make your dad not like us, but I want you to know, we're not bad people. We're not here to cause trouble. We just wanna help you make peace with Pokémon, that's all."

"I know, and I can't thank you enough for your services." Camilla looked down, seeing a Spheal spin and float down the stream beneath them. It looked like it was having a good time. "You and your guild, you're not bad people, I can see that…but there's another reason behind all this."

"What?"

Camilla turned towards him, surprising Joey with her frown. "You seem like a good guy, Joey. But that man you spoke against, well…" She hesitated to say, especially in front of him. But she ultimately came out and said it. "…he's my fiancé."

Joey and Dereece had dull comical shock as Duncan showed no care. "…say wha-?" they murmured together.

Camilla turned away in regret. "It's true. My father went to his father for allowance, in exchanged, offered myself for the sake of Glacidia, and Antarcia alike." She could still remember the news that her father brought her that day. She was outraging against him without her consent, but all he did was scold her. "My father is a very selfish man, but he's doing his best for his people, so I must follow."

"Camilla…"

"I have to go!" she barked. "I have to accept this or everyone I know will get hurt! I'm sorry I had to bring this onto you, but I can't be around mages. Please…try and understand." The last part was hushed, sounding more like a broken plea than an insistence.

She went to leave, slowly leaving The Freaks behind. She felt terrible but she had to, for her own safety, as her father put it. She suddenly stopped when a turquoise barrier went up in front of her, startling her.

"I understand alright…I understand that you need to calm down." Joey said. Camilla looked back to him, shocked at his usage of magic again. He walked closer to her. "Look, Camilla, just hear me out, would ya? I know that you have duties and all, but don't you think you're giving yourself a little too much credit? Nobody said it was your fault. I sure don't think so."

"Joey…"

"Your dad just made a decision without thinking things through. I mean, I do the same thing, and look at me." He was given looks by Dereece; he ignored it as he walked beside her. "Look, all I'm saying is that you gotta loosen up. No need to throw a panic before a party. You gotta panic _in_ the party. That's the way I roll."

"I'm not sure what you're saying…" she looked down, seeing Joey's hand reaching for her.

"I know you're engaged and all…but if you're a little sad, then just talk to someone. You can always learn a thing or two just by doing that." Another image of Bro smirking appeared in his head. He grinned. "So what do you say, just for a little while?"

Camilla looked down at his hand, tracing up towards his face. That same innocent smile from before was gone, instead replaced by one of seriousness. It made him even more attract than before. Despite what her father told her she wanted to see what it was like. Gradually, she reached and took Joey's hand, accepting what he's offered.

* * *

The moonlight shined down on the city still, getting well into the late night. Even as time went on, it felt like an eternity for Camilla. She and Joey spent the minutes to hours talking, with Dereece and Duncan acting as wingmen to this ordeal. They watched and followed as Joey was telling stories and exaggerating his ego, and Camilla would sometimes giggle or laugh, much to Joey's joy.

Camilla caught her breath after a laughing fit with Joey. "So-so let me get this straight." She wheezed. "You're saying that you replaced all the chemicals in that science volcano…with chocolate pudding?" she laughed again.

Joey beamed. "Yeah I did. It was the best April Fool's science class experiment ever! Everyone got a laugh when the teacher was covered in chocolate. Some of it even fell in front of me! It was a fun snack!" he chuckled.

"But the joke wasn't funny when you got a D, Joey." Dereece added.

"That was in 4th grade, lighten up!"

Camilla calmed down as she smiled. "Still, you sure did all that when you were still in school. I'm actually impressed."

"That's nothing." Joey beamed. "Now I may not have had a date at prom both years, but I was dubbed the best dancer in my entire school's history. They've even had me a bit in the news a couple times."

"My goodness, you certainly are a character." Camilla chimed. "It's not often we get such…interesting characters around here." She looked ahead. "Father's always been keeping an eye out for me, so that way I'd be safe."

"I guess that means he means well." Joey frowned down as he rubbed the back of his head. "Still, at least you had a dad. Mine was…" he trailed off, allowing the notion to hang over their heads.

Behind, Dereece felt crestfallen. Duncan showed a straight face but had one eye open for his Captain.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel upset." Camilla apologized. "You told me that your master was like a father and teacher to you, right? I'm sure that means something."

Joey mournfully smiled. "Trust me, you have no idea." An image of Broly's dust fading into the sky filled his head. He held a balled fist. "I learned a lot of things from Bro. The only way I can honor him now…is to work hard every single day and make use of what life I have left."

Camilla softly smiled at Joey. He looked so relaxed and funny a minute ago, now he was fired up. He was all over the place, keeping you guessing on what he'll be in the mood for. It was admirable to see him so devoted to something actually meaningful.

The sounds of bass thumped the ground, causing Joey to stop. "Hello!" He looked up, seeing that they were in front of a dance club. Inside, one could hear music and many people dancing in the flashing lights.

Duncan scoffed. "This place again?"

"Weren't we here just last night, Joey?" Dereece inquired. He looked over, seeing the big cheeky smile on Joey. "Oh boy! Joey, whatever you do, don't-!"

But it was too late. Joey grabbed Camilla and zipped on in, leaving a dust trail that bolted right into the domain and the two in the dust.

"And there he goes again." Dereece groaned, sulking forward. "I knew it was a bad idea to come here." He looked over, seeing Duncan getting bored and leaving. "Wha-Duncan?! C'mon man!"

Inside the club, Joey and Camilla looked around, eyes wide to take in everything. Joey was more accustomed to the flashing lights and lacrima beats, but to Camilla this was a whole new experience. She didn't know whether to feel intrigued or uncomfortable. She looked around, seeing the many people who were drinking, and dancing, and many more things that started to make herself wane towards the latter.

As she began to turn away, Joey tapped her shoulder. "Hey, c'mon, what with the attitude?" he asked. "We just got in."

"Really, Joey. I'm flattered you trying to make me feel better, I do. But maybe…"

Joey raised a brow. From the way she was looking she either didn't want to or maybe wasn't understanding. "Hold up, can you dance?" Camilla had slight pink in the cheeks. That's all that he needed to see. "Oh that'll be easy, trust me. Look, it's all about finding that groove. You're not gonna find it just by sitting around ya know."

"But…are you sure a place with more…class isn't acceptable?"

"If you wanna kick back…" he smiled as he pointed a thumb to himself. "Then ya gotta trust me, got it? Now then…" He suddenly zipped along the sides of the dance floor, making way up towards the DJ.

Camilla stared up in confusion as she watched Joey work his magic. She could see Joey passing a couple jewel to the DJ, the DJ smirking as he took the dough and began to rig up the song next, much to Joey's joy.

"Oiii…" Dereece groaned as he caught up. "Joey, where did he…?"

Camilla looked over, confused even more. "Excuse me?"

"Hold on, one sec." Dereece released the tension in his spine by bending backwards. He let out a groan as he felt the tension wash away from that stretch. "That's better." He sighed. "Sorry. What I was saying was, are you feeling okay around Joey?"

Camilla looked back towards Joey, seeing him give final thumbs up to the DJ before he jumped off the railing, heading right into the dance floor. Thinking of an answer, she observed him boogying through the area.

"Mmm…well, to be honest…he's interesting." She smiled. "And admittedly…a little fun."

Dereece sighed in relief. "Guess Joey will be satisfied then. Just leave it to him to mix things up." He saw Joey step forward. "That's my cue, good luck!" he stepped backwards.

"Wait! Wha-?!" Camilla didn't have time before Joey pulled her to the dance floor.

"C'mon, it's our song! Time to get your party on!"

The song ended, and the DJ began to talk into the lacrima mic. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please!" he announced. "Please, give a round of applause to that blonde boy heading up, along with his lady, who she's just ready to show a good time!"

The audience did as told. They clapped and made way as Joey smiled and became the center of attention. Camilla looked around, visibly awkward with the stares. They both looked towards the DJ.

"Now…this one's a request by the young man, so, everyone, follow his lead if you wanna have a good time! Let's go!" he raised his hand high, before bringing it down on the play button.

Camilla looked worried. "Don't worry…" she looked over, seeing Joey's wink and bright smile. "Just follow my lead."

Camilla fell silent as the music started.

 _ **[Konshens – Jamaican Dance]**_

The beat got going and Joey began with hands pushing to the air, then swinging them at arm level. The rhythm repeated, and then again Joey did the same thing.

Camilla saw how nimble Joey was, but she was too slow. Trying to keep up, she tried to be loose, but the accessories around her neck weren't helping.

"Gotta be more nimble! C'mon!" Joey shouted as he was shuffling front to back with kicks.

Camilla tried copying him. She found herself still unsure as she was looking down at her feet shuffling and compared them to Joey. Already she could feel sweat build up from the heat. Still, she was holding up until Joey changed his style to hip swirling and shoulder rolls in the pre-chorus. There, she had to adapt and move back and forth to match him. Unsure of what she was doing, she was looking back to see her furry neck accessory becoming undone.

She wanted to worry, but Joey snapped her out of it. "Don't focus on that stuff! Just the way you feel!" he started the same rhythm as the first chorus began, putting himself up there again.

' _How I feel?'_ Camilla went wide-eyed as she was getting where Joey was coming from. She started to realize it, but when she stopped thinking about her fashion, she noticed her rhythm had picked up, matching Joey's.

Joey smiled. "That's right! Just like that!"

Camilla found her groove soon to be mimicking Joey as he started repeating shoulder rolls and hip swaying. He hopped every second, swaying his arms with each hop and rocking for every third time. He was rocking back and forth, enjoying the groove he had going, and Camilla began smiling as she started to feel…free.

As the rapping started before the second chorus, Joey began shifting and jerking to mimic the feeling. He got a little closer to Camilla, his posture signifying a challenge to her. When to came to she finally smirked before she finally reached and undid her cloak. With her neat folds undoing, she was loose enough to twirl and move back and forth, feeling the music take her away, along with Joey.

"That's it! You got it!" Joey shouted.

Soon enough, everybody else was dancing around. They were mimicking Joey, quickly picking up to his pace. Surprisingly, many were entranced by the movements and how they fit with the beats. Even Dereece, who was somewhere in the background, was doing his robotic swaying with a smile.

Outside, the beats were loud enough to cause a scene. When a pair of footsteps stopped and turned, the figure had a frown. "Heh? What's with that racket…?" he grumbled.

As the music was nearing its end, Camilla and Joey were borderline freestyling their own versions. Camilla had more hip sways as she shook her rump, and Joey was more bouncy and wavy, with some arm circles. And then the final chorus popped up.

Twirling into Joey, and vice versa, they reached their hands out, interlocking with big smiles as everyone in the background did the same. Hand in hand, they all cheered as they followed Joey and Camilla as they kicked their feet up and swayed their joined hands in unison.

They all hopped and followed through to the end, and into it, time slowed time for Joey and Camilla as both were holding hands. Sweat was pouring down, but none of that mattered. What mattered to Camilla…was that she was feeling something she never felt before: Free.

The last word struck, and Joey and everyone raised joined hands high. The DJ and everyone gave a round of applause for themselves and Joey, who was smirking wide.

"There, see?" he asked. "How was that, not so bad, right?" he smiled again, instantly making Camilla's own heart lift a little.

Camilla, surprisingly, nodded with a grand smile of her own. "…yes. That really was."

They both chuckled to each other. They were still holding hands, and both realized this. Joey and Camilla looked to one another, the former starting to blush a little. Camilla, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind anymore. In fact, she looked a little satisfied. With their heartbeats still on accelerate, they started to shuffle closer to another…

Glass shattered against the ground, immediately breaking the mood. "What the hell is this?!"

The crowd of partygoers and Joey stopped to turn towards the bar, where they saw a mound of glass shrapnel at the base of a chair. Footsteps drew closer towards the dance floor, making everyone move away as he looked at the two individuals present. Joey and Camilla's eyes widened upon recognizing Victor, and he looked pissed.

Hiccupping a little and slightly red in the face, he trudged towards them. "Guess I was wrong after all. You've _got_ to be deaf man…because I thought I gave ya a warning ya blonde freak." He leaned into him, scowling angrily. "Well?!"

Joey looked down at his hand still holding Camilla's. When they realized what they were doing they immediately jerked away from one another.

"Well isn't this just pathetic, just what's the old man gonna say about this?!" he tirade in their faces. "That is only daughter whom he can't seem to let go is hanging out past curfew with some low-level, sweat inducing geek?! What the hell are you two doing anyway? Huh?!"

She struggled to find an answer, her heart sinking again from the reminder if her father. Before she could say anything, Joey suddenly stepped forward.

"It's my fault alright." He vouched.

"Joey…?" she mumbled.

"I was just trying to show her a good time is all. She was stressed so I thought I'd help her out, okay? No harm no foul."

Victor processed Joey's testament and smirked. "Oh, is that so?" he scoffed. "Heh, seems like you Fiorians' definition of 'fun' must be screwed over. When I say fun…" he evilly sneered at Camilla. "I'm talking about the kind we both get out of. So tell me, Camilla, did he give ya a 'good time'?"

Joey wanted to butt in again, but a hand stopped him. He looked back, finding Dereece holding him back.

"C'mon, sweetheart, lighten up? What's with that face? Admit it, you couldn't _possibly_ belong here, not with these tapless washouts! Just look at them!" He pointed to the patrons. They were all looking pissed, but he didn't care. "See what they're wearing?! That ain't something a bombshell like you shouldn't be wearing! No, not _my_ fiancée! She can do way better in simple rags out of the shower compared to these sweaty pigs!"

Many of the people were just about ready to gang up on him. Many men were growling, as to where their significant others were trying to hold them back.

"And don't me started with this fashionless loser!" he pointless a finger at Joey. "Seriously, if that ain't ugly, I don't know what is!"

Mental cracks filled Joey as his figment went white. He mentally squealed as his only other good quality was offended. He was shuddering, his shoulder slouched over as he grumbled low.

Dereece's eyes widened upon seeing the mistake made. _'Oh no…he didn't just-!'_

"Damn right. I mean, look at me. After all, I am your _fiancé_ , right? Or did you forget that?" he darkly smirked in her face, leaving her shocked and unable to respond properly. He leaned into her ear. "I already said it before. You can drop everything once we get the wedding over with, alright? My old man says to always pay your debts, and your old man is passed due." He slid back, giving her the space she needed. He gestured his arms out. "Alright! Now that we got that covered, let's say we get to where you really belo-!"

Everyone gasped and jerked away. They all were at a loss for words, even for Camilla. She was shocked when a barrier separated them, leaving Victor to groan as he slid down it comically.

He got back up, feeling his face. "What the hell…?"

"Hey, you."

Turning angrily, Victor angrily saw Joey with the look of annoyance for the first time. His eyes squinted. "You…!"

"I'm only gonna say this once pal…" his eyes squinted. "Keep the hands off the lady."

"Oh yeah?" Victor challenged, stepping in front of Joey. "And what's a weakling like you gonna do about it?"

"I never said I was weak." Joey held his ground, even when he got in his face. "You think you're all that because you're a second in command, well all I see who is a jerk who doesn't even know the meaning of sympathy!"

"Joey…" Camilla gasped.

Joey glared. "And if you have a problem with my fashion pal…then you've got poor taste as well as a mouth."

There was an intense stare down with Joey and Victor, both giving challenging glares to one another. The club and everyone in it were so shocked they didn't know what to do. With what Joey said, their own feathers were ruffled. Though the same couldn't be said for Victor

With a scoff, Victor suddenly appeared in front and shoved Joey down onto his back, causing a shock to run through him.

"Joey!" Dereece screamed. Camilla also gasped, Joey's barrier dissipating right in front of her.

Victor stomped a foot, squishing Joey's chest beneath the spikes. "You think I have a shitmouth? Huh?! Do ya?! Well look who's talking, ya shitheaded punk!" He applied more pressure, causing Joey to grunt as the spikes were digging into his skin.

Dereece hurried to step in. "Hey man, get your hands off him right no-!" He was kicked back by Victor, landing in his back with a thud.

"Mind yourself too, tubby." He scoffed.

"Dereece!" Joey yelled.

Victor growled back at Joey, but Camilla stepped behind.. "Enough Victor! This has gone too far!"

"Camilla…" Joey breathed.

Victor scrunched his face as he stared at his fiancée. "What do you want now? Can't you see that I'm busy?" He was busy alright, but he was so busy when Camilla reached for his shoulder. For a brief moment, a feint weird glow illuminated the palm, before fading. He lightly brushed her aside, releasing her grip. "Just chill, okay? I'm almost done." He walked closer to Joey again.

A patron was holding her glass of ice water when she suddenly dropped it. She watched the glass splatter on the ground, along with the slippery water. The water and ice cubes slipped to the front of Victor's path.

"Now, where do I start with…!" He took the next step, but he suddenly found himself slipping. "W-whooaa!" He comically fell on the back of his neck, plopping onto his back. "Ow!"

Many of the patrons began laughing back at him. Some were pointing and ridiculing out of payback for what he did.

As he got up, he rubbed his head, groaning. He looked around, finding that people were laughing at him left and right. That including Joey. The anger in his eyes began rising, so high that red was seen in the eyes.

"You little…!" he pounced for him. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"Joey! Look out!" Dereece warned.

Joey was completely paralyzed out of shock. He could only watch as Victor reached to attack him. He flinched when he prepared for the worst…only for a clang to be heard throughout the club. When he opened his eyes to see what happened, he gasped.

Duncan was on a knee, using a metal rod he was holding onto to defend from the kick that would've killed Joey.

"Duncan!" Joey gasped.

Dereece sat up. "Wait…Duncan?"

Duncan used his magic to empower the rod, giving enough force to repel Victor across the dance floor. Once he came a to a stop he looked at the new member. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?" he asked.

Duncan chose to not answer immediately before he scoffed. He adjusted his stance, glaring down Victor with a deadening gleam in his eyes. "Listen pal, if you're looking for a fight, even I'm not dumb enough to start one here. Take it elsewhere."

Victor scrunched his face at Duncan before looking around. Much like the party, he found himself being awkwardly stared at. He could see animosity in some eyes, and fear in some gazes. They all gained up on him, and when he looked towards Camilla, he could see the hidden plea in her eyes. He took one last look at Joey, towering over him and his scared face before he turned away.

"Fine! Whatever! I was bored anyway!" He stomped his foot loud before he started for the exit, hands in his pockets as he cursed quietly.

As he walked away, Joey and Dereece got back up. "Joey, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Joey assured.

"Hey you!" They both looked up, seeing Victor point a finger at Joey. "Look pal, no way is this gonna fly, ya hear? So if you really think you gots what it takes to steal away _my_ girl…" he pulled up a Poke Ball. "Then meet me in the capital plaza at 10 tomorrow. And don't be late." He turned ahead one more time to leave, taking four steps before stopping. "Oh, and another thing…if you're thinking of chickening out…then I'm gonna make you wish you'd stayed on that ground."

With that threat, the man walked out, leaving club and its patrons on a bitter note. All had the mojo sucked out of them, much to their dismay.

With the smartass gone, Joey turned towards Camilla. "Hey, Camilla, you okay?" he asked.

Camilla meekly nodded. "Yes, I'm alright. Thanks for your concerns…" she looked at the bruise and blood marks on Joey's chest, seeing how thin they were. Guilt rising, she looked down in shame. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have listened."

Joey stepped towards her. "Camilla-!"

"I have to go! Please, try and do the same!" she grabbed her accessories that fell during the dancing and darted for the exit.

"Camilla, wait-!" Joey reached out to her. She stopped at the exit, looking back at Joey. His eyes widened when he saw a meaningful, but equally sad smile on her face. That smile turned to pained tears as she bolted out the club, heading for home. "Camilla…"

As Joey's heart sank that night, Dereece patted his back. For the rest of the night, the club was quiet.

* * *

Inside an expansive library southwest of the district, the lights were still on, despite how it was close to closing time. Even so, people were hard at work inside.

Levy scrolled through page after page in another book, her reading glasses getting her through the last of the context before reaching the end, giving a grieving sigh. "Nothing." She sat the book to the side, amongst 5 other archives she looked through apparently.

"I take it that's a no go either?" Cana asked. She was searching the library section nearby, helping Levy with her work.

"No, nothing useful I'm afraid." She answered. In the background, her Klink was grinding its gears around her. "All I learned so far were a few cases involving Moon Drip, but they're not very specific. I was hoping we'd find a little more about this stuff while we could."

"Well it's not like they want this stuff to come out anyway, right?" Cana finally reached for a textbook that was high up. She pulled it off, most likely about more of Glacidia's history. "Remember what he said, if word spread more about this pure spring, they'd be in a lot of trouble. Imagine what they would have to do if brokers came for this stuff."

"Yeah, guess you're right." Levy took the book from Cana. "Still, there's gotta be something here we can use."

"For our sakes, let's hope you're right."

The librarian walked up to them, pushing a cart full of books. "Excuse me. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm afraid that we'll be closing in a few minutes."

Cana sighed. "Well, that's my cue." From her purse she pulled out a small liquor bottle. "I'm gonna go see what Sophie and Vanessa are up to. Don't stay up too long or you'll get a headache. Later."

"Okay, thanks" Levy thanked Cana as she left the library. With her now gone she sighed. "Guess I have to go to." She turned towards the librarian. "Am I able to check out these books at the front desk?"

"Sure, certainly. Just follow me." The librarian left for the front.

"Great." Levy followed behind, a big smile on her face. _'I can't give up. There's something here. I just know it. I just need to keep trying.'_

* * *

On the frosted glaciers of Glacidia's borders, there was a long stretch of frost over ice that allowed people to walk on it. On that slab of ice, Erza was looking far out, getting a full view of Glacidia. With her arms crossed she oversaw the many buildings, some of which were busier than she thought were at this time of night. Though, while she was enjoying the view, what Isaac said to her before rattled her mind.

' _Raw Moon Drip…so that's the real reason.'_ She thought back to the two cases she recalled long ago involving Moon Drip. _'If this magic did in fact fall in the wrong hands, it could very well affect the magic world as we know it.'_ She turned towards the full moon, seeing its enigmatic shine cast down on her face. She stared at the white face for a long while now, before she chose to gaze to her husband.

When she looked over, Nic was more out of it than she was.

Staring up to the full moon, Nic sat cross-legged on the frost as he was looking far out. He wasn't gazing at the night sky as he was solemnly at the full white sun basking everything, including him. Even now, that strange cry echoed in his head, and he couldn't get it out of his head. It was stuck in his mind like a Bug-type to a Sticky Web.

"…"

His eyes narrowed, the hollering shriek he heard refracting in his ears. He knew that voice was calling out to him, and it had to guess where it was.

"Finding something better to look at than me perhaps?"

Hearing his wife, Nic looked over to find Erza towering behind him, genuine concern written all over her face. "Oh, Erza…" he muttered. "…sorry, I wasn't listening. Were you asking something?"

Erza sighed. She knew something was wrong with Nic. She didn't wanna say it until now because of what's going on, but with it being themselves, she felt she could handle it.

"No, it's nothing. I was just thinking is all." She sympathized with Nic gazing up towards the moon. "You are too, I bet. Thinking about the Moon Drip plan?"

"…no, something else." Nic answered. "I…can't help it, but…ever since we've got here, have you felt anything…strange?"

Erza sat beside him. "That's a tough question. Are you referring to Isaac?"

"No, not him. I had him figured out the moment I came here. It's just that…are you hearing voices that you know are there?"

Erza blinked. "Voices?" she followed Nic's head and looked towards the moon. Immediately she got the idea. "You mean the moon?"

"How'd you guess?" Nic looked down at his knees. "I thought I was just hearing things before, but I know I'm not crazy when I say this…I think that the moon is trying to tell me something." He balled his fists. "I think it has to be a warning about something…that's the feeling I have in my gut." He looked towards her. "What do you think?"

Erza could never doubt Nic again. He was usually right about something when his gut or heart told him something was wrong. Even if she didn't have much of a clue what he might be saying regarding the moon, if it bugged Nic this much, it had to be important.

"Honestly, I'm not even sure myself." She finally answered. "It's hard to tell what kind of warning it could be, especially if the future depended on it. You can never really tell how truthful a future could be, unless you've seen it with your own eyes." She looked to the moon. "But listen, Nic. If you feel something's wrong, I'll help you. You know that. If someone _is_ trying to tell you something, then you'll probably know what to do when the time comes. I know you will."

Nic thought about what Erza said before he smiled. For the first time since this evening, a soft smile crept on his face. "Yeah. Guess you're right."

"That glad. Now then…" she stood up first, offering a hand down to her husband. "Would you like to help me practice?"

Nic accepted his wife's hand with a smirk. "That's funny. I was about to ask you the same thing."

They both got up, and immediately they slid back along the frosted ground for space.

"Ready?!" Erza yelled.

Nic nodded as he held up a Poke Ball.

"Good…now go!" she threw a Poke Ball, in which Nic followed. Out came Slurpuff and Greninja, both landing on the ground and looking readily at one another.

"Alright then…" Nic swiped his arm. "Let's go!" Greninja followed Nic's lead, jumping overhead and flipping in the moonlight for a midnight battle.

* * *

Gray swiped his arms, pivoting behind as he used his Devil Slayer Magic to freeze over the frosted ground in an omnidirectional pattern. The ice chilled the air, enough to make flakes fall around Gray. When he relaxed, then turned around and saw how far the ice had spread. It had to at least be a few miles out.

' _Looks like I'm getting a better hang of it than last time.'_ He looked down to his open palm, seeing no black markings. And yet, at the same time, his Devil Slayer Magic was coursing through. He balled his fist. _'I can feel it. This magic's a lot stronger than it ever was before…thanks to what Orion told me. Now I just figure out how I can-!'_

The sound of footsteps was heard, catching Gray by surprise. When he looked over, he saw something scuttling along the ice towards him. It looked jovial, if not happy.

The creature was hard to make out. It looked like a yellow hat with orange edges. It had a black face, beady blue eyes with stubby hands and feet. The creature looked up to Gray with his head tilting to the side a little.

"Huh? Oh, hey. You're one of those…Pokémon, right?" he questioned. He turned in full. "So tell me, what's your name?"

The creature jumped and smiled. "Oh! Hello, friend! My friends call me Snorunt! But you can just call me…Snorunt!" he cheered.

"Uh…sure." Trying to get off the awkward note, Gray reached and activate the PokeDex, scanning Snorunt.

" **Snorunt, the Snow Hat Pokémon. Snorunt survives by eating only snow and ice. Old folklore claims that a house visited by this Pokémon is sure to prosper for many generations to come.** "

"So a good luck charm of Pokémon huh? That's interesting." Gray looked up, only to gasp upon eating Snorunt munching where he stood. "What the heck?! What are you doing?! You can't eat that!"

Snorunt didn't seem to listen. Instead he continued munching and crunching on Gray's ice, only to end up short and sore in the mouth. "Owwie~." He whined. "Man, this stuff is like steel…"

Gray sighed. "Which is why I warned you not to eat it." Stamping on the ground, he dispelled the ice, leaving sparkles to rain down over them both.

Snorunt looked up in awe, his shock completely thrown out the window as he witnessed all the hard ice for miles miraculously disappearing. The plains from around sprinkled with the enchanted frost, and Snorunt jumped in joy as he began running around, laughing in glee.

"Alright! Yay!" he cheered. "That was totally cool dude! Oh, hang on a second…" he faced the ground, this time munching clean through the ice like it was a buffet. At the rate he was eating, it was like he hadn't seen any food in days.

Gray watched the Snorunt appease his appetite, though it was a sight of inquiry no less. _'Geez, this guy can eat his fill through ice. I wonder if it'll be good for battle…'_ he got an idea. _'Wait, I can use this to my advantage! I gotta get experience, right? Well now's as good as time as any.'_ He pulled out a Poke Ball, looking ready against Snover. _'Well, guess we better get this over with.'_ He twisted and threw the Poke Ball. "Alright then, let's go!"

The Poke Ball opened, getting Snorunt's attention. Summoned to battle was Bergmite as he faced Snorunt. "Battle ready." He said stiffly.

"Huh?" Snorunt jumped in shock. "Woah, cool! Another new friend! Man, this night can't get any better!" he cheekily smiled. "How's it going?"

"Good. We battle. Me anticipated." Bergmite replied.

Snorunt chuckled. "Sure, okay. I'll go with that. Okay then, here I come if you're ready~!" Snorunt flashed a bright glow. " **Double Team!** " He split apart, creating copies of himself that surrounded Bergmite in an enclosed ring of illusions.

"Oh, here we go." Gray gasped. "So this guy knows that move too, huh?" he swiped his arm. "In that case let's use **Icy Wind!** " Bergmite took in a deep breath, his mouth part glowing bright blue before expelling a cold, sparkling wind. With his experience on sliding and riding on ice, Bergmite easily pivoted, spinning the wind all around. One by one, the illusions erupted in puffs of smoke, which were blown away, along with the real Snorunt as he went airborne.

The Snorunt caught himself on his feet, sliding back several feet along the ice to a halt. "Phew! That was chilly!" he shivered, a blue aura slowing down his speed. "You're good!"

"Thanks." Gray smirked. "Alright then, use **Take Down!** " Enveloping himself in a golden aura, an energy field enveloped Bergmite before he shot across the ground in a slide directly into Snorunt.

Taking preparations, Snorunt took in a deep breath of his own. "Right back at ya!" Breathing out, he expelled his own Icy Wind attack. The move rushed into the other Ice-type heading his way. The cold wind hit Bergmite, decreasing his speed in a blue aura as he closed the distance. When Bergmite's sledding was slow enough, Snorunt jumped overhead, evading as Bergmite twisted and turned skywards.

"Now, try _this!_ " He created fragmented icy shards around the air and shot them down at Bergmite.

"Quick! Use your **Powder Snow** back!" Gray commanded.

Bergmite did as told and expelled a snowy breath as well. The two ices bolted into one another, with their combined might creating a frosted eruption that expelled snowflakes as Snorunt fell. Time slowed down as Snorunt was smirking, but he looked happy.

Gray noticed this underneath his cool gaze, but he chose to say nothing. He could see the Snover had potential, so he had to do what he could to make use of it. A smirk crossed his face before he made his next move. "Okay then…" he started. "Use **Bite** , now!"

"Right. Me bite." Bergmite sled across the ground towards the falling Snorunt, albeit slower than before. When Snorunt closed in, Bergmite took a leap and flipped his icy body. Once he got momentum, energy fangs appeared on his face and snapped down on Snorunt, sending intense shock down Snorunt's body as he was repulsed harshly in the cold ground. Bergmite landed without trouble. Again Snorunt arose, though he was mildly deterred. Getting serious, he grunted as he shot a look, his intense Leer glaring daggers into Bergmite. Again, another blue aura enveloped his body, lowering his Defense this time.

' _Got it. So it's moves are Leer, Double Team, Icy Wind, and Ice Shard. Interesting. Now it's time to seal the deal.'_ Gray reached out ahead of himself. "Alright Bergmite, one more time! Use **Bite!** "

Bergmite jumped sledding after Snorunt, who was doing his Leer again to lower his Defense. However, that didn't stop Bergmite from coming down. Snorunt was hit hard by a powerful crash by the fangs of Bergmite, making frost expel everywhere.

Bergmite slid back, his disposition still unchanged. When he looked forward, the frost dissipated, revealing Snorunt still grunting as he laid on the ground. He looked too tired to get up. This was Gray's chance.

"Alright. Hope this works…" He threw a Poke Ball, landing a clean mark right on Snorunt's head. The capsule opened, and the Pokémon turned to energy and was sucked inside.

The capsule plopped to the ground. Both Gray and Bergmite looked in anticipation as they awaited for the final results. Once they heard the 'Ding!' go off, all their worries washed away.

Gray smirked. He went over, picking up his new ally and inspected the Poke Ball. "Well what do you know?" he said. "Looks like we got ourselves another new friend." He turned away. "Thanks, Bergmite."

"Thank you." He answered stiffly.

Gray took one more look at his new Pokémon, seeing the moon reflect off the capsule. He looked skywards, staring at the bright moon beaming across all of Glacidia.

* * *

Beneath that same moon, an arm reached out. "Now! Use **Water Gun!** "

Azurill bounced on her tail in excitement before she took a big leap to get airborne. Taking a deep breath, she expelled a blast of water out, hitting and pushing back a wild Swinub she was engaged in battle with.

Juvia's expression showed full resolution as she went on with her training. _'My darling Gray is hard at work practicing his Devil Slayer powers. I have to trust him in working hard. In doing so, I will do the same!'_ If she were honest, she would prefer to train with Gray, but with her experience with Sophie still fresh in her mind, she wanted to try training by herself, if she could that is.

Swinub shook its head side to side, getting the pain to fade. Once it recovered, it faced Azurill and snorted out of its nostrils. Mud streams shot at Azurill via Mud-Slap.

"Use **Water Gun!** " Juvia commanded. Azurill expelled even more water, meeting the attack in the middle. As a result, both attacks dissipated. "I'm sorry for this…Now, **Bubble Beam!** "

Azurill jumped high, getting above Swinub. "No hard feelings!" With a cry, she opened her mouth, expelling blue bubbles that shot down in a high-speed barrage that struck Swinub. The blow sent Swinub airborne as Azurill landed. Swinub was on its back, groaning in defeat.

"Yes! We did it!" Juvia eagerly cheered. "That makes it three in a row! Gray's sure to be happy by now!"

"Did you see me out there, Juvia?! I was having a blast!" Azurill cheered as she bounced up and down.

Juvia smiled. "Yes I saw indeed…" that smile softened. "Thank you, Azurill."

Azurill giggled in glee. Suddenly an energy shift caught on. Azurill started glowing, a bright light illuminating her body.

Juvia's eyes widened and gasped. "Azurill?!"

The light began to alter. And energy field wrapped itself around as Azurill's shape was beginning to change, much to Juvia's worry.

"Azurill, what's wrong?! Azurill?!"

The features on Azurill began changing. She began growing, and her tail began to shrink as the size transferred to the body. Juvia was in watchful awe as she witnessed the transformation all the way to end, until finally the light flashed, causing her to go blind briefly.

When she uncovered, she saw Azurill was completely different. No words came to mind as she saw a blue mouse-like Pokémon with stubby limbs and arms. The ears were large and round, and her tail bobbed about. The creature gave a meek smile towards Juvia as she got on her tip-toes.

"Juvia!" she cheered. Even with a deep voice, she sounded all too familiar.

"A-Azurill?" she gasped. "What just…" she trailed off, thinking back to something she saw. It hit her light a lightning bolt when she realized it. _'Wait, is this one of those evolutions that we saw in those pamphlets the Cambire Foundation sent out to everyone? Does this mean…'_ she looked towards her newly evolved creature. _'That Azurill…had evolved?'_

"Isn't this exciting?! I'm Marill now!" she ran up to Juvia, jumping right into her arms despite the shock. Marill laughed in joy. "It's nice to meet you, Juvia!"

Despite her initial shock, Juvia felt the way Marill hugged her. Even though she didn't look the same, there was no doubt that was Azurill. A soft smile crept her face as she hugged back. "It's nice to meet you too…Marill."

* * *

Under the full moon elsewhere, Cana was sitting on a frosted rock, holding alcohol in one hand as she looked towards the sky. She was thinking about something. Nothing personal surprisingly, no. Instead, it was all a big blur. The Moon Drip, the worth, the overall plan changing. She needed a break, even though she didn't do much.

' _I wonder how the guild is doing…?'_ Her thoughts returned to the abyss when explosions were heard from nearby. Turning around, she saw dust and mist clear, revealing two people practicing their skills.

Sophie and Vanessa's hair shifted in the cool breeze, everything around them howling as teal strands of aura spun around, interjecting with the flow of memory chains that Sophie had made. The two glared at each other before the next move was made.

Sophie swished her arm up, summoning electrified rock slates shooting up beneath Vanessa. The Pularis girl summoned a burst of aura, igniting an intense flash that discharged energy that erupted around her. The smokestack where she was inflated skywards. Sophie looked up, seeing a figment rise from inside. Popping out from above, Vanessa came down with a palm filled with teal aura that she slammed in the ground, summoning an intense shockwave that broke the ice beneath like a fissure at Sophie. The blonde used her acrobatic skills to flip to the side, avoiding the pulsating blast wave that erupted aura skywards. Once she slid on her heels to a halt, she gave Vanessa a confident glare, and vice versa.

Sophie twirled around, as did Vanessa. Plans facing each other, waves of teal aura and memory chains swirled in a massive maelstrom of magic that shifted the ice all around.

Watching them train and warm themselves up, Cana was almost too distracted when something tapped her hand. "Hey, you!"

Hearing a voice, Cana looked around. Strangely enough she didn't see anything.

"I'm down here!"

Cana looked down, meeting eyes with someone small, but remarkably cute. Looking up to her, there was a small penguin Pokémon with a round head and black eyes. He had blue flippers and a tiny yellow beak. He looked up to Cana with a stout stare.

"That's _my_ rock you're sitting on!" he complained. "You better get off or else."

Cana raised a brow to him. "And who might you be?"

"Who, me?" he pointed a flipper to himself and beamed with pride. "The name is Piplup. And I'm what you call a king!"

Cana looked far from impressed. "A king you say?" she looked down at the rock she used as a perch. "You mean king of a rock?"

Piplup puffed his chest out. "That's right! I-!" He was cut off when an eruption made him floor hard. The landscape shuddered until the vibrations settled enough for him to pick himself up. "What the-?! What happened?!"

Cana bluntly pointed out towards the tundra. Piplup followed and saw Sophie and Vanessa training, each one throwing agile moves to one another that cancelled out in strong pulses that rushed passed them. Suffice to say that Piplup was flabbergasted.

"What are those two doing to my lawn?!" he shrieked. "Don't they know how hard I worked on that?!"

Cana shrugged. "Whoopsie."

Piplup growled at her, pointing a flipper up to her. "Hey, you! You and your friends better leave or else!"

"Oh yeah?" Cana smirked down, looking more amused than threatened. Odds were because of the alcohol. "Well aren't you such a trooper. You're quite the cute little boss right there."

Piplup's face flustered red as Cana's statement surprised him. "W-what?! What are you talking about?! I'm not cute!" he exasperated, turning away with flippers crossed.

"Sure you're not." Cana applied heavy sarcasm as she raised her bottle. "But you know, ladies dig little guys who man up. _That's_ the kicker right there." She resumed drinking.

Piplup cringed again. Fore the second time, Cana involuntarily surmounted his pride. Despite the blush on his cheeks he tried to bide it in and keep from losing composure.

"Aw~, look at you being all toughie. You don't need to hide it in."

Piplup turned away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Cana laughed aloud at his denial. "Look at that, did you just get more adorable all of a sudden?"

"N-no!" Piplup beamed. "Shut up!" He turned around with a serious look. "Either you get off, or I'll make you!"

"Alright, whatever the tough guy wants." Hopping off the rock, Cana turned around to leave. "Well, no point in just sitting around I guess. Better find me something to do too." She looked back and smirked. "You ever feeling lonely out here, you know where to find us." She winked.

"I-I don't get lonely out here! Just go!" Piplup barked. Though when Cana out of sight, his face was still red from embarrassment. His feathers were so ruffled by Cana that he was steaming. "What did she mean by…!" An eruption of energy shot up from behind, getting him to turn to another problem. "Hey! Get out of there!" the little trooper scuttled over to stop the battle.

As Piplup was heading into untold peril, Cana remained casual as she thought of something. _'Maybe I can use my fortune telling. We might get a start from there in the morning.'_ She figured.

As Cana walked off drinking, Piplup was sent flying in the background skywards, screaming in fear as he vanished in a glint across the sky.

* * *

A short distance away, Lucy looked up to see the sky. "Hey, is that a star?"

"What star?" Wendy looked up, seeing nothing but clear night sky.

"Must be your imagination or something." Carla insinuated. "Now, where were we again?"

Shaking her head to get back on topic, Lucy faced forward. "Right, sorry. Klefki, **Metal Sound!** " Hovering in the air above, Klefki responded to Lucy's command by spinning around and coming to a breakneck halt, her body shrilling harsh soundwaves that went at Swablu.

Rather than risk a significant disadvantage, Wendy made her move. "Okay, didge it!"

Swablu ascended to avoid the soundwave's range. She got high enough but was surprised by how quickly Klefki closed the gap. "Surprise!" she chirped.

" **Astonish!** " Lucy commanded.

Klefki was surrounded in a grim aura as a dark illusion with red eyes expelled from a close range. Swablu looked shocked, but when the attack reached for her she wasn't repulsed. When she opened her eyes and blinked, she realized she was okay.

"Wait, what?" Lucy gasped.

Wendy was confused as well, but with the shock still effect she had to take the initiative while she could. She reached forward. "Quick, use **Sing!** "

Klefki wanted to move back, but even with her speed, she was still too close when Swablu started humming. Musical notes flowed out, passing Klefki as she was listening to it. Being so close, her eyes started getting heavy all of a sudden. "Not…again…" Her will finally giving up, she drifted to the ground, fast asleep.

"Klefki?!" Lucy panicked. Her Klefki asleep, she facepalmed. "Aw geez, really?"

"What was that about?" Wendy questioned. "Why didn't your Astonish work, Lucy?"

"Good question…" she looked to the ground in wonders of her own. When she stopped to think about it, when she was practicing with Sophie a few days back, her Astonish almost knocked out her Abra. "You think it has something to do with types?"

"Yeah, maybe." Wendy looked towards Klefki. "Guess we should wake her up." She sighed. "Again."

A little not too far, flames erupted along the ice. The flames dissipated, revealing another wild Snorunt to fall on its back as Charmander beamed with pride over it. An elated Natsu stood proudly with a smile. "That's what I'm talking about! This is way too easy."

"Aye." Happy agreed. "I didn't think Charmander would have it so easy here."

"Yeah I didn't think so either." Natsu raised a brow. "But now that I think about it, didn't someone say that Fire-types are pretty easy to handle against Ice-types?"

Happy nodded. "Yeah, and I remember when Gray practiced against Gajeel that he was getting hammered by Aron. Guess Ice-types aren't that tough to handle for you two."

"Guess not." Natsu chose to disregard the commentary and get back to battling. He knew Gajeel was off in the sleet lands fighting other Ice-types, so odds were that Aron was getting levels up, and he'd be damned if he fell behind. Immediately scouting the options around, he saw another wild Snorunt. "Let's battle that one!" he pointed out.

The wild Snorunt looked up, seeing its new foes.

"Okay, ready Charmander?"

Charmander stepped up, looking prepped and ready to fight. "Am I ever."

The wild Snorunt started by conjuring crystalized particles in the air, turning into a ball of ice. Once big enough it was launched at Natsu and Charmander.

"Another Ice Shard, huh?" Natsu balled a fist. "That case, use **Ember!** " Charmander opened his mouth and expelled red-hot sparks that shot at the ice. The ice was vaporized and that attack's blanket closed in on Snorunt. The result was an intense blowback that slid Snorunt on its back across the ice.

"Bull's eye!" Happy exclaimed.

"Nice shot." Natsu grinned. Charmander also smirked.

Snorunt slid far back, coming to a halt. When it finally got the nerve to stand again, it glowed briefly, summoning clones that surrounded Charmander. He looked around confusedly, seeing so many duplicates.

"Man, this again?" Natsu looked annoyed. He was all too familiar with this move by now, partially because Nic's Staraptor used Double Team a lot. His nose suddenly wrinkled, picking up a smell. "Hey, behind you!"

Catching the warning, Charmander turned around to see the real Snorunt. A chilled breeze shot at him, via Icy Wind. Mustering himself, he took a deep breath and fired Ember back. The results this time was a large burst of mist that clouded up everything around them.

The mist was vague, but it was enough to leave Snorunt in the dark. Turning left and right, it tried scoping out Charmander, but had little to no luck. It shuffled in place, starting to feel restless, unknowing of a small flame in the distance.

"Got it." Natsu whispered. "Alright, straight ahead! Use **Flame Charge!** "

Snorunt heard the sounds of flames close by, but couldn't tell where. When it turned around all that was seen was a bullet of flames before an intense impact erupted in boisterous flames. The mist was repulsed to oblivion, replaced by smoke burning. When the smoke had finally lifted, Charmander was seen towering once more, with Snorunt on its back and unable to continue.

"That's how ya do it!" Happy jumped. "That makes six!"

Natsu sighed out, relaxing a bit. "We're sure on a roll now. How ya feeling, bud?"

Charmander turned around, facing Natsu with a beaming smile. "I'm feeling pretty great! We're on a roll!"

Natsu grinned. "Awesome, then let's keep it up!"

"Right!" Charmander nodded, but before they could get back to it, Charmander was suddenly engulfed in a bright blue light.

Natsu's eyes widened. "Charmander?!"

Lucy and Wendy stopped their training when they noticed the broad light coming from close by. Looking over, they closed in, surrounding Charmander as the blue light was molding him.

"Natsu, what's happening?" Lucy worriedly asked.

"I-I don't know!" he panicked. "Charmander?! Charmander!"

Charmander wasn't responding. Instead, all that was happening was his body began to change. They witnessed Charmander beginning to grow slightly inside the light, his stubbed limbs beginning to grow with lengthier joints. The tail was getting much longer, and some horn was beginning to grow. Everyone was petrified by the sudden change they were witnessing. They didn't know whether it was a god thing or a bad thing.

It was only after the light erupted and faded that left everyone shocked.

As the light faded, a pair of deep blue eyes opened to the world. A red tail with a creamy underside swished around, flames swaying about. When in full view, the beast replacing Charmander was bigger, and had a creamy underbelly with sharp claws for toes and fingers. The creature opened his maw, expelling a hissed growl.

"Wh-what?!" Happy shrieked. Everyone was thinking the same thing.

"What in heaven's name just happened?" Carla gasped with shock in her stare. "Did Charmander just…"

The creature finished his long hiss and looked around, seeing the petrified looks that everyone had. "That was a rush." He wooed. "Hey…what are you all staring at? Do I got something on my face?" he tried licking his own lips, but it only made things weirder for everybody else.

"Uh, i-is anybody else seeing this?" Wendy nervously asked.

"I see it, but I don't believe it." Lucy said, trying to get over her shock. "Wait…hold on a sec!" She reached for her PokeDex, bringing it out to scan whet it was that Charmander had become.

" **Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon. It lashes out using its long tail to knock down its foes. It then tears up the fallen opponent with its sharp claws.** "

"Charmeleon…" Lucy was thinking back to something that Erza had spoken about back when the guild rejoined. Her eyes shot wide upon realizing. _'Wait, Erza's Honedge became Aegislash…then that must mean…'_

"Charmander…" Natsu muttered, shock in the face still evident. "Is that really you?" He didn't think it was possible, he couldn't. But something about the way Charmeleon smelled made the possibility a reality. He could tell as bright as day.

Charmeleon looked down to his body, confused by Natsu's inquiry. "Uh, I think so. Why? Do I look okay?"

"Okay? Okay?!" The rising shouts Natsu exuberated alarmed everyone. In a sudden blur Natsu looked eagerly into Charmeleon's face, startling him. "You look so awesome!" he shouted. "I don't know what happened to ya Charmander, but I'm liking it! Just look at you! You look cooler than you did before!"

"I-I do…" Charmeleon was taken back by Natsu's cheery look. He didn't know what to say back, but getting over his initial shock, he came to accept it and tried to smile. "Uh…thanks. But my name is Charmeleon now, okay?"

"Charmeleon?" Natsu repeated. "Eh…sure. I think we'll work it out. Anyways, let's get back to work, ya ready?!"

Charmeleon nodded. When he saw more Snorunt and Swinub ahead, he smirked. _'You have no idea.'_

* * *

Dereece was walking through the lower banks of Glacidia's riverways. The cold water ran so smoothly beneath the full moon that you couldn't tell that the water was moving. As he looked down at his reflection, he sighed sadly. It wasn't for him. He felt really sorry for Joey. After Camilla left them, Dereece wanted to comfort Joey, but he put up a barrier to block him out so that he could take off. He searched all over Glacidia to find him, but he just found out thanks to Yanma that Joey left the city to the glaciers to train. From the way she put it, he seemed to be training hard. He looked up towards the cold wake far out, knowing Joey was pushing out as much stress and energy for the match tomorrow, and he couldn't blame him. He was supposed to be Joey's right-hand man, but with Joey being the way he is and bordering him out, he didn't know what to do. _'This day couldn't get any better.'_ He sure hoped he was wrong, but common sense was his thing. He didn't even want to know what matter filled Joey's head. But thinking about Joey only made him realize how much slack he's putting on morale. He lifted his head, looking more determined. _'Get it together Dereece. Your Captain needs you. If he's working hard, then you gotta as well!'_ Facing the water ahead, he knew what he had to do.

He never tried it before, but with his Element Walk, he just might pull it off. He could already walk on air, so now he had to try breaching for the next level, and it was literally a foot in front of him.

' _Okay, let's take it nice and easy.'_ He told himself. Taking an inhale, he exhaled. Inhaled. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Once he was relaxed, he glared down at the cold water's surface and started converging magic into his feet. _'That's it…nice and easy…'_ He continued applying magic thanks to the lessons that Vanessa was giving him with her magic influence. Once ready, he took a sharp breath and sighed out. "Okay, here goes nothing…"

He started with his right foot first. He gradually stuck it on the water. He felt a strong resistance to the water, like instead of sinking that it felt like an odd coating was bobbing beneath, similar to a covering over a pool. Shaking at first, Dereece shifted to try and move his other foot so that it was in the water. He found himself wobbling at first, losing balance at some points, but regained it as he was managing to level out the magic at the bottom of his feet.

"Did I do it? Am I floating?" Hoping that was the case, he looked down, seeing his feet on the liquid surface. He raised a brow, moving to touch his feet. When he felt the bottoms they sure felt wet, but only a small part. It soon dawned upon him what he had just done. "I…I'm doing it. I'm doing it!" he smiled. "Alright!" He started laughing as he found himself running on the water surface. He was still out of shape but in decent enough to take strides. When he looked back he was surprised to find ripples where his feet were. "Alright! Yeah! I can run in the air, _and_ on water now!" he boasted. "Oh man, this is gonna be so-gah!"

His actions fell short when magic diffused from one foot, causing him to slip into the water. The plunge was loud and made waves. The man found himself underwater, and as he was down below – despite how cold it was – the moonlit river was…beautiful. His eyes were wide as he took in how clear the water was. He imagined a cold abyss, but instead the moonlight illuminated the underwater world. He was so lost in the beauty that the lack of air almost eluded him. His skin was getting cold as well that he felt like everything was getting numb.

As he was starting to black out, he was unaware of a sharp pointed object below. The object's horn sat still as Dereece's bottom was poked by it. In a sudden jolt of pain, he shot out of the water, screaming loudly and thudding on the land.

He coughed up water as the numbness in his body was still fresh, but he could still feel parts of him that hurt, specifically his butt. He rolled over, grunting in pain. "Ah, geez…" he whined. "What happened…?" He heard a splash sound from beside him, causing him to turn to see a Seel bob her head out as she stared at him. She saw Dereece on the ground and gasped. "Whoops. Oh dear. Are you okay?" she asked

Dereece grunted as he turned towards her. "You…" he wheezed, still coughing up some water. "You just…saved my life…?"

"Oh, I was wondering what touched my horn." She felt the top of her head. "Dear me, I thought I was gonna get crushed by an anchor or something."

"Oh…sorry." Finally at ease, he sat up.

Seel swam closer towards him, her curiosity getting the best of her. "Pardon me, young man, but what were doing in the waters anyway? Isn't it not safe for you humans?"

Dereece wasn't sure how to put. It wasn't her business to be in, but he was a little overwhelmed with everything. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be honest. "…was trying to solve my Captain's problems." He confessed.

Seel looked confusedly at him. "Sorry, I…don't understand."

"It's nothing…" He looked at the Seel staring at him. He could see the look of deep curiosity and not hostility on her face. He'd expect her to just swim off to mind her own business, but this was one of those times he just had to say something to someone. After gathering himself, he sighed. "My buddy's been in a whole lot of trouble, that's all." He started. "He's been working and all but…I feel that he's been being too hard on himself."

Seel didn't quite get what he was saying. She didn't know what he was on about, but in a way she had to sympathize. The way he sounded felt like a weight he wanted to get off for a while, so she felt like she could say or do something about it.

"Oh dear, I'm really sorry." She apologized. "I didn't realize you and your friend were that troubled."

"Yeah…"

"I may not know how, but he sounds like a good friend. You should be there, even if he is having bad times. Sometimes it's just best to think about what _you_ want rather than what _they_ want."

"You really think so?" Dereece asked, calming down.

"I don't see why not." Her snout curved into a smile. "Just do what you can do, sound good?"

Dereece exhaled and sat back up. The cold he felt was dimming down to where he could move again. "Thanks. I think I feel better now." he turned in the direction where Joey would be. "And I think I know what I wanna do now…" Using his magic, he began running into the air. "Thank you!" he yelled back.

Seel watched Dereece take off, leaving her basked in moonlight. "Golly, humans sure are a mystery." She dove back into the water, heading back to the ocean she came from.

* * *

The sun was beaming at an angle down in front of the estate. The time for Joey and Victor's battle had come. To the surprise of many, a lot of people were there to witness it. A lot of people from the club for one, including Camilla with her father, and from the way he looked, he was displeased.

"Hey guys!" Natsu hurried along, catching up with everyone else. "Sorry, I overslept."

"What took ya?" Gajeel asked. "You melt the bed or something?"

"Hey, it's not my fault we stayed up that late!" Natsu yelled in his face. "Besides, I don't see you working your butt off!"

"I can't believe what happened last night." Levy dismayed. "Did Joey really pick a fight with that guy?"

"Yeah, that's what the rumors are anyways." Cana said. "Anyways, looks like everyone's in on it." She suddenly felt a tingling sensation up her spine. "Hm?" She turned around, seeing nothing there. _'That's weird…could've sworn something was watching me.'_

As she had her back turned, there was something behind a pile of snow. The Piplup she met was watching in hiding, both her and the battle alike.

"Yeah I can see." Levy looked around, seeing the vast amounts of people that were here compared to yesterday. "Guess they wanted to see what a battle's like for themselves."

Within the crowd, Nic and Erza were with the rest of Fairy Tail. Vanessa and Sophie were in the front with the other guild members, while they observed quietly.

"Is this really the best idea?" Lucy asked.

"Beats me, but it's too late now, look." Gray looked ahead, seeing Victor and his soldiers make way on the other side of the battlefield. "This won't be too pretty."

"Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this." Wendy said.

"You sure Joey can handle this? I'm worried." Sophie admitted.

"I'm not sure myself." Vanessa looked over, seeing Joey in his corner. He looked like he was doing calisthenics as he prepared for his match. "But Joey knows what he's doing, I can feel it."

"That case, let us remain of high hopes." Erza said.

"Yeah." Nic said. He looked ahead, remaining weary on Victor, despite how he looked like he wasn't paying attention to him.

Joey was rolling his shoulders back and forth as he was loosening up some. Dereece and Duncan were besides him, his gaze fixed on his foe ahead. "Thanks again for last night Dereece, I think I'm ready." Joey thanked.

Dereece grinned. "Don't mention it." He grew serious, frowning intensely. "So Captain Joey, you got a plan figured out?"

"No, not yet." He looked far ahead, seeing Victor standing casually, like he knew he was gonna win. The gesture annoyed him to no end but held his composure in. "But I'll think of something. I'll have to see how this first round goes."

"Joey."

The voice caught his attention, making him turn to find Camilla standing by. "O-oh, Camilla, hey." He nearly stammered. "Listen, about last night. I…"

"You don't need to apologize, Joey. It's my fault." She humbly insisted. Despite the guilt she was feeling, she was doing her best to smile. "If I hadn't been so distant to my duties, you wouldn't be in this situation. Please, I pray that you can forgive me."

"C'mon, don't be like that." Joey frowned. "You know that's not true. Look, don't worry about it. I'll think of something to make it up to you, but right now…" he turned towards Victor. "I got a score to settle, with _him_."

Victor cracked his knuckles, then his neck. He started walking towards his part of the battlefield.

Joey looked back to her. "But if it means anything, I hope you wish us luck."

Camilla softly smiled. Even though what happened last night felt her responsibility, seeing Joey's confident but soft-hearted smile made herself feel a little better. Her father wasn't too happy about any of it, but through thick and thin she felt assured.

She grabbed Joey's shoulder, leaning into his ear with a smirk. "Trust me…I already do." Her closure made Victor's brow twitch in anger afar. Unknowingly at the same time, a glow from her hand shined on Joey, fading quickly into his body.

She backed off, allowing him to proceed ahead to stand against Victor. Once both were at an equal distance away from one another, silence overtook the atmosphere.

Camilla walked back to her father's side, a stout expression cascading dead ahead. It was unknown whether or not he acknowledged what Camilla did after what happened last night, but if anything he expects a good outcome, just like Fairy Tail was.

"Tch, I didn't think you were actually gonna show." Victor scoffed. "Thought I had to send someone to find ya instead."

"No need for that. I'm right here." Joey stood prominently. "And besides, what kind of man backs down from his own responsibilities?"

Victor cocked his brow.

"Knock 'em dead, Joey!" Cana cheered along.

"I wonder what kind of Pokémon Victor uses." Levy inquired.

Vanessa's eyes grew serious. "We're about to find out." She turned her attention towards Joey, watching his back and seeing him standing ready. _'Joey…'_

"So how's this gonna go? How many Pokémon you wanna use?" Joey asked.

"This'll be a 2-on-2 battle. Single battle." Victor proclaimed. "I watched the demonstration videos last night so let's skip the chatter already, got it?" he spread his legs, pulling out a Poke Ball. Joey did the same.

"Right at ya!" Joey threw his Poke Ball. "Go!"

Victor threw his as well. At the same time, both Pokémon entered battle, with Joey revealing Chespin. "Ready and willing!" he chirped.

Victor's Pokémon came out on all fours. It was a bipedal dark salamander-like creature with slit purple eyes with dark irises. The whole head and jagged snout was black, whereas the rest of the body was gray. The back running up to the tail had heated spots and lines that flickered as he gave an intimidating hiss.

"So what's that Pokémon?" Natsu asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"Beats me." Gray said. "But whatever it is, it looks nasty."

"Don't go judging a book by its cover Gray." Erza chided, reaching for her PokeDex. "Please, allow me." She held it up to scan the creature, showing the visual aid. _'Thank goodness that the Cambire Foundation upgraded my PokeDex.'_

" **Salandit, the Toxic Lizard Pokémon. It burns its bodily fluids to create a poisonous gas. When its enemies become disoriented from inhaling the gas, it attacks them.** "

Nic listened to the entry. _'Poisonous gas. That means it must be a part Poison-type then.'_ Truthfully, he wouldn't know what this Pokémon was either. If he was honest he never knew Pokémon like this were out there. Rather than inquire more, he opted to let answers come in battle.

Salandit and Chespin growled at each other, their trainers at the ready. "You ready, punk?" Victor asked.

"It's go time, man!" Joey answered.

Smirking, Victor reached out. "You asked for it! Salandit, use **Ember!** " Salandit reeled his body around and hissed. He spun and lashed his tail, sending a blanket of embers shooting at Chespin.

"Alright, use **Vine Whip** to jump!" Joey commanded.

Chespin watched the Ember close in, his vines quickly surfacing. "Alley-oop!" He slammed his vines on the ground, sending him skywards high and dodging the attack. With Chespin high in the air, he was in perfect position to attack.

Salandit hissed in retort.

Joey reached out. "Now use **Bite!** " Chespin curled in the air as he came down, unfolding with his glowing bucked teeth showing.

"Salandit, use your **Smog** now!" Victor ordered. Salandit smirked as Chespin was coming down. As he drew closer, Salandit opened his maw to expel a black cloud that erupted like a bomb.

"Here I come! HRAH!" Chespin shot into the Smog, creating a hole inside of it. He gagged and his body lurched from the toxic cloud enveloping him. He tumbled around, trying to regain balance and cough.

"Stay calm, Chespin." Joey ordered, looking deep into the Smog. "He's around here somewhere."

Unbeknownst to the two, Victor was smirking.

Chespin kept coughing, his composition barely hanging on. "Where did he…go?" he coughed. His spikes prickled when the sound of paws churn in snow behind. He glanced back, noticing a smirk.

"Use **Ember!** "

Salandit whipped around lashed his tail, sending a blanket of sparks that Chespin jumped up to dodge, which dissipated the Smog's cover as well. Chespin landed back in his original spot.

' _I gotta watch out for this guy. That Pokémon he's got is fast, and it's got cover as well.'_ Joey watched Salandit hiss again at him. _'I gotta keep my distance for now. So let's try this…'_ He reached out ahead. "Alright, use **Leech Seed!** " Chespin jumped again, this time taking in a deep breath.

"Fight back with **Ember!** "

Chespin spat out seeds from a higher angle, whereas Salandit whirled around to shoot embers at the seeds. The attacks collided, creating bright sparks that ignited the atmosphere. As seed shells fell, so did Chespin.

"Alright, go for **Rollout** , now!" Joey followed.

Chespin howled as he crouched into a ball and began rolling in midair. His speed increased as he used the air to gain momentum. When he landed, he bounced once and shot overhead, falling onto a shocked Salandit, crashing hard onto his back and sending him soaring.

"Damnit." Victor cursed.

Salandit fell on his stomach off to the side, while Chespin landed while still rolling. He rolled into Salandit as he was still getting up. As a result, Salandit was about to lash his tail for an Ember, but it was too late when Chespin rolled into him, sending him spiraling through the air a second time at a greater force, bringing Chespin back to his original spot once more.

"Now that's what I call being on a roll!" Happy cheered.

"Chespin's Rollout is a Rock-type attack, so damage is a lot more effective against Salandit it seems." Carla explained. "The advantage must be Joey's."

"Maybe." Cana said. "But the battle's not over yet."

Salandit struggled to get up as preparing for one more Rollout. This time gathering strength before Rollout could commence, Salandit's eyes narrowed in detection.

"Use your **Ember** on the ground!" Victor announced.

Salandit grunted and lashed his tail, sending more blankets of fire ahead. Only this time, they hit the ground between, causing a level of steam to rise as the snow and ice beneath started to sink a little. The ditch created was what Chespin rolled into. He tripped over the ditch, sending him flying overhead screaming as he flew right into a snow pile head first. Thankfully that broke the fall for him.

"Owch." Gajeel grunted.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Pantherlily said. "Using techniques on the battlefield to your advantage is genius. The Victor may be more skilled than we thought."

With Chespin's lower body still stuck in the snow, Salandit stepped forward. He hissed as his tail wagged at the opportunity.

"Use **Ember** , now!" Salandit lashed for the umpteenth time, shooting a blanket of sparks that erupted upon contact with the snow and Chespin. Inside the mist, Chespin screamed in shock.

Joey gasped in horror. "Chespin!"

The mist cleared, revealing Chespin as he was laying in a pile of melted snow. He scrambled up, almost tripping beneath the slosh. "Gnnngh…man, that sure stunk." He grunted.

Joey persevered. _'I gotta get Chespin's energy up again, and quick!'_ He reached forward for a new command. "Alright buddy, let's use **Leech Seed!** "

This time Chespin spat seeds from his mouth, they implanted themselves into the earth beneath Salandit. When Salandit looked down, he was caught surprised by roots growing and surrounding him. He and Victor gasped when Salandit found roots sapping energy from him.

"Hey, what the hell is that?!" he scolded his Pokémon's actions. He couldn't believe he didn't react sooner. "That little shit…you got lucky there!" he snapped at Joey. Joey smirked.

' _This is our shot, while he's down!'_ Joey swiped his arm forward, giving another command. "Use **Rollout** , one more time!" Chespin stretched high and rolled in place. Once started going, he picked up speed and darted right into Salandit.

"This might be it!" Lucy gasped.

Nic and Erza's eyes narrowed. They knew something was wrong, they could feel it.

Chespin screamed as he closed the gap, not knowing what he was getting himself into.

Victor smirked. _'Hehe, moron.'_ He mused, balling a fist and raised it. "Alright, finish it! Use **Dragon Rage!** "

Joey's eyes widened in realization. When he saw Chespin closing in as blue energy surged into Salandit's mouth, he realized what the flaw was, but was too late to act on it. His pupils shrunk in horror. _'Oh snap…'_

Time slowed down as Chespin barreled through midair into Salandit, not noticing a blue flare lightning up in his face. When he felt a force head towards him, his tumbling ceased and he was stuck in midair before he was swallowed with horror by a dragon head at the end of a blue and black beam that exploded upon impact. Everyone showed signs of shock and surprise, but in Fairy Tail's case, slight dismay. They saw a tail of smoke whistle down towards the ground, crashing into the snow. As the smoke faded, Chespin was seen unconscious as he was sprawled in a crater of snow.

A lot of shock went around, but many more were accepting the results rather fast. Joey's shock soon dissipated, soon turning to disappointment. "Man…" he mentally cursed himself, pulling out Chespin's Poke Ball. "Take a rest Chespin, thanks." Chespin returned to his Poke Ball, leaving Joey alone.

"Man, talk about a bad break." Cana said. "The kid had him and walked right into a trap."

"Yeah, Dragon Rage." Levy said. "I read up on that. That's the same move Natsu's Charmeleon has now…it's very strong."

"He let Joey get close so he could use a close-range attack at high power. That's a gutsy move." Erza evaluated. She looked over towards Nic, seeing him watching the battle at grasped attention. "You're looking anxious, are you okay?"

Nic glanced at his wife. "Yeah, don't worry." He looked back at Joey. "I said he could think on his own feet before. I won't go back on what I said."

Erza questioned what he meant by that, but she chose to dismiss it for now. She'll have to ask him later if she remembers.

Victor laughed uproariously at Joey's defeat. "Man, I can't believe that you actually fell for it! HAHAHAHA!" He laughed so hard he almost fell backwards. The way he was behaving reflected poorly as many were glaring, but he didn't care. "Geez, you had me cornered but you forgot to cork the screw." His eyes narrowed. "You really are a second-rate weakling. How the heck can someone like you ever compete for someone like her, huh?!"

Camilla wanted to say something, but she backed down. Joey looked over, meeting eyes with the worried girl. The two looked at each other and back, before things began getting out of hand as Victor was continuing his taunt.

"You know, I almost forgot why I bothered issuing this challenge to begin with! It's clear as day who's more worth it!" he pointed accusingly at him. "A feeb like you who had hideous taste in wear doesn't even belong here. You and your guild here just makes too big of a mess! Plain and simple!"

Cana wanted to move, as did Levy, but Gajeel put his arm in front to stop them. Him and the guys comprised of Natsu, Gray, and himself were giving cold-blooded glares that could shake down a Mamoswine to the bare bone.

"You done?"

Victor stopped his laughing tirade and looked annoyingly at Joey.

"Good. Because this battle isn't even over yet." Joey held up his last Poke Ball. "Don't think for even a _second_ that my booty is out of juice yet. It's got plenty of juice alright, and you're gonna get a butt load of it!"

Getting aggressive again, Victor leered at Joey in challenge. "Alright then…c'mon already!"

"With pleasure! Time for your time to shine again! Now…go!" Joey lashed his Poke Ball out, summoning forth his last choice.

In the middle of the battlefield, Trubbish stared blankly. The Poison-type blinked slowly in one eye, then the other. She then let out a long, gassy belch that clouded the air around her.

"It's Trubbish!" Dereece exclaimed.

"Wait…the trash bag?" Gray questioned.

"I remember that one." Sophie responded. "That's the one Joey used to defeat Millianna a while back. From what I recall she was strong."

"Yeah, but we'll just see how strong this time." Levy said, waiting for the battle to begin. Even she began to show impatience. She blamed Gajeel for that.

"Trubbish…" Erza looked towards Joey, seeing how calm he was trying to be in the serious fight. "Looks like the battle's just getting started then."

Victor scrunched up his face as he saw Trubbish. Even from here, her smell was enough to leave him annoyed. "Ugh! The hell is that?!" he plugged his nose. "Is that a Pokémon, or a gross trash heap?! Seriously!"

"That right there, is the smell of success." Joey beamed. "And Trubbish and I _reek_ of it! Don't we?" Trubbish responded with a burp.

"Pfft, whatever." Victor arrogantly smirked. "We're still gonna win this. Use **Ember** , now!" His Salandit – still trapped in Leech Seed – lurched as he was low on health, but he persevered and lashed his tail around the roots, sending flares at Trubbish.

"Dodge it!" Joey commanded. Trubbish tumbled off to the side, belching as she grinded along her stomach and leaped away, evading the flares that melted part of the ground. "Great work! Now use **Toxic Spikes!** "

Trubbish landed and opened her mouth. She looked towards the sky and a purple orb with a dark core was seen rising. Once ready, she belched it skywards, sending it skywards with purple smoke trails until it reached a certain point. The attack erupted high in the air, expelling comets of dark stingers with purple smoke trails drifting into the ground. They rippled, fading into the battlefield.

Salandit lurched as his energy was being sapped, while Trubbish had gained energy despite being in good health.

" **Dragon Rage!** "

" **Acid Spray!** "

Salandit and Trubbish opened their maws at the same time, with both sides firing draconic blue and black energy that rocketed over the ground, and the other shooting broiling purple acid in a straight shot to the center. The two attacks collided, creating n intense erupting of energy that spilled moist smoke everywhere. The audience covered up as fragments of the shockwaves nearly got them if not for Wendy stepping in front, using her magic to direct the smoke around them.

"Damnit…!" Victor growled.

"Use **Double Slap** , now!" Joey yelled.

Still trapped in Leech Seed, Salandit shrieked as he was unable to move. The smoke dissipated, revealing a white tendril heading his way. Before he knew it, it was too late. The impact smacked across his face, breaking him off the vines and doubling over. The salamander rolled across the ground until he stopped in front of Victor, unconscious.

Victor grunted in annoyance, while Joey smirked at the prideful win for that round.

"Alright Joey, that's what I'm talking about!" Natsu cheered.

"Aye!" Happy cheered.

"Salandit was too drained from battling Chespin and was losing energy from Leech Seed." Vanessa reasoned. "Using that Leech Seed to his advantage helped in siphoning its energy. Nice play."

Isaac grunted. He could see them all tied up now. Camilla didn't budge.

"You just got lucky is all." Victor excused, recalling his Salandit and pulling out another Poke Ball. "But this time you're finished."

"We'll have to see about that." Joey reasoned.

Victor reeled his arm back. "Oh don't worry, half-pint. This one's self-assured. Now…let's GO!" He tossed the Poke Ball skywards, summoning forth his last Pokémon. The creature standing was a medium-sized, orange simian-like creature with a flame-lit tail much like Charmeleon, only slimmer. He had five tan fingers, and a spiky white collar around its neck. The creature had a blue crescent over the eyes, with a red crescent beneath hanging over the snout. The monkey-like Pokémon hollered as he balled his fists, hollering out for battle.

Joey's eyes widened. "A Monferno!"

Vanessa gasped.

Victor gasped. "Surprised?" His cocky attitude was tested when Monferno suddenly lurched and the Toxic Spikes jutted static up from ripples, causing him to scream in pain. "Heh?! What the hell-?!"

Monferno had poisonous bubbles jut up as he recoiled. "Gnngh…what the…?!" he looked down to his hands, turning them over to see toxic bubbles rising. "I'm poisoned." He looked up, seeing Trubbish burping from afar. "You…!"

"A Monferno, huh?" Gray pulled out his PokeDex again, this time being the one to scan Monferno.

" **Monferno, the Playful Pokémon. It skillfully controls the intensity of the fire on its tail to keep its foes at an ideal distance.** "

Gray looked up after processing the information. "So this guy can use fire attacks like the one before, huh? This should be good."

"Will Joey be alright you think?" Juvia worried.

"I'm not sure." Lucy answered. "But if it is, we'll be here to cheer him on."

"Yeah, plus it's poisoned, so they totally have the advantage on this one!" Levy realized. "They should be able to wear it down before any damage can take a drastic toll."

Joey balled his fists again, looking down at his Trubbish to see his options. _'This is gonna be a little tougher I think. Monferno are more agile, but we still have it poisoned. We gotta work fast, and now's the best time!'_ he swiped forward, giving the next command. "Trubbish, start off with **Acid Spray!** "

Trubbish puffed her cheeks, holding in the acids until they expelled out in a melting wave heading right towards Monferno. He expectantly watched it come closer, completely calm.

"Hmph, dodge." Victor bluntly commanded. Monferno's eyes gleamed before he jumped at a fast rate, evading the acids that melted deeper into the snow and ice beneath. High up in the air, Monferno's height surprised a lot of people.

"It can jump that high?" Juvia gasped.

Victor punched down. "Now use **Mach Punch!** "

Monferno's fist ignited in a bright blue. He flipped constantly as he came down onto Trubbish, reeling back the fist. "TAKE THIS YOU FILTH!" He slammed down hard, creating a burst of ice that erupted everywhere. The shockwaves of the attack shot Trubbish back, sliding across the ice with a grunt to a halt. As she rebounded, her green aura from her Black Sludge restored energy, while inside the mist and frost was a purple static.

"Use **Fury Swipes** and rip that bag open!" Monferno erupted out of the frost cloud, his fingers now in the form of glowing sharp claws.

Joey counterattacked. "Fight back with **Double Slap!** "

Trubbish belched as she made her trash gloves glow. She sloshed forward, and the back-to back parry had begun. Monferno's ferocious slashes raked against Trubbish's gloves as she swatted them again. With Monferno's ferocious advances, she was losing ground while the monkey was smirking with excitement. They continued parrying, until finally Monferno raked a slap away. He chuckled as he reeled his claw back, slashing right into Trubbish's face and sending her flying backwards.

Trubbish groaned as she came to a stop. "Trubbish, you okay?" Joey asked. Trubbish responded by nodding, a green aura giving her some health back, whereas purple static made Monferno recoil backwards again. Joey looked towards Victor, seeing his boastful smirk and raised brow, like he was challenging Joey.

"That Monferno's quick on its feet." Gray watched.

"Yeah. It's got a lot of energy as well." Gajeel said. "Guess this won't be such a walk in the park after all."

"Maybe, but this battle is too important for Joey to lose." Sophie said, eying Joey carefully as he pointed forward for Acid Spray. Trubbish shots sprays of acid all across the battlefield, but Monferno was acrobatically racing and twisting around all the shots, zigzagging around and closing gaps faster than before. "I don't know about this, but I think it comes down to keep away. If Joey can at least keep Trubbish from taking too damage, he just might win."

"We can only see for ourselves, girl." Cana chimed.

Victor swiped his arm. " **Mach Punch!** " The gap closed again, Monferno pulled his fist back and readied his next strike.

"Not yet…" Joey waited for the right opportunity when the monkey was close enough. "Now! Sideways!"

Monferno punched forward, aiming for the center. However, Trubbish surprisingly pivoted away, getting to the side. Victor gasped in surprise.

"Use your **Double Slap!** " Joey followed up.

Trubbish reeled his glowing gloves back as she belched. With Monferno's momentum against him, she smacked across his face once, causing shock to run through, via a critical hit. With that one blow, she smacked again, pushing him off to the side. Again, he lurched in poison, while she regained energy.

"Gnngh…slimy filth." Monferno sneered.

Victor gritted his teeth. "He won't be so lucky this time." He gave an uppercut with a shaking fist. "Give that pile of shit an **Iron Tail!** "

Joey's eyes widened.

Monferno sneered as he regained footing. Pivoting towards Trubbish during her fall down, he whirled around and his tail began shimmering metal-like in coating. With a hollered scream, he smashed it into Trubbish's face, causing her to gag before the impact sent her soaring in a spiral.

"Trubbish!" Joey panicked. He watched in horror as Trubbish spiraled into the ice, creating a trail embedded in its snowy softness to an end. The trash heap gurgled as she groaned on her side, struggling to get up.

"Iron Tail…" Nic murmured. He narrowed his vision as he had to admit that was a good move.

"That was an intense move Trubbish took." Erza said, showing slight anxiousness. "I should've figured the second in command of this nation would hide some kind of secret weapon against Rock-types."

Trubbish grunted as she strained to get much. Meanwhile, Monferno adjusted behind her, smirking at his nearly defeated foe. "Heh, too easy."

"C'mon Trubbish, hang in there." Joey encouraged.

"What a waste of time." Victor scoffed, earning a look of ire from Joey. "Just face it, you're just a wannabe who can't stick up for himself. Camilla can do _way_ better than hang around with someone who does nothing but get pushed around."

"Hey man, I get it already! Shut it!"

"Oh, you get it? Well if you get it, why don't you forfeit? Or are you just too chicken to chicken out?" he smirked. "Or better yet, just let it lie there like the trash it is. We'll take it out for ya, not that you can!" he laughed uproariously at Joey, much to his growing ire.

"Joey…" Dereece murmured.

Joey wanted to lash out as much as possible. He wanted to but a barrier around that guy and see him boxed in with his own screams going unanswered. But before he could act, the image of Bro made him quell some. _'Keep it together Joey, it's just what they want to see.'_ He reminded himself. _'I have to stay focused. Can't let my emotions run wild. It's what Bro would do.'_

"Now then…I think it's time that we wrap this battle up!" Victor pointed forward. "Monferno! Burn that garbage to bits! Use **Fire Pledge!** "

Monferno hollered out like a mad ape going wild before he balled a fist. He slammed the fist hard into the ice, sending a linear expanse of fire columns that shot up from below at Trubbish.

"Joey!" Lucy shrieked.

"Look out!" Happy screamed.

Joey did nothing as he watched the pillars head right for Trubbish. Trubbish did the same thing. Both stood still as the flames began to swallow up everything.

Camilla watched the blaze erupt, her hair shifting from the hot winds melting the very ground she stood on. She clasped her hands together, which were beginning to glow brightly.

The flames were beginning to dissipate, and Victor was sneering at the blazes. He turned his back to them, seeing no need to look at the dissipating pillar columns. "This match is over." He boasted. "Told ya, you're a half-ass shit who should've stayed down…" He started to walk away, but the sound of belching caught his attention. His eyes widened when he slowly looked back, his shock rising. "Im…possible…"

At the end of the flame column path there was nothing. Yet along the sides, there were melted slopes and ditches. In one of them, Trubbish slowly rolled out, gurgling as she sat on her behind before her stomach rumbled. She gave a visibly grotesque belch once more as green aura replenished a little energy.

Joey sighed. "We made it. Phew."

"What?!" Monferno gasped before he was taking poison damage once again.

"No way…how's ya do that?!" Victor irate. "My Fire Pledge should've totally defeated your trash heap! What gives?!"

Joey smirked.

 _Trubbish was remaining completely still. She watched as the flames were coming her way but looked towards Joey instead. She saw him nod, and she blinked slowly. Out of instinct, she gurgled as she spewed up more Acid Spray around her. The trash bag began melting the ground and she slipped beneath the crevices, tumbling to a melted clearing feet away from the flames that arose like a wall over her._

"When we used Fire attacks and Acid Spray, the ground kept melting." Joey explained. "I figured if we dug a ditch and fell through, maybe that would get us somewhere down the slope." He cheekily smiled. "We just got lucky right there!"

Camilla smirked, her lustful lips forming a satisfied look.

Victor, on the other hand, was losing his patience, but he knew better than to lose it. His dad taught him to keep patience, so he managed to calm down. "Tch, okay, I admit, that was a lucky break. But it won't happen again, alright? Because next hit's taking ya down!"

"We'll see about that." Joey challenged.

Victor reached forward. " **Iron Tail!** " Monferno charged again, his tail igniting in a metallic shine to it.

"Trubbish, dodge it!" Joey shouted. Trubbish jumped at the last second, jumping before the tail slammed down, shattering every bit of ice where she would've stood. "Now **Double Slap!** "

" **Fury Swipes!** "

For the umpteenth time, glowing claws and gloves collided once again, only this time, Trubbish was managing to keep up. Monferno was stepping ahead, but with the melted ground, his toes were keeping his traction at a minimum, keeping his mobility the same as Trubbish's. Victor saw this and mentally cursed again.

"The flames and acid melted the snow, making it all slippery." Juvia realized.

"That's right. That means Monferno isn't as fast anymore." Levy nodded. "This is gonna be close."

The two parried to no end, and Monferno was keeping up. "Is that all ya got ya smelly-!" He stepped forward to slash, but he started slipping. "W-what the-?!" He fell right into Trubbish's smack, sending a shock across his face that made him slide on his side backwards in a scream of pain. He soon stopped, purple static igniting his body.

Joey and Trubbish stood tall, ready to finish. _'This is it! Here and now!'_

Monferno angrily got up, his body ignited in a red-hot aura. His tail flame was larger than before, signaling his Blaze Ability active. He hollered out angrily ahead.

"Go get 'em Monferno! Use **Fire Pledge!** "

"Trubbish, **Acid Spray!** "

Trubbish took in a big breath and expelled a blast full of acid. The attack shot across the ground, closing fast on Monferno as he reeled his fist back. "TIME TO TAKE OUT THE…the…" he trailed off, his nose wrinkling when he started smelling something horrible. As if by gag reflex, he covered his nose from the stench. "Gnnngh! That smell!" Sadly, Trubbish's Stench Ability got the best of him.

"Monferno, dodge that!" Victor ordered, but as Monferno opened his eyes, it was too late.

A loud acidic rupture filled the air, creating a purple cloud that many couldn't see through. All eyes were wide as they witnessed something shocking. Even Isaac was dumbfounded with disbelief, as to where Camilla was keeping calm. They all looked shocked as the mist cloud soon subsided, and through it, they could see something inside.

Trubbish was still standing, albeit shakily. She huffed as nearby, Monferno was lying on his back, unconscious from too much damage accumulation. The battle was over. There was a victor, and it wasn't Victor himself, much to his horror.

Slowly, the shock was beginning to come across many of the people, and suffice to say some were elated.

"Hold on, what just happened?"

"I think…that the rich guy just lost."

"Does this mean…that he won?"

Slowly, Cana's shock transformed into a big smile. "Yeah Joey, that's the way Fairy Tail rolls! Woooo"

Everyone began cheering and clapping for the results, especially for the party people from the club that showed up. Everyone whistled and gave applause for the awesome battle. Isaac was still dumbfounded with what to say but turned to his daughter to see her stepping forward with delight.

Dereece patted Joey's back with a smile. "Alright man, that was intense!"

"Yeah bud, that was sure crazy. I'm impressed." Natsu beamed.

Joey sheepishly rubbed his head. "Thanks guys, really appreciate it." He looked down, seeing Trubbish waddle up to him. "And you! Come here you!" Joey bent down and hoisted Trubbish into the air, holding her high like a trophy. "Haha! You did it! Man, you rocked out there, Trubbish! You're awesome!"

Trubbish hiccupped, which alarmed some people. She hiccupped again, and again, until she began to pile up in those cheeks.

"Uh oh…" Dereece turned around. "Everyone stand clear! Ruuun!"

Trubbish finally exploded with acid spewing all over, and Joey had a proud smile as the acid beamed right in his face. Many others repulsed away, noses pugged as the acid dripped on the ground, stinking up the snow and ice. They all either gagged or cringed as Joey continued holding Trubbish until she was done, only finishing by smacking her own lips.

Joey looked like he saw a ghost, for his hair was shot back by the volume of the acid he took in. Despite not being able to smell for a while, he smiled. "…yeah, I love you too." He replied.

Amongst the half grossed out public, a single soul stepped up to confront Joey. When Joey turned, he saw Camilla meters away. There was a stiff silence between the two as the tension was high.

"Camilla…"

Camilla lowered her head, keeping herself invisible to the world briefly. Unbeknownst to Joey, she hummed as she smirked. She lifted her head, revealing that smirk to him, surprising him. For the first time, Camilla genuinely looked happy, not for herself, but for someone else fighting for her.

"Congratulations." She praised. "You've won."

Joey blinked once, but got over it and cheekily smiled back. "See? What did I tell ya? You just had to wish me good luck is all."

Camilla softly smiled in return.

"I cannot believe this!"

Joey and everyone turned towards Victor, seeing him gritting his teeth as he seared daggers at Joey. "Victor?"

Victor advanced with anger. "How the hell did I lose to a newb like you? That ain't right! This has gotta be a prank!" He drew closer, making Camilla withdraw away and behind Joey. Joey looked forward as Victor was closing the gap. "You little pansie. If you don't start squawking I'm gonna make you say something!" He reeled a fist back, ready to strike.

"Hey, knock it off!" a bystander shouted.

Taking immediate action, Sophie pulled out a Poke Ball. "Dewpider, use **Spider Web!** "

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Dewpider. "Alright buddy, you need to hang around!" He pointed his bottom, shooting a sticky web that flung right into Victor, keeping him glued in place.

"H-hey! What the hell is this?!" He tried to move his limbs, but he found himself limited and slow down. "Where'd this webbing come from?! Who did this to me?!"

As he struggled, Joey furrowed his brow as he backed up with Camilla away from. Both looked worried as he was tussling in the web.

"Hey! Where are you two going?! He shouted. "Get back here, or I'm gonna-!" A cold hand touched his shoulder.

"You need to chill out." An eerily calm voice said behind.

Victor shot a wolf-like glare behind. "Hey watch it! Who are you to go and…and…" Upon realizing it, his body had ran cold from the hellish glare of the monstrous animal himself. His pupils shrank as he gazed at Nic, his grip as cold and tough as indestructible metal. "You…you're actually-!"

Before he could finish, Nic turned around and threw him to the ground, causing him to gag. Victor found himself unable to move as the webbing laced him in his own shock as Nic towered over him.

"Joey beat you fair and square. It's stupid to throw a tantrum because the way you lost." Nic chastised, though Victor gritted his teeth in anger. "I may not have much honor…but I have enough to know someone like you needs to know a few things like taking a hint." He turned away, heading back for everybody else.

"Hey! Get back here!" Victor strained, unwilling to notice the two guards Isaac called behind him. "The hell you say?! I'm not even close to done yet!" Unfortunately he couldn't move, leaving guards to pick him up and hold him as they were hauling him away. "Hey, let go!"

Nic had his back turned still, sighing out. "Honestly…" He looked back at everyone else and made sure they were accounted for. "Is everyone okay?" Many of them nodded, much to his relief. "Good. That's a relief." He grinned. "Listen, what you saw _isn't_ how you take a loss in a battle. That battle was by no means faulted. That fight was fair and square. Just remember, there's more to Pokémon battling, than just the actual battling."

Victor was struggling and swearing to no end. As he was passing Isaac, the man scowled at him as he came forward. "So this is the great Emmanuel's son in defeat." He hummed, staring daggers into the other's eyes. "Disgraceful. Perhaps he would like to have a word with you once we return to where you came from. Guards, take him."

The guards continued dragging him away, much to his dismaying. "You little…! You'll regret this! You hear me?!" he yelled. "My old man and I are gonna come for you all…BECAUSE HE'LL BE HERE TO ANNIHILATE YOU! WITH ANTHEMUSA!"

Levy's eyes widened. Many people stopped their celebration and turned towards him. Victor was kicking and pushing, causing two more guards to hold him in place.

He continued his irate against Isaac. "Don't think we didn't have any plans up our sleeves just in case you pulled something like this, geezer. You think you can hide and use these animals as your shields, but we'll show you what it's really all about. Just you wait. The old man's been keeping a special surprise he and my grandpa had been working for years. It's a little surprise we like to call Anthemusa." he started getting hauled away with an arrogant snarl. "Trust me, when this day is over, you're all in for a world of regret!"

As he was hauled off, everyone gave straight stares at the direction he went. Nic had a cold look of seriousness as he began hearing worrying chatter behind him. He turned around to find people looking unnerved about this threat, and talking about what to do with the Pokémon they just befriended wasn't helping.

"Father…" Camilla looked to her father, seeing him with a dark look ahead.

"Camilla." He said coldly, sending a chill down her spine. He looked towards the sky, seeing the sun beaming down on them. "I fear we have made a grave mistake."

Erza approached her husband, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Nic." She started. "Do you know what's going on?"

Nic looked to his wife briefly before looking back at Victor in the distance. A silence loomed over him as he felt a chill run down his spine. "Something's wrong here." He pictured the moon in his head, the howling sending chills through more spinal chords. "And I do know this…whoever's telling me this…just might be the one we need to worry about right now."

* * *

 **Happy 2019! Here's a new chapter, and hopes to making this an awesome chapter! As always, reviews are appreciated, and thanks for sticking with me to officially 4 years of this series! More to come, so thanks for waiting! :)**


	27. Dumb Luck

Everyone was gathered in silence. No one said anything for a while as they were huddled within a small conference area. Within there, the Fairy Tail group was supplied a small portion of food, to which they had long since ate. Joey was in the corner, using a Revive to restore Chespin back to full health, much to his relief.

The doors suddenly opened, revealing Isaac along with two guards that followed him inside.

"So what did he say? Was he willing to give the information?" Erza asked.

Isaac stopped before them, a stern look present. "I'm afraid he's as stubborn as his father with his negotiations. Pessimistic at best."

"So no luck on figuring out what this Anthemusa thing is, huh?" Gray asked. He was off to the side, arms crossed as Juvia sat in a chair beside him. She looked worried at best.

"No, afraid not."

Natsu rammed his fist into his palm. "In that case, if he isn't willing to talk, then I say we make him. Can't keep his mouth shut forever."

"For once, I gotta agree with ole Salamander on this one." Gajeel said. "I was with the Custody Enforcement Unit for a year, I know how to make people talk." He viciously smirked. "Just give me 5 minutes and I'll have him squawking."

"Something tells me that isn't the best idea either guys." Lucy groaned behind.

"Barbarians will be barbarians I suppose." Carla chimed, her tail whipping with her chastising.

Levy was in the background behind Pantherlily, scrolling through the textbooks she loaned from the library last night. Pantherlily looked back to see her hard at work. "Levy, how's the research coming? Anything on the Moon Drip or something we're missing?"

Levy's face was scrunched up. Lord knows how long she had the same face for, possibly hours. "I'm trying, but everything is vague about Moon Drip. I haven't seen anything slimmer than the reports of a few thieving cases and comparing them to the texts, but beyond that, nothing about Anthemusa." She turned towards Isaac. "And you're certain this is all you guys have?"

"I'm afraid so." He answered. "We've sent centuries keeping Moon Drip pure and out of the reach of the world for a while. Knowledge like this we believed was best left untouched."

"Well that's a big load of help." Cana sarcastically said. She was barely aware of a small figure peering from outside the window at her. When she looked back, the figure dropped. She scrunched her face as she looked back, only for the figment to peek again at her.

"So now what, what are we gonna do guys?" Dereece asked. Suddenly a bright glow enveloped the room, causing nearly everyone to go blind. "What the-?!"

"Sorry for the wait." A voice said. "I got what we need…or at least, a small part of it."

Everyone turned towards the corner of a pillar. Leaning beside it, Nic finally teleported in his Mind Form with a quelled look. He walked up to meet with the others.

"Nic?" Lucy gasped. "Good grief, you scared me."

"Yeah, no kidding. I almost didn't see you there." Happy chimed.

Nic approached everyone, leaving Erza to face her husband. "What were you able to find on their docked ship, Nic?"

Nic's expression turned serious. "It's just as I thought from last night. They're not here to take no for an answer." He began recounting his end of the investigation. While Levy and the gang dealt with dealing with information, Nic opted – by his own discretion – to teleport and sneak around the haul of Victor's ship. "I dug into their ship, and I found weapons and sonar technology beneath the deck. A lot of standard equipment was down there, but from what I could tell, the ship wasn't holding anything."

"So they weren't holding this Anthemusa either?" Levy questioned.

Nic shook his head. "No. I even went and dwelled into the memories and minds of the crew to see what they knew about this Anthemusa, but the only one who really knew about it was Victor…and it isn't very pretty."

"What did you find out?" Sophie asked.

"Well…it's not much either. Apparently Victor wasn't given too much inclusion on the Anthemusa project from what I saw in his mind. But I learned that it was a formula his dad and his ancestors have been preserving and perfection for ages to counteract Moon Drip."

Isaac's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Say what? Magic that kills Moon Drip, you serious?" Natsu questioned, disbelief in the tone.

"Counteract Moon Drip? Is that true?" Cana leered. "Because I thought Moon Drip wasn't supposed to affected by any kind of magic?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure myself." Nic said. "For all I know, Emmanuel could've been lying to his son the whole time, so maybe Anthemusa could be entirely something else. But, I'm not willing to take that chance. If the idea of a Moon Drip-killing device really _is_ what they've accomplished, then we've got a problem."

A fist banged on the table. Isaac's teeth gritted in frustration. "Damnit! This is all my fault!" he despaired, earning gazes from everyone. "If only I've known about this sooner. If I had just agreed in the first place than just postpone, then we'd wouldn't…Camilla wouldn't be…"

"Quite it with your whining. What happened, happened." Duncan scoffed to the side. He was still holding a metal pole, one he used as his weapon for the time being. "If you're not going to do anything about it now, then quit blubbering. Otherwise, think of a way to stop it."

"As crude as his tone is, for once, I'll have to agree with Duncan." Erza pointed out, taking steps to the front. "Listen, you've done everything you've could in order to preserve your people's safety, your Moon Drip, and your daughter. There's no shame in trying to prevent something on your own. But now, we humbly ask that this time, you let us lend you that strength."

Vanessa humbly nodded. "I'm sure we'll be needed soon. I'm sensing some worry amongst everyone. It's our job to make sure you're comfortable with living peacefully with Pokémon."

"Yeah, listen to Vanessa-senpai!" Joey perked up, with Chespin hopping off his lap. "You know what we're saying, right? C'mon. So maybe you are threatened, that doesn't mean you can hide forever. Sometimes you just stand your ground."

This coming from Joey left Isaac mortally shocked. He eyes Joey with wonder at his whimsical hopefulness. The man he perhaps loathed for being with his daughter was encouraging him. "You…"

The doors suddenly opened, two guards hurrying in. "Sir!"

Isaac turned to face them. "What is it? Did Victor finally confess to what Anthemusa really was?"

The guards gave him unison salutes before one of them decided to speak. "Sir! We've interrogated his soldiers just like you asked. Unfortunately they have no knowledge of Anthemusa."

"I see."

"And sir, one more thing." The second guard added. "It's about Victor, he's told us that his father will be coming here soon, with a fleet of battleships!"

The news shook Isaac. "What?! Are you absolutely positive about this?!"

The guard nodded. "No doubt, sir."

"A fleet heading here?" Dereece had a worried look in his eyes. He started shuffling away. "Oh no…not again! I-I'm gonna have flashes again!" Before he started panicking, a hand smacked his back.

"Stay with us, Dereece! This is no time for you to be freaking out!" Joey berated. "Even though…it kinda is…"

Erza turned towards her husband. "Nic, send word to the Cambire Foundation. We're having enemies who will be using Pokémon to fight us. We'll need extra precaution if we're to keep the Moon Drip from being tainted."

Nic's brow furrowed. "I can try, but why do I have to be the one to…" He was silent when Erza gave him a cold stare. One that could've frozen him in his place. He sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay. I'll do it. Levy, you still got that lacrima?"

Levy nodded. "Right, I sure do."

Erza turned towards Isaac. "Isaac, we'll get into contact with our allies at the Cambire Foundation. You needn't to worry. We'll do everything we can to help."

Isaac had a sympathizing smile. He looked relieved and nervous, but he was starting to feel a little more secure now thanks to the lessons he's learned. "Very well. Thank you…mages." He slightly strained. He turned towards the guards. "You two, keep an eye on Camilla. Make sure she's safe, no matter what."

The guards understood and left the room.

Joey looked out the window, staring off into blank space. "Camilla…"

* * *

At the Cambire Foundation, Marie stood beside Arthur as they overheard the message that he was being given by Nic. A frown was on her face, but Arthur folded his fingers as he understood.

"I understand. Thank you, Nic." He nodded to the screen, in which Nic's figment faded. Arthur gravely sighed as he scooted back in his wheelchair. He took a minute to process everything before he came to a conclusion. "It's happening again."

"Sir, will you be alright?" Marie asked worriedly, walking over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Arthur looked up, smiling at his assistant. "I'm fine, Marie. Just thinking is all." He looked back to his desk. "Seems we have another mislead with the usage of Pokémon in another act of violence. I honestly expected better of Earthland to learn from its mistakes…but no sense in dwelling on what happened. It's time we do _our_ part as well." He put a finger up to his ear, pressing into an intercom. "Charlotte, did you hear all of that?"

"Yes, I did." The intercom replied back.

In open air, a long drench coat shifted in the coastal winds. A blonde-haired woman faced the sly as she was facing away and talking to the earpiece. A smile was seen on her lipstick.

"Good. Then I'm leaving the rest to you. You know what you have to do. Support our allies, and make sure Glacidia is safe."

"Don't worry, Arthur…consider it done." The intercom message faded, leaving Charlotte to her own thoughts. A devious smirk crossed her lips. "To think that the great Nic Pularis asks for our help. Must be a calling of fate…now it's our turn to show the world who they're messing with."

Charlotte found herself in front of a massive load of cadets and Rune Knights. They all held magical weapons as various Pokémon were beside them. She walked in front of the massive row with hands behind her back. "Listen up, all of you! You have voluntarily elected to join this unit on behalf of your sworn duty to the Magic Council. And in turn, loyalty to the Cambire Foundation. Therefore, you fall under our jurisdiction. I will _not_ tolerate any means of subordination, no hanky-panking of any sort, and especially no buffoonery. Your job is one and one only: To follow _my_ example, and follow my lead. Now then, are there any questions?"

The Rune Knights said nothing. They held their tongues out of respect and slight fear of Charlotte.

"Good…then let us depart." She reached out ahead at the soon-to-be fleet at her command. "Let us prove to all of Earthland the combined force of magic and Pokémon!"

They all cheered as they raised their weapons high. Charlotte confidently smirked.

* * *

Nic walked back towards everyone. "I just made the call. He's sending reinforcements to intercept the fleet."

"That's great." Lucy smiled. "Do we know how long?"

"He said Charlotte will be here in a day and a half. In the meantime, we need to get everyone prepared." He turned towards Isaac. "Isaac…I'm sorry. You knew this would happen eventually, didn't you?"

Isaac looked away, staring somberly at the ground. He composed as his stature returned to normal. "…I wish I didn't." he turned towards them all again. "All this time, I thought that solemnly mages would be the bane that would bring ruin to Glacidia. Never would I have changed this thought…that is, until now. I'm still disbelieving that I must rely on Fiorian mages to id me in this fight…but I must ask you…" He got to his knees, bowing ceremoniously at them. "Please, I implore you. Help me and my people, mages. Please…protect them."

Everyone looked to one another, resolute stares as clear as day. There was no way they were going to let poor souls fall at the hands of this threat, or any threat. If he was this desperate after belittling them before, this was serious.

Erza summoned a Poke Ball. "In that case, it's our responsibility to show these people how to care _with_ Pokémon. We'll need everyone's cooperation if we're to prepare for the worst."

Everyone nodded.

"We won't know if the fleet will be too late, so we'll have to teach them how to train." Vanessa instructed. "We won't have much time to prepare, but we'll wok with what we have."

Dereece looked around, seemingly looking for something.

"Dereece, is something the matter?" Wendy asked.

Dereece fully scanned the room, but found something gone wrong. He looked out towards the window, watching snow fall in a field of white outside. _'Captain Joey, don't tell me you…'_

* * *

Joey trudged over the snow, dodging snow mounds and clumps as he raced towards some point in the frosted overworld. Despite snow layering on his head he persevered. He had to get to somewhere, or rather, someone.

He jumped over a group of Snorunt, using his Barrier-Make to create a slide to slick down and up. He plopped and continued his path. _'Where is she? She has to be here somewhere…and I think I might have an idea where.'_ In a matter of time, he found himself at the base of a bridge, the same one he saw Camilla last night. As if by knowing, he looked at the middle of the bridge, seeing the same woman fixated on the cold water river flowing beneath.

"Camilla!"

Hearing her name, Camilla turned towards Joey as he raced up to her. "Joey, it's you."

"Camilla, I'm so glad I found you." He sighed. "Listen, we have a problem. We have a big fleet heading our way, and we need to prepare. We gotta find some place for you to hide, that way they won't get to you." He noticed something off though. Camilla was still staring out. It was like she wasn't even hearing him. "Camilla…? Camilla, a-are you okay? Camilla…?"

Camilla finally turned towards him, a depressed look on her face. "I'm sorry, Joey. This is my fault you're in."

"What are you talking, Camilla? What fault?" Joey questioned. "You didn't do anything wrong."

She looked away. "It's not what you think. There's a lot that you don't get. It's…complicated."

Joey blinked. "Complicated? Look, Camilla, I'm not sure what you mean by that, but if you need to talk about it, just tell me, remember what I said last night?" He thought back to what he told her last night. "So if you need to let something off your chest, just do it…I won't judge ya."

Camilla gave no reply. Her strong silence only served to make Joey's concern that much more assertive. As much as she wanted to hide it, the balled fist she had clutched at her chest wasn't helping. Her eyes were hidden beneath her bangs as she frowned.

"Camill-!" Before he could finish, a force wrapped its arms around Joey's back, holding him tight. White ignited around the background as time slowed down. He stared ahead with a shocked expression as Camilla gave him a tender hug. Her body felt so warm, it left Joey's cheeks a little red and speechless. "C-Camilla, what are you…"

"You're a good guy, Joey." Camilla pulled away. "But I can't be around you. There's a reason why my father hates mages…why he thinks they're a burden to me."

Joey fell silent. He almost forgot the prejudice Isaac bestowed them when they came here.

Camilla looked down towards the river again, watching snow fall into its dark waters. "You see, it all started with my mother. From the time I was born, I was diagnosed with Cardiac Magia. My mom was a mage, and she married my dad in a political marriage. Things were looking well…until she became pregnant. Her Magic Power was uneven between herself and my own. So my cells were rapidly deteriorating…I was supposed to die within a week after being born."

Joey's eyes were wide as he looked over to her. Hearing this from her was a whole new game-changer for him.

"We didn't have any magical doctors, so there wasn't any cure to get my body to stabilize. So my father had to make the ultimate prayer. Under the full moon, my parents took me to the Moon Drip pool. They placed he inside, where the purifying liquid helped eat away at the bad magic inside my body. I was going to live."

"Camilla…"

"My father came to realize that what happened was a result of magic. He damned it because it's what cursed me, and what put my mother to rest." She clutched her chest tightly. "If it wasn't for Moon Drip, I would be dead right now. So you see, that's why I have to do whatever it takes to ensure that the Moon Drip is safe. If my father believes that marrying will keep it safe from harm, then I will gladly do so. But…"

Joey stepped forward. He wasn't liking where this was going. "But what?" He suddenly felt Camilla's palm touch his chest. He looked down, seeing a bright glow from her palm reacting to his chest.

"I hoped that this didn't have to be taken personally, Joey. But the truth is…you didn't win that match…I did."

Joey's eyes were widened in horror. As he felt her palm against his chest, he started feeling weak in the knees.

"My magic is the ability of Luck. I'm able to take and give luck from one person to another. I took away a portion of Victor's luck from last night and saved it, and then before the battle, I gave you some of it."

Joey gasped. He recalled the hand that tapped his shoulder. He was wondering why he felt so funny when that happened, now he knows. _'So…this was all her doing? She really…'_

After the glow faded, Camilla retracted her hand and frowned. She lifted her head, giving Joey a somber stare. "This is to ensure that I live long enough. My father wanted me to master this for that very purpose. I understand if you'll hate me for this, but please…don't come near me. For both our sakes."

"C-Camilla…" Joey reached to her.

"I'm sorry!" Camilla's misty eyes shut as she took off running off the bridge.

"Camilla? Camilla!" Joey tried to follow after her, but the frozen ground suddenly made him slip. In comedic showing, he somersaulted from the slip and faceplanted in the bridge. "Ow…" He groaned as he clutched his face. "Man, that's gonna sting…" He looked up, watching Camilla run off in the distance. The ache he was feeling was leaving him more depressed with every step she took from him. All he could do was sit there as snow flaked on him. "Camilla…"

Camilla ran off with her eye misting. She felt incredibly guilty for what she had to do, but she had to do it. There was no choice. _'Why did it have to be this way? Why is my heart hurting even more than it did before?'_ She felt guilty in all the wrong places. The more she imagined Joey and everything they went through, the more it hurt. _'Why did this have to happen to me? Make it stop! Please~!'_

She whimpered as she dashed off, leaving her tears to freeze behind and flutter like snow in the wind.

* * *

Vanessa exhaled deeply, her muscles relaxing with each breath she took. With stress on the mind, she gradually took control of it and faced forward with crossed arms. "Again." She ordered.

All at once, the large group of civilians line up reached forward, giving unison commands to the Water and Ice-type Pokémon. Long-range attacks were fired at target dummies set up. A majority of the attacks took them down, but some of them missed their target.

"Don't aim for the abdomen, aim for a higher target." Vanessa instructed. "The more likely you are close to the chest area, the more likely you are to make them lose breath and recover." She demonstrated this by reaching to the side at a random practice dummy. With her hand enveloped in teal aura, she shot an Emanation Beam straight through the chest area. The whole dummy fell over, with a massive hole where the chest was supposed to be.

Many of the Trainers watching the demonstration gulped at how intense that was. They knew she was a mage, but not one this powerful…or serious. They could only guess it's because of her war experience.

"Alright, let's try this again." She reached forward. "Once more!"

As the younger Pularis girl was playing practitioner, Sophie was busy preparing her own group with her own strategy. She had mock battles with a few people using her Dewpider. At one point, Dewpider hissed as he came down with a Bug Bite, making the Snover scream and fall on its back with a thud. The Memory-Make Mage held a serious expression all the way through. _'We have a lot of work to do. We can't let a single second stop us. We have to keep working!'_

Everyone else was the same. Natsu was using Darumaka, and Gray was using his Snover, with Juvia pitching in with her Eevee included. Gajeel and Levy were demonstrating with Aron and Klink, and Erza was demonstrating human and Pokémon combat by parrying with Cloyster.

While everyone was off training, Cana was indoors with Nic. She was using her Fortunetelling to try and find the right time when their forces would be here, so that they would be prepared.

"So around sunset it looks like. That's their most reasonable time." Cana concluded.

"Which means we've got less time than we've anticipated." Nic realized. "I'll go ahead and head to the front. I'll see if I can try and make glaciers and icebergs to draw them a distance from Glacidian waters. That'll give us a little more time to ready a bordered defense."

Cana looked down to her cards, pointing at another. "And it looks like the weather is gonna be clearing up tonight, meaning the snow isn't gonna work with us this time around."

Nic turned away, glowing into his Icicle and Splash Form combined. The majority of it was his Splash Form, save for the parts of his Icicle Form as the sleeves and the sash around the waist. "That case, we can pile up the snow we have to border the houses. I'll go tell Isaac so that way the people can evacuate to a safer location."

"I'll see what else I can find."

"Okay then. Let us know if anything comes up." He walked away. "We're counting on ya."

He left, leaving Cana alone to tend to her woes. She went to focus on her fortune and planning, but she noticed something staring. Something blue off to the side slipped away again, leaving her blinking.

Outside, the Piplup from before was hiding around the corner, looking unnerved from that close call. _'Phew. That was a close call.'_ He thought. _'I almost swore she almost saw me there. Good thing she didn't or I'd-!'_

"Hey there." A finger tapped his flipper.

"WAAAAH!" Piplup jumped in fright at the tap. When he turned around, he paled upon seeing Cana hover over him with a sly smirk.

"I was wondering who might be watching me. Guess I found out, you little perv." She curtly teased.

Piplup backpaddled as beads of sweat ran down his face. "Uh-uh…i-i-it's not what it looks like!" he panicked. "I'm not a perv!"

Cana reeled backed with a laugh. "Relax, I was just playing jokes to you. Man, you really need to lighten up."

Piplup puffed his cheeks as he turned away.

"So why you stalking me? Can't find piece in mind out on your little yard I take it? Or did you come here to make sure I wasn't gonna be going anywhere."

Piplup stoutly raised his head. "It's none of your business. I have my own reasons."

Cana turned away, shrugging. "Suit yourself. But you know…" she cheekily smirked. "If you're lonely, I'm sure _someone_ will be willing to throw some attention your way if you play nicely."

Piplup's blush never went away. The more Cana teased him, the more embarrassed he got. It was bad enough he wasn't be taken seriously, but she was just testing his patience. Still, he remained stubborn.

"Hmph! I don't know what you're talking about. I'm perfectly fine handling myself." He beamed.

Cana shrugged. "Alright. Well, you better find some cover, because we're expecting a big mess to head this way. And if you're not intending to fight…" she looked back, and for the first time to Piplup, showed a dead serious glance. "Then you better watch your back."

Piplup recoiled at the sudden change in emotions Cana displayed. As he watched her walk away with an added sway in her hips, the little penguin felt himself a little conflicted with what to do. But he was caught shocked when a pile of snow fell from above, burying him beneath. Moments later, he popped out, shaking the snow off with a groan.

* * *

Inside a cold-steel cell, there were no windows to give view of the outside world. Victor sat in the middle of his empty cell, head down in the shadows with nothing to show.

"We're going to be asking you again." A guard stated. "What is Anthemusa?"

Victor remained silent. He may have warned them before about his father coming, but nothing beyond that, a warning. He said nothing for about two hours now. Even he's impressed with his silent treatment.

"Look, we took away your Poke Balls, so you can't fight back." The second guard said. "If you want them back, you need to answer the required questions we give." He stepped closer towards the cell bars. "We have families, too you know. And some of us would like to see them live to see another day. I'm sure that you can relate."

Victor scoffed. That was the only verbal response he's given in a while.

The guard sighed and backed off. "He's not talking."

"You think? C'mon, we haven't given him anything to eat or drink. Maybe we need to try that." As he suggested the idea, he was unaware of a black erosion eroding from the side.

"That'll work. We'll tell the next guards on shift to postpone his meal until he…" He started sniffing the air, catching an odd but very gross smell. "Dude, you smell that?"

The other guard started sniffing as well, his nose wrinkling. "Ugh, man, what is that?" He started coughing as a black cloud started engulfing them both. They fell to their knees as they were inhaling too much of it, leaving them open.

With the black cloud, they weren't able to see or talk to one another. They were so out of it that they weren't aware of a small black figment that crawled up to them.

"*cough cough* God! What is all this?! It's like-!" Before he could finish, something hit him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

"Gabe?! Gabe!" the other guard coughed. "Where are you?! Where'd you go?!" He, too, was struck from behind, instantly knocked unconscious.

When his body hit the ground, the gas cloud finally settled. Standing with a wagging tail, keys in its mouth in front of Victor's cell.

Beneath the shadows, Victor showed the faintest amongst all smirks.

* * *

Camilla walked through the streets as snow covered her tracks. She looked more upset than ever after what she did to poor Joey. She wanted to go back and try to fix it, but she was too afraid to do so. Her duties lied elsewhere. She needed his luck, and from what she got from him, even she was amazed at the amount of luck he had. But with Joey on the mind, she couldn't seem to get any better. She actually felt worse than before.

" _So if you need to let something off your chest, just do it…I won't judge ya."_

Her muscles tensed as Joey's sincere words struck a chord in her heart. The whole time she was with him, she wasn't being sincere. She was lying to him, and she had nobody to blame but herself. Her father instructed and trained her to use this magic for her own good, and when she used it many times on other people she was okay with it…but after hanging out with the booty shaker himself she can't lie to herself when this time it actually hurt.

"Lady Camilla!" a voice from afar called.

Camilla perked up, hearing the sound of guards. She turned around to find 2 of them running to catch up to her.

"Lady Camilla, ma'am!" one saluted. "We've come to escort you back to the estate. Your father's orders."

"I see…" Camilla turned away, looking shameful. "Can you tell father, that I'll be on my way?" she turned fully away. "I need to be alone."

A guard approached. "But ma'am, your father ordered you to-!" When he reached out, he was socked in the face by something sharp and heavy, knocking him out.

"W-what the-?!" The other guard was cut off.

The unpleasant sounds made it to Camilla's ears. When she turned around, her eyes widened with shock as she saw that both guards were down on the ground, each of them looking to be holding onto gashes in their guts. One guard was gagging blood, causing Camilla to step back from fright. As she stepped back, a pair of feet shuffled behind.

"Hello, darling."

The voice stunned her in place. Slowly, she slowly turned her head, showing her shrunken eyes. She saw the smirk of someone she wished was the last thing she saw. "Victor…"

Victor smirked. "Did you miss your fiancé?"

* * *

Erza approached her friends, her Cloyster by her side. "I've done showing them the basics. Has everyone done the same?"

Natsu grinned. "Yeah, got'em all fired up now

"Well actually, Natsu and Darumaka charred a lot of them in a couple rounds, so I'd say they're more than fired up." Happy commented.

"Shut up! They learned!" he countered. "…kinda."

"Well I don't know about you, but I think they picked up pretty quick on my end." Gray commented.

"It must be because you're so gifted at Ice-types, my dear." Juvia prodded. "It makes sense, considering that a majority of them are in fact Ice and Water-types."

Erza nodded. "Exactly. Which is precisely why Cloyster and I handled the brigade in our end as well. They should be more than ready."

From afar, Nic was walking with Isaac. They were both approaching the gathered members. Erza's smile widened. "So how did the barricade go?"

Nic grinned. "It's going as we speak. Isaac's got his forces padding down bunkers and houses as we speak. And I just finished fortifying the distance."

Outside of Glacidia, the expanse of the massive ice glacier they used as a wall had completely morphed thanks to Nic's Icicle Form's powers. It had ice spikes instead of a smooth wall. Out farther towards the sea, there was a thin layer of ice that had thick ice clumps gathered to withstand hauls busting through at full force.

"That should slow them down at least if they don't use long-range attacks." Nic continued. "But if they do, we at least have layers of snow over roofs to cushion attacks from above."

"Sounds like we're making a warground instead of a sanctuary." Cana teased.

"Yeah, it's what I expected either." Wendy answered.

"Well it's not like expecting the worst doesn't bring effort." Carla responded. "We'll need all the hep we can get if we're going through with this."

"To think that centuries of fine culture and high stature could be reduced to all this." Isaac sighed as oversaw his entire capital. Looking at it now, it was the total opposite compared to what it was a few days ago. He mourned quietly as he knew what would come next. "I suppose this was bound to happen eventually. Emmanuel was right…I guess I couldn't hide forever."

"I wouldn't think so either." Nic mournfully pointed out. "I learned a lot of thing during my time here on Earthland, and one of them is that you can try hiding from the world…but the world won't feel the same way. The sooner I realized that, the quicker I realized that I had to stand my ground and show them who I am." For a brief moment, Acnologia came to mind. Years of being seen as evil and hating Nic for a lot of things made him realize how Acnologia could've felt. _'That's probably how he felt as well…'_

Isaac snickered.

"What's so funny?"

"It's nothing. It's just hearing all this for the first time…I never really thought about it that way."

Nic grinned. "Well better late than never as they always say." He and Isaac shared a meek chuckle.

Not too far away, Joey sighed. He was still hung over on what happened earlier, even Dereece couldn't perk his spirits. "Joey, it'll be okay man." He assured. "I'm sure she's just going through a phase. Give her time."

He was hoping his words would alleviate Joey even a tiny bit, but from the meek hum he gave, it only made it even worse. He didn't know what else to do.

He sighed as he shook his head. "Great. _More_ problems." Beside him Duncan scoffed.

A guard hastily ran up towards Isaac. "Sir!" he saluted. "We have a problem!"

Isaac faced him. "What is it? Spit it out already."

The guard caught his breath, finally able to speak. "Sir, it's about your daughter Camilla. There's a situation. We can't find her."

Isaac gasped. Behind him, Joey's eyes also widened, getting his attention.

"The two men you've sent were found wounded the last place she was seen. They were in critical condition and had to be taken into intensive care."

Isaac looked down, distraught at the words spoken. "But, Camilla…did she…she couldn't have…" Footsteps came from the side, revealing another guard. "My daughter! Did you find her?!"

The guard shook his head. "No sir, there's another problem…"

Isaac gasped once again, overwhelmed with shock to the bridled bone. Everyone behind looked to each other as they had the same feeling.

* * *

The lacrima screen flickered, revealing Emmanuel with a knowing smile on his face. "Isaac, well, isn't this surprising." He said nonchalantly. "Never thought I'd get a call from _you_ of all people."

Isaac slammed his hands on the table where the lacrima sit. He and everyone were gathered in a small lounge area inside his domain. "Emmanuel…" he snarled. "What have you done?!"

Emmanuel snorted. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Isaac. I'm above what you think I do for a living."

"Where is my daughter?! Where is she you bastard?!"

Emmanuel frowned, displeasure shown on his face as he turned around. "Why don't you see for yourself." The lacrima ball turned, showing everyone Victor standing beside a purple-haired woman in magic-sealing stone cuffs on her knees, a Salandit hissing at her.

"Camilla!" Joey gasped.

"No way." Lucy gasped, hands over her mouth. "Did they really take her?"

"How did that happen so quick?" Wendy worried.

Isaac was seeing red, anger boiling to a sizzling point. He seethed daggers as he darkly stared at Emmanuel. "Emmanuel…you. _You_ had Victor come here to take her after all, didn't you?!" he accused.

Emmanuel scoffed. "Don't you think you'd know me by now, Isaac? As if I'd stoop so low as to steal my rightful collateral. Victor just wanted a bonus to our insurance policy, that's all."

Isaac wasn't buying it. He growled so low he was like a feral animal.

"Now, Isaac. We have an agreement, and you've been trying to back out of it for nearly 6 years now. I am giving you one last chance to pay your dues. If you ever want to see your daughter again, you will give to me legal custody of your little sacred shrine. I am counting up to 10. _Don't_ test my patience this time…1…2…3…"

Isaac was shuddering. His heart was beating at a rapid pace that he was barely keeping track. Whatever he wanted to do, he couldn't do right now because of the debate he was having.

"4…5…6"

Everyone looked towards Isaac expectantly as he was making the most difficult choice. He shuddered as his fists were balled.

"7…8…"

"Camilla." Joey looked at the screen, seeing her in the background. When she looked up, she looked miserable as she saw Joey's look. She looked down in shame, unable to meet him again.

"9…"

Isaac was clutching the table so hard that veins were popping out of his hands. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He valued his people and his capital with all his heart, but he worshipped the family heirloom and sacred world treasure as well, and that goes for Camilla as well. But in his head, he couldn't decide which one held more importance. His daughter, or the one thing that could end the world in the wrong hands. Something he made, and something he treasured. He just didn't know. He closed his eyes, painfully looking away.

"…10." Emmanuel finished. "Well, Isaac, what will it be?"

Silence filled the gaps in the cold air. No one made a sound. As snowfall howled outside, it became clear what it came down to.

Emmanuel sighed. "So be it."

"Emmanuel, please…" Isaac murmured, his composure breaking down. "Please…just give my daughter back."

Emmanuel paused before he humbly lowered his chin. "Then you should've thought of that when you had the chance. You've made your choice, Isaac…now you'll learn the consequences of those choices. One way or another, that Moon Drip will be mine, or else. Consider this your final warning."

The lacrima screen finally turned off, leaving the air to chill. Isaac lost all composure as he sunk to his knees in a shuddering mess, tears running down his face. He meekly cried aloud, pitying himself for what he's done.

"Dear god…how could this have happened? What have I done?" he murmured. "I…I…Camilla." His pity turned into frustration, his fist crashing into the ground.

As he was soaking in his own pity, a shadow casted over him. "Hey…you can stop crying."

Hearing a voice, Emmanuel turned around. He was shocked to realize Natsu was standing in front of him.

"You really think just crying and hiding will solve your problems pal? Look at yourself, you really expect to see your daughter again looking like that? I thought you would've learned a thing or two by now about standing up for yourself."

"Natsu." Lucy hissed.

"We didn't come here to see other people cry, we came here to bring smiles and laughs, to share new memories with others along the way. Now, you wanna see that and your daughter again…or you wanna stare at your own tears. And you know only one of those is gonna get it done."

Isaac stared up in disbelief. He was once again at a loss for words.

"I'm with you on that one." A voice called. Everyone looked over to find Nic walking up.

"Nic." Erza said.

"Look, I don't know much about business, but one thing I do know bout it is that deals may never hold up." He turned towards Isaac. "Maybe you've made a mistake…but, it's not too late to try and fix it. It's your choice to fight with us or not, but we're doing this the same reason you are." He glanced over his shoulder. "Right, guys?"

Everyone tensed up. They knew what was coming was definite at this point. There was no way around it. But being mages who came to accept and relish fighting and battles, they needed to prove and stand their ground.

Natsu rammed his fist into his palm, eagerly smirking. "Alright then, let's get all fired up."

* * *

Torches were lit around iron bars, but the light of the flames did little to cast light on the look of Camilla's face. She sat on a well-furnished cushion like a statue, making no subtle movements. She didn't know how long it's been since she last moved, but that didn't bother her. What bothered her was how miserable she was, for a number of reasons.

The sound of cell doors opening was what snapped her out of it. Looking up, she immediately felt disgusted by the face of Victor. He looked serious, so serious in fact that his look alone was enough to leave her unable to talk. He approached her until he stood a few feet in front of her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked. He knew that was the last thing she felt, but he felt like it had to be said.

"…" Camilla barely made a sound as she dully stared up to him like someone possessed.

"Look, we'll make this work, promise. You and quite possibly your old man can live happily, and we'd get what we want from each other. It'll be like one big happy family. You want that, right?"

Again, no response. Camilla looked no less happy than she did a second ago.

He bent down to her level. "Hey, look, I'm sorry, alright? But I've been patient long enough, and my old man agrees. This has gone on long enough. So tell me, why don't you marry me already?"

For the third time now, Camilla gave no response. The silence in the air was so intense that the embers flickering from the torches were the one sound available.

His patience finally at an end, Victor slammed his palm into the wall behind Camilla, getting into her face. "Hey, I asked you a question, Camilla! What's the deal?!" He irritably gritted his teeth as her eyes were a little wide. Something inside was making him realize what the answer could be. "It's because of that jackass, am I right?"

Camilla's brow furrowed. It looked like he got it right on the mark.

"What do you even see in that loser anyway? He's just a lowly mage, don't you get it? I'm not sure what a jackass mage like him's got, but it ain't anything I already have. Well?"

Camilla didn't answer. Or rather…didn't know how to answer. In truth she didn't really know herself what compelled her to hang around Joey this long. But the longer she pondered, the angrier her fiancé got.

"Well you tell me, is he even more successful than I am? Look at me! You have no idea how hard I had to work in reaching this spot! I've spent days breaking my back over and over just to show everyone who I am, and I bet all he does is dance his ass off to avoid problems. And unlike him, I most certainly ain't no pushover!" He turned away and started out the cell. "And I'll prove it the next time I see his scrawny face, too…" He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Camilla. "And _you're_ gonna help me."

Camilla gasped. "What…do you mean?"

Victor smirked. A bad feeling crept up Camilla's spine.

* * *

All of Glacidia was in a mess. There were people who were handing clumps of snow to one another, others helping guide passageways elsewhere, and there were also signs of a few people wrapping up their practice out by the training dummies. And besides almost every one of them, there were Pokémon of either Water or Ice-type cooperating the same way everybody else was.

Fairy Tail was helping out in the routes as well. Erza was directing many people to various posts, she, as well as her Cloyster beside her, were taking charge as the Dragon Slayers were talking to one another about their strategy. Gray and Juvia were seen looking out at the sea before looking to one another confidently. And Cana was using her Fortunetelling to help the head guards coordinate an attack plan.

While Glacidia from afar was spiraling into a warzone, Joey stood off to the side. He looked far from him jovial mood as he had the face of a man ready to embrace death with fighting hands. As he looked out at the setting sunlight peering beyond the clearing sky, Isaac walked to his side.

"…young man." He started. "I hope you understand what's about to happen."

"I know." He answered. "You know too, right?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so…you know, I still don't trust you."

"I know."

"But as much as I want to hate you right now, rescuing my daughter is more important. So I'm going to tell you this. I beg you…make sure you bring my daughter back in your arms. I want to see her once more."

Joey's eyes reflected sunlight as the fading light brought back flashes of Broly. The image of the man's smile and compassionate nature sparked a fire in Joey, one that killed off any sense of dancing. With a steeled glare, he fixed his sights on the shorelines. "Don't worry. I've already lost somebody important once…I won't let that happen again."

Near the icy creeks, Dereece was using his magic to steady himself. He used the flowing water to walk from one side to another to carry supplies. From ice block to another, he moved them to each side so they could assemble forts and fortify defenses.

Popping out of the water, the Seel looked up, seeing Dereece hard at work. "Oh golly. It's him again." Recognizing Dereece, she wanted to ask what he was doing, but something from the look on his face made it clear something was…different. He looked more devoted, not to mention that by the way he was trudging that he was working hard. Taking a look at her surroundings, she saw the same thing from everyone else. Rather than pry further, she took heed and jumped back into the water.

Dereece looked over just as he heard the splash. _'Huh? What was that?'_ He looked at the flowing river, seeing nothing. _'That's weird. I could've sworn I heard something.'_

While readying for battle, Sophie took a moment to realize something. "Hm? That's strange…has anybody heard from Nic in a while?"

Unlike everyone else who was preparing for battle, Nic was elsewhere. He was off by the glaciers again, overlooking everything at the peak of a mountainous slab of ice. It wasn't like him to prepare for war like Erza would. She was the one who takes initiatives. Nic on the other hand was something else. He already did his part with the ice…now something else was on his mind. With everything going on and the moon to be bright once more, that strange feeling he had before arose.

"…"

In the pit of his gut, he could still hear the cry of the moon, if it was the moon. A part of him was skeptical about it, but no way was he denying this clue. _'Something's out there…but what does it want?'_ He stared coldly as a frosted breeze passed him. _'Moon…just what are you really trying to tell me?'_

* * *

"Almost at our destination, sir. We're to arrive within the next sun's setting." The helmsman's voice echoed through the intercom of Emmanuel's chamber. He was currently sitting on a throne with Arcanine by his side.

The man slyly smirked. "Good. Maintain the course. Have all personnel on standby for when we reach Glacidia…I look forward to seeing what our forces can do."

"Yes, sir." The intercom went silent, leaving Emmanuel alone in his chamber with his Arcanine.

Finally at his peace in mind, Emmanuel sighed heavily. His chair turned around, facing the sunset from the massive glass from around his high point on the ship. "You see, Arcanine? Life itself is a virtue, just as patience is a virtue…but like the sun and the moon, there comes a time when the cycle must stop somewhere, for it to move onto something else. Your virtue stays true to your resolve, but like human spirit, the purity of life itself can also be changed…and that, my friend, is when you take matters into your hands." He held up his staff, the black bauble on top as black as night itself.

"The more precious something is to you, the harder it is to accept losing it…that's why, Isaac, you will learn this virtue, even if I must take it away from you myself."

* * *

A day had come and gone, and everyone else was finally settling into their new arrangements. The kids and moms were safely tucked inside their homes, in basements while family members outside were finishing up the last of the defenses. Some opted for routine perimeter checks to look for potential enemies, and on top of which Pidove circled around the ice shield. Duncan's Honchkrow was perched on an ice spike, priming his feathers while Pidove remained active.

Erza oversaw everything once more. She was so lost in the mobilization that she almost didn't acknowledge Nic as he walked to her side.

"Someone's looking anxious." He started. "You okay?"

Erza nodded. "I wish I was, but as you can see…"

"Yeah." Nic looked out. His wife's trailing off made him realize how busy the capital was turning out to be. "This isn't what I had in mind either when we first came here."

His wife huffed amusingly. "So I wasn't the only one thinking that, huh." Now it was her turned to look over to him. She saw the frown on his face. "Are you still hearing that same voice?"

Nic looked down, his focus on the shadows of the ice. "Yeah."

"Is it still bothering you?"

"Not during the day, just when it became night." He looked to the fort nearly miles away. It was so large it blocked out a majority of the sunset. "It's strange, but I feel like the moon is speaking to me…but I just can't make out what it's saying. I wish I knew."

Erza's gaze softened. It wasn't often she saw him this transfixed on something. Normally he'd be off in his little world for no reason but to enjoy the serenity of nature, but in a case like this, it's one type of focus she couldn't wrap her head around.

"But I won't it stop me." He declared. "Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to make sure as many get out in one piece. The people and Pokémon take priority right now, and you guys." He felt a hand on his cheek. He looked over to see Erza smiling comfortingly at him.

"I know, and you take priority as well." She responded. "Don't worry, I'll be there by your side to make sure you're focused. That's my job to look after you after all."

His wife's commentary made him think for a moment before he smirked. "That's funny. Aren't I a big enough hassle when I'm always slipping off?" he teased.

Erza chuckled. "You never seem to make it easy."

"Where the fun in that be?"

As the two were bemusing the other, the sounds of Pidove and Honchkrow's caws echoed from the fort. They looked out towards the fort once more. All over the capital, everyone who was minding their own business began hearing the caws of the two bird Pokémon. What they had heard they were prepared for. And yet many were still looking unnerved.

"Looks like they're here." Gajeel acknowledged.

"Yeah, I hear'em alright." Natsu said, his Dragon Slayer hearing and nose picking up a strange smell. "There's a lot of 'em."

Wendy braced herself. "Well, this is it, Carla." Beside her, Carla huffed in her human form, with Swablu fluttering on her other side preparing for battle.

"Looks like that's the signal." Nic glared ahead. "You ready?"

"Yes." She jumped down the slope. "Let's move it!" she yelled, to which Nic glowed and shot skywards instead.

Once Honchkrow and Pidove circled around with their caws, they were returned from below by Duncan and Joey. Joey looked towards them to see they were ready – Duncan scoffed like it was no big deal. Joey faced forward. He was ready to do his part. _'Camilla. Don't worry, I'll save you this time. Nothing's gonna push me down again…I swear it.'_

Outside the borders, thin ice sheets were shifting, only to be mowed down by the fleet of ships at Emmanuel's disposal. With his ship being the biggest, he was at the front, with three medium-sized ships following behind. Each ship held a different general and Captain, of whom he hand-picked and trained personally. Each one looked just as ready as he was. Victor sneered as he was shadow boxing in the dark, with Camilla off to the side, depression on her face.

The helmsman at the top looked through his binoculars, seeing the spiked fortress beyond the field of jagged ice sheets. He turned back towards Emmanuel. "Sir, we've reached the destination. Their defenses have been fortified, just like you said."

Emmanuel smirked as he chuckled. "Typical Isaac. All bark, no bite." He reached to his earpiece, communicating with the lacrima inside. "General Bigge, Ebna, Tangath, I leave the rest to you. It's all yours."

"Yes, sir. As you command." Speaking into the lacrima piece was Bigge. He reached ahead, giving the signal. "All units in first wave, ready the heat cannons!"

At his command, people started lining up long-nosed cannons with technological bases. People operated them as they began the sequence for warming them up. At the bases of the cannons, massive heat lacrima were glowing, giving power that made the cannon noses steam.

"Ready…" Bigge instructed. "FIRE!"

The two to three cannons on each of the ships all open fired. Long, fiery streams shot in arches from the sky and fell like rain. Each stream of fire burst through the ice. Each eruption fumed ahead until it melted, leaving steaming water. The shots that went farther out broke into the ice spikes in the wall. The ice erupted, with steam, mist, and melting ice dripping into the banks.

Bigge turned around from the melting mist, reaching for his ear. "Copy that. General Ebna, General Tangath, we are clear to advance. Over."

"Understood, over." Ebna turned towards his helmsman. "All helmsman and battalions, ready the advances! Set a course for-!"

"General!" a soldier called out.

The disgruntled general turned back forward. "What is it?"

"It's up ahead! The temperature headings from our heat cannons upon impact are dropping!" The soldier gestured to the scanner he had. When he held it up, it showed inferred, and the heat levels were rapidly being shrunken down.

Ebna walked over and seized the scanner. "Let me see." He looked at the readings, seeing that what he said was in fact true. _'This is weird. I've heard about hot water freezing in midair in winter, but what could've-!'_

The sound of freezing got his attention. He looked up, seeing something. "Hm?"

In front of everyone, a massive wave of ice was speeding across the water in a bright blur. Closing in on their forces, Ebna and everyone's eyes shuddered before they were enveloped in a bright flash.

The flash faded, and the generals all uncovered. When they saw ahead, they gasped upon seeing a sight to behold. The entire ocean was frozen over, with thick ice sheets freezing the ships – all 100 – in place.

"You…you've gotta be kidding me!" Ebna yelled. "What just happened?! Did we just freeze over?!"

Tangath's expression narrowed as he spoke. "How did this just happen in one second?" his eyes widened upon realization, "Unless…" He seized a pair of binoculars from the soldier beside him. What he saw made his suspicions come true. "I should've known…"

A smirk was seen on lips. "That'll hold them down for a while." A cool voice said. He got up, his shirtless figure beside a woman with blue hair, and like him, she was partially naked, save for the girdle she had. "Phase 1 is a go, you ready?"

"Always, my love."

"Good…" The two people were none other than Gray and Juvia, holding down the front lines. They took stances, ready for their next attack. "Then let's get to it!" he finished.

Tangath's eyes narrowed. "Mages."

Emmanuel stood up with Arcanine, both observing the spectacle from the observation deck's glass. Emmanuel smirked expectantly at the scenario. "Well, well…this should be interesting."

Juvia's hands were covered in blue magic seals as they shined brightly. Gathering as much strength as possible, she screamed loud and plunged her hands into the ice. The ice quaked as gushed of water cracked beneath, surging a tremendous tidal wave that she conjured to head into the ships. Gray roared as he reached down, freezing the water up to where the wave would be at its pinnacle. As the wave water arose, it became a raging wall of ocean that frightened many soldiers. They were stunned before the wave suddenly froze in a second, leaving them spared, but a humungous tidal wall of thick ice.

A soldier uncovered, backing away in shock. "W-what?"

"Where did that come from?!"

"Did that tidal wave just…freeze on the spot?!"

With the confusion and status of their current situation, Bigge grunted. The other two generals frowned.

"Alright, we've got them cut off." Gray smirked. In his head, he was thinking back to the plan they've made last night while in the conference area. He could still hear Erza's voice from here.

" _Our main targets are the ships themselves, that's how they'll be coming in to attack. Gray and Juvia, you both can use your magics and make sure they're barricaded far enough away. Freeze the ocean far enough for them to be out of range."_

"Looks like Erza's plan worked." Juvia acknowledged.

"Yeah, maybe. Now it's onto Phase 2."

Taking the initiative, Tangath reached for the stretch of ice. "Melt the ice! Fire the cannons!"

The cannons all raised high and fired again. Streams of fire rushed in arches into the glacier, barreling through portions, but the ice was so thick that only small chunks were melting away.

"Keep firing!" Bigge shouted. A cannon behind him readied another blast, charging up intense power.

Up in the air, something swift shot down.

A soldier busy focused on his cannon still firing barely noticed the glint heading his way. "Hm? What the-?!"

It happened so fast. A glint of orange zipped across the deck over three ships at once. Once the gleam vanished, the next second, they exploded in loud bursts. Soldiers handling them were engulfed in the flames and blown away. Others were blown off the rims and sundered to cold ice. In a row of smoke, many cannons were taken out.

"But how?!" Bigge exclaimed.

"Sir! We lost all cannonfire in wave 2!" a soldier reported. "Soldiers are reporting substantial damage on decks as we speak!"

Bigge's eyes widened. He turned his head towards the sky. He was seeing the glints move around at lightning-fast speeds. His eyes narrowed as he saw the figments at a closer angle. "What?!"

"FAIRY TAIL'S FLYING DRAGONS ARE BACK IN BUSINESS!" Natsu bellowed at the top of his lungs. Along with him, Gajeel and Wendy were held by their respective Exceeds as they were sailing through the skies at fast speeds.

"Aye, sir!" Happy shouted.

Below, even more soldiers were at a loss for words.

"Wait, are those mages?"

"Yeah, and how the heck are they flying?!"

"This is getting weird!"

Emmanuel maintained his smirk as he and Arcanine resumed observing from the deck. Meanwhile, Natsu flew in an arch at the fleet below. With an eager grin, Natsu thought of the words to phase 2.

" _After their forces are held in place, they'll probably have long-range magic assembly. We need to take that out as soon as they recover. Natsu, I need you and the Dragon Slayers to handle that. Can you keep them on you for as long s possible?"_

"Don't worry…!" He flipped off Happy, stomping afoot on the deck. "NO PROBLEM!" Upon landing, he unleashed a shockwave of flames that rushed beneath the deck at the cannon ahead of him. The soldiers barreled out of the way and ducked as the flames disappeared beneath the canon, before seconds later exploding into shrapnel and blazes. With the deck ablaze, Natsu turned towards the sky. "You hear that guys?! Go crazy!"

"Right!" Wendy soared off, winds twirling around her. " **Sky Dragon's Roar!** " With an empowering cry, a tornado of harsh winds swallowed the cannons on one ship. The cannon closest was pried off the deck, capsizing into the other one. This caused a misfire that sent a fire stream into another cannon on another deck, casing that cannon to explode.

Gajeel grinned. "Well I can't have them get all the fun. Let's go, Lily!" He rushed with Lily behind, roaring as he dropped to a knee on a deck, fisting the ground. A straight row of iron columns shot up, knocking soldiers away as the cannons were penetrated by iron. Gajeel turned around, facing away as explosion blazed behind. He snickered as he was lifted to the air again.

As the Dragon Slayers were on the move, cannons directed their shots into them.

"Don't let them get away!"

"Open fire!"

The canons let loose on them. Fire streams arched into Wendy and Gajeel, to which they maneuvered around. As they dodged, the streams heading for Natsu made him eager. Opening wide, he inhaled as the stream of fire shot right into his mouth. He swallowed all of it, leaving a tremendous gulp as he sighed.

"N-no way!" a soldier stammered. "You seeing this?!"

Natsu's body was steaming as flares ignited. "You saw that alright, but now you're gonna see THIS!" Taking a huge breath, he mustered up Magic Power and let loose as much fury as possible in one breath.

" **FIRE DRAGON KING'S ROAR!** "

A monstrous tsunami of roaring blazes expanded from his maw, becoming an intense beam of pressurized fire that almost looked like a laser of flames. The erupting blast wave instantly incinerated decks and numbers as cannons exploded, causing further devastation to the numbers.

With a gaping mouth, Bigge watched Natsu glide around overhead, circling to attack again. As he looked around, he was seeing Gajeel and Wendy unleashing roars as they flew over decks, more specifically cannons. _'They're taking out our long-range offense.'_ He looked up at the massive ice wave blocking them. _'Wait…did they plan this from the start? How did they get so coordinated so fast?'_ His glare intensified. _'Doesn't matter. We still have numbers on our side.'_ He turned away, ignoring the explosion that happened on the deck behind him. "Yeah, this is General Bigge. All registered soldiers initiate the launch pods. I repeat! All soldiers assigned to the launch pods, get in and fire!"

Natsu dodged another cannon blast and looked down. With his Dragon Slayer sight, he noticed cylindrical compartments open up along the ships' docking. "What's going on now? More weapons?"

Inside the holes, compartments slowly eroded out of the darkness. In a sense they looked like pods. Once they were all lined up, lacrima-powered propulsion shook the ground beneath as they all suddenly shot like missiles high in the air.

"Incoming!" Happy chirped.

The Dragon Slayers ascended s high as their Exceeds could carry them out of range. With the missile-like pods whistling past them, they looked back over to find the missiles going over the ice wave, shooting right at Glacidia.

"They got missiles now?" Gajeel grunted. "Great, so much for making this easy for us."

Wendy nose wrinkled as the air had a multitude of smells. She looked back at the hundreds of guided missiles leaving smoke trails behind. "…Guys, something tells me those aren't missiles."

Carla moved her shoulder to her ear. "Lucy, this is Carla, can you read me? We have a problem…"

Lucy and everyone were inside the walls. They were all patiently waiting for the enemy. As they looked up, they could all see a mass of pods angled down onto the city. The blonde reached into her earpiece, hearing Carla's notion. "I gotcha, Carla! We'll take care of it, you guys just focus on keeping them busy!" The message ended, and Lucy looked up with a readied glare. "Klefki!"

Klefki jingled the keys she held. "Ready!"

All the pods arched over the border walls, some even landed right on the top, where some guards were blown away screaming. Once the pods' heads landed in the snow, five armed soldiers from each pod jumped out, pulling out Poke Balls, Great Balls, and Ultra Balls.

This happened all over, and not just the walls. The fastened snow Nic and Isaac worked on proved to be helpful in saving houses from being struck by the barrage. The pods erupted on the ground, housetops, and in snow piles. From them, more soldiers came out and jumped to the ground.

Several jumped in front of Cana and Sophie, who were ready for them.

"Here they come, you ready?" Sophie questioned.

Cana whipped out a tarot card. "Like we have a choice." With one swipe, she ignited the card in her magic and sent a comet of flames threw the air. " **Sun's Strength!** "

The card made it to the soldiers, exploding flames around them, causing them to scream out in pain.

Sophie decided to add insult to injury. She pointed a finger to her forehead and flicked it up as a chain of memories flourished behind. " **Memory-Make: Charge Blades!** "

The soldiers scattered looked ahead as they only saw lightning erupt from the ground. They all screamed in shock before an immense fissure broke beneath, expelling a blast of lightning that bolted skywards.

"That's showing 'em." Cana chimed. She turned her head, noticing something from an angle above. "Get down!" in a hurry, she pushed Sophie down moments before Embers passed over their heads, exploding right behind them.

When Cana looked up, she saw the culprits being three Salandit and two Houndour. They hissed and barked from the same roof, trying to intimidate them.

"Great, guess we got this now." Cana huffed.

The Salandit and Houndour opened their maws and expelled more Ember attacks. The girls jumped back and slid along the snow to avoid the sparks. With room, they jumped down from their perches to corner them, just as more soldiers came up to get.

"Cana, let's use our Pokémon!"

"Good thinking."

Pulling their arms back, Cana and Sophie threw Poke Balls, calling out their Abra and Purrloin. Both stood in front of their respective Trainers and prepared for battle.

"Since I remember Psychic-types are strong against Poison-types, we'll be targeting Salandit. Abra, **Psyshock!** " Sophie shouted. Abra conjured a ball of purple energy between his hands and chirped as he shot a multitude of beams from it. The beams shot through the air, erupting upon impact with the shocked Salandit.

Cana reached out. "Now, Purrloin! **Fury Swipes!** "

Using the smoke as cover, a hole ripped open as Purrloin shot through, claws glowing brightly. "Made ya look!" She slashed into a Houndour once, then again to make it recoil. She smirked. "That'll show ya-woah!" She jumped in time when two more Houndour went to bite her from both sides. She landed beside Abra, her claws providing traction.

"Phew!" Purrloin huffed. "Okay…I can see why that blue cat isn't too fond of dogs now."

The snow cleared, showing growling Houndour and Salandit gathering from all around. They quickly surrounded them, as well as their trainers, leaving no blind spots.

"Not good." Cana grunted.

A soldier reached his arm out. "Now **Bite!** "

Cana looked above to find a Houndour pouncing onto her with glowing fangs. She readied a tarot card, but the reaction was faster than what she imagined. _'I'm barely gonna make it.'_

" **Bubble!** "

Suddenly a barrage of bubbles struck Houndour from the side. The Dark Pokémon shot into its other companions, who were also jetted by bubbles that repulsed them. They all recoiled away, allowing a blue penguin to take centerstage from above.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help!" he boldly declared.

Cana's eyes widened. "Piplup?"

"You know this Pokémon?" Sophie questioned, pointing at Piplup for reference.

"You can say that." Cana looked ahead, smirking. "Thanks for the save there little buddy, looks like you're a real man now."

Thousands of miles away, Elfman sneezed. "Ugh." He sniffed. "Geez, someone talking about my manliness?"

Piplup beamed high with pride. "Hmph! Well don't get carried away with it." He huffed. "I just happened to be nearby is all. Nothing to it."

" _Sure_ you were. Well now, since you're here…" She spun around, sending tarot cards everywhere that exploded in soldier and Pokémon. "Mind if I borrow ya for a bit!" she yelled through the explosions.

Piplup huffed again with reddened cheeks. "Hmph! Well, if you really need me-!" He looked over as a Houndour went to attack with Bite. He jumped up and avoided the fangs, and he bounced off the head and got straight up. Once high enough, his beak glowed as he dove down onto Houndour.

" **Peck!** "

He dove down, scoring a sharp blow to Houndour's head. The dog scowled as it was pushed down again, and Piplup used the momentum to flip back into the air.

"Alright, give me another **Bubble!** " Cana shouted. Complying, Piplup took in a deep breath and exhaled. Blue bubbles rained down onto the Houndour pack before him, blowing them away.

Sophie glared elsewhere. "In that case, we'll target the Salandit! Abra!" She swiped her arm, giving Abra the command. Also complying, Abra released Psyshock once more, causing an eruption that swallowed more Salandit ahead of him.

* * *

All around the city, soldiers reached out and commanded their Fire-type Pokémon. Slugma, Numel, Pansear, Magby, Torkoal, and many others were expelling Ember if possible. Snow was melting into water everywhere, and the people of Glacidia were firing back using Ice and Water-types. It was a big mess, but as attacks were being drawn, some dodged, leaving snow to melt or freeze over, only to return fire.

"Forward!" A solider aimed his blade forward, making the troops behind kneel or stand as they fired magical rifles. The energy beams struck down many Glacidians, with their Pokémon being blown away by explosions by Fire-types.

As one wave was falling over, Lucy and Klefki arrived on scene. "Looks like they're pushing through hard!" Lucy gasped. "Klefki!"

Klefki whipped her key ring and handed a key to Lucy. Lucy held the key high as it shined.

" **Open: Gate of the Lion – Loke!** "

The Celestial Spirit appeared in front, adjusting his cuffs. Behind, Lucy had also changed to her Star Dress Leo Form. "You call, beautiful?" he smirked.

"Yeah, let's crash the party!" she ordered.

"Music to my ears!" Loke flipped into the air, spiraling down with gold around his heel as he crashed in a wave of Fire-types. He blitzed right through, knocking them away as he attacked more armed men with intense reflexes.

Lucy reached out. "Alright Klefki, **Astonish!** "

Klefki ascended, a dark aura igniting as she released a dark illusion with sinister red eyes at a soldier ahead. The shockwaves caused him to backpedal and flinch. With the opening, Lucy rushed ahead with all her might, reeling her leg back.

" **Regulus Lucy Kick!** "

Ignited in golden light, her heel swung around, kicking the soldier off the street. He screamed as he plunged to the icy cold water beside them. The other soldiers looked to the water and back at Lucy.

"There's plenty more where that came from!" She declared. "Let's go, guys!"

"Right!" Loke rushed in, with Klefki zipping behind. Lucy followed as she flipped into the air, coming down with another golden kick.

* * *

Soldiers continued their advance elsewhere around the city, attacking other armed guards and their Pokémon. When a wave of soldiers darted deeper into the heart of the streets, a wave of teal aura blew them away, revealing Vanessa.

The Aura Mage had a serious look on her face as Goodra was right behind her. The Dragon-type frowned with her Trainer as they were soon surrounded by soldiers with daggers and blades. At their sides were all Numel, Quilava, and even some Vulpix.

"Identify yourself!" one soldier ordered.

Vanessa didn't listen. She could tell by her aura that they had no intention on standing down. She could even feel some lust in their aura. She was used to it by now, but relishing in her own beauty would have to wait. She closed her eyes.

"Goodra, **Muddy Water!** "

Goodra craned her head around as she conjured a vortex of brown water beneath her. She cried out as the cyclone expanded outwards towards the guards.

"Aaah!" The shocked guards and Pokémon were all swamped by murky water. They gurgled as they were repulsed, with waves carrying them elsewhere.

Vanessa casually reached up, teal aura enveloping her hands. " **Lustrous Spire!** " Crossing her hands loosely overhead, the teal aura shot up in a combined helix that shot far up. The spire reached a pinnacle before the two beams curved into one another, expelling a flash and teal meteors expanded downwards. Teal rained down around Vanessa and Goodra. Anything that was in sight of these comets was instantly bombarded by pressurized aura, creating eruptions in their background.

Slowly opening her eyes within the teal flames, Vanessa's glare reminded many of Nic's serious gaze.

* * *

Though some didn't make it over the border, there were those on the wall who were using lacrima-powered heat guns to shoot hot plasma at soldiers stationed there. When one blast came close, a Snorunt from the side used Headbutt into the soldier's side, knocking him off the wall and plunging. The defended guard looked back, seeing the Snorunt nod at him.

As cooperation was starting to bud, that didn't thwart the soldiers that were crawling up the snow and ice by using each other as bridges skywards. The pods they used were pinned into the ice, making excellent footholds to gain ground.

Down by the ships, Tangath grunted as he reached out. "All units! Abandon ship! Forward!"

Soldiers used rope to slide down on and landed on the ice. Hundreds to thousands still up after the Dragon Slayers' attack planted their feet on the ice and grabbed their gear. They all charged along the ice, working their way around the massive frozen ice wave through small holes made by the heat cannon fire. Once they crawled through the other side, they charged for the entrance, where Juvia and Gray were.

Both pulled out Poke Balls, three in Gray's case. "You ready?"

Juvia nodded. Together, they threw the capsules, summoning Marill, and Gray summoned all three of his Ice-types, With Snover out, the Pokémon hollered as his Snow Warning Ability activated, creating hail that pelted down all around them. Snorunt, of course, was eating ice beneath, leaving the others confused.

The soldiers and their Fire-types out were buffeted, leaving them open to being attacked.

"Alright guys, let's chill them out!" Gray shouted. "Use **Icy Wind!** " Altogether, Snover and Bergmite readied. Snorunt was busy chewing on the ice beneath before he realized what was going on. When he stood back up, all three took in a deep breath and exhaled a chilled blizzard. The attack rushed across the land, stopping all the forces in place. It was so cold their teeth chattered as they couldn't move.

Juvia and Marill took the opportunity.

" **Water Nebula!** "

" **Bubble Beam!** "

A cyclone of water mixed with bubbles rushed across the ice and rapidly spread into the soldiers ahead. The enormous swell caught many enemies as they gurgled and were shot away.

Gray smirked. "That's what I'm talking about." He swiped his arm, freezing the foes trapped within the blue and bubbly maelstrom. The new ice formation cut off a number of brigades as they had to go around, leaving ample opportunity for them to brace themselves.

"Oh boy!" Snorunt was ready for the fight, but then saw more ice created nearby. Unable to resist his urges, he pounced on the ice and chewed on it.

"Hey, focus! Would ya?!" Gray ordered.

* * *

As more soldiers charged ahead, they were finding ways through the ice. "Don't stop, men! They're just two wizards!" one guard declared. "We can take 'em!"

As they charged onwards, they didn't notice the ice splitting apart until it was too late. The ice ahead broke, with something breaching and twirling in midair with the sprays of arctic waters. They all stopped in their tracks and looked up, seeing something with long red hair as time slowed down.

Pivoting in midair, looking over her shoulder down at the soldiers, Erza Pularis glared with a demeanor that froze them all in place. Her Sea Empress Armor fixed with her body as she plunged her Lightning Empress spear into the ice. A shockwave of lightning spills through cracks along the ice heading towards the soldiers, electrocuting them. With them petrified, she used her spare arm to requip her Sea Empress Sword and swung her arm across, creating a blue shockwave that cut down dozens of people in a long, angular swing.

The men far away were paralyzed by the sights as their own men were sent flying over their heads. They could only remained still as Erza held her two weapons on both sides.

"We won't let you pass further." She declared. "Summon your bravery…and come at me if you dare."

One soldier unable to accept the mock drew his blade. He pointed forward with his Pansear beside him. "Don't let them get away with this! Open fire!"

The soldiers all commanded their Pokémon at Erza, causing them all to spew some form of Fire-type attack. Ember and Incinerate attacks shot through the atmosphere, turning into a massive wave of fire that Erza refused to dodge. Not budging, she was engulfed in the flames, erupting in a fiery blitz.

"Yeah! That showed her!" a soldier cheered.

"Against this fire power, even a high level Pokémon can't last long!" another smiled.

"Don't be too sure."

The strange voice was what caught many off guard. When they looked at the diminishing smoke, they saw a brown eye belonging to flowing red hair, but a turquoise shield rippled ahead of her. A Cloyster using Protect stood in front of her, leaving his Trainer without even a single scratch.

"No way! For real?!" a soldier shrieked. "How can it withstand that kind of power?!"

Rather than answer their questions through words, Erza promptly did so by action. She reached forward, giving a command. "Cloyster, **Hydro Pump!** "

Cloyster grunted as he took in a deep breath. Once ready, he expelled a massive blast of pressurized water that pulsed through the air into a wave that swallowed many men and Fire-types at once. Within the sprays and gushes of water, Erza streamed through and cut clean through the waves, along with each men caught inside.

As time slowed down around her, the redhead held a slash position as men fell like rain around her. _'We'll be the vanguard to their brigade. That just leaves you…Nic.'_

* * *

Plopping along the ice, Seel dragged herself as she looked down. "Oh, what in tarnation…! Now how did this get here?" Annoyed by the ice, she growled before she used her tail to leap. Once high enough, she pointed straight down.

" **Headbutt!** "

Her little horn hitting the ice, she ploughed through the ice sheet, ending up underwater. With the cool water against her once more, Seel barreled along merrily. "Ahhh~, much better." As she began to relax, she took notice of something in the distance. She squinted. "Hm? Now, what is that?"

In a hemisphere of water beneath the ice, oxygen was plenty still as Nic was in his Water/Ice Form again. He looked above his water veil at the massive ship Emmanuel was on. Beside him, The Freaks were kneeled and conserving their energy.

"And you're absolutely positive she's up there?" Dereece asked.

"Yeah, there's no question about it." Nic answered. "I can sense the Magic Power from down here. This is as close as we get." He took notice of Joey as he was awfully quiet for a while. "Joey, you sure you wanna do this?"

Joey had a serious expression on his face; it almost worried Nic but he didn't show. "There's no other choice for me. It's my fault anyways that Camilla ended up this way anyway." He started getting up. "Her Dad left it to me to make sure she gets back…and I intend to do the same."

Nic nodded in understanding. He felt the exact same way. "Well said." He looked up. "Alright guys, brace yourselves, this is gonna get very bumpy!"

The Freaks held on as Nic began to glow an icy blue. The temperature around them started dropping rapidly that it was freezing the sphere around them. The freezing wave expanded skywards towards the haul of the massive battleship. The entire ship rocked beneath Emmanuel and the cadets on the ship as ice speared through the walls of the insides. The ice penetrated steel and iron entirely, until the mass of the ice became so massive that a spear-like glacier hoisted the ship off the already frozen ocean.

"What this?!" Emmanuel stammered across his domain until Arcanine was used to support him. He looked off to the outside, his eyes growing wide as he peered down at the mountain of ice penetrating their stronghold.

A random cadet slid into his quarters. "Sir! Some kind of underwater glacier shot us from below!" he said.

Emmanuel continued facing down. He seemed to be thinking.

"The haul has been severely damaged, sir! We've got at least a third of our crew trapped in the ice, and a couple probably knocked out. Our ship is stuck, we can't get anywhere…sir? Sir?"

Emmanuel's expression turned to a smirk. He could feel it, even from here. He had a feeling who was behind this act. "Well now, _this_ is a welcoming gift. It seems we did in fact draw a certain someone's attention after all."

Along the quaking deck, the crew was running around like scared and trapped guinea pigs. A massive mountain of ice penetrated from below the deck, leaving the middle of the deck in a mess. With one soldier looking up at the mound, he could've sworn he saw figures inside.

"What the…?"

"Sorry, but you're not going anywhere."

The cool voice gave the soldier chills. Before he realized it, he was frozen in place, a statue amongst dozens of others as the mist and frost cleared, revealing Nic standing still and collective. In an all-around formation, The Freaks had Chespin, Heracross, and Torterra all present for battle.

With every individual soldier on the deck frozen over, cadets from below ran up to the deck and saw what happened. Even they were shocked.

"What happened?!"

"Is this all ice?"

"Yeah, and who are they…wait, is that…!"

"Crap, it's Nic Pularis!"

Rather than give them a moment to process, Nic slammed his foot down hard creating a mountainous pillar of water from below, via Water Spout. The attack shot below the men, shooting them above and sailing either off the ship or elsewhere along the deck, unconscious.

"Is this really the plan?" Duncan bluntly asked. "I thought you wanted to sneak on."

"Don't think that you have me figured out yet." Nic chided. "And besides, I'm sure they'd have traps waiting inside. Don't worry, I'm still sensing Camilla's power…she's still inside somewhere." He turned around. "You should go, Joey."

Joey nodded. "Right, let's go Chespin!" He and Chespin took towards the deck's lower doors.

"I'm coming, Joey." Dereece followed with Heracross to join Joey, as did Duncan, though slowly.

Nic understood and promptly nodded. He was going to head his way but then he had a funny feeling crawl up his spine as his back was turned to the open canals to the lower deck. His gaze unchanged, he felt a malefic magic behind and turned around.

A pair of boots stepped out of the shadows. "Greetings, Fairy Tail Mage…or should I call you Nic Pularis?"

Nic was face to face with Emmanuel from across the deck. The middle-aged man had an all-around calm and confident disposition around him, one that even ice couldn't freeze over. Rather smugly smirking, the man graciously stood still in challenge.

A strong silence set in between as their eyes locked onto one another.

"I was hoping that I would get to meet you in person, such an honor it is to meet someone of your caliber and infamous reputation on my ship." Emmanuel exaggerated.

Nic glared. "So, you're the guy who's been making Isaac scratch your back, is that right?"

Emmanuel scoffed. "Well, I'm sure that itself is a half-truth. Isaac must have told you a lot about me."

"He did."

"Then let me ask you this: How is it that you managed to sway his subzero heart into letting these…Pokémon become part of his tribe?" Emmanuel hummed. "Were you anticipating our arrival so you can defend a selfish man?"

"I never said I was fighting _for_ him." Nic admitted, pulling out a Poke Ball. "To be honest, I can't exactly say that he's not the brightest person. He's made a lot of selfish choices that I would wanna condemn him for. But that would be wasting breath." He held out the Poke Ball. "We're here to help and see the people make better choices with Pokémon, better ones than you're making right now."

"So, you're fighting for yourself and your beliefs is what you're saying?" Emmanuel inquired. "Interesting…but, do you also not believe that a deal is still a deal? I held up my end of the deal; I have enough sense to do that. I'm a man who believes that it's fair to do his part…but Isaac needs to learn to pay what he owes. Do you not believe that my actions are justified?"

"That depends, is destroying an entire city of innocence that worth it?"

Emmanuel smirked darkly. "It's all…business."

"I see…you can settle your business with Isaac for all I care…but the Moon Drip and the people not fighting stays out of this."

Emmanuel sighed heavily. "I was hoping you'd be more understanding of my situation, Nic Pularis. A man like you who believes in getting what he wants the hard way would probably understand my pain…but I guess you'll need some convincing. Arcanine!"

Arcanine pounced before him, exerting a menacing bark with a proud posture. Nic turned on his heel and swung up, bringing the Poke Ball above. Summoned below in a beam of energy, Charizard craned his head around and exerted a heated shockwave as he roared. Both Fore-types snarled at one another, with Arcanine grunting as his Intimidate Ability made Charizard's Attack fall.

"It's time I showed you guild mages show how serious the business world takes to its debts…Arcanine, go!" Emmanuel ordered his Arcanine, to which the creature roared.

"Same goes for us Trainers, too. Charizard!"

"Ready." With lust for battle, Charizard spread his wings, preparing for combat.

* * *

Finally getting onto the icy ocean, Ebna, Bigge, and Tangath all heard a bloodcurdling roar from Emmanuel's ship. They all turned towards the massive ice slab, shock on their faces.

"Is that who I think it is?" Tangath asked, though he sounded more genuine surprised than feared.

Pulling up binoculars again, Bigge looked into them and saw a man who had a frosty aura around him, yet his Charizard's heat was making mist between. But from his stature and this strange nerve crawling up his spine, he had a feeling who it was.

"Here, you take a look." He handed Tangath the binoculars. Unlike Bigge, he gasped.

"It can't be! Is that…!"

"Yes, no doubt about it." Bigge's eyes narrowed. "That's Nic Pularis, in the flesh."

Ebna's fixation intensified. "Emmanuel is fighting him himself. This is bad."

"Agreed. Let's go back him up." Tangath advised. "I bet he won't suspect a surprised triple ambush."

"And neither would you!" The three generals heard the sound from above, making them see a blaze drop from above. The eruption of steam and ice pushed them all away. Tangath pulled out a sword and used it to block a majority of the shockwaves, leaving him as a bunker for the two to stand behind until the frost cleared. They saw a pink-haired man on a knee, his scarf swaying in the winds.

"Sorry buddy…" Natsu stood up, just as Wendy and Gajeel joined him. "But you're in the wrong league if you think you can compete with just him."

Tangath snarled. "Mages."

Natsu pulled up a Poke Ball. Wendy and Gajeel followed suit. "I think it's about time we bust out our little friends, what do you guys think?"

"Right, let's do it." Wendy agreed.

"Alright…come on out!" They all threw their Poke Balls, bringing out Darumaka as he jumped up and down happily. Aron and Swablu were beside him.

Tangath and the generals pulled out Poke Balls of their own. "You arrogant mages think you've got power over years of intellectually advanced military training. Well prepare to realize your places!" Together, the generals sent out their Pokémon. Bigge sent out Simisear, Ebna sent out a Torracat, and Tangath brought out a Magmar.

The three Pokémon growled as they were prepared to face their opponents.

"Yeah, I'm all fired up now!" Darumaka eagerly cheered. "Let's go guys!"

Natsu smirked. "Just what I was thinking."

* * *

The full moon was once again showing itself in the night sky. With its ever-bright radiance allowing the night to be seen, Isaac looked up with concern.

"Is something the matter?" Levy asked. She was currently with Isaac at the Moon Drip pool, acting as his bodyguard while deciphering some more old texts from books she held onto.

"…no, never mind." He said. "Just…thinking is all."

Levy didn't buy it. She could clearly see the concern on his face. "You're worried about your daughter, aren't you?" By the silence she was given, she hit the nail on the head. "Look, don't worry. My friends are doing everything they can to get her back and save everyone. Just try and hold a little faith is all…I know I do."

Isaac looked away with guilt. He wished he could believe that was simple, but faith was never something he held much value in. He was traditional and solemn custom. So much was happening he didn't know how to think anymore.

"It's just like Nic said. There's a first time for everything." Levy gazed towards the full moon, smiling in its basking glory. "Besides…you're not the only one who wants to protect something precious to them."

* * *

There was a dark cell with nothing inside. The torches had long gone out, leaving the room as cold as the ice that hung around the ceiling.

"Camilla!" Joey sprung from the side, looking into the empty cell with lase hopes. "Camilla…?"

"She's not here?" Chespin questioned. "But I thought her trail lead to here."

Dereece finally caught up, looking inside the cell with surprise. "Wha-?! What happened? What did I miss?!" he asked Joey. "Did you take a wrong turn?"

"Don't go pointing fingers." Duncan scoffed as he walked behind. "Look, they obviously moved her someplace else in the ship. Nic's ice froze a lot of exits closed so they can't have gone very far." He glanced to the end of the hall. "Odds are they sensed us and head the other way."

"Okay, but which way is that? This place is a freaking maze!" Dereece lashed. "If we take one wrong turn, we'll get lost and…"

As he droned on about the repercussions, Joey was lost in his own little world. He looked down at the floor, his brow furrowed and his throat humming. His insides irked at the many thoughts spiraling inside his warped mind. One thought was Camilla, especially the last time they saw each other.

" _You're a good guy, Joey…but I can't be around you. There's a reason why my father hates mages…why he thinks they're a burden to me."_

He thought deeply about the way she turned away from him, how she looked like she was about to cry. _'Camilla…'_

"Joey! Joey, look!" Chespin brought him back to reality as he pointed down to strands of purple hair heading down a hall. It stretched on out towards the other hall, far out of sight.

Heracross blinked. "Is that…hair?"

"Yeah. Yeah!" Dereece raced over and kneeled to the hair. When he looked at it for a long period of time, he turned towards Joey with anxiousness. "Captain…"

Joey looked down again. It didn't take long for him to remember what he came here for. "…let's go."

"Hmph, this is a trap, you know that right?" Duncan reminded his Captain.

"I know…but you told me to be better prepared, didn't you?" He shot a look at Duncan. "Well I say I'm ready. I have to be if I wanna save Camilla. There's something I have to say to her…something she needs to hear."

Dereece gave a somber stare. "Captain."

Joey turned forward. "Let's go!" Without hesitation, Joey stepped, but then he slipped. He plopped on his face again, for probably the fifth time now.

"Oh!" Dereece and Chespin flinched.

Joey strained to get up, despite the bruises on his face. Shaking his head, he tried to man up and growled as he darted at the trail of hair. As he followed it. He narrowly avoiding metal plates dropping from the ceiling, skimming side to side comically. When an icicle dropped, he squealed as he wormed around it. A lot of obstacles were dropping all around him, but he wasn't giving up. With Camilla on his mind, he dared not stop his path. _'I'm not gonna lose someone important to me again.'_ He declared. _'I swear it!'_

Eventually, the trail led the group to outside. Once they reached cold, nightly air, they found themselves on the back-deck, with someone who immediately got Joey's attention. "Camilla!"

Hearing her name from a familiar sound, Camilla slowly turned around, her eyes widening upon seeing a blonde. "Joey." She gasped.

"Are you alright?!" he shouted.

Camilla hesitated to answer. Duncan looked around, feeling tension in the air. _'Wait, something's not right here. This is too open…'_

Dereece took notice of Duncan's tension. Almost immediately he picked up on the issue. "Captain, wait-!"

Joey walked forward, reaching out towards Camilla. "Camilla? What's going on?"

Camilla didn't answer. She stared blankly in worry.

"Camilla!"

With a violent roar, Victor rushed from out of nowhere and swung his heel around. Joey didn't catch it in time and was shot to the side away from his companions.

"Captain Joey!" Dereece shouted. But he suddenly picked up on something from the corner of his eye. Using his magic, he stepped up to evade an Ember from above. He and Heracross rejoined as they turned around, seeing a Salandit that hissed at them. "Not good…."

Duncan and Torterra looked around them. They saw a number of soldiers with Fire-types coming from different corners to pin them.

Chespin got to Joey's side as he tried sitting up, but someone glared him down. "You. Bastard!"

Joey looked up, gasping as he was seeing Victor again. "You…"

Victor stood beside his Monferno, sneering angrily after the sucker punch he threw before. "Why am I not surprised?" he watched Joey get to his feet. "The same tomato jackass that's been bugging me since coming here, and he follows me back, like some leech…what is it with you not listening?"

Joey's shock turned to seriousness as he wiped the scrapes from his cheek, where he was knocked at. Victor scoffed again.

"Well this time little man, if you're not gonna listen to me, I'm gonna have to beat it into. I told you before last time what would happen, that I would make sure you wished you'd stayed on the ground, right?" He held up a fist. On it was a bracelet with a teal lacrima crackling static. "Well I don't bluff. This time when I push you down, you're not getting back up."

Joey put up his dukes next. "I'll get up as many times as it takes if it means getting her back from you."

Camilla's eyes softened. "Joey…"

Victor chuckled. "You always know how to make me laugh, man…it'll be the one thing that I'll miss about ya."

Chespin looked readily at Monferno as Joey was flashing back to events. Being on a boat again, fighting against someone who wanted to kill him…brought back bitter memories. Flashes of the Machia Knights battling Broly and fatally wounding him left a drastic scar on Joey, one that left him crying in the rain with Chespin. The memories themselves made him shrivel, but he knew better. _'This won't be like last time.'_ He told himself. _'I didn't take it seriously until it was too late. Maybe Bro took it with his life, as he did everyday, and that's what I did. Every morning, I pushed myself to get better, so that I won't let the same mistake happen again. This time! I won't lose someone!'_ "Chespin!"

Chespin stepped forward. "Let's make Broly proud."

"Yeah."

Victor smirked. "Alright…" He reached to the side, giving a command. "You guys, keep his posse busy…this guy's all mine. I'm gonna show him just why I'm second in command around here. Camilla!"

Joey's eyes widened when he heard her name. From the side, Camilla silently walked to Victor's side.

"Do it."

She didn't want to, it was written all over her face, but she did it anyway. She lifted her hand and touched Victor's shoulder. A faint glow emanated from the hand, entering Victor's body.

Joey gasped. He could see the vicious smirk on Victor's face widen as he was looking eager. Once Camilla finished transferring her luck, she humbly stepped off to the side while Victor stepped forward.

"Alright, now we're talking!" He paced forward and took a massive leap. Joey looked up with shock at the height he leaped. Victor flipped and came down with his boots crackling in green static with a big smile. Joey brought his forearms forward and conjured a barrier that Victor stomped on. He flipped backwards onto the deck, but he advanced with a sneer and seized the edge of the barrier. He swung around it, getting his heel around Joey. When he realized it, he moved enough to block, but the blow shot him in a tumble across the deck. Victor landed on a knee and git into runner's position. Joey was stunned at how vicious and fast Victor was coming at him and flinched as he created another barrier in the nick of time. When Victor punched it, the shock of the attack was enough to make Joey backpedal from his barrier, despite taking no damage.

' _He's crazy fast!'_

Victor sneered as the barrier blocked his path. He easily jumped over and twirled in the air, coming down to attack with an energized axe kick.

Nearby, Monferno and Chespin were in a parry of Fury Swipes and Vine Whip. As Chespin lashed, Monferno clawed, easily blocking the whips. After finding an opening, Monferno raised his hand high to rake down, but Chespin jumped away – barely in time – as the claw broke the boarding where he would've been.

Like Joey, Chespin backpedaled away, weary as Monferno looked at him. Taking a second to take the surroundings in, Monferno's tail glowed via Iron Tail as he whipped it to the ground, sending the broken boarding at Chespin. Caught off guard, Chespin used his forearms to block the barrage, but was buffered back and stammered away. Finding the opportunity, Monferno smirked and closed the gap for another Fury Swipes.

He raked into Chespin repeatedly, first once, and then twice. Then a third time. "This is for payback with that trash bag!" he shouted.

Chespin screamed as he was getting buffered repeatedly, unable to find an opening as claws raked at him.

Victor punched again, only to be blocked by another barrier. "Hey, c'mon, is blocking all you can do?"

Joey grunted. He felt like it was bait, but he wouldn't take it. When Victor was off his heel, he dispelled the barrier and morphed it around his fist.

" **Barrier-Make: Smash!** " Joey jabbed forward, only for his foot to press too hard into the deck, causing him to get snared. _'What-?!'_

Seizing the opportunity, Victor grabbed Joey's extended wrist and twisted. Joey winced as Victor pulled him towards him, planting a heel to his chest again that sent him on flying back.

"Tough break, kid. It's too bad." Victor flipped again, getting above and soaring with an axe kick. Joey looked in time to see the attack and rolled to the side. The heel stamped on the ice and wood, sending shrapnel that Joey was unfortunately pelted with.

"Gngh! My eyes!" he complained.

Victor swung his leg around with green electricity again, hitting Joey's side with his guard down. The pain widened his eyes as he gagged.

"Joey!" Chespin screamed for his Trainer, only for Monferno to Mach Punch him when he wasn't looking.

Both shot across the deck, plopping onto their stomachs as they were dazed. Joey's teeth gritted at the amount of pain he was in. He could've sworn one of his ribs was bruised.

Victor looked over his foes, frowning in displeasure. "Unlucky bunch."

"Ah, man…that's gonna hurt in the morning." Joey winced as he staggered back up, only to fall to a knee when he slipped on ice. The shock to the knee got him hard. "Ow!"

"Hehehe, like I said. Unlucky." He insulted.

Joey got up again, only this time slower to avoid slipping. He grunted at the stinging where he was hit. _'Man, why am I slipping a lot? It can't be my shoes, right? I just bought some last week.'_ His brow furrowed. _'Hold the phone, what did Camilla say before about luck? Did she…'_

"Guess I better connect the dots for ya by that stupefied look on your face. You see, Camilla just transferred her luck over to me…including the luck she stole from you." He gestured over to Camilla, who had a humbled look on her face. "How's it feel to know that someone you loved turned their own fortunes on you? Not very pleasant, right?"

Joey looked in shock over towards Camilla. "Camilla…is that true?" He was answered with silence. It was clear what the answer would be. _'Then that means…'_ He thought back to when they were on the bridge again, when she took his luck during their warm embrace. That sorrow began turning into frustration as he looked towards Victor.

"When you mix Luck Magic with my Athletic Magic…" He spread his feet apart, the lacrima crackling. Victor smirked. "Alright, let's kick this turd and his bucked-tooth pet to the curb, Monferno!"

"I'm all for that!" Both the monkey and Victor lunged for their targets with primal shouts.

* * *

A Flareon lunged ahead, only to be knocked away by Heracross' Horn Attack. Once the Fire-type slammed on its back, Heracross braced himself as he did his best to fend off against the horde of Pokémon he was up against. A Darumaka using Rollout and a Pansear using Bite tried to rush him, but he jumped and allowed them to hit each other. He landed and bashed them away with Horn Attack, allowing clearance for a Ponyta to charge ahead with a Tackle. Bracing himself, Heracross reached out and stopped the horse in its tracks.

With the distraction, Salandit hissed eagerly as he focused on Heracross.

Heracross looked over just in time to see a blue mass charging up. "Oh no-!"

" **Dragon Rage!** "

Salandit fired a beam of draconic blue energy across the deck. As it closed in, Heracross had to think fast. Throwing Ponyta in the wake of the attack, the horse took the full blunt, hollering in pain.

"That was a close one." He breathed, but an orange glint got his attention from the other side. A Torkoal shot an Ember at him just as he turned around, blowing him back.

Salandit smirked.

Men charged and swung their weapons around, making Dereece hurriedly used his magic to run up into the air. He stayed high over their heads, keeping a safe distance from the enemies. _'Gotta keep my distance.'_ He told himself. _'I can't get near them without Heracross backing me up.'_

"Fire!" a soldier pointed up, with others firing pressurized blasts of fire up at Dereece.

Dereece's eyes dilated when he saw the barrage of beams heading his way. In a hurry, he comically dodged in the air. He hollered and shrieked with every close call, until he finally lost balance. "Oh no…NOT AGAIN~!" He squealed as he plummeted. He plummeted on his back behind Heracross, who slid back from taking another attack.

Stepping forward, Salandit sneered. "Now we got him!" He whipped his tail around, sending flames at Heracross. " **Ember!** "

As Heracross was recovering from the last attack, he found himself unable to dodge as the Ember scored a direct hit. His body ignited in a burst of flames, signaling a burn.

Dereece struggled to get up when he saw Heracross in pain. He gasped in horror. "Heracross…Heracross!"

With Heracross screaming in pain, Salandit wagged his tail excitedly as the Fire-types grouped around him. "Heh, too easy."

The reinforcements all closed in to finish Heracross off. Inside the flames, a red aura ignited around his body as his eyes dilated. With a violent shout, Heracross whirled his horn around, the intensified force clearing away the battlefield as Salandit was shocked.

"What?"

Heracross' body was leftover embers flicker as he glared at Salandit. _'Heracross' Guts Ability activated.'_ Dereece thought to himself. _'I just hope this gives us enough time before it's too late.'_ He looked over, seeing his Captain in trouble. _'Just hang in there a little longer, Captain. We'll think of something-!'_

Weapons blasted at Dereece, causing him to squeal from a near-headshot. Soldiers advanced, weapons armed and blasting away at him once more.

More men nearby charged, only for Duncan to bat them away with his metal pole. He exercised his kendo training with superb reflexes as he twirled the pole overhead as guys from all around rushed him. When she swung around, he infused his magic again and swung with as much force as possible. The results knocked away the guards who then earned a swing to the face, knocking some out.

Similarly, Torterra raised one of his front legs. He roared as he slammed it down, using his Stone Edge attack right at the pack around Duncan.

Duncan raised his staff high and slammed it on the ground, creating a negative repulsion that shot him over the group as Torterra's attack caught them off guard. Smoke and rock exploded, and Duncan landed without drawback.

Joey gritted his teeth as time slowed down with him and Victor, the last thing to be seen was an uppercut with his name on it.

* * *

Simisear puffed his cheeks before shooting out a longue, via Lick. The tongue closed in on Darumaka, but he evaded the long appendage and landed right on top of it.

"Alright Darumaka, use **Headbutt**!" Natsu ordered.

Darumaka eagerly smirked as Simisear's long tongue retracted with him on it. He rammed his head into Simisear's face, causing him to fall over. "Ha! Someone's a little tongue tied." He joked.

"On your feet, Simisear!" Bigge ordered. Simisear complied, getting up with some strain. That attack knocked the wind out of him.

"We're just getting started pal." Natsu reached forward. "Now use **Rollout!** " Darumaka curled into a ball and began rolling over the ice. As he closed the gap, Simisear braced itself.

"Predictable." Bigge chided, swiping his arm. "Use **Flame Burst!** "

Simisear closed his maw and readied a charge, but a glint above got their attention. Looking up, they saw Swablu chirping as her beak glowed for Peck. As she closed in, Simisear was off guard and Darumaka's Rollout got him in the stomach, whereas Swablu pecked the head, forcing him backwards.

Swablu and Darumaka reconvened. "Nice job, Swablu!" Wendy praised.

Tangath reached forward. "Don't let them gain the upper hand! Magmar, **Smog**!" His Magmar inhaled deeply before his bill opened a little, expelling a dark cloud of toxic breath right at Swablu.

"Wendy!" Natsu shouted.

"Don't worry, Natsu. We can handle this." She assured. As the attack closed in, her breath began sucking in wind.

" **Sky Dragon's Roar!** "

A massive cyclone expanded from her mouth, immediately dispelling Smog. The cyclone blew into all three generals, forcing them to cover up as they tried holding ground, but to no avail.

As Wendy was expelling the whirlwinds, Gajeel took advantage of the situation. "Okay, use **Rock Tomb!** "

Aron glowed inside the whirlwind as conjured up gray rocks in a ring. Once was ready, they were unleashed through the spinning winds. The rocks were picked up by the winds and spiraled into Magmar. The added force created a smoke surge that repulsed Magmar.

"Not bad." Gajeel snorted.

Through the dissipating winds, Ebna grunted. _'That one with the metal body, that's the biggest threat. I better take it out quick.'_ He reached forward, giving a command. "Torracat, use **Fire Fang!** "

Torracat meowed as he jumped into the air. Once high enough, his fangs lit up in flames and he dove for Aron. The attack landed an explosive bite, which repelled Aron across the ice. Torracat sneered before he also picked up on Darumaka and Swablu swooping and rolling from both sides. The feline was quick on his feet and pounced above at the last second.

Darumaka and Swablu blew right into one another, recoiling gradually. With both suspended, Torracat turned around, pointing his back legs into both. His Double Kick landed one blow on each, pushing them on their backs.

Torracat landed, his companions slowly getting up beside him. They faced against the Dragon Slayer's Pokémon as they all rebuffed and got back up.

Tangath reached forward. "Stop them in their tracks! Use **Fire Spin!** "

Magmar aimed his mouth at Darumaka and unleashed a spinning fire that shot across the ground. The blast wave closed in, but at the last second Natsu stomped on the ground, appearing in front the swallow the flames heading his way.

Tangath and the generals looked shocked. They were witnessing Natsu devour fire again/ Once the flames were fully consumed, Natsu wiped his mouth with a serious look.

"Woah! You can do that?!" Darumaka gasped.

Natsu grinned. "Yeah, you got that right." He looked dead ahead, his disposition turning so intense that embers flickered around his body. "Looks like these guys aren't playing around either. Ready to get serious, guys?"

Wendy nodded.

"I already thought you were." Gajeel retorted. "Aron!"

The little armored being with Darumaka and Swablu prepared themselves once again, while Bigge and the generals scoffed angrily as they braced for battle.

* * *

Emmanuel reached out, and Arcanine was outlined in an orange aura. The Fire-type zipped across with Extreme Speed, heading for Charizard. In response, Charizard used his momentum and pivoted when he came close. He seized Arcanine and dragged him in a circle before hurling him to the side. The creature grunted from the strain of the paws against the ice, providing no traction. Charizard, however, lunged dead ahead and outstretched a claw, gripping Arcanine's snout before lifting him and sundering him onto his back, making ice shatter.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel was so shocked that he almost didn't realize his lower-half was already frozen over. Looking, down, icicles prodded to pierce his chin if he made one small misstep.

He looked ahead, seeing Nic wasn't moving. Wind shifted around him as he didn't even try. _'He's subduing me faster than I anticipated. This guy…'_

Arcanine was pinned by the neck by Charizard, but he managed to open his maw and electricity crackled. In a hurry, Charizard flipped as Arcanine rocked forward for Thunder Fang. With Charizard flapping behind, Arcanine turned around to be smacked by his tail. As he slid along the ground, Charizard ascended, only to come down the next split second with his feet stomping on his side, via Fly. Arcanine gagged as everything for him went white for an instant.

Emmanuel looked towards Nic with shock, seeing him transform to his Spooky Form. _'So this is his power…'_

Nic swiped his arm, creating golden orbs in the air around him. " **Confuse Ray!** "

The spheres closed in on Emmanuel, everything for him igniting in gold before it all went white for him as well.

* * *

Victor swung his leg around, which the barrier blocked. He jumped and spun around, planting two more kicks before he landed on a knee and shifted around the barrier to get Joey's side. Joey extended the barrier in time to avoid the barrages that Victor was unleashing.

' _It's no good. He's too quick on his feet!'_

Victor landed once more on the deck. He snorted before he stomped on the one board that was between him and Joey. Like a teeter totter, the board picked Joey up and he comically planted against his barrier. He groaned as he slowly slid down until he slumped low enough, the barrier dissipating.

"Hahaha! Man this is way too easy!" Victor jumped and flipped again. When Joey looked up, he tumbled to the side again, avoiding an axe kick that shattered the board beneath. This time he covered from the shrapnel, but Victor reappeared in front, shoving Joey onto his back. "Like I said, you're nothing more than a lightweight."

"Joey!" Chespin rushed over, getting in front of his Trainer to defend against Victor's advances.

"Monferno, **Mach Punch!** "

Chespin didn't realize before it was too late. A glowing fist knocked him from the side, sending him away by Monferno as Victor soon stood over Joey.

"You think that a little turd like you had any chance against someone who had years of training? News flash amateur, reality is _much_ harsher than you think!" He kicked Joey's side, causing him to roll over and scream. "I'm sick and tired of you constantly getting in my way. If it weren't for you, Camilla wouldn't be in this mess! It's your fault!"

Joey lazily sat up in time to see another foot. Flinching, he created a small dome barrier that Victor repeatedly stomped on.

"What kind of man hides behind shields all day and not take action, huh?! It's big talkers like you who don't even know what they're doing!" He didn't stop. Either out of frustration or needing to get a point across, he refused to let up stomping on his shield. "Why did it have to be _you_ that Camilla had to meet?! That's total bullshit! You're nothing but an amateur, so stop acting like a hotshot because you haven't got money, or power like I do!" He teeth gnashed together with anger. "Camilla is mine, ya hear?! She will never be yours!"

That last part is what made Joey snap. Silently gasping, his eyes shrunk as everything around him slowed and brightened as his conscience drifted again. For the umpteenth time, he started thinking about Broly. From his strong disposition, to the trust he passed to Joey.

The one part Joey remembered most vibrantly about him…was his fighting. The way he fought, to an iron will, to encouraging Jory to keep going.

Victor raised his foot again, bringing Joey to reality. He growled as he found a resolve.

The man stomped again, but suddenly the barrier vanished, and two hands caught the spiked heel. Before he realized it, he was the one pushed to the floor.

Camilla's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it.

"Gnngh, man that hurt." Victor rubbed the back of his head while a pair of feet stood up again. When he looked up, he saw Joey standing once more. "You!"

Taking a deep breath, Joey growled and created a barrier. He aimed and roared with everything he had.

" **Barrier-Make: Crash!** "

He launched the barrier across the deck into Victor, slamming him like a truck with no brakes. The elite screamed as he was sent flying across the deck, crashing into the other side.

Monferno looked back with shock. So much that he almost forgot about Chespin. _'An opening!'_ Chespin quickly spat out Leech Seed at Monferno as he turned back, creating vines that entangled the monkey's body. He hollered as the vines and roots began sucking away his health.

Chespin attacked with his guard down, using Bite on Monferno's face. The impact caused him to recoil before a pair of vines jabbed his abdomen, knocking the air out of him as he fell backwards as well.

Joey and Chespin reconvened, both standing tall in spite of odds.

"Joey…" Camilla was once again speechless. She saw how serious Joey was. This wasn't the same goofy nutcase who showed her a good time from before. By the way he was standing, he was in it to win it.

As a cold air shifted, Joey and Chespin stared forward at the dust cloud that dissipated. Victor stood once more, actual pain on his face. "You…bastard…!" he snarled beneath his breath.

"Chespin, stay close to me." Chespin complied to Joey's demand. Both readied for the next attack.

"That was a cheap shot! Bur this won't be!" Victor pointed forward. "Monferno, **Fire Pledge!** "

Monferno fought through the strain and hollered as he slammed his fist into the deck. A straight shot of fire pillars went in a straight line towards them. Joey swiped his arm, creating a sphere-like barrier just as flames ignited from below. Once the flames waves dissipated, Joey was about to release when Victor swooped in.

"You bastard!"

He kicked the unbreakable sphere like it was a massive soccer ball. Joey and Chespin both blinked before they found themselves fumbling and ricocheting off every corner of the ball. The sphere slid along the deck uncontrollably, until it was heading right for Victor again. With enough force, he roundhouse kicked the sphere and sent it towards Camilla.

The purple-haired woman gasped as she saw the dazed duo head her way. Too shocked to move, she braced herself.

"CA-MIL-LA!" Joey lurched with every roll, before he finally broke his own barrier. He fell right on top of Camilla, with Chespin plopping on the ground beside them.

"Tch, my bad." Victor scoffed. He didn't look sorry in the very least.

Joey groaned as he was still lying atop of Camilla. His body ached all over that he wasn't sure how he was still conscious. Whether this was by dumb luck or natural muscle he built up, opened an eye to stare down. "Camilla…are you okay?"

Camilla groaned as she looked to Joey. "Yeah, I think so…lucky enough." Her face fell when she saw the bruises all over Joey's adorable face. "You shouldn't be here, Joey. This is all my fault."

"Camilla…" Joey was about to trail off, but he steeled himself and leered at her. "Camilla, this isn't your fault. Stop saying that."

"You know it's true, Joey. Just look at you…you can barely stand, and it's going to get worse if you don't stop." Her eyes started misting. "I'm begging you, please…just leave me alone. For both our sakes."

There was a long silence as Joey gleamed into Camilla's eyes. She looked terribly sorry for someone he came to really like. In a way, he knew that what she said had some kernel of sense, but another part of him said a different thing entirely. He sighed as he caught his breath.

"Sorry Camilla…but you've been alone long enough." Joey grinned. "You can try and push me away, but we both know that's not what you want, is it?"

Camilla turned away. She was too shameful to look at him now.

"Look, I get it. You're selfish. You have to be if you wanna stay alive. You need other's luck to make sure you get to the next day…but the cycle ain't going anywhere if you don't mix it up. You always wanted that, right?"

Camilla hesitated to respond. "…I…"

"So maybe I don't have much luck…I don't need it. What _I_ need is for you to trust me again. I trust you, I always have." Camilla's shock was clear on her face. "You're one of the most beautiful woman I've ever met since coming to this world. I mean sure, maybe I wasn't lucky when you tricked me…but if you ask me, my greatest luck is meeting you. You really made my time her in Glacidia all the more worth it."

Her eyes started watering. Even after taking away his luck, Joey still wasn't giving up on her. She didn't feel she deserved any of this from him, but here he was, giving that goofy big smile that she saw when they danced, when she let loose in the first time in her life. "You…you stupid fool." She whimpered to his face, tears running down her face.

Joey stood up, rejuvenated. "When I said I'm not leaving without you, I mean it. Camilla, I-!" A heel smashed against his back, making Joey gag as Victor angrily kicked him off and away.

"I thought I told you to stay away from my fiancé!" Victor rudely scolded.

"Victor!" Camilla gasped.

Victor looked down at her and noticed the few scratches she had on her face. "That punk rough you up, didn't he?" He grunted as he rubbed the back of his head. "Damnit~! This is _not_ going the way I want it to."

"Well nothing always does!" A call from the distance got them to turn. Panting heavily, Joey staggered back up, wiping the blood from his lip.

"You still standing, after all that?" Victor crossed his arms. "You're a glutton for punishment, kid. You should've dropped by now. Why are you even standing when she's mine?"

Joey expectorated to the side, blood mixed with the saliva. "You know, you ask too many questions."

Victor raised a smug brow. "That right? Well then, what are you gonna do about it?" He noticed Joey smirking, making him irk more. "What are you so happy about?"

Joey chuckled. "Nothing…" he raised his head. "It's just, now I gotta ask you something: Tell me…are you feeling lucky?"

Confused by Joey's question, Victor was caught off guard when he almost lost footing. Slipping on the frosted deck, the man fell on his back with a thud, gagging from shock.

"Gnnngh…what happened…?" he groaned. "I thought…that my luck was…" He weakly opened his eyes, his pupils shrinking as he stared up at Camilla as she frowned at him, her hand covered in a golden light. "Camilla, you-!" Before he finished, the deck suddenly gave in, dropping him and Monferno the next floor below them.

As a crash sound was heard, Camilla huffed and humbly walked across the deck.

"Camilla…" Joey looked to her as she walked up to him. She took his hand and held onto the fingers. She placed her other hand over his, gingerly smiling. When Joey looked down, he saw a bright glow enter his palm. The radiant light filtered into his system, and it was leaving shocked. _'My body…is my luck coming back to me?'_

Camilla continued holding Joey's hand. The glow continued as she humbly smirked. "You really are a stupid fool, Joey."

Joey blinked and smiled. "Well hey, I'm a stupid fool with dumb luck. It's a win-win!"

The deck suddenly burst ahead, getting them to turn ahead. Victor and Monferno glared at them, and they were pissed.

"Here they come." Joey's seriousness returned. "Camilla, keep your half of the luck…I'm gonna use my power to win you back." He walked forward with Chespin, leaving Camilla to watch him go.

"You…BASTARD!" Victor shouted.

Joey grunted. They both lunged screaming, meeting in the center with fists in static and barrier.

* * *

Heracross slid back across the deck on all fours. He lifted his body, only to falter again when flames engulfed him. Salandit approached, hissing as his tail wagged. He seemed elated despite how almost all the other Fire-types were defeated.

"C'mon, Heracross, just a little more!" Dereece urged.

"Gngh. I'm…trying…" The bug raised again, but was straining incredulously.

Salandit smirked. "This is too ease. Just like the chestnut." His foes locked eyes with him as he opened his maw, surging power for a Dragon Rage. The men around him readied lances for heated cannons. "Say goodbye!"

Dereece and Heracross braced themselves. They had nowhere to go and had little to hope for.

As Salandit reared his head back, a blue water jet shot from above, catching everyone's attention.

"What the-?!" Dereece stammered.

Salandit looked up, stunned as the water missile coming from above. Trying to ready his attack, he was unable to reacted when the Aqua Jet smashed into his back, causing the blue energy to dissipate as he screamed in riling agony.

Dereece and Heracross watched the water dissipate. They were all stunned. Met with shock, they saw a certain someone on top of the unconscious Salandit. And she wagged her tail. Dereece tried to make sense of it, but words couldn't describe how he was feeling right now.

"It's…it's you. Seel!"

Seel clapped. "Howdy, did I miss the show?"

"W-what are you doing here?"

"Well, I'd be seeing you again, and I just thought I'd tag along and see what the hubbub was all about." She looked at the men and Fire-type surrounding her. "Now I see why that rush was big. Phew!"

Dereece was confused, but he'll take what he can get. _'I don't know what's going on…but I can use the distraction.'_ He reached into his pockets, getting out two medicine sprays. A Burn Heal and a Super Potion. "Okay, here goes nothing…Heracross!"

Heracross was suddenly sprayed by the two medicines. The cloud he was in poofed for a few moments before fading. When he blinked once, then twice, he suddenly turned serious as he stomped on the ground, releasing a hiss. He was back on top, with not many injuries showing.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Dereece declared, pointed at the people still left. "Now let's take them out! **Aerial Ace!** "

"You got it!" Heracross lowered his horn and shot across the deck. He roared as he bolted through numbers again like a bulldozer, leaving many suspended.

"Oh, golly! Guess I should contribute since I'm still here." Seel turned towards the men behind. " **Icy Wind!** " She exerted a cold wind right at their faces. The men all backpedaled from the wake of the Ice-type move, only to be perpendicular to flying bodies. They too were blown away by bodies in the distance as Heracross reconvened with her.

Dereece balled a fist. "Okay…let's do this!"

"Right!" Heracross and Seel yelled.

* * *

Soldiers fired heated blasts at Duncan, who used the metal pole to defend by twirling. With an opening, he reached forward.

"Torterra, **Leaf Storm!** "

Torterra released a violent cry as his body had a bright green aura around it. A massive maelstrom of leaves erupted from his back's tree and swallowed the soldiers ahead of them. They all screamed in agony as they plundered off the ship, leaving Duncan scoffing.

* * *

Whirling around, Victor went to trip Joey, but using dancer moves, he spiraled behind. Victor did a back kick that Joey wormed away from. Turning around, Victor wet to punch, but Joey put up a barrier that blocked the blow, which also rung up some shock through his joint.

" **Barrier-Make: Crash!** "

He slammed the barrier into Victor, forcing him to repel across the domain. Victor slid and flipped, but his ankle twisted upon the landing, causing him to grunt. With the opening, Joey ran up, embedding his foot in a barrier and kicked. Victor used his armguard to take the blunt of the blow, though it winded him.

"Gnngh, lucky shot." He grunted. "When I get back up I'm gonna-!" He suddenly slipped again, this time landing on his elbow. "GAH!"

Monferno shot at Chespin with an Iron Tail from above. Chespin shot back to avoid the wake of the attack. When he saw Monferno's tail wedged into the boarding, he grunted and charged ahead, using Bite again to cause him to flinch and jerk away.

The four battlers stood a fair distance from each other as they shot glares.

"A weakling like you…you can't be serious." Victor sniped.

"Deadly serious." Joey rebuffed. "You might be faster, but that doesn't mean that you can be a pushover either. Chespin! Let's do this!"

"I'm with ya, Joey!" Chespin released a loud cry as he began storing up power. A green aura engulfed his body, igniting into a bright light that took up the small portion of the deck.

Everyone who wasn't engaged turned towards the light. "What's that?!" Dereece gasped.

"What?!" Victor yelled, with Monferno in equal shock.

Camilla was left speechless. Joey almost forgot how to speak. "Chespin…"

The light glowing, Chespin's body began to grow, almost to meet Monferno's height, if not taller. His body shape had also gotten rounder, with the tail sharpening. When the glow exploded, the light waves made everyone cover up for a second before looking back.

Chespin now looked like a large, round mammalian Pokémon with a long nose with a pink snout. His bottom half had a dark brown coating with stubbed limbs. He's also gained some claws. On top of his head, he had two very sharp horns with pink-orange tis as well. The newly evolved Pokémon puffed out his chest and let out a cry.

"You know how Joey and I roll! We go big or go home!" he declared.

"I don't believe it. It…transformed?" Victor gasped.

' _Chespin…he just evolved…'_ The realization dawned on Joey. "Quilladin!" Joey pulled out his PokeDex, analyzing the evolved Quilladin.

" **Quilladin, the Spiny Armor Pokémon. It relies on its sturdy shell to deflect predators' attacks. It counterattacks with its sharp quills.** "

"So cool…" Joey eagerly smiled. "Okay then, let's show them what we're made of, Quilladin!"

"The only thing you'll be showing is your face in the deck! Monferno, **Fire Pledge!** "

Monferno let out a loud shriek as he plunged his fist into the ground. Fire pillars shot up from below, heading for Quilladin. Using his rounder body, he rolled off to the side to avoid the pillars. He darted ahead with his arm reeled back. Once ready, he jumped in the air, crying out as green energy enveloped his arm, becoming needle-like. He came down on Monferno's head, sundering him onto his back.

"No! Monferno!" Victor panicked.

"That's so cool." Joey awed at his Quilladin. "You just used Needle Arm. That's amazing!"

Quilladin returned the smile. "Thanks, but now we gotta get in the action, shouldn't we?"

Joey nodded. "Right let's do it!" Together, they ran ahead to meet Victor and Monferno. The latter's health was sapped again as Leech Seed was still in play. On the defense, Victor put up his armguards and blocked Joey's first punch embedded with barrier. He grunted as Joey advanced, alternating as he put one foot ahead of the other. Upon the fourth strike, Joey cried out as he punched with all his might. The results shattered the lacrima Victor had in one guard and slid back.

Joey slid back, panting heavily. He and Chespin were exhausted.

"You…you weakling!" Victor shot across the ground, time slowing down for him and Monferno as they made one last charge.

As time was slowed, Joey balled his fists as the look on his face grew more violent by the second. Energy crackled around his body as he growled.

" _Joey, remember everything I've taught you. Okay?" Broly told Joey behind him. "This is a life and death battle. Be ready for anything."_

' _Bro…you have no idea how much I think about you. It's because of your guidance that I'm still here today.'_ Joey's eyes shrunk as he started screaming at the top of his lungs. _'And I will remember everything, and use that to move forward! Because that's what you wanted me to!'_

"JOEY~!" Victor pulled back a fist, putting as much force in this next attack, while Monferno blasted forward with a Mach Punch.

Seeing the face of Broly once more, Joey's barrier energy morphed around him. It shaped into a Chinese dragon.

" **Barrier-Make: Dragon Ram!** "

Mustering all his might, Joey screamed out as the barrier stretched into Victor, while Quilladin readied a Needle Arm. As the adversaries closed in, they found themselves tripping once again. Time slowed down as the turquoise and the green attacks reflected in their eyes. They were helpless when a spiked arm socked Monferno across the face, while Victor hollered in agony. The dragon-shaped attack stretched far up to the observatory where Emmanuel originally was. With a deep impact, the glass shattered as Camilla, Dereece, and many soldiers still left were in deep shock. Monferno slid across the deck to a halt, where he was fainted. And at the top, Victor was on his back, all his lacrima weaponry broken along with his face.

Camilla was speechless. What she saw only served to leave her stunned. She watched Joey's back as his coat shifted in the cold wind. _'I…I can't believe this. He did it…he actually beat Victor.'_

Joey panted heavily as he was looking down at Quilladin. Both looked thrilled as they stared ahead, seeing the damage done.

Camilla softly smiled as she saw how brave Joey was. _'Joey…you truly are amazing. You never gave up on me, even when I did…thank you.'_

Joey suddenly sank to his knees while Quilladin slowly faltered. Exhausted of all his power, both started collapsing. "Joey!" Rushing over, Camilla caught Joey in time. She held him in her arms, seeing the dazed but glorified face he had. She sighed in relief, tears dripping from her face onto his cheeks.

* * *

From afar, the crash could be heard, catching the three generals off guard.

"Hey, what was that?" Tangath asked.

"It sounded like it came from Emmanuel's ship." Ebna realized.

"Wait, this Magic Power…" Bigge realized it. "Lieutenant Victor!"

' _An opening!'_ Natsu saw the opportunity and turned towards Wendy. "Wendy, now!"

"Right, let's do it!" The Sky Dragon reached out. "Swablu, use **Disarming Voice!** " Her Swablu floated in the air above and exhaled. She expelled soundwaves in the form of pink hearts that engulfed Torracat, Magmar, and Simisear, causing them to cover their ears.

Tangath and the two generals covered their ears as the atrocious melody sunk into their heads as well. "What…is this racket?!"

"Okay…now it's my turn!" Natsu balled a fist. "Darumaka, **Rollout** time!"

"Yeah! Now we're talking!" Darumaka closed into a ball and began rolling. He rolled in an arch from the side, drilling into the three Fire-types like bowling pins.

"Do it now, Gajeel!"

Gajeel smirked. "You don't have to tell me twice! Aron, use **Rock Tomb!** "

Aron craned his head around and hollered out when he created gay rocks above. As he swung his head, they were launched into all three foes just as they recovered. The backlash of the attack caused an intense dust cloud to erupt and dissipate. When it did, it revealed all three opponents unable to continue.

"No! Torracat!" Ebna hollered.

Natsu eagerly smirked. "And that's how we roll in Fairy Tail!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

Left with no choice, the three generals withdrew their defeated Pokémon and glared at the Dragon Slayers. They looked far from pleased, and they weren't going to let Fairy Tail off that easily.

* * *

Nic reached his arm out. "Charizard, **Flamethrower!** "

As Arcanine attempted one last charge, he roared with all his might, only to run into a heated beam of broiling fire. The flames engulfed the canine, making him shriek s the burning shockwaves repulsed him across the deck. When the flames dissipated, Arcanine was seen embedded into the wall, spirals in his eyes.

Charizard craned his head and spat out flames.

Nic used the opportunity to close in on the disoriented Emmanuel, who was unable to think straight after being confused. Nic slammed his foot into the ice, shattering it completely to fragments. The impact left Emmanuel's eyes devoid of pupils as he fell back, with Nic over him.

Emmanuel was still dazed, but he was trying to speak. "Gnngh…not a sweat taken…you really are…what the rumors say."

Nic stood tall, grunting. "I don't know what rumors you're thinking about, but I'm not here for rumors. I'm here for answers."

Emmanuel snickered. "So you say…"

Nic's brow furrowed. Something about this felt off. He and Charizard exchanged knowing glances and looked towards Emmanuel. _'Something about this feels wrong. It was almost too easy.'_ Nic's eyes narrowed. _'Unless…'_

"Looks like you've figured me out. I wish I could stick around and answer those questions…" Slowly his body began to decompose, turning to a makeshift grime that slowly dissolved. "…but I'm afraid that my business lies elsewhere."

Nic and Charizard went wide-eyed as they were seeing his body break down.

"I had fun entertaining you for a short while, Nic Luminous Pularis…I wish to do so after Anthemusa. You said before that my business with Isaac was too myself, thanks for letting me know."

The decomposing grime echoed in cackling laughter. It, and the staff, both broke down into a black blob that dissipated into the deck. The battle was won, but Nic couldn't believe it.

He was fooled. A clone.

"Charizard!" In a rush, Nic latched onto Charizard's back and shot skywards. They sailed up towards the observation deck, where they saw the broken glass and Victor's body lying off to the side. After processing that, he looked out towards Glacidia, seeing smoke rising from behind the wall.

He looked up at the moon, seeing it directly above him.

"…"

Hearing strange distress call again, Nic knew what was happen. _'I had a bad feeling about this…'_

* * *

Trainers with Ice-types were commanding them to attack. Already the city was a disaster, and the many lives at stakes didn't help either.

Lucy swung a kick around, knocking another soldier down. "Loke! See any sign of the others?"

Loke recoiled to her side, uncovering his arms. "No, I can't see much from our point. We're being swamped."

"Fire!" a soldier called out, commanding the Fire-types to expel Ember and Fire Spin at them. From the side, a pink, sparkling wind dissipated them, revealing Klefki.

"Nice save, Klefki!" Lucy praised. She looked ahead, seeing the soldiers still coming from all sides. In a matter of time she found herself surrounded. Her fists balled as her teeth gritted.

Vanessa's eyes widened where she was at. She turned her head in the carnage, looking up at the domain. _'This aura…'_

A figure walked calmly through the path provided, his tracks barely made out by the many guards and soldiers behind him. They all groaned as they separated the man walking away from a pod that was shot with the others.

Looking up towards the moon, Emmanuel held his staff to his side, the black fog inside swirling with moonlight radiating it. "Like I told Isaac before, a deal…is a deal." He snickered low, continuing his path through the snow towards his destination: The end of Moon Drip.

All while the moon seemingly shrieked in silence.

* * *

 **I'll be honest, I thought I could've written more, but I felt that this was a good stopping point. I think I did a good job keeping the word count and scenes to a minimum, and still get under 25K. Hope you guys liked this chapter!**

 **I'm also not gonna lie, I fell ill when I was writing the second half of this chapter, so I felt the scenarios were VERY hard for me to write since I was bedridden. Hopefully by next chapter I'll be in better shape.**

 **Anyways, next chapters will be the finale to the Glacidia Arc. Hope you guys share your thoughts and thanks!**


	28. Moongeist

All of Glacidia was in peril. Explosions of fire could be seen from the distance, men and women were running if they weren't fighting. Others who were fighting were finding themselves repulsed by armed soldiers who were commanding Fire-types to advance. When they reached out, the Fire-types opened their maws, expelling flames.

With a swipe of her arm, Cana use tarot cards to absorb the blow. When the soldiers were caught shocked by this, they found themselves shocked when Cana swiped down with the same card, sending a shockwave of fire across the snow to blow away the numbers.

"There's just no end to these jackasses." She grunted. "How're you holding up, Sophie?"

Men jumped onto Sophie with weapons poised to attack. With a strong cry, Sophie swiped her arm, sending a crescent of blue fire with shadowy outlines in a shockwave that blew them all away. She stepped back to Cana's back, looking beat. "They're not telling up. At this rate, our magic is going to be depleted before this area is finally decided on."

"Really? That ain't good."

"In that case-!" Piplup jumped, using Peck on a Salandit's head and backflipped. "We should pick up the slack for ya!" In midair, he opened his beak, firing blue bubbles down on Fire-types. They all curled up and whimpered as the Bubble attack immobilized them.

Abra conjured a purple hemisphere and made it expand. "Yes, we shall…because that is our role as partners! **Psyshock!** " Jutting forward, Abra fired purple beams from the orb, zipping at incredible speeds and attacking men and Fire-types alike.

Piplup landed, beaming with pride. "Now look, I'm not doing this because I have to. I'm saying it's because I _want_ to, got it? So no special favors just because I decided to be nice for a change." He told Cana specifically, looking over his shoulder to glare at her.

Cana, however, looked nonchalantly happy as she dumbly waved at him. "Oh yeah, whatever you say~."

"Are you even taking me seriously?!" he flabbergasted.

A Houndour pounced from behind, readying Bite. "HA! GOTCHA NOW BIRD!"

Piplup gasped. He looked over his shoulder and realized he was too slow. Before he knew it, in a flash, Houndour fell on his back in a small smoke cloud. Piplup gawked in shock as he was barely processing what happened.

"Just because you're doing the lifting doesn't mean I haven't caught my second wind yet." Piplup turned around to find Cana in a swiping position, her card shining. "There's more incoming. Don't turn your back to them!"

"Uh, r-right!" Piplup refocused his efforts ahead. He and Cana both faced the enemies with renewed readiness. In return, the backpedaled foes and their Pokémon stepped forward to advance.

As she glared, the brunette's face scrunched up. _'Nic better hurry it up with that rescue. These soldiers actually know what they're doing with these Pokémon. Better than what we thought apparently. Better shape up fast!'_ She readied more tarot cards as she swiped."Alright, let's go! Purrloin! Piplup!"

"Right!" Together, they readied glowing claws and beaks glowing to attack.

* * *

Seismic waves of teal aura washed over the earth, instantly swallowing numerous soldiers. As they all screamed and fell on their sides, Vanessa and Goodra stood unhinged by the numbers they mowed down.

"There's fewer than there were before. You think that's because of us?" Goodra asked behind Vanessa.

"Partially. Their numbers must be thinning to more areas around the cities. They're trying to cover more ground and weed out the reinforcements." Vanessa surmised, her brow furrowing. _'Also…that dark aura from before, it's getting further away. All these numbers still spread out is starting to mask that particular aura. We need to hurry and weed out the reinforcements before it gets away.'_ She reached out to give a command. "Let's pick up the pace! Goodra, **Dragon Pulse!** "

Goodra craned her head around as she gathered multicolored energy in her mouth. Once ready, she blasted enemies with a massive draconic beam that erupted in front of them.

* * *

Another guard fell over in the snow, devoid of pupils in the eyes. He was amongst the many who were lying over the sidewalk leading up to Emmanuel as he had his back turned. "So sorry my friends, but…I have some _strict_ business to attend to. And as much as I would love to be indulged, I have to tend to my own matters. Good day."

As he walked off, a weakened soldier lazily reached for him. "W-wait…hold…on…" Losing all his strength, he dropped once more, blacking out.

Emmanuel continued his path undeterred, his glare hardening. _'I will not be deterred any longer. You can run, Isaac, but under this moonlight…even you can't hide from me.'_

* * *

Back where the ships were, on the head ship's observation room, Nic's fists balled. He couldn't believe what just happened. He was played for a fool, and he bought it.

"He gave us the slip from the start." He realized. "Should've known he'd try and double cross us."

"He must have launched himself along with those other pods when they were fired over the wall." Charizard surmised. "He must have known we were coming and knew this was going to happen, so he set up a decoy for us to bide time with."

"Yeah…" Nic trailed off. Something Emmanuel's clone said to him earlier threw him off.

" _It's all…business."_

' _It's all business, huh?'_ Nic didn't know much about how business worked. He realized that. Of course he was right enough to know that there was a kernel of wisdom to what Emmanuel said about deals being kept up to co. He's never been in debt himself, so he wouldn't know. Real world business was something that wasn't his thing. That's where he fell short, and that's where karma hit him the hardest.

" _I see…you can settle your business with Isaac for all I care…but the Moon Drip and the people not fighting stays out of this."_

Karma really bit him hard this time around. His own words were used against him. If he didn't feel like a fool before, he most certainly did now. _'Emmanuel…'_

"Nic." Charizard snapped him out of it.

Nic shook his head and focused. "Sorry, you're right. There's no time for mulling." He hopped onto Charizard's back, readying takeoff. "The Moon Drip's in trouble. We still have time…I can feel it."

* * *

A blue graze cut through a soldier, downing him on the ice. Erza adjusted and looked around, seeing the many soldiers keeping their distance. When she looked at them, all they could do was flinch.

"HRAH!" With a swing of her Purgatory mace, a shockwave blazed across the ice, hitting and sending men flying uncontrollably. _'Their numbers are beginning to diminish. We have to keep the pressure on!'_ she altered strategies. "Cloyster, **Icicle Crash!** "

Cloyster obeyed and took a very sharp breath. The icy exhale skywards materialized into long, sharp icicles that shot down on kneeling soldiers. When they looked up, they were blown away by piercing ice shards that prodded on the ice.

Erza stepped forward, bringing her Purgatory mace back one more time. With another horizontal swing, the shockwaves passed the icicles, eventually breaking them into smaller pieces that blew into more men. The hardened impact made them all fall over, leaving those in the back left standing.

"Are we perhaps almost done?" Cloyster asked.

Erza requipped, becoming her Armadura Pidgeot Armor. "No, but we're causing dents for certain. We just need to keep the pressure on them if we can."

"I understand."

All the men left raised their magical weapons and went charging. They all screamed and closed in on Erza and Cloyster. Suddenly an intense Heat Wave attack blew like a maelstrom, instantly repulsing them away like flies. They all screamed as the heat melted off parts of their armor as they sailed, along with waves of ice picked up from the tidal wave of heat gusts. Melted ice and water washed over them, leaving a layer of mist to swallow the area.

"Erza!"

Erza looked up. Overhead was Nic on Charizard's back. "Nic!"

Charizard landed besides Erza. Nic hopped off and reconvened with his wife. "Erza, listen. We need to get back to the Moon Drip right now. Emmanuel's inside the borders. He's probably on his way there as we speak."

Erza's eyes slowly widened with a gasp. Shock couldn't begin to describe what she was feeling right now. She looked back at the melted ice. "Then that means…"

"Yeah, he was using the brigade as decoys, and we feel for it…" He and Erza both grumbled in distaste. They got too carried away, but knew better than to scold themselves. They faced each other. "We need to head back, now."

Erza nodded. "Right. Let's move it!"

The two ended up on Charizard's back as he soared across the sky. He roared loudly as he twisted and sailed into the black sky, heading to where the moonlight was gleaming most. Nic and Erza had serious looks as they were on the move, hurrying and hoping they weren't too late.

Down below on the deck, Dereece looked up to see Charizard fly overhead. "Huh? Hey, look at that." Camilla, Duncan, and their Pokémon all looked up, seeing a dragon sail with a flame behind it. "Is that who I think it is?"

Heracross narrowed his vision. "Looks like a Charizard from here."

"That's because it _is_ a Charizard." Dereece realized. "That's Nic's Charizard, the one that we saw when we first came here! Why is it flying off though?"

Camilla looked confused until she heard a groan in her arms. When she looked down, Joey was stirring awake. "Joey!" she gasped.

Joey winced as he slowly opened his eyes. "Gnnngh…where…?" His vision cleared, allowing him to see Camilla. "Camilla, is that you? Ugh, my head." He put a hand on his head, feeling a deep throbbing. "It feels like a Rhyhorn stomped on me like a dozen times over or something." He noticed Dereece staring up at the sky and not him. "Huh? Uh, hey, hello? Dereece? I'm still here. What are you staring at that's so…" He felt a tap from beside. "Yeah?" He looked at Quilladin pointing up at the sky. Joey followed, and just like the others, he showed gaping shock as well. "GAH! I-is that…Nic-senpai and Charizard up there?!" He instantly stood up, revitalized by the sight. "Woah, look at them go! They're like speeding fighter jets or something!"

"How are you able to stand?" Heracross sweat dropped.

Duncan stepped forward. "Well at least you're able to stand. Good. Now you can get that princess back to where she belongs."

Joey's eyes widened upon realization. "Hey yeah, that's right." He turned towards Camilla and smiled. "You hear that, Camilla? We're getting you back home and off this deathtrap, you with us?"

Camilla smiled softly and chuckled. "Yes, that is good news. Thank you, Joey."

Joey sheepishly turned away. "Yeah, well, getting here was one thing. So now how do we get to where Nic-senpai is hea…?"

 _THUD_

Joey and everyone flinched when they heard a loud bang. When they looked over, they saw a launch pod that was embedded in the massive ice wall that had fallen onto the deck. It was still covered in ice, but it looked to be in good condition.

"Well, guess that's luck." Duncan meekly said.

"Yeah no kidding, where did that thing come from?" Dereece questioned. He looked up, seeing a few of the launch pods that were supposed to have sailed off embedded into the ice wall. "Did some of them misfire and were abandoned?"

"Well in any case, looks like we have our mode of transportation." Duncan sourly said. "So how about it?"

Dereece looked back at Joey. "Captain, what do you think?"

Joey was sanding still as everything zoomed in around him. His eyes turned to twinkling stars as he smirked. He eagerly stepped forward, raising a fist. "Everyone! All aboard! We're taking the express way this time!"

Dereece comically sighed. _'I was afraid of this.'_ He turned towards the pod. _'Oh well, how hard can it be?'_

…

"WAAAAAHH!" Dereece was comically wailing as his eye sockets were almost out of place. He was in the back-pod, where he, Duncan, Camilla, and the Pokémon were in the passenger pods while Joey was in the main pod. Joey was laughing with a great big smile on his face. They were sailing at over 100mph, at least according to the metric scales on their pods. The jet engines were like a soaring blaze that shot them into the sky. Anyone watching would see a flaming comet heading far over the tidal wall for Glacidia.

"Captain! Captain! Slow down! We're going too fast!" Dereece pleaded, only for the pod to increase speeds.

"Sorry buddy, I ain't seeing airbrakes! Guess we're going in hot!"

"That isn't what airbrakes do! We're gonna burn up before we even get there!"

"Gngh! Heracross, move! Your arms are poking my side!" Quilladin complained.

"Me? Your spikes are in my back!" he retorted.

"Hey, I can't help it!"

"Oof! Golly, y'all better make some space for me." Seel insisted.

"Ow! Your horn's touching my booty!"

"Oops, sorry."

Joey eagerly smiled as he had eyes set on the prize. "Hang on Isaac…I'm gonna keep my word to the end. This I swear! Glacidia, here we come!" He added propulsion, making it zip across the sky faster. "YEAH~!"

"SOMEBODY GET ME OFF THIS THING!" Dereece cried out loud enough to be heard throughout Galcidia's night sky.

* * *

Bigge and the two other generals were squaring off against the Dragon Slayers when a communication lacrima went off in Bigge's ear. He pressed the button, starting the message. "What is it?"

People started talking inside, catching Ebna and Tangath's interests.

"Uh huh…I see…I understand. Good." Bigge started smirking. "That's good news. Keep me filled in, over." He got his finger away and looked at his associates. "Seems that the diversion plan was a success. Emmanuel is closing in on the Moon Drip as we speak."

Using his Dragon Slayer hearing, Natsu and the others went wide-eyed.

"That so?" Ebna inquired.

"Guess that's a good thing. I was beginning to wonder if they really would fall for it." Tangath admitted. "Looks like I had nothing to worry about."

"Say what? Guys are you hearing this?" Natsu growled.

"Oh I hear alright." Gajeel replied. "Sounds like these guys are saying they're playing us for patsies."

"Then that means this whole attack was a ruse itself." Wendy realized.

Tangath smirked. "Correct. You Fiorian Mages catch on rather fast. I'm impressed. Still, that won't save you any less trouble that you've gotten yourselves in. Once Emmanuel gets to the Moon Drip, it's game over."

"That so?" Flares picked up around Natsu. "Not if we can't do anything to stop ya."

"Your tongue is as bold as is your actions, young one." Ebna reached for something behind. When he pulled his arm ahead, he revealed a prolonged mace with spikes on it. The mace was heavily accented with neon blue markings on the spikes and along the handle. "Still, as head generals of the Durandel Fleet, it is our sworn duty to put down anyone who stands in our way."

Similarly, Bigge pulled out a bludgeon with gray accents on it. And Tangath pulled out a longsword with a narrow tip at the end. The silver edging had black flat ends with red accents lining up the midsection.

"If you have even the slightest hope of stopping Emmanuel, then all you have to do is get through to us."

"That's just the way we like it. Gajeel, Wendy."

"Right!" Both yelled in unison.

"Guess things are getting serious now. Time for us to break it to them just who we are." Natsu's body began igniting in enhanced flames with sparks in them. The tempest raged all around him, even more so with shadows whisking around Gajeel and poison swirling around Wendy.

In front of the three generals, three hemispheres were spiraling madly. The ice fragments around them were being blown away, causing them to backpedal. They grunted as they used their arms and weapons to shield from the excess debris.

"This power…where is it coming from?" Bigge questioned.

"It can't be from them, can it?" Ebna moved his mace to get a good look.

Tangath grunted as he snarled in anticipation.

The three veils started eroding ahead of them as they looked on. A wave of fire and lightning moved, revealing Natsu cloaked in the two elements with pumped fists. " **Lightning Flame Dragon Mode!** "

A wave of metallic shadow dissipated, revealing Gajeel with dark iron skin and spiked black hair. " **Iron Shadow Dragon Mode!** "

Toxic winds dissipated, revealing Wendy with her hair and eyes a vermilion shade as she stood proudly. " **Poison Sky Dragon Mode!** "

The three forces caused the air around them to shift. Tangath growled as he clutched his sword tighter. "Seems they've powered up somehow." He analyzed.

Natsu looked over to Wendy, modest shock showing. "Woah, Wendy! When did you learn to do that?!"

Wendy glared forward with literal venom in her gaze. "I got this power from ingesting Erik's poison a while back against that lamia." She smiled. "Now I'm able to use poison in my winds."

"For real?" Happy looked towards Carla, who nodded in confirmation.

"Yes. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. She's become more bold than I ever expected. Honestly, now she has me more worried about her health than before."

Bigge scoffed. "So then, it looks like you mages have more tricks up your sleeves. But will they save you?" he held up his bludgeon to ready for battle.

"Only one way to find out." Natsu grinned, lightning flashing around him. "Time for the dragons to go hunting."

* * *

"Fire!" Men that have gotten passed the tidal wall were kneeling or standing as they used heated lacrima rifles, firing ahead.

"We got them on the ropes!"

"Keep the pressure on!"

Gray swiped an arm, summoning ice to shield heat projectiles, only for the ice to melt. "This isn't good." He pivoted, creating a wave of ice that melted quickly. "Their gaining up on us over here!"

Juvia was under fire as heat projectiles were firing at her. With a swipe of her arms she manifested a wall of water to block them. With cover she faced Gray. "Their attacks are revolving around fire and heat. Your ice won't be that effective against them."

Gray slammed his hands on the ground, making a massive slab of ice ahead. The precipice ice sleets were thick, making cover as the soldiers and their Fire-types commanded used flames and projectiles to hammer and melt the ice at a rapid acceleration. "I know that." He grunted. _'And it doesn't help that Snover's Snow Warning Ability already used itself up. They won't be taking damage as long as we stay on defense for this long.'_

Snover scuttled away. "This looks bad. They have us surrounded!"

"Very bad, yes." Bergmite bluntly said. Snorunt was beside them, but he was on the ground chewing on ice from Gray's magic. "Snover. Please, refrain."

Perking up, Snover's mouth was loads of ice chunks in them. He hastily swallowed before answering. "I can't help it! I'm stressing out here! I didn't sign up for this!"

"Yeah, well none of us did." Gray said. "But a job's still a job. We gotta make sure that as many soldiers don't get pass us." He ducked in time when a singular hole was breached at eye-level. A red laser dissipated, leaving him kneeling. "Damnit."

Juvia swirled her arms with blades of water as she went on offense. " **Water Slicer!** " She sent crescents of pressurized water at the soldiers, cutting as many down as possible.

Beside her, Numel and Houndour were closing in on Marill. As they darted for her, she took in a deep breath and expelled Water Gun, hitting and blowing back one Fire-type at a adjusted beside Juvia as they prepared for the next wave.

"Gray, I'll supply as much cover as I can! I'll hold them off until you're back on your feet!"

"Juvia…" He watched her summon a wave forward, washing away as many people possible. Juvia swirled her arms around and sent icy water in streams around her, shooting back many around her.

As he watched her get to work, Gray was at a loss for words alone. Here he was at a disadvantage, and there was Juvia, the one supporting him until he found his worthwhile strength. The longer he stared at her, the more he started thinking. _'Juvia, you…'_

" _Gray…It's gonna be okay. I promise you, I won't do what I did before to make you walk down that path. Please…just let me be there this time."_

Remembering her words from before, Gray had a shadow over his eyes as bangs covered him. _'Juvia…'_ Flashes of their times together began boiling inside. From their job on Mt. Hakobe, to their talk with Orion, to the battle against Invel, to the date they had the other night. With all that in mind, a soft smile crawled on his face. _'You've really turned into a good mage, haven't you. Guess that's because you've been stuck with me weighing you down.'_

"Fire!" A soldier chopped forward, commanding three soldiers to fire steam beams from their nozzles and spread out towards Juvia. As the steam eroded across the ice and water, it touched the water, and in turn caused Juvia to wince in pain.

"Juvia!" Marill gasped.

Surrounded by mist, Juvia found herself incapable of moving without rashes and burning sensations crawling up and down her skin. _'My body reacts badly to steam when it's not produced from my magic. They're trying to immobilize me and my magic so I can't attack.'_

"Heh, good luck with that!" a soldier mocked. "By taking in moisture from the air and water, we can mix it with our heat lacrima to create steam! Makes for a great cover! Now, attack!"

' _It's no good. I can't see-!'_ Juvia went wide-eyed when men closed the gap on her. They all had magical weapons that were producing steam to strike her down. She could only stand in horror as they closed the gap.

Gray's glare returned as he started standing. "Sorry…" An icy aura ignited around his body. "But I'm done acting like a weight."

"Gray!" Juvia gasped.

As his ice wall finally came down, men and Fire-types advanced as well. Gray gave one cool look at them before a flash erupted from his body. Devil Slayer ice exploded in a second, flashing ice gleams before the guys processed it. Before long, everything – even his own ice – was layered in Devil Slayer ice and frost.

Juvia was at a loss for words. Time slowed down for her as she looked at Gray again, his stature tall and reaffirmed. He had a serious frown as he eyed every single frozen statue of a man within a mile radius. He slowly smirked. "Looks like that extra practice out by the glaciers paid off after all."

"Gray." Juvia gasped. "Are you…?"

Gray looked over to Juvia, giving her a confident grin. "Don't worry, I'm good now, thanks. Guess I just needed a breather. So…" He faced forward, Devil Slayer frost surging. "You good?"

Juvia focused and smiled. "With you, darling…I will be."

* * *

Under the moonlight, the running waters of the oasis were the only sounds comforting the weary souls that were guarding the Moon Drip pool. Cross-legged on grass in front of the pool, Isaac was retaining as much calm as possible, while Levy was scrolling through another textbook with her reading glasses. Both were doing their best to remain calm, although from the look on Isaac's face that he was doing poorly.

"… _young man." He started. "I hope you understand what's about to happen."_

" _I know." He answered. "You know too, right?"_

" _Yes, I'm afraid so…you know, I still don't trust you."_

" _I know."_

" _But as much as I want to hate you right now, rescuing my daughter is more important. So I'm going to tell you this. I beg you…make sure you bring my daughter back in your arms. I want to see her once more."_

A part of him at that moment wished he never said that to Joey. He wanted to abscond the blonde party boy for the mess that he's been constantly making in Glacidia, and how Camilla was constantly warped into his antics of trouble. He thought – knew – that was the life of a mage, to create trouble with their magic, to cause nothing more than harm to one another. He wanted to question why he would put faith in mages when he himself loathed them, and moreover, why he entrusted this importance to Joey. He never liked him to begin with, so why him specifically? Was it because of how he saw Camilla with him when they were talking before the battle? He didn't know for certain, but that yearning ache he felt when he saw that genuine smile on his daughter's face, and how it was for Joey and not her own father…it pained him, but at that moment he started seeing why he picked Joey. And to an extension, saw the only hope he had to see her again.

Levy looked over, seeing how tense Isaac was becoming. And yet…he was grinning, albeit weakly. "Is there something wrong?"

Isaac perked up, realizing he was silent too long. "No. Just…thinking is all."

"I know what you mean." She looked back to the pages with a grin. "It takes a lot to take your mind off of something so important to you. Especially when you can only do so much from afar."

Gajeel pulled back a roaring fist of iron shadows and roared with all his might. He plunged the fist where Bigge was, shattering the ice. Bigge grunted as he locked eyes with Gajeel for a moment in suspense. With a huff he swung his bludgeon down, only for Gajeel to morph into shadows. Startled, Bigge was unaware of Gajeel morphing behind. When he realized this and looked back, he was socked across the face with a dark metallic fist.

"But it also takes a lot for you hold onto faith. That's a powerful motivator next to trust." Levy turned the page in the book. "And trust me, I'm speaking from experience. Even if mages _are_ potentially dangerous, that doesn't mean you can't rely on them when you can't do something yourself. It's the same with Pokémon. Believe me, I never would have thought the same thing if it wasn't for Nic." She flashed back to when she saw him and Nic-Greninja face off against God Serena back in the Council War. "It's amazing what you can learn just by watching others. You learn so much, right?" She looked towards him with a genuine smile.

That smile made him snicker.

"Was it something I said?" Levy asked.

"On the contrary. It's something that Nic himself said." He admitted. "You know, I just now realized this…you Fiorian Mages are sure strange…but I can respect that. Thank you."

Levy smiled in agreement. Suddenly ruptures from outside the vaulted walls made her gasp and turn.

Isaac shot up. "Someone's attacking the vault." Levy shot up beside him. "Curses, did they really make it this far in so soon?"

They could hear it loud and clear through the massive vault-like gates ahead of them. The sounds of explosions going off, and men screaming as it sounded like dozens were being pushed around. The unnerving racket outside made Levy take off her reading glasses and Isaac furrow a brow.

The banging got louder, and louder, and the many men squealing was increasing in volume. After a long pause, the vaulted doorway abruptly blew open with what looked like charges. Smoke and embers burst through the gates, leaving obscene views for Levy and Isaac.

The sound of a cane tapping against ground became clearer while what appeared to be a silhouette of a man with a massive coat walked with uproarious stature. As the smoke dissipated, his figure could be seen smirking.

"It's him. Emmanuel Durandel." Isaac mentally cursed.

"That's him in person?" Levy realized.

The smoke dissipated soon, leaving Emmanuel in full glory with the staff in hand. He basked under the moonlight, which oddly gave him a less than charismatic appeal. After a prolonged glare, he finally spoke. "Well, well, Isaac. Why am I not surprised to see you here of all places? It makes sense, considering that this is the one thing you care about most in the world."

"Emmanuel." Isaac growled. "How did you get passed all my guards?"

"Please, like it would be you to think that meager spears and pitchforks you call magic would be a match for me. After all, when it comes to winning, the best bet is to hold close to your best assets. Right?" He held up his staff with the black orb at the end, dark fog misting inside.

Levy and Isaac tensed up.

"Now, dear Isaac…" Emmanuel started walking. "I believe that you and I have some unfinished negotiations that we need to assert. I've held up my end for about six years now. Exactly how much longer do you intend to play coy with me?"

"As long as it takes to ensure this pool's safety." Isaac reached out. "Do it now!"

"You too, Klink! Go!" Levy signaled.

Emmanuel's eyes widened. He picked up on something as he turned his head. Behind his back, in midair, there was a furry white fist. Beartic unleashed a roar as he punched down. Emmanuel dodged in time to avoid the crushing blow. He slid to the side.

"So that was your game, wasn't it?"

Behind him, Klink was higher up as it spun its gears, crackling electricity. " **Thunder Shock!** " It released a weak bolt of lightning at Emmanuel when he turned around. He was shocked by the attack and gritted his teeth as a small electrical surge stunned him.

"Alright! Nice work!" Levy praised.

"Emmanuel, give up now. Our deal is off." Isaac confidently imposed.

Gritting hard through the attack, he reached for something inside his coat. It looked like a hand-size charge. "Gnnngh…that's what you think!" he sniped. He pivoted and threw the charge skywards at Klink. The charge got to a high enough point before it went off, releasing a powerful flash in front of Klink's face. The white blur caused it to squeal in shock, making it lose focus and unable to see Emmanuel.

On a knee, Emmanuel looked up at the stun flare he had going before Beartic swooped from the side. He dodged another punch to the ground by his furry fist, making him slide away again and face off against the polar bear-like monster. He smirked.

"Heh, so, Isaac's relying on Pokémon as well. That's certainly a surprise." He looked over at Isaac. "So, even you've sunk this far low as to include these creatures into your inner circle, Isaac. If it wasn't for these circumstances, I would be toasting to your little revelation, but unfortunately for you, my good mood isn't what it once was." He pulled up a Great Ball just as he picked up on Beartic's next attack.

"Stay still!" Beartic stomped, but Emmanuel dodged over towards the bridge.

The flare finally went off, making Klink shake its gears and look down.

With a sneer, Emmanuel held up the Great Ball. "Now, to show you what a grievous mistake you've made…come on out Ninetales!"

The capsule opened, revealing an elegant yellow fox Pokémon. Ninetales had a silky-smooth mane and bright yellow fur, with gorgeous red eyes with nine eloquent tales that lashed under the moonlight. He craned his head around and huffed, exerting embers.

"A Ninetales?" Levy pulled out her PokeDex, analyzing who was standing in their way.

" **Ninetales, the Fox Pokémon. The flickering flames it spews from its mouth leave its opponents hypnotized. Then, this extremely intelligent Pokémon attacks.** "

"A Fire-type. This isn't good." Levy scorned.

Beartic and Klink stood beside each other as Ninetales looked calm and confident on all fours. "If your first attempt fails, you should always make sure you have a backup plan in case you fall short. I've learned this the hard way when you have been postponing our agreement and I had to take such drastic measure, Isaac."

Isaac growled angrily.

"Now, Ninetales. Would you be so kind as to preoccupy our friends' pets for a while? I have to go claim something that's rightfully mine."

"Yes, Master." Ninetales took a big leap and landed in front of Beartic and Klink. "So tell me, between the furry one of us, whose fur best suites them? Me, or you?"

Beartic got on all fours, roaring in hostility. "I'll freeze your mane right down to the bridled end."

Ninetales smirked. "Is that so? Well then, this should be good."

" **Blizzard!** " Beartic opened his maw, expelling a frosted white blast wave towards Ninetales. Ninetales stood there as he allowed the attack to engulf him in the frosted wake. His mane was whisking in the winds, but he retained a calm look as though it didn't affect him.

' _That's not very effective.'_ Klink realized. _'Ice isn't that strong against Fire. Maybe using Thunder Shock and chance of paralysis will even it out.'_ "…it's worth a shot!" It started generated static. "Okay then!"

Ninetales scoffed. "Is this supposed to be your best?"

Beartic's eyes widened. Ninetales craned his head around as he generated a fireball.

" **Flame Burst!** " The fox opened his maw and shot the hemisphere of fire through the Blizzard. Much to Beartic's surprise, he was overwhelmed as the fireball dissipated the cold attack and struck him, engulfing him in flames.

"What?! No!" Klink looked over, but sprays of Flame Burst blindsided it. It winced as the sparks made it unable to finish charging up for Thunder Shock. With the momentary weakness, Ninetales smirked. He embedded himself in bright blue, via Quick Attack and lunged into Klink. The intense blow was enough to ground it, leaving dust and snow to erupt beside Beartic.

Ninetales landed as both strained to get up. They looked up, seeing the smirk on Ninetales' smug face. "This should be enlightening…"

As dust and embers flickered in the background, Emmanuel made his way across the bridged over towards Isaac and Levy. As he drew closer, the unpleasant vibe he was giving served to intensify. Levy and Isaac tensed more as he drew closer, and closer…until finally, they were standing on the same island, with the two standing before the pool with Emmanuel there to achieve.

Emmanuel's eyes narrowed. "Now…shall we try this one more time, Isaac Farlock…will you keep your word, and make our deal behind us?"

Isaac gritted his teeth and swiped his arm. "Never! I've already put that risk behind me! You've taken my daughter and hurt my people! I will have my revenge!"

Levy swept in front, ready to fight. "Stand back or you'll get hurt! Keep close to the pool at all times!"

Emmanuel's dark smirk widened. "That's right, keep it close…and that closure will be your downfall. You hold things so precious to you that you can't let go of them. That if you lose them that you'll be nothing. That's your weakness. And from the looks of it, you being here just proves my point…valuing everything over the smallest things is a virtue that you lack. A virtue you never had."

"Are you sure those are virtues, or are those you worked towards?" Isaac countered.

Emmanuel glanced away. "I suppose both actually. It's true humans don't always seek honesty over personal goals. Sometimes they have to do the unthinkable if it means getting what they want. But the one link to both those concepts is one thing: Desperation. Although I do consider my flaws, I am not driven by desperation, unlike you. Of the two of us, who do you think is more human?"

Isaac growled. He wanted to say himself, or perhaps emit a witty retort, but he had nothing. He was speechless.

Emmanuel smirked. "I didn't think so." He lifted his staff, readying his attack.

Gasping, Levy issued an attack. " **Solid Script: Fire!** " She created the word 'FIRE' out of actual fire and launched it at Emmanuel.

Emmanuel stood there as the words closed in, swallowing him in a blaze. The words burned into his body, creating a massive wake of flames that blocked everyone's view.

"Did that get him?" Levy hoped that was the case. Yet something in her gut was telling her otherwise.

As the flame wave dissipated, the body of Emmanuel looked incinerated. In fact, it looked to be melting into a laughing clump of grime that melted into the earth like slime. The flames flickered away, and the figment along with it.

"A substitution?" Levy realized.

"What? Magic?" Isaac gasped. He had no idea he could do this behind his back.

A laugh came from behind, making them both turn and see who it was. "What's with the face, Isaac? You look surprised." It was Emmanuel, and he smirked as he was without a scratch. "Then again, you've been surprising me, so who am I to complain?"

Levy's brow furrowed. "No damage. Of course, now I get it. He used Cloning Magic to distract us."

"I didn't realize he could do that." Isaac faulted.

"Of course you didn't, my friend." Emmanuel reached the staff out, making its dark tip shine. "You were too enclosed from accepting the world's problems that your views are narrow-minded. Now, open your eyes!" He fired a slim black ray from the tip, heading right for them both.

Isaac flinched as the ray drew closer. Once again Levy slipped in front. " **Solid Script: Guard!** " She created the word 'GUARD' in midair, making a shield out of the words that blocked the dark ray.

Emmanuel's halved his eyelids. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Huh?" True to his warning, Levy could see the barrier she made with her words breaking apart, as if it was corroding away by the black beam. In a matter of seconds, her defense evaporated into thin air and continued its course, causing Levy and Isaac to duck as the ray continued its path. It blasted into the longwall of the vault far away, causing smoke to rise.

Levy groaned as she got up. "Are you okay?"

Isaac stirred up. "Yes, I believe so…" he faced Emmanuel. "But, that magic…did it just eat at yours?"

Emmanuel started his path towards them as they got to their feet. "I advise that you stand out of my way, less you want the extent of another shot. This time, I won't miss." As he walked towards them, the staff started glowing a dark light, as if resonating with his desires.

Levy grunted in frustration. _'This is bad. If his Black Magic eats away at regular magic, then we can only delay until the others get here. We'll just have to hold him off until they get here."_

As Emmanuel drew closer, Levy stood her ground. He raised a brow in curiosity.

" **Solid Script: Stone!** "

Creating the word 'STONE' over Emmanuel's head, the word dropped down onto him. Everyone watched with anticipation as it drew closer, but Emmanuel simply stuck the staff up, corroding the magic into thin air.

"Next." He mocked.

Levy gritted her teeth. Once more she created words. " **Solid Script: Storm!** " She summoned a compressed storm of humidity, high pressure winds, and partial lightning that closed in on Emmanuel.

With a nonchalant expression, Emmanuel stuck the staff out. The black tip went first into the storm, eating away at it. The winds and elements were seen expanding and eating its way towards the words. Levy was left stunned as she could only watch the words and elements be eaten away. The black void swallowed it all up, exerting a shockwave that flung Levy onto her back with a thud.

Levy laid on the ground for a short while suffering recoil, but as she stirred back up, Emmanuel was nonchalantly walking towards them. _'He can eat at raw elements other than fire. That magic…just what is it?'_

Emmanuel stopped when he was a few feet away from them. He raised his staff slowly and pointed it at Levy with a glare. The fierce look in his eyes made Levy grit her teeth as she found herself cornered.

"I'd rather not have to use this on other mages, mostly because those hit with this power don't always survive." He explained. "At the very least they suffer Magic Deficiency Disease, but only if they're fortunate enough to have a significant amount of power."

With him closer, Levy and Isaac's skin began crawling with goosebumps. Being closer to the staff and dark orb, they could feel a very negative flow of force from it.

"I'll only say this once to be fair, because I do not intend to get others caught in business affairs on my behalf…stand down, and give me the Moon Drip."

Levy and Isaac struggled to answer. They heard explosions in the distance and looked over.

From a recent smoke cloud, Beartic was seen falling onto his back hard, whereas Ninetales landed without harm. The Fox Pokémon watched as Beartic strained to get up, whereas Klink floated overhead and started grinding its gears at a rapid acceleration.

" **Vice Grip!** "

It shot down with churning gears, but Ninetales backpedaled to avoid the gears. With close range at hand, he swung his tails around and smacked Klink into Beartic's face. With the recoil stopping them, flames gathered in Ninetales maw. He reared his head back and let loose with a massive blast of Flamethrower across the atmosphere.

Beartic and Klink were too dazed to realize it before both were swallowed in a wake of flames. Flames and smoke billowed skywards in an eruption, soon to dissipate. When it did, it revealed Beartic and Klink both on the ground, fainted.

"Klink, no!" Levy gasped.

Isaac saw his defeated Beartic and grunted. "Damnit…"

With his adversaries defeated, Ninetales flipped overhead in an extraordinary jump, flipping and rolling under the moonlight right in front of Emmanuel. "Good work, Ninetales. I trust that you are all warmed up, are you not?"

Ninetales nodded. "Yes, quite so."

Taking opportunity, Levy swiped an arm, creating the word 'WATER'. With a battle cry, she shot the word at Ninetales. Emmanuel stuck his staff out, using the black hemisphere to dispel the water so it didn't affect Ninetales.

" **Confuse Ray!** " he commanded.

Ninetales craned his head around, generated golden orbs around the head. He swung his head around, sending the orbs at Levy. With her magic blocked and unable to do anything, Levy covered up as the Ghost-type attack made contact with her. The bright light enveloped her and faded, leaving her dizzy to where she lost the ability to stand.

"What's…happening…?" she started falling over. "I'm feeling…so dizzy…" She fell to her side with another thud.

Isaac looked up, seeing Ninetales and Emmanuel glaring him down.

"Isaac…" He lifted his staff to his face. "I've been extremely patient with your courtesy, expecting you to return the same thing I show others. I've given you money, wealth, and this is how you repay me?" he scoffed. "By all means, this argument could've been settled with court in the Magic Council, so you might be asking why we didn't do that before? It's simple: Because you'd ignore it either way." His eyes narrowed in disgust. "You'd ignore justice for your own personal gain. You'd squander another's trust and make shut them out when you don't find them useful…you're so selfish it makes me sick. I can't believe that I made a deal with a backstabbing coward."

Isaac balled his fists in anguish. He wanted to yell out and defy him, but all he could do was glare daggers with veins around his eyes.

Emmanuel sighed. "…reap what you sow. I'm sorry…but this is the real world. And it has no use for enclosure. Ninetales, finish him!"

"With pleasure." Ninetales nodded and started gathering flames into the maw.

Isaac stepped back out of fright. All he could do was look terrified at the incoming blaze.

"Goodbye, Isaac." Emmanuel swung his staff forward, commanding Ninetales to release Flamethrower. The blaze shot across the oasis grass, setting on fire as it closed in on Isaac.

Isaac stood in fear as an image of Camilla flashed in his head. _'Camilla…I'm sorry. Please forgive me!'_ He closed his eyes, waiting for the end as the attack swept on in.

Flames enveloped the area. Smoke and embers could be seen from afar as an eruption scattered dust and winds around Emmanuel as he watched a tower of flames envelop Isaac. He and Ninetales stood still as they did the unthinkable, but it's what had to be done.

Emmanuel lowered his head, sighing at the actions.

As smoke faded away, a turquoise shield could be seen.

"What?" Ninetales gasped. Even Emmanuel showed surprise.

Isaac found his body wasn't incinerated and meekly opened his eyes. He looked ahead, his own shock showing when the dust cleared to show a turquoise shield fading, revealing a Cloyster ahead of him. "What…?"

"Sorry." Cloyster apologized.

"A Pokémon?" Emmanuel gasped. He looked up, seeing a high-speed glint shoot down. His eyes widened in shock. "Ninetales, move-!"

Ninetales looked up, but it was too late when an orange blur smashed down at bone-crushing acceleration. The ground overturned as an eruption of earth and heated shockwaves rushed across the area. The pulsating pressure was so strong that it caused Isaac to slid back with his coat shifting in the winds.

"Gnnngh…! What…is going on?!"

From the dust cloud, two swords shot out like daggers. Emmanuel used his staff to deflect them, but he stepped back out of shock. From the cloud, a figure with long red hair glowed as it flipped in front. When it landed, it had on silver armor with bladed wings.

Emmanuel's eyes widened. "You…!"

"Nice work, Cloyster. You ensured his safety at the last second." It was Erza in her Heaven's Wheel Armor, and she had a serious glare fixed on Isaac. "And now, it's our turn."

Isaac gasped in shock. "You…" He looked over, processing the smoke clearing to reveal Nic as he hopped off Charizard's back, while the Fire/Flying-type roared as he had a foot over Ninetales' defeated form.

Nic rushed over, immediately getting to Levy's aid. "Levy! Speak to me, Levy! Are you okay?"

Levy stirred. Her eyes were hazy as she weakly turned towards Nic. "Gnnngh…who…who's there?" she moaned.

Nic furrowed his brow. _'She's out of it. I'll have to see what I can do.'_ From his back he pulled out a small, golden spray bottle. He looked at it discerningly like a foreign object. "I sure hope a Full Heal does the trick. Only one way to find out." He put the bottle to Levy's face and began spraying her. The long spray began to scrunch up her face, until she started opening her eyes.

"Gnnngh, wha…" Levy stirred back up, hand to her head. "Oh, my head…"

"Levy, are you hurt?" Nic asked concerningly.

Levy looked towards him. "Nic? When did you get here?"

Nic smiled. "It's a long story." He looked towards Isaac next. "Isaac, how are you holding up?"

Though shaken, Isaac was on a knee as he held his head down in shame. "I'm sorry…Emmanuel is too strong. I wasn't able to do anything…I'm a failure."

Nic closed his eyes and lifted himself. "…no, it's fine. You did what you could…" he glared forward, his Charizard stepping besides him. "Guess it's our turn now, Charizard."

Charizard nodded.

Emmanuel stepped back with a grunt. _'I wasn't expecting him to catch up so quick-!'_ He barely missed a sword that passed his right cheek. It pierced the ground behind him, causing him to look back at the shimmering blade. He moved to touch his cheek, seeing a small drip of blood on his fingers. He gasped when he looked back at Erza.

"Next one won't miss. Surrender if you know what's good for you." She demanded.

Emmanuel scoffed. "Erza Scarlet, or should I say Erza Pularis. I see that your husband had insisted on drawing you into his dilemma."

Erza poised all the swords she had out. "I wouldn't expect the likes of you to understand. Just as my problems are important to him, so is his to me. I'd be willing to risk everything if it means being beside him to the end."

Emmanuel grinned. "Dedication to the end. I respect that…" He pointed his staff at her. "Too bad I don't condone whose side you're taking!" He fired a slim dark ray at her, to which she readied a counter.

Erza used her armor's powers and telepathically made a multi-pointed sword wheel that spun to take the blow. Emmanuel smirked when he saw her counter. As expected, the black beam evaporated the telepathic links and the swords spun apart, allowing the beam to close in. Erza flew up to avoid the ray, shock on her face.

"That power is strong." She analyzed. "Just what kind of magic is it?"

"Erza, be careful! It'll eat at any magic you throw at it!" Levy warned from below.

Erza looked down at her opponent. "An anti-magic weapon?"

Nic stood for battle, but then he heard a faint cry that run in his ears. " **…** " He flinched and looked towards the moon as it shined from high overhead. With widened eyes, the basking lunar radiance was making his skin crawl. _'It's the moon again. What is it saying?'_

Emmanuel lifted the staff up towards Erza. "So then, how will you fight? Will you use magic knowing that I'll keep dispelling it?" He charged up another blast, shooting a ray at her once more. "Or will you stand your ground foolishly and accept a meaningless fate!"

Erza used her armor's mobility to dodge the black ray and jettisoned around the air gracefully. As the ray snaked and swerved through to get her, she spun and evaded at narrow angles. When she found herself almost surrounded, she shot up at the last second as it dissipated in a splatter beneath her.

' _I can't let that magic touch me. I can feel a strong corrosion coming from it. There's no question about it, that's no ordinary Black Magic.'_

Emmanuel smirked as he fired a beam again, this one dense and heading in a straight line.

"Cloyster, intercept! **Hydro Pump!** "

Down below, Cloyster expelled an intense blast of pressurized water that shot skywards. The massive wake of it met the black ray in the middle, creating a clouded mist that blocked everyone's view of Erza. From the cloud moments later, a blur zipped down, revealing Erza in her Black Wing Armor. She slammed her swords down on the ground in a harsh cross.

" **Moon Flash!** "

The slash wave traveled across the ground at Emmanuel. He stuck his staff out and took the blunt of the wave, dispelling it while the oasis lands beneath were being torn up by Erza's attack.

"You Fiorian Mages sure are messy, do you know that?" he mocked.

Erza gritted her teeth in a cold glare.

' _That staff is the source of the magic. Maybe he's using that as a conducting point to channel his magic as well.'_ Nic glowed, shifting into his Dread Form, leaving his whole color scheme black and gray. _'Either way, disarming him is the first priority.'_ He swiped his arm. " **Embargo!** "

Ethereal dark chains expelled from Nic's body as they shot at Emmanuel. The businessman found himself looking around to find a funnel of chains surrounding him, blocking his vision. "What's this?" He suddenly felt a tight pressure around his wrists. When he looked down, he saw that his wrists had chains around them.

"Now, Erza!"

Erza nodded. "Right, then let's go! Cloyster, **Hydro Pump!** "

"Charizard, **Flamethrower!** "

Cloyster and Charizard had swells of water and fire in their maws. As they both roared, a torrential blast of water and blazing fire shot across the atmosphere with shockwaves splitting air particles apart. They were two rays that Emmanuel couldn't escape. He was wide-eyed when two explosive blasts of broiling fire and water expelled on the other side of the oasis, creating a cover of steam that made it hard to see the results.

Isaac had a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Did that do it?"

Nic stared coldly into the steam. He watched as he saw a melting silhouette turn to grime. His eyes narrowed in disgust. "No." He caught whim of the real Emmanuel grabbing hold of his staff and racing towards the edge of the pool. With a swipe of his arm, Nic shot a Dark Pulse horizontally, creating a dark wall of eruptions that caused Emmanuel to slide backwards and cover up in pained grunts.

As the dust cleared, Erza and everyone were seen glaring at Emmanuel. They were all at a standstill and ready to close in.

Erza pointed a sword at him. "Don't move. Stay where you are!"

Emmanuel frowned angrily. "I believe that's _my_ line." He slowly lifted his staff to aim it for the pool. Almost immediately everyone froze on the spot. "Nobody moves unless I tell them to, unless you want to be responsible for this pool's tainting."

Isaac grunted angrily. "Emmanuel, what are you thinking?! This pool is sacred, you can't just taint it!"

"And why shouldn't I?" Emmanuel scoffed. "In a world where it's give and take, do you give back when someone gives first? Stop to think about it, if I wasn't given this Moon Drip in the first place, then I wouldn't be taking it like I am now. It's all a matter of compensation."

"No, that's not it." Erza argued. "It's all a matter of preservation. You're willing to trade off your sense of pride as a business man over a personal grudge."

Emmanuel smirked. "Fitting words from a noble mage of your caliber. I've heard of the many guilds who were well against yours for various reasons. Are you implying that mine aren't as justified as your own?"

"We fight to protect one another. Not to abscond morals like you."

Emmanuel sighed gravely. "Typical denial. You mages work for money, do you not? You do the work and you get paid. But, if you've done nothing wrong and you don't get the promised reward, then who's the one at fault? To be cheated of what you were promised is a harsh enough punishment to define as immoral. To be dishonest with others when they did the work is being dishonest with yourself. And if I'm being honest with myself, I believe that no matter how personal a matter is…you should always stay true to your word, even if it means taking drastic measures. That's the meaning of compensation."

"Emmanuel…" Nic walked closer, making a few short strides before stopping. "Listen. I get it, and if I'm honest, I agree with you."

"Nic." Erza murmured.

"Your actions were entirely justified. If I was being honest too, I'd probably feel the same way. If I was promised something, and maybe if I needed it for Erza's sake, then I'd do everything I can to get it as well."

Emmanuel grinned. "My point exactly."

"But…" Emmanuel lost his satisfaction. "If I wanted something that bad, would it really be fundamental to bring others into your own mess? You said that you wouldn't like doing just that, yet here you are, destroying homes and lives. Wouldn't that make you as big as a hypocrite as us mages? How is that true to your word?"

Emmanuel grunted at Nic's counterpoint. To some degree he wasn't wrong, but he sure wasn't taking this lying down. "Perhaps because I said this to Isaac before, but I didn't expect him to go down fighting. Drastic times call for drastic measures, and speaking of which…" He showed everyone the black orb-like tip of the staff. "Do you know what this is?"

Erza gasped. She and everyone tensed up once again at the daring play he was making.

"I believe you must have figured it out by now. Why else would your magics be ineffective against it, when it clearly eats away at it. As the moon rises, so does the tide, and as the sun falls, so does warmth. These two factors are what defines the meaning of balance. When one rises, another must fall. When magic spawns, it must also end. As there is purity, over time…that too falls."

Levy gasped. "Then wait! Is that-?!"

"Yes, you've guessed it. This tiny bauble is what many of you overthought. It's experimented Black Magic initialized with aged Moon Drip we've held reserves to. It took my family a couple generations to get the formula mixed…but it's finally accomplished. The purification killer: Anthemusa."

Erza was completely speechless. "Then, that means…it wasn't just some spell like some of us thought." She mentally cursed herself. "I should've known."

"You intend to kill the Moon Drip? This has gone too far!" Nic argued. Beside him, Charizard braced.

Isaac's eyes narrowed. _'He's become completely irrational. Just what is he thinking?!'_

"Emmanuel, whatever you do, don't tantalize such sacred magic!" Levy announced. "It's unthinkable."

Emmanuel darkly frowned. "Then it seems that you mages need a lesson in the world of business as well. I might listen and abide to your heeds… _if_ you instead choose to abandon this country and Isaac's pleas."

Isaac paled. "You wouldn't…"

Emmanuel chuckled. He knew this would get them. This is what he wanted. To see even the most powerful people at his mercy, to see that what they hold dear used against them. To leave something they took for granted being turned into a benefit, and gives his image greater power…that is the business world that was Emmanuel's ideal.

A glint was seen in the sky, getting Charizard's attention. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Cloyster slowly turned, his shock showing.

Nic's contemplation when he heard the sound of thunder. He leered up, seeing something bewildering in the form of a blazing comet headed their way. Soon Erza, Levy, and then Isaac turned towards the sky to see the blazing comet heading their way…and it looked to be heading towards Emmanuel.

Emmanuel's brow furrowed. _'What are they doing? Are they trying to lure me away by faking me to heed to their direction?'_ His eyes widened when he heard the sound of flames nearby. When he looked up, he paled when he saw the incoming flaming comet. _'No! Not again!'_

At the last second, he jumped out of the way with the staff just as the flames smashed into the oasis. The ground shuddered as dust and dirt exploded everywhere. Everyone covered up as the air littered in smoke and ash. Levy coughed, and Cloyster shut his shell. Charizard used his wings and flapped once, dispelling the massive dust storm.

When it all cleared, it revealed a dirty pod that was halfway buried into the earth. The end of it was still on fire but the flames were small and shot. The whole thing toppled over, thudding until it laid on its side.

There was a silence before everyone blinked in unison. The first pod latched began opening, immediately making everyone's guards heighten.

"Reinforcements?" Levy wondered.

"We'll see." Erza braced herself.

The first pod latch opened, and the first body thudding the ground was Joey. "Oof!" He hit the dirt hard, straining to get up. "Don't…worry." He groaned. "I'm…I'm ok-!" He was struck by a force from above, being Dereece when he fumbled out of his pod. He bounced of Joey and plopped on his side, whereas Joey rolled over, laying on his stomach for Seel's horn to strike, making him gag once, then Heracross' horn, then finally Quilladin's hard spikes. All three bounced off, finally leaving Joey with white eyes devoid of pupils.

Duncan jumped out of his pod without much to complain about. He looked unharmed. When the latch hatch opened, it showed Camilla. "Nnnngh…oof, my head." She clutched her head and groaned, but heard a bigger one below. "Joey!"

Joey gurgled.

"Joey, are you o-gah!" Trying to get out of her pod, Camilla slipped and fell atop of Joey, causing him to wheeze and almost lost all sense of oxygen. He slumped back down, a white ghost whisking from the corner of his mouth.

"Joey? Joey!" Camilla pleased. "Joey, are you hurt?! Oh no, I knew I should've given him more luck…" Just then, a shaky hand went up, turning into a thumbs up. Joey was seen meekly smiling below.

"I'm good…" he muttered. "I just need a breather, that's all."

"Camilla…"

The voice afar caught her and everybody else's attention. They looked over to see Isaac standing a few meters away, looking at his daughter like he's seen a ghost.

"Father…" Camilla gasped.

Isaac shakily stepped forward, hoping that this had to be real. "Camilla…is that you? Is that really my daughter?" He could see Camilla's smile. That purple lipstick belonged to one person, and that grin she had was all too clear. His eyes began misting as he reached for her. "Camilla…"

Father and daughter embraced one another. The father held Camilla tightly, as though she would float away if he were to let go. The daughter did no different.

"You came back…I'm so glad." Isaac whimpered. "Camilla…"

Camilla stayed silent. She humbly accepted her father's embrace – a genuine one. She never thought she'd be happy to see him.

Joey stirred up along with his teammates. They looked towards the scene with some warmth resonating…well, except Duncan. Joey stepped forward behind Camilla, standing tall and resolute.

Isaac opened his eyes, tears showing as he looked over Camilla's shoulder at Joey. "Young man…thank you. Thank you so much."

Joey grinned. "I told you. I lost somebody important to me once before…I wasn't going to let that happen again."

Isaac's grin softened. Joey returned the sentiment in silence. Camilla looked to the corner of her eye back at Joey, meeting his gaze as well with a soft smirk in her lips. Joey's smile widened more cheekily at her.

Stirring awake off to the side, Emmanuel sat up and looked ahead. When he saw the pod and Isaac hugging his daughter, he gasped. "Is that…?" He saw The Freaks, recalling what his son would do to them. _'Did they…no that can't be. Did these mages actually defeat Victor?'_ He gritted his teeth. _'Seems that I've overlooked this miscalculation. I have to get to that Moon Drip now!'_

Before he could move, a multitude of swords shot in his direction. He remained still as the swords shot in the ground all around him, refraining much movement. Suddenly threads and webbing shot next, creating multiple spider webs between each sword to box him in.

"Don't think that we haven't forgotten about you, Emmanuel." Erza declared. She was in her Heaven's Wheel Armor again, with Nic in his Insect Form wiping his mouth from excess thread he spewed. "We won't let you set a foot further to that pool."

Emmanuel grunted.

"Emmanuel." All attention went towards Isaac. He stood with The Freaks backing him up. "Remember what you said before about desperation. How you said you never feel it? Well now, how does it feel?"

Emmanuel's teeth gritted in greater frustration. "Isaac…you coward!"

"Perhaps you're right, Emmanuel. I am a coward…but at least I'm not half as heartless as you."

Emmanuel growled as he looked forward at the pool. _'That Moon Drip…it's so close it's almost within my reach! I can almost touch it. And yet…'_ He noticed Nic and Erza off to the side with Cloyster and Charizard, both ready to finish him if he made the wrong move. The tables had completely turned. He was the one in control, but now the roles have reversed. With Isaac towering nearby – that courage of a bastard – Emmanuel's growing angst thrived. His anger spiked as veins were seen on the corners of his eyes. As he was thinking, flashes of the many guilds he shook hands with and the men he recruited filled is head. _'This man…he's just hiding behind walls his whole life. He doesn't realize that opening to the world, one can learn so much. I never would've made Anthemusa if not for all those guilds and scientists volunteering. And yet…he still intends to shut out the world.'_ His fists started shaking. _'This is what I get for helping a recluse. This is the price of my negligence.'_

"It's over Emmanuel, give it up!" Isaac declared. "Leave the Moon Drip and my daughter alone!"

Despite his setback, Emmanuel smirked. "…you're right, it _is_ over." He pointed his staff at the pool.

Everyone gasped. Nic reached out. "No! Wait-!"

"…for your precious virtues." Emmanuel snapped on a button that his staff had. The end's claws unhinged, and a force shotgun the Anthemusa orb outward.

All time slowed down as everyone's eyes widened when they followed the orb. Nic showed surprise, while Erza and reaching out with a gaping mouth. Levy had hands cupping her mouth. The Freaks all showed genuine surprise, while Isaac's eyes shuddered. Emmanuel's smirk widened with time still slow.

The glass orb dipped into the pool. Nic transformed to become the Mind Form and teleported to the pool's center, but the capsule made a 'PLOP' sound as it faded beneath the surface.

"No…" a horrified Camilla gasped.

Slowly, the crystal-clear pool beneath the moon reflecting over its center. Starting from the center, the moon's reflection started to fade, with Nic still over it with pupils shrunken. As pitch-black overtook the pool, Nic's heartrate escalated. _'Damnit…! No-!'_ Were the last thoughts before a black plume repulsed Nic, swallowing him in the blast wave.

"NIC!" Erza yelled, but covered while Cloyster got in front with Protect, becoming a shield as the black plume enveloped the entire oasis.

Levy and Isaac were both swallowed up by the plume, disappearing into the darkness. It quickly caught up to Camilla, but an arm grabbed her at the last second.

"Camilla!" Joey grabbed her and shielded her as he mustered up a barrier over them. The black fog ate into the barrier in a matter of second, swallowing them and The Freaks in the shockwave. The black wave swallowed everything inside the oasis, consuming everything.

* * *

The dark plume could bee seen spreading all over Glacidia's fresh moonlit sky. Overhead, everyone looked up to see the moonlight being blocked out by a horrendous dark sky.

"What's going on?!" Lucy gasped.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this." Loke grunted.

Cana looked at her surroundings. "This magic…did something happen?"

"I don't know." Sophie responded. "But my skin's crawling all over."

Gray finished freezing up a barricade made of Devil Slayer ice when he noticed the moonlight fading. "Huh?" He looked up with Juvia, both seeing a cloud-like blanket cross over the night sky like a nighttime storm. "Hang on, is that a storm?"

"I'm not sure, darling. I thought Cana predicted the weather before we began." Juvia figured.

Gray's brow furrowed, his skin beginning to crawl. His Devil Slayer Magic began to pick up on malefic levels of dark power. _'…no, that's not it. Something's definitely messed up around here. I can feel it.'_

The black daze moved across the sky, going over everyone's heads. Vanessa moved her hand across, summoning a wave of aura that swept across soldiers.

"Vanessa!" Goodra warned.

Looking up, Vanessa looked at the blackened sky to see the haze turning a night sky. Not a midnight blue, but a black one. Where the moon once was has since been replaced by pitch-black, casting everything in black and white. Her eyes were wide when she realized this.

Before she dwelled too much, three men charged at her. Just as she turned, Goodra's horn stretched out in a strong Power Whip, smashing the men all away.

"Goodra!" Vanessa gasped.

Goodra glared ahead, not distracted despite the circumstances. "Vanessa, there's something wrong. But the numbers are still incoming." She used her tail and swatted away a Numel advancing. "We need to stop these forces, and hurry if we want to get to the bottom of this."

Vanessa nodded. "Right." Although in her mind, her aura senses were spiking to immeasurable levels. _'What's this terrible feeling inside my stomach? Nic and everyone's auras are getting hazy. I'm getting worried, but I'm too preoccupied right now.'_ Her teal aura began flaring around her body. _'I have to end this now!'_

Her teal flares billowed madly around her surroundings. The flares exploded into streams and forced soldiers to cover up. When the flash diminished, they uncovered, but were terrified by a massive ethereal teal beast standing a hundred-feet taller than them.

" **Aura Guardian!** "

The men all screamed as they recoiled from sheer terror.

' _I'm sensing a lot of negativity, and not just from the soldiers. It's that dark energy I sensed before. It's stronger. If we're getting to the bottom of this, we need to pick up the pace.'_ Her arm balled into a fist, she drove the Aura Guardian's fist into the ground, sending shockwaves of teal aura through the ice and snow beneath soldiers from streets on end.

* * *

Wendy yelled as she swung her leg down in an axe kick, sending a shockwave of purple winds across the ice into Ebna. The winds surged at an alarming rate, but they faded when Ebna's chained mace spun rapidly, dispelling the winds and rendering him untouched. When Wendy ceased her attack, Ebna swung his chained mace at her. With speeds of the wind, she jumped and avoided an ice-breaking shot. She then jumped again, avoiding a second blow.

Ebna retracted the spiked mace, coordinating himself for his next attack.

"He's got a lot of power in his swings with that mace." Wendy evaluated. "It's gonna be hard if he keeps that thing swinging."

"Wendy, let us handle the support!" Carla insisted, with Swablu chirping in agreement.

"No, not yet." She insisted. "You get too close to my winds and you'll start decaying. Besides…there's something I wanna try out. Just hold off a little while longer, okay?"

Ebna roared as he swung his mace again, this time slinging it from the side and dragging it along the ice. When it drew close, Wendy expelled winds to the ground and shot up. The wrecking ball slung through the cold venomous winds and followed through the swing back around Ebna. With Wendy in the air, she twirled and was in a 4 o'clock position.

" **Poison Sky Dragon's Roar!** "

She unleashed a massive tornado of purple, decaying winds that shot at Ebna. The general swung his magical mace by its chain closely to make a spiral shield, taking the blunt of the winds. However, they were so strong that Ebna slid back every few feet. He was barely holding ground as he twirled until the winds dissipated, leaving him slightly weary.

"You're more skilled than what I gave you credit for." He breathed heavily. "Hard to believe that a mage as young as yourself has such potential."

Wendy ignored his praising tone in favor of the task. With a swift cry she rushed through the drafts expelling from her body and became a blur, reappearing behind Ebna. When he picked up on this, he turned around and kicked, but Wendy vanished and reappeared behind, kicking him in his back with venomous winds. He stammered forward, grunting in pain. Wendy appeared to the side, kicking him in the cheek. He backpedaled into a slip, causing him to realize his fall just as Wendy slid beneath.

"HRAH!" With a loud cry, she expelled poisonous winds skyward, sending him into the air with screams and anguish.

Gritting his teeth and looking pale, Ebna twirled his chain mace in midair with what strength he had and shot it down at Wendy. Wendy in turn swiped winds into the mace, deflecting it into the ice between them as both combatants landed on their feet.

' _Just as I thought, the poison's wearing him down.'_ Wendy scanned Ebna's armor. His armor was rusting from the venomous winds, and his skin looked paler. And from the looks of it, his body's strength was being used up faster.

Ebna labored in breath before he flung his arm, making a wave down the chain into the mace to make it slam into the ice. The ice shattered, creating a shockwave that went at Wendy, but she dispelled it by using a wall of venomous winds to reveal no injuries.

"You little…!" Ebna angrily pulled back, but he found something wrong. His eyes widened when he picked up on the chain snapping instead of slicking back. He glanced at the chain, seeing aged rust on the thinned metal. _'Wait…rust?'_ His shock turned to an epiphany. _'No, it's corrosion!'_

Wendy swiped both arms, sending one more wave of venomous winds at Ebna. With his weapon slowed, he used the chain but wasn't enough as he felt his armor rust up and break away. As the winds dialed down, the rust on the metal finally did it in, breaking apart the chain to the mace and the chest plating to Ebna's body.

"No! But how?! It was reinforced iron from magic blacksmiths!" he gasped.

"Carla, Swablu, now!"

"Right!" Carla swooped from the side to seize Ebna's one arm, leaving him shocked. With his strength and stamina wearing, he found it hard to move as Swablu popped overhead.

" **Disarming Voice!** " She shot out heartbeats from her mouth at close-range, shrilling Ebna's hearing to leave him vulnerable and unable to fight back.

"You got this Wendy, now finish it!" Carla instructed.

"Right!" Shooting across the ice again thanks to venomous winds, Wendy was like a fighter jet as she closed in on Ebna. And all he could do was open one paled eye as it reflected Wendy's incoming figure with a corroding wind compressed around the heel. She roared as she planted the heel into his chest with a thunderous bang.

" **Poison Sky Dragon's Claw!** "

The harsh heel to the chest sent a point-blank eruption of winds that repulsed Ebna. His mouth gagged blood as the corroding blast rotted away at the rest of his armor. His eyes were devoid of pupils as the winds carried him across the ice, spiraling into impact with a rogue ice slab that shattered.

With her opponent defeated, Wendy huffed her body with balled fists. "Sorry about this…but mess with my friends, and you breathe in a world of pain."

* * *

Bigge swung his bludgeon, only for Gajeel to vanish into a shadow before it touched him. He reappeared on his side, and he swung, only to rinse and repeat. When it happened a third time, Gajeel ducked from the blow and went for an uppercut across the face, causing Bigge to stammer back several paces. Gajeel appeared behind once more, grabbing the back of his armored plating and droved him into the ground.

Gajeel reappeared in physical form in front. "What's wrong? I thought were gonna prove us mages how superior you generals were." He sarcastically pointed out. "Because if that's all you got, you're wasting breath."

Bigge gritted his teeth as he stammered back up. _'This mage…just what kind of magic is this?'_ He staggered back to his feet. _'I've fought against mages for years, but this is a magic and skill level unlike anything I've felt before.'_

Gajeel swiped his arm. "Aron, **Mud-Slap!** "

"Right!" Nodding, Aron took a quick breath through the nose and snorted out streams of mud. The mud streams closed in on Bigge, but at the last second used his bludgeon to shield from the mud streams, though the sprays did get to his face and caused him to wince.

Gajeel smirked. He closed the gap and elbowed the bludgeon into Bigge's face, causing him to stammer back once more. He withstood his ground and gritted his teeth as he pivoted and cried out with all his pride and glory, slamming the hammer down onto Gajeel. To his utter horror, Gajeel caught it with one hand.

' _Impossible…'_

Looking at the bludgeon he held, Gajeel snacked into it. He started munching on the iron inside with jaw strength that made Bigge pale. The general found himself at a loss for words as his adversary was scarfing down his weapon.

"Hey! That's not a snack! What the hell are you doing?!" he outraged.

"What's it look like?" Gajeel swallowed. "Even a guy like me's gotta have a snack once in a while, even it is on the rusty side. Now…" His right arm morphed into a dark iron club, aimed right for his abdomen.

Bigge watched in horror as Gajeel reeled his arm back and thrust forward into his gut.

" **Iron Shadow Dragon's Club!** "

The impact stretched Bigge far up into the air. He gagged as the blow fractured and shattered his armor in midair. He screamed in riling agony as the upwards shot made him arch into the ice. He gagged blood as he laid on the dented ice, devoid of pupils.

Gajeel retracted his iron column and turned around, his form fading. "You call yourselves generals. The Alvarez put up a better fuss than you."

* * *

Natsu swung his lightning flame leg into Tangath's sword, creating an intense explosion of flames and crackling lightning that shot him back several feet across the ice. Natsu backflipped onto his heels and erupted his feet, shooting himself into Tangath. His monstrous fist made impact with the flat end of his sword, creating a backwards array of flame and lightning erupting all around them. Tangath gritted his teeth while Natsu pushed with more effort, following through with his punch that shot Tangath even further back, engraving the ice in a deep trail until he stopped several yards away.

Natsu breathed out embers from one breath, growling low.

Tangath removed his sword from in front, which was steaming and a broiling red from taking Natsu's attack. _'Such power. He's even more formidable than what I thought. Even my sword can't absorb all of his impacts.'_

Natsu kneeled and shot once more at him. Tangath raised his blade and slammed it on the ground, sending a shockwave of fire and electricity right back at Natsu. The blast wave slice across the ground, and Natsu glared hard as the wave reflected in his eyes. At the last second, Natsu fizzled into skies above using flaming lightning from his feet, dodging the full-scale blow.

In the air, he looked down at Tangath's sword to see it steaming and crackling. "So he's got a weapon that can take attacks and send them back, huh?"

Tangath looked up at Natsu, preparing another strike.

"In that case, let's see just how much that thing can take!" Flipping, Natsu shot himself down at Tangath with a battle cry.

"Pathetic." He scoffed. "You mages are so impulsive it makes me sick. To be a real warrior means to be ready to use whatever your enemy throws, and make it to your own strength. That is the wisdom of Emmanuel himself!"

"That so?" Natsu reached back as he fell. "Well then use _this_!"

Tangath's eyes widened when he saw the projectile in Natsu's hand.

"Alright… **Headbutt!** " He suddenly shot Darumaka at high speeds at Tangath. The little bauble-like creature was surrounded in flames and lingering static as he was tucked into a ball.

"YEEAAHH!" Darumaka cried out.

Tangath was caught off guard by this surprise attack. _'He's using his own Pokémon as a projectile?'_ He remembered his training and used his sword to bunt from Darumaka's fall. The impact caused him to grunt intensely at the strength the attack held.

"Surprise~!" Darumaka chimed as he pushed through the sword.

Gritting, Tangath swung his sword, finally repulsing Darumaka. Natsu shot down with his guard momentarily down, swinging his leg down in an axe kick of lightning flames that Tangath barely blocked at the last second. He grunted hard like a feral lion, barely holding ground.

"I think I figured it out." Natsu flipped backwards with Darumaka. "Your sword can take magic and send it back, right?"

Tangath was once again shocked.

Natsu looked up smirking. "In that case, let's see how much _physical_ damage it can take instead!" He suddenly changed into lightning, reappearing in front of Tangath. Tangath recoiled, but Natsu's explosive punch shot fast enough for him to block. He punched again, and again, without using his flames and lightning. Tangath kept bunting relentlessly while Natsu kept up the barrage, forcing him to defend.

Each blow did little in compensation for Tangath, he could feel each blow cracking his sword, much to his horror. _'How is a mage this powerful? How is someone like this witted enough to know my sword's weakness? This mage…'_ Natsu reeled back his fist with a draconic gleam in his eyes. _'Is he even human?!'_

With a straight punch, Natsu used all his might and punched the flat sword. The brute strength pulverized the reinforced anti-magic metal the weapon consisted of and smashed into Tangath's face. At the moment of impact, the flames ignited, and lightning crackled.

" **Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!** "

Natsu followed through with his punch, erupting a spiraling flaming-lightning blast wave that swallowed Tangath. The blast wave shot across the ice, leaving it melted and the water crackling with electricity. The rushing wave shot into the haul of a ship, creaking right through it and into the base. When the dust and the waves all vanished, Tangath was seen inside the broken debris hole, his armor melted away entirely with him lying on his back.

Natsu held his pose before the lightning and flames receded. He stood tall, with Darumaka jumping in glee. "Man, that was fun!" he cheered.

Natsu looked down at his fist, slowly clutching it. _'That metal was tougher than what I thought. When I fought that big guy during Alvarez, I sent him flying with one punch.'_ He smirked. "Guess I'm getting shabby. Looks like I gotta train some more."

"Everything okay down there?!" Happy shouted above.

Natsu looked up. "Yeah, it's all good! How's it looking?!"

"Well we managed to beat up everything around here, but uh…" Happy trailed off as he gazed at the sky.

"Huh?" Natsu looked up, realizing just how pitch-black it's gotten. His surprise was shared by his fellow Dragon Slayers, as well as their Exceeds.

"What happened to the sky?!" Darumaka shrieked. "It's all…black!"

"Forget about the sky, where'd the moon go?!" Aron exasperated.

Swablu tilted her head. "I don't think this was part of the plan. Wendy?"

Wendy smelled the air. She could feel it, a smell and taste of something foul above. A rise in magical pressure made them glare daggers. They knew something went wrong, and they had a good feeling of where. Natsu was no exception.

' _Nic, what's going on?'_

* * *

Nic's ears were ringing immeasurably. He gritted his teeth as he barely felt the ground beneath him, stirring in the dirt.

"Nic…Nic…" a fainted voice called out. Nic opened his eyes, seeing Erza, Charizard, and Cloyster.

"Erza…" Nic got up from the ground. "Guys, are you alright?"

Charizard nodded. "Yeah, we're just fine. I managed to catch you when that plume blew you away."

Nic nodded. "I see. Thanks for that." He looked over towards Erza. "Erza, are you alright?"

Erza nodded. "Yes, I am for the time being." Her face soon fell. "But…"

Catching her notion, Nic looked over. His eyes slowly widened when he took notice of the pool being pitch-black. His blue eyes shrunk further when he couldn't even see the moon's reflection, let alone any light reflecting off it. Overhead, the skies were black, with the moon completely blocked out. "What…what did he just…?"

In actuality, it was a much larger scale than what others thought. All across Antarcia's skies, the moonlight that could've been seen was blocked out by darkness, making everyone black and white. Spheal and Snorunt huddled together looked up confusedly, while others cowered in their surroundings. Over all of the cold domain, there was what appeared to be a black lens. It was almost continental wide, and it was continuing to grow slowly across the horizon.

Camilla groaned as she felt a weight over her. When she found that it was Joey, she gasped. "Joey? Joey!"

Joey groaned as he slowly slumped down to his side. He had bags under his eyes, and pale like a sick man.

"Joey, speak to me!" Camilla looked around, seeing everyone else in the same boat. "Dereece? Duncan?" She even looked towards Levy, but she was unconscious and pale. Even without moonlight, it was clear that they seemed sick. When she looked down at Joey, she recalled that shockwave that hit him. _'You shield me with your magic, so that I wouldn't be sick. Joey…you saved me again.'_

"Camill* cough cough* a!" Isaac limped to her side, coughing.

"Father!" Camilla shot up, looking shocked as her father was still awake and better, albeit heavily shaken up. She watched him get to a knee while she hurried towards him. "Father, don't push yourself. Your hurt."

"I'm fine…" he grunted. "That shockwave…just threw me on my back is all. More importantly, what happened?"

A laughter drew everyone in. Nic, Erza, Camilla, and even the barely conscious Freaks glanced over. Emmanuel was free from his confinement, standing proudly with his own attire slightly tattered from the blast. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't shaken up.

"Emmanuel." Nic growled.

"Just what did he do?" Erza growled.

Emmanuel ceased his laughter and smirked at them. "This has gone even better than expected. The Anthemusa is doing it's job faster than what the scientists and myself has predicted." He walked ahead, stopping at the edge. "In a matter of hours, this whole hemisphere's moonlight will be shut out."

Isaac gasped.

"This hemisphere's moonlight? Is that what he was after this whole time?" Dereece murmured weakly.

"He's turning a fraction of the world's magic into darkness." Levy grimaced. She was stirring awake, barely cohesive of her surroundings. "He could very well encompass sunlight, too, which is vital for warmth and plantlife. I didn't realize these repercussions were possible."

"Emmanuel…what have you done?!" Isaac yelled to his rival.

Emmanuel turned towards Isaac, seeing his seething expression. "Ah, Isaac. I see you aren't affected. It makes sense, considering you don't have magic."

"Wait, magic…?" Levy began coughing. She started lowering to the ground again, moaning as she laid sickly, along with The Freaks.

Camilla looked around, seeing everyone down before realizing it herself. "Magic Deficiency Disease."

Erza seethed his anger. "You bastard."

"Come now, everyone. Let's all behave." Emmanuel swayed. "You knew the risks when you chose to defy me and now you have to suffer them. It's all part of the business cycle. Think of it as collateral that I was owed." He eyes the shuddering Isaac. "If you hadn't been so stubborn, we could've had a much different conversation…but, that's all part of the past. It's time we look towards the future!" From his sleeve he pulled out a needle with medicine in it, stabbing his own neck with it.

Nic gasped with disgust, as did Charizard.

Slowly, veins started turning purple around Isaac's skin. His body started shaking uncontrollably as he started coughing. His eyes were cast into darkness as he injected himself with the serum. As his veins seethed in purple, his mind was flashing to what the doctor said.

" _Now I should warn you that this is a one time use." The doctor consoled Emmanuel as they were in the lab. He was showing Emmanuel a small jar if the dark serum, making it hard to distinguish from grime. "Once the Anthemusa infects the Moon Drip pool, its density will drastically increase. Since you have magic, you will also suffer Magic Deficiency. That's why we of your head research department have been working on a vaccine for you. This is an altered component of the Anthemusa; use it only when you're ready, and step into the Anthemusa…it'll do the rest."_

Fighting through the pain, Emmanuel tried his hardest to take another step forward. His leg stepped into the very cold water. Almost immediately he felt numb, but he stammered in anyways.

"What is he doing?" Erza questioned. Besides her, Nic balled his fists.

Emmanuel ignored everyone and worked his way into the dark water step by step. Very slowly until he was until his head was sticking up. _'I hope this works.'_ He took one last breath before he slowly dipped into the Anthemusa, disappearing under the dark, dense grime.

There was a deafening silence. For the moment with him submerged, Nic wasn't sure what to do, but he had to take his friends into consideration. Using his Mind Form and Teleport again, he got himself over towards The Freaks and everyone down. "You guys, are you all alright?" he asked.

"It's you." Camilla gasped. "Nic Pularis."

Nic looked at Isaac. "Isaac, what's wrong?"

Isaac looked down concerningly. "I don't know…but the air's magic. I'm not feeling it anymore."

Nic's eyes widened.

"He's right. I can't seem to draw in ethernano either." Camilla grimly said. "Also…" She looked down, seeing The Freaks and Levy barely able to move. "I think that they're out of magic. That blast must have sucked away their power somehow."

Nic looked down at his friends, seeing as how they were all still conscious. He especially looked towards Joey, seeing him barely having eyes open. "Nic…" he mumbled.

Nic felt his forehead. It was hot. His skin was pale as well. _'Magic Deficiency Disease. Wait, of course!'_ He recalled that cloudy plume that attacked them. _'Now it all makes sense. Anthemusa kills off magic. That means the ethernano in the air…that means none of them can refuel their magic tanks. And that also means…those inhaled were also depleted of what they had left.'_ He looked towards Erza, exchanging worried glares with her. _'But…how long can those who didn't inhale directly last?'_

Erza held her guard up as she looked around. Cloyster opened his shell and looked as well. Both were barely aware as the pool rippled once, getting Erza's attention.

Suddenly catching wind of his senses flaring, Nic swiped forward. "Charizard, on your right!"

Charizard heed Nic's call and picked up on it. With precise timing, a black stream shot from the pool at Erza, but Charizard intercepted by crossing his arms with Dragon Claw. The dark water sprayed everywhere, but Erza and Cloyster remained unscathed.

"Charizard?" Erza gasped.

Finally ploughing through, Charizard grunted and slashed both claws, dissipating the water along with his energy claws. Erza and everyone steeled themselves as they felt a steady power rise.

"get ready! Something's coming up!"

Nic got in front of the injured. Charizard and Clyster also braced. Everyone prepared themselves as the water and landscape began to drastically shudder. Rocks began overturning and the magnitude reached far out, creating vibrations beneath everyone's feet.

Cana stopped her attack and felt something off. With the ground vibrating, she got a bad feeling as she looked to where the shrine was supposed to be. _'This Magic Power…I've got a bad feeling about this.'_

All around Glacidia, everyone could feel a strong vibration beneath them. The air around them was so thin that they couldn't see their breaths anymore. Some were feeling queasy to where they fell over, and those further outside like Gray and Juvia were feeling slightly dazed, like the wind was knocked out of them. The Dragon Slayers felt slight headaches compared to the others, but their noses wrinkled with an unpleasant smell on the rise.

The pool began shuddering incredulously. The vibrations started making wakes in the water and waves rocked into one another. Isaac, Camilla, and everyone all had guards up when they felt something coming.

Suddenly a pillar of black shot out of the pool, protruding skywards. Everyone's gazes fell skywards as the magic energy felt before spiked. The sprays of jet-black receded, and a pair of demonic red eyes were showing.

"I see…so this is what they did in the lab…how interesting…" A pair of multi-scaled black appendages arose. "So they altered my body so I would adapt and control the Anthemusa…" A pair of black lips turned into a smirk. "How compensating."

Everyone's brow furrowed as they glared up at Emmanuel, seeing his changes.

Anthemusa dripped from Emmanuel's body like blood. His wet body's skin tone had turned pitch-black, with accented red marking running along the arms and the neck, running over the eyes which were now a dull white with no pupils. His upper body's coat was restored and became jagged and sharp-edged. Dark dreads ran along down the corners like diamonds. His pants were pitch-black, and he had no shirt beneath, revealing blood red marking all along the body. As he floated in the sky, his teeth showed, having canines for adding vicious flare.

"Emmanuel…" Nic was at a loss for words.

Emmanuel looked down at Nic to see his serious expression. "You looked surprised, Nic Pularis. I thought you'd be more calm in these instances. I believe this isn't the first time you've seen a case like this, right?"

Nic had a straight face. "I've seen worse than you, I can say that much." He glowed, altering into another dual form. Shooting up towards the sky in a glowing comet, the light faded, revealing Nic in a cross of his Fist and Sky Form. He had wings and edging, even belt of his Sky Form, but the primary shades of his Fist Form. He extended his wings and flapped, creating a tempest that blew Emmanuel's coat back. The man smirked maliciously.

"Nic!" Erza joined his side in the air, poising to strike with blades in hand.

Emmanuel smirked. "Erza Pularis. You're a strong mage for certain, perhaps the strongest I've ever encountered. I can see why my son was too arrogant to see why, it's because he couldn't see the potential in you." He lifted his hand out, creating a small energy sphere of black to show control of his new powers. "Unlike my son, I welcome the challenge that others exemplirate. You are no exception. With your reputations, I had high hopes you could've defeated me before this…but now, you too will understand what it means to not reach for an opportunity!"

Nic's eyes widened. "Erza, look out!"

Emmanuel crushed the orb with his bare hand. A hazy black wave eroded from the palm, expelling in all directions. It aimed specifically for Erza, but Nic swiped his arm towards her equally as fast.

" **Tailwind!** "

He launched a strong wind at Erza, instantly picking her up before the shockwave could reach her. As the wave dissipated, Erza was seen far higher out of range, looking unhinged.

"I see, so you've figured it out then." Emmanuel looked towards Nic. "So you know what happens when anything magic is in contact with Anthemusa. It breaks down ethernano particles inside the body and air, erasing the magic down to cellular levels. Anything composed of magic will only disintegrate around me."

Nic glared calmly. _'So he's trying to single me out, huh? He must know of my abilities, that I can't use magic.'_ He looked towards Erza. "Erza!"

"I know! I'll keep my distance!" She summoned swords above her, creating shimmering blades of 30 at least. She swung both arms, sending the blades at Emmanuel.

" **Blumenblatt!** "

The blades all shot at him at a monstrous rate, but when they drew closer, the enigmatic energy around Emmanuel fluctuated weakly. As the swords drew close, they started evaporating, leaving no damage.

' _They evaporated?'_ Erza gasped mentally.

Emmanuel scoffed. He opened his maw and let out a loud shriek. He unleashed a pulsating dark beam of Anthemusa that could rival Natsu's roar. The massive volume of the attack reached skywards, almost reaching Erza. She quickly shot down to escape the attack's range, avoiding the skywards blast that swallowed everything. She got into a tailspin until she straightened out, plunging her swords into the ground and using it to ground herself until she safely scooted back.

"Your magic has no effect on me. I told you, anything with magic will dry up before getting too close to-!" A harsh white punch to the face caused his face to distort. He gagged as the fist followed through, causing him to spiral uncontrollably into the nearest glacier slab in the surroundings.

"You should stop running your damn mouth!" Nic retorted.

"Nic…" Levy murmured, barely getting up.

Joey sat up along with The Freaks. He gasped. "Nic-senpai…"

Everyone looked up at the person who had the best chance at a direct fight, their perpetual beacon of questionable character. The rebel who stood his ground and made a sense of justice that many supported. That was Nic, and he was ready to prove it.

As the ice fell towards the ground, Emmanuel was seen embedded into the glacier and glared. His eyes flashed red before he morphed into black ectoplasm and materialized into the air at Nic's elevation. Charizard reconvened with Nic at the same height for the battle.

The three had a long stare down with one another. Emmanuel exerted a hot breath as he gleamed at his worthy opponents.

"Looks like he's finally _dead_ serious about this." Charizard said.

"Yeah, you're right about that." Nic reached for his Key Stone, which began gleaming on its own. _'We may not have saved the Moon Drip, but it's not too late to save Glacidia. We have to pull out the stops, whatever it takes!'_ "Charizard!"

Charizard roared in understanding. His quaking bellow shuddered the landscape around them in vicious rage. An incredible spike in power arose.

Nic tapped the Key Stone, and immediately an intense rainbow gleam roared. A lightspeed eruption travele dover the night sky, making it look like a star in the distance that shined brightly to get many attention. They all stared as they could also feel an equally stronger spike escalate.

As the air rumbled around him, Nic glared ferociously. "Charizard…Mega Evolve!"

Rainbow gleaming beams transformed to vibrant rays of light tendrils around the Key Stone, while Charizard's core emitted a powerful blue glow before expelling blue rays himself. The many tendrils from each side congregated, and light traveled down towards Charizard and reached his core, generating a radiant rainbow light that enveloped him. His features started altering, and his voice began to grow deeper. A blue flare expelled from what seemed to be his mouth as he saw transforming, and when the light finally exploded, the flashes blinded Emmanuel momentarily. He had to process what happened, and he looked back and saw Mega Charizard, and all of his draconic glory. Mega Charizard expelled a loud, shrilling roar, his blue flames fluctuating with him.

' _Such power. This is the tenacity of Nic Pularis when he uses his Pokémon.'_ Emmanuel's mental staggering quelled as eagerness took over. _'Such exquisite potential.'_

Nic braced himself for the fight alongside Mega Charizard, but then a small pulse ran through his head. _'_ _ **Krreeahh…**_ _'_ A small but shrilling shriek rung in his head, causing him to strain. _'What…is this sound?'_

"Nic, what's wrong?" Mega Charizard questioned.

Nic shook his head to try and drown out the throbbing. "It's nothing. Get ready. Here he comes!"

Emmanuel reached out with one arm, charging up before he unleashed an intense blast wave like he launched at Erza. Nic prompted to stay still and calm.

" **Dragon Claw!** "

Mega Charizard calmly raised a single claw and enveloped it in draconic energy. With one fell motion, he stuck the claw out and bisected the entire ray around them. Pitch-black became a 'Y' as Charizard remained unfazed.

With the distraction, Nic shot above with incredible speed. He shot down at the speed of sound, his knee glowing for a **High Jump Kick**. With the Tailwind added to his speed, Emmanuel was unable to tell when a bone-crushing shock ran through his entire body. Nic's continued his descent until he smashed Emmanuel into a trail along the oasis dirt. Grass and dirt severed into a trail as Nic dragged it out far. At the end of the trail, he spiraled out of the dust and back into the air.

From the dust cloud, a dark gleam flared before dozens of Anthemusa beams expelled in all directions, to which they were converged to attack Nic. Using his speed. Nic vanished and reappeared a multitude of times and spun around, making fluent movements around the rays so they all missed their mark.

The dust dissipated, and Emmanuel skyrocketed out and up towards Nic directly. When Nic reappeared, he stopped Emmanuel's assault by sticking his bare hand out, not budging in the air. With Emmanuel in his grasp, he swung around, using **Vital Throw** to send him spiraling into Mega Charizard. With the target closing in, blue flames swirled in his maw.

" **Flamethrower!** "

Mega Charizard unleashed a trademark disastrous blue beam that would incinerate anything they touched. As they drew towards Emmanuel, he rushed to straighten up and congregated dark energy into a multi-layer black shield. He smirked, but the first shield instantly shattered upon impact, startling him. Making breakneck efforts, he realized he couldn't hold up the shields and became ectoplasm that evaporated before the blue flames pulsed in a beam across the sky, vanishing out in the distance.

Emmanuel reassembled higher in the warmed atmosphere, apparel shock evident on his face. _'He smashed through all of those shields in a matter of seconds…and I barely got out of that unscathed.'_ The last factor was evident by the dreads on his coat being drastically charred. _'Their power and speed are incredi-!'_

Nic reappeared above upside-down, catching Emmanuel off guard. He looked up, but then Mega Charizard appeared below. With an axe kick and tail swing at the ready, Emmanuel conjured black ectoplasmic barriers to take the blows. The two quickly pulled away from the defense before their strikes hit, reflexes and overzealous caution afoot.

With an opportunity, Emmanuel swiped out, expelling an omnidirectional dark shockwave at both his targets.

Nic reappeared in front of Mega Charizard, his eyes glowing green. " **Detect!** " Using himself as a shield, the shockwaves enveloped the whole skies, yet Nic remained unfazed as the attack touched him, but no apparent damage was taken.

' _This is a shot!'_ Nic braced himself. "Mega Charizard, now!"

"Right!" Raising a heel, Mega Charizard kicked into Nic's feet, sending him shooting through the shockwaves unhinged. As he sailed, Nic became a Mach blur as he sored in with **Aerial Ace**. The streamline bisect of the shockwave threw Emmanuel off as Nic screamed and soared right into his gut, knocking the wind out of him.

With bright white in the background, Emmanuel was hazed before Nic flipped and got above.

" **Flying Press!** "

Nic shot all his body weight onto Emmanuel, becoming a whistling comet that ploughed into the ground with explosive force a split second later. The land shuddered, and everyone covered up as they could weakly move. When the dust cleared, Nic was seen atop of Emmanuel, on a knee as the enemy was on his stomach, his expression unseen as to where Nic showed no visible emotion.

"Did he…did he get him?" Dereece questioned

Duncan glared intensely. Joey was on pins and needles as he was on all fours with Camilla. They all hoped that was the case, but all didn't go their way.

Nic gleamed down, he knew something about this was wrong. Furrowing his brow, he stood up, seeing the fallen Emmanuel turn into ectoplasm and melt away. "Another evasion." He grunted.

' _ **Kreeaahh!**_ _'_

Nic suddenly clutched his head. The throbbing sensation from before returned, and it was stronger and more painful. _'It's that voice again…damnit!'_

"Nic-senpai, above you!" Joey warned.

Nic snapped out of his headache when he heard Joey's warning. Looking above, the real Emmanuel readied an ectoplasmic blast at close-range. "Too late for you!" he readied the blast, but Mega Charizard swooped in with a **Dragon Claw** , slashing from afar with power and speeds to create a slicing shockwave that split Emmanuel from Nic.

Emmanuel elevated higher, grunting. _'He's still too fast!'_ From the corner of his eyes, he picked up on projectiles shooting up at him. At the last second he swiped his arm, creating an ectoplasmic barrier to stop massive icicles from piercing him. He looked down at the corner of his eyes, seeing Erza and Cloyster. "You…"

"Erza." Nic murmured in shock.

"Just because my magic is ineffective doesn't mean that I'm useless." Erza pointed a sword at the sky. "Now, Cloyster! **Hydro Pump!** " Cloyster once again shot a voluminous uproar of pressurized water that raged at Emmanuel. He shot his hand down and created a dark blast wave to counter, making both attacks meet in the center.

It was a short power struggle, but Emmanuel went wide-eyed when he realized a swirling mesh of flames and heat behind. Behind, Mega Charizard opened wide and shot another **Flamethrower**. The bolting fire stream of deep blue swallowed everything in the atmosphere, including Emmanuel as the airspace roared like an earthquake. As the flames died, Cloyster's attack penetrated through, making a steam eruption through the atmosphere.

Using the steam as cover, Erza swept over towards Nic. "Nic!"

Nic stammered back up and looked towards Erza. "Erza. Just in time, thanks."

Erza nodded, but her mood was completely soured. She gave her husband a serious look of displeasure and concern. "Something's wrong with you, isn't it?" she questioned. "Is it that voice you keep hearing?"

Nic frowned. "I don't know, but-!" Suddenly another pulse and cry rung in his head, causing even greater pain. He clutched his head, grunting hard at the aching sensation.

"Nic!" Erza panicked as she closed in on him.

Nic opened an eye as he was hearing the cry again. It was louder, and this time it sounded closer. His whole body was shuddering, and his senses were less cohesive than they were. He couldn't explain it, but it felt like something was holding him back.

Erza stammered back up, looking over Nic's condition. _'This is bad. Nic's condition is worsening faster than I thought.'_ She looked towards the sky, seeingMega Charizard continue the onslaught against Emmanuel as he unleashed blasts, but kept missing. _'At this rate, only Mega Charizard can stand to fight. I don't know what's happening here…but I can tell that this condition will worsen unless we do something.'_

Nic grunted as he shook his head, clearing away his headache again. "I'm fine." Looking up, he glowed, shifting into another hybrid form. He suddenly teleported again, vanishing while Emmanuel attacked above.

Black ectoplasm shot in long arches all around Emmanuel. Mega Charizard swiftly maneuvered around every one without much trouble, flying in swiftly at breakneck speeds. When Emmanuel found him charging at full speed, he shot a dense black beam with uproarious volume once more.

The beam reflected in Mega Charizard's eyes, making him squint. "Is that all?!" He activated **Dragon Claw** again and spun them like a drill. The black beam closed in, but it was immediately reduced to thin air as Mega Charizard continued his path towards Emmanuel. Startled, Emmanuel grunted as he allowed him self to be hit, but Mega Charizard was no fool.

Ceasing his spinning but maintaining his attack still, he adjusted in the air. "Not this time! **Heat Wave!** " He flapped his wings once, expelling a tremendous blue hurricane of broiling flames in all directions.

The flames spread on a much larger scale than anticipated. Everyone below instantly started sweating as the entire sky was lit in blue. The maelstrom struck Emmanuel, instantly melting him away to reveal himself as a clone. Meanwhile, the actual Emmanuel was higher above, but was still struck down by the assault. He tried holding his own in the air, but the assault blew him away in an instant far away.

Mega Charizard's attack receded and he went jetting through the atmosphere towards his foe.

' _He saw right through my clone! This creature's smarter than what I anticipated!'_ Emmanuel suddenly felt a grip on his shoulder holding him back.

"You're not thinking we're _that_ dumb, are you?" Behind, Nic was keeping him in place. His serious glare was infused with his Mind and Spooky Form as one. The Mind Plate was the primary coloring, but the belt, edging, laces, and pants were all Spooky Form.

Emmanuel's eyes widened as he looked into Nic's eyes, a shrill feeling running down his spine. Nic's eyes glowed bright blue, using **Psychic** and shoved him back at Mega Charizard. Emmanuel had no means of escaping the telekinetic hold as he was bolted into Charizard's **Dragon Claw** that was still active. He swung skywards, creating a tremendous shockwave and explosion that sent his foe skywards. Nic turned around in the air and swiped his arm, sending a **Psycho Cut** at perfect timing at Emmanuel. The impact creating a glint star-like glint in the sky before a pink eruption enveloped the atmosphere. From it, Emmanuel shot in a smoke cloud into a nearby glacier, smashing so hard into it that ice chunks flew off it from each depression.

"Yeah, alright!" Dereece gleefully shouted before wincing. "That's gotta hurt!"

"Maybe, but it's not down yet." Duncan grunted. "There's still a lot of power looming around."

True to Duncan's insinuation, the mist and debris cleared away from the glacier to reveal Emmanuel. He smirked maliciously up at Nic, who still held his headstrong front.

' _ **Krreaah!**_ _'_

"Ganngh!" Nic clutched his forehead as the cry ached his brain again. "Damnit…what are you saying to me?!" he yelled out.

"Nic!" Erza warned.

Nic opened his eyes in time of his wife's warning. Emmanuel growled as his entire body morphed into black ectoplasm and spiraled around Nic, trapping him in a vortex of dark energy. Nic looked around, seeing the only exit being up. Emmanuel's cackling echoed throughout the vortex.

"My goodness, something seems quite off here. Shouldn't you have stopped me by now?" Emmanuel taunted. "After all, I heard tales of all your exploits and battles. I was certain you'd be more impressive in person, but looking at you now, I fail to see the potential in why people call you Luminous."

Nic morphed into shadows and faded out of the cyclone, reappearing in the atmosphere outside. From his swiping arms, he expelled an **Ominous Wind** that expelled like a maelstrom again, much like Charizard's Heat Wave from before. The attack dissipated the dark vortex, erasing it to oblivion to reveal Emmanuel absent.

Emmanuel materialized behind Nic as he glanced back. "You're a very worthy adversary to be certain, but something about you doesn't seem quite right. Is perhaps something troubling you? Could it be your lack of inability to surmount me?" he scoffed. "I doubt that would be the case, otherwise you'd seem more complex than before. Whatever your reason is, it's rather annoying to us both…" He reached his arm out, gathering dark energy. "Don't you think?"

Nic's glare intensified. "The feeling's mutual." Shadows began gathering around Nic's body as he readied his counter.

The two charged up whatever force they had in them. Everyone from around looked expectantly as the air was quaking around them. With them unable to help, they could only hope, but even Erza could see something was off as Nic let out a battle cry.

' _Nic…it's hurting you. I can see that. Something's wrong with you…you just can't push yourself to let it out…but why?'_

Nic started gathering shadows and he began using **Psychic** again to make them spiral into a void he conjured into his left hand. Roaring out, he readied for Emmanuel, but then the unexpected happened.

' _ **KREAAAHHH!**_ _'_

A horrendous pulse shocked Nic's entire body. His entire being fell completely numb as an intense pain caused him to scream out in agony.

Erza's eyes shrunk. "No, not now!"

"What's happening?" Camilla worried. "He's looking like he's in pain."

Nic gagged as he was numb in the air. The shadows and energy he had gathered were dissipating, and he was staring at the Anthemusa pool straight below. The cry echoed in his head, each syllable causing him extreme discomfort.

"Nic, what's wrong?!" Mega Charizard shouted, but he was sensing something off by Nic. _'This feeling, something isn't right. Nic's power is shifting on its own, but it's not his doing. So who's…!'_

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Emmanuel roared as he escalated higher above, a vortex of dark energy shuddering the air.

Mega Charizard gasped. "NIC!"

Gasping, Nic's hazy eye glanced skywards, but it was too late.

"BEGONE!" Swinging his arm down, Emmanuel swung the void, unleashing a plasmatic dark ray that closed in on Nic. His eyes reflected the dark beam before it engulfed him, sending him in a downwards comet into the Anthemusa pool.

Through the sundering, gravity took its toll on Nic's body. The dark beam held a lot of pressure, and he found himself unable to fight back. His entire body had shut down. Nic screamed out in agony as the beam grounded him, plunging into the Anthemusa pool.

The shockwaves made the Anthemusa spread all over. As waves of the black grime closed in, Cloyster slid in front and used **Protect**. His shield protected everybody behind.

"Erza's Cloyster!" Joey shrieked.

The dark beam continued plunging the pool, along with Nic. The intense ray soon, diminished, leaving nothing but absent ripples left in the dark water. When the last drop of it faded, far away from the pool. Erza was seen with a void-like look in her eyes. Her lips were parted as she stared speechlessly at the Anthemusa. It was hard to tell if she was even conscious to begin with.

Emmanuel smirked. "Well…that takes care of one problem. How disappointing."

"NIC-SENPAI~!" Joey had tears in his eyes as he called out to his hero. Dereece and Duncan were left completely shocked and speechless. Isaac and Camilla were left horrified with what they saw as well.

A wave of aura brushed away soldiers. The Aura Guardian adjusted and Vanessa's eyes widened. She felt an intense drop in proficient aura, and it was churning in her stomach. She turned back towards the source. _'What's this feeling…?'_ She heard the roaring of a dark energy, negative aura overflowing the oasis shrine. _'Nic…'_

Though weak, Gray picked up on the bad feeling. "What was that just now?"

"It sounded like it came from the shrine." Juvia evaluated. "I sure hope that wasn't the case…"

Lucy looked up in slight worry. She, Loke, Klefki, Cana, Sophie, the Dragon Slayers, and the Pokémon all showed some case of shock as the uproarious sounds settled, leaving the dark air hollow.

Bubbles fumed from the pool grime until they started receding. Standing over the edge, Erza had bangs over her eyes as they were shallow. As if an impulse took over she shot off her feet into the pool.

"Erza, wait!" Dereece shouted.

"Idiot. What is she thinking?" Duncan retorted.

Erza made a beeline for over the pool, until she was able to get to where Nic had plummeted. She went for a dive, but a force plucked her from midair, leaving her gasping. It was revealed to be Mega Charizard, and she used his bare claws to haul Erza away from the pool.

"Charizard, what are you doing?!" Erza hissed over her shoulder foully.

"If you touch that stuff in there you'll die, remember?" He struggled as Erza tried to break free. "Calm down! It's gonna take a lot more than that to keep Nic down. You know this."

Erza knew from the heart that Mega Charizard had a point. She could trust him, considering he was one of the first and reliable Pokémon Nic had, but it was also in the heart where it tugged the most with Nic. Gritting her teeth frustrated, she shot hate-filled glares at Emmanuel.

"Perhaps I was mistaken on my part. I didn't think that Nic would be this faulted in power." He mocked. "I suppose that Victor may have been onto something after all. Now then…" he faced Isaac and the others below. "Shall we finish business?"

Isaac gritted his teeth angrily. Joey was a shuddering mess still, but Dereece and Duncan. Erza growled, clenching her swords tighter than before.

* * *

Beneath the dark plunge pool, it was pitch-black, allowing no light to cast onto Nic as his numbed frame slowly sank into the abyss. His eyes weakly opened beneath the tides, instantly causing a stinging sensation. _'My body…why won't it move?'_ He tried to lift his arm, but it wasn't budging; like blood wasn't coursing through. _'I can't even lift a finger…it's like everything's shutting down at once. Why…?'_

He sunk even deeper, his strength beginning fade as his own heartbeat was starting to slow down. He couldn't even breathe as the cold water pressure and Anthemusa was overtaking his vision. _'That voice…is it doing this? Is it that desperate to call out to me that it would go this far? Just…what is it trying to say…what…?'_

His conscience began fading to complete black, his mind drowning in thoughts with him.

' _ **KRREEAAAH!**_ _'_

A loud, shrilling cry as clear as crystal was what made Nic's eyes snap open. When he realized it, he was suspended in the darkness, fully conscious but found it hard to move. An odd gravity slowly drifted him upright, making him feel black as though it was solid ground. "This place…is this my mind?" he gasped, realizing he was breathing. "Wait, did I talk just now? If that's the case, then am I…no, this isn't it. I'm somewhere else, but where…?"

From above, a radiating light began glowing.

Nic looked up, seeing the light descend in front of him. He carefully maintained a steady glare as the white hemisphere made everything around him a midnight blue hue, which he took notice of. _'Everything's a little brighter, but it's not my doing….'_ He looked up towards the descending light. _'Is it because of that?'_

The white, circular radiance illuminated above Nic. As the light radiated down on him, he could feel a strong force coming from the light source. It was spiritual. It made him feel…relaxed. He couldn't explain it, but this sensational force made him slowly realize what it could be.

' _Wait, is this…?'_

The lunar light began fading a little, giving way to a circular pair of wings that flapped. One wing flapped, showing a gold border with purple membrane. Another wing flapped, showing the same. The light shimmered, allowing a pair of cosmic red eyes to slowly open wide. Nic and the beast were finally face to face, with a spiritual lunar light around it like an angel.

Nic composed, glaring calm daggers at the entity. "I get it." He started. "So then you're the moon spirit, right?"

The beast gave only a meek growl.

"I see…you were trying to reach out to me for something." He looked down, taking a long, solitary silence to reflect on everything. In his mind, he thought to the full moon he looked at the past few nights, and the cries that he heard. He gave a prolong sigh before looking at the beast again. "Okay…so what do you want?"

The beast gave a prolong stare of his own at Nic. He glared back, seeing the look of promise in the beast's eyes. Nic suddenly went wide-eyed, processing this feeling. _'Wait, this moon spirit! It's…!'_

After what felt like an eternity, the beast closed its eyes and shrieked out, rattling the flexed its massive wings and gave off a luminescent shine at beamed onto Nic. He stood still as everything went white. The last thing heard in the white void, was the beast's fading cries.

* * *

Returning to reality, Nic's eyes flashed open in the sinking void. _'I see. I think I get it now…'_ As he descended, his body began glowing a bright light, slowly enveloping the darkness. _'Okay…let's go.'_ The light beamed everywhere in the dark abyss, making bubbles and ruptures that broiled over the Anthemusa.

* * *

Emmanuel faced Isaac with a dominant glare. He relished in his enemy's resentment, even in the face of defeat. Erza swept in front along with Cloyster and Mega Charizard, all three intercepting his way. "So then, you all intend to stand in the way of my retribution? So be it." He reached out, firing dark ectoplasm in a single ray. Once it reached the middle, it diverged into a multitude of smaller comets heading for each one.

At the same time, Mega Charizard and Cloyster took action. With one feel swing, Mega Charizard's **Dragon Claw** cleaved through the entire wake, and Cloyster's **Razor Shell** spun into the ectoplasm, turning it to goop that plopped in the pool.

Both got back in front of everyone, with Erza holding two swords in defense. "Stay close, he's bound to attack."

"You're only stalling the inevitable." Emmanuel said. "Face it, you know stalling goes so far, and when that limiter breaks, what then?"

Erza growled. With Nic still in trouble and The Freaks unable to fight back with their weakened states, there wasn't much else. Her anger began to show. It was only a matter of time before his power breaks through.

"Now then…" Emmanuel began conjuring up dark ectoplasmic rings around his body, channeling his force to spin them all uncontrollably. "I believe that justice has been held off long enough…it's time I use my collateral, and make you pay for your treachery!"

Comical tears spilled from Joey's eyes. "I'M TOO YOUNG AND PRETTY TO DIE~!"

Emmanuel smirked at his victory. It was a checkmate, until he felt an abrupt pulse through him. He gasped. "Huh?"

Another pulse went through Erza.

A third one was felt in everyone else. They all perked up in horror.

A fourth pulse rang through the oasis. A fifth one echoed through all of Glacidia. Sophie, Vanessa, and almost everyone completely ceased movement for that one second when they all felt a shiver run down their spines.

Emmanuel shakily looked down beneath him, his body feeling a little shaken. "What…what is this force?" He didn't recall feeling this way when Nic fought him. Something was massively wrong.

Duncan glanced at the pool. "Hm?"

As continual heartbeats came from the pool, each one caused a light shining brightly beneath the surface to come up. The Anthemusa was boiling profusely as the light was getting brighter. The entire oasis was shaking from this astounding magnitude. The lake water around them was shifting and crashing into each other uncontrollably.

"Wha…what is…!"

As this terrifying sensation unnerved the many others, the light in Erza's eyes showed once more. A grin crossed her mature lips, showing no worries. "That fool makes me worry too much."

The violent quaking finally stopped, albeit suddenly. The queasy silence was brutally interrupted when a bright, majestic beam shot into the sky, causing a shockwave that spiraled Emmanuel away. He adjusted, and he and everyone looked at the beam of light with awe.

The shockwaves from the light source was so strong that the lunar force it had breached the Anthemusa lens above. It was small, but it shattered like glass, enough to be seen from space by a small blue beam.

A cosmic and dense energy was in front of Emmanuel as he stared in horror. The lunar light source was one thing alone that was befuddling him, but the power itself was unfathomable. The pool water continuously rippled and bubbled as the moonlight beam created a violent creating, leaving it steaming and bubbling over.

Emmanuel slowly looked up from the pool at the light, his eyes burning with horror. "It can't be…"

The light beam soon evaporated, revealing a pair of eyes to widen and seethe to all the world. The light vanished around the rest of the body, revealing black hair left the way it is, but a gold curved headpiece was around the head, with white on the insides with cosmic purple along the top. The creature's face was left alone, save for striped white markings along the cheeks. The creature's toned body had a cosmic purple attire; pants, coat, even the massive curved wing pieces on his arms. There was gold trimming with several indignations along the pant legs, as well as the wings attached to the white arms. His upper body was white up to the neck, with gold trimming along the edges of the coat. The sash stayed gold. White was within the inner lining of the pant legs. The shoes were edged in gold, with white laces and cosmic purple accents.

Everyone was stunned by the figment that had resurfaced. Time slowed down as even Joey was completely speechless, his eyes actually shrinking.

The creature lifted his head, opening his eyes to reveal blue pupils as pure as Nic's, but the sclera around the eyes were a cleansing cosmic red, twinkling like stars. He unleashed a high-pitched shrilled cry that echoed all across Glacidia, sending chills down all the soldiers' spines.

"What in the…?"

"What the hell is that?!"

Many were scared by this insane creature, as well as the lunar glint that shined from its body, but as many were terrified, Joey found himself in awe. "So cool…" The fanboy's eyes were wide with shot pupils. He looked like he's seen a ghost. _'That can't be. No, but it is! That has to be-!'_

Duncan stared up as well, he too showing visible astonishment – surprisingly. _'There's no way…'_

Dereece and everybody else was completely speechless. Their mouths were gaping as their skins crawled with speechless wake. They were too scared to move. They never saw anything like this. Erza, however, looked expectantly, her doubts fading as she knew the culprit behind this.

Nic's eyes flashed wider, exerting an intense moonlight from his body. " **Legendary Force – Lunala!** " he announced, the moonlight fluctuating from his vocals.

The moonlight beaming across all of Glacidia was like a beacon, one that provided light for all to marvel in. Emmanuel was speechless the whole way through, his devoid eyes actually showing levels of fear and shock. _'This power…this can't possibly be…'_

Nic finished his shrieking and glared at Emmanuel. Emmanuel braced himself as Nic opened his maw, charging up a **Shadow Ball**. Emmanuel was shocked but he readied a dark energy spire as Nic launched the sphere. It shot with a sound-barrier crushing force as it closed in, exploding in front of Emmanuel before he even had time to launch his attack. The explosion of purple shuddered the entire sky, creating an obscuring that Emmanuel shot out of, flying into the ground below with erupting force.

Isaac shuddered. _'Such power…what kind of monstrous strength does that? He just blasted Emmanuel out of the sky!'_

Joey's eyes were bulging out of their sockets in disbelief. Dereece was no different. "You…you've gotta be joking…man."

Duncan fell quiet. He observed diligently as he continued seeing the battle.

From the dust below, the extensive crater Emmanuel was in was deep. Emmanuel was at the core, to which he melted away. Meanwhile, the real Emmanuel was actually higher, using his Cloning Magic at the last second to evade, though he looked severely shaken up as Nic glare dup at him. Beads of sweat pored down his face as his eyelids twitched with sheer surprise.

' _That was too close. If that actually hit me, I would've…damnit! How did I not see this?!'_

Nic screeched into the air, with Mega Charizard joining his side. The two looked at each other and bolted after Emmanuel at the blink of an eye.

' _So fast!'_

They both seized his face at the exact same time and pushed him higher into the air. Once up high enough, they thrust skywards, sending him hurdling uncontrollably. With their force creating a shockwave, Nic silently reached his arm out, and Mega Charizard expelled another monstrous **Flamethrower**. Emmanuel barely straightened out to realize the attack beaming his way. He reached his arm out to create a shield but Mega Charizard burned through it, hitting him hard with an explosive blue blaze that traveled across the sky. From the blaze, Emmanuel shot down in a smoke stream, gaping as lingering blue embers were around his torn coat.

' _Just as I thought. It takes a certain amount of time for him to make clones after they're taken out.'_ Nic realized. He suddenly used **Teleport** , closing the gap in a rate so fast he was unseen as he was in front of the falling Emmanuel with a wing pulled back. _'That's where his magic needs to replenish. This is it!'_

As time slowed down, Emmanuel's eyes widened when he saw Nic before him, channeling dark energy that became magenta and black.

" **Night Daze!** "

With one forceful clap of his claws and wings, a crimson and black shockwave roared throughout the skies, expanding above and around the oasis air, destroying the tiling over the vault. The metallic doors also were blown away, and everyone else below covered up – Joey's limbs were flailing like streamers as he had a dumbfounded look.

As the shockwave roared, Emmanuel was still in point-blank range, but gravity and pressure was so extreme that he couldn't see. A blue aura enveloped him, slightly decreasing his accuracy as he tried holding his air, but the waves finally picked him up and sent him sailing.

Ashe sailed, Nic appeared behind, swinging his wings down on the back of his head. The impact immediately grounded Emmanuel once more, creating another quake that ruptured dust everywhere.

From the dust, streams of ectoplasm spun in helix formation to get away. Nic screeched out with Mega Charizard, creating a boisterous shake around them. Like Mach-speed jets, they shot after the retreating Emmanuel, following him along the glacier falls. The ectoplasm streamed across the ice, whereas its foes were catching up at breakneck speeds. The ectoplasm made a sharp turn and materialized in the air, revealing Emmanuel with a hand out to congregate dark energy.

"Mega Charizard!" Nic ordered.

He nodded. "On it!" The dragon followed Emmanuel as the dark energy channeled. Nic continued his course, flying along the glacier walls.

Emanuel didn't take his eyes off Nic. _'What's he doing?'_ He noticed Mega Charizard bolting his way with draconic energy claws. Forced to take action, Emmanuel aimed the dark energy at him and fired. The dark beam coursed into the dragon, but Mega Charizard had no trouble tearing through it, dissipating the blast wave to oblivion to allow him to close in and bolt clean through. However, his attack slowed down with time, revealing grime and globs splattering as he raked clean through Emmanuel.

Mega Charizard held a straight face, as if expectant of the attack.

Above, the real Emmanuel was seen, barely composed of what happened. "How many times are we going through this?" He began channeling dark energy into his hands. "You can't hit me that way-!"

His momentum fell short when a ghastly sensation crawled up his spine. As he slowly looked back, he was a thin purple portal, one that aligned with him perfectly. _'Where did that come from?'_

From the portal, a leg swung out, emitting a massive pulse as it struck Emmanuel's chest with intense pressure.

" **Phantom Force!** "

Emmanuel screamed in agony as Nic's leg followed through with the kick, sending him barreling at Mega Charizard. Unable to alter course, he fell right into the tail swing of Mega Charizard, bouncing him back with spine-shattering force. Emmanuel blacked out as he spiraled out of the air, sundering to the oasis ground with another shrilled shockwave.

Nic unleashed another monstrous cry into the atmosphere, emitting a strong lunar light from his body that radiated across the oasis and Glacidia.

* * *

Over the rest of Glacidia, all anyone could see was a shining beacon similar to a moon. It radiated across the capital, giving light to everything and everyone. Looking up, Cana and Sophie felt a strange and yet familiar sensation from this light.

"That light…is that who I think it is?" Cana murmured.

"I can think of only one person able to shine this brightly." Sophie said it in a half-sarcastic tone. She already knew the answer to that question. She smirked. _'Nic, you really do deserve the name 'Luminous'.'_

The girls turned to look back at the soldiers. They were all distracted by this sheer power that's leaving them deterred. Seeing Emmanuel overwhelmed by this creature was doing a number on their morale.

Cana smirked. "Well then, guess we better shine some light of our own onto these guys!" she reached out. "Ya ready guys?!"

"Abra, you as well!"

Purrloin growled, and Piplup and Abra stayed ahead. "You got it!" all three announced.

The Fire-types ahead growled defensively. Piplup stood proudly as he glared, before he and Abra both emitted battle cries to the atmosphere. The two of them thus started channeling energy, emitted a strong radiant blue glow that overwhelmed their bodies.

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw the blue shine overtake the two Pokémon. Purrloin, Cana, and Sophie all were speechless as the light was morphing the two Pokémon.

"This light…is it…?" Sophie trailed off, recalling something from her studies of the pamphlet, and from her catered experience with Krokorok evolving a long time ago. _'Abra. Piplup. Both are-!'_

The light made Abra's body grow in size. His tail began to thicken and slowly curve in. In the hands, energy created spoon-like material, and from the snout, what looked like a massive moustache started sprouting. In Piplup's case, he started getting taller as well, with his round head becoming slimmer. Both their bodies glowed and exploded energy at the same time, leaving all the soldiers to cover up from the bright rays.

Once they receded, they all uncovered, looking out as a yellow foot stepped forward. "You've done it now." A deeper voice declared. A blue eye slowly opened. "We warned you not to mess with us."

"Now, please allow us, by the authority bested in our human companions…" Another eye opened upon a sophisticated tone. "To erase you from point of view. Indefinitely."

The two Pokémon stood side-by-side, with Abra being replaced by a Pokémon that was now standing instead of levitating. The creature was primarily yellow with a bright red star on the forehead, with long, pointed ears and a yellow moustache. He had big brown shoulder and upper body plating, with three pink streaks along the belly plating. His tail was massive, and in one hand clutching it tight, a spoon was carried.

In the case of Piplup, he was replaced by a larger version of himself. He got an extra set of white dots on the blue belly, with the sea blue on his body now darker, navy blue. Two yellow horns curved over the head, meeting at the beak.

"What the?!" a soldier gasped. "What just happened?!"

"I don't know!" another exasperated.

"You idiots! They evolved, remember?!" another one explained. "It happened with Sir Victor's Chimchar two weeks ago, remember that?"

Cana's eyes shrunk. "Hold on, you're saying Piplup's evolved?" She took out her PokeDex, looking at the screen to see the penguin's new face. Sophie did the same.

" **Prinplup, the Penguin Pokémon. It lives alone, away from others. Apparently, every one of them believes it is the most important.** "

" **Kadabra, the Psi Pokémon. It possesses strong mental capabilities, but its psychic powers are halved when it's not holding a silver spoon.** "

"They evolved at the same time. I'm not sure if this is luck or not." Sophie remarked.

Cana smirked. "Well I'll take it. Heck yeah! This is gonna get good! Alright then guys, let 'em have it!"

Prinplup smirked. "You heard her."

"Yes, I do." Kadabra answered. "And although she isn't my Trainer, I do reciprocate the feelings." His eyes started glowing bright blue as he held his spoon out. "Let us make way with these invaders! **Confusion!** " Using telekinetic powers, he created a shockwave across the ground and made all the soldiers and Fire-types airborne. While in midair, Kadabra's eyes widened as his attack altered. The enemies all found themselves suspended, as though time froze.

He turned towards Prinplup. "You may have the honors, my acquaintance."

"Thanks." Prinplup took a leap into the air, bringing his flipper back. As he closed the gap, the end became a metallic shine that made a trail as he swung it down like a chop. The blow went straight down, making a burst of metallic energy that blew soldiers and Fire-types away.

The dust cleared, and Kadabra and Prinplup beside each other while the others were behind.

"Well~, this is a change in plans." Purrloin teased, swaying her tail around.

"Man, they're really kicking butt right now. Guess the evolution's got them pretty high up there." Cana chimed. "Well anyways…no sense in keeping me out of the action!" she grinned as she pulled out tarot cards. "Ya ready for another round Sophie?"

"O-to da-var (Same thing)." Sophie spread her legs, swiping her arm across to create a line of darkness, swallowing men.

* * *

Nic's cries and radiance reached as far out as pass the Dragon Slayers, who were advancing. Natsu expelled a pressurized eruption from his fist, Gajeel rammed his arm into the ice, shooting up iron columns that ran endlessly; Wendy created a cyclone that shred across the ice, and all three of their attacks mowed down numbers on end.

Farther back, those who were miles in the back of the frozen fleet were cautious, unsure whether to advance or not. "Uh, is it me, or is this a good time to run away?"

"What? Now? Our ships are frozen solid, we can't go anywhere. Besides, they're bound to run out of Magic Power eventually, right? So I say we hang back until they tire themselves out."

Another soldier held up a staff. "Yeah, that's right. There's still plenty of us left back here. When those guys are done, we'll swoop in and nail 'em when they least expect it."

"That's the point of reinforcements, jackwad." A soldier deadpanned.

"Yes…I most certainly agree." Behind the soldiers, a pair of boots stepped on the ice. The soldiers turned around, many of them getting on guard as a pair of red lipstick turned into a smirk. "Then if that's the case, perhaps you like to know what _real_ reinforcements are supposed to look like."

Ships were lined up along the edge of the ice, where it finally turned to water. There, anchors were dropped, and Rune Knights and Pokémon were lined up in front, ready to unload men who were armed with magical weapons, and standing on the ice with her coat shifting was Charlotte with crossed arms. She stood proudly as she saw her foes grow defensive.

"Are you kidding me?! Where did they come from?!"

"I don't know, but the size of this fleet is extreme."

Another soldier stepped forward. "Quick, everyone to Plan Delta 2A! We're gonna cause a diversion!"

Charlotte's menacing eyes narrowed. "I don't think so." Her words had a tone of sheer venom that froze many in place. She calmly took out an Ultra Ball, where she tossed it skywards. Coming out in front was a large, yellow humanoid Pokémon with a yellow and black color coating. It had two chord-like tails with red tips, with thick arms and black fingers. The Pokémon stomped on the ice once, emitting a battle cry that shook the airspace.

"Electivire, get rid of these pests." She reached out. " **Thunder!** "

Electivire's body crackled with electricity before he exploded with electricity, shattering sleets of the ice beneath and frying soldiers ahead, making a pillar of lightning in the far distance of the mayhem.

Pantherlily's ears twitched, fear seen in his eyes. _'Was that lightning just now?'_

"Hey Lily, step it up! We're doing heavy lifting here!" Gajeel yelled.

"Uh, right! Sorry!"

* * *

Emmanuel reverted to ectoplasm and slipped across the sky. He diverged into spreads to get away, but Nic teleported in front. Emmanuel materialized in front of him but found no means of escape, not while Nic could simply teleport. Gritting his teeth, the creature exerted a dark beam at Nic, closing in fast. Rather than use an attack, Nic's eyes flashed once before he flexed his wings. Emitting another cry, he expelled a bright moonlight. The radiant light was so bright, and yet the pitch-black heading its way evaporated from the moonlight. The light spread towards Emmanuel, immediately causing him intense, burning pain that shrilled cries across the atmosphere. He shot backwards into the lower glaciers, gagging when his back struck the ice.

As Nic and Mega Charizard towered and flew around, the hole that Nic made earlier in the Anthemusa lens had moonlight beaming down onto the Anthemusa pool. The cleansing rays was making the pool bubble, and the black grime was thinning some.

"Huh?" Levy took notice, perking up.

"Levy…what's wrong?" Dereece questioned.

"The Anthemusa…something's causing it to react violently." She looked up towards the moonlight through the opening high above. "Could it be because of the moonlight?"

Erza went wide-eyed when she picked up on the notion. "The moonlight?" She recalled when Nic became Lunala, and when Emmanuel's behavior began changing. _'Wait, could this mean…?'_ She turned towards Isaac. "Isaac!"

"Huh…?" Isaac turned towards Erza shakily. He was still in shock from this flow of power.

"You said before that the Moon Drip was created by lunar light, right? Which supercharges the ethernano in the water." She pointed a sword out. "Take a look. What does that look like?"

The pool began bubbling to extremes. The white light beaming down was shimmering clearly, causing the black to thin slightly more.

Isaac's eyes shrunk as he realized Erza's inquiry. "The Anthemusa…is the moonlight really affecting it?"

Joey had sparkles around his eyes as he wasn't listening. He was so warped on Nic's fight as he had glossy vision. He really wished he had brought a camera with him.

"But I thought Anthemusa _kills_ ethernano." Dereece pointed out. "Would that even work?"

Duncan turned away. "Doesn't matter. If moonlight is pure as they say, that means even Black Magic can't withstand too much of it. And besides, light isn't magic until it touches ethernano, last I checked."

Levy gasped. Something about what Duncan said made her realize something. "Hey wait…" With what strength she had from her magic depleted, she crawled towards the pile of textbooks that were blown about from the ensuing chaos. She mulled over the right textbook that had the information. She flipped the pages until she got to the right one. "There, this bookmark I had sure helped. Let's see…"

"Levy, what are you reading exactly?" Erza inquired.

"It's something that I picked up from the library. I was hoping I'd find more history about Moon Drip, but these texts said something about…yes! Right here!" She placed her finger on the paragraph. "I was right. It _was_ this one! Everyone, listen to this!" She began reading from the text.

" _Year X653: The night where ruin was to be set. Dark Guilds who were abroad who held word of our tale treasures were upon us. We didn't know what could've gone from good or bad. All we know was that when they came to our doorstep, we weren't prepared. It was one-sided. We didn't have a plan; losing the treasure seemed eminent. But then, the moon saved us, Black Magic was cast, and yet the treasure was spared. The men were stunned, and they didn't know why. Every mage was wiped out that night, and under the moonlight, not even their purified bodies remained…"_

Trailing off, she face the others. "It goes on a little more about that time period, but I think that was a Dark Guild attack that happened almost 150 years ago. They used Black Magic just like Emmanuel did, but I think that the moonlight saved it."

Isaac had an epiphany. "Are you saying…that the secret to bringing the Moon Drip back is in the moon?"

"I think so, but I think there's more to it than that. Look out there." She pointed towards the bubbling content. "The Anthemusa and the moonlight are reacting violently towards one another. The purifying atoms in the substance are drastically weakening."

"Which means that we can fix it, right?" Dereece asked hopefully. Heracross and Seel sure hoped so.

Levy's face fell. "Well…I'm not sure. You see Anthemusa is anti-Moon Drip, it's basically carbonized atoms and Black Magic. I'm not sure of this myself…but I think in its neutralizing state, we might be able to revert it to Moon Drip if we had some."

Slowly, Camilla's eyes widened.

"Wait, young lady!" Isaac said to Levy. "You're saying that Moon Drip can cure this?"

Levy nodded. "It has to be certain. With the way the pool is now, the spell's cellular structure has to be unbalanced. If we can get even a little Moon Drip and put it under the moonlight, it'll likely spread and wipe out the Anthemusa for good!"

"That's brilliant!" Dereece yelled, but his face fell. "But, we don't have Moon Drip, do we?" He looked towards Joey, but he was too awestruck to realize what's going on.

"Well if we don't, _something's_ bound to happen." Duncan remarked. He looked over, noticing Camilla stand up. He watched her take slow steps towards the pool.

"Camilla? Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Isaac questioned. "It's dangerous, get back? Camilla?"

Joey stopped his fanboying and looked over. He noticed the contemplative look on her face. "Camilla? You okay…?"

Camilla looked back at Joey, meeting his confused gaze. In her eyes as they glossed, she stared longingly at the man who nearly got killed for her and still made her smile at the end of it all. Flashes of their first encounter on the bridge appeared in her mind, turning to their second night, and the laughter and talks they had. To the dancing they did in the club…where she actually felt alive for once. She remembered all the times Joey smiled at her, heading to the hug she gave him on the bridge. That warmth, it was fluttering her heart. Even now it was there, and as she smiled at Joey now, she knew what it had to be.

She looked towards the beaming pool, a resolute stare on her face. She paced a few feet ahead. "You're right. We may not have Moon Drip…but there is one thing we can try."

Dereece gasped.

"Wait, Camilla? What are you saying?" Joey asked, slight worry showing. "You're-!" His eyes shot wide when he realized something. _'Wait, what Camilla said before. Her condition! Don't tell me…!'_

Modestly nodding, she turned back towards the pool. "Yes. If we can use the small amount of Moon Drip in my body, that may be enough to revert everything the way that it's supposed to be." She imagined herself as a baby, when her father dipped her in the Moon Drip, revitalizing her. "I was saved when Moon Drip cured my Cardiac Magia…now it's my turn to repay the favor."

Erza's eyes shocked horror. "Wait, hold on. If you're going to do that, then…!"

A strong silence filled the atmosphere as all the attention went around Camilla. She was the center of attention as she smiled somberly. "Yes…then my body will also be broken down. In other words, my life debt will be paid."

Joey's eyes shrunk as he stared at Camilla. His eyes became motionless voids as he processed what Camilla was saying; what she was doing. No words came to mind as his heartrate jumped two beats. Even for a deaf man, he knew what he heard.

"Wait, what?! H-hold on now, surely you're joking right?!" Dereece panicked. "You know, there can be other ways to-!"

"We don't have time. If we don't do something ow, then this pool and all magic across the hemisphere will be ruined for years. This whole hemisphere is relying on someone to bring light back to it…so I'll do it, even at the cost of my own life." She started her pacing, but Isaac immediately grabbed her shoulder.

"Camilla, stop this foolishness now!" he barked angrily.

"Father…"

"As your Father I'm telling you! Do not _ever_ do this! I forbid you!"

Camilla turned her head away. "You said it yourself, didn't you? You would do anything to preserve this pool. I would as well. Without this pool, I wouldn't be where I am today…and I thought you of all people would know how to pay your debts by now."

"Not when the debt is my own flesh and blood!" He yanked so hard on her she almost fell over. "Listen to me, Camilla. We have mages! We have Pokémon too! We can use them somehow and save this pool! Don't you see? We have other answers, you won't have to do this! It's not worth risking the life of _my_ daughter over! I won't have it!"

Camilla somberly smiled as she lowered her head. "It's always been about you…nothing else mattered but your own security. That's what you cared most about."

Having enough, Isaac flapped her across the face. "Stop talking that way right now!"

A metallic staff swung from behind, smashing into the back of Isaac's head. He gagged before he slowly fell onto his stomach, revealing Duncan with his poll he used to ground him.

"Duncan…" Dereece gasped.

Isaac clutched the back of his head as Duncan stamped on his back, weighing him down. "You…what do you think you're doing…?" he strained.

Duncan held his tongue, glaring down at the man's hate-filled gaze. The bloodshot eyes were almost sad if they weren't so disgusted.

"Father…" Camilla spoke as though nothing happened, even though her cheek was pink. "You remember when you've made that deal with Emmanuel long ago, did you? You thought for the sake of the Capital, and I admire that about you…but as a Father, I cannot condone the same way. You've nurtured me to stay safe, but you refused to accept the fact that no one can be safe their whole loves. I really do love this Capital, it's beautiful, and I too would do anything for it…but it only got this way because we allowed people in rather than shut them out. If we had been more accepting of the world…then maybe things could've been different. I may have had a chance to see more of the world…but now I see that it's because of you that will never happen. I just wanted to live once, _my_ way…that's all I asked for."

"Camilla…" Isaac was speechless. He never heard her speak up to him like this before. In all their years, she never spoke up against him, most likely out of fear. Seeing her like this completely shut him down.

"Thank you, Father, for letting me live all these years…now it's time for me to pay a debt that I owe someone." She walked away, leaving Isaac beneath Duncan's mercy.

"Camilla…Camilla! Young lady! You get back here! I can't let this happen! Not like this! Do you hear me?!"

Camilla ignored his desperation and walked towards the pool. She stopped when she heard frantic steps. "Camilla!" A thud followed. Camilla turned around, seeing Joey flooring behind with Quilladin beside him. "Camilla…"

Camilla softly smiled as she turned and walked back towards Joey. "Joey…" She stood over him and kneeled, meeting him at eye level as he sat up.

Both eyes met as Camilla's were sincere, but Joey's were misting. He looked so sad as he wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say. He was shutting down. They stared for a while until Camilla finally spoke.

"I know what you're going to say Joey. I understand, the pain of losing someone you looked up to most. I get it…and in a way I feel the same. I've seen a lot of men who flaunted over me, some worse than others…but as it turns out, none of them ever cared about me. Not like you."

Joey and Quilladin didn't have anything to say. This allowed Camilla to continue.

"I…was lucky to have met you. It's thanks to you that I realized what I want to do with my life now, how I'm going to make my purpose come true. It's something about what you said about your master that truly inspired me…"

" _I learned a lot of things from Bro. The only way I can honor him now…is to work hard every single day and make use of what life I have left."_

"You were the first person in my life to ever truly care about me…" Her eyes started tearing up. "I can't be any happier than I am now. You've inspired me to make what I can of what life I have left, how you're making yours with the people around yours. I'm truly sorry for your Master…but I see why he left you his blessings. And I…envy that about you." She caressed Joey's cheeks as he was misting up. Her palms were so smooth that it was like soap. She wiped away a falling tear from Joey's face. "I'll always treasure the times we've spent together. Don't ever forget that." She stood up and finally started her way.

"Wait…" Quilladin waddled out of reach, but it was too late. He slowly looked back at Joey to see him staring out, blank shock plastered on his face.

Joey wanted to move. He was trying to. Yet, something was pulling him back. He couldn't explain it, but seeing Camilla stand up caused him to flash back to himself. It was in this particular instance that Broly was on the deck and Joey stood in front. That bittersweet moment of his turn to fight for someone made him feel more upset. He looked down, tearing up as he couldn't move.

Now quiet, Camilla stopped on the edge of the broiling Anthemusa. She looked down at her own reflection in the ripples, seeing a beautiful young woman, with a white hole where a moon should be. Hearing Nic's cry, she looked up, seeing him continue the fight. She softly smiled as she gazed up at the light, radiating down onto the pool. Taking a gander, she took a breath and jumped in.

"CAMILLA!" Isaac roared out. He started struggling beneath Duncan, angrily stirring. _'No! I can't lose her…I…can't lose…my only dau-!'_ He was slammed on the back of the head by Duncan, instantly knocking him out.

Beneath the tides of the pool, there were both bubbles. Seconds later, Camilla resurfaced, gasping for air. Already her face and body was numbing from the effects of the Anthemusa eating at the magic in her body. Her body ached, but she powered through. She started swimming.

" _Sorry about that." Dereece apologized. "He can be a little…eccentric."_

Camilla was swimming into the bubbling mess. It was as warm as a spa thanks to the chemical imbalance, but it felt anything but.

" _Look, all I'm saying is that you gotta loosen up. No need to throw a panic before a party. You gotta panic in the party. That's the way I roll."_

She felt nothing. No pain. Just resolution growing.

" _C'mon, it's our song! Time to get your party on!"_

Her spirit felt like it could black out, but she kept going. She couldn't explain it, but even though her skin was paling, she kept going, reaching the light.

" _So maybe I don't have much luck…I don't need it. What I need is for you to trust me again. I trust you, I always have…You're one of the most beautiful woman I've ever met since coming to this world. I mean sure, maybe I wasn't lucky when you tricked me…but if you ask me, my greatest luck is meeting you. You really made my time her in Glacidia all the more worth it."_

' _My whole life…I had no meaning.'_ She was half-asleep, her body numbing to where she almost lost feeling in her legs. _'I…had no friends. No loved ones. No future. I thought I didn't have a purpose. Now I know. Now I can make it have meaning…'_ One more image of Joey flashed in her mind, his wide smile making her grin. _'I'll save him…just like how he saved me.'_

She went fully numb, just as her body finally reached the moonlight. As she looked up, her entire vision was surrounded in white.

" _Daddy, why do we always see the moon every night?" a little Camilla asked as she was looking out her open window with Isaac, gazing at the moon. "Does the moon like us for some reason?"_

" _Actually, Camilla, we believe the moon's actually watching over us. It's protecting us."_

" _Protect us from what?"_

" _Well, lots of things. From crooks, from monsters, and from a lot of bad people."_

 _Camilla looked up to the moon again. Something about that didn't make much sense, but being the child she was she didn't question it. The moon radiated brightly on her as she gazed majestically at it._

" _Who knows when darkness comes to take the moon from us one day. But Camilla, if it does, it's our job to protect it. To save the moon, so it can save us…that is our eternal debt."_

The entire pool shined brightly, the gurgling exploding into a radiant white beam that shot into the sky. Everyone down below stared in shock as the ground shook beneath. Joey was on his knees, gazing up at the white pillar with shrunken eyes and tears running down his face.

"CAMILLA~!"

The bright light beam passed Nic and Emmanuel, both caught off guard as the wide stream shot skywards. It hit the ceiling of the lens, causing white ripples to expel all across the sky. As everyone continued fighting, they all looked up, seeing white waves wash away pitch-black. A wider white range spread at once slowly breaking apart the lens of the spell.

"What's happening now? Another Magic Power?" Gray questioned.

Nobody was certain, but a lot of people were seeing the darkness above disintegrating. Slowly, starting from the hole, pitch-black faded out. Shadows over everyone's head lifted to allow clear moonlight into view.

"Woah, look at that." A soldier said. "Is that the moon?"

"Man, it's even brighter than before. What happened?"

Emmanuel backed away as the beam receded. He looked around, seeing everything clearly. "What's happening? My power, it's…" He gazed downwards, his shock surmounting. "The Anthemusa! No!" Seeing nothing but a clear pool, Emmanuel looked up at the moon, seeing its glow bright glow. "The Anthemusa, and its effects. They're…fading…"

The moonlight cast upon Emmanuel, causing his body to sizzle. He clutched various parts of his body as they steamed. It felt like he was being burned alive.

Mega Charizard saw an opportunity. "Nic!"

"Right!" Getting into the air above, Nic gleamed over the moon, getting in front of the full moon above and spreading his wings to create the shape of a full moon. His entire shined moonlight as a blue circular forcefield shined in front.

Emmanuel strained through the burning moonlight, but he noticed a shine. He looked skywards, his eyes wide as he saw a light blue circular reminiscent of the moon. _'This power. Is this really…because of the moon?'_

His eyes reflecting Nic's image, Nic roared out and swirling streams gathered in the center, creating an intense swell of energy that centered into a hemisphere. _'Lunala…with your strength…'_ "We will save you!"

"NOOOO!" Emmanuel panicked, but it was too late. Nic let the center expand into a shining glow.

" **Maxus Legendary Arts – Moongeist Beam!** "

Emmanuel's screams turned mute as a massive, compressed blue ray fired straight down onto his body. The ray of raw moonlight swallowed him and continued its path. The entire sky was ignited in a blinding light that rippled once before erupting in a pulsating shockwave across Glacidia. The atmosphere roared as a hemisphere of light erupted all across the oasis.

The light was so intense that it could've been seen from space. A massive dome of moonlight was seen on the corner of Earthland, so far in fact that thousands of light years away, the shimmering light could still be sought.

Inside pitch-black, a pair of monstrous red eyes opened. Something bright got its attention. " **Hm? That light…!** "

The bright rays shined with the sound of thunder. All across Glacidia, even to where Charlotte was, she looked ahead at the bright moonlight. Seeing all of Glacidia cast in tis intense beaming power, it left her smirking.

The light soon diminished, and as it reduced to glints twinkling in the sky, Emmanuel's limp body was seen spiraling into the cleansed Moon Drip. The plummet created an intense splash. Nic's lunar beam dissipated, but the shine from his body remained. He looked down at the pool, seeing a body float there. It was Emmanuel, and seeing it for himself, Nic calmly stared down at his defeated foe.

The Moon Drip he was in wasn't what he was feeling right now. No. But that was part of the reason why he was disintegrating into the water. As his body's dark magic was being eaten and painfully killed by the pool, Emmanuel remained wide-eyed as he stared up at the sky, specifically the moon.

As the sounds of liquid sloshed in his ears, soon leading to deaf, his shuddering gaze was clearing away, reveling his normal eyes again. Blinking slowly, they misted over as moonlight reflected on his face. _'I never would've thought…up until now, I always thought the sun shines the most…'_ He thought briefly to mornings when he would wake up in his domain. He could recall the clear shorelines that had calm winds when the sun shined over the seas. His body could feel warm almost instantly. _'And yet, even when I'm still so cold…why does this light give me such warmth.'_

His body slowly sunk deeper, his eyes still gazing up at Nic and the lunar creature he resembled. The light he gave off shined even as he slowly submerged, turning into fog beneath. Down under, a soft smile crept onto his face.

' _Heh…the moon…even if it's not as warm…its light, it's very…beautiful…'_ Those were his last thoughts before his eyes slowly shut, his body finally disintegrating to dark matter that faded away in the water.

A long silence fell, leaving the air to clear of any suspense. Nic gazed down at the pool and closed his eyes. "It's done." He murmured. Suddenly, his head rung with a low growl. It was feint, but a bloodthirsty shrill run through that shook his body awake. _'What was that just now…?'_

"Woah…he actually did it." Dereece said, awestruck by Nic's display. "He did it…he actually did it."

"Yeah, he did." Duncan's face was dead serious. _'So that was Nic Pularis' full power.'_

The Pokémon were all speechless. No one said a word. The explosive blast wave left them all unable to say anything as processing was still underway. Even so, Levy's shock expression adverted towards the water.

"Look!"

She pointed at something in the Moon Drip. Everyone looked down and saw a pale, limp body floating atop the liquid. It had wet purple hair and closed eyes. Instantly Joey's heart pulsed.

"Camilla!" Joey yelled.

"Oh! I got it!" Seel volunteered and dove into the Moon Drip. Being a Pokémon and having no ethernano nor magic, she was fine as she sped underwater, heading right for Camilla. She made it and pushed her over towards the edge, where Heracross and Dereece helped her ashore. Once she was carried out of the liquid, drenched and pale, Joey immediately slid beneath and held the unconscious woman in her arms.

"Camilla? Camilla, wake up! It's me, Joey. You remember?" Joey called out to her as Quilladin joined his side, but no answer. "Hey, stop messing around! I know I said to have fun but not scare people! Camilla!" Joey had tears as he feared for the worst.

After what felt like an eternity, Camilla's eyes weakly opened. "Gnnngh…" She moved her head, her blurry vision lifting to show Joey's shock. "Joey…"

"She's alive! Do you guys see? She's alive!" Joey smiled as everyone else smiled around him. The only one not smiling was Erza.

"Camilla, you had me worried sick. I thought I'd lost you too." Joey held her bridal style as he bolted up. "We won, isn't that awesome?"

Camilla softly smiled. She actually looked happy, despite what's happening to her.

Quilladin gasped as he looked at Camilla. "Joey!"

"What?" He looked down, his eyes slowly widening as horror started filling them. From the bottom of her dress, Camilla's figure began fading. The feet were barely there as they were turning to purple stardust. His hopes started dying as he realized what was happening.

"Her ethernano…" Levy said. "It's breaking down…"

Erza frowned mournfully. She had a feeling something would go wrong.

"Camilla…no. Stay with me!" Losing strength in the knees, Joey fell to his own lap, holding Camilla as she kept smiling. "No…you can't go! Please! Not like this!"

"Joey…" Quilladin approached, but was ignored.

"No, don't say it! She can't be gone! Not yet! I can't…" Gritting his teeth, Joey lowered his head, meekly whimpering as his pities were rising. "…I can't lose her too…I don't know what I'd do without…without…" More tears started seeping down his cheeks as he weakly cried. He wasn't able to finish because of the grief overtaking him.

No one said anything. What could they say? They weren't able to do anything to help, so they were in no place to speak. But seeing this was heartbreaking, especially towards Dereece and Quilladin.

As Joey softly cried, a hand touched his cheek. Gasping, he looked down at Camilla. "Joey…just look at me."

Joey did his best to stop his crying. He stared at her in silence as her soft smile calmed his heart.

"It's alright…you've already done everything for me, I can't imagine a better reason to save you than that." She wiped away the tears in his cheeks with her thumbs. She meekly chuckled., despite more of her body turning translucent. "I really did mean what I said, about how I envy you…such a wonderful man you are. A lucky one…luckier than me."

She lifted her other hand, gently moving it over Joey's. As the fingers intertwined, a strong, golden wave ran down the palm. Joey gasped as he saw the magic flow into him. "Hold on, isn't this…!"

"The last of her luck." Dereece gasped.

Joey looked back towards her as she continued.

"I know this may seem sad…but it's okay. You know why? Because I'm happy…happier than I've ever been in my life…because I got to see so many things in just a few days than I did my whole life…and it's all thanks to you."

The last of her golden glow faded into his hand. Joey adjusted as Camilla sat up on her own, using both hands to cup Joey's face. Her smile widened as she started tearing up again, but she looked so happy. Joey's eyes softened as he gazed at her somberly. She closed in.

"I was the luckiest girl ever…and now that luck will always be with you…as shall I." Their breaths almost touched as their foreheads made contact. She held his face for as long as she could, but she knew it couldn't last forever. With that time left as her body and spirit were dying, she relished in this one moment. "…thank you so much Joey…I'll always be with you…through our luck…"

Slowly, she moved to overlap her lips with his own. For the first time, Joey's heart fluttered as it did sank. His first ever kiss by someone who really liked him, and he didn't know what to do. Slowly, propelled by instincts, he wrapped his own rms around her head as their smooth lips stayed true.

The particles slowly faded as they kissed, and Camilla finally faded away. Joey's moment was cut short as he grasped thin air. When he opened his eyes, purple sparkles twinkled and faded around him, dancing into oblivion.

Quilladin's eyes teared up for what happened. Dereece looked away in shame, and Seel lowered her head about to cry. Heracross comforted her. Levy looked away sadly, and Duncan tipped his hat to hide his expression.

Erza gazed up at the sky, where Nic and Mega Charizard were. Even they were left quiet.

As the battle drew to a close, the moonlight shined well on those on the oasis on that night.

* * *

Night soon turned to morning as the battles came to a close. All of Emmanuel's forces has been wiped out, the last of the men who served him and his Pokémon were all defeated and being apprehended by the Rune Knight reinforcements that Charlotte brought with her. Much of Glacidia was left in ruins, with much of its structures partially if not all broken.

The remaining guards had a short-lived rejoicing as they went immediately towards repairs. They moved debris and made way for streets, and with the willing help of Pokémon, the process was quickening. But thanks to their cooperation, some faces were smiling after a very grizzly night.

As Rune Knights were taking Emmanuel's defeated generals into custody, not far behind them, Victor was handcuffed as two soldiers hoisted him from the sides. "Hey! Let me go you bastards! I'll kick your asses so hard you…!" he trailed off when he looked over to his side.

There, overlooking on the high balcony of the plateau they fought on, the sunrise beamed over Joey and Isaac as both faced the warming sun.

"You. I hope you're proud of what you did…if it wasn't for you, she'd still be here." Victor scoffed. "I hope I never see you again."

"Let's go. With where you're going that's more than likely." A Rune Knight directed the chained Victor away, taking him away for good.

Joey and Isaac continued staring at Glacidia's ruins, both having mournful looks as they stood side by side with one another. Both their hearts were broken, and the same person was on their minds. "…I had a dream before the night Camilla was born." Isaac started. "It was the spirit of the moon, and its cries made the oasis ripple. There, sprouting from the water…I saw the vision, of my would-be-daughter. I thought that it was just a vision. Nothing more…" he gravely sighed. "I knew deep down, my dream would come true."

"You must be proud." Joey softly said.

"Yes, so very proud…and sad." Isaac glanced at Joey, seeing him having stained tears as well. He can imagine he was weeping all night like he was. "Young man, I owe you an apology. It was wrong of me to call you a punkish outsider."

Joey's happiness didn't revive. "Maybe, but maybe Victor was right. Maybe if it wasn't for me, Camilla wouldn't have…"

Isaac looked back out. "I understand…but you know, I've learned a lot of things from last night that took me until recently to realize. Camilla and Emmanuel were right…I truly am a heartless coward."

"Isaac…"

He looked down at Joey softly. "You gave my daughter happiness…something I could never give her. I now see that what I was doing was keeping her from what you were willing to give. To that…" he folded his arms and bowed before Joey. "You have my deepest gratitude. I thank you from the bottom of my heart…for giving my daughter a will to pass on to."

Joey frowned heavily. He was about to cry again, a mixture of gratitude and extreme heartache. As he and Isaac were reconciling, all of Fairy Tail behind was dead silent. Cana and Sophie were frowning sadly. Dereece looked like he was about to cry again. Nic and Erza looked to one another embracingly.

Isaac turned towards the others. "And to you, Fairy Tail. Thank you, for all that you've done." He bowed again. "I am forever in your debt."

"Come on, don't get started on that again." Natsu dismissed. "There's been enough debt around here."

"He's right." Levy replied. "Please, don't push yourself. We understand what you've been through, we all helped because we want to, not just because we had to. This was important to you, so there's nothing to be ashamed of."

"You're too kind." Isaac lifted himself. "Still, I must start taking responsibilities for my actions. This is all my fault, that I can no longer deny. But…suppose better late than never." He turned around to face the reconstructing capital. "I must atone for what I have done. However, I fear that will be much harder than what I imagine."

Nic and Erza walked to his other side, overlooking Glacidia with him. "It's a beautiful city." Erza remarked. "Even in tough times it held through, I think you can manage just fine."

"Perhaps…but, Emmanuel was right. If perhaps I did change the policy of our customs, then we'd be having a much different story."

"Yeah, maybe." Nic said. "But no sense in mulling over what you did wrong rather than make up for it."

"You're right…" With a more sophisticated and calm stature around him, Isaac raised his chin. "I think that I'll be keeping the gates open for quite some time. It's not the most effective start…" a soft smile pursed his lips. "But it's a start I suppose. It's something Camilla might've wanted…" he snickered. "She was right, I really was a horrible father. Hiding away from the world. Making false promises. Risking war for our treasure. There's a lot I have yet to learn…and as much as I hate Emmanuel, he was right about a lot of them. I've learned a lot that I need to process, but until I've made a better example of what a promised land looks like, I'll work diligently, until my last drawn breath…that is the least that I can do for what everyone's done for me. _And_ for the magic world."

Cana smirked. "That's a start I suppose." Vanessa nodded besides her.

"Still, I'm worried. Should we really leave things like this?" Lucy worried.

Natsu slapped her back, almost throwing her off balance. "Bah it'll be fine. Besides, we've got the Pokémon to work with everyone here, so it's okay. Right?"

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered above.

"If the geezer can change enough to let these guys roam around freely and open trades for good, then I think everything will be just fine." Natsu gave his trademark toothy grin at Lucy.

The blonde cheerfully nodded. "Right."

"Guess this means our works done then. Time to head back to the guild." Pantherlily noted.

Gray grinned. "Been a while since we've been to the guild. You think they'll notice anything different?"

Juvia popped up beside him. "One can only say so much. Bet they'll be surprised to meet Marill."

"That right? Well then I guess Charmeleon's gonna have a blast." Natsu noted. "Well, no sense in waiting around. It's time to make tracks guys, what do you say?"

Everyone agreed. They all headed off inside Isaac's estate to assemble transportation and their goods. As they left, Nic turned his back to look at Isaac one more time, seeing him stare out at the sun with a bottomless face. _'It's not like he's doing a good job hiding it. He's hurt…can't blame him though.'_ He looked down at his own hand, his palm having an image of Lunala. _'You never know what you have until it's gone. And then what? After you lose everything…what do you do? What do I do?'_

"Nic!" Erza shouted. "Coming?!"

"Yeah, hold on!" Nic turned his back to Isaac, staring at the stairway. "Guess this is goodbye for now, Isaac, Sure you wanna leave things this way?"

"It's for the best. You can tell the Cambire Foundation we'll be willing to supply anything we can…not that we have much already. But we'll work with what we have I suppose."

Nic softly grinned. "Just stay strong. Okay? That's all I can tell you…take care." Waving him dismissively, Nic nonchalantly walked up the stairway, leaving Isaac to look up as a wind shifted his head.

' _Camilla…thank you.'_

* * *

Waterfalls flourished as the morning rays illuminated the sparkling water. As the isles were flowing with clear water, on the island, Joey overlooked the Moon Drip pool with Quilladin. Both had sad expressions as they replayed last night over and over in their minds. Each one was more painful than the last. Not once, but twice now; Joey – the partygoing goofball – lost someone whom he couldn't save.

He thought he was making a difference from training with Nic, that it would make him stronger and help protect others. In a way it worked, but that didn't change the course of destiny. As another tear dripped onto the dewy grass, Joey balled his fists as he mournfully stood in the spot where he held Camilla before she died. Lord knows how long he stood there, but the sun being a little higher than before was any indication.

" _I was the luckiest girl ever…and now that luck will always be with you…as shall I."_

"Camilla…" Joey got to his knees, slowly sitting and bending over, ceremonially bowing towards the pool of Moon Drip. "There was so much more I wanted to tell you…like my adventures with Nic…and all these cool places I went to since coming here…" his eyes teared up as droplets touched the earth. "There was a lot I wanted to say, but I bet you know that, don't you…that's why you talked huh?" He lifted himself, softly smiling at the calm pool. "Camilla…"

In the reflection, Camilla's face was seen. She was smiling lovingly at Joey.

"Tell Bro hi for me…and promise you both will always be with me, okay?" Another tear dropped from his cheek, dropping into the Moon Drip. The ripples the tear made Camilla's illusion disappear, fading spiritually for good.

Joey lowered his head, meekly whimpering as Quilladin tried comforting him, also misty in the eyes.

"Joey…" Behind, Dereece walked up to him. Duncan wasn't too far behind. The former spoke. "It's time man."

Gathering his last thoughts, Joey sighed heavily before getting the message. Getting up, he stared at the pool one last time. "Goodbye, Camilla." He whispered before silently walking away with Quilladin, leaving the pool at rest, along with Camilla's spirit.

* * *

"Well this is a drag. We didn't get much pay out as I thought we would." Cana complained as she got her stuff together.

"Don't forget, the Cambire Foundation is paying us. Isaac wasn't part of the deal." Sophie recalled.

"Yeah, yeah. Just saying. Did a lot of hard work ya know."

Sophie hummed. "True. We would appreciate a bonus if that were possible. But I doubt it considering they had to send an entire fleet to help."

"Yeah and we all know how that turns out, geez,." Cana rummaged through her purse to make sure she had all the alcohol she needed for the trip back, but then something poked her backside. "Hm?" Turning around, she saw Prinplup standing there, looking stout. "Hm? Oh, it's you again. What's up big guy?"

Prinplup cleared his throat, trying to make coherent sentences. Ashe puffed out his chest he tried acting tough. "So…I take it that you're going take to wherever you came from then, is it?"

"Yeah, sums it up right." Cana turned around fully ready. "Been a nice trip and all, but we don't wanna cramp your style." She winked.

"Oh, uh *cough* I see." Cana started walking passed Prinplup, getting his attention. "Er, wait, hold on."

"Sorry hotshot, on a schedule." Cana waved back. "You can have your little rock back now. You won't catch me anywhere near there for a while. Later."

Borderline irritated, Prinplup fumed and rushed for her. "Wait-!"

Cana turned around, smirking. "What's this? Thought you wanted us out of here?" she teased. She had a feeling of where this was going.

Prinplup almost floored. He picked himself up and cleared. "Well, it's…it's just that…" He pointed a flipper at her. "Look, just to set the record straight, I still don't appreciate the way you thought that I was cute, okay? And what happened last night was totally out of my own free will! Got that? But if you think you can just walk out here without so much as a 'thank you' to me, well then you got a whole other-!" He was cut off when Cana stretched out a Poke Ball towards him. Prinplup stammered when he looked at the ball, then at her.

"You gonna stare all day or what?" the brunette shrugged. "Don't be shy, c'mon."

Prinplup was speechless. He looked at the Poke Ball then her. Poke Ball, then her. Poke Ball, then her. He repeated these five more times before he nervously turned away, cheeks blushing. "Er, don't bother! I've already made up my mind." He beamed.

Cana shrugged. "Oh well, your loss." She walked away. "Later, Prinplup."

He struggled mentally with Cana going. Every footstep she took made him flinch. His mind was tugging constantly until he was shuddering. Until finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Wait!" He turned around after her. "You can't go without me!"

Cana smirked. _'Got him. He's way too easy.'_

Prinplup adjusted. "Uh…w-what I meant to say, is that you should probably take me along so that I can keep an eye on you. That's right! To make sure you're not messing up anybody else's property, yeah!" Prinplup beamed with such exaggerated pride that it was almost too sad to look at.

Sophie sighed in the background. _'Who is he think he's fooling?'_

Cana turned around, holding the Poke Ball. "Alright, if that's the way you want it." She threw the capsule at him. "Get in, big guy!"

The Poke Ball plopped on Prinplup's chest as he stood still. The ball instantly sucked him in, plopping towards the ground. It shook once, then twice, then three times. Finally clicking, it signaled the capture, and Cana's newest Pokémon.

Cana picked up the capsule and smirked down at it. "Well what do you know, guess this trip was worth it after all."

"Ma-zal tov (Congratulations). Seems you have a new friend." Sophie chimed. "So I take it we're set then?"

"Yup, got everything now." With a smirk, Cana walked along, with Sophie snickering behind.

* * *

Dereece blinked as he looked down. "What?!" He started looking uneasy at the Seel. "Now wait just a minute now, you want _me_ to catch you? Uh, w-wouldn't it be better if you, you know, stayed here and such?"

"Oh come now, don't be like that." Seel chastised. "Look, I've seen a few good tiffs but that was something else. I knew you wanted to help your friend but after last night…well, just look at him."

Dereece looked over to what she referred to. Sitting on a clump of snow, Joey had shadows over his eyes as he sighed. It made Dereece frown.

"And besides…between you and me, I've come to like you. You're a good sport, and I think your friend needs as much support as he can. So whether or not you accept it is your choice, but I know where I stand." She slid along the snow up towards Dereece's leg, nudging him. "So, what do you say?"

Dereece didn't know what to say. He rubbed the back of his head nervously as he wasn't sure what to say, or do in this particular case. Heracross followed him, and Yanma was a special case. He never read up on a Pokémon practically _forcing_ itself to be caught.

"Look, just catch it already, alright?" Duncan chastised against a wall. "If it wants it that badly then just get it. No point in wasting time on something so annoying."

Dereece looked at Seel one more time, seeing the expectant nod she gave. After careful thinking, he smiled. "Well, if you really want to…" he held up a Poke Ball. "Then welcome aboard!"

He reached his hand down, allowing Seel to use her horn and tap the Poke Ball. The capsule flung open, and she got sucked inside and shook. After several shakes, the ball clicked, signaling Dereece's newest capture and an initiative Water-type.

"I did it." He chuckled. "Thanks Duncan."

Duncan scoffed. "Don't bother. I only suggested it because it was annoying. And besides, we got a boat to catch."

Dereece gave a disapproving glare at Duncan. He knew Duncan had an attitude problem, but after last night, this was not what they needed. Joey only served to hold himself tighter out of dismay. "Duncan." He hissed.

The superior Trainer sighed. "Look I get it, alright?" He turned away. "Look, don't go telling Joey this…but I actually feel sorry for him."

"Duncan…"

"…but that doesn't change a thing. If he's gonna mope for a while then _you_ can drag him. Better to pick yourself up and move ahead without lead weights holding you back. Just saying."

To a degree Duncan was right. Dereece grumbled as he went over towards Joey. "Hey, Captain, we gotta go. I caught that Seel." He smiled hopefully. "Oh! I know! We can go dancing when we get back! That'll be a fun to celebrate!" he started mock-boogying in place, humming a tune to get Joey in the mood. Joey frowned as he lowered his head, walking passed Dereece as he continued until he realized Joey wasn't in the mood.

"Uh, Captain? Captain Joey?" Joey waved back, issuing a weak 'ok', but Dereece shook his head. "This is gonna be harder than I thought." He followed behind, looking down as The Freaks' morale hd taken a big hit this time around.

* * *

Loading up on the ships, Rune Knights escorted prisoners to bunks. Meanwhile, others were talking to elite guards about possible supply runs and demand costs, to which they would pay in full. As they were all loading up on Charlotte's head ship, Nic and Erza walked across the deck, crossing paths with one of the three heads of Arthur's foundation.

"Ah, Nic Pularis. So good to have you on my ship." Charlotte grinned. "I trust that your mission was a success then, yes?"

Nic shrugged, looking nonchalant. "Yeah, just about. We're on good terms at least, I can say that much."

"Excellent work. I had a good feeling why the Cambire Foundation hired you. Your methods and power are…exemplary. You've displayed a good show, therefore, feel free to roam around as you see fit."

"Thanks, we'll take it." He nodded.

Charlotte nodded and walked passed them. "Alright you cadets, listen up! We're heading out immediately! I expect not a nanosecond wasted on your paces! Move it!"

Nic sweatdropped. _'Geez, high maintenance much?'_ He looked towards Erza. "You wanna head up towards the bow?"

Erza nodded. "Isn't that your _second_ favorite spot on a ship? Next to the mast I presume?" she teased.

Nic chuckled. "Yeah, well, it'd get too cold if we stayed up there too long."

"But isn't the cold your thing?"

"Yeah…and plus it's metal, so it'd be a pain." He rubbed the back of his head groaning.

Erza smirked. "Point taken."

The two found themselves on the front of the iron deck as men were assembling supplies and readying for departure. The others were getting on, while the Dragon Slayers were slouching last, dreading for when it would be time to set rudders. Nic and Erza stared at the sunrise, taking solace of the artic waters ahead of them.

"We finally did it." Erza started. "It was a rough call, but we pulled it off." She turned towards Nic. "Right?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah, guess you're right." He lost his grin and looked out discerningly. _'Still, that moon spirit I saw…'_ He thought back to meeting Lunala, his brow furrowing with a serious glare. _'It was trying to warn me about something, something other than the moon being in danger. When I saw those eyes…they saw something, something out of reach…but it's gonna get closer unless I do something about it.'_

He balled a clutched fist, looking down on it deeply. Erza took notice and looked worried. "Nic…Nic?"

"Hm?" he looked towards his wife. "Sorry, Erza. You were saying something?"

Erza shook her head. She looked at Nic with a soft smile, one that caught him speechless. "Erza…!" And with a harsh, elbowed him hard, almost making him fall over if not for the railing. "What the-?!"

"That's for scaring me like you did last night." She scolded. "Should've known you'd still keep me on my toes. You have any idea how sick I almost got?"

Nic nervously sweatdropped. He grumbled as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I, uh…"

"But…" She placed her hand atop of his, grinning once more. "That only means there's more surprises out there. You told me that this 'Lunala' was the voice you heard that disrupt you, right?" She looked out steadily at the horizon. "Then I can only assume that means something's out there. If that's a Pokémon we've never seen, then we'll need to be more careful now, won't we?"

Nic grinned and nodded. "Yeah." With Erza and him hand in hand, they looked out towards the sunlight warming their front. _'She's right. I'm never in this alone. If that was a Pokémon, then I'm not doing this mystery alone.'_

He and Erza shared one more glance at each other, smiling passively at one another. Their fingers interlocked, their doubts erasing as they were focused on moving forward together.

Isaac continued overlooking Glacidia, looking far out as he saw the ships all setting sail. Closing his eyes and mourning briefly, he felt a nudge by Beartic. Looking over, he and the bear on four legs overlooked their capital, seeing man and Pokémon working together. Even though it hurt, he smiled through the pain. He looked up at the sun, embracing the warmth of a new era.

Everyone was soon set. They all were in the same ship, readying to take off. Swablu and Snover had already taken liberties using their vocal attacks to make the Dragon Slayers asleep for the ride. Cana started chugging down the booze she got from the bar the first night she was there, even though soldiers were yelling at her in the background. Vanessa and Sophie were giggling at the scene.

The Freaks were in a separate bunk, with Joey looking out the manhole window as he took one final look at Glacidia. Though heartbroken, he was going to have to bear it. He stared at the scenery for as long as he could, recalling everything that's happened. _'So much has happened here, and in such a short time. I can't believe that we experienced so much in such a short time.'_ A mournful smile crossed his face. He didn't look happy, even if he tried. Once he got his fill, he got under the covers, turning in for a long ride home.

Once ready, Charlotte swiped her arm. "Everyone, to Fiore! It's time to return home!"

The ships all started for home. Pass the glaciers they went, and onwards towards the southern waters. The icy cold lands were finally left be, and everyone's new destinations had just unfolded, including Nic and Erza as they faced the horizon, ready to take on the challenges ahead of them.

* * *

A knock happened on the door.

"Come in." Arthur announced. The door slid open, allowing Marie to venture in with a stack of papers. "Marie, what brings you here?" She sat the stack of papers in front of him. "What's this?"

"It's a full-length report of Ms. Jet's excursion to the north in Glacidia. We just received it this morning." Marie announced, adjusting her glasses. "She made sure to not leave a single detail out. From battles, to the arrests…"

Arthur skimmed through the papers, seeing the results to his liking. When he realized what this means he smirked. "I see…how very interesting." He leaned back in his seat, letting out a chuckle.

"Is there something you find funny, sir?"

"It's nothing, just thinking is all." Arthur looked towards the ceiling, the thought of Nic on the boat heading off into the fading sunrise. _'How about that, even when we don't cause trouble, you always seem to bring it. Typical irony, yet matched with charismatic abilities…that Nic sure is something else.'_ "Well now, Marie, this is a problem."

Marie lifted her head. "Of what sir?"

"Just…which kind of wine glass should I use for this morning's celebration?"

"Are you serious?!" he yelled through the foundation. "President, we've been over this!"

"C'mon, it's an occasion. Lighten up."

"It's an excuse! Now get to filing that report!"

Arthur sighed in defeat. _'Can't she take a joke?'_

* * *

 **Well…this was along, and a long wait at that. So sorry for the wait guys, but I'm feeling much better now, and after nearly 2 weeks I got this arc's finale wrapped up all tied up in a pretty bow. I was certain to give you guys a crazy amount of fighting and inner dialogue to follow up on. It's a lot of style changing, but I'm coping with it. I've actually been watching My Hero Academia a lot, and we all know how logical and inspirational that anime can be. I've been trying to combine that logic with Fairy Tail style and I think I did well for this chapter and last chapter. Let me know what you guys think.**

 **So yes, I know many of you are feeling so very sorry for Joey, as am I. So to help our favorite party boy cope with what's happened, another 2 chapters planned before we get to a very deep idea I had for a while.**

 **Now we also see that Cana caught Piplup/Prinplup, and Dereece caught Seel at last. Add that with Gray's Snorunt, and all these evolutions, I think I did good on Pokémon screentime all around for everyone. Thumbs up for me!**

 **As you may have also seen, Nic's finally getting a small hint of what's to come. Now you see why I referred to the moon so much this arc, and why it played such an important role. With the power of Lunala now, just what will Nic do?**

 **Well guys, it's almost 2 in the morning and I'm beat, so leave your final thoughts on the Glacidia Arc. Did you like the plot? Was the ending decent? What didn't you like that I could improve on, which Pokémon you liked most, etc. You get the idea. Anyways guys, be seeing ya around, and leave your thoughts/comments/reviews! Thanks!**


	29. Beaches, Flopping Fish, & A Rat

Darkness. Light. Two opposite realities, yet they share one universe. A realm where those two constantly battle for dominance over the other. The realities of which light and dark lie are beyond what man could ever dream of. It's here where those who are caught between these two forces are shown the bright side of darkness, and the darkness of light. The gray area. Purgatory. And this was within the depths of space where these two forces were to become one.

Within the realm of distorted isles and rocks floating like castles, what appeared to be a massive mobilization set afoot. Lofty footsteps were taken as large, alien-like silhouettes growled and snarled. Many raised their heads as they looked up at some pitch-black rock that floated liked an upside-down spiked castle. It looked like something out of a distorted nightmare. Many of these creatures floated off the isles and closer towards the castle, drawn in by something telling them.

Gathered around the crevices and cracks, many stood outside as pitch-black raced inside, where there was no light shimmering. What could've been made out, however, was a faint outline of some distorted beast who was heavily breathing.

The image of that vast twinkle continued rousing it. _'_ _ **That light I saw…it was so bright. I thought I was mistaken, but…that light…yes. Yes!**_ _'_ His shuddering body seemed to have stretched out a claw, which created a crater in the dark ground.

The entire castle shuddered, startling and arousing many of the alien-like beasts gathered.

The blackened beast lowered his head, exerting a rainbow breath that faded to nothing. _'_ _ **That light, I must have it. I need my light. I need it!**_ _'_ The airspace around the beast began to shudder as gravity was overturning on itself. The beast shuddered before its aching form arose, emitting a bloodcurdling, shrilled shriek that could split eardrums out of sheer fright. The soundwaves echoed out of the castle, causing all the other monsters to shriek at the war cry.

" **Someone…** _ **anyone**_ **! Find my precious light! Guide it home to me…now** _ **go**_ **!** "

The beasts opened their maws, responding as they flew off. They spread all around, disappearing into realms far off.

The black beast heavily breathed as he remained in his cold prison, his silhouette fading. " **My light…you can't hide anymore. I know you're out there…and I will take what is rightfully mine** _ **alone…**_ "

* * *

In the realm opposite of darkness, a harsh but vibrant sunlight beamed down on an oasis. The isles of soft, white sand was smooth, without even a speck of trash or shells clammed along the rims. The waves went in and out, bringing blue forward and black.

The serenity of this place was so peaceful…until the calm waves were splashed by Cana stepping into the water, clad in her bikini.

"ALRIGHT! BEACH PARTY EVERYBODY!" she chimed, with several other guys and girls behind following her.

"YEAH!" they all yelled in sheer joy, fisting the air with bright smiles with their Pokémon.

Swablu chirped sweetly as she floated in the high air, catching a cool breeze. Beside her, Lisanna's Rufflet sailed with glee. In the waters, the girls were in their swimwear as they were flocking in the water. Near the shore line, a lot of the land based Pokémon were stretching along with their Trainers as many others were settling down to relaxation and sunbathing. Everyone had big smiles on their faces as they were enjoying sunlight. All the aches and the turmoil they suffered for the past month had finally paid off, and now they're at the beach!

"Well this looks like fun." Kinana said, laying down her towel. "Right, Seviper?" Right beside her, the massive knife viper flicked her tongue as she was in a loose coil. Kinana giggled.

"Sure was impressive that the Cambire Foundation rented out this whole beach for us for the entire day." Mest commented.

"Well they _had_ to reward us somehow." Lisanna chimed, Rufflet roosting into her arm as she held it out as a perch. "We've done a lot of work for them, I think they're just compensating us for all the trouble caused."

"Yeah, this is a manly beach!" Elfman roared.

"See? Elfman thinks so." Lisanna chimed in.

Mirajane walked up beside her sister, cheerfully smiling as Vullaby was in tow. "C'mon everybody, I think it's a great way for us to relax." She mused. She gestured over to the vendors and stands that were evenly spaced out. Behind there were hot dogs, snacks, ice cream, and a lot of things that associates paid and administered by the Cambire Foundation. "And besides, they were kind enough to give us all these delicious choices, so let's make use of it, okay?"

Mest sighed, but grinned. "Yeah, guess you're right." He looked over, seeing his Ralts repeatedly bang his head in the sand like some woodpecker. "Hey Ralts, you want anything to try?"

Ralts hit his head repeatedly until he stopped to look at Mest. A moment of silence passed between them before he resumed his hobby.

"Yeah, he likes to try something." Mest pointed out.

Lisanna and Mirajane sweat dropped behind him. _'How'd he figure that out while he's letting him get concussions?'_ Lisanna nervously thought.

Rufflet flopped down in front of Vullaby. "Hey, Vullaby."

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna try making one of those 'sand castle' things these humans make? I've always wanted to try one of those."

Vullaby perked up. "Would I?! Let's go!" She waddled along, with Rufflet cheerfully in tow.

Out by the ocean, Asuka was hanging to a rope while her feet were on a small red board. She hung on while the board was dragged by Remoraid and Clauncher, her parents' Pokémon that showed her skiing. "Yeah~! Faster! Faster!" she cheered.

"Don't let go, okay sweetie?" Bisca called out from the shore. She was on her side along a beach towel.

"Okay!" Asuka shouted.

Bisca sighed. Beside her, Alzack came back with two hot dogs on crisp hoagie buns. "She sure is growing up fast, isn't she?" he mused. "To think she was so small not too long ago."

Bisca smirked. "Time sure does fly when you get older." She looked towards the sky. "But you know Al, who's to say?" Out farther, Asuka was laughing as Remoraid and Clauncher skimmed across the water. "This world's getting stranger every day, especially with these Pokémon around. Who knows? Maybe she'll grow up to be a good Trainer if she wanted?"

Alzack grinned. "That's up to her. Just as long as she's happy, that's enough for me. Now then…" He opened his mouth wide to eat the hot dog, but a Wingull cawed as it grabbed the food. He bit into thin air. "Huh?!" Looking up, he saw the Wingull fly away with the food in its mouth. "Hey! That's mine you thief! Get back here!"

Lisanna sweat dropped as she looked into the sky as she held a tray of food. "Oh dear, looks like trouble."

"Well isn't that what Pokémon are for?" Romeo questioned. "I mean we know Pokémon can fight each other for sport, but isn't like a felony or something for people to beat them up? I don't get it. What do you think, Dad?" Romeo looked over, but his father's towel was vacant. "Uh, Dad…?"

Macao and Wakaba had eager smiles as they had pink cheeks. Their goofy expression were directed towards the sea as it sparkles with firm girls. Lucy was splashed by Levy, soaking her smooth skin and her chest with water. She returned the gesture and splashed Levy, but she moved and soaked Kinana instead. The many girls were playing around, and as such, their assets jiggled with each shallow step, and the old timers were taking in every inch of it.

' _If this is paradise, please let it last more than one day.'_ Macao begged.

' _Please tell me this isn't a dream! We'll do anything to make this reality!'_ Wakaba swooned.

"Oh yeah…" Droy fawned. Off to the side, he and Jet were in the perverted line, small trails of blood running down their noses. "Now that's the spot."

"Yeah, man." Jet gazed at Levy in her swimsuit, her petite frame and gorgeous face sparkling. "They still got it!"

"Yeah!" all four men eagerly cheered.

With a snap of fingers, they all suddenly glowed. The next second, they turned into what looked like four cards that drifted into the sand.

"H-hey! What just happened?!" Macao shouted from inside the card.

"Yeah! Weren't we just seeing girls, now we're seeing the sun?" Wakaba asked confusedly.

A shadow loomed over the four cards. All four cards sweat dropped as Cana had arms crossed as she overlooked the four fools. Beside her, Prinplup beamed with pride. "You see, I told you something seemed weird about them." Prinplup pointed an accusing flipper at them.

"That you did." Cana walked up, squatting down to the cards with a raised brow. "Well, well, what do we have here? Having fun, peeping toms?"

"We're sorry!" They all cried out.

Prinplup perked his head up with pride. "Hmph, all in a day's work-!" Suddenly a beachball smashed into the back of his head. His eyes went white as he gawked. He fell forward, laying on the sand unable to move.

"Whoops! Sorry about that!" Natsu shouted from the distance.

"That ain't good." Gray groaned. "Wait a go, Natsu."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! You shouldn't have caught me off guard with that serve!" he argued back.

Gajeel pinched the bridge of his nose while Aron slept comfortably in the sand behind. "Remind me again why I even bothered."

Sophie walked into the waters of the ocean. The smell of saltwater filled her nostrils as she took in the serenity of the sea. Her long blonde hair was shifting in the coastal breeze. Her pink lipstick and pink eyeliner really emphasized her beauty. She had on a dark brown bikini that did justice for her assets that have been growing well.

"Ha! C'mon, Dewpider! Catch me if you can!" Marill bobbed in the water, her tail sticking out as Dewpider reluctantly tagged along.

"Tch, even when you're evolved you can be annoying." He grunted as his legs kept him afloat. "Now where are you…?"

Watching her Pokémon play, Sophie smiled. _'It seems like only a short time ago Juvia and I caught our Pokémon, now look at them.'_ She saw Marill jump out of the water innocently while Dewpider yelled for space. Once again, she was reminded of Natsu and Gray, but giggled it off and turned to her friend. "Well then Vanessa, what do you wanna do?"

The answer was too obvious. The second Pularis was in a teal bikini as her wide hips and voluptuous frame were basking in the shades of Venusaur. She used his petals and leaves as shade like a tropical umbrella while a small pitcher of lemonade with raw lemons sat beside her. She was sleeping hard, much to Sophie's indifference.

' _Well, guess I should've seen this coming.'_ Sophie figured. _'I wonder how Nic and Erza are doing?'_

* * *

Juvia pattered along the water after a volleyball she, Lisanna, and Mirajane shared. Eevee followed along as well. When Lisanna served up her ball, it sped right for Juvia, but she wasn't gonna make it. At the last second, Eevee used **Tackle** and rammed the ball before it touched the water, sending it back at Lisanna.

"Thanks for the save, Eevee." Juvia praised.

Even soaked in water, Eevee wagged her tail. "Yeah, no problem!" She looked towards the shore, where Rhyhorn, Purrloin, and Gray's Ice-types were under umbrellas; Snorunt was of course chewing ice out of a bucket. "Hey, c'mon guys! The water's fine!"

Purrloin waved dismissively at her. "Mmm, don't wanna get my fur wet." She groaned.

"I no swim." Rhyhorn blunted.

"Yeah, and we prefer colder climates." Snover pointed out. "It's making me a little itchy being out here…" Beside him, Bergmite nodded in agreement, while Snorunt munched on an ice bucket like nothing else mattered.

Eevee pouted. "Aww…"

"At ease, my young acquaintance." Kadabra said, appearing beside Eevee. "Their types and physiology aren't suited for water. Don't feel discouraged because they weren't interested."

Eevee grumbled, but she understood. "I guess so…" she got an idea. "Hey, you wanna play treasure hunt with me? Let's see who finds the most seashells!"

Kadabra nodded. "Very well, if you insist. It'll help pass the time I suppose."

Along the shores further away, Rufflet and Vullaby were in the middle of making a sand castle…well, more accurately, a sand hill. Rufflet's depiction of a tower or castle wasn't spot on. He barely remembered the palace of Alvarez. But with Seviper's help they were following her instructions and edging it all out.

"Yeah, just like that." The viper responded. "Keep fanning out those edges until they meet each other."

Vullaby shifted sand with her small wing along the ends, making it look like a wall. "Hey, I think that I got it. Thanks, Seviper!"

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Rufflet chirped. "You know, for a snake, you sure know your castles."

Seviper pridefully smirked. "Well I _was_ serving the empire for a short time. You tend to learn a thing or two when you're in human structuring for some time." Although when she stopped to think about it, she glared at the castle, which made her flash back to Lia. She hissed low. _'No, that was back then. This is now.'_ Her tail knife swayed in the sand. _'That place means nothing to me.'_

"Hm?" Rufflet heard Seviper's crude hissing and looked back. "Hey, Seviper, are you okay?"

Realizing she was hissing aloud, she stopped. "Huh? O-oh, sorry. I was just…spacing out is all."

Vullaby shifted sand one more time, until at last she pulled away with beaming pride. "And…done!" She stood proudly above a simple tower of sand, which surprisingly stood as tall as the height of Rufflet and Vullaby combined. It had small engraves for windows and a small stick for a flag. "Tada! I call this gem, the 'Birdie Watch'! Pretty nice, right?"

' _She could've thought up a better name?'_ Rufflet thought, but went along with it since Vullaby would say otherwise.

Vullaby hummed proudly, but then a small rumble came from the distance. This got everyone's attention.

"Hm? What's that?" Rufflet asked. He looked in the distance, seeing a sand cloud heading their way.

"A Sand Attack?" Seviper guessed.

Vullaby squinted, but her and everybody else looked horrified when it was Natsu's Darumaka. He was racing eagerly with Charmeleon as they were bolting across the sand in their direction.

"You'll never catch up to me! Out of the way!" Darumaka yelled.

"Kyaaah!" Vullaby squealed. "N-no! Wait! Wait-!" But it was too late. The sand cloud burst through the sand castle, exploding sand that Charmeleon dashed through next. Both took off while the sand dissipated, leaving Seviper and the two birds hovered in sand hills.

After one blink, then two, Vullaby began tearing up. She started to cry loudly, tears like comical waterfalls. "Waaahahahaaa!" she cried.

Rufflet comforted her with a wing. "There, there, it's okay. We'll make a new one! Promise!"

Shock diminishing, Seviper's temper flared. She angrily stared at Darumaka and Charmeleon and her tail began glowing purple for **Poison Tail**. "You…" She slithered after them. "Just wait until I sink my fangs into you two idiots!"

Far ahead, Darumaka didn't seem to care as he dashed eagerly. "YEAH! I'M BEATING YOU! HAHA!"

"Hey, slow down! You're gonna get yourself into trouble you…!" Charmeleon shouted. He suddenly felt a chill run up his spine when he heard something behind. Looking back, he yelled when Seviper had her tail overhead to swipe down. "GAAH! No, wait! Wait-!"

An explosion of sand was seen in the background as Darumaka continued his path dumbly, laughing all the way eagerly. Within the rush of sand, Charmeleon was spiraling in his own daze.

' _I'm so killing that bauble when he's out of steam…'_

* * *

On another part of the secluded beach, just a little further away from the rest of everyone who decided to tag along, basking under the sunlight with a large umbrella and a bright gray beach towel, Nic was lying on his back, his Pokémon all close by. Greninja had hands behind his head like him, Charizard was lying on his stomach, resting on his claws. Staraptor was snugged in the sand, with Kecleon taking in so much heat that her camouflage was reflecting the sand. Arbok was loosely slouched, leaving the only one active being Garchomp, who was in the open sand in front of Nic. On the occasion, one could've seen his enormous backfin breach as he arched back into the sand, the pressure massaging his scales and arched spine.

As Erza's Cloyster popped up from the sea, the saltwater revitalizing him after hard work, Erza walked to his side, taking her spot on a yellow towel in a white bikini top with a sunhat, along with white flowered red sarong like she wore on Caracole Island. Beside her, Slurpuff also had her own ice cream, though it was in a much bigger cup that could fit two Poke Balls. "

Here." Erza passed Nic a cup of mint ice cream. "I thought you like some."

Nic turned his head weakly as he sat up, accepting Erza's expense. "Thanks." He and Erza took a bite of their individual ice creams. Erza's was cheesecake flavored, while Nic's was chocolate chip mint. Much to their surprise their taste buds were elated.

"Mmm, this is really good. What do you think they put into this?" Erza wondered.

"I don't know." Nic responded. "You think it's Moomoo Milk?" He bit into the cream again. "I heard that's how it adds creamy texture and flavor to a lot of desserts."

Erza humbly grinned. "Yes, I do recall seeing quite a few catalogs back in Kalos." In her head, she memorized all the mouthwatering pictures of the cheesecakes with Moomoo Milk in them. She beamed with astounding pride. "In fact, I think I just recalled a couple recipes we can loan to the bake shop in Magnolia. It'd be an astounding exquisite taste for all of Fiore!"

Nic sweat dropped. _'I forgot how passionate she is with desserts.'_ He looked up. _'Still, I guess after everything that's happened, maybe we do deserve to relax. This might be all we get for a while…'_

His mind dawdled off as he gazed at the sky. His mind flashed back to his experience beneath the Anthemusa, how his powers became unstable because of Lunala. He thought how crafty and deceitful Emmanuel was.

' _I didn't think about it until now, what Lunala was telling me…it's obvious something's going on out there that I can't see yet, but…'_ He thought again to Emmanuel and his strategies. It made his eyes narrow. _'It's clear after Glacidia that I haven't been playing as smart as I should have.'_

Erza savored her ice cream when she noticed Nic spacing off, quite seriously at that. "Nic? Is everything okay?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Nic turned towards his wife. "Huh? Sorry Erza, did you say something?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing." She held a silence before speaking. "You've been rather quiet since we came back from Glacidia. Has that vision…still been bothering you?"

Nic sighed. He should've expected this. Even when he was looking toned down his mind was racing under pressure. "Guess it's not a big surprise anymore huh?" He saw the serious look his wife had that changed the cleansed tone of the isle. "It wasn't just that. It's just…everything. I don't really know how else to explain it." He looked down at his palm as he held the ice cream in the other hand. "When I was facing Emmanuel, when I realized he was a clone…something inside of me told me this could all go wrong. I wasn't thinking the way I normally would. Then came the Anthemusa and Lunala…if he was able to think that far ahead of me, then I can't help but feel responsible."

"Nic…" Erza sympathized with Nic, but she allowed him to continue.

"I know we're supposed to relax…but something inside my gut's telling me that I don't deserve it, even after all this. We saved people. We saved Pokémon. That's our job…but I feel that something's wrong with all this now. Is it because of Lunala? I haven't felt a weight like this on my chest since Lysandre, that I _have_ to get better. _Now_. I despise the feeling of being rushed, you know that, but I…"

As Nic was on the verge of a miniature rush, a hand reached out and touched his palm. Flinching, he looked over at Erza, seeing her reassured smile.

"It's okay…I understand your pain." She looked down humbly. "To be honest, I feel that same way, every day…every minute when we're in battle. The need to get stronger when you know greater foes are going to be coming your way. You never know when that might happen…" She flashed back to Tenrou Island when Grimoire Heart attacked, and then to their hell against the Rivolta. "There were a number of times we weren't prepared for foes, and yet almost always we manage to get free…" she grinned. "Because you manage to step up when none of us could."

Nic was speechless. Erza's hand moved to his cheek as the cool touch sent a calm to one side.

"When Lysandre and Acnologia were still around…I've never seen you more serious before. The feeling of dread pushes you forward, Nic, and I deeply admire that about you." Her eyes softened some. "But…you know what I admire more about you?" She placed her cup of ice cream on the towel and cupped Nic's face, bringing their foreheads together. "It's that when those two events came to an end, I've never seen you so relaxed before. To see you earn such rest, and to see you so peaceful, well…I really hope that continues to stay, even when you know what will come."

Nic was silent. He allowed Erza to continue as he settled into their little connection.

"Now Nic…maybe a threat is coming, but everyone, even yourself, deserves a rest. You're learning from your mistakes…just be sure to pace yourself, okay?"

Nic softly smiled. He felt comfort wash over him. Even if he was gravely warned in some way, and maybe he can't ignore it, Erza was right. He needed to take a step back and think, otherwise he'd end up like a certain Dragon Slayer who didn't learn in the past. "You're right. Thanks." He cheekily grinned as he pointed at her ice cream. "So then…are you gonna finish that?"

Confused by Nic's statement, he pointed behind her. Erza turned around to see Slurpuff about to devour what was left of her ice cream. She bent down to bite, but stopped when a menacing aura in the form of a glaring Erza made the Meringue Pokémon shrink back, nervously laughing.

Nic chuckled as he watched Erza harshly chastise Slurpuff about eating her ice cream…again. He looked back at Greninja, who gave him a sympathizing nod. Nic grinned back and looked out towards the ocean, watching the sunlight beam across the waves.

* * *

Sipping from a coconut through a straw, Dereece leaned back on a chair beneath an umbrella. "Ahh, now I can get used to this. Warm air, a beach full of hot sand, and water to where you don't get hypothermia. Sure been a while after being on ice and snow for almost a week, right Joey?"

Dereece got no response by the chair next to him.

"Joey? Captain?" Looking over, he noticed the empty chair beside him, causing him to sit up. "Joey? Joey?! Where did he-!" Looking around, his eyes went towards the shores. Immediately he grew sore. "Oh…"

Cups of empty vanilla ice cream were washing up along the shores. There had to be about half a dozen, with another drifting to join them along the moist sand. Further into the waves, hugging his knees in the water, Joey looked down with soft eyes that were misting. The events of the past few weeks had dealt severe blows that he was breaking down from, and no one could blame him.

In the ripples at bathtub height he sat at, the crystal clear water was refracting light, distorting Joey's reflection through the ripples to show Camilla. His eyes started tearing up as he thought back to the first – and last – kiss he and Camilla shared before she faded away. That smile she had showed sheer happiness, the likes he never thought someone would have in the last moments of their life. _'Camilla.'_

A wild Magikarp splashed in the distance, breaching for the coastal air. As the fish sprung up, a wild Pelipper swept in out of nowhere, grabbing its top fin with its mouth and flying off with the fish. The Magikarp yelped as it flailed helplessly.

Joey sighed. _'I know your pain man. To try and try…but in the end you can't help but realize it.'_ He stared at the water again with lifeless eyes. _'When you're nothing…nothing but weak and pathetic.'_

From behind, Dereece walked up to him. "Uh…Captain Joey? Are you sure you're feeling alright…?" he knew it was a stupid question, but he felt like it had to be said.

"Hmm? Yeah. Sure." Joey mumbled half-heartedly.

"Look Joey, I know it hurts…" Dereece stepped to his side, looking down on him. "But you need to relax. We've been through a lot, let's just take today to enjoy what we still have, okay?" He looked around, finding what could get Joey's attention. His eyes drew towards Cana as she was drinking cold beer from a cooler, even with Prinplup chastising her. "Look, see? Cana's in her swimsuit. And look, see Vanessa?"

Vanessa stretched as she finally awoke after her long nap on Venusaur. The lemon-loving Trainer was currently eating the lemon humbly that was on the pitcher.

"See? You love Vanessa! Haven't you always wanted to see her in a swimsuit?"

Like all the energy was drained from him, Joey looked at the girls off to the side. He stared only briefly before dazing back the water, ignoring even their assets. "Thanks Dereece, but maybe later…"

Dereece frowned too, sadness overtaking him. He wish he knew what to say to his distraught Captain, but he didn't know how to reciprocate what Joey went through. He looked at the girls again, seeing them play. _'This is serious. Normally Joey would be looking at nothing_ _ **but**_ _girls whenever he's at the beach. Ever since we came back from Glacidia, he hasn't spoken to any of the girls, let alone look.'_ He looked at him again. _'He really misses her…Joey.'_

Joey mulled longer as the tides washed up against him. As a lone tide washed up against his lap, it swept in two small seashells. His eyes widened some when he saw that one was green, and another was purple.

Simultaneously, flashes of Broly popped in his head, along with Camilla. He's changed two lives that ended on their own accords for his sake, and here he was, bitterly mourning. In a way, he was damning their legacies. His teeth began gritting.

' _What am I doing? Calling myself weak and pathetic, I can't believe that I've gone this low.'_

" _Alright. So I guess that also means that you can fair well now for yourself. You're on your own for training from here, can you manage that?"_

Joey's fists started balling. _'Nic-senpai was willing to train me after I lost Bro, and now I'm sitting around crying again…no, I can't honor them like this. I'm on my own now, I can't save anyone if I'm just gonna whine about the whole time. I have to focus and be a man…'_ He raised his fist high. _'For_ _ **her**_ _now!'_

In a sudden punch to his own face, time slowed down as Joey's distraught face sharpened. Dereece gasped as he watched Joey hurt himself deliberately and drop into the water with a splash. "Joey, you okay man?!" he yelled.

Joey sat up as he ignored his bruised cheek. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said seriously.

"Why'd you just hit yourself like that?"

Joey stood up, his glare as serious as could because. "So I can get off my ass and get my head back in the game." His hardened tone surprised Dereece yet again. "Listen Dereece, I'm sorry I've been a pain. I've just had a lot on my mind is all, you understand. But I finally realized something…"

"Joey…"

"Look, you can play and relax if you want…" He pulled out all his Poke Balls. "But if I'm gonna fulfill the legacies that I was given, I can't rest and whine any longer. C'mon out guys!"

The three Poke Balls were thrown into the air. They all opened, revealing Joey's Pokémon along the shorelines.

"Alright you guys, it's time we get to work, so follow me!" Joey took off, leaving Dereece behind.

"I shall obey, Master!" Pidove fluttered as he followed with Trubbish and Quilladin behind Joey.

"Joey, wait-!" Dereece called out.

"Sorry pal, no time for slack!" He picked up his pace as he darted along the sand, getting his heartrate up. _'Maybe I'm being hard on myself…maybe I'm pushing a little too far…but that's part of what it takes to get ahead and get stronger. I won't settle for where I am. I have to aim for the top, it's the only way!'_

* * *

"I'm still amazed that the Cambire Foundation was able to afford this whole isle just for us. Quite the occasion." Carla noted.

Pantherlily nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Which just goes to show how much power they've gotten since their influence on Earthland."

"Aye." Happy muffled, eating a raw fish. "They caught the most delicious looking fishies." he swooned.

Pantherlily's expression hardened. "That said, it's as impressive as it is disturbing at the same time. Normally a reward like this would take massive amounts of money. If they're doing this for just us, what does that say about their business."

Carla sighed as she sat her teacup down. "It stands to reason you are onto something. Honestly I've had that question myself. With supply and demand so out of balance, they would require as much funds for the materials and medics needed. On top of that their associates."

Pantherlily crossed his arms. "Well, no use in contemplating about it I suppose. For now, taking advantage of this opportunity after a long strife is probably for the best."

"Maybe this is just a one-time thing?" Happy pointed out.

"Perhaps…but you know Lily's right." Carla grinned. "So then, shall we make do with our day?"

"Aye!" the Exceeds cheered, but a rumble from the distance caught them off guard. They were blown off into spirals as Darumaka dashed through their way, sending Happy head-first into the sand, Pantherlily on his stomach, and Carla on her back with spirals in her eyes.

"HAHAHAHA! You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" Darumaka taunted behind, even though he lost Charmeleon hours ago. "C'mon Slowpokes, hurry up!"

He laughed merrily as he sprinted on, until a hand bluntly reached and stopped him.

Natsu picked him up as easily as lifting a toy, even when Darumaka kept scuttling like he didn't notice. "Woah there buddy. Simmer down." He told him.

"Heh?" Darumaka blinked, taking notice of his Trainer.

"Man, I almost forgot about you. You enjoying the beach a little too much there." He facetiously chimed. Darumaka laughed, answering his question. "I thought so. It's not so bad isn't it?"

"Alright, now is it your serve again Natsu, or…?" Gray looked shocked. Soon enough Gajeel also seemed creeped out.

"Huh? What's up?" Natsu looked back at them when he felt a deathly aura illuminate behind him. When he turned around, he had a look of fear when he noticed the dark aura around Seviper, Charmeleon, Pantherlily and Carla in their altered forms, and Happy with a sandy fish in his mouth. And they all looked upset. "Uh, h-hey guys?" Natsu nervously asked. "What you looking at?"

Pantherlily growled, as did Carla. Seviper hissed with a knife held up, and Charmeleon's maw was charging a **Dragon Rage**. Immediately Natsu and a clueless Darumaka felt a shiver run down their spines.

"N-now wait a sec! What's going on?!" Natsu argued. "Darumaka, what did you do?!"

"I don't know, I swear!"

Behind, Gray and Gajeel stood far back. "I told him letting his Pokémon out of sight was a bad idea." Gray said.

"I almost feel sorry for ole Salamander." Gajeel said. "Almost."

The deathly aura of angry creatures closed in on Natsu and Darumaka, both too bewildered as shadows overtook them. "WHY~?!" the Dragon Slayer screamed.

* * *

Far away from Natsu's misspoken peril, Sophie was walking along the shores of the isle, her feet tickled by the sand. As she enjoyed a nice little stroll, Dewpider was crawling besides her. "Thanks again for coming, Dewpider. It wouldn't be this assuring without you." She praised.

Dewpider sneered as he looked away. "Hmph, well, anything to get away from those deaf creatures." He complained. "Honestly, don't they know what the word 'personal space' means?"

"In our guild, I'm afraid that's not a thing."

Dewpider scoffed. "Whatever."

Sophie continued her path up the isle, leaving small footprints that would be washed up behind so no one could track her. She'd rather much go with Vanessa or Kadabra, but both were occupied hanging out with friends. For the first time, Sophie thought she could use some air.

 _Griffon shook hands with Sophie. "Hope you continue making memories."_

" _And hopes to you and your ways." Sophie smiled. "I hope you continue with the peace you make for yourselves."_

" _That's what we live for, right?" he winked at her._

Reflecting a little, Sophie realized that even she learned a lot within the past few weeks, that there are more people out there who are conscious of what they're doing like the Peace Jaegers. _'I didn't stop to think until now…how we actually killed people.'_ She thought to herself. Using her long span of memories, she thought back to the foes from far back in the Oracion Seis, to the Celestial World. _'Back then, they were out to kill us, but we didn't kill them. We were mercy back then…it's hard to believe so much has changed since then…'_ She thought of Jacob's death by Griffon. _'But I guess…this is what's part of the real world. A world where you can either be open to ideals…or die without acknowledging.'_

Dewpider crawled by her when he stopped. Sophie also stopped to look out ahead of her. "Hm?" she saw something up ahead perched on a rock. "Say, isn't that…?"

Sitting cross-legged on a rock, Duncan was wearing his normal attire as he was fishing with a deluxe and eloquent rod. The bauble bounced across the waves until it sunk beneath. We narrowed his eyes as he started pulling. Behind him, Magmortar braced himself.

"Duncan." From the side, Sophie appeared. "What are you doing?"

Duncan grunted as he stepped up on the flat surface, trying to focus. Sophie looked at the water to watch it stir. She and Dewpider furrowed their brows and stepped back, getting a bad feeling.

With one final tug, the line shot up, pulling a Tentacruel out of the water. The massive jellyfish startled Sophie and Dewpider, leaving them perplexed while the Tentacruel returned to the water, glaring at Duncan.

He reached precariously. "Magmortar, use **Sunny Day!** " Magmortar complied and turned his arms into cannons. He reached up, combining to one bright light that radiated orange rings into the atmosphere. The sunlight got a little brighter, making the temperature increase.

Far away along the shore, Wendy looked up with Swablu, using a hand to shield her eyes. "That's weird. Did it get brighter all of a sudden?"

With the field set, there was a tension between Tentacruel and Magmortar as they glared at one another. Tentacruel suddenly lifted the frontal stinger and expelled saltwater, via **Brine**.

' _Water attacks are super effective against Fire-types.'_ Sophie thought. _'What is Duncan gonna do?'_

Duncan swiped his arm. "Use **Flamethrower** along the water!"

Magmortar aimed his cannons at his feet and fired roaring blasts of fore that shredded into the water. Hot wave sand steam came up in a massive blockade, blocking Tentacruel's attack. Tentacruel covered up as the steam created a hot, humid environment that forced him underwater until it cleared away. Once the steam settled, it slowly arose, but Magmortar was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh?"

" **Thunder Punch!** "

Looking up, Tentacruel was met by an electric arm from above by Magmortar. The attack landed right on the center jewel, creating loads of sparks that made the water spout everywhere. The waves caused Sophie to cover while Dewpider was almost off balance.

When the waves subsided, Duncan looked unfazed as the sunlight diminished a little. Magmortar dropped to his side again as the defeated Tentacruel slowly sunk beneath the tides.

"Hmph, need quicker speed next time." Duncan retorted. He then cast the line out again, resuming the fishing. Sophie, however, remained surprised.

' _Amazing. He used a status move to boost his next Fire attack, even when it's not very effective.'_ She realized. _'He didn't use Sunny Day for just that, it also weakened that Pokémon's attack and made his Flamethrower hot enough to create steam to make a surprise attack. So this is experienced battling…memorized.'_ Deciding to break the tension, she walked up to Duncan while he was still focused on fishing. "I wasn't aware that you can also fish for Pokémon."

Duncan scoffed. "It's not unheard of. Trainers do it when they need Water-types."

"I see." She looked out at the vast ocean. "And there's a lot of Water-types out there I presume?" She didn't get an answer from Duncan. "Duncan, listen. You don't always have to train by yourself. There's a lot of us who are more than willing to learn from each other. You're in a guild; the least you can do is consider our feelings as well."

"That so?" Duncan had his hat shield his gaze, but he seemed to be frowning. "If that's true, then how come Nic always trains by himself? Wouldn't you think a Trainer like him would be more willing to spot you instead?"

Sophie wanted to rebuttal, but what Duncan said made her realize that there was a kernel of wisdom somewhere. She allowed him to continue.

"I know Nic's habits by now. He likes to train alone because he likes his solitude. If you're all thinking he truly cares for the guild too, wouldn't it make sense that he helps this world and teach? Perhaps you need to consider what we _real_ Trainers want as well. We won't learn on our own just by leaning on shoulders forever you know."

Sophie's brow furrowed. "Duncan…" She trailed off. She knew better at this point and sighed. "Honestly, what does Joey see in you?" She heard splashing from the sea and looked out.

Dewpider was seen above the wavy water, his threads loosening from the hole beneath his body. It looked like he was making a net.

"Dewpider, what are you doing?" Sophie called out.

"What's it look like, I'm showing this crabby clown how a Pokémon fishes for its prey." Dewpider fastened the thread, which finally tugged when it reached the bottom.

Sophie modestly smiled. "Dewpider, as generous as that is, I think it's best that we…!" She saw the lining below Dewpider tug, meaning something was caught. "Huh?"

Dewpider's eyes glossed over as he chuckled. Using two legs, he yanked up the net until near the end. "Alright, come up!" Using his strength, he threw the netting into the air, causing it to disperse.

Inside the dispersing net was a small fish-like creature who elegantly sparkled with the seawater. It had magenta eyes with dark pink stripes separating the light blue bottom to the navy-blue top. Instead of one backfin, there were two butterfly-like wings with pink spots on them. Sophie's eyes widened in awe over the beauty of the small fish as it flopped in the air, meeting gazes with her for a brief moment,

"What…is that?"

"A Finneon." Duncan bluntly answered without looking. Sophie looked towards him in shock.

The fish plopped back into the water, head to head with an ecstatic Dewpider. "Yeah, I knew I would get one!" he beamed.

The fish blinked. "My humblest apologies, but by any chance…was that webbing belonging to you, good sir?"

Dewpider glared, ready for battle. "Yeah, so what? You just wandered into my territory. And nothing bugs me more than my personal space being ignored."

"I see…" the fish smirked in challenged. "Then perhaps you would give me the chance to remind you of the laws of the sea. There's plenty of space out there."

Sophie glared at the Finneon, anxious to begin. _'Looks like we'll be getting some experience as well. We may as make the most of this!'_ She reached out. "Very well then. Dewpider, **Spider Web!** "

Dewpider pointed his bottom at Finneon, where he expelled threads all over to ensure she didn't escape. They shot until they touched the sandy bottom, making a net that she couldn't swim through. "Heh, tough luck now that you're in my territory." Dewpider scoffed.

Finneon seemed humbled. "Perhaps." She took in a sharp breath. " **Water Gun!** " She shot a blast of water at Dewpider with deadly accuracy.

"Counter with **Bubble!** " Sophie commanded. As told, Dewpider took in a sharp breath and expelled clear bubbles that shot at the incoming jet of water. The two attacks cancelled out, leaving an open field of water between.

' _If I use a Water-type attack, it wouldn't be very effective. I should be able to slow it down.'_ Sophie reached her arm out. "Dewpider, **Infestation!** "

Dewpider growled as his entire body shuddered. He expelled a swarm of small insectoid creatures that shot through the air and surrounded Finneon. Before she had the chance to dive, the swarm enveloped her in a cyclone, which collapsed onto her, making her flinch and itch irritably.

"Let's see a swim get that itch off." Dewpider chimed. "Now, Sophie!"

Sophie nodded. She reached out ahead. "Dewpider, use **Bug Bite!** " Dewpider sprung off the wave and into the air. He flipped down with a glowing beak to attack Finneon.

The fish, however, opened her eyes to register her attacker. "You're…quite the scummy bug, are you!" Her tailfins began glowing, processing a strong current.

Dewpider's eyes widened. "What…?"

Finneon flapped her tailfins apart, generating a strong tempest via **Gust**. The Flying-type move fluttered and stopped Dewpider in midair. He tried to fight the current, but it was too strong. He cried out as he was repulsed into the water, where Finneon tilted up and fired another **Water Gun**. The angle and the sharpshooting scored a critical hit, knocking him into the water like a fly.

"Dewpider!" Sophie yelled. She grunted as she pitied. "I had no idea this Pokémon could have Gust…I didn't think it'd have a Flying-type attack in its moveset learned."

Bubbled erupted from the sea and Dewpider gasped. He grunted as he steadied upright.

"Dewpider, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He replied. "Just winded is all."

Sophie had to chuckle at that comment, but her frown returned. As she glared back at Finneon as the effects of Infestation ate at her, siphoning health. _'We won't be able to get close to her if she uses attacks like that. Then how do we…?'_

Images of Duncan's battle flashed in her mind. As she recalled how Magmortar battled, her eyes widened. _'That's it!'_

Finneon flinched as the bugs from Infestation died down. "Gnngh, well, as tolerable as this has been, I'm afraid I have no more patience. Now…" She flapped her tailfins, creating another **Gust**. "Learn your manners!"

Dewpider glared as the forceful winds closed in.

"Dewpider! Use **Bubble** across the water!" Sophie commanded. From the corner of his eyes, Duncan glanced over.

With a huff, Dewpider's eyes glistened over and shot his bubbles again. However, unlike before, they created splashes in the water, making a small wall of water that Finneon's attack burst through, but when the water wall dissipated, Dewpider was gone.

Finneon looked confused. "Hm? What's this trick?" she looked around, but she didn't see her foe anywhere. "Show yourself!"

She got no response. Instead beneath the clear water, a pair of eyes leered up at her.

Sophie as she swatted her arm. "Now, **Bug Bite!** "

Finneon was startled when she felt a rush of water beneath. When she looked down, Dewpider gushed out and nipped at her as he soared, taking her into the air with him. She screamed as he continuously bit into her. He launched her further skywards, where the bugs nipped at her again.

"It worked!" Sophie exclaimed. "Seems there are more ways to battling than just moves alone."

Grunting, the Finneon glared down at Dewpider and the tailfins glowed. She shot more **Gust**.

"Now, **Bubble!** " Sophie commanded.

Dewpider saw the strong winds heading right for him. His eyes glossed over before he exerted a stronger breath, yelling out as a jet of blue bubbles expelled into the tempest. Sophie's eyes widened in surprise.

' _Is that…_ _ **Bubble Beam?**_ _'_

The new move was enough to meet the attack in the center. The Flying and Water-type attacks mixed as their owners were glaring at one another. Soon enough the attacks cancelled out, making a shockwave that blew both back into the water. Together they plunged beneath the surface, where Dewpider realized he could use his remaining arms. He saw Finneon drift down onto his thread, where she found herself unable to move.

"Gnngh…what the?!" she looked up, seeing that Dewpider's Spider Web blocked her path. "What's this?! I…can't move!"

Dewpider hissed behind her. Finneon looked back, actual fear in her eyes as the spider moved in to attack.

" **Bug Bite!** " Sophie yelled.

Dewpider hissed as his beak glowed. He sprung at Finneon, who screamed in fright. The next instance, the water and thread spiraled as Dewpider nipped at her as he shot skywards, shooting her out of the sea again into midair. Finneon wailed as she was suspended, with what could've been the end.

Sophie held up a Great Ball. "Okay then…one shot!" She threw the Great Ball with as much accuracy as she could. The capsule made it to her side, where it opened and sucked her in.

The capsule plopped back into the water, where it bobbed up and down like a buoy that shook back and forth. The capsule shook once, then twice, then a third time…until it clicked.

Sophie humbly smiled. "Well now…that was sure lively." Dewpider crawled up to shore to present the new Pokémon to Sophie. Sophie accepted the Great Ball and pet Dewpider's water bubble. "Excellent work out there, Dewpider. I'm very proud of you. You helped us catch a new Pokémon, as well as a new move." He genuinely smiled at the Great Ball as sunlight glossed over it.

As Dewpider huffed and Sophie chuckled, Duncan was looking over to them before resuming his hobbies, waiting for the next line to be tugged.

* * *

The tides shifted along the shores smoothly, crashing waves every so often that it didn't seem so rough. Klefki chimed as she drifted along the currents, with Wendy's Swablu following to play. Lucy watched the two before adverting towards the vast ocean, her mind drifting off with the tides.

She watched Klefki swing around Lucy's keys as she was humming and having a good time. The Trainer-Mage was watching her keys tentatively as her thoughts brought her back to the water she was ankle deep in.

" _It's out there somewhere, in this large world that we live in. It might be in Ishgar. It could be in Alakitasia. It could be on another continent; the possibilities are out of reach. But so we're clear, you're not getting any means of hints."_

' _Aquarius…'_ Thinking of the Celestial Spirit's words, she looked down at her palm. She was unknowingly holding what was left of Aquarius' key. She clutched the key tighter as her resolve strengthened. _'I swear, I won't stop until I find you again. And with the help of Klefki and everyone else, we just might find each other again.'_

"Hey, Lucy!" Wendy called from the shores. "The guys are getting some food, you wanna get some?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec!" she called out. "C'mon Klefki, you wanna get something to eat?"

Klefki looked back at Lucy's call. "Yeah!" She went to move, but her vision caught something below. In the water, she saw a red glow that was shimmered beneath the water. "Hm?"

"What is it?" Swablu asked. She saw Klefki drifting closer towards the light. "What's going on?"

Klefki stopped just above the water's surface. She stared into the crystal-clear refraction of liquid that was eerily smooth. She stared at the red glow in the form of an orb. Beneath the water was a star-shaped shadow that remained completely still. Curiosity turning to boredom, she hummed and tilted her head.

The light suddenly shifted. It went out closer towards the land, shifting towards Lucy's direction.

"Hey, wait!" In a rush, Klefki skimmed across the water to follow the shadow.

Lucy smiled as she and Wendy walked towards the shore. Lucy picked up on a strange sensation and turned around, seeing the bright core stopping beneath her. "Huh?" she looked down, her reflection distorted beneath. "That's weird…"

"What is it, Lucy?" Wendy asked. She noticed the red light as well.

"Wait!" Klefki and Swablu floated in front, ready to take battle positions in case of emergencies.

There was an eerie tension between them and the red core. They got into battle positions and readied for what might come their way. The bright core shimmered still until it dialed down. Seconds later, a swift splash came out and shot above.

In midair, they all bared witness to a brown star-shaped Pokémon that shot out of the waves. It had a bright red core with yellow edging.

"What's that?" Lucy gasped.

"A Pokémon!" Wendy realized. Using quick thinking, the Sky Dragon pulled out her PokeDex that she kept on hand.

" **Staryu, the Star Shape Pokémon. Staryu apparently communicates with the stars in the night sky by flashing the red core at the center of its body. If parts of its body are torn, this Pokémon simply regenerates the missing pieces and limbs.** "

Lucy's eyes widened at the information. _'Communicates with the stars?'_ She watched the Staryu plop back into the water, staring at her.

"A wild Staryu, wow." Wendy awed. "It really does look just like a star."

Swablu tilted her head. "It looks so pretty…" she found herself staring at the red core, hypnotized by the shimmering red jewel.

Wendy tilted her head. "I wonder what that's about?" She turned towards Lucy, seeing her mesmerized, or otherwise lost in her own world. "Lucy?"

Lucy blinked. "Huh? Sorry Wendy, what was that?" They both looked ahead again, seeing Staryu blink its core. "Look." She pointed out. "What's it doing?"

The Staryu kept blinking its red core. It kept blinking at them, specifically the confused Lucy. Lucy wasn't sure what to say, but suddenly Staryu began swimming closer, curiously circling around the Celestial Mage. Lucy stayed put as the starfish inspected her, until finally it stopped in front, blinking.

"Okay, now I'm confused." Lucy worried. "Is it trying to say something?"

Wendy picked up on something. "I think it has something to do with you, Lucy."

"Huh?"

"Well, it said that it contacts the stars. Maybe it's reacting to your Celestial Spirit Magic. Maybe it's drawn towards you."

Lucy was stunned. She took another look at Staryu, seeing it blink at her. The longer she stared, the more she thought if Aquarius. The images replayed in her mind. _'Aquarius.'_ She clutched her ample chest with Aquarius' broken key. _'Maybe this is just another step I have to take. If it means seeing you again, then it's worth it.'_ Her determination lifting, Lucy spread her legs, a confident look showing. "Well Wendy, guess there's only one way to find out. Let's go, Klefki!"

"Okay!" Klefki floated in front, ready to take charge of battle.

The Staryu blinked twice before it straightened its posture, as if accepting the challenge. In a sudden show it blasted blue bubbles in a pressurized jet at Staryu via **Bubble Beam**.

"It's **Bubble Beam!** " Wendy warned.

"Then we'll just have to counter that." Lucy countered. "Klefki, **Fairy Wind**!" Klefki whipped up her Celestial Keys, whirling them in a strong pink gust that met Staryu's bubbles in the center. The resulting collisions became a sparkling burst that clouded the atmosphere between them.

Staryu took advantage of the dazzling arrays and snuck beneath the water. It closed the gap beneath until it spouted in front of Klefki.

' _So fast!'_ Lucy stammered.

The wild Staryu's core shined purple and hot pink energy before expelling multicolored wavy energy that struck Klefki. The Key Ring Pokémon shrieked as Staryu's **Psywave** was strong enough to repulse her back. Staryu landed, blinking multiple times, as if saying something.

"What's it trying to say?" Klefki wondered.

"Not sure, but we think it has something to do with the keys." Lucy said. "Klefki, hand me the keys this one time!"

"Wh-what?" she quivered. "B-but I like the keys…"

"You'll get them back, sheesh! Just do it."

Klefki mumbled beneath her breath. Her urges of wanting the keys were driving her nuts, but Lucy's insistence was also leaving her contemplative. "…fine." She whipped her keys at Lucy. Lucy acquired all the keys and held them in her hands with a nod. Klefki pouted as she faced Staryu with a now empty key ring. "There, happy now?" she bitterly scorned.

The Staryu blinked once, as if giving its answer.

"Good…at least somebody's happy."

"Now we can _really_ let loose!" Lucy reached out. "Klefki, use **Metal Sound!** " Klefki's key top turned a metallic metal and she emitted strong, sheering shockwaves that echoed outwards. The soundwaves blasted into Staryu, leaving it to cringe its body up and have a deep blue aura envelop the outline, sharply lowering its Special Defense.

"Wait a go, Lucy!" Wendy cheered.

Lucy smirked. "Now we can do some damage. Klefki, **Fairy Wind!** Let's go!" Klefki did as told and she swung her body around, expelling a pink gust that blasted into Staryu. The force was a lot stronger, sending the starfish airborne before splashing hard into the water.

"Alright!" Lucy cheered. "Looks like that did some…" she trailed off, her eyes adverting towards the floating starfish atop the water. "Hold on, what…?"

The bright glow atop the water got Klefki off guard. When she looked, she saw that as the glow faded, Staryu was back up. It blinked once, acknowledging its recovery.

"It regenerated?!" Lucy gasped.

Wendy blinked. "Wait…that had to be **Recover**. We've seen Nic use that before." Her brow furrowed. "Guess this'll make it harder to beat, huh?"

Lucy grimaced. An image of Aquarius appeared in her mind. _'Aquarius…'_ She could feel her hands clutch tighter. _'I swear, I won't lose you again! We have to win!'_ She swiped her arm, giving a command. "Alright Klefki, **Astonish!** "

Klefki was surrounded by a grim aura before she launched a dark illusion with mean red eyes at Staryu. The Ghost-type attack closed in, but Staryu expelled another **Bubble Beam** , this one strong enough to dissipate the ghastly illusion and engulf Klefki. The blast caused Klefki to shriek as she fumbled away in the air again, shaking her head to get the sparkles off.

Lucy held her balled fist. "Then let's try this! Use **Metal Sound** , one more time!" Once more, Klefki spun and shimmered metallic shockwaves that echoed out towards Staryu. The attack closed in, but Staryu instead dove underwater, evading the attack.

"Watch out, Lucy. It's gonna come up again!" Wendy warned.

"I know…and that's exactly what we're hoping for."

Klefki remained silent. She glared down as she saw a red core directly beneath. In a sudden splash, Staryu shot up at her, readying a **Psywave**.

"Now, **Astonish!** "

Staryu was directly in front when the Psychic-type attack was about to hit. Klefki expelled another dark illusion at near point-blank range, creating a shockwave that overpowered the Psychic attack and blasted Staryu away. Once again it flopped into the water. As it floated there, it began glowing.

' _It's recovering again. This is our chance!'_ Lucy reached out. "Go, Klefki!" Klefki used her own impressive Speed to close the gap with Staryu.

When Staryu's **Recover** finally finished, the starfish looked rejuvenated. It was back up, but Klefki was already in its face, making the core blink.

"If you can regain energy, then so can I!" Klefki closed the gap and leaned in. She put her keyhole-like mouth on the starfish's top, seemingly giving it a kiss.

Lucy had circles for eyes and a flustered look. "Klefki! What are you doing?!" she shrieked. Wendy was beet red as she saw the affectionate assault.

As Klefki was continuing the kiss, the Staryu had yellow lines eroding around the body. Klefki backed away as the energy lines drained Staryu's power, creating a bright orb that traveled from the starfish towards the key ring's body. When it entered her body, Klefki glowed green, whereas Staryu slouched tiredly into the water.

In unison, Lucy and Wendy blinked. "Uh…what just happened?"

"I'm not sure…" Wendy murmured, still wrapped on what just happened. "But…did that kiss just suck up all that energy?"

"It did?" Lucy looked at Klefki, seeing her livelier than before. "Hey yeah, now that you mention it…was that a new move?"

Klefki twirled around in the air, peppy and full of energy. "Oh boy! I'm feeling great!" She looked at Staryu, seeing it still dazed. She looked at Lucy, proudly smiling. "Lucy, now's the time!"

"Oh, right!" stammering out of her shock, Lucy reached and got a Poke Ball out. "Okay, here I go!" She swung her arm, sending the capsule across the water at Staryu. The starfish was severely weakened to where it couldn't fight as it tapped on the core, causing it to get sucked in.

The capsule plopped in the water, where it shook several times; once, twice, then a third time. Until at last the Poke Ball clicked, signaling the captured.

Lucy's eyes slowly widened as she processed what was happening, and before she knew it she was smiling wide. She jumped in the air. "Alright!" she yelled. "We did it!"

Klefki grabbed the Poke Ball in the water and rushed towards Lucy. She plopped it into her hands and graciously nodded.

"Thank you, Klefki." She grinned. "You were such a big help."

"Congratulations, Lucy." Wendy praised.

"Thanks Wendy." Lucy looked down at her new Pokémon inside the capsule, seeing how it represented the star. Her smile served to grow bigger. _'I did it. I just might actually be one step closer to seeing her…Aquarius…'_

"Lucy~…" A ghastly aura sent a shiver up Lucy's spine. Klefki suddenly turned comically annoyed as she trashed beside her. "Can I have my keys back?! Can I now?! Please! Please!"

"Hey, chill out, okay?! Sheesh! Besides, they're _my_ keys! You just hang onto them!"

"Awww…"

Wendy smiled and chuckled with Swablu as they watched the pair argue.

* * *

Along the other side of the coast where the main camp was for the day, another paw skipped out. Eevee skipped out and gently dipped her head into the pile of clustered seashells, where she added one more.

"Hmph! There, let's see Kadabra top this." Eevee turned out. "Oh Kadabra~, find anymore seashe-!" Her eyes drastically shot wide of shock, disbelief rising. "Huh?!"

Kadabra was levitating over the sea, using his **Confusion** to show the hundreds of small seashells that he had found using his kinetic powers. He commanded them all slowly towards the shore, where they clustered slowly into a large pile right beside Eevee's. Slowly, Eevee's hopes diminished as she watched the stack get higher and higher, until was her height than a small hill like her own. By the time it reached the top, she had a bead of sweat and comical teary eyes.

"Mmm…showoff." She whimpered.

Kadabra used **Teleport** , reappearing besides Eevee. "There now, I believe I have collected enough seashells for our contest. Now then, let's see what you have…" He looked down, but all he saw was plain white as Eevee was drooping in shame. It was like a small gust could scatter her to pieces because of how broken she was. Kadabra nervously sweat dropped. "…oh. I see." He cleared his throat. "Perhaps we misjudged our little scavenger hunt a bit much."

"Yeah no kidding!" Eevee comically whined. "How did you even find that many to begin with? Did you even touch the water?!"

"I didn't have to." Kadabra looked towards the sea. "With my enhanced telekinetic abilities, I am able to become more aware of my surroundings. My psychic powers allow me to produce and control alpha waves in my surroundings."

"Alpha waves?"

"Yes. I'm able to make clocks go in reverse, machines to malfunction, I may even be able to produce headaches on command." Eevee swallowed a lump at this info. "However, I just evolved, so my telekinesis is still minimal. This was my best way to test it."

"Oh…I see." Being honest with herself, Eevee wanted to change the subject. "So…you can read the water?" she pointed a paw out. "Then what's over there?"

Kadabra turned towards the sea, looking in the spot where Eevee referred to. "Well now, let's see. **Confusion!** " Aiming his spoon, Kadabra opened a hole through the water. A slicing wave created a trail that made a clear way through the murky sand that made way towards the item. Eevee's eyes glistened in sheer awe.

"There, see? Now you know." He said neutrally.

"Oh! I'll go fetch it!" Eevee eagerly raced through the opening Kadabra made across the sea. She skipped over towards the opening's end, where she stood before the item. Curiously though, her head tilted in confusion upon looking at the item. "Hm?"

The item, however, wasn't a seashell. But instead, it was a blue stone, one as clear as deep sea water. It was still wet, but the way that it looked to Eevee made it almost impossible to resist.

Her eyes got bigger as she awed at the pretty stone. "Ohhhh…it's so blue." She looked over the waves, seeing Juvia playing volleyball with the other girls. She looked back down, thinking. "…hmmm. Maybe Juvia will like this if I show it to her."

Kadabra's eyes widened. "Eevee! No! Don't touch that!"

Hearing the name, Juvia stopped playing and turned around. _'Eevee?'_

Eevee's paw tapped the blue stone, and instantly a bright glow illuminated the water. The light was so vast and grand that the whole beach. Alzack, Bisca, and Asuka all stopped their break and looked over, as well as Gajeel and Levy, who were sitting on a towel together with Klink and Aron. The light was enough to make Venusaur open an eye, and Vanessa meekly opened her eyes, disturbed by the light. "Mmmm…huh?" She stood up, seeing a glow out by the water. "That light…"

Kadabra's kinetic powers turned off, leaving waves to surround the light. As water overtook the light, the glow was illuminating the clear waves as Juvia hurried over.

"Eevee!" she sprinted over towards the light, watching it diminish. "Eevee, ae you there? Eevee!"

The light soon faded underwater, leaving a long level of suspense. Juvia was looking worried sick while Vanessa rushed over. She got over to the water's edge and looked out, and much like Juvia, she had an expectant face too.

Juvia was getting anxious, before long a splash erupted, and out of the water spiraled what looked like an aquatic being. The light from the sun refracted over the creature's eloquent stature as it twirled in midair. It had light blue skin and a fin-like mane around the head. It had a long tail with fin-like ends and dark blue scales running along the spine.

Juvia's eyes widened as she watched the creature splash down in front of her. The dazzling beauty she had almost caught her off guard, but when it sat composedly and obediently, she was caught surprised. "E-Eevee?" she called. "Is that you…?"

The creature blinked once, then twice before tilting its head up at Juvia. "Juvia…?" She asked. "Wait…did my voice change? And why do I feel so slim…?" she noticed her tail, spooking her. "Gah! What happened to my tail?! It's gotten so…fishy!"

Juvia's heartrate tried settling as she watched 'Eevee' panic. She didn't know what happened, but it looked incredulous to say the least.

"Juvia." Walking up, Vanessa met with her fellow Trainer.

"Oh, Vanessa!" Juvia gasped. "Oh thank goodness you're here. Something strange happened to Eevee!"

"So I've noticed." She took one look at the creature, who had a rather curious stare to her. Unsure of what to say or do, the creature looked back at Juvia. Vanessa did the same. "Juvia, did your Eevee by any chance just touch a Water Stone?"

"A Water Stone?" the rain woman blinked.

"Yes. You are aware that certain Pokémon can evolve if you give them these stones. There are Pokémon that evolve through battles and experience, like Sophie's Kadabra for example, and my Venusaur. There are other Pokémon who also evolve under certain conditions, and some who evolve using various stones." She looked at the creature again. "And it looks like your Eevee touched a Water Stone, meaning she's a Vaporeon now."

"A Vaporeon?" Juvia blinked.

Vanessa pulled up her PokeDex. She showed the image of Vaporeon and the device began talking.

" **Vaporeon, the Bubble Jet Pokémon. It detects nearby moisture with its fin. When its fin begins trembling rapidly, that means rain will fall in a few hours.** "

"Vaporeon…" Juvia took a moment to process what happened and looked down at Vaporeon, who was still waiting for her possible approval. Soon enough she scrambled for words. "So…Vaporeon…how do you feel?"

Vaporeon looked at her tail and her extremities, but her composure was back to normal. "Honestly, I don't know. But…" She looked up at Juvia. "I guess I feel okay. Better than before actually!"

Juvia softly smiled. "That's great. You had me worried there."

Marill rushed over, looking shocked. "Wow! You look so cool now, Eevee!"

Vaporeon sheepishly blushed. "Hehe…thanks."

"Juvia, incoming!"

Juvia turned around to see the volleyball from before heading her way. It was getting close, but suddenly Vaporeon rushed in front, her maw revealing a dark green orb. When the ball closed in, Vaporeon screamed, unleashing a neon and black beam that resembled an aurora. The pressurized blast struck the volleyball, sending it skyrocketing until it became a glint in the sky.

Vanessa's shock was on her face. _'That was…_ _ **Aurora Beam.**_ _'_

Cana whistled. "Man, that's one hell of a shot."

"Well looks like we won't be seeing that ball again." Kinana sighed.

"I hope that we brought spares." Mirajane smiled. "I wonder where it landed?"

* * *

In the high air, the earlier Magikarp was flailing along Pelipper's beak. The more it struggled, the less amused the pelican got.

"Hmmph, simmer down!" he threatened. "Unless you wanna be my lunch this early!"

The poor Magikarp flailed harder as desperate tears were in its eyes.

Pelipper took it as his answer. "Thought as much. Your loss!" He whipped his head up, sending Magikarp into the air. Suspended, gravity did its job and dropped Magikarp into Pelipper's beak. The beak slammed shut, leaving Pelipper satisfied.

"Ahhh~…" he sighed. "Now that hit the spot." He started hearing some sort of sound head his way. "Hm? What's that sou-!"

 _BAM!_

A volleyball shot out of the blue into Pelipper's face, instantly knocking its lights out. As she gawked, her beak went wide open as air and the eaten Magikarp were freed. Pelipper fell over, eyes devoid of pupils. _'When I said hit the spot, I didn't it mean it like that…'_

Pelipper fell limply out of the sky, while the Magikarp had comical tears as he fell to the vast ocean below.

* * *

Pidove's wings glowed bright blue as he generated a **Gust** attack. The tempest sped across the water towards Trubbish, buffering her back across the saltwater. When she was seen barely scathed, she looked up and took a deep breath, belching up an **Acid Spray**. The pigeon funneled around the acidic attack to free air. He flapped his wings, creating **Air Cutter** that shot crescents through the water heading towards Trubbish. The small trash bag rolled along the shallow tides to escape a rogue crescent, which caused a burst in the water to make a wave that pushed her near shores. Once her feet touched the sands, she glared up at Pidove, who was now above the water alone. She belched, while Pidove chirped.

Joey held up a barrier as Quilladin's **Needle Arm** refused to break through it. Both combatants slid across the sand to opposite sides, opposing the other. Quilladin grunted, but Joey smirked.

"Now look alive!" Joey slammed his hand against the sand. " **Barrier-Make: Slide!** " He summoned a long slim barrier that shot straight across the sand at Quilladin.

Quilladin saw the path coming for him. He tucked in his body and initiated **Rollout**. He rolled across the slide towards Joey, unknowing that's what he wanted.

Smirking, Joey slammed his hand against the barrier's end, causing a small wake to run across the slide towards Quilladin. The wake sent him airborne, making him uncurl and flail in shock. As Quilladin fell, he plopped on the slide, where he groaned as he went at the end and fumbled across the sand.

"Sorry buddy, gotta be faster than that!" Joey encouraged. "Let's work on that maneuverability for ya, okay?"

Quilladin eagerly got up, though had a serious tone to him. "Right!"

Off to the side as Joey trained with Quilladin, Dereece was along the isle, taking relaxing strides across the water. He stopped and stretched his arms up, sighing in stress. "Nothing like a little sea breeze after a nice nap I suppose." He heard sand and water shift, he turned around and saw Joey launching a barrier at Quilladin, who used **Rollout** to get around.

Seeing that fierce look of determination in Joey's was one thing Dereece never noticed nor took seriously enough. Joey was always a goofball. Seeing this whole new side was both intense and scary.

' _Joey's really giving it everything he's got. He's serious about getting stronger.'_ Flashes of Joey mulling on end appeared in his mind. He recalled how he was crying after Broly's death, and the same depression he felt for the past few days now. _'I know you're trying to work through the pain Joey. It's okay…I just wished that you listened and let me say it…but I guess this is your best way of coping with it.'_

Taking a momentarily ceasefire, Joey noticed Dereece doing nothing. "Huh? Hey, Dereece, what're you doing over there?"

"What?"

"Don't just stand around like a Nosepass, loosen up, c'mon! We're training. The least you can do is the same."

Dereece rubbed the back of his head, grumbling. "Look, Joey, not to criticize you or anything, but is this really necessary?"

Joey glared. "I wouldn't be anymore serious than I am now if I said yes. Actually…" He looked down at his fist, balling it. "I've been giving it a lot of thought. After the battles I had against Victor, I came to realize are arsenal isn't in the best shape. We don't have a lot of offense against Fire-types. So…I think this is the best place where we find some Water-types, to lower our weaknesses against Fire-types."

Dereece was applauding his Captain's flaws, but he wasn't a realist for nothing. "I'm glad that you're thinking that way, but you know they don't just drop out of the sky when you need them to-!"

Joey suddenly caught a Magikarp that plopped right into his arms.

"…"

The fish flailed in his arms as a silence spilled in the air. Everyone looked at the sudden gift from above and Joey looked up, seeing clear skies. Dereece's mouth formed an 'O' as he looked to the fish then the sky, unable to process it. "But, how did…?

Joey looked down, smirking and cocking a brow at Dereece. "Gee I'm sorry, what was that Dereece? I couldn't hear you over the sound of the universe screaming ' _IN YO FACE_ ' _'_!" He held the dazed Magikarp high. "Check it out guys! We got a new Pokémon!"

"Hooray, Master!" Pidove chimed, circling overhead.

Quilladin shrugged with a chirpy smile. "Works for me! Welcome aboard, fishie!"

Trubbish let out a massive burp.

The Magikarp was still dazed with teary eyes. His mind was completely broken. _'What's happening?'_ he mentally whimpered. _'First I'm being eaten now I'm worshipped? Why is this happening to me?'_

Dereece was about to say something until he found no use. He sighed and slumped over. "Fine." Dismissing Joey, he slumped into the sea. "Guess I might as well. But I doubt I'll find anything in _this_ clear coast."

Down beneath the tides, within the clear, cool mud, Dereece's lower-half was seen. As he walked forward, a pair of circular eyes opened, seeing him coming its way.

Once again, he sighed. "Still, maybe it's not so bad. I mean I have Seel. But I guess I can try and find another since Joey's got one t-GAAAAHHH!"

Paralyzing shock ran through Dereece's body as he screamed out in pain. He twitched constantly as his foot went numb. He was seen floating along the water, groaning with steam coming off his body. He groaned weakly as he fell victim to something in the water.

Slowly, a flat, fish-like creature that was light brown with dark brown edging resurfaced. It had a beak instead of a mouth, and its circular eyes turned to joy as he chuckled at his handiwork.

"Uuugh…what just hit me…?" Dereece shook his head, his eyes widening and getting back up. "What the-?! A Stunfisk?!"

Stunfisk chuckled. "Oi, you be a little slow there, eh?" he mused. "Sorry, but must have 'stepped' in the wrong direction there." He couldn't help but laugh again.

Dereece wasn't appreciating his hardy joke. It really hurt. His eyes twitched as Joey's words were heard in his mind again. _"So…I think this is the best place where we find some Water-types, to lower our weaknesses against Fire-types."_ He looked at Stunfisk and processed it. _'Well you know, now that I think about it, Stunfisk_ _ **are**_ _Ground and Electric-types…I guess considering there's a lot of advantages to Ground-types.'_ He looked back at Joey, watching him suck Magikarp into a Poke Ball, where it clicked. He saw his smile. _'Besides…'_ He looked down at his hand, seeing he had Seel's Poke Ball out. _'It's a good chance to see how Seel does in battle. Here goes nothing…'_

Stunfisk's hardy chuckle came to an end. "Alright, what be this?"

"Alright then, Seel let's go!" Dereece threw the Poke Ball, summoning Seel on the surface. The seal-like creature had her tongue out and splashed her tail. "Alright Seel, let's capture this one!"

"Alrighty." She nodded.

Stunfisk grinned. "Hehe, betcha this'll be good, mate."

Dereece swiped his arm. "Use **Aqua Jet!** "

Seel cloaked herself in blue water and shot into the air. She did a somersault through the air and sped like a missile into Stunfisk. An eruption of water erupted, causing Stunfisk to be sent soaring through the air.

"Yeah, super effective!" Dereece encouraged.

Stunfisk yelped before he regained composure in the air. He smiled down at Seel. His maw glowed orange and he spat out brown balls of mud via **Mud Shot**.

"Seel, quick! Counter with **Icy Wind!** " Seel did as instructed and her mouth glowed bright blue. She looked up and fired a sheer, chilly breeze with blue sparkles. The two attacks met in the middle, but the icy winds were strong enough to frost over the mud, causing them to fall into the water with Stunfisk.

Dereece reached out. "Alright, let's try **Ice Shard!** "

"Alright, get ready!" Seel created a ball of glowing ice that shined. She reared her head back and fired it. The ball of ice sped into Stunfisk, once again creating a powerful burst of energy that the Trap Pokémon fell for.

"Yeah!" Now we're talking!" He watched the frost clear over the water, but instead of Stunfisk, all they saw was clear water. "He disappeared?"

Seel looked around as well, but she saw nothing. Instead, underwater, something clear began to revel itself. It was Stunfisk using **Camouflage** , and he looked up smiling. In a sudden blast of electricity, he smiled as he blasted **Thunder Shock** , electrocuting a bolt beneath Seel, causing her to scream as she got airborne,

"Seel!" Dereece shouted. _'Now I get it. After that last attack hit, he camouflaged into the water and snuck beneath when our guards were down. Great, now it's part Water-type. Things just got a lot harder.'_

Stunfisk resurfaced with a chuckle. "Pretty 'shocked', huh? No hard feelings!" he chuckled again.

Seel shook her head in displeasure. "Oooh, now that was just plain dirty."

"That's not dirty. This is!" He fired **Mud Shot** again, but this time Seel was the one who went under to dodge. The erupting blasts of mud dissipated while she used her greater mobility to close in on Stunfisk.

' _Maybe he's clever…but what goes around comes around!'_ She darted closer, closing the gap beneath Stunfisk.

Dereece did an uppercut. "Now! **Headbutt!** "

With all her might, Seel used her horn and shot at Stunfisk beneath. The impact was strong enough to send him airborne and flipping over Dereece's head. The flat fish yelped as he sailed over towards the shore, where he landed on his top hard. He groaned before flailing, as if trying hard to come around.

"Sorry big fella, but that's karma." Seel pointed out. "Now, Dereece!"

"Right!" He reached into his red swim trunks and pulled out a Great Ball. _'I was glad we got these as part of the award. Hope this works…'_ He glared at Stunfisk, pivoting his body to throw the capsule. Okay…GO!"

The Great Ball went flying at the hampered Stunfisk. The Trap Pokémon's flailing made him get snared by the capsule, where he was sucked inside. The capsule went into the sand, where it shook once, then twice, then a third time. It finally clicked.

Rather than a victory shout, Dereece groaned in relief. "Oii…that was a lot to handle." He lifted himself. "Still, guess that shows how good we are." He walked up to the shores, where he went and picked up the Great Ball holding his new Stunfisk. "Alright Seel, we did it!"

"Oh golly, this is such a shock!" she chimed. "First me, and now this one! Seems a lot on your plate, you sure you can handle that?"

Dereece nodded. "Yeah." He looked over at Joey, looking more confident. _'I have to be to make sure Joey doesn't fall apart like that again.'_

* * *

"Alright, let's try it one more time!" Joey insisted, swiping his arm. "Quilladin, use **Pin Missile!** "

Quilladin nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated, gathering energy into his spikes. They started glowing, and before long, three white orbs with streaming green energy launched through the air at Joey. They closed in at alarming speeds, but Joey swiped his arm, creating a turquoise barrier in time to stop the explosive missiles.

The smoke dissipated, and Joey lifted the barrier. Once the dust cleared, his frown turned to a smirk. Quilladin reciprocated with his own.

"Looks like we got the hang of it." Joey commented. "Congrats buddy, looks like we leveled up enough that you learned **Pin Missile**."

A short while has passed since Joey started getting to training. After doing overall group training, he figured he could work on one-on-one training with his Pokémon to polish up their moves. And because of the training, Quilladin forgot **Bite** for **Pin Missile** , much to Joey's pleasure.

Dereece walked up behind. "Well Joey, congratulations."

"Hey, thanks man." Joey smiled back. "We may have forgotten **Vine Whip** when Quilladin evolved from Chespin, but with this new move we'll keep them away." He turned back towards Quilladin. "Alright, ready to go again?"

Despite hours of hard work, Quilladin refused to give up. "You bet."

Joey smiled. "Alright, let's bring out Pidove and-!" He cut himself off when heard a familiar sound a ways away. "Huh?" He heard it again. _'There it is again.'_

"Joey?" Dereece called. "Uh, Captain? You okay there?"

 _CLICK!_

The sound was louder than before, making Dereece look around. "What was that? It sounded like…?" He was trailing off when an uneven aura spread ahead of him. He started shivering when he noticed how Joey's eyes had a shadow over them, his body violently twitching. "Uh, Joey? Joey?!"

That constant clicking sound made a spinning aura around him as his head was doing loops. Joey's teeth gritted as his urges were getting to be too much. _'No…it can't be. That clicking. Is…is it really…?'_ Almost instantly he perked up, eyes twinkling. "Cameras?!"

"Oh no." Dereece drooped.

Unable to deprive himself of one of his fable instincts, Joey raced towards the sounds of clicking. "Who's taking pictures without _me_ there?! Wait for me, whoever you are!"

"Wait for me!" Quilladin charged for him.

"Here we go again." Dereece sighed.

Mirajane came from behind with Vullaby in her arms. "Oh, what's Joey doing? Is he training?"

Dereece watched him take off. "Well…he _was_." He groaned as he joined the pursuit. "Alright, better go see what 'glorified wannabe' provoked him."

Joey climbed up a small wall of rocks that ended their border along the isle. He looked out, his eyes widening when he saw where the clicking was coming from. Beside him, Quilladin reached and caught up. "What's happening?" the Grass-type inquired.

Another flash blinded them, leaving them dazed.

"Yeah, that's it! That pose is great!"

A voluptuous girl in a magenta and black bikini struck a leaned back pose across the sand. "You mean like this?" She whipped her head back, basking in the sunlight. By the sounds of the camera clicking, it was working perfectly.

"Yes, Jenny! So~ cool!" Jason got to a knee for a new angle, unaware that he had guests gathering behind. "Just like that! And~…there! Now, onto the next shot!"

Dereece and Mirajane caught up, showing modest surprise on both their faces. "Seriously?" Dereece gawked. "This is supposed to be a private isle, right? So what's this doing here?"

"Good question." Mirajane looked at the person who was posing. It was Jenny Realight from Blue Pegasus, and she was taking a few pictures for Sorcerer's Weekly. "Is that…?"

Jenny caught the audience behind. "Mirajane?"

Jason stopped his photography to turn around, immediately stunned gaping as he saw Mirajane. "MIRAJANE! SOOO COOL!" He awed.

Mira smiled. "Why hello, Jason. Fancy seeing you both here."

"I could say the same." Jenny smirked. "And I see that you've brought yourself an entourage."

Referring to Dereece, the man put his hand up. "Now hold up now, we don't wanna throw any wild accusations in the air." He defended. "We just came because my friend heard flashes and…!" He turned towards the side, but Joey was already gone with Quilladin. "Joey?!"

Jason was smiling wide before a swift blur passed him. Startled, he turned around to see the camera was in position in front of Joey, who posed with a wink with Quilladin.

"Is this spot taken?" he chimed, sparkles around his face as he looked at the lens.

Dereece sweat dropped. "Yeah…that. That's why."

"Joey?"

Hearing a familiar call, Joey broke out of his paparazzi daze to look towards the side. When he did, someone stepped up in navy blue swim trunks and sunglasses. Besides him was a small red, crab-like creature, a Krabby. The man lifted his sunglasses to reveal familiar eyes. "Heh…well I'll be damned."

Joey blinked. "Kevin?"

Kevin walked up, the Krabby right beside him. "Hey man, fancy seeing you here. I haven't seen ya in forever!"

Joey rubbed the back of his head. "Uh yeah, same here…sorry about that. I've been…busy." Deciding to change the subject, he went along with the conversation. "So what are you doing here?"

Kevin smirked as he leaned in to whisper at Joey. "Take a guess." He motioned his eyes towards Jenny. Seeing it now, her voluptuous frame matched up against Mirajane's was a splendid treat, so much that even Jason couldn't keep his camera down for long.

Although it was nice, Joey's mood began souring. "Oh…"

"Yeah, we had a lot of work at the guild, and today was a shooting for Jenny's Sorcerer's Weekly. She actually wanted to bring Hibiki, but he's been busy too, helping Master Ichiya and all."

" _Man!" Ichiya's pose was in sparkles as he was with a Spritzee, with the Trimens behind him, having Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour pose with them in sparkles._

"So I coaxed her into bringing me along. I told her I could help with other angle shots, and I actually did." He smirked as he swiped his arm, showing a panel for his Search Magic. One folder opened to reveal various pictures of Jenny. "You wanna see my extended collection?"

Joey wanted to smile, but then an image of the beautiful Camilla came to his head. Immediately he frowned down, and Quilladin did too. This made Kevin frown.

Ultimately though, Joey looked away, depression showing. "Thanks man…but maybe later, okay?"

"What?" Kevin was confused. He shrunk the panel to hand-size and opened another folder, shoving it in Joey's face. "Okay then, how about these? Right? These ones have _extra_ ripe behinds, just how you like 'em, right bud…buddy?"

He wasn't getting a clear response from Joey. Instead Joey took one look at the woman Kevin saved on his magic, but looked away in disinterest. It only deterred Kevin further.

Dereece put a hand to Kevin's shoulder. "Maybe you should give him some space." He advised. "It's…a long story."

Dereece started explaining the details of what happened on their recent assignment. He explained how Joey fell in love with Camilla, and how she came to accept him before she died in his arms. By the end, Kevin's heart sank for his acquaintance.

"Oh…god, I…I'm so sorry." He apologized to Joey. "I don't know what to say…now I feel like a jerk."

"It's not your fault man, you didn't know." Dereece looked at Joey as he meekly smiled at Quilladin. "He's just been through a lot. He hasn't been himself since Camilla. I don't think he'll be, you know, _turned on_ for a long while."

Kevin nodded in respects. "Ah, I see…so then, I should probably just keep these to myself then."

"Yeah that's probably for the best. Sorry."

Something touched Dereece's leg. He looked down, seeing the Krabby holding up a checkered gameboard. "Checkers?"

Dereece tilted his head. "Uh, what?" he blinked. "Eh, thanks. But I'm good."

"I see you've met my new Krabby." Kevin said.

"Yeah, I guess…wait, that's _your_ Krabby?" he pointed at the Krabby as he moved towards Quilladin.

Kevin nodded. "Yeah." He smirked. "I've been catching a few Pokémon recently. I just got this Krabby a few days ago. Apparently he…"

Krabby showed Quilladin the board. "Checkers?" He eagerly grinned, much to Quilladin's inquiry.

"…yeah, he likes checkers." He finished.

He turned towards Kevin. "Do I even want to know?"

Kevin shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea. He just saw Hibiki playing it the other day. Guess he picked up on the hobby…and apparently he's gotten good at it. It's pretty much the only thing he does."

Mirajane clasped her hands together. "Hey, I got a great idea! Why don't you guys come over? We have lots of stuff to do." She offered.

"You sure about that?" Jenny inquired.

"It'll be fine. It's not like we'll say no anyway. Just think of it as a break. What do you say?"

Jenny's surprise turned to a smirk. "Well, when you put it that way it's hard to say no." she accepted humbly. "Alright, lead the way."

* * *

Some time later, Jenny and Kevin met up with the Fairy Tail group. They were sitting on towels beside one another beneath an umbrella as they were having a light meal.

"I see, so that's what you've been up to." Jenny surmised, hearing what Fairy Tail's been through since the conference. "I gotta say, Mira, I'm impressed. You guys seem to get busier by the day."

"That's it in a nutshell." She giggled.

She looked towards Nic and Erza, who were across them. "Still, what impressed me most was how you guys managed to survive that crossfire. It was all over the news the other day. Well, glad to see you're okay, that's what's important. Right?" She looked towards Kevin, who nodded in approval.

"Yeah, it's been busier for us too, but after hearing all this I can see why you're here."

Erza nodded. "Your candor is very appreciated. We're grateful for your support."

Nic grinned. "Yeah. We're glad to see that you're doing well Jenny."

Jenny mischievously smirked. "Oh you are, are you?" she chimed, rolling her shoulders in a flirty manner. "My, you sure know how to make a girl welcome, Nic." She cooed sultrily, but Erza's glowing red eyes and demonic dominance made Jenny shrink back. "Hehe…just kidding." She nervously chimed.

Krabby moved his piece across the board, until it finally reached the end. "King me!" he cheered, much to Gajeel's shock.

The Iron Dragon turned pale ghastly white as he hunched over at Krabby. His right eyebrow twitched constantly. _'Did…did I get beat in a gameboard by a crap?'_

"Ah, so even Gajeel fell victim." Gray pitied, sulking some. "Bummer."

Elfman had comical tears as he sulked. "How can I call myself a man if I got beat too?"

"It's just a boardgame guys, c'mon!" Lisanna argued.

Jenny turned towards Mirajane's Vullaby as the baby vulture chewed on Pokémon food in her lap. "So Mirajane, is that your Pokémon?"

Mirajane smiled down on Vullaby, seeing her eat. "Yup, isn't she just the sweetest?" she rubbed Vullaby's head, making the bird hum.

Jenny sighed. "You're so lucky. I wish I had a Pokémon like that."

"Oh? Then does that mean you don't have a Pokémon of your own yet, Jenny?"

"Well, I do." She pulled out a Poke Ball. "But…" She tossed it out. "C'mon out!"

Popping out of the Poke Ball and into the water, a meek brown fish with an underwhelming body and chapped red lips took form. It had mediocre fins and tailfin with a triangle top. The meek meekly blinked, staying completely silent.

"What's that?"

Jenny sighed. "It's a Feebas."

"A Feebas, huh?" Nic looked towards Erza. The Requip Mage obliged and took out her own PokeDex, scanning the decayed fish.

" **Feebas, the Fish Pokémon. They look ragged, so no one catches them. They look like they'd taste bad, so predators won't eat them. And their numbers continue to grow.** "

Happy was gawking at Feebas, his background in a sulking aura. "…yeah, sorry. I love yummy fishies, but that one doesn't look too good. On the other hand…" a happy theme surrounded his face as he swooned. "Joey and Sophie's new fishies just make my mouth water~."

"Hey now, we talked about this! You can't eat a Pokémon fish!" Lucy argued **.**

"Maybe not, but you can never stop trying." Happy swayed.

Lucy sulked and gave up. "You're unbelievable…"

Magikarp and Finneon swam up to Feebas, who looked at them back. They all had a mutual look on their faces before the former fish swam, with Feebas in tow. They looked like they were gonna swim.

"A Feebas you say?" Mirajane tilted. "Well it doesn't _seem_ horrible. Where'd you find it?"

Jenny puffed her cheeks and looked away sheepishly. "Hmph, well…" She thought back some water shots she took in a lake. "I was doing some underwater photos at one point for a promotional campaign for Trainers and Pokémon. We were wrapping up when I found Feebas stuck in some seaweed. From her appearance I thought she didn't have much to eat, so I brought it with me."

Mirajane smiled. "Aw, how thoughtful!"

"Yeah." Jenny frowned, watching the fish swim in the clear water. "But, I've been getting some backlash from fans lately whenever I try shooting with Feebas. My ratings have gone down, but I can't just leave her like that…that'd be cruel."

"Such a crime to the public." Gray said.

"So basically public opinion matters because if they don't get what they want, then you don't get paid as much, and then Sorcerer's Weekly takes a small hit, sounds about right?" Vanessa surmised. "That's understandable. Crowds and overall public are rather shallow when it comes to appeal."

"This coming from the guy magnet because her honkers and hams exploded over the years." Cana sidenoted, much to Vanessa's grief.

"So is that why you're here at the beach then? Is it to give more hope for Feebas?" Mirajane surmised.

Jenny nodded. "Yeah, it might be my last chance to feature Feebas. If this doesn't work, all my Pokémon shots won't get as much credibility. And soon we're gonna start those shots…what do I do?"

The gathered group looked towards each other in confusion. To a degree they can sympathize with Jenny's dilemma. Being a model meant a lot to her, but she had her own feelings to look after as well. But if the public wanted beauty and wasn't getting it, then that's a show of selfishness.

Vanessa looked to be contemplating, catching Sophie's attention. "Vanessa?"

Vanessa opened her eyes, frowning. "Look, it's not in my place to say…but Nic and Erza and I can say for a fact that if we were you, it wouldn't matter what the public needed. We don't pride ourselves on what others think of us. You know this for a fact. However, if it's that important to you…then maybe we may know a way."

Jenny blinked in surprise. "You guys do?"

Vanessa looked towards Nic with a nod. Nic humbly sighed. "Guess there's no choice then." He mumbled. "Yeah, Vanessa's right. We've read up one time that Feebas can evolve into Milotic through a trade with an item."

Jenny gasped. "Wait, evolve?"

Nic looked towards his wife. "Erza."

Erza locked into coordinated with her PokeDex. She showed a picture of what looked like a cream-colored serpent with long red lashes turning into drapes. It had a mermaid-like tail that had fans. Its regal gestures made it to be desired.

" **Milotic, the Tender Pokémon. Milotic has provided inspiration to many artists. It has been referred to as the most beautiful Pokémon of all.** "

"If we can evolve your Feebas into a Milotic, then your fans will become interested again. And the Cambire Foundation's Pokémon and modeling campaigns might restore." Nic's brow furrowed in displeasure. "But Jenny, listen…are you absolutely sure this is what _you_ want? It's okay if you don't want to listen to public like we do. Do you want this?"

Jenny thought hard about Nic's response. When she looked into his eyes, it was like a warning from Hell. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea. She liked her Feebas, but when she realized how much backlash they've been getting, she couldn't lie when she said their morality had been…sinking.

She looked out at Feebas, seeing her swim with the fishes. This was probably the first time she felt lively since meeting Jenny. Jenny nodded. "Okay, I'm in."

Nic nodded in understanding. "Okay then." He looked towards Erza, seeing her rummage through her belongings. "Erza, what're you looking for?"

"I believe that item we need is some type of scale if I'm not mistaken." She responded, taking out various items ranging from Full Heals to Ultra Balls, to even Incenses and Nuggets they saved up. The rare items they've saved up left everyone nervous as she pulled out stuff like a Metal Coat, a Silver Powder, and several Berries. "Let's see…" she rummaged through the materialistic bag until her hand reached the bottom. "I believe it's…this."

She pulled out what looked like a very small scaled. It was blue but had magenta and red patterns on its center. It refracted light ever so eloquently.

"What's that?" Lucy questioned. "It looks like an actual scale."

"Yes, it does." Carla agreed.

"So certain Pokémon using items to evolve." Pantherlily stated. "That's interesting."

"Hey wait a minute. Where did you guys get all that stuff?" Happy pointed out. "And why didn't you show that to us before?"

Nic shrugged. "We didn't think it wasn't necessary before." He imposed. "Aside from medicines, we don't really know when this stuff comes in handy…plus Erza has a habit of using her Requip so…"

Erza turned up with nonsense. "Honestly, how is it that you still can't just requip Poke Balls is beyond me. I mean really…"

Everyone else nervously chuckled and sweat dropped.

"We found this in Couriway City, I think it was the falls." He turned towards Jenny. "Anyways, Feebas evolve with this. You attach this to Feebas and then trade her. When she comes out next, she should evolve. It's how Erza's Slurpuff and Scizor evolved before."

Jenny put a hand to her chin to ponder about it for a few seconds. When she came to her answer, she confidently smiled. "Okay, I'm in." She turned towards Mira. "So how about it, Mirajane, you up for it?"

Mirajane nodded. "Sure, Vullaby and I wouldn't mind helping, right?" She looked down at Vullaby, seeing the Diapered Pokémon cross her wings and pout. "Oh c'mon, don't be like that. But wait?" she faced Jenny. "Doesn't seem a little unfair that I won't be getting anything out of this?"

Jenny raised a brow. "What. Like you want me to do a favor for you?"

Mirajane perked as she held a finger up. "Yeah, like that! Oh, I have an idea. How about this: If I help you evolve your Feebas, you have to post in your birthday suit for next week's issue."

The atmosphere around everyone erupted at her blunt answer. _'Is she serious?!'_

Kevin's eyes twitched. "D-did I hear that right?" He eerily looked towards a cowering Jenny. "You…in your birthday suit?" He almost wanted to break down if it wasn't for Jenny growling, causing him to shrink away.

Jenny angrily faced Mirajane. She stayed calm.

"Oh why the long face? I thought you'd enjoy doing that again?" she facetiously insisted. "After all, didn't that issue get the most sold that year?"

Jenny crossed her arms, amping up her massive chest. "That's a pretty low blow, Mirajane, even for you."

"Well, I didn't see you having any problem declaring it during the Grand Magic Games." She deadpanned. "And besides, think of it as a bonus. It'll work out, promise."

The four men trapped in the cards were a shuddering mess. They had heavy breathing before long getting blood flowing down their noses. Cana scrunched up the cards in one hand, making them squeal in pain.

' _Curse you, Mirajane! I should've known you'd be the one to get the last laugh.'_ Jenny cursed mentally. _'But we'll see who'll be getting the last laugh, after I get my Feebas to evolve. We'll see just whose popularity grows more.'_ Regaining her composure, Jenny reached her hand out. "Alright then, it's a deal."

"Great." Mirajane shook the hand, making a deal.

Minutes later, Mirajane was on the other side of the isle, with Jenny opposite of her. Both were in position for the trade.

Jenny reached out first. "You ready?"

Mirajane held hers out next. "Let's do it."

"So this is how a Pokémon trade works." Lucy observed. "So Trainers can just trade their own Pokémon?"

"Apparently." Gray answered. "I guess some do it just so their Pokémon can evolve. But I guess you can trade them away if you don't like them."

"I can't believe it's allowed." Levy murmured.

Gajeel furrowed his brow. "Maybe so, but it's not like there are folks who don't get along with thm anyways."

"Yeah, guess you're right…"

"On 3, okay?" Jenny instructed. "1…2…3!" Both let go of the Poke Balls at the exact same time. As if by some telepathic power, they floated towards and passed each other. Time stopped briefly before they slipped by one another. The two capsules appeared in the others' hands, landing safely.

A strong silence between them and the isle as a solemn wind blew.

"So…what now?" Lisanna asked.

Nic glared. "We wait."

Mirajane did nothing. Instead moments later, Feebas' Poke Ball flew open, surprising her. Feebas appeared between them, but remained completely still.

Mirajane blinked. "Feebas…?"

Feebas blinked once, remaining quiet until finally enveloped in a bright light. The light illuminated the area, awing everyone who was watching.

"It's finally happening!" Happy exclaimed.

"The evolution process is starting." Vanessa leered.

Feebas' body began morphing considerably. She began revolving around the sand, her whole frame lengthening drastically. She became far longer, with serpentine structures. Her frail backfin sprouted into eloquent scales, and before long, the light exploded, causing a serene glow to dissipate, revealing a pair of serene eyes to open.

There, in front of everyone, a newly evolved Milotic emitted a loud cry. Her voice echoing with soothing waves pulsing across the sands.

"It really did evolve!" Wendy exclaimed.

"It's a Milotic now!" Carla yelped.

"That's how you trade and evolve? For real?" Romeo awed.

"Wow…so beautiful…" Asuka awed, marveling at Milotic's beauty sparkling in the sunlight. Her eyes twinkled. "So pretty…"

Jenny gulped as she took a step forward. She advanced towards Milotic. "Milotic…" She saw the large creature turn towards her. "How do you feel?"

Milotic looked down at herself. She certainly felt different to say the least. She looked different, and especially didn't feel shabby like she did in her other form. She noticed even how lively she was. _'What's this feeling I have? Is this power?'_ She questioned herself. _'I can't believe it…after all this time. I actually feel better.'_ She saw that Jenny was still waiting for an answer. "Jenny…" she smiled. "I feel great!"

Jenny could feel her heart lift a little more. She sighed in relief. _'Thank goodness. She almost had me worried there.'_ She looked up, seeing Milotic marvel at her body. _'At least she feels a lot better about herself. Guess I can be too.'_

Kevin stepped forward. "Hey, Jenny, congrats."

"Kevin." She chimed. "Thanks, we appreciate it."

"That said, we still got a little time before your next shooting…" he smirked. "So how about we see Milotic in action?"

"A battle?" Sophie inquired.

Vanessa smiled as she put a hand to her chin. "That's the most logical way at this point. A battle is the best way to test out your new moves and ability, too."

Jenny smiled. "Alright, sounds like a fun way to pass the time."

"That's what she said." Kevin laughed aloud. Unknowingly he got Gajeel, Gray, even Dereece to lurch and cover their mouths from laughing. Many other girls were confused, but others gave glares.

Mirajane chirped happily. "Sure, I accept your challenge!" she answered.

' _Yes! She fell for it!'_ Jenny mentally fist-pumped.

"But…wouldn't you need Milotic back to do that?"

Realizing the situation, Jenny's mentality cracked up and shattered. She sulked in defeat and realized she had to trade back. "Oh…right."

Kevin looked back towards Joey. "Hey Joey, heard you've been training. Wanna take a round with…huh?" he stopped when he saw Joey a ways away.

Disco music was playing in the background as Joey was taking a pose, flexing with Quilladin. Sparkles dazzled around them as the camera flashed, taking their pose. Another one with a wink to it. Another one with him blowing a kiss like a girl would to fans.

"So cool! Just like that!" Jason was taking snapshots like crazy. "Yup! Uh-huh! Yeah, you're really good at this!"

Joey rolled his neck around sultrily. "What can I say?" he winked again. "What's a portrait without yours truly?"

' _Yeah should've figured as much.'_ Dereece turned away as Joey photogenic nature had hypnotized him.

"I'm liking that style man! So cool! Now how about one like that! Oh, and that! Yeah! Now _that's_ one for the books!"

Dereece groaned louder. "Oi vey…oh well, guess he's not going anywhere anytime soon." He faced Kevin. "Hey, mind if I take his place?"

Kevin shrugged. "Sure, be my guest." He smirked. "So it looks like we have ourselves a Double Battle. This is gonna be fun." He stuffed a few giggles inside. "Heh…that's what she said."

"Uh, I don't get it." Wendy dumbly sidenoted.

"Trust me, maybe it's best that we do _not_ know." Levy added.

* * *

Once Jenny traded Vullaby back to Mirajane, the beach was cleared again for them to commence. All four combatants had Poke Balls in their hands, ready to begin.

Erza stepped up. "Attention! This will be a 2-on-2 Double Battle! Each Trainer will be allowed one Pokémon with no substitutions! Furthermore, no healing items will be permitted, only the ones you have right now!"

"Good luck Mira! Go get'em Dereece!" Lisanna cheered.

"Bring some manly pride to Fairy Tail!" Elfman encouraged.

"I wonder who's gonna win this?" Levy inquired. "Jenny's Milotic just evolved, so it has a lot of power behind it."

"That's true, but you have to take level into account as well." Pantherlily noted. "For all we know, this may be its first battle, so its level could be low. We'll have to see depending on their Pokémon."

Gray looked over to Natsu. "Hey Natsu, who're you betting on?"

Natsu looked to him like it was an obvious answer. "Huh? What else, Mira of course, duh?" he pumped a muscle. "Ain't nothing stronger than the likes of her."

Gray gave him a deadpan look. "You do realize that the _Pokémon_ are battling, right?"

"I know that. I'm just saying." He beamed. "Anyways, it's gonna be fun seeing an actual Double Battle. Right guys?"

Charmeleon, who has calmed down, nodded. Darumaka, however, grunted and fumed. "Gawww, I wanna battle! C'mon! Let me at'em! Let me at'em!" He went jump, but Natsu caught him with one hand.

"Not after the mess you've made today. You're going into a time out mister." He scolded. Darumaka groaned in defeat, whimpering like a dog.

Nic remained silent. He sat on the beach towel with his sister as he watched the battle unfold. The words of Erza from earlier today echoed in his head, making him silently sigh. _'I guess it's for the best. After all…sometimes it's better to learn from watching others do their own fights for once.'_ His glare turned expectant. _'Alright, let's see.'_

"Alright Milotic, here we go!" Jenny threw Milotic out, and the large aquatic creature craned her head and dazzled in the sunlight with a confident huff.

"Alright, our turn now." Kevin pulled up a Poke Ball. "Rattata, go!"

The Poke Ball opened, summoning his Rattata, who was shuddering. "Oh! The sand!" he shuddered, cackling a laughter. "HAHAHA! Are we gonna make a sand castle? Because I wanna make one out of marshmallows and chocolate! Yeah! A-And then when it melts it can turn into a puddle that we can splash in…HAHAHA! And then-thenwecanalljumpinandsmelllikechocolatealldaylikeacampfire! HAHAHHAHAHA!"

' _Geez, hyperactive much?'_ Fairy Tail thought.

Mirajane grinned. "Works for me." She pulled out her Poke Ball, summoning Vullaby in front of her. She pointed dead ahead. "Alright Vullaby, let's take her by storm!"

"I'm ready for you, meanies!" Vullaby squawked.

' _Guess another round won't hurt. Besides, we healed up. Okay then…'_ Dereece threw the Poke Ball. "Seel, come out!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Seel as she stood beside Vullaby. "Alrighty, looks like there's fuel to burn." She turned towards Vullaby. "Looks like we got ourselves a tagteam here, huh?"

Vullaby huffed. "Just don't be mean to me like earlier…meanies."

Seel sweat dropped. "Eh…pardon?"

Erza raised her hand. "Alright! Let the battle…begin!" she chopped, signaling the battle's beginning.

Immediately Jenny took the initiative. "Sorry Mirajane, but you snooze you lose. Milotic, **Water Pulse!** " Gathering water into a sphere, Milotic reared her head back and launched the blue sphere at Vullaby.

"It's coming!" Dereece warned.

"Yeah we know. Just be patient." Mirajane warned. She watched the attack close in on Vullaby until the last second. "Alright, Vullaby! Dodge!"

With a huff, Vullaby jumped into the air above. Once high enough, she glared at her foes.

"Now let's use **Nasty Plot!** " In the midair Vullaby's expression darkened as she sneered. In her head, she was thinking critically as an intense red aura amplified her Special Attack.

' _We better power up, too.'_ Kevin held a fist. "Rattata, **Focus Energy!** " Rattata was cackling chuckles as he shuddered. White aura coursed throughout his body to reach the top of his head, where it dissipated throughout the body.

"Look like they're powering up first before their attacks." Vanessa observed. Beside her, Nic nodded in agreement.

"Alright, guess it's do or die." Dereece swiped his arm. "Seel, use **Headbutt** on Milotic!" Seel used her back flippers to propel herself into the air. She dove down onto Milotic's head, meeting her forehead with an air ripple exerting from the sheer force. It was strong enough push her back. "Yeah, nice shot." He swiped his arm. "Let's keep up the pressure! Use **Aqua Jet!** "

Coating herself into blue water, Seel shot at Milotic again. "Here I come~!" she declared.

Kevin reached out. "Intercept! Rattata, **Quick Attack!** "

"HAHAHAHA! CWAZY!" Rattata was enveloped in a white outline as he shot in zigzags, creating afterimages as he raced at Seel. The rat lunged at Seel, providing an interception as both fast attacks met in the center. Water sprayed everywhere as Seel and Rattata were in midair.

Seel glared at Rattata, who was also seemingly a little serious…aside from his 'crazy' expression.

"Rattata, **Quick Attack** on Seel again!" Kevin commanded. Once both Pokémon landed on the ground, Rattata was outlined in white before he darted off again.

He closed in at an alarming rate, unknowingly playing to their hands. At the last second, Vullaby got between him and Seel.

"Vullaby, use **Gust!** " Mirajane commanded.

Vullaby's wings glowed bright blue and she flapped them, creating a strong gust that Rattata literally ran into. "Bad rat! You have to take turns!" Vullaby scolded.

Rattata cackled as the winds became too strong. With Nasty Plot increasing her prowess, Vullaby's attack shot Rattata in a spiraling mess into Milotic, but she used her fan-like tail to catch him and block most of the attack's wake, despite lurching to hold ground.

"Impressive teamwork, Mirajane." Jenny praised. "But we can do to same. Milotic, **Twister!** "

Milotic brushed Rattata aside like a fly and glared forward. Her tailfins began spinning like a pinwheel, generating a cyclone of air that whipped through the tempest. Vullaby and Seel went wide-eyed before the cyclone picked them up, hurling them through the atmosphere.

"Vullaby!"

"Seel!"

Both Pokémon heard their names called, but everything was spinning. The Dragon-type move threw them around like leaves in a hurricane.

"So sorry for playing naughty, Mirajane." Jenny teased. "But you know the old saying, all's fair in love and war. And this is one war I ain't prepared to lose."

Despite the backlash, Mirajane composed. "Well we're not prepared for losing either." She reached up. "Vullaby, try to use **Gust!** "

Hearing the command, Vullaby's eyes shot wide open. The tornado continued wreaking havoc throughout the domain, until suddenly a massive shockstorm of pressurized winds dissipated it, leaving Seel and Milotic suspended high in the air.

"Not bad."

"Okay, our turn now!" Dereece glared ahead. "Seel, **Icy Wind!** Now!" His Seel was still high in the air when her mouth expelled a sharp breath and cold, intense air shot and blew Milotic and Rattata. Both Pokémon grunted as they tried holding onto their ground, but for Rattata it became too much and he spun away.

Both Pokémon nearly floored as the attack ended, leaving a blue aura to decrease their Speed.

"Alright, they're slowed down. It's our turn to attack, Mira!" Dereece encouraged.

Mirajane nodded. "Right!"

Milotic shook her head as she regained her composure. She glared back at her foes, a harsh red aura enveloping her body.

"Vullaby, use **Pluck!** " Mirajane commanded. Vullaby shot down with a glowing beak. She cried out as she smashed her beak against Milotic's head, causing a ripple similar to Seel's earlier attack that made Milotic lurch. "Alright."

Despite the pain, Milotic's eyes shot open, surprising Mirajane.

" **Disarming Voice!** " Jenny commanded.

Milotic took a harsh breath before exerting a loud, boisterous shout. Pink heart-shaped soundwaves echoed throughout the air, exploding into Vullaby's face and sending her airborne. As she screamed, Seel was caught off guard when she was also blown away. Both slammed hard into the sand.

With the opening, Kevin took it. "Rattata, **Bite** on Seel!"

Seel shook her head. "Oooh, golly. What kind of racket just-!"

"GAHAHAHA! Prepared to meet Mr. Munchies!" Rattata pounced into the air with his bucked teeth glowing. He came down biting into Seel's body, creating a white burst that sent her back further beside a stirred Vullaby.

"Vullaby!" Mirajane shrieked.

"Seel, are you okay?!" Dereece exclaimed.

Both Pokémon groaned as sand covered their fur and feathers. Seel groaned as she was barely stirring, with Vullaby barely getting up herself.

"Nic, did you see that aura just now?" Vanessa asked, not looking at her brother.

Nic nodded. "I did. I think that's Competitive, Milotic's Ability. When the opponent's stats are lowered, they're compensated by increased Special Attack." Nic glared forward, watching the battle unfold. _'I wanna say that it's a good ability to have, but…even one's greatest strength can be a weakness.'_

All the Pokémon got up again, regrouping to their original spots. Milotic more ferocious than ever as she lashed her tendrils around mockingly. "So, how do you like me now?" she taunted.

Dereece balled his fist. "Man, she's got us on the ropes. We can't take another hit, otherwise we're toast."

Mirajane furrowed her brow. "I have an idea, but we'll need to take Rattata out of the picture first."

Dereece nodded. "Okay, let's do it then."

Jenny swiped her arm. "Milotic, use **Twister!** " Once more, Milotic generated another turbulence from her tails. The cyclone expanded as it closed in on Seel and Vullaby.

"Seel, **Icy Wind!** " Seel followed Dereece's command and exerted another cold wind of frost and low temperatures. The two conflicting winds stirred into each other, creating a strong enough tempest that caused low pressure to stir up sand until it all dissipated. Once they cancelled out, Rattata pounced through with a cackling laughter.

"Rattata, use **Hyper Fang** on Seel!" Kevin commanded.

"GAHAHA! I'm gonna be a Bidoof! Nomnomnomnomnomnom!" Rattata opened his mouth as the teeth glowed back, but also lengthened some as he dashed for Seel, albeit a little slower than usual.

Vullaby stepped in front, awaiting Mirajane's orders.

"Alright, use **Flatter!** "

"Hmph! Nobody likes weirdos!" Vullaby scoffed, her beak opening to reveal red waves distorting towards Rattata. Rattata, once again, ran into a mess that he got conflicted in. The waves reached him and he gawked, stumbling around uncontrollably as the confusion took in, even as a red aura enhanced his Special Attack as well.

"Crud, we're confused." Kevin mentally cursed. _'And Rattata's already taken too much damage. If we hurt ourselves we might risk losing.'_

Jenny reached out. "Then we'll cover for you! Milotic, use **Water Pulse** on Vullaby!" Once more, Milotic conjured a powerful sphere of water in her mouth. She launched it with all her might at Vullaby.

"Wait for it…not yet…" Mirajane held off until it was close enough. When it was, she faced Dereece. "Now, Dereece!"

"Okay, let's go!" Dereece punched forward. "Seel, use **Aqua Jet!** "

Seel's glare intensified. "Okay!" Cloaking herself in cold, blue water, Seel launched herself towards Rattata.

Vullaby swallowed a lump as she closed her eyes. It was either gonna be Seel or the Water Pulse to catch on. Seel, or the Water Pulse. It was all a matter of speed. She kept her eyes shot in case something went wrong, and then suddenly a swift motion dragged her away, allowing Water Pulse to erupt in a geyser of water that sprayed everywhere.

The confused Rattata cackled as even he was blown away by the light sprays.

Vullaby opened her eyes, realizing she was soaring. "Hm? Wait…I'm flying? But why am I so wet?" She looked down, realizing what it was. "Huh?!"

Seel was beneath her, cloaked in her Aqua Jet as he sailed through the air like a torpedo with Vullaby behind. "Sorry about that, quick thinking there!" she yelled up.

"Alright! That's how you do it!" Elfman cheered.

"With Seel's maneuverability with that attack, they'll be able to dodge their opponents who were slowed down!" Lisanna chirped. "That's brilliant!"

Nic raised his head a little as he continued watching.

Seel swayed through the air with Vullaby on her head. The bird's bottom was wet, but she treated it more like a slide as Seel circled around Milotic, who was looking around to see where they were in the blue streams. Unfortunately, it's gotten too clear she couldn't keep track. Before she knew it, she looked up, and Seel and Vullaby were directly above. Nic's eyes were glaring intently at the improvising.

' _How did they get so quick?!'_

"Milotic, watch out!" Jenny warned.

"Now, Seel! **Aqua Jet!** " Dereece shouted.

"Vullaby, use **Pluck!** " Mirajane yelled.

Jenny's eyes shot wide. With quick thinking, she made a command of her own. "Quick, **Disarming Voice!** "

Milotic looked up as a blue torpedo with a glowing top came down onto her. She glared up with her mouth beginning to open. However, her movements were too slow just as her head turned up. _'No! I can't catch them!'_

"HRAH!" Both Seel and Vullaby screamed out as they connected with Milotic's head. Their combined force and screaming made an intense shockwave of blue hold pressure onto her for several seconds before Seel and Vullaby pushed further. Both screamed out and pushed down harder, creating a massive wake that erupted mist everywhere. Jenny and everyone covered up as the attack sprayed mist everywhere. Once it cleared, Seel and Vullaby landed a couple feet away.

They both watched the sand and mist clear, revealing Milotic on her side, groaning.

"Milotic is unable to battle!" Erza declared.

"Ye-ah! Alright!" He held a palm to Mirajane, giving a high-five.

"We got her for sure!" she chirped.

Jenny mulled in pity as she returned Milotic. "Thanks Milotic. You did good job." She recalled her defeated Milotic, but she looked down in pity, sighing.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Kevin grinned. "You and Milotic looked great out there." He faced forward. "Now it's up to me and Rattata."

The earlier sprays finally sinking in, Rattata blinked. "Uh…what?" He looked around, realizing Milotic was gone. "Hehehe, eh, what's going on?"

"Looks like it's just you and me now, Rattata." Kevon said. "Think you can handle it?"

Rattata looked cross-eyed as he faced forward. His cackling turned nervous. "Haha…just me…against two?" he wheezed. "Wow…heh…disisoscwazy!"

"Now let's finish them off!" Mirajane encouraged.

"Right!" Dereece reached forward. "Seel, use **Ice Shard!** " Seel reared up and conjured an icy ball of energy. Once ready, she fired it across the sand at Rattata.

As the attack drew closer, Rattata's cross-eyes fixed themselves. They reflected the image of ice heading their way. As it drew even closer, his entire body was shuddering, as if anticipation couldn't stop rising. He looked like he was about to explode.

"Rattata, get ready…" Kevin enforced.

"Hehehe…GAHAHAHA! DIS IS SO CWAZY!" Rattata yelled to the air. "YEAAAH-HA-HA-HAAH!" Rattata suddenly was enveloped in a bright, powerful glow, illuminating the battlefield. The **Ice Shard** made impact, but instead, the light caught it.

"What the-?!" Dereece stammered away, looking shocked.

"No way." Lisanna murmured.

"That light…another evolution?" Kinana gasped.

Kevin and Jenny went silent. They could only stare in disbelief as the light started to alter forms. The icy sphere that was caught was seemingly bit into, dissipating to frost as the creature started standing tall. The curly tail became more streamline, with the added bonus of the teeth getting far bigger.

"Oh no." Dereece murmured.

When the light exploded, it revealed a new Pokémon. It was a larger rat, but with dark eyes. He had paws and webbed feet, surprisingly. He had long whiskers with edged ears. The creature was shuddering in place briefly, before it suddenly erupted with a loud scream.

" **GAAAAAH! SO CWAZY! GAHAHAHAHA!** " the massive rate screamed.

"No way!" Dereece exclaimed.

Kevin blinked. "Raticate…" he pulled out his PokeDex while Raticate was overlooking himself.

" **Raticate, the Mouse Pokémon. Its disposition is far more violent than its looks would suggest. Don't let your hand get too close to its face, as it could bite your hand clean off.** "

"His Rattata evolved. Guess this just got a lot harder." Gray noted.

Natsu smirked. "Yeah, but I still say Mira and Dereece got this. C'mon guys! Kick some oversized rat butt!"

Raticate was a shuddering mess as he looked at his body. "Gnnngh…!" he gasped. "Look! LOOK! You see? Myskinissobrown! It's like caramel, GAHAHA! Whichisfunnybecausecaramelisstickyandmessytomyteeth. GAHAHAHA!"

Kevin furrowed his brow. _'Well, better make the most of it.'_ "Look alive, Raticate!"

Raticate laughed loudly as he heard his Trainer's call. "I feel so alive~! Yay!"

Mirajane didn't deter too much like Dereece was. "We might still have a chance. I'll get its attention, then you get it when it's distracted."

Dereece nodded. "Okay."

Mirajane reached out. "Alright Vullaby, use **Gust!** " Vullaby flapped her wings on command, creating a tempest heading for Raticate.

"Oh no you don't!" Kevin retorted. "Raticate, **Quick Attack!** "

Raticate was outlined in white before he turned cross-eyed. He sped across the ground, making a cloud of sand behind as he had so much energy. "GAHAHA! I FEEL LIKE I CAN FLY~!" When the tempest drew closer, Raticate suddenly made a bold move and shot high into the air over the winds.

"He dodged it?!" Mirajane gasped. Vullaby looked horrified.

Sophie observed carefully. _'That evolution must have given him greater leg strength now that it can stand.'_

In the air, Raticate cackled with crossed-eyes. His shadow was over Vullaby, but she was in the middle of her attack and couldn't react fast enough.

" **Hyper Fang!** "

Raticate's fangs glowed and elongated, and he dove down onto Vullaby like a missile. "I'M A TORPEDO!" he laughed maniacally before he snapped down on Vullaby with a critical hit, creating a rush of sand that blew everywhere. When the sand cleared away, the ground ceased shaking and Vullaby was seen on her back, with Raticate over her with a shuddering frame, still breaking into chuckling fits.

"Vullaby is unable to battle!" Erza declared.

"Yes! Take that, Mirajane. No hard feelings." Jenny beamed.

"But…" Kevin wanted to say he did it, but he chose to glance away. "…eh, whatever."

Mirajane put a hand to her cheek. "Oh dear. Vullaby!" She worried. Raticate got off and she rushed towards her side. "Are you okay?"

Vullaby stirred awake, though barely. She groaned as she looked at Mirajane. "Gnnngh…I wanna go home now." She whined. "The beach isn't fun anymore."

Mirajane softly smiled. "There, there. It'll be okay. You deserve a nice rest." She returned Vullaby back to her Poke Ball. She stood up, facing Dereece. "Alright Dereece, think you can handle it?"

Dereece glared forward. "Well, guess I have no choice." He held his fist high. "Let's go, Seel! Use **Aqua Jet!** "

Seel cloaked herself in blue water and shot at Raticate. She tucked in her head and bolted, but Raticate saw the attack coming. He barely brushed to the side, but the drafts by the raging water stream made him twirl. "GAHAHA! Everything is spinny!" He lifted his head as he laughed, but the sun was blocked out by blue. Seel came down, but Raticate was fast enough to shift off to the side. The rat slid in the sand as drizzle sprayed. Within the dust, Seek shook her head and focused.

' _He's even faster than I thought! I gotta slow it down!'_ Dereece reached out. "Seel, **Icy Wind!** " Seel created a blue aura in her mouth and shot and icy breath that sped towards Raticate.

Kevin's eyes narrowed. _'They better not have forgotten about_ _ **Focus Energy**_ _…time to put these gnaws to the test.'_ He straightened his posture to attack. "Raticate, **Hyper Fang!** "

Raticate got on all fours again as he launched at the wave of frost. He yelled as he opened his maw, the huge bucked teeth glowing as he rushed in, nipping at the wind. As if he was chewing in the winds, they bisected as the energetic rat sped down the middle.

"No way…" Natsu awed. Lucy, Happy, and Wendy all gasped in disbelief.

Raticate closed the gap on Seel as her attack wasn't slowing him down. As her winds dissipated, Raticate made a small leap and passed her, a streamline line following his fangs. As he landed in the sands behind, his teeth stopped glowing and he held his position. Seel was quiet for a moment, before she slowly fell over.

"Seel!" Dereece cried. He saw that Seel had swirly eyes

Raticate nibbled some as he looked around. "Haha, that tasted like ice cream."

Erza lifted an arm for Jenny and Kevin's side. "Seel is unable to battle, which means that the wins goes to Jenny and Kevin!"

Kevin raised a fist. "Yes! Raticate, wait a go buddy!" he cheered. Jenny was beside him, humbled by his victory he got. "You did awesome out there, buddy. How ya feeling?"

Raticate wheezed and started to calm down a little. "That…thatwassocwazy…"

Kevin nodded. "Gotcha. That was crazy." He bent down, brushing Raticate's head. "Thank you."

"We lost?" Natsu was speechless. He didn't know what to say. "Man…"

Happy shrugged. "Well I guess you can't win them all."

Cana whistled. "But man was that a show out there. I thought for sure Mira had that one in the bag."

"Poor Mira…" Lisanna worried.

Elfman balled a fist angrily. "I swear, those Blue Pegasus creeps will pay for what they did?" he gritted his teeth angrily. "I swear, in the name of a man that I am."

Dereece walked up to Seel as she was stirring awake. "Seel, are you okay?"

Seel groaned as she weakly looked up towards Dereece. "Gnngh…sorry." She apologized.

Dereece shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. Glad that you did your best." He held up her Poke Ball. "Better give you some rest, you earned it." He recalled Seel before facing Kevin and Jenny. "Looks like you beat us fair and square."

Kevin nodded. "Looks like it." He turned towards Jenny. "Say, Jenny, isn't it almost time for your next shooting?"

Jenny sighed. "Yeah, guess you're right." She swallowed what was of her pride and walked towards Mirajane, shaking her hand. "Well Mirajane, it was fun."

"Yeah it was." She smiled. "Good luck."

Jenny smiled as she turned towards Jason, who was still taking pictures of Joey in the background.

"Oh, and Jenny." Mirajane called from the distance. "Be sure to remember your promise. I'll by next week's issue just to be sure."

Jenny comically sulked as wavy tears ran down her face. "Why me?" she whimpered.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity of prying Joey away from the cameras by Jason, Dereece and Gajeel had to hold him down so that he didn't go running off to his "adoring public". With Jenny doing her photo shoots on the other side of the isle, she and Kevin promised to meet up when it was done so that they can get home. He chose to spend his time with Fairy Tail, healing up and taking a break.

Krabby held up a checker board towards Wendy. "Checkers?"

"Uh, no thanks." Wendy politely declined. Krabby groaned and scuttled off to ask another person. "He sure loves that game."

"An obsession is more like it." Carla corrected.

"Aw relax, it's not like it's not an unhealthy habit to pick up." Romeo chimed. He was sitting with Litwick on a towel, him eating a piece of watermelon while she was eating berries.

"That's true. Just as humans pick up on Pokémon habits, as does the other way around." Sophie surmised.

Erza nodded in approval. "It's always nice to learn from another perspective. You learn more about them every day."

"So you found all those items on your way through Kalos, Erza?" Happy inquired/

The Requip Mage nodded again. "Yes. We always stop by shops and find these sorts of things lying around. It's really strange. I mean, really, to leave such perfectly good Full Heals lying in some grass. Either somebody must be a klutz, or perhaps they're wasteful."

Everyone sweat dropped at her accusations.

"Now that I think about it, doesn't Joey's Trubbish have that Black Sludge thing? How's that work?"

"Some wild Pokémon can be seen holding certain items." Vanessa pointed out. "Sometimes berries, and sometimes rare items. You can't really tell unless you have certain ways." She looked at Nic, who was dangling a small sliver of a steak over Kecleon's head. "Kecleon for example, she has **Thief**. She can steal an item while dealing damage, so if the Pokémon is defeated she still gets it."

"Say, that's pretty handy. I oughta try that out." Cana smirked. "Maybe I can use that to take more booze." She laughingly joked.

Purrloin stretched at her feet. "Maybe if I work up the nerve to care." She yawned.

Prinplup beamed his beak up with pride. "Hmph, like I'd stoop as low as steal something I don't need. I can do just fine without an item, thank you very much."

Cana mischievously smirk. "You sure? Because when you were hungry earlier I didn't see you getting any food for yourself, did you?" The comment made her Prinplup gawk in embarrassment.

"Say, speaking of Joey, where is he?" Bisca asked.

Alzack looked towards the beach. "I think he's over there by the ocean. Look."

Over by the ocean, Joey was ankle-deep as he was using Pidove against a wild Shellder. The wild bivalve shot up through the water with **Tackle** , but Joey seemingly called a command while reaching his arm out. Pidove used **Air Cutter** , sending crescents that instantly knocked the Shellder back into the water. Down below the surface, it was seen with spirals, while Pidove circled above, chirping.

Dereece sighed as he sat on a towel, his Seel revived and eating a big bowl of Pokémon Food beside him. He watched Joey train ever since he got out of his paparazzi daze. "Well, at least Joey's being productive." He felt a tap beside him. He looked up to find Kevin standing over him. "Huh? Kevin, what is it?"

"Listen, Dereece. I just wanna say…you put up a good fight. You're a good Trainer, and I was impressed with how you ad Mirajane battled Raticate and Milotic. I respect that."

Dereece almost floored. He was flattered beyond belief. "Hehehe, well…"

"I wanted to ask Joey, but after battling you…" He pointed an accusing finger at Dereece. "I know what I wanna do. Dereece, I challenge you to a full 3-on-3 battle! Right here, right now."

"W-what?!"

"Oh my, just when you thought it was over." Mirajane chimed.

"Another battle? Right now?" Wendy asked surprised. She looked towards Swablu, who looked just as confused.

Nic shrugged. "Yeah I guess that would make sense." He looked at Dereece. "Well Dereece, you know the rules as well as I do." He smirked. "So…what's it gonna be?"

Dereece looked at Nic and back at Kevin, seeing him look serious about his choice. _'He's really serious. I think he wants to see what other skills that I can do. He must know I have at least 3 Pokémon…guess I shouldn't be surprised. I caught Yanma back in Alvarez, and he knows about Seel and Heracross.'_

" _Oh come now, don't be like that." Seel chastised. "Look, I've seen a few good tiffs but that was something else. I knew you wanted to help your friend but after last night…well, just look at him."_

He looked at Seel as she looked at him. _'Besides, she's right. My Captain is looking to get stronger for the ones who fell for him. If I'm not strong enough to support him, what am I?'_ Coming to a realization, Dereece glared up at Kevin with no hesitation and a grin. "Okay, I will."

Kevin smirked. "That's what I wanna hear. Raticate, you set back there?"

Behind, Raticate was overlooking something with Nic's Kecleon. The rat had drawn close to the wet sand and made a very crude work of art. But what many could bear witness to was looked like an assortment of objects that look like places with food. Some were basic shapes, and some were slightly more concrete like the image of a Mankey. "Okay, here's my name, you see?" He directed Kecleon, tilting her head casually. "For my name, it's a Mankey on a cannonball flying across the cosmos, a-andthenthere'stheasteroids that are made up of cheese! HAHA! And beyond that is the planet that's in the shape of a banana because Mankeys love bananas! GAHAHAHA! Also!" he gasped. "Also! Also, there's comets that up of stringed cheese of mozzarellaandother stars on fire because it's so CWAZY! GAHAHAHA!" As Raticate was laughing hysterically, Kecleon was blindly applauding him for at least trying.

"I like cheese." She smiled.

"Me too! It's so cwazy!"

Kevin had a blank face as he watched the scene. Despite the shiver up his spine, he took it anyway. "Yeah, we're good to go."

' _How is_ _ **that**_ _good to go?'_ A majority of everyone thought.

* * *

Same as before, Dereece and Kevin were evenly spread apart. They glared at each other as everyone else was off to the side.

Vanessa came between, this time being the referee. "The battle between Dereece and Kevin will now begin. Each Trainer will have the use of three Pokémon, and the battle will be over when either side's Pokémon are unable to continue. Also, substitutions are allowed."

"This is gonna be good." Alzack commented.

"Dereece, do your best out there!" Kinana encouraged.

Erza grinned. "This should be an interesting battle." She looked towards Nic. "Right?"

Nic nodded. "Right." He looked back ahead, his mind drifting to that combo attack Seel and Vullaby used before. His mind stirred as Kevin pulled out a Net Ball.

"Alright, let's start off fresh." He threw the Net Ball. "Go, Krabby!"

The capsule popped open, and out came Kevin's Krabby. The crab pinched his claws together to show how sharp they were. "We gonna play more checkers?" he questioned.

"So he's starting off with Krabby, huh?" Dereece glanced out at Joey, who had chosen to take another small break to observe. Joey was seen giving two thumbs up in encouragement. "Okay…I guess I'll be starting fresh then, too." He pulled out a Great Ball. "Okay then. Go, Stunfisk!"

The capsule sent out Dereece's latest addition, his Stunfisk. The Trap Pokémon flopped on the ground. "Ha! Being some fried crab I see!" he joked.

Joey's eyes widened. "Woah, a Stunfisk?" He pulled out his PokeDex and analyzed the new addition to Dereece's team.

" **Stunfisk, the Trap Pokémon. It conceals itself in the mud of the seashore. Then it waits. When prey touch it, it delivers a jolt of electricity.** "

Joey dismissed his PokeDex. "So that's Dereece's new catch? Awesome."

"A Ground and Electric-type battling against a Water-type." Nic observed. "And they're both beach-dwellers. You were right, this _is_ gonna be interesting."

"So you caught some more Pokémon, Dereece?" Kevin called.

Dereece nodded. "Yeah, that's right." He and Stunfisk looked at one another. "This is our first battle, too. So don't hold back, got it?"

"Count on it."

Vanessa brought her hand down in a chop. "Then let the battle begin!"

"We'll go first." Kevin volunteered. "Krabby, use **Leer!** "

"I get to move my piece first!" Krabby's eyes glowed, seething daggers at Stunfisk as a blue aura signaled a Defense decrease

' _Looks like they're gonna try and hit us hard. Better make this quick.'_ Dereece reached forward. "Alright Stunfisk, use **Thunder Shock!** " Stunfisk smiled as his body crackled with electricity before firing a weak bolt at Krabby. To everyone's shock, Krabby scuttled to the right, dodging the bolt.

"I move my piece to the side!" he declared.

Dereece furrowed his brow. "Man, thought we had that."

Kevin swiped his arm. "We got ways of preparing for that. Krabby, use **Mud Sport!** " Krabby's claws raised high into the air, glowing red-orange. When Krabby slammed them down, splatters of mud scattered around, layering the sand and everything in mud.

"What's that do?" Lisanna questioned.

"Yeah it just put everything in mud, what's the big deal?" Rufflet asked. "And I think I got some in my feathers."

" **Mud Sport** is a move that cloaks everything in mud." Erza commented. "For a time, the mud reduces Electric-type damage for both sides, meaning Dereece's attack won't do as much."

"For real?" Gray questioned.

"Then they have moves other than weather that can affect a Pokémon's power too?" Juvia realized. She looked towards Vaporeon, who looked equally as shocked by this news. _'Then maybe we can actually stand a chance against other types we're weak to.'_

"So then I guess that means Kevin has the advantage." Romeo surmised.

"Don't be too sure." Pantherlily said. "The nettle just started. Maybe Dereece will turn things around."

' _I gotta do something about that Speed instead.'_ Dereece reached forward. "Stunfisk, use **Mud Shot!** "

"Okay." Using the tailfin, the fish shot into the air to get airborne. "How's this for playing dirty?!" He spat mud balls from his mouth that shot down at Krabby. They kept coming down, and the crab tried shuffling, but one was close enough to stop him. This allowed another to hurl into him, making sand fly everywhere. Krabby fell onto his back, groaning as a blue aura signaled his Speed loss. Stunfisk landed, chuckling at his joke.

"You're a real comedian." Kevin implied sarcastically. "But let's see who gets the last laugh! Krabby, use **Vice Grip!** " Krabby jumped back up and leaped over the sand. He was high in the air before he came down, pinching hard on Stunfisk's face. The intense grip made the fish yelp in shock.

"How's that for a pinch?" Kevin mocked back.

Grunting, Dereece applied a counter. "Stunfisk, use **Thunder Shock!** " Mustering himself, the fish angrily leered back at Krabby as he was still in contact. Jolts of electricity shot through Krabby, even when mud blocked the blunt of the attack. Stunfisk smiled as he bolted shock strong enough to send Krabby on his back again.

"Krabby, can you get up?" Kevin called out.

Krabby stirred back up. He grunted, but he was still able-bodied. "I'm good…I still have some chips to play." He grunted, but crackling electricity enveloped hi body, causing him to yelp.

Kevin's eyes widened. "Paralysis?"

"Yeah." Dereece balled a fist. "That's Stunfisk's Ability, Static. When Krabby made contact, he got paralyzed. That means you've slowed down a lot, enough that you can't move."

Kevin grunted. He looked down at Krabby to see that he was already in too bad of a shape. When he saw how this was going to be, he humbly closed his eyes and waited before making his next command. "…Krabby, **Leer!** "

Krabby's eyes flashed again, enveloping Stunfisk in a blue aura for another Defense drop.

' _Is he trying to get another attack in?'_ Dereece surmised. Taking quick action, he gave a command. "Finish this up fast, Stunfisk! Use **Mud Shot!** "

Stunfisk's eyes refracted light before he flopped into the air again. He reared back before exerted brown mud that he launched at Krabby. The crustacean was stunned as paralysis rendered him immobile and unable to dodge the globs as they rained down, making sand churn with more mud spewing in the small area.

When the sand cleared, Krabby was seen on his back, his legs twitching. "Uuugh…should've played checkers." He murmured before losing consciousness.

"Krabby is unable to battle, Stunfisk is the winner!" Vanessa announced.

"Well that didn't take too long." Gray commented. "That was a nice one by Dereece."

"Yeah, but I bet you could've done a lot better, my icy hunk." Juvia swooned.

"That was a good round." Wendy commented.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, you're right." Her nod turned to a frown. "But still, something about this feels off. Why didn't he try to use another attack?"

"Don't know." Natsu's tone was more serious than usual. Unlike before when he was observing for a win, like Nic, he was watching for some experience. "But my nose is telling me something's up too."

Kevin recalled Krabby, looking at his Net Ball. "Thanks, Krabby. You did a good job, get some rest." He looked up, pulling out a regular Poke Ball. "Okay…go!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Raticate. The oversized mouse shuddered as he let out a loud cry of excitement.

"Raticate." Dereece grunted. "Look alive, Stunfisk…this is gonna get rough."

"That's what she said." Kevin chuckled. The comment made Dereece sweat drop and face palm. "Anyways Raticate, time to get crazy again!" he swiped his arm. " **Focus Energy!** " The rat remained still as his body emitted a strong white aura that went to the top of the head. Once there, it faded and spread evenly throughout the body.

' _Now his chances of landing critical hits are easier than they should be.'_ Nic observed. As he saw how this was playing out, he glared as he saw more of the battle unfold.

' _I gotta make sure I slow it down before it's too late.'_ Formulating his strategy, Dereece went for the execution. "Now Stunfisk, let's use **Mud Shot** again!"

"Aye!" Flopping his fin on the sand, he got airborne. "This be where mud get in your eye!" He took in a sharp breath before exhaling a sharp blast of mud balls that rained down on Raticate.

Kevin's sunglasses reflected the shot as he reached out. "Raticate, use **Hyper Fang!** "

Raticate laughed maniacally as he rushed in across the sand. He cackled with a cross-eye look as he shifted left and right, evading the mud balls that splattered in the sand. His teeth glowed brightly as Stunfisk was coming down, but his suspended position made it impossible to avoid. "GAHAHAHA! FLYING FISHY!"

"Stunfisk, watch out!" Dereece called out.

Stunfisk wasn't able to as the rat moved in fast, biting into him midair. A shockwave of air pushed him back into sand, making an eruption of sediments that kicked up as Raticate landed. Raticate was fine, but his body crackled with electricity, which didn't go unnoticed by Kevin.

When the sand cleared, Stunfisk was on his bottom-half, groaning with unconscious spirals in his gaze.

Vanessa raised an arm for Kevin's side. "Stunfisk is unable to battle, Raticate is the winner!"

Dereece facepalmed again. He walked up towards Stunfisk and kneeled for him. "Stunfisk, you alright?" He saw Stunfisk stir and weakly glance at his new Trainer, seeing his smile. "You'll be just fine. Thanks for battling. Get a good rest." He recalled Stunfisk back to his Great Ball.

Erza analyzed the battle as it was down to 2 Pokémon each. _'Raticate's stats went up when he evolved. On top of that,_ _ **Focus Energy**_ _increased the chances of critical hits dealt to its attacks. Plus Krabby's earlier_ _ **Leer**_ _made Stunfisk highly vulnerable. That first battle was a setup. That's a crafty move by Kevin, but…'_ She took notice of Raticate twitching from the static on his body. _'They didn't come out of it unscathed. This battle has only just begun.'_

"So now it's down to 2 each then." Lisanna said. "I hope Dereece does okay against that thing."

"Yeah, me too." Levy admitted. "But look, that last move must have paralyzed Raticate. That should make things a little easier for Dereece I hope."

"That all depends on his next Pokémon." Sophie analyzed.

Dereece looked down at the Poke Ball in his hand. He glanced up at Raticate to see he was still paralyzed. _'Okay, so I can't go head on. His attacks are gonna be a lot more critical because of that_ _ **Focus Energy**_ _. But…we still have speed, and I think that I might know the perfect guy for that job.'_ Clutching the Poke Ball, he threw it. "Alright, go Yanma!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Dereece's Yanma. "I'm here." She introduced, perching herself on Dereece's head. Dereece grunted at her habit.

"A Yanma. So Dereece is going with speed then." Mirajane surmised.

"Looks like it to me." Elfman said. "Plus he has an aerial advantage."

Dereece shook Yanma off and she went into battle. With her hovering over her opponent, Raticate chattered his teeth as static paralyzed his body.

' _That paralysis is gonna slow us down. Before try to see if we can still keep up.'_ Kevin reached out. "Raticate, **Quick Attack!** "

Raticate laughed as his body was outlined in white. "I feel like a firecracker! HAHAHA!" He skipped and lunged across the ground towards Yanma, although his attack was notably slow enough for Dereece to keep track of.

"Okay, dodge it!" he commanded. Yanma used her dragonfly-like movements to zip to the side, evading Raticate's lunge as he continued skywards. "Now, **Sonic Boom!** " Yanma's wings glowed white and flapped them, sending a crescent shockwave at Raticate. The rate turned around and was struck in the face, sending him into the sand hard.

Yanma lowered herself closer towards the ground, her red aura signaling her Speed Boost Ability increasing Speed.

"Now, **Double Team!** " Dereece followed. Yanma flashed white before illusions of herself around the area. Clones scattered around Raticate as he got back up, seeing multiple Yanma everywhere.

Kevin grunted as he looked at all of them. Deciding to take a gander, he swiped his arm. "Use **Quick Attack** again!"

Raticate outlined in white and lunged again. Though still rather slow, he closed in on Yanma illusions and zipped through one, but it faded. Then went into another, and then another, and then lastly one more. He closed in on one before he lunged to strike, but once again Yanma used her increase Speed to dodge.

" **Bite!** " Kevin followed up. Raticate landed on one foot and pivoted up at the real Yanma again, his fangs glowing.

"I don't think he can dodge that!" Happy worried.

Dereece glared. "No you don't… **Detect!** "

Yanma's eyes flashed green. When Raticate closed in, her bodily reflexes made her evade the fangs by going skywards. In midair, Raticate was in shock before Yanma reappeared behind him in a flash. Once again, a red aura signaled her Speed increase.

"Behind you!" Kevin warned.

"Now, **Sonic Boom!** "

"Incoming hot!" Yanma's wings glowed white and unleashed a white shockwave. Raticate turned around in midair, but the paralysis left him stunned, literally. The shockwave struck him down, sending the rat into the sand again. Yanma hovered in the atmosphere like nothing happened.

Below, the mud in the area dissipated, leaving **Mud Sport** to fade away.

A lot of people cheered for that last shot. "Now _that's_ getting behind something." Gray commented.

"Nice shot, Yanma!" Dereece praised. "I knew that new move would come in handy for you." In slight joy, Yanma turned and went to perch on his head again. Dereece's jot turned sour. "Okay, sure, during a battle, okay…"

Nic observed Dereece's strategy. As he glared, he was thinking to what he saw. _'Yanma's Speed Boost._ _ **Detect**_ _. And_ _ **Double Team**_ _. So it's an evasive strategy. Even when increasing speed he's still vulnerable, so he has those two moves for evasion…interesting.'_ His mind was thinking deeply, so deeply that he almost forgot that the battle was still going on.

Raticate stirred around in the sand until he got back up. Grunting, static stunned him again. "I…feel less good now…" he huffed.

Kevin grunted. _'We're not gonna get anywhere like this. His Yanma is just gonna keep getting faster…plus there's the_ _ **Detect**_ _and_ _ **Double Team**_ _. I'll be lucky enough to even find the right one. Dereece…he's more clever than I thought.'_

" **Double Team!** " Dereece followed up. Yanma copied herself, making illusions that hovered around where the original is. Once again, her Speed Boost sped her up further. "Now, **Sonic Boom!** "

All the Yanma clones' wings glowed bright white and shot white shockwaves. It was a sheer wall of white that blasted into Raticate. With all of it heading at him, Raticate was ready to take the initiative, but once again, the paralysis took over, stunning him and letting him get hit again. He was picked up and thrown onto his back, groaning.

"Now, **Quick Attack!** " Some Yanma along with the real one were outlined in white as they closed in.

Kevin's eyes shot wide. _'NOW!'_ He balled a fist. "Raticate, grab it!"

Slouching back up, Raticate got to his feet and red blurs shot at him. He was shot across the sand in a tumble, sliding close to Kevin…but when he uncurled, he had in his paws the legs of Yanma – the real Yanma.

"What?"

Kevin's sunglasses shined over. "Raticate, **Bite!** " The massive rat opened his massive glowing teeth and bit hard into Yanma. The intense fangs made a bright burst that shot her skywards in a spiral.

"Yanma!" Dereece shouted. He and everyone watched the falling dragonfly spiral towards the sand beneath, even as his Speed Boost kicked in. This is where Kevin took the next opportunity.

"Now, **Quick Attack!** " Raticate's body outlined and he dashed moderately across the sand. He closed in fast, leaving little time for Dereece to make a move.

' _Gotta make this fast!'_ he thought. "Yanma, **Detect!** " Yanma's eyes flashed green again as she fell. Raticate closed in on her but she straightened out, her body working on its own. She straightened out above while Raticate looked at her from below. " **Sonic Boom!** " Once again, Yanma launched a crescent shockwave at him.

" **Bite!** " Kevin commanded. He watched Raticate's teeth glow as the attack aimed for him. The fangs bit clean through, dissipating the shockwave.

Yanma was looking weary as she gazed down, as was Raticate. Both creatures had taken gracious damage, especially Raticate. They had to end this, now.

' _I have to finish this now.'_ Dereece swallowed. _'Okay, time to go for broke. We still have Speed on our side.'_ He glared. "Yanma, one more time! **Quick Attack!** "

"Here we go!" Outlining in white, Yanma suddenly vanished.

"Raticate, **Hyper Fang!** " Kevin roared.

Raticate severed his fangs as they glowed. Yanma suddenly reappeared as she struck Raticate's chest. The rat was holding his ground, albeit barely as Yanma kept pushing. Sand stirred around them as Yanma's wings produced shockwaves. Though it hurt, Raticate opened and eye, startling Yanma.

"CWAZY!" the rat yelled out as he snapped down on Yanma's head, creating a white explosion that exploded white and smoke into the atmosphere. The sudden eruption caught everyone by surprise.

As the smoke cleared, everyone fell silent to see who won that final rush. When it finally cleared, Yanma was seen on the ground with Raticate, both fallen over and spirals in their eyes.

"Yanma!"

"Raticate!"

Vanessa raised both her arms. "Both Raticate and Yanma are unable to battle!"

Dereece sighed grievously. "Well…that didn't do as expected." He picked up the Poke Ball and recalled Yanma. "Great job out there, Yanma."

"You too, Raticate, get some rest." Kevin recalled Raticate, leaving the sand even between them once more.

"Wow, okay. I didn't see _that_ result happening." Romeo awed.

"Those last attacks turned to a battle of durability." Cana foresaw, recalling the way they were colliding into one another. "Dereece's strategy was evasive until that last attack struck him. He must've gotten desperate just like Kevin was and knew Yanma's limits. Plus Raticate had that move to give it harsher hits in the long run."

"Yeah, guess that would make sense." Lisanna commented. "Still, I wish Yanma won."

"I think he might if he had used **Double Team** and **Sonic Boom** again." Gray commented. "He had a high speed he would've had an advantage the next round."

"I think it's best that Dereece learns from his own mistakes, dear." Juvia insisted politely.

"She's right." Erza noted. "Trainers need to be aware of what faults they've made in battle so they can grow. That's partially how one gains experience. The more you learn from loses, the better you'll be in succeeding."

Nic thought of her words. _'The more we learn from our mistakes huh…?'_ He thought about Emmanuel's quick wits yet again, then his mind flashed forward to the strategies and combos he witnessed.

With the space clear, Kevin and Dereece faced each other, the air and tension at an all-time high. "Well Dereece, looks like we're down to our last Pokémon. You ready for this?" He held up another Net Ball.

Dereece nodded. He pulled out a Poke Ball in return. "Ready!"

"Win this one for The Freaks, Dereece!" Joey ordered. "Freaks in the house! Woopwoop!"

"On it, Captain!" Dereece threw the Poke Ball. "Now, go!"

The Poke Ball summoned forth the last choice. Heracross appeared in midair before thudding on his two feet, glaring ahead.

"My turn! Go, Beedrill!" The Net Ball opened, and out came Kevin's last choice, a Beedrill. The Bug/Poison-type screeched as he held his stingers out.

"So it's a battle between two Bug-types now?" Sophie inquired. "This should be interesting.

"Alright Heracross, you ready?"

"You bet!" the bug nodded.

"Okay Beedrill, you may be new, but I don't wanna see slack. You up for it?" Kevin smirked.

Beedrill prodded his bottom stinger. "I sting yo face!"

"…"

A long silence loomed over Dereece and Heracross. They looked dumbfounded as that one line was bringing back memories. "Uh…what?" Heracross blinked in surprise.

Joey was currently adjusting his hearing aids. After a few bangs, he looked back, barely picking up on the 4 words. "Heh?"

Sophie furrowed her brow. _''I sting yo face'? Wait…'_ Her mind flashed back to long ago, back the day after Dereece and Joey joined the guild. Her eyes widened in shock. _'Don't tell me that's-!'_

Dereece slouched. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Heracross blinked. "You…"

"I sting yo face…?" Beedrill glared at Heracross with curiosity. The longer he stared, the more he recounted the swarm that was beaten. Especially him with the **Horn Attack**. Immediately his stingers pointed accusingly at him. "I sting yo face!"

"Hold up, am I missing something here?" Kevin, being out of the loop, was questioning at the sudden attitude change in the atmosphere. "Beedrill, what's wrong."

"Hold up! _Hold up!_ " Joey realized, pointing over Dereece's shoulder. "That's the Beedrill that attacked us on our first job! Remember?!"

"Wait…what?!" Kevin looked at Beedrill, who was glaring daggers at Heracross and vice versa.

Dereece sighed. "Yeah, it's true. We were on our first job to inspect some Honey Trees that crossed over, then we ran into some Beedrill on the way there. That's also where I got Heracross and we beat that Beedrill…I never thought I'd see _that_ one again.

Beedrill hissed as he aimed his stingers at Dereece, making him shrink back. "Sorry."

' _So it's a grudge match against Bug-types.'_ Vanessa thought. _'I read that Bug-types are territorial. But between two Bug-types is going to be intense.'_

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill pointed a needle at Heracross.

Mustering his courage, Heracross lowered his horn. "I beat you once, Beedrill, I won't lose to you again."

"I sting yo face!"

' _Is that all that thing says?'_ Wendy questioned in her mind.

Dereece shook his head and looked ahead. _'What are we doing? That's in the past. Heracross is a lot stronger than before. We can do this.'_ Heracross looked back at Heracross, the two sharing eye contact. When Heracross nodded, Dereece understood. "Okay, you're on!"

Kevin nodded. "Okay, then let's go! Beedrill, **Focus Energy!** " Beedrill lifted his stingers as a white aura waved and rippled up his head to dissipate around the body.

"Heracross, use **Chip Away!** " Heracross flew across the sand at Beedrill, closing the gap quickly.

"Beedrill, counter with **Fury Attack!** " Kevin countered.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill aimed his needles and went dicing right for Heracross. Both Bug-types met in the middle, with claws and needles intersecting in bright white static. The two glared fiercely at one another before Beedrill used another stinger, but Heracross countered that. He used the rear stinger, and Heracross flew higher, evading.

"Use **Horn Attack!** " Heracross' horn glowed and went diving for Beedrill.

"Dodge that!" Beedrill did as Kevin told and evaded. Heracross' horn prodded into the sand whereas the burst was the perfect distraction for Beedrill to get in close. " **Fury Attack!** "

"H-huh?" Heracross' eyes widened when he prodded his horn out of the ground, only for the momentum to be too great and was thrown off balance.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill heed to his own words and stuck his stingers out. He continuously jabbed at Heracross until he hit four times, then gave one final jab a fifth time and created a wake in the form of a critical hit, shooting him across the sand on his back.

"Oh! That's gotta hurt." Lucy gasped.

"No kidding. He literally stung his face." Happy commented.

Heracross tried getting up, despite how much pain his face felt. He glared ahead as Beedrill was there, seething him down. His intensity served to grow. "That's smarts." He grumbled.

" **Twineedle!** " Beedrill's stingers glowed bright purple as he closed in on Heracross.

"Hold…" Dereece instructed. "Hold…" He waited until Beedrill was close. When the first sting came, he times it just right. "Now! **Horn Attack!** "

Beedrill prodded his stinger forward, but Heracross ducked from the blow. Right in position, Heracross' horn glowed and he lifted his head, shooting his horn into Beedrill's midsection and sending him spiraling through the air.

"Nice one!"

Spiraling back into place, Beedrill adjusted and glared down. Heracross arose to the challenge, flapping his wings to meet Beedrill at the same height.

" **Fury Attack!** "

" **Chip Away!** "

Both Pokémon charged at each other with their respective attack, each buzzing menacingly as stinger met claws. Both Bug-types parried the other, flying hazardously about over everyone's heads. The two that battled as wild Pokémon once – now belonging to Trainers, their new territories waged, and Beedrill refused to lose to the likes of Heracross again. And Heracross felt the same. Ever since that Honey Tree incident, he never felt so prone to protection, to inspire to battle for a comrade. Both Bug-types were like actual insects waging war to rip the other apart in the air, their parries and evasions almost on equal terms. When Beedrill stabbed, Heracross sidewinded, only Beedrill to maneuver around and repeat. Their clash was stirring up a lot of tension, which didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"Now this is a Pokémon Battle for sure!" Natsu grinned.

"Yeah, I haven't seen Dereece's Heracross this worked up." Gray observed. He saw their furious and fast parries. "So this is what a battle between Bug-types is."

"It's so intense. I can feel the energy even from here." Juvia awed.

"I know. I can't tell who's gonna win this." Lucy commented.

"Go guys! You can do it!" Happy cheered.

Joey looked up, smirking as he saw the clash of Heracross and Beedrill. "Wow…"

Heracross and Beedrill stabbed and thrusted at each other, but once again neither side was getting anywhere. Until finally, Heracross punched, but Beedrill got above.

"Now, **Twineedle!** " Kevin commanded.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill's stingers glowed bright purple and he dove down at Heracross just as he looked up. The stingers and momentum struck Heracross, sending him crashing back into the sand, creating a cloud around him.

"Heracross!" Dereece called out. Heracross resurfaced from the obscuring, but when he was back on his feet, his body crackled with purple static with toxic bubbles, causing him to wince and Dereece to gasp. "Poison?"

Joey blinked. "Oh no, Heracross was poisoned." He gasped. "Hey, wait a sec…" He flashed back to their first job, recalling a similar instance with Heracross and Beedrill. _'Did I just have serious déjà vu right now?'_

Heracross was wincing from the poison damage, along with the pain from some of the strikes being critical hits. Kevin balled his fists. _'Heracross has gotta be low on health soon. If we strike first we'll get the upper hand.'_ He reached out. "Now, **Fury Attack!** " Beedrill dove for Heracross, all his stingers accounted for.

"Dereece!" Levy yelled.

"Look out!" Romeo warned.

Dereece, however, didn't answer. Neither did Heracross.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill's stingers closed in for that last attack.

Together, Heracross and Dereece's eyes flashed open. Heracross let out a cry as his body had a dense aura around it as he swayed his horn, deterring Beedrill from his course. The bee arose, but when he looked down, he and Kevin were shocked to see a dense aura envelop Heracross' frame.

"What the…?"

Heracross growled as he yelled out loud. His roar startled the other Pokémon watching off to the side.

"Woah, what's up with him?" Charmeleon blinked.

"I don't know, but I think I can top that." Machop boasted.

Kadabra stepped up. "I believe that's our friend's ability, Guts." He surmised, earning surprised looks from everyone else. "When one who has this ability is inflicted with a status condition such as paralysis or perhaps poison in this case, his or her Attack stat gets a drastic change in power."

"So you're saying Heracross is like a one-way tank?" Lisanna surmised.

Kadabra nodded. "Evidently."

On the other side of the battlefield, Kevin glared with slight uneasiness. "Guts. I should've figured as much…still, we gotta keep the pressure on since we have more Speed." He reached forward. "Use **Fury Attack!** " Like before, Beedrill shot down at Heracross.

More confident than ever, Dereece glared skywards. "Heracross, get set. Use **Horn Attack!** "

Heracross' horn glowed and charged up for Beedrill again. This time both met in the middle, making brighter static than before. But slowly, Heracross' raw power was getting the better of Beedrill, pushing him back. Beedrill screamed as Heracross glared.

"Alright!" Mirajane cheered.

"That did _way_ more than the last blow." Gray commented.

"That's true." Kinana said. She watched Heracross land, purple sparks and poisonous bubbles appearing for a second. "But there's that poison. There's no telling how long they'll last now."

"Yeah, both sides are looking wiped already." Carla said

"This might decide it." Pantherlily surmised.

Both Bug-types lowered as they glared at one another, as did their Trainers. Beedrill's body was ignited in a bright green aura as he lowered, his Swarm Ability activated. With everything they had, both had to put it all into this next attack.

' _It's all or nothing. I have to get this critical hit.'_ Kevin thought. _'If we don't it's game over…okay. It's time!'_ He reached out, giving the next command. "Beedrill, with everything you have! **Twineedle!** "

Beedrill's stingers glowed bright purple, actually increasing in size a little. He aimed at Heracross and went beaming at full speed. "I sting yo face!"

"Let's go, Heracross!" Dereece shouted.

"Right!" Heracross went fluttering across the sand, diving at Beedrill. The massive insect was closing in at an alarming rate with his fellow bee.

Their glares matched one another, and in a suspenseful moment of black around them, Dereece broke it.

"Now! **Aerial Ace!** "

Heracross' eyes dilated before they turned serious. He shot even faster, becoming a blur as he closed in on Beedrill. The two insects had intense auras as they shouted, colliding into one another. All black turned to white as time drastically slowed down between the two. Dereece gasped, as did everyone else. Kevin looked just as shocked as seconds passed, and the one to break was Beedrill. The bee screamed as he went spiraling behind Heracross as the bug landed on his two feet, looking away with a serious face as a yellow blur slammed into the sand behind.

When the dust cleared, it revealed Beedrill with swirling, unconscious eyes.

"Beedrill is unable to battle, Heracross is the winner! Therefore, the victory goes to Dereece!" Vanessa declared.

"YES! WAIT A GO MAN!" Joey shot up cheering. "THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!"

Dereece blinked. "We won…?" It took a moment for him to realize, but then a big smile crossed him. "We won! Haha! Yeah man, we won! Heracross, we did it!" Heracross turned back and flew at Dereece. He globbed onto him, pushing the hefty man down with a big hug as he sucked on his head. Dereece laughed. "Hey man, lighten up! I get it! Hahaha!"

"Wow, that battle was so good!" Lucy awed.

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

Natsu smirked. "Man, I didn't know Dereece's Heracross had that in him. Now I wanna battle him, too."

Gray chuckled. "Yeah, the guy sure surprised me. I can say that much."

"Didn't see the big deal. Everyone was pretty worked up for nothing." Gajeel scoffed, earning a bump by Levy's shoulder. "Ow!"

"C'mon, don't be like that Gajeel. You were on edge too. I saw it." She teased.

Nic and Erza grinned at the results. They smiled at one another and nodded. They seemed to have really enjoyed that if Nic's slightly eager expression meant anything.

Kevin went over towards his Beedrill, helping him up. "Beedrill, are you okay?"

"I sting yo face…" he strained. When he looked up, he saw Heracross looking at him. Beedrill returned the glare, though more determined. "I sting yo face." He boldly declared.

Heracross nodded. "Count on it."

"Well, sounds like we got a lot of work ahead of us from the looks of it." Kevin looked up at Dereece. He went over, handing him the official prize money he earned, which was a vague 2,000 Jewel. "Well Dereece, for Joey's right-hand man, you got some skills. I'm impressed." He huffed. "Still, I lost. And I'm not taking this lightly. Better be ready the next time I wanna challenge ya again, got that?"

Dereece accepted his challenge. "Yeah, I had fun man." Dereece shook his hand. "Let's do this again sometime."

"That's what she said." Kevin joked. He laughed at his own amusement, though the joke left Dereece and Heracross to look bewildered at one another.

"Uh, I still don't know what that means." Wendy told Lucy.

Being knowledgeable by the literal context, Lucy knew exactly what it meant. She sweat dropped as she faced Wendy. "Trust me, it's complicated." She nervously answered.

* * *

It soon reached sundown, and Nic and the Fairy Tail gang were packing their things and heading for the road. The vendors closed down and loaded up in trucks to get back to the Cambire Foundation. With another successful day now set to be behind them, the gang was taking in the beach sunset.

Natsu stretched overhead. "Man, today sure was a blast." He moaned. "I feel like myself again after all that hard work."

"Aye, I've never felt so full in my life~." Happy moaned. He was currently on his back with a bloated tummy full of fish.

"Did you seriously spend all your cash on that much?!" Carla comically chided.

"I'm glad we got to relax today. It was really fun." Wendy chimed.

"Yeah." Lucy agreed, putting her small bag behind her as Klefki floated beside her. "But now I guess it's business as usual around here. No point in idling around for much longer."

"I hope you and Staryu get along."

Lucy nodded in appreciation. "Thanks, I hope so too."

Gray passed Juvia with a grin. "You ready?"

"Of course." Juvia chimed. "C'mon, Vaporeon." Beside her, Vaporeon chirped as she left the beach with her.

Sophie walked besides Vanessa. "So Sophie, I heard you caught yourself a Finneon. Is that right?" the Pularis girl chimed.

Sophie smirked. "How'd you guess." She lowered her head. "Yes, but I call it more of coincidence. At least now I've memorized some new battling styles…thanks to a certain someone." She looked over her shoulder, seeing Duncan casually walk along the eastern half of the beach back towards his team.

"Yo man, where've you been?" Joey asked Duncan.

"Yeah, did you have any ide on what you missed today?" Dereece questioned.

Duncan ignored them, passing them as he wasn't interested. "Goodie for you." He stated bluntly. "If that's all, let's just get back already. I'm still not on my training schedule."

As he walked off, Joey and Dereece looked to one another confusedly. They looked at Duncan again, but Joey seemed to be the one more distracted. He looked down, unnerved by what to do.

Along the sea, Nic and Erza were hand in hand. Together they watched the beach sunset along the horizon. The sea breeze blew Erza's hair like flowing grass, but she didn't care. She held Nic's hand as they enjoyed the other's relaxing company after their bustling beach day.

After a long silence, Erza took the initiative. "…it was a fun day."

"Yeah, it really was." Nic grinned.

"Can you believe the last time we actually enjoyed the beach. Last I checked, you just ran and swam for miles for training without rest. That's how it worked, right?"

Nic humbly lowered his head. "Well you're not wrong." He opened his eyes. "But…still." He flashed back to the battles and Pokémon that used attacks. "Even if I didn't do anything, I didn't walk away without learning something…you were right. I just had to take a step back and see other things than myself on the battlefield." He gleamed at the fading sunlight. _'And I won't that experience go to waste neither.'_

Erza leaned in, kissing him on the cheek. "Good. I'm glad."

Nic had slight pink in the cheeks from the affection. "So what do wanna do when we get home?"

"Well, I've been thinking about today, and I'd really like it if you could try to draw or paint this." She looked at the sunset. The sweater was a navy blue, and it was flowing in and out soundly. In the vast distance, clouds were illuminating the surroundings around the sunset. In the tides, a Luvdisc jumped out, smiling cheerfully before it dove back in the water.

Nic smiled again. "Yeah, I'll do that." He suddenly pulled Erza in closer for himself, returning his own kiss on her cheek. "But how about tomorrow…I just wanna sink this in a little longer."

Erza's smile softened. "Yeah…"

As Nic and Erza held each other by one arm around each other's waists, they watched the sunset s the few rays diminished in the horizon, making dusk take over the sky. As they settled into one of Nic's favorite times of the night, he heard the sounds of a grotesque roar that echoed throughout the sky. He looked out, seeing nothing in the atmosphere. He knew something was there – far way – but like Erza said, he wasn't gonna fret over it.

' _I won't get caught up again. I'll pace myself, and learn along the way.'_ He mentally declared. _'But for now…I'll savor what I have, so that it can be my strength to help as many as we can.'_ His hold on Erza tightened, their heads touching. Her hair was so soft and long. It's one thing he knew would never change. And he was thankful for that.

* * *

At sundown within the Cambire Foundation, the office was illuminated by light lacrima above, allowing Arthur to visibly see his own penmanship. He neatly wrote in cursive his comments and statements of the day's tasks accomplished. He looked over at the comments and the numbers that have been continuing to pour in from around Earthland about his services and the demands to be met.

After what felt light an eternity, his sore hand sat down the pen. "There." He finished with a sigh. "Well now, seems that my day's been productive to its end." He folded his fingers, keeping his eyelids open halfway as he went to another thought. _'I wonder if Fairy Tail enjoyed their present today?'_

"Mister President." He was brought out of his thought when Marie approached him.

"Hm? Marie, what can I do you for?" he questioned.

"I apologize for the inconvenience sir, but I just got a report directly from the Development Department." She showed him a clipboard full of reports. "Here. Seems they've finished what you've wanted."

Arthur took the clipboard and scoped through it. The longer he stared, the more humble he seemed. Soon enough, a big smiled crossed his face as he chuckled.

"Well now, it seems Fairy Tail's getting another present after all. I just hope this one is…longer lasting."

* * *

 **Well guys, it took me eons to make, but here's the little reprieve that many thought Fairy Tail needed, and I made this into one crazy beach chapter. After the Revenge of Alvarez and Glacidia Arcs, I figured it was fair to take a chapter, collect a few things (and Pokémon) and give everyone besides just Nic and Erza that spotlight. Still, I gave this chapter and everyone their fair share of action. A LOT of captures, evolutions, and new moves included. It's a lot to digest, I know. But don't fret.**

 **I've actually been thinking and I might actually add the Pokémon data on my profile. It's not gonna be tonight, mostly because I wanna draw and regroup a little, but maybe on my next day off of work I'll get it up. You'll see.**

 **So now Joey and Dereece have a Magikarp and Stunfisk. In Joey's case, you know what that means…more mayhem for the party boy! And there'll be more of him next chapter definitely.**

 **Hope you guys stick around and thanks! Comments/reviews are greatly appreciated! XD**


	30. My Guardian Pigeon

The Magic Council building had been quiet for some time. It wasn't because it was absent, no. Many workers were doing their business and entrusting others to their own. But the stale air wasn't coming from their moods, it was from the Magic Council.

Inside the Council's meeting, the councilmen all were gathered in a meeting. Many of whom seemed in blessed moods, other less than cordial. Hyberion took another sip of his tea before placing it back on its cup.

"So that's what happened." Maryam surmised.

"Yes, I'm afraid the Scarlet Orca guild was put on probation." Montgomery sighed. "That makes the fifth guild case we've resolved in the past week. Is there no end to this Pokémon abuse?"

"I wish I could answer that. However, that isn't in our jurisdiction."

Justice nodded. "Yes. But the Cambire Foundation has been complying fairly to our demands. It's not all their fault either."

"That's true. But not everyone is a good listener. Just take Fairy Tail for an example." Jeff chuckled.

Alfredo scoffed angrily. "Ha! Don't even bother with that name, Jeff. All I see are a bunch of lawbreakers who think they can get their way because they work with the Cambire Foundation."

"Well you're not wrong, Alfredo." Ruge calmly said. "But you know, it isn't exactly wise to go knocking on someone's door with guns pointed at them." He glanced at the man. "And besides, almost everyone has a Pokémon to defend themselves with. We go attacking them, then who do you think will be setting a bad example?"

Alfredo gritted his teeth. He conceded to his point.

"The showing at the Domus Flau _has_ been an effective influence." Justice said. "Since then, we've been getting less reports of mage follies and more job increases related to Pokémon."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that." Hyberion nodded. "The fall of Zeref has brought the message that the age of Dark Guilds is now passed. We're onto a new age, and this time, the concept of magic is put up in question, now that Pokémon live amongst us."

"You ask me nothing but more trouble's come up since their arrival." Wolfheim imposed. "The incident involving Alvarez is a prime example. And we can't ignore Fairy Tail's incident in Glacidia."

"The latter was of sheer coincidence, but I still see your point. Our enemies have started taking advantage of the situation themselves and turning this integration into a game or monopoly. It's deterring to say the least."

"So we need a more efective propaganda is what your saying?" Justice raised a brow.

Montgomery put a hand to his chin. "Yes, I think I see the point. Many to whom that can set an example of what a mage and a Trainer alike _should_ be."

"It's evident that the Cambire Foundation relies on our mages to help spread their word on the matter." Maryam advised. "We need them to be more active in setting an example if that's the case."

Hyberion nodded. "Yes, that's true as well. And as we all know, only one Trainer is a real example."

"As if we can depend on such an independent nuisance." Wolfheim scoffed, a vein grew on his head. "That little whippersnapper just won't accept his place."

"Perhaps this is a bad time, but may I remind everyone that we had to actually push back the Grand Magic Games this year _because_ of Pokémon?" Justice intervened.

"Yes, Justice, I was aware of that. The events of Alvarez within the past year's two incidents has caused increasing alarm to public health. That said, there are rumors going around that we should do away with the Grand Magic Games altogether."

Alfredo stood up. "I object strongly! The principles of magic and power were _ours_ first. To rid of this one standing tradition to give more concern to these problems is basically throwing away our assurance."

"I agree with Alfredo." Marie said. "We should continue with the Grand Magic Games this year. Even with the past 2 years' worth of setbacks, this is our way of saying we still hold onto tradition."

"I like me some games too, but weren't we talking about our guilds and Pokémon?" Jeff reminded them.

Ruge folded his arms. "Yes. This is quite a pickle we're in." he smirked. "Perhaps we need some expert opinions on the matter."

"If you mean Arthur, then don't bother." Alfredo rebuffed. "We can do quite fine ourselves."

"I'm not doubting that. But…didn't he also explain to us that the humans in his other world also have a tournament for Trainers? Perhaps we should look into that."

"What are you saying?"

Ruge was the one who stood up with a hand. "If I may. Now, I'm sure we're all aware that we need to bring more emphasis on the union of mages and Pokémon without one overshadowing the other. But, if we dwell too long on the subject, the Grand Magic Games won't come to pass. So, my proposition…is that we kill two birds with one stone." He turned towards Hyberion. "Hyberion?"

All eyes went to Hyberion as he fell silent. The entire room was filled with awe and suspense as the chairman and fellow Wizard Saint was left to think. He clasped his hands and closed in eyes as he thought back to the God Serena incident, how he himself couldn't beat him, yet Nic and Greninja could. Despite the setbacks, he couldn't ignore the good that Pokémon has done.

"Perhaps we _can_ make this work in everyone's favor." He spoke softly. "If I'm understanding your logic Ruge, then I think I may know the answer to our dilemma."

* * *

In a lone cottage in the middle of the woods, it was surprisingly dark inside, despite how the early rays were illuminating the windows. A figure faced the window. It was Kane, and he was out once again to engage with his nemesis.

"Now…I believe the time has come." He started. "Don't you think?"

From the shadows of his cottage, a low hiss came from something large. When he looked over, he smirked as what looked like a tire rolled into the light. The tire actually looked segmented and purple, with magenta spots and massive horns. This was Whirlipede, Venipede's evolution.

"Are you all rested, my sweet Whirly-whirly? Oh yes you are." He cooed to the curled centipede, blowing air kisses, with Whirlipede returning the same ones. The affectionate gestures went on for several more seconds until a small foot got his attention.

"Aw, yes. My little secret weapon. And how are we doing today?" Kane told the figure in the shadow.

"Good." The figure said in a neutral tone. "So are we really doing this?"

"Oh yes. Most definitely." Kane evilly smirked, recalling his battles against Joey. "Failure after failure, we've learned from our nemesis, and now it all makes sense. He has an uncanny sense of surprise. So to defeat him, the most logical solution…is to outwit _his_ sense of surprise."

Kane's insidious laughter echoed throughout the cottage, with Whirlipede hissing in glee.

* * *

In another woods far away, a pair of blue eyes opened. "Now, let's do this Pidove!"

"Okay!" In the air, Pidove ascended further as he was looking down at a pond beneath. There, in the shallow water, Joey's recently caught Magikarp looked up, expecting the enemy's attack.

"Now Pidove, **Steel Wing**! Magikarp, **Tackle!** " Joey commanded.

"Gotcha!" Pidove chirped.

"Okay." Magikarp wheezed.

Together, both dove and jumped at each other. Magikarp shot out of the water as Pidove's wings shimmered a metallic gray as they closed in on another. Pidove looked more determined as he sped up.

Joey looked closely with his heartbeat quickening the closer they got. _'This is it. It's gotta work this time!'_

Pidove and Magikarp screamed out as they closed in, but at the last second, Pidove's wings stopped glowing, catching both Pidove and Joey by surprise. In a shocking slam, Pidove and Magikarp headbutt each other, knocking each other out as they fell into the pond.

Joey facepalmed. "Geez, not again…"

While Joey was having his own problems below, above, a swift blur in the form of Yanma zoomed around. She turned around and fired a **Sonic Boom** down at Dereece, who was several meters above the pond working on his Element Walk Magic. He pivoted in the air like it was ground and the shockwave went into the water below, making a massive splash. "That was close." He murmured. When he turned to look back, Yanma zipped by him, making him shriek and get thrown off balance of his control.

Joey sighed despairingly, ignoring Dereece's high-pitched squeals as he splashed into the water. He half-heartedly looked up, registering the plunge so casually. He watched Dereece come up several seconds later, gasping for air. Yanma landed on his head, making him grunt.

"So how much higher do you go this time, Dereece?" Joey called out.

Dereece heaved heavily as he used his magic to help him get back up like steps without resistance. Once he scrambled to his feet, he hastily went over to the side of the pond and coughed. Yanma got off and landed in front to watch him recover.

"I think…a couple more feet…" he wheezed in between coughs. "Man, I really didn't think Yanma would be _this_ tough."

"Well you told me to not hold back." Yanma chirped matter-of-factly. "And after that battle with that rat, I'm just even more excited now."

"You don't say." Dereece sighed mentally. _'Well, guess it isn't called intense training for nothing. At least I'm getting better at my control and balance under pressure.'_ Once he found the strength to stand, he faced Joey. "So, uh, where's your Pokémon exactly, Captain?"

"Oh, right." Joey face the pond. "Pidove, stop drowning and get up!"

The pond was still for a moment before Pidove shot out of the water, like nothing happened. "Yes, Master!" He gurgled, though water was gushing out of his beak, making Dereece sweat drop beneath.

' _Really?'_

Magikarp soon resurfaced, though he looked a little more dazed if the cross eyes meant anything. "Did I win…?" he groaned.

Joey waved out to him. "Eh, close! Just take 5, buddy!" He watched Magikarp swim off his strain. His frown showed. "Man, I thought he had it that time."

Hearing Joey's complaints, he turned towards him. "So I take it that **Steel Wing** is a little trouble then?"

Joey moaned as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "We're…getting there. It's just taking longer for us than we thought." He put a hand to his chin. "I wonder how Nic or Erza-senpai's Staraptor and Talonflame does it?"

"Well it can't hurt to ask."

Dereece had a point, Joey saw that. But as much as he wanted to sway to that side, something held him back. _"Alright. So I guess that also means that you can fair well now for yourself. You're on your own for training from here, can you manage that?"_ Nic's words filled Joey's mind, making him furrow his brow. He turned confidently towards Dereece, the resolute in his eyes startling him.

"Sorry, no can do Dereece. Gotta manage this on my own." He held up a balled fist. "I promised Nic-senpai that I can manage my own training. Can't take what credit he already has. It'd disgrace the name of The Freaks. Right, Pidove?"

Perched on a small log close by, Pidove lifted a wing. "Aye aye, Captain!"

Joey nodded and grinned. "See Dereece, we'll get it eventually."

Dereece sighed. He had a feeling that Joey would be this stubborn. He couldn't blame him though, after the experience that they had and the people Joey lost, it wasn't in his place to tell him otherwise. "If you say so." He started for town, with Yanma perching on his head. "Come on, let's get cleaned up for your 10 o'clock manicure appointment."

"A guys gotta look his best in nails too you know." Joey flaunted.

* * *

From the skies above, the sound barrier was being broken as a high-speed black bullet dove down.

"Here it comes, Staraptor!" Nic warned. The avian braced herself as her leering glare fixed on Mega Charizard's **Fly** attack beaming right for her. Their red eyes were locked on one another as the black and blue dragon was coming closer.

"Now, **Double Team!** "

Staraptor flashed at the last second, creating an array of clones in the surrounding atmosphere that resembled Staraptor. Mega Charizard, using his immense reflexes and agility, tucked in his wings and started spiraling instead. As he closed in on the Staraptor clones, several more flocked away knowingly as Charizard's eyes dilated.

" **Heat Wave!** "

Exploding blue gusts expelled in all directions in the shape of a cyclone as he passed the illusions. Blue whirlwinds of intense heat was like a blue sun that Nic confidently stared up at, despite the instant sweat on his face. He remained calm as the blue hurricane swallowed all the clones, and the spiraling draft was enough to make the real Staraptor realize she couldn't evade. She flexed her wings so that the shockwaves would pick her up before the actual move hit. Thankfully it did, and it swirled her around the perimeter into a glide skywards above Mega Charizard.

The flames dissipated, and Mega Charizard looked up to see Staraptor above him.

" **Aerial Ace!** " Nic commanded.

With a battle cry, Staraptor came a blur as she dove down at Mega Charizard. In response, Mega Charizard made **Dragon Claw** , shredding the atmosphere upon release. He readied a swipe.

' _Now!'_ With quick thinking, Nic transformed into a fusion form of his Fairy/Psychic forms. He reached up. " **Ally Switch!** "

Mega Charizard slashed, making a massive wake in the air as shockwaves stirred around the air like a typhoon. As the winds receded, Mega Charizard remained stationary in the air as he had a fair gaze as a passing wind revealed Nic smirking.

"Not bad."

Mega Charizard sneered back. Not even seconds later, Staraptor aimed for Mega Charizard below, and without looking, Mega Charizard used his tail to counter Staraptor's incoming talons. The three were all blown back by the shockwaves of their combined forces. Mega Charizard ascended, while Nic teleported back to the ground. Staraptor adjusted above Nic, glaring up at Mega Charizard.

' _We're not there yet, but I think this is a start.'_ Nic evaluated, reflecting on his past experiences. _'If I'm gonna beat more foes with sharp minds, I gotta kick up my wits. To do that, I gotta work on my status and support moves a lot more.'_

He dashed below, while Staraptor went high. He darted along the grass with intense speed as he exerted a pink fog, via **Misty Terrain**. Slowly, he started to turn his own body into pink mist. _'I have to start thinking…'_

He suddenly appeared in front of Mega Charizard, this time in a cross of his Bug/Fairy typing. With his sudden appearance out of fairy dust, he scattered **Powder** onto Mega Charizard. The dragon, with his **Dragon Claw** weakened and his Fire-type moves turned on him, was forced to ascend higher with **Fly** as Staraptor chased after him. Nic watched as the two battled on.

' _So that I won't feel that cornered again…so that I can save as many more possible.'_

Getting higher, Mega Charizard glanced down as he saw Nic shift out of his Fairy-half into his default half. He reached up as a golden aura reached up like streams to catch up to Staraptor. Now enveloped in **Helping Hand** , Staraptor cawed as she sped in with **Aerial Ace**.

* * *

Erza walked towards the guild hall, with her Aegislash in tow. After a morning's worth of battling and training, she felt that she could use a small break and head to the guild for a job. She wanted to ask Nic if he wanted to go to the guild, but after seeing how focused he was in developing his style, she couldn't bring herself to break his mojo…not yet at least.

"Suppose we kept everyone waiting long enough." She told herself, even though Aegislash was there. "It's been a while since we've last been at the guild. I wonder how everyone's been?" She pushed open the silo doors, walking through the inside.

Mirajane was over by the bar area, where she was cleaning glass when she saw Erza walking over. "Oh, Erza. Fancy seeing you here." She chimed casually.

Erza nodded in greeting. "It's been a while, Mirajane. How's the guild?"

She grinned. "It's just fine." She turned towards the public. "In fact, we've been rather busy."

"I see…" Erza turned towards the guild to see everything that's happening. To her surprise quite a bit had changed. It was probably because of the recent work that had to be done off Ishgar, much to even her own shock. When she looked over at Laki, she noticed that her Bonsly was now a Sudowoodo. When she looked over at Vijeeter, she saw that his Lotad was a Lombre, and was now dancing with him in front of Asuka to amuse her. In the corner of the guild hall, she even saw Mest talking to Kinana about something, possibly a job together with her Seviper and his Kirlia, whom evolved from Ralts the other day. Though oddly enough, even Kirlia was banging his head against a nearby wall. A lot had in fact changed and she almost looked over it.

"It's amazing how much progress it's been." Mirajane chimed.

Erza softly smiled. "Yes, it is."

"Erza!"

From the side, Erza saw Lucy walking up to her. She seemed vivid to say the least. "Nice to see you again, Lucy." She greeted.

"Hey, Erza. You're looking great."

She nodded. "Yes, Vanessa and Sophie went on a job, and Nic's into his…hobbies. So I thought I'd get some fresh air with a job. Where's Gray? I'm sure he'd like to come along."

Lucy shook her head. "Sorry, you just missed him. He went on a job with Juvia. I think they went to a desert or something to help someone."

"That so?" Erza took another look around. Of all the things that she could've missed she went and cursed herself for forgetting something so obvious. "Lucy, where did Natsu and Happy run off to?"

Mirajane intervened. "They went on an important errand with Wendy and Gajeel to the Cambire Foundation."

Erza went wide-eyed. "Is that so? Interesting…"

"I know. Laxus wasn't sure what to do with them either. Don't worry, they have Happy and Carla and Lily. I'm sure they'll be fine."

Lucy sighed. "Guess there's not much else to do today." She felt a tap on her shoulder. When she looked over, she saw that Max was standing there. "Oh, hey Max, what's up?"

"Hey Lucy, sorry to bug ya." He smirked as he pointed a thumb to himself and Sandshrew, who was on his shoulder. "But Sandshrew and I were wondering if you wanted to battle. We heard you got a new Pokémon and we wanna get stronger too. What do you say?"

Though as surprised Lucy was, she didn't back down. "Alright…" she held up Staryu's Poke Ball. "But just so you know, we won't hold back."

Erza grinned. _'Seems everyone's working hard…just like Nic. It's amazing what his influence has done to us.'_ Finding herself caught up in the moment, Erza turned towards the board. "No sense in dawdling I suppose."

* * *

The train whistled as it rolled across the landscape. Inside one of the carts, there were three bodies passed out on the cushions, sprawled over like goop that was liquefied, only these piles of goop were the forms of Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel. All three Dragon Slayers were devoid of eyes as the train long since knocked them out. Looking over them, Charmeleon and Aron were also absent-mindedly asleep, while Swablu used her little fluffy wings as a pillow for Wendy.

"Poor guys. I hope they'll be okay." Happy said. He looked at Natsu, who was snoozing with a paled face.

"The curse of Dragon Slayer motion sickness isn't something I envy." Pantherlily said. He looked towards Wendy. "And Wendy can't use her spells neither?"

"No, I'm afraid not anymore." Carla sighed in her human form. She looked down at Wendy, seeing as how she wasn't waking up anytime soon. "I never imagined that Wendy would be the one to get motion sick either. If anything I figured it'd be a curse she got off Natsu."

"Aye, he always has the gifts." Happy pointed out. "Though I have the tasty fish."

"So, about this request." Pantherlily got them on track. "What exactly is it that the Cambire Foundation wanted to bring to us?"

"I have no idea." Carla crossed her arms, looking at the ground. "But what's stranger was how Laxus explained it."

 _Earlier that day, the door closed, leaving Laxus to turn around in his seat to look at the Dragon Slayers in front of his office. "Thanks for coming, glad this can get out of the way."_

" _Whatever." Gajeel shrugged. "So what's up?"_

" _Yeah, what's this about?" Natsu asked. "Did you want a private spar with all three of us?" he held up an eager fist to exemplify his point._

" _Uh, somehow I doubt that." Wendy nervously said._

" _Listen." Laxus' serious tone almost made their spines shiver. "I just got a call from the Cambire Foundation. Apparently it has something to do with the stuff those newbies picked up a few weeks back."_

" _What, The Freaks?" Natsu questioned._

" _Yeah, that. After we sent the report, the foundation's administrators have been working some renovations to their community. They just finished building something, and as strange as this is, they're requesting a volunteer group to go see it."_

" _That so?" Gajeel rebuffed. "Sounds kinda sketchy to me."_

" _You're right about that. Still, they want at least three volunteers for this presentation. I wanted to ask The Freaks since they're the ones who discovered the fossils. But, considering that they've been a bit busy, I figured they can settle with you three in their place."_

 _Natsu shrugged. "Guess we're not on a job right now so why not?" he smirked. "I wanna see what their building's like anyway. Bet it's gonna be bigger than before."_

" _I wonder what improvements they've made?" Wendy wondered._

 _Gajeel smirked. "Sounds like an investigation we can get ourselves into And if we find out they're up to something, I can arrest them."_

" _Hold up, you're not on the Council anymore, so you can't do that!" Natsu rebuffed._

" _Oh yeah?! Well how about I make an example of that by clamming that face of yours?!" Gajeel defended._

" _Just try bub, I dare ya!"_

" _Um, guys, please settle down…" Wendy nervously tried breaking them apart. Natsu and Gajeel turned away from each other, both pouting a little. Wendy sighed in exasperation._

 _Laxus pinched the bridge of his nose as his Electrike had electricity crackling around his body. "I don't have time for this…" Laxus calmed down. "Look, they want to see someone in a few hours. I don't care who it is, but don't keep them waiting. As far as we know, if they meant for it to be our eyes first, then that can only mean they trust us enough for us to get this far. Don't make them second guess that."_

"I'm still curious why they're asking us when they have other guilds and staff to associate themselves with." Carla pointed out.

"Perhaps this is a bonus from our efforts in the recent expeditions." Pantherlily advised. "They want to meet us in person probably and would like for us to share our experience with their apprentices."

Carla looked down. "Suppose there is merit to that. Having shared our experience with the recruits would give them a better perspective on what it's like being a mage or Trainer living in guild life."

"Another reason maybe why Master Laxus wanted The Freaks. They're Trainers as well as mages. Plus they're from same world as Nic. When you puzzle all that together, it makes perfect sense."

"That's true, but if that's the case, couldn't they ask Nic or Vanessa? Something here just seems out of place…"

Happy looked out the window, his gaze turning to Crocus. There, in the small distance within the city's borders, the ever-grand Capital housed something blatantly obvious.

"Guys, look!"

They moved to the window, seeing headquarters. "That must be it right there." Pantherlily surmised.

"We're almost there." Carla pointed out.

The train moved along the tracks, heading closer towards the city.

* * *

Back in the forest, Pidove primed his wings with his beak as he rested on a tree branch. While he was taking a break, Joey was back from his manicure to resume training with Magikarp. "Okay bud, let's try this again. From the top." Joey began, arms reached out to his sides. " **Tackle!** "

Magikarp flopped in the water until he finally took one big flop and shot at Joey. Joey made a barrier at last second to stop Magikarp, causing him to bounce back in the water with a big splash.

"You okay bud?!" he called.

From the water, bubbles gurgled until seconds later, Magikarp came up groaning. "Ow…that hurts." He groaned. "Why are we doing this?"

"To get your stamina up. The more you strike, the more likely your move might get stronger, too…or at least that's how it goes in the games I guess." In truth, Joey had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He figured this would do something productive for Magikarp to at least get his Attack strength up. He could use him to battle wild Pokémon, but even Joey wasn't that dumb. "So c'mon, you still got another 30 Tackles in ya last I checked, right? Let's get those levels up!"

Magikarp groaned, but he complied with his Trainer's commands. He jumped out of the water to attack again.

"C'mon, you can do it!"

While Joey was encouraging his new flopping fish friend, Pidove was absent-mindedly dozing off with a snot bubble expanding and contracting. He was resting until a caw from above shot him awake, popping his bubble, literally. "Hm?" Looking up, his beady bird eyes saw a flock of Pidove flying in the clearing above.

"You there."

Pidove perked his head up and looked around. The pigeon saw nothing.

"Look up."

Looking up, Pidove followed the command. There, he saw two Pidove perched above. However, both Pidove had red rings around their eyes…not that Pidove would've noticed. "Hi!" he dumbly greeted.

"Yes, good day to you as well, my fellow Pidove." The other wild Pidove waved robotically. Her voice was oddly more monotone and neutral.

Pidove dumbly tilted his head. "Are you locals?"

"I'm afraid not." The other Pidove said in a similar tone. "You see, we are meager bystanders passing through the area. We heard it's quite nice along the eastern seas."

"Ohhh, sounds lovely."

"Yes it is." The other deadpanned. "And since you are a fellow Pidove, we would like for you to join us on our flight to the beyond! So how about it?"

Pidove blinked in confusion. He looked back at Joey – his master – and his eyes shifted between. "I, uh…"

Pidove 1 sighed. "Oh right, forgot. Maybe this will work instead." She fluttered closer towards Pidove's face. "Then listen well, I am your new Master, and you shall obey _my_ commands!"

Pidove blinked twice before tilting in confusion. "Commands?"

"Yes, commands." She robotically repeated.

The other Pidove fluttered beside her. "Listen and obey. Follow our flock, and you will soar again!"

Pidove blinked once, then twice, before long, he processed the new command. While it was true Pidove was stronger, that didn't change he was still very forgetful. As if complying, he urgently got off the perch. "I shall obey, Masters!"

He took off pass the two Pidove, both watching the pigeon dumbly follow the flock. The two Pidove slowly turned their heads and their red eyes glowed. "Bwa…ha…ha…ha." They robotically laughed.

Pidove chirped as he sailed off, following the flock of its own accord into the vast sky. Meanwhile, the two robotic Pidove ascended to follow the Pidove, leaving Joey as he trained Magikarp.

Magikarp flopped back into the water, splashing hard. When he resurfaced, he shook his head to rid the pain. "That's better than last time, Magikarp. Now we're making progress!" Joey chimed. "You ready for some more battle training?"

Magikarp wheezed as he was lying on his side on the water. He looked like he was dying.

"I'll take that as a yes." Joey turned towards Pidove. "Alright Pidove, ready for more practice with **Steel Wing?** " However, when he saw the spot where Pidove was supposed to be being absent, a bead of sweat dropped from his face. "Uh…Pidove?"

Joey started looking around, turning left and right, but he saw no sign of his little pigeon-brained friend.

"Pidove? Buddy! You who! Uh, you out there man? Pidove?" He raised a brow as he scratched the top of his head, humming oddly. "Hmm…I _think_ this _might_ be a bad thing."

* * *

Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy all looked up with their Exceeds at the really tall glass buildings. Everything about it looked fancy and refined. It had to at least be a thousand feet high. The blue glass refracted sunlight to make it look like a sanctuary more than a place of business.

"This is the Cambire Foundation in person?" Wendy questioned.

"This is the address we were told to go to, so I would say." Carla answered.

"Wow, check out the size of this place!" Happy awed as he stared high to see the top.

"Yeah, I can hardly see the top from here." Natsu smiled in impression.

"I find it hard to believe this much progress was done within a few months." Pantherlily said. "Either they must have a vast sphere of influence, or their finances are really to question now."

Gajeel snickered. "I don't know about you, but this just gives me a better reason to arrest them."

"Well before we get to accusations, we should at least take a look inside." Carla suggested. She and everyone nodded in agreement and went over towards the entrance. Much to their shock, the doors slid open on their own, triggered by sensors. When they all stepped inside, they were met with a whole new setting.

Shimmering porcelain tiling filled the floors as the sunlight made a blue-turquoise hue shine throughout the entire building. There were people and Pokémon everywhere, either talking or exchanging some tips from one another. They all had smiles as even their Pokémon were engaged in the conversations. In the center of the first floor, there was a fountain installed with two Magikarp arching in opposite directions with water streaming out. Ferns were lined up like everywhere alongside berries and fruits throughout the estate. Classy would be the biggest understatement.

"Woah! Check it out!" Natsu and Happy awed as they looked everywhere. Even the people looked refined as Trainers. "Hey, that looks like the fish that Joey caught back at the beach!"

"It looks so tasty~." Happy's mouth started drooling as he stared at the Magikarp statue.

"You can't even eat it." Carla chided.

"So this is the place, huh?" Gajeel looked around. "Not bad. Kinda reminds me of Luminous' big city back in his own world."

"Well it's possible they built it to modernize their own world." Pantherlily suggested. "In another world, having something related to your home does bring up a sense of similarity."

"That's true, plus it's the most ideal way to adapt in a changing environment. Everything needs a base to start with." Carla interjected.

From the side, someone walked up to them. "Welcome to the Cambire Foundation. We're pleased to meet you." Meeting them was Eliza, and she was looking ever so serious.

"Huh?" Natsu looked over to see her. "Hey, I remember you. You're that chick who helps out that Jefferey guy, right?" he smiled. "Sure been a while."

"Aye!"

Eliza scrutinized the familiar faces. After paneling left to right and seeing their emblems, she gave them a straight face. "I see. Then I suppose that you're the Fairy Tail Mages that were summoned here by President Arthur, is that right?"

"Yup." Gajeel answered.

"Very well then." She looked down at her watch. "And it seems you were right on schedule. Good." She turned around and walked away. "Now then, if you would all follow me?"

"Wait, hold on. Where to?" Natsu asked.

Eliza kept walking. "The Department of Resources and Development. Mr. Bistro would like to see you personally for this project."

The Fairy Tail Mages looked to each other again in confusion. Regardless, they chose to follow Eliza through the building over towards the walkway that went towards the exit. They followed the assistant over the campus.

"As you can see, we've been working on a very productive schedule for the past two months." Eliza explained while the others took in the gardens, battlefields, and the berry gardens they passed by. "We've been getting more and more recruits each day, and some were willing volunteers. But as you can imagine, heightened security checks make it impossible to go a single person without background checks. We have to make sure nothing scandalous with our reputation like before. A few close calls, I admit, but rest assured, our progress in Trainer and Pokémon cooperation is nothing short of the finest."

"Wow, check out all the Pokémon." Natsu gazed at the battlefields.

He watched as a Maractus launched a **Pin Missile** in midair at a Scyther. The insect slashed both glowing scythes via **Fury Cutter** , passing the green missiles as they faded behind. Seconds later, they erupted, but Scyther held his pose.

Natsu watched both Pokémon drop towards the ground, a grin showing. "Man, those guys sure look strong."

"Yeah, it's neat." Wendy marveled.

"Excuse me, but we're on a schedule here." Eliza waved upfront. She turned around, continuing. "I understand that you mages are fascinated in fighting, but please refrain until you're discharged, thank you."

They continued their path through the estate until they came to another section of the campus. Here, the building complex was less taller than the main building, but the range it covered was enough to but the Domus Flau colosseum to shame. After making way through a series of buildings and hallways, the group made their final stop in front of a black door.

"This is the place?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, now then…" Eliza opened the door. Upon entering, they came into a small conference room where it was comprised of several scientists, and Jefferey was in the center when he and everyone stopped and turned towards the guests entering the conversation.

"Miss Eliza, you made it." Jefferey acknowledged. "That's good."

"My apologies, sir. I know I was two minutes behind schedule." She bowed. "I promise to make up for that lost time."

"It's fine. You have my thanks for escorting bringing them here. Now then, do you wish to resume your duties?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir. Excuse my intrusions everyone." She turned and walked out the door, closing it behind, and thus leaving the six Fairy Tail people inside the conference room with them.

They all turned towards the scientists and Jefferey, who had hands clasped and giving a firm face.

"Please, have a seat."

Gesturing to his insistence, the six took occupation in the six available seats that were present; Happy and Lily took to standing on the tables.

"You came at just the right time. We were going to discuss the procedures on this matter at hand." Jefferey noted. He looked them over, seeing familiar faces. "Natsu Dragneel, I believe that I recall refereeing your match a while back. Have you been well?"

Natsu shrugged. "Yeah I guess. So what's this about? And why'd you need us specifically?"

"To the point then, alright." Jefferey cleared his throat. "As you might be aware, our community has been doing extensive research on Trainers and Pokémon in this world and comparing them to our own. In that light, we've come across a remarkable discovery. Tell me, are you perhaps 'The Freaks' that I've been told of?"

Wendy stammered as she moved her arms. "Sorry, but you've got the wrong people I'm afraid."

"They couldn't make it, so we had to step in their place." Carla answered. "I trust that'll suffice."

"I understand." Jefferey lowered his head. "Then I suppose you aren't familiar with what I'm about to tell you." He looked over towards one of the fellow scientists, giving a nod of approval before resuming.

"We're very much aware after informational shares with your archives that you're familiar with the concept of resurrection, are you not?" the scientist explained. "As in bring back from the dead?"

"What we've been discussing isn't exactly like that." Another scientist fixed. "Rather…fossilized is another word."

Wendy blinked. "Fossilized?"

"You mean like living things that've been in a stasis or something, is that right?" Carla questioned.

"Putting it lightly, that would be the case." A scientist responded, another scientist reached for a remote.

"Here, this is what a fossil looks like." He pressed a button, and on the big screen behind them, the panel showed an image of the three fossils that were sealed inside sterilized glass within coolers. "These are what's known as fossils. They're not too different from rocks, rather they're more like imprints of Pokémon who were there."

"Rocks with Pokémon DNA in them?" Gajeel questioned. "Now this is just ridiculous."

"On the other hand, we don't know much about fossils at all." Pantherlily pointed out. "Our history doesn't go back as far as 500 years ago. This must be an aged process."

"Correct." A scientist answered. "Fossils engraved with any DNA is a process of any kind of sample that the component has. It stains the rock and weathering and erosion eventually molds it into the earth. Usually they get so deep that it takes an excavation unit to dig up certain fossils."

"So kinda like plants and mummies?" Natsu pointed out.

"Not sure it goes to _those_ lengths, Natsu." Happy said.

"In a sense, you're not exactly wrong." Jefferey stood up. "But this process takes millions of years. These Pokémon lived long before humans came around." The news shocked them all, leaving their eyes wide, "I understand you're surprised…and that's why we want to show you this."

Jefferey clicked the remote to show another image. It showed the fossils in one slide, but on the other slide revealed fossil Pokémon that they would be. Each slide showed various Pokémon, some that were seen in tropical exhibits, and others that were in the oceanic waters.

"The fossils before then were all Pokémon, just as how you all have flesh and blood before you expire. Whether by circumstances related to natural selection or resources, these were Pokémon who lived long ago."

The Dragon Slayers were enamored by all the fossilized creatures they saw. Even Gajeel showed some interest in some of them after seeing a slide of a Rampardos headbutting through trees.

Jefferey switched to another slide, showing a very complex machine. "We've wanted to learn more about our ancestors. To do that, we needed to examine them up close and personal. However, we did not have the time-traveling technology to do that. So in order to learn about the past…we had to bring the past to the present."

"Wait, what's going on?" Happy inquired. He wasn't liking where this was going for some reason.

Jefferey glared. "Fairy Tail, the Cambire Foundation would personally invite you to witness…a revolution."

* * *

"And you _sure_ this is where you left him?" Dereece questioned.

"Yes. Dereece. You think I wouldn't know where I put my Pokémon before they just swoop off. Geez, I'm not _that_ blind."

"Hard to believe, considering you can barely keep track of all your socks." He deadpanned.

"This isn't about my laundromat needs, Dereece, and I doubt Pidove would go to a laundromat anyways…right?"

Dereece sighed. _'He's getting ahead of himself again.'_ He went over, patting a discomforted Joey's back. "Look, maybe you're just overthinking things again man. He probably just got a little sidetracked and went off somewhere. He'll come back."

"Maybe…" Joey's resolution overturned to a glare. "Let's go see Duncan, maybe he knows."

"If you're sure."

Walking through Magnolia later on, Duncan was seen having a frown on his face as he had a metal pole being used as his makeshift weapon. He was walking underneath a long, dark bridge towards the north boulevard when he heard familiar voices.

"Yo! Duncan!" Hearing his name, he turned around to look at his Captain and Dereece following.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely.

Joey took a minute to catch his breath after searching around for him. Duncan's irritation grew by the minute until the Captain finally took a breath of relief. "Listen, Duncan, we have an emergency." He huffed. "Pidove, he's gone missing somewhere! We can't find him!"

"…is that so?" he bluntly asked.

Joey nodded. "Yeah, it is. And we need your help, have you seen him?"

Duncan closed his eyes, looking like he'd rather take a nap. "No, I haven't. And even if I did, I don't see how that's my problem."

"But we could really use your help, c'mon!" Joey persisted. "Look, wouldn't you feel at least worried if that's one of your Pokémon out there right now? Who knows what would happen unless we find them?"

Once again, Duncan scoffed in annoyance.

"Duncan…" Dereece walked up to him. "This is serious. Are you even listening right now man?"

Duncan turned around, looking away from both of them. "Hmph, trying to pin responsibility on others rather than yourself, now is that really sounding like a 'Captain' to you?"

"Say what?" Joey asked, taking offense to Duncan's accusations.

"If that were my Pokémon, it just means they were too weak. That's their fault for leaving. If they can't take the training, then they have nobody to blame but themselves." He glanced over his shoulder. "If your Pokémon took off the moment you turned your back, what does that say about you?"

"Duncan-!" Dereece groaned, but an arm reached out beside him, revealing Joey with an anxious stare.

"Doesn't matter who's fault it is when you stop to think about it. It left because it was too weak, or perhaps you weren't a good enough Trainer to be responsible for it. You said that you'd do better at gaining responsibility for your actions, right? So tell me, _Captain_. What are you doing pinning this on us like we're apart of _your_ mistakes?"

Joey's glare hardened. He swallowed a lump as an image of Pidove perched on his arm showed. His teeth gritted. "He wouldn't dare…"

"Would he? You sound like you know him, but do you know yourself?" Duncan turned back towards the shadows. "If you care so much about it then go look for it yourself…maybe then you'll prove to me something about your position."

Joey's frustrations arose. He gritted his teeth before he gave a pained grunt. He turned and ran off.

"Captain Joey, wait!" Dereece reached out, but Joey was already taking off. He saw Duncan walk away from him and angrily turned around. "What'd you that for?!" he backlashed.

"It was for his sake." Duncan backlashed. "Besides, he needs to learn a little more about responsibility."

"Well that may be true, but you didn't have to be so hard on him! He's worried sick about Pidove!" Dereece stepped forward. "Okay, maybe Pidove isn't the brightest Pokémon that Joey caught, but all that time they shared has bound to mean _something_. If he forgot about Joey, he'll bound to remember eventually."

Duncan lowered his head, looking silently down with his hat covering his eyes. "Just make note of those words you say. I'm well aware that our Captain has been suffering." He thought of Joey's loss of Broly, and then when Camilla faded away. "This is just another hurdle he has to go over. If he keeps losing things that mean so much to him… then he shouldn't be so weak to begin with."

"And how would you know it's a weakness?" Dereece backlashed. "The Captain's been doing everything he can to make sure he gets through the next day _because_ he cared about Broly and Camilla. Are you saying he should just forget them?!"

Duncan shrugged with a scoff. The silence seemed like a stale answer. "They're dead. They're not around anymore so I shouldn't see how he should be obsessed over someone that's never gonna come back."

"Duncan…" The cold answer stunned Dereece. For some reason, there was actually a small tint of pain in that tone Duncan gave. Seeing his back turned to him still was sending an empathetic message that only Dereece felt from the man.

Suddenly the light lacrima lighting the tunnel went out, making it turn pitch-black, alarming Dereece and Duncan.

"What's this?"

"What the? When did it get so dark all of a sudden?!"

A hiss and glowing sharp eyes came from inside the darkness. Duncan furrowed his brow and reached for his metal rod. He turned his back, but a sharp force to the back of his head knocked him out.

"Duncan?!" Dereece felt a sharp strike on his side that pushed his over. "Gah!" He fell onto his side, lying on the ground.

The lights suddenly turned on, making pitch-black turn off. As Duncan laid there in pain with Dereece, a pair of feet walked up to Dereece. Dereece glanced up, seeing a familiar face.

"So nice that you gentleman could drop in." Kane smirked. Beside him, Whirlipede hissed mockingly.

Dereece's eyes widened. "Kane…"

Kane smirked as he snapped his fingers, making everything go dark again.

* * *

Joey was racing through Magnolia, back out towards the woods. His head was stirred up in all the wrong ways from what Duncan said, and it lingered heavily.

" _If your Pokémon took off the moment you turned your back, what does that say about you?"_

Joey's teeth gritted. _'Crap, I messed up again.'_ Another image of Pidove flashed in his head. _'I didn't think Pidove thought of me like that.'_

" _I shall obey, Master!"_ He thought of Pidove's normal, obedient attitude. That's all he saw.

' _Was I really that irresponsible? Am I really that bad of a Trainer that I he could just forget me and go off somewhere?'_ He tried shaking his head as he ran through the woods. _'No, don't think like that Joey, snap out of it! You gotta find him, fast!'_

He soon came to a clearing, where he immediately thought it was the small one where the pond was.

"Pidove?! Pidove!" he called. Suddenly a shockwave made him fall onto his bottom. "Woah!" He groaned as he tried to make sense of what was happening. "What just…!" When he looked up, his eyes widened when he saw Nic, Staraptor, and Mega Charizard all in the air. Immediately Joey started shivering from epic shock. _'N-Nic-senpai! T-this is…this is his Pokémon Training! That's his Staraptor, a-and that's…Mega Charizard again!'_ He almost lost feeling in his legs. _'I can't believe it! Did I just really stumble into their backyard without knowing?!'_

Taking notice of something below, all three turned to see Joey off to the side below them, giving him a mild heart attack.

' _Oh no! They spotted me!'_

"Joey?" Nic landed with the other flyers. He transformed to normal and approached Joey. "What are you doing here?"

Joey scrambled to find words, but he was so in shock that he started getting nervous. "Oh, um, y-you see…" In his head he was getting unnerved. _'I can't tell him I lost Pidove, or else he's gonna think less of me!'_ Clearing his throat, he tried for an excuse. "W-well, uh…I was trying to find some more Pokémon, a-and I guess I wandered too far away and bumped into here." He clasped his hands and bowed. "Sorry for disturbing you!"

Nic glanced at Joey for a moment, inspecting him. He could see the profuse sweat on his face, meaning he was rushing his body. From the way he was breathing, he was trying to quell his hyperventilating. The symptoms were there, but he wasn't gonna let it slide.

Looking at Staraptor and Mega Charizard, the three gazed equally before Nic turned towards Joey as he was leaving. "Hold on."

Joey froze in place like a statue.

"Joey…do you need help in catching these Pokémon?" Nic had another suspicion, but he rather played along to see where this would go. "You look like you've been searching everywhere for them."

Joey shuddered. "Uh…n-no thanks, Nic-senpai. I…got it covered." He nervously laughed. "It's just that it's hard trying to find the right one."

Nic chuckled. "I know what you mean. Never thought I'd ever meet other like Staraptor and Charizard…and of course, Erza." He smirked, thinking briefly of his luscious wife. "But looking for the right Pokémon takes more than just an eye you know."

"Y-yeah, I know. Hehe…" He thought for a moment how he chose Chespin a while back, and then how he chose Trubbish when he took one look at her. That feeling he had only stirred his heart up further.

"You probably get it, too, don't you? People can trade their Pokémon for other ones others have, but if you truly valued them, you know your time was worth it."

"Yeah…I know…" Joey had his eyes shadowed by his bangs as he smiled. From the corners of his eyes, glints of tears could be seen/

Nic looked over towards the house. He saw Erza heading out the door towards him, a dreamy smile crossing his face. "…and there's some who you just can't live without." He softly added.

Erza reconvened with him, smiling back. "Are you finished with your training?"

Nic asked. "Yeah, for now I guess." He turned towards Mega Charizard and Staraptor. He watched Mega Charizard revert to Charizard, and he pulled out two Sitrus Berries. "Here you, guys." He lobbed the two berries at them, in which they ate gladly to regain energy.

As the two Pokémon ate a decent fill, Joey was off in the corner, a frown showing.

"So then we're heading out to work?" Nic asked.

Erza nodded. "Yes, the job's to collect some minerals inside a cave in the bottom of a ravine. You ready?"

Nic frowned in seriousness. "We are." He turned back towards Joey. "Joey, you'll be okay, right?"

 _THUD_

Nic looked surprised as they all saw Joey slump to his knees on all fours. They all fell silent upon seeing his head down, like he had disgraced someone dear to him.

"Joey…"

"…I really am a bad Trainer, Duncan was right." He softly muttered. "I let Pidove out of my sight and now he's gone. I thought that I just had to get stronger, but…" he gripped the grass in angst. "I wasn't thinking about them, only myself…Nic-senpai…Erza-senpai…"

Joey lifted his head, showing his tears that startled both.

"I'm so sorry! I really let you down! I let everybody down!" he bowed his head on the grass. "You told me to start training on my own and I pushed too hard! I don't know what to do now! I'm just…just irresponsible…" He started breaking down slowly, balling his fists in the grass in frustration.

Nic was confused at first until he realized what Joey meant. _'Is he really that hungover on what I said?'_ To a degree Nic can empathize with Joey. If he was worried about his Pokémon, he'd feel the same way. Seeing as how part of this was his fault, he walked up to Joey.

"Joey…look at me." He instructed. Joey did as told. When he looked up, he saw Nic on a knee, with Erza behind him with Staraptor and Charizard, with Aegislash hovering nearby as well. His tears stopped upon seeing their empathy.

"You're not a bad Trainer, you say that because you put yourself down too hard. I understand what it feels to have expectations you can't keep up with." He spoked. "For yourself, for your Pokémon, and everyone else."

"You said that you lost Pidove, did you not?" Erza asked. "Do you know if he's captured?"

Joey sniffled. "N-no…I just had my back turned with Magikarp…and then I don't know. Duncan said it was my fault and I was too weak…and I think he's right."

Nic put a hand on Joey's shoulder. "Duncan is an experienced Trainer, but he doesn't share the same experience you had here. He must have had his own life to think about and is just saying his ideals. You would do the same if you had your own, right?"

Joey's eyes widened. "My _own_ …ideals?"

"You know, we understand your pain. We've felt it countless times." Erza admitted. "When I was separated from Nic…I couldn't keep him out of my mind. A part of me blames myself for letting him get captured at some point. He and Vanessa were nearly dead when I finally found them."

Joey's pupils shrunk. _'Wait…captured?'_ He looked at Nic, seeing his relaxed expression.

"After countless battles and times apart…I began to realize that we can look after ourselves. But more importantly, we had to trust each other. Through our battles and experiences, we had our own ideals we've made along the way, and within time, even you. Tell me, does Pidove mean that much to you?"

Joey's tears were swelling his cheeks. He slowly nodded. "…yeah. I do. He's the first Pokémon I caught."

Erza smiled. "Then it's worth it."

"Joey, I'm sorry we haven't been paying closer attention to you." Nic apologized. "You've been putting a lot of stress on yourself because of Camilla and your mentor, isn't it?" Joey looked shameful, proving Nic's point. "I may have told you that you're training on your own, but don't forget that you're part of a guild now. We look out for each other. Maybe I like training in solitude like Duncan does, but I consider the guild, too. They've supported me when I was feeling down and depressed." He looked at Erza, who smiled warmly at him. "I trust them with my life. And I'm sure you feel the same with your Pokémon too, right?"

Joey stood up, wiping his eyes with his sleeve to stop crying. When he looked up, he had a no-hesitation expression. "You're right. Bro and Camilla trusted me with their lives to the end…I'm gonna hold that same faith for Pidove." He declared.

Nic and Erza nodded. Erza held up a Poke Ball and flung it skywards. "Talonflame, come out!" In the air with Staraptor, Talonflame cawed as she was brought out. "Talonflame, see if you can find Pidove."

"You too, Staraptor." Nic instructed.

"Right, on it!" Using her strong wings to glide, Talonflame circled around and Staraptor went off to search as well. They flew away for reconnaissance, leaving Joey alone.

"So then, what do you propose we do?" Erza asked.

Before they could make a move, Charizard craned his head up and saw a Drifloon drift through the air towards them.

"A Drifloon?" Nic questioned.

The Drifloon floated down to Joey and dropped what looked like an envelope in its chords before floating off. Once the balloon was out of sight, Joey inspected the note.

"A note?" Joey started opening the note so he can read it.

"What's it say?" Erza questioned.

Joey narrowed his eyes, reading the refined print on it. As he went along, his eyes widened like he got shot in the heart. "No…"

 _ **Dear Joey,**_

 _ **Meet me at Death Valley at sundown tonight. Come**_ _ **alone**_ _ **. And to make sure that you don't get cold feet, I've taken Dereece and Duncan for extra insurance. Oh, and if I find out anyone else follows you, their lives won't last by the end of the night. Don't keep me waiting.**_

 _ **Sincerely yours,**_

 _ **Kane & Whirlipede**_

Joey scrunched the paper in his hands. "Kane." He growled. "Of course, that sly little…"

Erza seized the note of her own accord. When she read the contents, while she did admire the refined print, her shock was seen. "What…? Captured?" she gasped.

"It was that guy who ambushed Joey back on that fake request." Nic bitterly noted. He looked towards Joey to see him pondering. "He must have known Joey would be in trouble again and used that against him. Joey…what is your plan?"

His fists were balled tight as he was caught in another crossroad. On one hand, there was Pidove who was still missing. On the other hand, there was his teammates who were captured by his arch nemesis yet again. And both happened on his account. Two mistakes that he felt responsible for. This sent a shiver down his spine that made him think twice of Duncan.

" _It was enough that you let your little emotion spree run wild that you took it out on something as a job, but dragging us along when you yourself wasn't prepared is just plain pathetic. You should be grateful that you're still allowing Nic to hold your hand as he is now, otherwise if not for him, you'd be dead. Unlike you, he actually has experience, and he thinks two steps ahead at the very least. If you're really looking to match up to someone like him, your mindsets' the first thing to get fixed."_

A long pause strained Joey as he had his back turned. He frowned in the shadows. _'Duncan…'_ He thought of the way Duncan battled. _'You were speaking the truth to me. If I'm gonna be as strong as Bro wants me to be, and as good as a Trainer as Nic-senpai, I have to step up. This is a test, I know it!'_

"Joey?" Erza saw Joey's fists ball. She and Nic could feel a level of dread in the air.

"Nic-senpai…I'm sorry. I know you said that I'm part of a guild…but this is _my_ mess that I have to clean up." He declared. "You heard what the note said, Dereece and Duncan are in danger, and it's all because of me. If I don't go alone, Kane is gonna…" he shook his head, smacking his cheeks with his palms. He pulled himself together and glared. "Right. Then I know what I gotta do."

"And what's that?" Nic asked with crossed arms.

Joey opened his eyes, looking ahead with a fire in his heart. "I have to trust Pidove can handle himself for now. Right now, I gotta prove to Duncan I can be more responsible…and I'll start by stopping Kane right now."

* * *

The Pidove flock flew across the skies across Fiore towards east. They were currently traveling across the Clover Canyon, minding their own business. Amongst them, Pidove was in the very back of the flock, seen in the last leg of the V formation.

Well behind him, the two other Pidove who coaxed him were tailing him to make sure he didn't go back. Their red eyes blinked once consecutively, before closing in on Pidove.

"Yes, that's it. Heading east." One Pidove swayed.

"A fine direction for flight indeed, our sweet little friend." The other commented.

"Okay!" Pidove chirped happily, unaware of the two Pidove's eyes blinking red again.

As the flock traveled across the canyon's in the many gorges that had steep cliffs, there were nests of od creatures hidden within the shadows of the cliffs. When the flock traveled over the gorges, their noise traveled down to the nests, making necks and beaks look up. As eyes shimmered, they revealed dull black eyes piercing up at the prey.

"Weee!" Pidove chimed as he was flying freely behind the flock. It's been a while since he had himself some wide-open air. Granted he had a brain the size of a pea, but even he knows what feels good and what doesn't.

The two Pidove behind blinked in unison. They kept close behind Pidove as he fluttered about without a care to the world.

"Glad that you are having fun." One Pidove replied, the red eyes glowing brighter. "I know I will."

Down below, a glint could be seen. That glint soared skywards, heading right for the two Pidove behind.

 _BAM_

Something harsh passed the Pidove from below, shooting skywards. A moment passed before the flapping birds' eyes ceased glowing, and the next instant, they burst into two small explosions in the sky.

Hearing the explosion, Pidove alarmingly stopped his flight path and looked back. "Huh. What was that?" He looked at the fading smoke, watching mechanical body parts fall to the canyons below. Still confused, he barely caught the caw from above. When he looked up, he saw something beaming down from the sun. It was hard to make out at first, but as the creature flapped its extravagant wings, the shade was enough to alarm Pidove.

"Who's he?" Pidove questioned dumbly.

As the shadows faded, the creature revealed itself to be a large brown bird with a massively long, thin beak. He had a red pointed crown with cream and light brown plumage around the wings. It was a Fearow, and it was heading straight for Pidove.

Alarmed, Pidove moved out of the way at the last second. The Fearow, continued its path down until it started circling up towards Pidove.

"Big bird! Big bird!" Pidove hollered.

The Fearow cawed as he moved in to attack again with a glowing beak. It sailed pretty fast, so Pidove's wings glowed via **Gust**. The strong winds generated were enough to make the Fearow repulse. The avian, however, was flung into the flock up ahead, startling Pidove.

"Oops."

The Fearow tumbled close to the back, straightening out and flexing his wings. The Pidove behind looked back, just now processing the massive predatory threat looming. Startled, the flock began to go into disarray around the skies. Amongst them, Pidove looked around at the confusion, blinking. "Wait, what's going on?!"

Fearow shook his head and let out a loud caw that echoed throughout the skies.

Down below in the shadows of the gorge, there were glints that gleamed profusely about. Upon shooting skywards, Pidove and many more looked down, shocked to see so many Fearow flying up towards them. The many Fearow cawed out in reply, and the other Fearow shrilled another cry in return.

Pidove blinked twice really fast. He _knew_ something was bad about this situation, but didn't know how to process it. He just looked around as many Fearow were chasing around other Pidove. Many territorial birds attacked the helpless, mindless doves that flew right into their domain.

He finally looked forward to see the one Fearow glaring him down. It had its sights on him after that last hit. Pidove fearfully blinked. _'Wait…am I forgetting something important?'_ he wondered. _'What was it again, uh…uh…'_

As Pidove was spacing out, Fearow cawed as he closed in on the swarm.

"No, that's not it…hmmm…" Pidove's eyes widened. "Oh, I know! It's-!" He turned and saw Fearow barreling his way. "Gaaah!"

Fearow opened his beak to clamp down, but out of the blue, a metallic white stream sped across, immediately downing Fearow in one blow.

"Huh?" Pidove gasped. He saw something familiar barrel around the skies.

A sonic-speed metal bullet swished around the air. Fearow after Fearow fell as what appeared to be a Staraptor using **Steel Wing** spiraled like a drill through the atmosphere, impacting another Fearow into one further below, sending them back into the gorge. Staraptor let out a menacing caw as she took control of the skies, deterring many of the Fearow around her.

Another metallic glint was from above. The glint transformed into Talonflame diving down at a breakneck dive bomb pace. Before they knew what hit them, another gray-white streak came vertically down. Seconds later, a flurry of white burst and smoke enveloped the atmosphere, causing many more Fearow to fall.

"Wooah…" Pidove was speechless as he watched the smoke dissipate. Diving out of the smoke, Staraptor and Talonflame cawed as they flew side-by-side. Together, their wings glowed again via **Steel Wing**. The familiar move made the bird even more shocked as it made him flash back to his training for that move.

' _Master…?'_

"HA!" Staraptor slammed her wing down on a Fearow's head, immediately sending him to the gorge. As she held her position, another Fearow came up behind, only to receive a backwing **Steel Wing** that knocked it out as well.

"Krah!" Talonflame sailed in a straight line into a row of Fearow trying to corner some Pidove. She sailed into all three, passing them and continuing her path. The shock soon caused them all to gawk before they fell into the gorge next.

 **Steel Wing** after **Steel Wing** , the two birds danced through the skies with a balance of grace and ferocity. Not a single move was wasted as they turned, twisted, and struck down the Fearow around. All while Pidove could do nothing but watch in amazement of how they executed the move.

With one last **Steel Wing** , Staraptor and Talonflame shot at the last Fearow together. They passed it and posed behind in the air. As their wings returned to normal, the Fearow was stiff before it fell next into the gorge.

"That's the last one." Staraptor noted. She looked around, seeing many Pidove scattering about randomly. "Well, at least we were able to save them." She acknowledged.

"My guess is that they'll find nearby settlements." Talonflame noted.

Staraptor nodded. "Works in our case. Now then…" She towards Pidove, she and Talonflame meeting the flapping pigeon in the atmosphere. "Pidove, are you alright?"

Pidove nodded. "Uh-huh."

"That's good. Then I guess we picked up your trail at just the perfect time." She looked towards Talonflame and then Pidove. "You had us worried there. Don't go flying off like that again, especially without Joey."

"Joey…?" For some reason, the name rung a bell in Pidove's mind. He couldn't help but feel a strong case of déjà vu clog his noggin. In his mind, he could see Joey's big, goofy smile.

" _Thanks, Pidove! Let's work hard, kay?"_ He even recalled his chirpy voice.

Finally it hit Pidove. "Oh yeah! I must obey my Master!" he declared. He looked around, seeing his 'Master' was nowhere. "Master? Joey?" He looked crestfallen as he realized he was nowhere in sight. In fact, he almost forgot how it happened. "Master? Where'd you go?" he asked fearfully.

Staraptor and Talonflame looked towards one another. Opting to do something, they approached the dove.

"Uh, Pidove?" Staraptor proposed in a softer tone, suitable for kids. "If you'd like, we could show you where he is. That what you want?"

Immediately the dove perked up. "Oh goody!"

' _ **Staraptor, can you hear me?**_ _'_ A voice rung inside Staraptor's head, immediately catching her attention.

' _Nic?'_

' _ **Listen, there's been a change of plans…**_ _'_

* * *

A massive machine that was hooked with tubes and cylinders was being operated by at least 20 different people on the floor. They all were hard at work and directing each other as the inside of the machine was glowing brightly.

The Dragon Slayers and their Exceeds were watching from the balcony along the second level's grid. They were being tentative at watching as the process was taking some time.

"Looks like they're almost done." Gajeel noted.

Wendy nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm still unsure about all this. Can we really trust them to do this? This is tampering with the laws of nature." Carla protested.

"That's hard to say." Pantherlily said. "You ask me, the laws of nature were revoked when Pokémon came here. Besides, he assured this wasn't anything like the R-System. Compared to what we're used to, I'd call _this_ magic."

Happy looked towards Natsu as the Dragon Slayer had a frown. He was glued to the experiment's light coming inside the massive machine. He was neither excited nor disapproving, just quiet.

" _Fossil Restoration?"_

" _That's right. The committees in many of our regions back where we are from have been known to have extensive science that allows us to study the art of fossils." Jefferey explained. "It's no guarantee, but due to us bringing and reproducing our schematics, our highly trained scientists and engineers have been working nonstop to ensure this project gives Earthland the benefit of reviving Pokémon long extinct from fossils, too."_

 _They were all stunned. Fossils? Reviving them? One would've considered this voodoo that's beyond immeasurable. A part of them wanted to scoff at the notion if they had room to talk._

" _As you are also aware, it's not everyday that fossils are always found." Another scientist pointed out._

" _Like ancestors, some remnants don't always come up upon excavation. However, with the smallest dose, we can bring back the life of that Pokémon that came from the DNA." Another pointed out._

" _For real?!" Happy gasped. "You guys can seriously do that?!"_

" _Wow, I didn't think it could all be possible." Wendy awed. "You mean…"_

" _You guys sound like you can give life to something that's already lost." Gajeel pointed out. "Somehow I highly doubt that. Magic like that is forbidden, even I wouldn't stoop to that." He looked over at Natsu, who was admittedly quiet about the whole thing. He could see the tension in his gaze._

" _This is science, not magic." A scientist corrected. "There's a significant difference between the two."_

" _Really? How so?"_

" _Perhaps the flavors in snow cones you all eat. Perhaps the evolution of construction based on math. Or perhaps the blood cells that humans have? They don't move by magic flowing through us, it's by fluids and bodily evolution."_

" _If there isn't a point getting across, then let me straighten it out." Jefferey compromised. "We intend to revive some of the fossils that we've been researching, and because of what you've done, you'll be the first."_

" _So then…we're getting ancient Pokémon?" Wendy clarified. "What do you think about this, Carla?" she turned towards Carla, who pondered._

" _That's a good question. To be perfectly honest, I didn't think something like this was possible. Not without the tactics of offering something in compensation like the past. It's hard to believe with all the talks everyone shares about the Cambire Foundation that they even had time and staff to do this."_

" _We can understand." Jefferey humbly nodded. "But as we said, this is a test. But, if successful, then you will be the first to hold Pokémon revived from another world."_

 _Gajeel and Pantherlily shared gazes of question at another, whereas Wendy and Carla were looking questionably in return. Suddenly a hand slammed down on a desk._

" _Just a minute." All eyes went towards Natsu, who stood up with a dead serious frown._

" _Natsu?" Wendy gasped._

 _Jefferey raised a brow. "Is there something the matter?"_

" _Yeah, I got my own say too if you don't mind. What I say you're doing feels wrong. Maybe they've died once before, so are you saying you're just gonna do that to them again?"_

" _Natsu…" Happy was at a loss for words. He understood when he thought about Igneel. But more importantly, he thought about Zeref and their First Master, Mavis._

" _If there's one thing we know about tampering with life and death…it's that it affects others more than you could ever imagine. I don't know what kind of stuff you do in your world, but here we take life and death a lot more serious."_

" _So you're saying we_ _ **shouldn't**_ _go through with this." Jefferey clarified. There was hint of question of power in his tone. Natsu clearly challenged it._

" _I'm saying you should forget this whole thing!" Natsu retorted. "If you looked into our history, then you should know many more died than lived to see this through to the end! Maybe it'd be cool if Igneel or other dragon fossils could come back…" He thought about Igneel for a second, his gaze calming. "But he told me to see the future and not on the past."_

 _There was a long silence that filled the entire room. Nobody was sure of what to say or how to counter him. Some scientists looked towards each other and began muttering to themselves, much to Natsu's growing ire. He could hear their doubts loud and clear._

 _Jefferey humbly nodded. "I understand."_

" _Sir?" a scientist questioned._

" _If I were in your position, perhaps I would in fact be intrusive to this act. I might not know exactly you reasons, but, from the sounds of it, it seems that you are very experienced with life and death."_

" _So you get what I'm saying?" Natsu asked._

" _Yes, I do. But, please allow me to say this…when those people that were brought back to life, did they in fact cause more pain or joy in their second lives?"_

 _Natsu was silent at his rebuttal. On one hand, there was Zeref and Lysandre, and in the other, there were those who were in a stasis like Jellal. He's even heard about Nic and Vanessa's family a while back that brought up questions._

" _It's true that there are Pokémon who have been created for destruction, that also is factored in by their environment; who they're appealed to; who created them; and who do they have to look up to. If you hadn't been told before, the Pokémon that is known as Mewtwo is an example of such a grave case._

 _They all thought of Mewtwo and meeting him before. Seeing him even Mega Evolve left Wendy's eyes shuddering. 'Mewtwo…was an artificial Pokémon?'_

" _But that Pokémon was artificial. It was_ _ **designed**_ _for that purpose. However, fossils are very different. Unlike what you may be used to, we don't implant anything to exact obedience."_

" _We establish a nurturing and familiar environment where they can feel most comfortable." Another scientist explained. "From there, we merely study their habits and see how they interact."_

 _Natsu didn't look convinced. "Then what?"_

" _Then that's it. Sometimes we give them Trainers who want to look after them, or maybe we help them integrate with other Pokémon. It's not an easy process. These assimilations take time."_

 _Natsu turned away. He didn't even know if he wanted to hear anymore._

" _Mr. Dragneel." Jefferey spoke in a more empathetic tone. "Don't think of this as bringing back the dead. Think of this as giving what was lost another chance. A chance that_ _ **you**_ _can make with your own two hands." He closed his eyes, humbly sighing. "When I first came into the Cambire Foundation, my one goal was to help our world and Pokémon survive. To do that, I needed to open to new potentials, and while I questioned some methods at first, I can't deny that they've helped me realize the ideal future that befits the needs of our people. Perhaps you are right when the dead do deserve to rest…but time never does. And as time flows, so does healing wounds. Please, Mr. Dragneel, think about that."_

 _Natsu was contemplative as he glared down at the ground. He looked so fixated that it was scaring everyone. As he glared, flashes of images came to his mind. His time with Igneel when he was still a kid was one thing he adored, then he realized he was recreated by his brother. In a way, redesigned for a purpose. In all honesty, he didn't even know what to think anymore. He balled his fists in frustration of what to say, let alone think, of the logic of Pokémon and his own._

" _It's up to you, but we have the aim of making an understanding between us and your people with Pokémon. We ask for a chance…everyone deserves it."_

" _Natsu…" Wendy murmured._

 _After a long minute of thinking, Natsu sighed out. He slowly turned around, giving Jefferey a glare. "…and you can promise that it won't be anything like what we did?"_

 _Jefferey nodded. "I assure you."_

 _Natsu glared in silence longingly before he finally showed signs of ease. "…okay then." He said. "If you guys say you can make it happen, then I'll be in this, too." He frowned threateningly. "But if I find out anything suspicious about this machine, that thing is fried."_

 _A scientist balled a fist. "You'd banter us over something you have no control over-!" he was silenced when Jefferey put his hand up. He lowered it, and he spoke instead._

" _That's a fair deal." Jefferey reached to shake Natsu's hand. "I assure you, Fairy Tail, you won't be disappointed."_

 _They shook hands._

' _I'm still not sure what they're aiming for with all this talk about another chance.'_ Natsu watched as the light of the massive machine was igniting brighter than before. Inside the monitors, he could actually see energy and cells molding around the fossils. _'But I guess it'd be kinda cool to see what kind of power these old Pokémon can do.'_

Happy hopped onto the railing. "You feeling okay, Natsu?"

Natsu faced him. "Yeah Happy, don't worry." He looked out at the scene again. "Listen guys, sorry about earlier. I was just kinda being a jerk back there."

Wendy shook her head. "No, it's fine. Don't beat yourself up over it Natsu."

"But Salamander does have a point." Gajeel pointed out. "Imagine if this thing can do more than just bring life back from fossils. We could be looking at a new way to bring back even more dead."

Pantherlily crossed his arms and frowned. "That's a grave thought. I'm sure that their technology isn't compatible with our magic systems to do that…" his glare darkened. "But…that isn't to say that can be a possibility for the future."

"I never thought the future can be such a scary thing at times." Wendy dismayed.

"That's because when we learned about the future during the Grand Magic Games, we knew of the perilous outcomes. Here, it's just like Alvarez…we can never be certain." Carla said.

Natsu fell silent as he looked on again.

They all heard a high enough frequency coming from the machine as the cells inside were bubbling and glowing. They looked like they were regenerating and multiplying like crazy inside. Slowly, three silhouettes were growing inside, with each having various shapes. All eyes fell onto the bright arrays that the machine was giving off.

"The DNA convergence is at 97%!" a worker called out. "98…99…"

Jefferey was on the ground level as he stood behind protective glass. He watched the process with hands behind his back and an expectant face that's been there the whole time. _'I owe it to Arthur to give this much for my fair share. Charlotte has been working hard to train even the Rune Knights…now I must rise up. And this is where it'll all start.'_

The humming dialed down as the lights inside the machine were cooling down. Slowly, after minutes of savoring and processing, the massive double doors unhinged from another. Steam exited the machine as soon as the smallest cracks opened. Workers were running around like crazy as various other machines were glitching with some static.

Inside, the three fossils were now silhouettes that were standing upright. Jefferey and the Fairy Tail Mages all went wide-eyed as they watched the results actually come to life.

Slowly, three sets of eyes flickered open. Two were black, and a third set had big blue eyes. When the steam finally cleared, the three stepped out, meeting room temperature tiling.

The first one leading the pack lifted his head high. It looked like a baby Tyrannosaurus, save for a slightly rounder bulk. He had a vicious set of chompers to match his short, sharp white claws on the toes and hands. He had a medium-sized tail with a small spike on the end. Around the neck was pointed white fluff.

The second one was a quadruped dinosaur Pokémon as well. It had a primarily yellow body with four white claws; one for each foot. It had a short tail. What was most intricate about it was the fact that its head was round, had a hard texture to it that reminisced of a shield, and had silver accents like one as well.

The third one was the tallest. This dinosaur Pokémon had large glossy blue eyes on its light blue head, which went down a thin, long neck. On top of the head were two sails that refracted light to resemble waves of an aurora borealis. On the stubby body was a small tail, and on either side of the stomach were two blue diamonds that were nothing but ice. The bottom of the stomach had a tainted light blue.

A scientist behind protective glass looked shocked. "The machine. It…"

"It worked." Another finished.

Jefferey grinned.

The brown bipedal creature raised his head, smelling the air. "Huh?" He looked at his surroundings. It wasn't just him who looked around with scrutiny and curiosity. The other two looked dazed, if not confused. The blue one looked a little worried. The shield-like creature looked to be more worried at the ground. Up above, the Dragon Slayers looked shocked.

"No way…" Wendy murmured.

"They really did it." Gajeel said, shock in his tone.

"So those are ancient Pokémon in the flesh." Pantherlily astounded. "They actually pulled it off."

"Incredible…" Carla awed.

"Natsu, are you seeing this?" Happy asked.

Natsu was almost speechless. With deep shock still on his face, he could see the new life that was given another chance, and he was here to witness how they brought the lives of three lost souls back. He knew this had to be voodoo, but what he knew for a fact that they were alive…and no one got hurt.

"Gnngh…" The brown carnivore looked around, eyeing everything and everyone, who were behind protective paneling. "Everything…hazy."

The shield blinked several times before everything became clear. _'What's going on? This isn't the forest'_

The blue dinosaur looked at machines, her shock evident. "W-what's going on? Where am I?" she looked around, seeing no snow. When she saw the shield creature, she was surprised, but what startled her even more was the fanged dinosaur turning towards her. "Eek!" she shrunk back.

The creature sniffed around, glaring at the two discerningly. "Tyrunt…hungry!" he shouted, startling everyone. He began stomping, making the ground shudder beneath his wake. It was enough to make the other two shudder. "Tyrunt need food! Need now!"

"Shieldon no like this guy!" The shield creature, now known as Shieldon, panicked.

Tyrunt roared at them hungrily. He looked like he had his eyes fixed on them. Shieldon and the other backpedaled with scared looks on their faces.

"Hey, you."

Tyrunt heard an odd sound. When he turned around, he saw a pink-haired boy who was looking right at him. "Heh?" he hunched at Natsu, tilting his head in confusion. "Tyrunt, see new face." He glared.

"Guess you're called Tyrunt then, is that it?" Natsu said in a serious tone. "Bet you're wondering what's going on." Behind him Wendy, Gajeel, and the Exceeds joined him as he walked forward. "Listen, I'm not the best with talking, but I know you can understand me, so hear me out."

Tyrunt's glare hardened as he growled at Natsu. "Grrr…! Tyrunt no talk! Tyrunt eat!" He charged at Natsu angrily, each step shaking the earth beneath.

"He's on the attack!" a scientist yelled.

"Initiate the safety protocol 1401, now!" another shouted. But soon a hand reached out, stopping them. When they all turned, it was Jefferey who had them thwarted. "Sir?"

Jefferey remained glued to the scene, looking tentatively at the Dragon Slayers. He watched Tyrunt advance without issuing protocols. _'Now will be a test to see what you Fairy Tail Mages can do.'_

Tyrunt charged ahead, but Natsu pulled out a Poke Ball. "Looks like you're pretty stubborn. Alright then…" He threw it. "Then how's about we cool you down! Go, Charmeleon!"

From the energy, Charmeleon arose. Tyrunt stopped in his tracks and backpedaled when the lizard formed, his frame the same height as his as he glared him back. Charmeleon let out a cry of his own.

Tyrunt's shock soon dissipated, leaving his feet to grip the ground tighter. "Another…me?" he looked confused, until he stomped in outrage. "What's going on?!" he cried out. "Tyrunt no understand!"

"Wow, this guy's a lot more pouty than you were, Natsu." Happy said. Considering he knew him all these years, that meant a lot.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He tried to ignore the flying cat and adjusted his scarf. "Anyways, let's just try and set the record straight here. Charmeleon, wanna pitch in?"

Charmeleon slashed his claws. "You bet!"

Tyrunt growled as he glared at Natsu and Tyrunt. His instincts were screaming for him to get his way, even if it had to be the hard way. Despite all the blood being fresh, it was pumping drastically through his veins. He roared out as his maw glowed, via **Bite**. He charged after Charmeleon with fury.

"He's on the attack." Wendy observed, pulling out Swablu's Poke Ball. "You think we should help him?"

Gajeel shrugged. "I wouldn't."

"This is Natsu, he knows what he's doing." Pantherlily said.

As Tyrunt closed in, Natsu held his posture as he glared ahead. _'Okay, let's see this training pay off.'_ He reached out ahead. "Charmeleon, **Flame Charge!** " Charmeleon growled as he got to all fours. He cloaked himself in fire and shot across the tiling at Tyrunt. He close din at an alarming rate until he was fats enough to elbow Tyrunt in the snout. The recoil made Tyrunt cry out in pain while Charmeleon flipped to a knee behind, a red aura indicating a Speed increase.

"Now, **Ember!** "

"Eyes open!" Charmeleon whipped his tail around, sending sparks of char and flames from his tail flame at Tyrunt behind. The swift blanket was enough to push Tyrunt forward, though it did little damage.

"Fire-type attacks hardly do a thing against Rock and Dragon-types, sir." A scientist pointed out to Jefferey.

"Yes, I am aware of that." Jefferey observed the battle. In his mind, he flashed back to Natsu and Max's battle. While he did see other battles more meaningful, he was seeing a different kind of style to Natsu's battle. It piqued him.

Tyrunt shook his head to get the daze out of him and turned around, glaring at Charmeleon. "You…Tyrunt angry!" His eyes turned glossy as a pink background enveloped him. A charming demeanor fell around Tyrunt as Charmeleon was slightly unnerved, via **Charm**. A large blue aura made Charmeleon's Attack drop big time.

"What the heck is he doing?" Natsu wondered.

"That looks like **Charm**. Wendy stated. "Juvia's Marill knows that move. It really lowers the Attack power."

"I see, then I guess we gotta go long-range." Natsu figured. "You hear that, Charmeleon, so use **Ember** one more time!" Heeding the command, Charmeleon nodded as he reeled his tail around and whipped it, sending small sparks at Tyrunt.

Tyrunt was prepared this time as he jumped out of the way. As the sparks dissipated, he glared back at Charmeleon. "Tyrunt no like you! Tyrunt crush you!" His fangs glowed again, initiating **Bite**. He charged at Charmeleon again.

"Hold, Charmeleon!"

Charmeleon did as instructed. He glared on as Tyrunt went full-speed ahead as the ground shuddered beneath. Off to the side, Shieldon and the other one were in full shock as they were seeing the battle.

When Tyrunt opened his maw closely, that was the call he wanted.

"Now, **Ember!** "

Charmeleon smirked. "Say 'AH'!" He whipped his tail, sending the hot sparks into Tyrunt's mouth, creating a powerful spark that ignited into a full-blown burst of smoke in the mouth. Tyrunt was seen rolling back from the critical hit, fumbling onto his bottom.

"WAAAAH! TYRUNT'S MOUTH HURTS! IT HURTS!" Tyrunt shouted. He slammed his tail down constantly, crying out harsh echoes.

Natsu balled his fist. "Sorry about this pal, but if you don't wanna listen, we'll finish this the hard way! Charmeleon, **Dragon Rage!** "

Charmeleon's stomach began shimmering a weak blue spiral and he gathered draconic energy from within. As it surged, Tyrunt's whining made him oblivious to the eminent doom heading his way. "Sorry about this!" Charmeleon opened his maw and lurched forward, unleashing an intense beam of blue and black with a dragon's head across the lab towards Tyrunt. The fossil was hit hard and an eruption of blue and smoke filled the lab. Everything shook as Gajeel and Wendy covered up with the Exceeds. Jefferey and the other scientists looked on behind protective paneling.

Within the dust, Natsu's scarf shifted as Charmeleon jumped in front of him. The smoke cleared, revealing Tyrunt on his side, groaning with spirals in his eyes.

Natsu grinned alongside Charmeleon. "Nice going, Charmeleon." He praised.

"No sweat."

Carla sighed in relief. "Looks like Natsu did a good job holding back that time. I'm honestly surprised."

"Hey, don't say that Carla." Happy chided. "Natsu's _way_ better than he was before."

"Yeah." Wendy agreed. "Plus, he's actually thinking ahead. When you stop to think about it, that's a lot better than when he started out with Charmander. He's really growing."

Tyrunt groaned and started gaining consciousness. As he came to, he blinked and looked at Charmeleon, processing. "Did Tyrunt…just lose?" He started tearing up and began to cry. His shrieks went through the air as his distress was all too clear.

A hand petted his head. "Hey, relax alright?" Natsu grinned. "It'll be okay." He kneeled down to meet him at eye level. "I know what it's like to be in a world where it doesn't make sense to you. You think you can get your way, but you soon realize that you just gotta accept it. Believe me, I felt that way about Pokémon before."

Tyrunt's crying soon calmed down. He looked up at Natsu and Charmeleon with slight awe.

"I may not know much either, but we can learn from each other." He held up a Poke Ball. "So if you really open up to the world, we'll be happy to show you."

"You won't be disappointed." Charmeleon coaxed, chuckling. "I know I wasn't."

Tyrunt was still uncertain of what Natsu meant. However, looking at his face now, the dinosaur could see a bright smile. He was skeptical, and he was still hungry, but humbled by this loss, it didn't feel fair to be beaten like this, not in a fashion like this. Still, he wasn't gonna get anywhere without help.

He sniffed the Poke Ball, unknowingly nudging it with his snout. The capsule flung open, sucking Tyrunt inside. Almost immediately, the capsule shook and clicked, signaling the beast's capture.

Natsu's grin widened. "Guess we got a new member."

"Aye, wait a go pal!" Happy cheered on.

"Thanks, buddy." Natsu opened the Poke Ball, bringing out Tyrunt once more. "So Tyrunt, from here on, you'll be part of our group. What do you say?"

Tyrunt tilted his head, but soon nodded. "Tyrunt will go."

Wendy and Gajeel looked to each other. Seeing as how the situation was cooling down, they moved closer towards Shieldon and the other, to whom Wendy acknowledged.

"Hey there." She kneeled a distance away. "It's okay. We won't hurt ya."

The long-necked creature was unsure, but she slowly approached Wendy, taking small step by step. Once she was close enough, she sniffed Wendy's cheek before licking it.

"That tickles!" Wendy laughed. "So my name's Wendy. What do we call you?"

The creature blinked, looking nervous. "A-Amaura…thanks."

Gajeel looked down at Shieldon, sharing a blank stare at him. Dark eyes glared at red, and it looked like neither was gonna talk until Gajeel leaned in closer, getting a closer to his face. "…is this thing iron?"

"Don't even think about it." Pantherlily chided.

Off with the other members of the vicinity, Jefferey was approached by a fellow worker. "Sir!" he presented a clipboard with numerous reports on it. "The test's results were better than expected. The cell assimilation process was a success."

"I see." He looked at the worker. "And no deformities?"

"No sir, all three were perfectly healthy when they were brought back."

"That's good." He looked back at the scene. He watched as Happy flew around, avoiding Tyrunt from trying to bite off his tail. "That goes better than the last few tries. Finally, we're making progress."

He continued observing them, watching Wendy pet Amaura's head. Looking at Gajeel, he could see him showing Aron. The two immediately sniffed each other and butt heads, only to bounce off onto their backs. Tyrunt was still chasing Happy, with Natsu soon reaching Tyrunt's fluff and holding him off the ground to restrain him. Having enough, he chose to turn away.

"Sir, where are you going?"

"I'm going back to my office." He stated. "I'm going to have to spend the evening on this report. Make sure they have everything they need before they leave today."

He exited the lab, leaving his gift to Fairy Tail.

* * *

The skies were cloudy, so it was hard to tell when the sun was setting. However, within the vast mountain ranges for Devil's Valley, the caws of Murkrow and ravens alike stirred in the darkness beyond the peaks. It was here that a certain someone was climbing up to the top, and like it or not, he had to make it to the summit.

Clawing his way up, Joey groaned as he pulled himself closer. He rested with a wheeze, and then pulled himself up yet again. With each desperate climb up, the further away the top seemed.

"This…is so…stupid." Joey wheezed, laboring in breath frantically. He wasn't used to climbing all that much apparently. "Doesn't this guy…know that I'm a…dancer…and not a…climber…?"

When he found closure, he looked towards a small ledge close by. He rested his hand on a deserted dead tree, using it as a support for him to lean and rest on. He wiped sweat off his face.

"Okay…am I close yet?" He peered up to the top, which was still hundreds of feet away. He sweatdropped nervously and swallowed a lump. _'W-well, at least I'm getting somewhere. I wonder how far I got?'_

Joey looked down at the gorge below. When he saw the actual bottom just only five-hundred feet below, his left brow twitched once, then twice, then it constantly twitched until his mentality literally shattered like glass. He let out an annoyed scream that echoed throughout the valley, alarming nearby Geodude and Graveler.

"This sucks! There's no way I'm gonna get up there like this!" Gritting his teeth, he'd rather be at home getting ready for Friday night pizza. However, he knew better now. _'No, I can't back out now. This is serious! Bro would be on this and not complaining like I am. Snap out of it!'_ He smacked his cheeks with his palms again for the umpteenth time today. _'Get it together, Joey. Your friends are counting on you.'_ He sighed. _'Man, I wish Dereece could give me a piggyback ride. His magic would save a lot of time…'_

An idea sprung in his head.

"Wait…that's it!" he shouted, banging his hand into his palm. "Why didn't I think of this before?! Who needs climbing…when you can just make stairs!" He pressed his hands along the rock.

" **Barrier-Make: Stairs!** "

A turquoise barrier molded into a very narrow stairway that stretched far up. The area shot high skywards up towards the peak. "Yes! Beat _that_ , Kane! Who needs climbing now? Huh!" he determinedly smirked. "Okay, _now_ can get somewhere. Hang on guys, I'm coming!"

He started up the stairs, heading towards the peak.

* * *

At the base of the summit, there was a large dead tree, where there was one branch that was hanging over a really dark open pit in the center. It looked to be bottomless. There, hanging by ropes over the pits and the face of death, Dereece and Duncan were tied together. They were suspended for so long that they lost track of time.

"I trust that you two are having fun hanging around." Down below, Kane was sitting on a large rock, stroking Whirlipede and making him purr.

Dereece glared angrily. "Kane…"

Duncan didn't speak. He tried thrashing about in his restrains and hope. He couldn't even feel his own magic surging.

"I wouldn't waste my strength on that if I were you. Those ropes are made out of the same fibers that Magic Sealing Stone is made of. So you're essentially helpless."

Duncan growled. Dereece looked towards him and back at Kane. "You're even more mad than before!"

Kane looked offended. "I am? Geez, I'm sorry. I mean it wasn't like _I_ was almost buried alive and was forgotten if that's what you were thinking!"

"That's what this is about?!" Dereece countered. "You were trying to kill us first man, c'mon!"

"No matter. Once the beloved Captain Joey arrives for our historic showdown, _then_ we will be seeing who's at the end of their rope now, won't we?" he snickered at the roll of jokes he was making.

"If this a joke, I'm not laughing." Duncan grimaced angrily. He sighed annoyingly. "I can't believe I let such a ridiculous thing like this happen. I hate to say it, but this has become a bigger pain than what our narcissistic Captain is."

"Joey will bounce back, just you wait." Dereece countered. "Remember the last time this happened?"

"Yeah, and that was by dumb luck…like such a stupid thing can happen in a time like this." He scoffed. "Besides, if he were that responsible and wanted to be a Trainer, he'd be looking for a Pokémon, wouldn't he?"

Dereece furrowed his brows. He gave Duncan a disapproving glare. "What do you know about what he went through? If you were him, what would you do? Duncan?"

Duncan remained silent. He chose to not answer such a ridiculous question. This only made Dereece a little more deterred. _'Captain Joey, I know you've been having it rough. But I know you're not as dumb Duncan thinks. Hurry, man!'_

Kane watched the sunset in the faraway valleys among the crags with his beloved Whirlipede. "Ah." He sighed. "There's nothing like a nice sunset on a joyous evening. But-" He stood up. "This also signals the end! Once Joey loses this epic clash, there will be no one who will dare challenge my genius! And if not-" He pointed straight at them. "Then I'll just have to sacrifice whoever else gets in the way of my plans."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What was that about me losing again?"

Kane perked up and turned around. Him, Dereece, and Duncan all saw Joey with crossed arms, looking down at them from a higher peak that he climbed.

"Captain Joey!" Dereece yelled.

Duncan's eyes narrowed. "So he really came after all."

Joey slid down the slope of the crevice to meet Kane. He landed on a rock and jumped off it onto a knee. He slowly stood up, facing his smirking nemesis.

"Ah, Joey. Right on time." Kane said in a modest but happy tone. "I knew you would come, and right on time, too."

"Damn straight!" Joey beamed. "Ain't no way am I letting this slide on my account. I may have had a lot of setbacks today…" he pointed accusingly at Kane, a serious look on his face. "But I'd sooner be a scumbag than see someone else fall on my account."

Kane eagerly balled his fists. He looked like he was enjoying Christmas morning. "Oh~, this is it, Whirlipede!" he squealed. "This is the moment we've been waiting for. Victory is ours, my friend."

Whirlipede hissed eagerly, to which Kane seemingly nodded at.

Joey looked towards Dereece and Duncan, seeing them suspended. _'You guys…'_ He thought back t earlier for a moment. _'Sorry for earlier. Duncan was right. I was being irresponsible. I'll tell them that later, but right now…'_ He faced a glee Kane. _'I gotta battle this crazy person.'_

As the sun's gleam shimmered brightly in the distance, dark clouds illuminated shades of purple over their heads. The scene was perfect for their confrontation.

"Alright Kane, you better release my friends if I win, got that?"

Kane smirked. "Don't worry…not yet at least." He added. "I'll return your friends to you…" He snapped his fingers, and all of a sudden, the ground around Joey began to shudder.

Joey looked down, seeing part of the earth give in. Slowly, Drilbur clawed their way out of the holes. Many surrounded Joey, and on top of those, Geodude nearby were waking up and glared. In the high altitude when Joey looked up, he saw Drifloon drift down to surround him.

"But first, you'll have to beat me, and my little friends that I've made in preparations for this occasion." Kane declared.

Dereece gasped. "It's just like before…" he looked towards Joey. "Captain Joey, be careful!"

Joey didn't respond. Instead, he glared ahead with a straight face.

"What's this? Smiling in the face of a challenge? I like that." Kane sneered. "Now, let's see how you handle, when it's not just me, but everyone against you!" He held up a bag of Pokémon Food. "Have at him! And you can have all the Pokémon Food you want my minions!"

The wild Pokémon closed in around Joey as he remained still like a statue. He glanced around to see the many Drifloon, Geodude, and Drilbur targeting him, but rather than movie, he watched as the waves of creatures slowed down.

Many noses wrinkled at this sharp smell. Many of them were seen backing off, much to Kane's shock.

"What's this?!"

"Bad news, _Kane_. I learned a little something from our last encounter, too." Joey mocked, holding up a silver spray bottle. "So I sprayed myself with a bunch of Super Repel just before I climbed up here. So go ahead, coax the wild Pokémon, they won't come anywhere near me."

Dereece went wide-eyed. "Woah. Did _not_ expect that."

Kane maliciously smirked as he slowly clapped for him. "Well played, _Joey_." He mocked. "Another reason why you're my most _vile_ nemesis!"

"Ha! I'm not the one who stoops to kidnapping now am I?"

"No…not yet at least." He sneered evilly. "Let's see how far you get when I do _this!_ " He pulled out a Poke Ball. Throwing it, Buizel came out to fight alongside Whirlipede.

Joey grunted as he faced the two adversaries. Getting out his PokeDex, he analyzed Whirlipede.

" **Whirlipede, the Curlipede Pokémon. Protected by a hard shell, it spins its body like a wheel and crashes furiously into its enemies.** "

' _So his Venipede evolved too. That's gotta mean he's a lot stronger now, too.'_ Joey observed. _'I really wish that I found the time for Pidove…but that's not my priority right now. Getting my team back and beating this guy is.'_ Pulling out two Poke Balls, Joey threw them. "Quilladin! Trubbish! Let's go!"

The Poke Balls flung open, bringing Joey's signature Quilladin out alongside Trubbish, who belched.

"What's this? No Pidove?" Kane mocked maliciously. "Come now, Joey, I thought you were smarter than that."

Joey knew he was being messed with, he felt it. However, he held confidence high. "Don't think it'll be any less hard for you."

"Count on it." Kane reached forward. "Buizel, **Quick Attack!** " Kane's Busizel was the first to make a move, his body cloaking in bright blue as he dashed across the peak grounds into Trubbish. The results were Trubbish using her garbage gloves to block as she was shoved back several feet. Buizel got airborne from the momentum, leaving a prime time to strike.

"Don't think we haven't any new tricks of our own!" Joey countered. "Trubbish, use **Sludge!** " Trubbish took a deep breath before she exhaled a big ball of grimy sludge that shot up at Buizel.

"Buizel, **Water Gun!** " Buizel took a deep breath of his own and exhaled water back at the incoming sludge.

The two attacks met in the center, creating a strong eruption of mist and smoke that spread throughout the air. Buizel returned to the ground unharmed, while Trubbish's Black Sludge healed some of her health.

Kane smirked. "Alright, let's see how you like… _this!_ Whirlipede, **Iron Defense!** " Kane's Whirlipede growled as he was glaring at his adversaries. A red aura enveloped him as his shell turned to almost completely solid iron, shimmering over once until the Defense was high enough.

"Well this isn't good." Joey dismayed. "He's trying to get himself buffed up." In his head, more thoughts erupted. _'And we're mostly physical attacks. We gotta shoot for a critical hit against this thing.'_ He reached out. "Quilladin, **Rollout** on Whirlipede! Trubbish, **Acid Spray** on Buizel!" Quilladin curled into a ball and went rolling across the rock, while Trubbish gurgled before expelling broiling purple acid ahead.

Kane smirked. "Whirlipede, be a dear and move in front please?"

Whirlipede hissed as he shifted in front. The two attacks closed in on him specifically.

"Now, **Protect!** "

A turquoise shield-like barrier manifested in front of Whirlipede. The shield bounced off Quilladin and protected them from the acidic blast that Trubbish made. Quilladin recoiled while further behind, Trubbish had a green glow. Recovering health.

"Now, **Swift!** " From behind Whirlipede, Buizel jumped into the air. The Sea Weasel Pokémon's tail glowed gold as he swung it around, sending golden bright stars at Quilladin and Trubbish.

" **Pin Missile!** " Joey countered. Quilladin's horns glowed and he aimed at the incoming stars. Multiple white orbs surrounded in green streams expelled from him and shot up at the incoming stars. The two attacks met once again, creating a tremendous burst of smoke and golden light.

Kane smirked. "Now the fun begins…"

From the smoke, Whirlipede rolled through the air above Quilladin. When he looked up, he was stunned by the leap.

"Now, **Bug Bite!** "

Part of Whirlipede's front glowed bright white and he crashed down on Quilladin. The ground sundered as the shock of the Bug-type move sent Quilladin away, screaming as he slid across the ground.

"Quilladin, hang in there!" Joey shouted. Grunting, he made a counter. "Trubbish, **Acid Spray!** "

Off to the side, Trubbish gurgled and expelled more acid. The attack struck Whirlipede's side, causing a sizzle. When the acid wore off, a blue aura harshly reduced his Special Defense, but he otherwise looked unhinged by this attack. Trubbish meekly belched.

"Buizel, **Sonic Boom!** " Buizel's tail glowed white and he swung around, sending a white crescent shockwave at Trubbish. The attack struck her as she turned, sending her fumbling to Quilladin's side.

"Guys!" Joey shouted in worry. He looked back towards Kane, seeing him smirking. _'This isn't like last time. It's completely different. He used Buizel as support to stop Pidove while Venipede was against Chespin. I can't tell what he's doing, crap!'_

"Looks like the Captain's in trouble." Duncan said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, and so are we if we don't get _out of here_!" Dereece wailed. He tried to muster up his magic, but the ropes weren't allowing that. It didn't help that his hands were also tied so he couldn't reach for his or Duncan's Poke Balls. "Get us down from here!"

Joey heard his pals and gritted his teeth. He looked up to them to see them partially distressed – Dereece more so than Duncan. He felt like he was running out of time, the pressure on him didn't go unnoticed by Kane.

"What's the matter, Joey? You look troubled."

Joey glared back at Kane. He knew he was mocking him for his position. He needed to shut him down, and quick. "Oh don't worry about me." He countered. "You should be worrying about yourself. Trubbish, get in close!" On command, Trubbish began to hobble from one foot to the other towards the foes.

' _I wonder what his mind's playing with now?'_ Kevin pondered.

"Quilladin, use **Leech Seed** on Buizel!" Still a ways away, Quilladin took a deep breath and expelled seeds from his mouth that shot at the weasel.

Kane reached out. "Whirlipede, **Protect!** " Whirlipede did as instructed and moved in front of Buizel to protect him from the attack. "Rinse and repeat."

Joey smirked.

"What?"

"Now Trubbish, catapult yourself with **Acid Spray!** " Trubbish's glance dilated before she faced the ground in front of Whirlipede. Instead of attacking the shield, she sprayed acid on the ground, shooting herself over the shield towards Buizel. Kane was caught completely surprised by this attack and saw Trubbish land behind.

"Now, **Sludge!** "

Trubbish took in a sharp breath and shot a clump of sludge at Buizel. The Water-type was struck as he turned around. The force was so strong that it shoved him into Whirlipede's backside, throwing him off balance.

"Whirlipede!" Kane frantically squealed.

Joey glared as he swiped his arm. "Alright, now **Pin Missile** , Quilladin!"

"You got it!" Quilladin leaned forward and unleashed more white orbs with green streams surging. They closed in, and they exploded around Whirlipede and Buizel, causing white flashes that resembled fireworks.

Kane covered up and grunted as the smoke made it hard to see. When he looked forward, Whirlipede stammered back up, though Buizel looked a little more hesitant.

"And that's what I call a classic Joey counter!" Joey eagerly declared. "This is _way_ more maneuverable than the games I played back at home."

Kane sneered, but he looked enamored with Joey's tactic, though in a conniving way. "Well played yet again. Attacking my blind spot before Buizel could strike." He smirked. "But…perhaps it's my imagination, but are you feeling a little…cramped?"

The wild Pokémon keeping away from Joey began sniffing the air again. They smelled Joey, making them sneer again.

"Say what…?" Joey sniffed his arm. "Oh no…don't tell me that Super Repel wore off already!" He looked all around as Kane was sneering. He was going to savor this. Joey acted fast as the wild Pokémon closed in around him. "Uh, Trubbish!"

Belching, Trubbish jumped and appeared in front of Joey. The trash bag belched again, her smelly, gassy, corrosive smell being enough to spread around the area. As soon as it hit the noses of wild Pokémon, many recoiled and backpedaled. Some even squealed and comically pounced away.

"Alright! I knew Trubbish's Stench Ability would come in handy!"

"A very interesting move you've made." Kane complimented, reaching out his arm. "However-! Buizel, **Pursuit!** "

"Huh?" Quilladin turned around, only to be struck in the face by a kick from Buizel. The force was strong enough to slide him back across the ground.

"Quilladin!" Joey shouted.

"Whirlipede, **Poison Tail!** " Whirlipede's tail glowed bright purple with poison seeping through it. Once ready, he hissed as he rolled into Quilladin. Quilladin gasped before he was blown back by the force of the attack into Trubbish. Both Pokémon made a dust cloud that Joey covered up from.

When the dust cleared, Joey saw Quilladin and Trubbish both groaning. They were out of breath, and looking too tired to move. "Quilladin. Trubbish…"

Duncan gritted his teeth. "Should've known this would take too long…"

"Captain Joey!" Dereece shouted.

Joey looked around to see some of the wild Pokémon getting further closer. Having no choice, Joey put up a barrier-like dome around his area surrounding Quilladin and Trubbish.

"Troubled are we?" Kane questioned. "Well now, if you're not gonna be a man…" He snapped his fingers, making two Murkrow float down besides Duncan and Dereece. "Then I'll just make this quick!"

"Leave them out of this!" Joey demanded.

"Last I checked, you're all a _team_ , aren't you? Fairy Tail's 'The Freaks'. So then, where is that teamwork like last time?" Kane savored this. To see Joey in a pitiful position, to test his own wits against his own. He wanted it to be Joey to feel his pain of being cornered. To be put into an impossible position. The more anxious he got, the wider he smirked. " _Now_ this is a battle."

Joey gritted his teeth. Down beneath him, the ground shuddered as some wild Drilbur popped up using **Dig**. They glared at Joey as he got into a fighting stance.

Kane was about to see Joey in an impossible position, but out of nowhere, aerial light blue crosses shot everywhere. Drifloon were struck down, and Drilbur and Geodude, and Murkrow scrambled as barrages were constantly raining down out of nowhere.

"What's this?" Kane gasped. He was forced to cover up as Whirlipede and Buizel found cover behind rocks.

All around, eruptions of pressurized air blasts bombarded the wild Pokémon. On top of all that, as they were scrambled, a tempest picked up, pushing away the Murkrow and the Drifloon everywhere. The other Drilbur were blown off their feet while other tunneled away, same with Geodude.

Joey and his Pokémon grunted as the dust stirred. He unknowingly lifted his barrier and looked around confusedly. "Huh? Wait a sec, what happened?!" He searched around, but the number of wild Pokémon were drastically reduced. He blinked in surprise. "I could've sworn there were of them…"

"Master!"

Joey's eyes shot wide open. Slowly, he turned around to stare at something incoming his way. Everyone did. Trubbish, Quilladin, Dereece, Duncan, even Kane looked in the direction where the help came from.

From a short distance away, Pidove was fluttering through the air towards them, chirping happily as he closed in on them.

Joey's eyes lit up. "Pidove!"

"No!" Kane snarled.

Dereece looked with shock of his own. When he looked over at Duncan, he could see even he had a raised brow of slight surprise.

"Yaaay!" Pidove happily chirped. "I found my Master again!" He closed in on his 'Master', sailing overhead while Joey looked in glee.

Seeing his Pidove overhead, the dancer was seeing the dove circle around happily overhead. As Pidove chirped, Joey's mind flashed to earlier. _"You're right. Bro and Camilla trusted me with their lives to the end…I'm gonna hold that same faith for Pidove."_ His earlier words echoed inside. As he saw his bird overhead, he couldn't help but smile wider. "I knew he'd come back."

Kane gritted his teeth. _'How could this be? Did something happen to those mechanical Pidove I created? Something must've happened!'_

Smirking, Joey, swiped his arm. "Now we're talking! Trubbish, get back. We got this! Pidove, use **Gust!** "

"I shall obey, Master!" Pidove's wings glowed as he flapped them, creating a strong gust that barreled right for Whirlipede and Buizel.

Rebounding after his initial shock, Kane reached forward. "Whirlipede, **Protect!** "Once again, a turquoise barrier was made in front as Whirlipede got between the **Gust** and Buizel. Once again, they were both protected by Kane's quick thinking.

Pidove flew overhead, getting higher for another strike.

"Buizel, shoot it down with **Water Gun!** " Kane commanded. Buizel did as told and shot a blast of water skywards at Pidove.

"Not this time!" Joey shouted. " **Gust!** "

Once again, Pidove's wings glowed as he created another blast of wind against the incoming water. The two forces collided, making a massive spout flare. All around, rain poured down onto them, and Kane had shock when as the jettisons of water diminished, over a coat of water, Quilladin was in midair with a green aura for his Overgrow Ability. To add to that, a massive green, prickly energy engulfed his arm.

' _How did he close that gap so quick?!'_

Joey brought his arm down. "Alright Quilladin, **Needle Arm!** "

Quilladin swung his arm up with all his might, smashing it down right on top of Buizel. The impact made the ground split and shred apart as the Overgrow-enhanced attack depressed the weasel. When the dust cleared, Buizel was seen on the ground with spirals in his eyes.

"Buizel!" Kane gasped.

Whirlipede turned around, allowing Pidove to get in front and glare him down.

"Alright Pidove, **Air Cutter!** " Joey followed. Following the order, the dove flapped his wings, unleashing light blue crosses that grazed through the air towards the insect. Whirlipede went wide-eyed before he was struck hard, sending him crashing into a rock that shattered upon impact.

"Whirlipede!" Kane shrieked with added fury. He returned Buizel and looked in horror as Whirlipede was struggling to get up through the rubble. The obsessed man balled his fists as he glared over, seeing Joey with Pidove resting on a panting Quilladin's head. Seeing Joey's smirk, it only made him even more mad. That same smirk, the same one that he saw Joey in the back of the classroom. All his life…he watched Joey. Seeing him always smile and give no care to the world like it was his to control, and despite what others thought, Joey always got decent grades, even when he was a troublemaker. While Joey got the attention, Kane was always further back in the classroom – every classroom. Behind Joey, envying his charisma…he wanted fair ground. It was thanks to this world that Joey finally noticed him. Finally, after all these years, he could see Joey acknowledge his presence, for once. Slowly, that devious obsession turned his inner angst into something unorthodox: Joy.

"Well Kane, looks like you're at the end of your own rope." Joey held a firm posture. "Now, let my friends go, and we can finish this…I don't wanna see anyone get hurt like this."

Kane slowly composed. "Oh, we'll finish this alright…" Ahead of him, Whirlipede returned upfront and started outlining in bright green, indicating Swarm. Kane held up a Heal Ball.

An odd pressure fell throughout the area, one that disturbed everyone. Joey

"Now, just as you have held back _your_ secret weapon, I have done the same. Behold!" He threw the Heal Ball, sending out his newest Pokémon addition.

Before Kane was a Roggenrola, and he lifted his head and glared up at Joey, albeit neutrally. "Present!"

"A Roggenrola?" Joey questioned.

"Did he get that from that cave we fought in?" Dereece added.

"Now…let's see your Pidove save you from _this_!" Kane declared. "I had a feeling that if my plan to defeat you was to succeed, I had to ensure your Pidove was out of the picture."

"Wait…" Joey's eyes widened in realization. "You mean Pidove disappearing…that was you?!"

Dereece and Duncan turned towards Kane.

Kane slowly clapped his hands. "Clever, very much clever. But I knew even before that, I had to be sure that even if the plan _does_ backfire, I would have the advantage." He maliciously snickered. "What do you say that, Joey?"

"This is a new low man, even for you." Joey glared. "You're mad, and crazy!"

Kane raised a brow. "Oh come now, where's the sport? Any rate, to begin your defeat! Roggenrola, **Rock Blast!** " Roggenrola's little hexagonal top glowed bright silver and began projecting blast waves of those energies at Pidove.

"Pidove, dodge it!" Joey cried out.

Pidove ascended, evading the three blast waves that continued beyond their reach. The rocks behind were immediately broken apart by the intense impact, creating shockwaves along the ridged of the pit.

"What the heck?" Joey nervously questioned. "That looked crazy strong…"

"Oh, that? That's a little item I equipped to Roggenrola." Kane answered. "Tell me, are you familiar with the Hard Stone?"

Joey gasped. "Hard Stone? Wait…doesn't that boost the power of Rock-type moves?"

"Precisely."

Joey gritted his teeth. Off to the side, he could see Trubbish still using her ability to keep the wild Pokémon far away, all the while she lifted her head and spewed a purple orb, sending toxic flares into ground around her via **Toxic Spikes**. Upon rippling into the ground, many Drilbur and Geodude were weary, while Trubbish had to keep them away. _'Trubbish is too busy with the others. I have to hurry and get Dereece and Duncan free. I have to make an opening, and quick!'_

Kane reached forward again. "And just so you don't get any funny ideas, both of you! **Iron Defense!** " Both Whirlipede and Roggenrola encased themselves in a shimmering iron coating, both their bodies enveloped in harsh red aura to amplify their unison Defense.

Taking a new approach, Joey reached out in compliance. _'We need to take out Whirlipede, and quick!'_ "Pidove, **Air Cutter!** Quilladin, use **Pin Missile!** " Pidove flapped his wings while Quilladin shot streaming projectiles from his thorns. The shredding air currents moved with the missiles, dicing and diffusing them into smaller bits to make sharp shards rain at Kane's team.

" **Protect!** " Kane ordered sharply. Whirlipede once again got in front, making a turquoise shield to take the blows and defend Roggenrola. The air pulses and missiles diffused into the shield as it faded.

Joey grunted in growing angst. _'We need to keep the pressure on. It's the only way we'll get any cover!'_ He reached out for another command. "Pidove, keep up that **Air Cutter!** Quilladin, **Rollout** around Whirlipede!"

"Okay!" Both nodded. Pidove shot even more X-shaped winds at the adversaries, while beneath, Quilladin was aiming for Whirlipede as he curled into a ball.

"Roggenrola, use **Rock Blast!** Shoot him out of the sky!"

Roggenrola aimed for the incoming crescent waves aiming for him and Whirlipede. The insect rolled out of the way while he blasted silver energy into the sky. The flying crescents dissipated as the rock beams powered through. Pidove maneuvered through the air, firing the attack constantly that rained down to no end. Whirlipede chased after Quilladin while the latter was using his Rock-type attack to swerve around. The entire pit grounds was a mess, with crescents hammering away at the earth and making dust and rock fly. This is what Kane was living to see, and he was relishing in every bit of it.

Joey, on the other hand, found his chance as he saw the madness. Facing his bound team, he slammed his hands on the ground.

" **Barrier-Make: Slide!** "

Joey created a glass slide that went all the way up to his friends. He looked back to see Kane fully distracted. He raced up the slide, minding his own balance and pounced from one foot to another until he was beneath them. "You guys miss me?" he questioned.

Dereece grinned. "Man, some luck you have, Captain."

Joey frowned. "Yeah, thanks." He started undoing the ropes to them both. Once they were loose enough, Dereece and Duncan fell like cocoon shells onto the barrier slide. Instantly they started rolling down it.

"Mind your step when you land!" Joey called.

Duncan grunted and managed to heed what he said. Upon meeting the ground, he leaped and planted firmly on a rock, while Dereece fumbled and wheezed when he landed on his stomach.

"Bleh!" He spat out dirt. "Oi…well that's a terrible taste." He looked back at Joey, who was still at the top of the slide. "Well, at least we're safe…thanks to the Captain."

Duncan shot a glare at Joey. Rather than provide a positive comment, he held his tongue as the battle resumed.

Pidove was soaring around, still firing on Roggenrola while evading the Rock-type attack. Quilladin and Whirlipede were both worn out pretty bad, and neither could withstand even another hit. It was caution all around, and one end of the scale had to be tipped.

"Alright, enough games!" Kane demanded. "Let's do this!"

"Hehe, okay!" Pidove dumbly chirped.

Joey was glaring from the side. With him away but still visible, he could see had to end this. _'This is it. This is where our training pays off…it's do or die!'_ He gave the command. "Pidove, time for **Steel Wing!** "

Pidove chirped as he sailed after Roggenrola. As he closed in, his glare was fixed so that he could get a lock on him. In his head, the images of Staraptor and Talonflame using that move made a small spark inside. He chimed loudly as his wings began to glow brightly.

' _This must be it!'_ Dereece hoped.

Pidove chimed loudly as he closed in with two glowing wings. He was so close, until the power shifted at the last second. He went wide-eyed.

"Snap!"

Kane mischievously smirked. " **Headbutt!** " Roggenrola heed the demand and shot up at Pidove, who was feet away. The impact was so intense that it sent a shock through the pigeon as he sailed far into Joey's direction.

"Pidove!" Joey swiped his arm to shift along his barrier enough to reach for Pidove. He caught him before he could fall into the pits. "Pidove, you okay pal? Say something!"

" **Rock Blast!** " Kane shouted.

Roggenrola made one more attack that shot silver across the pit. Joey looked up at the last second to see it heading his way, but he was too preoccupied. As he opened his mouth, he and Pidove were struck by explosive dust and smoke that enveloped their area.

The explosion caught Quilladin off guard. He stopped his maneuvering to look back. He saw Pidove get shot out of the sky and crashed into a small ledge away from the pits. The pigeon laid there with ruffled feathers and a dazed look. Along the branches, Joey's barrier wore off when the attack hit, leaving him hanging from the long tree branch's end over the gorge.

"No!" Quilladin wanted to go, but Whirlipede blindsided him. Turning around, Whirlipede rolled passed him, causing hm to fumble off to the side near Trubbish.

Trubbish turned around and burped in surprise as Quilladin was out of breath. Both looked to see Whirlipede hissing at them.

"Joey!" Dereece panicked. "Duncan, we gotta help out the Captain, and quick!"

Kane began laughing maniacally. "You are no match for me, Joey! Your luck's run out!"

Joey was perched on the branch, gritting his teeth. That comment struck a nasty chord in his heart, specifically where Camilla was. "You talk smack about luck again, I dare ya!" he shouted. "When I get down there, you're so-!" He nudged, making him flinch. It happened again, and again, until slowly, he lifted his head to see his support breaking. The branch cracked with every second, making him gulp.

"Oh no…" Dereece paled.

Joey faced forward, eyes wide. "… _something_ tells me I shouldn't have ate all those donuts this morning."

 _SNAP_

The branch completely snapped, twirling far away into darkness while Joey flailed as he plummeted in front of everyone's eye, screaming.

"Joey!" everyone screamed.

Pidove shook his head and looked up. Though fuzzy, he made out Joey as he screamed and plummeted out of sight. Slowly, his eyes began to widen as he became conscious. "No…NO~! **NOOOOO~!** " He screamed in horror.

"Joey!" Dereece looked down at the pit, scared terror spilled all over his face. Quilladin and Trubbish also looked worried. When all three felt a spine-shrilling aura, they gasped when Whirlipede was behind them, hissing as he was ready to make sure they suffered next.

Duncan grunted. He got out a Poke Ball to prepare for his turn. "Don't get distracted!" he warned. "This is still a battle!"

As Pidove was perched with shock on his face, his despair was making him flashback to events that lead up to now. It was just now that the shock triggered a chain of memories that caused him to dig deep into the pit of his mind. In a white light in his mind, the images started showing.

He recalled a scene where he was just a hatchling in a small nest of three. There were two Tranquill sharing that nest, and it was truly peaceful. It soon came to Pidove to leave the next when he learned how to fly, and he sailed off. Eventually, random flock after flock, foraging on scraps and berries, it soon came to a random flock he hitched with that brought him to a boy with blonde hair and a lavish coat to give him leadership material. He recounted the memory being there for Joey, when he caught him, to the battles they've shared. The Friday night movie-pizza they'd all enjoy together. To the beach, and quite recently, to seeing that happy smile on Joey's face.

" _Welcome aboard the party train, Pidove!"_ He could even recall that hopeful tone in his head.

All these flashes about him and Joey, it was stirring something up inside Pidove. He began growling as mist surrounded his eyes.

"Now…" Kane walked over towards the ledge, peering down into the darkness. "Where is Joey?"

Along the edges of the pits below, Joey was hanging by his massive coat up to a stray branch he conveniently fell by.

"Captain Joey!" Dereece screamed.

"Uh, a little help please, someone!" Joey called up. The branch started to snap along the trunk, making Joey bounce over the darkness with a gasp of terror. "Pidove, guys!"

Hearing his cries for help, Pidove gasped in moral shock. In a sudden show of rising anger, he growled louder as he ascended. "Gnnngh… **NOT…MASTER…** _ **JOEEEEYY~!**_ " Suddenly, his body exploded in a powerful blue light that illuminated the clouded peak.

"What?!" Kane turned around, startled by the sudden brightness.

Dereece turned around shocked, Duncan's eyes widening a little. Quilladin and Trubbish off to the side were speechless as they witnessed the light. Even down by the gorge, Joey could see a familiar glow ascending.

' _Pidove! Is he…!'_

Pidove glowing frame gained a neck as the wings flexed, getting bigger. The tail feather grew significantly to boot. As the avian-like creature was in midair over the ridge, the blue light exploded, causing its new form to reveal with a loud battle cry.

Shrill caws reverberated as a medium-sized bird-like Pokémon with the same plumage design as Pidove, only more spread out, had yellow irises and black sclera. It had red arches over the eyes with a dark gray head with a small tuft slicked back.

"Tranquill!" Dereece exclaimed. He pulled up his PokeDex, which observed Tranquill as he did an aerial maneuver through the sky.

" **Tranquill, the Wild Pigeon Pokémon. No matter where in the world it goes, it knows where its nest is, so it never gets separated from its Trainer.** "

"Pidove evolved…that's awesome!" Joey suddenly felt the branch crack again, making him jerk. "Gah!" he flinched. "Though, _maybe_ not at this second…"

Tranquill descended and braced himself. He glared down Kane as he angrily fought him with Roggenrola. "Impressive, but still. You're gonna have to go through me if you wanna save your precious 'Master Joey'." He mockingly declared.

"Okay by me!" Tranquill's eyes showed determination. Without warning, he shot across the ground with wings spread out. They glowed bright as he smashed one into Roggenrola, sending him bouncing away.

"W-what?! No!" Kane worried

"That was **Steel Wing**." Dereece gasped. "…a _perfect_ **Steel Wing**!"

Roggenrola stirred back up, but Tranquill was well on him. He bashed another **Steel Wing** into him, deterring him further. And then another, and then another, relentlessly, back and forth, slamming his wings nonstop left and right into Roggenrola, wearing him down with no room to attack.

Gritting his teeth, Kane had to act fast. _'Roggenrola can't survive this!'_ He reached out. "Whirlipede, **Poison Tail!** "

Whirlipede spun his body with a venom gleam in the back. When he closed in on Tranquill, he was in midair when Tranquill's glare snapped at him. Using **Steel Wing** , Tranquill smacked Roggenrola into Whirlipede, knocking both off course and in midair.

"Gah!" Kane gasped in terror.

Tranquill saw them both in midair when his body was outline din bright blue and he ascended. When at their level, he used **Quick Attack** and bashed into both with full force. With the Super Luck Ability, he made an air pulse that shot Whirlipede and Roggenrola into Kane, causing him to fall onto his back on the edge of the pit.

When Kane started getting up, he looked up as Tranquil flapped a few feet above the ground. He looked angry, and with Whirlipede and Roggenrola incapacitated, he could only shiver. "No, wait!"

"This! Is! For! Master! **JOEY!** " Tranquill screamed out with all his might as he flapped his wings, unleashing an **Air Cutter** that ripped across the ground. The attack closed in on Kane, and all he could do was scream in fright as a massive explosion of dust and rock swallowed him and his Pokémon. The blast was so strong that over the pits, the dust plumed uncontrollably, making it hard for Joey to see what was happening.

He heard a shout from above, making him look on as he saw Kane scream and fall right passed him. Kane fell into the darkness, disappearing from Joey's sight briefly.

"Woah…that was too close." He swallowed another lump.

Suddenly from the darkness, four Drifloon arose, holding Kane by his arms dangling as they inflated themselves higher over the pits into the air. "THIS ISN'T OVER, JOEY!" he declared as he was being lifted away. "NOT YET AT LEAST!"

As Kane was being carried off, Joey was looking up with a furrowed brow. "Uh…don't suppose you can spare one of those?" he asked, but the branch snapped. "Uh-oh!" Suddenly he started falling. "AAAHHH!"

He closed his eyes to await the end, but it never came. Instead, another force tugged at his lavish coat.

"What the…?" Looking around, Joey realized the he was being suspended in midair by nothing but a bright blue aura around his body. Feeling a sense of gravity tugging at him, he was slowly dragged upwards out of the pits, seeing Duncan with his Medicham using **Psychic**. "Duncan!" he sounded shocked and surprised.

Duncan seemed focused, but enough on his Medicham's attack. "That's good. Now set him down."

The Medicham obeyed and she gently placed Joey back on the ground over the pit's ledge. He looked down at himself to see if he was alright before being approached by his friends and team.

"Joey, are you okay?" Quilladin asked.

Trubbish belched.

"Yeah, I'm think…I think." He straightened up his back and felt his spine cracked. "Oh! Yeah…I'm gonna feel that." He groaned.

Dereece sighed in relief. "I swear I was about to get a heart attack right there."

Joey sheepishly rubbed his head. "Sorry about that, Dereece." He looked towards Duncan. "Thanks, Duncan. Guess you do care after all." He smiled.

Duncan turned away. "Don't get all excited. I saved you because Dereece would've been too slow to use his magic and get down to you in time. Just coincidence."

Joey was buffered some by his comment, but he chose to ignore it in favor of Tranquill cawing. Looking up, the evolved pigeon descended slowly in font of Joey. "Tranquill!" Joey lifted his arm for Tranquill to use as a perch. "Tranquill…that was awesome! You kicked Kane's butt today for sure."

"Yeah. Thanks." Quilladin added, his aura gone to leave him panted. Besides him, Trubbish went cross-eyes as she belched.

Tranquill smiled back. "Thanks, guys!"

"And what's better is that you mastered **Steel Wing** , that's great." Joey's smile, while genuine, turned ever so serious. "Listen, I'm sorry. To everyone." He looked down. "I've been irresponsible as of late. I let you guys, and Tranquill out of my sight…and this all happened because of me." He turned at Duncan. "Duncan…you were right. You have a lot more experience than me, so I get what you mean, but I'm aiming to keep my faith and everyone I hold dear with me. That's my way, got it?"

Duncan closed his eyes and looked humbled. "Whatever you say. Just make sure you don't fall behind."

"Done." Joey turned towards Tranquill. "And Tranquill, from here on, we're gonna keep an eye on each other more, okay? Fair shares for everyone."

Tranquill looked happy. "Don't worry! I'm never forgetting my Master, Joey!"

"Wait, hold up. Dereece paused, looking at Tranquill. "If you forgot about Joey before and flew away…how did you find us?"

"Hey, yeah. That's right. How'd you know where we were?" Quilladin wondered.

Tranquill blinked before he answered. "Oh, that? Well, I just followed these two birds who guided me here. One was orange, and the other had these brown feathers, hmm…?"

"Brown and orange…?" Dereece questioned the logic, but it stunned him. "Wait, you mean Nic and Erza's Staraptor and Talonflame, right?!"

Joey's eyes widened. "For real?!"

Tranquill perked up. "Yup! Those are the ones!"

Duncan shrugged. "Guess this was another stroke of luck. Seems as though Nic saved you _again_. How pathetic." He scoffed.

"Hey now, if it wasn't for him, we might not be here." Dereece pointed out. "Besides, aren't these 'guilds' supposed to work together? What's wrong with that?"

Duncan scoffed as he recalled Medicham, minding his own business.

' _Nic and Erza-senpai helped me out again.'_ At first Joey was a little shocked at what happened. He honestly wasn't sure if he should feel happy that Nic may have helped him, but unlike before, this was indirectly. But these thoughts were blocked out by Nic comforting him earlier about guilds and teams.

As Joey looked towards the sunset, a wind shifted his coat, a smile crossing his face. _'Thanks, Nic-senpai. I'll do better, thanks to you.'_ He raised a fist high. "Alright guys, it's still Friday night! You know what that means!"

"FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIE AND PIZZA!" Tranquill and Quilladin shouted, with Trubbish belching.

Far away on another peak, the two birds mentioned circled before they hovered down besides Erza and Nic. Watching the whole thing from afar, Nic smiled at the next level Joey had taken. _'Well done, Joey. I knew you could prove yourself.'_

* * *

Somewhere else within the realm of Ishgar, the sun had already set over the horizon. Across what looked like a massive complex that was covered by shadows, there were what looked like a mass of buildings to establish a kingdom or society of sorts.

In a complex behind heavily guarded gates, it was dark within what lurked within. It was here in black and behind glass panels did many of people were meeting, their faces unable to be met with light.

"You now understand what it is that must be done, do you?" one older man with a gruff voice asked, albeit with a slight demand in his tone.

Everyone was looking down at where the light shone in the hollow room. Surrounded by these unmarked judges, a chandelier of light lacrima beamed from ceiling down on someone who had a white coat with spiky white hair. He bowed his head towards these great superiors.

"You and you alone are to carry out this mission. You must travel to the land of Fiore, and do what you must. Gather the intel we need. Every detail weighs the balance of the magic society. Do you understand?"

Slowly, the man lifted his head, revealing shimmering water-blue eyes that were half-open. "I understand." He subtly stated. "With this responsibility…I swear to the name of Earthland, and our society…that I will purify our society from this corruption from its source. I will make sure that he and everyone else understand, that Earthland is ours alone."

The lights turned off, fading everyone back to darkness.

* * *

 **Phew, sorry I'm SUPER late again guys! I know making these updates take a while, but now they're taking like a week at least with my scheduling. But anyways, you'll be glad to know that I updated everything on my profile for the Pokémon info for Fairy Tail. Just know that for the time being, I'm only doing the active members, meaning like Team Natsu and whoever else participated. I still have some kicks to work on, but that's as accurate as can get for now.**

 **So now Joey's Pidove evolved into Tranquill and mastered Steel Wing, on top of beating Kane a third time! And I know many of you might be pissed with Shieldon not going to Joey, but I felt ancient Pokémon fitting with Dragon Slayers sent from the past could correspond well.**

 **Okay, so here's the deal. The next arc I have set up is VERY complicated. I'm calling it the Astral Arc, but the reason it'll be so complicated is because it's gonna be two stories simultaneously, one side for the main plot, and the other half being The Freaks' adventure. I'm gonna hop over to my Bakugan story for a while until I'm mentally prepared to start the arc here.**

 **So anyways, share your thoughts, reviews appreciated very much, and until next time!**


	31. Wish upon a Star

_**XXXX-200**_

 _The radiant night sky twinkled with stars, glistening like faraway Volbeat. Their shines were so bright that the midnight blue in the sky didn't compare to these stars though. They were eye-catching for a reason, and that reason was in red…just like the blood that stained the battlefield._

 _Swords and shields clashed between knights and soldiers. Their battle cries completely ruined the cosmic tranquility the sky had to offer them. Their war stained what could've been the coastal passage turned to a warzone. Arrows flew as others cleaved through armor. Both sides were losing bodily ground as soldiers who had lost their wills and blood gave into wounds. Thud after thud was a consistent beat that seemed to have played throughout the battle, and from the swarm that ranged from the mountains and back, this rhythm would be going on for a while. The sound of calm waves was muted to the clangs of metal, the stirring of dirt, the gashing of blood. And worse of all, the screams of the anguish._

 _While many speculate why this was happening, the sound logic was but for one logical reason: Territory. Ishgar, let alone the world, was caught in ancient times, a time where but magic was but anything that had yet to be exploited, and a time where amongst dragons, this was but one place of sanctum that had the least viewed problems of dragons attacking due to terrain. Amongst those who were fighting in this war was but the king who proclaimed war on the defending nation of Astral, a humble coastal city with ceremonious offers to please the king and his needs to keep him and his people safe from dragon fire. As many claimed the ignorance of a king charging into battle, it was a blessing in disguise. The king of this army was no slouch, for holding axe in hand, downing enemies, he was making headway into the back with his followers in hot pursuit. It was his strife, his greedy ambition for security that drove such a man to make it this far. To each their own, and by every means he intended to make Astral his._

" _Back at ye!" The king swung his axe, cutting down three men at once. He jumped over their bodies and ran on, disregarding the streams of blood that stained the bottom of his cleats. "T'is your majesty not a coward?! May his selfish mind poison you all! You must all be punished!"_

 _Wars like this were common back in the early days of man. Magic has been alive since dormant ages of ancient living, a life force that's been free to grow and liven the air and sky. Man was different. Views were waged against one another how others should submit. It was closer to survival of the fittest, and far be it from the king to make heed of such an example. In a game of life and death, strength mattered. But soon, wits would rival such an admirable trait._

" _Show yourself! Bring your kind forward!"_

 _As the battle waged on the frontlines, there were mountain cliffs that overlooked the area, another reason why the area was a treasure. Walking up a ledge to overlook a battle, a figment with a massive golden crown with a deep blue jewel overlooked the battle._

 _Swinging his axe, the invading king cleaved through another soldier. The position made him glance up and see a figment overlooking them. "King Seraph!" The king adjusted his stance. "You and your people have cursed this land with you and your father's influence! Today, that influence shall be naught!"_

 _The king said nothing. He was hard to make out with how dark it was outside, especially with it being night. Rather, the king and his loyal knights and soldiers eyed his majesty as the blue jewel on his crown shined brightly, creating a blinding array that momentarily paralyzed everyone._

 _The king covered up, not minding that some Astral soldiers slain some men with the distraction. The light's glimmer ceased, the kind looked up, his face stricken in horror._

 _The king's crown jewel shimmered red as new figments stood behind him. Out of thin air, 12 creatures stood before him. All of them had traits similar to animals, otherwise some looked like animals, the exception being the bull and the pairs of fish. The sea goat wearing a suit was no different. All their red were a shimmering bright red, as if they were deliberately toying with their quaking foes._

" _W-what this be…?" The king was at a loss for words at these summoned beings, but what startled him was the gargantuan one being King Seraph._

 _The giant had his own cape, much like the king. He stood almost three times as tall though, and had a massive moustache._

 _The red stars in the sky twinkled brighter, causing all the creatures' eyes to brighten with the corresponding jewel._

" _The…the tales, they be true?" The king could feel his own shock overwhelm him. It was as awesome as it was terrifying. 'What beith this power…? Is this from his majesty? No, those things. Those spirits!'_

 _With one swipe of his hand, Seraph sentenced the creatures into battle. The giant king grabbed his mighty blade that gathered celestial energy. He leaped into the air, coming down into the fray with one swing, reducing everything under the red stars to an oblivion white…_

* * *

 **X793**

"Vanessa. Vanessa~." Sophie nudged her friends shoulder. "Vanessa, time to get up."

"Mmm…ten more…minutes." Vanessa muttered, rolling to her other side.

Sophie sighed and looked over her sleeping roommate. From the looks of it, Vanessa wasn't looking like she was going to get out of bed soon, just like any typical morning. And much like any of those mornings, the young blonde took it upon herself to wake her best friend from her prolonged slumber. "Okay then…" She took a deep breath before cupping her hand around her mature pink lips. "VANESSA! KROOKODILE JUST BROKE MY FURNITURE AGAIN!"

"Gngh-w-what-?!" The Pularis woman shot up from her sleep, the shout loud enough to fully awake her. She sat up on her comfy bed, looking around briefly before realizing the person beside her. "Sophie?"

"About time you wake up." The Memory-Make Mage winked.

Realizing the false alarm, Vanessa sighed. A little of her wake started fading again. "Must you do this _every_ morning?" she irritably asked.

"It's not my fault you decide to sleep so late." Vanessa gave her a stern glare. "Don't be like that. Come on, it's 8:30. Breakfast is ready."

Despite her displeasures, Vanessa chose to get out of bed and fix herself up. Once she was dressed, she made way downstairs towards the dining area, where on the floor their collective Pokémon were helping themselves to breakfast.

"You made it, good. I was worried I'd have to drag you out." Sophie chimed as she was cutting into her pancakes. She had chocolate chip pancakes with syrup and butter, while for Vanessa's plate, it was stacked with fruit, and a fruit smoothie. Of course the piece of resistance had to be the large sliced lemon.

"Good morning to you, too." Vanessa said. She took liberties to her seat, immediately going for the lemon. She took a bite, savoring the sour taste she's loved for as long as she could remember.

"I made sure to but those bulky ones just like how you like them." Sophie ate more of her pancake. "That's also your second lemon this week."

"I know."

The pair continued their breakfast humbly, minding their own meals while the Pokémon did theirs. Krookodile chowed down until he let out a hardy burp. "Alright." He threw the plastic bowl down on the ground. It was plastic for an obvious reason. "Let's go kick some tail today!" he roared.

"If whoever _has_ tails, then I'd believe you." Mawile chimed, picking up a piece of her Pokémon food.

"You calling Krookodile a liar?!" He roared.

Mawile feinted innocence. "I never said that."

Krookodile's eyes narrowed as he stood over Mawile. "Let me tell you something, Mawile! Krookodile might not know when he's played with mind games, but I know when I'm insulted! AND I AM INSULTED!"

"You went third to first-person again." She nonchalantly chided.

"Alright you two, don't start this." Venusaur interjected, getting between. "Everyone just finish and we can settle this another time. We got work to do after all."

Delphox knowingly smiled. "Yes. We'll need our strength for battle and work. Better to save it for an appropriate time."

Krookodile looked away, pouting. "Whatever."

"Geez, do these guys ever shut up?" Dewpider irritably scowled, trying to mind his own breakfast without the hassle of a fight…again.

"This behavior is most unpolite." Finneon chimed, using her backfins for balance. "Though, I do suppose to each their own."

"And to that logic, that is another morning in a nutshell." Kadabra replied, using an intellectual tone. "Now Finneon, please do pardon us if you're not too familiar with us or our operations, but please, do not take offense."

Finneon humbly grinned. "It's quite alright, brother Kadabra…but I appreciate the sentiments."

Everyone enjoyed their breakfast until it was time to get going. Once they cleaned up, it was time to head to the guild hall.

"You ready, Vanessa?" Sophie asked.

She nodded. "Yes. Let's get to work."

This was Sophie Lednick: Experienced Memory-Make Mage and a member of Fairy Tail. As well as Vanessa's best friend. That's what Sophie was, and to her, it was her most valued treasure.

* * *

In the grand capital of Fiore, Crocus was on familiar grounds, specifically towards its center of Mercurius. Inside the grand home of the royals, Hisui and Toma E. Fiore were sitting in their thrones, calmly watching the city's bloom as the sun arose.

Arcadios walked to their side, humbly smiling at his loyal leaders. "Princess. Your Majesty. Good morning to you." Arcadios humbly bowed.

Hisui softly smiled. "Good morning, Arcadios."

"You're looking well this morning, old friend." Toma chimed.

"As are you." Arcadios arose from his ceremonial bow. "I trust that today's events have been planned accordingly as per schedule?"

Hisui nodded. "Yes."

It was just another day in the name of the royal family. With the sunny weather, the royal family would do about their leisure, minding the control they needed to regulate within their humble kingdom. One would've considered them being free as songbirds, but being an heiress was more strenuous than what many could've imagined. It certainly didn't help Hisui that her father has been giving certain thoughts some points.

"Your Majesty, are you sure about this?" Arcadios asked Toma. "The ceremony is a coming of age, but surely there's no valid point in not postponing."

"Nonsense, Colonel." Toma replied dismissively. "I don't see why we shouldn't. Besides, it's not like I'm getting any younger."

"That may be, your majesty, but to bequeath this responsibility is such a huge responsibility. You could at least step down to an advisor if you must."

"I agree." Darton intervened. "We understand your intentions, but with this whole Pokémon integration, should we really be adding salt to this pot? It's stirred up enough as it is?"

"Arcadios. Darton." Hisui frowned. She was really starting to feel the weight pull on her, not that it already did. She knew that at some point in her life that she would have to run the kingdom, and she could count on Arcadios and Darton for support. But when she stopped to think about it their points weren't exactly invalid. The Pokémon coming to Earthland was a major shock for them, and there have been considerable hiccups here and there regarding wars that were waged recently – both whom Fairy Tail thwarted. It was an added responsibility, but like most leaders, she would have to deal with them.

"I know exactly what you both mean." Toma's words snapped Hisui out of her shock. "You two mean a lot to me, as to my precious daughter. I don't know where this kingdom or I would be without your help."

"Father…"

"That's why I know this kingdom will be in good hands…" He began, a smile forming on his lips. "I've had a good run, but this new age needs a new head. And my Hisui…" He faced his daughter. "I know that there's no one better suited to this task than you."

Hisui's eyes almost misted at her father's words. She strongly smiled. "Thank you, Father. I promise I won't let you down."

Arcadios' smile widened, his grin showing pleasure. "Seems that the time's truly come then."

"Suppose so." Darton grumbled. "If this is majesty's wish, then so be it."

Arcadios took several paces until he stood in front of Hisui. "Princess…no, Queen Hisui." He got to a knee, bowing before the heiress. "I promise, I shall follow you to this new era. Will you let me?"

As if it was an obvious answer, Hisui tilted her head. "Of course I would. I wouldn't have had it any other way."

As tender as the moment was, a fellow guard stepped in to intrude on the matter. "Your majesty, is this a bad time?"

Dismissing the pleasantries, Toma's mood shifted to normal. "No, not at all."

"What might be the problem?" Arcadios asked.

The guard didn't answer. Instead he walked up to Arcadios and presented him with an envelope. On it was a golden signature in fine cursive.

"What is this?"

"It's a letter addressed to us, Colonel. It arrived just this morning from Seven." The guard explained.

"From Seven?" Arcadios repeated. "That's very unusual. Wonder what business they have to us?" He was going to reach and open it, but Hisui stopped him.

"Arcadios. Please, allow me."

"Queen?" Arcadios almost stammered on a small spill of logic, but corrected himself and followed her instructions. "Of course, as you wish."

"Thank you."

Arcadios proceeded and handed Hisui the letter. She opened and started reading on the tan-colored paper. She was actually amazed at such a pigment on paper. Dawdling on and reading the letter, she fell in a trance, one that turned to shock that left a brow furrowed on her face. This didn't go unnoticed by her advisors.

"What's wrong, Hisui?" Toma questioned worriedly.

"What does it say, Princess?" Darton asked more demandingly. "Is it a threat?"

Arcadios looked at the heiress with a serious look. He could tell from watching over her for years what that face meant. This one spelled a sense that he never liked. "Queen Hisui…"

After overlooking the whole note, Hisui gently lowered it and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Her earlier distress had to be suppressed, for she had to be a queen soon. And queens must be calm. "I need to send word out as soon as possible." She ordered. "They might be the only ones that can do this task."

* * *

Bustling as ever, the Fairy Tail guild hall was as rowdy as a jacked up Tauros. Business went on rather smoothly, and jobs have been flowing in like crazy that a lot of people have been off at work earning livings that the guild hall was almost empty, save for a handful of members still around.

Sophie proceeded into the guild hall, with Vanessa in tow. "Good morning." The pair called out.

Mirajane was over by the bar, serving a plate of breakfast to Laki. "Good morning, you two." She replied back. Her Vullaby waved to them in greetings.

They walked inside, where Vanessa passed by her brother. "Morning, Nic."

Nic was currently having a large omelet served on a hot plate. It looked relatively mouthwatering with the cheese on it. Beside him Greninja was having a plate of sliced Oran Berries while Erza was right across watching her husband eat. "Morning, Vanessa. Sophie." He called out.

"Nice to see you both up." Erza grinned.

"Sorry we're late. Vanessa slept in again." Sophie chimed, though Vanessa eyerolled behind her back.

Erza internally sighed. "I thought we fixed this during our training." She breathed to get a grip. Granted, Vanessa was her sister-in-law, and Erza and her got along like actual sisters do. But even with her faults, her sleep was something that Erza constantly had to argue about. When she looked at Nic, he didn't say anything on the matter. She expected him to say something about her constant sleep but came up short.

Noticing his wife's stare, Nic raised a brow. "What?"

Erza sighed again. "Honestly, doesn't it bother you that she sleeps in all the time?"

Nic chuckled as her expense. "Well it's not like it's anything new. Besides, I don't see a problem. We do that too sometimes, right?"

Erza had to concede to that point. She remembered yesterday morning when Nic was sleeping in a little later than usual. She tried to wake him, but instead she realized Nic was too…playful that morning.

The image alone left Erza crossing her arms in a beet red face. This didn't go unnoticed by Nic and Greninja, who looked towards one another, unison blank stares with sweat drops. "That's not what I meant…" the former muttered.

The pair took to the bar, where seats were available right beside Cana. "Hey, about time you Slowpoke show up." She chimed. Her Purrloin raised her head from the stool she rested on and hopped onto the counter to curl up and resume lounging.

"Morning Cana." Sophie and Vanessa took their respective seats besides their fellow drunkard. "So, did we miss anything?"

Cana shrugged. "Not really. Elfman and Lisanna left earlier on a job, saying something about these things called 'Tangela', whatever those are. And Kinana's still on her job from yesterday, so there's that."

"So business as usual then." Vanessa said casually.

"Well…" Cana chimed in. "Prinplup _did_ learn **Bubble Beam**." She mischievously winked. "The little's guy's a hard worker when he really wants to, am I right?" She cooed towards Purrloin, who snickered with her Trainer. Coincidentally, Prinplup's Poke Ball shuddered with steam on it.

Sophie raised a brow. "Is that so? Well the, suppose we'll have to test Dewpider's **Bubble Beam** against him sometime. What do you say Vanessa?"

Vanessa smirked. "Careful now, or else your fangs will show." She teased.

"That a bet?" Cana smirked.

"It could be, but if I recall, your gambling streak's lead you to a hefty tab." Sophie smugly reminded. "You sure you'd like to add onto that?"

"Hey, no skin off my bones. And I got plenty to spare."

"Funny since you wear a bra all the time." Purrloin added in sassily, using her tail to point at Cana's cantaloupes.

"She's got you there." Sophie nudged.

Cana shot her Purrloin a leer. "Who's side are you on?" She snorted. Purrloin's only response was a meek shrug.

Vanessa softly giggled at the antics, not minding her friends' haughty commentary. It was amusing.

On the other side of the guild hall, other members were taking to their own leisure while resting between jobs. While a majority of everyone was out working, Team Shadow Gear was sitting around, with Levy reading a book – possibly on Pokémon biographies. Even Klink looked invested, and most Pokémon can't even read. Wakaba and Macao were sitting around while Romeo was with Wendy as Litwick and Amaura were playing around. In fact, the Dragon Slayers had their recently restored ancient Pokémon

"Amaura, be careful." Wendy called from afar.

"Okay!" Amaura chimed, looking back at Romeo's Litwick. Gajeel's Shieldon followed the energetic hunt, leaving Amaura to hurry in the conga line

"Well they seem to be adapting quite well." Carla commented.

"Yeah, I was kinda worried about that, too." Wendy admitted. She watched Amaura as she was the one heading the game of tag they were playing. She seemed elated, causing her grin to widen.

"I didn't see why we should be worried." Gajeel remarked. "They seem fine to me."

"Are they really dinosaur Pokémon?" Romeo asked, staring at them with widened eyes.

"Surprised?" Gajeel smirked.

"We wouldn't have believed it if we hadn't seen it for ourselves." Pantherlily explained. "But the Cambire Foundation really went and made a milestone with this technology."

"I didn't even know they had technology to do this kind of stuff back on Nic and Vanessa's home world." The thought was as gratifying as it was shuddering to Wendy. While Earthland did had its fair share of eccentric tastes with magic, she still didn't know the full capabilities of Pokémon technology. If they could make hospitals with machinery, and invent fossil cell regeneration, there's no telling what else they could do. She was getting more scared by the second.

"Guess I shouldn't be complaining." The surprising comment came from Natsu. "Those guys sure know how to make a Pokémon, I can give them that much."

"Aye." Happy noted from a nearby table. "You should've seen how worked up Natsu got. We were actually worried something bad would happen."

"Shut up." Natsu whined. "Anyways, I'm still not fully trusting this whole program thing they have going on, but I can at least try and see what I can get done." He beamed. "Besides, it's not so bad having a little talking dinosaur by your side. It's actually kinda fun!"

"Yeah, for you." Happy gave Natsu a sour look. "That thing tried to eat me in my sleep!"

"We're working on it, alright. Say, wait a sec…" Natsu looked around, turning left and right. "Where the heck did he go anyway?"

Close by, a ball was being lobbed back and forth between two tails. A rubber ball was smacked by Sandshrew, which volleyed back towards Tyrunt. The two were getting along – ne by Natsu's insistence – and so far Tyrunt has been behaving. Save for a few hiccups, the Royal Heir Pokémon was cultivating himself quite well.

"Heads up!" Sandshrew hit the ball with his tail, lightly bouncing it back towards him. Tyrunt returned the gesture, and back again. Back to Tyrunt, and back again.

"Alright, try this!" Getting slightly eager, Sandshrew swung the ball harder, sending it driving at Tyrunt.

Caught surprised by the speed of the ball, Tyrunt didn't act fast enough and panicked. Instead of swinging, his maw opened for **Bite** , chomping down and popping the ball. When he realized what he did, he blinked several times until he looked down at the scraps dangling from his teeth.

Sandshrew nervously sweatdropped. "Well, there goes the game."

"Tyrunt sorry." Tyrunt nervously chuckled.

Natsu looked over at Tyrunt to see him trying to get along, even by little means. He was skeptical at first, but after a few days of hard work, he was starting to get a better grip on Tyrunt's whining. _'I wonder if I can get Darumaka to chill a little like that?'_ He could see Darumaka in Tyrunt's position. He would kick the ball with all his energy that it'd shoot out of the guild ceiling, something Natsu didn't wish to pay for.

"Oh, I like this color!" Snover used his painted hand to dip into the white liquid.

"Good, just like that." Reedus nodded.

"Hey Tranquill. Make sure you get my good side, okay?" Joey called, posing with his Magikarp overhead. The fish looked more dead than he did earlier.

"Okay!" Tranquill shouted.

"Lombre, be sure to get the pose right!"

Lombre gave a thumbs up before he lowered his head, allowing collective paint to drop onto the pallet that he dipped in.

Reedus was with his Smeargle as they were overlooking many of canvases, plastered smiles on them as they watched the Pokémon get creative with art. This little exercise was something Reedus had been meaning to try out for a while, especially when he purchased enough canvases. When he did get the money and paint, he thought it'd be "therapeutic" for Pokémon to try to draw rather than the Trainers. It was a weird concept but effective nonetheless, and honestly the Pokémon were getting into it. At the moment, Gray was posing with his shirt off for Snover to paint. S well as for Juvia to lovingly admire from afar. Vijeeter was posing for Lombre. And Joey, deciding to take a short break before jobs, allowed Tranquill to paint him. Not surprising, Joey even dragged Dereece into the art world, and he was allowing Heracross to try and paint for him. And – for reasons no one could understand – Nic's Kecleon was painting as well, though she was facing away as she used her tongue blotted with paint to draw Nic and Greninja from afar.

"I think this is all working out quite nicely, wouldn't you say?" Smeargle beamed proudly.

Reedus firmly nodded. "Oui. And it helps us visualize just what the Pokémon sees. Brilliant."

After painting for a while, Reedus and Smeargle went over to check on Snover's progress first. Seeing him use his fingers rather than a brush, Snover dipped into black and spread it on the canvas. He backed away, admiring it. For a Pokémon, it wasn't too bad. The figment of Gray was a little sloppy, more or less of a cream-colored stick figure with a smiley face. He was on a white background with gray dots, like snow.

Reedus nodded with pride. "Good job, very creative."

Snover sheepishly rubbed his head. "Hehe, aww thanks…" He noticed an odd sensation on his head. He looked at the hand he used, which held paint. "…oh."

Reedus moved right along towards Lombre, seeing his artwork. Much like Snover's work, it was relatively sublime, much like elementary school art, but nothing they didn't appreciate. The same with Dereece's Heracross, though his aptitude was more detailed.

He made way towards Kecleon, seeing her tongue licking the canvas. "And what do we have over here?"

Looking at the portrait, Kecleon squiggled her tongue with hot pink on it. When she retracted it, her tongue dangled on the side of her tilting head as she overviewed her picture. The portrait was relatively decent, looking borderline prestige. In the center was Nic, and surrounding him were six floating heads, which looked like chibi versions of Greninja, Charizard, herself, Staraptor, Garchomp, and Arbok, all having big smiles and colorful stars around them. Oddly enough there were a few scattered things, like polka dots in the background, and a few food items like donuts and Lum Berries. There was even a rubber duck over Staraptor's for Arceus knows what reason. But over all of it in hot pink slanted cursive, it said: "My Family".

Reedus' eyes widened in disbelief. "Why, Kecleon…" he began shakily. "That's…that's stunning! That's absolutely riveting. This so what you think of your Trainer?"

Kecleon tilted her head to the other side. "Cumquats, ripe and ready for plucking."

Joey was still posing, but even he was raptured by the awesome art of Kecleon. He peeked over his shoulder with a dreamy gaze in his big blue eyes as he saw the simple drawing Kecleon made. _'Even Nic-senpai's Pokémon are artists!'_ he inwardly squealed. _'Oh my gosh! I knew I should've left my wallet home! I wish I could buy that for that spot in my room.'_

As Joey demented daydreaming kicked into overdrive, Tranquil move his beak away from the canvas, holding onto the paintbrush in his beak. He innocently tilted his head as he overlooked his painting. Reedus and Smeargle both came around, inspecting his next.

"Ah, and what do we have he-!" Upon instant eye contact, Reedus and Smeargle both literally turned to stone, and it wasn't from Evergreen this time.

There was a god reason they were so petrified. Tranquill's painting of Joey holding up Magikarp was, for a lack of better word…what? It wasn't anything like what Kecleon and the others painted, far from it. In fact the composition and details were so extreme that it almost looked real. While he did capture Joey's pose with Magikarp in the air, he made them on the top of a rocky mountain, overlooking a vast valley range of smaller mountains going to a grassland in the far back. Joey was holding Magikarp just below the sun's radiating light over their glimmering forms. Joey had a regal crown with his kingly, long robe being a dark magenta with black spots on them, though the fur lining is far thicker. With Joey looking up holding Magikarp up like he was some christened child to save the world, Duncan and Dereece were on both knees and bowing ceremoniously, as if worshipping Joey under the godly sun.

Shakily recovering from his latest revelation, Reedus pointed at Tranquill's painting. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost. "D-did you paint…that?" he asked.

Tranquill broke away from his masterpiece and glanced at the instructor. "Hm? Oh, yeah. It's a nice little doodle of Master Joey. Think he'll like it?"

Reedus froze at Tranquill's words. "A…d-d-doodle…?" He wouldn't believe it in a million years. Something like that couldn't be a "doodle", could it? It would take ages for something like this to be made, but Reedus was baffled as it hadn't even been half an hour yet.

With shock so great, he and Smeargle turned to stone again, this time crumbling to dust. Their remains were picked up by a light breeze, scattering over Joey's head as Magikarp coughed the dust. "Huh, what up bud? Need water?"

Looking over out of general curiosity, Duncan saw the portrait Tranquill was working on. "Did it seriously do that?" A part of him was impressed s well s disturbed. When he looked at himself bowing before Joey's godly stature, his face twisted as he resumed reading his strategy guide.

Back at the bar, Sophie was indulging herself with a light conversation with Vanessa and Cana. However, a long sigh stirred her away from them. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Lucy groaning as she used her arms as a chinrest. She looked bored, for a lack of better word.

"Lucy?" she called.

The Celestial Mage heard her name, snapping her out of her chance. "Huh? Sorry Sophie, did you say something?"

The slimmer blonde shook her head. "Lo (No). I was just wondering what you're doing?"

Lucy absently shrugged. "Nothing."

"You don't sound so enthusiastic to me."

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Guess it's because I didn't get enough sleep last night." Lucy nervously smiled to make the lie convincing, though from Sophie's suspicious gaze it was hard to make out.

"That's strange…" Sophie was well aware of the fact Lucy went on a job and came back yesterday. She and Team Natsu in general, and they all didn't even look remotely tired. Though from the bags under her eyes and shaking gaze, she figured something was up. "Did Natsu and Happy break in again and woke you up?"

Lucy sighed, in both irritation and relief. "No, not this time." By all means, she's gotten used to them popping in her room and apartment, but even so thinking about it still irks her from time to time.

Sophie raised a brow. "Well if you need anything, you know we're here for you."

"I know, thanks you guys." Lucy genuinely smiled at her friend's concern. She was thankful that Sophie let up on the matter but the guilt inside kept boiling over inside. It wasn't her fault though, her mind has been away for a while, thinking of other things. When she looked at Klefki, the Key Ring was looking at her with genuine wonder.

She picked up something she had stashed in her pocket, a key. The source of her wear the past few nights. _'Aquarius…'_

"Yo, Sophie." Cana pried, scooting over to her side. "Can you believe it?"

Sophie returned her attention towards Cana. "Get what?"

Cana shrugged. "C'mon, you know what I mean, just look at Nic and Greninja over there." She pointed a thumb over in their direction, referring to their quiet dispositions while Erza was chiding Natsu about Tyrunt and her armor.

It took a moment for Sophie to remember the occasion. It wasn't an anniversary per se, but something that made her mournfully frown. "…yes, I do now."

"It's been a while since we freed the Celestial World. Hard to believe that felt like a while ago." Cana smirked. "Good times."

"Speaking quite the volumes, aren't you?"

Cana shrugged. "I'm sober, I should be _drinking_ volumes." She laughed.

Sophie smirked along with her friend's comment. She looked back at Nic and Greninja, wondering what they might be thinking. Though she can probably take a good guess.

Nic and Greninja were relatively quiet as they watched Erza and the guild around them. While admiring the serenity of their boisterous guild – as well as seeing art, the day's turn of events didn't stop them from remembering their time in the Celestial World. Brief as it was, this day marked the stand they took against one of their greatest foes…as well as a loss that they had since gained from.

As they sat calmly to digest their omelet, a voice called to him. "Nic."

Nic looked up, mild surprise on his face. "Freed?"

"Pardon the interruption, but this came for you." Freed handed Nic an envelope, before proceeding towards Lucy. "And Lucy, this came for you as well."

Lucy looked shocked. "Wait, for me?" She sounded so surprised, but she took it without hesitation.

"Wonder what it is?" Happy asked.

Natsu shrugged. "I don't know. Fan mail?"

"Lucy? Fans?" Happy snickered. Unknowingly, the comment made Lucy shoot a glare, silencing the feline.

"Cana, Sophie, I believe you ladies have something for you as well." Freed handed the two ladies letters o their own.

"What the heck is this about?" Cana raised her envelope a little higher, squinting at the light peering through the thin paper. "Not tab money, that's for sure."

Curiosity piqued, Nic and Greninja proceeded. They and the mentioned took one look at their envelopes and slowly opened them. Reading over the contents, all faces grew absently curious over what they were reading.

"What's it saying?" Natsu curiously asked.

"Love letters maybe?" Laki thought of the irony of the situation. She wouldn't mind such a 'forbidden love' situation for her sake.

As Nic read over his note, his brow furrowed. He looked towards Cana, Sophie, and Lucy, seeing similar expressions from their notes. From the looks of it, it was a chain reaction.

Erza walked up towards Nic. "Nic, what is it?"

Contemplative for a moment, Nic and Greninja nodded at one another. They stood up, ready to take action. It seemed urgent from what the letter spoke of, but no one wanted to question it, not yet at least.

The one to have finally broke this silence was Lucy. "It's a letter…" her eyes slowly widened. "From Princess Hisui."

* * *

In a matter of a few hours, back in the castle of Mercurius, the main lobby entrance was aligned with decorative artifacts for a more welcoming display to any quests that came in from the front. This grand hall's floor looked greatly waxed, with a red carpet that went on towards the small convergent for all these displays.

"Woah, just look at this place!" Lucy lightly gasped. She looked at the shimmering, gold embroidery hanging around her.

"That's an understatement." Sophie acknowledged. "I recall the ball room banquet, but it looks like they did some redecorating."

"I'll say. You could fit the whole guild in just this room." Cana acknowledged.

Inside this hall, Lucy, Sophie, Cana, Nic, and Greninja all stood quietly. They've been invited to Mercurius by Princess – possibly soon-to-be- queen – Hisui upon formal invitation. It wasn't like something for this to happen often, so the girls were relatively lively with the scenery. Nic didn't care so much, so he just stayed still with Greninja. Though that can't be said about others…

"Hey Happy, check this out!" The voice came from Natsu. He was admiring a painting in front of a wall that had a rippling pond with sun shining down from tree canopies. "Betcha that looks like a fun fishing spot, huh?"

"Yeah, that looks so real you could touch it!" the exceed gasped.

"You think that's a real place here somewhere?"

"Beats me." Happy's face turned to pleasure as his mouth started watering. "But if it is, I wanna see just what kinds of yummy fish it has…"

A short distance away, their little interlude grasped the attention of the other girls. Cana raised a brow. "Remind me again how those two were invited here?" she asked.

"They weren't." Lucy huffed. "I told them _specifically_ that only those who got letters were allowed here…not that it matters anymore." She turned towards them. "Seriously guys? This is the princess' house! Where's the respect?"

Natsu looked back, raising a brow. "What's the big deal? It's not lie we haven't been here before." He countered. "Besides, look at Mr. Anti-Authority over there, how come he gets to be invited?"

"That's a good question." Sophie thought of Natsu's logic for a moment, but she dismissed it out of irony.

Nic heard what Natsu said, but he simply ignored and looked at his surroundings.

Lucy sighed irritably. "Just don't break anything you guys, for real."

"We won't sheesh. We're not _that_ irresponsible." Natsu protested.

"Maybe not, but Darumaka and Tyrunt are." Happy countered. "And they say these guys take after their Trainers, too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I guess this place isn't so bad when you look at it." Greninja commented.

Nic shrugged. "Yeah, guess you're right." Along Nic's line of thinking, bigger wasn't always better. As an abused kid, he never had pretty much…well, anything. So to have such a massive space like this felt wasted. Even now the house's possession was mainly Erza's stuff, with portraits he did here and there. It really wasn't his lifestyle; something to look at, sure…just not something he needed in life.

A pair of footsteps closed in. "Lucy?"

The blonde heard a familiar call, turning towards the sound of the voice. "Yukino?"

Klefki's little metallic body shimmered. The Key Ring's senses were growing wild upon hearing that name. _'Yukino? Then that means…'_ She slowly turned, her vision immediately locking onto the possession beneath her massive cloak.

"Yukino? As in from Sabertooth?" Cana questioned.

Yukino rushed up towards Lucy, not minding the anxious stare Klefki was giving. She smiled softly. "It's so good to see you, Lucy!"

"Yeah, me too Yukino!" the fellow mage replied. "It's been a while."

"It has."

"Keys…keys…" Like a volcano unable to contain the ashes and flow, Klefki's eyes snapped to sparkles as her ambitions went up again. "KEYS~!" She wildly stirred in midair before her speed shit her at Yukino. The Celestial Mage cringed at the incoming Steel-type.

Yukino closed her eyes, unable to get a clear guard. But thankfully, nothing swamped her. When she opened her eyes, she was perplexed when Klefki was struggling in midair, held back by Lucy by her keyhole horn.

"Klefki, we've been over this." Lucy chided. "What did I tell you about stealing keys that don't belong to you?"

"B-But Lucy, she has keys! AND I LIKE KEYS!" Klefki continued jingling and struggling, but it wasn't getting her anywhere. Lucy's grip was tough a Kingler's claw.

"Look here, little miss." Lucy scolded harshly. "Either you behave, or I'm putting you back inside the Poke Ball where you'll not even be able to glimpse at keys. Capeesh?" Klefki found no use in escaping and surrendered. She huffed, allowing her to pull her back, though still maintained a grip for some measure of a leash. "There. Sorry about that Yukino. Klefki can be a tad overbearing when it comes to keys." She reasoned.

Yukino calmly nodded. "It's alright, really. I'm just glad to see you again."

"Excuse me, everyone." Everyone attention drew towards the new person entering the area. When they looked at his armor, they recognized him as Arcadios. Seeing Lucy's Klefki, he felt a need to hold back. "Am I interrupting something?"

Realizing the position they were in, Lucy immediately positioned herself. "Uh, no sir. Sorry!"

Arcadios chuckled. "It's quite alright." He looked around, seeing all the people gathered. "You're all the people we were able to get into contact with. That's wonderful to see."

"Is something the matter?" Nic asked.

Arcadios stepped off to the side. "You'll find out for yourself, Nic Pularis. Please, follow me. I'll escort you to our majesty. She'd like to speak to you. All of you."

Nic and everyone didn't fully understand the intentions, but they played along. They followed Arcadios down a short stretch to a corridor, where they ended up in a relatively large conference room. In the center was a long table, and at the end was Hisui, and beside her was Toma. Everyone took a seat and the doors shut, leaving the room with them and Arcadios supervising.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice." Toma bowed. "We apologize for any conveniences we may have stirred for you from this."

Natsu shrugged. "It's cool I guess." He turned towards Hisui and Toma. "Hey, good to see ya guys."

Hisui smiled. "Hello to you as well, Natsu." She seemed elated to see him again, though the same couldn't be said for Toma or Arcadios from their less than amused expressions. No one could blame them; his stunt with the flames on the castle left char spots they still were trying to get out.

To keep himself composed, Arcadios turned towards Nic. "Sir Nic Pularis, thank you for coming along as well. It's an honor to see you again."

"Don't mention it." Nic said flatly.

Toma cleared his throat and coughed. "Er-hem! Anyways, now, back to the task at hand. We've brought you all here for a specific reason. And that reason involves something we've gotten just recently."

"Just recently?" Yukino repeated. "What does that mean?"

"We're getting to that." Hisui answered. "Just earlier this morning, we were given a message from the country of Seven. It's the country that directly northwest of Fiore, with Bosco being right below."

Despite no need of the geography lesson, the information raised questions. "From Seven you said?" Cana asked. "What could they want?"

"Exactly what we were asking ourselves." Arcadios interjected. "We figured it could be a desperate plea of help or maybe something related to our Cambire Foundation, but the message wasn't for either. Tell me, are many of you here familiar with the Celestial World in which these spirits resided?"

Nic and Greninja held straight faces as they thought momentarily of long ago, when the Celestial World was taken over by Lysandre. And all just to pass time until Nic showed his face from the 7 years of travel. The nostalgia didn't leave a happy note.

"Yeah, you can say that."

"And you all must be aware of the Infinity Clock incident that happened several months before the Grand Magic Games, too right?" Hisui asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, we are."

"The genocide of many spirits, as well as the Infinity Clock's power…both had left a drastic impact that critically damaged the mage world and the spirits themselves. A lot of Celestial Mages lost their magic, leaving only a handful left. In other words, it's on the verge of being an extinct race of magic."

"Lost Magic." Sophie crossed her arms. She's already remembered a lot of magics that were forgotten that she and Rufus memorized and studied in their childhoods. _'Just like our Memory-Make.'_

"So where does this involve us into the equation?" Cana interjected.

"Like it or not, you all are associated with Celestial Spirits in some way. You all have been touched or contracted with them. As a fellow Celestial Mage, I myself have this power, but have no keys. But you, you can still summon them." She looked towards Lucy and Yukino specifically when she said that last part. The gesture made them look towards each other uneasily.

"Wait, hold on a sec." Happy raised a paw. "We get why Lucy, but Nic can't summon spirits."

"That may be true, but he and the two maidens have exploited the Celestial World." Arcadios pointed out.

Hisui nodded. "Right, and because of that, there may be a way we can use the spirits and our powers alike to fix some of the damage done."

"Repair how, exactly?" Nic inquired.

Toma snapped his fingers. A lacrima projection created a visual of a man sitting on a throne. He was an average-sized induvial, who looked to be in his early 40's, similar to Arthur. He had very short hair – shorter than Nic's – and was blonde. He had blue, crystal eyes with a charismatic smile and star-shaped earrings. He adorned a periwinkle tunic with yellow accents along the edging, with purple trousers and black boots. Like any king, he wore a robe and a crown combo.

"This man is known as Melchior Seraph. He is the king of Astral, a rather commemorative coastal city, _and_ the one who addressed this to us. Apparently he, too, is a Celestial Mage, a very gifted one."

Lucy's eyes widened. "Wait, hold up! _Another_ Celestial Mage?"

Toma nodded. "Yes."

Yukino looked perplexed. "But wait, I thought all the mages who didn't have Zodiacs…"

"We're not sure about that information either, but he must have some connection to the spirits still if he was able to maintain his celestial powers." Hisui said. "That said, we need you all to do us a favor."

"You mean like a job, right?" Natsu asked. "Because you know we work in guilds. Not a lot of our stuff we do is free."

"Natsu." Lucy hushed.

"What? It's true."

Toma put a hand to his chin. "You guild mages do have a point." He straightened his posture. "Very well, we'll set up an arrangement for your liking for this favor."

"Just what is this favor exactly?" Nic asked. "Is that what this is about?"

"Yes, Mr. Pularis. Precisely." Arcadios nodded. "Your highness, may you give the request?"

Hisui nodded. "I will." She turned sharply back at Nic and everyone. "Melchior has made a personal request for the aid of all the mages who are in possession of the current Zodiac Keys." The information stunned Lucy and Yukino, Hisui pressed on. "If we go, there's a good chance this may reflect on Fiore, so accepting is essential."

"So you're using us as ambassadors as a double up for this favor?" Greninja pointed out.

"Yes. If we succeed with this favor, we can establish a better relationship with Seven, and get better aid when needed. But that's not the main reason. Lucy."

"Yes?" Lucy composed, her hand swatting Klefki absent-mindedly as she was reaching for Yukino's pockets.

"We've heard about the sacrifice of Aquarius' Key during the attack on Tartaros. Melchior's request of you and Yukino is of extreme vitality."

The room's tension started to rise around them. The tone of Hisui's voice was starting to give some kind of leeway towards a revelation. Everyone tensed up for what came next.

"Listen very carefully. He said, that if all goes well…there might be a slim chance that Aquarius' Key might be restored again."

All eyes slightly widened from this information. Nic and Greninja held as calm composures, but Natsu nor Happy could contain their own shock. Cana and Sophie gasped too, as did Yukino. Klefki held still.

Lucy's head rung Hisui's sentence, over and over. Something inside of her was snapping that was putting her into black. She was barely processing what she said. _'A-Aquarius…?'_ Once again, a cringe in her grip revealed her holding Aquarius' broken key. She looked down at it, her shock surmounting. _'If this works, then she can…?'_

"Wait, hold up a second!" Cana backlashed. "You're saying that this king can guarantee a spirit's return?"

"I understand your skepticism, but that we can't be sure of." Arcadios replied. "Our records and information gathering has shown no magic recorded other than Celestial Magic."

"Forgive me for saying this, but I thought once a key has been broken, it can never return to the way it was." Sophie reminded sagely. "Aquarius made that perfectly clear before she…"

Lucy frowned even more as Sophie's recollection was spot on. The shock and hope she had was waning towards inquiry. It was too good to be true.

"We don't have much details on how exactly a key is forged to begin with." Hisui stated. "But for the sake of the Zodiacs and our fellow celestials, I believe this trip might be the key."

"That sounds like a gamble more than a favor, you don't sound so sure about all this either." Nic pointed out.

Hisui huffed. "I'm not…but there's a lot to gain from this than just a trust. So will you all do this for me?"

"I got no problems with it. What about you, buddy?" Natsu asked Happy.

"Sounds like a nice trip." Happy agreed. "And maybe we'll see who this king is if he's having this kind of power."

Nic looked over towards Lucy. "Lucy?"

The Celestial Mage was facing a dilemma. She'd be for it, and a part of her really is, but at the same time, it was hard to make out what potential this trip to Astral could mean. It was a lot to take in, let alone a chance that Aquarius could come back. Would it all be worth it in the end? Would Aquarius' sacrifice mean something then?

As she was given looks from her friends, Lucy was weighing her options. She found her palm shifting with something jagged at the end. Looking down, she was holding onto Aquarius' key beneath the table. The figment of the spirit brought her back to her childhood. Her mom died when she was so little, leaving her with her neglectful father and the few spirits she had. Aquarius was one of them. A small part of her was telling her this could be a ploy…but that was a small part of her.

"Lucy…?" Klefki moved closer to Lucy.

After a long silence, the blonde clutched Aquarius' key in her palm, a determined glare sharpening on her face. She faced Hisui with a determined look. "Okay, I'm in!" she nodded.

Hisui gradually grinned in pleasure. "Very well. Then I shall arrange everything. I wish you all the best luck can offer."

"Oh boyoboyoboyoboy!" Klefki began twirling and bouncing off walls around Lucy. "New keys! New keys! Keys for me! Yay!"

"This is gonna be a blast." Natsu smirked. "Looks like we're on another business trip guys, who's with me?!" He raised his fist high, to which Lucy cheered with him.

Nic and the other shot looks to one another. They looked just as ready. Nic faced forward, a serious frown showing. "Alright, so when do we start?"

* * *

Beyond the coastal mountains bordering Fiore from the land of Seven, there lied an unknown range leading to a massive ocean. Within the valleys of these mountains lied a town with altars and terrains to suit its needs. Within this city, there lied a massive throne room, where a throne sat at the top of steps that had a gorgeous view overlooking the bustling city.

"Your highness."

The sound of a woman caught man facing away by surprise. Regardless, the shadows his throne's backside casted showed no astray. "Yes, Auriol."

The woman who had entered and kneeled before her king was Auriol. She was an eloquent beauty one could say, one so vast that one could say that she radiates the grace of an angel. She was a modest woman of average height, with porcelain skin that's smooth to the complexion. She had well kempt blonde wavy hair that mainly went down the right side of her face, but also down her back. She had emerald eyes which held the same shine as the earrings in the shape of stars. She wore a blue ballroom gown with a white blouse combo. There was a massive slit running down the gown's bottom to reveal her high-thigh white boots with yellow accents acting as armor. The lady looked up, her modest frame basking in radiant sunlight coming down from the skylights over them.

"You'd be glad to hear that the letter that you had sent to the kingdom's family was safely procured." She answered.

"I see. And of any word so far?"

"Quite so. Fortunate news." Auriol stood up. "The princess was able to retrieve the mages that you've requested. She will have them sent here to meet us in person."

Behind the throne, the king's smile approved. "That's wonderful news, thank you, Auriol."

The eloquent lady smiled softly in her bow. "It's nothing, your grace. I'm just one of your humble advisors. It's an honor to serve you."

Melchior chuckled. "Okay, now you're just milking it." He laughed until he was amused enough. "Anyways, this may be our blessing in disguise we've been calling for all these years."

"Is it true that we can resurrect the broken keys of all the Zodiacs?"

"I have no doubt." His majesty began to arise from his seat, feeling a quick stretch in the knee muscles after sitting all morning. "It's been far to long since everyone's seen all 12 Zodiacs in one place. If the ceremony works at the right time, there'll be no doubt that this will permanently bring back the celestial power."

Auriol lowered her head at her king's words. "I truly admire your love for Celestial Spirits, your highness."

"As do I." he nodded. "Now then, I believe we should be preparing for our guests. Sent word to Oberon and Tophet, we'll need to discuss with them about the proceedings if we're to time this right."

"It shall be done. Please, excuse me." Auriol gave one more bow before she turned around and smiled on her way out. She seemed modestly happy for this occasion.

The doors shut, leaving Melchior to hum softly at the maiden's leave before facing the city once again. The radiant sunlight beamed through the day's cometh, just as it has been for centuries, and quite hopefully, more to come. _'This may very well be our one chance.'_ He thought on a neutral level. _'If this doesn't work…then the world may never again know of this magic.'_ He looked towards the mountains, seeing a peak align with the sun. What he was seeking was soon to come, all he had to do was wait.

* * *

The vast sea was surprisingly calm on this sunny day. With this bountiful weather, anything was set for sail, with not even a cloud in view.

In the middle of the dense blue yonder, there was a small wooden boat that was being dragged by rope tied to a Seel, a Stunfisk, and Magikarp. All three swimmers were dragging the boat along as Joey absent-mindedly hummed to himself as he flipped a page in a comic he's been reading the past hour to kill time.

"Keep it up, Magikarp." Joey called out, flipping another page in the comic. He looked more focused on it than ahead.

Magikarp gasped as he kept swimming between Stunfisk and Seel, surprisingly he was keeping up with them.

"Yo, Dereece, what's the word on the compass? Still west?"

On the other end of the small boat, Dereece was looking at the handheld map and compass he had in hand, hoping he was right. "Uh…yeah. I think so."

"Cool." Joey flipped another page of the magazine. When he saw the picture of hot females in skin-tight dresses with flirty looks, he wasn't at all turned on, for a number of reasons. His renewed mind gagged. _'Are a lot of these magazines here in this world fanservice?'_

"Captain Joey, remind me again why we're doing this?" Dereece asked tiredly.

"Hm?" Looking pass the magazine, Joey raised a brow. "What kind of question is that? This is a job, right?"

"I-I know that. It's just…doesn't it feel a bit unsafe being out here…alone…in the open water?" His tone arose with rhetorical input as his sentences dragged on, though once again, Joey found witty retort.

"What's the harm buddy? It's not like we haven't been out to sea before." He didn't sound in the least bit worried of their circumstances. "I already doused us with some Repel and put Trubbish in front of my party, so we should be okay."

"If you say so." Dereece sighed, trying to lift the stress from his heart. "Captain, are you sure this was such a good idea?"

"About what?"

"You know. About…Duncan." Dereece trailed off upon the mention of their other teammate – the reason of his anxiety.

Joey raised a brow. He fell silent as he thought back to it, though unlike Dereece, his worry was more of contemplation of the earlier actions after Nic and the party's departure plans were set for Astral. While they were set for their adventure, Joey – disheartened that he wasn't invited – opted to use the work ethic he picked up from Broly to go on a job.

Even now, what Duncan said when he told them rattled his mind.

" _You what?"_

" _You heard me, I'm not interested. Not this time."_

 _The news surprised Joey as well as Dereece. Both stood stunned in surprise over their acquaintances and teammate's declaration of not going on a job. It wasn't like Duncan to do this to them…he only brushes them off when training, not work!_

" _But Duncan, c'mon man." Joey reasoned. "What's the harm?"_

 _Duncan shrugged. "What's_ _ **not**_ _to harm?"_

 _Joey powered on. "C'mon, it's just a small job. The Cambire Foundation is requesting mages to scout some locations and record the Pokémon species there is all. All we have to do is just meet a couple of Pokémon on this island, and our Pokedexes do the rest. We get paid and buy new pants!"_

" _I'm still surprised the Cambire Foundation is able to give out requests at all." Dereece sidenoted._

" _It's gotta be some kind of alliance thing, or something with politics with the Council, something like that. I don't know."_

 _Duncan scoffed, bringing them back to attention. "Look, I get it. You want me to accompany you on a job again, that I get. But you know I have a say, too._ _ **Captain**_ _."_

 _Joey furrowed his brow at Duncan's snipe in the last comment. Whatever he was implying, Joey was feeling a serious tone take over._

" _Okay, so what's the problem now?" Dereece interjected. "Are you saying that you're blowing us off because everyone else is heading to another country?"_

" _If that were the case, then would I be saying it to your face right now?"_

 _Dereece raised a brow at Duncan's blunt nature. "Er, w-well I, uh…"_

 _Duncan smirked cockily. "Okay, look at this then. Don't think of it as me blowing you off. Think of it as my way of telling you guys that I need some time off. I just need a little fresh air to train. That fair enough for you?"_

" _Fresh air?" Dereece countered. "You get plenty of air. You're always off on your own training and looking at strategy guides in your free time."_

" _And you guys sit around eating junk food and partying."_

" _Well not_ _ **always**_ _. We're out busting our butts to stay alive. Do I even want to remind you of what happens just the other day with Kane?"_

" _Which is precisely why I'm asking for this time away from you."_

 _Joey and Dereece paused for a moment, their spines starting to shudder from the hint of Duncan's logic._

" _The reason I joined you guys was because when I first came to this world, I realized we needed safety in numbers. I agreed, and look where that got me – nowhere. So perhaps we should start changing tactics and see how well we can do in gaining strengths for ourselves. We've always had to face single enemies, have we not?" He looked towards Joey. "You know what I mean, don't you. If you_ _ **really**_ _think that being a team will make us feel stronger, then each member should have their strengths and weaknesses figured out. Come back from this so-called job with something worthwhile, then maybe I_ _ **just might**_ _show some more effort."_

" _So you're basically saying we need to get strong on our own?" Dereece interpreted harshly._

" _Correct. I said before you can't rely on anyone who isn't there for you." His words etched into Joey and Dereece from under the bridge before then. That memory was still fresh in their minds. "You wanna prove your responsible, right? That you want to get stronger for the ones you failed to protect…well then stop relying so hard on others when it's clear you can stand on your two feet."_

" _Duncan! You can't just break off and say we should-!" Dereece was cut off when an arm reached out in front of him. "Captain Joey?"_

 _Joey glared daggers with Duncan, both their eyes meeting with distilled silence. The Barrier Mage could be seen with some calm despite the hostile arrogance Duncan gave him._

" _Look buddy, I don't know what you really think is going on, but I'm gonna remind you that_ _ **you**_ _agreed to be part of The Freaks, so once a Freak, always a Freak. That's the way we roll." He straightened his posture. "Look, I'll allow this…but this is coming out of your vacation days."_

 _Dereece gave Joey a quizzical shock. "I didn't even know we got vacation days…" he muttered._

 _Duncan shrugged. "Fine by me."_

" _So you can go and keep an eye on Nic-senpai or on a job, and Dereece and I will do ours. And if your logic backfires on you because_ _ **we**_ _weren't there, just remember that you wanted this. So you better be back when we are so we can be in time for Friday night movie and pizza, Okay?"_

 _With the Captain speaking his toll, Duncan nodded as payment. "Alright then."_

"I still don't get why you let Duncan have that time off." Dereece prodded, bringing their conversation back towards the present. "He already spends enough time by himself as he is."

"I didn't see anything wrong with it." Joey nonchalantly shrugged. He was currently laying on his back with hands behind his head. "Besides, this might be a good thing. Maybe it's best we try to give him the space he needs."

"Any further and he'd probably be _in_ space…" Dereece scowled beneath his breath.

"What was that?"

"Uh, nothing. Seel! Stunfisk! Keep rowing guys, just a little more!" Seel and Stunfisk heard Duncan's call, both of them starting to pick up a little more speed towards west.

"Well, anyways Dereece, I'm not saying Duncan's wrong. It's just…well, he has a point." He paused to try and make sense of his words. "He's always pushing us to think independently and Nic-senpai has been telling me to not forget about my friends. Maybe this is a chance to tell Duncan we can be strong while we're separated. Truth be told, he's really got a lot of experience…a lot more than we do."

Dereece didn't find it right to argue with what Joey was saying, even though it was rather hypocritical. He always knew Duncan was way stronger than both of them, which was why Dereece felt so secure before. Now out in the open in fewer numbers made it a lot more…vulnerable. That's when it hit him, the sense in Joey's interpretation worming into his mind.

"Maybe if we actually try to follow his logic for a change, maybe he might follow ours. It's a psychological trick, you know. So maybe when we meet up, maybe he'll wanna hang out with us more."

"That's…" His eyes slowly widened at the realization. "Actually not a bad idea."

Joey sat up. "Right! So we'll come back [roving we don't have to rely on his strength, and our teamwork might actually improve. It's a win-win!"

Dereece, having finally agreed with his Captain's concepts, nodded.

"Alright then…" Joey whipped around, pointing forward. "The S.S. Party-Pooper is a go! Magikarp, towards West!"

"Gotcha~." With a wheeze, Magikarp swam a little faster, picking up speed with his fellow amphibians as they proceeded towards the western hemisphere.

"So what's this island called, you know?" Joey asked.

Dereece looked back on the map. "Doesn't say on this map. I can barely tell if it's even here or not…is this even the right map?"

Joey beamed. "Well it better be, because I'm seeing something up ahead." With a foot up and pointing ahead like a directory, Joey pointed towards something small under the ocean sun. "Land-ho!"

They all closed in on the island, its visual getting closer for their sights to behold. As the swimmers continued their paths straight towards the unmarked island. Even from the distance, they could see the green indicating forest life. It held a massive cliff, where it went to several ridges through monstrous pines that reached far heights.

"That's where our quest is?" Dereece asked, holding skepticism like before.

"I sure hope so." Joey answered. "Let's hit land and mark a territory. The sooner we scan the Pokémon here, the sooner we can leave."

They drew themselves in towards the island, where the waves did the work in pushing the inland. When within ankle deep water, Dereece got out and pushed the boat onto the sand, with Joey standing triumphantly the whole way. Finally exhausted, Dereece and the Pokémon fell over, panting after the long swim; Magikarp flopped like a dead fish. Joey planted his feet on the sand last, looking at the island's forest life around him.

"Well, this is a start…man, if I didn't know any better, I would've figured this was a floating forest. I wonder if bananas grow here? I'd wanna make another fruit hat."

Once he was recovered, Dereece walked up to Joey's side, inspecting the island's topography. Looking at it from a panel of left to right, the island had a few bumpy ranges, but it looked relatively small. But a part of him felt an uneasy tension crawl up his spine. The forest didn't look so inviting. It looked like it wanted to devour them alive.

"I really hope you're sure about this." Dereece said with an ominous tone. "You feel that strange energy?"

Joey looked up, the forest's life chirping low for his liking. "…yeah, a little." His brow furrowed. _'This some kind of magic?'_

"M-maybe we should go back. I don't like the way this looks."

"Well, we're here now so no turning back." Joey turned around, returning his Magikarp. "Thanks a lot for the trip buddy, you rest up, okay?" He recalled Magikarp back to his Poke Ball. Dereece did the same with Seel and Stunfisk. They turned back towards the forest. "Well, let's get going."

Joey filed in first, with Dereece close behind. He stopped for one moment to look back at the boat before resuming his trek behind the bushes.

* * *

The duo made way through the island forest, doing their job to ensure they scanned and jotted down as many Pokémon that their eyes could scavenge for. Joey opted once to split up, but he knew way better than to do that, especially since some parts if the terrain went to deep ravines. Still, despite some geography trailing problems, the two managed to worm their way around. It was actually enjoyable after a while. It was like walking through a morning dew forest, but bigger. They found themselves hiking deeper and higher, finding all sorts of Pokémon that they've seen in books and on TV.

Once they made it to a rock formation split in two, Joey and Dereece took a small break for some water they were able to carry. As they held a break, Joey decided to play leader again. "So Dereece, what did we see here again?"

Dereece pulled out his PokeDex, going through again the number of species that they were about to scout for. "Let's see. There's Caterpie."

"Check."

"Metapod and Butterfree."

"Check, check."

"Meowth. Paras. Mankey. Venonat. Aipom. Cherubi…"

Dereece began listing a lot of Pokémon that Joey kept confirming on a list of species the Cambire Foundation sent to them to checkmark. A lot of the species were specifically ranging from Bug to Grass-types, with a couple of other forest-related creatures that could live. It didn't take long for Dereece to finish up.

"So is that it?"

"Yeah, afraid so."

Joey looked disappointed. "Man, hasn't even been like three hours."

"It's been thirty minutes." Dereece corrected.

"Whatever, you get the idea. Anyways, once we're rested up, let's try for the cliffs. Maybe we're missing some Rock or Ground-types that live up there. Here." He handed Dereece a Repel. Joey proceeded to spraying himself with his own Repel. The scent was sure to last a while, that much they were certain. Once it was all on, Joey loosened up and huffed. "Okay, let's get back to-!"

The sound of something hitting the ground alarmed them both, causing their hearts to jump. They turned around, looking up at a ridge.

"Dereece, did you just hear that?" Joey asked quietly.

The advisor slowly nodded. "Yeah, I did."

The sounds of attacks being exchanged and voices heard in the distance. It sounded like a scuffle was breaking down, and it sounded loud, especially with buzzing.

' _Are Pokémon battling here?'_ Unable to hold in his curiosity, Joey stood up and made a leap. "Okay, that settles it. Let's go check it out!" The Freaks' Captain suddenly conjured a barrier in the formation of a staircase, leading him up no trouble.

"Captain Joey, wait!" Dereece reached up, but Joey was far too out. "Oh great." He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head angrily. "I swear, even after everything he's still…" His pessimism aside, Dereece opted to follow Joey. He went up the staircase and jumped onto the ridge to follow the Captain.

The two slid down a small slope leading to trees and bushed blocking them from view. The sounds of attacks being dished out was louder. Dereece and Joey looked at each other with slow nods. At the same time they peeked over the bushes to see the commotion.

Together, their eyes widened in disbelief.

"No way…are you serious…?"

"Woah…is that really…?"

Meters ahead of them, there was a man they were familiar with, wearing sunglasses, but his eyes could be seen through them as he grinned excitedly. He looked content as he was battling a wild Sewaddle, a worm-like Pokémon with a bulbous head, with a leaf cloak wrapped around it. It event had orange stubby paws and a snout, with two pointed teeth on it.

He was battling with his own Beedrill, and they looked serious. "Alright Beedrill." Kevin instructed. "This time, we're not letting this one get knocked out. Hold back on those Twineedle. Don't wanna risk poisoning when the health is low."

Beedrill positioned his stingers. "I sting yo face!"

The wild Sewaddle looked at both of them playfully, though the Bug-Grass-type seemed quite intrigued. "Oh, what really big stingers you have." He said playfully, almost flamboyantly. "…especially that big one on yo bottom-half, boy."

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill countered, though it was hard to tell if his answer was clear or not.

"Beedrill, use **Rage!** " Kevin commanded. He watched as a tick mark grew on Beedrill's face as he suddenly broke into a speedily charge for Sewaddle.

Sewaddle saw the incoming bee and waited. At the last second, Sewaddle suddenly jumped over, evading Beedrill and landed on his two feet. He turned around to face Beedrill, opening his mouth to expel a silky **String Shot** that moved rapidly like a beam.

"Beedrill, dodge!" Kevin yelled. Beedrill ascended, dodging the thread in time. "Alright, **Fury Attack!** "

Beedrill's stingers glowed as he aimed for Sewaddle. "I sting yo face!" He darted down, his left stinger stabbing a blow once, then the right one, then the left one again. Sewaddle gasped when Beedrill pulled back for a fourth back, roaring as he stabbed Sewaddle – ironically in the face – and sent him thumping across the ground.

Sewaddle groaned as he slowly covered. "Oof! Oh, I see." He swooned. "So you wanna play rough with me, huh? Well…" he lowered his head. "Two can play at this game."

Kevin's eyes widened in realization. "Beedrill, **Fury Attack!** "

Beedrill shot forward as Sewaddle shit glowing green leaves at Beedrill in a funnel, via **Razor Leaf**. The attack's range was far more effective than what was intended for Beedrill to intercept. Beedrill found himself deterred and unable to block fully. Though thanks to typing the attack was reduced, but the leaves dissipated to have Sewaddle in front of him, startling the bee. Sewaddle's **Tackle** struck Beedrill's abdomen, sending him flying back. The bee managed to recover, but Sewaddle was remarkably agile, already heading for him with another **Tackle**.

"Beedrill, up in the air!" Kevin yelled.

Beedrill ascended, managing to evade the attack in time. Sewaddle looked up, seeing the stinger above him. _'I could get used to see that over me.'_ He mischievously smirked. "But I'd rather get close…and personal!" He opened his mouth, shooting a long thread of **String Shot** that coiled around Beedrill's stinger, pulling him back down. A blue aura signaled a drastic decrease in Speed upon falling. The bee was unable to use momentum in time when Sewaddle reeled him in for a head-on **Tackle** in the abdomen, this one harder that meant a critical hit.

"Beedrill!" Kevin cringed when he saw Beedrill fall onto his back. "Ouch!"

Beedrill had the wind knocked out of his insectoid body. The bee with a vocabulary complex tried to move, but the String Shot from earlier didn't help him with getting up in time before Sewaddle pounced on his abdomen. The larva looked at the bee suggestively with a snark expression.

"I sting yo face…" The bee groaned.

"Too bad, looks like you wanted it the hard way." Sewaddle opened his teeth, his fangs glowing for his next attack: **Bug Bite**. "I wish it was the other way around, but beggars can't be choosers!"

Kevin had to act fast, and he needed to do it now. Seeing how Beedrill was pinned down, there was still come parts of him still abled. "Beedrill, kick it off!"

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill managed to get him off using two legs like tweezers to hold up Sewaddle. The larva found himself unable to reach and was thrown skywards. With momentum gained, Beedrill buzzed back up and followed his adversary.

"Beedrill, **Fury Attack!** "

With what ferocity he had, the bee elevated to Sewaddle's elevation, where he reeled back and struck forward. Sewaddle gagged upon the first blow, which left him open for a second strike, then a third strike. Finally, Beedrill reeled back his end stinger and stung Sewaddle, creating an airwave that passed through. The blow left Sewaddle with overwhelming shock – and very small levels of pleasure – as he crashed into the ground while Beedrill floated in front of Kevin.

Sewaddle coughed as he laid sprawled on his side. "..o-oof…you…can sure be rough…"

"I sting yo face!"

"Hold on, Beedrill." Kevin called, stopping the Bug-type's finishing move. "We need this one. It's part Grass-type." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a Net Ball. Once he was ready, he threw it at the severely weakened Sewaddle.

The capsule landed its mark on Sewaddle's backside, much to his chagrin. The bug was sucked inside, where the capsule shuddered once, then twice, and then a third time. There was a brief pause before that click…and then it clicked.

Kevin had just caught himself a very…interesting Sewaddle.

"Alright." Kevin walked passed his Beedrill, bending over to pick up the Net Ball. "Looks like we got a new Pokémon. Nice job, Beedrill."

Beedrill turned away. "I sting yo face." He buzzed in a small pout.

"Hey, watch your language."

"Kevin!"

Hearing his name called, Kevin's eyes widened. _'What the-?!'_ Turning sharply around, Kevin saw two familiar faces trudge through the bushes to confront the Trainer. "Joey…? Dereece?" He looked at them with deep surprise.

The three associates closed in on each other, reconvening with great admiration. Suffice to say the trip just got more elated.

"Kevin, long time no see man." Joey cheerfully greeted.

"Joey, my man, what's up." Kevin rocked a fist bump, to which Joey answered with his own. "Glad to see you're kicking again."

Joey smirked. "How could I not? You're here, right?"

"True that." Kevin looked at Dereece. "Dereece, what up my man?" He offered Dereece a fist bump as well, to which the Trainer reciprocated with his own, though less energetic. "Talk about a coincidence. Of all the damn places to meet up…yeesh."

"Yeesh is right man, what the heck are you doing here?" Dereece inquired. "Shouldn't you be, uh…you know…looking up _stuff_ …?"

Kevin raised a brow. He didn't know why but his respected level seems rather low. _'Geez, backhanding me much?'_ He tried to answer regardless. "Well, if you must know, I'm out on a job of my own."

Joey rapidly blinked before processing. "A job, too?"

Kevin nodded. "Yup. Let's sit down and talk, and you know, catch up."

…

The small crowd found themselves perched on a small rock big enough for them to perch on. Like birds on a tree, they each found a different level to sit on as the world revolved around them.

"I gotcha. So you're here on a job too, huh?" Kevin surmised, taking in the entire explanation. "So your job is to map out the Pokémon species that live here."

"Yup, you guessed it." Joey shrugged. "Anyways man, enough about us, what dragged you to this creepy place?"

"This." Kevin pulled out a flier from his pocket. It was all wrinkled from being in there for hours, but it was still legible. "A scholar is willing to pay me a bit to help him search for all these people that have gone missing over the past few years."

"Missing?" Dereece repeated.

"Yeah, that's the story at least. He gave me a bunch of names that my Search Magic was able to track down. The strange part is…their locations all lead to around here. It's weird."

Joey and Dereece exchanged intrigued looks. While they were holding up their problems, Kevin's explanation added to the mystery surrounding them. Coupled by Dereece's bad feeling, even Joey was feeling uncertain about this.

"Well I guess that makes sense. But how did you get here?" Dereece asked. "I didn't see another boat along the shore when we arrived."

Kevin smirked. The perverted mage/Trainer reached into his pocket, pulling out a lacrima capsule. It shined blue, indicating it was a containment unit. He pressed on it, causing it to mold its shape into the massive kite that he received from Valeria. "Didn't need one." He deadpanned.

Joey gazed at Kevin's kite with shock and awe. "Woah, man! Where the heck did you get that kind of stuff?!"

"It's a long story." Kevin snapped his fingers, reverting the kite to a spherical form in his palm he stashed away. "What matters is that I finally managed to work it. Anyways, now that we got that out of the way, what do you say we collaborate a little?"

"Wait, huh?" Dereece squinted. "You mean like…work together?" He flipped his index finger back and forth between them and Kevin to signify the pairs.

Kevin shrugged. "Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean I'd rather battle you but we're on a schedule. Those people need to be found, and you guys gotta get topography. I don't see why it's _not_ a bad idea."

Their slightly older – though questionably sane – Blue Pegasus friend had a point. Working together would help in the long run, though the idea did have merit in other areas. They weren't sure helping out other people from other guilds was allowed, but in this case, no one was around to patronize or tell them otherwise. But Kevin was a friend of them, and believe it or not, they could use him for transportation if push came to shove. Giving each other nods, Joey and Dereece made up their minds.

"Okay, you're on." Joey grinned.

Kevin nodded. "Deal."

"And after we're done, we can throw an even bigger party. So how's about we get going guys?" With nothing to lose, Joey made headway, with Kevin following behind. Dereece filed last, his energy less than invigorated.

"Let's just get this over with." He followed behind last. "Wait up, Captain!"

* * *

Overlooking from the mountains, the chosen party that tagged along with Lucy and Nic's venture was a matter that had expanded rather incredulously. Feeling obligated, Natsu invited the rest of his team, along with Sophie, Cana, Vanessa, and of course Juvia for the ride. And, as an added bonus upon insistence, Duncan dragged himself along for his own reasons. The group was overlooking the mountain pass that lead down towards the runic city. Even from the distance, they could feel an ancient charm surround it.

"Wow, look at this place!" Lucy gawked. "It's huge!"

"I'll say." Natsu whistled. "Man, this place is nice. Is that a church over there?"

"Yeah I think it is." Happy answered. "It's huge!"

"That's gotta be the size of Kardia Cathedral." Sophie said. The comparison was just as light as a feather, for the cathedral within eyesight looked more like a castle.

Cana took another sip of a small metallic alcohol thermos she brought along, wiping her mouth with a sigh. "Guess this country's pretty big on living large."

"Yeah…" Wendy nodded.

"And this is where this king lives, right?" Gray looked around, seeing the twinkling sea right on the northern side. "Man, talk about fancy."

"It's such a beautiful place from what I've heard. I wonder what we'll find?" Juvia began swooning over the possibilities, ranging from picnics to walks in the parks with Gray by her side. "What a lovely getaway…as long as the others don't intervene of course." She shot a glare specifically at Lucy and Sophie. Coincidentally the blondes also felt this chill.

"This is where Princess Hisui said our destination would be." Erza said. "Let's not keep his majesty waiting. The trip was long enough as it is."

They all proceeded down the mountain, with Nic and Greninja tailing in tow. They started down a ways until they took one more look at the city. They looked up at the city, hearing the oceanic waves flow to and fro, front to back. It was peaceful, and yet at the same time, Nic could feel something…majestic about the place. He couldn't put his or Greninja's fingers on it, but from their stares, the air itself raptured them.

"Nic!" Erza called, gathering their attention. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, just looking is all." He looked back at Greninja. "You ready?" Greninja's response was a gentle nod. Together they ventured down the mountain.

Not far on another pass, they weren't the only ones heading for Seven's celestial city. These guys were observing afar, watching them go down the mountain pass.

"Well how about that? I'm seeing some more company popping up like daisies." One of the females said. "You knew they were heading this way?"

One of the males was turned away, looking nonchalant without much care. "Don't see why it matters. To be honest, I'm not exactly surprised."

"Are you sure you can't just hear the entire world through those ears of yours?" the girl groaned.

Another woman chuckled. "Well, well, our little friends are popping out of the blue again. What do you say to this?"

Beside her, a man with what looked like a tattoo on the right side of his face was grinning. He seemed elated to say the least, but more or less nostalgic. _'This should be interesting.'_ In this particular case, that would be putting it extremely lightly.

* * *

Venturing into the city, the Fiorians could see just how different the architect was compared to Fiore's townships. It was more olden than what they originally thought. The buildings were all well furnished and housed standard necessities, indicating they've been modernized. But what didn't escape them was all the carvings and the pillars around being made of stone. They got a closer look at the smaller buildings they saw afar, and like the cement that they walked on, it was carved beautifully.

"Oh wow." Lucy was looking around, her eyes taking in the scenic view of this olden city structure. It felt like she just went through a time warp and ended up in the past. "So rustic."

"I'll say, what's with all the stones everywhere?" Natsu questioned. "These guys must really love rocks or something."

"Somehow I highly doubt that's the reason." Wendy commented.

Carla glanced around. "But you have to admit, their architecture here _is_ rather odd. Everything is accented, even the homes."

Vanessa smirked. She didn't know why but walking through the city reminded her of Geosenge Town and Route 10 back in Kalos. "This town certainly has a rustic aura surrounding itself." She said.

Erza chuckled. "Yes, I can see it there."

"So this is Astral." Gray took another look around, admiring some of the views as he went by. "It's not a bad place to be actually."

"I heard Seven's townships and cities are named after references to space." Sophie explained. "Fiore's towns are all named after flowers. Here in Seven, it takes after space and stars. I heard that their main cities form a six-sided star when drawn on a map."

"Where'd you hear about that?" Cana asked.

To answer her question, Sophie pulled out a small map she had stashed in her pockets. The map, much to Cana's own surprise, had permanent pen that was perforated between several city points that did in fact made a large six-sided star. "I figured it out during the carriage ride into the valley." She tilted her head, winking and sticking her tongue out playfully.

"Sometimes Sophie, you bug me." Cana resumed drinking.

"Excuse us."

Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned around. Behind them were several soldiers with golden armor accented over their bodies with matching helmets. They all sported red mohawks even that gave them a Roman-type of sense in their décor. They all had swords and shields, quite possibly of the finest metal around, something that caught Erza's attention especially.

"Check it out, even their armor is old fashioned." Natsu pointed out, only to be bumped by Lucy's elbow.

"Don't be so rude. They'll take it the wrong way!" she hushed.

"Uh, right. Sorry."

The guards took another look at them, specifically at their emblems. Seeing them as Fairy Tail and Sabertooth in Yukino's case, a guard approached them. "Those emblems, are you all not from around here?" one asked.

"Uh, no. Can't say." Yukino shook her head. "Sorry, we're just visiting."

"I see. Then by any chance are you the Fiorians that his majesty has called for?"

Erza stepped forward. "We are. What's your business?"

The soldier straightened his position. "My apologies. Please, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am called Altair, I am the Captain of his majesty's enforcements in Astral's good name. We were told of your arrival, is this information true?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, sounds like us."

Altair nodded. "Then please, would you allow me to escort you directly to his majesty's quarters. He's been awaiting your arrival for some time now."

Everyone looked towards one another and seemingly agreed. As they followed along, Klefki was gazing at Yukino, specifically for her keys. One look from Lucy was all it took for her to see the light not turning green anytime soon.

They followed Altair towards one of the biggest castles in the city, which wasn't too far from their current location. They went up a steep flight of stairs, heading pass stone columns of people who came before them. Seeing the many passed leaders as huge statues, everyone marveled and moved along. Sophie took in everything, and not far behind, Duncan was looking ahead, not caring so much for the architecture. She gazed behind to see he wasn't raptured, something she would have to look into later.

"I'm afraid this is as far as I go." Altair said. "I must resume my patrols. May his majesty put good faith in you."

Erza nodded. "You have our thanks."

Altair took his leave, leaving everyone to make way inside. Entering the domain, even the hallway looked prestigious like Mercurius. Though it was rather lackluster on the shimmering gold side, the castle and its décor had angelic paintings on the walls, with many stolen statues and carvings around them. Fine pottery sitting on pedestals were acknowledged, one that Natsu thought had drinking water. "Come on." Thankfully an ear pull by Lucy was enough to drag him back to reality and along the porcelain tiling.

Passing into the massive throne room, everyone held their tongue as a young man turned around from looking at Auriol and two other people. The king turned to meet his guests, grinning quite passively as he saw the many faces that came to greet him.

"This the guy?" Gray muttered. "He looks kinda…young."

"Gray darling, don't be rude. He's right there." Juvia hushed.

"This is the guy who we're supposed to have come all the way out here for, huh?" Cana took another look at Melchior, seeing his complexion is rather attractive. Much more so than what the picture entailed. "Melchior, huh? Not too bad in the looks." She teased.

Unfortunately this comment didn't go unnoticed as the static of her sentence wormed into Auriol's head, making her eyebrow twitch. "That's _King_ Melchior to you." She verbally retorted. "You should be so humble as to remember that the next time you address to our highness, foreigner."

Cana was slightly taken back by the sharp jab. That look in her eyes reminded her of a certain female knight who hoards Nic. _'Looks like someone's got a sharp tongue as they do ears.'_

Melchior stepped forward. "Auriol, please. Do quell yourself. We don't want to look bad in front of our guests."

Auriol acquiesced. "Yes, forgive me, gracious one."

Melchior nodded, seemingly acknowledging her. He looked back towards his guests with a grateful smile. "I thank you all for coming. I understand that your journey here was perhaps a long one. I do apologize for this inconvenience if anything happened along the way."

"Uh. N-no, it's fine really." Lucy nervously dismissed. "It's no trouble, really."

Nic nodded. "It wasn't any trouble. Thanks for having us."

"Then we're in agreement then." Melchior took another look at his guests. "So you're the ones who I was told wind of. Lucy Heartfilia. Yukino Agria. The two Celestial Mages who have the Zodiacs in one place." He looked towards Nic and Greninja. "And to you, Nic Pularis, slayer of Lysandre and Acnologia. It's an honor to have such a reputable company before me. And I take it that these are also your friends?"

"Yes. I hope you didn't mind the extra company."

"Not at all." The king gave to then a small bow. "Please, allow me to introduce myself. I am King Melchior Seraph, descendant of the first ever celestials." He moved to the side, extending the greeting to the three other people behind him. "And these are some of my most trusted advisors. Auriol."

The eloquent woman walked towards them, giving a meek curtsy. "T'is my pleasure."

"Oberon."

Oberon was a slim young man around Melchior's age. He had fair skin with long blonde hair that went down towards his midback, sporting a bowl-cut for the bangs. He had a pointed chin, with an amused smirk that matched his narrow, slanted eyes. He adorned an emerald cloak with a bright green star seal on the back. They could easily make out the green pants that matched the bright silver knight-like shinguards and feet.

"And here we have Tophet."

Tophet was a much older man with a gruff apparel. His cloak was a shadow black, with a white star on the back. He adorned standard clothing, consisting of a white long-sleeve shirt tied to a brown belt with baggy brown pants, He adorned black boots, though pointed as they were to match his curved, pointed black beard. His head had messy black hair and bags under the green eyes, which complimented the long bridge on his nose.

Oberon kneeled and bowed his head humbly. "It's the greatest pleasure to have you all here. Thank you for your time."

Tophet was next to bow. "A pleasure it is indeed. I feel blessed as well."

To Nic and the others, they felt like they were at the top of the world. Of course Natsu didn't seem to mind, but the others felt a deep sugarcoat. Rather than feel humbled by their own lackluster apparel they pressed forward.

"Wait…" Sophie interrupted. "You said something about descendant from the first celestials…"

Yukino's eyes widened. "Yeah, that's right."

Melchior was taken back at first, but returned to a grin. "Well now, seems that you people catch on…yes, I am in fact a descendant, true to my blood. The ancestors who first interacted with the celestials – The first ever Celestial Mages."

"Wait, what?" Gray gasped. "You mean you're royalty _and_ this big shot?"

"You mean that…" Soon enough, even Lucy was gasping. "You're…you're the Seraphs. My mom and I looked at the history when she was telling me stories when I was so young. She said that your family was to be the most gifted of all Celestial Mage prodigies."

Melchior grinned. "That's generous of you to say."

"A real descendant…of the first mages to have mastered Celestial Magic?" Even Yukino found herself awed by this news. She heard a story about Celestial Spirits and how they once met humans. But that's all, stories. Seeing was believing, and feeling this cosmic aura around Melchior was confirming her suspicions.

' _The first Celestial Spirits Mages…?'_ Nic was speculative at best, but it wasn't something he's rather object towards. Sensing this Magic Power coming from him was of no degree of short-sightedness.

Oberon stepped forward. "I do apologize sire, but I'm afraid gesturing towards lineage will have to wait."

"Right, sorry." Melchior stepped back and faced the guests. "As you all might be aware, I've gathered you specifically or a reason. You all have a distinct possession of Celestial Magic, which is now a near-extinct trait in our world." He snapped his fingers, recreating what looked like holographic projection screens of the twelve Zodiac constellations in the sky. "Within our system of astrology, the city of Astral has been watching these skies, watching these constellations and how they reach to one's spirit. It's to this that we've deduced that the stars are in fact alive."

Everyone held their tongue as the king was explaining himself. Though Klefki was the one who seemed raptured by the stars and keys. Thankfully Lucy was keeping her in line. Though one of her other Poke Balls began shuddering. _'Is that Staryu?'_

The screen changed, showing the 12 Zodiac keys in a large ring above. "As you all are also aware, these celestials have provided us a gateway from their world to ours, and that gate has to be applied by a key. A key that has to be applied from the spirit to its human gateway." The panel changed to show a diagram of a person holding a key. They saw arrows flowing from inside the hand into the key. "This is the proverbial link. This is the requirement to enact the magic of the keys in which spirits came come to this world."

Natsu raised a brow. "I guess that makes sense. Igneel showed me how to flow magic to my fists."

"I'm pretty sure that's another thing entirely, Natsu." Happy interjected.

"And it's precisely this link that enables us to connect these spirits." Melchior continued. "But…unfortunately…" He snapped his fingers, causing the screens to go black. "For the last seven years up until two years ago, an era of darkness had plagued space. The stars were shrouded in pitch-black, and thus our research could not be realized."

Nic, Greninja, Cana, and Sophie all looked at one another. The memory edged into them had returned of Lysandre and his genocide. They chose to stay quiet.

"Within that timespan, keys faded away, and those who were left vanished. These two events are because of the actions of Lysandre, and the Infinite Clock. Even now, finding even a few able Celestial Mages is but impossible…because either they have lost their magic, or their spirits were killed."

Lucy and Yukino looked down somberly at this information. Both recounted seeing their spirits after so long, and even now the bittersweet memory was a reminder of what they had left.

"But wait, Aquarius isn't dead." Cana reminded. "She was there one time when Alvarez invaded Fiore."

Melchior put a hand to his chin. "Perhaps her key was broken, but her gate wasn't. The key is but a tool to better control and mend that gate on command. Without it, the spirit could very well come and go as she sees fit."

"And yet you also explain that these keys may also be repaired." Erza countered. "Am I right?"

Auriol gave her a warning glare. Erza matched hers with her own, the disrespect mutual.

"Straight to the point. I admire that." Melchior grinned. With another snap of his fingers, the screens returned to the star constellations.

"The star lesson again?" Natsu questioned.

"Hush." Carla hushed.

"I explained before that the spirits are connected by their constellations, right? The constellations are actually a significance to their vitality. The early Astrals have been studying constellations, and that they change with certain dates monthly. And each constellation reacts within each month, including Aquarius."

"So you're saying that if we learn of this constellation's time, we can know when it'll react?" Wendy inquired.

"Yes."

"Okay, so when is her constellation?" Cana wondered.

Melchior bluntly grinned. "Tomorrow night."

Everyone's eyes once again widened in disbelief. The relativity of the situation was enough, but the timing itself was another matter entirely.

"Wait…you mean…" Wendy processed.

"That when the constellations change…the Zodiac Key can be revitalized?" Carla finished.

"That's a mouthful all by itself, how do you really know that for a fact?" Cana challenged.

Auriol stood in defense. "You'd dare question King Melchior again?" Her tone was a little harsher than before, clearly she wasn't liking Fiorian respect.

"I would be if it didn't sound so farfetched."

"It's not if you let us prove it."

"That so? Because this feels more like a history lesson than a solution."

"Guys, please. Let's just take a step back, okay?" Sophie butted between the two glaring females. Though she was successful in keeping them quiet, the tension around them didn't settle. _'This isn't what I had in mind for a friendly gathering.'_

Nic looked down with a puzzled expression. His extensive knowledge on constellations wasn't sharp; he knew the basis of stars, but he only just gazed at them…he never took the time to study them like Melchior's ancestors did. Though he did hold some mild candor, he wasn't going to call it out…at least not as of yet.

"Everyone." Once again, Erza intervened and faced Melchior. "Your majesty, I do hope you can forgive all this intrusion we're causing you."

Melchior nodded.

"That being said, what my guildmate and friends state isn't without warranted cause. Suppose we choose to believe this case, exactly how would we benefit from this? You claim this is all in good intention, but why help Lucy and Yukino? Is there more to this reason than you think?"

"How dare you-!" Auriol was silenced when his majesty walked passed her.

Melchior stood quietly as he faced Erza, looking at her with a calm, strong gaze. "Erza Scarlet…no, Erza Pularis, right? I've heard about your guild and the exploits you've taken. Some of which involved the ordeal with these spirits. I suppose you do have a right to presume the worst." He deeply frowned. "But let me make my case clear, this isn't a debt intended to you. This is one in due to _them_. My predecessors to be exact. I owe it to their lives for what troubles they went through to see what spirits have done for our world. It's only fitting that after hearing what has happened, this is what I feel is what's best. Is that an equitable excuse for you?

There was a tense silence in the throne room. Everyone gazing at the king did feel some level of reasoning behind his statement, even Nic felt slightly moved, though his face didn't show it. But while everyone was lifting their doubts some, Vanessa was far from fooled. But rather than scope it out using her aura, she chose to hang low.

"Now then, if we're all in agreement in this matter, then let us continue." The lacrima screens flickered, changing their views to recreate the image of a huge sundial-like altar, though its stone-like bottom is instead replaced by reflective rock, almost like a mirror.

"What's that?" Happy asked.

"This is Topeyaka Plateau. It is named after the god of this world's mirrors. They tell tales of the god who created a pool of reflective liquid that magnified the celestial eclipse overnight. It's a very vague tale." He chuckled. "But with this, we're able to refract celestial starlight." He snapped his fingers, once again manifesting the 12 keys, but in position of a constellation, Aquarius' to be exact. "According to legend, when the Zodiac Key aligns with its constellation, the remaining Zodiacs shall use their power in replacement if the key's own. Their joined force shall be enough to resurrect the key, returning it to the state it was before."

"And this is the plan?" Erza inquired.

Melchior nodded. "Yes. I can understand if you all feel less than weary about this. Still, I chose to forsake everything to ensure this debt's paid off." He reached his hand out. "So I ask you kind mages…will you help me realize my dream?"

It wasn't anything too wrong. The Fiorians didn't have much to lose. With shrugs and nods from others, Erza returned the handshake. "Yes, we shall do what we can to help you."

Melchior grinned. "I thank you once again. My sympathies to you all."

* * *

After the debriefing, Melchior stood outside his castle. He talked to the guests a little more and left them with a smile. "The ceremony will need time to prepare, so our astrologists are determining the time as we speak. In the meantime, feel free to use Astral's domain as you see fit. I'll have Auriol to apply a message if convenient."

Auriol huffed behind the king's back, though she still relucted to agree.

"That's good. Thanks again." Nic thanked. He watched the king walk back inside with his three advisors. Once they were out of sight he sighed in relief. "Well that was a lot to take in." he muttered low.

"They're sure riding a lot on this ceremony, that's for sure." Erza pointed out. "Though you have to admire their dedication to caring about the spirits…hm, kinda reminds me of you and the way you see Pokémon, huh Nic?"

Nic looked towards Erza then at his Greninja. The two shared a confused look before grinning at the irony. "Guess you're right."

"Okay!" Natsu shot both fists in the air. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm up for some exploring! Ready, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!" the Exceed chirped.

"I wonder what people do around here?" Wendy curiously looked around, seeing a lot of people with Pokémon strolling along. To her they seemed lively. "Oh! Maybe Amaura would like the fresh air!"

Juvia moved to Gray's arm. "Gray my darling, what do you say we go for a nice walk in the sunset? Just you and me." Though for her obsession was something Gray was still adjusting to, he didn't have anything better in mind.

He firmly nodded. "Sure, why not."

With hearts and steam suddenly fuming from her head, a swooned Juvia moaned in awe as Gray tugged her. "R-right! Coming!" She squirmed towards his side, the icy man with his clingy lady waltzing off for some fresh air.

Soon enough, everyone started heading off their own ways to scout the runic city. They didn't see why not, but Erza made it clear to meet at a nearby inn when they were ready before she grabbed Nic in her iron clutches and dragged him off. Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Yukino all went other ways, leaving Sophie, Cana, Duncan, and Vanessa left.

"I think that I'll go and see this place's archives." Sophie said nonchalantly. "You ladies are free to join me if you'd like."

"I'll catchup, I wanna go try out what this place gots!" Cana pranced off, scurrying for the nearest brewery.

Vanessa chuckled to herself before looking at Sophie. "Well I suppose I have no reason now. I'll go if you'd like."

"Tov (Good)." Sophie turned on her heels and moved right along, with Vanessa in tow. The youngest Pularis moved along with her own business before looking over her shoulder. While Melchior's aura read amiss – something she'd have to tell Nic later – there was another melancholic aura coming from Duncan. He went off his own way to do as he pleased, but that didn't sway Vanessa from the reason why he tagged along.

' _I wonder how Joey's faring with his work?'_

* * *

"Trubbish, **Double Slap!** "

The Poison-type trash bag took a large leap into the air for the wild Ledian that it was currently battling, flappy limbs glowing white. She took one swat against its poisoned frame, then a third strike, until she swung down on the head, downing the wild Ledian. Trubbish landed on the ground, her body glowing green to recover energy she lost earlier. While she was strong, Ledian laid on the ground unconscious with swirly eyes.

"Alright, nice job Trubbish!" Joey cheered. "That's two in a row!"

Trubbish's belly gurgled lightly before she expelled a large stinky belch, one so grand that it was sure to leave Ledian down for a while.

"Man, Joey's really improved his game last I saw him." Kevin commented. "You guys been training nonstop?"

"The Captain has, I'm just the costar." Dereece shrugged. "Besides…" He took another look at Joey, watching him praise Trubbish before returning her to the Poke Ball. "He's gotten more dedicated than anyone I've known…he's been through a lot."

Kevin frowned. "Dereece…I'm still sorry you know. I didn't know Joey really went through-"

"It's alright." Dereece intervened. "I'm sure Joey appreciates it. He's been getting better with pacing himself…he's even been learning along the way." He inwardly had to flabbergast over this anomaly, but in retrospect it made sense. Joey lost a lot, and in return gained a lot. Experience, expertise…pain, emotional wreckage; a lot of things that Joey had been sheltered from his whole life. It made him a little sad knowing he had to bear with his Captain's grief. To change the subject, Dereece looked at the sun, which was about to disappear over the island's horizon. "It's getting late."

Kevin looked at the setting sun, a pink shade hidden amongst the western sky. "Yeah, guess you're right."

"We better set up camp for the night. Hey, Captain!" Joey turned towards him. "Better reel it in, sun's setting!"

Joey's eyes widened. "Already? I didn't think it'd be _this_ long." The blond sighed in disappointment. "Man, talk about a party crasher. I didn't even have stuff for camp."

Dereece sighed annoyingly. "I told you we'd might be away for a while."

"Guys, just chill alright?" Kevin came between them, pulling out a small case of steel wool and a 9V battery. "Look, see? We can make a fire. We'll find a spot and get ready to eat."

Joey shrugged. "Sure, works for me. Alright, let's see if we can find a spot over he-Ah!" As he was walking towards a slope, Joey suddenly heard a crack beneath his shoe, alarming him.

"Joey, what's wrong?" Dereece asked.

"I think I stepped on glass or something." Joey whined.

"Glass?" Kevin raised a brow.

"Yeah, that's what I said."

Dereece leered. "Captain, you know glass doesn't grow out in the wild."

"Well I felt _something_ snap." Joey began feeling something odd beneath him. It was feint, but it had a rather bright glow to it. The glow didn't go unnoticed by his colleagues.

Feeling this odd energy, Trubbish started gurgling. She was looking startled by this odd glow.

"Trubbish, what's wrong girl?" Joey saw the look on Trubbish's face, seeing the anxiousness in it. This gave him a very disturbed appeal. _'Is she reacting…to what I stepped on?'_

The trio moved in and closed around the small indent where Joey's foot was before. The shimmering rock was giving away, crumbling as it revealed a half-made accented white stone. On it was a bunch of zigzags that trailed towards the center. The centerpiece was by far the most intricate, because the white crystal inside was the reason it was glowing.

"Wooaahh…" Joey's eyes reflected the light the crystal off, shimmering like actual glass. "Guys…what the heck is this thing?"

"I don't know…" Dereece watched Joey reach for it. "Hey man, don't touch that!"

Ignoring his friend's dismay, the raptured Joey brushed away the dust and remaining rock with his thumb. He leaned in to blow, sweeping the dust into his friends' faces to cause them to cough. Now in full view, the crystal's shine was even more stunning. It was like a clear white diamond that made Joey and everyone's glow shine brighter.

"What…is that thing?" Dereece asked, clarity in his tone.

"I don't know, but it's something alright." Kevin stated. "Joey, I don't know what that thing is, but maybe we should leave it."

Joey thought about his friends' warning. He was starting to believe the pros and cons of what he was saying. There could be others out there; maybe this was their gem or something. It was hard to say. Rather than toss it, a more favorable excuse came to his agenda.

"Guys." Joey reasoned. "You think belonged to one of the people who came here?"

Kevin and Dereece's eyes widened at Joey's explanation.

"We don't know if this is theirs or not, but if it is, couldn't we use it to track or something? It'd be a waste if it was thrown out if it was going to help get the job done faster."

Dereece opened his mouth to speak, but he was thwarted when the logic in Joey's voice held off his oppositions. "Joey, that's…I…I really don't think-!"

"Actually…I'm gonna have to agree." Kevin retorted.

"What?" Dereece shot him a confused look.

"Hey, don't get me wrong. We're in enough trouble as it is. Plus, we have no idea what that…doohickey is. But if it's something belonging to one of the people missing, it's consideration worthy." He frowned distastefully. "Just the second that thing explodes, you're on your own."

"I can live with that." Joey beamed proudly. He reached into his humungous, stylish coat, pulling out something – a small sapphire purse. It glistened brightly with a tiny strap with a pink plastic flower on it.

Kevin raised a brow and pointed at the purse. "Uh, do I…"

"Don't ask." Dereece groaned.

Putting the small wrist-sized rock and crystal into the dainty purse, Joey clipped it shut with a hum. He put it away and skipped back around towards the path. "Welp, party train's afoot. You guys coming?"

"Yeah, yeah." Kevin groaned meekly. He followed behind, but his nose wrinkled from the smell of Trubbish still out of her Poke Ball. Even when not against the wild, her Stench Ability stunk, literally. "Really…?" he gagged.

"You get used to it." Dereece smirked.

* * *

The massive library stretched up as far as the eyes could carry. The archives that were within eyesight were of miniscule compared to the vast knowledge that went thousands of cubic meters all around. Walls upon walls were drafted by stone that were supported by stone pillars. It could've easily been mistaken for a mansion over a library.

Over all this was a massive skylight dome. The dome allowed the sunlight to shine down when it was day, and at night allowed view of the dark world above. It's here, beneath this roof on a small wooden table that Sophie was indulging herself in the archives. Novels were stacked by her side as she passed the time with reading.

Turning another page, the blonde barely processed a sway of wide hips from the corner of her eye. "Found something worthwhile?"

Vanessa walked closer, continually weight on her hips. "Of sorts. It's quite big in here, you sure you found what you wanted?"

"That depends, you found a man in one of those books?"

"Touche." Vanessa chuckled at the thought of an actual person wedged in between the pages of a book popping out with roses and a charming face. It'd be amusing if it wasn't so ridiculous.

Sophie sighed. "Honestly, I'm not Levy…but it's taking me a while to decipher all these ancient texts. The pages are so worn out, it's like looking at grated stone than anything else." She turned another page, only to be met with more scribbles faded into the aged pages. It looked like it was even written on bamboo fibers. _'Just what did they use for writing back then?'_

"I thought you said you and Rufus studied at the magic library when you were growing up." Vanessa pointed out.

"We did. I never said I _couldn't_ decipher them. I remember that specifically." Sophie beamed with a modest smirk.

"Of course, my mistake." Vanessa stepped forward. "So then, what did you figure out so far?"

Taking a breather from the writing and scriptures, Sophie looked to another textbook and opened it. She reached for a few papers she had jotted down on and started reading. "I first tried dwelling into Melchior's family history. Apparently he wasn't lying. Here's the proof." She began to read from the scriptures.

* * *

 _ **XXXX-220**_

 _Astral was but a settlement, a settlement that was still under construction. But already it was expanding fast, and the populace here was safe from whatever creatures may come from the mountains. The deep crags made it hard to get around, but it also provided shelter, and allowed rainwater to drift and filter through the ravines into nearby streams leading out towards Astral. The people from before, their very ancestors survived this treacherous wake, using the rocks and engineering of that date to make concrete and carve stone. The ancient realm of Astral was exotic, but it quickly became known for the reason why it was created: The stars._

 _High above, endless constellations were in place. On nights where there were no clouds, one could seethe sky lit up. Billions of cosmic clouds could be seen, a sea of stars that burned billions of miles away. This was the beginning of astrology for Earthland. The beginning of life amongst the cosmos. And more importantly…where a young king would bring the gates of man and spirit together._

 _King Achilles Seraph, the very first king of Astral, was a man who was raptured by the stars. His fascination in stargazing alone was something that gave him…such a character, for a lack of better words. A man who had nothing more than his people, a man who kept his promise. As a young king, he made it his obligation to interact with people. To show them he was there for them when they needed him. He aided in the constructions, and the crops when needed. By that time, Astral felt more like a civilized community that got along rather smoothly thanks to the king's common ground, another reason how he came to noble command. But through it all, this man didn't seek influence nor power to rule. Rather, his ambitions lied in the world beyond his own that raptured him. And it's with this reason that he was drawn towards the sea._

 _The sea swayed under the nighttime stars, the waves twinkling with gilded gems that looked like another window to another world. The young King Achilles stood alone by this vast beach as he watched the stars twinkle under Aquarius' constellation. 'Beautiful.' He marveled longingly at the spread of twinkling stars in the atmosphere with his own eyes, not using a telescope like his followers had invented._

 _As if hypnotized by this awe, the king looked towards the water. 'I wonder…does this sea reflect the world above us?' Taking a gander, the king withdrew his heavy wardrobe, making it light enough for him to swim. He slowly stepped into the seawater, stepping out cautiously. Step by step, the waves would crash into his legs until he was ankle deep. With nothing holding him back, he dove into the water._

 _It was another world beneath, just as it was above. The king swam, ignoring the salt that would ache people's eyes. He felt nothing as he swam in the waters; just a she had figured, the waters were a cool calm, with the celestial lights twinkling. When he breached for air, his skin tickled with the minerals that gathered on it._

 _He took one more look up, his eyes softening as he saw Aquarius' symbol in full emphasis above. "Thy stars…they truly are bright tonight."_

 _Aquarius' constellation started to twinkle a little brighter. Oddly enough, around the king, the sea itself began to twinkle. The king looked down, his awe plastered on his face crystal clear. It was like crystal that he saw through, but was water._

" _What's this?" He looked around, feeling his skin and clothes tingle. "This sea…I feel…"_

 _He heard the sound of splashing behind. Slowly behind him, a vague but human-shaped entity started to surface._

" _A human."_

 _The king's eyes widened at the sound of a woman's voice behind him. His ears tingled with this odd power that he felt flowing through the heavenly waters. The slow shift made him stay on guard as he slowly turned around to see who was looking at him. His eyes widened upon seeing what could've been a figment of raw beauty._

 _Only down to her waist, it was a woman. Not just any woman, but one of relentless beauty. Her hair was long and silky, going down her back like the flow of a waterfall. She sported a blue bra, something that held her impressive buxom in check. And yet, what was capturing him especially were both blue eyes, that mature face that looked like clear blue water._

 _Achilles' face spelled nothing is now sheer awe. A little of his face was flushing red at the sight of the majestic beauty. Her glow left him stuttering, almost unable to speak up. Anyone in his state would be baffled for a number of reason, namely a hot woman who looks his age, but more so that she came out of the water like some ghost._

 _Swallowing a lump, the startled king glared. "W-who are you…?"_

 _The female figment looked up and down the king's physique, seeing his frame soaked by the water. "I see…so you're the one that's been interested in our world."_

" _Our world?" the king repeated. "What ae you…?"_

 _The female smirked. Her chuckling didn't help him with his case of worry. She slowly lifted her backside, her lower frame coming into view._

 _Slowly, Achilles' eyes widened from seeing her lower-half. The lower-half that came out was nothing but a blue fish tail. The look that made one like that of a mermaid. The shape of her frame to accompany the accents and hair made her look like a blue fish, and yet, her radiance shined eloquently even under night skies, no doubt from the twinkling in the water reflecting the celestial stars._

" _How can you…?"_

" _I forgot, you humans aren't accustomed to magic just yet." The mermaid grinned. "How silly of me."_

 _The king, with all his righteous intentions, reaffirmed himself. His earlier recoil aside he glared at the fish-woman before him, poised to strike if he must. "Who are you, really?"_

 _The mermaid's disposition started calming. "Seems you've forgotten. After all, you_ _ **were**_ _looking up at me earlier, weren't you?"_

" _Huh?" Caught offhanded by her statement, he gazed up at the sky. His eyes fell onto the Aquarius constellation shining, the bright stars linked by a cosmic glow. 'Aquarius' constellation! It's actually showing itself!' He looked towards her, his eyes widening upon realization. "Wait, don't tell, you are…"_

 _The mermaid smirked again. He finally caught n. "About time."_

 _Achilles could feel the water shift below. The ripples beneath the mermaid distorted cosmic stars that floated around both. When the king looked down, he was seeing not water, but another galaxy; a world with planets and twinkling starlight everywhere. He couldn't believe his eyes._

" _Greeting to you, human. I and known as Aquarius…a Celestial Spirit."_

* * *

"…and that's how Astral's first king became the first human to have encountered a Celestial Spirit?" Vanessa was having trouble processing the information. It was tough to say the least, but she wouldn't doubt Sophie in these cases. She remained quiet as Sophie continued.

"Pretty fun stuff, am I right?" Sophie joked, turning another page of her archives. "It goes on about the hypothesis of how the Aquarius constellation and the sea were linked. It was a vague quote from another witness, claiming it was 'A gateway to another world'." She looked at another paper that she jotted down on. "There's more. After King Achilles apparently met the spirit and glimpsed into the Celestial World, he became even more adamant about learning more about these spirits. He waited every single night since then, but Aquarius never came back. Instead, when he went into the water, he met Pisces, the next constellation that came in order. He'd speak with them, and realized that there were more of them out there. The constellations shined only one night within each set of a constellation. In other words, only once a month. But within those waiting days, he met and encountered different Zodiacs that got to know him."

"Is that even possible?" Vanessa looked towards the skylight, looking above to the view. Her blue eyes widened as she saw the radiating lights of the world above. _'Are those all…just stars?'_

"It says here that Astral's atmosphere is the bridge of celestial embodiment. The constellations are most optical in this part of the world, and with Earthland's small patches of Ethernano in ancient times, the sea and air around Astral had amplified starlight to turn it into external magic. Guess that would explain the spirit sightings."

Vanessa out a hand to her chin. "That _is_ interesting…" She glanced away as her mind was looking to something relatable. _'So basically it's like using Sweet Scent or Honey? I guess the spirits wouldn't be inclined to cross over to this world otherwise…'_

Sophie let out a loud yawn, bringing Vanessa out of her thoughts.

"Sophie, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine." She answered. "I'm just…a little sleepy is all."

Vanessa softly grinned. "We should get to an inn. The librarian is about to close down for the night anyway." She turned around and started off towards the doors. "An we better pick up Cana while we're at it. Odds are she's lying on a brewery floor a couple blocks down from us."

Sophie sighed. She didn't want to stop, but she knew she had all day tomorrow to decipher the enchanting literature. "Very well." She stood up and pick up her heavy books. "Suppose I'll have to check these out for the time being."

Once Sophie paid for the books to be checked out, she met up with Vanessa outside the library. Before they embarked towards the inn, Vanessa used her aura to sense Cana close by and went her direction. As expected, the drunkard was laughing up a storm and waving booze bottles in the bar. If it wasn't for Vanessa using her Aura Magic to restrain her friend the bartender would've had a hissy fit. With the three girls having their fair share of evening, they made way towards the inn to sleep another relaxing night beneath the stars.

* * *

Along the beach, the nighttime sky shined brightly down on the ocean, igniting its waters in a crystal-like cosmos. The sight gave a very enigmatic impression for Natsu and Happy.

"Wow, the water's so sparkly." Happy's awe reflected on his face. "It's like looking at space!"

Natsu's eyes reflected the awe shared by his feline friend. He never saw water shine as brightly as that before. "No kidding…"

"You think the fish that swim here are tasty in this water?"

"I don't know, maybe." Suddenly an idea hatched in Natsu's noggin. "Hey, let's go swim! Maybe we'll get some magical power swimming in this stuff!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered. "Yummy fishies, prepare to meet your destiny!"

The two took off for the sea, leaving a trail of sand in their wake.

"Hey, wait a sec guys! That's just seawa…" Lucy was reaching out for them when it was too late. "…ter." She sighed. "Geez, those guys. Honestly, some things about them just never change."

"Well it's not like you can't blame them for their curiosity, Lucy." Yukino pleaded.

Lucy grinned. "Yeah, guess you're right." She looked up at the scenery ahead. The way the scenery lined up with the ocean made it look like actual space. A sea of space that someone could swim in. "And this is what's Astral's known for?"

Yukino nodded. "Yes, I've heard that on clear nights, one can see an infinite number of constellation from lightyears away. It's so beautiful."

"Yeah, it is." Lucy trailed off in her own awe. As she looked towards the sea and sky, she could already feel a strong flow of power bearing around her. The stories and rumors about the celestials may not be a lie after all.

"Hey Lucy…"

Lucy turned towards Yukino. "Yeah?"

"Listen. I just wanted to say…sorry, for what happened." The nervous Sabertooth girl clutched her fist to her ample chest nervously. "I know what it's like to lose a friend once. I never would have been able to have summon Pisces or Libra again if it wasn't for your guild's efforts."

Lucy mournfully smiled. _'That was actually Nic's doing…'_

"But to lose such a precious Zodiac again, I…I'm really sorry. I'm just trying to say, that I really hope this works out for both of us."

"Yukino…"

Yukino took a moment to collect herself. She offered Lucy nothing more than a genuine smile. "I promise, I'll be of any help that I can this time. We'll make it through this, won't we?"

Lucy's earlier awe turned into admiration. The shy Yukino she met before had a face of intention with no going back. _'Yukino's really changed.'_ Lucy grinned and nodded. "Yeah, we will. That's a promise we Celestial Mages have to keep." She started to feel her two Poke Balls rattled beside her. "Yeah, you guys too?" Suddenly one of her Poke Balls popped right open, summoning her newly caught Staryu from the other day. "Staryu?"

The starfish' core beeped, greeting Lucy.

"What are you doing out of your Poke Ball?" The blonde asked.

Yukino looked at her confused. "Lucy, you didn't tell me you had another Pokémon."

"Huh? O-oh, right, sorry about that Yukino." The celestial blonde sighed again. "Anyways, I'd like for you to meet Staryu, say hi, Staryu."

"Hey there." Yukino greeted. The response Staryu gave to her was a couple beeps from Staryu's core.

"Sorry about that. Staryu I guess isn't big on talking. It's kinda…I'm not sure." Lucy sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, laughing of the embarrassment. Thankfully even Yukino giggled with her, joining the humor without a nay or say.

Staryu looked towards the waves, seeing them wash up against the sand. It waddled forward until it reached the edge. When a stray wave came up, it sloshed up two bodies long its wake, namely Natsu and Happy, their faces buried in the sand.

"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy shouted. "What the hell happened?!"

Natsu groaned, which was muffled by the sand. "Mmmmph…"

"We tried drinking some of the water…thinking it would give us some kind of cool power." Happy groaned. "Me roped me into it…" When both lifted their faces, they looked as dried as prunes. "We were wrong…too much saltwater…"

"That's what you get for believing such a tale." Lucy irritably scorned.

Yukino nervously sweatdropped at their misfortune.

Staryu looked out towards the sea to see the starry sky refract within the water. Looking at the space-like sea had held a small sense of wonder and joy for the starfish, something that tranced it into joining Lucy. The longer it stared, the more alluring the sight was. It could sense the celestial intensity all around, making it almost beg to jump around in joy.

Unable to hold it in, the starfish jumped into the sea, surprising Lucy. "Staryu?"

The starfish swam out, the red core in the center shining brightly like a star. It shifted and blinked constantly, as if its functions were short-circuited. But judging from the way it breached and beeped loudly, it was the other way around.

"Wow, your Staryu sure seems happy about something, Lucy." Yukino observed.

"Yeah, I've never seen Staryu this jumpy before." Lucy pondered for a brief moment about Staryu. She recalled how elated it was to see her back in the ocean, then secondly earlier. And all of them had one thing in common. _'Wait, didn't the PokeDex say it was attracted to celestials?'_ She looked out again, seeing Staryu's red core lighting the ocean. _'Maybe it knows something that we don't.'_

"Yukino~!"

The snow-haired girl perked up at her name being called. "Huh?"

Lucy turned around, her eyes widening at something in the distance. "What the heck?!"

Yukino turned around to see a trail of sand barreling her way. Her eyes widened in shock as there was a figure at the head of the cloud rushing towards them. And from the looks of it, it wasn't stopping anytime soon.

"YUKINO~!" the voice chimed again from the front, revealing a very excited someone who ran shivers down everyone's spines.

Yukino's eyes widened in disbelief. "Is that…!" Her heart jumped at her answer. "Sorano?!"

"Wait, what?!" Lucy shouted.

"YUKINO, MY SWEET LITTLE SISTER! I'M BACK~!" Sorano ran excitedly and pounced for her sister. "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"

Rather than feel elated, Yukino's face was struck with horror as the excited shadow closed in on her, and everything went black.

As Lucy shrieked in the distance, out by the ocean, Staryu was laying face-up in the sea, its red core as bright as the reflecting stars in the world around it.

* * *

Elsewhere far from Yukino and Lucy's emotions, other emotions were placed into effect. On a patch of grass on a hill incline, Nic and Erza looked towards the twinkling skies, admiring how many of them there were.

"There sure is a lot of them." Erza commented as she gazed at the sky.

"Yeah, there sure are." Nic lulled.

"It's hard to believe. I don't think I've ever seen so many stars under one sky before, even back in Kalos."

Nic grinned at the recollection of Kalos. Some nights where there was nothing but clear skies, the sky would be blanketed by twinkling stars under a purple cosmos cloud. And no matter where one turned, it'd go on until the first rays of sun casted them out. The memories they've shared were more than plentiful to say the least. "…yeah."

A long silence felled upon them as they gazed at the stars some more.

"Nic."

"Yeah?"

"Tell me…what was it like traveling around in the Celestial World? I suppose interesting would be a very light term, wouldn't it?"

Nic stared blankly at the stars. Erza mentioning his past experience with the Celestial World brought along a mesh of emotions that didn't leave him discomforted. He could've mistaken it for a little stomach ache, but those don't happen on certain dates often. His journey with Cana, Sophie, Greninja, and the other Celestial Spirits was a milestone for all of them. So few in numbers they were, united they stood against Lysandre and his forces. Even now, he couldn't be anymore grateful for what that trip taught him, in not just trusting people you didn't know, but how they meant so much. One person in particular came to mind, and though his constellation and life were lost for them, they saved many others.

Getting through his momentary grief, Nic tried to pick the right words. "The Celestial World…" he began. "It's hard to say. At the time, what mattered was taking down Lysandre, so I really haven't thought passed that…but…" He could feel his body loosen. "It was…pretty fun. Traveling with Volans, Lupus, Corvus, and Pavo…it felt like a sea of adventures. It's not easy to explain, but I guess that's just the best there is. There aren't any words to really tell certain tales you know."

Erza chuckled at Nic's explanation. To an extent, she can relate to what he was interpreting. "Suppose so. And your thoughts on this king's plan?"

"I don't really know for certain." His frown plastered serious vibes. "But I'm feeling that there's more to this than what the king leads on. I'm not saying I'm doubting his plan will make Lucy happy…" he flashed back to the eyes Melchior had. "But his eyes are telling another story."

As they continued lying on the grassy hill, gazing at the bright sky, a pair of legs shifted as someone grinned.

"Well, well, isn't this a surprise." A man spoke up. "Speak of the devil."

Hearing a familiar tone, Erza and Nic sat up. When they looked over, their eyes widened in disbelief at the two figments who stood side by side with one another, their greetings soon returned in inquired shock.

"Jellal? Bellona?" Erza gasped.

The two blue-haired mages stood a fair distance apart from their colleagues, looking more amused than anything else. "Fancy seeing you both here." Bellona teased.

After calming down, Nic, Erza, Jellal, and Bellona all settled down and stood at the top of the hill. The two pairs were beside their own as they were catching up on matters.

"I'm surprised. To think that you'd be here of all places." Jellal commented. "This must be irony if I'm not mistaken."

"The same can be said for us." Nic countered. "We never expected to see you here of all places. Either of you." He turned towards Bellona as he mentioned the last part.

The Nightmare Mage shot Nic a smirk. "That's to be expected. We _are_ a rather aloof group, now are we?" she slyly smirked. "Then again, coming from a Fairy Tail mage with such a reputation, that's a statement of its own."

"I still can't believe it's really you." Erza interjected.

Jellal nodded. "Erza, I see that you're faring well. It's been some time since our little excursion for Alvarez."

"Yes it most certainly has. Just what exactly brought you both here anyway?"

Jellal chuckled. "Funny you should ask…"

…

"Pardoned?" Erza repeated. The sound of the world coming from Jellal rung like bells.

"That's right." Jellal confirmed. "After our return from the empire, we were given an audience with his majesty of Mercurius. We weren't sure if it was a trap, but knowing this was the princess, we couldn't just simply refuse."

"We thought at first that it was a penance for our past crimes, but it turns out it was the opposite." Bellona explained. "The minister was intent on the opposite, but his fell on short of heartfelt contempt."

Jellal softly smiled. "We're free. Free from our pasts at long last. We can remain out our lives with a new freedom, freedom that we couldn't have back in the tower. Erza, Nic…" He lifted his head, giving them a small grin of pleasure. "Thanks to you both, we can now be free."

Nic smiled at his friend's fortune. "So that's what happened. I'm glad to hear that."

"That's kind of you to say." Jellal nodded.

"So I take it that the rest of Crime Sorciere is here then?" Erza figured.

Bellona softly smiled. "You'd wish for that. Sadly, I'm afraid that after our pardon had come, the role of Crime Sorciere was fulfilled. So in other words, there was no need to be weighed by our sins."

Erza's shock showed. "You disbanded?"

Jellal nodded. "I'm afraid so. But we're still very well in touch. We know full-well that Richard is following the coordinates to his brother as we speak. As for Sawyer and Macbeth, I haven't heard from since. And last I checked, Ultear and Meredy are settling down somewhere within Fiore for leisure."

"That so?" Nic was genuinely surprised by this information, something that Bellona took advantage of.

"Oh don't worry, we still have _some_ lingering pieces around. Erik's somewhere in the mountains where he can get some peace at mind. But Sorano had her own reasons for coming here. She caught wind of this ceremony, and being a former Celestial Mage, she was drawn towards this rumor about a constellation ritual."

A soft smile casted upon Erza. "I see. At least you're not alone around here."

"Seems that you all have a funny way of convening with the right people at the right time."

Nic was satisfied that everyone was getting their way, and he supported them, but something in the back of his mind was yelling at him that something was off.

"Jellal."

The former coed of Crime Sorciere turned towards Nic. "Yes, Nic?"

"What's _your_ reason for being here?"

Erza was so caught in the moment that the thought almost slipped her mind. Her disposition went from subtle to anticipation for an answer.

Jellal and Bellona felt a mood change as they faced one another. Bellona gave a nod towards Jellal and he glared at his allies. "Very well, if you insist." He pulled out something that looked like a flier from his coat pocket and showed it to them?"

"What's this?" Erza leaned in with Nic, both catching the image on the paper.

"It's an artifact that was stolen from a museum two months ago." Jellal explained. "The artifact was replaced by a replica of an exact copy. When the museum was being robbed, the thieves stole the copy, leaving the original unchecked."

"And you tracked it to here?" Nic raised a brow. "That _is_ a coincidence." He started imagining his earlier suspicions again, though this time, they returned beyond simmering.

"This was the artifact taken. We could use your help if you're willing to lend the time." Bellona offered.

Nic took a look closer at the piece of paper, seeing the well-drawn figment of a crown. Strangely enough, this crown had a massive jewel on its headpiece that gave him an ominous vibe. This vibe didn't settle as his eyes narrowed. Something about this was beginning to churn his stomach in knots. He gazed back towards the sky, seeing them twinkle wildly, as if mining their own business. It looked like even they weren't aware, but Nic took the hint well…and he had every intention to figure out this puzzle.

* * *

Out within the mountain range overlooking Astral, the rocky plains stretched as far as the eye could see. Erik was standing alone, the howling winds entering one ear and out the other. Even he was raptured by the stars.

"Man, talk about seeing stars." He joked to himself. "Not many voices either, heh. Guess this _is_ a rather quiet place."

A hiss sniped behind him, grabbing his attention. He looked over his shoulder to see his Pokémon facing away.

"Huh, hey Ekans, what's up?"

Ekans offered no response. Instead her attention was drawn towards the hills beyond Astral. Her snake senses were crawling as she was peering at something that was almost begging for her attention. From the way her forked tongue flickered, it was a clear warning of threat.

"What's up?" Erik adverted towards passed the rocky hills, his one eye widening when one stray wind that felt cold grazed his skin. His feet stiffened at the sounds of hollow that came from afar, at the base of what he could barely see as a cavern that Ekans hissed at. Even with perceptive hearing, the untamed tune was muffled. But whatever it was, it was dark. _'What's this sound?'_

The dark cavern both peered at emanated nothing but darkness. Inside, breaths of cold air silently expelled out, keeping out any who dared to venture into its darkness.

* * *

The throne room was amazingly lit up at night. With only a few blue light lacrimas ignited around the walls, the rest of the light came from the outside starry night sky. Melchior was on t=his throne admiring the constellations and sea as Oberon approached him.

"Milord." The advisor bowed his head. "T'is be a good night so far?"

Melchior continued looking out his massive window, staring at the stars beyond the sea. "Yes, it most certainly is." He responded. "You as well, old friend?"

Oberon smirked. "Indeed. I've come to tell you that the rest of your court has gathered, just as you've requested."

"That's good news. Are they ready?"

Oberon nodded. "Yes. I shall bring them in as you'd like." The servant turned away back into the darkness, leaving Melchior to himself for a while.

The king stared up in silence as he awed before the great celestial constellations in the sky. By day it was like any other city, but by night, it turns into a heaven's tidal pool before the grand treasure itself. Melchior saw the twinkling above, and it in turn made him even more envious. _'Tomorrow, the debt shall hence be paid.'_ He heard a sound behind, bringing hm back to reality. When he turned around, many followers were emerging from the shadows.

Oberon walked back in, giving his master a bow. "I have brought them as requested. Now we can begin."

Coming into view, Auriol kneeled and bowed her head. "My gracious king, you have summoned me, and as I have said I am at your leisure."

Tophet entered, but he offered no words. Beside him, more people entered the lightened chamber.

The next man to enter was someone who was just as tall, if not taller than Tophet. He had a very dark tan skin tone with deep onyx eyes. He had very short black hair with a stubble goatee, much like Dereece has. He had a heavy built with an orange cloak on his shoulders, lined with black armbands that covered the forearms. His upper body was bear but he adorned cream-colored baggy pants with black boots.

The next one was a younger and smaller man, around average to below average height. He had very short blonde hair, a similar style like the guy beside him. He adorned the traditional knightly armor, with steel that was a glistening silver. Beside him was a brown satchel holding his blade. He adorned a silver cape.

Another one appeared to be the youngest, looking to be about Wendy's age, if not a little older. She had bright magenta hair that reached the bottom of her neck with w bright yellow star on her headband. The band's end went down with long dreads that ended in two laced diamonds. She had light skin with deep blue eyes and a charming smile. She had on a white blouse with long black, frilly sleeves on them. Her bottom-half was a ballroom dress like Auriol, only hers was slimmer and black as the night sky.

Melchior grinned as he acknowledged his gathered party. "Caius. Bion. Vita. I see you're all doing well." He nonchalantly greeted.

The massive guy raised his head, this being Caius. "Milord, you have summoned us at your beaconed call." Even his voice made him sound like a giant of a monster. "What have you to ask of me?"

"Greeting, good king." The young knight, Bion, greeted. "It is late."

The last one, Vita, let outa loud yawn that could've been heard from across the hall. "Uuugh, good evening, Uncle." She answered in a groggy tone. "Everything good?"

Melchior grinned pridefully. "Yes, everyone, everything is well. Thank you for your concerns." He straightened his posture as he took on a serious persona. "Now then, has everyone been informed of the plan to initiate the ceremony?"

"Of course, your highness. Everyone is well aware of Aquarius' constellation and the revival at hand." Oberon smirked.

Auriol walked up, giving her leader a serious look. "Milord, it is with great pleasure that we seek this task beside you. If it's your wish, then allow us to aid you."

Caius nodded in agreement. "We are at your command, my king."

"With swift pride and procure, we'll keep our end of the deal." Bion responded.

"Yup…" Vita gaped her mouth for another sleepy yawn. "What they said. Uh, can I go back to bed now?"

"In a minute." Melchior faced Tophet. "Tophet, will the plans be ready for tomorrow as you've inscribed?"

On a knee, Tophet bowed his head. "Yes, my king. May the heavens bless your wish and fulfill the desires that the celestials seek to be amongst us again."

Melchior grinned and smiled. "Then it's settled." He stood up, swishing his cape, a beaming smile on his face. "By this time tomorrow, the Zodiacs shall live again!"

"Yes, your majesty." All of them agreed.

* * *

Back on the island, Joey and Dereece were settled down in a nice enclosed area for the night. With the aid of Kevin, the trio were able to have provisions ranging from berries to canned food that would last for a while. It wasn't much but it was better than snacking on twigs and hunting, something that neither were capable of handling on their own. The fire was going around them as their Pokémon interacted.

The first thing that had to be done was Kevin introducing his newest addition to the team, Sewaddle. "Alright guys, meet Sewaddle, the newest Pokémon to us." Kevin gestured down towards the larva. "Make sure you behave, okay?"

Sewaddle faced everyone, mischievously smirking. "My name is Sewaddle…but you can call me whatever you'd like." He cooed. "I'm your new, little stylish servant. I'd do anything for you… _anything_ …Mmmmm…" He moaned at his Trainer and everyone else, making all of them sweat bullets.

"Uh, anybody else getting a weird feeling about this guy?" Dereece asked.

Joey shrugged. "I don't know, seems alright to me."

"Mmmmmm…" Sewaddle moaned.

The Pokémon soon settled down to their own meals after meeting Sewaddle. They were all given their space to eat what Pokémon Food was available to them, as well as what berries their Trainers provided. It wasn't much but enough to hold them over for the time being. Surprising enough, they were settling in just fine, even Magikarp – though he just flopped and gasped tiredly.

Beedrill pointed a stinger at Heracross. "I sting yo face!"

Heracross, who was sitting with Seel, Yanma, and Stunfisk, looked over and met Beedrill's gaze. "You?"

"I sting yo face!"

Though Heracross didn't fully get what Beedrill was trying to say, the fellow insect looked towards Yanma, who was atop his horn and looked just as curious. He looked back towards Beedrill. "Not right now, we're not exactly in a good time here, you know that."

"I sting yo face…!" Beedrill shot glares at Heracross. From what he said it seemed like it shocked Heracross.

"Beedrill, I told you to watch your language." Kevin scolded. "Now simmer down over there."

Beedrill sulked over. "I sting yo face…" he mumbled apologetically. He took another look at Heracross, a little lighter than before. "I sting yo face!" It seemed he'd let him off this time. Heracross and Yanma sighed in relief.

"He seems nice." Yanma commented.

"I'm sure he's still hung up on the loss or something." Heracross dismissed. "I wouldn't worry about it."

Stunfisk chuckled. "Oi, the lots sure doesn't like being _bugged_." The Trap Pokémon teased.

"Oh hush now." Seel scolded. "Don't antagonize your allies, it'll make you look bad."

"He already looks like he was stepped on, I don't see how he can't get any worse." Yanma noted. "I can't even perch on him."

"Hmph." Stunfisk huffed annoyingly. Nearby, Raticate was laughing maniacally, with Trubbish belching.

Dereece grumbled as he looked down at the gameboard between him and Krabby. The River Crab Pokémon had been asking nonstop, leading to Dereece giving in first just to shut him up. "Gnnngh…" He moved another checkmark diagonally. "How about that?" He waited for Krabby to make a move, but the decisive crab casually picked up his own piece and skipped it over a tandem of Dereece's pieces until it reached the other side. Immediately Dereece's chances for victory fell to oblivion. "Oh…"

"King me!" Krabby cheered.

Dereece groaned annoyingly. "Beaten at a boardgame, by a crab no less…this world's really screwing me over."

"Oh lighten up man, it's not _that_ bad." Joey nonchalantly shrugged, holding up a plastic fork for his small can of peaches. "It could be worse."

"How can it _possibly_ be worse?"

Joey shrugged. "I don't know? Dead and naked."

The blunt comment left Dereece with a long, irritable sigh. Once again, Joey – no matter how many faults there were in him – found a loophole. "Fair enough. Have you seen Kevin anywhere?"

"Huh?" Joey looked around the area, seeing no sight of Kevin beyond their little campsite. "That's weird. Wonder where he went off to?" He raised his brow as he thought of the liable options to go beyond the campgrounds. "Maybe he went to whiz or something. That's something I'd do."

Dereece nervously sweat dropped. _'Well, the Captain isn't wrong…'_ He cleared his throat. "Well, if you ask me, Kevin's probably finding reception or something. You know how bad his, uh…habits are."

"Hey! It's a good collection!" Joey defended. "Those bodies are primed for good reasons!"

"Oh~, can I see sometime?" Sewaddle cooed, overhearing from close by.

Joey, unsure of what Sewaddle's motives were, shrugged. "Kevin can look up whatever you want, I don't see why not."

Krabby scuttled up towards Sewaddle, holding up a checkered gameboard. "You wanna play?"

Sewaddle's expression brightened as he winked at Krabby. "Oh, I'd play with you~." He chimed.

"Oh god." Dereece groaned.

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon!" Kevin was flicking the holographic screen the size of a smartphone as he was trying to use his Search Magic. However, the magic's energy and signal was making it very hard to upload items he was trying to see. After minutes on end trying to upload for one picture, Kevin was stuck with the frame of an unknown curvy woman plastered on his Search Magic screen. He dismissed the whole thing entirely. "Of all the times for my magic to get slow, I don't even have a headache right now."

It was an uncommon theme for Kevin and his Search Magic to be worked up like this. While it was true of what Dereece surmised, Kevin wasn't without his own needs. His magic works well when he focuses, and he was focusing _good_. So having it slow like this without a headache was giving him a bad message.

"If my magic isn't working, then how am I supposed to ease my libi-er, I mean help those people." He shook his head, trying to stay on track. Ultimately he sighed and gave up. "Maybe it'll work better in the morning. Better get back I guess…"

Kevin turned back towards the campsite, but he ended up tripping and falling over a log.

"Gah!" He winced as he landed on something hard, feeling as hard as a rock. Thankfully his average weight didn't completely crush it. "Ow…" He rolled over, recovering from that fall. "Can't see a thing out here, sheesh…" A blue light started shimmering from beneath, grabbing his attention.

All his attention went towards the thing he fell on. It looked a lot like a blue egg-like rock. But instead, the blue egg glowed in place, flickering on and off like some kind of lamp.

Kevin narrowed his eyes as he leaned closer. The beguiling figment had a multi-cell-like frame. The way that it was embedded by roots gave it an appeal of some form of plant to Kevin. The Search Mage wasn't sure why, but something about this felt strange.

"What the…?" He got a little closer towards it, leering at the strange object, "Is this…an egg? Or a plant?" He tried reaching for it, very slowly in fact for caution. He used solemnly the index finger fir good measure. Hoping it wasn't poison ivy, it was for that reason.

His index finger poked it, sending a shock through him. "Ow! Sweet Arceus!" he swore. He held his finger as it stung. It reminded him the first time he tried shaking hands with Beedrill. "What the heck was…?" He opened his eyes, seeing the blue egg shine sapphire with his fingerprint on it. He watched the fingerprint outline the outside, his brow furrowing in wonder. "What in the world…?"

The egg's glow started diminishing, along with the fingerprint. Somehow he regretted that shred of curiosity.

"Yo, Kevin!"

Kevin nearly jumped at Joey's call from the campsite.

"You okay out there man?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" He hurried along, giving one last look at the figment. "That's just weird." He muttered before rushing for the campgrounds.

As Kevin rushed back towards the campsite, the forest life had gotten eerily silent. The crickets that were humming were brought to silence as Volbeat ceased flashing their lights as well. The odd shift in the dark forest was affecting the area as it left only the egg in a quiet void. The blue glow from the egg slowly returned, but Kevin's fingerprint was gone. Instead, inside, an odd, sapphire blob was in the center.

* * *

Later that night, the gang had finally settled down and the fire turned to a small ember, no doubt from the wood being all used up. Since they didn't come prepared with tents, they managed to make makeshift beds using leaf piles. Joey also used his coat for a comforter, and to keep his warmer. Strangely enough, he also had on a night mask so he could sleep soundly. The Pokémon were safely tucked in their Poke Balls and other capsules, leaving them sound asleep. While the trio masked with Repel and Trubbish' Stench, the protection allowed Kevin to sleep soundly…too soundly as he tossed towards his side. He smirked and chuckled in another one of his dreams, no doubt something perverted. As he slept, the sound footsteps drew closer, until a shadow loomed over his face. Kevin once again rolled away, ignoring the shadow. The shadow drew closer, until it all went black.

* * *

The first rays of the morning air shined brightly upon the eastern end of the island. The seas and the cool breeze added to a nice chirp by the Fletchling that signaled the light of new day.

Kevin slept soundly until he started stirring, the rays of morning slowly clearing his vision. He groaned as he didn't want to get up, but reality had other plans for him. "Gnnngh…" His vision was blurry for several minutes, leaving him no choice but to blink. "No…why'd it have to end like tha…?"

His eyes suddenly met with something mere inches from his face, causing him his heart to stop.

There, mere inches from him, there was a pretty little face, and it had silky fair skin. The creature had big eyes that matched his eye color, and her hair was also his color, only it was long, went down her back, and had a princess cut, only the side bangs were way longer. She had a simple baby purple dress with short sleeves.

She looked at Kevin curiously while Kevin laid there, processing what was happening. When it finally came to, a switch went off.

"AAAAHHHH!" His scream was so loud that it caused nearby birds to fly away.

Joey and Dereece shot up in fear, looking everywhere in worry. "Huh?! What?!" Dereece panicked.

"What's happening?! Is the pudding being raided again?!" Joey looked around, seeing Kevin sitting like a statue in bed. "Kevin, what's up!"

Kevin shakily pointed to the girl on his makeshift bed. "G-g-g-guys…" Joey and Dereece gathered around, seeing the girl with their own eyes. Suffice to say a little shocked would be an understatement.

"Uh, wh-what…?" Joey swallowed.

"How…where did she even…?" Dereece couldn't make sense of the words.

Kevin scooted out of bed, leaving the little girl to stare blankly at the Blue Pegasus mage as he stammered up to his feet. "Uh, c-can I help you?" he blinked.

The little girl blinked back, tilting her head at Kevin. She looked clueless as to what he said.

"Uh, is she listening to us?" Dereece asked.

"Forget that, she doesn't even look like she understands us." Joey gave her a raised brow. _'Is she deaf like me?'_

The little girl looked at the three boys with wonder like a child. To them, she was like some homeless child, but extremely well groomed. The little girl looked towards Kevin, a strong but very awkward tension coming between the two. The older guy was staring blankly at the girl as her anxious gaze squared solemnly on him.

For some reason, Kevin felt a shiver down his spine. _'Wait, why she look a lot like…?'_

The little girl squinted curiously before she blinked. Her expression turned emotionless as she gazed at Kevin with a hollow smile. "Good morning…Papa."

The three men stared, their eyes were dots. Altogether, only two words escaped their mouths as they blinked twice. "…say wha?"

* * *

 **Finally got the first chapter of the Astral Arc up, thank the ever-loving god (or me, you know I'm not too picky)! I'm not going to lie about this to you guys, but this was by far the hardest thing that I had to make. It took me two weeks to write this chapter, two weeks! Normally you guys who've known me know it's like a 5-7 day average, but this chapter, let alone this arc I planned, it's putting me through my paces.** _ **Slow**_ **paces.**

 **So as you've guessed, it's covering 2 separate adventures in 1 arc. One side is Fairy Tail in Astral, and The Freaks (minus Duncan) having a mission on an unknown island. It's not that it'll be hard to write at all, it's just that after making this chapter and overviewing my plans and all, I'm gonna have to redo the plans and try to make it more accordingly. I was hoping for maybe 5-6 chapters, but with the rate that I'm going, I have no idea how this will go.**

 **This brings me to something that's been aching me since my last Bakugan chapter, but it's clear that it's gotten way out of hand. I've undergone Writer's Block, but more importantly, my drive for writing had suddenly dropped drastically. The critical point being here made is that the chapter's plot wasn't hard, but my drive, I could barely get 2K a day, that's why it took me so long, because whenever I tried writing, I ended up spacing off until I have to go to work. It was so bad that I ended up binge watching anime with Quintessential Quintuplets and Cupid's Chocolates (which by the way are really good in my opinion), and few other anime to help me regain some inspiration. It's a very slow recovery, and odds are my next update won't be for a while. So for the time being, I'm gonna be taking a break from writing. I'm gonna try to get my focus back in order, but I think my brain's just worn out from YEARS of weekly updates. So I'll attempt to repair the plans, make revisions, and to help mend me away from writing, maybe do some art. I'm not too entirely sure, but it's clear that if I keep this up, I'd procrastinate each day until it takes like a month to get another full chapter written. I need my A-Game again.**

 **Oh yeah, for Kevin's new Sewaddle, imagine his voice being Bryce from Family Guy.**

 **So, I guess I'll be seeing you guys when I'm mentally ready again. Reviews and feedback are VERY appreciative! Let me know and share your thoughts on how I'm tackling the Astral Arc so far, and thank you all for being patient. Hope to see you guys around!**


	32. That's What She Said

Nic exhaled deeply as he sat comfortably in his chair. His arms were crossed as he looked to be half-asleep.

"What's wrong?" Erza asked from across the small table. "Not feeling well?"

"No, I'm fine." Nic lethargically dismissed. "Believe me, it's not the first time I've been up for a while."

Erza crossed her own arms across her ample caboose. "I see, couldn't sleep well after last night. Yeah, things certainly didn't end on such a high note, I'll give it that. Still…" She moved her hand so that her chin rested on the palm. "We should try to relax a little. Your stomach's probably the one paranoid. We haven't had an outgoing breakfast for some time."

Nic chuckled. He knew his wife was right. "Yeah, probably the bile talking."

A very early morning shined upon Astral and its residence. The sunshine glimmered along the mountain ranged far beyond the city limits. It was so bright that glaring at it would leave one blind. Nic and Erza had to shift their seats just to prevent that. To start off their morning, Erza proposed breakfast outside a diner, to which was very much willing. After last night, he needed something to fuel up.

A waitress with short blonde hair tied in a high ponytail stepped up, bringing the two out of their conversation to see their orders have arrived. "Here you go." She landed Erza's plate first, which was a balanced breakfast of sausage and fresh squeezed orange juice.

"Thank you." Erza nodded.

"And for you." The waitress leaned to Nic to place the western omelet in front of him.

"Thanks." Nic replied.

"My pleasure. Feel free to let us know if you need anything else. Enjoy!" With a chime in her charisma, she turned went back inside to tend to the other early morning customers. Nic and Erza watched her go with grins.

"She's certainly lively." Erza commented.

"Yeah, she is." Nic proceeded to skewer his breakfast omelet with his fork. The slice of the thin edge carved into the omelet, letting melted cheese showed that layered the ham and vegetables inside. He couldn't keep himself from salivating so hard.

Erza giggled as she watched Nic eat at his own pace. Her dreamy smile on him as he munched rather profanely made it look like she adored the scene, even when it's anything but. She watched him lift his head and open side to let the massive slab he picked off fall to his mouth. "Napkin, Nic." She handed him a napkin.

Nic swallowed. "O-oh, right. Sorry…" Nic took the napkin with both hands, wiping the cheese off his face. His serious expression showed. "So about this crown, is it true you think it has to do with the ritual?"

Erza closed her eyes and frowned. "Jellal's hunches are never wrong. If he says this artifact is important then it's wise to not doubt him. He has a knack for being rather persistent with gut feelings…something that you both seem to share."

"Are you trying to flatter him or me?" Nic raised an impish brow.

" _So, what exactly is this crown?" Nic and Erza looked at the flier in Jellal's possession, staring at the artifact intently. It looked fancy for just a mere crown._

" _It's an artifact to have been made from ancient blacksmiths in this region." Bellona informed. "Jellal and I did some investigations and learned the alloy that it's made of is made of extinct gold."_

" _Extinct gold you say?" Erza narrowed her eyes and looked skywards. She could see herself wearing golden armor. It actually fitted her quite well in her eccentric imagination._

" _This is all sounding like basic marketing. Commandeering and thieving for a profit." Nic stated._

" _Believe me, we thought the same thing." Jellal answered. "It's no secret that the metal is special and can be worthwhile, but…" his gaze grew fiercely seriously. "There's a legend behind it as well. When we looked into the tablet in front of the casing, the document said an old tale about those in command of stars. It was faded incantation, so it wasn't much we could scrounge, but it was enough to raise a red flag."_

" _And that's when you learn about this ritual I take it?" Nic pieced it together. His gaze hardened. "Yeah, this_ is _a big coincidence."_

" _Thanks to Erik, we were able to track down the artifact to this area. If you both have any suspicions of where it might be, let us know. We'll be around investigating."_

 _Nic looked down one more time at the flier in his grasp. He looked at the crown and its eccentric jewels encasing it. He knew something about this was off, he could feel it._

"'Those in command of the stars', those were Jellal's exact words." Nic reiterated. "And the king said something about using the stars to bring back Aquarius."

Erza put a hand to her chin. "Yes, that _does_ bring up general concern now that you mention it." She faced him. "And now you're suspecting the king's lying?"

Nic looked down at his omelet., his appetite appeased for the moment by his investigation. "…no, that's not it. I'm sure he genuinely means it when he wants to bring Aquarius back for Lucy. That's what worries me. I _know_ something's wrong, those eyes never lie." He thought back to the eyes of hatred when he fought Gray and END. "But this is for Lucy. If we mess up, she'd be even more broken. I doubt she'll recover from that."

Erza placed a hand on Nic's shoulder, making him look at her. "It's sweet of you to consider Lucy. I'm sure that no matter what happens, she won't fault anyone for what happens. She's never one for grudges."

Nic smiled and huffed. He lifted his fork. "Alright, let's start our day on the right foot."

Erza tapped her fork with Nic's before digging in.

* * *

Also up early this morning, the library doors have just opened, and already someone was inside tending to her studies. A loud yawn came from Sophie that echoed in the main lounge.

"Hm, Sophie? It's impolite to yawn aloud." Kadabra pointed sagely.

"Right, sorry. A-ni a-ye-fa (I'm tired)." The blonde mused. She groggily sighed as she resumed her readings from last night. _'Still can't believe that libraries open this early here. It's certainly not like the one we have in Fiore, I'll give it that. Now…'_

She reached for the stack of books she loaned from the library last night and reached for the bookmark wedged halfway into the paper. She put on a pair of Gale-Force Reading Glasses she rented from Levy before leaving. Kadabra used his psychic powers to make a book float in his face.

"Sophie, I do apologize in advance, but I'm not familiar with your human written manuscripts." He stated.

"Really?" Sophie hummed, invested in the reading.

"Yes." Kadabra cleared his throat. "Still, though I must say, I've never seen you this focused before on reading texts. Especially not in a biblically expanded location."

"I always went to the library back when my parents were still together. It was fun." A smile crossed her pink lipstick. "Rufus and I would study often together…that is until we got older. I started studying a little Hebrew and other subjects, and Rufus would be into any spells for his magical benefits." She snorted rather mockingly. "Still glad I was able to smack some sense into him back in the Grand Magic Games."

"Sounds like quite the sportive times for you." Kadabra mused.

Sophie chuckled. "You can say that." She wouldn't lie when she admitted that she somewhat missed those times before her parents divorced. Her traveling with her father until she finally took to her heels and joined a guild was when matters spiraled. Nevertheless she resumed her studied. "Okay, let's see. Volume 3, verse 7…"

* * *

 _His majesty was but a skeptical man of his age, a man who had the condolence of his people who looked up to him. Not just as a wise man, but a humble one. Perhaps this what lead towards his and Aquarius' first meeting. Ever since that one night, Achilles went out by the sea on clear nights, waiting for Aquarius like it was a sworn promise. Some believed he fell for the spirit, but many others found it confusing. Some officials questioned his sanity even until it became common of the king to swim in the sea on clear nights._

 _Weeks after the meeting with Aquarius, he was relentless, but wanted to know more, exploit as much as possible about spirits. He never asked how many there were. He surmised it had to be millions equaling stars, but he had to be sure. When the next month passed and the dates changed, it soon came time. The stars shined bright, and the Celestial World opened itself to him once more. He was ready to meet Aquarius again…but it was a new date of the year, and with that the constellations changed. He met not the mermaid, but two giant fish that spouted from the water: Pisces. And that only the beginning. For the next cycle of spirits to come and go, Achilles would meet a new spirit once in a single night of a different month, within a certain time period. He met Taurus in the fields overlooking Astral. He met Cancer along the beach snipping some fine seaweed into silky strands that could be used for wigs. In various locations within Astral's range, the young king would be on the lookout to find and see these 12 spirits for himself. That's when he realized the truth amongst Astral's geography._

 _The king had inscribed to many of his peers, of studying stars, to naming them. He conducted searches and findings, leading to the invention of telescopes. This was the concept of Astrology that was broken into the world. And it turns out, Astral is the one place that is that bridge of land and stars alike. Due to the geography, the land is concentrated with starlight, giving it an atmosphere that resembles much of the so-called Celestial World that few have seen through the ocean at night. More accurately, after months of studying, Achilles noticed the magical potency notably stronger on the nights the Zodiacs visited the realm. With his encounters, the more reactive he gets to sensing celestial energy._

 _Finally, after a whole year of astrology and documentation, he accurately predicted when he would meet the next spirit. However, his encounter with Aquarius and their conversation lead to another direction…_

" _What?" The king stepped backwards in the sparkling seawater, he was shocked at the proposal Aquarius said. "Come beith again."_

" _I said, I have offered you a chance to meet your king."_

 _Achilles stood motionless in the water, his half-naked body glistening from the starlight minerals that filtered in the water when meeting Aquarius crossed over. He wanted to see the spirits again, sure, but he never expected to be able to meet the king. This was the first time he's heard of such a proposal. He was flattered to get acquainted with another king like him, but a king that's able to use magical abilities foreign to them, that's where it gets terrifying. If he made a wrong, callous mistake, there could be a chance that the lives of his people could be endangered. Yet if he didn't, who knows? Would anything actually change? What would he get out of this venture? Sure he's interested in these spirits, but his people and friends came first._

" _Excuse me, are you still there?" Aquarius' charming call eluded him back to reality._

" _Forgive me for that. I was…just momentarily perplexed is all."_

 _Aquarius chuckled. "I can see why. This is the first time I've seen the king take interest in humans, let alone you. Us spirits let word travel quite fast in our world."_

" _Aye…" Achilles looked down at the ankle-deep water. It reflected endless streams of starlight and pixilated twinkles from faraway galaxies. He was invited yet he knew better. "I apologize, but I feel my obligations are here."_

 _Aquarius watched him turn away, slowly trudging one leg with the other through the cold gateway._

" _And where are you going?"_

" _Back to shore. I have a public that needs my help to grow. We're expecting a harvest by week's end that needs tending to."_

" _Just one moment." Aquarius sighed. Much to his chagrin, Achilles stopped in place. "I understand what you are saying. A king must tend to the needs of his people. They are whom that makes the king."_

" _Aye, that'd beith one way…"_

" _But a king must also try to salvage what he can for himself. Without his own provisions, what good is a lone king?" The spirit levitated across the water closer to his back. "It doesn't have to be this minute, but my constellation won't last all night. It's fine that you don't want to meet the Celestial King now, it can wait. But the offer won't stand for long."_

 _Achilles stayed silent as he looked ahead. He wasn't certain if this was intentional or not but it didn't seem like Aquarius was lying._

" _Very well…" She turned her back towards him, her tailfin barely grazing his toned back to make a shiver run up his spine. "I'll be around if you're still available." She smirked. "From one king to another, he's not as frightening as he seems."_

 _As she started levitating off slowly, Achilles' initial spine twitching dissipated from Aquarius' tail brushing. His brow furrowed as he considered the options that were made, and he wasn't exactly confident about the idea…but Aquarius' offer managed to offer a small wedge into his temptation. Temptation. That's a word that got to every human. It wasn't something he liked showing, but ever since meeting Aquarius last year, he's been nothing but tempted._

 _It was a no-win for him, not the way he saw it._

" _Wait."_

 _Aquarius stopped._

"… _if I were to go with you, would this presentation take very long?"_

" _Not long at all." She answered. "However, our world isn't like yours. I should warn you about that."_

 _After a pause, Achilles finally exhaled. "…okay." He turned around. "Then if his majesty wishes for a prompt meeting with thy humble me, then make haste."_

 _Aquarius grinned. "There's the sprit. Now, then…" He grabbed hold of his shoulder. "Let's go!" Without another second, she dove into the water, dragging Achilles with her._

 _Achilles instantly felt a dense mass of liquid consume him, no doubt seawater. He closed his eyes as everything went black for a moment for him. Air had gotten light as the drag and force made him black out. When he awoke, he found himself feeling dry. Stirring onto his feet, he shook his head of the dizziness. "What in tarnation was-!" His eyes shot wide when he realized where he was. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but starlight. It looked like space, but only more majestic. He stepped on the porcelain pathway, reaching out towards space. "This…this is…" he trailed off, completely speechless. He sharply turned towards Aquarius. "Wait! Is this really…?!"_

" _Yes. Welcome to my realm." She chimed. "Oh, and hope you don't mind the wardrobe change."_

 _Achilles looked down, confused by what she meant. He realized he was earing a black mantle with green edging, which exposed his midsection. He had gray pants and black gloves that he gripped tightly. He starred in amazement. "How did this happen so fast? Did you cause this?"_

" _It's by law. We've studied human physiology since you all arrived in that place…what was it called…Astral? Anyways, the point is, it's like fish out of water. These clothes will help you breathe here in our world."_

" _Interesting…"_

" _Now, then…" Aquarius started floating down the pathway, leaving him be. "I believe that there is someone who you must meet."_

 _Achilles looked around when he realized she was leaving. "Wait a minute…" he stepped towards her direction. "Where are you going? Aren't thou my lead to-!"_

" _So…_ _ **you**_ _are the one who has been talking to the stars?"_

 _The sudden voice caused the man to stiffen. He couldn't explain why, but the deep, strong voice behind him made every semblance he had grew cold. 'What…is this feeling…?' he shuddered in place, the tension from the rapid heartbeat making him almost want to quiver. 'This beith…but could it…?'_

 _He shakily turned around, only for his expression to flatline. His breath escaped his lungs. "What is this-?!"_

 _Flaoting before him, in a dominating demeanor, there was a gargantuan humanoid creature. It had a massive moustache, with a blue flowing cape that adorned his accented armor. On the knees and the forehead were golden star-like assortments. There was an everflowing, sparkling aura around him that gave a more refined stature. It was like looking at a god itself._

 _The Celestial King stared down at him with crossed arms. "…"_

 _Just his presence alone was enough to bring Achilles to a standstill. He kneeled before him, lowering himself in presence of the mighty celestial. "Your Majesty…" Achilles stated as calmly as possible, in stark contrast to his racing heart. "T'is an honor to finally meet thy spirit. Please, forgive thy self."_

 _The king was silent as he looked over Achilles. It seemed like he was silently inspecting him for some reason. His lack of an answer was unnerving the lesser king, much to his chagrin._

 _Finally, after what felt like forever, the greater king raised his head. "Rise, my friend."_

 _Achilles raised his head._

" _You have no need to bow before me. I welcome you." Achilles slowly stood on the King's behalf. "I must say, I was surprised when my fellow spirits told me about the human species. What startled me more, was how one was so ambitious enough to interact with them. My friend, may I ask why are you so interested in my kind?"_

 _Achilles humbly lowered his head. "…for as long as thou remembered, mankind has never been beyond the stars. Many wondered what another life would be like beyond the current reaches we have now. Many in our troubled times would do anything to find a safe haven…" he paused to collect his deeper thought. "However, I believed that perhaps the heavens themselves were alive."_

" _Heavens, you say?" The King raised a brow._

" _Aye. Beith the place beyond our own lives. I humbly apologize once again." He curtsied before the King. "My name is Achilles Seraph, King of Astral. Beith thy honor to meet you, your majesty."_

 _The Celestial King paused for a moment as the fellow Zodiacs converged behind him. They all stared at Achilles as the King dominated before all of them with his overpowering presence. Slowly, his massive moustache began to move on its own in opposite directions. A massive grin formed on his face, showing white teeth._

" _And to you, our new friend. We bid you welcome to our new kinship."_

* * *

Sophie's eyes widened as she sat the manuscript down on the table. "So…this is how the first human crossed over to the Celestial World…." She narrowed her eyes. "And thus…" They widened again. "He also made a contract with the Celestial King?" The shock on her face didn't go unnoticed by Kadabra.

"Is something the matter, Sophie?"

"…no. Sorry. I was just surprised is all." The Memory-Make Mage stared down in momentary perplex, trying to collect her thoughts. She recalled back to the grievous fight against Jackal while teaming up with Lucy. Lucy had to sacrifice a Zodiac to bring the King to their world, and could only be used once.

She put a hand to her chin as she started pondering. _'So back then, humans could actually summon the King at will? I wasn't expecting these kinds of conditions. But…how is it that wasn't the case when Lucy summoned the King. Aquarius said the King had no key. Did something happen to make him lose his own key?'_

As the blonde was looking into the missing pieces to this puzzle, Kadabra looked over at something. "Hm? Sophie."

"Yes, Kadabra, what is it?" A slightly begrudging Sophie looked over, her eyes meeting with what her Pokémon saw. "Wait…excuse me?"

There, over on the other end of the table, there was a familiar figure sitting in a wooden chair, his own business lying in a textbook.

"Duncan?"

The aforementioned Trainer heard his name called and glanced at Sophie.

"What are you doing here?" she calmed down. "No, scratch that, what are you doing here, within the library?"

Duncan scoffed. "It's nothing. None of your business."

Sophie sighed angrily. "Fine. Sorry." She watched Duncan return the attention to the next page over. _'Even in the mornings he's like this. I wonder how Joey and Dereece put up with that. Now that I think about it, why did Duncan come along anyway?'_ It was a hard-pressed thought that prodded in the front of her mind. She took a look at Duncan's book, but the page wasn't shown well from her angle. "What's that book you're reading?"

Duncan chose to ignore her, minding his own interests. Rude as ever, making Sophie all the more irritable.

"Please, allow me Sophie." Using **Confusion** , Kadabra used the psychokinetic powers to move the book from Duncan's clutches and passed it towards Sophie.

"Hey!"

The book landed in Sophie's grip. She minded herself as Duncan got up from his seat and marched over to collect his belongings. "Hey, what's with you?"

As if falling on deaf ears, Sophie hummed as she looked at the title on the front cover. "The Assessments of Magic & Origins" She reiterated. "A book based on magical history…?" Suddenly the book was snatched from her by Duncan. "Duncan, you're studying magic?"

Duncan shot glares at her as he tucked away his book. "Yeah, so what?"

"It's nothing."

"Then what's with that face you're making?" he squinted.

"I swear. It's nothing…it's just, now that I think about it, I've never seen you invested in anything other than Pokémon. Since when have you been so interested in magic all of a sudden?"

He harshly turned away. "Since I first discovered my own magic." He huffed. "Might as well since I'm here, wouldn't that be the most sensible thing to do?"

"I suppose."

Duncan scoffed. "Good. Now please, stay out of my belongings." He started walking away. "I'm gonna go find a better place where I can't have my books flying off on me. Next time, teach that Kadabra of yours _and_ yourself to respect other's space."

Walking off, the mage/Trainer only earned the ire of Kadabra as he watched his back. "A most imprudent individual."

"Yes, I can agree." Sophie watched him go, but a strange sensation boggled around her head. It felt like something was missing in the picture that was Duncan. It's not the first time Fairy Tail was left revelated from a secret kept from them, but this wasn't anything that was exploited before.

For as long as she's known him, Duncan has always been an enigma. He wasn't as open as the rest of the other Trainers or mages in the guild. Nic wasn't the easiest at first either because of his stubbornness and reclusive nature, but overtime loosened greatly. And Vanessa was as easy to talk to as baking pie. There was no effort needed to get Joey babbling with Dereece backing him up, but Duncan…he was aloof. There wasn't a single thing she knew about him. Some impulse was telling her to act now. So she did.

"Duncan, wait."

Despite his urgency, he stopped on behalf of Sophie's words.

"We've known you since the conference two months ago about The Crossing. You're a very straightforward Trainer with exceptional battle knowledge and abilities alike. You were able to give Vanessa a run for her jewels as well at one point. And yet as capable as you are you haven't explained enough why is it that you joined our guild."

"That's because I didn't." he countered.

"Then let me be the first to ask. Duncan…" A moment's hesitation caused the air around them to grow silent, setting a serious tone in play. "…why did you join our guild?"

Duncan looked over his shoulder, giving her a neutral glare. "…I have my reasons."

"Does that include leaving Joey and Dereece behind?" she scolded, getting up from her chair. "I've heard how you left them on their own job when you declined them. Last I checked, they're your teammates." She started for him, stopping in front of the table as her Kadabra levitated over the other side. "I'm not sure what motives you have for making such a decision. Sure, Joey can be over-eccentric, but he's suffered enough."

"Isn't pain supposed to be the greatest teacher?" Duncan input his own logic to counter. "Besides, I told him to his face I needed time for myself. He gave his consent."

"Because Joey trusts you. He worries about you as much as he does for his own well-being."

Hearing this made Duncan huff as he glared over his shoulder at her. "If you're so worried about him, you go check on him? Doesn't affect me either way."

The blonde huffed again. "Well, as _tempting_ as that is, I'm afraid I don't know where he is. But if he were here, what would you think?" She halted as she processed another possibility. "You don't like him, do you?"

Duncan was stone-cold silent, giving no verbal response. That was all Sophie needed.

"Duncan…"

"Look, if you're trying to tell me that I should be more attentive of my 'Captain', fine, I get that." He harshly rebutted. "But in case you haven't noticed, I have my own life, and my own purpose. I don't have time babysitting and telling someone how to live their life when I should worry for myself."

"And what exactly is your life? What are you trying to accomplish that makes you want to stand out?"

Duncan lowered his head, looking at the ground. "I already told you, that's none of your business. I can get strong on my own…unlike some people." He started for the exit again. "See ya around."

Sophie stepped forward, but by the time she processed it, Duncan was already gone. She just watched his figment fade in the distance, a frown on her face. In her mind, she was processing that last sentence he spoke. She wasn't one to be insulted or take them lightly, and this was no exception. But for some reason, that struck a nasty chord inside her heart.

"Honestly…"

"I don't mean to intrude on the matter of alarms here…but his personality is rather inhospitable." Kadabra noted.

"I can't disagree with you there." Sophie smirked. She thought back for a moment how because of Duncan's battle tactics, she was able to capture Finneon. _'Still, believe it or not…he's actually a smart Trainer. I suppose he isn't so bad if he's committed to that much.'_

It was an intrusive thought that crossed her mind. Commitment. That was a word that never was a high priority to her…at least not growing up.

Sophie looked towards the skylight, seeing shining blue yonder high over her head.

' _You want to be a mage?" Sophie's father was stunned as he held the reigns that kept the steeds moving forward. It was his turn to take the trail ahead again, while Sophie sat in the carriage with their possessions._

" _Yes, father. I've made up my mind." Sophie declared. "Between merchants and mages, I think this is my best course."_

 _Sophie's father sighed. From the way that it sounded he didn't seem too pleased. "What have I told you about mages, dear?"_

" _That they're cheap and destructive distractions?" she answered matter-of-factly._

" _I never said that." He denied._

" _Not according to my memory. But father, if you're so ill-will on this, why go out of the way for me to learn Memory-Make?"_

" _It was because of your mother." He answered. "She thought it would be best to try and find you something that you can use in life."_

 _Sophie fell silent. She could tell her father wasn't so interested in the idea of magic compared to her mother. She was a lively girl, and she loved the exploits of magic. It's true to what her father said about mages and magic having destructive properties, but that's because of his experience and not her mother. Her father was less lenient on mages because of a few incidents involving bandits and Dark Guilds raiding their loot on trails that weren't checked up on…it's how her grandparents lost their lives when her father was 12. Even now, that little grudge of magic lingers in the back of his mind, and compared to Sophie's mother, it was a complete contradictory. She wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she meant well, and she was very open-minded. She loved to exploit new places and ideas for trade, or otherwise personal ventures to help her grow. Suppose that's how she ended up with her father and having Sophie. Everything they could agree on, except for magic. Magic. Guilds. Anything that related to anything supernatural didn't sit well with her father, and that's where the wedge was placed between them._

" _I feel it'll be safer if you just went this way." Her father continued. "I'm sorry Sophie, but sometimes life doesn't work the way you want it too. You know I love you, and I'll support whatever you wanna be…but a mage can lead down a dangerous path."_

" _I know." She said quietly._

 _A pause fell between them._

" _Father."_

" _Yes?"_

" _Are you still mad at Mom for what happened?"_

 _Her father lowered his head, pinching the bridge of his nose rather tight. "…no. Not anymore." He said it low, with hints of grief that Sophie picked up on. "She chose her way, and I chose mine. This is what I feel is best for me, and the safest for you. That's what we agreed on…it's as I said, dear, sometimes life doesn't work the way you want it too. You just have to get by the way you know how."_

 _Sophie looked down sadly. "I understand…" She looked down and resumed her book she's been studying, partly to pass the time._

Sophie sighed heavily. She turned back towards the manuscripts and textbooks still to go through. She hesitated for a moment before sitting down, putting on her Gale-Force Reading Glasses. Kadabra got the message and used his psychic powers to lift a book.

"Now where was I…?"

* * *

All of Astral was tending to its daily activities for the day, or as normal as could be in the eyes of many. However, amongst the morninggoers, there notably less of them on the streets. Normally there'd be a few people exercising on the beach, preferably men. But rather than bask sun on a sandy beach, muscles were being put to use elsewhere.

On a high plateau overlooking valleys, the land was being flattened and paved cleanly. People were on their knees using flattening metal to smooth out the fresh concrete around a large, circular mirror that was being cleaned. Even with many of men on it, the pressure wasn't making it crack. It was like time hadn't touched its value.

Watching from a higher point, Oberon as the men were at work fixing and conditioning the atmosphere. Since first light, the preparations for the ceremony were going about smoothly.

"How are things looking, Oberon?" Coming from behind, King Melchior surprised the advisor as he turned around.

"Your grace." He greeted with a hapless expression.

Melchior walked up besides him to overlook the progress of the plateau grounds. "Looks like we were able to enlist a few more volunteers than necessary." He noted the numerous men.

"I do apologize or that. I'm afraid Auriol was a rather…persuasive with the numbers. You know how she can be." Oberon glanced at him. "Is this a problem?"

Oberon grinned. "No, just a surprise is all." He chuckled. "But I don't mind. It's not often you see such a big community work towards a united goal as big as this one."

"You're their king. Whatever you want, it's their command. T'is the role of man and servant; he who seeks a goal must have those who support him."

"Come now, Oberon. This isn't Bosco, remember that."

"Yes, I apologize." He turned to face him. "Still, I cannot thank you for allowing me to beside you, even after your endeavors for Bosco's slave abolishment. Though it wasn't for fruit, had naught it been worthwhile."

Melchior grinned passionately. "That's all part of the past, my friend. You are free now, that's what's important." He turned towards the work on the plateau. "...and that same endeavor shall be set for the young maiden's spirit tonight."

"Your wish shall come true yet, sire. Tophet's encryptions of the hill's power have proven faithful yet." He turned his gaze towards the mountain range. There, lying beyond the valleys and caverns, there was a staggering hill with a nearly perfect vertical cliff. "Up there. That's the point where the wish has been cast. To this day, the die had been cast for your ways, all because of your sacrifice."

"Your modesty is starting to wear on me." Melchior smirked. "But it's appreciated." He turned towards the workers as he watched them apply extra shine onto the mirror; he could see his own face from the distance.

Another prolonged silence fell before the king spoke.

"Come. We must prepare ourselves."

"Indeed."

The two made way from their positions overlooking the plateau to ready for the ceremony. Unknowingly, from an even higher point, they were being watched by Jellal and Bellona. They were looking through a large magnifying glass lacrima that they positioned between two rocks.

"Seems that the pieces are moving in their favor." Bellona commented.

Jellal offered no input, instead gazing steadily with anticipation.

"And he's the suspect you believe. A ceremony to be held under Aquarius' constellation tonight, on top of that, he's summoned all the Zodiacs in one place. There's not enough room for signs of clarity."

"Don't worry." Jellal finally answered. "I'm well aware of the possibilities. Even with the information Sorano got from her sister, there's still a trail to go on. Even if it's not him, the culprit's still somewhere in Astral. They have to be."

"Suppose we'll have to wait for Sorano to report back…" Bellona sighed. "As soon as she stops groveling over her sister. Speaking of which…" She looked around, noticing another of their company missing. "Has Erik reported in yet?"

Jellal shook his head. "No. Frankly this worries me."

"He's never gone this long. Should we look for him?"

Jellal was hesitant to answer for a moment, but the ceremony took priority. "No, not yet. He's surveying the area. Even if he's not here, nothing can escape his hearing…unless if he's on a vehicle." He groaned.

"Guess we should just wait then."

"For now apparently." Jellal's gaze steadied on the site through the magnifying glass, watching the king and his servant walk off. "Let's hope our friends are on the case as well."

* * *

As the sun rose across the atmosphere, someone else had woken up to their own revelations. While the Fairy Tail Mages were having their own adventure, Joey, Dereece, and Kevin were gawking at something that ended up in Kevin's sleeping bag last night. It wasn't a frog, or a snake. Heck it wasn't even his newly caught eccentric Sewaddle…but a little girl.

This girl, despite any and all accusations, she looked healthy, or at least well enough to be nourished. It was hard to say considering her enigma. She looked about 7, or maybe 8, and looked a lot like Kevin. But that wasn't even the tip of the Never-Melt Ice. What struck them as off…was her calling Kevin "Papa".

It took a long time for any of them to process what was said, but Kevin was the first to speak. "Uh…b-beg your pardon…?"

The girl tilted her head, smiling. "I said good morning, Papa."

Kevin gulped. For some odd reason, his heartrate couldn't lower, even if he was trying. Though he was slightly older than his acquaintances, his mind wasn't as coped to these situations. It didn't help him as he slowly turned around, giving Joey and Dereece a nervous stare. "W-what…?"

"Kevin…" Joey started. "I don't mean to alarm you, but, eh…WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!"

His sudden outburst alarmed the Blue Pegasus Mage. "I-It's not what it looks like!"

"Then why is there a little girl in your bed man?! Dereece, you're the smart guy, do you know what's happening?"

"All sorts of wrong in my eyes." The advisor of the party-animal noted.

"What?" Kevin looked back at the girl, catching a glimpse of what he meant. He sharply looked back. "Hold up now! What are you saying? That I brought along a little girl with me just to sleep with?"

"Well you have that big kite thing, don't ya?" Joey noted.

"Uh, well I-."

"You've got other things inside those pockets other than kites and Pokémon? Maybe little girls for your fetishes now? You never told me you were into _that_ kind of thing!" He sharply turned away. "You know what, nope. Just nope. I don't wanna hear an explanation mister. You see this?" He showed his arm up high with a leveled palm. "This is the respect bar. And you see this?" He brought it down slowly as he whistled, simulating some kind of harsh descent from the sky to a crash sound. "This is your respect level! My respects for you, just crashed and burned mister!"

Kevin shook his head. "C'mon, give me a break. I'm not even into that kind of stuff man."

"Into what specifically do you mean?"

Kevin and the others stiffened when the little girl's innocent question alarmed them. Kevin looked back at Joey and Dereece to see what they would say, but were just as stunned.

"Uh, nothing. It's nothing important right now." He lied.

The little girl tilted her head in confusion. "Is everything okay, Papa?"

"Uh, uh…y-yeah, just fine. Just…just fine…" Kevin tried scrambling for words, but he wasn't having any luck. "Uh, just hold on for just one second, okay?"

The three looked towards each other, huddled around suspiciously, much to the girl's confusion.

"Dude, what the heck's going on?" Kevin whispered nervously.

"I don't know, I thought you knew." Joey replied. "Dereece?"

"Don't look at me, I'm just as clueless as you."

"Well she's not mine. As far as I've known, I've never had kids. Or even…" He trailed off as he was given suspicious stares from Joey and Dereece. He got to the point. "Anyways, point is, she's not mine!"

"Well if she ain't yours, where did she come from?" Dereece asked.

Kevin calmed down, putting a hand to his chin. "Yeah, and more importantly, how did she end up in my sleeping bag of all places?"

Joey crossed his arms and hummed. He was just as stumped as them. But he was trying to be reasonable right now. His eyes widened. "Wait."

"What?"

"Kevin, you said something about going on a job to find some people, right? There's a lot missing, and it was just us when we got here. Do you think…" He slowly turned towards Kevin. "You think she's one of the missing people?"

Dereece gasped. "Wait, you think?" He turned towards Kevin. "This true?"

"Hold on a sec, guys. I gotta get my bearings please." Kevin sounded rather desperate for a breather, and Joey and Dereece complied. "…let's see if it works now." Concentrating or a moment, Kevin activated his Search Magic. He started scrolling into his saved files, mainly for his work. _'Phew. Okay, guess my saved files section still works. That just means my Search function doesn't operate.'_ He started looking into the many faces, which were mainly highly revered scholars and expedition leaders. As he was going through the names and pictures, he furrowed his brow. "Huh, that's weird. Her pictures not on here."

"Well _that_ isn't creepy." Joey sarcastically murmured.

"But if she's not on the list, then what's…someone like her doing here?" Dereece asked.

"Oh! Maybe a tropical vacation! With her folks! _That_ sounds like a party!" Joey chimed.

"Doubt it." Dereece grumbled. "We would've seen some signs of lifeboats along the shore when we landed. And even if there were any manmade stuff here, we couldn't tell because we didn't stay on the beach long enough."

"Guess you're right." Joey sighed. "Great, now what do we do?" He looked towards Kevin. "Uh, go talk to her…or something."

"Why me?" Kevin pointed to himself.

"I don't know, _you're_ the Papa, you do something."

"Fine." Huffing, Kevin walked over and kneeled before the girl. She looked innocently up at him, like any child would.

"Is everything okay, Papa?"

"Uh, s-sure uh…sweetie?" He felt a bitter taste in his mouth when he said that. _'Geez, I don't do little girls.'_ Shaking his head, he focused. "So, how are you feeling?"

The girl blinked, smiling innocently yet again. "I'm fine."

"Great. So, uh…sweetie…you mind telling us how you got here? Anyone else you know is here?"

The girl paused again. "Uh, let's see. There's…uh…" She tried to think of something, but her brow furrowed the more she thought. "I believe…no, that's not it…I…"

"Are you okay?"

"I…" Her head lowered with slight regret. "I can't remember."

"Nothing?" Kevin saw her shake her head. "Well, you have a name we can call you?" Once again, she shook her head. He turned back towards his peers with a discouraged look. "Nothing. She's completely wiped."

"Well ain't _that_ a big help." Joey sarcastically sulked.

"She can't remember? You mean like amnesia?" Dereece speculated, looking up with a raised brow. "I guess that could explain a little."

"Yeah, but it still doesn't explain how she ended up in Kevin's bed last night." Joey pointed out.

Dereece crossed his arms. "Hmm…"

Kevin was just as conflicted. While Joey and Dereece were cooperating with him, the other side there was a little girl who came from out of nowhere. He could see her anxious stare leaning onto him and him alone. He was conflicted, and very much worried of what to do about the situation. He knew in the pit of his gut that something was definitely wrong here, and most certainly about this abrupt meeting with this little girl who calls her 'Papa'. But the longer he stared, the more he could see the resemblance, as well as the uncanny view of her eyes. They were much like his own, and the hair color was the same. It really was like looking at a younger-self, in a weird kind of way.

But being human also had good qualities, no matter how foolish they were deemed. He knew leaving her here would be plain cold, and he'd regret it for the rest of his life. There was no way that was gonna slide.

He walked towards her, looking at her intently. The girl looked just as worried but said nothing. "Guys…I think we should bring her with us."

"Kevin." Dereece worried.

"I'm serious. Look." He gestured towards the girl. "Would you really say no to that?"

The two looked at the girl and saw her worried face. Joey was smart enough to know there was something off about this mystery, but he was also aware of his morality. He and Dereece exchanged worried looks, but ultimately came to an agreement.

Dereece groaned loudly. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but…okay." He smiled.

Joey shrugged with a toothy grin. "Yeah sure, okay. Besides, we're not _those_ kinds of people."

"Figured you weren't." Kevin turned back towards the girl. "So it looks like you're with us, kid. That okay?"

The girl jumped with a chirpy smile. "Yay! Thanks so much Papa!"

"No problem. But…we can't just keep calling you whatever. I guess for the time being, we should give you a name." He put his hand on his chin and fell silent. An idea sprung in his skull. "I got it. We'll name you after my late-grandma. So sweetie…how does 'Ella' sound?"

"Ella…?" The girl scrunched her face in confusion. "Ella…and…this is my…name now?"

"Yes. Ella."

"Ella…" The girl softly smiled, perhaps even more genuine than before. "I like it! I have a name now!"

Before they could enjoy the happy notion, everyone heard some stirring around them. Meek rustling alarmed them with hisses.

"Huh?" Joey sharply turned around. "Guys, did you just hear that?"

"Oh, I heard something alright." Dereece shuddered nervously.

Kevin's brow furrowed. He looked all around and saw shifting in the shrubs and bushes. He could feel anxious stares looking them down. His gut as a Trainer was telling him something was wrong. He looked back at Ella, seeing her worried stare as well. He shifted to the front to guard her.

"Ella, stay behind me." Kevin told.

"Okay." She nodded.

Kevin turned around as the shifting grew louder. "Looks like we got an early morning stir going guys."

"Must be from our earlier outbursts." Dereece figured. "Must've stirred up some of the Pokémon around here." He swallowed another lump as he shakily pulled put a Poke Ball. "Man, just how many are there?"

"Who knows. But don't let your guard down." Joey pulled out a Poke Ball of his own. _'I may not be at home working out on my magic, but better somewhere than nowhere I guess.'_ Joey smirked. "Alright, let's get this party started!"

"That's what she said." Kevin sneered.

The statement didn't go unnoticed by Ella, who stood behind. Joey and Dereece raised a brow and looked back in shock that he said that before her. "What?"

"Huh? I didn't say anything, Papa." Ella stated.

Kevin finally caught when he looked behind. "Oh, uh…it's uh…" He cleared his throat with a quick cough. "It's uh…it's nothing."

"Are you sure? Your expression turned mallow."

"N-nothing! It's just an inside joke!" He pulled out a Net Ball. "Anyways, just stay close!"

Dereece raised a brow, vague curiosity entrancing him. Something about Ella struck him as odd, and not just because of her elusive background. _'Hold on. Did she just say…mallow? How does she know a vocabulary like that? She's looks like 7 or 8…what if…?'_

"Focus, Dereece!" Joey scolded. "Here they come!"

On cue, the rustling in the surroundings peaked. They stopped for a moment, allowing a dark silence to fill the atmosphere. In a flash, numerous Bug-types popped out of the shrubs. Caterpie, Ledyba, even Sewaddle jumped out with territorial frenzy. Tropical Vivillon and Butterfree also appeared. It was nothing short of a hissing, buggy frenzy.

"Woah!" Dereece gasped. "Okay now, what's the big idea?!"

"Bug-types, a lot of them." Joey's eyes widened. Suddenly an idea came to him that made him smirk. "Alright, then let's see how they like this! Go, Magikarp!" He threw the Poke Ball into the air, popping out his flopping fish.

Magikarp adhesively gasped for air, his flopping form making him splash a little in place. Everyone – even the wild Pokémon – stared at Joey's choice before turning towards him.

"Seriously?" Dereece chided.

"What? He needs the experience." Joey's excuse didn't offer any confidence buildup. "…fine." He groaned, pulling out another Poke Ball. "On the double, Tranquill!"

Besides the flopping Magikarp, Tranquill stretched his wings, letting out a morning battle caw.

Catching his breath, Dereece threw out his choice. "Okay, then go, Yanma!" Dereece threw out his Yanma, who hummed as she was in the air.

Holding his Net Ball, Kevin braced for battle. "Okay, time to break this new guy in. Go! Sewaddle!"

The Net Ball flung open, summoning Kevin's newly caught Sewaddle. The larva smirked as he stood proudly. "Hey guys~, who's ready to play?" he chimed happily.

The wild Pokémon attacked. Some were just being territorial, and others looked a little hungry. And others were of miscellaneous proportions. But that didn't stop the intruders from making their move.

"Tranquill, up!" Joey shouted.

"Aye!" Taking to the air, Tranquill flapped his wings and soared beyond Yanma's elevation. Below him, wild Sewaddle and Caterpie were firing **String Shot** and **Razor Leaf** at the ascending predator, whereas Ledyba were climbing with **Tackle**.

" **Gust!** "

Tranquill's wings glowed bright blue as he flapped his wings. The bird's strong tempests blew apart any strings and leaves heading his way and repelled them back. The enemy Bug-types were either immediately blown away or barely held their ground as the Flying-type attack and Tranquill's Super Luck were beyond them.

"Alright!" Joey cheered. He heard buzzing from the side and noticed a few were fluttering from the sound. "On the sides!"

"We got this!" Dereece shouted. "Yanma, **Double Team!** " Yanma shined briefly before she started dividing through tangents of illusionary clones that swarmed about the area. She hummed constantly as her vast numbers alarmed the crowd. A red aura indicated an evasion increase.

Some weren't so easily fooled though. A wild Butterfree's own wings glowed bright blue, unleashing **Gust** as well that stormed into the area. The wild wings dispelled the clones and powered towards them.

Joey pushed forward. " **Barrier-Make: Barrier!** " He conjured a large, rectangular teal barrier that looked like glass. It positioned between them and the **Gust** , keeping them and their Pokémon from damage. "Nice try! Dereece, take that one out first!"

"On it!" Dereece reached forward. "Go, Yanma! **Sonic Boom!** "

"Take…THIS!" Yanma's wings flapped, shooting out a white crescent-like shockwave that struck the Butterfree square in the face. It was enough to repel it back a couple feet. "Okay!" A red aura enveloped Yanma, her Speed Boost Ability activating. Suddenly she passed Butterfree, alarming the butterfly.

" **Quick Attack!** "

Turning around, Butterfree could barely process the bright red and green blur that was Yanma. She shot into its face, making a white shockwave that grounded the butterfly almost instantly.

Many wild Sewaddle gathered around Kevin's Sewaddle. They all shot glares at him, but he seemed flattered. "Oh my, what's this? A party?" he chimed. "Guess we better get started then, huh?"

A rogue wild Sewaddle suddenly shot at Sewaddle with **Tackle**. The impact was enough to make him stumble back.

"Oof!"

"Hang in there. Sewaddle! Use **String Shot!** " Kevin commanded. Stirring back into place. Sewaddle huffed as he opened his maw. A mass of thread expelled across the area, startling and holding down many of the Sewaddle that weren't as nimble as he was. All at once a blue aura lowered their Speed. "Now, use **Bug Bite!** "

Sewaddle closed in on the nearest wild Sewaddle – the one that tackled him. "Oh, so you wanna play rough huh?" His teeth glowed. "Guess I can get that way, too~." He got behind and started nipping the poor wild Sewaddle's backside. The larva shrieked at the pain at being violated.

"Keep it up, Sewaddle!" Kevin encouraged. " **Tackle!** "

Taking a moment to process the command, he ceased the nipping – much to his inner chagrin – and darted with a hurried ram, slamming the whole body that shot the wild Sewaddle into the wild occupants.

"Just like that, Sewaddle." Kevin continued commanding and doing his part for the battle. Unknowingly he was getting an awed look from Ella as she observed them and the Pokémon battling.

Joey was back to making his move. He watched his Tranquill evade a wild Ledian's **Mach Punch** attack, albeit narrowly. Seeing that everyone else was on their own terms, he turned towards his Magikarp. "Okay Magikarp, time to show them your bearings. No more sitting on the sidelines, time for some experience. You with me?" The fish flopped in place, looking at Joey with slight eager. "I'll take that as a yes. Okay then…" He saw the Ledian pivot in the air and turn around to attack Tranquill from behind. "There! Magikarp, use **Tackle!** " The fish made as big as a flop as he could, heading skywards towards Ledian. At the arte he was going, he looked like a torpedo. Joey's eyes eagerly reflected Magikarp. _'Those hours of jumping out of the water paid off! Maybe it'll work after all!'_

Ledian readied another **Mach Punch** when she saw an orange flopping fish that was in midair after jumping for her back. She angrily punched it with the attack, sending it back towards the ground.

' _Or…maybe not yet.'_ Joey watched Magikarp descend swiftly, prompting him to hurry and catch him. "I gotcha!" He reached up and seized the falling fish with a quick bend to the knees. "Okay! Phew! You okay bud?"

"Oww…" Magikarp whined.

Tranquill turned around, hearing the punch. He saw Ledian present, alarming him.

"Tranquill, **Quick Attack!** " Joey roared. In vengeance for Magikarp, the bird's body was outlined in bright blue and zipped with a blur and slammed into Ledian's abdomen. The impact made a harsh gag that shot Ledian towards the ground.

"Yanma, **Detect!** " Dereece shouted.

Wild Caterpie and Sewaddle shot at Yanma with either **Tackle** or **Bug Bite**. Yanma's eyes flashed green and she suddenly vanished, thanks to her intense Speed from her Speed Boost Ability. She suddenly appeared behind, hovering with a swift buzz.

" **Quick Attack!** "

Yanma blindsided the insects and blitzed pass them, knocking them all away. Another red aura flared around her, making her vanish to attack elsewhere.

The Ledian that fell from Tranquill's recent attack was fluttering dazedly over the ground a few meters beside Joey. She shook her head to rid of any lingering dizziness.

"Gnnngh…what just hit me…?" She noticed the blonde Trainer with the fish in his grasp. Immediately her guard went up. "You."

"Uh-oh." Joey murmured.

"Get off this island, this place is not for you. It's for us, no outsiders allowed!"

"What? What's that mean?" Joey was alarmed when she saw Ledian readying a Mach Punch. "Oh crud!" He had to think, and fast. He hardened when he realized Magikarp was still in his possession. He looked at him, then back at Ledian. Him, then her. Him, then her. Almost immediately it kicked in what he needed to do. "…what the heck. Experience is experience."

"En garde!" Ledian rushed at Joey with no consequence.

Joey spread his legs. "Get ready for a _real_ experience, Magikarp!"

"Yeah…wait, what?!"

"HIYAH!" With all his might, Joey grabbed Magikarp by the tail and swung him into Ledian like a bat. The impact was enough to throw off the territorial insectoid. Joey stepped on a rock and hoisted Magikarp high into the air, whirling him around like a lasso with an Indian battle howl. "ALALALALALALAAAAAAH~!"

Dereece and Kevin looked over, seeing Joey go mad as he used Magikarp to smite his foes. They watched him swat the fish into Sewaddle physically as Tranquill attacked from above.

"There he goes." Dereece groaned. "I told him that's never a good idea."

"Huh…Joey definitely seems…different than before." Kevin insisted. "…oh crud!"

"Papa!"

Kevin looked over his shoulder. To his horror he was seeing wild Paras gather around Ella as she was left alone. "Ella!" With gusto, he moved to shield her as the wild Paras lowered their backs and fired green lasers from their mushrooms on their backs via **Absorb**. Green waves turned to red as Kevin felt his energy getting drained, making him look groggy.

Ella gasped with surprise at the heroic act.

Joey batted one more Sewaddle with Magikarp and looked back at the site. "Kevin!"

Kevin winced as his energy was being drained. He was looking tired, despite having woken up recently. "I'm fine…just hang in there! Sewaddle, **String Shot!** "

"Come right over here!" The bug spat a large mesh of threads at the few attacking Paras, getting a harsh hold on them and slowing them down. With a big tug, Sewaddle turned his body around and slammed the bugs into his already slow foes.

Ella gasped when she saw an opportunity. "Hurry! They're al gathered in one place! Go!"

"Sewaddle, **Razor Leaf!** "

"Tranquill, **Air Cutter!** "

"Yanma, **Sonic Boom!** "

All three Pokémon unleashed their moves at once, sending razor-sharp leaves in a funnel with a barrage of white crescents and X-shaped blue waves. The combined might created a massive eruption of dirt and shockwaves that caused the ground to shake. Joey moved in front to create a barrier that stopped the dust from getting to them.

Once the dust passed, the area began clearing. Their Pokémon all converged as they saw the wild bug horde vanished. They were able to win the fight this time around.

"Phew, that was close." Joey held up his Magikarp. "How you feeling, buddy?"

"Feeling…just…grea~t…" Magikarp was in a deep haze as he was used as a bat. It didn't feel pleasant, but it was better than being worthless. Though his multitude of concussions say another thing.

"We'll get you some Super Potion." He turned towards Tranquill. "Nice job, Tranquill. Way to help out."

"Thanks for the save there, Yanma." Dereece praised.

Both Pokémon chirped and nodded; Yanma perched herself happily on Dereece's head, earning a disgruntled groan.

"Geez…" Kevin shook his head as he tried to get his bearings together from that earlier attack. "I thought Absorb was supposed to be weak…"

"Papa?" Ella looked up to Kevin. "Are you okay?"

Despite being lightly drained, Kevin grinned at the little girl. "Don't worry. I've hit a tower flying a kite. I'll be just fine." He turned towards his Sewaddle. "Sewaddle, great job. Thanks for the help."

Sewaddle bashfully smiled. "Aww, now you're just flattering me. You sure know how to make this little buggy feel welcome~."

Joey sighed in relief. "Well at least we're in the clear now. Let's get some Repel on us as soon as we heal up." He heard some mumbling from close by. Looking over, he saw Dereece looking perplexed. "What up bud? Something _bugging_ ya?"

"Oh, now that was just bad." Sewaddle huffed. "I hope you feel bad, because that was bad. I hope you feel bad."

"…nah, nothing." Dereece answered dismissively. "Those Bug-types were pretty territorial is all."

Joey furrowed his brow, catching onto Dereece's inquiry. "Yeah, you're right. Here I thought Beedrill were mean in a swarm. Those guys weren't even provoked and they still attacked us. What did we do?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we should stick around to find out." Dereece advised. "We need to get our things together and leave as soon as we can. Doubt they'd wanna go another round after that one right away."

"That's what she said." Kevin said. Once again he earned raised brows from his associates.

"Um, excuse me, Papa. But I didn't suggest that." Ella advised.

Kevin cleared his throat again. "Uh…sorry Ella." He apologized. "It's just another joke."

"I'm not following how you wanting me to say something is labeled as comical."

Kevin looked back at Joey and the others, giving worried expression.

"Are you sure she's your kid?" Dereece wondered.

"Dude, please don't…" Rather than make the situation worse, he pressed his fingers between the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Fine. Let's just pack up, and we can settle this along the way."

They all began assessing their belongings, readying to move out as soon as they were healed and recharged. Meanwhile, Ella watched in silence as the men and their Pokémon helped gather the objects needed.

She stared at Kevin's back, an awkward silence befalling them all as the morning concluded.

* * *

"Ugggh…" Cana moaned as she laid on the inn bed with a bored expression. Around her were a couple cases of booze bottles that have been drunk clean. She made sure of it last night.

Purrloin was curled up on the edge of her head. Hearing her Trainer's complaints made it impossible to sleep. "Mmm, keep it down…" the feline muffled. Moving her tail over her face. "Can't a cat sleep in peace?"

"Can a _woman_ sleep in peace?" Cana retorted. "Man, this place _really_ packs some wine." Her testimonies were slammed shut with the door that opened and closed. "Heh?"

"I see you're awake." Walking across the dorm, Vanessa carried a tray of breakfast foods. Behind her was Delphox providing aid with another tray of fresh food, specifically produce. "I was worried we'd have to get Wendy to handle with your hangover."

Cana raised a brow at her friend's relaxed demeanor. "Huh, where'd you run off to?"

"To get breakfast. I was able to get something to eat just before they closed down the morning kitchen. Sophie already filled before she went out."

"Sophie?" The name rung a bell. Cana looked around, realizing the third inmate was nowhere to be seen. "Aw yeah…forgot about her. What happened again?"

"We both slept in. Sophie left a note saying she'd be at the library if we needed her. You were in such a hangover from last night it was impossible for you to respond."

Delphox approached Cana with a drink in her paws. "This has Heal Powder mixed in with it. It should speed up your condition recovery."

Cana turned her confusion towards the gurgling seltzer in the cup. The white powder mixed into it could be seen boiling on the top. "Thanks." She took one small sip, immediately getting a taste that made her almost choke on it. "Bleh. Bitter."

"Heal Powder usually is." Vanessa commented. "You should feel better in a few moments."

True to what Vanessa said, Cana was feeling her headache lighten some. Though it still lingered, it wasn't as bad as it was before. Delphox came back with a small mesh of fruit to start off the late morning for her. She picked up the plastic fork and started her the healthy breakfast.

As the lush filled up, Vanessa reached for her purse with a brush. She went to grooming Delphox.

"So Cana?"

"Hm?"

"Are you excited for this ceremony tonight? I'm hearing a lot of people are preparing for the occasion."

"Huh?" Cana swallowed before answering. "That? Yeah, guess you can say that. Honestly you should be asking Lucy that. I'm sure she's bouncing off walls like a jacked-up kid on a sugar rush."

Vanessa stroke Delphox's back hair with the brush; the soft bristles tickled the mature fox as she let her Trainer make her comely. "It's not like it's obvious. We're all here to see a guildmate feel happy for themselves. After everything that's happened, all this fighting, even the smallest silver lining is enough to lead us to where we wanna go…then again, you never know what _kinds_ of paths the light leads you too."

The mood Vanessa was making Cana frown. She could feel a forewarning of the Aura Mage's argument. Even her Purrloin was wide awake.

"I didn't really have the chance to talk about it to anyone yet, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt this…that king, Melchior was his name. I felt a strange aura coming from him."

"Strange how?"

"I'm not certain, but it's like…he was there, yet he wasn't. There was genuine in the cause of bringing back Aquarius, but the rest of his aura read on other notions." She nipped on the tip of her thumbnail. "I may not know much about Celestial Spirits, but if they have anything to do with this king, then I am not at liberty to say."

Cana looked towards Purrloin, who shared equal amounts of suspicion before abruptly licking her arm fur like a normal cat. "Maybe you're just overreacting. Don't you think you're jumping the gun a _little_? You guys and Erza are always on the nose, sure, but come on, lighten up. I swear, you and Nic are such jitterbugs." She looked over to see Vanessa's knowing face. She knew this wasn't sliding. "Geez…look, if I use my Fortunetelling and _prove_ it that you're wrong, will you get a grip?"

Vanessa smirked. "It might."

Mumbling beneath her breath of Vanessa and her intuitive habits, Cana started setting up her Fortunetelling. The cards were being set up and she started concentrating. "Alright, give me a sec…"

Vanessa moved to the other ear, continuing to brush Delphox while Cana worked her magic on the cards. As the Pularis girl was casually grooming, the lush barely on a hangover was coming around.

Once the cards were setup, Cana was sitting over the table with arms spread. "Alright, let's get this over with." She closed her eyes, silently pooling her magic into her mind. _'Now…!'_

 _BA-DUMP!_

" _ **STOP THEM!**_ _"_

A pulse went through Cana as her body quivered. She gasped from shock by that harsh warning.

Vanessa immediately picked up on the heed. "Cana?"

Purrloin raised a brow as she went over by Cana. She tilted her head as she saw the lush perplexed. "Girl? You good?"

Cana however was in her own little world. She was staring in complete disarray as that vague and odd pulse filtered through her system. Her lavender eyes shuddered as the warning echoed through her head. _'What the heck was that? Did I…was I hearing voices?'_ She paused to process. _'…no, that wasn't my imagination. Someone was telling me something that moment. But who?'_

The strange feeling didn't settle as she looked down at the cards again.

"Cana?"

"I'm fine, Vanessa. Just thought someone was talking about me." She lied. "I'm getting right on it."

Vanessa and Delphox exchanged awkward looks. The Aura Mage could tell from reading aura Cana had a strange feeling. She opted to investigate herself. She nodded towards Delphox, the humanoid animal nodding in understanding back. She whipped out a long wooden wand with a flaming tip and started staring ito the fire.

"Delphox is able to see into the future if she stares long enough into her flames. We'll help in any way we can." Vanessa assured.

"Uh, right…" Though hesitant at first, Cana resumed her Fortunetelling. She managed to focus on the cards this time, but awkwardly enough that sensation wasn't taking over. _'Guess these Pularis'_ _ **do**_ _have a knack for keeping me on my toes. So much for my hangover.'_

The inn's one room was silent as sunlight filtered into its window, making it impossible for anyone to see the flames inside.

* * *

Joey, Dereece, and Kevin all traveled up the island forest, minding themselves as Kevin kept Ella close, much to her discretion. It really was like parent and child, though Kevin seemed more annoyed than anything. With all their Pokémon healed up, and a quick snack on provisions, they were back on the road. Dereece suggested using aerial surveillance with their Pokémon, to which they agreed would help cover more ground faster.

With their scouts out and about, Joey nonchalantly walked up his barrier-made staircase to the next ledge. "Come on, Slowpokes, the sun ain't shining any brighter."

Dereece wheezed as he staggered up the steps, looking completely out of breath. "I…I, ugh…" He babbled consistently as he was out of air. He finally fell to his knees, panting. "Can't…climb…anymore."

Disregarding his partner's warning, Joey looked to see Kevin following next. Once he was up, he looked down.

"Ella, you okay?"

"Yup! I'll be right there!" Ella took careful steps up the barrier stairway. Once she was in the clear, she stepped onto the ledge, but tripped over a rock. "Wah!"

"Woah!" Kevin moved to catch her. "Easy now." He helped Ella adjust on her bare feet. "You really need to watch your step when you walk."

Ella frowned. "I'm sorry, Papa."

Kevin sighed and turned around. "Don't worry about it. Just stay close, okay?"

"Okay, Papa."

They all continued their trek around the island, minding themselves as well as their surroundings the best they could. Ella stayed close behind while the three men ahead of her had an awkward air around them.

"Is it me, or is this all getting weirder by the minute?" Dereece whispered.

"You mean this place, or the fact that Kevin has a kid?" Joey replied, earning a furrowed brow from the mentioned.

"You know what I mean. This. Everything. This island's been nothing but creepy from the moment we set foot on it." He thought back to when they were on the beach, inspecting the woods. "Those just weren't tropic trees. Those were also deciduous. I know you took wildlife biology class Joey, you know that wasn't right."

"Uh…that depends, what does deciduous mean again?"

Dereece facepalmed. "Of course."

"Deciduous."

Everyone stopped in their tracks at Ella's sudden answer. Kevin looked towards his "supposed daughter" with awe. "What?"

"Deciduous. Annual foliage shedding in place of new ones on a seasonal basis. The old deposits are composted to fertilize the soils and provide nutrients for the minerals for new buds to grow." She noticed the awkward stares given by the three. "What is it? Was it something I said?"

"Uh...Ella, uh…sweetheart?" Kevin tried to put lightly. "Um…where did you learn that kind of vocabulary?"

"That?" Ella looked towards the sky, putting an index finger to her chin. "Hmmm…I…I don't know." She answered, earning furrowed brows. "It's just something I know. Like you're my Papa."

"That's…interesting, Ella." Kevin's awkward notion lead to him looking back at the Fairy Tail men. "You fellas following this?"

"I wish I wasn't." Dereece nervously noted. "How did she know that? First she comes out of nowhere in Kevin's sleeping bag, next thing you know Bug-types are after us. Now she's able to tell of vocabulary of such big things her age."

"Maybe it has to do with her amnesia?" Joey pleased for a more reasonable explanation.

"You think?" Dereece argued. "I'm telling ya, if we don't figure this out what's going on soon, we'll only be digging ourselves in a deeper pit."

"Look buddy, I really hera ya. And I have my hearing aids on this time, promise." Joey shot a look at Kevin. "But we got a job to do. We wouldn't be real men if we dig all the way to the bottom now wouldn't we? Besides, this…" He reached into his pocket, pulling out the hand-sized stone and crystal that he picked up from sunset. "We still haven't found out what these can do. Maybe they were artifacts left by someone here before they disappeared." He put them away. "We can probably kill three birds with one stone if we try a little harder."

' _We'd need a boulder than a stone.'_ Dereece sighed. "Fine, let's just try and get a sense of where we are first."

"Master!"

Everyone turned around to find Tranquill flying from the forest. Coming from the south was Yanma, and northward was Beedrill s they all converged.

"You find anything?" Dereece asked his Yanma.

Yanma shook her head. "No, no humans. Only Pokémon." She hummed, perching on Dereece's head to rest. This time Dereece chose not to resist.

"Beedrill, what about you?" Kevin asked.

Beedrill pointed his stingers at his Trainer. "I sting yo face!"

"Nothing, huh?" He looked down at his feet. "That's not good. This is where the searches lead to. What could've caused them to just up and vanish like that?" he thought of the possibilities at that moment. Magic? That might be the case. Wild Pokémon? And even bigger possibility. _'Those Bug-types were pretty hostile to us now that I think about it. Maybe it had to do with the victims before us.'_ He looked at Ella. _'Or maybe…'_

Joey looked at his Tranquill. "What about you, Tranquill? Found something?"

Tranquill flapped his wings a little harder. "Master! Master Joey!" he chirped. "I found something!"

Joey raised a brow. "You did? Where?"

"Up there." Tranquill deadpanned as he pointed one in a direction. The others followed the direction towards the massive cliff that hung atop of the mountain-like top at the highest point of the mountain.

"You mean that mountain." Joey clarified.

"Yup!"

"Actually…that might not be a bad idea." Dereece proposed. "If we can get to a higher point than where we are, we might actually be able to tell where we are. For all we know, we could be walking in circles and went through the area." He turned towards Kevin. "Plus you're having trouble, right? We can spot something up there or make a map with your magic. That's how it works, right?"

"It's Search Magic, it's not a GPS." Kevin said. "But it's worth a shot I guess."

"Then what are we waiting for? On with the show guys." Joey cheered. "Thanks a lot Tranquill, get some rest." He recalled the helpful avian back to his Poke Ball and looked towards the mountain. "Alright, shall we?"

Kevin and Dereece nodded. Ella followed behind as Kevin kept to her front, while Joey turned trail boss.

When they were out of sight, the forest area fell silent. Eerie silent. The winds that usually blew along the canopy tops dropped several leaves, one of which fell in place of where the group was originally. By the time the leaf touched the ground, however, something that's been observing them through the underbrush moved silently off.

* * *

The way towards the slopped mountain was a rather quiet and easy path taken. The group managed to find some clearance beyond the woods that led up towards a nice, steady climb up the plains that the group trekked over. It would've taken hours for them to get around the cliffs and the harsh climbs, but thanks to Joey's magic molding staircases and flattened areas, they got near the summit in almost half that time. And, as insisted, Kevin helped Ella up wherever she couldn't reach. It wasn't the most favored task of his, but he couldn't lie when it was starting to get easier with her being around.

The gang walked along the higher hill area where they were beyond most landscape. It was a large slope of smooth grass that carried them up.

"I think I can see the top from here." Joey pointed out. "Guys, you see?"

"Oh, I see!" Ella smiled. "It's another hundred meters!"

Dereece breathed heavily, sweating profusely. "Okay, good…huff…cuz I think it's time for a nice break…"

"Yeah, it's gotta be around lunchtime or something." Despite not having service, Kevin did have an intuition of his own. "The sun's right over our heads. That means passed afternoon."

"But don't time zones change too?" Dereece countered. "Plus it's the middle of June. Maybe the sun sets in another position."

"You think so?" Joey looked at the compass he was holding that was used on the small rowboat. "Looks fine to me."

"I'm just saying this island's still creeping me out. We don't know if it has something like magnetic field or something crazy like freeze us in time or something!"

"Now you're just being a big baby, Dereece." Joey scolded. "Come on."

"How are you feeling, Ella?" Kevin looked over, checking to see if Ella was still able to walk. She may be young, but he didn't know of her energy limits neither. "Ella?" Kevin turned around, wondering if she was responding.

She wasn't even there.

Immediately his worry spiked. "What the fu-I-I mean, snap! Ella? Ella!" He looked back down the trail. "Ella?! Don't tell me…did we just…"

"Hm? What's up buddy?" Joey noticed Kevin's frisking of the surrounds and realized Ella was nowhere to be seen. "Eh…where's Ella?"

"She was just here a minute ago, wasn't she?" Dereece pondered. "Kevin, I thought you were taking care of her?"

"That's what she said, for one. And second, I swear she was here!" he backlashed. "Where did she-?!"

"Papa?" a voice called from upfront.

Kevin sharply turned around to look beyond Joey and Kevin. They all looked up towards the plateau peak to find Ella waiting for them.

Dereece's eyes widened as he sulked forward, dumbfounded. "Woah…that was sure quick."

"That's what she said." Kevin murmured, staggering passed the bewildered duo. "When did she get ahead of us?"

"When you were all discussing your sensations for nutrients of course." Ella answered, startling the three men. "While you were using breath to relieve any stress, I used my energy spared to make it up."

The guys all turned towards one another, nervously dropping beads of sweat.

"Eh…okay, maybe _that's_ a _little_ creepy." Joey admitted. "A~nyways…" In a sudden leap, he got onto Dereece's back, piggybacking on his friend. The momentum almost made him fall over. "Looks like we're just about there! Hurry up, ya Slugma! Hiyah!"

Trying to resist the urge to roll down the hill, Joey spanked Dereece's backside, yeehawing him up with gusto of a Skiddo. Kevin followed behind, finding the scene – as awkward as it was – amusing.

Wheezing like he had never seen oxygen before, a red-faced Dereece stammered up the hill until he reached the top. He fell to his knees and Joey happily skipped off and walked towards the ledge nonchalantly.

What he saw made his eyes widened. He gasped.

Kevin, who had arrived last with what breath he had, reconvened with his "daughter" and she followed up towards Joey.

"Look, Papa! See?"

Kevin's eyes widened underneath the pairs of transparent sunglasses he wore. "…woah. Now _this_ is a view."

Dereece crawled up towards the ledge once he was able to catch his breath. Joey and the others just stared ahead like he wasn't there as he coughed. "Oi…are we…there yet…?" He wheezed once more and opened his eyes. That instant, any air he regained left his lungs out of sheer awe.

Before them, there was a large panel of what could be best described as beauty. All across the horizon, they could make out the woods far below the curved cliffside beneath the sheer drop. Deciduous trees, with masses of large pines, valleys, and streams were everywhere. Beyond those reaches lied the beach area. They could made out even the blue yonder that was the sea that twinkled with dazzling sunlight across the flowing waters. In a sum, it was wonder and beauty beneath clear blue sky.

"This…this is…" Dereece paused, trying to gather his thoughts. "Is this really…the whole island?"

"Woooow." Joey awed.

"I'll say. You could see everything from up here, Captain."

"Yeah." The Captain whistled admirably. "Woo-boy, I can us having a party up here."

As Joey and Dereece awed at the view, Kevin also took in the sights. He didn't relish too much as he was still more concerned with other matters. _'Man, this view really is something alright.'_ As beautiful as it was, his dreamy thoughts took over. He began fantasizing of his own interests, particularly women of essential towards him. _'Wish I had a better view if anyone gets what I'm saying.'_

He chuckled low, something that made Ella blink. "Papa?"

Cringing out of his thoughts, he turned towards Ella. "Huh? Yeah?"

"Why are you standing there with a roguish grin? Are your thoughts on a perpetual basis?"

Kevin held a calm face, ignoring the thump in his rapid-beating heart. _'Crap! How'd she find out?!'_ He cleared his throat. _'Relax, Mister P, relax. Just try and be formal.'_ Dismissing his heads of womanly assets, he feigned a smile. "Um…nothing, Sweetie. Daddy was just thinking is all."

"Is it of lustful satisfaction?"

"…uh…no?"

"The tone and your facial discomfort says otherwise." She pouted with a leer. "Papa is being dishonest."

"Hey, don't go pointing fingers at daddy now, c'mon!" Growling, Kevin ignored the huffs and went back to using his Search Magic. He got the panel up and started to search for signals.

While admiring the view, something didn't escape Dereece's eyes as he looked far out. "Huh?"

"What's wrong, Dereece? You feeling sick?" Joey asked. Dereece squinted, remaining silent. "Eh, bud? Buddy? You okay?"

"Captain…"

"Yeah?"

"Tell me, did we come from that direction?" Dereece pointed over the island towards the beach area. Joey followed his gaze with question.

"Yeah, I…think so? Why?"

"Because…didn't we set a boat right there?"

As deaf as he was without his hearing aids, Joey wasn't blind. He squinted to focus further beyond the burning sun. Barely, just barely, he could make out the beach-like area afar. Along the area, he saw a lot of rocks laying around.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Dereece?"

"There! See? Our boat we left was sitting right beside that spot?"

"Isn't that another rock?"

"We had it _beside_ the rock!"

"I don't know about that. From here it could _look_ like a rock…wait, are you just being paranoid again?"

"I'm serious, Captain! Look!" He pointed ahead again. "When we first entered, those pines weren't there before. And over there, I most certainly saw a waterfall there yesterday."

Joey put a hand to his chin, raising a brow. "Eh…huh? Now that you mention, I guess it _is_ weird."

"Right, exactly. So Joey…" The tone around them feel awkwardly silent. "If those weren't there before, where did they come from…?"

Joey held no answers as he tapped his finger against his chin. A bad chill was running up his spine rather quickly.

Once the screen was uploaded, Kevin finally got a signal that flickered into view. _'Alright, we're getting something!'_ He tapped the screen, this time thankful the last thing he didn't save was a bunch of his "special files" first. _'Let's see, where are we…?'_ He started typing in his own name, and his picture came up. However, what he saw shocked him. _'Wait, the personality and other stuff is there. But why is it feeling so…'_ He moved down towards the location settings, only to find them insecure. _'The location setting…why is it…?'_

 _KER-CHUNK!_

A lurch beneath them almost made them lose balance. They all froze in wonder and slight anxiousness.

"Uh, guys? What was that?" Joey asked worriedly. "Dereece?"

"Not me."

"Mister P?"

Kevin shook his head. Ella copied.

Slightly feeling a shift forward, Joey could feel a small movement beneath him. The flat rock they were on at the very edge was losing touch on its base. It began to tip over…with them on it.

It was starting to tilt downwards…facing the gorge that seemed like a monstrous drop to the depths of the forest below.

"Ooooooh…" Joey's mouth formed an 'O' as the rest of his body paled in terror. He knew what was coming next.

"Uh, Captain…?" Dereece quivered.

The creaking of the granite beneath them churned slowly as the whole slab was dipping further into the gorge. Joey's teeth chattered as Ella was remaining completely calm out f all of them.

"I've heard of double-dipping, and I always wanted to try it…" Kevin gulped. "…but not like this!"

"I believe this is another one of your…jokes, Papa. Isn't it?" Ella inquired.

"I really wish it was, Ella…I really wish it wa-AAAAAS~!" His breath hitched into shock as the whole slab finally plummeted.

As the slab slid downhill, hitching along a rock, the small boombox Dereece carried was accidentally turned on.

 _ **[North Mississippi Allstars – Mud]**_

They all screamed loudly as the slab slid down the mountain cliffside. With all of them facing the wrong way. The slab jerked to the side, then back into place, surfing along the ground until the entire board jumped from a small break in the rock's underside. A piece fell off, causing the entire slab to pivot, and put Kevin and Ella in the front, and Joey in the middle, and Dereece in the back.

Up ahead, they all covered up as they came towards underbrush. With no momentum to stop, the slab made a beeline through the foliage and shrubs, dragging leaves and other materials onto everyone else.

When the slab landed and slid along, Joey was raising a brow as briars surrounded him, with leaves stuck in the sides of his ears and holding a stick. Kevin's face was covered in leaves that shaped into a beard. Ella was shielded thanks to Kevin, but she got an apple from out of the blue. Dereece was screaming frantically as a wild Zigzagoon was attached to his head, clawing and attacking him. Eventually it jumped off, leaving him screaming in blood-filled panic.

"ROCK~!" Joey pointed ahead.

In their path far up, there was a massive boulder wedged into the ground. It stood as tall as a Mamoswine at least. And from the looks of it, it wasn't gonna be budging anytime soon.

"I'm too young!" Dereece panicked fearfully. "Captain! Any plans?!"

"Yeah…HOLD ME!" Joey and Dereece hugged each other as they screamed for their lives.

They were closing in fast; it'd be seconds before they crashed and burned.

"Papa, quick!"

Kevin looked down at his daughter. "Bad time, little lady! Very bad time! What?!"

"That tree!" She pointed at the tree beside the rock. "Use Sewaddle's string to pull us there!"

Kevin paused for a moment to register what she was thinking. His eyes widened when he realized what she meant. "…yeah, sure!" He pulled out a Net Ball, summoning Sewaddle in his cutches.

"Oh~, getting handsy there boy." Sewaddle was astounded by the first impression, but he looked forward and all breath left him. "Okay, bad idea! What's going on!"

"No time! Use **String Shot** to pull us towards that tree!" Kevin barked fearfully. "Now!"

"MOMMY~!" Joey wailed in epic fright. Dereece screamed no higher than he ever could as his life flashed before his eyes.

Sewaddle mustered up his guts and aimed thread afar. The thin yet sticky silk tapped itself towards the tree adjacent to the rock. Ella grabbed onto Kevin as he held onto Sewaddle. Joey and Dereece held on by the shoulders as they tied towards Ella. They all felt a harsh jerk as the slab tilted by Sewaddle reeling himself towards the tree, taking everyone with him.

They managed to bypass the rock, spared by Sewaddle's thread that was released from his mouth once they were clear.

"Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Joey cheered.

"Yeah, wait a…MORE ROCKS!" Dereece's praise was short-cometh when he saw more rocks and tree up ahead.

"Hang on, give me a sec!" Joey started adjusting himself. Dereece still kept a grip on him due to his own lack o balance. Joey bent his knees and put one in front of the other. _'Alright, time to see just how well those hours of playing Empoleon Surf Squad pay off!'_ "Yo! Kev! Ready!"

Kevin pointed Sewaddle in front again. "Sewaddle, **String Shot!** "

Sewaddle shot more sticky thread, and everyone held on tight as they were dragged along slowly. Using his body stature, plus his experience in surfing video games, Joey leaned further to one side. They were directed beyond the rocks between trees and smooth grass. Joey shifted his weight to the other side to help balance out as they were under his momentum. He leaned t one side, moving the slab a little to dodge another tree. They had momentum as Joey leaned forward, sliding right over a small ledge that fell into a ravine. They flew right over, continuing their path downhill. When it came towards a slanted log, Sewaddle's **String Shot** slung them off to the side, and Joey rebalanced. With Sewaddle spitting thread to make turns and Joey helping balance out, they were flying through the area, until finally they made it out of the woodland area and onto grassy plains.

"WOO-HOO! FREEDOM!" A free-spirited Joey cheered.

"Yay!" Ella cheered. "You did it!"

Kevin smirked. "Now that's what I call surfing. Nice directing there, Sewaddle!"

"Aw, now y'all just embarrassing me." Sewaddle bashfully teased, before he raised a brow. "…oh gosh now."

Ahead of them, there was a slant that sloped skywards. Beyond that they could only see clear skies. Without clear view of any pines, there was no telling where they'd end up.

"…well it was fun while it lasted." Joey deadpanned.

With a loud scream, they all let the air escape their lungs as the rock slab left ground. It shot into the air, shooting over the atmosphere and the far reaches of the valleys below.

All the guys saw was a vastly incoming forest before everything went black.

* * *

A large flock was flying over the forest that it almost blacked out the sky for a few seconds. Their harsh caws of panic could've been heard from miles away, alerting other Pokémon in the area. Those grazing turned around suspiciously at what caused such a huge crash sound. Whatever it was, it sounded like a Golem that crashed into a mountain. In this case, they weren't too far off.

In the depths of the lower forests, the air had grown quiet as a cascading wave of dust obscured the small trail that dug into a ditch. Around the ditch were millions of splinters from the logs that were beneath, crushed by the fallen rock that crushed termites stuck on the underside.

The dust slowly vanished to allow view it the pit the shattered piece of the mountain lied in rest. Amongst the tomb, something flickered on and off. Slowly, shades of turquoise vanished in and out of view, until it finally broke apart. Sprawled in the base, dazed but fine, Joey and everyone were stirring awake.

"Gnnngh…" The first one up was Joey, his wobbling frame turning over. "Okay…I'm gonna feel that in the morning…" His mouth formed into a satisfied grin, either from the adrenaline finally ceasing or the dizziness. "…but damn, talk about a rush…"

Dereece, Kevin, and Sewaddle groaned, stirring themselves awake.

Joey sat up, only to be supported by his hands and arms behind. "Guys…is everyone good…?"

"Oii…well, I felt better…" Dereece replied. He felt his stomach gurgle and his cheeks puffed. "But…I don't think I feel so good!"

Joey kept eyes on Dereece as he shuffled his aching body towards the nearest bushes. Taking liberties extirpating, Joey cringed as he heard his pal's internal issues solving themselves. "Yo, Mister P…you good over there, too?"

Kevin coughed as he laid on his side, struggling to stand. "Ugh…and here I thought crashing into a tower was something…only this time there's no thick chicks." His frown darkened. "So no."

"So yes then, okay."

"I'm okay too, don't you mind little ole me." Sewaddle punctuated from the side. He didn't sound too desperate for a response, but from keen hearing it was best not to second-guess his attention.

"Yeah, glad you're okay too Sewaddle." Kevin's eyes shot wide when he realized someone else needed attention. "Wait! Ella!"

Joey hummed in shock. "Wait, what?!" He sharply turned around, looking in all directions in shock. "Ella? Hold on, didn't she fall with us?"

Dereece crawled back over, wheezing from his liberties left in the bush.

"Dereece! Quit your complaining and get up! Do you know where Ella is?!"

Wiping his mouth with his arm, Dereece came to realization. "Ella?"

Suddenly a shadow whiffed overhead, catching all of their attentions.

"What was that?" Joey shouted, looking up. "A bird?"

"Hope not. Better be a plane to get us out of here." Dereece said.

"There's no planes in this world, Dereece. You know that." The shadow shifted overhead again. "There it is again! Look!"

Everyone looked up, seeing the shadow fly over their heads. They could see it gently lower, allowing a better view of it and its kite-like shape. Slowly descending in a steady glide, the men all went wide-eyed for the umpteenth time as the little unknown girl that's been tailing them landed on her hands and knees with Kevin's lacrima kite.

"Wait…Ella?" Kevin pointed a finger. "What did you…when…"

"How the heck did she get out of that?" Joey wondered, a show of jealousy in his tone.

Ella got off the lacrima kite, where she stood and faced them. "Papa, are you okay?"

Kevin furrowed a brow, trying to fight his curiosity for logic. "Yeah, we're fine. Joey put up a barrier around us at the last second to cushion the blow." He tried to walk, but staggered a little in a cringe.

"Papa, you're hurt." Ella said in an emotionless tone. It was more statement than worry.

"It's nothing. Ella, how are you not hurt? What happened?"

Ella turned towards the lacrima kite, seeing its wide wingspan still in full view. "When we were in descent, we were within a moment's worth of free fall. That lack of gravity might have unhinged a few of your belongings as the plummet started catching up." She frowned. "It wasn't intentional. The small lacrima was slipping out and I caught up. But when I touched it, a flash of light happened." As to what she said, the lacrima kite began shining before reverting to a small sphere again. "I was picked up and I watched you all fall. I'm sorry."

' _So that's what happened.'_ Dereece thought. _'I knew she was resourceful, but being that lucky with someone's belongings is insane…wait, did she even know it could turn into a kite?'_ Once more, his suspicions increased. He took another look at Ella, staring long and quiet as she walked over towards Kevin. _'Something off here, I can definitely feel it now.'_

Ella proceeded to handing Kevin back the lacrima. "I'm sorry again, Papa. I didn't mean to make you worry."

Kevin looked back at the lacrima he held and Ella. He looked at it, then her. He wasn't mad per se, sure he was annoyed someone touched his stuff, but that's what saved Ella's life from a plunge. In a sense he couldn't blame her. He was actually impressed that she was able to get so lucky. Even though he wasn't sure of her, it was enough for him to be sure she was well. Better him than her. He reached over Ella's head, patting her with a grin.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I forgot how sensitive the thing is with touch anyway. Just good to see you're in one piece, kid."

Ella smiled wide at Kevin, who smiled back. Both could feel a small warmth around them.

Joey slumped onto his back, his energy drained. "Oof! Man, is anyone else as sore as I am right now?"

"I don't blame you. You used a ton of barrier to get up that mountain." Dereece pointed out. "Maybe we should get a place to take another break instead."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's find some water, I'm parched." They started getting up once more. "Dereece?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you carry me?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No~."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pleeeeaase?"

"NO!"

…

Dereece growled incoherently beneath his aching breath as he was piggybacking Joey down the small slope. He didn't even know why he argued when it was clear Joey was gonna get his way regardless. Besides that, he didn't use his magic as much as the Captain did. When he argued those pros and cons, he was in a no-win situation.

"Giddy up!" Joey knocked his shoe into Dereece's thigh, sending shock through him.

"Ugh!" He stumbled downwards a little faster. He was wheezing like he was on the verge of asphyxiation. "Please…tell me…we're near water…" he even sounded like Magikarp: dry and frail. Joey of course disregarded the plea.

Kevin trekked down the grassy trail with half a mind. A part of him was still sore from that last fall; it could've been worse had not for Joey's quick thinking. He was actually surprised that a guy like Joey had such talented wits around him. Granted, they're not guildmates, and maybe their interests aren't matching up with each other at the moment, he had to respect him for what's happened. A guy who he met on the boat ride towards Alvarez, who got along very well with him because they had things for bottom-heavy feminine wilds; to Kevin gaining something and Joey losing a life. And hearing him further about how he lost the one girl who had feelings for him, it really made him…sad. Not just for Joey, but for himself. He was upset because here he was, being perverted and living his life, and now he has something Joey had that he wasn't sure how to handle: Responsibility. It's not like Joey ascertaining magic, but something that felt too great, even for a mage/trainer/pervert. Another part of him was saying other matters. He was invested in seeing where this would go, but to what lengths is what he feared most. Believe it or not, Kevin – against his own wishes – was actually getting attached to Ella. It was weird, having feelings for a little girl that's your daughter. He always preferred older women that are full grown, and in his dreams such a thing is in a blue moon, hell in an eclipse! But it wasn't like that kind of attraction, no. It was more…of protection. Normally he doesn't feel too bothered with others, but Ella's instant connection with him left him all sorts of confused he hardly knew which way was up. He felt like he was gonna throw up.

"Papa." Ella's monotone brought the pervert out of his sickened reality. "I understand if this counts as intrusive, but are you feeling well?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, kid." He shrugged off. Ella stopped in front of him. "What?"

"I am not convinced. Please, let me feel your forehead."

"What?" he raised a brow. He was sure she was joking. "Haha, very funny, Ella. Good one."

"I am not laughing, Papa. If you're implying a 'That's what she said', then in literal context, this is what I am saying right now. Allow me to check your temperature."

Kevin cringed at her practical demand. For some reason, it reminded him of his own less than pleasing familiars back home. _'She's just like my mom…wow, is she really my…'_ He shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. _'No, stay logical Mister P. Let's just play along until the sun sets. Maybe this whole nightmare can just end.'_ He knelt down in front of her. "Okay, now what?"

Ella suddenly pressed her palm against his forehead, causing the man to turn slightly pink in the cheeks. Ella closed her eyes as she and Kevin were still.

For some strange reason, Kevin felt a tingling sensation coming from Ella's palms. _'What is she…?'_

After a long silence, the strange moment faded and the tingling in the forehead ceased. Ella pulled back and ran the diagnosis. "You have an increased heartrate with mild to intense anxiety. Your body is stressing from mental dissension. You are torn between your sexual interests in voluptuous women over your forced responsibilities."

Kevin was stiff as stone. His mind was completely offline as he was found out. "…"

Even Joey and Dereece, the latter who was near-dying, stopped and raised a brow. "…woah. Square on."

Kevin tried to come up with whatever words he could to try and delude Ella's diagnosis. "I…I don't know, uh…"

"Denial is part of the steps in acceptance. It is okay, Papa."

"I'm not! Are you sure _you're_ okay?"

Ella nodded. "Yes, though I believe that I'm thirsty."

"That's what she-!" Kevin caught himself at the very last second and cringed. He looked at Joey and Dereece, who offered nothing more than curious stares. He looked back at his daughter, who smiled innocently. "…let's…let's just go." He started down the trail again. "I'm too tired for this."

The others followed behind, sharing no words as Ella skipped to the front of the pack to led them.

Minutes later, the little girl stepped out of the woods and onto stones. The gravel pressed against her feet, but she didn't seem fazed as she frolicked, while Dereece hauled himself towards the large river with Joey on his back. He fell on his face and Joey used his as a footstool to skip towards the water. Kevin was last in tow, perking at the sight of water.

"Huh. What do you know, water. The kid actually found it for us."

"Come on, guys! Over here!" she cheered.

"Water…water…" Dereece crawled weakly with gasps like Joey's Magikarp. He never thought he'd be so happy to see water again, not after training over a pond and plunging into it after every failure.

"Thank Arceus, I thought I was gonna end up dry as a Sandshrew!" Joey cupped his hands and scooped up water. He brought it to his mouth and sipped gently from it. "Yeah, that's the stuff."

They all converged to drink from the large river. They kept sipping until their quenched thirsts were appeased. They felt alive again!

"Phew! Man, this calls for a Rain Dance!" Joey was feeling jumpy and energetic, shadowboxing a figment ahead of him as he shuffled like a dancer. "Ready for a rain shower? Here's a downpour!"

Dereece ignored the Captain's energy and looked back at the PokeDex. He scrolled through the sections as he listed the Pokémon. "Nothing too different from yesterday from what we've recorded. A couple of Butterfree and Ledian, but that's it. I didn't think there'd be that many Sewaddle here either." His mind went back towards Kevin's, making a shiver crawl down his spine. _'Yeah…others.'_

"Guess that makes them a common theme in this area." Kevin commented. "A lot of Bug-types are in the area, and Mankey too I bet."

"Yeah, saw a couple of those yesterday too…though." Dereece squinted. "Just what exactly made Bug-types specifically attack up this morning? I never got that."

"I never got around to answering that myself. Sewaddle said that Bug-types can be territorial, and he lives here so he's the best bet we have. But still…that is weird. We didn't do anything to bring them to us, right?"

"Not that I'm aware of. And secondly, don't you think it's odd we haven't found a single person here on this island besides you and us?"

Ella looked between Kevin and Dereece's conflicted thoughts. While invested, she turned towards Joey, who ws having a small booty-shaking streak over yonder.

"That's something off, too. When we were at the top of that mountain, I was able to get a signal…" His eyes squinted. "But…"

 _He started typing in his own name, and his picture came up. However, what he saw shocked him. 'Wait, the personality and other stuff is there. But why is it feeling so…' He moved down towards the location settings, only to find them insecure. 'The location setting…why is it…?'_

"When I tried scanning ourselves, I couldn't pick up our location. My Search Magic enables me to locate a person and know everything about them from personality to past affiliations. Not once did that happen, especially to one specific setting."

"So you're saying something besides you is doing this?"

"I'm not sure…but if we stay moving, maybe we'll pick up on the source. That can lead us towards those people, and quite possibly that horde." He and Dereece got up. "Then I guess we have a plan. Ella."

Weakly mimicking the infectious Joey's dancing spree, Ella straightened up in attention. "Yes, Papa?"

"We're leaving, get ready. We're gonna cross the river."

"Okay." She walked on back towards Kevin, and Joey managed to cool his jets enough to come along.

"You hear that, Captain?" Dereece questioned.

The leader nodded. "Yup, sure did. We'll be crossing this river." He turned around and faced the calm, rippling stream. "Doesn't look too deep."

"Maybe, but there's the undertow too."

"Yeah, guess you're right."

"Can you try and make another barrier?"

Joey raised a brow as he hummed. "Hmm…yeah, I think I can. I should have enough juice in the tank by now. C'mon, let's go."

As Joey and Dereece prepared, Kevin was quiet. The pervert observed them walk towards the water, and yet something didn't seem right.

"Is something wrong now, Papa?" Ella asked.

"…no, nothing like that. It's just…do you ever get the feeling that you're not alone…even when you don't expect it?"

"I do not believe I follow. I've been with you three the whole time."

"It's nothing." It was a lie. Something was definitely wrong, Kevin could feel it. He had a _very_ trained eye for a damn good reason. He could scope out the smallest details in women, that's for sure. That's how he knew what certain things they were into, but that wasn't the topic. But his trained eyes were scoping the river. It was calm, _very_ calm. _'…'_ His eyes narrowed.

"Wanna try looking for a log or something?"

"Nah, I think my barriers will be just fine. And if not, you can carry us over, Dereece."

"I am _not_ like the Skiddo Service! This ain't Lumiose City!"

As Dereece and Joey were devising a way across, they were unaware of shadows beneath the surface of the water, something that didn't go unnoticed by Kevin.

' _Wait…don't tell me…'_

"Alright, let's get going." Joey took a stance to prepare turquoise barriers. " **Barrier-Make…** "

"GUYS! WAIT!" Kevin shouted. "GET AWAY FROM THE WATER!"

Joey stopped his magic and looked back. "Huh? Why?" He suddenly heard splashing from behind and sharply turned around. His guard barely off, he and Dereece were blasted by water and bubbles, sending them into the stone inland.

"Gnnngh, oww!" Dereece groaned.

Kevin and Ella looked up from the shock to see who blasted them. Joey stirred and one eye opened towards their attackers.

Amongst the still water, they could see it. There were several Buizel with their flotation sacs inflated around their necks, allowing them to observe their intruders. Amongst them were several Poliwag and Barboach.

However, that wasn't the worst of it. Beyond them, they could see that within the center of these amphibians, there was a large goldfish that swam in place, eyeing them hospitably. It was a large, orange fish with black watery accents, like a tiger or lionfish. It had a massive horn atop the head, with big black eyes and small teeth beneath the pink lips.

Joey backlashed from the shock he and everyone had on their faces. "Woah! Snap baby, where'd they all come from?!"

"Buizel, and Poliwag." Dereece gasped. "There's Barboach, and…is that what I think it is?"

The massive orange fish gurgled as it splashed in place. His tone was low, but it was formidable no less.

"A Seaking." Kevin pulled out his PokeDex, choosing to analyze with his distance. A picture of Seaking appeared as the PokeDex started to analyze the fish.

" **Seaking, the Goldfish Pokémon. Its horn spins like a drill to steadily hollow out rocks-even harder ones. The coloration of the male is more vivid.** "

"All those Water-types gathered in one spot, what is this? Rush hour on the high stream?" Joey questioned.

"I don't think they're in a traffic jam. Just look at them." Dereece pointed out. "They look angry."

The wild Seaking gurgled bubbles at them as his colorful body rifted in place. The Buizel, Barboach, and Poliwag all complied and eyes them warily.

"Hold on. Are they seriously trying to barricade us?" Kevin asked.

"I believe that is to be the case." Ella nodded. "Normally such behavior spawns from environmental disturbances. Which, in this case, must be your prolonged anomaly on the island."

"Maybe those Bug-types passed it on." Dereece's worries skyrocketed when the Seaking was glaring at him. "They certainly don't look too friendly."

"Friendly or not, that doesn't change what we gotta do." Joey spoke on a serious note. "Look, over there. If they're playing bad cop, then something's gotta be on the other side of that river. And I bet that's what's causing all this."

"You think it's someone controlling them?" Kevin speculated.

"Heck if I know, but there's only one way to find out." He pulled out a Poke Ball. "You guys know what that means, don't ya?"

At the same time, Dereece and Kevin got out a Poke Ball and Net Ball respectively. "Sure thing."

The Seaking's expression soured. He gurgled a hiss that aroused his party to combat.

"Okay Seel, showtime!"

"Go, Krabby!"

"We're by the river, so second time's the charm! Go…Magikarp!"

All three Pokémon exited their capsules, entering the water for battle. The sea lion, river crab, and fish felt the cool water give them power.

"Checkers?" Krabby questioned, holding up a gameboard out of the blue.

"By gosh, looks like a big schooling we be facing now. Better stay on your fins there, fellas." Seel warned.

Magikarp breathed in and out with his gills, sighing relieved. "I…can breathe again…phew." He took notice of the school of amphibians ahead of him. "Another one?"

"Krabby, put that gameboard down! We'll play later!" Kevin scolded. "Time for battle!"

"Okay~." Krabby nonchalantly tossed the gameboard away. He snipped the air with his pincers as he glared at his foes.

Seaking let out another roar that made the Pokémon attack. Almost instantly, several Buizel shot out of the water with **Quick Attack**. They all were closing in remarkably fast. Before they knew it, the few Buizel crashed into Magikarp and Seel, buffering them in the stream.

"Krabby, use **Leer!** " Kevin commanded.

"My turn to move!" As if simulating his own boardgame to make his turn, Krabby's eyes flashed as a blue aura enveloped all of the enemy Pokémon, lowering their Defense.

Seaking gurgled bubbles at a wild Poliwag close by. As if understanding, Poliwag let out a cry as rainclouds were summoned over the river. A few drips fell, and then it started downpouring.

" **Rain Dance?** " Joey questioned.

"This is bad, now all their Water-types are boosted." Dereece explained. "Captain, what do we do?"

Joey glared. "If they're a lot more powerful, then we gotta work around that. Let's try lowering stats again!"

"On it!" Dereece reached out. "Seel, **Icy Wind** , now!"

Seel inhaled as a bright blue glow came from the mouth. She exhaled, unleashing a large frosted wind with blue sparkles against the horde ahead. Being Water-types, Buizel and Poliwag weren't as affected as Barboach were, but that did siphon their Speed stats.

As the frost dialed down, some Barboach that were covered in it temporarily dove underneath. They resurfaced with their slimy bodies refreshed again. One fired a **Water Pulse** , while two others used **Water Gun**. However, due to the rain, they were far stronger and larger in volume.

"Dodge it!

The three opposing Water-types took action in diving beneath the river water, avoiding the three attack that erupted in shuddering mist by the rocky shore.

The mist billowed around Joey and the others, but faded as rain poured. "Man, this is really gonna screw my makeup." Joey whined. "Guys, now that they're distracted, let's make our move!"

"Right Captain, lead the way!" Dereece declared.

Joey took a stance with legs spread apart and facing the river. He concentrated and reached out with glowing turquoise hands.

" **Barrier-Make: Bridge!** "

A turquoise glass barrier arched in front of Joey to stretch over the river. Due to the battle, the others were oblivious as the archway went over them until it reached the other side.

"Alright, let's go!" Joey turned towards the others. "Keep those guys busy, Magikarp! Do your thing! Come on!"

"Right." Dereece followed Joey up the path. As he made his way up next, Kevin looked back at Ella.

"Hold my hand, sweetie. Okay? Don't want you to fall." Ella complied, offering her little hand to the mage. Once again, an odd, tingly sensation tickled Kevin upon touch, but he powered through as he slowly guided his daughter up the bridge.

Some Buizel made their moves instantly, using powered-up **Water Gun** that shot across the water. Behind them, a random Poliwag fired its own **Water Gun**.

"Seel, **Aqua Jet!** " Dereece yelled from the bridge.

"Y'alls hang on tight!" A cloak of blue water surrounded Seel before she used her tail to shoot skywards. "Woo!" With grace and swift speeds, the sea lion arched and swerved at her opponents, dodging the blasts of water that grazed around her stream. Normally they'd be faster, but thanks to her **Icy Wind** lowering their Speed, she had the upper hand and snaked a nosedive above a gathered Buizel and Poliwag. The impact created a massive splash that did incredulous damage thanks to their Defense lowered. However, while Buizel were blown away, the one Poliwag was carried adrift and landed on a small stone popping out of the water.

A green aura encased it, signaling the Water Absorb Ability doing its thing. "Hmph." She sneered.

Suddenly from below, the river burst with Krabby popping out. The Poliwag went wide-eyed.

" **Rock Smash!** "

Krabby's right pincer began glowing on an orange-red energy that looked a lot like a heat signature. He raised his pincer up and smashed it down on Poliwag's head. The ripple effect made an airwave above her as the shockwave broke the rock beneath to sunder. It wasn't called _**Rock Smash**_ without a good reason.

"King me! One player down!" Krabby cheered. However, a silhouette appeared on the side. "Huh?" He looked over, only to receive a tail whack from Buizel's **Pursuit**. He screamed out as he was pushed back into the water.

A Barboach fired a massive brown glob of mud, via **Mud Bomb** at Magikarp. But the Fish Pokémon saw it coming.

' _Okay, relax…just remember what that guy taught ya…uh…right!'_

The brown bomb was closing in fast like a missile.

" **Splash!** "

The brown glob made impact into the water, creating a slight tremor as bedrock and water sprayed everywhere. The rain kept pouring while the Barboach looked ahead with anticipation – not counting the Ability.

 _SPLASH!_

Alarmed, Barboach turned around to see an orange blur skip out of the way. It looked around confusedly, until another splash was heard nearby. Turning in that direction, it didn't catch it as another was heard, and then another. It looked in all directions, startling and annoying it to no end.

Magikarp kept skipping around, his **Splash** making him bounce across the water like a springy stone. With each drop he picked up water to keep him lively. The rain helped just as much. In fact, he even felt livelier than before!

Joey observed from above, shooting glances as Magikarp kept bouncing up to his height. _'I know Magikarp isn't good on land, but the water's much better! And with his power to spring over mountains, that should keep them distracted for sure. But wait, how is he so fast…?'_ His eyes widened. _'Snap! I forgot Magikarp's Ability! Swift Swim!'_ He smirked. _'Alright, this just worked in our favor!'_ "Keep it up, buddy! You're doing great!"

Magikarp bounced up again, flopping over Joey's head. "Thank you!"

A Buizel watched Magikarp bounce around with great speed thanks to Swift Swim. He looked like an orange comet. Looking around it randomly shot at him with a **Quick Attack**. However, just as Magikarp landed in the water, he left just as quickly, leaving Buziel in the path of a Barboach. The attack struck it instead, quite hard in fact. A critical hit; enough to defeat the Barboach as it dropped back into the water.

Magikarp kept splashing around, skipping in open spots of the water as attacks were being thrown at him. As he landed and bounced off, jets of water and other attacks were hitting some of the other Pokémon; some being knocked out.

As the carnage was unfolding, the only one watching from afar was the Seaking. It wasn't like the others, he hasn't as distracted. He looked away to see Joey and the other walk across the bridge, glaring daggers.

"SEAKING!" His massive battle cry echoed in the river.

Some of the Poliwag, Buizel, and Barboach still able and not paying attention were caught off guard. They looked up and saw the humans over the bridge making their getaway.

Looking down, Dereece caught on. "Uh-oh, we've been spotted, guys!"

"Just stay low!" Kevin ordered. "Ella, you too!"

"Okay, Papa!"

Some Buizel swatted their tails and fired **Swift** from below. Along them, Poliwag fired **Bubble**. The attacks struck the underside of Joey's bridge. However, it was indestructible, so nothing was getting through. But the burst along the side were causing them to cover up.

"This is bad…we can't move forward…" Dereece grunted. "Captain Joey, can't you make another barrier?"

Joey grunted as he tried to find his own balance. "Sorry buddy, I can't!"

"What do you mean you can't?!"

"My barriers are indestructible, but the drawback is that I can only make one at a time! Plus this bridge-!" He grunted as a burst of water deterred him. "…it's taking my concentration for this bridge! Pull yourself together and get moving!"

Staying low and crawling, they made slow, steady progress across the bridge. While the long-ranged attacks the riverdwellers were using were less than effective, Seaking continued glaring at them. Slowly, its maw opened wide, where a large sphere of water conducted and grew thanks to the rain's influence.

It took steady aim, ready to fire…

 _SPLASH!_

"Incoming~!" Magikarp splashed into Seaking head-first, via **Tackle**. The impact caused Seaking to misfire the **Water Pulse** as it glided skywards pass Joey's barrier. It continued its path until a large blue explosion engulfed the sky.

Magikarp plopped back into the water, looking confident. "Pick on someone your own size!" That little remark would have costed him dearly. He immediately regretted it when Seaking slowly turned and glared predatory daggers at him. "H-h-hold on you! I was just-!"

"SEAKING~!" The large goldfish went on the attack as he swam for Magikarp.

Magikarp screams with watery, glossy eyes as he swam away. Thanks to Swift Swim, he was swimming fast and keeping a distance…but for who knows how long. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"

Krabby jumped into the air once he was recovered, his eyes glowed again. " **Leer!** " All the enemies were enveloped in another blue aura, lowering their Defenses yet again. He came down onto the water between a gathered group with his pincer glowing. " **Rock Smash!** " The impact created a shockwave that traveled across the water. The harsh spray created volumes of water to push Poliwag, Barboach and Buizel into the air.

Seel cloaked herself in water once more, using **Aqua Jet** to propel herself out of the water once more to soar like a passing comet into several Buizel and Barboach at once.

They all plundered back into the water, whereas Seel and Krabby landed on two small flat stones sticking out from the water.

A Poliwag shot up from underwater and fired a **Bubble** in midair at them. Krabby moved his pincers to try and block the attack, using himself as a guard. "G-go! It's your turn to play!" he grunted.

Seel nodded. "Okay!" Using Krabby as cover, she dove into the water behind. She snuck up on Poliwag as she kept hammering Krabby with bubbles. While not very effective, **Rain Dance** kept going. The water shrouded Seel until the last possible second.

" **Headbutt!** "

Crashing horn-first into Poliwag's spiral, the tapdole's eye went white for a second before being sent skyrocketing. It plummeted into water nearby, splashing hard. After it receded, it wasn't shown coming up.

"That'd be the last of them I reckon…" Seel trailed off, her energy siphoned from battling those Pokémon back-to-back.

"Yeah…king me." Krabby raised his pincers, but a cry from the distance made him turn. "Huh? Who's…oh!"

"GAAAHO-HOO-HOO-HOOOH!" Magikarp was crying comically as he was swimming away from the enraged Seaking. The superior fish was treading water fast and was catching up to the poor fish. "I SAID I WAS SORRY!"

Seaking's horn glowed for his **Horn Attack**. Magikarp gasped and bounced out of the way with his **Splash**. Bedrock beneath was punctured as Seaking looked back at Magikarp, who was skipping around him to keep him disoriented.

"SEAKING!" Seaking roared angrily as Magikarp skipped around the surface. He fired another **Water Pulse** , but it crashed into the water instead.

" **Tackle!** " Magikarp dropped onto Seaking again, buffering him only by a little. The fish roared up as Magikarp flopped skywards like a trampoline and came back down.

"Yeah! I'm not the same fish who was gonna be Pelipper food! This time, you're…!" As he descended, he trailed off as he could feel the rain diminishing. The **Rain Dance** from earlier finally cleared up, allowing sunlight to give view to Magikarp's helpless form once more. "…or maybe not." He dully despaired.

Looking up, Seaking had time to act as Swift Swim was no longer active. Magikarp flailed as he plummeted, allowing Seaking to strike him with by flailing his beautiful fins around, via **Flail**. The tailfin smacked into Magikarp, sending him back into the water.

"Crap! Magikarp!" Joey worried.

Seaking looked up at Joey and the others, taking notice of them. As he glared, he gurgled low as his body had a bright blue aura around it.

"What's it doing…?"

They watched as Seaking remained still as the aura materialized into liquid matter. The water divided into a multitude of rings that surrounded it. A green aura wave surrounded it, recovering health.

" **Aqua Ring?!** Aw man, can this get any worse?" Dereece grunted.

"Well I'm not sticking around to find out." Kevin barked. "Krabby!"

"Seel!"

Krabby and Seel drew closer as per their Trainers' orders. Seaking turn and gurgled, opening wide for a **Water Pulse** that he shot at them. At the last second, Seel and Krabby dropped under as the blue orb exploded with the liquid surface.

Magikarp grunted as the shallow stream was his bed. He wasn't hurt too bad thanks to **Flail** damage depending on health. And thanks to his weak Attack, he shouldn't have sustained too much. But he was so tired, his stamina was drained.

Seaking drew closer towards the damaged fish with another green aura that recovered more energy. He was looking at him with a hungered look that told him to stay down. "Seaking…" he sneered. It was like a taunt. And Magikarp knew it.

"Magikarp, hang in there!" Joey encouraged.

Seaking looked up towards Joey and the others once more. Apparently Joey got its attention for certain. He swallowed a lump. _'Aw shoot.'_

Seaking angrily scowled and the horn glowed. He shot out of the water and stabbed the underside of the bridge. While the barrier was superb, there was an intense magnitude that almost made everyone lost balance.

As Ella was starting to lose her balance and slip on the glass-like barrier, Kevin grabbed her by the wrist. "I gotcha!"

"Papa!"

Kevin held onto her as he tried hoisting her upright. "Hang…in there…"

"We gotta get off now! Dereece, c'mon!"

"I'm coming!"

The two started for the near-end of Joey's bridge when Seaking came out of the water a second time and struck the underside between them. The palpitations were enough to make Dereece fall forward onto Joey, causing his little purse he had to fumble and unbuckle. The stone and crystal that were lodged together were dangling from the side.

"Gnnngh…Dereece…get up!" Joey managed to squeeze under Dereece and around him. He looked over and gasped as he saw the purse about to fall over. "NO!" He took a sharp lunge for it, landing on his stomach. He snatch his tiny purse in time by the strap, but the bungie recoil caused the buckle to fly open, causing the stone and crystal to fall into the water.

A moment of silence had fallen along with the stone. With a 'PLOP' sounds, both sunk into the shallow stream.

Joey bent over and looked down at the stream, a horrified look in his gaze. "Aw man…" A splash came up from below and the Seaking shot out of the water, eye-level with Joey with a **Water Pulse** with his name on it.

"Captain! Look out!"

"Yo buddy! Duck!"

Joey's pupils shrunk as a blue light gathered in front of him. He was too stunned to know what hit him. He only petrified as Seaking readied the shot…until Seel crashed her horn with **Headbutt** into Seaking's side, and Krabby's **Vice Grip** snatched the fins.

Both attacks were enough to slam Seaking hard into the water. Seel and Krabby landed again in the shallows where they could feel bedrock.

"What a save…" Dereece was amazed until he realized the situation. "Captain, are you hurt?"

Recovering from his daze, Joey's eyes unscrambled from his life flashing before his eyes. "Y-yeah, I'm fine." He looked around, seeing no sign of the stone. "But that stone and crystal…!" he found something useful. "Yo! Magikarp!"

Gathering his bearings, Magikarp looked up. "Heh?"

"Over there!" He pointed towards the spot where the stone and crystal had fallen. "Something dropped in there! Get it, quick!"

Magikarp didn't understand why, but he'd rather not question. After the experience he's had, he'd much rather take his chances treasure hunting than stick another second around that Seaking. He looked around hastily before dipping into the water. He swam towards the spot that Joey directed him towards. In the shimmering water, he could see something wedged between two rocks. Its crystal shinning made it almost impossible to miss.

' _Almost…there…'_ With a quick snatch with his mouth, the rock fit inside and he surfaced. His head popped out to show Joey the prize.

"Great job, Magikarp! Now use **Splash**!" Joey smiled.

"Okay!" Magikarp picked himself up to reach, but a harsh splash of water knocked him completely off. Seaking had risen again.

"Magikarp!"

Magikarp flailed in the air and ended up wedged between two rocks. The recoil made him gag out the rock and made it plop back underwater. He fret terribly as Seaking's **Aqua Ring** emitted another rejuvenated aura.

"Awww! You've gotta be kidding me!" Joey turned towards Dereece. "You! You! Fix! Now!" He pointed between Dereece and the Seaking.

"Me?!" Dereece looked petrified as he pointed at his own chest area.

"Yeah you! You're the only one who can get down there! I can't make another barrier, and Kevin's got the kid. We're kinda tight right now man. Look, just get Magikarp and the stone unstuck and we'll you on the other side. Can you do that?"

The last sentence Joey did _not_ sound like a question. Dereece backpedaled some slight fright over his Captain's serious change of pace. "I-I-I…I'll…do what I can, Captain." He swallowed a lump, getting himself together.

"Good. C'mon Kev! C'mon Ella! This way!" Joey ushered his pals over the bridge passed his shaking pal. Dereece was left alone to stare down at the Seaking as it was glaring at Seel and Krabby, who were only making it mad.

A shaking mess as he was, Dereece knew what he had to do. "Okay…stay calm, Dereece. You got this." He told himself. "Just remember what Vanessa taught you. Now…" He took a deep breath through his nose, and out through his mouth. In, out. In, out. Once he could feel his heartbeat settle he started gathering magical energy towards his feet. _'Okay…let's do this!'_

His Element Walk Magic activated, and he took one step over. He felt solid stairs from the particles his magic made and started for downwards. Slowly, step by step, until he got down towards Magikarp. His magic made him touch the water surface with his boots, but thankfully he wasn't slipping too bad.

' _Okay, so far so good.'_ He found a small rock nearby that he could use and jumped over there. He sighed in relief. "Phew! That was stressful." He looked back over, seeing the Captain on the other side already. _'He's seriously going to be the death of me, I swear! All this for that stupid stone?'_ Turning around, he saw it sparkling in the water nearby within arm's reach. He got on his knees and reached into the cool water. "Almost…there…"

"SEAKING!"

Just as Dereece was about to grab it, he heard Seaking from close by. He perked up with the rock and stone in his hand. All color on his face fell as he saw Seaking glaring at him.

"Seaking…!"

Seel popped her head up in front of Dereece, startling him. "Woah! Seel!"

"Sorry for rattling ya, but this bugger needs to get wrapped up fast!" She braced herself. "Dereece, I'm ready!"

Gathering his courage, he glared forward. "Right, let's go! Seel, **Headbutt!** "

Lowering her head, Seel shot across the water in a harsh ram into Seaking's face. The impact was a critical hit, making a shockwave in the air that almost made Seaking capsize in agony.

Seaking, however, wasn't having it. He lowered his horn as it glowed and used **Horn Attack** square in Seel's belly. The blow shot Seel across the air in a twirl as she cried voluminously in agony.

"Seel!" Dereece shouted. He watched Seel crashed in front of him. She laid in the water with bruises and her fur damaged. "C'mon, hang in there girl!"

Seel grunted as she heard Dereece, but that last attack left her dazed. She was so drained from battling the other Pokémon that her health felt really know. She was running out of steam, and fast.

"Seel…" Dereece looked up, seeing Seaking shake his head to get upright. _'That one's strong…but…we can't give up. We've made it this far, right?'_ As he was trying to keep his confidence together, his fortitude strengthened.

The more he clutched the stone, the more the white crystal started to shine.

Along the stream's other end, Kevin helped Ella down the bridge. "There. Alright Jo-ster, we're good."

"Alright." Joey faced the barrier bridge, finally dispelling it. He sighed heavily as he almost collapsed. "Man, that was a pain…" he sighed heavily. "Where's Magikarp and the stone? Dereece?" He looked towards the stream, but what he saw was raising questions. "Hm? What the…?"

Ella looked back at the river, her eyes at full attention.

Seaking was glaring daggers at Dereece, staying wary of the next possible move to be made. But he can't help but feel something was wrong.

"C'mon Seel, just one more push! We can do this! You with me?!"

Seel took a deep breath, finally arising to the occasion. "Right!" She glared daggers ahead, lowering herself. "Okay, I'm ready!"

"Good!" Dereece was finally noticing the white stone giving off a glowing pulse. He felt a tingling sensation that he couldn't ignore. _'What's this?'_ He moved his arm up with the stone. _'Is the stone…reaction towards us?'_

Suddenly the atmosphere around them darkened briefly as a segment of a symbol was seen on Dereece. He gasped, but the same symbol and force surrounded Seel. Together, yellow energy connected them like electrical aura fields, similar to Mega Evolution.

"Woah! What the heck?!" Kevin exclaimed. "What's that guy doing?!"

"I don't know! I-is that Mega Evolution?" Joey gasped.

Ella said nothing as she continued observing, a more steadily gaze afflicted onto her.

Dereece looked at his arms and hands as he continued holding the stone. He could feel a whole lot stronger all of a sudden. _'This power…I feel incredible. Is it because of this weird rock?'_ He looked back at Seel, who was glaring at him. _'Well whatever it is, we can't let it go to waste!'_ He held the stone and crystal embedded in it out. "Get ready, Seel!"

A strong force surrounded Seel as she lowered her head. "I'm ready!"

"Okay…" Dereece slid his foot forward, punching with all his might. "GO~!"

With a glossy glow over head eyes, Seel suddenly summoned a raw yellow pressure that followed her as she zipped across the bedrock. Her breakneck speed and force was so tremendous that rocks stirred as the river water actually broke apart into a path leading towards Seaking. The goldfish was helpless as he only stared at the white sea lion that closed in at a speed even he couldn't match. Seel's reflection was in his eyes as the actual thing collided head-first. The water imploded around them for a split second before the shockwave erupted like a volcano. Dust and bedrock blew everywhere, severing the stream and everything in it. The shockwaves were enough to push Magikarp out of the wedge and shot him and Krabby back to shore, where their owners caught them and turned around, using their backs to shield from a harsh spray of freshwater.

Once the attack settled down, the tidal waves receded slowly back into place. The rush of water and porous rock fumbling over another was what made them turn around with shock in their eyes. They saw the trail leading towards Seaking had slowly diminished back into a river. The energy that Dereece and Seel once had was gone as both panted breathlessly. The stone and rock returned to normal as they looked at Seaking.

The creature was swirly eyed as it was laying at the base of a rock still in place. It was battered and mowed over bad. It was like a truck hit it. They didn't have long to question what s the water covered up the defeated goldfish.

Finally having won the scuffle, Dereece fell to a knee on the small stone. He panted deeply as Seel looked back at him. "Dereece…"

He looked up, trying to remain composed. He grinned. "I'm okay, Seel…I think…" He tried getting back up. He was able to stand, albeit wobbly. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm…I'm okay." She huffed, sinking just a little to lay in the bedrock a little. "But…I can't move anymore…I'm sorry…"

Dereece sighed. "Don't worry about it…we're okay, that's what matters."

"Dereece!" A voice called behind, catching him by surprise. He saw Joey and Kevin running along the water to fetch their tired comrade.

"You guys…"

They were able to drag Dereece and Seel back to the shore to recover. They ignored the partially wet clothes they had and sat down on some nearby fallen logs that resided on the bedrock, possibly from rolling down at some point.

"Hey…you okay?" Kevin asked Dereece.

"Yeah, I think I'm calm now." He huffed. "Man, talk about a rush."

"That's what she said." Kevin earned another curious look from Ella when his whisper reached her ear.

"I'll say, where the heck did all that speed come from?" Joey said, enlightened with surprised. "Seriously, it was faster than you at a buffet!"

Dereece powered through Joey's unintentional insult and crossed his arms to think. "…I don't know, honestly. Really, it was all just a big heat that just came to me. The strangest thing is…when Seel was in trouble, I-I just bring myself to just back down."

Kevin and Joey exchanged awkward looks. They weren't sure of what Dereece meant by that, but they were smart enough to know something like this had to be serious. They let him continue.

"It's like millions of pop rocks just went off inside of me at that one moment. I think Seel felt that too, didn't you?" He looked down at Seel, who was too tired to answer. All she did was look up as Krabby scuttled around her. "And when it hit, all that force just went 'kaboom'. Really it's…kinda hard to explain."

Joey raised a brow. "Wait."

"What?"

"When you kinda felt that way, did you look at that rock and crystal I told you to get?"

Dereece's eyes widened at the realization. "Yeah! That's it! That's what happened. Right when I was feeling that, the stone was reacting to what I was feeling!"

 _Dereece looked at his arms and hands as he continued holding the stone. He could feel a whole lot stronger all of a sudden. 'This power…I feel incredible. Is it because of this weird rock?' He looked back at Seel, who was glaring at him. 'Well whatever it is, we can't let it go to waste!' He held the stone and crystal embedded in it out. "Get ready, Seel!"_

 _A strong force surrounded Seel as she lowered her head. "I'm ready!"_

"That odd flow when we were going at it, the energy must have slipped out somehow." Dereece looked at the rock and white diamond crystal, a suspicious vibe overflowing him. "I'm not sure what you found back there Captain…but whatever this is, it's something really wrong about this thing."

Joey took the crystal and examined it himself. He turned it upside-down to see what would happen, but nothing occurred. He glared with one eye to inspect the stone if it had something like a lock or a code needed to break it; no good. "Well I ain't getting nothing. Was it really just a whim?"

"Beats me."

Kevin walked over between. "Let me see that." He took the crystal and rock, much to Joey's chagrin. "Look, until we figure out what's really going on, let's not get carried away. Whatever that power was, maybe it has something to do with those Pokémon attacking us, just like you said. Or it could belong to someone important, Joey, like you said."

"I said that?" Joey confusedly pointed at himself.

"Well I have enough space to put it in. I'll hang onto it for now so we can think this better." He looked up towards the sky, seeing the hue of the blue darkening. "It's getting late. We should probably gather whatever water we can and find a place to sleep for the night."

"Yeah, I'm with ya there. I do _not_ wanna be here if that Seaking comes around." Dereece walked with Joey to mend to their Pokémon and get river water for the night.

* * *

The sun had begun setting over the other side of the mountains west. The atmosphere around Astral was beginning to calm as the folks were dining out in the areas restricted for plans. Soldiers were guiding people and elderly home for well-deserved rest. Everyone in the cosmic city was enjoying themselves and talking about random subjects, from their daily lives to the rumors of the king's plans and Celestial Spirits.

Up on the mountain plateau, the massive mirror was cleaned and shimmering. All dirt was officially removed for the ceremony to begin. The kind was in his chambers with his associates to conduct their business, leaving Jellal and Bellona to observe from afar. The two sat between a fire, all alone for hours.

Bellona's foot swayed flimsily with impatience. She didn't look too pleased either. "Where are they? Honestly. Sorano is one thing, but that venomous fool is another!" she seethed.

"Calm down, Bellona." Jellal said.

Bellona exasperated through her gritting teeth. "I've been calm for hours now, Jellal. Don't tell me you aren't trying to play tough and _not_ say you're annoyed."

Jellal sighed. "As usual, Bellona, you're always the first of us to guess."

"It's not a guess if it's been proven right before, isn't that right?" She impishly smirked. "Besides, whose idea was it to come here 'as soon as possible' again?"

Now it was Jellal's turn to be apprehensive. "It was a good measure. I thought we could hurry and ambush the culprit before he entered the vicinity. We would've made it sooner if not for Sorano's need for breaks."

"Breaks that _you_ caused, and Erik's ears were more than aching along the trip thanks to that."

"It's not my fault that his Dragon Slayer hearing is hypersensitive that way." Jellal reasoned.

"And yet here we are." Bellona pridefully smirked. She was starting get things in her point of view. "Now tell me who's made the wring move in this little game?"

Jellal sighed in defeat. He was too contemplative to continue.

When the silence came about them, it was a still one. Perhaps what made it awkward was how awkward it felt between them. When it came to that logic, Bellona looked at Jellal with a little glint in her eyes. Jellal looked at her, his dark ones gaining some light that was seen in the fire. The two shifted away nervously as the atmosphere became cooler. It's been so long since they've been alone this long. Aside from their confrontation with Pluto, they've been traveling in a pack until recently. Now everyone was starting to move on; even Jellal was missing Ultear and Meredy. Being surrounded by those two women for so long, he never pegged to ascertain any affections from them, it was all professional. Also, it was because partially of his own guilt of Erza. While he no longer has those feelings for her, he can't help but feel a little…steadfast running in that direction again. Not towards Erza, no. She was married and moved on. He did too. He just didn't think too hard on love this whole time until the fall of Zeref. Now that he's gone and their pasts are forgiven, finding a new kind of life to live for…and with whom. He didn't want to be alone, that was certain. And since Bellona had nowhere to go, the two had been practically inseparable. The more he thought about Bellona, the more he started to question their dynamic. Just what were they to one another? Friends? Yeah. Guildmates? Yes. And…people of interest? That didn't sound right, but Jellal didn't know how else to put it. Between him and Bellona, it was tough to decide what their affiliations would be from here on. But he couldn't leave her, and she couldn't leave him…did this mean something?

Trying to break through the awkward silence, Jellal cleared his throat. "So, er…"

"Yes…?" Bellona asked. There was slight anxiousness in her voice as well.

"Are you perhaps…hungry?"

Bellona cleared her own throat. "Well…I suppose so. Something sounds good right now, better than being here all day. Let me just…" She moved to get up, but at the same time Jellal did. They awkwardly bumped their heads. "Ow!" She grimaced. "Uh, are you alright…?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it…"

"Well isn't this just adorable." A very sarcastic and dull voice rung from close by, getting their attention. "So that's what you two were up to. Kinda figured with all the small talk going inside your heads."

"Erik." Bellona shot a look at Erik, one of particular annoyance to hide her awkward sentiment. "You're late."

"You've been gone for a whole day." Jellal explained dully.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just got a little sidetracked is all." Erik said nonchalantly.

Jellal and Bellona stared at Erik passively. He wasn't smirking at all. His hands were in his coat, trying to act cool. They didn't need his hearing to know they were up to something.

"Were you able to get a clear head up there I suppose?" Bellona continued.

Erik sneered and looked away. "I _did_ , but then I could hear Sorano's clattering echo in my head. I swear, sometimes maybe deaf isn't as bad as I thought."

Jellal snickered. "Then I suppose that means you've been listening on what's going on around Astral."

"Yeah, you can say that?" He straightened up as Ekans slithered up his back. She hissed at them in a warning.

"Erik, Ekans is out of its Poke Ball." Jellal informed. "Is there something wrong?"

Erik glared as he could feel another chill run down his spine. This was beyond unpleasant. In his mind, he heard a very sharp voice that grated his ears. The memory and what he saw in the caves were starting come back to him, and what he saw offered no less discomfort.

Bellona noticed Erik not responding to Jellal's question. "Erik? What's happening?"

Jellal stepped forward. "Erik, say something! Erik!"

Hearing their echoes inside his head, Erik snapped out of it. He looked back at Jellal and Bellona with slight shock on his face. "Huh? Sorry, I missed that. What were you saying?"

They exchanged worried glances again. "Erik…"

A moment of silence fell once more before Erik turned away.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't worry about Sorano, she's just fine where she is." He called. "If you really wanna know, just follow me."

Jellal and Bellona exchanged looks again. They were curious on the culprit being in the city, but Erik's intuitions were always on the important matters. If his attention was elsewhere, then something must be definitely wrong. They dropped the subject and left the site to investigate themselves.

* * *

Cana sat cross-legged on the carpet that she was using for her magic. She bit her thumbnail as she was trying to get a sharpened sense of clairvoyance. But strangely enough, that ambiguity wasn't being solved anytime soon. Even Delphox was taking a while to solve.

There was another knock at the door. Vanessa went over to see who it was. Using her aura, she read instantly who it was.

"Wendy. Carla."

The Sky Dragon Slayer was standing at the door with the white Exceed in hand. "Hey, Vanessa. It's good to see ya."

"We wondered where'd you've been all day. Everyone's been all over the place except you." Carla peered inside. "Is everything alright?"

Vanessa chuckled. "Come in and you'll see."

She moved to the side to invite them in. "Uh, thanks…" Wendy stepped inside, and immediately the smell of alcohol filled her nostrils. As a Dragon Slayer it was extra sharp. But she powered through the best she could. She noticed the shades were down, so not enough light was getting in compared to the skylight that cascaded down the center of the room, right where Cana was sitting. Delphox was sitting in a chair looking at her own stick flame. Both seemed totally into it, despite how mentally worn down they perceived.

"Uh, is everything okay?" Wendy nervously asked.

"What in heaven's name is this about?" Carla sniped. "Has anybody even seen the sun today?"

Cana looked up, ignoring the many empty alcohol bottles surrounding her. "Heh? Ey, when did you two lovely ladies get here?" she surly asked.

"Hey, Cana." Wendy smiled.

Cana hiccupped, smirking as she held up a small wine bottle. "You came to get something to drink?

Wendy nervously sweatdropped. "Eh, thanks…but I'm good."

"Have you been drinking all day?" Carla sniped. "How are you not evicted from the inn yet?!"

"The services were willing to extend our stay by an extra day. It wasn't easy." Vanessa tried her best to stay casual, despite two warning calls and a personal visit from the manager about their hazards of alcohol and fire. "But Carla…I asked you because we need your help."

"You do, you say?"

"Yes. Tell me, how has your clairvoyance been as of late?"

The feline's brown eyes widened slightly. "My clairvoyance…?" She was getting flashes in her head about her past experiences with seeing into a future. She stopped one FACE because of it, but since then, because she was able to escape a fate she couldn't control, the ability had since simmered away. Hell it was barely coincidence it could be active against Dimaria's God Soul.

"You see, my aura's been proactive…for a lack of better words." Vanessa turned towards Delphox. "We've been trying to deduce whether or not this sense of this ritual and the king were false, but we've been having some setbacks."

"Setbacks?" Wendy chimed.

"Yes. You see, Delphox has the ability to see the future as well. She has to look at her flame long enough to see it. And Cana's been at it for hours with her Fortunetelling…and drinking."

"So if they can see the future, then what exactly is my purpose in being here?" Carla questioned.

Vanessa skipped to the point. "The problem…is that _our_ powers aren't seeming to have affect."

The news rose some concerns amongst Wendy and Carla as they looked at one another.

"Normally it wouldn't take long for either, but we've been in limbo for hours. We're not sure, but something's wrong with their abilities. We were wondering if you were having that same problem."

"I see." Wendy looked towards Carla. "What do you think, Carla?"

Carla crossed her arms and looked down at the ground. She fell silent at the possibilities afoot. _'It's true that my foresight has been accurate to say the least, in the past I was able to make haste because of those instances.'_ In her mind, she still saw flashes of the false future back in the Grand Magic Games, how she mistook Lucy for singing instead of crying, and she couldn't even see beyond the hell of the Dark Legendaries. _'Even then…my powers aren't totally accurate. The events of time and space must have scrambled my visual accuracy.'_ She thought about Tartaros again. _'Still…there's no way for sure telling if I can still control it. Only one way to find out.'_

She stepped forward, transforming into her human form. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

Vanessa grinned. "I thought you'd might."

While they were talking, Delphox was off in her own little world, yet Cana was in a dark pit. She closed her eyes again and tried to concentrate for the umpteenth time, but again everything just went dark. _'What's this strange feeling? It's like something's blocking me from seeing.'_ The thought of the voices rung in her head again. _'And that voice…just who was it?'_

* * *

The waters of the Astral sea shifted in and out. The cool tides continued to bring up deposits from the waters, ranging from clamshells to seaweed. At one point even a Pyukumuku was picked up along the sea…until a harsh kick by a human foot shot back into the sea unwillingly.

"Ow!" The culprit was none other than Natsu. He's been on the beach for hours allowing his Pokémon the fresh air they need. "I think I hit something."

"Hey, Natsu!" The shout came from Happy in the distance.

"Yeah, what up?"

"I think I got another bite!"

"Alright, let's see! C'mon guys, over here!" Natsu ushered Charmeleon, Darumaka, and Tyrunt as they were all playing in the sand and running around with one another. They followed him back to the fishing lines.

"Good grief." Lucy sighed. She looked back towards the sea, watching the waves roll about absent-mindedly. The sun was setting on the western end, giving the sky a nice, orange-red hue that made it seem like fire. "It's so pretty…"

It's been some time since Lucy marveled at life and sunsets like this. Excluding yesterday with the starry sea, she hasn't thought too much since she goes near water. The reason was obvious, and the answer wasn't clear until last night. Now there might actually be a chance to see everything get fixed again. A friend whom she had to sacrifice was in another world and well, but though worlds apart, Lucy could feel their connection still. Though by now Lucy figured Aquarius would say something like "GET LOST YOU LITTLE BRAT!", but deep down she really does care about Lucy. She chuckled at her tough love act in her head. She missed this. Being scolded by Aquarius. It felt so long that she almost lost track of time.

In her memorial daze, she was almost oblivious to the sounds of a collision nearby. She turned and saw a wild Tentacool dropping back into sea.

"Yeah! That's showing 'em!" Happy cheered. "Take that sucker down!"

"Nice going, Tyrunt! You nailed that one no problem!" Natsu smiled as Tyrunt landed back in the sand. It only took two **Bite** attacks, but he was still impressed by the results. Tyrunt's reply was a snort from his nostrils as he glared at the sea, watching the Tentacool sink back in.

Lucy smiled warmly at the sight. It was good that things are changing, but certain people never have to.

Her Poke Ball suddenly popped open, bringing out Staryu once more. Its red core beeped.

"Staryu?"

Staryu beeped excitedly at Lucy. It faced the sea and beeped a couple more times before facing her again. It seemed to want something.

Recalling last night, Lucy calmly accepted. "Sure, go ahead."

Staryu spun over the sand with joy. It turned and dipped back into the sea.

Lucy watched as Staryu swam freely around the seawater. She could see Staryu blinking excitedly as it spun out of the water and rolled back in. It swam in a spinning glide as its red core faced the sky. It seemed to be waiting.

' _I guess Staryu's just as excited as I am.'_ Lucy realized something else. _'Now that I think about it, it's rather strange. It's a lot more active at night. Is it a nighttime Pokémon?'_

"Hey, Lucy!" From the borders of the beach stairs, Lucy turned around and saw Yukino with her sister, Sorano.

"Yukino, hey."

Yukino walked closer, standing several meters away. "Lucy…it's almost time. Wanna get ready?"

Lucy's eyes widened. "Already?"

"Yeah. His majesty had just finished preparing, but he has outfits to help us channel our magical energy for this occasion. He needs us for the fitting just so we're wearing the right size."

' _Wow, this is a bigger deal than I thought it's be to him.'_ She powered through and smiled. "Yeah, sure. Natsu, you coming?"

Natsu came back around, looking better than ever. His Pokémon were all in their Poke Ballsand resting after some good experience on the beach all day. "You bet, Lucy. This is gonna rock." He gave her his trademark toothy smile. "Bet you're really excited, huh?"

Lucy's smile softened. "Thanks, Natsu." She faced the sea. "Staryu, you ready?"

The starfish laid in the ocean water, not moving. Its core was a weak red as it stared up at the sky.

"Staryu?" She called again, but no answer. "Is it okay?"

Natsu shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. Besides, it looks fine to me."

Lucy was hard-pressed to agree, but Natsu had a point. She had to admit it looked peaceful and anxious. Like her, it was just as excited about something, though she couldn't entail what, but it must relate to spirits.

"Well…okay. But you better not leave the area, okay Staryu?" Lucy received a brightened blink from Staryu. "Okay, well that settles it. Ready, guys?"

"You bet." Natsu answered.

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered. "Let's go fix that key!"

Lucy's second Poke Ball suddenly popped open, summoning Klefki with the magical word that she could never miss. "Keys?! I love keys! Where? Where?!" she looked around, seeing Yukino again. "Oh! Keys!" Before she could make a charge for Yukino's keys, however, a harsh kick hurled her into the sand. "Owwie…!"

"Lay one metal ring on my little sister, and I swear to you!" Sorano angrily defended. Her teeth her gritting as tick marks reigned all around her. Clearly no one was having their way with her sister around her.

"Uh, Sorano…" Yukino whispered.

"Oookay…anyways. Let's go." Lucy walked towards the city, pulling Klefki out of the sand by her key ring. She and everyone left the area, leaving only Staryu to be.

The lone starfish drifted along the sea's top, gazing as the first twinkles of twilight shined. Its red core shined just as equally.

* * *

Joey lead the way along the island trail. Like everyone else, he was searching for a good place to stop for the night. Normally he'd also be in any mood to boogie or battle, but after the day he's had he thought better of it. For good measure, he put Trubbish in front for her Stench Ability, and so far it was working.

Behind him, Dereece was dragging his feet lazily. "Ugh! Captain, _please_ tell me you intend to stop soon? We've been walking for hours."

"I know, Dereece…just…a little further, okay?" Joey moved a large bush leaf out of the way, not minding that it indivertibly smacked into Dereece's face, making him fall back. Kevin and Ella paid no heed as they ducked under. "We just gotta find an open spot to sleep tonight. We can't risk another horde run like we did earlier."

"I know. We're almost out of supplies." Kevin voiced. "Joey, got any spare Super Potions?"

"Yeah, I think a few left. That should get us towards tomorrow."

"So we gotta find a spot where we can be safe from the open. Maybe we should look for something like a cave. I saw in a video game once the players use an alcove between two cliffs to find cover."

"I believe that would suffice for a small quantity such as yourselves." Ella stated. "Plus as long as little fire is used, predatory action will be at a minimum."

Behind them, Dereece caught up quick, though he looked a little roughed up from the earlier swing. "Captain, where exactly are we going to find this shelter anyways?"

"Chill, okay? We can use like a big tree or a rock or something."

"Yeah, plus Krabby knows **Rock Smash**. We can use that if we need to." Kevin turned towards Ella. "Sweetie, you okay?"

Ella nodded. In spite of everything that's happened today, she was keeping a leveled head the whole way. She wasn't complaining nearly as much as Dereece and Joey were; mostly Dereece. Aside from the earlier comment, she hardly wasted her breath. She didn't even complain how filthy her long dress was getting.

"Yes, I believe that I feel well."

"Okay, good. Just a little further. Think you can handle that?"

"I am not worried, Papa."

"Okay kid, have it your way."

They continued their course as the sun was gone, but the lingering blue was still in the distance. Between night and day, dusk was setting in. The rays of such a time was something Ella was taking in. She slowed down to bask in the views of the skies and look out passed the tall trees. Even far, they were still high enough to see bits of the ocean, especially the horizon. The rays of the set sun with the red-orange turning purple was a sight she was pouring into her eyes.

She looked back at Kevin, watching him walk away. An odd feeling overcame her, but she didn't know how to describe it. But as she walked on, she pressed a few steps before her senses stiffened her.

Kevin stopped and looked back at her. "Hm? Ella, you coming?" He watched her walk off slowly instead. "Ella…?"

Ella silently walked off the dirt into the tall grass. It was like she didn't hear Kevin. He watched her curiously as she sauntered away. His brow furrowed.

She walked through the forest to potentially no aim. She didn't know where she was going, but her senses were tingling. It was something she just couldn't ignore, like a homing instinct. Something was drawn towards her, she could feel it.

She slowed down and looked around. She was completely alone, away from the others. She gazed lower and looked around at the grass. Whatever she felt was near. She could smell it…

She frisked passed several bushes to search. When she moved a tropical leaf, her eyes remained still as she looked at something on the ground.

It was hard to make out, she remained completely calm in the face of an odd, dark blue mesh. It looked dried up, and had squiggly limbs and super thin arms. It had the shape of a stick figure human almost, with a raisin-like head and thin neck connected to a dried up blue body. Looked more like something of a childhood drawing brought to life and dry.

She stared down at the bizarre – and possibly dead – creature with a tilted head. She blinked once and curiously closed in. She shadowed almost directly over the figment. Whether it was by impulse or her own feelings, something was telling her about it.

Dazed somewhat, Ella's eyes flashed sapphire before she reached for the figment.

"Ella!"

A wrist snatched her arm before she was mere inches from touching the dried face. She was pulled back upright, clutched by her father.

"Papa?" She looked shocked at Kevin's sudden appearance.

"Ella, where the heck were you? I thought you went to whizz and…wait." He looked at the weird thing she was about to touch. "What the hell is that? Is…is that…?" Beneath his translucent sunglasses, his gaze widened. "What _is_ that?"

The more the two looked at it, the more bizarre it felt. An odd blue, dried being was lying possibly dead, and in no way could it be alive. It just felt too…unnatural.

Kevin swallowed. "Just…man. I almost feel sorry for it." He turned towards Ella. "Ella, what were you doing just now?"

"I…I was, uh…"

"You know it's not bright to touch something unless you know it's okay. What if that thing has decaying disease? You could end up getting infected."

Ella was stone silent for the longest time. She wasn't sure how to respond, let alone come up with words. But she retained calm as she looked down at her bare feet. "I…I didn't mean to…" she took one final pause before awkwardly answering. "I'm…sorry."

Kevin sighed. "It's okay. I'm sorry I snapped like that. Just don't make me worry like that again. We've had enough today, and besides, you're my…" he trailed off, his eyes widened. "Oh my…Ella!"

Ella caught Kevin's warning in time and turned around just as a squiggly, wrinkled glove reached for her. Kevin pulled her away so she wouldn't get touched.

"KRRRRRR!" The supposedly dried being stumbled about as it sensed Ella and Kevin. It hissed with a venomous tone.

"It's alive?!" Kevin looked at Ella. "Ella, stay away!"

"Papa…"

The creature stumbled forward closer, crackling a croaking tone as its limp frame made it appeal as much as a twitching zombie. It shakily reached for the pair like it was its last hope.

Kevin reached for a Net Ball and whipped it. "Sewaddle, **Razor Leaf!** "

The Net Ball flew open and out popped Sewaddle for the umpteenth time today. "Oh no, something gross and impulsive wanna touch us, oh no!" He fired glowing green leaves with razor-cutting precision at the creature. It frivolously sliced into the entity, causing it to shriek out in crying agony. "Sorry, but this touching factory is for VIP only. Nothing personal~."

"Krrr…krrrr…" The beast laid on the ground with most of its body in shambles. With a low, venomous cry, its remained slowly dried to dust. They all watched it disperse to flakes that scattered in the wind.

A cold silence fell around the area as Sewaddle looked back at Kevin and Ella. The Trainer looked at the spot where the entity dispersed and felt a chill run down his spine. "Okay…weird…"

"Kev!"

Kevin turned around, seeing Joey and Dereece running towards them. "Guys?"

"What was that? We heard a small cry from other there." Joey said. "We saw Sewaddle pop out, and…wait, what did we miss?"

Kevin and Ella gave each other stares. The little girl looked at him confusedly while the older man was furrowing his brow. He wasn't so sure himself how to word it without sounding too lunatic. Anything at this point was possible. First the kid, then the location malfunction, and now this thing that attacked them. Something was definitely wrong with this island. And he was smart enough to know to stay on the move.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it right now." He lied in a serious tone. "Let's just hurry and take cover."

The two shot strange looks at Kevin, but they were too tired to argue with him. "Sure thing." Dereece turned away.

Kevin returned Sewaddle and ushered for Ella to go. She complied, though she couldn't help but look back one more time at the spot before following her father.

* * *

 _Two weeks. That was the span of time in Earthland years it was compared to the Celestial World. Achilles returned after his meeting with the Celestial King, only to have realized that time had gradually passed by, a lack of perception of spirits but a bitter cost of man. With Achilles gone, Astral's crop were unconducted, and the people were in disarray. Some even went as far as to look for him pass the mountains only to end up as dragon food, or another possible fate. Achilles' return was stunning, but bitterly renewed. When he realized that almost half the livestock was chowed down on and crops were starting to reduce, he blamed himself for that. The Celestial King, in humble regret for this transaction, sent Pisces when it came time for their turn. Though they were met with a less than appeased Achilles, they acknowledged him and offered him something entirely new – a key. But not just any key. A golden key, but the end were shaped like a star and the other was a crown. As apology for the timespan, they offered Achilles their own keys, making him the first Zodiac Mage._

 _The king documented and learned all about the spirits by that point. While in the Celestial World, he learned of their varied strengths and weaknesses, as well as how to summon them and use magic properly. But only for a short time before he had to go back. When on their monthly visits, the spirits would come by and teach Achilles the ways of magic, channeling it into the keys to summon them. It really was magic._

 _But that magic was also what many feared._

 _Astral was growing within the years in populace and stature, so did ire from Kings and nations around. Rumors of his magic spread to earn a greater reason for their jealously. It didn't take long before the wrath of the nation's armies coming together to put an end to this malarkey._

 _Some nations sent spies in Astral to document and event replicate the notes Achilles made on the spirits. Some were even successful in using magic, though they still required keys. Enchantresses were extremely rare, but the gifted could enchant keys with magic, thus creating substitute gateways for the spirits summoned. The spirits were forced into contracts, and were used as tools to take some nations down for their foods, women, and territory. Power was everything, and these so-called Celestial Spirits had them._

 _With the town growing, it was poor in defense since it solemnly relied on high mountain ranges and steep atmospheres as borders, but that didn't keep nations out for too long. Achilles had no choice but to go out and defend Astral, as a one-man army. With everything Achilles had, he had to summon all 12 Zodiacs, including the King for one big clash. The resulting eruption of Magic Power and the Zodiacs were proven too much for the army and their spirits, who immediately surrendered upon seeing their king siding with Achilles._

 _The army and its high-powered king were defeated, shamed, and beheaded in battle. The justice of spirits was rectified, but at a tragic cost. With the use of all the spirits and Celestial King, Achilles' body quickly reduced due to Magic Deficiency Syndrome. He died two days after winning the land over._

 _To honor his legacy, the citizens of Astral sought to make it known what good spirits can do. They spread the Zodiac Keys afar across the lands, and the messengers spread the ideology to others. The promise of the great man, who became a great friend to spirits, to forever bind two unlikely souls into one._

Sophie look a long breath and put down the Gale-Force Reading Glasses. She read over the abridged version of her notes of the last contexts about Achilles and the birth of Celestial Magic. It was clear her head spinning from all this research. "So that's the end of the beginning it seems." She huffed. "So the king died defending his nation, that's a noble way to end I suppose."

Kadabra looked up at the skylight, seeing that night had fallen again. "Sophie, it's getting late again. Shouldn't we be heading for Lucy's ceremonial ritual?"

"In a minute, Kadabra. I just need to catch my breath." She looked over to her notes and stacked them together. She didn't realize how much notebook paper she had used the whole day. It was enough for a mini novel almost. A part of her was actually chuckling on the inside. _'I wonder if I could actually turn this all into a book? Lucy said her novel's coming along smoothly. I wonder what her face would be if I published this before her?'_ The actual visage of Lucy comically whimpering while Sophie was on a stage with a globe-like award was enough to almost leave her laughing aloud. If it wasn't for her headache from cramming so much all day she would have. "Alright, guess I should bookmark the next part…"

"Sophie?"

The blonde heard her name called and looked up. To her surprise she saw Nic, Erza, and Greninja inside the library.

"You guys? Wait…what are you doing here?"

"We were about to ask you the same thing." Erza said. "Have you been in here all day?"

Sophie looked away shamefully. "Perhaps…but what about you guys? You guys don't usually come to libraries, you _especially_ , Nic."

"Funny." Nic grumbled. "We're just checking out the place is all. Erza and I spent the whole day touring the city. This was just the last place we wanted to go before rendezvousing with the others."

Greninja looked at the stack of notes Sophie had beside her. "You did all this?" he asked.

"Aye, she did." Kadabra said sagely.

"Intriguing. Let me see." Erza grabbed one of the scripts Sophie made and skimmed over it. Her eyes slowly lit up as she went through the notes pretty fast. "My word…it's so legible." She looked back at Sophie. "Sophie, is this what you've been doing since last night?"

"Surprised? Well I'm not Levy, but I can make do." Sophie beamed pridefully.

For once invested in a reading, Nic walked over with Greninja and looked over the books that Sophie went through compared to the stack that was relatively smaller. _'She went through all this in one day. I wonder how she's even awake?'_ A better look showed that she had small bags under her eyes. She looked like she could use a couple Oran Berries.

Greninja looked over at one book with a black cover with gold binding on it. "Hm?"

Nic looked over, seeing Greninja's curiosity. "What is it?" He looked at the black book as well. "Hey, Sophie."

"Yes, Nic?"

"What's that book right there about?"

She turned and saw the book. "That? I think that's the epilogue version. I just finished the first set so I'm getting to that."

"Intriguing." Erza looked at the book as well. "May I?"

Sophie raised a brow. She was a little surprised at their sudden interest but she was too disturbed with her headache that she didn't bother. "Sure, by all means."

Erza picked up the book and flipped open the context. Immediately she started reading through the passages, or what she could manage at least.

"…the text is all old…I hardly know this language to begin with." Her brow furrowed at some of the phrasing. "This must have been hundreds of years old. It's amazing how well conditioned this is."

She continued flipping through the pages until she stopped at one page with a picture on it. The man had slick hair and a beard and moustache combo. He adorned the classic kingly attire as he sat on a throne.

"Nic, take a look at this." Erza pointed towards the picture for Nic to follow.

"Yeah, I see. It's an illustration." He squinted a little. "I can't tell if that's just something copied from a painting or something they've revised."

They continued flipping the pages again, mulling over context they couldn't understand. It was only they reached another picture that Erza's eyes widened.

"Nic."

"What?" He looked at the portrait again, copying the shock that Erza had.

What they were seeing was another art piece of the king again, but he was facing sideways, his palms facing up as something was above him: A crown. But not just any crown. It seemed heavily accented with a large jewel in the center.

"A crown?"

"Yeah, no doubt about it. You don't think…"

This brought alarms up for both of them, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sophie's intuition. "Guys, is everything okay?" She was met with anxious looks, causing her to grow nervous. "Um…is that a no?"

"Sophie." Nic approached carefully across the counter. "Listen, we need a quick favor from you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, we can't go to Lucy because she's at the ritual, but you can. We need you to decipher this text as fast as you can." He pointed towards the book. "This is important, you think you can do that?"

Sophie blinked in surprise over the request. Of course she would do anything for Nic, given their history with one another, and right now it sounded important if it came out in this kind of tone. "I'll see what I can do. Just give me a minute." She took the book and got another piece of paper. _'Well…here goes more headache fuel.'_

"Thank you, Sophie. We're in your care." Erza said. All they had to do was wait, but time was not something they had. She looked up towards the skylight that showed stars. _'I have a bad feeling about this.'_

Nic and Greninja looked towards the other, silently exchanging their presumptions as Sophie deciphered like her life depended on it. From the way things seemed, it may as well be.

* * *

In a dark chamber, everything was quiet. The palace of Melchior was absent as the staff left for the night since the king would be out. Inside the darkness, Oberon walked in, looking ahead with his usual grin.

"Your highness. The others have made it to Topeyaka Plateau for the ceremony. I shall take my leave when you are ready."

Melchior looked ahead in the trifold mirror, staring at himself. He was wearing his usual attire, but the kingly gown he had was replaced by a cosmic fixation. It had stitched white orbs to resemble stars of their own, all of which came to a full circle to represent the Zodiacs.

He turned around, facing his associate with his crown shimmering. "I understand, old friend. So, shall we give our honored guests our company?"

"Lead the way, sire."

Melchior passed Oberon as they made way towards the nearest exit.

* * *

It wasn't long before Carla was in the same slump everyone else was having. Gathered in a circle, the Exceed, Delphox, and Cana were all holding hands to help channel their clairvoyance to higher levels and tried to pour it into Cana's Fortunetelling.

They've been at it for a while now. Even for someone as patient as Carla, this was taking a while. Every time she tried to focus, she would only see black; a pitch-black. It was as though something was deliberately putting blinds over her mental images. The strain was enough to make her crossed legs fidget.

"Well Carla, anything?" Wendy asked for the third time in an hour.

The human-Exceed kept her eyes shut as she tried to process it all. "…it's very strange. It's like…something is stopping me from seeing things. Do you feel it?"

"Yes." Delphox answered. "Nearly half a day, and our abilities aren't in any effect. This is not common."

Cana groaned loudly. "Can't believe this. We've been channeling our magic into each other but we still can't see a thing…maybe you're right after all, Vanessa."

"Cana…" Vanessa murmured.

The room fell silent as Cana tried to ascertain focus again. She closed her eyes again and furrowed her brow. She tried to concentrate her magic into her cards, but all she was seeing was black. It was enough to give her a headache.

' _This is hopeless. C'mon! Work already!'_ She tried to concentrate harder, but to no avail. _'Damnit, what does it take to get at least one glimpse of-!'_

Suddenly a sharp pain enflamed her head. The brunette cringed as everything around her faded in and out.

"Cana?" Wendy gasped.

Vanessa's eyes widened. "What's wrong?" She looked over, seeing Delphox cringing. "Delphox?"

"Carla!" Sure enough, even Carla was feeling something. Wendy got to her side to assist her. "Carla, can you hear me?! Carla!"

All three future-seekers were feeling something flowing from Cana. With their hands/paws joined together, their shared links were feeling Cana's harsh pain from earlier.

" _ **Hurry! Stop them!**_ _"_

The harsh warning and tone caused a shock that separated all three psychics. They leaned on their backsides, barely keeping themselves up. Vanessa and Wendy held up their partners respectively.

"You all alright?" Vanessa felt an odd aura quickly fade, but she felt a glimpse before lifting. _'That aura just now…was that someone trying to break in?'_

Cana rubbed the back of her head. "Gnngh…man, that one actually hurt."

"Carla, are you okay?" Wendy asked.

The white-haired feline winced. "Yes, Wendy. I'm fine." She faced Delphox and Cana. "Did you all hear that just now?"

"Yes, I did." Delphox answered. "There's no doubt about it. That was a voice."

"Yes, it was. But whose was it…?" Carla put a hand to her chin to think. Her shock arose when she looked down. "Cana!"

"Eh? What now? I'm barely sober already."

"Look down already!"

Cana did as told by the snarkish cat and looked down at her deck of cards laid out before her. Her own shock showed. "What the…?!" To her own disbelief, some of the tarot cards flipped over, revealing symbols that only she knew. "You're kidding me! You mean the Fortunetelling actually worked?" And in the center of the cards, in the middle, a special card with four symbolic ends was flipped over. _'Wait, that card! No way-!'_

"Well what's it say?" Wendy asked.

Cana's face scrunched. "Give me a sec, would ya?"

"Okay…"

Cana fell quiet as she tried reading off what the fortune her tarot cards read. As she was reading, she couldn't help but think back to that voice she heard in her head. She couldn't help but feel like she's heard it somewhere before, but where? The card she also had showing was equally as pressing. That card never came up in her fortunes, at least not of this point.

Ignoring her own thoughts on the matter, she continued reading away. What she gathered at the end only made her nervous, which Vanessa's aura picked up on.

"Cana, what's the matter?"

The brunette was stone cold silent for a moment as she tried gathering her bearings. She suddenly stood up, alarming her friends. "You guys, this is bad."

"Why? What's wrong?" Wendy worried.

She faced Vanessa. "Vanessa, we need to get Nic and the others right away! Get everyone to the plateau as soon as possible!" She picked up the golden tarot card in the center, looking at it for a moment before resigning to the conclusion. _'…I think your Pularis intuitions are right after all, Nic.'_

* * *

After several minutes of writing, Sophie put the pen down and held up the script. "Okay, I'm finished!"

"What's it say?" Erza asked.

"Well, this is as brief as I'm going to get, so pay attention…"

Nic and everyone held their tongues as Sophie took a deep breath.

"So, after Achilles' death and the scattering of the Zodiac Keys, the kingdom of Astral had to move on. In place of Achilles, his son, Tiberius Seraph, took charge. And unlike his father, he had a different image. Due to his father's interests in the Zodiacs and spirits, the family was left neglected, so the son grew to loathe the spirits, and that hatred stemmed taller when they were the reason they killed his father. So to seek revenge, instead of choosing to see them as friends, he'd see them as tools. With this, he'd sent messengers from around the world to recollect the Zodiac Keys. Due to his heritage, he had all claims bestowed to him. In no time he got them back, and he tried to force them to do all his labor and work for him. It seemed to have gone on for a while, but it ended up with Loke pressing his foot down."

Nic and Erza looked at one another. They remembered Loke doing something like that against Karen when she bullied Aries. She continued.

"So after Loke chose to defy the king, he went on an irate and threatened the Zodiacs because of what they did to his father. But with lack of respect, the spirits refused work and returned to the Celestial World. That's when Tiberius devised a method. If they won't willingly work for him, then he would make them…one way or another."

"Force them, you say?" Greninja's blank eyes turned serious at Nic. "You don't think…"

Nic held his tongue at Greninja's assumptions. His eyes narrowed as he thought to Jellal's request.

"And how exactly would he do that?" Erza asked, staying on topic. As far as she knew it was a clear guess.

Sophie pressed on. "After years of mining and searching for lacrima, he gathered the toughest blacksmith he could to make an item that could help him control actual Celestial Spirits. It was embedded in ancient alloy that was indestructible." She turned the book around to show them the page of the crown. "And this was it."

A silence fell over the library. What they feared was most certain now. This was all the proof they needed.

"So that's it. That's what Jellal and Bellona were warning us about." Erza realized.

"They said the culprit had to have been here for the ceremony. Now we know why." Nic grimaced. "We're almost out of time, quick!"

"Everyone, what's the situation about?" Kadabra inquired. "Is there a problem?"

"We'll explain along the way, right now we need to get to Lucy and Yukino as fast as possible." Nic pulled out a Poke Ball, tossing it skywards.

Out of the Poke Ball, Staraptor spread her wings as she was brought out.

"Staraptor, find Duncan and the others! Tell them to meet us at the plateau as soon as possible!"

Staraptor nodded. "Got it." She glided downwards towards the nearest exit, which were a pair of glass doors that a young woman was coming through. She shrieked as a brown blur passed right over her, causing her to look outside while adjusting her glasses.

"Erza, Greninja, we gotta move too." Nic realized.

Erza nodded. "Yes, let's hurry!" Together they darted off, with Greninja following Nic by his side in a ninja dash. "Sophie, c'mon!"

"I'm coming! Kadabra, hold the texts for me, would you?" Sophie got out of her seat and rushed off to catch up with the darting duo. Kadabra was close behind, using **Confusion** to transport the books as he floated. She didn't know what was going on exactly, but deep down, she knew it was big, and she had to be ready.

* * *

"Right this way, ma'am." Two soldiers lead Lucy and Yukino up a large flight of stairs that guided them towards the plateau that stood far outside of the city outskirts. Together, they were adorned in special dresses that a tailor hired by Oberon fitted them for.

Lucy's dress resembled much like her Star Dress: Leo Form. It had a primarily black color scheme, with a ballroom gown. The frilly edging went all the way around in gold, with that same kind of frilly end at the cuffs. With her hair tied in a neat bud beneath a black cap, a purple rose finished the whole ensemble.

For Yukino, her attire was like her gown from the Grand Magic Games. Only difference was that this time, it was a bright blue, with the gown's skirt being a silky-smooth sapphire. A sapphire rose was held in a neat yellow lace around her head.

Lucy had to give them props on the wardrobe; it even felt comfortable! She and Yukino pressed on as it was the two of them. They were a little bummed that Natsu and Sorano couldn't come along – and their hissy fits weren't helping neither. They were probably still yelling and complaining at the guards at the bottom of the stairs. Lucy told them not to worry, but knowing Natsu he wasn't gonna have it for long. _'Hopefully he's smart enough to not mess this up.'_ Lucy knew better than to think this way, but she couldn't help it. She was anxious. She couldn't let this opportunity go to waste at a time like this. This was a one-shot opportunity.

The guards escorting them reached the top of the stairs and split apart. They stood on either side and allowed the ladies safe passage up the last step. Together, they looked around at the refined, clean stone plateau they were on.

"Wow…" Yukino's eyes glowed as she saw the various accents along the ground. "So this is the plateau."

"I've never seen a land piece like this, not even in storybooks." Lucy admitted. She looked ahead at the massive black circle in the distance. The mirror in the ground was showing stars that shined brightly above. "That's the mirror we're gonna use, huh…?"

A pair of feet walked from the side. "Glad you all could make it."

Lucy and Yukino turned towards the voice. They saw Melchior present, along with all his advisors in the background. They followed him as he greeted them with open arms.

"Your majesty." Lucy smiled.

"You ladies dress up quite well in those." Melchior complimented. "I hope they aren't too uncomfortable."

Yukino worriedly shook her head. "N-no, not at all. Honestly, they fit just great."

"Good." Melchior looked towards the sky once more, seeing stars shine brightly. Amongst them, there lied Aquarius' constellation. "Seems that the timing is just about right. We were able to get in under the wire." He faced them again. "So…are you ready?"

Lucy nodded. "Definitely."

"It would be my honor." Yukino bowed.

Melchior's grin widened. "Good…then let us begin."

* * *

"Up there. See?" Erik directed. "That big opening in the valley."

The winds howled in the mountainous hills, making the cool night air less than pleasant compared to the other night. Normally the hills could have peaceful winds breezing by. But where Erik was taking them, the peace would be goosebumps at best.

Erik stopped at the cavernous entrance with Ekans and the others. They all stared at the dark cave with suspicion.

"This is the place?" Jellal questioned.

"A cave." Bellona surmised.

"Trust me, that view's more than just a pretty face." Erik warned.

"And you said you heard something from far in?" Jellal asked him.

"Not just hear. I saw…" he grimaced painfully. "Trust me Jellal, it's better you just see for yourself."

Jellal opted to listen to Erik and looked inside. He stepped closer towards the entrance towards the cave, only to feel the temperature drop. He could feel a strong force from inside that was trying to push him away. Surprisingly, he slowed down to where he remained afoot.

He glared inside, remaining quiet as he glared at something in the dark.

"Jellal…what is it?" Bellona asked.

With heightened magic sensory, Jellal was picking up on harsh traces of a strange, stirring force. As if by an invisible, in sound force, his eyes widened as he stared petrified in place. What he was feeling – what he was seeing – it was making his bones crawl.

' _What in the world…this Magic Power. Can I really be…?_

The insides of the cave howled with winds of warning. Whatever was inside, it was not welcome to visitors.

* * *

Staryu drifted merrily along Astral's shores as his red core blinked at the stars in the sky. The individual stars twinkles like faraway Volbeat in return. Red blinks flashes against the night sky. Little did Staryu realize, his blinking was but a lone red light in the sea of stars he was swimming in, and it was going to be a deep sea to exploit.

* * *

 **Okay, before you guys say anything, I am SO, so sorry for taking so long to update! I swear, it's my fault entirely. I mean it when I could've been working on this whole thing a lot earlier and have it up last week, but my schedule went psycho on me. My folks and I are moving again after two and a half years, and instead of writing, I was forced to clean the house for showings so people would wanna buy ours. I swear, between moving and my part-time work life, this was just a rotten month for me. I'm sorry again for that guys, but hopefully after next month's move things will cool down again for me to write at a faster pace.**

 **Originally, this chapter was gonna be a LOT longer, but thanks to my planning, I was able to trim it to this length. I know that 33K is still…like a lot, but I made sure the quality of the dialogue was at least reasonable in tone. I've actually been watching old walkthrough of PMD: Explorers of Sky to get my dialogue and actions simplified. I've also kicked it up to 11 by adding the little details like Heal Powder, the stats and Magikarp's Swift Swim Ability.**

 **I won't go too much into it right now, but you can probably guess what that stone and crystal was that Dereece used with Seel. And yes, I'm also aware that Gen 8 will also be coming out at the end of the year, but no. I've barely introduced Z-Moves for crying out loud. So as far as I see it, Gen 7 might be the limit, though let's see what new moves are made in the new games.**

 **I know Kevin is just a supportive character in the story, but I thought making this and the mysterious Ella would help show off more of his character development. Plus this was good use for his new Sewaddle in a lot of situations this chapter.**

 **I know we didn't get a lot of Nic screen time this chapter, but don't worry, for next chapter we'll have the 'Reversal'! Get it?! XD…anyways, this chapter was mainly about The Freaks (minus Duncan) on their side of the story during the day, and since it's night now, next chapter will feature mostly of Nic's side of the story. So sorry to those who've been waiting again, but please understand that all this stress of moving and preparing is bane to my mentality.**

 **Looks like Staryu is gonna be playing some kind of part in the following chapters. How? Let's find out!**

 **Also, I normally don't do this anymore, but I wanna give a small shoutout to some of my peeps like Ultimate10, who's become one of my good fanfic buddies as of late. He and Dracoknight545 are peeps who I talk to on usually a regular basis, so thanks for being therefor me guys! An to my review peeps like Coral the Leviathan, Kallerston, epicvictory2025, BlueRaptor629, Jalarious27, Javier the WordSmith, sparkydragon98, Arie Draconoid, lenz012696; thanks for taking time to make long, detailed reviews every chapter you possibly can. Your extended feedbacks are very appreciative!**

 **One more thing, I'm gonna be making this story Rated M soon like** _ **A Contender's Bonds**_ **was. Mostly because of what I have planned that'll rattle bones.**

 **Okay, with that rant off my chest, I gotta rest up, catch up on a few stories, art, and usual stressing of moving, so the next update will be delayed for a while like this one was, I hope you guys try to be patient until then. So like, review/share thoughts on what you think so far, and see y'all later! :)**


	33. Betrayal of the Zodiacs

"It's beautiful, isn't it Gray darling?" Juvia swooned softly.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Gray didn't sound as convinced.

The two were currently sitting at the base of a small hill that overlooked Astral – the one Nic and Erza spent last night on. Its high vintage point made it so they could even see the sea twinkle beneath the night sky. Snorunt was frolicking around as he was playing tag with Snover and Juvia's Marill while their Trainers tried to find their peace on the hill.

It was hard telling how long they've been there for exactly. Juvia offered to settle to look at the stars for a little while once they came out and Gray absently obliged. Though considering the last time they noticed the sun being gone it must've been a while.

"You think Lucy's ceremony's about to start?" Gray tried to make conversation. "She seemed pretty anxious since hearing wind about this."

"I understand how you feel Gray, I do." Juvia sighed. "Though I hate to admit it, I feel…happy for Lucy." She thought she was staring at the stars too long to have been drifted from her own world. She actually felt envious of Lucy? Granted, they were somewhat "love rivals" in her eyes, though Lucy denied this at every corner she thought of that. But despite misgivings, she knew Lucy had her own life to live for, and that meant sticking out for the people that meant most to her. A part of her actually concurred to her jealousy. "She and Aquarius have been away from each other a long time. It only feels right they should meet up like this."

"Yeah, I guess." Gray slowly leaned back so he was lying on the grass, looking directly up at the night sky above.

Snorunt laughed as he slid on his bottom down the grassy slope to the next hill. He turned around and saw Snover and Marill sliding close after him.

Getting a greedy idea, Snorunt snickered as his mouth glowed bright blue. He took a sharp breath before exhaling **Icy Wind** in the grass where he landed. Slowly, frost covered the grass, turning to thin ice on each blade. Snorunt backed away further as Snover and Marill slid onto the grass…only for the ice to carry them over and onto the next slope down.

"GAAAH!" Both tumbled down onto the next flat grass area, Marill plopping onto Snover's back.

"Oww…that's smarts…" Snover groaned as he stood back up. He looked up the slope to find Snorunt feasting like a ravage animal on the frozen icy grass he made. "Hey! That's playing dirty!"

Snorunt jerked up, realizing he was caught. "Uh-oh." He turned around and darted away. "Catch me if you can!"

"Grrrr! Wait until we get our hands on you!" Snorunt wobbled up the hill after Snorunt, with Marill jumping onto his hat for the ride.

As the mischief of the Pokémon happened down below, Gray and Juvia seemed to be in their own little world. The two were just enjoying what serenity they had with one another. To Juvia it was a dream come true, but to Gray it was still something he was getting used to. He and Juvia were…well, even now that was something he couldn't seem to answer. Just what were they exactly? He didn't fancy himself as the suave boyfriend type of guy. He didn't think he'd find himself in a relationship at all. Settling down and affection really wasn't his kind of style, and he should know Juvia must be aware f that by now. But he did care for her, and he meant it. Even after his little dates and jobs they went on together, he never took any initiatives like she did. Was he just not that confident in his own abilities as a wooer?

"Gray? Is everything alright?"

The sound of Juvia's tone snapped him out of his wonders. "Huh? Yeah, why?"

"You look rather spacious. Are you thinking about something?"

"No, it's nothing." He lied.

Juvia seemed to have backed off. "If you say so. I trust you."

"I know." A short silence passed before he looked at Juvia again, "Hey, Juvia?"

"Yes Gray?"

Gray hesitated for another moment. "…listen. You know I care a lot about you, right? I just…wanted to make sure I got that point across." He turned his head to face the coastal mountain range. "If you were thinking of me otherwise that is."

Inwardly, Juvia's entire head reduced to a steaming puddle, her face blushing up a storm. _'M-My darling…he just said…just said…that he cares about me!'_ Her mental self completely fell over with swirls in her eyes to leave a blank mind. She shook herself as she tried thinking of how to respond. "Uh, w-what brought that on, my dear? I-it's not like you to say such things to me…"

"Yeah I know, just thought I'd try it is all." He scoffed meekly. "Guess I still got a way to go then?"

"If it means anything…I think you're doing just fine." Juvia admitted matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" Gray looked at her mildly surprised.

"It's okay if you can't say it back just yet. Just knowing that you're allowing me to stay by your side is more than enough for my sake." Before Gray could speak his part, she cut him off. "And you don't have to worry about me or yourself. The darling I know still knows how much I mean to him back. You're good enough for me, even when you don't think you are." Her smile softened. "Please don't forget that."

"Juvia…" Seeing the rain woman's smile made his stomach lighten. He started getting flashes of the battles he shared with her at Alvarez and Glacidia. He smiled at realizing how stupid he was thinking. "Yeah, I got it. Thanks." He smiled back.

The two looked at each other admirably while on the slope below, Snorunt was lying in the grass snoozing a snot bubble caused by Snover's **Grass Whistle**. Marill caught up and bounced in victory over their sleeping foe. Their moments, however, were broken by the sound of a loud caw in the night sky.

"What's that?" Gray sat up, alarmed by the echoing caw.

"It's coming from up there." Juvia pointed skywards at the circling Staraptor in the altitudes overhead.

Gray's face turned serious. "Is that…Nic's Staraptor?"

"What is she doing around here so suddenly?"

Seeing her circle over their heads gave him a bad impression. "Something tells me the fun's over."

Nearby, Duncan looked up as Staraptor circled over him. Apparently Gray wasn't the only one with gut feelings.

* * *

 _BEEPBEEP-BEEP-BEEPEEP!_

Staryu's core flashed red blinking lights nonstop at the twinkling night sky. Whether it's by natural biology or its instinctive tuitions, the Starfish Pokémon was drifting in the seashores off of the spot where Lucy left it.

 _BEEP-BEEP! BEEP!_

Sporadic beeps kept blinking as it watched the stars twinkle. No one could really tell what Staryu would be staying – unless one spoke in Morse code that is. There weren't any frequency differences with the flashes, but the red blinks were an indication of some form of communication upon celestials. In a Pokémon world this would make no sense. But on Earthland, theories are put to the test.

Staryu blinked rapidly for a whole second, faster than a Combusken kicking. Whatever it was saying, the twinkling in the sea and sky didn't change. It blinked slower, again nothing. It blinked rapidly again in a hasty fashion, leading to some kind of answer that left it stunned.

A star in the sky began glowing bright, almost an identical color to Staryu's.

 _BEEPBEEP?_

A second star glowed, followed by a third.

Staryu watched as the stars twinkled into a constellation. They began to create a connected line towards one another in the shape of a constellation. Yet Staryu blinked in question as the stars were aligning for this constellation.

And what it was seeing, it reflected in the water around it. The twinkling sea minerals, however, were brightening around it. Its beeping only grew as it looked around warily, seeing the brightening of the sea stars. It looked up one more time, giving only one blink of wonder as the skies brightened in a formation.

 _BEEP…_

* * *

"This sucks."

"It'll be okay, Natsu."

"How come Lucy and Yukino are the only ones who get to go? They could at least let us watch or something!"

"It's probably an ancient celestial custom or something." Happy patted Natsu's leg. "C'mon, it's for Lucy. Don't be like that."

Natsu's complaints with the feline were all that the guards posted in front of them would be hearing for the last half hour. The Dragon Slayer's patience was as thin as paper – then again, he'd burn it to kill time. He and Sorano would be more than happy to accompany Lucy and Yukino if it wasn't for these customs. But being alone without anything to do was quickly wearing down everyone.

"Well, I guess we can wait until she's done." Happy prompted. "Wanna go fish again? I bet the fish will be _extra_ delicious with all this star stuff we've bene hearing about!" He was salivating at the thought of eating such prime fish. Natsu, however, didn't seem as ecstatic.

"I guess…" He looked up at the hill again with a furrowed brow. "But we're in the same guild. It just doesn't feel fair."

"I'm not~." Sorano whimsically chimed.

"No one asked you." Natsu's retort left a hole right through Soarno's sappy heart. She almost fell over from shock.

"Jerk!"

Happy looked up at the sky, seeing Aquarius' constellation starting to form. "Look, I think I can see the alignment coming along." He stared silently as the stars were linking. "So then the constellation shines on the hill…and they do the rest?"

"That's what they said. Wish I could see for myself though." He turned towards the guards. "You sure you can't just let us slide this one time?" He was met with crossed magical spears blocking his way to the stairs.

"His majesty's orders. No outsiders are permitted beyond this point during ritual processions." One guard reiterated.

Natsu pouted. "Man, such sticklers."

"Natsu!"

The sudden shout alarmed the pinkette and company. Much to their surprise, Nic and Erza were racing up to them hastily with Sophie in tow. Following her was her Kadabra telepathically holding the textbooks. Surprisingly, Cana, Wendy, Vanessa, and everyone else was catching up.

"Guys, what's going on?" Natsu asked. "Wait, what's the rush?"

"There's no time to explain right now." Erza quipped. "This is an emergency."

"Where's Lucy?" Nic asked. "Were you guys with her and Yukino?"

"Yeah, we were." Sorano responded, glancing up the stairway. "You just missed them. They went up there a little while ago."

"Already?" Wendy gasped, turning towards Carla. "Carla…"

The humanized Exceed bit her lower lip as she mentally cursed herself. She knew something was wrong; she, Cana, and Delphox felt the same thing as psychics.

Erza faced the soldiers impeding their path. "Let us through, please. This is an official guild emergency."

The two soldiers weren't swayed by her tone. "Sorry, no passage beyond this point. King's orders!"

Nic glanced at Greninja before stepping up. He shifted into his Spooky Form, spreading his legs. "Sorry…but this is for your own good. Nothing personal." Multiple golden orbs of aura surrounded Nic, expanding to have purple and white cores inside.

" **Confuse Ray!** "

The balls shot at the two guards, converging around their faces. A bright flash impeded their visions before it went away. They stumbled around, looking hazily with eyes dilating. Their visions were all distorted as they tried to make sense of their surroundings, but all they saw were black shadows surrounding them. Slowly turning their heads at each other, each guard only saw another shadow. The close proximity spooked them, forcing them to point their weapons at each other. They tackled each other, throwing the other to the ground off to the side.

Natsu looked shocked at Nic's attack. "What the-?! Nic, what the heck's that for?!"

Nic shot a serious glare, one that actually scared Natsu. "We can't explain right now. But for Lucy and Yukino…we have to get to them, _now_."

Natsu's suspicions were stopped cold by Nic's stare. Whatever Nic was feeling, he knew this was dead-serious. He faced the stairway with his earlier disposition sharpening.

"Aquarius' constellation is in position." Vanessa informed the group.

"Guess that means they're about to start." Cana reckoned.

Sophie's body tensed at the thoughts running through her mind. _'Wait a minute. If Nic and Erza asked me earlier about the crown, what does that have to with the ceremony? Unless…'_ A realization dawned upon her. _'Wait, that crown and the lines they asked me to translate…oh no.'_

"Let's move it!" Erza picked up her Poke Ball and threw it. Out came Houndoom, whom Happy shrieked at. Erza mounted him. "On the double, Houndoom! Move it!"

"You got it!" Making headway, the hellhound pounced from step to step, making swift progress towards the next flight.

"Happy! Let's get up there, too!" Natsu called.

"A-Aye, sir!" Getting over his initial shock of Houndoom, Happy activated his Aera Magic and carried Natsu skywards. Staraptor tailed in the flight ahead.

"There's no time to waste. Let's go!" Greninja argued.

"Right. Let's hurry!" Nic quickly darted up the steps with Greninja, leaving the others to follow behind.

Amongst the many that were tailing behind, in the back of the pack was Sorano, who was flimsily running for her life. Though it could've been mistaken for a petty prancing. "Wait for me, Yukino!" she squealed. "Big sis is coming for you!"

* * *

A sense of holiness surrounded the plateau Lucy and Yukino stood at. The air was a lot livelier with an incense of magical energy that was making them tingle in their regal adornments. The two Celestial Mages look one more look around at their surroundings to see open mountain ranges with shooting stars and twinkling stars for a ceiling.

The array of stars in the heavens almost mesmerized Lucy, leaving her body to feel like a temple. "Oh wow, it's so…so pretty…"

Yukino nodded. "Yeah, it sure is. I think I see it, up there!"

Lucy's eyes swiftly glued towards the twinkling lights clustered in the sky directly above the mirror they were on. Their alignment recreated Aquarius' figure, something that Lucy's eyes were hallucinating about. _'Aquarius…'_

Melchior looked at Aquarius' constellation getting into position. "It looks like we're right on time. There shouldn't be anymore time for us to make haste of tonight." He faced the girls. "So then, will you two ladies be ready?"

Lucy nodded. "Right."

"Yes."

Melchior grinned. "Good. Now then, please pay attention." He looked down at the mirror. "At any minute now, the constellation will be directly above. Then that happens, Aquarius' powers will flow from the seas and into the atmosphere. We will be able to gather that magical pressure in the mirror if we place all of her keys in alignment with each star they represent."

"So you're saying to make her and her key whole again, we have to…?" Yukino trailed off.

"Please, if you would?" Auriol stepped in front to guide them into the heart of the mirror. She met with her fellow associates and looked down. "Right here, place one key."

Lucy looked at where Auriol was pointing to. "Here?"

"Yes. And I advise you keep up from now on." She didn't sound nearly as patient as before, startling Lucy.

"R-right!" Taking Taurus' key, Lucy placed it on the star reflecting on the mirror.

"Miss Yukino." Yukino turned to see Oberon standing a few meters away.

"Yes?"

Oberon moved off to the side, revealing another star. "I believe this is where Libra goes. If you may?"

Nodding, Yukino proceeded. "Yes, certainly." She walked on over and pulled out Libra's key. She set it where Oberon directed, earning a solemn nod. "Like this?"

"Very good." Oberon watched Yukino walk towards the next nearest constellation. With her back turned, he shot a look at Melchior like he was trying to tell him something that he seemingly understood.

Once the keys were all set, the many stars that shined on the mirror had keys to make the constellation. With all the Zodiac keys on, the only one left was at the very end, Aquarius' spot.

"This is the last one." Lucy held up Aquarius' broken key between her and Yukino. The two mages stared at the key with hidden hopes of this succeeding. For Lucy's sake, this was something she had to do. With a nod, she set it down on the spot as Melchior walked over.

"Very good. Now then, both of you. Join together and activate your magic. Once you begin the channel, keep the flow nice and steady."

Nodding in understanding, Lucy faced Yukino. "Ready?"

She got a nod in response. "Let's do it."

The two faced each other on their knees, their hands joined and interlocked. They closed their eyes and took quiet, long breaths to steady their magical pressure building up inside their bodies. Surprisingly they were feeling their magic flow a lot better than usual here. It had to be because if the celestial energy that Astral was known for. Could also be the dresses that they were wearing. Melchior did inscribe that by wearing them, it's not only by custom, but also to help control their Magic Power better. And the results were outweighing the risks.

As his assistance backed off on the mirror, Melchior stood over the two mages and faced the sky. "Oh gracious Tetrabiblos, ruler of the divine lands beyond stars, hear thy plea."

Slowly, Lucy and Yukino's body were surrounded by a bright glow. Their magical energy was beginning to react to the summon.

"May our cries pour out to you, let the rage of the heavens quell. The mourning of the stars that have passed, let them be our guiding aid to this task we dare take. Here we have before us two of our kind, those who still wish to transcend Earthland to be of you. In their time here on this ground we mere mortals share, give us the strength to give us the key to that holy matrimony!"

Lucy and Yukino's glowing bodies radiated magic energy that went into Aquarius' broken key. The key started glowing, creating a golden trail that went to the next key. That key followed to the next, and then the next. There, the network divided to even more keys branched away. Soon enough, the 12 keys gathered were glowing as bright as actually stars, joined by light trails in the shape of Aquarius.

' _I can feel it…my powers are transferring.'_ Lucy thought. _'It's…becoming everyone's!'_

…

Down below, the bright light stopped Houndoom in his tracks. "Erza, look!"

The Requip Mage looked up at the bright lights coming from the plateau up ahead. "I see Nic!"

Beside her, Nic and Greninja saw the lights, their gut feelings souring. "There's no doubt about it. That's Lucy." Her magical energy was indistinguishable, especially after all this time. "We have to-!"

 _BA-DUMP!_

" _ **You cannot let that happen!**_ _"_

All matter of tunes playing in the background silence when a throbbing in Nic's head stopped him in his tracks. This alarmed Erza definitely.

"Nic? Are you alright?" She looked over, seeing Greninja flinch like his Trainer. "Greninja? Both of you?!"

Nic grunted as he frustratingly clutched his head, his nerves bristling when that voice ran through every nerve he had. _'What the…my body…what just happened? That voice…why did it make me feel like a Rhyhorn just ran over me?'_ He looked over at Greninja to see him throbbing as well. _'Greninja…'_

' _This feeling…it felt like someone was trying to get inside our heads.'_ The ninja frog tried to collect his thoughts. _'What…what's going on around here?'_

Behind them, Cana and Sophie were feeling their heads pound like Vulcans with hammers clobbering them; Cana's case it felt like a hangover.

"Cana, are you okay?" Wendy gasped.

"You're on a knee, what happened?" Carla asked. She caught an intuition. _'Wait a second. Does it have to do with what we heard? Could it be that voice…?'_

Vanessa comforted the aching Sophie. "Sophie, your head. What's wrong?" As she awaited a response, a flicker of aura was sensed like before. _'That same aura as before. Someone was just there again.'_

Sophie winced as she gathered her bearings. "We're…fine." She staggered back to her feet. "Cana, you felt that too, didn't you? That voice…it had to be…"

Cana straightened up along the stairway hill as support. "Yeah, I think I get what you're saying girl." She looked up at the constellation. "Guess they're sounding desperate then."

"That case, let's hurry." Recovered from his shock, Nic took to the lead again. "We're fine! C'mon!"

Erza nodded. Knowing she had to trust her husband. Houndoom and Greninja pressed on.

Out by the Astral seas, the golden light produced by magical energy caught Staryu's attention. The starfish blinked out of surprise before looking towards Aquarius' constellation. For some reason, even it felt unnerved by this strange foreboding. It skipped out of the water and back in. After surfacing, the celestial communicator swam towards the faraway source.

…

The glow of the celestial energy coursing through the mirror shined brightly. By now the glow enveloped the entire surface area of the mirror, making it an open gateway that Melchior called upon. His brilliance was towering with a might of excellence as he focused. Meanwhile, his followers were admiring his creative works.

"It's a beautiful sight, is it not?" Auriol marveled.

Oberon nodded in agreement. "Yes, I would have to agree. His lordship is finally in the process of something truly spectacle."

"I have to agree." Caius said coolly.

A loud yawn came from Vita as she sleepily stared. "That's great. Is it almost over? I'm really sleepy…"

Tophet held his head high, staring at the glowing Aquarius constellation. "In due time. For now, our majesty must feel thy support of his fellow peers. The stars above have given their blessings, so now we must do the same."

Bion nodded in agreement. He watched as the holy entity ahead of him continued with his chanting.

"Now…let your powers flow from heavens even higher! Thy radiance, under the fellowship of the stars, reveal thy true selves!"

Melchior's audible demand seemed to have earned him an answer in response. The 12 Zodiac keys continued glowing bright as Lucy and Yukino's energy continued filtering throughout the plateau. By now they were keeping it together as much as possible. This was actually starting to hurt them.

The strain their bodies were taking was weighing them down some, but they didn't give in. In fact this kind of force pushing out their powers actually accelerated further. Their interlocked fingers dug into their skins to keep all their pain in check.

A golden projectile left one key on the ground. Then another, followed by a third one. They continued until 11 hemispheres were floating overhead. Lucy and Yukino opened their eyes to see what was happening, and they almost fell out of place when they saw their spirits forming from the energy spheres.

' _Loke!'_ Lucy saw the Zodiac leader straighten his tie. Beside him, Taurus smirked as he held his axe. _Taurus. Cancer. Sagittarius. Virgo! Aries. Gemini. Scorpio. Capricorn.'_

' _Libra. Pisces…'_ Similarly, Yukino was listing her Zodiacs overlooking her. If she were breathless, she's be dead by now.

The 11 Zodiacs looked down at Aquarius' key to find it broken. Looking at each other then the key, they knew what had to be done. Reaching out their palms, the glow around their bodies transcended into the palms – fins in Pisces' case. Golden beams shot from their hands to envelop the key.

The key was lifted by the powers of the remaining Zodiacs between Lucy and Yukino's breasts. It slowly transcended their heads and continued ascending higher. They watched in awe as they continued pouring their Celestial Magic. The key twinkled inside the hemisphere of golden light coming from 11 tiny lasers empowering it under Aquarius' direct constellation light.

As Staryu continued its way towards the shores, the sea beneath it began glowing. The core tilted down to show transparent twilight beneath the still waves. The starfish could see an entire gateway of galaxies and stardust everywhere underwater. Once again, it prolonged a long beep to distinguish its awe.

Happy carried Natsu into the air overlooking the ritual. "Woah, what's going on here?" the Exceed was almost too distracted before looking down at the blonde. "Natsu, there she is!"

He looked at the scene with equal awe, seeing Lucy with Yukino. "Hey, I think that's her!" he tried calling out to her. "Lucy! Lucy!"

"Lucy~!"

The faint calls of Natsu and Happy alarmed the blonde currently working on her magic flow. _'Natsu? Happy?'_

Unfortunately for them the Dragon Slayer also rung the ears of the advisors. Oberon looked skywards to see the pinkette and blue cat with wings above them. "Is everyone seeing this I presume?"

"I am." Caius dutifully remarked.

"I thought we told the guards that no one but us was permitted beyond that point." Auriol reminded exasperatedly.

Tophet's gruff face showed no sense of chagrin. "It would appear that these Fiorians have no sense of privacy or respects for their cultures."

Oberon looked towards the king to see him still working his powers. He knew that if anything happened during the ritual, Aquarius' key wouldn't reform until the next constellation, which could hamper their efforts. He couldn't allow that. He huffed.

Not getting a response, Happy grew worried. "Is she okay down there?"

"Not sure." Natsu squinted to see her teeth gritting. She like she was concentrating hard. _'Was this ritual thing supposed to be hurting her?'_

Leaping up from beneath the plateau, Houndoom and Greninja pounced, with their trainers behind. "What's going on up here?" Erza demanded. Behind her, everybody else flocked in.

"Woah, check this place out." Cana whistled. Looking around that had to be a rather blatant understatement.

"This is the place, huh." Gray speculated. He could already feel the air glowing around him with magical power. "Such pressure."

Juvia gasped when she saw Lucy and Yukino. "Look, there they are!" she pointed them out.

"It's Lucy! And Yukino!" Wendy exclaimed.

Nic saw Lucy activating her powers, much to his own worries. He saw Aquarius' key overhead to see the broken staff slowly melding energy to rematerialize it. He gritted his teeth. _'Damnit, just under the wire.'_ "Lucy!" He called out. "Listen to me! You and Yukino need to-!" He was cut off when Greninja suddenly looked right. His senses picked up and he leaped back. Instantly following, Nic veered back as a yellow wave ran across the ground in front of them. The shockwave passed by, but no one was expecting anything too welcoming.

"Well this ain't too good." Houndoom bluntly stated.

On the other side of the shockwave, Auriol was standing firm in place, greeting her guests with a not-so-amused frown. "I don't believe you've heard us before. This point is off limits."

"Auriol." Erza glared.

Around Auriol, the rest of the advisors stood as a blockade for everyone. Not one looked any less serious than Auriol…except Vita, who looked bored to mask her drowsiness.

"Fellow Fiorians." Auriol continued to press the matter dep. "I trust that you are all aware that you are trespassing on sacred meanings. You understand the meaning of this is against his majesty's wishes. You wish to explain yourselves?"

Sophie stepped forward. "Look, it's not how it looks. We have a verified reason for doing so."

"So you say." Oberon didn't seem as convinced, more like amused actually. He looked behind Sophie to see her Kadabra with all the books floating above. _'Textbooks? Then that means…I see.'_

"Anybody else not liking the way they're looking at us?" Gray scoffed. It wasn't too hard for him of all people to understand what they were feeling. It must be because of his Devil Slayer Magic he's been mastering. Ever since the fight in the Alvarez Palace, his relearned Devil Slayer powers have been sharper than ever. He could look into people's eyes to sense what kinds of darkness lurked inside their hearts. And from the looks of it, he was getting a bit from these guys.

"Everyone, the warning." Vanessa reminded.

"She's right. There's no time to waste." Erza turned towards Nic. "Nic!"

"On it." Glowing once again, he manifested into his Spooky Form and glared at the advisors. "Sorry, but your ritual has gotta end, one way or another." He fazed into the ground, vanishing like a ghost.

Bion flinched. "He's gone!"

Auriol swiped her arm. "Compose yourselves. Make sure no one else interferes!" She angrily glared at Erza and the other mages. "You impudences…do you not understand his majesty's intentions? Such abominations to the names of the heavens you are! Leave at once!"

Her response was a snarl from Erza's Houndoom. "And if we don't?" the knight requipped a sword in defense.

"You do realize that this also reflects on your status of Fiore's monarch, are you aware of that?" Oberon reminded. "Your queen will not be too happy if we tell her what you all would have done if we let this matter continue."

There it was, the blackmail. It was true they came here on the king's behalf and to help aid Lucy. While that was also true, they also were to represent Fiore's diplomacy. If Hisui learned if this act failed and her people compromised what the king could be deemed as good, it would reflect on their whole system. This realization caused everyone there to come to a pause for how to handle the situation.

' _Man, these guys aren't letting us have a say at all.'_ Cana detested.

Erza remained put with everyone behind her. She realized he was right, but there had to be some kind of justification to all this. Nic and Jellal's instincts were unlike any other. It can't end like this. _'Nic, please hurry.'_

Lucy and Yukino were continuing their struggle to produce more Magic Power for their spirits to use. The strain their bodies were feeling felt like gravity was tearing at their insides. They didn't realize the ritual would be this brutal on them, but they were doing their best to put the key back together. By now, the key's shaft was almost completely remade.

"Thy Tetrabiblos, bless us with the strength to see this bond through." Melchior chanted. "Be our guiding aid to the light of rejuvenation!"

Glowing pain flared from every pour in their bodies. Lucy and Yukino grunted and tried to hold in their screams. The longer they tried pouring, the more exhausted they were getting, and at the rate they were going, the progress would be worth it, but where would that leave them?

' _Just a little more! Just…a little more…'_ Lucy could feel her consciousness blackening. _'For Aquarius…I…have to…!'_

 _CLUTCH!_

Lucy and Yukino almost squealed when they felt something cold grab their thick, luscious thighs. Even with the dresses coating them, the grip felt firm like iron.

"W-what just-WAH!" Suddenly Lucy's body turned translucent and was pulled under.

"Lucy!" Yukino panicked before she was pulled under next.

The glow coming from their magic continued resonating in their spot for a few moments until started flickering away. Melchior stared ahead with a blank look, like he anticipated this.

Moments later, Nic fazed up in front of his friends, grasping Yukino and Lucy as they became solid again. "What just…Nic?!" A panicked Lucy shrieked. "What're you-?!"

"What's going on?" Yukino looked around, her body's tension lifting drastically, that is until Sorano glopped her younger sister.

"Yukino~! Are you okay?!" Sorano comically worried, despite her sibling's discomforts.

"Uh, yeah…I think so." She took a glance at the mages around her. "But what's everyone doing here?"

The advisors all looked ahead, giving low scorns or quiet expressions.

"Lucy!" Natsu descended from the skies with Happy and Staraptor, the latter whom was promptly recalled to her Poke Ball by Nic. The Dragon Slayer raced towards Lucy's side. "Lucy, are you hurt?"

"Natsu." The blonde was surprised by his distinctly defensive behavior. "Uh, y-yeah, why?" She gasped in realization. "Wait, Aquarius! What happened to her?!"

The attention drew towards the king, who glared ahead. Levitating before him was a golden light in the shape of Aquarius' key, or at least what's supposed to be the take on it. Everyone looked over towards the glowing mirror to see the spirits no longer using golden lasers on a single point. Instead they were all in a standstill, staring at the golden glow fade slightly around the object.

Lucy's expression was like she was frozen. She became breathless as her Poke Ball rattled beside her. Klefki suddenly popped out, floating with equal shock as her Trainer.

"Lucy, is that…?"

The blonde was stone silent as she couldn't describe the words.

The glow around the key finally receded enough to revealed a fully repaired shaft and end. As the constellation shined high over, Aquarius' key was in Melchior's hand in a perfectly new condition. "It…is done." He grinned.

"He…he really did it…" Sophie was at a loss for what to say on the matter. Even she was skeptical about it at first, but she didn't think it'd turn out like this so quick. A part was just as amazed as she was baffled.

"Aquarius' key." Wendy gasped. "It's fixed."

Nic stared quietly with everyone else, his and their own worries arising. _'All 12 Zodiacs are brought back. Don't tell me he's gonna…'_

The king raised the key overhead, looking towards the constellation. "Now! Reveal thee! **Open – Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!** " The key's glow intensified as Aquarius' constellation in the sky brightened.

…

Out in the water, the glowing sea was churning around Staryu. The starfish was beginning to feel his wonders turn to worry whenthe celestial sea began to twinkle and bubble around it. It beeped in shock before a bright wave came from behind, making it turn around to see the wave.

 _BEEEEEEEP!_

The wave crashed into Staryu, submerging it into the sea below. In its place, the waves split apart as a golden aquatic comet shot from the seas, beaming directly towards the altar at the high plateaus.

…

From the corner of his eye, Duncan noticed something bright like a shooting star heading their way. "Out there!"

His warning caught the others attention.

"What's that?" Erza saw the beam stream closer.

Vanessa observed the golden stream glide towards them, feeling a presence inside. _'There's an aura inside…it's got to be it.'_

Nic, Greninja, Cana, and Sophie all saw the light stream towards them. They felt an intense run through them at that instant, another pained headache causing intense flinching. This time it was much worse as they almost kneeled from this terrible sensation. _'Damnit! This pain again!'_ Nic cursed. _'Who the hell's doing this?!'_

Before anyone could do anything, the light stream shot straight pass the other spirits and connected with the golden key. An intense flash enveloped everything, causing unnecessary blindness. Everyone present covered up from the light to keep their eyes from going blurry.

The entire earth shuddered as the pressure from the light coming from the key held great force. Appearing in place of the key was a large magic seal that spun slowly. A helix of water spouted from it, slowly surfacing something from inside. Her magnificent, voluptuous, mermaid exterior flowed up, but the shine her body had still cascaded away her form.

Lucy opened an eye through the light, removing her forearm blocking her view. She saw a magic seal and swirling water around a figure slowly rising to their world. Her brown eyes shrunk so much they almost looked like beads, a breathless gasp escaping her.

Everyone behind her uncovered with reactions similar to her own. The Fiore group was no exception.

Oberon looked on with a mild smirk of pleasure. "He's done it."

The figure flexed her body, dissipating all the water around her body. The droplets laid in suspense, like time had stopped around the womanly fish forming. The glow around her flowing arms faded first, then her tail, then around her face to reveal her deep ocean blue eyes opening.

Before everyone, Aquarius has risen again, in dazzling aquatic glory that illuminated the entire plateau like a star.

Melchior's grin fastened. "And thus, the Water Bearer rises again."

Lucy absent-mindedly stepped up before everybody, getting even passed the associates. She looked like a woman possessed from the still look in her eyes. "Aquarius…"

The mermaid heard her name called, looking over at the familiar face that stained her heart for years. Despite how usually intrusive and spoiled she was in the past, Aquarius' mocking expression was surprisingly calm. She smiled down onto the Celestial Mage.

"Lucy." She greeted.

Her eyes started misting over, a sense of happiness completely overtaking her. "Aquarius…"

A long pause fell between everyone as mage and spirit held a silent respect for their reunion. Most were still stunned to see the Celestial Spirit resummoned to the human world by her key, and even more by the fact the ritual was a success. No words could be said.

Greninja noticed something else, that Melchior looked humbled as he smiled. The frog's red eyes sharpened.

"Nic!"

Heeding the warning, the Trainer and Pokémon suddenly darted for Melchior, passing by Lucy to cut them off. Time slowed down as they were mere inches from Melchior's face, so close in fact that they could look directly into the other's eyes. The intent either had was so clear, and opposition ran into the air.

Oberon smirked. "You majesty, let your wish come true!"

Melchior's eyes glinted before the jewel in his crown started glowing bright red. As it expanded, Nic's eyes dilated before reflexes kicked in. He and Greninja backed away in time of the mirror as a red pillar shot up from beneath. Everyone's eyes adverted up at the rising pillar with shock.

"What's that?!" Natsu shouted.

Juvia gasped besides Gray.

"The hell?! Where'd that come from?!" the Ice Mage shouted.

Lucy looked further stunned and confused as the red pillar shined between her and her Celestial Spirits. Yet within it, Melchior was looking skywards, closing his eyes as the jewel in it shined brighter. Aquarius' constellation lines within the mirror started flowing again into streams, but instead of gold they were red. As the earth shook beneath the spirits gathered, they all started to show signs of struggling. Sagittarius gasped as a harsh pain went through him.

"Sagittarius!" Lucy cried out.

Pisces and Libra were next, flinching from this red light.

"Libra! Pisces! What's wrong?!" Yukino cried out.

One by one, all the spirits started to cringe and feel their mental powers fade – like a crushing weight was breaking down the walls to their heads. Not one spirit was seen without a writhing, painful expression on their faces. Melchior continued grinning as he saw the last spirit to writhe in agony was Aquarius above him. Her grunts of pain were heard as loud as the ground trembling beneath them.

"Aquarius!" Lucy cried out to her friend. "Stop! What're you doing?!"

Melchior shot Lucy a glare, one that petrified her in place. "What should've been done from the very start. To remind the world what power Celestial Spirits have. Now…TO ME!" The bright red pillar intensified, causing a draft of far greater power to make all the spirits scream in pain.

"No! Stop this!" Lucy pleaded.

"MY KEYS~!" Klefki panicked.

Nic clutched his fists tight, glaring with growing animosity. "Damnit…"

As the red pillar enveloped the land and skies alike, the stars in Aquarius' constellation were starting to shine red. It was one star, but then multiplied into several other. In a few moments the constellation was a red brimming trend.

"Hey, look at that!" Happy pointed at the red constellation in the sky. "You guys see that?"

"The stars, they're all turning red." Carla pointed out. "Just is his majesty capable of doing?"

The red shine and the aching of the spirits ahead of them started to quell. Altogether, the red shine completely dissipated to reveal the spirits with their heads down, motionless beyond recognition.

"Guys!" Lucy rushed over with Klefki, ignoring her friends' pleas.

"Lucy, wait!" Nic urged, but she didn't listen.

The first spirit she immediately went to was Loke, his eyes sealed shut. "Loke? Loke! Hey, are you there?!" she tried shaking him, but failed to get a response. "Hey! Loke!" she looked at everyone else to see them in the same condition.

"Are…keys okay?" Klefki worried.

"I don't know…" Suddenly Lucy saw Loke perk up, much to her surprise. "Loke?"

The Celestial Spirit was quiet and unresponsive as any of the others. Just as Loke did, the other spirits lifted their heads, yet their eyes remained shut. Something about this didn't feel right in the slightest.

"Guys…? Loke…? Virgo…?"

The king snapped his fingers. All at once, their eyes shot open, consuming pupils in bright red. Their appearance caused the blonde and key ring to skimmer away for their own good. A very odd aura was taking over the area, and even if she couldn't sense it like Vanessa could, there was no doubt this spelled bad news.

"What the?! Guys look!" Happy pointed out. "They're okay!"

Vanessa's glare said otherwise. "No, something's not in the right here."

"Huh?"

"She's right, just look." Nic referred to their menacing red glares. "Their eyes, they're not in control of themselves."

"Really?" Wendy's inquiry was a mix of skepticism and worry.

Yukino looked at her spirits, seeing them staring at her like blank statues. "Libra? Pisces…can you both hear me?" Unfortunately all she got was the silent treatment. _'Those glares they have…I can't even see their pupils. Maybe they really were taken over.'_

"Guys!" Lucy yelled for some kind of response…but she got none. "Can you hear me?! Are you okay?! Say something!" She angrily turned towards Melchior. "You. What the hell just happened?!"

The king just humbly smiled at her. He seemed more gracious than he was mortified. "Lucy Heartfilia. Yukino Agria. I thank you both. Because of you, we can now help the world as we celestials would've wanted."

"What…?" she looked more confused than before.

"'Help the world as we celestials would've wanted'?" Yukino repeated. "But…I don't understand. What did bringing back Aquarius have to do with helping the world?"

Nic didn't fall for the lie. "Not the world; just yourself. That sound accurate?"

Melchior grinned at the accusation. "A hardy accusation, Nic Pularis. But I assure you. Everything that has been done _will_ come in full circle." He turned towards Lucy and Yukino. "Miss Heartfilia. Miss Agria. With your help, we can now bring about the resurrection of an era long forgotten. This shall be the start of our new era."

"You're twisted!" Lucy peeved. "You're not making sense at all! You said this ritual would help Aquarius' key be revived! You did it…because you wanted to…" she trailed off, the disbelief mounting too high for volumes alone.

The king lowered his head. "Yes. That was because I truly did feel obliged to help my fellow Celestial Mages. And also, to the fellow Zodiacs who have aided my fellow mages. To bring all of us together, back to where we rightfully belonged."

Lucy and Yukino looked to each skeptically. The way he worded it made it sound like they weren't the ones he talked about.

"This era I speak of, it will bring about prosperity for man and spirit alike. Together, a golden age that the world had forgotten will dawn. Will you two join me on this path?"

Immediately he was met with hostility. "No way! Give back Virgo and everyone's freedom, now!"

Yukino nodded. "She's right. They don't deserve this."

Melchior sighed grimly. "Freedom…that's such a complicated term. Exactly, how can you define freedom?" he turned towards Nic and Vanessa. "Would you consider what is called Pokémon free in this world? You carry them in those Poke Balls, and yet you claim that is justified. Should they not have the right to let the world know that they have their own power to change fate?"

Nic and Vanessa shot sibling glares at the king. His question on a philosophical level did have some point, but beyond that they didn't care. They knew they had to stop him.

"If you do not understand what I mean by that freedom, then I shall give you all a demonstration. Aquarius." The spirit floated in front of the others, meters away from a staggering Lucy.

"Aquarius." Lucy gasped. "Aquarius, wait! It's me, Lucy! Don't you recognize me?!"

The spirit's red eyes glinted for a second. Heeding the commands of her master, the water bearer raised the jug of water overhead, spiraling water expanding from it. Lucy's eyes misted.

"Aquarius! Snap out of it! NO!"

The mermaid lifted her jug higher, unleashing a spiraling vortex that snaked after Lucy and everyone. The blonde was too horrified to react in time to the attack.

"LUCY!" Natsu rushed into Lucy at the last second, seizing and pushing her away.

" **Aura Guard!** "

" **Barrier-Make: Jagged Barrier!** "

Instead of hitting mages, the pressurized vortex jettisoned into a large wall of dense rock and ice shards enhanced by teal aura. The water spiral was stopped cold by Sophie and Vanessa's quick-thinking defense until the water fully dissipated.

Natsu fell to his side, but he was fine. "Lucy, you hurt?!"

"Yeah, thanks." Lucy sat up, looking at Vanessa and Sophie guarding everyone. "Vanessa. Sophie."

Their magic dissipated in front of them, the two showing less than pleased looks at their opponents. "We're fine. You shouldn't be worrying about us right now." Vanessa chided.

"Watch your back Lucy, they're coming!" Sophie guarded.

Sorano swept in front of her own sister. "Don't worry, Yukino! If these guys wanna get to you, they better get through me first!"

"Big sis…" Yukino quipped nervously.

Nic gritted his teeth. "You'd really sink this low? I knew something was wrong from the start with you, I didn't think it'd be _this_ desperate to where you'd play skullduggery till the last second."

Melchior scoffed. "Such is the fault of humanity. But it matters not." He swiped his arm. "To my fellow celestials, hear my plea!" the red jewel on his crown shined brighter. "Unleash your divine rage, let the anger of Tetrabiblos' question be spoken forth!"

"Not of we have anything to say about it!" Natsu's pulled out a Poke Ball and tossed out Charmeleon. "Alright pal, I'm giving you one warning…give my friend back her spirits. _Now_."

Oberon scoffed. "Hmph, such a humble tone you have. However, we do not have such luxuries to indulge you anymore."

Natsu knew better than to charge in recklessly first – especially since they were Lucy's spirits guarding Melchior to begin with. But he couldn't just let him get away with this. _'Gotta use speed to get pass those guys.'_ He stomped on the ground and reached out. "Alright Charmeleon, **Flame Charge!** "

"Right!" Surrounding himself in flames, Charmeleon bolted pass Aquarius and the other spirits towards Melchior. He was about to collide head-first until he struck something hard that caused him to be sent flying backward.

"Charmeleon!" Natsu yelled.

Charmeleon caught himself and spread his legs to keep traction. His claws and limbs supported his brake until he reached a full stop. When he looked up, something huge with orange feet impeded his path.

"What the…?"

Natsu and Charmeleon glared at a hulking sumo-like creature that was large in proportions, similar to Droy in fact. The beast had a large, stout figure with tan skin and a blue hair-like adornment over the head and down the back. It had massive orange hands, which looked like giant gloves that could stop any attack.

"HARI!" the hulking figment thrusted his arm out to do battle against his adversary. Charmeleon snarled.

"Who's that? A Pokémon?" Natsu looked back at Sophie as she pulled out her PokeDex.

" **Hariyama, the Arm Thrust Pokémon. Hariyama's thick body may appear fat, but it is actually a hunk of solid muscle. If this Pokémon bears down and tightens all its muscles, its body becomes as hard as a rock.** "

"A Hariyama?" Vanessa inquired. "It's been a while since we've seen that Pokémon, not since Route 11."

Natsu's enhanced hearing picked up on another set of footsteps coming up from behind Hariyama. Caius stood by Hariyama's side with crossed arms. "My humble apologies, but it is a rather blatant honor to be your opponent today." He challenged.

Hariyama balled his fist. "As it is mine."

"If you persist on entering the same space as thy majesty's, you must prove yourselves worthy first to us. We are his guards, and thus we will never drop."

Natsu cracked his knuckles. "Yeah, we'll see. Charmeleon!"

Charmeleon stepped in front of Natsu, ready to engage against his much larger foe.

Erza held her guard up against the incoming foes. "Look alive, everyone! They're prepared to fight!"

Auriol glared Erza down hastily. "That is a rather blatant understatement, Erza Pularis." She sniped, holding up what looked like a Luxury Ball. "Our majesty's ambitions comes before our own. To have you impede further, I'll make it my business to do so. Come!"

The Luxury Ball was tossed into the air, summoning forth a Pokémon as tall as Houndoom, maybe a little less. This one looked like a tall, pink body shape vaguely like a star, with pointed black ears, and a darker shade of wings. She had beady eyes and a curly tail with a big smile.

"Who's that?" Erza brought out her PokeDex, intending to found out the answer.

" **Clefable, the Fairy Pokémon. Its hearing is so acute that it can hear a pin drop over half a mile away. It lives in quiet mountain areas.** "

' _Sensitive hearing, so it's like Natsu's dragon ears then.'_ Erza detailed the valuation in her head quickly. "That case, we should act quick and just. Houndoom!"

"I've been looking for a good chew toy these days." The hellhound licked his lips. "Better hope that you suffice."

Erza poised to strike. "Nic, we'll be alright. You and Greninja get to Melchior and get that crown away from him!"

"You sure?" Nic inquired.

Erza smirked. "I'll be fine. You can trust me."

Nic smirked. "Alright then." He glowed into his default form and reached for his wife. "Here, this should help. **Acupressure!** " A red aura enveloped Erza, her nerve points jumping from this hot rush flowing inside her. Once it was done, Nic looked towards Greninja. "Greninja, let's go!"

"Right!"

"Not so fast!" Auriol swiped her arm at Nic, summoning golden energy blades at him. As they flew, Nic inhaled before he breathed out a mass of black smoke, via **Smokescreen**. The swords shot into the cloud, clearing it in an open view to reveal nothing there. _'He got away.'_ She cursed. Her senses picked up and she glanced in the direction Erza was. She summoned another energy wave, parrying Erza's swordsmanship.

"Your husband's got a rather bold spot." She scoffed.

"He gets that from me unfortunately." Erza teased.

Gray and Juvia turned to find someone beside them – a rather sleepy Vita. Her sudden appearance alarmed Gray. "Hey, where'd she come from?"

Vita yawned loudly, her vocals all too clear for Gray and Juvia.

"Um…hello? Are you okay?" Juvia asked worriedly.

"I'm fine…" Vita moaned. "Just stayed up too late again…man, it's a bummer. My uncle's making me stay up this late past my bedtime. What I wouldn't give for a bed…" she yawned again.

Gray leaned closer to Juvia. "Be careful, something not right about this girl."

Juvia nodded. "Yes, I know."

Vita reached and pulled out a Premier Ball. "Alrighty then…guess we should play will we're still up!" She tossed the capsule upwards, summoning a small yellow mouse with black-tipped ears. She had red spotted cheeks and two brown stripes on the back. "Okay Pikachu, we got some company for a while, wanna play?"

The electric mouse's cheeks crackled with electricity. "Right! Let's have some fun out there!" she chipperly exclaimed.

Gray furrowed his brow as he showed the PokeDex, analyzing who their adversary was.

" **Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. While sleeping, it generates electricity in the sacs in its cheeks. If it's not getting enough sleep, it will be able to use only weak electricity.** "

"An Electric-type." Gray realized the advantages and disadvantages of the predicament. "Juvia, watch my back, alright? You're at a disadvantage."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." She and Gray pulled out Poke Balls. "Go, Marill!"

"Get out here, Snorunt!"

Both Pokémon appeared beside each other, with Marill skipping happily. Snorunt, however, was the exact opposite. Due to his recent incident with Snover's earlier **Grass Whistle** , he was still fast asleep, a snot bubble slowly expand and retract. Gray nervously sweatdropped. "Are you kidding me?!" he angrily shouted.

Vita sighed gloomily. "Oooh man, he's so lucky. Why does _he_ get to have naptime?"

"He _doesn't._ " Gray sniped. "Hey, Snorunt, up and at it! Wake up!"

"ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZ…" Snorunt turned over away from Gray, earning a tick mark and an irritable sigh from his Trainer.

"Well, here we go anyway." He lifted his hand, showing frost that lowered the temperature around him. "Get ready."

Wendy and Carla prepared for incoming foes, but from behind, Wendy's hearing picked up on even more footsteps. "Carla, look!"

Turning around, the two girls saw armed soldiers marching up the stairway, led by Altair and his deeply accented magical longsword he carried. And unlike before, he wasn't too pleased.

"You, mages of Fiore! Freeze under his majesty's name!" he pointed his blade at them.

"Astral's army is here!" Wendy realized.

"Now we're completely surrounded. There's no room for an escape." Carla got on her guard. "Be ready, Wendy."

"Right!" Wendy held up a Poke Ball. "Alright Swablu, let's do this!" The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Swablu, who chirped readily.

"Stop them!" The soldiers started a charge towards Wendy. Their spears and weapons ready, they closed in fast into the Dragon Slayer as she inhaled a deep breath of wind streams.

" **Sky Dragon's Roar!** "

A powerful whirlwind exhaled from Wendy's mouth that blasted down the mountainous hill. Soldiers of large quantities were repelled and flown back down, save for the few who used their weapons to anchor themselves into the ground.

Once the winds died, down, Altair was still one amongst his many men able to advance. With a battlecry, he lunged for Wendy.

"Swablu, **Sing!** "

Swablu ascended in front of Lucy and opened her beak. She started humming out colorful musical notes that floated towards Altair. As he closed in, the notes passed his hearing. Quickly, he started slowing down as a hazy drowse fogged his thoughts.

With the opportunity at hand, Carla swept her heel across his face. " **White Moon!** " Her kick struck Altair in the face, knocking him down hard. Carla repositioned in a fighting stance at the few soldiers still grouping up around them. "Be on your guard everyone!"

"Already on it." Wendy ferociously glared down, winds gathering around her as Swablu turned aerial for battle.

Amongst the many still gathered, Tophet was the only one to not show any straightforward in him. Instead, someone stepped towards him. "Hm? So then, you would like to challenge me?"

Across from him was Duncan, holding an iron pole over his shoulder. Beside him was his Spiritomb, who was ready upon command. "That's right? If you got something to say now, say it? Otherwise when two people meet, it's common courtesy to battle."

Tophet grumbled low, mulling over Duncan's words. The gruff spirit silently nodded in knowledge obtained. "I see…that is appreciative to hear how you Trainers think of each other. If it is a must, then let the stars be your final judge."

Vanessa didn't need to turn around to feel a defiant aura. She knew from the sense of it that it was Bion. She looked over her shoulder calmly, her guard at full capacity. "So you truly intend to fight as well?" she inquired rhetorically.

The satchel holding Bion's blade shifted as he reached for his knightly weapon. "T'is be. It isn't just to do battle like this. Please, stand down and I won't have to dishonor a woman. It'd be shameful if I must?"

"I see." Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "And what happens if I don't, you say?"

Bion held up a Poke Ball. "Then you must face the wrath of my comrade. Come!" He flung the Poke Ball into the air, summoning out his own creature of choice.

Unlike the others, this one was the height of Pikachu, but all over his quadruped body were many scales, including a heart-shaped one on the forehead. It certainly looked draconic, something that Vanessa picked up on.

' _I haven't seen that Pokémon before.'_ She pulled up her PokeDex, getting an analysis on the new Dragon-type.

" **Jangmo-o, the Scaly Pokémon. It will never show an enemy its back in battle. Ancient warriors liked Jangmo-o for its valiant disposition and made it one of their own.** "

"Just as I hold no qualms to the highest regards to King Melchior, so does this Jangmo-o." Bion clutched his hands tight. "Just as my ambitions drive me, this Pokémon represents my will to do so. If this is battle you seek, then let it be so!"

"No way will be lose to you!" Jangmo-o sniped.

Vanessa closed her eyes, feeling a defensive resolve from them. "Very well." She held up a Poke Ball. "Then as a Pokémon Trainer, I shall comply to your call to battle. Venusaur, come!"

From the Poke Ball, red eyes glimmered before a large mouth expelled a loud roar that shook the ground. Venusaur was ready for battle, no matter whom it may be.

Bion spread his heels with Jangmo-o, ready for their quarrel. _'I can't lose here, I won't! If King Melchior promised me…then I_ _ **can**_ _do this!'_ "En garde!" He rushed in with Jangmo-o towards their foes.

Lucy swallowed a lump as she looked at the spirits gathered around her. Before her were Virgo, Loke, and Aquarius, all gleaming menacingly at her. "Guys, it's me! Lucy! Can you hear me?" She backpedaled for her own safety, but it offered little as the controlled spirits looked at her deathly. "You guys…please…"

"Uh, k-keys?" Klefki nervously looked towards Lucy, but she was completely out of it.

Virgo reached out, first, shooting her chains attached to the bracelets on her arms at Lucy. They closed in quick, but Lucy was in no position to fight back as quickly.

"Get away from her!"

A card shot with shuriken-like precision into the chains, cutting them to pieces before they could reach Lucy. Following that, two sets of blue bubbles in a double **Bubble Beam** shot at the other spirits, causing them to backpedal to avoid the explosive blue barrage.

The dust cleared from the blast, revealing Prinplup and Purrloin as Cana stood above them. And she looked determined. "You guys are really out of it if you think it's cool to just gang up on someone you know!"

"Cana!" Lucy gasped in shock.

"Are you okay Lucy?" the brunette looked over her shoulder.

Lucy vaguely nodded. "Yeah…"

"Good." She glared back at the spirits. "Listen Lucy, it's gonna be tough, but for now we don't have a choice. Look at them." She paused to show the red eyes. "They're completely mindwiped right now, I doubt they can even hear us. If we wanna get back to normal, we gotta stay cool, you get me? You and Yukino find a way to get your keys back…we'll give ya a hand."

"Sure, okay!" Lucy didn't like this one bit, her core ached just thinking about having to hurt her spirits. She started getting flashes of when the hemisphere opened, and Nic defeated Natsu and Gray; close friends who wanted him dead because they were consumed by a greater power. If he could muster up the will to do it, then so could she. Her heart fastened. "Klefki, fetch!" she ordered.

Klefki looked at her stunned. "Y-you really mean it?"

The blonde sighed. "Yes, Klefki, just this once."

The shock on Klefki's face was as clear as day. She slowly turned towards the battlefield, her jittery senses of keys igniting her core. Her body shuddered like it was cold, but quickly she exploded in joy, key-shaped sparkles in her eyes. "YEEEEEEES! KEYSKEYSKEYSKEYSKEYSKEYS! **KEEEEYS~!** " In a mad possession hurry, she vanished like a ghost, zipping away to find the scattered keys! "FOR THE KEYS~!"

Lucy sweatdropped. "There she goes again…" She shook her head and glared forward. "Alright Cana, ready?"

"Oh you know I am, Lu!" She smirked. "I've been looking for a reason to put that fish lady in her place. Sure we're cool now, but back then we didn't settle the score. Ain't that right?" she was met with pulsing red eyes from Aquarius, who readied a blast from her water jug.

Prinplup huffed as he beamed with pride. "Hmph! Don't worry, they won't get past me!"

"Hmph, talk about a load of trouble." Purrloin huffed. "So much work it means…let's just get this over with."

Similarly close by, Yukino was looking at her own spirits; Pisces and Libra holding up her scales didn't sit well for the Sabertooth Mage. "Libra…Pisces…"

The mesmerized Zodiac tilted her body, allowing a green aura to ignite around her. A magic seal appeared above Yukino, summoning a dense gravitational force that hammered her. She found it almost impossible to move with this weight on her.

With her immobilized, the gargantuan twin fish pair hissed as they shot at her. Yukino closed her eyes to await the impact…only it never came.

A large impact was heard in front, one that disturbed Yukino some. She thought was her until she saw two large white globs with teeth holding off Pisces.

"Huh? Where did…?"

In her confusion, a third one swooped in, bashing into Libra's side. The balance Zodiac twirled to regain herself, but the focus elsewhere lifted gravity to normal for Yukino.

Sorano stepped in front of Yukino, her arms reached out to block her path. "Don't you even think of laying even one scale on my sister, you filthy pets!" she sniped. She certainly sounded pissed.

"S-Sorano?" Yukino gasped in surprise. "What're you…?"

The older sibling looked over her shoulder, winking. "Hmph, don't you worry about a thing. I know how to deal with these creeps. Your big sister's got this covered for you."

Yukino felt touched. Sure it was weird now that Sorano was more…peppy, for a lack of better words, but it was making her feel secure. It was so long ago that she did the same thing for her. She smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

She stood up besides Sorano, ready to face her spirits.

"We don't have a choice now. This is for their own good." Yukino leered. "You ready, Sorano?"

Sorano tossed a lock arrogantly. "Like you have to ask."

* * *

A large orange hand smacked down where Charmeleon dodged from. The lizard backflipped and landed on his heels with bared claws.

"Alright Charmeleon, use **Flame Charge!** " Natsu shouted. Charmeleon pressed a heel into the ground and surrounded himself in fire, bolting at Hariyama.

"Block it." Caius dully told.

"Hmph!" Hariyama stood his ground and reached his palm outwards. The vast mat-like glove took the blow from Charmeleon's flaming comet, causing it to dissipate and leave Charmeleon suspended in midair.

" **Arm Thrust!** "

"Charmeleon, watch yourself!"

Hariyama's hands glowed and thrust at Charmeleon repeatedly. Each thrust packed wind that grazed the flame on his tail as he swung to and fro, swaying to avoid getting blasted in the face with a fat palm.

Natsu sprung into the air, a flaming fist reeled back. "Alright pal, now it's your turn!" He watched as Caius refused to budge as the flames around him wrist strengthened, becoming a burning comet. " **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** "

The fist connected hard with Caius square in the chest, swallowing him in a corruptive burst of flames and ground that spat everywhere. Natsu landed on his heels and stood up. He glared at the dust cloud with a stern look.

Happy glided over his head, looking down warily. "Did you get him?"

The Dragon Slayer held his tongue as he watched the dust clear. Despite how he was able to repulse Caius by a couple of feet given by the trails in the dirt, the man looked completely unfazed. In fact, his crossed arms didn't seem to budge at all!

"Such power you have." Caius commended coolly. "It's a shame, however. Such force against those trying to bring a forgotten world to existence."

"Whatever world you're spatting about isn't anything that we want!" Natsu flipped into the air with an ignited foot. With a spiraling **Fire Dragon's Claw** , he screamed out as the flames and heel collided into Caius' head. The impact would've normally downed anyone with how hard he swung. Natsu gritted his teeth as Caius didn't even budge.

Caius suddenly grabbed Natsu's heel while they were close, clutching tight despite the heat his bare skin bared. "Then let your own force be your undoing!"

He brought his other palm back as he pulled Natsu closer.

" **Chop Hanging Palm: Bearing Straight!** "

He struck Natsu's gut with a powerful palm strike, so powerful in fact that the winds went through the other side of his body. He gagged at the shock as everything went white for a moment before the momentum repulsed him back.

"Natsu!" Happy fret.

Charmeleon heard his Trainer's fret and glanced back after evading Hariyama's attack. This was Caius' chance.

"Now, **Force Palm!** " Hariyama grunted as he stuck his palm out towards Charmeleon. Using his forearms as a blockade, the thrust connected, creating a bright shine before a harsh burst of energy blew Charmeleon off his feet to where Natsu slid to a halt.

"Are you guys alright?!" Happy floated down over Natsu and Charmeleon. They both had taken harsh hits for sure. It wasn't often they were pushed back so easily these days.

The Dragon Slayer got up, wiping his mouth of saliva and blood. "Yeah, we're good." He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "But something about the way that guy fights feels strange. It's like I've seen it somewhere before…"

Happy realized it. "Now that you mention it…"

"…wait, that's it!" His epiphany almost jolted him right back up. "That's how I know! That guy's technique's just like that one guy from Quatro Puppy! What was his name again…?"

"I think it was that guy Elfman and Ichiya beat back in the games." Happy answered. "Boy he sure was tough."

"Right…" Natsu swung his scarf around and spread his heels. "Which means he should move just as similar. This shouldn't take too long. Let's go, Charmeleon!" Natsu directed a fist forward. " **Dragon Rage!** "

"You got it!" Charmeleon's stomach began manifesting a faint blue swirl of energy that traveled up to his mouth. Once his maw opened, he blasted a draconic blue and black beam that blazed at Hariyama.

" **Force Palm!** " Caius demanded. Hariyama brought his palm back and thrust just as the draconic head snapped at him. With tremendous force, he blew apart the black and blue beam into the winds, leaving faint embers that made him and Caius look more intimidating.

"I stand by my liege's side. As long as we stand, you shall not pass."

"Then I guess we'll just have to crumble ya." Natsu charged head-on again, diving into the fray with Charmeleon behind his back.

* * *

Quite similarly, Gray and Juvia faced Vita as the girl looked sleepily at her foes. It was hard to tell how serious she was taking it, but they couldn't take chances.

"Marill, use **Bubble Beam!** " Juvia commanded. Her jovial Marill inhaled before blasting Pikachu with a force full of fast-moving bubbles.

Vita yawned as though the incoming mass didn't seem like a big deal. "Pikachu, use… **Quick Attack.** " Despite the last command, Pikachu was enveloped in bright blue outlines and zipped pass the incoming spray of bubbles. She darted beneath with zigzag motions to keep Marill guessing, until finally she was close enough to end up midair, smacking Marill with her heart-shaped tail.

"Marill, are you hurt?" Juvia worried.

Marill rubbed her swollen cheek where Pikachu had struck. "Owww…that was mean." She whimpered.

Juvia looked back at Pikachu to assess the situation. _'She has such good speed. It's gonna be tough unless we can slow it down.'_ She turned towards Gray. "Gray, how's Snorunt coming along?"

"It's coming along." Gray glared at his sleeping snow hat creature, completely wishing that he wasn't in this pickle. _'Of all the lousy times. I knew Snorunt was most ample in energy, guess that's karma.'_

Vita reached out. "Alright, now use **Nuzzle!** " This time Pikachu rubbed her own cheeks, generating electricity in them that crackled around her body. She charged for Marill.

" **Water Gun!** " Marill took in a quick breath and shot water at Pikachu. She dodged the attack and regained footing back in her position.

"Hey, you're…" Vita yawned loudly again. "…pretty good."

Juvia's body tensed. "Flattering won't get anywhere with me or Gray. You tricked us. So now, we'll need to…to…" Suddenly Juvia yawned as well, a loud one in fact.

Gray raised a brow. "Juvia, what's wrong?" Suddenly he started yawning as well. He felt his entire body grow weary. "What the…why am I feeling so tired all a sudden?"

Vita yawned loudly again. "Sorry…did I forget to mention that my sleep is contagious?" She stretched her arms overhead to loosen the muscles. "My…magic makes my opponents match how I feel. So if I'm so full of energy, they get too jumpy to handle."

"So she stays up a lot on purpose?" Juvia found that hard to believe, but the way she yawned suddenly and bags under her eyes was starting to sink in. _'So her magic's like Meredy's. So if she's this tired, it'll tire us too.'_

Vita shrugged. "Well, anyways. Pikachu, let's give them a **Thunder Wave!** " Pikachu jumped into the air above Marill and her cheeks glimmered with electricity. She pointed her tail straight down and rings of static expanded and enveloped Marill, causing her body to crackle with electricity.

"Marill, no!" Juvia gasped.

"Okay, that's it. Time's up!" Gray combined his hands to create ice, raising it overhead. "Up and at'em, Snorunt! **Ice-Make: Floor!** " He slammed his hands on the ground, instantly freezing the ground around the solid.

"Heh?" Vita looked quizzically while Pikachu found herself hard to get any traction. The mouse had no choice but to turn to all fours and stiffen her muscles.

Gray smirked. "Give it a minute…"

"ZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzz…" The snoozing Snorunt napped until his body felt a chill. The snot bubble popped, making him stir. "Huh…ice?" He stood up, looking all around to find the floor frozen around him. Immediately he jumped in glee. "If this is a dream, thank you!" He immediately started chowing down on the chunks scraped beneath his feet like a rabid animal.

' _Knew he couldn't resist a little snack.'_ Gray didn't miss a beat as he reached out towards Pikachu. "Snorunt, use **Ice Shard!** "

Too indulged in the ice he was eating, Snorunt barely caught whim of Gray's command. Scattering to realize combat, he faced Pikachu and conjured a glowing sphere of ice that shot at swift speeds, hitting Pikachu in the chest with explosive mist. The blow caused her to slide along the ice on her hind legs until enough traction was made.

"Oh~, that was pretty good." Vita chimed. "But…" she yawned again longingly once more. "How long can you all stay awake for I wonder?"

* * *

Bion went to slash at Vanessa, but his sword was met by a barrier of teal aura before it could reach her. With an extra swing, Vanessa forced the shield outwards, buffering Bion back into to air.

' _Such defense.'_ He admired, but his guard heightened when he saw a teal sphere collect in front of Vanessa's palms.

" **Trace Shot!** "

Vanessa fired a fast-moving projectile through the air into Bion. The knight used the flat edge of his blade to take the blow. It exploded to create a force so strong that it made him shoot into the ground, but not before adjusting his feet to land on a knee.

He stood back up, admiring his worthy foe's craftsmanship. "Such precision. You truly are a woman of high caliber." He praised.

Vanessa neutrally smiled back. "Rather than focus on praising a woman, you should look at you're surroundings a little more."

Getting her notion, Bion looked down to seeing tendrils of teal aura snaking around from all side. On strands snapped at him, but his sword cut through it. Another one from behind was cut down just as quick. He kept cutting down the strands of aura one by one, but the sheer number started to wear him down. He suddenly felt his leg snare from a tug. Looking down he found himself snared by a teal coil. _'Curses, I missed one.'_

Vanessa moved her arms and surrounded more teal strands around Bion, until he was fully constricted by her aura. With not even a beat in her lashes, Vanessa whipped her arm up, making the aura shoot up like a sprouting plant. Once it reached a high enough point, it arched down, pinning Bion into the earth back-first. The blow caused him to feel dazed.

"Venusaur, keep his little friend busy." Vanessa instructed her massive ally. "I'll handle him."

Venusaur nodded. "Whatever you say." He turned towards Jangmo-o with his usual relieve demeanor. "Look little guy, there's better ways than this you know. You sure this is what you want?"

Jangmo-o fiercely glared down Venusaur with his small red eyes, growling instinctively against the bigger plant-based being.

"Guess so…alright then." He lowered his flower, purple liquid starting to bubble at the opening. " **Toxic!** " He blasted a glob of poison at Jangmo-o, the projectile that the dragon jumped to dodge. However the poisonous glob continued following him, much to his shock. He tried evading but the glob shot into his face, creating a purple cloud that obscured everything.

From the cloud, Jangmo-o staggered backwards, his face purple like he fell ill. His body was weak too, succumbing to the Poison-type attack's effects.

"Jangmo-o!" Bion staggered out of his rut and found his footing. "Stay strong my friend, this fight isn't over yet."

Vanessa reached her arm out, conjuring teal energy. " **Emanation Beam!** " A harsh blast of teal shot directly into Bion as he turned towards her. Using his sword and armor's momentum, he stood his ground as he tried cutting the beam in two around him. He lasted for a short bit until he noticed Venusaur gathering green energy in his maw.

" **Energy Ball!** "

A variety of green energy meshed into a sphere shot from the maw of the Pokémon at Bion. With the weight of the aura still flowing like a flood, he had no choice but to duck and roll off to the side as the attack exploded in his place, creating a burst of smoke.

Standing up, he looked Vanessa and Venusaur with his armor and cape unscathed surprisingly. "You are very strong, I can see that now." He raised his blade to her. "Therefore, I must stop treating with such passiveness then if that's what will get this task done!"

Vanessa squinted at Bion. She noticed the accents on his sword, as well as the decorative jewels on his armor. "That armor and sword you carry, I can see the lacrima inside them. Exactly what are they for?"

"So you've noticed." Bion adjusted his stance. "Yes, this is my armor, crafted by Seven's best blacksmith. It took one whole year to find the parts and the lacrima, but what you see now is that very result."

"Magicproof armor. I see." Vanessa grinned as she moved her arms in a circular fashion, making an arch of teal before her. "In that case, you should tell me more. My sister-in-law relishes in any kind of armor she can get her hands on."

Bion lightly scoffed. "If I'd be bested by you. But my duty comes first."

* * *

Duncan reached out at Tophet. "Now, **Hypnosis!** " Spiritomb's eyes glowed as an odd ray emanated from her eerie vision. The ray was within Tophet's path, but suddenly like a ghost he vanished.

Catching odd feeling, Duncan looked up. "Above you!"

Spiritomb looked up to see Tophet in midair, his ragged form suspended and whisking in the high altitude. A black haze slowly eroded from his body, closing in on Duncan and Spiritomb to engulf their vision.

Duncan backpedaled for security. He looked around, guessing where Tophet could be hiding. Suddenly he felt a strong haze buffer him from the left, leaving him to cover up. It didn't hurt that bad; felt more like a harsh wind than a shockwave. Recovering from that blow, he grabbed the iron rod and tightened his grip on it. It started glowing a rainbow outline as he poured his magic into it. Once channeled enough he pivoted and swung.

"HRAH!" A harsh battle cry as his rod created a powerful shockwave. The wave dissipated the haze, revealing nothing around Duncan.

"I can see into your heart."

The Trainer looked up, realizing Tophet was visibly upside down, yet his tattered cape's ends wasn't flailing haphazardly with gravity. He tightened his grip.

"Spiritomb, **Shadow Sneak!** "

Spiritomb grunted as her shadow blackened. The attack extended in a streaking fast blitz that made impact with Tophet, only for him to fade in another haze. "An illusion?" Duncan inquired.

"Your heart does not yearn for the easy road, boy." Duncan swiveled around, seeing Tophet there. Neither made a move to attack, but Duncan was ready to swing if he had to.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"Your desires…what you hold dear to you." Tophet's grave tone made him sound mysterious yet alluring to the wise. "What you seek now is but mending that must be sewed."

Duncan looked at him skeptically. He didn't like how he was wording it, it didn't feel right for some reason.

"How very interesting of you. Tell me, wary soul…do you know what you desire most?" he grinned passively. "I can see it in your mind; the path you walk and the scars that laid. Those are the warrior's footsteps up the mountain trail that leads to the lone end."

"What are you saying?" he wanted an answer, but Tophet continued.

"And on the cliff he stands, he must make his decision. Once he has risen to his peak, what then must he do? The everlasting quest that all seek, to what end does it meet them?"

All these questions lingering around Duncan didn't settle with him. He didn't understand the full meaning of what he meant, but it didn't concern him. He tightened his grip on his staff. _'I can feel it, something's strange coming from this one guy. His Magic Power has an odd wave coming off.'_ His glare hardened. _'Just what is he?'_

Before Duncan could get a proper answer to his inquiry, another black haze expelled from Tophet, quickly engulfing Duncan and Spiritomb. The former covered up to try and keep tack. _'This again? I'm better off getting Honchkrow to-!'_

" _ **Duncan…**_ _'_

A voice rung inside the bog, one that staggered Duncan to a mental level. That voice, for some reason, that voice completely stopped him. Not just him, but also Spiritomb. Both seemed shocked.

' _Wait, did I just hear things?'_ He reached reality and shook his head. _'No, that wasn't it. That isn't right.'_

" _ **Duncan…find your strength. Find it…for me…**_ _"_

A pulse went through both, completely stopping them in their tracks. This time the sounds was much clearer than before. But the way they were looking, it only left moral horror in their eyes. _'That voice…no. No!'_ Duncan looked at Spiritomb, seeing her equally as shocked. _'It can't be…but if she can hear it too, then it has to be…'_

He looked up to the haze around, his horror abroad. "Is that…really you?"

"Kadabra, **Psyshock**! Dewpider, **Bubble Beam!** Finneon, **Water Gun!** "

Three blinks; two blue and one pink; three beams shot through the haze, clearing it around Duncan and Spiritomb. The Trainer and Pokémon picked up on the attacks and ducked out of there. The psionic beams and sprays of bubble and water dissipated the bog, revealing Tophet floating afar unminding.

Duncan and Spiritomb rattled themselves upright to make sense of what happened. "Wha…what just…?"

"Is everything alright over here?"

Duncan turned around at Sophie to find her striding up to him calmly. She gave him a serious look of worry before turning towards Tophet. They all shared a silent glare amongst one another to analyze these magical levels before she faced Duncan.

The Trainer brought himself back upright. "What are you doing here?"

"Al lo da-var (You're welcome), by the way." The blonde gave Duncan a less than appealing, but also secretly mocking, glance in recognition of the last time they spoke. Clearly that was still fresh on Sophie.

Duncan scoffed lightly as he got back to his feet. He glared at Tophet with a less than pleased look. _'So that's his power, is it? That haze he spats can mess with the mind.'_ For a moment he thought about those words spoken. _'Knew that was too good to be true.'_

Tophet turned towards Sophie. "To thy fellow celestial, to what your heart that I see through. Your greatest treasures, your actions will weigh solemnly on what appreciation they hold."

Sophie furrowed her brow. _'What is he talking about? It can't be standard Jewels now, can it?'_ Rather than let her head get messed with, Sophie glared at him. "Duncan, sorry, but would you care to let a lady accompany you?" she teasingly smirk. "Don't get too carried away now, I might bite back."

Duncan didn't take her hint and looked away. "Fine. Just one thing straight." He held his staff to his side. "You just stay out of my way. Anything goes, you take your own responsibility."

Sophie pointed a finger to her forehead. "I'll keep that in mind."

Tophet glowered down at the two Fairy Tail mages, both whose hearts had such very interesting tastes to him. He said nothing, but rather, the black haze started billowing around him once more.

* * *

Libra swayed her body like a dancer, avoiding another angel by Sorano. She pivoted on one heel and flipped over another one before pivoting and returning to her proper stature.

"Hmph, nimble girl." Sorano huffed.

"Remember, don't hurt them too badly." Yukino instructed. "They're just mind-controlled. They don't know what they're doing. We just need to do it enough to where we can get pass them to get to our keys."

Sorano smirked. "Oh don't be so dramatic, your big sis knows what she's doing." She looked over, her eyes widening. "Yukino, on your left!"

Catching wind of her sibling's warning, Yukino heard a wind brew and quickly backpedaled to avoid the black fish swooping down to strike. "Pisces?!" She noticed the white fish swimming from the other direction directly at her. Quickly she leaned away in time to avoid a direct blow, but she found herself positioned between the twin fish. She found out the two fish her spinning in a helix around her, arching to glare down and hiss with deep red eyes. Yukino gasped as she was met with no way out as their long bodies impede her of any escape. The pair shot down at her.

 _BOOM!_

Dust raged everywhere in the plateau where Pisces struck. Yukino had her eyes shut as she was awaiting for impact, but she noticed a light breeze. Weakly opening her eyes, she blinked several times before looking down. She was riding on an angel, one that gently put her down a safe distance from Pisces. \

"Big sis?" she looked towards Sorano.

Sorano winked. "Like I said, your big sis is here for ya-AH!" She suddenly dropped to a knee when Libra's gravity came down like a stream, weighing her down hard.

Yukino gasped. She went to move but she felt a rumble from close by. Looking up she saw Pisces rising once again. _'This isn't good. We won't save them at this rate.'_ She looked at Sorano, then back at Pisces. She reached for something she had behind her. _'I guess now's as good as time as any.'_

She reached behind herself, grasping onto something. A Poke Ball. She held it up and glared at Pisces and Libra.

"I just recently caught this one. Please, bear with me for now everyone. It all rides on you." Yukino brought her arm back and threw the capsule into the sky. "Come on out!"

The Poke Ball spun into the altitude, popping open an energy to transform into a star-shaped rock Pokémon. It had a primarily crusty body with five endpoints, similar to stars. It had black eyes and holes all over the crust.

Yukino swiped her arm upon issuing a command. "Minior, help Sorano! **Swift!** "

Minior listened to Yukino and the five ends glowed bright yellow. It spun like a wheel, sending golden stars everywhere. The stars climbed up along Pisces to their faces, causing shrieks of annoyance. Another set of stray stars shot into Libra, who used her scales to block, though the attack sent her sliding back on her heels.

The gravity around Sorano adjusted back upright, allowing her to stand. "Nice one!"

Yukino nodded in gesture.

"Now, just because I don't have spirits to command doesn't mean I can't do it to others." She held up her own Poke Ball. "And this is proof! Time for you to meet my new travel buddy!" She threw the capsule skywards. "Come on out, Mantine!"

The Poke Ball popped, summoning a manta ray-like creature that fluttered in the air above Sorano. She had beady eyes and a long white tail. Circles were on the back of the deep blue wings.

Sorano pointed ahead. "Okay Mantine, let's show these creeps just you are! Use **Water Pulse!** "

Mantine hummed as she created a sphere of blue water in front of her mouth. Once aimed, she fired it at Libra. Libra swiped her scales to create a gravity beam to redirect the spherical water attack at Pisces. The fish pair leaned away from each other as the attack went pass their heads, creating a blue explosion above them.

"How do you like that? You spirits aren't the only ones special." Sorano mocked. "So, who's next?"

Yukino studied her opponents as Minior floated overhead, awaiting commands from her. _'Hang on, guys. We'll set you free soon.'_

* * *

"Gngh!" Lucy rolled away in time before one of Virgo's chains tried to seize her again.

"Virgo, are you in there?!" Lucy called out to her spirit for the umpteenth time, but instead the ground crumbled beneath her. Virgo came up, sending Lucy into the air and falling onto her back.

"Lucy!" Cana looked back as Aquarius aimed her water jug at her. The brunette gasped when she realized the mistake and a blast of water sent snaking her way. Before the attack hit, Prinplup stepped in front with his arms crossed with **Metal Claw**. The penguin braced himself as the water connected with the flippers, but he was holding ground well.

"You won't get pass me!" he beamed.

"Nice one, Prinplup!" Cana praised.

The penguin lightly blushed at his Trainer's compliment. "J-just shut it! Hurry! I don't know…how long I can hold!" He nearly slipped.

Cana nodded and brought up a fire tarot card. " **Sun's Strength!** " She tossed the cards at the water vortex. As they traveled they turned to flaming comets, which blew up around Aquarius. Alarmed at this, the controlled spirit spiraled around, spinning her jug to create a wave around to turn the flames to steam.

However, this was the trick. Through the steam, a glowing beak shot through like a bullet.

" **Peck!** " Prinplup's beak connected with Aquarius' shoulder. The harsh peck stammered her away as Prinplup backpedaled for good measure. "Hmph, not so invincible, are you?" he mocked.

Lucy regained footing before Virgo went to jab again. Lucy dodged just in time.

"I'm sorry, Virgo! But this is for your own good!" She reached whipped out her Fleuve d'etoiles. The stream of celestial water whipped at Virgo as chains launched at the same time, deflecting the other off course.

As Lucy prepared another strike, she noticed something off. _'Wait, Virgo's here. And so is Aquarius…but where's-!'_

A bright light shine behind, making her realize who was waiting.

"Loke!"

The Celestial Spirit tightened his golden fist as it came down. Lucy jumped away in time and found herself pinned between a rock and her two spirts. Virgo and Loke glared her down menacingly, much to her worries.

"You guys, please…tell me you can still hear me." She pleaded. "This isn't right! Loke, you swore to protect me, didn't you? Don't you remember?! Loke?!"

The Celestial Spirit didn't give a prompt answer, only a glowing fist. He approached Lucy despite her water rope at the ready. Lucy gritted her teeth as she watched Loke lunge at her.

" **Fury Swipes!** "

A blur of purple zipped in front of Lucy before the punchline and slashed at Loke's face and glasses. The one slash stopped him, then another repulsed his face.

Lucy looked down as her little was revealed to be Cana's Purrloin. "You!"

Purrloin beamed mockingly. "Hmph. You're welcome~." She chimed. "Anyways, this big cat's got my eyes. I don't know about you though."

Loke shook his head and glared forward.

"Hmph, so you want more?" she surly cooed. "Well hope you're into naughty kiddies then. **Sand Attack!** " Purrloin snapped her tail along the ground, kicking up sand in front of the spirit's face. Loke's face was splattered with dirt, causing a blue aura to lower his accuracy. "Hmph, that should…oh sh-!"

Before she had a second to finish something that wasn't supposed to spew from her mouth, Loke ferociously punched the ground where Purrloin leaped from at the last second. The light exploded everywhere, enveloping the area in a bright flare.

"GAH!" Lucy screamed.

"So bright!" Cana covered up. This left her open as Cancer's silhouette closed in on her. Her magic senses activated, feeling a swipe. She ducked from a swipe and tumble-rolled away for distance. _'No good, we're getting swarmed around here!'_

With the bright light wearing her down, Lucy maneuvered the best she could around away from it, while Loke was on her tail. _'Klefki, please hurry! I don't know how much more I can take!'_

* * *

Brown eyes clashed with green as Erza and Auriol were in the other's face. Both held a fierce loyalty to their own righteousness, and thus neither gave an inch to their own confrontation.

Erza slashed, only for Auriol to parry with her own set of golden energy swords. However, with Erza's precision, she found an opening, one that she would've cut Auriol if she hadn't bowed to avoid her head being sliced open. Swiping up, her arm released a blade of golden embodiment that swiftly closed in. Not bothering t move, Erza simply swiped her sword diagonally. She glared forward, not even bothering to bat an eyelash as two golden explosions erupted in the distance behind her.

"Summon every ounce of strength you have." She declared, requipping in a glow into her Blade Wing Armor. "I'm ready."

Auriol lightly scoffed. "So as they all say." Her body ignited in a golden aura, two energy blades of her own forming in her grips. "Proud as we both are, the matter is settled on our fierce loyalty."

"With how you determine loyalty with your mouth, I find that notion to be hypocritical." Erza boasted.

"Likewise. But my wish shall be granted. No, beyond that. My wish will be a blessing, one from Melchior's name. Because of him, I can see a world that is truly beautiful."

Erza arched her arm, sending her swords in an arch at heavy precision towards Auriol. They closed in quick, but suddenly she shot pass them, much to Erza's surprise.

' _Such speed!'_

In a golden streak, she blitzed across the ground after her foe. She crossed her blades at close range, but as she was about to hit Erza, she faded like a ghost, causing her to miss.

"Where'd she…?" Auriol looked around for her foe, almost losing momentum when she noticed falling blades heading straight down on her. She brought her arm up, generating a hexagonal golden barrier.

"No you don't!" Houndoom opened his maw and generated a black ball with purple and white cores inside. " **Shadow Ball!** " the hound fired the attack across the plateau, making the ground trail depressions as it closed in on Auriol.

Just as it was about to close in, Clefable jumped in front of her Trainer and reached out. Using **Protect** , she took the Ghost-type attack, which created a powerful black explosion.

Houndoom huffed. "Hmph, so you really wanna have to go and singe those sensitive ears of yours?"

Clefable lifted the barrier, giving Houndoom a rather timid stare. "Yes."

Auriol pushed skywards, causing her golden barrier to dispel while the swords moved in tandem overhead. She turned to see them return to Erza as she dashed ahead, requipping into her Robe of Yuen Armor. Erza slashed the binsento at impressive speeds, this time making Auriol barely have enough time to make a golden energy veil to nullify it.

"Houndoom, **Fire Fang!** " she ordered.

Houndoom snarled as he jumped into the air, his maw opening wide with the fangs igniting in flames. On his back Erza jumped on.

Auriol saw the incoming pounce, but she was prepared.

" **Meteor!** "

In a golden blur, she dodged Houndoom's fiery fangs, bringing him to use his claws for traction.

Erza gasped at what she just witnessed. "Wait, the spell." She followed Auriol behind her. "Don't tell me, she can use…"

Up on a higher perch overlooking Erza, Auriol regally held gesture as she aimed ger fingers towards the sky. "May the gilding light be thy holy judge!"

"That can't be-!"

" **Pleiades!** "

From the heavens above, six golden twinkles were seen that turned to shooting streams of heavenly energy at Erza. The downward dive of all six beams smashed straight to where Erza was, making the ground dice and burst apart. Gold ray covered everything, making it impossible to see what was happening.

Auriol remained composed on her perch as she expected the results. She sighed tiredly.

"So you can use Heavenly Body as well, I see."

Her eyes flashed open, showing a rather unimpressed look. The dust cleared away, showing a large mass of craters around the area. However, Erza remained on Houndoom's back, completely unscathed. Though she was in her default armor for shockwave protection.

Despite how intrusive she found this situation, Auriol humbly scoffed. "I see, so you know of this magic." She retorted. "I must say, it's not easy for one to evade such attacks. Would that be some special armor or maneuver I should indulge in?"

Erza didn't bother having to answer. In truth, she nor Houndoom hardly moved around much. They just made a few quick steps and that was all. She internally smirked. _'Guess Nic's_ _ **Acupressure**_ _helped me with evasiveness then.'_ Her husband's aid aside, she scoffed back. "The details are irrelevant. What matters is giving back what you stole from Lucy and Yukino."

Auriol raised her head, looking rather humbled by what Erza said. "And in who's perspective is that exactly?" she jumped down to eye-level. "Maybe to one's eyes it's stealing, but it's as my gracious king said. We will make a new path this way, even if our current celestials do not see it now, they will when we open the gates to the new world."

Erza's glare hardened on her. She didn't understand what that meant, but she didn't like it.

"For King Melchior!" she fired golden beams at Erza and Houndoom, the pair ready to strike back.

* * *

"Keykeykeykeykeykeys!" Klefki skated across the ground as everyone was battling all around her. The key-obsessed key ring zoomed so fast that she was mistaken for a blur. "Oh where are my beautiful preciouses?! Where?!" She whined, until a glint caught her attention.

" **KEY!** "

Like a mad hungry Carvahna, Klefki raced for then nearby key, closing in on it. "You're not getting away from me ever aga-!"

A shockwave from a nearby battle Natsu was having had heated dust and air blow right in front of Klefki as he pounced for the key. As the key remained safely on the ground, the misfortunate key ring was sent flying.

"WHY ME~?!"

* * *

As the chaos went on, Melchior and Oberon stood tall and observed quietly. Neither spoke as they watched the battles waged that their associates have partaken in. It was truly a site to behold.

"Look at them, sire. Such destruction that these impure mages cause. It's no wonder that the world we live in is plagued with poor balance." Oberon chimed.

Melchior calmly nodded. "Yes. A sum of observation unfortunately."

"I understand what must be done. Now then, shall I make myself useful, and-"

Melchior didn't hear his associate finish. Instead he heard the sounds of chattering and freezing of matter. A very cold air filled around him as a very odd power flourished that gave him a look. What he saw didn't deter him from his deathly leer.

Oberon didn't get to finish because his mouth was frozen shut. In fact the rest of his body was covered in a block of ice. He looked unaware and smirking inside the ice, proof that he wasn't aware of his ignorance.

A foot misting in frost stepped up behind. "Alright, so you're next?...or do you have something to say?"

Melchior turned around, his frown as clear as crystal when seeing Nic in his Icicle Form, beside his Greninja with serious disposition clear on their faces.

Their eyes spoke the only language between two opponents possible. Exactly what vocal words were needed to tell your enemies what you were thinking? It was clear by the way Nic gazed at Melchior that he could see right through to him now.

After what felt like an eternity, the kind humbly grinned. "Perceptive. I expect no less of someone with such an apparent reputation. You surprise me, Nic Pularis. So you chose to act now during the rise of a tide."

"You know why I couldn't."

Melchior looked over his shoulder, seeing Lucy use her water whip to counter Virgo's change and repel an advancing Loke. Yukino was seen commanding her Minior to use **Ancient Power** , making a silver hemisphere that exploded upon contact with the white fish of Pisces.

"Yes…I see. Friendship and trust are very fine attributes to humanity. It takes a kind heart to consider the feelings of another for their sake. You have what it takes to be a formidable being amongst spirits."

"And Lucy isn't?" Nic retorted. "This was important to her, you knew about that from the start, didn't you?"

Mechior's glance blackened in his eyes. "It's not I was being selfish intentionally. What I am doing is the only way for Celestial Spirit Magic to flourish in our time dominantly again."

"Selfless, maybe. But for whom are you being that way towards?" Greninja retorted. "You've used our friends as bait for this violence you caused, and you claim that as selfless?"

"For a better world, violence has always been the answer to man. It makes no difference if it is I or another who spills blood. The ways to the future are created through the links that the great ones make through others." His eyelids dulled on Nic. "Am I wrong to say you're no different? This world is changing, and yet you do not find yourself as the face of this Pokémon era that is said to be here. If not you, then whom shall pave way to the new world?"

Nic faced Melchior without break in his defensive afflictions. Be as it may he did have merit in what he was saying. There were a lot of people out in the world right now who looked up to Nic; some by sincere respect, others by fear of the power he's gained. But that power didn't grow on its own, no. He needed help, and to do that, he needed to help others, without much promise of a reward.

With that in mind he seemed more relaxed than before. "I'm in a guild. I've been in a few jobs where I didn't end up paid at the end by others. You might see value in material possession, but what would I benefit being a face looking down at others…I'd rather be eye-level."

Melchior stared at Nic, his grin darkening. "At 'eye-level' you say? What a very interesting view you have."

"I admit it, we love to battle. And to some of us it's our best answer to understand one another." Nic glowed, turning to his Dread Form. "Yeah, I know violence has always been the way man has solved things, and the winner decides the path…but the loser also learns something if the winner is willing to extend their hand, even a little."

Melchior turned around, scoffing behind Nic's back. "Respect for the inferiors…" he grinned. "Do you have any idea how foolish that sounds? If against an army of 10,000 men, would you be able to reach out to every one of them? That is impossible. If one falls, that means they were weak…and I'm willing to sacrifice what I held dear to prove that Celestial Spirits reign at the top."

Nic and Greninja finally caught on. That last part now makes sense.

' _So he's saying…'_ Greninja thought.

' _So that's it.'_ Nic surmised. _'This is all for them.'_

"Judging by that look you both have you understand." Melchior grinned. "Then you know what is my answer. Disagree if you will…but the reality is as I said, the path to the future is paved in war."

"I never said that I denied that reality; I accepted that a long while back." He briefly thought back when he joined Fairy Tail, how at first he disliked war. But as time aged, so did his own logics. "But taking advantage of the innocent is one thing…but using my friends' is an entire other. Lucy, _and_ the spirits." He and Greninja had murderous looks, ones that actually made Melchior ware a little.

"Such determination." He murmured. "Fine…then show me _your_ vision of the future!"

* * *

Violently roaring, Natsu unleashed a barrage of fists into Caius. The man stood his ground and took every blow dished to him. "HRAAAAAH!" Natsu increased the pace of his rock-crushing punches, making gravel flip beneath them. Even then, Caius refused to even budge.

' _Is he even intending to block at all?'_

Charmeleon jumped above Hariyama with claws held high, via **Scratch**. The slashing claws came down on Hariyama, who used his huge hands to take the blunt of the attack.

' _An opening!'_ Charmeleon planted his feet on Hariyama's massive hand and used it as a springboard to shoot skywards overhead. Overhead falling upside down, Charmeleon whipped his tail around.

" **Ember!** " He lashed orange sparks that erupted behind Hariyama. The flares swallowed him while Charmeleon landed on a knee facing away. _'That should have buffered him some. A big guy like him can't react that fast when turning towards the sky.'_

"You are a light opponent. I respect that."

Charmeleon whipped around, the voice alerting him as Hariyama stepped up from the dissipating flares. As he approached he seemed completely unfazed by that attack. His muscles stiffened at how up close his opponent was that he paled in his size.

"But…I am afraid that this is where you must fall." Hariyama finished.

"That's what you think." Charmeleon spread his legs, whipping his tail to propel him between Hariyama's fat legs. Sliding beneath, he positioned himself for another behind-attack. " **Flame Charge!** "

The cloaked lizard shot into the back with intense orange airwaves around him, another red aura showing Speed increase. At the same time, Natsu's own uppercut to Caius finally broke his stance, causing the Trainer to step back, while the muscular Pokémon stepped forward for balance. Their eyes fastened on their advance.

With his Dragon Slayer senses, Natsu prepared for the next attack. "Here they come! Dodge it!"

Charmeleon backpedaled with swift steps. Natsu dodged Caius' palm strike, which broke the ground where he stood. He landed on his feet in time when Caius pivoted swung his other palm into Natsu's forearms that he used the block.

" **Chop Hanging Palm: Gama!** "

Natsu's eyes widened before he saw the brown palm he used for that first strike had gathered momentum enough to land a blow into his gut. The blow raced through Natsu's body, beaming winds out the other end. Natsu gagged again as the force left him flying backwards into a spiral through air.

"Natsu, no!" Happy raced for him as fast as he could.

Caius looked towards Hariyama. " **Vital Throw!** "

Hariyama closed in on Charmeleon with his hands spread to make lariats. Charmeleon backed further for distance, in midair Hariyama suddenly appeared. _'What the-?!'_ A lariat got his stomach and Hariyama spun around, throwing the lizard right into the blue cat darting for Natsu/ Together both were blown to spontaneous directions.

"Guys!" A falling Natsu doubled over diving onto a knee upon landing. He saved himself a harsh fall but his insides felt like crap. A gag of blood was blatant proof of that.

"O-Owie…" Happy laid on his back with his head sizzling. He wasn't gonna be getting up anytime soon.

Meanwhile, close by behind some scattered rocks, a fiery red aura was looking like a campfire behind them. Suddenly the rocks were blown away by a heated force, removing air around to reveal a roaring Charmeleon with a vicious glare.

Natsu's eyes widened at Charmeleon's latest revelation. _'Is that his ability?'_ Realizing what it meant he glared ahead. _'That means this has gotta end fast.'_

"You appear to be in a predicament, my honorable challenger." Caius stood tall with Hariyama in front of him, looking stronger than ever. "For you see, with my Hariyama, he has the unique power that Pokémon have known as an ability. It is known as Thick Fat."

"Yeah, so what? It's fat, big deal."

"Well to you it is, because this layer of blubber halves the damage received by Fire and Ice-type attacks."

This time Natsu's eyes widened as he gasped. "Wait, you serious?" he looked towards Charmeleon, seeing him seethe at Hariyama with his flame tail brighter and larger than before. Natsu may not be the most logical in a fight, but he was aware of how tired Charmeleon was getting. It wasn't gonna be like against Max when he was reckless. He had to think this through. _'If fire attacks ain't gonna cut it…then we better go for distance.'_ "Charmeleon, can you still battle?!"

Charmeleon nodded. "Yeah."

"Then use **Dragon Rage!** " Charmeleon nodded and opened his mouth to create glowing draconic energy inside.

"So be it." Caius bravely accepted the challenge. "Hariyama, use **Brine!** " Hariyama took in a sharp breath from his not-so visible mouth, where a harsh stream of saltwater jettisoned across the area towards Charmeleon.

"Water?" Natsu realized what this meant. "Charmeleon, stop!"

But unfortunately for Natsu, that didn't happen. Charmeleon couldn't stop because the blast was already expelling. The draconic beam shot across the earth pass the brine blast heading his way. The rate of both attacks was remarkably intense, so much that neither could get out in time. In two large eruptions, black and blue shot skywards, opposite of a salty mist brewing. Natsu and Caius stood partially shocked at what they were witnessing.

From the one end, the blast dissipated while Hariyama stepped backwards, shifting a knee behind to take his signature position. He took damage, but with such high health it was impossible to chunk down. Meanwhile from the mist cloud, Charmeleon stood there, his body steaming and remaining completely still.

Second later, the lizard finally caved in, falling on his back with swirling eyes.

"CHARMELEON!" Natsu raced over to his defeated Pokémon, looking over him with worry. "Hey! You okay?! Say something!" Charmeleon weakly moaned as he remained blacked out. He faced Caius with a vein on his forehead. "Bastard!"

"You brought this onto yourself I'm afraid." Caius passively raised his voice at the Dragon Slayer.

Natsu stood up, using his Poke Ball to withdraw Charmeleon from his unsuccessful battle. He felt shameful he let that happen but he wasn't out of the fight yet. He cracked his knuckles. "You're gonna pay for hurting my friends, _especially_ Lucy." He snarled. "Blubber or not, you guys messed with her feelings…and no one uses that on us and gets away with it."

"Do try." Caius said. "As my ancestors have done, I shall stand by my king, to the end."

* * *

Fighting off the urge to yawn, a tired Gray reached forward. "Snover, **Icy Wind!** " Snorunt's mouth glowed as he expelled a frosted wind from his mouth across the frozen battleground.

"Juvia!"

The rain woman nodded. "I know. Marill, try your best. Use…" she yawned again. " **Bubble Beam!** "

Marill strained to get up as she fought off her paralysis. She winced, but she mustered enough strength to expel a stream of bubbles across the ground. The two attacks that were shot drew closer, until the bubbles inside the frosted winds began freezing over. They closed in on Pikachu, who still was on four limbs instead of two.

"Pikachu, **Electro Ball** on…the ice." Vita yawned.

"Got it!" Pikachu raised her tail as a discharge of electricity conducted at the heart-shaped end. A sphere of electricity was created and the mouse flipped into the air and slammed it down on her spot. A blast wave of smoke and ice obscured everything even as the frozen bubbles made impact with the shockwaves.

A long silence fell as they awaited the results, but as the smoke cleared, Pikachu was nowhere to be seen.

"She's gone?!" Snorunt fret.

"Did she hide-and-seek on us?" Marill worried.

Gray looked around suspiciously as well. When he felt electricity in the air around him, he looked up, seeing a projectile incoming. "Up there!"

Juvia looked towards the sky, immediately worrying for the electrical sphere bolting downwards. "Marill, be careful!"

"Huh?" Looking up, the bright sphere closed in on the mouse. Neither her nor Snorunt were prepared as they were too close to another to separate. The **Electro Ball** encompassed both of them in a powerful blast of electricity, causing them to scream out in agony.

"Marill!"

"Snorunt!"

The smoke and ice cleared, revealing Marill on her back with swirling eyes. Snorunt, however, was dazed and barely standing. Though he was able to still battle.

"Oh no." Juvia fret.

Vita softly yawned again, smiling. "Well that was fun. I hope Uncle's watching." She looked up at the plateau, seeing Melchior looking at Nic and Greninja instead. "Awww, man. Stupid political stuff." She pouted.

Juvia quickly returned Marill. "Gray darling, I'm so sorry." She apologized.

Gray had an understanding look. "It's fine, don't worry about it. You just focus on taking her out next. Got it?"

Juvia nodded. "Right…" she nearly lost footing as drowsiness was taking over her fast. _'My head…it's all getting hazy…'_

Vita sleepily stared, grinning.

* * *

Vanessa fired repeated rounds of aura that Bion ran into. Slashing at each one, the bisected volleys faded to leave room to attack. He closed the gap and slashed, but Vanessa ducked. She evaded several more bladed cuts until the knight slammed the blade down. She manifested a teal platform beneath and pulsed into the air backwards to avoid the ground-slicing blow.

In midair, she crossed her arms with teal in the wrists shining.

" **Nugatory Burst!** "

Bion felt a strong surge of magic beneath him before the ground obliterated under the pressure of a teal pressure that was roaring like thunder. Inside, Bion's armor was cutting the damage of the attack, but he still felt his body getting light.

Suddenly a whole ripped open when a projectile of aura broke through. Bion looked up just as everything turned bright teal. Several flashes later, an eruption overwhelmed the knight, making it impossible to tell what happened.

Vanessa's long dark and blonde hair shifted in the winds of her own attack. She watched as the dust and smoke cleared away…but something in her aura was telling her the fight wasn't over yet.

The smoke soon cleared, revealing Jangmo-o's red eyes sneering at Vanessa and Venusaur alike. He was still poisoned and poisonous bubbles arose, but he still stood like nothing happened.

"Above you!"

Catching Venusaur's warning, Vanessa looked skywards to see a downwards Bion with a blade. An **Energy Ball** was fired that he ended up hitting instead. As the attack started imploding, Vanessa veered away while the green burst repulsed Bion back to Jangmo-o's side.

"Jangmo-o didn't take any damage." Vanessa evaluated. "Is that because it used **Protect**?"

"Close, my fair lady." Bion boasted. "It's Jangmo-o's Bulletproof, a unique power amongst these Pokémon." He took out what looked like a Pecha Berry and tossed it into the air. Jangmo-o jumped and ate the whole thing. In a flash of green the poison effects were gone. He landed back in front of Bion. "You may be an experienced and beautiful mage of your own right, but as are we. Together, we shall take back what is ours."

"Is that so?" Vanessa stared blankly at her foe as his words dug into her. Something the way he said, let alone out it, made it feel it wasn't just about Melchior. It was also clear in his aura. There was an increased desperation she felt; a longing for something. This is where she felt a mix of a burning fire and passion for the future. _'I wonder what he wishes for that drives him this much?'_

Regardless of what she thought, she resumed her battle. "So be it. Let's have it your way!" She fired another beam of aura, with Venusaur shooting his **Venoshock** in a similar angle.

Jangmo-o and Bion braced themselves as they held ground into the attacks' wake.

* * *

A snake vortex of water shot from Aquarius' jug that shot ahead. This time, Prinplup used **Metal Claw** in a chop to stop the wave, splitting it in two. "Cana!"

Several tarot cards shuffled in Cana's hand. "Nothing personal!" she flung the cards at Aquarius, but just as they were about to explode, another wave expanded from Aquarius that blew away the eruptions.

"Anytime now, Lucy!" Cana urged.

Lucy was on her highest guard as she whipped her water whip again, deflecting another Virgo chain. The maid ceased her assault and suddenly plunged beneath like a diver. Lucy looked around warily of her surroundings as she tried sensing the magic energy.

"Hey, give me a break! I'm waiting for Klefki! Okay, Staryu, I need…" Before Lucy could find the star's capsule, she found herself with empty pockets. "Huh? Wait…Staryu?!" She gasped breathlessly. The ocean! That was it! _'Oh no! Don't tell me that I already forgot about-!'_ Before she could finish her full sentence, the ground started vibrating. She was hurled into the air by Virgo's ground attack.

"Lucy!"

The blonde fell onto her back, the shock sending a stiff paralysis through her nerves. Her nice dress was all tattered and rugged, but that wasn't her concern. She opened an eye, noticing a shadow over her. Looking up she saw Virgo present.

She sat up, looking at her with worry. "Virgo…?"

The Celestial Spirits eyes were entirely red – no pupils whatsoever. Even if Lucy could try and make out the spirit's entity, it was still hard for her to understand in the first place how this could've happened.

"Virgo, Loke…guys…"

"LUCY!"

 _KONK!_

Something flew in the back of Virgo's head that made her unresponsive for a moment. Lucy looked stunned as Klefki came around, moving around Lucy with her key ring full of golden keys. "LUCYLUCYLUCY! LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!"

Apparently she was taken back by Klefki's energy. "Woah, Klefki?!"

Klefki showed off her key ring with glee. Impressively she was still floating despite the combined weight the keys had. "Tada~! Check it out! I got all the keys now!" she chirped. "They're mine! All mine!"

"Awesome job, Klefki!" She reached out. "Quick, hand me Pisces and Libra's keys!"

Immediately Klefki looked shocked. "What?! But I just found them!"

"Klefki!"

"But…just a couple more minutes?"

"NOW!"

"Eek! Okay! Okay!"

Despite her ill-will, the displeased key ring half-heartedly handed Lucy two keys. She turned to see Cana throwing tarot cards now to get Virgo's regained attention. While she focused on her, Prinplup and Purrloin were moving around to dodge Loke and Aquarius' light and water streams. "YUKINO~!" She called out to the fellow Celestial Mage, tossing the keys high into the air.

Hearing her name called, Yukino looked skywards to see two lights coming down close by. Steeling herself, she darted towards them as fast a possible. She ducked into a barrel roll and slid along the smooth plateau surface until she was positioned where the keys would hand. They landed in her hands.

"I got it!"

Together, both mages stood straight up and looked at their respective spirits. _'It'll be over soon guys, promise!'_

Together, they raised all them high.

" **Gates Close!** "

The keys all shined…but then stopped. Nothing happened.

"Huh?!" Lucy gasped.

"Our keys…something's wrong." Yukino realized.

"Lucy! What's wrong?!" Cana yelled, before a pulse ran through her. She and Sophie felt throbbing headaches again, the two immediately dropping to their knees again.

* * *

Similarly, another aggravated headache shot through Nic and Greninja. The two grunted hard as they almost caved into their own knees.

' _Damnit…these headaches are back…of all the times…'_

Seeing his opponent's writhe, Melchior raised a brow. He slowly looked towards the sky. "What was that you said before?" he chimed. "Something about not benefiting from material possessions?"

Nic looked up.

"Well…I suppose we'll see what the heavens themselves believe about _that_ claim…"

The jewel in the crown glowed brighter, as did the stars.

* * *

All at once the spirits' eyes shined even brighter in unison. They knew what to do by their king's order. _'Show them your_ _ **true**_ _power!'_

Libra spun on her axis and raised her scales high. A green aura enveloped her body, causing the air around to distort before it vanished. Seconds later a massive gravity slammed on everyone along the plateau, immediately grounding almost all.

"What the-?!" Gray winced.

Wendy, Carla, and Swablu all feel to a knee, unable to handle the pressure. "This pressure…did someone just amplify gravity?" Wendy winced.

"Such force!" Carla grunted.

Some of the view who were still able to stand were the lucky ones. Duncan, Natsu, Erza, and Nic specifically. Natsu went to run after Caius and Hariyama, but he was significantly slowed down.

"MOOOOO!" Taurus brought his axe down into the ground. The earth shook as it split apart, sending shockwaves beneath everyone's feet.

Natsu was closing in when his eyes reflected the wave of rock. Using his feet's fire, he jettisoned into the earth to avoid the shockwaves.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted. Natsu looked down, seeing the shockwave running to her and Cana as well.

"Lucy!" He flipped in front of her, grabbing her again to shield her from the shockwaves, but ended up blown away with everyone else.

With her foe temporarily on the defensive, Auriol glared at Erza with a swipe. She sent an energy blade dead ahead at her head. Erza looked up upon seeing the attack, but gravity was dense, and her armor weighed her down some.

"Houndoom!"

Hearing her Trainer mounted, Houndoom opened his maw to unleash **Dark Pulse**. The dark jumbled ring beam met the sword in the center, creating an obscuring eruption that broke the second Taurus' shockwaves splintered the ground.

Amongst the spirits next, Sagittarius aimed his arrows in the sky. Up they went, becoming twinkles that shined as brilliantly as the stars. They came down, and thanks to Libra enhancing gravity, they were coming down fast.

Mustering her power, Juvia raised her arm up the best she could. " **Water Nebula!** " She created a massive wake of water that overflowed from down under. The gush of water stopped the mass of spears, making them sink and push up to where they plopped on the ground around Juvia.

A shadow cast behind her, making her gasp.

"Juvia!" Gray shouted.

Juvia turned around, only to get a glimpse of a kick that came down on her shoulder. The force, added in with her sleep deprivation by Vita, made the rain woman grounded. The attacker revealed to be Capricorn, his sunglasses shining bright red.

"You bastard…!" Gray went to attack as well, but he felt an odd chill behind. He turned around, seeing Gemini disguised as him, but with the whole red eyes glaring him down. In a flash, the spirit created a sword of Devil Slayer ice, slashing Gray into the ground. The shockwaves reached Snorunt as he was running towards his side, ending up blown away harshly.

Still disguised as Gray, Gemini swiped his arm, covering the entire area in Devil Slayer ice. The ice froze up to everyone's feet and knees. Those on their backs and stomachs were not as lucky as they were stuck to the demonic ice that never melted.

"You've…gotta be kidding me!" Cana shouted.

Sophie tried getting up, but still stuck on her knee embedded in the ice, she found it impossible. _'They're using our powers against us. This isn't good!'_

Stuck with her sister, Sorano looked down worriedly, along with her Mantine, who wasn't able to handle gravity with Minior. "Bleh! So cold!" she shivered. "Why did he have to be an ice mage?!" She heard something that sounded like a gun cocked at her. Turning around, she saw Scorpio's tail aimed at her. "S-Scorpio?!" she quipped.

Scorpio's tail pistol barrel widened, sand swirling inside.

Sorano tried to find an excuse against her former spirit…but it wasn't working. "Uh, d-don't you remember me?! It's me! You remember me, right? Buddy…? Er…?"

Scorpio didn't waste another second unleashing a massive sand blast that raged into Sorano. The elder sister screamed as the blast wave enveloped her and Mantine.

"Sorano!" Yukino yelled before the sand swallowed her and Minior, blowing them down.

Grunting, Duncan turned towards Gray-Gemini. "Spiritomb, **Hypnosis!** "

Spiritomb registered the attack to strike, but suddenly she turned towards something else that caught her attention.

"What is it?" Duncan turned as well, his eyes widening upon shock. "What the-?!"

Seconds later, a wave of pink wool swallowed the area. The cool ice beneath blanketed under everyone, but even Erza and Vanessa were stunned as a rush of wool was quickly covering them up to their waists. With their arms pinned beneath the wool, the soft conductor beneath was making sure no magic would be used.

"Wool?!" Lucy looked at the pink wool, realizing what made that. "Aries!"

With everyone trapped with wool and Devil Slayer ice, all the spirits and the advisors gathered around Melchior in a flash. Oberon, who was freed from his ice prison by Taurus' shockwaves, was also apart of this. They disregarded their captives and stared down Nic and Greninja, whom were on their knees still throbbing from this headache.

"I believe that I am making my point now." Melchior said. "Now you see to it. The likes of why my destiny is to be realized."

Nic wanted to say something, as did Greninja, but their bodies wouldn't listen to them. Their pulsation was making them less mental than they were. Coincidentally, the tarot card that Cana was using earlier during the fortunetelling began glowing.

' _What the…? This card.'_

Sophie grunted as well, her lips creating anger.

"Now, I believe as much as I have enjoyed all of your companies, if you're not going to do anything, then we'll finish our business and be on our way. Aquarius?"

The mermaid raised her jug high, her eyes glowing bright for a second. The land started shuddering beneath as the humidity levels exponentially increased.

Nic and everyone tried looking up, but what they saw startled them beyond belief.

All around them, water levels arose. A massive dome of water surrounded them, hovering like it was ready to fall onto them on command. With all under wool and ice, and Gray drowsy so he couldn't reverse it, everyone was immobile and ready to be hammered.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Houndoom barked.

Dewpider looked unnerved. "Uh, usually I'm fine underwater, but… _not_ when it's about to drop an entire lake onto me!"

"If that collapses, we will be hammered with at least 300,000 gallons of water pressure at once." Kadabra calculated. "They'd really…"

"Well this sucks." Purrloin deadpanned. Likewise, Prinplup was just as dumbfounded.

Erza gritted her teeth as she looked al around. It was a complete turnaround than what was supposed to happen. Her adversaries had turned everything against them, and so swiftly as well. _'Such power, and with extreme execution.'_ She dreaded in her mind. _'Just how far ahead did this king think for us to be pinned like this so quickly?'_

"You'd really go this far?" a struggling Nic asked Melchior, him and Greninja finding their footing beneath. "Just how desperate are you really?"

Melchior grinned passively. "Would you oblige if you let me show you? Aquarius…do it."

The jewel on his crown shined yet again. Aquarius slowly made the dome of water close in on everyone. It lowered quickly, swirling faster into a compressed dome around Nic, Greninja, and everyone else. The top was collapsing onto them, intending to slowly level a dense layer of water overhead.

"WE'RE GONNA DROWN!" an awakened Happy screamed.

Everyone looked skywards as none of them knew what to do. If Nic wasn't having such a throbbing headache he would get to removing the water with either his Splash Form or Mind Form to teleport them, but it was becoming too much to strain. Cana, Greninja, and Sophie all were too focused on their headaches that throbbed their mind shackles extraordinarily. The wailings of everyone didn't compare for now.

The card Cana had glowed even brighter.

Lucy looked up as Natsu was holding her close, preparing for what's to come. "This can't be…no…" She watched the water close in, her shuddering eyes misting. "Please…stop this…stop!"

"Lucy!" Natsu shouted.

"Aquarius…Loke…everyone…" Tears ran down Lucy's face. "NOOOO~!"

"ENOUGH!" Nic roared.

 _SHING!_

A bright glow resonated from Cana's hand. With her eyes still able to move, she looked down, realizing the gold tarot card she was still clinging onto was glowing again. "What?" she gasped. Suddenly she started glowing as well.

A familiar aura engulfed Sophie as well. Same went for Nic and Greninja. All their golden shines were beacons that alarmed everyone around them.

"Okay, that's new." Purrloin blinked.

"Cana, what's going on? Are you okay?" Prinplup fret.

Vita narrowed her eyes, looking far out to see the golden lights twinkling. "Huh? What're they doing out there?"

"I'm sensing a strong celestial bond brewing." Caius aforementioned. "It's growing stronger."

Cana looked down, feeling her headache starting to erode away. _'This light…it's erasing my headache away…wait, can I hear my own thoughts out loud?'_ this revelation left her baffled. _'What's going on?!'_

' _Cana, you feel that, too?'_ Nic responded.

' _Nic, you too?'_

' _Yeah, it's me. Greninja, you?'_

' _Yeah, I'm right here, too. Then I guess that leaves…'_

' _Me.'_ Sophie finished. _'Guys, these headaches, and Cana's tarot card…'_

' _Yeah, and if it's just us that can hear, there's no mistaking it.'_ Cana realized. _'Guys, you thinking what I'm thinking.'_

' _Yes. I think I do.'_ Sophie smirked.

Nic glanced at Greninja. _'Greninja, you ready?'_

The frog nodded. _'Always.'_

Nic humbly smirked. _'Then so be it…Cana, do it!'_

"You got it, buddy boy!" She gripped the card under the pink, fluffy wool, making it shine brighter.

"What're you doing?!" Wendy squealed.

Carla looked at the many glows, feeling an incredibly strong flow of power. "This Magic Power…they're about to do something!"

The card's accents and insignias resonated with the golden shines around Nic and the others. They could feel something telling them this had ti be it. Their beckoned call was forcing them to expel a pressure so strong that the card shined like a glimmering star. Cana's hair whipped around as the power around her was blowing away wool, leaving open space for strands of ice to stray around them.

' _Such Magic Power.'_ Erza observed what they were doing, but even she was without words. _'Just what are they doing exactly that requires this much…?'_

Cana closed her eyes, allowing the power to flow through her.

"We summon thee in our time of need. May your everlasting voices pierce our ears once more, and reach our hearts once more. May we bask, and laugh as we all did before, and rejoice in the perils that brought us to now. Our radiance reaches up to thee, so we ask you! Come forth! Let us bask in our eternal friendship! Three worlds, but hearts bigger than any! Four hearts intertwined by our bond…WE SUMMON THEE!"

The card stopped glowing for a second, leaving time to stop. Suddenly an eruption of golden light exploded from the card that shot into the atmosphere. The beam had so much power that it tore apart the collapsing water dome Aquarius was about to drop on them.

"Unbelievable!" Auriol outraged.

"Such force." A recovered Oberon acknowledged.

The king looked up, raising a brow at what he was witnessing.

Everyone was watching in complete shock and silence. The sky above was twinkling a mixture of gold, with red sparkles to show the constellations. The pillar of light coming from the card slowly expanded, encompassing the area and the elements trapping everyone. They severed as the celestial glow spread far and wide, blinding not just the advisors, but also the soldiers on the hill outside the post-destroyed water barrier. The transcending of this golden force raged across the plateau with the power of a full-strength Magnitude, spreading apart the debris that was picked up throughout all their battles. The enemies could only watch in suspicion and wonder as their foes' sudden play left minutes on end with volumes to where they could be described as deaf at this point.

The dust started clearing, and the first thing that was heard was the sound of coughing. Natsu stood up, finally getting to his feet. "Man, what the heck was that light just now?" he realized other things. "Wait, I'm free? Lucy? Happy?"

"Natsu?" Lucy called. Happy was in her arms, looking just as perplexed.

"What happened? You guys alright?"

"Yeah, we think so." The blonde worried otherwise. "It's weird. I could've sworn we were-!" she turned around, gasping in shock.

Natsu looked around too, wondering what made Lucy gasp so loudly. Even to his own surprise, he slowly widened his eyes.

Slowly around everyone, they stirred upwards from the dust and glowing mist. They all looked at one spot, and it was where Cana, Nic, Greninja, and Sophie were all gathered behind three glowing figments.

Melchior smirked. "Well now…what an interesting development."

The howling winds reverberated into the open hills far out, the twinkling red stars in the sky beaming bright. And yet in front of Nic and the gathered, three silhouettes of inhumane sizes and shapes gleamed through the dirt.

Sophie was the first to react. "No way…"

Inside the dust, a pair of lips smirked. "Hehe…sorry little lady, yes way."

"So…it really _was_ you guys." Cana breathlessly replied. "Damn."

"We apologize for the inconvenience at the time." A much deeper, broad voice announced. "But I'm afraid now is not the time or acquitting any matters right now."

A broad, wolf-like figment dug his claws into the ground. "T'eh, you heard him. Sorry for the late announcement ladies and gents…but we're here now."

Behind the dust, Nic and Greninja smirked.

In the middle of the cleared plateau, the humans and Pokémon gazed at the three spirits that were summoned before them. Volans stood in the center, his glare deeper than the darkest trench. On his left was Corvus, whose arms were crossed. On the right was Lupus, snarling like a wild animal. The gathered spirits dominated the center of attention, leaving all completely flabbergasted.

"Corvus." Sophie awed.

The crow spirit tipped his witch cap up with an index finger, snickering pridefully.

"Lupus." Cana muttered.

The wolf spirit bared his claws, expelling an eerie howl through the atmosphere.

"AAAHHH!" Happy cried out, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. "No! Not _another_ dog!"

Houndoom turned towards Happy. "What's that mean?"

"AH! No! Stay away from me! Somebody save me from this nightmare already! Natsu~!" He lunged for Natsu, clinging to his arm like a Joltik feeding on electricity.

"Volans." Greninja continued.

The humanoid fish-man glared forward, giving his allies a gruff but humble regard.

Nic humbly smirked. "You all came…I'm surprised."

' _That's putting it lightly.'_ Erza silently mused. She smirked at the arrival of her husband's own "team". _'So Nic ended up having another trump card of his own. I shouldn't expect anything less from that knucklehead.'_

Gray blinked, staggering still from that earlier blow. "Hang on, are those…"

"The Celestial Spirits that they're aligned with." Wendy realized. "Yeah, they have to be."

"They came here at all times." Carla pondered aloud. "But how did they figure we were-!" It suddenly hit her. Those flashes of when they were looking into their fortunetelling blockade struck them. _'Wait, that time…'_

' _That aura I felt, and these two…now it makes sense.'_ Vanessa thought back to earlier when Cana and Sophie were throbbing. She sensed some aura trying to influence them, but she wasn't certain of it was friend or foe. _'So it was them all along. They knew. Now it makes sense.'_

What now was the general question running through everyone's mind. They all were relieved that help had come at the right time. But now what?

"Sire, do you see what I see?" Oberon told the king. "I believe we have uninvited guests in our little education."

"Are those spirits?" Vita narrowed her eyes, looking at Lupus as the wolf snarled at them. "Oh, look at the fluffy one. I wonder if he's cuddly?"

"Focus, young one." Auriol scolded, never taking her eyes off the Celestial Spirits opposing them. _'How did they get summoned? From what we have researched, Lucy Heartfilia nor Yukino Agria have the keys to summon them. Unless…'_ She recalled the light from Cana's card. _'That card was embedded with Celestial Spirit Organic Link. I didn't believe such a thing was possible.'_

Melchior looked on, completely invested in these turns of events. _'Well, well. Seems these Fiorians continue to surprise me. But still…'_ He eyed the spirits carefully. _'One can never be too careful with what opportunities come their way.'_

The jewel on his crown started glowing again.

Reacting swiftly, Nic turned to his Mind Form, getting ahead of everyone. " **Magic Coat!** " A large, clear barrier was summoned in front of him. The enigmatic invisible rays of Melchior's crown were deflected back at him and his allies. The reaction led the added stress to make crackling red around all the spirits still under his mind control.

' _He reflected the crown's hypnotic effects back at us?'_ Caius observed carefully.

"Greninja, give us some cover, quick!" Nic ordered.

"Right!" The frog jumped into the air, the air around him turning humid. " **Scald!** " A blue airwave expelled from his mouth as a tremendous blast stream of boiling hot water engulfed in steam. The gargantuan and fast-moving beam was empowered with the Mystic Water, making the ground split from the water pressure traveling over it.

"Aries!" Melchior commanded, the crown jewel glowing once more.

Initially over the strain, the lamb spirit summoned a large, thick mass of soft, pink wool to make as a shield. The intense boiling water didn't seem fazed by the wool as it tore through like water to soap foam. A heated blast wave of mist and skin-broiling water spewed everywhere, causing the entire plateau to shudder with a warm shower everywhere.

Lupus looked up, the sprays of Greninja's attack making a light drizzle. "Tch, showers." The wolf's mouth began glowing midnight blue. " **Sonic…HOOOOWWLLL!** " The wolf followed up the powerful attack with his mouth wide open. Midnight blue soundwaves expelled into the mist cloud.

Melchior and everyone looked ahead and in awe as the broiling waves dissipated, only to see sonic waves of echoing force slam into them. The blast waves shook the atmosphere around all of them.

"Well I'll be damned…" Houndoom awed. "That guy really knows how to bark."

"Yes, most certainly." Erza confirmed.

Happy, on contrary, covered his ears. "GYAAH! Why did they have to snarl so loudly in my ears?!"

"Pull yourself together, Happy! They're on our side!" Carla retorted.

"That doesn't make it any better for me!"

Volans got into a fighting stance, facing the enemies before them. "We mustn't allow them to gain their bearings. Everyone, there's no time to waste! We must take our leave as soon as the opening is clear!"

"An opening?" Yukino questioned. "How?"

"You'll know it when you see it. Corvus, can I depend on you for your assistance?"

The crow spirit stepped up beside his fellow crew member, his expression serious. "No problem!"

As the dust from Lupus' earlier assault flourished, a blue glint was seen inside. Second later, the dust was washed away by a massive torrent that was unleashed by Aquarius.

To counter, Volans brought his hands together as moisture gathered in the center. A sphere of dense, deep blue water was made.

" **Tsunami Implosion!** "

The fish-man fired the aquatic sphere with gunfire speeds. The bolting blue sphere raged into the aquatic blast ramming across the mirror ground. The waves rushed into the center, where there was a stalemate for a few moments. It didn't take long for both attacks to collapse on the other. An explosive wall of water erupted skywards, spouting with force just like Greninja's earlier assault. The spray was the cover that Corvus needed.

His eyes glinted. _'Alright. Here I go!'_

The spirit brought his wings back, just as the waves washed apart from another. He flapped forward.

" **Daze Wing!** "

The spirit's wings created a black gust that spread forward into a rush passed the dissipating watery waves. The winds struck the Celestial Spirits in everyone's way, causing them all to buffer about. Once the winds receded, the Zodiacs all opened their eyes again, but the red in their visions looked dull. It was like if they had actual eyes, they would be dilating.

"What's this?" Bion looked surprised, seeing the Zodiacs before him dazed.

The Zodiacs all looked around absent-mindedly. They all either looked like they were trying to figure out their surroundings, or were looking for reason. In either case, they couldn't see anything straight, even with mind-controlled vision as red.

"There, that should hold them off for a little while." Corvus turned back at Nic. "Alright guys, now's your chance! Get out of here!"

"What?" Yukino gasped.

"You heard him, you better get moving fast doll, or else it ain't gonna be too pretty once they come around." Lupus reasoned.

"Nic, are you able to handle that?" Volans asked the Pokémon Trainer.

Nic nodded. "Yeah, I can." He looked ahead, realizing there wasn't much time to Corvus' spell casted. He knew this wasn't the best option they had, but they needed to regroup…even if not a lot of them agreed to it. He shifted to his Mind Form, ready to transport when ready.

"Wait, Nic!" Lucy reached for her guildmate, but was blocked off by Greninja. "Greninja?!"

"Lucy, I'm sorry." The frog-ninja apologized. "But you heard them. Now's not the time!"

"But we can't just leave-!"

"We understand how you feel, Lucy." The argument surprisingly came from Erza. "But we're not in the best position to act right now. We need to regroup as soon as we can." Just then, another thought came to her mind. _'I haven't heard from Jellal's group either. Something happened to them too?'_

"Stop, in the name of his majesty!" Auriol demanded.

Having no choice, Nic acted swiftly. " **Teleport!** "

Auriol reached forward, summoning golden beams that rained down from the sky. They came down where the Fiorians and defiant spirits were, leaving a great obscure that rattled the plateau ground, reducing its surface to humble gravel. Once the dust faded, however, the spots were all vacant. They were able to get away, but just by the skin of their teeth.

"My deepest apologies, your majesty…" a disappointed Auriol sighed. "I wasn't quick enough…they've fled."

"Thy couldn't have gotten too far from the city." Bion surmised. "We might still find them!"

The soldiers that were scrambled about heard the call to arms. Altair was amongst them, and he didn't look too appeased with how he was backfired against the Dragon Slayer so easily. "Men, spread out! Follow their magic signals! They can't get away, on the order of his majesty's advisors!"

"Oh man, just when things were getting good." Vita yawned loudly again. "…well, guess that's done. Can I go to bed now?"

Caius turned towards the king. "My liege, the decision rests upon you."

Oberon looked at the king curiously. "Melchior?"

The king looked on in silence, watching the turn of events unfold before his eyes. A looming silence fell around him with the way the spirits he was about to control backfired. As invested in his own curiosities as he was, he knew of his destiny. And like he told Nic and himself, he must take opportunity.

' _What a very interesting night this night has been.'_

* * *

The mountain air was brewing up some whiffs in the stirrings dust and dirt that rested on the ridges. Some of the winds were tough enough to buffer Graveler at high altitudes. At the lower plains, where grass turned to dirt, the Oddish huddled with Hoppip to keep them safe from the light breezes.

As a pair of Cottonee were whisking along the gentle breezes, a flash happened in the middle of these small plains. A split second and everyone found their feet planted on either patches of grass, moss, or rock overlooking the city and glittering sea.

The first amongst them to gather their bearings was Erza. She immediately straightened and looked at everyone around her. "Is everyone alright?"

"Uggh…yeah." Natsu groaned. "I think so. Man, that happened so…Lucy!" Immediately he started looking for his teammate. "Lucy, where are you?!"

"Eh, Natsu…" a low, nervous/peeved tone beneath caught his attention.

"Lucy?" The Dragon Slayer looked down, seeing how Lucy was in one piece…though to say she was okay would be a rather harsh stretch. In a lack of better word, she wasn't…exactly in the most compromising position. The sudden teleport by Nic threw off her balance so Natsu fell onto her in straddled format, and to keep himself leveraged he had to cling onto her breasts. And with the fabric already tattered, the scenario was more than a little awkward for the recipient of this pleasurable position.

"Owwie…" Beneath Lucy's right arm was Happy, the cat not feeling nearly as hot as his other pals.

Sophie got up and turned to her Pokémon. "Are you guys okay?"

Dewpider was the first to respond, exasperatedly. "Yeah, guess I am. But that was a pain!"

"I'm well enough, thank you very much." Finneon adjusted.

"In spite of physical and mental deterrence, I believe that I am stable enough." Kadabra surmised logically. Around him were clutters of the books that he had held onto this whole time.

"Juvia, can you stand?" Gray went to support Juvia almost immediately. She took a lot of damage from earlier, but it looked like the drowsiness from earlier shook off. _'Wait, I'm full of energy again. That was quick.'_

The rain woman heard the sound of Gray's concerned voice and opened her eyes. Albeit weakly. "Gray…?"

"It's okay, I'm here-!" He immediately halted when the pain from his earlier damage caught on, making him cringe. "Damnit!"

Yukino gathered her bearings rather quickly as she looked around for Sorano. She was sprawled along the ground atop of her unconscious Mantine. She rushed over. "Sorano!" She held her dazed sister close. "Hey, stay with me. Are you okay?"

"Mmm…heee~…" Sorano's mouth formed sloppy smirk as she had blank eyes. She looked to be having a good dream by any indication. "No, please…yeah, there…"

Yukino sweatdropped. "Uh, okay…" She decided to shift focus at her surroundings. She didn't recognize the mountains and plains but seeing the city a short distance away still boggled her. "Wait, isn't that Astral?"

"Wait, hold up." Natsu finally got off Lucy, much to her hidden chagrin. He didn't notice. "How did we end up here anyway?"

Vanessa turned towards the culprit. "Nic."

The black-haired Trainer looked out beyond their viewing point, his Mind Form still active. With his psionic prowess, he could sense the minds of confusion and intent to kill from the city. The many aggressors being Altair. However, given the distance covered, it wouldn't be for a while by foot.

"Looks like we lost them for now, that's good." He turned towards Erza. "Erza, are you hurt?"

The redhead and her Houndoom looked unfazed. "You should know it takes more to keep me down." Erza teased.

Nic raised a brow, returning the comment. "It's not like I have a choice. I'm your husband."

"So you are. Still…" Her serious side returned as she gazed at the Celestial Spirits around them. "I'm surprised. I had no idea that they would be coming this time around."

Corvus chuckled. "Surprised, aren't ya?" He beamed with a big grin on his face. "Sorry for the sudden drop in guys, but no thanks are necessary!"

"Fore what?" Purrloin eyerolled, as if she didn't feel like caring. Lupus bared his fangs at the cat, his snarl making Purrloin's back streak up like an alley cat before ducking behind Prinplup's leg.

Lupus chuckled amusingly at his own actions. "I still got it."

Houndoom snickered.

Happy started shuddering like Purrloin, standing close to her side. "W-w-why us…?"

"I-I don't know…" Both felines gulped at the same time.

"Honestly." Carla irritably sighed.

Deciding to keep the group on task, Volans took to the lead. "We apologize for that abrupt brining." He started. "I understand that this was a difficult position to be in. But I hope that you can pardon our reasons."

Erza nodded. "Your interference was more than welcome. Thank you very much."

Yukino furrowed her brow. "But wait, something doesn't seem right about any of this. I mean we're grateful for you getting us out of there…but what was that all about? And what exactly was that King Melchior spoke about?"

The tension in the atmosphere around them was less than a satisfying one, that much was certain. With how sudden everything unfolded on them, even Nic and Erza were barely gathering bearings at how to describe what happened. With how they learned so suddenly with Sophie's help, they looked at the books Kadabra was using **Confusion** to reorganize them. It was by sheer luck that they were able to fully piece it beforehand. If only Nic hadn't held back on his intuitions that perhaps maybe this whole situation could've been avoided.

Natsu looked away from the Poke Ball in his hand holding his defeated Charmeleon. He'd scold himself for getting too careless again, but right now someone else needed his attention. "Lucy…"

The Celestial blonde looked out afar to the skies above. The once normally bright twinkling stars were coated in red. Aquarius' constellation was so blurred that it was almost impossible to discern her from the rest. When she thought of how the spirits fell out of her reach, she felt like the biggest failure out there.

"Lucy…are you okay?" Yukino asked. "It's okay, we'll get answers, I promise."

"I still don't get it." Gray spoke. "Just what hell made all those spirits turn on us anyway?"

Wendy looked down worriedly. "I hate to think of it, but was it the king?"

Duncan scoffed. "Isn't that obvious? From the looks of it, there's no other accusations. He played you all just for their spirits." He looked at Lucy and Yukino in reference to them.

"That is _exactly_ right."

Everyone's attention turned towards the Celestial Crew. Volans stood before them all, him and Nic, Sophie, Greninja, and Cana all had the floor.

Sophie stepped up. "Lucy…listen. We need to tell you something. It's something we were pressed to learn." She looked towards Kadabra, nodding. He understood with a no of his own. Using his spoon, he telepathically delivered the textbook Nic and Erza made her read and got to her manuscripts. "It's this."

They all looked at the crown part of the story inside the scriptures. The symbol itself gave off a less than pleasing aura that even the spirits didn't find too pleasing to look at.

"What's that?" Happy questioned.

"It looks like a crown." Yukino surmised.

"That's something Jellal and Bellona were on about when we came here." Erza informed.

The vast majority look at her stunned.

"Hold up. Jellal?" Natsu retorted. "So you're saying he's around here, too?"

Erza nodded. "Yes. We ran into him and Bellona last night. They came here on an investigation of a lost artifact stolen and supposedly brought here. And that artifact, we learned, just so happens to be King Melchior's crown."

"Seriously?" Gray quizzically raised a brow. "So then what's the deal about that crown that makes it so valuable?"

"Because that crown is the master control to all Celestial Spirit and magic itself." Volans explained, again ascertaining everyone's attention. "That crown's jewel was crafted long ago…before the great era where the markings of such years first started. It was the greatest weapon forged by man to forever alter the perspective of Celestial Spirits."

"An ancient antique you say?" Vanessa was intrigued to some extent. An ancient crown and jewel and Celestial Spirits involved, anything used at this point counted as information.

Sophie held up the scriptures she decided earlier. "After the first king and very first Celestial Spirit passed away, his son became the successor to the Celestial Spirits. Unlike the first king, we learned that this one saw Celestial Spirits in another light. The Zodiacs were forced to do manual labor for penance for Achilles' death. However, that didn't last long, for their agreements turned to bitter ruin."

"And that crown you're saying is what the king back then used to force the Zodiacs to do his bidding?" Juvia surmised, her gaze glowering. "That's so wrong."

"What happened next?" Cana inquired.

Sophie was currently writing on a flat rock, looking over the scriptures that she was working on along the way. With her Gale-Force Glasses on, she was taking in and translating the contents bit by bit. "…it says here…that after the crown was finally assembled after years of blacksmith and alloy measurements, when the next constellation shined the brightest, he used it to control Leo. He amassed an army endowed in Celestial clothing and he forced Leo to take them to the Celestial World."

"He _what_?!" Natsu yelled.

Everyone looked stunned at this reveal. Lucy and Yukino especially.

"It's true. We were there when it happened." Volans reminisced bittersweetly. "The Celestial World was overrun by the mad king's tyranny. At the time we were unable to escape his might."

Lupus scoffed. "So you remember too? Because that was all a blur to me."

"Yeah, me too." Corvus scratched his witch hat. "Maybe it's because it has an amnesia affect on us or something. All I recall is just a lot of red, and these strange voices."

"So he took control of you guys as well?" Greninja asked.

Volans nodded. "Yes, unfortunately. What happened was that once he had taken control of the Zodiacs, we were unable to do anything but submit. At the time, the Zodiacs held the highest and strongest powers over all Celestial Spirits." His face grimaced. "But that was only the beginning. Do you recall what happened next?"

"Yeah, something like that. I think it's coming back to me now." Lupus replied. "The reason behind all of us getting controlled was so he could get to the King himself."

Corvus' eyes widened. "Now I remember! That's what happened!"

"So you're saying that the king went through all that just to reach the Celestial Spirit King?" Erza figured, invested in this tale. "What happened next?"

"After he had taken over every spirit in his path, Tiberius Seraph had taken his army to the depths of the Spirit World. It didn't take long until the Celestial King was forced to reveal himself. His Majesty pleaded for the return of his spirits' emancipation…but Tiberius wanted something in return."

"The king himself." Nic guessed.

Volans nodded. "Yes. Right before our eyes, the spirits were set free. But in exchange for that, the king was to make a contract with Tiberius, and give him the key to do so."

Dewpider was listening with everyone, but the sound of scribbling was heard from his voluptuous trainer. He saw her writing. "What's going on?" he asked.

Sophie continued translating the scriptures to paper, getting whatever tale was unfolded out into the open. When she finished, she looked at her notes. "…and after Tiberius returned from the Celestial World, another war broke out. This was the general dispute of power and territory over the dragons spawning sporadically. Many forces came at once, but Tiberius used the Celestial King and Zodiacs to slay all who dared oppose him…not one life was spared after that night was done."

"Oh my god…" Lucy was crumbled on the inside. She couldn't believe the king was forced to do something so cruel.

"With the Celestial King and his Zodiacs behind him, all feared him throughout Ishgar. It was a terrible strife for the spirits back in their world. The Celestial King kept the balance of his world in order. With him and the Zodiacs being used for battle and forced labor, their world was beginning to deteriorate. The spirits began to act out of reason. When the King reasoned for this to stop, Tiberius only made it worse by keeping the him to invade Ishgar's other countries and kingdoms. He was a tyrant. He was going to make the Celestial Spirits pay; this was what was known as 'The Collapsing Era'."

"That's horrible!" Carla outraged.

"I can't believe it." Wendy dismayed. "Did they really do that?"

"Sadly, that is the reality of war." Volans sagely said. "Our worlds may be aligned by our stars…but the functions of humanity was a perilous trait we spirits realized must be a curse."

"I had no idea." Yukino grimaced. Naturally as human she knew what Volans said wasn't wrong. But to use other living beings for bloodshed and demonstrations of power felt wrong.

"All this just for revenge." Cana whistled. "Damn, talk about extremes. So what happened next?"

Sophie continued reading fragments of the scriptures she's been looking into. Her face scrounged up as she looked at the faded words in ancient italics. "It's a little faded, but the king almost succeeded in taking over all of Ishgar. All that was left was Fiore, but it says here that the king and his army were all slaughtered under the night of a bloody moon."

The notion made Nic, Erza, and Vanessa all turn towards each other. They knew almost instantly what might've happened. They knew of only one experience where it was mad slaughter and blood moons.

"A wave of dead awash the numbers and the spirits. The king tried to fight back, but he was killed in battle. After the millions of bodily counts left when the sun arose, almost half those bodies were missing around the base of a wasteland. All that was left of the king…was a pile of torn, shriveled flesh and a crown, untouched. After that, the crown was lost to ancient archives and eventually forgotten. The Celestial King returned to his world, where he permanently broke his own key with his own power so that no one can ever misuse him again." She looked beyond the pages, but she had reached the end of Tiberius' tale. She closed it. "And that's it. The Zodiac Keys were spread and the rest became lost legends."

"Damn, that is so messed up." Gray grimaced.

"That's putting it lightly." Cana shrugged. "But I guess that explains why Lucy's keys didn't work. So that crown was like the master control."

"So he needed the keys so he can get all the Zodiacs in one place." Juvia pondered the reason before realizing the fault. "You don't think that…"

Nic furrowed hos brow. "Greninja and I spoke to him directly. He said he was going to remind the world just how superior Celestial Spirits are…and I have a good guess now how he's going to do it."

"So then he's…" Wendy pieced it all together, but the conclusion made was speechless. "No, it can't be…"

"But I still don't understand." Carla led the topic around herself. "If Vanessa's Delphox, my premonitions, and Fortunetelling didn't work, how come it only just now happened?"

"Probably because one of those so-called advisors is able to." Vanessa guessed.

Cana furrowed a brow. "You sure about that?"

"It explains that aura I saw infiltrate you all when you were doing your psychic seeing." She turned towards Nic, Greninja, and Sophie. "And that same signature is what I saw in them during their headaches. And that same aura, just so happens to match these spirits. Am I right?" she turned towards Lupus, Volans, and Corvus for an answer.

"Heh." Lupus chuckled. "The girl catches on. Guess she is Nic's little sister after all."

Volans nodded again. "Yes. The king himself had sensed a disturbance in the stars, but rather than risk a fellow celestial, he opted to use us to send a warning. However, it appears that this magic blocking you has caused you all mental strain upon receiving our warnings."

Nic and Greninja's eyes widened. _'So those headaches and voices…'_

" _ **You cannot let that happen!**_ _"_

' _That was them trying to reach us.'_ Greninja was stunned. _'Now it's all clear. That's why our thoughts were strained spontaneously.'_

"If he's really trying to use our spirits to take over Ishgar again…then we need to stop him." Yukino determined.

Lucy was still trying to wrap her head around the whole matter. She couldn't believe that she was played like a fool the entire time, and Melchior used that to dictate what happens next. All she wanted was Aquarius back…she got her, but not the way she wanted.

"Lucy…?" Seeing the anger in her eyes, Klefki started growing worriedly for her. She looked at Lucy, then back at her set of keys. Klefki loved keys…okay, she was obsessed with them, but she knew well enough this meant so much to Lucy. Though she hesitated, she gently handed Lucy Aquarius' Key. "Uh…here?"

The key plopped into Lucy's palm. The blonde was a living statue. She couldn't make heads or tails until her fingers curled around the reconstructed key's shaft. She was upset, yeah, but she was also mad. Not just for the king, but to herself. She wasn't going to take this lying down.

' _Aquarius…_ ' She momentarily saw the spirit on the key. She stood up, shaking her head to dismiss the negative thoughts. _'Stop it, Lucy! Pull yourself together! You can't sit here and wallow any longer. Your friends are in danger. You have to save them…no matter what!'_

She clutched the key tighter as her composition turned righteous. "Okay, so how do we stop him? We need to get Aquarius and the others back if he's really going through with this." Another thought came to mind. _'And I gotta find Staryu, too. Where did it go?'_

"There has to be a way to reverse the effects of the crown." Erza surmised. "Sophie, is there anything in there on how to do that?"

Sophie shook her head. "I didn't get that far yet. And even if I did, the text might be faded."

Natsu rammed his fist into his palm. "Then we'll just have to steal that bastard's crown! He's gonna get more than just a few of his own teeth knocked in for what he did to us."

"And just how do you suppose that happens?" Duncan questioned, bringing eyes onto him. "It's not like he'll just let you take it. Those spirits and advisors are around him."

"Well we gotta think of something!" Lucy backlashed. "They need us more than ever!"

The group was at a standstill with how to proceed. They just got out of that scrape, and they were completely unprepared. If they went back in now, history would repeat itself, in more ways than one.

"Everyone!" From the distance coming in, they all turned and saw Jellal, Bellona, and Erik all closing in. Unlike the others, they seemed unharmed since they were in the mountains.

"Jellal. Bellona." Erza said, showing some surprise in her tone.

"Erik heard voices, so we came as soon as we could." Bellona informed, looking at the many gathered members. "What happened?"

Nic and Erza turned towards each other, their gazes meeting with uncertainty to approaching the situation. The one to step up was Erza again. "Listen, we have a dilemma on our hands."

Jellal's brow furrowed. "I'm all ears."

For the next minute, Erza explained in detail of what transpired with Lucy and themselves. She made sure to be as detailed as possible about Melchior's plan and the Celestial Spirits.

"I see, so that's what happened." Jellal concluded. "We had a feeling this would be the case. And that also explains them." He looked towards the Celestial Crew.

"So the king was in possession of the crown, and now he has control of all 12 Zodiacs." Bellona put a hand to her chin. "So the ritual before was to revive the lost key to a Zodiac, and then once all 12 keys were assembled, the crown would take away those powers for itself."

"That's the sum of it as far as we've seen." Nic ended. "Where have you guys been?"

"Yeah!" Natsu realized, looking at Erik. "If you can hear us in trouble, then what the heck took so long? Not cool."

Erik scoffed. "Don't jump to conclusions. It's not like we were being lazy ourselves you know." On his shoulder, Ekans hissed defensively. Erik moved his hand to rub her underside. "We've been scoping out something ourselves."

"'Scoping out'?" Gray reiterated.

"And exactly what does your little investigation have that caught you so interested?" Sophie asked.

This time, it was Crime Sorciere who looked at each other. They looked skeptical until Jellal returned the gaze at them. "It'd be better if you all see for yourselves." He turned towards Lucy and Yukino. "Lucy. Yukino. It'd be best if you follow as well."

They looked skeptical about the offer. Something about this didn't sit well in them either. Regardless, they all needed to find answers. And if what they found can lead to a hint, anything at this point would suffice.

They all followed Erik as he went towards the mountains, they pursued him with diligence. Yukino helped in getting her sister up and going and dragged her along. She recalled Mantine and continued their way. The last ones to follow out was Duncan and Sophie. He took one more look back to see Sophie recalling her Pokémon after quickly spraying Super Potions. If it wasn't for her, what could've happened back in that bog? He didn't know for certain but looking at her start her way, he did so as well. For now, he just had to play along until another chance of battle came along.

* * *

The red stars were visible all across the sky, for many to see throughout Earthland. Anyone who had a habit of stargazing would've been at a loss for words. Red dots painted the globe, and yet the astrologists all around couldn't make heads nor tails of what was going on.

While the world would run amok in their own confusion, others who were shrouded by trees and nature would be oblivious to what would be happening. Amongst them was Joey, Dereece, and Kevin, as they had found an alcove of trees to use as cover. They were currently surrounding a fire while their Pokémon ate their fill, Magikarp and Seel especially.

"Still, no sign of anyone." Joey said, his small makeshift bowl of herbs and berries sitting his lap. "Man, I hope nobody turned into a Kecleon to play hide-and-seek. Because if it is, it ain't a funny joke."

Dereece sighed exasperatedly. "I don't know, Captain. Something about this _still_ doesn't feel right at all."

"I know what you mean, Dereece. First this voodoo landscaping thing, and then there's…" He looked at Ella, who was sitting beside Kevin as they ate supper. "Eh, her. Plus, we still don't get the whole deal about that move your Seel just did."

"I doubt it was anything like a Take Down or Double-Edge, that's for sure." Dereece noted. "It looked too strong to be it."

Joey looked at the rock and crystal that was sitting close by their feet. "Well, whatever it is, it's gotta have to do with that stone thing there. Maybe somebody dropped it while researching it?"

Dereece sighed again. "Captain, please just drop it for now. I'm tired." He resumed eating his dinner. By all means, Dereece was deeply invested in the matter as well. It boggled him how his Seel could have that much power. Even now, what he felt then felt like a flood of power that they shared. When he and Seel locked eyes, they could tell the other was thinking the same thing. However, because of how tiresome today's venture was, they'd rather keep their thoughts low.

Sewaddle let out a large yawn that surprised the fellow Pokémon. "I don't know about y'all, but I sure had myself some nice fill of action today." He chimed. "I can tell, this group's _very_ exciting…mmmmm…"

Trubbish belched.

"Oh, excuse you, sweetie."

Krabby turned towards Magikarp, who was on his side. "So Magikarp, how are you? You feeling any better?"

The gaping fish rolled his eyes towards Krabby. He looked tired. "So…tired…can't splash…" he sunk a little further to the ground. "That Seaking almost killed me."

"I know what will help." Krabby suggested. "Some Checkers!" He held out the gameboard with a big grin on his face. "So how about it! You wanna play? Pretty please?"

Magikarp breathed in and out, gaping fir air deeply like he was trying to calm down. "Thanks…but I think I just wanna lie down for a while."

Krabby turned away, pouting. "Hmph! Fine!" He turned towards Beedrill. "You wanna play?"

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill retorted. Krabby was gonna take that as a yes…at least judging how Beedrill wasn't impaling him yet.

Raticate hopped beside them. "Yes! YES! HAHA! I WANNA BE THE MACARONI MOZZARELLA PIECE WITH EXTRA HOT SAUCE! YES! HAHAHA!"

"Uh…o-okay?" Krabby turned towards Heracross. "Hey, you wanna play, too?"

Heracross was busy eating besides Quilladin when he heard himself called. "Me?"

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill objected.

Stunfisk chuckled. "Looks like someone's telling you to 'buzz' off, mate." He joked. "You gonna be taking' that?"

Heracross groaned, but he knew better to take the bait. Still, if it would kill a little time, it should be at least worth it. "Alright, but just one game." He started for the gameboard, where Tranquill and Yanma were doing what they could to hold Beedrill back in his blind rage.

Watching Beedrill try to break free, his thorax stinger was thrusting, something never left Sewaddle's notion. "You gotta use your hips, boy! Use your hips!" he swooned.

Quilladin laughed. Magikarp wheezed chuckles of his own.

Kevin looked down at Ella, watching her eat her berry stew, if that was an appropriate enough name. After the long day of having her as his "kid", he still couldn't believe that he lasted a whole day aiding a child. He surprised even himself. "So, uh…Ella." He started.

The black-haired girl looked up to him. "Yes, Papa?"

"How was your day? Did you find it enjoyable?"

She nodded. "Yes. This whole adventure today supplied a lot of ffedback on how you all operate on such a dysfunctional level."

"O-oh…I see…" He looked at Joey and Dereece, the two raising brows and shrugging at what to say about the comment. Kevin looked back to her curiously. "I guess that's okay. That's good." He paused. "So do you remember anything?"

"About what, Papa?"

"You know…about anything. Home? Favorite foods?...parents maybe?" He wasn't exactly sure how to put it, especially for Ella's case. But he tried to be as forward as he could without being too insensitive.

Ella sat her little berry stew down and looked up towards the trees overhead. In her head it was an enigma. She never thought too much about it before. The day's events were probably the only clarity she had to go off of. In spite of near-death experiences with these strange fools, she couldn't lie when she found them amusing. They were unlike anything she was aware of. Beyond that, there wasn't much to comprehend. After a minute, she shook her head. "Nope."

"I guess that's fair. Maybe we'll have better luck finding your parents tomorrow, or someone else you knew."

"But I already know someone." She countered.

Kevin sighed. "Let me guess, us?"

"That…and also…" The tension in the air started to turn serious. Whatever Ella was thinking, even the Pokémon were stopping their game briefly to gaze at her. "There's also…something I feel is here. I can't explain in detail, but…it's like there's this voice telling me…to go somewhere."

"A voice?" This sounded ominous to Kevin, but he knew better than to break her concentration.

Ella nodded. "Yes. I think, that this voice…it might be the key to what I am. It has to be a clue…it must be."

' _That sounds like me.'_ A stray thought in Kevin's thought told him how even a small hint would get him somewhere…to ladies of course. But this trait he knew was a sign of her pondering. "I guess that's something. Better than nothing."

"Is that supposed to be another one of those 'That's what she said' jokes?"

Kevin sweatdropped. "Er…you'll get the hang of it."

"Well I know how to end this day." Joey jumped up with an energetic beat in his footing. "Hey Ella, ever heard of partying?"

Ella tilted her head. "I believe that the term 'partying' is used as a means of distracting the delinquent side of humans, specifically ones who are social or otherwise in need of involvement."

Dereece and Kevin sweatdropped. _'Well, she isn't wrong.'_

"Well-" Joey dismissed her epithetical term no problem. "I think that _you_ are deserving of one. So let's crank up them tunes around here! Dereece, give me a beat!"

Dereece walked beside Joey with the boombox and placed it on a log. He hit play.

 _ **[NEFFEX – Dance Again]**_

Leaning back with a headbang, Joey smiled wide. "Yeah, now we're talking!" He stated shuffling and moving his body with such energy and flare, so much that the fire nearby paled in comparison to the staggering dance moves he could pull off.

"Oh, wait for me!" Quilladin rushed to Joey's side to boogie down with his partner.

Tranquill and Trubbish looked at each other to see what the subject was, but they soon followed. Ultimately the beat and Joey's influential dancing habits rubbed off on his Pokémon as they started mimicking his dancing rhythm. Thankfully Joey wasn't some wild card for dancing – on most songs that is – so he can make an accessible rhythm enough for everyone to handle.

He swayed his hips and shuffled his feet forward and back. It was like something out of a dancing video game, only with slight more freestyle tones to it. Quilladin was mirroring Joey's movements almost perfectly, with Tranquill and Trubbish following the best with their own screwy physiques. Ironically Magikarp was flopping high and down. At one point Joey seized Magikarp in midair and whirled him around. He wasn't a glowstick, but it was better than nothing.

Kevin leaned back on the log, watching contently as the Fairy Tail company showed off. "Forgot how big of a party animal this guy can be." He looked at Ella, watching her stare off into Joey's movements. He didn't know what to explain about it, but the thoughts from earlier boiled to the surface again. He still wasn't fully positive about her accusations about being his daughter. He knew that fir a fact. Sure, he was obsessive about his picks on the ladies, but it wasn't like he did anything beyond that. He was fair with space. He knows deep down this all felt fishy, especially earlier with Ella's own insight – it was like she knew what was inside his own head! There was that one skeptical side of him that wanted to figure her out, but there was another that told him to just let things be…and that was a good sum of him.

' _Maybe…just maybe…is she really my-?'_ He noticed the little swirls Ella's feet were doing, breaking his train of thought. "Ella, you're dancing."

Ella looked down at her feet, noticing her feet rolling and tapping. "Hehe, sorry. It's rather catchy."

Kevin smiled. He stood up and offered his hand to the girl. "Well then, let your Papa show you how to dance." He offered. "I know a couple moves."

The girl took his hand, gingerly smiling. "Okay!"

Kevin guided her closer to the music, his own Pokémon following.

* * *

It was a long night, but it was well worth it. The Pokémon were talking, no qualms with Beedrill since he promised to hold back during the mission, even if he was getting slightly competitive with Heracross at checkers and the dancing flames – but Krabby seized all glory anyway. Ella especially was having fun. It was a party and a dance dedicated to her first day. She was smiling the whole way as Kevin showed just how light on his feet he could be. Even Joey and Dereece were a little stunned by this. But to Joey it was just a challenge that he accepted. Soon enough, the music and energy spent drained everyone. By this time the flames had dimmed to small embers. Joey and Dereece were already fast asleep on their bags, while Kevin opened his to allow Ella on one side.

Watching Ella sleep, Kevin took one last look around. The coast was clear, so he could've used his Search Magic for his…matters. However, after careful thought, he thought against it, just this one time of course.

"Guess I'm first watch." He sighed. He looked over his shoulder to see the thin blanket over Ella wasn't covering her shoulder. He hesitated for a moment before gingerly reaching over, pulling it over her. He watched her shift in her sleep beneath the warmth of the blanket and moan.

He softly smiled at her. "Goodnight…Ella."

He turned around, sitting on the log to resume his watch duty. In her sleep, a very small smile fell on Ella.

* * *

As water flowed in a small river, that sound of running water carried into the grotto beyond the cliffs. The grotto was dark, but in it was pitch-black. That black turned hollow, forming a cave-like entrance. It was there that the sound of silence

Gravel churned as an arm pulled someone forward. The drag on his tattered clothing was evident. The man looked middle-aged, having tattered work clothes with tears and sleeves missing. His tie was all messed up, but that was the least of his worries.

He was battered, and looking much like a raisin. The lack of nutrition on his face was all too clear. When he tried catching his breath, he hazily looked at the ground. His vision was getting hazy.

' _Gotta…get…out of here…'_

" _ **GRRRRR…**_ "

A low, bloodcurdling hiss was heard from the depths of the caverns behind him. Looking back he felt his spine shrivel. Frightened, he decided to get to crawling. With no strength to run, and a lot of his body feeling stiff, he had to make a break with what state he was in.

Desperately crawling, his bloodshot eyes had eyes set on the exit not far up ahead. _'Gotta find my stones…and get off this island. I have to warn them, warn them about-!'_ His eyes shrunk as he fell stiff. Something up ahead impeded his path.

Standing at the entrance, there was what looked like a shadow. That shadow loomed like a ghost with an amorphous-like fixture in its eyes. Strangely enough, it was no taller than a child. In fact, the way it was fixed, it had his white hair, but it was bob-cut. The figment had simple drags, but she looked very healthy, unlike the host.

"You…you did this." He shakily pointed at her. "Just what hell are you?!"

The child-like figment smiled softly, her grin less than appealing. Something vague and slimy started coming out of her drags and unfolded. The man's eyes shrunk to the size of pupils as his entire body shut down at the unholy sight of what was his supposed "offspring".

He suddenly felt the clinging of something behind. He slowly turned back, seeing a blue, amorphous tentacle around the ankle. "No…" He looked back ahead. "NO! PLEASE! I BEG YOU!"

"It's okay, Papa." The girl figment said. "…Mama just wants to meet you."

With a breathless whimper, the scholar had misty eyes before a harsh snarl echoed in the caverns. He screamed mightily as he was pulled back into the darkness, his echoes fading back to silence.

The girl figment stared at the small entrail of blood and dirt that was left by the man. Quietly, she followed inside, fading into the dark.

Meanwhile, Ella was sleeping soundly with The Freaks and Kevin, a small light blue vein fading into her head.

* * *

The low winds howling from another cavern, one far greater in height. The darkness this doom speller gave off was just as evident, and the Fairy Tail and Celestial Spirit groups were walking right up to it. Once at its base, they gazed at the mountain opening with an uneasy feeling.

"This is the place?" Gray doublechecked.

"That depends, does anything else look big and give you the creeps?" Erik joked dryly.

Happy pointed a paw up. "Well there's Lucy."

"Wait, WHAT?!" she angrily shouted. "You little…if it wasn't for this situation we're in, I'd skin ya, cat!"

"Supposedly this energy coming inside is what's alarming us." Jellal explained. "We only came to this point just recently, so it's not clear at this point. But the surrounding atmosphere is filled with an influential magical pressure coming from Astral."

Yukino looked up at the cave. Something about this place gave her the creeps. But Jellal's point didn't fly over her head neither. _'Jellal and Erik are right, there's something strange about this place. This pressure…it's definitely celestial, and yet…'_

"Yup, definitely feel it from here." Sorano said. Being a former Celestial Spirit Mage, it was easy to tell and read celestial energy. And from the looks of it, she wasn't the only one.

"Yeah, I can tell from here." Cana glared. "This ain't some coincidence. Whatever this energy is, it's not like we just were in."

"Agreed." Sophie nodded. She was reading as she was going along, reading promptly architectural points in the next few volumes. Kadabra was still using his powers to make himself useful. "Kadabra, could you pass me that volume?"

"Here." He passed the book over to her, to which she instantly began reading. "Sophie, if I may ask, exactly what is it that we are looking for?"

"Anything that can help us at this point. Maybe something about this cavern for a start. This celestial energy we're feeling isn't normal. We're more than familiar with how celestial spiritual pressure should feel."

"Well take your sweet time. It's not like we're in a hurry or anything." Cana sarcastically chimed.

"Yeah we definitely feel it alright." Corvus said warily. "It's definitely creepy."

Volans turned towards Lupus, who was currently sniffing the atmosphere. "Are you able to smell up the source?"

The wolf got on all fours and sniffed the ground. He paddles around the area until he got to the foot of the entrance. Looking up, his hair stood on all ends. He lifted his head, unleashing a loud howl. The call immediately spooked Happy, shifting behind Natsu for his own safety.

"Sounds like he picked up something." Juvia examined, though her face showed nervousness. _'I hope that howl didn't give us away.'_

"What is it?" Nic asked.

The wolf stood back on two legs, lifting his head. "Heh, yeah it's celestial alright, no doubt about that. I can smell the whiff of anything like this and it'll never get away from me."

"Yeah, it's no wonder you're that pack's leader again." Corvus pointed out.

"Yeah, it's really faint." Wendy sniffed the air as well. Though her sense of smell isn't as keen as Natsu's her hearing and smell coupled to get an understanding. "But he's right. The ethernano in here's really dense."

"Is that a show of intense Magic Power?" Carla inquired.

"I don't really know."

"You're not off, squirt." Erik told her. "It's right in front of you. No lies there. Trust me, it's more messed up once you step foot inside."

Nic looked into the cavern with adamant feelings. He couldn't properly explain – not that he needed to in the first place – but looking into this cavern, he heard the faint sound of something; something big. As he peered inside, he could actually see something for a moment, feeling its piercing gaze. Watching him. He knew they weren't alone.

"Nic, you feel too, don't you?" Greninja figured.

Nic nodded. "You feel it, too, don't you?" his brow furrowed. "Something's definitely not right about this."

Ekans hissed on Erik's shoulder. "You're feeling it again, aren't you?"

Nic's pocket began rattling all of a sudden. Without warning, he and Greninja backpedaled when Arbok appeared in front of them, staring defensively into the tunnel.

"Arbok?" Nic gasped.

The cobra and snake looked up at the mouth of the cave, looking at the two stalactites hanging above. They were caved in, much like snake fangs. The alluring sensation of their own kind tickled their senses, but they – mainly Arbok – knew to not ignore his Trainer.

"In here." The cobra hissed.

"Wait, hold up." Natsu retorted. "You're saying you guys know the way?"

"How do _they_ know?" Lucy inquired.

"I'm not certain." Vanessa put a hand to her chin. _'It's strange…but this aura I'm feeling from inside. It feels like pheromones. Is something calling them from inside?'_

"Arbok never comes out of his Poke Ball unless it's for a very good reason." Erza examined. "Nic, be careful. This could be a trap."

Nic took the situation very seriously. "Yeah, I know." He looked at Arbok, locking eyes with the snake. _'But if Arbok can feel it, then it must be something big. He knows how to sense as well as any of us.'_ He looked towards Greninja, the two nodding in understanding. "Alright, lead the way Arbok."

Arbok nodded. In a split second, he slithered into the dark tunnel, Erik's Ekans following suit.

"Everyone, stay on guard." Volans announced, treading in first. "We'll tread lightly. Do not get separated under any circumstances."

"Hey, I wanna be trail boss!" Natsu retorted.

"Wait up, Natsu!" Happy soared after him.

Erza sighed. "Suppose we can't stand around any longer. Let's move it, people!"

"Right!" they all filed in, being certain to stay close to one another into these dark pits.

* * *

Under the red stars in Astral, the king's palace was being guarded from head to toe by guards. They had watchful eyes everywhere to make sure nothing got pass them. And with their numbers and their demands met tonight, this can't go without question.

Inside the king's chamber, Oberon looked out the vaulted window overlooking all of Astral. The ruckus from earlier alarmed the citizens, so he made sure to issue the warning for everyone to stay indoors. He needed to be sure no one would get in their way again.

"Were the curfew plans enacted as of now?"

Oberon turned towards the trifold barrier close by. Behind was Melchior, who was changing his clothes. "Yes sir, I've issued a Level 3-class safety procedure for our citizens." He responded.

"Good. Nicely done, Oberon. I expect no less from you."

Oberon smirked as he bowed. "Your praise is far too modest now, sire. But still, please do forgive me for my earlier lack of ability to stop our foe. I'm afraid that I was no less help than that of an ant."

Melchior chuckled. "Now who's being so modest?" he laughed. "It's quite alright, old friend. Your magic requires much of your subconscious to concentrate. To be able to block premonition is a unique magic. That said, I was impressed with how you followed on your research of those Fairy Tail Mages and their own magics."

"It was nothing, sir." The man looked up towards the red-starry sky, humbly smiling. "After all, knowing is half the battle."

"Yes, and that knowledge of perception, is what this world must understand." The king finally stepped out, wearing his new attire. It was no less like golden battle armor, but with each joint, especially on the pauldrons for the shoulders and legs, there was a different Zodiac emblem on them. On the arms were the symbols of Aquarius and Scorpio, the legs were Aries and Taurus; on the shoulder armor was Gemini and Capricorn; the boots held Libra and Pisces; the wrists were of Cancer and Virgo; on the back was Sagittarius, and on the front chest area was Leo. The color of the armor accented the crown and the red jewel very well.

As the king stood in place, the red jewel shined. All the Zodiac symbols on his armor shined in unison.

"So tell me, Oberon, is this fitting for he who is to be king?"

Oberon nodded. "Why sire, I believe that you are only serving to flatter yourself some more. But…Caius did rather well for someone his caliber, I admit. To this spending 6 months on such armor that fine would take such time."

"Loyalty knows no bounds. I admire that." He laced his intricate cape on, readying himself. "So then, shall we set this world free?"

"We shall. I'm sure that your niece would be very spirited to have what she and Auriol would like to have."

Melchior smirked. "Absolutely." He was aware of what his own minions' needs and wants were, he wasn't a good king to them without a good reason. "A promise is a promise…let's go."

Oberon left the room to carry out the deed. The king followed, both fading into the dark.

* * *

The cave was dark and damp. The only sounds that trickled the ears were the ones of water droplets splashing in small puddles. It wasn't as dark as what many would have thought, but the overall appeal to the cave only seemed to have worsen as they treaded.

With Lupus' celestial sense of smell, the wolf was picking up a faint scent that was going on throughout the cavern. It was a very distorted scent, even Natsu was having trouble. And yet the ones who seemed to be handling this the easiest were Ekans and Arbok.

"Just how deep is this cave anyway?" Gray was getting rather impatient. With how little time they might have and the humidity of this cavern, it felt like going through someone's throat. A very uncomfortable feeling he wished would end.

"We _have_ been treading for quite a while now." Juvia fret shyly.

"I understand, but your complaints won't bring us any further." Erza said, continuing her path. "We're short on leads to this crisis. The least we can do is exploit every possible outcome. Stay sharp, there may be some cave-dwelling creatures in these depths."

Happy looked around worriedly as he used Natsu's shoulder as a perch. "Are we even going down?"

"Not sure myself buddy." Natsu answered, his gaze returning ahead. "But if this is what'll snap Loke and the others out of it, we'll get as deep as we need to."

As they all traveled down the humid depths of the cavern, Sophie found it hard to read the texts inside the cave's light. She would have had used her Memory-Make for some Light Magic she memorized, but she knew this wasn't the right time. She looked over, seeing Vanessa looking like she was gonna fret any second. "Vanessa, is something the matter?"

"It's…hard to explain." It really was. Her aura sensory was very well experienced, so she could tell from the slightest fragments all around her. But in a situation like this, the aura was all over the cave – like a never-ending tunnel of magical solidification. _'I've never let aura so enclosed before. How does one aura spread so far in?'_

Nic walked beside Erik, hand sin their pockets. Greninja walked too, but his arms were crossed since he had no pockets of his own.

"So Erik." Nic started.

The Poison Dragon Slayer disclosed his hearing for a moment to indulge in what Nic had to say. "What's up?"

Nic wanted to ask something, but he knew by now Erik could hear his thoughts. He dismissed what he was gonna say. "It's nothing."

Erik didn't buy it. "Whatever." But a smirk crossed his face. "So Kinana's doing well, so I hear."

Nic smirked, shooting a glance.

"That's good. Glad to hear."

Nic looked at a passing wall with a smooth texture, surprisingly for a cave. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to stop by and see her every now and again. I'm sure she'd like that." Up ahead, Ekans hissed back at Nic; something that Arbok ferociously snapped at. Ekans whimpered. "And I guess Ekans is in agreement."

Erik fell quiet to consider Nic's thoughts. In truth that was something that crossed his mind. The very first thing he considered when Hisui and the king pardoned Crime Sorciere, he thought about going to see Kinana. But for some reason, he didn't. Maybe a part of him felt like he wasn't just ready yet to see her with a new face. But it wasn't a feeling he was going to blatantly ignore forever. He shrugged.

"Maybe some time, kid."

"I'm 22."

Erik looked ahead towards their snakes slithering side by side. As he gazed at Arbok, a thought crossed his mind. "So I've heard that Ekans can evolve into Arbok."

Nic nodded. "That's right. Once they get enough experience." He looked at him. "Is having an Arbok an issue?"

"Not exactly. Just wondering is all." He looked at Ekans, who was shooting a glance at him. It was clear she was invested in what her Trainer said about evolution into an Arbok. But she didn't have much opinion, so she thought.

Erik scoffed at himself at getting distracted by this sense of dwelling. In truth having something like an Arbok felt weird, for a lack of better word. He still had flashes of when Arbok and Cubellios duked it out and how the cobra came out victorious. Imagining him using Arbok as a replacement for Cubellios just felt wrong…or at least that's what he thought at first. Now that he was free, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It'd save him a couple steps every now and again.

Arbok and Ekans stopped in their tracks, their heads held high.

"What is it? Why they stop?" Corvus asked. He was flapping his arms above, using his aerial expertise to get a better view.

"They must be sensing something up ahead." Erza concluded, her eyes squinted. "Which means…we're close to the source."

"You'd be surprised." Jellal intruded, catching the redhead off her guard. "We thought the same thing when we ventured in, too."

"What do you mean?"

"Look!" Happy pointed ahead. "I see something!"

They all noticed something too as by the feline's intuition. Ahead of them, could see something faint glimmering. It looked like a star, or rather to an extent, twinkled like one. But they took it as a sign no less.

"Look. I see it." Lucy pointed out.

"Yes, me as well." Yukino said. "Is that a light?"

"I wonder what that is?" Klefki inquired. Almst immediately her intuitions lead to the wrong conclusion. "Maybe it's keys!"

"Or yummy fish!" Happy whimsically cheered.

As gleeful as both were, they were brought out of their daydreaming when two paper fans by Lucy smacked their heads. "Don't draw to those ridiculous conclusions guys!" she barked.

"Owwiee~…"

Gray stepped forward. "So I guess that light's gotta lead somewhere, right?"

Bellona nodded. "Yes, it leads somewhere." She held her breath at hat to say next. "But be warned…you might not like where it leads to."

Natsu of all people wasn't afraid. "Well I say it's the risk." Though he knew to be careful, he still treaded the ground. "Let's go, guys."

Everyone followed after him, going towards the shining beacon ahead. Wendy and Carla stayed close, while Sorano held onto Yukino for dear life. They all trekked, but Volans, Corvus, and Lupus stayed behind. Something about this didn't feel right at all. Looking at each other, they thought the same thing. Whatever light was up ahead didn't seem normal. Still, for the sake of their own kind they had to at least keep aware. They marched on behind while the party pressed further.

It didn't take long for them to reach the light. Shockingly enough despite it being so bright a distance away, it was twice as shiny when in front. It looked like the exit of the cavern, or so many would've presumed.

' _What's this light?'_ Sophie pondered. Lasts he checked it was nighttime. _'We couldn't be in there that long, could we?'_

"Everyone stay together. There's no telling what lies ahead." Erza walked besides Nic, staring into face of the dim light. "Ready?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Together they all entered the boundaries of the light. When they stepped through, the darkness of the cave was replaced by the red glints of the night sky. They've entered the valley again, though it wasn't what they expected.

"Okay, so where are we?" Natsu looked around, seeing nothing but valleys and clearings everywhere. "Hey, did that cave just lead us to another point in the mountains or something?"

"I thought I saw the exit." Gray figured. "This it?"

Lucy turned left and right, her Klefki covering every possible angle. "That's strange. Why does this valley look so familiar?"

They all registered their surroundings, but the one struck the most was Corvus. Still in the air, the crow sprit turned, only to find his nose a few feet from a curved stalactite. "Woah!" He backed away, getting far from the startling structure. "Phew, that was a close one…!" His eyes shrunk when he noticed something about the structure. "Wait…what?!"

Volans and Lupus looked up, realizing what impeded their crewmate. "Those rocks." Volans tested. "Don't tell me…"

The realization dawned upon everyone. They were back at square one.

"No way!" Happy exclaimed.

"Yeah, how the hell did we end up back here?" Natsu inquired. With his Dragon Slayer vision, he should've seen the light clearly from the other side. Something wasn't right about this.

"Hold up a sec." Gray turned towards Bellona and Jellal. "You mean this whole time that light was just a way back to the front?"

"Regrettably, yes." Bellona answered.

"Well that's just helpful." Cana sarcastically retorted.

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us before this would happen?" Natsu backlashed in Jellal's face. "I thought we were past you being a jerk."

"If I didn't show you, you'd be tempted either way." He reasoned exasperatedly. "It isn't that hard to tell how predictable you'd react."

Everyone dropped a sweatdrop. To a degree, Jellal wasn't wrong. They would've found out themselves either way on their own or by him. Still he didn't have to backhand it so bluntly…even if it was true to their fashion.

Erza looked around, her worries instantly rising.

"Hey Erza, you dropped something? What's wrong?" Cana questioned.

Vanessa noticed it too. The sisters-in-law were missing something. Or rather in this case, someone. It was pretty obvious to them who it was.

"Nic?" Erza called. "Are you here? Nic!"

"Nic? Greninja?" the younger Pularis girl looked around. She even went for her aura sensory again, but this time it was no good. _'This is strange. I can't sense their auras. It's like they were turned off somehow.'_

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Wait, Nic?" Lucy checked around, but ended up the same conclusion as her teammate.

"What's going on?" Wendy looked at Sorano. "Uh, Sorano? Where's Yukino?"

Vaguely curious at what she meant, Sorano realized she was holding onto thin air where her sister was supposed to be. "Aaah! Yukino! Noooo!" she panicked.

"Erik's gone too." Wendy realized. She even noticed his Ekans, Nic's Greninja, and Arbok all missing as well.

Jellal face the fanged cavern, an eerie sense of dread looming over him. _'Just what did that cave do?'_

Immediately turning around, Erza knew what she had to do. She darted for the caverns again, but was impeded by a teal shield.

"Erza, stop!" Vanessa implored.

"Vanessa." Erza gasped.

"You know what will happen if you go back in there, we'll just end up where we started. You'll just waste your breath running back to start."

Erza clenched her fists tight. Vanessa was right. She was worried about Nic as much as she was, but unlike how hot-blooded the knight was, Vanessa was much more relaxed. She had to calm down and keep a level head.

"Just what is this cave?!" Corvus shouted in a panic. "Hey, you! Give us back our friend right now!" As brave as he was, the cave's menacing aura made him shrink twice as small out of fear. "E-eh…on second thought…"

"This celestial presence, it's twisting us into circles." Volans realized. "I can feel it…the cave is alive."

The cave's aura was a thick blanket of defiance. They could all feel a strong magic flow from within, but they didn't know what to do. Erza cursed herself for even thinking they should've went through.

' _Nic.'_

* * *

"What just happened?" Nic turned around, realizing everyone else was gone. Greninja was thankfully by him, as was Arbok. It was very vague. He could've sworn they were right behind him. The cavern returned to being quiet again, but the eerie feeling like they were being watched only intensified. This didn't sit well in their stomachs. "Greninja, Arbok, are you two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. Right?" Greninja turned towards Arbok, the cobra nodding in agreement.

"Yes, I am just fine, Nic."

Nic turned back ahead to notice Ekans wrapped around Erik's shoulders as he comforted her. She seemed distressed by that, but he paid no heed. "Erik." His eyes widened. "And Yukino?"

"Nic?" the white-haired mage was stunned by his presence. "You're here?"

"Looks like we're stuck here now." Erik theorized. "Can't hear the others for some reason. Something's blocking out the sound."

"Did we end up being transported then?" Yukino wondered.

Erik faced ahead. "Beats me. As far as I can see it, we're still in the damn cave…" his ears tickled at the voice in this wind. "But I get the feeling that whatever's happening, it doesn't want us getting out so easily."

"What does it mean you think?"

Nic was just as questionable about this as they were. He could feel it as well. That very vague feeling of violence and negativity was a cold breeze that sent goosebumps up his sleeves. From the directions the winds came, it was from straight ahead. They all stared into the black pits onwards. They knew they weren't going to get answers just by standing around idly.

Nic looked towards Arbok, seeing his head still high. Whatever was luring him, he was starting to feel a faint whiff through his ears as well. But this voice, unlike before, was cold.

' _ **Come to me…let me meet you…**_ _'_

The enigmatic voice Nic was hearing was crisp, but also alluring. He used to listen to heavy metal all the time, but that didn't mean he was deaf. _'This light, and now this voice…'_ He recounted the celestial essence from when they in front. _'Is this all by a Celestial Spirit?'_

He knew there was only one way to find out.

Changing into his Earth Form, Nic pressed his foot on the ground. Silent but sense vibration waves ran through the ground, spreading into echolocation patterns to make him see into the depths. Once they came back to him, he opened his eyes. "It's a large caved-in labyrinth." He concluded. "Whatever's in the depths is responsible for this malignance."

Erik stepped forward. "Yeah, guess so." He was no different. He could hear it loud and clear as well. The voice sounded alluring, but at the same time violent. He didn't want to say nor comment because Nic and his Pokémon already knew.

"Alright Arbok, can you lead us?" Nic asked. Arbok nodded.

"Alright Ekans, guess it's your time to shine." Erik bent down to let Ekans slither of his shoulders onto the ground.

Both serpents raised their heads high and heard the voice. Immediately Arbok took the initiative, with Ekans slithering behind. The cobra made sure to be careful of where he tread; desperate was not his personality.

"We should get going." Greninja appeased.

"Right." Nic agreed. They all followed the snakes. "Yukino, you coming?"

The Sabertooth Mage nodded. "Right." She followed behind, but there was a reason. As she walked, she was having a very familiar feeling. This voice was vague to her as well, but in her ears it did more than make nails screech on chalkboard. _'Why's this feel so familiar?'_

As she walked along, there was a single, vague glow from her key collection. The light got brighter as they followed the snakes into the darkness.

* * *

"What's taking so long? Is Nic really in there?" Gray's impatience was starting to show. He knew Nic was capable, but he also was worried. He rubbed his spiky head of hair. "Man, this is getting nowhere."

"Calm down, Gray." Juvia insisted. "I'm sure they're fine."

"If Nic, Erik, and Yukino _did_ end up deeper into that cave, then Nic could have Garchomp use **Dig** to burrow back to the starting point." Sophie pondered, her hand to her chin. "But knowing him, he's probably looking into the source as we speak."

"So we're basically stuck here until he gets back?" Natsu questioned. "Man, that ain't cool."

"WAAAAH!" Sorano's harsh wails shot many of ears around her. She was crying comical tears as she was missing her younger sister deeply. "Yukino! Where are you?! Big sister can't lose you again! I'm coming for you!" She zipped off pass the rest, but a tap from Bellona's dark galaxy-coated hand immediately put her to the ground.

"Honestly." Jellal sighed.

"Tell me about it." Bellona looked down at the stirring Sorano, whimpering and turning like a baby. She knew she was a child at her core, but she of all people didn't want to put up with her zesty nature. "Don't worry, I had my Nightmare Magic to a low point. At least now she'll stop screaming."

"Well for all our sakes, we better find a way to get back in there, and quick." Cana pointed out.

Volans nodded. "Agreed."

Lupus stepped forward, taking to the head of the pack. "Guess we're gonna need more noses then." He spread hos clawed legs. "Okay then…"

"W-what is he doing…?" Happy was getting nervous by the second.

Volans and Corvus watched quietly. They knew what was coming next. "You might wanna cover your ears." Volans insisted.

Natsu blinked. "Huh? Cover our-!"

" **HAARROOOOOOOOHH!** "

Lupus' hairs stood on all ends as he howled at the loudest volume he could. Immediately Natsu regretted not taking the hint like Wendy did and covered his ringing ears. Everyone winced as the wolf's howl exploded throughout the sky, echoing into the atmosphere and throughout the valley.

After a minute, the howling simmered inti thin air. Everyone uncovered their ears slowly to see what happened. After a while, they were left confused.

"Uh…what was that?" Wendy worriedly asked.

"Lupus just summoned his pack." Volans explained. "Wait for it."

Not even after a second, a golden glow appeared in front of the bipedal wolf. The light faded, revealing the beta: Canes. The dog was followed by several other golden glows, summoning even more of the pack. The pack of fifteen wolves with celestial vests and marking sat in attention before their prestige Alpha.

"AAAAHHHHHH! DOGS EVERYWHERE!" Happy panicked. "No! NO! I can't take it anymore! Somebody please stop this! Lease sto…s-sto…" He started dozing off as a lulling tune was playing in his ears. His senses started getting hazy, too much for him to handle. Unable to take it, he fell asleep, Natsu catching him before he fell to the ground.

"It's about time." Carla irritably sighed. She turned around, facing Wendy and her Swablu. "Thank god Swablu still knows **Sing**."

"Sorry about that, Happy." Wendy apologized sagely. Swablu chirped gleefully.

"So that wolf guy can summon up a pack of dogs?" Gray asked, staring at the attentive hounds before Lupus.

"I know, right?" Cana winked. "Haven't seen these guys in a while either. They sure bark and bite a lot, that's for sure."

"Indeed." Volans answered. "Canes' gate coordinates with their Alpha, in which case is Lupus. They don't need a key if they are summoned by their Alpha otherwise."

"Really? That's pretty cool." Gray smirked.

This information somewhat intrigued Lucy. She never heard of a joint summoning with one gate alone. She's learned each spirit is coordinated to one key alone. But now that keys are no longer functioning for her, any way to summon a spirit seems to suffice at this point.

Lupus pridefully chuckled. "Yeah, guess it is." He turned towards the head hound. "Alright guys, fan out and find Nic and Greninja's scent, on the double!" He raised his head high and howled loud, giving the order. Almost instantly, the dogs turned and started sniffing the atmosphere and ground. The head dog barked at Lupus, to which he snuffed back. In solid communication, the head dog leaped into the cavern, with the rest of the pack following.

Their howls slowly faded into the depths, soon replaced by silence.

"They'll figure out the exact point where we left off. That's where they most likely disappeared." The wolf explained.

"Well, let's not jump the gun too soon now." Bellona chimed. "After all, this is a dangerous game we're playing here. It'd be unwise to play our best hand so soon when our enemy has yet to show theirs."

Jellal stared up to the sky, his fixation on the twinkling red glints themselves. "And to win, we need to know just what there can be done to stop our enemy…even if it's a small chance."

"Agreed." Erza nodded. _'Stay strong Nic.'_

* * *

The two Poison-types slithered the same way towards the beckoning charm. Ekans seemed more intrigued given her hurried pace. Arbok stayed close behind due to experience in the thousands of battles he's had. Yukino, Nic, and Erik remained close on track with them.

"That voice is getting louder. We're near." Erik examined.

Nic agreed. "I don't doubt that." That same hissy tune was in his head, playing over and over repeatedly. It was beginning to throb. He powered through the aches. _'Too many voices in my damn head today.'_

"Hey Ekans, stay close." Erik called up to the snake, but whether or not she was out of earshot didn't seem to slow down her fastened pace. "It's like she's listening to that voice more than herself."

"Something's drawing them, and us." Nic figured. "And if I were to guess, we're playing right into its hands." He looked ahead, noticing the cave's tunnel. He and the others stopped to examine it.

Compared to the entrance to the cave at the surface, this inlet was a lot spikier. The stalactites were doubled and curved in, with even sharper ends. The stalagmites beneath were straight up. When droplets of water would fall, they'd hit the sharp tips of the spikes below. They'd pop and splatter rather than drip, like human bodies.

The eerie vibe they were feeling was like a dense fog that stood in their way. Everyone, even Ekans and Arbok, stayed on guard when facing this bizarre entrance, like it wanted to eat them alive.

"My goodness…" Yukino worried. The air was cold around her, enough to make her goosebumps shrivel.

"So it's in there." Erik shut his mouth to listen. The voice he heard before was gone – like it had all faded away. _'I've got a bad feeling about this.'_

Even without the Dread Form, Nic and Greninja could tell something was inside there, waiting for them. They gave glances at each other to tell the other they needed to tread lightly.

"Arbok…tread lightly." Nic told the cobra.

The purple snake nodded his head. "Assss you wish." Very slowly, he got low to the ground where his hood was but a few inches from touching stone. The curious Ekans and the stealthy Arbok crept into the entrance's darkness.

With nothing to lose, Nic and Greninja remained as quiet as possible. They followed next, with Erik and Yukino close behind.

Upon entering the cave, they immediately noticed how much darker it was compared to what it was in the other one. It wasn't just dark, but hot as well. It was feeling almost like a burning gut with how it smelled as well.

"It's really muggy." Yukino muttered.

Suddenly Nic and Greninja stopped in place. They stayed completely still while Yukino was worrying. Erik knew it as well, but his hearing was leading him to all over the place.

They were being watched. And they knew they were in the heart of its territory.

Very quietly, Nic and Greninja squatted to readily positions. They didn't know where this thing would strike, or what tricks it might pull, but they couldn't let go of this aching feeling they were looming from above.

' _They're around here somewhere.'_

' _They know we're here. And they probably know we know that.'_

Yukino was being careful to watch where she walked, that is if she could see. She heard the sound of churning, immediately turning towards it. "Who's there?!" She waited for a response, but she was met with silence. She flinched when she felt a rock touch the sole of her shoe. "Oh…" she sighed. _'Maybe I'm just being paranoid…'_ She noticed a faint glow coming from her keyholder. Curious, she pulled out a key – a golden key. "This is…"

In the darkness, something long and massive crept along the rims of the chamber.

Nic could hear the sounds of scales grinding against stone. The movement of something extremely massive was evident.

Arbok and Ekans hissed loudly at the rood of the ceiling, alarming everyone.

"What is it?" Yukino looked up, but her skin instantly paled at the sight.

"…we're not alone." Greninja glared.

The odd light of a pattern illuminated the area, allowing them view of an odd, jointed arrow-shaped opening to show from one side. On the other end of the chamber was another. The patterns lit up in order, following like arrows into coils and slopes that even closed off where they came. Their escape blocked off, they were forced to face up as the light reached a deeply accented forehead of a giant serpent looming over them.

"It…it's you…" Yukino gasped. "But it…it can't be."

Arbok and Ekans stood in attention before the giant creature. Their Trainers and Greninja stayed on guard as the massive serpent surrounded them with her gargantuan bulk. From the way she looked, she wasn't so pleased with her guests.

Nic narrowed his eyes. _'Wait, this Spirit. Isn't that Yukino's…?'_

With a low, incomprehensible stare, Yukino's eyes dilated as she stepped back in fright. "…Ophiuchus."

From the deepest hollows in her body, the giant snake expelled a bloodcurdling roar throughout the quaking chamber. It felt like venom as all their blood temperatures dropped.

* * *

The starry sea was shimmering with multiple colors. It was like a rainbow of glowing water was inviting anyone into its depths. From afar the view was beautiful, but to Melchior, this was a gateway.

With the constellation being Aquarius, the sea was shining bright. And with how Melchior upheld her under his control, using her powers to keep the gate to her and the sea open was a breeze, especially thanks to the crown. Now it was time to enact his destiny.

Standing in front of the sea, Melchior watched the tides wash in and out, depositing stardust and sparkling minerals into the sand at his feet. He watched as his advisors and the Celestial Spirits behind him to await his order. "Now then, is everyone ready?"

Caius nodded. "Yes, my liege. We are at your service."

"Whether here or in another world, we shall follow you no matter where the path shall lead." Auriol obediently bowed. "Let us leave this accursed world for anew." It's always been her passion – to a new world. A beautiful one. And what better place than the Celestial World. A place much like heaven.

Melchior knew of Auriol's passion, and realistically that was the first one to come true. _'I shall indeed make your wishes come true. All of you.'_ He looked at his niece. "Vita, Bion. Do you wish to continue?"

"Mhm!" Vita furiously nodded. "You bet, Uncle! I can't wait to have a Celestial Spirit! Oh I hope it's cute!"

Melchior chuckled. "Don't count blessings until they are given." He faced Bion. "Bion, I promised you I would help you regain your powers. If you feel that you aren't fully prepared, you are free to speak up."

Bion kneeled before his king. "I swear to you, on my life, I am fully prepared to whatever fate may come before me. If I do not succeed, then it is on me." He looked up with a serious intent in his eyes. "But no matter what, there shall be a way, yes?"

Melchior humbly nodded. "Well said." He turned towards Oberon, who nodded in agreement. It was time. "Very well…let us proceed. To all who shall follow, let us return to this world prepared to change the ways for Tetrabiblos!"

Behind them, the army and Altair let out cheers for their glorious king's ambition.

"Now then…lead the way."

With the order, Aquarius and the other Zodiacs shifted in front of the king. They marched into the water, with their master and his advisors behind them. They all marched into the dense ocean with stagnant steps. With their clothing and the ar they breathe ever so celestial, it was bound too keep them safe and able to breathe in their world.

Once underwater, they were immediately met with the ability to breathe. No water was taken in, and shockingly enough looking up it was like looking at the surface with minerals sparkling around their heads. It was just as how the legends and fables described their own world. Despite the lack of some spirits here and there, the world was still beautiful.

Feeling a vibrant flow in the atmosphere, Auriol was instantly dazzled. Her eyes were wide as she looked around, seeing the surface world – Earthland – atop of them. _'So this is the Celestial World.'_ Words couldn't describe how she was feeling right now. Perhaps elated would be a start. Being in Astral the air was still fresh. The Celestial energy the atmosphere had was as close to this world that she could get, until now that is. Now that she had crossed over, her mind was jumping all over the place. It was much more dazzling than what the lacrima simulations or pictures and fables described. Her eyes started misting as she walked on the small slope down. She felt as light as a feather. _'It's so beautiful…just as how his majesty said it would.'_

And she wasn't the only one mesmerized by this phenomenal sight. The space, the energy, it was something Bion had forgotten. What he could feel in him long ago was beginning to fill up his belonging. _'This magic, it's really…'_

Together, they smiled whole-heartedly at their king afront. _'Thank you so much, your majesty.'_

Melchior humbly smiled as he looked afar. Joining him was Vita as she happily skipped to his side, and Oberon on the other. Looking at both their smiles of agreement, he looked back at his advisors, each ne showing the same kind of dedication to the adventure they will have.

"Everyone…forward! To the new age of Earthland's Celestial Mages!"

"Yes, sir!"

The army to follow their king marched into the Celestial World, all cloaked in drapes of the traditional celestial fabric, only with the king's design on it. They followed their liege and the Zodiacs down the smooth silver road, leading to their destination: The Celestial King.

As they marched on, they were unaware that amongst the stars they were passing, one was twinkling red in its core. While they perceived it as a side-effect of Melchior's crown, the core itself shined from a brown star. The star's core blinked as it watched Melchior and his army go deeper into the unknown land. Pressed by curiosity, the star's physiology allowed it to spin and dive deeper in pursuit.

* * *

 **I know what you are all thinking, why the hell this took so damn long? I swear I was thinking I was going to get it done before July, when I had to move. But I had to go back and forth between my old house and this new house to help get crap out, clean and sweep, paint, and then move everything in. Add that to paint and furniture shopping there was barely any time for me to register how much time was passing. Again, I'm really sorry it took me eons to get this update in, but to make up for it, I made it monstrously long, over 38K, so you could kick back and watch craziness unfold!**

 **After what felt like an eternity, yes, I decided to bring back the old Celestial Crew. I figured they could use this time to shine since this is another arc dedicated to Celestial Spirits. Aside from the Celestial Siege Arc and the one time in the Alvarez Empire Arc in the last couple stories, I thought at least another shot with these guys would be fitting.**

 **As you may have also seen, I got Nic to focus a little on status moves. Though just a little, so nothing too major. And Arbok's back, about time I get him in on some action!**

 **Well, this was a long one to take in, so let's see how the next chapter goes whenever I get to it. I still have to settle into my home and get some of the new furniture, pus there's work. So don't expect an update immediately.**

 **Let me know what you guys thought about this in a review if you can! Thanks for being patient with me! :)**


	34. The Thirteenth Zodiac

Kricketot were chirping and making melodies as the antennae on their heads were moving back and forth, like metronomes as Butterfree and Vivillon flapped in the higher levels of the trees in the nighttime air. The melodic chirping was getting to Kevin as he turned on the ground. Unable to fully get comfortable, he opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around irritably as he heard the Kricketot and nighttime jungle Pokémon making noise.

' _How the hell am I supposed to sleep with all this racket?'_ He looked over at Joey and Dereece, who seemed unaffected by the noise. They were sound asleep, unlike him. _'Lucky them. I wonder how Ella's faring with…'_ He looked over to where Ella was, only for his eyes to shoot wide with a gasp. She wasn't there.

"Ella?" He hastily moved and removed the comforter. "Ella?" He looked all around, but the few embers of the fire they had going had long gone out. His panic rose higher than before. "Oh man, this bad. This is bad! Where the heck did she go now?!"

As his mind raced to unprecedented outcomes, he turned towards the others. "Guys! Wake up!" he yelled. "Ella's missing!"

Dereece snorted awake. "Gng-h-huh? What?" He looked around, blinking at Kevin's fretting. He turned towards his sleeping Captain. "Captain Joey. Wake up! We have an emergency!"

However, Joey rolled over to his other side, a content smile on his face. "N-no…I get the spoon for the pudding…you…" He lulled in his sleep, sheepishly giggling.

"This isn't the time for the pudding dream again! Up and at'em!"

The louder turn snapped him awake. "What? Dereece?" he yawned in his face. "Oh man, I just had the freakiest dream. We were at a waterpark and the water was actually chocolate pudding, it was good. I tasted it. We were going down a slide and you were wearing a pair of women shoes and I was wearing a toga as these bite-sized Vanillite were dropping from the sky and-!"

"I know! You had that dream about two-hundred times! Ella is missing!" Dereece cut him off.

Hearing this stopped Joey completely. "Wait…what?!" He stood up, looking shocked. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"Guys! Help me find her!" Kevin pleaded. "Where the heck is she?!"

Dereece and Joey stammered upwards, the former trying to take the initiative. "N-now, don't panic. I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Let's just calm down, and-!"

He was cut off when Kevin snapped at him. "Buddy, this isn't the time for calm! That's a little girl out there! And it's nighttime! Do you know what happens when it's dark out?!"

"Probably things you'd watch I take it?" Dereece groaned.

"Shut it, dude! Just help me find her!" He started looking around frantically. "No, not there. No…no…" As he shuffled the shrubs and looked around trees, Joey looked confusedly while Dereece conversed with him.

"I've never seen him so worked up before." Dereece whispered to Joey. "Captain, I keep telling you guys something's really messed up around here. First the place is changing on us, now this. We gotta get this over with, and quick!"

"Okay, okay! I get it, guys!" Joey voiced loudly, walking between the two. "Everyone calm down, there's no need to start chopping down woods." He looked towards Kevin. "Yo, Mister P. You sure she isn't where you last out her?"

Kevin calmed down and nodded. "Yeah. I looked all around."

"Okay, well…she couldn't have gotten far. I mean she isn't _that_ stupid to just blindly walk in the middle of the night without protection." He looked towards her campsite. He didn't see any fingerprints nor footprints. There wasn't even signs of a scuffle. It was like she up and left. _'Nothing picked her up, right?'_

A rustle was heard, alerting them.

"Who's there?!" Kevin squealed, only for more rustling to be heard.

Dereece gulped, taking a wary step back. Joey's brow furrowed as he spread his legs. "Okay pal, come out." He pulled out Magikarp's Poke Ball, bringing him out and holding him by the fin tail. "Whoever you are, I have a fish, and I know how to use it!"

The rustling got louder by the second, bringing everyone on edge. But just as Joey was ready to wallop someone with Magikarp, Ella emerged from the shrubs, completely unharmed.

"Oh…Uncle Joey." Ella looked around, seeing everyone up. "Good evening, everyone."

"Ella!" Rushing towards the kid, Kevin kneeled and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, you okay? You didn't get bit or hurt, did you?"

Ella, surprised by this person's outburst, calmly shook her head. "I am alright, Papa. I am well."

"What have I told you about running off on your own like that? You _know_ I told you not to!" he scolded.

"I'm sorry, Papa." She pulled out a few Oran Berries she had in her hands. "But, while I was out, I was able to find some nourishment along the way. I figured that maybe, it could help serve as a snack for when we wake up in the morning."

Kevin, knowing she was safe regardless, sighed. "…it's okay." He looked at her, smiling warmly. "Just…don't scare Papa like that again. Okay?"

Ella nodded. "I understand."

The stress finally gone, Dereece plopped to his but. "Well that was an unwanted scare." He sighed.

"Yeah." Joey pouted, looking towards Magikarp. "Sorry buddy, we'll get the next one. Return." He returned the fish, who seemed rather lackluster – possibly from no water. He sweatdropped as he turned around to scratch his head. "Man, that kinda gave me the creeps too."

"I know." Dereece observed the direction where Ella came from. "Where did you think she went to?"

"Beats me." Joey looked over his shoulder at Ella. Even if he wasn't the wisest of them all, he was aware of the problem Dereece brought up earlier. _'It is off though. If this island's changing on us like before, where could she possibly run off to? Just to get berries…'_

His vision narrowed, but for now he kept quiet as Kevin pressed the questions.

"Ella, why did you wander away?"

The little girl looked down at her bare feet, seemingly contemplating for a moment before drawing to a conclusion. "Well…Papa." She started. "Do you recall that 'voice' I heard before?"

"Yeah?" He vaguely remembered the conversation they had before they went to bed. His eyes widened. "Wait, _that's_ what you've been following?"

Ella nodded. "Yes. As I tried to sleep, that voice was much louder than normal. The next thing I knew, that same voice beckoned me somewhere."

"Where, exactly?"

Hearing the seriousness in his tone, Ella could tell his curiosity was asleep unlike them. "I believe…" she turned around, looking towards the dark trail she came from. "That it lead me to there."

They all looked at the dark, beguiling forest. The Kricketot and Butterfree singing earlier had gone dry as a creepy wind flowed through them. Even with a nice, warm coat Joey still felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Well…we're up anyways. Might as well before we're spooked again." Joey announced.

Dereece groaned. "Guess we've got no choice then, do we?"

"Ella, whatever it is, I promise we'll solve it… _together_." Kevin declared. "It's you. Me. And your crazy uncles. So let's get to the bottom of this for all of us…you ready?"

Ella smiled and widely. "Sure thing, Papa. Let's continue the adventure!"

The gang packed up their supplies and readied for the road ahead. They didn't wanna spend another second with their eyes shut in a place like this. As they embarked, Dereece looked back one more time, staring at their campsite longingly until he turned to leave.

From the shrubs watching, a silhouette of a sinister smirk could stun anyone watching.

* * *

Nic, Greninja, Erik, and Yukino had stunned figures as they looked at the gargantuan beast before them. The closed chamber was filled with hissing, from Arbok and Ekans' rattling tail. But the biggest hiss was coming from the gargantuan hard-plated serpent that impeded their point of entry and ways in. As of right now, no one could make a single shuffle…because if they did, who knows which of the serpents would break first.

"O-Ophiuchus…" the words escaped Yukino's mouth breathlessly.

Nic and Erik looked at the giant serpent spirit with silent calm in their eyes, but even they couldn't fully mask their shock from the problem at hand. But in their minds, something clicked.

"Erik, you don't think that…"

"Yeah, I know. There's no doubt about it now." He paused, his one eye watching his Ekans' tail rattle. "Figures that voice would have some venom to it."

Greninja took to Nic's front. Nic pivoted a little to be ready to turn in any direction. Both stayed as calm as possible as they never took their eyes off Ophiuchus.

The titan snake slowly lowered her massive head, glaring at the party before her. She hissed, her longue tongue rattling visibly. Ekans responded with a similar rattle from her tail. Ophiuchus did the same with Arbok, but all she got was a snobbish hiss of resentment.

Scoffing, the snake turned towards their Trainers. "It would seem…that my little entourage has arrived." The snake's tone was definitely feminine, though vaguely deep.

Yukino's eyes widened. "You can talk?" Now she was even more confused. Not once did Ophiuchus verbally respond to her. Was this her withdrawing from her own master?

"Alright, I'll bite." Erik sighed. "The hell kinda spirit are you?"

Ophiuchus hissed offensively. "Sharp tongue you have, venomous human." She wretched. "I am known as Ophiuchus, the Snake Charmer." She raised her head snobbishly. "The _Thirteenth_ Zodiac."

"Thirteenth?" Nic vaguely remembered Ophiuchus from the Grand Magic Games. Even then, he never saw her in the Celestial World when he and the crew went to liberate it. Something wasn't right here.

Ophiuchus snorted. "Must I repeat myself to you humans?" Ophiuchus scoffed. "No matter. It's not like it matters anyway."

Everyone was on pins and needles as Ophiuchus was engaging them so spitefully. They'd assume she was cooperating with Melchior, but something about her seemed ridiculously off. There wasn't an odd glow in her red irises. If anything they looked as territorial as Arbok's species. And to Nic that says a lot.

He took one look at Arbok, seeing him hiss in defense. _'Gate of the Snake Charmer…now it makes sense.'_ He realized. _'That explains Arbok and Ekans being drawn to her at the entrance.'_

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Erik chimed. "So you're the one behind this whole cave, right?"

Ophiuchus hissed defensively at Erik. "And if I am?"

"Uh, Ophiuchus…?" Yukino remained wary as she approached the snake. But she didn't get too close when he noticed Arbok and Ekans hissing in territorial dispute. She took a step back. "Listen, are you really…Ophiuchus?"

She scoffed, raising her head. "Do I look like anything else to you?"

"Well, no. But…"

' _She's as snobbish as Arbok alright.'_ Nic and Greninja thought. Together they opposed the massive snake.

"Excuse me, Ophiuchus." Nic interrupted. "Is there any reason why you dragged us all the way down here? Because if it's just to pull legs, it's not funny."

Ophiuchus hissed, her tongue picking up the whiff of Nic's power. There was definitely celestial remnants coming from him and his frog acting like a ninja. The snake's disposition only hardened. "I have my reasons."

"Is one of them because of something we did?" Yukino fret.

"Hmph. Is it so _wrong_ to allow one's master the distinct honor of knowing where her fellow spirits like to stay?" Ophiuchus facetiously asked. "Sounds pretty irresponsible if you didn't know better."

Yukino's own patience was starting to deter. She stayed focused.

"And to you." She turned towards Nic. "Why you when you're not my master? Well, I believe you have these two to thank for that reason." She looked down at Ekans and Arbok, both Pokémon glaring up at the serpentine titan.

"I get it. It's because you're a snake charmer, that right?" Erik surmised. With his Dragon Slayer hypersensitive hearing, it felt pretty obvious. But he chose to play along.

If Ophiuchus could smirk, she would.

"And yet Greninja isn't a snake." Nic pointed out. His eyes narrowed. "So what's the real deal here?"

Ophiuchus raised her head, flicking her tongue at them, specifically Greninja. "Well…I've been wondering why snakes would eat frogs in the wild. Is curiosity reason enough?"

By the looks on their faces that answer didn't sit well in their cores. She was messing with them, and that was driving their patience. What did she really want?

Nic kept his glare on Ophiuchus, but his posture shifted towards Erik. "What is she really saying, Erik?"

The Poison Dragon Slayer vaguely smirked. I could tell ya, but a lot of it isn't very nice language."

Yukino stepped up. "Ophiuchus. What is this place? And why are you here really?"

The snake looked down and slowly got to her elevation. Her nostrils were over Yukino's head as she got her guard up. She could smell the tension even from here.

"You really wanna know that badly, do you? Well then, guess since you're my master, I can make an exception." She lifted her head some, overlooking everyone there. "Listen well…the 12 Zodiacs were created from their constellations in the outlines of space and lightyears between their distances. As ages went by, these lightyears became visible to Earthland. These primary constellations are known as the Zodiac. The constellations and starlight seen after them started to follow. Soon enough, stars resonated from lightyears connecting with Earthland. As the lightyears refract from Earthland back to the stars, the animals they also refract on also are symbolized. It's a fable that is known as The Creation."

Yukino looked stunned. "You're saying…that all Celestial Spirits were born from stars?" She never really understood how spirits came around to begin with, not even old celestial books she once read held this sort of information. "So Libra, Pisces…even the king were born from their constellations. I didn't think that was possible."

"The primitive magic in the atmosphere of this world refracted back, giving the stars their own magical qualities. That was said to be the creation of the Celestial World you humans are so curious about. The 12 Zodiac were the first to set foot and make the rules of that world. However…" The subtle tone she had before was showing venom. "Even from the scraps of the great, one can still thrive. That's how I was born."

Everyone retained their silence. Nic and Greninja wanted to ask, but knew the answer would come to them.

"As the millennia passed and this planet's magical pressure arose, the concentration of starlight immersed around Astral. That energy drafted, picking up fragments of the celestial energy around Scorpio and Sagittarius' constellations are in the midst of their shifts. It all build up here… _my_ world."

Erik's one eye opened wide. "You serious?"

"Celestial Spirits that aren't born in their own world…" Greninja fathomed about it. He'd be a hypocrite if he said it wasn't possible. But then again, he went to other worlds himself with Nic.

' _So that's it.'_ Nic realized. _'So right from the start, she was outcasted by her fellow spirts.'_ He got a vague déjà vu about Giratina, his old foe. Somehow there was an uncanny resemblance to their reasoning.

Yukino furrowed her brow. "So then…you're saying that you were born here, instead of the Celestial World. But I thought you guys can't stay here very long, or else you'll die."

Ophiuchus scoffed lightly. "Look who's slow to learn. That's not my fault those few guys were unlucky."

Yukino frowned.

"This cave is _my_ home. It may _feel_ like the Celestial World, but it's not. But that illusion is enough to fool even the willful of minds. I was born here, and I soon came to _be_ this very lair. Yes, you heard me. Just as the king can barely leave his world, so can I with my own atmosphere. I, too, would suffocate from the changes if I were to be in their world."

They all watched as the serpent lowered her head, her red eyes beginning to brim some.

"They're worshipped…like gods. And I am forgotten. So, if not one can acknowledge what I am, then none are worthy of _my_ powers." The cave walls began to shudder as her rage grew. "I AM OPHIUCHUS! THE 13TH ZODIAC! SHE WHO WAS FORGOTTEN AND NEVER GIVEN THE CHANCE!"

' _Woah! She's pissed!'_ Erik stammered.

…

The shuddering of the caverns went all the way from the dark pits to brighter scenery above. As one of Canes' hounds as sniffing around, there was a vague magical scent in the air. The hound sniffed the ground nose-deep and picked up on a whiff of something. The hound barked and went straight back the direction it came from.

…

As the quakes receded, Ophiuchus calmed down. "Hmph! Seems I've gotten a little carried away there. My bad." She huffed. "Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk, as you humans would say."

"So she can manipulate this whole cave, like it's her own world

"Between Scorpio and Sagittarius' constellations…" Yukino backtracked to that thought. _'Those constellations are right next to each other. So she was in the middle of them…wait.'_ She realized something, turning towards Nic. "Excuse me, Nic."

Nic glanced at her. "Yeah, what is it?"

"When is your birthday?"

"December 11th. Why?"

Yukino glared up at Ophiuchus. "So it's like that. I was born November 30th. And if Erik's here…" her eyes narrowed. "Then that can only mean we were all born around the same time Ophiuchus' constellation is visible. And that's November 29th to December 18th."

Ophiuchus cackled loud, her large fangs showing their sharp ends. "Well now. Guess I need to take back what I said earlier about you. You _do_ know something about me."

"So that explains it. That's why we're down here." Nic realized.

"We're Ophiuchuses, huh?" Erik couldn't help but smirk. "You know, I heard a thing or two about what these signs represent at some point when Angel was still one. Apparently Ophiuchuses take defense rather than offense. They also hate rules and regulations of any kind, not very open, and are very selective with what partners they want. Likes sunsets and is attracted to water. And get bored with routine." he smirked at Nic. "Sounds about right?"

Greninja looked towards Nic, seeing his composure broken by that descriptively accurate saying. There was a wonder why Nic like the color purple so much…guess that explains a little. A lot actually. Nic sweatdropped. "S-shut up." He quipped.

"Ophiuchus, listen to me!" Yukino pleaded. "The Celestial World is in danger! If we don't do something to help stop King Melchior's plans, this world is going to be overrun by controlled spirits! We need your help!"

Ophiuchus snorted, lifting her head. "Hmph. Didn't you hear me before? I'm not one of them. So why should I feel obligated?"

"Because that's your fellow spirits. If you have any connections and are a Zodiac, then you should help!"

Ophiuchus' tongue slicked across her face. "Is there a rule here saying that I should? I fail to see how I'm affected by this."

"Ophiuchus…"

The snake hissed defensively at everyone beneath her. She decided to play a game. "If you really want me to care, then you'll have to do more than just talk me into whatever you want." She took a very defensive, striking position. "Prove to me that you are worthy of being my master. Do that, and I just might consider."

"What?" Yukino gasped. "Are you serious, Ophiuchus?!"

"My cave, my rules." Her red eyes glowed. "Unless you think you can do it by yourself."

Nic inwardly sighed. He new this wasn't going to be easy, given the stubborn, snobbish natures that she shared with Arbok, and particularly himself. Any right-minded person could tell this was a bad time to scuffle, but being a Pokémon Trainer, Nic had to be prepared to fight anyone at any given time. And now was one of those times.

"Yukino." He walked pass her. "I'm sorry, but we don't have many options right now. Besides…" he looked into the snake's eyes, seeing a fire in them. "You heard what she said, we Ophiuchuses don't play by anyone's rules but our own. So if she wants a fight…" he cracked his knuckles. "Then so be it."

Yukino swallowed a lump. It was going to be hard to accept, but she knew fighting was the only way. "…okay." She nodded.

Nic faced forward. _'There's only one Pokémon I know can prove our point.'_ He looked dead ahead. "Arbok!"

"Asss you wish." Arbok dutifully obeyed his Trainer for battle.

"Well this should be a hoot." Erik glanced at Ekans. "So girl, what do you say?"

Ekans hissed in response. It sounded like a yes. She glared at Ophiuchus as a blue aura encased her body, her Intimidate Ability lowering the spirit's offenses a little.

Yukino pulled out a Poke Ball. "Minior, we need your assistance!" She tossed the capsule, bringing out her levitating space rock that was healed from the earlier scuffle.

Ophiuchus glared at her foes, and objecting stare fixated like an iron wall.

"Ophiuchus." Yukino started confidently. "I may not be able to help you the way I want to, but if this is what you really want, then we'll give it everything we've got."

"I expect nothing less of people worthy of entering my world." Ophiuchus challenged. "Now…learn the _true_ might of the Snake Charmer, Ophiuchus!"

"Here she comes!" Nic warned.

Everyone braced for battle.

Ophiuchus wasted no time breaking into a breakneck lunge with lightning-fast reflexes. Nic stood in front and created a large turquoise shield that took Opiuchus' mouth head-on. The **Protect** stopped her attack, but the force of her lunge made the ground around the snake splinter to shreds. With the quake around them, they almost lost balance. Greninja used Nic's back as a springboard and shot skywards atop Ophiuchus.

"Greninja, **Return!** " Nic commanded.

Greninja's left leg glowed bright purple as he brought it up. Ophiuchus glanced up and saw a spiraling purple axe kick that bolted down onto her nose. A harsh shockwave caused the serpent to cringe upon impact; the same waves exploded throughout the chasm, breaking into the ground beneath Ophiuchus to cause her to fall back with a pained hiss.

"Arbok, to Greninja!" Nic ordered.

"Asss you wish!" Lurching back to build up springing, Arbok opened his maw and shot up at the frog.

Greninja descended and saw Arbok heading his way. The frog twisted his body and Arbok kept going. He unfolded his longue, pink tongue and wrapped it around Arbok's scarred waist. He twisted, dragging him around and flung the serpent at Ophiuchus.

The Celestial snake shook her head and noticed Arbok head her way. She bared her fangs and lunged full-speed ahead.

" **Helping Hand!** " Nic reached up, a golden aura enveloping his body as his palm was out. The same aura enveloped Arbok briefly, the golden glow empowering him. "Arbok, **Ice Fang!** " The cobra's fangs bared again, and this time glowed bright blue. An intense wave of frost and mist expelled when they turned solid ice, with icy aura fangs emitting as well. With help of **Helping Hand** , they were much bigger.

The frosted, fanged blitz and the titan snake met in the center, creating a massive blue flash that shook the entire chamber. Frost expelled everywhere as the two battled for dominance. Seconds later, a ceasefire in the airwaves happened. The two backed off, their attacks cancelling out.

' _She's strong.'_ Nic evaluated. _'Stronger than the other spirits we've fought before.'_

Arbok landed on the ground in coiled fashion. Ophiuchus looked down with defensive hissing.

' _We don't have much time. Think Nic! Remember your training…'_ He started thinking back to the past week on his status and strategy training. Power won't cut it all the time. This was one of those times. "Erik! Yukino! While she's distracted!"

Erik smirked. "Yeah, we hear ya."

Yukino nodded. "Right."

Ophiuchus lurched her body and went into a deep zigzag to ground level. She zipped across the ground towards all her adversaries.

With his Dragon Slayer hearing, Erik could hear what Ophiuchus was planning. "She's gonna make a curve at the last second to attack us. Watch for that." He relayed.

Ophiuchus went after Arbok, Ekans, and Minior, going at a fast rate. However, Erik was right. At the last second, she arched pass them, getting around them and behind the humans and Greninja. She slunk another coil to separate their Pokémon's fields of vision of their trainers. Once severed, she was atop with fangs wide open.

"Minior, quick! **Reflect!** " Yukino ordered.

Minior confirmed and its body glowed rainbow energy waves. Ophiuchus went shooting down onto them, hoping to finish them in one blow. However, a dense rainbow forcefield impeded her path, blocking the blunt of the impact. It slowed her down enough for Erik to make his move.

"Hey Nic, got a little distraction on ya?" he smirked.

"Okay." Nic complied. " **Double Team!** "

Minior's move wore off, allowing for Ophiuchus to continue diving. She crashed into the dirt, making a large shockwave dispel around her. When she lifted, she saw in the crater, there was Nic, only for him to vanish.

"Hm?" She looked around, seeing illusions of him everywhere around her. Everywhere she looked, she saw illusions of Nic running and jumping in the air. "How are there so many of you?" she scoffed. Behind her, she wasn't aware that Ekans was glaring at her.

" **Glare!** "

Acting accordingly, Ekans' yellow eyes glowed bright red. Ophiuchus notably went stiff as yellow static burnt around her. "What…is this?!" she stammered.

With her distracted, her underside was exposed, allowing for Erik to look up for her chin. Using his poison, he jettisoned off the ground in one hop. The poison gathered in his legs as he spiraled skywards.

" **Poison Dragon's Spiral Jaw!** "

He rotated upside down and delivered a kick to the chin. However, the serpent was notably agile. Even slow, she was able to dodge Erik's attack in midair, leaving him wide-eyed.

"Above you!" Ekans warned.

Erik looked up as Ophiuchus' tail came down with a hard blow. At the last second, Minior's **Reflect** activated again, taking half of the blow for him. But it was still enough to shoot Erik towards the ground. He backflipped and trailed along the earth, his hand gripping the ground.

As he trailed back, Greninja and Arbok sped alongside one another after Ophiuchus. The serpent's eyes were locked onto everyone and she swung her tail all around. It was a slow wrecking ball that completely leveled the ground, taking out almost all the illusionary clones of Nic in puffs of smoke. Greninja and Arbok jumped on at the last second and climbed along her long body towards her top.

"Don't think that you can get away from me!" Ophiuchus' insignias all over her body started glowing.

Greninja glanced down. "What's this-?!"

"Get out of there! She's using her venom blast!" Yukino warned.

The massive snake opened wide and a spiraling surge of bright purple-like energy was forming. From the long distance, they saw the dense beam of energy venom head their way.

" **Mirror Coat!** "

Nic suddenly appeared in front of his Pokémon, clad in a cross of his Mind Form and Toxic Form for Psychic/Poison. He crossed his arms and took the brunt of the venomous blast as his body had a mirror-like substance around it.

The venom burnt, but he toughed it out. He snarled and furrowed his brow. The venomous light wave was refracted off of Nic's body, beaming up along Ophiuchus' body to make purple explosions until they erupted along her face. The serpent cried out while Arbok and Greninja got airborne.

As dust stirred, Nic used **Teleport** and ended up on a knee. He looked up at the air to see Ophiuchus slowly falling back from the force of her attacked returned at double the power, and now she was open.

' _Let's try this now!'_ He looked up at Ophiuchus, an anger in her eyes as she saw Nic glare at her.

' _What is gonna-!'_

" **Purify!** " Nic faced the falling Ophiuchus with his hands glowing bright purple. He emitted a vague purple energy wave that went up Ophiuchus' body. The snake's static around her body was slowly vanishing, leaving her restored and movements back to normal.

This action stunned Ophiuchus some. She looked puzzled at Nic as she was gathering her bearing. "What the…why would you?"

"We're not here to hurt you like you think." A green energy wave emitted around Nic's body, recuperating what health he had lost from Ophiuchus' attack. "Besides…"

Ophiuchus was caught completely off guard. All around, the Pokémon were around her face, leaving her stunned.

"We're still here to win this! Greninja, **Scald!** Arbok, **Gunk Shot!** "

" **Acid** , Ekans!" Erik roared.

"Minior, **Ancient Power!** " Yukino called out.

Greninja took a deep breath and unleashed a monstrous breath of broiling, steaming water. Arbok unleashed a silver orb that turned into a black dumpster bag that bolted at intense, meteor-like speeds. Ekans brought her head back and unleashed a stream of purple acid. Minior's body glowed and generated an afterimage, swirling into an orb that it spun and fired into Ophiuchus.

All the attacks made instant impact with Ophiuchus, creating a massive shockwave that went off like a time bomb. Nic and everyone retained their footing as dust and rock spewed pass them. Nearby stalactites and stalagmites blew apart, shaking up the atmosphere all around them and made way up to the surface.

* * *

The mouth of the cavern shuddered thunderously. Everyone standing at the entrance was feeling the ground shift beneath them.

"Woah! What's going on?!" Happy shouted.

"Is it an earthquake perhaps?" Carla gasped.

Volans was shifting on his heels. The lying fish-man was feeling an incredible surge of pressure. "No, this is different. This is battle pressure being expelled underground. Someone's engaged right beneath us."

Erza's eyes widened. At her core, she knew something had to go wrong. _'Nic, what have you gotten yourself into now?'_

Barking was heard from the mouth of the cave. Lupus turned around and saw one of Canes run up to him, barking. The hound barked to Lupus, communicating with him.

"What's it saying?" Natsu asked.

Gray shrugged. "Beats me, I don't speak dog."

With one more bark, the wolf turned around to face his allies. "We've got a scent. There's a weak trail, but we can trace it."

"Alright! And that's where Nic and Greninja are!" Corvus smirked, until Sorano pushed him down comically to get to the front.

"AAHH! TAKE ME TO MY YUKINO ALREADY!" the white-haired maiden pouted.

"Right. Lupus, lead the way." Volans nodded. The humanoid wolf nodded and ran on all fours back into the caverns. "Everyone, follow one more time!"

Natsu cracked his knuckles. "Alright…" he darted into the caverns. "Let's get going!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

Erza whistled and Houndoom pounced to her side. She mounted him and followed him inside, tailing the wolf ahead of them. In her eyes there were resolution. _'Whatever Nic is going, I can tell he's doing everything he can. I have to do the same. This menace must be put to rest at once!'_

* * *

The quakes started calming as the last remnants of debris fell from the ceiling. Some stalactites were reduced to churned rubble that scattered to dust that fell into debris mounds around the cavern. Arbok, Greninja, Ekans and Minior were all staring ahead, as did their Trainers.

Yukino looked ahead worriedly. "Did that do it…?" She looked towards the others, seeing their skeptical expressions.

Nic and Erik glared ahead with heavy frowns. They had a feeling of what was happening, as unbelievable as it was to boot. But Nic knew better than to underestimate his chances. He and Erik remained calm, the two feeling something coming.

In the still silence, there was a light tremor that was picking up. It gradually grew, and debris was starting to shift around them.

"Greninja! Arbok!"

Moving as per experience, Greninja seized Minior while Arbok hooked Ekans onto him. Just as the ground shattered beneath, they lunged of to the sides as Ophiuchus emerged with groundbreaking force.

"NICE TRY!" the angry serpent screeched.

"She survived all that!" Yukino gasped.

Erik heard something through his ears. "Ekans, move it!"

Ekans was still latched to Arbok when she noticed something swinging over them. A tail. Ophiuchus' long end came slamming down, but just as Ekans was bracing for impact, Arbok was completely calm. In a split second, the two vanished, with Nic taking their place, via **Ally Switch**. What was even more intense was that he already created a **Spiky Shield** , crossing his arms to make a green forcefield of green, jagged needles that Ophiuchus' tail slammed into. The shock went through her and she recoiled while Nic used **Teleport** and landed beside Greninja, who released Minior.

"Thanks for the warning." Nic thanked Erik.

"Don't mention it." Erik begrudgingly responded.

Ophiuchus stirred in front of them, the damage seen clear from Nic's defensive counter. As she stirred, they were all watching something peculiar about her. As her tail swayed from side-to side, Nic was being observant as he saw the scrapes on the scales slowly regenerate.

His brow furrowed as he came to an assumption. _'Instant regeneration…'_

Ophiuchus ceased her pained cries and her tail looked good as new. She glared down at everyone, seeing them all on thin threads. "Tch, you're pesky prey." She lowered her head snobbishly. "Did you really think you could hit me that hard and expect me to stay down, in _my_ domain?"

"No damage." Yukino realized, her knowledge coming forth. "Wait, if this cave is similar to the Celestial World, then that means…she can heal herself continuously."

Erik scoffed. "Figures as much. This just became a pain in the ass." He looked at Nic. "Hey, Nic, too slow to think? All I'm hearing in you are mumbles right now."

Arbok glanced over at Erik, impeding his path of thinking. "Who do you think you're talking to you pointy-eared megaphone? You looking to end up six scales under?"

Ekans hissed at Arbok. "I can sssay the sssame to you."

Arbok snorted, scoffing at the smaller snake's words. "Let'sss sssee about that." He turned towards Ophiuchus, awaiting his Trainer's commands. He couldn't wait to tear into either snake…only by Nic's discretion of course.

' _The damage she takes instantly heals.'_ Nic figured. _'It's like Arbok's Shed Skin, but with Leftovers with it…'_ That's when an idea came to him. _'Wait…health. We can use that!'_

Ophiuchus opened her maw, unleashing another bright venomous blast across the ground into her foe. Nobody moved as the earth shuddered from the corroding blast of venom heading their way.

"Erik, you got all that?" Nic questioned.

Erik shifted in front of everyone, smirking. "Yeah, yeah. I hear ya." The attack closed in, but Erik stood his whole ground with a twisted smirk. His maw opened wide as he took in a deep breath, conducting all the poison in Ophiuchus' blast into a slurping sound.

Ophiuchus looked mildly stunned. _'He's ingesting my celestial venom?'_

With a window of opportunity, Nic reached out ahead of him. _'Gotta handle that healing mechanism first!'_ His fingers started glowing, magenta ripples expelling. " **Heal Block!** "

As Ophiuchus continued producing venom that her foe kept ingesting, she felt her whole world suddenly pulsate. A heartbeat. Black and gray momentarily filled her conscience as her body was stunned from an unknown force. But otherwise it didn't hurt.

"Arbok, go!" Nic ordered. Immediately, Arbok hissed and slipped passed all of them in jettison fashion.

"You heard him, Ekans, get moving." Erik told her. Likewise, the smaller snake went slithering off, much slower than Arbok's muscular training.

Ophiuchus saw the two snakes incoming her way and lunged again. She arched down at speeds that could break the sound barrier.

"Up, Arbok! Help Ekans!"

With reflexes to aid, Arbok lurched and snaked his tail around Ekans. Ophiuchus closed the distance, but Arbok lunged over. Time drastically slowed down as Arbok was doing a cartwheel over the forehead and flicked Ekans onto the back of Ophiuchus' neck.

" **Acid!** " Erik shouted.

Ekans reeled her head back and expelled purple acid down onto Ophiuchus' neck. The sizzling steam etched its way through her scaly armor, causing an unfavorable itch and sting that made the massive wild ride of a snake redirect her ongoing charge. The huge snake lurched upwards, positioning herself for a slope that Ekans slithered down from. She met Arbok at the base and the two slithered in different directions.

Ophiuchus turned and saw the two snakes. She was pissed. With an annoyed scowl, she moved her tail to swing at Arbok, but the cobra got low to avoid the blow. Ekans and Arbok went around Ophiuchus and met up, slithering away as Ophiuchus turned around to lunge back at them.

Nic's eyes glowed green as he clasped his hands together. " **Grass Knot!** "

Arbok turned around with Ekans as Ophiuchus headed their way. They watched as the snake closed in. But when she was so close, the ground cracked open, two twirling, glowing green roots twisted around one another around Ophiuchus' neck. With her being so heavy, the attack completely grounded her head, creating a intense depression that diced apart rock.

The uprooted rock was perfect platform for Arbok.

"Arbok, **Ice Fang!** "

"Ekans, **Bite!** "

Both snakes complied, with Ekans slithering dead ahead while Arbok used the suspended rocks to ricochet into Ophiuchus, his fangs glowing the same icy aura. The two snakes aimed for the red eyes, their biting attacks creating eruptions of ice and frost over one, and a small burst of smoke on the other. Ophiuchus screeched out as her head was still anchored by the twirled roots. Her whole body, however, writhed and moved like a roller coaster, crashing along the chamber walls to make landslides of rock fall around them.

As Arbok and Ekans were in midair, the latter coiled around so she wouldn't fall, the cobra looked up and saw a large rock falling onto him.

Just as he was going to react, a blast of poisonous scales shredded through the falling rock, dicing it into pieces.

The source belonged to Erik, whose hand was drenched in poison and scoffing amusingly. "There, that even enough for ya?"

Arbok and Ekans reconvened with their Trainers, the two watching Ophiuchus cringe and try to break herself free of the binds. From the way she was struggling, it won't be long. This was the perfect time to try and fully incapacitate her.

"That **Heal Block** won't last too long." Nic observed. For added measure, he took in a deep breath. "Sorry if we're gonna have to get rough a bit, Yukino."

Yukino clutched her fist to her chest. She understood what Nic meant, but even so, this was her spirit.

Nic took aim where Ophiuchus was pinned and spat a seed. " **Leech Seed!** " He shot a seed directly at her base. Once down, the seed sprouted into roots that started growing along Ophiuchus' body. They crawled up her immobilized frame and started draining some energy.

"That'll slow her down some." Nic said, glowing and turning to his Stone Form. He glanced at Erik. "Think Ekans can keep up?"

Erik moved his head with a fanged smirk. "How's about minding your own Pokémon for once?"

Nic took that as a yes. "Sure." He faced forward. "Alright Arbok, no more nice guy. Ready?"

"Yesss, Nic." Arbok glared ahead.

"Hey, Ekans." Erik quipped. "You really gonna just follow that cobra's lead the whole way? I think we can do better. Wanna show?"

"Absssolutely." She glared at Ophiuchus' figure, focusing hard on her target. Being a small snake was a pain, but so far she's been taking orders. It was time to mark her own territory.

As her eyes gleamed over, she gave an intimidating hiss, and not just because of her Ability. Something else. Her body was glowing, encompassed in a bright aura.

"Hm?" Arbok looked over at the glow.

"My goodness." Yukino gasped.

Nic looked over at the evolution with Greninja, the two realizing what was going on. As they were watching the glow envelop the snake, for some reason, they were feeling case of nostalgia develop. He felt too familiar with this feeling.

Nic smirked as he looked ahead at Arbok. _'Déjà vu.'_

The light started morphing, showing Ekans' body growing longer and thicker. Her upper-half was transforming into a hood as to where her maw started bearing sharp teeth. As the evolutionary light faded, a pair of sharp, dark eyes opened.

A shockwave was unleashed upon the evolution, with Erik's own Arbok expelling a loud, monstrous hiss that shook the air around.

"It evolved?!" Yukino gasped. Minior looked just as surprised.

"Showoff, much?" Nic argued calmly.

Erik stepped pass him. "Don't be like that. Figured you'd be flattered." He insisted. "And besides, now we both have giant snakes again. Happy now?"

Nic blinked, eyerolling away and looking passive. Though he did reminisce on the couple weeks of having an Ekans of his own before evolving to Arbok. "Nostalgia aside, we need to keep her incapacitated."

"Whatever you say."

The binds to the Grass Knot finally snapped. Ophiuchus turned around, showing her damaged eyes and a massive hiss of anger. One eye was wincing, and the other was completely frosted over with sharp, jagged ice. Her hiss sent shockwaves throughout the area.

"That's one hellish squeal she has." Erik sneered. "I can really do without that in my ears. Alright Arbok…" He reeled his head back. "On my mark."

Erik's Arbok nodded and waited for the signal.

Ophiuchus' one eye glared down at the two. Her vision was blurry, and she could've sworn there were two Arbok. It didn't seem right, even to her. _'Where did that other snake traitor go?'_ She flicked her tongue in the air, catching the same whiff. _'Her smell means she's still here…did she transform into a duplicate?'_ Her glare hardened. _'No matter...I'll decay them all!'_

She opened wide, spiraling venom erupting inside. That was the signal.

' _NOW!'_ Erik reared his head around and opened wide. " **Poison Dragon's…ROAR!** "

He unleashed a monstrous blast of roaring poison that beamed into the snake. Arbok reared her own head back and expelled **Acid**. The two blasts of poisonous material went spinning and expanding as Ophiuchus unleashed a torrent of venom. The attacks met in the center, making decaying airwaves that flickered every few seconds. Both sides battled for dominance, but it was clear neither was gonna give in.

With this opportunity, Nic took it. _'Now.'_ He looked towards Arbok. "Arbok, **Coil!** "

Arbok hissed as he coiled himself up. His muscles tensed as a red aura increased his Attack, Defense, and Accuracy.

"Yukino! Aim for the ceiling!" Nic shouted.

Yukino nodded. "Right, okay!" She didn't know what Nic intended, but she had to trust him. "Minior, **Swift** above Ophiuchus!"

Minior complied and manifested golden stars. It spun around, shooting the stars towards the ceiling of the chamber above Ophiuchus. They made impact, making a harsh rupture that broke several rocks off that fell onto Ophiuchus.

The spirit's one good iris glanced up to notice the falling rocks. She was forced to stop her attack to shift to her right. The falling rocks took her place as Erik and his Arbok's combined attack broke through, rotting them away.

' _Are they trying to keep me from getting a clear shot or something?'_ She didn't know what was happening, but the pain from **Leech Seed** was sapping at her energy some more. She cringed. _'And my health isn't going back to normal. Why?'_ she gasped. _'Wait…'_ She started flashing back to that sensation when Nic used that odd attack on her. _'Is that why I can't heal…this human…he used my strengths against me!'_

She locked eyes with Nic, seeing his calm disposition fixated on her. He had her right where he wanted her. A momentary sense of anger for the mastermind of wearing her down took over, and all the accents on her body began glowing out of rage.

"YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!" She slipped after Nic, her massive frame barreling with full might.

Nic stood by Greninja, the two waiting for the right time. "Arbok, one more **Coil**." Nic stated. Arbok did just that. He tightened himself further, his red aura indicating an even bigger increase in his stats.

Ophiuchus' maw opened wide. She screamed louder than before.

Nic swiped his arm with Greninja, the two going together in this.

" **Rock Slide!** "

" **Water Shuriken!** "

Greninja swiped his arms, throwing sharp, shredding stars of water that were like blue bullets. Thanks to the Mystic Water as well, it soared with aquatic rays as well. They disappeared into the ceiling as time slowed down. Right over all their heads, there were hundreds of blue flashes. The ceiling completely diced into pieces with sprays of water, catching everyone by surprise, even Ophiuchus.

The snake gasped. She looked up, seeing not only rocks falling, but as Nic grunted and swung down, distorted ripples showed falling gray rocks mixed in to completely baffle her. Her assaulted stopped completely with her guard down.

Erik smirked maniacally. _'There it is.'_ He fiendishly smirked. "Alright, sick her!"

Erik's Arbok obeyed and lunged for Ophiuchus. The snake's guard was completely off as she looked back down to see a flying cobra heading her way. _'No time to move! Damnit!'_

Erik's Arbok's fangs glowed bright white, her roaring hiss loud for all to hear.

" **CRUNCH!** "

She snapped down hard on Ophiuchus' snout, making a white gleam before it exploded. Arbok recoiled backwards as Ophiuchus winced and veered away, hissing in crying agony. The rocks closed in, and Ophiuchus was in freefall and her left eye shooting wide open. It was covered by shadows for a second before thousands of rocks swallowed those shadows.

The chamber quaked as the shockwaves of the Rock Slide and Water Shuriken splices rained down, bombarding Ophiuchus. Nic and everyone held calm as dust blew pass them. Nic's blue gaze didn't go anywhere but forward as he reached forward.

He snapped his fingers, his index finger pointing directly into the smoke and dust. His Arbok's purple gleam blitzed passed him into the shockwaves.

Within the realm of mounds of rocks, Ophiuchus' head was writhing. Her cries went hoarse as rocks kept falling, bombarding her. She was flinching, and what's worse, she lost even more health.

A slithering purple zipline ricocheted up the mounds of rocks falling, getting to the top where there was a pitch-black hole that lead to the surface. A closer examination revealed it to be Nic's Arbok, his fangs bared and ready. Ophiuchus looked up, her shock overwhelming her too greatly as time slowed down for the umpteenth time.

In a bright background, all went silent. Ophiuchus was standstill as she was looking up at the falling Arbok. At this point, in the depths of shock…it was clear who the snake ruler was.

With a simple clutch of the fist, Nic gave the word. "Arbok… **Earthquake!** "

The air was still silent, but Arbok wasn't. With a roaring hiss, the cobra's tail came down on Ophiuchus' head…

From the distance of the mountains and valleys, a distorted ripple blew for miles at the base of the hillside. Seconds later, rock formations and valleys split into fissures and exploded rock skywards from underground. The forests and nearby crags had shockwaves run up from underground, blowing into uncontrolled tectonic rage that ran to bases of other mountains. Slabs broke apart, and some areas depressed…especially where the epicenter was.

* * *

Everyone inside the cave covered up as the ceiling was cracking apart. Rocks were coming down on them hard, causing them to veer and move sporadically.

"Wah! What the-?! GAH!" Sorano squealed as she backtracked from a rock that almost crushed her.

"The whole place is shaking up like crazy." Gray covered up.

"Is this a battle taking place?" Juvia asked.

Through the earthquakes and rumbles, Sophie's Memory-Make was making her sense something familiar. A very venomous, powerful magical pressure. _'This celestial energy, it feels like…'_ She noticed a glow coming from Cana's card. The radiant shine surprised all of them. "Cana, your card."

Looking down, Cana looked at the Celestial Crew Card and pulled it out. She looked at the glowing symbol. _'It's reacting to something…'_ She looked down the shaking tunnel, her brow furrowing. _'Then that means…'_

Lupus' nose twitched. He looked back at everyone, giving a snarl. "We got a _real_ trail now! I'm smelling them alright!"

"Is it Nic and the others?" Happy asked.

Natsu sniffed the air. Like Lupus, he was now getting some vague smell. It was faint, but he could tell there was a trail of people here earlier. "Yeah, the dog ain't lying. I know Nic's smell when it's there."

"Yes, I'm sensing it as well." With her aura, Vanessa was getting faint flickers of Nic's Arbok's aura. It was strong, and she could guess why it was that. "They shouldn't be that farther now. Their signatures are layered beneath us."

"So they're underground?" Wendy inquired.

Erza stayed resolute ahead. "Lead the way, Lupus. We'll reach them faster if we pick up the pace." The humanoid wolf howled in compliance. He turned tail and darted into the caverns. "Everyone, move!" She ordered.

* * *

The falling rocks were reduced to dust that scattered in the atmosphere. As the dust brewed about, one wave cleared away, revealing a series of hot pink hexagonal shields overlapping everyone. Nic's **Wide Guard** cleared away once he was sure the fissures and magnitudes settled. Everyone was safe and sound as they looked ahead.

Arbok stood at the base of depressed earth. The entire chamber completely leveled about several feet down. It was clear by the fresh rock groves embedded in the walls. The rock on Ophiuchus was completely reduced to loose gravel, leaving her in a mound of small stone while her whole body was sprawled. The **Leech Seed** from earlier vanished to thin air.

Arbok raised his head, giving a victorious hiss of triumph.

Nic glowed into his default form. He looked at Ophiuchus' body, seeing he went extreme with the measures taken. "…sorry." He quietly apologized.

Yukino looked completely stunned. Her brown eyes were shrunk in disbelief, in more ways than one. _'Amazing…they actually beat Ophiuchus at her full strength. She was stronger than the rest of the Zodiacs.'_

"Well that was annoying." Erik huffed. "Hey Nic, could you have been a little less tactful with all that? It'd save us a lot of grief in the long run."

Yukino flinched. She turned towards Nic.

"I know." Nic strained. "Figured I wanna try out a couple of things I'm still working on." His mindset flashed back towards his battle with Emmanuel, skipping towards his training he's been doing to help integrate more status moves. _'Guess I need to work more on all that.'_ He glanced over at Erik. "Besides, didn't you say that an Ophiuchus is more defensive than offensive? Sounds hypocritical coming from you."

Erik saw the irony in Nic's backlash and smirked. "Fair enough." He turned towards his newly evolved Arbok. "Looks like you've gotten bigger, huh girl?" He scratched the bottom of her chin, causing her to hiss in glee.

The fallen spirit was trying to stand once more. Due to the effects of the celestial magic energy, all her physical wounds were recuperating at a quick rate. In no time she was stirring back up and glared down at her foes.

Nic stepped beside his own Arbok, looking fixated with a flare in his eyes. "You wanna go some more?"

A long silence passed as Ophiuchus glared them down. She looked at Erik's Arbok, who hissed defensively. Then at Nic's Arbok, whose glare was enough to make her submit. She knew she was bested, and wasn't afraid to show it.

"Tch…you're a very persistent bunch, you know that?" she scoffed. "It pisses me off."

The group knew Ophiuchus was being spiteful given the circumstances, but for the sake of the mission and their own fortunes they chose to take it as a compliment.

"You're a Celestial Spirit, just like the Zodiac…and that means you know a thing or two about keeping promises." Nic voiced. "So you know wanna fill us in on what else you know?"

"I don't know what you hope to gain from this…" Ophiuchus irritably hissed. She had to pay up her end of the bargain, even though it riled her to no end. "But fine, if you insist."

They all regrouped and looked in anticipation of what the serpent had to say.

"I am the one who is able to control the wavelengths of the celestial energy within this cave. Because of that, I am free to keep in and out anyone of my accord…provided they have my constellation representing them."

"Does this have to do with Melchior, I take it?" Nic inquired.

Ophiuchus scoffed, trying to ignore the human's inquiry. "Anyways, it happened one night, maybe some months ago in your human life. I saw a human walk to the base of my cave…"

 _Under the cover of night, outside the caverns with fangs, there were several silhouettes that approached the mouth. The one before them stopped, with the other following suite. He turned around, possibly conversing with them._

"I couldn't tell what they were talking about, but one of them chose to walk into my caverns alone. It was foolish, but I failed to see why I should be affected."

 _The human walked into the depths of the cave, his feet churning gravel. He looked around, seeing no sight of anything…or possibly anyone. He kept going, but at a slower, more alarming rate. He walked into Ophiuchus' chamber, where he stopped in the dead center._

"I was going to approach him for him to acknowledge my presence…" her voice trailed to uncertainty. "This human, he had some kind of aura around him. I was just amazed he was able to get this far, so I thought I'd see where it goes."

 _The human looked suspiciously around one more time, a vague grin seen on his face. In silence, and masked by a hood, the human passed by, walking to the other exit on the other side of the cave._

"After that, he just disappeared. Didn't see him come back out." She finished.

"Another human was here before us…" Yukino pondered. "And he was able to make it this far as well?" In her contemplation, she realized something. "Wait. Do you guys think it could've been the king?"

"Sounds about right if you ask me." Erik voiced. "Only those with Ophiuchus as their constellation would be able to get through this point."

"…or if they were a master of Celestial Magic." Nic surmised. "So you're saying the king slipped through here, and you didn't stop him? Why's that?"

Ophiuchus snorted through her nostrils. "It wasn't any of _my_ business. Besides, like I said, there was something abnormal about this human. A very strong celestial energy."

"But I don't understand." Yukino worried. "Why would his majesty wander through here of all places? What's beyond here?"

Nic and Greninja looked pass their point of view dead ahead. There was another opening from the other side, but it was hard to tell. And yet, somehow, they had a feeling that's what Melchior was after. Their glares fastened back on Ophiuchus.

"Ophiuchus…where does this cave connect to?" Nic inquired. By his tone, he sounded dead serious.

The snake hissed again. "You really wanna know? Beyond this point is a small tunnel that leads to the surface. It can take you to the base of the mountain slopes. There lies a narrow pathway that leads to Wyscan Hill."

"Wyscan Hill?" Yukino inquired. "Wait. Rufus did some readings of ancient languages. Wyscan translates to the modern terms for 'wish', right?"

"There is a presumed legend that is as old as the first Celestials themselves. It was rumored that Tetrabiblos, when he watched from the stars. He had blessed a hill with a spirit guide to grant wishes of those who are deemed worthy by the hands of this god."

Erik raise a brow. "So that's it, huh? This king went and made himself a wish. That explains why I've been hearing these things."

"What do you imagine he'd wish for?" Greninja asked his trainer. He had a feeling something as big as what happened couldn't have come without a price.

Nic furrowed his brow. There could've been a number of things he could've asked for. He could've wished for Lucy's key to be restored for one. But there could've been the drawback of having two of the same key upsetting balance. The king was smarter than that, and even he had to have followed some form of law of celestials to have his magic still. There's also the crown he had, but Jellal explained it was stolen from the museum…then again, it wasn't explained how it was stolen. What did he wish for that it mattered so much?

"You only get one wish, that's what I heard." Ophiuchus said dryly. "Now, I think that I've done my part. If you're done here, I'd like my peace again, thank you." She turned away. "I'm done with guests for a while. Be seeing you."

As she was going to disappear, Yukino stepped up. "Wait, Ophiuchus!"

The snake stopped at the behest of her master. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you about something. In the meantime, please, keep the passage open. We want to investigate everything possible about stopping Melchior."

Nic looked mildly surprised. "Yukino."

"It's okay, Nic…she won't do anything. We beat her fair and square." She looked over her shoulder at him, her brown eyes showing seriousness. "Minior and I will be okay, trust me."

Nic and Greninja looked at each other, then towards Arbok. The cobra was obediently silent, so his input wasn't essential. They mutually agreed on a decision, and Nic faced her.

"Okay then…but take this." He whipped out something that Yukino caught. She seized the long rope, looking at its hardened fibers. "Use that Escape Rope to get to the mouth of the cave. If anything goes wrong, use that, got it?"

Yukino gripped the Escape Rope and nodded. "Understood. Ophiuchus?"

The snake scoffed. "Hmph. Yeah, yeah. I won't do anything…just make sure whatever you're doing is quick. I won't hold the gateway open very long, you know."

Nic glanced at Erik. "You coming?"

Erik mounted his newly evolved Arbok, riding his back and hood. "Yeah, sure. Let's just hurry. I can hear the others clearly now."

Nic nodded. "Arbok, Greninja! Let's go!" At his command, he leaped and Arbok slipped beneath. He rode on his back and hood, and Greninja followed beside as the snakes carried their masters off back to where they came from.

With them gone, Yukino sighed in relief. Minior closed in on her to see if she was okay. "I'm okay Minior, thanks." She turned back towards Ophiuchus, a gleam in her eyes. _'Ophiuchus…'_

The snake laid off to the side, disinterested by the looks of anything, even Yukino. This was going to be tough.

* * *

Lupus pounced along the ground, with Houndoom not far behind. Together the two dogs and Canes stopped in their tracks, their noses having reached the ends of a trail in the middle of the area.

"They're close, I can smell them!" the wolf spirit announced. He looked towards the leading Canes hound. "This where the trail lead to?"

Canes barked. It sounded like a yes.

Wendy looked around, a very odd sense around her. "Is anyone else getting a weird feeling about this place?"

"Yes. So I'm not the only one then." Carla deduced.

"We're in the deepest parts of the caverns." Volans explained. "That earlier fissure must've created an opening to dispel whatever illusion was pushing us back to the surface." He looked towards the nearest wall to prove his point. "These formations and the spacing are more spread out than back where we came from."

"Could that have been from the earthquake?" Wendy nervously sweatdropped.

Corvus descended above Wendy's head. "Hey, give the guy a break. We live in the Celestial World. Not exactly much land to shake us around when it's a lot of stardust…" he raised a brow. "Unless you count the new land Nic made before."

"Yes, I remember that." Sophie chuckled.

Cana looked down at the glowing card in her hand, the shine far brighter to where it was almost blinding. "We got something alright! Everyone heads up!"

Erza looked ahead, seeing something heading their way. _'Bodies.'_ She summoned a sword for a high guard. _'An enemy?'_ She looked towards her sister-in-law. "Vanessa, can you tell?"

The Aura Mage used her magic to dictate what was being sensed. She felt the same auras as before, this time stronger. She knew who they were, and that made a sense of comfort wash over her. "It's okay, Erza…it's them."

"Nic!" Lucy gasped.

They all saw the figments draw closer. Once they were within eyesight, many completely dropped their guards when it was shown Greninja dashed and stopped before them. Beside him, Nic and Erik's Arbok stopped.

"See that? Told you I could hear their paddling around." Erik chimed.

"Yeah." Nic jumped off of Arbok, petting him along the cheek. "Nice work, Arbok. You deserve a rest." He pulled up his Poke Ball. "Return."

"Yesss, Nic." Arbok obediently went back into his Poke Ball, which Nic put away.

"Nic!" Nic turned around, hearing the voice of Erza and the others close in on them.

"Hey, Erza." Nic smiled. He was caught surprised when Erza suddenly seized him. Her iron grip almost crushing the air out of his lungs. "H-hey! Easy!"

"You idiot. You had me worried sick." She said over his shoulder. "You should know better than to leave my side."

While he could handle himself, Nic took his wife's words to consideration. He smiled, leaning the side of his head into her long, silky red hair. "Yeah, I know. Sorry about that."

Everyone else gathered around. Erza pulled away but remained close.

"Thank goodness we found you." Juvia stated. "We were starting to worry something happened to you."

"Cut us some slack too, would ya?" Gray chimed. "We almost got crushed because of an earthquake in here."

Nic blinked once, then twice. Realizing what happened, he scratched his head, sighing. "Sorry about that." He groaned. _'Right. Should've figured they'd look for us.'_

"We're so relieved to see you're all alright." Lucy lost her smile. "But, what happened? Why did you suddenly vanish on us?"

"Erik." Sorano approached Erik and his Arbok. "Have you seen Yukino?" she started to comically whine. "Because if you say you didn't, I swear I'm gonna scream until you go deaf!"

Erik gritted his teeth. He could definitely hear the desperation within her. _'Geez she's really gonna blow her top on me.'_

"Nic." Greninja warned.

Nic nodded. "Yeah, I know." He looked at everyone present, Greninja beside him ready to explain. "Everyone, listen. There's something we need to tell you…"

For the next five minutes, Nic and Greninja went ahead and explained in the shortest details of how they met Ophiuchus, along with how she was in here instead of the Celestial World. Their battle, and how she explained Melchior went through to the hill to grant some wish. By the end everyone had mixed reactions.

"You're kidding!" Natsu yelled. "You mean you guys fought that big snake spirit?!"

"You fought Ophiuchus?! _The_ Ophiuchus!" Lucy recalled seeing her in the Grand Magic Games. She heard rumors about her power, and she wasn't really enticed with how anticlimactic Kagura finished her.

"That would definitely explain a number of things happening around here." Carla furrowed her brow.

"O-Ophiuchus?!" Corvus fret. "W-wait…you mean the Ophiuchus that's said to have been more powerful than the rest of the Zodiac…! AND YOU'RE SAYING YOU BEAT HER?!" his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets in his perilous shock.

"There are only rumors and speculations about this lost spirit." Volans said, his gruff tone very serious. "There's but a few archives in the Celestial library about this maiden serpent who has been disclosed from our world. That would explain why she wasn't around when Lysandre immersed his claim on our world."

"And why I've been smelling all this poison." Lupus smelled the air, only to snort and covered his nostrils with his claws. "Blegh! Yup, definitely poison!"

"So where's Yukino?" Sorano asked again.

Nic turned towards her. "She's still back with Ophiuchus. Don't worry, the snake promised not to put up a fight."

"But she's still my sweet little sister!" Sorano argued comically, her fists balling. "Oh, that is it! Hang on, Yukino! I'm coming for you~!" She took off pass Nic and Erik, racing at breakneck speeds while everyone watched with nervous beads of sweat on their heads.

"KEYS!" An energetic Klefki raced for Sorano as well, hoping to reach Yukino, or rather more accurately, what she possessed. Her efforts were thwarted when Lucy's hand gripped her keytop firmly.

"No."

The firm tone made Klefki groan in defeat.

"Uh…should we stop her?" Lucy wondered.

"Honestly…" Bellona groaned.

"Sorano is a tough nut to handle, but she can handle herself just fine." Jellal mused. He looked towards Nic. "So, Nic, Greninja." The two looked at their ally. "Tell us more about this hill. You said that the king visited this place to make a wish. Was there anything else you found out?"

Nic shook his head. "No. We never went that far. Supposedly that's all Ophiuchus explained." He looked down at the ground in further contemplation. "But I think that whatever the reason he went up there, whatever he wished for, it came true…"

They all turned towards the other, getting a low sense of dread that washed up around them.

"Something that has to do with Celestial Spirits…and these constellations. Ophiuchus explained that the spirits were born from stars aligned with celestial energy from the cosmos…I didn't think about it until recently, but I'm getting why Melchior is doing this."

"Nic." Erza sympathized, but stayed quiet for her husband to make sense.

"But that doesn't make the actions he's doing for his motives any less worth it. He's controlling the Zodiacs and remaking an army to overtake regions, all just so Celestial Spirits and their magic won't die out. If there's any way we can stop him before it's too late, we don't have much options."

"So then…what do we do?" Corvus nervously asked.

"We'll sitting around here isn't gonna be a good start." Cana quipped. "That king's on the move with Lucy's spirits. We stand around we won't get any good results."

"Cana's right. This is no time to fall back on the impossibilities." Erza declared. "Everyone, listen up. If what Ophiuchus says is true, then there are two ways we can go about this. If we can find out more about this hill and its wish-granting, we'll be able to use that as an advantage." She turned towards Sophie. "Sophie."

"Yes, Erza?"

"Are there any archives you're carrying right now relating to Wyscan Hill?"

The mage looked towards her Kadabra, who used **Confusion** to help spread out the stack. Sophie reached and pulled out a few archives, showing them to everyone. "These were the only two I was able to bookmark." She answered.

"Very well. We'll need to be ready in the events that the hill will not be enough. If I recall correctly, his majesty should be amongst the Celestial World. And one day in there is equal to three months in our time."

Natsu smirked. "Then that means we've got plenty of time to prepare for a big fight. We can douse them in one swift sweep once everyone's stronger."

"Maybe not." Lucy interjected.

"Huh? What are you saying, Lucy?" Natsu questioned. "Isn't that how spirits work?"

Lucy bit her thumbnail. "This may sound hard to believe, but isn't Astral's atmosphere similar to the Celestial World's atmosphere? Melchior also controlled the stars now…" her eyes narrowed. "So that means space and time must've been distorted between these two worlds."

"Okay, now I'm _really_ confused?" Happy pointed out.

"Basically she's saying that the flow of time is completely off track thanks to that king. For all we know, time may actually be faster or the same in Earthland means."

This news completely surprised Happy. "So you're saying he might have all the spirits under his control already?!"

"This isn't good. There's no telling when he'll be ready to strike." Gray deduced. "We need to hurry up, and find out when he'll be here."

Juvia nodded in agreement.

"We'll need to split up at this point." Jellal suggested. "Our priorities are in two places at once. We'll be able to cover more ground if we go our separate ways."

"That's perhaps our best course of action." Erza agreed. "If the sea is connected to the Celestial World, then we'll have to stop him there. We'll need everyone at full strength to make it through to morning."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Some of them were aching for a second round against the king's men - Natsu especially for Charmeleon's sake. With so few possibilities of the links, this was the only way.

Sophie stepped forward. "If it's alright, I think we should go investigate the hill as well." She offered.

"Sophie?" Vanessa questioned. "Are you sure about this?"

The blonde gave her a smirk. "What's the matter? You afraid? I'll be just fine, Vanessa…just trust me on this."

The Pularis girl didn't have a good feeling about this, but she knew better than to misplace her trust on her best friend. She sighed. "…okay. Just be careful."

"Aren't you one to talk?" she teased.

"Greninja, you ready?" Nic asked.

The frog nodded. "Yeah." He looked towards Corvus, Lupus, and Volans. The spirits nodded in agreement, all their determination afoot to stop Melchior and free their allies. Sophie and Cana felt the same way. Lucy looked at Klefki with nods exchanged as well. This was one battle they could not afford to lose. They needed every angle covered to get the Zodiacs free of control, for them, and the spirit mages.

"Nic." Vanessa had a passionate aura with her as well; she was just good at keeping a relaxed disposition.

Nic nodded at his sister. "I know, Vanessa. We're ready." He looked at Erza. "Erza, you in?"

The redhead smirked. "Would I ever _not_ be?"

Smirking at his wife beside him, he faced forward. "Alright then…let's go."

Everyone who was energetic raised their fists and yelled out in battlecries. Erza raised her sword high as her Houndoom and Lupus howled in unison. As they lead the pep cry, Duncan was in the back, keeping quiet and clutching his makeshift weapon tight. He looked up to see Sophie making eye contact with him over her shoulder. Once again, the two found themselves in a small deadlock, and Sophie was once again seemingly drilling not him.

Duncan scoffed, turning away. But he was ready to battle on his own terms. "Tch."

* * *

"Raticate, **Hyper Fang!** " Kevin shouted.

The overhyper rodent opened his bucked teeth wide and started cackling. The fangs elongated, and he we darting ahead. "SO CWAZY!" He lunged into the air, meeting the opposing wild Vivillon in midflight. With a sharp snap of the jaws, a white shockwave enveloped the air. Raticate jumped down with a soft landing, but the Vivillon wasn't as lucky.

It smacked into a nearby tree, the force being from the critical hit factor of the move ultimately defeating the Bug-type.

"That'll leave a mark." Dereece flinched, the snap feeling painful on the skin.

"Yeah, ouch." Joey grinned. "But it works. Way to stick it, Mister P!"

Ella smiled. "Congratulations, Papa."

Kevin thanked them and turned towards Raticate. "Alright, good job there Raticate. Good reaction time."

Raticate shuddered with glee and looked like he was ready to burst. "Haha…HAHAHA!"

The group sweatdropped behind the mentally unconstitutional rodent as he was laughing. His laughter wasn't exactly affectionate like Joey's party fever, that's for sure.

Kevin inwardly sighed. _'…note to self: Make sure Raticate gets his sleep.'_ He held up his Poke Ball. "Well…return." He recalled Raticate without any problems. Once he was put away, he turned towards the group. "Okay, that should do it. Wanna keep moving?"

"Sure thing." Joey grinned, turning towards Dereece. "Though, you know, I'm still so~ sore from using my magic yesterday. Wouldn't it help to have, oh say, more pairs of legs to help my body get ahead…just saying."

Dereece gave his Captain a dry stare. "It's too early in the morning for this."

"Thank you for clearing the way for us, Papa." Ella smiled. "We very much appreciate the efforts of you and your Raticate."

"It's all good." He replied. "Though I'm sorry if Raticate does…you know…scare you, sweetie."

"I am not scared, Papa." Ella nonchalantly said. "I believe ADHD is a very common occurrence in such species capable of interpreting."

Once again, Kevin found himself stumped at her overzealous insight. _'Wait…so all this time, Raticate's condition was ADHD. I figured he had a lot of impulsive energy, but…'_ He turned back towards Ella.

"Hm? What's wrong, Papa? Was it something I said?"

Kevin was getting a little suspicious of how smart exactly Ella was. She was definitely smart enough to figure his perverted behavior without thoroughly knowing it. But looking at her, he can't bring himself to accuse Ella of something she isn't. He softly smiled. "Nothing, Ella. Just Papa thinking is all." He walked onwards. "Alright, care to lead us?"

"Okay…" Ella proceeded but slowed down at Kevin's behest. "Um…I don't suppose that's another 'That's what she said' quotes…yes?"

"Maybe." Kevin winked.

As they walked close behind, Dereece was rubbing the back of his head. "We've been walking for about an hour now. It's gotta be around daybreak soon, right?"

"Beats me. I ain't a morning person, bud." Joey shrugged.

"You mean you _used_ to be." Dereece corrected.

Joey sighed. "Yeah." He couldn't believe it himself. He'd be dancing late and waking up near 9 or 10 in the morning, but after the hardships of losing Broly and Camilla, and adopting some serious habits, it was like his whole world reflected on a mirror. He never knew waking up at 6 in the morning could make him this different.

"Captain." Dereece's tine turned serious. "Do you think the island might have…you know…"

"Hmmm…" Joey raised a brow as he knew what Dereece about yesterday. But before he thought too far ahead, the sound of a rumble was echoing around them.

They all stopped as the vibrations were starting to grow.

"Is anyone else hearing that?" Joey asked. He knows he's hearing alright. He checked his hearing aids.

"Hearing what?" Kevin looked down at his feet, seeing a growing magnitude. The seismic waves growing were causing pebbles to shake and stir beneath. His brow furrowed. "…Ella, stay back."

Ella looked up the slope they were coming by. She looked completely transfixed as she and everyone looked towards the source of the erupting shockwaves. All at once their eyes shrunk.

Joey nervously pointed at the incoming threat. "Uh, am I tripping, or is that, eh…?"

"RUN!" Dereece screeched.

The vibrations turned into a full-blown rupture that almost knocked them off their feet. Kevin pulled Ella away just as a large wave of land collapsed from overhead. The landslide sent waves of mud and trees barreling in their direction. Joey lagged behind and swiped his arms.

" **Barrier-Make: Barrier!** "

Creating a large clear shield, the seismic landslide was sliding into it like a tidal wave. Joey gritted his teeth as he was doing everything he could to hold the barrier up and project the landslide pass them.

Everyone behind him gained a safe distance from the sliding formation thanks to Joey. They looked back, watching the unbeatable shield do his thing.

Moments later, dust and bark completely settled. The landscape soon settled into the mass that left them all stunned. There was a deep indent where land was supposed to be, and tree bark and rocks ingrained from below was uprooted.

Joey slowly backpedaled into a trip onto his butt. His barrier dispelled, but the shock was still fresh on his mind.

"Captain!" Dereece and the others ran up to Joey, kneeling beside him. "You okay?!"

Joey flinched as he was coming around. He shook his head, trying to come around. Dereece and Kevin helped him up to his feet.

"Ugh, thank guys." He straightened himself and looked around. "Everyone okay?"

"We're just fine." Dereece assured.

Kevin looked back at Ella. "Ella, you good too?"

The child nodded. "Yes. I am without injury, Papa."

Dereece sighed in deep relief. He looked back ahead, seeing a long stretch of land before them completely gone. "Well that could've been a lot worse. But now what?"

Joey looked ahead, seeing the problem with a raised brow. "Yeah, that happened so quick. All that land just… _woosh_! Like it had somewhere to be."

He and Dereece exchanged awkward looks. The point he brought up earlier about possible terraforming crossed their minds. But no matter how they saw it, this still didn't feel right to them.

Kevin knew that with his Search Magic he could tell where to go, but it was still down. He looked towards Ella as their guide, a serious look on his face. "Ella, can you still hear that voice?"

Ella scrunched up her face as she tried focusing. There was a short silence that followed before she could face her father. "Yes, I believe that it's still audible. It's telling me…" She meekly turned her head to the woods beside them. "That it's in there."

The three guys faced the deeper layers of the forest. It didn't seem so bad at first glance, but it was eerily quiet. No Kricketot nor Kricketune were playing tunes to make them feel better, which wouldn't have helped.

"Guess we don't have much choice." Dereece said. "Captain, got anymore Repel on ya?"

Joey shook his head. "Sorry Dereece, I only had 10 on me. We used them all." He affirmed. "I'll put Trubbish in front. That should lower the chances."

There was one more silence as they all faced forward.

"So…you guys ready?"

Kevin and Dereece nodded.

"This way, Papa!" Ella skipped into the dawning woods, with Kevin close by and the others tailing. Much like earlier, Dereece took one more look back at the spot where the landslide happened. Something abnormal was going on here. He had this strange feeling something was looming, but he couldn't place it. It's been bugging him for a while now. But as much as he wanted to fret he had to keep up. He caught up with the others, making a break for the woods.

The area was silent as they were all gone. On the higher altitudes of the landslide ravine, it went all the way to some wet rocks. With nighttime still, they were all still oblivious to the dark clouds that dissipated over an eroded cliff. Over it something looked down to watch them embark into the woods. With a sharp turn, the figure backed out of sight, the two others turning to follow.

* * *

The Celestial World had a mass of twinkling lights that could've been mistaken with reams. Anyone who entered this world would automatically be raptured with these cosmic assortments, so much they may not be able to breathe – if they weren't wearing the right clothes. Special fabric created in the Celestial World was needed to breathe here. This place was sacred after all. High quality and purity are what it's all about. At least, that's what it was. After the chaos of Lysandre out of killing time to bide for Nic, the repairs to the purity of the world have been underway. As of now, the streams and celestial currents were clear again, the blood of posthumous celestial finally washed away. What was evident about the changes made reflected on the newly established earth that Nic made.

One day in the Celestial World meant three months for Earthland. It took some time, but the remaining spirits were used to the space they have now. As many were frolicking and playing with what's left of their brethren, they noticed something heading their way. An army.

Melchior's army followed in neat rows behind their leader. He and his advisors were guarded by the Zodiacs as they lead them along the trail towards the Celestial King. Along the way, Auriol was raptured by the twinkling lights around her, a soft smile on her face.

"Huh?" Curious, Vita looked at Auriol's dreamy expression. "Huh, she okay?"

"It is fine, young one." Caius stoically said. "Our lord has seen Lady Auriol's dream. As king, he made it reality…as it is his own." He looked at his majesty as he walked, his illustrious cape flowing with him.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Vita heavily sighed. "But what about my wish? Don't I get one?"

"And what might that be?" Caius wasn't generally interested in anything but loyalty towards his king, but for the sake of his allies he could strain to show a little curiosity.

"Well…" Vita beamed with a bright smile. Her bodily pattern turned outright girly. "I _really_ just want a Celestial Spirit! They're so cute and cuddly! And they're so much fun to play with, especially the small ones! I just wish I could sleep so peacefully with one as a pillow!" She was lulled into a dreamy sigh. "I just hope we see some soon."

Caius raised a brow. "I see."

"Ahhh…that's what'll get me to sleep a lot faster." Her expression sulked to a saddened pout. "But, they always have to go back. Would it kill to just have one spirit that I could have around all the time to play with?"

"And you will, Vita." Melchior promised. "Why, would you like one right now?"

Vita perked up at her uncle. "You would really do that for me, Uncle?!"

"Of course. I wouldn't be worthy of being called a king if I didn't fulfill the desires of my pupils. You all deserve that much at least."

He stopped when he saw a bunch of Nikora together. They all turned around to look at the unfamiliar humans nearby with the Zodiacs afoot.

One of the spirits tilted his head, his beady eyes fixated with genuine curiosity. "Puuuuun!" it cooed.

Vita immediately gasped as her eyes were glistening with sparkles. "It's so cute!" she squealed.

"Would you like that one?" Melchior questioned.

Vita vigorously nodded. "Yes, please, Uncle!"

He chuckled. "Alright, but play nice."

"I will!" Vita skipped up towards one of the Nikola, the plain white one that she had her eyes on. She bent down, getting eye level with it. "Hi there, cutie!"

"Puuuuun." It responded.

"My name is Vita, and starting today, I wanna be your new friend! What do they call you?"

"Puuun…"

Vita tilted her head. "Plue? Well isn't that just adorable. Come here." She grabbed the white spirit and sniggled him close to her face. "Oh this is so great. We're gonna be best friends, I can tell."

"Puuun…" Plue, being extremely uncomfortable with how forward she's being, tried to get away. However, he was much too small and weak to act. He struggled, only for it to be in vain. "Puuun…"

Melchior watched his niece fiddle contently with a spirit; Bion approached his side with a soft smile. "Milord, we are truly humbled by your kindness. You've given us all that we have now asked for. And yet you ask for not."

Melchior continued to watch as Vita nuzzled Plue, who was helpless in the chokehold. "Please, Bion, now are just flattering your majesty." He insisted. "I am merely following the path that will take all of us to our dreams. Not one person's ambitions is considered selfish. In essence, humans all are selfish…but if that's the case, to be selfish for another, would that also be selfless?"

Auriol firmly shook her head. "Of course not, Milord. Our goals are yours. What you seek for our sake is but yours first. We apologize."

"It's fine, Auriol." He smiled to his mistress. "Thank you."

"Milord." Oberon stated, getting his attention. "We should stay on task. True to form as you fulfill these wishes, there's business before only so much pleasure."

"Suppose you're right, come, everyone!" Melchior continued his trail, his army continuing the trek. As he passed along, the crown glowed, and the Nikola that were around Vita and Plue had glowing red eyes. They joined the army in a zombie-like fashion. "Vita, you coming?"

"Coming~!" She chimed. "Let's go, Plue!"

"Puuuun."

As they went along their way, there was a red, twinkling star that glimmered in the distance. It wasn't noticeable by human eye, but its bright glow was hiding in plain sight.

"Puuun…?" Plue looked up at the red star, watching it follow them. The red star started blinking, and Plue stared blankly. "Pun pun…" He saw that in closer range, the star's glow receded meekly, revealing Staryu.

The starfish swam through the celestial water. It was locked onto Plue, who was being taken by his own will – not that Vita noticed of course. She was too glee to realize Plue's little moans up to the star for help. "Hm? What's that Plue?" She looked up, but only saw a red star. But with how there were so many, she thought little of it. "Huh…that one's bright. How lovely."

"Puuun…" Plue gave one more look at Staryu and fell silent. He was taken along quietly. Staryu silently followed, drifting quietly as his core's light help block him as a fellow red star.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Joey sleepily asked. He seemed more tired the more they walked. He let out a loud yawn. "I feel like a Rhyhorn just used Stomp on me."

"We've been following her for a while now, Kevin." Dereece pointed out. "Are you sure this is the right way?"

Kevin looked at Ella as she looked at him briefly. She silently nodded before turning back. "Do not worry, Uncle Dereece. I can hear it clearly." She insisted. "We're near, I promise."

Dereece's discomfort didn't falter for a second. He wanted to use Yanma again to get another perimeter check, but with it being night still it would make things that much harder to see. He sighed.

"Well, as long as we don't run into anymore trouble. We've had enough of that since we've gotten here."

"We should be there soon." Kevin said.

They all continued the walk towards their unknown destination. Ella walked beneath a branch calmly, while Kevin and Joey tried to catch up. They both moved the branch as they passed along, only for it to smack into Dereece's face and ground him. Ella's pace continued escalating as she hopped over a very small stream. They all followed, with Dereece almost slipping.

"Ella, slow down!" Kevin yelled, but she was almost out of earshot.

"Man, for an 8-year-old, she's can move." Joey admired. "Where she get that energy?"

"I don't know." Dereece nearly tripped as they went uphill. "But last I checked, 8-year-olds also _don't_ have this kind of intelligence or sense of direction."

"Well Tranquill did when he evolved from Pidove, remember?"

Dereece cocked a brow, trying to wrap his head around Joey's counter. _'That isn't the same thing.'_ He sighed. _'Oh well…hey, is it getting brighter?'_

For a brief moment, up ahead, Ella stopped at the top of a small clearing in the hill. Her curious gaze fell towards eastwards. She was transfixed on the first signs of light coming up from the distance. She watched as some of the nighttime creatures like Volbeat and Illumise begin to fly off towards places to sleep for a few hours. Though it'd still be a while, something about the vast colors kept her mesmerized.

She's never seen anything like it. When dusk fell, the colors were such a dark hue. The rays had orange and red sandwiched with blue and yellow. The nighttime was so crisp with black, and strangely red stars that glittered. Daytime was also something she experienced, bright sun and blue skies that warmed her skin. Now…it was daybreak. And for the first time, she was witnessing the rise from a cold sea.

As strange as of a feeling it was…it made her feel something. It felt warm.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Ella looked up, seeing Kevin beside her. He watched daybreak with her.

"You know, kid. I'll be honest. I hardly ever see these things. It's too early for my liking."

"Possibly because you are prominent to nighttime activities to appease your fetishes that you cannot fully express in daylight hours." Ella surmised.

Kevin meekly chuckled. He patted Ella's shoulder. "But you know, seeing these sometimes…it makes me feel happy. Not so much because I have nothing to do…but it's that kind of first glimmer. You know when you're in a slump and can't get out of it…" he realized what he said and sweatdropped. "Sorry, forgot you didn't know. But, what I'm saying is…even if you don't have memories before, you can always look ahead for new ones. Okay, they're not all that good, but that's part of life." He smiled softly. "And I think there's hope for you."

Ella took a long silence. She wasn't sensing anything perverted about Kevin. No, far from it. This felt like genuine care. Believe it or not, that little warmth she had made her break a very small, weak grin towards him.

"And as for me, well…" he smirked proudly. "That just means another day and another chance with the ladies. Night's young, but so am I!"

The soft tone they had was brought to an end. The little girl turned towards the direction they were supposed to go in.

"…that voice. It's calling louder." She said flatly, turning towards Kevin. "Papa…you wanna come?"

"That's what she said." Kevin teased.

Ella smiled softly at Kevin, who returned it. She lead the way, and behind Kevin followed.

"Giddy up ya slow Skiddo! Hiya!" Joey, having found himself on Dereece for a piggyback, directed him ahead. Dereece wheezed as he hauled him.

They continued their ways until they made it pass a trail that went beyond a waterfall. The crashes continued pounding rocks and flowing through streams beneath ravines that Joey went over thanks to his Barrier-Make. They continued following Ella pass the falls, but even then, as they observed the falls, Dereece's brow furrowed.

He started thinking back to when he and Joey were atop the cliffs. He recounted seeing waterfalls, but his suspicions about that weren't fully satisfied. _'Was this waterfall here before?'_ He looked ahead, a worried look on his face. _'This island…where are we?'_

"Over here!"

Everyone went up to Ella was she stood at the edge of a grotto. They all gathered around and watched her pull away some leaves and shrubs. Kevin supported her. She walked a few paces, overlooking the destination. She slowly pointed ahead.

"There…"

Everyone looked up, their faces falling at the sight.

Beyond the small grotto, they saw an open dirt field secluded by trees. Vines and overgrowth mounted on the wall of the mountainside around a pitch-black opening. A cave. Even from the closing distance, everyone could feel an eerie silence befall them as they stared into the cavern. Joey took this very seriously. Even he knew something about this was up.

They all watched Ella saunter forward, with them lagging behind.

"I don't like the looks of this." Dereece shook his head.

"Yeah, neither do I." Joey said. Even he wasn't that dumb to know suspicion when he feels it. "Did we see a cave when we were walking around before?"

"No."

Kevin turned to his daughter. "Ella, is this where you think you hear the voice from?"

Ella looked back. "Yes, Papa. My hypothesis is that this place is unlikely exploited, let alone tangible. If memory serves, this would be where the missing people are, correct?"

Kevin furrowed his brow. They checked all over the island, and they rather not go in the rivers to check for bodies. "…if you say so. Let's just be careful."

Ella nodded. "Understood." She turned back around, starting for the caverns. This allowed Kevin to talk with his allies.

"Guys, you feeling something?" he asked.

Joey nodded. "Yeah, big time."

"This isn't a good idea." Dereece proposed. "Are we sure about this?"

Joey gave him a skeptical look. "Honestly bud, it beats me…" He looked ahead. "But you know, there might be Pokémon that lives in the caves and underground."

"Yeah, I guess so." He relented. "But we better watch our backs…no telling what can pop up and gobble us out of nowhere."

Ella continued walking until she made it to the center of the field. As she looked into the caverns, they were all unaware of her stare. It had Kevin's eyes, but around her head, her veins were shining bright blue, something flowing within them. Her eyes dulled some, the light in them fading. Something wasn't right.

"Ella…what's the matter girl?" Kevin fret. Suddenly he watched her turn around, running back towards them. "Ella, what's wrong?!"

"Papa! I feel something!" she yelled.

"What is it?!"

"From below! Look out!"

In the midst of the confusion, a massive rupture caught everyone by surprise. Arise of dirt and dust made Joey and Dereece gasp. They looked skywards, while Kevin looked ahead at the dust cloud. He saw Ella racing for her life at them, something massive quaking behind her.

Reaching into his back, Kevin quickly threw his lacrima kite. "Ella, catch!"

As she ran, the lacrima plopped close by, transforming into the lacrima kite. She pounced on all fours onto its back and glided away before something massive slammed into the ground. She ascended to avoid the shockwave and drew towards Kevin.

"Ella!" Kevin watched as Ella circled around from above and dropped beside him. He caught her, while the lacrima kite reverted to ball form. He put her on the ground and stayed in front of her. "Stay close."

Ella nodded worriedly as Joey and Dereece stepped beside Kevin to face this new foe.

The dust cloud stirred, the rumblings still massive.

"What do you think it is?" Kevin asked.

"Something tells me we're about to find out." Dereece glared.

It was still dark out, but they could see the dust wave beginning to swing away from something inside. A long tail with a hard end swung up, with a long silhouette arching into the air.

Looking skywards, Joey's eyes shrunk with shock. "Aw…snap."

The sound of iron was grating against their ears as the long body arched up. Inside the dust cloud, red glares were seen seething into them. Dereece backed up with Kevin as the figure's head arose out, revealing its form.

The creature was primarily a massive serpentine structure with body segments of massive iron rock-like ore. On some segments there were spikes hanging out that went up to an iron tail end like a stalagmite. The had was round, but very rough in several places. It had two massive fangs of iron jutting up, indicating it's male. His red eyes were full of power and ferocity.

The massive iron snake was in full glory as the dust dispelled, allowing him to expel a loud roar that showed his many rows of flat teeth that could eat through solid rock.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Kevin gasped.

"Are you serious?! A Steelix?!" Dereece exasperated. "C'MON, MAN! IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS!"

Joey reached back and pulled out his PokeDex. He held it up and began analyzing the new obstacle.

" **Steelix, the Iron Snake Pokémon. It chews its way through boulders with its sturdy jaws. Its eyes can see in the darkness underground.** "

Gathering the data, Joey looked up at their foe, feeling more than disturbed. "A Steelix, here of all places?" he frowned. "Just when we were so close…"

Massive iron snake let out ear-splitting roars that shook the earth beneath it. Its wake was so massive that it made everyone cover their ears. The Steelix looked around, checking about the surface. It noticed the four humans that were in front of it, glaring them down. His red eyes curiously inspecting them.

"Uh…why is he looking at us like that?" Dereece quipped between his chattering teeth.

" **Humans…** " The Steelix's deep, grizzly voice was low. He looked at all of them, his eyes cascading to all three men and widening. " **GRROOOOAAAH!** " He unleashed another shriek that shook the air.

"Oh crud, he's mad!" Joey realized.

"You think?!" Kevin backlashed.

" **Depart at once!** " he demanded rudely. " **Beyond this you go no further! Leave!** "

"Wait, what?!" Dereece gasped. "Is this his territory?"

"We better think fast, he doesn't look too happy to see us right now." Kevin fret.

Steelix's hostile gaze drifted from the three men towards the little girl behind Kevin. He looked deeply into her, as she did to him. As if by some level of instinct, his eyes narrowed and he expelled a vile roar again.

"Ella, look out!" Kevin warned.

Ella remained still as Steelix opened his maw at her.

The creature gathered golden and brown energy between its teeth, aiming carefully at the little girl. Once ready he whirled his head and launched the orb at Ella, shooting straight across the ground.

The attack was a massive globe that stayed on its path. Kevin moved in front to shield with his back. As he held onto her for the worst-case scenario, Joey stepped in front and created a barrier to take the attack. A rupture of bright gold and smoke erupted, quickly dissipating and Joey lifted the barrier.

"That was **Smack Down**." Joey grunted.

"Ella, are you okay?" Kevin concerned.

Ella looked to him and nodded. "Yes, Papa." She turned towards Joey. "Thank you, Uncle Joey."

"No sweat, kid." He stood tall against the snarling Steelix, Dereece and Kevin by his sides. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not liking this guy. Really, c'mon, picking on little girls? So not cool." He held up two Poke Balls in ready. "I say, we teach this guy some manners!"

Dereece picked up a Poke Ball of his own. "Right behind ya!"

"Same here!" Kevin nodded, putting out a Net Ball.

Steelix could see these three Trainers weren't going to spread thin on his watch. His teeth gritted as his anger was put on them. " **If you won't leave on my behest…** " his eyes widened. " **Then I'll make you!** "

"Alright, Magikarp! Quilladin! Get out here!"

"Heracross, go!"

"We need you Sewaddle, on the double!"

Coming out from the Poke Ball, Quilladin stood on his two feet while Magikarp flopped beside him. The Grass-type faced forward with a dead serious look on his face. "Alright, it's showtime!"

Magikarp appeared beside him, flopping like…well, a fish. Quilladin looked over, raising a brow.

"Uh…okay."

In midair, Heracross popped out of his Poke Ball, crashing onto the ground with a small wave of dust. "Let's go!" He straightened his posture, poised to strike.

Last to come out was Sewaddle, the Sewing Pokémon eyeing the massive hard Steelix that was to be his opponent. It snarled at them. "Oh my~." He cooed. "I always like it when they're hard. This must be a dream come true…well that or I could still be _physically_ dreaming."

Steelix's eyes widened as he behold his new adversaries. " **So that's the way you wish for it to be. Dare I say it then…** " He bared his fangs, glowering down menacingly. " **Shall not leave, then you leave me no choice! Come!** "

' _Oh, yeah, now I_ _ **know**_ _I'm dreaming.'_ Sewaddle internally cooed. _'I hope this dream don't end anytime soon. I wanna see where this is going for little ole' me.'_

Kevin acted first, reaching his arm out. "Sewaddle, **Razor Leaf!** " Sewaddle complied with his equally perverted Trainer, summoning glowing green leaves and creating a funnel that they traveled in at Steelix.

The Iron Snake Pokémon saw the leaves heading his way, but chose not to dodge. Instead, he straightened up and his massive spikes segmented on his body started churning. They glowed blue, and Sewaddle's attack struck them. However, the momentum was staggering to where the leaves were unable to break through.

"That's **Gyro Ball!** " Dereece exclaimed.

"That's pretty strong." Heracross agreed.

Steelix ceased the spinning and adjusted his frame. He lurched forward, grunting as rings of silver orbs transformed into gray rocks, via **Rock Tomb**. The creature snarled as the spinning rocks went hurling at the opponents.

"Quick, Magikarp! **Splash!** " Joey commanded.

Magikarp wheezed as he saw the rocks heading his way. He flopped in midair with a loud shriek, before he started flopping higher. The bounce was enough to keep him from getting struck as one went directly beneath him.

"Yeah, that's the way!" Joey cheered.

Heracross moved to Sewaddle's side to cover him. "Hang on!" He grabbed Sewaddle to shield him, Hunching over, the large beetle turned around and had the rocks strike his back, creating large smoke burst as he writhed in pain. Quilladin used his dance moves from Joey to evade and dodge the rocks, leaving the residue to cover up the Trainers as they were pelted by granites of gray stone.

Steelix craned his head back and roared out to them, shaking up the air around him.

Joey opened an eye in the smoke and dust. "Aw man, this guy's serious." He put on a serious face of his own, pointing forward. "Then return fire! Quilladin, use **Pin Missile!** Aim at the base of him!"

"Roger that!" Quilladin nodded. He spread his legs apart and began firing glowing green streams with white orbs in them. The projectiles were streaming missiles that shot in zigzags skywards before tilting down around Steelix. The attack struck the rough dirt around the iron snake, making large bursts of dirt that erupted around him.

Joey turned towards Dereece. "Okay, Dereece, it's your turn."

"I got it." He aimed forward. "Heracross, quick! Use **Counter!** "

A white glint was seen inside the smoke and dust, before a blue blur shot straight through, revealing Heracross in a mad wake. A blue aura engulfed him, indicating slowed Speed. Even so, he had his horn down as he close in on Steelix.

"HRAAAH!"

His horn made impact with Steelix's underside, creating several glints of shockwaves that caused him to cringe. Steelix's eyes shut as he reeled back, emitting a pained roar from the undisclosed attack.

"Bull's eye!" Joey cheered.

Dereece clutched a fist in satisfaction. "Yeah." As he observed Heracross recuperating and the dust dissipating, he began to mentally stir up some thoughts. _'It's bad that Heracross doesn't know any actual Fighting-type moves yet. But at least this way, we can still deal some damage. I just hope we last long enough.'_

Steelix recovered from the earlier blow and glanced down at the culprit. Seeing Heracross at his base, he opened his maw wide, charging up another golden-brown hemisphere for **Smack Down**.

"Uh oh." Dereece gasped. "Heracross, look out!"

"Sewaddle! Use **String Shot**! Pull Heracross back!" Kevin commanded.

Sewaddle whirled his head around and opened his mandibles. He spat out a long strand of silky thread at Heracross' back. The bigger insect looked up in horror as he was slowed down to where he could barely evade. Suddenly he felt something sticky latch to his behind, yanking him back before the blast of granite energy struck. It left a dent in the dirt where Heracross stood.

The Single Horn Pokémon found his footing when he stopped beside Sewaddle. The thread on his backside faded, but a harsh blue aura encased him, lowering his Speed again. He looked towards Sewaddle. "Thanks for the save."

Sewaddle winked. "Anytime."

"That was a close one. Thanks." Dereece thanked Kevin.

The Blue Pegasus Trainer nodded. "Don't mention it." He looked ahead, analyzing what's happening. "But your Heracross' Speed is cut in half completely, sorry about that."

"Don't be. We'll work this out."

Ella pointed ahead. "Here he comes!"

Everyone looked forward, seeing Steelix raising his head once more, emitting another gruff snarl. Gray rocks formed from silver orbs around his head as he threw them, showing another **Rock Tomb**.

"Sewaddle, use **Razor Leaf!** " Kevin shouted. Sewaddle created another wave of glowing, spinning leaves that he shot head. The Grass-type attack's range was just like **Rock Tomb**. Both attacks met in a shower of gray boulders and sharp leaves that sliced through them. The diced segments of rocks scattered all around the battlefield, some heading wayward.

One big lump in particular was heading towards Magikarp. The fish saw how fast it was moving and couldn't dodge. He flopped in shock.

"Batter up!" Joey chimed. "Quilladin, use **Needle Arm!** "

At the last second, Quilladin got in front of Magikarp. "Not to worry! I got this!"

The rocks drew closer as Quilladin reeled his glowing green arm back. Magikarp watched with surprise as Quilladin's arm showed energy needles. With all his might, Quilladin swung his arms, batting the debris back at Steelix.

"Heracross, use **Horn Attack!** " Heracross mimicked Quilladin's motion and his horn glowed bright white. Once ready, he used the angled edge of his horn and thrust forward. Rocks heading his way were instantly repulsed by sheer force.

All the rocks the two swatted and pushed back were thrown in Steelix' direction. The giant saw the incoming rocks and sneered. " **Futile!** " The appendages glowed, rotating swiftly for **Gyro Ball**. The rocks made contact with him, but were immediately reduce the granite and pebbles when they grinded against Steelix's gyrating frame.

"He blocked it again." Quilladin realized, his brow furrowing. "He's good."

"Yeah…very good." Joey observed with his Quilladin, even he was picking up on something. _'This guy's got a lot of experience. If he's using attacks to block and cancel out ours, does this mean…he's at a higher level than we thought?'_

Kevin watched as Steelix kept spinning, with Ella beside him. "Papa, wouldn't it be best to stop him from moving?" she asked him.

Kevin realized the logic swiftly in his daughter's words. "Yeah, good point." He readied the command. "Okay Sewaddle, **String Shot!** "

"Okey, dokey~!" Reeling his head back, the little bug spat out silky thread at Steelix, who was still spinning.

The thread twisted and churned as it closed in on Steelix. The end was caught against the flat end of the spike, allowing the rest to get snared in the rotation. Like seaweed to a boat rudder, Steelix was slowly coming to a halt, thread paralyzing his spiraling ligaments.

The iron snake looked down, realizing there was thread snaring him. " **What?** " He tried breaking free against the silky strong holds, but his rotations kept a firm hold on the threads. " **You little…!** " A harsh blue aura engulfed his body, lowering his Speed.

"Joey, you're up!" Kevin shouted.

"Thanks, Mister P!" Joey pointed forward. "Quilladin, use **Needle Arm!** "

Quilladin rushed ahead with a cry. He jumped into the air, an energy needle-like arm reeled back. Steelix slowly shook his head to rid of the strings, but a green projectile caught his attention. Looking up, he was too slow as Quilladin came somersaulting down, bashing Steelix square on the head with the attack. An airwave shot all around and caused a harsh pain in Steelix. He recoiled in agony, while Quilladin backtracked to the ground.

Joey observed Steelix to make for another opening. He saw Steelix wincing, no doubt from the attack. _'Yes, a flinch! This is our chance!'_ He balled a fist as he looked towards Magikarp. "Alright buddy, time to show him what you're made of. Magikarp, use **Tackle!** "

Magikarp huffed and started flopping ahead. He hustled pass Quilladin and skipped meters of grass as he gained momentum after Steelix. With the iron snake flinching, this was his chance.

' _I can do this…I can do this…'_ With a harsh flop, he shot into the air, twirling and aiming down for Steelix's head. He descended like a rock. _'This time, I can do this!'_

With gusto, Steelix felt something very small, but somewhat annoying, hit his head. He sneered as Magikarp's attack landed smack dab on the forehead.

"Yeah, nice one, Magikarp!" Jory cheered. "You got a hit in!"

"I…I did, didn't I?" The fish couldn't believe his luck. He was almost dumbfounded. "I did! HA! Look at me now! How do you like-!" He felt a stir beneath him as he was flopping. All the glee he had came to a grinding halt. "Uhh…?"

Steelix opened his eyes and looked up. He saw a small orange fish flopping on his forehead; which to him, explained a lot of why something light dropped on him, like a poke to the head. " **Grrrr…** "

Magikarp paled and sweated bullets. "Why me…?"

"… **get off…YOU MISPLACED SEAFOOD!** " With an enraged roar, Steelix hurled his head around, sending Magikarp flying high. The flying fish screeched in agony and dizziness as he felt like a lobbing stone that was thrown too high instead of skipped across the water.

"Hang on, buddy!" Joey watched Magikarp plummet onto them. He activated a spell.

" **Barrier-Make: Bowl!** "

Over all their heads, Joey created a large turquoise barrier in the shape of a fishbowl. Magikarp fell down and smacked on one side of the bowl, ricocheting to the other end, leaving him dazed as he fell to the concaved bottom.

"Magikarp!" Joey dispelled the barrier, making Magikarp fall right into his hands. The fish groaned at the unpleasant experience he's suffered. He looked like he was about to throw up.

"This su-u-u-uuucks…" the miserable fish groaned. He couldn't believe he got a big head again.

Steelix grunted as he was stirring his appendages around. Once he gathered enough prowess, he lurched with another grunt, ripping the threads around him to bits.

"We've gotta slow him down some more!" Kevin barked. "Sewaddle, **String Shot!** " Sewaddle complied, opening his mouth to generate silky thread that he shot at Steelix.

Steelix opened his maw and conjured up **Smack Down** again. He fired the orb at the thread blast. The thread, being thread, was unable to push the attack back. However, because of Steelix's earlier Speed decreases, the attack's speed was also slow. It was easy enough for Sewaddle to dodge as it exploded where he was.

"Quilladin, **Leech Seed!** " Joey shouted.

Quilladin took a deep breath and spat green seeds at Steelix. Steelix saw the small attack, and, as if knowing what does, made a counter. Activating **Gyro Ball** again, he split the seeds to shrapnel.

"He blocked it again." Joey grimaced. "It's like he knows how to attack _and_ defend at the same time."

"I know what you mean." Kevin agreed. "It's smart."

Ella watched intently as the battle progressed.

Steelix looked around to notice his opponents and their positions. He saw Magikarp was in a human's arms, while Quilladin and Sewaddle were beside another. He heard a buzzing, and his instincts drove him up. He saw Heracross in the air, ready to attack. He snarled.

"Just because we're slower doesn't mean we can't surprise ya." Dereece punched forward. " **Chip Away!** "

Heracross' eyes gleaned over in the daybreak skies. He came down in a blitz, as if his Speed wasn't affected at all. He collided with Steelix's hard head, making another airwave. The two were horn to head as they tried to overpower the other.

Quilladin saw Heracross keep Steelix at bay. With the time they had, he turned towards Sewaddle. "Let's hurry, while he's still distracted."

Sewaddle nodded. "I'll follow the lead." Quilladin grabbed Sewaddle and put him atop his head. Together they charged…though Sewaddle was looking to be enjoying it a little too much. "Oh there, slow down there…you're gonna make me sweat." He teased.

The two made it to Steelix's base. With Heracross still holding him off this was their small window.

"Sewaddle, **Razor Leaf!** "

"Quilladin, **Pin Missile!** "

Both Pokémon cried out as they unleashed their respective attacks. Green missiles with white orbs and glowing green leaves shot into Steelix's base and gradually climbed to the chin. Along the way, explosions rattled the iron snake as he felt an intense pain. Heracross backed away from the smoke cloud to a safe altitude, leaving nothing but Steelix's pained cries to echo through dust.

A long silence fell as they were shrouded by a large scale of dust. Neither person nor Pokémon could tell what to expect now; if Steelix was still active, or ran off.

"Did we get him?" Joey leered. Magikarp looked intently.

As dust surrounded them, Quilladin looked all around with Sewaddle on his head. They heard a shift behind, sharply turning to see nothing. Behind their backs, Sewaddle barely noticed a tail that shifted. Quilladin followed. They looked all around, they felt some kind of heat.

Sewaddle looked up, gasping. "Uh oh~."

"What?" Quilladin looked up, only for his eyes to shrink in shock. The dust dissipated, revealing their foe: Steelix. He was pissed off, but that wasn't what spooked them.

In his maw, there was fire. And he was so close to them as the fangs were wide open for his flaming attack.

" **Fire Fang?!** " Dereece shrieked.

Joey grunted. "Guys, look out!"

Quilladin stepped back as the monstrosity was coming down onto them. Even if Steelix was slower, he was still much too close. Quilladin couldn't get away, but he knew he had to act fast. "Sewaddle!" He grabbed him atop his head.

"Huh?!"

The insect was caught by surprise when Quilladin threw him skywards. He screamed as he ascended, but he was safe as Quilladin faced Steelix's impending blazing fangs. He covered up as **Fire Fang** snapped down on him, creating a burst of flames that covered the area.

"Oh, no~!" Sewaddle despaired, watching Quilladin take the attack for him.

"Sewaddle, heads up!" Kevin warned.

Sewaddle gasped. He barely caught on as Steelix was in his line of fire, his mouth still ablaze.

"Aim for Heracross! **String Shot!** " Sewaddle looked up as Heracross swooped around for the assist. Sewaddle had no choice but to aim more thread that connected with his arm. Heracross was enveloped in a blue aura as his Speed sharply decreased further. He yanked his arm up and pulled Sewaddle to safety, barely missing the flaming fangs.

Sewaddle was seized in midair by Heracross, the two flying above Steelix. However, he wasn't nearly as fast since his Speed was down five whole stages. He was so slow that he could've been mistaken for hovering.

Steelix turned and saw them trying to fly to safety. He saw how slow Heracross was and narrowed his red eyes. With a growl, he readied his attack.

"Look out!" Dereece warned.

Heracross saw Steelix's mouth charging up another **Smack Down.** He raced to get away as just as Steelix fired the attack. The two bugs ascended higher, but the attack was just a little faster than them. Sewaddle looked down in gasps, while Heracross cried for mercy. Both Pokémon were helpless as they were engulfed in a golden and brown explosion in the skies.

From the explosions, Heracross plummeted with Sewaddle. They spiraled like helicopters out of control until Heracross crash landed on his side, sliding away several feet. Sewaddle tumbled away, he, too, badly wounded from the super-effective move.

From the residual dust along the ground, Quilladin shakily got up. He was also deeply bruised, feeling the heat still as he kneeled and panted.

"This is bad." Dereece grimaced. "They're all wiping out."

"I know, Dereece." Joey said. "But I'm still stuck on something. How does that thing know Fire Fang?"

"I don't know. But one more hit like that…and they're done."

Joey gritted his teeth. In his grasps, Magikarp was watching in awe of the arduous battle they were all suffering. He could feel a whole lot of things stir as everyone was working so hard. He was staring without much wheezing, too enraptured in the heat of battle.

Steelix unleashed another **Rock Tomb** that went flying through the air, only for another **Razor Leaf** and **Pin Missile** to simultaneously to cancel it out. As smoke and dust stirred, a large, slow projectile fell through, revealing Steelix lunging through with his mouth wide open in flames.

Heracross tensed up and braced for the blow, knowing he won't be agile enough to evade. Steelix's head was so close to impact, before suddenly, a rolling Quilladin barreled from the side, smashing into the left check. The **Rollout** packed just enough force to deter him enough as allow Heracross space. Steelix turned towards the rolling Quilladin, only for Sewaddle to latch onto his face.

"Guess we're about to see just how hard you really are!" He opened his mouth, his fangs glowing for **Bug Bite**. He started nipping into the iron head, the small fangs jutting repeatedly.

Steelix's eyes widened as an irritating nipping caused him great discomfort. He reeled back and cried out, with Quilladin rolling in circles around him.

"Keep him pinned just like that!" Joey encouraged. "Stay on him!"

As Steelix swayed and cried out, the scene was leaving Magikarp in shock. The frail fish could only watch as other Pokémon were trying to suppress the rampaging iron monster that was their foe. What's more, they were in the struggle of their lives, and he was still whimpering in Joey's arms.

He couldn't explain it, but as he looked up to see what Joey was doing, Magikarp saw a serious look in his gaze. It scared him. He hasn't been with Joey for that long, and really what he's done for him left him worried and scared for his own well-being for obvious reasons, but seeing someone so goofy being this serious really scared him.

His attention adverted towards the other Pokémon, seeing their battle. He was seeing all the looks on their faces to find even Sewaddle was dead serious, no matter how erotic his nipping was for pleasure. They were all trying their best and facing the creature head on. In his mind, he was flashing back to his recent battles on the island. To the Ledian and being whirled around by Joey, to the battle on the river and splashing and dodging Seaking. And throughout all those, the fish was helpless and whined a lot, while his friends did the heavy fighting.

His whiny, scared expression on his face steeled. _'No. No. More. Whining.'_ He suddenly flopped out of Joey's grasp, much to his surprise.

"Magikarp?"

Steelix was whirling his head around, trying to shake off Sewaddle, but the insect was just too stubborn to let go. Eventually having enough, Steelix's glare scrunched up. " **You…** " he seethed. " **Get…OFF!** " With a violent whip of his head skywards, the lash finally flicked off Sewaddle, sending him airborne.

"Sewaddle!" Kevin screamed.

Sewaddle opened his eyes and looked down. To his horror, Steelix opened his maw wide as flames engulfed the teeth. The insect realized Heracross was too slow now to catch him, leaving him open.

For once as he was falling into a bed of fire, his life flashed before his eyes as he was unable to do anything.

"NOOOOO~!"

As Sewaddle plummeted into the flaming coffin, Magikarp splashed out of nowhere into his side, pushing the insect away.

"Magikarp?!" Joey shrieked.

Sewaddle fell out of the air and spun around. He looked back and much ti his horror, saw Magikarp in midair taking his place. The bug's eyes were wide with shock as Magikarp didn't look anywhere near afraid.

Their gazes met with a blank when Steelix snapped his jaws on the fish, engulfing him in an explosive flame blast that took up the air around him.

"Magikarp!" Joey cried out.

Heracross and Quilladin both gasped in horror at their comrade's heroic actions, much to their horror.

Sewaddle landed behind Steelix and looked up in horror. As the flames died down, time was gradually slowing down as Magikarp was seen falling from the embers, his scales heavily damaged. The perverted larva was feeling anything but joy as the injured fish's limp form was reflecting in his eyes.

In another flash, Sewaddle was recalling how earlier Heracross shielded him, taking the damage instead of him. And then Quilladin with saving him from flames…now it was Magikarp – someone even more useless than him – who took the fall for him.

As the really sunk in, Sewaddle's normally flamboyant nature was beginning to fade away from his face. He was looking more pissed by the second. "…oh, you just _made me_ _ **mad**_ _._ " He seethed. "It's bad enough those tough-skinned bad boys went the hard way for my sake, but now dragging poor little him into this? This ain't no dream no more…It is _on_!"

From Kevin's pocket, the stone that he was carrying with the crystal began shining again. He reached and pulled it out, him and everyone in shock. _'The stone and crystal…it's just like before!'_ He stared in awe as he recalled seeing this vague light and force from when Dereece used it. _'It was just like that time…'_

Everyone stared in disbelief at the stone. "Kevin, the stone…!" Joey gasped.

Ella stared at the object for a little while longer. Her eyes were transfixed on the light. For the briefest time, a blue wave went around her eyes.

"Sewaddle…" Kevin looked at Sewaddle, who nodded. He nodded back. "…okay then! Let's get'em!"

As Magikarp was plummeting, Quilladin rolled around with his **Rollout** to where he was falling. "I gotcha!" He opened up briefly to catch and tumble across the ground. He slid to a stop, holding the damaged Magikarp in his claws. "Magikarp? Magikarp?! You okay, man?!" he worried.

Magikarp groaned as he heard Quilladin's voice ringing in his head. He looked up, seeing the Grass-type. "Uuuh…did I…do good…?" he grimaced.

Quilladin softly smiled. "Yeah, you did." He looked up, seeing Steelix shaking his head and recollecting himself. "Can you still go on?"

Magikarp was bruised and damaged heavily. If measured by the video games Joey and Dereece played as kids he'd have health in red bars. He weakly nodded. "Yeah…look out!"

Quilladin gasped and turned around. Steelix was slowly dropping onto him, his segments spinning in **Gyro Ball**. With his Speed so slow, it was the chance for Quilladin to curl up with Magikarp and roll away, dodging the attack.

Steelix continued grinding against the ground, churning dust and dirt to where it was almost impossible to see. Steelix knew he'd hit something, but it wasn't Quilladin or Magikarp.

Beneath him and hid grinding weight, sparks clashed against Heracross' body. The bug was grunting up a storm as he was using his forearms to block the Steel-type attack. Steelix gasped, seeing Heracross withstanding his assault.

" **How**?!" he outraged.

" **Gyro Ball** is an attack with power depending on the differences of Speed." Dereece realized. "The slower Steelix is than his opponent, the more damage it does…but Heracross is a lot slower now. Which means it's not doing much!"

Heracross continued pushing, digging his heels in. He grunted harshly with each second. "Gnnngh…Dereece!"

He nodded in understanding. "Don't worry, you can take it! Use **Counter!** "

The heels dug even deeper as Heracross lurched, his frame glowing a mirror-like rainbow color. He let out a strong cry as he flexed his entire frame, unleashing a massive shockwave that exploded around him. The force was so strong that it was enough to completely overturn Steelix, sending him falling backwards. The ground vibrated harshly from his harsh sunder.

Heracross brought a claw to the ground, trying to support himself. "Guys, go!" he strained.

With Steelix flipped over and dazed, Quilladin used **Rollout** and barreled into the iron snake. The foe turned and saw him, charging up another **Smack Down**. He open fired directly at him, but Quilladin jumped at the last second, evading the explosive blast.

In midair, Quilladin uncurled to reveal something. Much to Steelix's own shock, he was seeing Quilladin holding Magikarp by the whiskers. Vaguely enough, he was seeing Quilladin whirl him around like a chain.

Joey cheekily smirked. "Yeah, that's the way. Quilladin…throw Magikarp!"

Quilladin brought his arm back, whirling his fishy friend. "It's all you!" He hurled him at Steelix, the fish having a serious disposition around him.

"Magikarp… **Splash!** "

Magikarp let out a cry as he barreled at Steelix. Upon touch, he immediately started flopping madly. His fishy tail and head clanged against the iron body repeatedly, bouncing all over the beast.

"Yeah Magikarp, just like that!" Joey encouraged. "Make him mad!"

"What is Joey doing? That move isn't gonna do anything." Kevin stated.

Dereece cocked a brow. "Trust me, believe it or not, the Captain knows what he's doing." He looked at Joey's greedy-looking face. "Annoying people's his specialty. Just watch what happens."

Magikarp continued flopping all around Steelix's body, jumping from one point to another. When he tried shaking him off, the fish would flop to another spot. He wouldn't sit still, and it was aggravating Steelix.

" **You annoying little…SEAFOOD!** " His maw opened wide, readying another **Fire Fang**.

Magikarp flopped as he saw Steelix arching for him.

' _Perfect!'_ Joey inwardly squealed. "Now Magikarp, **Splash** high!"

Magikarp raised his tail end and slammed it on the iron body. He shot high into the air, gasping like any fish would do for air. Steelix snapped his flaming jaws on hos midsection where the fish jumped from, creating a massive flaming wake that caused an intense, burning pain through him. The Steelix's entire body was encased in flames, his cries of pain far greater than they've ever been before.

Magikarp landed on his side, splashing and flopping in front of Joey and Quilladin. "Hot dog! Well done, buddy!" He looked at Steelix, seeing him struggle in flames. "A super effective move on himself _and_ a burn! That makes it better!"

Dereece glanced at Kevin. "See? Told ya."

Kevin whistled. "Damn…now I can see why he's your Captain." He looked down at the crystal and stone, seeing the shine still there. This was his chance. "Sewaddle, let's finish this!"

Sewaddle nodded. "Oh yeah…it's payback time, y'all!"

Steelix cried out as the flames diminished more of his health. Coupled with all the damage he's taken throughout the battle, he could barely keep himself up. The flames buffered him, causing him to lurch low to the dirt.

Kevin clutched the stone, feeling a bright surge flow through him. _'This power…it's incredibly strong! I can feel it…'_ A similar energy was in Sewaddle, the two almost practically in sync. _'Alright, let's do this together! Sewaddle!'_

As if understanding him, Sewaddle's body was surging in a bright aura.

"Alright Sewaddle…CHARGE!"

"AWWW YEAH!" Suddenly an intricate emblem appeared in front of him. His shine exploded into an intense yellow force that created a heavy pressure around his atmosphere. With gusto, the larva suddenly took off in breakneck speeds, speeding across the ground on a yellow comet that churned dirt and rock through his path. He cried out as he closed in on Steelix, who barely noticed at the last second. His eyes widened in horror as a yellow comet with the figment of Sewaddle inside was the last thing he saw before his whole world went white. A harsh shockwave of dust and dirt exploded, so much that the guys all had to cover up. Ella stayed behind Kevin to be fully shielded from the blast.

Once the rumbling was settling, Sewaddle jumped back from the dust, covered from head to toe in scrapes and bruises. Despite his condition, he watched the dust fade, revealing Steelix.

The two were in a small stare down, not even wind passing them. Beady eyes clashed with red eyes as they could see into the other. In Sewaddle's eyes, Steelix's large frame towered, but he wasn't afraid.

Slowly, Steelix faltered to the side, coming down gradually. _'_ _ **I'm…sorry…**_ _'_ A flash of someone was in his eyes. It was unclear what it was, but it looked human. _'_ _ **Forgive me.**_ _'_

With a thunderous crash, everyone watched in awe as Steelix fell over. Their eyes were wide as they witnessed the fall of the Pokémon, disbelief mounting them.

Steelix's eyes were swirls. The battle was over.

"It's over…finally." Dereece huffed. He slumped back, as did Heracross.

"Yeah…looks like it." Joey sighed in relief. He broke into a smile. "But that was hell. That Steelix was no laughing matter." He turned towards Quilladin and Magikarp. "You guys, you did amazing out there. Thanks for all that you've done!" He said. "Especially you, Magikarp. You should be proud."

Quilladin beamed happy. "Just doing our best."

Magikarp, for once, flopped happily. He looked so thrilled that he wasn't useless for once.

"You did it, Papa. Congratulations." Ella complimented.

Kevin smiled at his daughter. "Thanks."

"You've used that Z-Move almost perfectly. It's very impressive."

"'Z-Move'?" Kevin questioned. He turned towards Joey and Dereece, but they shrugged in confusion just like her. He raised a brow. "So, uh…why'd you call it that, sweetie?"

Ella tried to make an excuse. "Oh…it's just something that I thought would sound…cool, as you would put it. Does it not fit?"

Joey raised a brow. "Actually…Z-Move has a nice ring to it." He grinned. "I like it!"

"Well, I guess we should call that _something_ I suppose." Dereece said. Despite all speculations of how she figured such a saying, he wasn't entirely convinced it was made up. He looked at Ella suspiciously, his brow furrowing. _'She said it like she knew about it. Does she actually know about this thing?'_

Kevin turned towards Sewaddle. "Sewaddle…thank you." He praised lightly. "You did good. Very good."

Sewaddle looked back, smiling sheepishly at his Trainer. "Tee-hee…aw stop, you're gonna flatter me…" Suddenly, out of a blue light, his body began to be engulfed in a strange aura.

Kevin gasped. "Sewaddle!"

Everyone turned in shock at the strange light. The Pokémon looked shocked as they were bearing witness to this enigmatic energy around them.

"Dereece, is he…?"

He nodded. "Yeah, no doubt about it…he's evolving."

They all watched as Sewaddle's glowing form began taking a slightly different shape. His leafy-like cloak around his head was molding over his entire frame, taking a more dome-like shape to it. There were two small, leaf-like antennae atop, and at the base of it all were two leafy ends growing.

Watching this spectacle, Ella was wide-eyed as she witnessed the evolution. She had never seen anything like it before.

When the light finally faded, taking Sewaddle's place was a small insectoid Pokémon with a leafy, round cloak, a size comparably the same as his previous form. It had a yellow head that was draped in the hood with a frame that had dark green wrapping around the hood frame. The beak and fangs were gone, and instead was a mouth in the form of an upside-down 'V'. At the bottom of the light green leaf cloak were two dark green flops, presumably for balance.

"He's evolved into Swadloon!" Joey gasped. He pulled out his PokeDex, analyzing the new specimen.

" **Swadloon, the Leaf-Wrapped Pokémon. It protects itself from the cold by wrapping up in leaves. It stays on the move, eating leaves in forests.** "

"Swadloon…" Kevin looked at his Swadloon, smirking. "Not bad. You're just full of surprises for us, aren't you."

Ella looked at Swadloon, smiling. "So then, your form has changed…a pleasure to meet you, Swadloon."

Swadloon looked all around, seeing the many smiles and praises he was receiving. He blushed further. "Aw, c'mon now. Y'alls are really gonna make me blush…oh, this leaf wrap is actually cozy. And the color is so bright to compliment my face! Oh la la! Anyone wanna feel?"

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Okay…let's heal up and get out of here." Joey said. "I don't wanna be around to see Steelix again."

"I'm with you there, Captain." Dereece followed.

They all used Super Potions and Oran Berries to heal up the injured. Magikarp and Heracross needed them especially. Once they were all back up to full health, they were thanked one more time before recalled to their capsues.

"Ella, you coming?" Kevin asked. Behind, Ella assumed the position and walked in tow.

As they all left for the cave entrance and worked around Steelix, Joey stopped and looked back at their fallen foe. He couldn't explain why, but something felt off about that. It looked like he was being very defensive about something. The case of **Fire Fang** still run clear in his mind. _'I've played the games before. I know Steelix don't learn the fang attacks upon leveling up. So was this one…trained?'_ He thought about the way it fought, too. The way it defended so accurately was uncanny. But for now, he had to press on.

Laying in the dirt, Steelix's gaze was hazy. He wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. Subconsciously, there was a grim look on his face. He felt sorry.

…

Ella stared quietly as she was in front of everyone at the cavernous entrance. She's been silent for some time. They figured she was hearing the enigmatic voice, some could say she was building up some suspense. But in any case that went on, it was time to act.

"Ella, you sure this is where the voice is?" Kevin asked.

Ella nodded. "Yes, I am sure of it now." She closed her eyes, concentrating. "I can hear it clearly…it's speaking to me. It feels…" her face scrunched up. "It feels like…" As if by some epiphany, her eyes opened wide. "That voice, I know who it is now!"

"You do?"

Ella nodded. "Yes. This voice…it's my Mama."

Everyone's shock once again rose to staggering levels.

"Wait…your Mom?!"

"How is that possible? Some kind of telepathy?" Dereece questioned. "Maybe she's using Ella as a way to find help…or at least I hope so."

"Hey, don't look at me. I don't think my mom can do that…right?" He turned towards Kevin, who shrugged.

"Maybe it has to do with why she doesn't remember anything." Dereece suggested despondently. "But…are you sure it's your mom?" he looked at Ella, who seemed to be pouting.

"I know what I hear, Uncle Dereece. You big meanie." She puffed her cheeks.

"Yeah Dereece, have some consideration." Joey added.

Dereece eyerolled and groaned.

' _Her mom, huh?'_ Kevin's mind started flooding with the past images of the time he's spent with Ella. Oddly enough, it all ended to the faint smile she had atop the hill they were at a short while ago. _'If she really has parents, and one of them is alive…then that means she can go home.'_ A grim smile crossed his face. _'But…no. It's for the best. Besides, this place is too dangerous. If we find her mom at least, she would know how to care for her.'_

Ella turned towards Kevin, sensing what he's feeling. "Papa, are you upset?" She smiled. "It's okay; everything will…once we find my Mama."

Kevin smiled. "Sure, kid. Whatever you say."

As she walked along, Joey turned towards Kevin. "Well, Mister P, looks like you're gonna have to owe us an explanation again." He teased.

Kevin's eyebrow twitched. "I didn't. I'm still a…" he groaned, knowing he wouldn't win this argument. "Let's just follow the brat."

Joey faced forward. "You're right. There's only one way to be about all this. Alright, let's go."

They all went into the caverns, leaving just as daybreak was brimming with even more light into the world.

* * *

As the steps were taken, so were the numbers gathered. As the Celestial World was glistening, its starry wake was slowly turning pink. The white glossy stars would be overturned with the red shine of his crowned gem. As his followers trekked behind him, so did the many spirits that he's controlled along the way.

As he continued his path beside the Zodiac, he was coming across Canes. The hounds that had just returned from the human world picked up on the smell of humans and came running along. By the looks in their eyes they weren't too pleased with their guests.

"Milord." Oberon calmly said.

Melchior continued his path, unfazed by the many dogs that surrounded him.

The biggest of Canes let out a bark to signal the attack. The 15 other dogs pounced all at once onto Melchior. Suddenly, a wave of water splashed into the hounds, making them whimper as they fell before Melchior.

Melchior looked over towards Aquarius, her jug still dripping with water. She backed off by his controlled demands, allowing him to proceed.

Auriol raised her head as she walked pass the many fallen Canes, her frown making it clear she found them distasteful. "Wet dogs. How ironic. Such filthy Celestial Spirits."

"Puuuun." Plue, taking slight offense to the claim, moaned.

As Melchior continue his goal, the red gem shined. Simultaneously, all of Canes' ears perked up, their eyes glowing red. He trudged along, with the wet dogs shaking off their wet coats and walking with the army of men and spirits.

"With smell of thy majesty, may the heavens be amongst us." Oberon remarked. "Thy do wonder…if even Celestials sit on thrones?"

Melchior smirked at the comment, watching as the hounds were sniffing the celestial air, guiding them along their ways towards the Celestial King afar. Admittedly, what Oberon said was something he's been curious of. It left him to question that himself.

After some short, considerate thought, he came to a conclusion. _'A king without a throne…'_

As the army and spirits were pressing along, one of the hounds was trudging passively. Still controlled, it wasn't aware fully, but a glowing red star was drifting in the air above. The one hound stopped for a moment, looking suspiciously around. In the currents it picked up a very feint smell. Something otherworldly. As much as it wanted to find out what it was, it was still too far. It looked ahead, trekking with its pack.

Above, the red star simmered into the cosmos, following above like a beacon. On its red core that shined, it watched Melchior make way, to which it drifted onwards to see where it would go.

…

The deeper dwellings of the world were more glitters and sparkles. It was so much that it was almost blinding. All around, especially above, there were vast planets that glistened with the same blinding effects. Many of these lights were white, but slowly, they were turning pink – some cases full red.

At the base of a gargantuan planetary sphere floating directly above, the hounds snuffed out the scent, coming to a stop and barked. Everyone behind gradually came to a halt.

The rest that followed came to a stop when Bion stretched his arm out. The lacrima embedded in the joints were all shimmering like little gems.

"Milord, this is where… _he_ is?" Auriol questioned.

"It would appear so." He looked towards Auriol, then Oberon, before facing forward. "Auriol. Oberon. Stay here."

"Yes, milord." Auriol nodded. She was worried about him, but she could never question his faith in her. This was one of those times.

"As you wish." Oberon bowed.

The two straightened their postures and took a step back. Melchior took several paces forward until he was directly under the large planet with stardust gathered like rings around them. He took one more look around, sensing if there were any other lingering Celestial Spirits that would cross him.

When he found the coast was clear, he made his move.

"O' great Celestial King! Ruler of this realm! Created by the great Tetrabiblos himself! We seek your audience!" he announced. "Upon thy decree, I, Melchior Seraph, descendant of Achilles Seraph, wishes to seek your appeal! Come forth!"

High above the celestial comets, there was a bright twinkle that flashed. The star suddenly beamed down in a ray of light in front of Melchior, generating a bright flash that nearly blinded all those who looked directly at it.

The only one who wasn't affected was Melchior. He stood calmly as he looked at the fading light with anticipation.

As the light twinkled away. The visage of glowing red eyes gave an intimidating measure. The eyes stared down at the uninvited guests.

The army clad in celestial armor immediately held up their spears and magical weapons in defense. Oberon and Auriol looked back to them, glaring them down. As if by understanding, they submitted – though their own hearts raced.

Melchior looked up, grinning calmly at his new guest. "…Your Majesty." He started.

In a swift sweep of his cape, the Celestial King revealed himself in full glory. A glimmering aura of stardust surrounded him as he crossed his arms, his head high as he stared at Melchior.

"So that's him." Caius murmured stoically.

Bion's eyes widened slightly as he was left dumbfounded.

"He's the king?" Vita gasped, her eyes entranced by his bright aura. "He's so sparkly…"

There was a strong silence that fell amongst everyone. Their initial shock of defense had fallen to one of sheer awe. They were bearing witness to the Celestial King, in full glory at that. They knew they'd meet him possibly, but seeing him like this, even they could sense the raw power he had.

The king glowered at Melchior, his disposition stern as steel. "Hello there, friend." His greet was half-hearted, especially on the last part. "I welcome you to my world."

Melchior bowed his head, getting to a knee. "Please, by all means…the pleasure is all ours."

The king's glare was astute. "I never said that I had the pleasure."

"Believe me. From one king to another. Consider it a stroke of good will." Melchior arose from a knee to face the fellow king. "And to us humans, good will knows no bounds."

The Celestial King didn't seem too amused again. "So it would seem." He looked at Melchior quizzically, silently sensing him. "This level of power you have…this force…I can vaguely feel the powers of my old friend."

"It's as I have said. I am Achilles' descendant. Would you like for me to prove it to you?"

"There is no need for such factors. I can see into the stars. They call to me, confirming what you are. You are in fact my old friend's successor." He took a pause. "However, though you do possess his latent powers, I can see that there is anything but that, that makes you anything but him."

Melchior humbly chuckled. "Yes, it is true. I am not my ancestors. But I _am_ still a Celestial Mage. And like all others, it is to my understanding that we mages and spirits are bound by our codes to cooperate…isn't that right?"

"What are asking of is in fact a law. We Celestial Spirits have dubbed this decree when we have created our keys to transcend ourselves to the human world. That, is but _our_ way of cooperation." He looked at his controlled Zodiacs, seeing all their red eyes. "But this…what you are doing, I cannot help but pity."

Auriol's irritation was growing annoyed. The Celestial King was talking back to him, but he had no idea who he was. She wanted to pull out her Clefable and put him in his place. But despite her better judgement, she knew she had to relent.

Oberon watched with equal calm, smirking blankly at the conversation.

"As to where one looks in his own reflection. You may pity my actions as such, but can you see the justification behind what one's actions does mean?" Melchior countered. "I'm sure that being king, you are wise enough to hear both sides of an argument. Would it not be fair to see why else?"

"Please do." The king demanded. "Humor me, if you believe you can."

Melchior grinned. "If you insist." He turned his head around, observing the stars dazzling in broad space. "Look around you, tell me what you see?"

The Celestial King, deciding to play along, looked up. He saw his world twinkling red.

"I see a world, a place where it is beyond our reach. All my life, I have envied and admired the dedication that Celestial Spirits have given to mankind. In hopes of one day repaying that kindness, I could find the way to unite us as one." He frowned. "After the genocide of Lysandre, I am sure that even the likes of you are saddened with this fact."

The Celestial King looked deeper at the other spirits that were around them. He could see Nikola gathered in so few numbers besides Canes. There were so many of them, hundreds in fact. Such a shame that so many were purged.

"Celestial Magic has been one of the first magics that has been addressed to mankind. My ancestors created the first Celestial Mages. Now, our world and yours are both in unbalance harmony. The line of which draws our fates is but within sight. It will not be long now, until our kind loses our kindship with you. You would forever be lost…lost in a world that is empty. And without anyone to turn to for help."

His followers held their tongues. They seemed to be empathizing quietly. In Vita's arms, Plue shuddered.

"I wish to help my fellow spirits with their place. They are not tools, they are benefactors. They deserve to have a place in our world! Our world, it is populated with people, people that will use violence and power to get to their true goals.

After a minute of silence, the king took in everything this predecessor had said. It was a lot. But he understood what it all meant. And to him, it only added onto more shame.

"As to where you see opportunity, I see not one, but _two_ worlds that would soon collapse." He countered. "As you've said, we spirits are very few left. I can sympathize greatly with your claim. But, to make it sound like we owe you our lives in favor, that is but bias."

"You owe us nothing, that is the point." Melchior claimed. " _I_ wish to give back to you spirits the rights and power that you've had all along."

"Just as there is no bounds to good will, so is there to greed. You have selfishly taken my spirits in order to fulfill your ruthless goals. What justification do you have for that?"

"To help preserve the Celestial Mage legacy. To do that, I want to unite man and spirits, so that we can show the world your importance. Please, help me. And in return, you shall have the power to bring back your kind's glory."

"Your ambitions. I can see them in your eyes. The way in which you speak of, is a lot like my old friend's successor. Achilles was innocent and pure, but his son, was anything but. I have permanently broken my key for a good reason, and I will not let this world nor yours be ruined by the likes of you."

"So you say."

"I will give you this one warning." The king slowly reached for his blade. "Return my old friends to once they were…or the stars shall rectify you."

Despite the claim, Melchior didn't look at all afraid. He stayed calm. "It would appear that humans have had too much affect on you. Really, Celestial Spirits to enact violence." Melchior pitied. "Violence, violence, and violence. Why must this be the answer to man? I have been searching the answer to this claim for a long time…" he closed his eyes. "And that's when I came up with the answer. The answer…is that you cannot. Violence will only create more violence. This cycle is what will keep humans in infinite loop. One cannot deny that to live, they must survive. Spirits must also survive. They have to adapt, and learn from others and mistakes. Just like humans have. Like I have. The first ever Celestial Spirit, he set the grounds for his son. He learned from his mistakes; as to him, to me. I do not intend the same dominance. I wish to spread not my power, but yours. Humans can learn to trust, and learn what happens when one does not keep promises! The good and pure nature of man…can rise again. But only…through you."

Once again, a very awkward silence fell amongst everyone. Some soldiers raised their spears again for defense of what could come. Some were getting so antsy they could barely sit still.

The Celestial King's cape flourished and whipped around…like a wind was stirring up a storm inside. "…you are right. The ways that man does violence is not our way. But…" He slowly unsheathed his blade, the very long, star-like tip coming around. "For the sake of what our friends mean, we must do what we mustn't, and make the choices we swear by."

Melchior held a straight face.

"For the sake of the stars, and for my friends…" he pointed the blade at Melchior. "I SHALL FREE THEM FROM YOUR TWISTED CLUTCHES!"

Oberon scoffed.

Melchior raised his head, sighing heavily. "As you wish. If violence is now your answer as well…then at least, we can agree on something. Gemini!"

"Piri-Piri!" The twin spirits obeyed their master's call, rising around him.

Melchior looked back towards the king. "If you truly mean by what you said, and do things you mustn't, then will you punish your fellow Celestial Spirits if one turned on you?"

The king's red eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

"I'm sorry, your majesty…" Melchior snapped his fingers. Gemini turned into a puff of smoke, transforming into an exact copy of the Celestial King himself. The king tensed as Gemini raised his mighty sword without folly. "But comes choices comes consequences. I control the stars now, and will guide everyone to the future!"

In a flash step, Gemini disappeared from sight, reappearing in front of the king. Their swords crossed, colliding with force so strong that stardust around them blew away in a powerful vacuum.

"If you do not wish to look, then by the will of Tetrabiblos and I, we shall make you understand!"

Gemini's force pushed against the king's sword. Silver and yellow sparks generated against the swords grinding against the other's sharp blade. The king took a step back to gain ground, but it was no use. His foe was packing incredible power.

' _So much power…this magical level…'_ He gritted his teeth and started pushing against the faker, fully pushing him off. He looked into Gemini's eyes, seeing the eerie red glow.

In those eyes, he could see so much jailed emotions. As his celestial senses were looking into the transformed Gemini, he saw and felt the glare of pure hate from a familiar set of eyes.

' _This magic…Tiberius'-!'_

Gemini closed the gap and swung, only for the king to parry. He stood firmly as he held his own ground, but he still couldn't proceed forward.

"Old…friend!" he strained. "It is me! You…should not…do this!" He tried pushing even more, creating enough force to turn momentum against Gemini. "It is me! Do you not know your place?!"

The red eyes glinted brightly. For a second, the king gasped as he felt a harsh flux. He was suddenly held back as Gemini's force exponentially increased. He found it harder to keep himself up. He saw Melchior's crown glowing, seeing it dazzle with the same ominous red shine through Gemini's eyes.

His mind pieced the puzzle together. "So…that's how it is." He leered. "I knew I felt the hate of Tiberius. Now, it is a part of you."

"So you _do_ remember." Melchior said, mildly impressed. "

"But…how?"

Melchior's passive look didn't waver. "How about focusing on the problem you must face at hand."

"I…will not harm…an old friend!" he grunted.

He sighed. "I see." He opened his eyes wider, the crown's jewel shining. "Then that weakness, shall be your downfall!"

 _SHING!_

By command, swift blades ran through the king's legs. Passing both appendages were Taurus with his axe, and Cancer with his scissors. A few seconds passed before the shock ran up to the king.

"GAH!" With a pained cry, he fell to his cut knees, leaving Gemini to tower over him.

"You'd be wise to kneel while you still can." Auriol insisted. "Milord has control over all of the Zodiac, your very own. How do you intend to response correspondently if you cannot oppress your own?"

"Auriol, let's observe and see what he does first." Oberon insisted.

The Celestial King looked up to see his faker with red eyes, ready to deal the downward blow. He couldn't bring himself to kill Gemini; there was already enough spiritual lives taken from them. No! There had to be another way. He looked towards Melchior, seeing his crown shining. That was his key chance.

"One way or another…" He crouched and shot pass Gemini, barely dodging the sword that cut into the smooth celestial stone. He brought his blade back as he closed the distance. "We shall be free from you!"

"Aries." Melchior ordered. Before him, Aries jumped in front of his way.

The Celestial King brought his blade around, but Aries summoned a wall of pink, fluffy wool that he clashed into. The soft cushion-like substance absorbed his attack, making his sword wedged deep in the expanding wool.

"What?" He tried pulling his sword out, but to his shock, it wasn't budging. It was stuck.

"Leo. Scorpio."

Suddenly dropping from out of the blue, Loke landed on the flat end of the sword.

"Leo the Lion…!" the king gasped.

Loke's red eyes glowed as his body shined a bright flare. The intense light was so burning, the king couldn't bear to look. He was suddenly blown back by a large sand funnel that pushed him backwards, courtesy of Scorpio. With his knees being cut earlier by Taurus and Cancer, he couldn't jump or move properly. He stammered back, using his cape as a shield until the sand dissipated.

The Zodiacs all gathered in front of their new master, their red eyes glowing in unison dread. The way they all seemed emotionless and unfazed the whole way through made it easy to tell they were far from free.

"What a cowardly way to fight." The Celestial King scoffed.

Melchior was unfazed as he eyed the king. With him distracted, there was a sword being risen – which he remained oblivious of.

"Not cowardly." He corrected. "Just smart. Gemini, **Meteor Blade!** "

The Celestial King slowly turned around, but all he saw was a short flash of dazzling blue energy before an intense blast wave enveloped him. The impact from the downward blade strike stretched far in a straight line, cleaving energy clean through the massive planet atop of them. The roar of the attack shook the atmosphere like an actual earthquake.

Melchior stepped forward, a straightforward expression plastered on his face. "It would appear that after all these years, that your own fighting skills have dulled…Your Majesty."

The shockwaves soon vanished, and the energy reduced to magical particles that dazzled in the red stars that were glowing brighter by the second. At the base of a debris mound from the planet that was cleaved, there was an indent. The dent was filled by the Celestial King. He struggled to stand as he brushed off the debris on his lower-half.

Gemini reverted to being twins again by command. With a red flash, Virgo was up.

Suddenly chains sprouted from out of nowhere, grounding the king's ankles. The armored gauntlets were wrapped tightly by iron made from Virgo's magic.

"I believe that is enough, everyone." Melchior stated. The spirits around him lowered their guards and backed away. Melchior walked up towards his captive, staring him down solemnly. "Now then, I believe that the point has been made. One can only do so much on their own. You may be the Celestial King…but you are still but one individual. What king can be a king if none are by his side?"

"What you describe…is yourself." He strained. "A tyrant!"

Melchior's eyelids half shut on their own. "That is also true. King. Tyrant. Ruler. At the end of the day, someone must sit on a throne for others to look up to. Which brings me, to another point…"

" _Thy do wonder…if even Celestials sit on thrones?"_

"What exactly is a king without a throne? What are you without a throne? You, sir, are nothing more than a meager man. And that the only those destined to be kings, are to be created by Tetrabiblos' judgment." He raised his arm. "But…" He slowly levered it to face the king. "If he is _your_ king, and he doesn't do anything for you, the subject, would that make you in the wrong?"

Amongst the many infected stars. One in particular was moving at an alarming rate. It shredded across the stardust downwards. The earlier smell Canes had picked up. This time they could all smell and growled at.

Plue looked up, seeing the same star as before. "Pun Puuun."

"It seems to me that you were just handpicked by someone who could not handle the responsibilities and powers himself. So…let me help you."

The red shine of his crown brightened. The king looked tensed as he braced for whatever fate was to come.

A jet of blue bubbles beamed from the side, darting in Melchior's way. The man glanced up, seeing the attack incoming.

"Milord!" Auriol sped in front, swiping her arm to create a golden shield that deflected the bubbles into various directions.

"What was that?" Caius questioned.

"An attack?" Bion gasped.

"Puuuun!" Plue started reaching up, much to Vita's confusion.

"Huh, what is it, little guy?" the teenager cooed. "Huh?" She looked up, seeing an illuminating projectile jet through the air. She squinted. "Huh? Is that a shooting star?"

Everyone was suddenly attack by a flurry of bright yellow and golden stars that shot all around them. The army was caught off guard when the right flank was finding its members peppered with stars. Fortunately the armor protecting them was reducing damage, but it was still hurting.

Melchior's eyes narrowed. "Aquarius."

The Celestial Spirit raised her jug, spouting out a wave of water that blocked the stars heading for Melchior's way. The water dissipated, revealing his advisors gathered all around him.

"Stay close, your majesty." Auriol stated defensively.

Oberon looked up, seeing the shooting star drift around them. "It would appear that we have a guest with us." He chimed. "Surprising."

The Celestial King looked in shock at who was stalling for him.

In a red glide, Staryu was jetting through the celestial air, much like water. The starfish's red core blinked repeatedly, beeping with some kind of warning or battle cry. The Water-type sailed around the advisors. It circled around, keeping them all in place.

"What is that supposed to be?" Bion questioned.

"A Celestial Spirit?" Vita inquired.

"I wasn't aware that there are spirits that look familiar to their origins." Caius noted, watching Staryu carefully. "Even so…"

 _BEEP-BEEP BEEP BEEP!_

Staryu swam around, jetting into the advisors and Melchior. From the red core, a multicolored energy was forming into an orb. Once ready, it released a **Psywave** , projecting the multiple colors at Melchior.

"Scorpio." He ordered, making Scorpio slide in front. He slammed his hands down, creating a large sand barrier that stopped Staryu's attack. "Pisces."

The two giant fishes swam in arched on either side, cornering Staryu. The starfish beeped as it could see the massive fish ramming on either side. With quick thinking, it suddenly shrunk down, leaving a red aura to increase its evasiveness. With it shrunk to where it was almost gone, the two fishes rammed their heads into each other, flailing into the army below.

Many men fell over from their crushing weight, and many others were injured. The flailing fishes were making a mess, and it was riling up the others up front as well.

"Pull it together, everyone." Auriol irritably scolded. "Stay on your guards at all times!"

Melchior heard the sound of shifting when he turned forward. He saw Staryu return to normal size and reveal itself before both kings.

"So, you intend to mislead my direction as well?" Melchior questioned. He watched as Staryu beeped and his core blinked, but he was sure that was a yes.

"Sir, I believe it speaks in Morse Code." Oberon examined.

Melchior watched Staryu blink constantly, giving some kind of message. He couldn't understand what it was saying, but he figured they were onto them. Through all this, the man knew he had to get it to be quiet. He activated his crown, attempting to control it.

However, he was surprised it had no effect. _'Is it not a Celestial Spirit?'_

Staryu let out a beep before it spun its body, unleashing another **Bubble Beam** across Melchior and everyone's way. A layer of smoke erupted in front of them to shield their view. Using this to its advantage, Staryu turned around towards the king.

 _BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP! BEEP!_

"I see…so you are an ally." The king realized.

 _BEEP!_ Staryu nodded.

The Celestial King looked down at the smoke layer, seeing a beacon of light shine through it. It suddenly dissipated, revealing Loke using his Regulus Magic to create light. He watched in silence as he had to act fast.

"New friend, listen." He said quietly. "You must leave while you can. Take to the human world, and hurry towards your kind."

 _BEEP?_ Staryu didn't seemed to understand.

"I thank you for your assistance, but as king, I must make it my obligation to be there for my friends." He started prying on the chains, using his raw strength to pull Virgo's chains off. "If you don't go now, then all is lost." He fully pulled them off, tearing them off to the side. "What this man speaks of, I hate to say it, but there are points that he's made that I can't deny. What am I without my friends? What am I without the stars to guide me?" He swiped his arm, using his powers to make a glowing beacon in the distance. "Follow the star home. May they guide you far."

Staryu didn't want to argue, but seeing the king's serious face made it clear it was in no place or position to say. With a quick beep, Staryu nodded in understanding.

"Good." The king looked forward. "Here they come!"

Sagittarius raised his bow and arrows and aimed for Staryu. He let go, shooting arrows at the shooting star. Staryu spun in place, using **Swift** to create a barricade and projectiles to block the arrows. The arrows and stardust exploded, creating an explosion that was used for cover. Sweeping through the smoke, the starfish was but a faint red light that quickly sped through the other side, surprising the army.

"Puuun!" Plue called out, reaching for it.

Staryu blinked and beeped at the same time consecutively. It sped down at Plue, suddenly seizing the small spirit from Vita's clutches.

"What the-?!" she looked horrified. "HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!"

"Puuuun!" Plue raised a paw, thanking Staryu.

"Noooo~! Not my Celestial Spirit!" Vita whined. She looked towards her king, pointing accusingly at the fading star. "Uncle, do something!"

Oberon reached forward. "Men! Stop that star!"

The men that weren't crushed by Pisces gathered their bearings and looked over their heads. They unleashed spears and threw polearms into the sky. However, there was a problem they didn't realize. With Staryu's core being so bright, its Illuminate was making it blend with the red glowing stars all around. Some barely caught glimpse of it before it flew over their heads. Those who caught it shot magical blasts from weapons and magic seals. A variety of attacks were shooting at Staryu, but it was evading thanks to the earlier shrinkage. It got even higher for distance ad safety, much to Plue's joy.

"Aw no~!" Vita whined. "Why?!"

"Calm yourself, Vita." Auriol said. "They have retreated for now."

Vita sniffled. "Yeah, but they have my new pet…" she whimpered.

"Let it have its fun." Caius sneered. "For soon, it shall learn that its actions will cost dearly."

Melchior watched Staryu and Plue drift off, becoming a flying red star that blended in their surroundings. As he watched them go, something about Staryu not being affected surprised him. _'Not a Celestial Spirit, yet it can breathe here…unless…'_ His eyes widened slightly from the idea. He slowly smirked, chuckling low. _'I see. That's what it was.'_ He looked towards the king. _'His majesty must have fortune if the stars are beside him still.'_

The Celestial King balled his fists, his sword out of reach. A magical concentration of aura engulfed him, making his cape flare in cosmic flares. "I wish for my power so bad?! COME AND TAKE IT!" he announced.

Melchior obliged with satisfaction. "As you wish." The red glow on his crown shined, reflecting in the Celestial King's eyes.

His glare was all red before everything around him blurred into red…nothing but red.

"Pun puuuun." The spirit said.

Staryu beeped in acceptance.

"Puuun!" Plue pointed forward towards the star, Staryu picking speed towards the exit to their world.

* * *

Lupus was sniffing the sandy shores of the sea off of Astral. His nose was picking up on a variety of human smells, but especially Celestials. The wolf's ears perked as he raised his head.

"Well, anything?" Lucy questioned.

Lupus walked on his two feet, facing the sea. "Yeah, I'm picking up on scents around here." He answered, sniffing around some more. "Definitely Aquarius. No doubt about it, this was where they went into the Spirit World."

"Are you sure about that?" Gray questioned.

Houndoom turned towards him. "Listen, pal. If there's one thing you gotta learn about dogs, is that once our nozzles pick up on something, there ain't no getting rid of it." He looked ahead. "Just ask him."

Gray and the others looked towards the sand, seeing not just Lupus, but Natsu also smelling the ground. He was getting strong smells of humans, while Lupus was getting spirits. Not as many were as freaked out about this as one would normally been. To them, this was probably the most common matters were gonna get.

"Yeah, the dog's right." Natsu said. "Trail's gone into the water."

"He's a wolf, Natsu." Happy corrected. His body suddenly began shivering nervously as he hid behind his shoulder. "A-A really big…snarling…deadly…cat-eating dogs! NATSU SAVE ME!" he cried.

"Huh? But I thought we were chill with him?" Natsu wondered,

Carla huffed. "Honestly…"

"Yeah, it is getting a little old." Wendy nervously said.

"This is our best trail in knowing if we can get a lead on Melchior's tail." Erza stated. "If time is warped as Lucy said, then it's only been 5 hours."

Lucy and Vanessa were seen frowning side by side. The two have been desolate in their minds for some time. Not because of the Celestial Spirit problem, but of something more possessive than them. Lucy was still worried about Staryu; its been gone for a long time and she didn't know where it was. Vanessa, on the other hand, was worrying about Sophie. The latter was just having better luck at keeping a blank face, unlike the full blonde.

Vanessa shook the bad feelings out of her. Even from here, she could sense Sophie's aura. She was fine. _'Right. She has her Pokémon and Duncan with her. We'll be just fine.'_

Greninja hopped over the hill ledge with Cana in his arms, landing in the dirt with Nic, the latter clad in a Psychic/Flying combo. He had the Sky Form's wings and edging, but the Mind Form's primary coloring.

The colored reverted to their original forms and they walked up to their allies. Juvia turned towards them. "Were you three successful in evacuating the city?" she asked.

Cana held up a stack of cards in her hands. It was a very large deck, so big that it was amazing she balanced it in one hand. "This good enough for you?" She showed them the deck, showing that on them were all the citizens and Pokémon in the city.

"You were able to fit that many?" Gray asked completely surprised.

"Hey, I've done some training too, ya know." Cana winked. "I ain't sitting at the bar chugging down booze as much as you do strip."

Gray looked down at what Juvia meant. He raised a brow as he was shirtless. Just recently he was without pants, which were lying off to the side. Coincidentally, Juvia's top was also off, revealing her green girdle beneath. The two looked at each other, blinking. Cana groaned in annoyance.

"Never mind."

Erza walked up to Nic. "So you were able to do it?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah, they'll be just fine. I used my Mind Form to just temporarily put their minds in a transfixed state. They won't remember a thing once Cana lets them out of the cards."

She nodded. "And the traps?"

"All set."

"Good." Erza grinned warmly. "I expect no less from my husband." She leaned into Nic's cheek, giving him a kiss.

Nic meekly snockered, looking away with light pink on the face. "Yeah, well…"

Greninja suddenly turned towards the sea. "Something's coming."

As if a switch went off, Nic's bashfulness shut off. He glared with Greninja at the starry sea as daybreak light was beginning to shine, reflecting on the water. With the light of their world, everyone could see the minerals and the red starlight of the Celestial World beneath the water. Many were left amazed, others were in shock. So much red instead of white; to the Celestial Crew it was reminding them of bittersweet times.

"So pretty…" Happy marveled.

"So that's the Celestial World?" Natsu questioned. He didn't remember it being like this, not even he was that dumb…at least not anymore.

"Those red particles are because of Melchior's powers." Volans stated. "Make no mistake, if the world's stars are that red, then we might be too late."

"No…" Lucy gasped.

"Keys are in trouble?" Klefki questioned. She looked down to her keys, jingling them. Nothing.

"Hm?" Corvus put his hand over his eyelids, blinking. "Am I seeing things, or is something heading our way?"

Vanessa turned towards the sea, her Aura Magic immediately picking up two anxious signatures. Surprisingly, one of the auras she's sensed, they weren't celestial nor human. Her curiosity heightened. _'An inorganic lifeform?'_ she pondered. _'So like Magnezone…then that means…'_

"Everyone step back!" Erza ordered, taking a defensive stance. Houndoom pounced to her side.

They all did as told and watched as they saw a fast-moving, red blue zoom through the water towards them. It had a bright red glow that it almost looked like a comet. As Natsu was readying to inhale fire to roast it, the projectile reached shore, jumping out.

"Puuuun!"

In drastic fashion, Plue finally surfaced with Staryu. Minerals sprayed everywhere, but that didn't draw any less shock from the people. Especially one from a certain Celestial Mage.

"Staryu?! Plue?!" Lucy yelled.

"Wait a sec…Plue?!" Natsu gasped.

Happy's eyes widened. "Woah! Where'd they come from?!"

Staryu landed on its tips while Plue gently assisted himself off. He turned towards Staryu and raised a paw. "Pun Puuun." He said, nodding.

Staryu beeped.

"Staryu! Plue!" The two turned towards the blonde that was running up to them. Sliding to her knees, Lucy went to their aid. Klefki was close behind. "You guys okay?!"

"Puuuun!" Plue suddenly pounced into her arms, much to the Celestial Mage's joy.

She hugged him tight. "Plue." She cooed. "It's so good to see you're okay. You had no idea how worried sick I was for you."

"Pun."

Everyone started to calm down as Lucy was catching up with the little castaways. Wendy sighed heavily in relief. "Thank goodness." She breathed. "I was worried there for a moment."

"Heh, I wasn't worried." Corvus beamed pridefully.

Volans and Lupus looked at his confident smirk, but could see that his stick, like clawed feet were still shaking. They glanced at each other and sighed.

"Lucy's Staryu?" Cana raised a brow. "Sure didn't see that one coming."

"And one of her spirits as well." Erza added. "Nic, what do you think?" She turned towards Nic, who stared ahead with uncertainty. Greninja looked just as questionable. Erza furrowed her brow and looked back at Lucy embracing the two.

Lucy finally let go of the two and backed away. "I'm so glad that you're both safe." She turned towards Staryu. "Staryu, where have you been?"

The starfish was beeping and blinking, trying to explain its adventures. However, since many don't know Morse Code, it was a sort-will guessing game.

"Wait…" Lucy connected the dots quickly, her shock surmounting. "Were in the Celestial World this whole time?"

It beeped twice. It sounded like a yes.

"Wait, hold on." Gray argued. "I thought people needed clothes or else they can't breathe in their world." He raised a brow at Cana. "Isn't that what happened to you guys?"

Cana shrugged. "Beats me. I don't know how clothes work. Not that you would either."

"Real funny."

"Because Staryu are inorganic sea dwellers." Vanessa explained, getting their attention. Her tone was strictly serious. "Inorganic Pokémon don't have to rely on the use of oxygen like humans and other living creatures. That would explain why it was able to go underwater and cross over without special clothing."

Staryu was blinking and beeping nonstop, trying its best to explain the details of what was happening. Neither Lucy nor Klefki could make them out. However, unlike them, Plue was explaining it…but even that wasn't working.

Natsu gasped sharply.

"What is it, Natsu?" Happy worried.

"Can he actually understand him?" Juvia blinked. "How is that possible?"

"You tell me, how come we talk here and not in our world?" Houndoom backlashed. He looked at Natsu, who was still stuck in shock. "So buddy, what's the problem?"

Staryu kept blinking, and Plue kept translating. Natsu was the only one at the moment who was understanding what it meant, and his eyes showed genuine horror. From his mouth, a few words escaped.

"They got the king."

Everyone's shock went up exponentially, Plue nodding in approval of the translation. The ladies gasped, with Wendy and Lucy covering their mouths, and Erza and Vanessa having slightly widened eyes, as did Nic and Greninja. The Celestial Spirts gathered had a look of remorse, with those who had fists were able to clutch did so with regret. They couldn't believe this. None of them could.

"Are you serious?" Cana gasped horrified. "That can't be, it's only been a couple hours."

"He must've had special insight on directions through the world before heading out." Lupus huffed. His mind trekked to his hounds he sent back. If he got the king, odds were them too. The wolf bared his fangs in frustration. "Damnit."

"So then…that makes us the only sane ones left?" Corvus looked towards his crew, each of them sharing looks of remorse. The situation weighed on then ten-fold. The crow's composition was beginning to harden as he turned towards the sea. "That bastard…!"

"This is bad." Gray grimaced.

"I know, darling. First with the Zodiac, but now His Majesty." Juvia listed. "What do we do?"

Lucy looked saddened as she held Plue tight. Klefki and Staryu were by her side. Watching over her grief, Natsu had to empathize. He looked down at the Poke Ball he had in hand containing Charmeleon. That battle he suffered was replaying over and over. He was in a no-win situation. It frustrated him greatly, but he knew he had to keep his calm.

"Nic. Lucy."

The two looked at Natsu, seeing him turn towards them. He had a dead serious fire in his eyes as he was gleaming them down.

"We're gonna stop them. Right?"

Lucy swallowed, pulling herself together. "Yeah…" She stood up. "You're tight. As a Celestial Mage, it's my duty to look after my spirits. Even not my own." Her attention went towards Volans and the others. "That goes for you guys as well. We'll free the king and the Zodiacs all over again!"

Volans nodded, grinning. "I expect no less from a trusted friend of Nic and Greninja." He approached her. "Very well, we will unite as one once more."

"Count me in!" Corvus cheered. "Lupus?"

The wolf smirked. "Heh, this should be good."

Vanessa looked towards Cana. "Cana."

"Yeah?" the brunette asked.

"Can you use your Fortunetelling to predict where and when they'll strike?"

The brunette raised a brow, uncertain after last time. "Well, we'll see what happens, won't we?" She looked at her cards for the spell to work. "Only one way to find out."

Vanessa nodded in understanding. _'I don't sense that same aura overcasting her. It must've been one of his advisors who had that magic.'_ She was certain now, this time they had the advantage. She turned towards Erza, nodding.

"Nic." The mentioned looked towards his wife, seeing her smile confidently with everyone. In her eyes lied a sympathetic passion. She knew he held a good level of respect for Celestial Spirits, especially with what he's been through. "I'm with you, all the way."

Nic nodded in agreement. "Thanks." He looked towards Greninja, who had the same harsh look of determination as he did. He faced the sparkling sea, the soon-to-be-dawn lights revealing what was supposed to be blue calm was but a red-flake sea of rage. With that same quelled level of rage, Nic was ready.

"Alright, let's go!"

"YEAH!" they all cheered.

* * *

Water droplets plopped on the cold stone. It echoes of each individual drop was like a rhythm that went on for miles on end. Lord knows how far down it went, but Joey, Dereece, and Kevin aimed to find out.

They were all close, closer than they've ever been. They had to keep themselves from getting lost in the sea of darkness that lied ahead of them. The echoes of cavern water was the only means to help tell how far they have to walk in. It wasn't their first time being stuck in a cave…but they don't want it to be the last either.

"Papa…this way." Ella quietly guided them through the tunnel, walking further than what they could pace.

"Ella. Ella." Kevin hissed quietly, so his voice didn't echo. "Slow down, sweetie. We can't see too well."

"Oh. Sorry." Ella slowed down a little, but only a little. Unlike the others, it was like she could see in the dark just fine. Another thing that disturbed them.

"How is it that she can see?" Dereece questioned, furrowing his brow. "First walking alone in the night, now this."

Joey looked back at him. "Maybe she just has really good night vision."

"Captain."

Joey eyerolled with a groan. "Yeah, Dereece. I get it. Why don't you put sticky notes on yourself again so that you remind yourself that every ten minutes."

Dereece looked offended by that remark. "I grew out of that habit in 1st grade!"

"Maybe for you." Joey cheekily smiled. "But that's how I got through those 2nd grade exams. See? You _do_ look out for me!" His expression turned serious. "But yeah, this whole place is creeping me out. You can't even see. I really wish we had someone that knew **Flash**."

"You _did_ remember to pack some Escape Rope, too, right?" Dereece pondered.

"Don't worry, got that covered too." Joey answered. "Duncan's not the only one who has some tricks in the items department, too."

Kevin made sure to keep his eyes forward. He wasn't going to lose sight of her again this time. After all that's happened, he had to ensure she would be within his line of sight at all times.

He couldn't explain it, but that cringy feeling of attachment was beginning to ache in his body somewhere. Not where his "national treasures" were, as he would call them. It wasn't the gut, he wasn't hungry after eating some berries along the way. So, where was this feeling? Well his heart was racing, so it had to be that. Even if it was that specific organ, it still felt so weird for him to feel like this. He's never been _too_ kid friendly, and he's had some issues growing up. He could still remember the day he woke up after having a dream he never knew he could have…perhaps that's where his little "problem" started. Since then, he's never paid attention to the immature. Now, he was seeing a glimpse of what caring for people younger than him felt like. And if he was honest, it wasn't that bad.

As he watched Ella walk, he watched her back contently. That same feeling when he was walking yesterday with her popped back into his head.

Ella suddenly stopped, bringing everyone to a standstill. As she stood still, her eyes shrunk as a looming silence fell onto her.

"Ella?" Kevin asked. "What is it?"

"We hit a dead-end or something?" Joey questioned.

"Papa…"

Her voice…it was so quiet. They could all feel an uncertain chill as they watched Ella slowly turn around, showing her straight face. In her eyes, they looked like they were peering into their hearts, like a ghost.

"…this way…"

The three men shuddered as Ella's monotone voice was proceeded with her very slowly walking to her right. As she paced, she was looking noticeably possessed…and the ways her eyes looked duller than before didn't bring any less discomfort to them.

Taking a pause, they all decided to follow further. "Ella…uh, kid…?" Kevin said. "I know you said that voice you heard is here, right? But let's talk about your…" He turned the corner, only to froze upon seeing nothing there. It was but an empty chasm, one that was too bleak to see over. "Oh my…"

Joey and Dereece turned the corner as well. Like Kevin, they were stumped as he was.

"Am I seeing things, or does this look like a big hole with a slopy bottom?"

"Ella? Did she…?"

Kevin clutched his fists, frustration on the rise. "Gnnngh…" His frustration was growing, but he had no choice. "C'mon, let's go find her!"

"Okay, okay." Joey said.

"Ella!" Kevin called out. Vaguely enough, he was hearing echoes reverberate to him. "Ella?!" Louder this time, and louder the echoes were through pitch-black. His face scrunched in frustration. "I don't like this at all, guys."

"Me neither." Dereece said. "Joey, let's hurry and get Ella, this is getting too risky now."

Taking responsibility, Joey nodded. "Yeah, you're right, Dereece. I don't think there's any Pokémon in here any…!" His eyes widened, seeing something dark shift far below them. "Wait a sec." He narrowed his eyes, leaning into the pit below. "You guys see that?"

"See what?" Dereece asked.

"Out there, see?"

Dereece and Kevin looked out farther, deeper into the dark chasm opening. Their eyes were squinting through the darkness that lurked – Kevin's sunglasses weren't helping, but strangely enough it didn't bother his field of vision. In fact, he was seeing something shift as well.

"Yeah, I saw something." Kevin said.

Dereece shuddered. "Are we really doing to investigate this?" he shakily pointed ahead.

"We don't have much choice, Dereece. C'mon." Joey went down first, making another stairway with his magic, with Dereece swallowing a lump before using his Elemental Walk Magic to walk out in midair, and slowly, Kevin took Joey's lead and walked down the barrier staircase until it reached something solid.

Once at the base, it was noticeably much darker, almost pitch-black, And something very, very foul entered their nostrils.

"Ugh, well we're here." Dereece commented. "And it smells bad, too. Joey, is that Trubbish out?"

"Nope. Sorry. She's in her Poke Ball still."

"Well it's still smelling nasty. It's almost sick…!" Dereece stepped somewhere, which felt hard and round. "Gyah!" He flinched away.

"Dereece, you okay?!"

"I touched something!"

"First of all, that's what she said." Kevin said. "Secondly, where? I can't see?"

"Flashlight, flashlight…" Joey mumbled to himself for a few minutes, trying to find the best solution. Suddenly it came to him. "Oh, wait! Guys! Our PokeDexes!"

"What about them?" Kevin asked.

"They have camera or light functions when they are seeing Pokémon in dark places, right? Let's use those."

Everyone got out their PokeDexes from their compartments, activating each one individually. They turned the flashlight functions on; Joey activating in Dereece's face. He flinched away.

"Don't be a big baby, Dereece, sheesh." Joey huffed. "Alright, let's see what we…" he turned the lights ahead of him, his voice trailing of. "W-w-what we…we…"

He couldn't finish. No one could. All three men stood petrified as the lights were showing figures that were beneath them. The horrors on all their faces grew to something that could give even thrillers shame. Joey and Dereece's eyes were wide, but their pupils were like small dots.

Kevin stood like a statue. His eyes were still enclosed by his translucent sunglasses, but his skin turned as white as a ghost. He looked like he was about to be sick.

"Oh…my…" Dereece dreaded.

"…good Arceus." Joey muttered, choking on a lump. But the horrors before him made that lump the least of his worries.

In full view of the light shining in their way was the pits of the caverns they walked into. Of course, maybe a cavern would be a stretch. It was more like a ravine; an abyss. An abyss in which the world had hidden from the mainland and everybody else and hid the unfortunate. They expected Pokémon, or Ella…but no. It was bodies. Human bodies. Dozens. Maybe a hundred. The gorge of corpses ran for almost a hundred meters with some people spread in between. On each and every one, their heads of hair were thin straws of white. Their skin was still there, but it looked like they were all dried up…like the fluids were sucked out of them. With days, month, maybe even years, some were even skeletons. But even though they were all dried up, they were all still wearing clothes. But that didn't give them any kinds of comfort.

At least now they knew where that atrocious smell was from.

Joey's left eye twitched as he looked like he was about to breakdown. He fell to his knees, looking horrified at what lied ahead. "D-Dereece…?" he quivered. "Are you having the same dream I'm having…?"

"You mean the dream where we wake up in the middle of the night, follow a little girl to a cave and wake up to dead corpses?" he phrased, quite specifically with a foul horror in his tone.

"Huh…so I'm not the only one. G-good to know…"

Kevin tried his keep himself in check. It was taking all his willpower not to pass out or panic. He knew something was wrong about this place, but he didn't think it'd be anything like this.

"All these people…all these lives…" Dereece despaired. He looked down, seeing what he almost stepped on earlier. A dead man's dried-up arm. "GYAH!" He shrieked, scooting away. "THIS IS AL SORTS OF WRONG! WHAT KIND OF A PLACE IS THIS?!" he cried out.

"All these bodies…all these people…damn."

Kevin looked around, seeing the dried corpses. He looked puzzled as he stepped forward. _'This is so messed up. What are all these guys doing here…?'_ He looked around, seeing how many of them had clothing on, though most of it were ragged from possibly being on the island or by aging. _'They don't look like they were slaughtered or anything. They're all dressed…it's like they were dehydrated.'_ He looked at a nearby corpse, one that looked recently worn out. It wasn't as decayed as the other. Holding his breath and remaining as calm as possible, he kneeled to inspect it.

"Kevin?" Dereece questioned. "What are you doing?"

Unknowingly, within the darkness that was around them, something slimy was moving towards them. It stayed slow, slithering towards Kevin's feet.

For a brief moment, Kevin was having an epiphany. He looked at the man's attire, more specifically, the nametag. It read "Frederick Mine." "Now wait a minute." He activated his Search Magic off to the side. The panels he started up were showing saved files of people he was assigned to look for. He scrolled down until he saw the same name. He looked back at the body, his gaze more than certain now.

"This guys…he's one of the missing people." He realized, much to Dereece and Joey's shock.

"Wait, what?" Dereece gasped.

"If that's one of them, then that means…" He looked at the many corpses lying around, realization sinking in. "…oh…yeesh…"

"They're all here. Every single one of them…they're all here." Kevin gazed at the surroundings. There were several other skeletons and corpses off to the side that added to the numbers. He was assigned to over a dozen people, but the numbers here made it clear before that were others. "All these people…what the hell happened to them…?"

"Captain, this is dead serious! We need to get our Escape Ropes now!" Dereece insisted.

Joey nodded. "You're right, Dereece." He started reaching for his belongings. "C'mon, let's get Ella and get out while we still-GAAAHH!" Suddenly, he was pulled away by something.

"CAPTAIN!" Dereece screamed. Something grabbed his ankle and pulled him back as well. "Wait! Nononononono~!"

Kevin looked around, confused. "Joey? Dereece? Dudes?!" His face scrunched up. He stepped back, completely frightened. "Aw man…"

Sure enough, something grabbed his ankle next. He was dragged off into the darkness next, everything for them turning black.

* * *

It felt likes minutes of dragging and sinking, but Dereece was the first to come around. "Guuugh…what happened?" his eyes widened, turning towards Kevin and Joey. "Guys! You okay?!"

Kevin stirred up. "Yeah, I think so."

Joey out a hand on his head. "Ugh…I haven't that hung up since prom." He blinked. "Wait…now where are we?"

"I don't know, but I think we were dragged deeper than before."

Coming around, they found that the place they were in had much better lighting than the previous hellhole. There were blue neon orbs along the walls, showing the height being a large chamber. Nearby, there was a flowing stream of seawater that connected to large basins and underground passageways.

"Where the hell are we now?" Kevin questioned.

"We must be in the very core of the island." Dereece deduced. "We're so far down that this must be saltwater running in those rivers."

"How did we get dragged here?" Joey raised a brow. "We were dragged, and everything felt…"

 _ZIIIIIiiing…ZIIIIiing…_

Everyone froze up when they felt a very eerie presence. Their eyes widened when they looked around, seeing the neon orbs around them flourish. They were all seen with very awkward blue auras inside of them, each of the hundreds around them having something squirming around in them.

"Uh, guys…?" Dereece quivered.

"Yeah?"

"I, uh…I don't think that we're alone."

" **Gnnnngh…** "

They al heard a low, bloody growl behind them. They could al feel a very ominous power churning around them; one stronger than usual. Joey especially was getting a very strong magical pressure. He slowly looked over his shoulder, seeing something that caused his insides to die.

' _What the…?'_

The others turned around as well. Like him, they paled upon sight.

Looming over them, there was a large, blue entity. It looked amorphous sort of speak, with a primary body structure like a Grimer or Muk. It had dark blue patches on the body with bright pink spots scattered all across the surface in cluttered areas. Its height was roughly the same as that Steelix they fought, but what was unmistakable was how ominous it glowed.

Everyone immediately backed up in fear.

"What the hell?! What _is_ that thing?!" Kevin shrieked.

"I've seen gross stuff, but now this is just taking things too far!" Joey panicked. "What is going on here?!"

Dereece was a shuddering mess. He couldn't begin to comprehend what was happening.

The amorphous being was remaining completely still as its one cyclopean eye opened, startling them. The iris was purple, and the eye opened sideways. They all froze up as the eye spectated them, moving side to side with less than pleasing sounds in mind.

"W-what do you think it's doing…?" Joey worried.

The amorphous blinked, before it expelled a loud, gurgling roar. The caverns shuddered as they all cringed at this thing's massive wake.

"This is so messed up. What does it want?" Dereece quivered.

Kevin was in question as well until he noticed something approaching them. "Huh?" He watched the figment draw near. Revealing itself to the light of the neon illumination around them. The vague, bright glow revealed it to be Ella.

"Ella!"

"Ella?" Joey turned towards the little girl, disbelief mounting. "How did she get here?"

Ella calmly walked up to the creature, standing right besides it. The beast glared down at Ella, its one pupil dilating as it focused in on the little girl before it.

"Ella, sweetie?" Kevin nervously called. "I don't mean to alarm you, but…GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!"

Despite the protests, Ella calmly turned around, grinning. "It is okay, Papa." She insisted. "Everything is just fine."

"What do you mean?"

Ella turned towards the beast again, looking up to it. What she said next was something that was leaving all the men completely spineless. When she faced them, her eyes were devoid of even emotions themselves.

"This is who wanted to meet you all along…this is Mama."

* * *

The sun was rising steadily until it was just over the seawater. The full rays of dawn has brought forth a new day. And to many, a new era. As the sea fell quiet, the stars in the sky were gone, and yet the sea was still dazzling with red.

A curious Binacle got close to the water, looking at it suspiciously. It saw the water and thought about going in, but she noticed something strange coming her way.

Out of fear, the Binacle sued its two heads to claw away, scuttling away as a large mass was approaching the shorelines. That mass arose in a plumage of water, spouting water everywhere. The figure that was the culprit shot into the air, levitating with the sun behind its back.

With great pride, it was the Celestial King. However, unlike what many would expect, his eyes were a bright red. He had a hostile expression on his face as he eyed the beach of Astral. He suddenly came crashing down in the sands, kneeling before he arose on his two feet.

On his shoulder, Melchior watched with a proud smile. He felt so proud of himself. This was his time now.

As he looked back, he watched as his army slowly walked out of the sea, their conquest cleared. They all were fine, save for the few banged up from getting in the Celestial Spirits' ways. Following them were the many Celestial Spirits that he had taken control of. All of them that he could find. The numbers were still low to him, but this was plenty, especially with the Zodiacs following.

He took one more look out at the sunrise, his smile ever so confident. _'It is dawn.'_ He said. _'And dawn stands for a new beginning.'_

He looked down at his peers, all of them kneeling before his majesty.

"My friends! My followers! I have an announcement to make! Today, my warriors, those sworn to the light of the stars! May we be guided not by the sun nor the stars anymore! Today, _we_ shall guide _them_! No more shall my fellow Celestial Spirits suffer, nor worry for their future. I promise you this: The future shall be nothing but a star. A guiding light that _we_ shall be for this new era that we will guide on. We shall recreate your kind! We shall prove to the world, that Celestial Spirits _do_ have the power, beyond any and all other magics! To honor the dead and their legacy, we must pave a new way for them to watch over!" He faced towards the mountains directing to Fiore, reaching his arm out. "Now! Let us usher our golden age! Forward!"

The army cheered with great motivation. The men followed their king's orders and began their conquest. The Celestial King began moving, taking slow strides through Astral's hills and paved parks. Melchior smiled brightly as he looked back, seeing Oberon smirking at him.

' _At last…we can finally end this suffering…'_

 _ **BOOM!**_

Melchior's eyes widened when small explosions were going off beneath the king's feet. Much to his surprise he was seeing the Celestial King stagger backwards. He stayed on, keeping his balance.

"Milord!" Auriol stepped forward, but her feet was caught in small bursts that caused her to flinch.

All around, Vita, Oberon, and the rest were tensing up as the ground was littered in small explosions. The pavements was still there, but the pain in their feet was causing many to trip. Some fell on their bottoms, causing even harsher explosions that made them cry out.

"What's happening?!"

"I don't know!"

"An ambush?!"

The smoke beneath them was fading, showing the Celestial King and Zodiacs all kneeling. That really hurt, but from their emotionless faces it was hard to make out. Melchior frowned, his earlier shock turning to expectant glares.

A cheesy smirk was seen on a certain brunette's face. "See? Told you they'd start on this way."

"Good work, Cana."

The army and everyone saw through the smoke, seeing a small group of people ahead that blocked their path.

"What the-?!" Altair looked up, seeing a large, web-like net around them. The massive net of silky thread was a huge dome that covered all of Astral, much to their horrors.

"That'll keep'em boxed in." Gray smirked. "Guess **Spikes** and **Spider Web** go well after all."

Juvia smiled. "They won't be going anywhere."

Melchior looked down, seeing the culprits that impede their paths. Immediately, he took notice of someone with a familiar, annoying face. His face fell to emotionless glares.

"So, we meet again…Nic Pularis."

Standing in the morning breeze, Nic was in his normal self, a serious yet relaxed disposition about him as he stood with Greninja and Erza to impede the path of the king. Not just them, but the rest of the group was standing close together, and the Celestial Spirits were all around Lucy, Staryu, and Klefki.

A strong wind was picking up around them, their glares meeting with distaste. Not one person was looking to be scared nor concerned.

Melchior looked down at the ground, then up at the sky. He faced Nic with a calm glare. "So I take it this was all your doing, right?"

Nic gave no response. He and Greninja shot glares. That was all he needed.

"I see." He grinned. "Seems that I haven't given you the credit that you deserve. Seems that I have underestimated you and your friends' tenacity. Do you truly believe that you are fit now to heed my call upon the Celestial Spirits?

Nic's glare wasn't impeding. He looked like he was ready for battle rather than talk. The same with Erza as she mounted Houndoom with a sword.

"Apologies, Milord." Oberon said. "But it would seem that at the moment, they are incapable of understanding the position they are in." he observe the defiant looks on their faces. "Their eyes speak volumes. They see only wrong in their gazes."

"Erza Pularis." Auriol eyes Erza down, her glare steel cold on the female knight.

"Auriol." Her brown eyes showed anything but rivalry. Houndoom snarled beneath.

"You." Natsu glared down Caius, the latter crossing his arms stoically.

Vanessa looked at Bion, seeing his face with more confidence than before. Even from her position, she could feel something was different about him. _'This Magic Power…'_

"Huh?!" Vita saw Lucy holding Plue, her eyes widening in shock. "Hey! Uncle, look! That's my new pet!"

"Puuuun…" Plue buried himself into Lucy's chest, the blonde keeping him firm.

"Hey, c'mon now! What about me?!" Vita squealed. "Give him back!"

"In your dreams, little princess!" Lucy backlashed.

Melchior looked towards Oberon, the two sharing an understanding. They looked at their foes expectantly, waiting for what's to happen.

"Are you going to stand there making speeches, or are we gonna have to come to you?" Nic questioned.

Melchior accepted Nic's challenge with a smirk. "So be it. My friends; me celestial comrades…" He swiped his arm, his cape flaring with the sun's rays basking it in a cosmic assortment of colors. "Bring them judgement!"

The army roared as they raised their weapons and charged. Getting over their initial damage, they charged for the Fiorian Mages that opposed them and their destiny.

"Let's GO~!" Natsu charged with flaming fists, everyone else close behind.

The battle in the spider web dome over Astral had begun.

* * *

The mountains overlooking Astral ran viciously far and deep. Borges ripped open from Arbok's attack were still fresh that changed the landscape. But even so, the way out was still open. Upon a steep climb from the pits that Ophiuchus kept open, Crime Sorciere – or at least Jellal, Bellona, and Erik – accompanied Sophie and Duncan on the quest for the hill.

"So then, the path leads to up here I take it?" Bellona questioned.

"That's what Ophiuchus said." Erik chimed. "She was certain about it, that's for sure."

Sophie closed the recent book she had finished skimming along the way. She sighed, allowing her Kadabra to use **Confusion** and levitate the book over himself. "Nothing but myths and legends that I've read about. Nothing keen as far as we aren't aware of."

Duncan eyerolled. "Then just keep looking. You wanna save them so bad, just work for it."

Sophie shot him a deadpan expression. "What do you think I'm doing?" Duncan huffed at her, only making her sigh. "But still…thank you for coming along. I hope you're not too bothered with this."

"Don't mention it. If this king really _did_ go this way…" he looked at the massive trail that lead far up. "Then we can expect he wouldn't want anyone else in his path. And that means opponents."

"Good, then we'll be certain to rely on you when we need it." The blonde mischievously smirked. "Just don't freeze up again."

The Trainer frowned heavily. He offered no verbal response to what she said.

"There's no time for second guessing. The others are counting on us." Jellal asserted. "If there is any doubt, it would befall our task. We can only press forward from here on."

"Well said." Bellona chimed. "Now then, shall we get set?"

Sophie nodded. "Ken (Yes)."

* * *

At the top of a large mountainous hill, there lie a cliff, with two gargantuan pillars of raw stone that looked to have been shaved and molded to be flat on top. Overlooking this massive view, there was Tophet. The tattered, bearded man gave a straight, serious face as he looked down at the battle that was to unfold. "I doth wonder, Tetrabiblos…what power in your judgement can it reach?"

* * *

 **Took forever to write, but I sure hope it was worth it!**

 **I wanted to dwell a little with Ophiuchus' background some more, and get into more of the Celestial mythology. With Ophiuchus being a 13** **th** **Zodiac, I felt she deserved some chance, unlike what poor decisions were made in the Grand Magic Games. This would give us more of a shine on the outcasted Zodiac.**

 **Surprised with what I had for Staryu? It took some thinking, but I figured that with Staryu's case, this was the best possible way to bring out some of its star-like quality.**

 **For The Freaks, enough said. Kevin especially is gonna have a little more characterizing coming up, especially with this sudden reveal of what Ella is. Oh well, at least Magikarp proved he's not totally useless, and Sewaddle used Breakneck Blitz before evolving! Points for me!**

 **Also, guys, really important! I've been getting into a Fire Emblem mood lately, so I've made a poll to see what you guys would think. For the most part people sound like they want what I have planned to happen, so I'll get to planning. But first, I wanna finish this arc, so I'm gonna power through these last 3 chapters that I wanna make happen. So for those wanting an update for** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **, don't expect one for a while. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

 **The next chapter won't be for a little while still, maybe 1-2 weeks. My chapters are long, but now I'm helping Ultimate10 create a wikia for his fanfiction. If you guys have wikia accounts, we can use your help plugging in information, because we're doing all the heavy lifting until we catch up.**

 **Please review and support my fanfics! Thanks guys, and I hope you all are loving this arc!**


	35. The Painful Choice

The rising sun over the sea sparkled with the warmth of a new day. With new days came new chances, and with those chances come opportunists. A lot of people mistake opportunity as something that can be taken for granted. The ones who take opportunity seriously are those of success. And this was an opportunity that neither side could pass up. Taking one's ambitions lightly would cost them great. And beyond the sun's rising, the rays showcased the opportunists and their conflagrations unfolding.

"LET'S GO!" Natsu jumped into the air, in which Happy picked him up with his Aero Magic. The Exceed. and Dragon Slayer combo proceeded into the heart of battle.

As the pair traveled through the air, the knights and warriors under Melchior looked up, seeing a fast-moving projectile blitz after them. One of the cadets pointed at them. "Fire!" Under his command, many warriors aimed their magical weapons, firing elemental blasts at them.

"Give it a little more gas there, Happy!" Natsu shouted.

"No problem! Hang on!" Happy ascended higher, evading the blasts and spears thrown. He glided downwards with Natsu. His speed picking up further. " **Max Speed!** " He instantaneously dove into many of men with Natsu as the battering ram. The wake of the glide through the forces created a shockwave as Natsu provided a double lariat to knock down unprepared soldiers.

"So fast!" a soldier yelled.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Natsu smiled. "Now I've got a fire in my belly!" Happy arched back into the air, shooting skywards and arching overhead. In a prolonged surged of speed, the warriors readied magical weapons and spears.

" **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!** "

Natsu and Happy shot across the battlefield again, this time Natsu using whip-like flames that lashed into various parts of the army. Roaring blazes eviscerated numbers as the shockwaves threw men around like charred ragdolls.

A soldier on the ground not far from Natsu found an opening. He aimed his ring to use his Ring Magic, a magic seal showing.

" **Ice-Make: Freeze!** "

Before the soldier could deploy his magic, he was frozen on the spot in a massive pillar of ice, along with a dozen other guys. With them trapped, the air around them was frosting over, and with a snap of fingers, the ice slabs containing them suddenly imploded, spraying shards of ice down on other soldiers below.

As bodies fell like rain, Gray stood in the center, a cool expression on his face. Beside him was Bergmite for battle.

"You guys seriously need to chill out." He scoffed. "Bergmite, **Sharpen!** "

"Sharpen." He repeated robotically. The points on his body intensified, making him stiff and edge into refined parts. A red aura enveloped his body, increasing his Attack.

"Okay, just like we practiced, okay?" Gray looked back at Juvia. "Juvia, you have my back, don't you?"

Currently using her Water Lockspell to trap the warriors surrounding them, Juvia was wearing her girdle and looked over her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll be just fine." She grinned.

Grinning at her, Gray nodded and faced forward, conjuring up ice. "Okay Bergmite, get set! **Ice-Make: Ice Geyser!** " He slammed his hands into the ground, causing an immense tremor that shot ice spikes towards Bergmite. Along the way it knocked down warriors too close until it reached him. Suddenly ice shot up beneath Bergmite, creating a spiked tower that pushed him into the air. Once the tower had reached critical point, the harsh stop pushed Bergmite into the air in suspense.

"Now, **Take Down!** "

"Falling." Bergmite murmured, his body igniting in an orange and gold forcefield. "Descending. Take Down. Impact." With the momentum of being so high, the energy used for the attack was intensified. Close by, a large dust cloud exploded as several men too close were hammered by an intense falling slab of ice.

Watching the scene, Gray smirked again. "Nice."

Behind his back, Juvia whipped a harsh stream of water to repulse a warrior. With added room, she pulled out a Poke Ball of her own. "Now, go my Vaporeon!" In front of her, Vaporeon appeared ready for battle.

"Hi, Juvia. Ready!" the evolved Water-type confirmed.

Juvia nodded and pointed at the spheres of water containing the men. "Then use **Aurora Beam!** " Vaporeon lurched her head back and created a dark green and black energy sphere. Once ready, she planted her forelegs on the ground and shot a colorful beam into the air in an arch. The icy attack went across the many spheres, grazing into them and fading. When she finished her attack, she watched as they all were suspended for a moment before each bubble burst, exploding sprays everywhere.

As it rained water and men, Vaporeon nudged herself from the spray. Juvia looked on, confidence in her posture.

"Push through, everyone!" Erza shouted, rising Houndoom into battle. She swiped her sword to deflect iron arrows aimed for her. Once they were gone, she glowed.

" **Requip!** "

She jumped off of Houndoom into the air, revealing her Heaven's Wheel Armor, along with 50 other swords. She glided above Houndoom as the two raced into battle.

"Houndoom, **Inferno!** " she ordered.

"Can do!" Houndoom reared his head back and took in a deep breath. In the maw, swirling blue flames were seen gathering around the throat before the maw shot wide open. A howling blaze of blue, broiling fire traveled across the ground, swallowing men in agonizing burns and damage.

Soldiers lost in the wake of the blue shockwaves were blinded by the heat and their weapons. With no cover, they were unfamiliar with slits being cut through the fire.

" **Blumenblatt!** "

In a massive wake of swords, the several blades at Erza's command above dove through Houndoom's intense attack, burning up inside and coming out as flaming blades that rained in a vast spray throughout the battlefield. Litters of blue explosions impaled the ground, along with men unfortunate.

Erza requipped the swords and her armor away and landed on Houndoom as he continued his path forward. "Nic, cover me!"

"Right." Not far behind, ducking a sword swing and back-kicking a guy's chin into the dirt, he glowed. In an epic pulse, he was a bright green bolt that shot pass Erza and Houndoom.

" **Lunge!** "

Beaming clean through numbers, Nic was revealed in his Insect Form. The shock of his massive speedy bolt made the many falling men covering a range far deep into the army.

Those who weren't close still felt the winds of his lunge. As a solder was covering up from dust and men flailing overhead, he was disoriented. _'Where did all that speed come from?'_ He attempted to move, but found something sticky weighing him down. _'What the-?_ ' He looked down, his shock rising as he was on thin web-like thread all over the ground. _'Where did this come from?'_

All over, men were being weighed down a certain area of Astral where Nic and Erza were charging through. They were very slow, and blue auras enveloped them.

As dust covered Nic, there was a dark visage on him as he was fully obscured. He was thinking back to those traps he set earlier when he mesmerized the townsfolk. Not just Spikes and Spider Web, but **Sticky Web**.

' _We're not taking chances this time.'_ He declared. " **Night Slash!** "

In a span of less than a second, Greninja suddenly appeared beside him, his bright purple needle sheathed before it slowly slipped into a fake scabbard in his hand. Upon the dispel, Greninja's blank eyes didn't fade as dark gashes and cuts were in dozens all across the battlefield. They exploded, sparking the ground with people falling onto their backs, gaping as their magical weapons plundered.

' _This won't be like Alvarez and Glacidia. This time, we're prepared.'_ He glowed, shifting into his Splash Form beside Greninja as their glares deepened in unison. _'Nobody's gonna give an edge this time. We won't allow it.'_

Volans smirked. "Heh, I don't expect any less from those two."

"Yeah right, they look even stronger than before!" Corvus awed.

"Then we better keep up." Lupus kicked a guy away before dodging a bisento. He evaded it until he got his foot under it, pinning it to the ground. " **Sonic Howl!** " He opened his mouth, expelling enlarging midnight blue ultrasonic waves that shook the earth, pushing the bisento wielder and dozens more behind back.

"Agreed." Volans palm struck a guy away.

"Then let's get going!" Corvus shot into the air, coming down with a kick to a guy's face.

"Glad to see you guys still got that spirit." Cana mused, holding tarot cards. "Well then, guess we better get this show on the road! Purrloin, **Assist!** "

Purrloin huffed, waving her paw in the air before a jet of bubbles shot out ahead, via **Bubble Beam**. Together with Cana's tarot cards, they created large explosions that took down men getting too close to them.

Lucy used her Fleuve d'etoiles whip against her foes while Klefki used **Metal Sound** , creating ear-splitting shockwaves that distracted men to be taken out by Staryu's **Swift** from above.

Nearby, Wendy blasted men with her magic, with Carla providing physical offense.

"Keep going guys!" Natsu declared, facing the king's direction. "Because by the end of the day, they're gonna get free…I swear it!"

…

As everyone was rushing into the heat of battle, forces were being blown away like candlewicks. Smoke clouds erupted and elements raged all around. And in the back, watching in the higher vicinities of the flat part areas, Melchior and Oberon stood side-by-side. Oberon watched with his chin closer to the sky.

"Look at them, milord. Typical Fiorian mages." He criticized. "Barbaric."

Melchior silently nodded as he continued observing. He was witnessing Nic morphing into water and spiraling through a long row of men, slaying them in a pose with **Liquidation** , the water sword shimmering in the thin sunlight.

"I say we give them credit for their efforts but still." Oberon looked up to the Celestial King and Zodiac around them. "What do you say their chances are again?"

"Oberon." Melchior mused. "That is enough games. These mages, believe it or not, once had a power in their own holds that was said to surpass the Celestial Magic itself."

Oberon humbly nodded. "Of course, sire. I'm just pointing out the facts as you have."

"It's fine. However, educating them will be much more difficult. So then…" The crown glowed, the Zodiacs all raising their heads and staring blankly. "Let us teach them what it means to be a _true_ Celestial Mage!" At his call, the Zodiacs all rushed into the fray, their eyes as bright as Melchior's future.

* * *

The atmosphere inside the cave was damp so to speak. Unlike the brimming dawn that was on the surface, Ophiuchus' caverns were humid and lucid. The massive pseudo-Zodiac was in coils around the chamber, providing ample room for Yukino as she was staring up at her estrange spirit.

The caverns suddenly lightly vibrated. Yukino looked down to see a stone quiver from a magnitude.

"Hmph. Sounds like your friends are causing a ruckus up there." Ophiuchus scoffed.

"Yes, they rather are, aren't they?" Yukino agreed. She held her fist close to her chest, anxiety showing on her face. After everything that's happened she had every right to be worried. Ophiuchus wasn't gonna harm her, but it wasn't her well-being that was the problem. It was Ophiuchus.

Swallowing a lump, she steeled herself. "Ophiuchus, are you sure this is what you want to do? Just be alone here, there's a world out there that could really use your strength."

Ophiuchus flicked her tongue. "Hmph, couldn't have said it better myself."

"What?"

"Humans. Celestial Spirit. None of that matters at this point. Look here and listen well. I've seen plenty from this bottomless pit to know that no matter whose side you're on, at the end of the day, you're but a puppet to your own kind. Humans say the same thing, over and over. 'We can work together. Bonds. Feelings. All that stuff that makes Celestial Spirits who they are!'." She turned away from her master. "Well if that's the case, then what am I? If I didn't need those things like your little Zodiacs did, then why bother wasting your time on me, when you can use that so-called _bond_ to free them?"

Yukino furrowed her brow. "Ophiuchus…"

"We're from different worlds, human. All three of us. You asked earlier if I had an obligation as a Zodiac, did you not?"

" _Hmph. Didn't you hear me before? I'm not one of them. So why should I feel obligated?"_

" _Because that's your fellow spirits. If you have any connections and are a Zodiac, then you should help!"_

 _Ophiuchus' tongue slicked across her face. "Is there a rule here saying that I should? I fail to see how I'm affected by this."_

"Celestial Spirits follow a lot of rules, human. Laws are just created because a group of people came to agree on opinions. And once laws are made, everyone is expected to follow them. The Zodiacs and the Celestial King were the ones to have agreed on the rules and laws of spirits. So why wasn't I?"

"Ophiuchus…?"

"Hmph, I've asked myself that same question. For hundreds of years. Maybe I was forgotten…maybe I was a mistake…or maybe…this is a punishment of its own."

"You can't be sure of that!" Yukino rebuffed. "Maybe humans do misuse others, but there are those that care, too!"

Ophiuchus continued lazily looking away. "Apparently not enough. Face it, kid. We're from different worlds. We don't have reasons to care. I don't…so go focus on your own species and keep your fights to yourself."

Yukino's sympathetic stare softened with every detesting syllable Ophiuchus spoke of. She was trying to find sympathy, but the humungous snake turned away, looking in another direction to sleep. She was too tired from the battle. Even if Yukino wanted her to, it was clear Ophiuchus wasn't keen on helping. She wasn't entitled like her master or her friends. She had to find a way to calm her spirit down.

As she was searching through her options, she was thinking back to before the Grand Magic Games so long ago. She wasn't inducted into Sabertooth yet but she was thinking about it. In a small stream, she still remembered a golden key that was at the bottom of a rockbed.

' _Ophiuchus…'_

Similarly, Ophiuchus was lost in her own train of thoughts. She was stuck on some kind of matter herself; more specifically, when Nic used **Purify** to heal her paralysis. If he figured she could heal herself, why bother doing it for her. It rattled her, but like wounds and time, that'll heal.

"Hmph."

* * *

Blue glows resonated around the undergrounds. A dark, gurgling bellow came from the blue amorphous beats with one massive eye fixed dead ahead. Its sclera shrunk, then expanded back to place. It viewed Joey, Dereece, and Kevin as Ella stood at the base of the being. What she had just said still puzzled the boys present, and from the looks on their faces, they were still trying to process it.

Joey blinked. "Uh, guys…?"

"Yes, Captain." Dereece asked, equally as petrified.

"Please tell me that my hearing aids are jacked up this time, because for a second there I thought Ella said that thing was her Mama."

"Oh…okay. I thought I was hearing things too. Good to know…"

Ella blinked at the confused men before looking at Kevin. The man was too stunned for words alone to admit. There wasn't a single syllable he was capable of saying.

"E-Ella…sweetie…?" he nervously spoke. "I, uh, I think you need to lie back down, okay? Call me crazy, but I'm _pretty_ sure that your 'Mama' is supposed to be…"

"It is not crazy, Papa." Ella intervened, looking back at the gelatinous monster. "It's as I have said, this is my Mama. Hello, Mama." The mysterious larger entity gurgled at her, her low, bloodcurdling bowels vibrating the mass on her body. "Mama says that I have been a good girl." She smiled.

"Okay, I am officially lost, and very much worried at the same time." Joey worried. "Um, Ella?"

"Yes?" She turned slowly towards Joey, a hollow smile plastered on her face. Her face looked a lot paler than the usual skin tone she had. It creeped them out further.

"This is _really_ getting so wrong now. Somebody tell me what's going on?!" Dereece panicked.

Kevin swallowed a lump, his brow furrowing. He stepped up and glared Ella down hard. "Ella, listen. And I wanna know the truth. What is going on, and more importantly, why is that thing your Mom?"

The giant amorphous looked down at Ella, moving her tentacle to her back. The Freaks and Kevin cringed when they saw Ella's body quiver as the tentacle molded and embedded itself into her back. Around her body, running down to the arms, the veins on her body were glowing bright blue.

Her eyes slowly opened, revealing bright blue. The look on everyone's faces showed genuine horror.

" **Hello, flesh feeders. At last you have entered my domicile.** **Welcome.** " Ella said in a double-layered voice. It was a mix of her own voice with a much deeper, echoing tone.

"Gah!" Dereece flinched. "Ella?! Is that her voice?!"

"No, can't be." Joey gritted his teeth. "That's gotta be that thing attached to her."

"I think it's using Ella to communicate to us." Kevin realized, eyes widening further. "…like some translator."

" **Indeed I am.** " 'Ella' said. " **My humblest thanks for you taking care of my offspring for me. But now, your tasks are over. You can now rest.** "

Kevin furrowed his brow tighter. "Enough hocus-pocus. Who are you? What are you?"

" _ **I**_ **, you compulsively hormonal human, am an amorphous magical species that has been on Earthland for generations.** " The entity explained. " **I am what's known as a Parasia. We are an evasive and endangered species, and we do what we can to survive.** "

"A Parasia…an ancient magical species?" Joey stared in awe at what he was seeing. He knew magical animals lived in this world, but not infections. _'So it's like a virus that has magic too?'_

"Hold on now, the job requests we took said that this island was uninhabited _before_ the Pokémon arrived." Dereece reminded them. "Are you saying that no one knew about this?"

Kevin was stunned speechless, allowing the Parasia to continue translating through Ella.

" **My kind has been dwindling in numbers throughout Earthland's time. A hundred years ago, we thrived on the humans amongst the shores, but since the Ethernano in the air has grown, their magic and powers grew too much. We were hunted down, ended…but** _ **I**_ **found salvation. On a peninsula, years ago. I was pushed into the depths of the pits. They used their powers to cut off the island completely from shore, to leave me adrift forever.** "

Dereece's eyes widened in astonishment. _'Wait a sec. When we were given the job request…we checked the map on the way here! That map didn't have an island on it this far out.'_

"Sooo, you're like this super rare homicidal beast thing, am I right?" Joey questioned.

" **Homicidal, you say?** " Ella chuckled darkly. " **No, far from it. To you humans it may seem like that, but the virtues are no different for us. It is a food chain. To feast. To produce. And to thrive.** " The massive eye of the 'Mama' looked down at her. " **And in order to find the right food, I have evolved to help every means possible. From the land that is stepped on, to the bait to lure prey.** "

Joey raised a brow. "Um…could you use simpler words, please?"

"Wait a sec…" Dereece was piecing it all together. His expression was blank before it turned to shock. "Wait, don't tell me…"

His mind flashed back to when they were on the island's high cliffs. They could see everything, including how far and vast the island reached. To Dereece, he especially picked up on the terraformed parts. And more recently, that landslide. His eyes shrunk to the size of grains.

' _So that thing knew we were here the first steps we took on the island, and then it manipulated the geography to make it come to it?'_ Dereece gasped. _'Oh no…'_

"But wait a sec!" Kevin backlashed. "This doesn't make any sense! Okay so you've evolved and all, but what does that have to do with Ella?"

"' **Ella', you say?** " the amorphous repeated. " **I see. So that is the name you have given to my offspring.** "

Everyone's eyes shit wide open. The shock they had before was starting to turn them over. Ni matter what direction they turned in, more revelations would just keep popping up.

" **I presume your humanoid intellect isn't computing. Very well then, allow me to detail.** " Ella turned towards Kevin. " **The reason this offspring exists, is because you touched its egg.** "

"I…!" Kevin's eyes shot wide open. He was recalling the other night when he trapped over something. He didn't realize the blue egg-like object was something that dangerous. He gravely misjudged the situation. _'So when I touched the egg, that created Ella…'_

He looked at Ella, her firm position still standing.

" **My species allows us to create eggs that contain our ability to mold DNA. The forms that the offspring takes are those of humanoid offspring, that way our prey would have lower guards. Once the victim makes contact, even a hair would sap the single strand of DNA, and in turn create life.** "

Dereece turned to Kevin accusingly. "Kevin…is what she saying true?"

Kevin was just as dumbfounded, proven by his shuddering gaze. He was too busy listening on what was happening. This left Joey and Dereece to exchange worried gazes with one another.

" **The child would not only have the direct link with its biological producer, but also the carrier of her DNA. It would be able to tell the victim's thoughts, feelings, and intelligence. With that, the mother would guide the child and her prey back. And together…comes the feast.** "

"No way…" Joey gasped.

Dereece knew something was wrong, he just knew it. He told himself a thousand times over that thus island was messed up, but he should've trusted his gut and left while he still had the chance. Now they were here.

Joey shook his head. "So then…all those people back there…they had children that looked like them that brought them here, too?" His eyes slowly widened. "And…they were all fed to you?"

" **That is correct, human. And with each new human that is drained. As does their species' ability to adapt and evolve. The intelligence that is ingested is transmitted to the current offspring through the earth, in order to make their jobs easier of bring us new flesh to drain.** "

Kevin breathlessly gasped. Something before clicked inside his mind.

" _You did it, Papa. Congratulations." Ella complimented._

 _Kevin smiled at his daughter. "Thanks."_

" _You've used that Z-Move almost perfectly. It's very impressive."_

"' _Z-Move'?" Kevin questioned. He turned towards Joey and Dereece, but they shrugged in confusion just like her. He raised a brow. "So, uh…why'd you call it that, sweetie?"_

 _Ella tried to make an excuse. "Oh…it's just something that I thought would sound…cool, as you would put it. Does it not fit?"_

 _Joey raised a brow. "Actually…Z-Move has a nice ring to it." He grinned. "I like it!"_

He didn't realize it until now, why Ella named that last attack Sewaddle did back then that. That could only mean one thing.

' _Someone must've known about the stone and crystal before they died. And so Ella…'_

Dereece swallowed a lump. His own suspicions back then were confirmed as well, but that didn't make things any less creepy. _'So_ _ **that's**_ _how she knew. She knew it all along. So all this time…'_

The beast leg go of its grip on Ella and slunk a tentacle back to its body. Ella stood motionless as she stared at the three men.

"Ella, please…" Kevin murmured. "Is this all…really true?"

Ella tilted her head, giving them both a sincere smile. "Papa…" The blue veins on her body didn't recede, unnerving the boys. "It is okay, really. Everything will be alright…"

The Freaks and Kevin looked on as the large monster behind Ella was starting to eye them now. The sides of her large, doughy, jelly body were glowing. Odd blue waves were seen rippling from her frame into the earth all around and beneath the men, who looked more anxious than before.

"You said it yourself. Once I find my Mama, everything can be set back into place. You can be rid of me as you have first wanted."

"E-Ella. This isn't what I meant!" Kevin spat. "I never said that!"

"Thanks to you, my Mama can feel fulfilled. And because of you, Mama is proud of me." Ella's arms began morphing, much to their horror. They were petrified when they were seeing Ella's arms become gel-like blue tentacles. "Thank you for everything…Papa."

"Kevin, duck man!" Joey yelled.

"Now…" Her voice grew dangerously low, her eyes showing a devoid darkness that stunned them. "Let Mama thank you."

" **grOOOAAAHHH!** "

The Parasian shot tendrils from her gelatinous body that shot pass Ella towards their prey. Kevin gritted and braced for the blow, but Joey slipped in front and created a barrier to protect them. The tentacles went back into the gelatinous body, the creature scowling.

"What's the matter, Uncle?" Ella questioned in an eerie tone. "Will you not let Mama show her appreciation?"

Joey lifted the barrier, regrouping with his friends. "Guys, this is _way_ bad. We gotta scram, and fast!"

"I'm with ya there, Captain." Dereece agreed. He turned around, only to stop stiff. "U-uh…"

"What's wrong?" Joey turned around, only to gasp in horror. "Oooooh…."

The blue orbs on the walls were glowing haphazardly, slowly cracking and glowing. Slowly moving towards them, almost zombie-like, were gelatinous humanoid creatures, no bigger than children, or rather Ella's size. From the counts that were sauntering towards them and growing from the eggs hatching, they looked to count to over hundreds. Each humanoid blue slime with dark blue spots and slight pink dots meekly scowled as they were all coming around.

The mother Parasian let out another howl, her minion-babies hording around her sustenance.

"What the heck?! Where did they come from?!" Joey panicked.

"I don't know!"

Kevin looked left and right, seeing the numbers and compositions gather around quickly. _'These guys! They look just like…!'_

He recalled yesterday evening, seeing Ella saunter towards the underbrush. He recalled the uncouth, shriveled up corpse of an off blue figure. It was like a raisin back then that Sewaddle easily took down in a fragile state.

' _These creatures…those are what Ella are.'_ He realized. _'Now I get it, that was her sibling she was trying to communicate to. Ella.'_ He looked back at the female child lookalike, a deep epiphany splattered on his face.

"Come on, Papa." Ella cooed. "It's okay, we won't bite." She started to change her colors, her clothes also changing shape. They vanished, and instead she took the shape of her true form. She, like the other monsters, became a child-sized blue humanoid gelatinous mass. "We just want you to stick around…just a little longer…"

"Ella…"

Ella reached towards Kevin, shooting her tendril arms at him. He evaded, but was very stunned. "Ella, stop! You don't have to do this!"

But try as he might, Ella shot more tendrils at Kevin. The other creature were doing so as well, surrounding them in incoming tubes of death.

" **Barrier-Make: Ball!** "

Creating a ball of turquoise ball, Joey shielded his friends from the tendrils all around him. The creatures' attacks were bounced off, bouncing right back at them.

They all scowled at the pain inflicted, but the mother Parasian let out a harsh howl that shook the caverns. Blue waves shot beneath her like veins, reaching beneath all the creatures beneath her. Instantly those that fell arose.

"You've gotta be kidding me! Can they even feel pain at all?!" Joey exasperated.

"Captain, we need an exit plan, and quick!" Dereece quipped before flinching from a tendril slamming against the barrier.

"Uh, okay! Let me think!" Joey looked at his surroundings, seeing nothing but blue and darkness everywhere. He bit his lower lips as he could barely make out anything around him.

However, his eyes widened when he spotted something pass the Parasians. He saw running water coming from a thin opening that traveled down an open canal in a tunnel.

"There!" he pointed. "Everyone roll with me! We're making a getaway!"

"We're swimming, really?" Kevin raised a brow.

"Correction, _we're_ swimming. Mr. Cheater over there is gonna use his magic." Joey pointed a thumb towards Dereece.

"Really?" an unamused Dereece groaned. "W-whatever. Just move!"

"Okay! Okay!" Joey took a deep breath, calming himself. He glared ahead, a serious disposition taking over. "You guys better keep up. It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

The creatures continued whipping and slapping the ball-like barrier Joey had made. Many were converging and latching on like Treecko. They looked even more ugly in front of their faces as their purple dots blinked like robots.

"GO!" Dereece yelled.

"Okay, hang on!" Joey started running, getting the sphere to move with him. Slowly, it began rotating towards the direction he was going for. It started to revolve the creatures that were getting on into the ground. The roll was crushing the blue blobs, leaving them as splattered gel that glazed the dark ground.

Joey kept running, trying his best to ignore the squishing sounds beneath him. What mattered was getting his friends to safety, and him especially. There wasn't time to worry in a life-death situation. That's something Broly taught him.

' _Almost there…almost…'_

He continued rolling a path, bathing the rock beneath in blue ooze and shriveled Parasian remains. The creatures were racing after them, trying to jab with their tendrils and latching on, but that only caught them in the roll.

"NOW!"

Joey rolled the sphere over the oceanic river, the sphere dissipating. In midair, time slowed down as they were all seen falling with Parasians that were dragged with them. Some attempted to snatch at them still, but they were too late. They all plunged into the current, holding their breaths as they stay submerged.

The Parasians that were dragged into the saltwater were limp, just like the three men. However, unlike them, they were twitching and shriveling. They all scowled as they disintegrated into the waves, unable to bear the water levels.

They surfaced with deep breathes, their bodies being dragged down the stream slowly. The Parasians gathered along the shores to glare at their prey making their getaway.

"Bleh! Seawater!" Dereece coughed.

"Dereece! C'mon, let's go!"

"Right!"

Joey pulled up a Poke Ball, unleashing Magikarp. Dereece pulled out Seel and Stunfisk. Joey gripped onto Magikarp as he swam away, with Dereece using Seel to aid him rather than use his magic.

As Kevin was last behind, he looked back over his shoulder one more time. As the Parasians vanished in the distance, he stared with dismay as he watched the mother Parasian come close as well, and with her, Ella. He could feel his grief rise as he knew what this felt like: Heartache. Amongst the Parasian, he could detail which one was Ella…and see was watching him sail with a blank stare.

"Ella…" He murmured, his eyes squinting. He shut them and turned away. With a grunt, Stunfisk dragged him away. He had to.

As they raced along the saltwater river, the Parasian mother let out a scowl at her prey getting away. Ella watched them take off, her stare solemnly on Kevin as she could see the pain in his eyes through his glasses. "…"

* * *

The winds howled as the morning dawn casted a shadow on the higher peaks of the mountains. Still walking in the shadows, where light has yet risen to bathe, Sophie, Duncan, and Crime Sorciere were making tracks as they continued their ascent.

After what felt like a while, they all felt a large surge of magic afar. Sophie looked up, her gaze averting towards the sky. "Does everyone else feel that?"

Duncan stopped in his tracks and looked towards the direction of Magic Power flaring. From the strong sensation he could tell where it was coming from.

"Seems as though our other end has made an impasse." Bellona hummed.

Jellal turned towards Erik. "Erik, can you hear them out on what's going on?"

Erik's one eye glanced away nonchalantly. "Well, I don't need magic to know that Natsu's making a lot of noise. They're all in the city limits being contained. Forces are quickly spreading thin and slowing down. Wherever they step sets off either explosions or they're stuck."

"Then it sounds like they've prepared quite well." Jellal smiled.

Bellona smirked at Jellal. "You make it sound like you were worried for a minute there. What's the matter, shouldn't you have more faith in your little friends?" she teased.

Jellal nervously turned away, grunting. "Anyways, they're doing their part. Sophie, have you been able to detail anything in the scriptures so far?"

The Memory-Make blonde was looking at Kadabra as he continued holding onto the books with his telekinetic powers. She was shifting through all the books and bookmarks, but eventually gave up. "I'm afraid it's no good." She sighed. "It's as I said, just legends and skepticism."

"So we're going in blind is what you're saying." Duncan said. "If that's the case, then you better watch your back."

Sophie raised a brow at Duncan. "Watch my back?" she repeated before chuckling. "Well that isn't gentlemanly at all now, is it? After having your back in that last event, I figured you'd have a little more faith in me."

"I never said I didn't." Duncan shrugged. "Just saying to take care of yourself."

"I know that, I remember your words very well." To Sophie it meant a lot with what Duncan said back in the library. About how their conversation dwelled from his points to the way they all rely on each other. She wasn't going to press it because now wasn't the right time, but in her mind she knew she had to lay down the fort. "I'll watch my back, if you can watch your own. Otherwise I'll be there. That's part of being in a guild is after all."

Duncan turned away, scoffing.

"My, my. Trouble in paradise?" Bellona teased. "Oh how the mighty have fallen."

"We're wasting precious time. We should keep moving." Jellal said. With his treks the group continued up the passageway, with Duncan and Sophie frowning. But that didn't stop Erik's hearing from hearing the thoughts in their minds.

Sophie's story was something alright. She sounded more open. Duncan, on the other hand, there was a black gate steeled in front of his heart. It creaked very low to allow him faint whispers of a voice he was unfamiliar with, and I caused him to steel himself and his guard further.

"Interesting…" he smirked.

…

At the top of Wyscan Hill, the rays of sun were beaming on a tattered black cloak that refused to shift in the winds' mighty wake. Anything at that height would be flailing like crazy, yet Tophet's cloak and hair were moving in sync, like a breeze was stroking him instead of a maelstrom. He stayed motionless as he looked down the mountain path, seeing the travelers afar head his way. He looked up to the sky, watching it slowly fade to blue. "I doth winder, Tetrabiblos, amongst all their hearts…whom do you see value in?"

…

As the group continued walking, they came across a clearing before the trail resumed. Once they walked towards the center, the ground lit up with a large golden magic seal.

"What's this?" Duncan looked down in awe.

"Everyone, remain calm! This is a Magic Seal!" Jellal shouted. "We triggered some kind of trap spell!"

Bellona's brow furrowed. "Then does that mean…" she bit her lower lip. "Of course, we wouldn't be given off easy. His Majesty must've known."

Duncan turned away. "So then my hunch _was_ right." He reached back, gripping the makeshift metal bar he had for a weapon. "That king doesn't want us getting near the hill. It's only natural you'd set up a trap to make things go your way."

"Looks like we're in for a rude awakening." Erik grunted.

Sophie spread her legs. "Kadabra, get ready!" Beside her, Kadabra gently put the books down and stood ready in front of Sophie, holding up his spoon.

A low, disgruntled shout was bellowing around them. The center of the Magic Seal shined a bright white, causing everyone to get back and take stances. The white glow was causing the ground to stream golden energy into the light, causing its shine to tint to gold.

"That's…" Sophie awed.

"Celestial Magic." Jellal concluded. "It's taking the force of the earth and magic, in order to create shape."

They all watched as the golden light drew on more power. The land beneath them started to crack some, making fissures rise. Dust and minerals were sweeping in from the crevices into the spherical shine the light was giving off. It continued expanding, creating a hemisphere of a mixture of golden energy that brightened more. It created a large flash, blinding everyone there.

The flash soon receded, revealing a dark shadow that slowly loomed over them. It continued growing, until it slowly took shape.

They all looked skywards, the color on their faces turning pale. Sophie was amongst them. "What…is that…?"

A pair of red eyes glinted, a maw that was widely defined and vastly large in size overall. The entity stood about 25-feet in height, with a body bulk constructed of dark stone. Its muscular upper body had golden accents and runes all over in neat format. The lower half is also made of dark stone from the earth beneath, explaining why around them there was a crater where the magic seal was originally. It had constructed itself to create the mass of this golem, with broad arms and a third eye atop the broad forehead. The large, hollow maw barely opened to reveal darkness as it unleashed a palpable roar.

Jellal was seen biting his lower lip, as was Bellona. Erik sneered annoyingly, as to where Duncan braced himself with Sophie clutching her fists. They all didn't like the looks of this.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Sophie grunted.

The giant golem's three glowing eyes looked down at the many mages afoot, taking in the sights. Once it processed what it was supposed to do, the accents on the body shined brightly for a heartbeat.

" **GROOOOAAAH!** " The giant beast raised a large hand, readying to swat at its enemies.

"Everyone take cover!" Jellal shouted.

Sophie gritted her teeth, swiping her arm. "Kadabra, **Kinesis!** " Her Kadabra raised his large spoon and focused his kinetic energy into it. He made the foe focus on the spoon as an illusion of it started bending off to the side. The illusion made a blue aura envelop the beast, lowering its accuracy.

The raging monster followed through with its punch, but that status attack caused it to slam a rock-hard fist into the earth in front of them. But the force was strong enough to send rock flying at them.

Duncan pulled out a Poke Ball and threw it. "Gastrodon, **Muddy Water!** "

The Sea Slug Pokémon appeared in front of everyone and let out a strong cry. As the rocks rained down, Gastrodon summoned a whirlpool of brown murky water that expanded, picking up the debris and swirling it around. The cyclone spread to repulse the golem, the waves making it impossible for it to see through.

"Good call, he won't be able to keep an eye on us." Jellal realized.

"That won't hold him for long! Everyone, get around!" Bellona warned.

They all rushed with gusto within the vortex that Gastrodon held up as cover. Jellal's body glowed golden as he suddenly blitzed off.

" **Meteor!** "

In a golden spritz, he dashed across the air through the brown surge. Everyone else followed along and ran under the guise of murky water. The raging cyclone was continual and left a short distance covered.

"Everyone, this way!" Sophie guided.

Erik kept running, but his hearing picked up a less than appealing sound. He stopped in his tracks, looking up. "I wouldn't count on that, doll…"

Their eyes widened.

The waves to their freedom were breached when a giant hand reached through, ripping the waves and Gastrodon's chances apart. The hand smacked Gastrodon into the air, sending him wailing. Duncan made quick work in turning and recalling back the flailing slug.

"Duncan, ahead!" Sophie warned.

Duncan turned ahead to see one of the golem's large hands swatting in his direction. The Trainer's brow furrowed as he steeled himself. He kept charging, reaching back for his steel bar he had for a weapon. Once the hand was close enough, he gripped tighter, surging his Holding Magic to the tip. Just as he raised his arms high, he was expected to hit it. However, at the last second, he slammed the staff's end into the ground, propelling him over the appendage and landing on a knee. He shot ahead with the others, racing for his life.

"It's coming back around." Kadabra warned.

Sophie and Duncan looked back to see the golem turning towards them, the intense gleam in its eyes warning them of its monstrous wake. The creature, though slow, had registered them and reached to intercept them.

Sophie had no choice but to slide to a stop, the books she was holding in one hand barely supported. She pointed her other finger to her forehead, readying a Memory-Make spell.

Before the hand moved any closer, a golden glint from afar shimmered. It suddenly zoomed in, breaking the rock hand to pieces. Jellal continued his course until he landed, leaving the monster to hum.

"Jellal!" Sophie gasped. Duncan looked equally as shocked.

The man looked back up, seeing the golem look at the one disembodied hand. The eyes glinted bright red before it turned towards him. It raised its other hand, but before it could finish it felt stunned. Something had made it stop moving.

Erik gave a toothy smirk. "Nice work, Arbok. Couldn't have timed it better myself." Beside him was his newly evolved Arbok. The poisonous purple cobra gave a loud hiss as her belly pattern was glowing red, via **Glare**.

Yellow static surrounding the giant, paralyzing its movements. With it completely unguarded, Bellona stood directly beneath, a sly smirk on her face.

" **Sentient Bolt!** "

A dense pillar of raw Divine Empress Magic flared into the skies amongst the hills. In the place of the golem, an enormous female battle warrior with accents stood before the pillar caused the ground the shatter. Everyone covered up s the shockwaves of Bellona's attack were making it hard to keep leveled.

"Sophie! Now's your chance! Get moving!" Jellal ordered.

"What about the rest of you?" the blonde worried.

"You shouldn't have to worry. We can handle ourselves just fine." He faced the light of Bellona's magical overflow. "You're the only one who has the knowledge to know how the wishing can be nullified. If you don't leave now it may be too late. Everyone's counting on us, so go!"

Sophie wanted to argue, but she knew the mission took priority. "…okay then" She turned around, facing the upward slope. "Kadabra. Duncan. You both coming?"

"As you wish, Sophie." Kadabra obeyed.

Duncan scoffed. "No point staying here when it's covered."

The three made a break for the far ends of the slopes leading towards the path. With them leading off, the few remainders of Crime Sorciere regrouped as the dust of the attack cleared. The debris from the golem rained down around them as pellets of loose gravel.

"Well, I say that went rather well." Bellona confidently teased.

Arbok hissed in agreement.

"Quit milking it, you two. It's gonna make me sick." Erik chimed. "I can hear it still."

Jellal raised a brow. "What?"

The gravel around Crime Sorciere started to shake as Jellal's question was being answered. Erik could hear the commands of the crown loud and clear, and they were telling the magical celestial to not lose. They watched as the granite and dark stone materialize back into a large sentient again, the three eyes glowing red, with the golden accents across the body flaring.

"Looks like we've pissed him off." Erik said. Arbok leaned closer to his side to be on guard. "Easy now, this fight's just getting started."

The giant glared down at Crime Sorciere with the eyes shining brighter. On its arm, a golden celestial magic seal showed itself. As the seal faded, it revealed a shimmering silver shield with dark gray trimmings and accented curves that flowed into one another. In the center of the shield was a red eye-like core similar to Caelum. It was laced on the giant's arm, the red eye brightening with his call.

" **Grooooaah!** "

"What's that supposed to be?" Jellal inquired.

Bellona put a hand to her hip. "Seems we're about to find out, won't we?" She widened her stance, her arms swelling in nebulas of her Nightmare Magic. "So then, you boys ready for one more round, for old time's sake?"

"One more for the road, huh?" Erik's arms turned scaly and dark, with milky white undersides. In the claws his Poison Dragon Slayer Magic enflamed. "I'm down for that. Let's make this big guy scream for mercy!"

The golem expelled a deafening roar, the three members of the Independent Guild ready to make their last mark in the shadows of the mountain.

* * *

" **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " With an explosive hook, Natsu's raw strength caused the charging Deneb to shoot back into the crowd of men, erupting in blazes. The Dragon Slayer looked far from warmed up, even from that blow. "Alright, where's that king?" he questioned, his nose wrinkling. "I can smell him here somewhere…"

As he stood in place, there was something moving behind hm closing in. It looked camouflaged as it sneaked across the ground to Natsu's back. However, despite not being able to see fully above, Happy noticed footprints heading behind.

"Natsu, behind you!" he warned.

At the last second, the spirit revealed itself to be Chamaeleon, one of the spirits Nic and his Kecleon beat down back in the Celestial World. The spirit hissed and braced his claws, but suddenly a hand grabbed his face, stopping his movements completely.

"Don't think that I couldn't smell you a mile away." Natsu smirked, not bothering to look back. "Sorry pal, but you're barbeque!" With a harsh grip of the lizard, he exploded flames at point-blank range sending the reptilian spirit in a fiery stream across the ground through a horde of men in the way.

As the dust settled, Natsu's scarf whisked in the air, his face brimming with seriousness. "You guys might be working for that so-called king because of that crown." he snarled. "But I promise you, you'll know who your friends are once I melt that stupid crown off his head."

Suddenly his hearing spiked with something coming from the side. Suddenly flipping, he narrowly avoided a humungous palm eviscerating the earth with a toned slap. The attacker was Hariyama, whose **Force Palm** was so close to making contact.

He landed on his heels, gritting his teeth. "I thought you'd be here."

Hariyama lifted his palm and stepped away, allowing its partner to step forward. Caius walked with fists clutched and his disposition as firm as hardened soil. He stood meters apart from Natsu with a stone-cold gaze in his eyes.

"It would seem that our paths have crossed once more." Caius declared.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. He remembered this guy from before. "You may have gotten us off guard before." He proclaimed. "But this time my eyes are wide open."

Caius spread his legs, swiping one heel afoot to brace for his foe's wrath. "I commend your fighting spirit. However, my position still stands. As long as I stand, thou shall never come close to my liege."

"Then we'll just have to make sure you stay down." Natsu tossed up all three Poke Balls. "Guys, help me out here!"

The three capsules exploded, revealing the healed Pokémon. Charmeleon bared his claws and roared, with Darumaka on one leg with an eager expression. Tyrunt stomped on the ground with his neck craning for his roar.

"This time, we're gong all out! No losing a second time!" Natsu proclaimed.

"Right!" Charmeleon agreed.

"Then so be it." Caius calmly said, raising his palm. Similarly, Hariyama did the same. "Then come, and face thy judgment once more!"

* * *

A fellow soldier charged with a magical sword, but his shouts of honor were slammed shut by a whip of magical water. He fell flat on his face as the whip retraced for Lucy. The celestial blonde held her whip tight as she stood with Plue at her side.

"Stay close, Plue." She told the Celestial Spirit.

"Puuuun." The little dog responded. "Pun?" He turned around suddenly.

"What is it?" Lucy turned back around, but was caught off guard when a soldier jumped in midair, readying a magic sword as lightning crackled around it.

"Let's see how celestial water fairs against lightning!" The soldier slammed the sword into the ground. " **Lightning Slicer!** " The streaking ray blazed across the ground, but Lucy was fast enough to skip to the side as the ground was weakly cut open with static crackling in the dust.

"That was a close one…" She didn't have time before a shadow pounced over her, the same soldier holding up his blade overhead. The blonde wasn't gonna make it this time.

" **Astonish!** "

Klefki suddenly appeared in between, her face dark with a grim aura that sped outwards. The intense, dark wake caused the soldier to close his eyes, flinching.

"Nice work, Klefki! Now…" Lucy brought her heel around as she charged towards the soldier. " **Lucy Kick!** " She kicked the soldier in his exposed chin, sending him reeling onto his back, blacking out from the shock.

Off to the side, Staryu's core brightened as multicolored energy turned into **Psywave**. The attack blew down several numbers at once, giving them all a fair distance.

"Nice work guys, let's keep it up!" She was more than prepared to continue the fight for her Celestial Spirits, but suddenly she started feeling sleepy. Her senses started dulling as a yawn escaped her throat. "Huh…o-oh…" She blinked several times, but the sudden drop of strength was only increasing. "What…is this…?"

Kleki and Staryu both began showing signs of wear. Klefki levitated low as she felt her energy wane away, while Staryu's core was getting dimmer. Plue was already on his backside, a drool drip hanging from the corner of her mouth.

"Guys…quit it. This isn't the time for…" Her dreary eyes saw something bright heading their way. Before she could react, a yellow blur darted into her, sending her on her back.

"Lucy!" Klefki squealed. She was completely unaware as yellow electric rings went in her way. She looked forward and was struck by them. She flinched as ripples of electricity went around her and a sense of paralysis overcame her.

 _BEEP!_ Staryu looked in shock as Klefki cringed.

A yawn caught the starfish and a groaning Lucy's attention. "So this is where my little Plue ran off to."

"Puuun." The quivering dog spirit shifted behind his owner. Lucy grunted as she glared at Vita as she and her Pikachu walked up to the enemy.

"You. I remember you." Lucy growled. Immediately she picked up Plue and held him close. "You're that girl Gray and Juvia fought."

Vita chuckled. "Yup siree. Name's Vita, at your service." She beamed with pride…saggy pride. "My…" she yawned loudly. "…Uncle is gonna make Celestial Mages live again. And I think he's very upset that you aren't following his rules."

"Is his rules basically tormenting Celestial Spirits into his bidding?" she sniped.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, we're only borrowing them. Afterwards he plans to make sure everyone shares them, that way we all can have spirits. Now…" she pointed at Plue. "If you don't mind, I wanna take my nap. And I wanna take it with my new pet. So please, give him back."

Plue cuddled closer to Lucy's chest, his unbeknownst fear showing. Lucy made sure her grip was tighter than ever. "Never gonna happen."

 _BEEPBEEPBEEP-BEEP!_ Staryu stood in front, protecting both.

Vita tiredly puffed her pouty cheeks. "You again. You took my wittle Pwue away." She childishly pouted. "So then…*yawn* Let's teach you meanies not to steal. Pikachu."

The yellow mouse's cheeks crackled with electricity as she stood on all fours. A waning Staryu and a paralyzed Klefki readied for battle as well, while Lucy struggled to keep her eyes awake.

* * *

Wendy jumped into the air, whirlwinds rampaging around her arms. " **Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!** " She spun sideways, lashing tempests that slammed into soldiers locked in place. They were blown off their feet, allowing Wendy to land with wide spacing.

"There's more coming, Wendy." Carla warned in her human form.

"Yeah, I can see that." She turned towards the wave of magical blasts heading her way. Fire, water, and compressed air shot from all directions. Carla spread her wings and picked up Wendy at lightspeed, evading the magical barrage.

From the air, Wendy took in a large breath of oxygen that spiraled into Magic Power.

" **Sky Dragon's Roar!** "

From the ground up, Wendy released a thin whirlwind blast that disappeared into the distance. A second later, the ground onwards bloomed in an explosive maelstrom that made the soldiers' shouts of agony inaudible.

In the wake of the earth-bending winds, they were starting to fade into grains of sand, much to their surprise. Wendy and Carla gasped as they saw someone stand through the winds.

In a swirl of sand, a pair of red eyes gleamed as what looked like a globe of fast-moving, dense sand dissipated. From the look on his face he was raring to go.

"Wendy, that spirit…" Carla warned.

"I know, Carla." She answered. "That's Scorpio."

The empowered spirit got on all fours and aimed the nozzle on his tail skywards. The nozzle widened as a typhoon of sand roared into skies after them. With deep mobility they began maneuvering around the sand swirl as it chased them through the skies. Through control, Scorpio's sand suddenly diverged into several smaller streams to corner them. Before they realized it, sand blackened their vision until nothing was left.

In the skies over Scorpio, there was a ball of dense sand that no one could make out. Scorpio was silent as its orders were to eliminate those who opposed. So that's what he's doing.

Suddenly the thousands of kilograms of sand erupted into a hectic dark purple swirl, causing Scorpio to cover up. The sand spirit couldn't see through the sand at all, but as the winds grazed his face, he could feel sizzling on them.

He looked up again, but there was nothing there.

In a flash, Wendy and Carla shot back down, getting the controlled Scorpio's attention. Unbeknownst to him or his knowledge, he saw Wendy's hair changed to a vermilion color, purple and crimson winds gathered swirling around her in her Poison Sky Dragon Mode.

Normally her now vermilion eyes would be sending chills that could burn a person's eyes. But being controlled, the spirit felt nothing of the sorts. He only looked on to attack.

"So what's the plan?" Carla questioned.

"I have an idea." Wendy reached out, pulling her Poke Ball out. "Go!" From it, the Poke Ball summoned forth Amaura, the Tundra Pokémon standing with a timid look in her big blue eyes. "Just follow my lead, okay Amaura?"

Amaura looked back nervously. "Um, okay…" she looked back ahead, but to her shock a swirl of sand rushed at her.

"HRAH!" Coming down with an axe kick, Wendy's shockwaves made the venomous winds split the sand in half, saving her Amaura from the damage. "Let's stop him together, okay?!"

Seeing her Trainer's brave face, Amaura shook her head and spread her legs. She nodded. All three were ready to stop Scorpio.

Scorpio's nozzle adjusted, unleashing a harsh blast of sand that rushed in after them.

* * *

"Bergmite, **Bite**!"

"Vaporeon, **Bite!** "

The two Pokémon jumped for the same soldier, their mouths glowing bright with biting force as they chomped down on both pectorals. The guy was pushed down as both Pokémon landed in front of Gray and Juvia.

"There aren't many left in this area, we should pick it up soon." Gray commented as guys in the background were either frozen in ice or were knocked out bluntly by his Bergmite.

Juvia smiled confidently, soldiers around her drenched and unconscious. "Yes."

Vaporeon's sensitive hearing suddenly flipped. Her gaze went towards the ground. Her paws felt the earth vibrate smoothly, but it was rather close to the surface. It trailed beneath her and Bergmite, tracing it to their Trainers.

"There's something coming!" she warned.

Gray's eyes suddenly widened. He felt an intense spike of magical pressure beneath that caused the ground to crack. From below, Virgo shot up in an uppercut, time slowing down as her eyes were hollow as Gray reeled his head back to avoid said blow.

With time still stuck, Gray was caught stunned. "Virgo…"

Though he was successful with dodging her uppercut, she spiraled in place, lashing Gray across the face with her chains, sending him rolling across the ground.

"Gray, no!" Juvia shouted. Suddenly her senses picked up on a strong magical pressure. Turning around, she was suddenly blasted by a jet of water that didn't seem to harm her thanks to her body made of water.

The source came from Aquarius, the spirit's water jug pointing straight at Juvia to keep her sustained. The Water Mage gritted her teeth as she knew she had to stop her.

With a swipe of an arm, Juvia dispelled the water, leaving suspended drops between her and the spirit. Her eyes showed seriousness.

"I know you might not recognize me, Aquarius, and personally I do not wish to fight you." She said calmly. "But for Lucy and everyone's sake, I'll have to stop you. Please, forgive me."

Gray got up on a knee, wiping the blood from his mouth. Virgo's chains packed a punch, ironically. "Yeah, okay. Nice shot." He snorted. "But you know, as much as I am into maids, that wasn't cool." He put his hands together, ice congregating. "Get ready."

Aquarius and Virgo's eyes gleamed red. Virgo charged for Gray while water rushed from Aquarius' jug. They stood by their Pokémon as their attackers drew closer.

* * *

A black tornado raged throughout the area as soldiers were blown away easily. As the tornado dissipated, in midair was Corvus as black feathers danced around him.

"Man, just how many are there?" he asked himself. Suddenly an arrow passed him, nearly grazing his cheek. "Huh?" He looked down curious, seeing where it came from.

From below, another arrow was fired. With quick thinking he kicked it away with his talons, but another grazed his side. Flinching meekly, the spirit got a closer look, seeing Sagittarius aiming for him.

"Sagittarius?! Are you kidding me?!" Corvus comically outraged. "Of all the spirits I had to attack it had to be this guy?!"

Sagittarius fired several more arrows, ignoring his comment.

Gritting his teeth, Corvus flapped his wings. " **Night Storm!** " The black whirlwinds surged as they applied a counter. The arrows coming for the crow spirit went barreling back to Sagittarius, with added wind pressure that caused the spirit to cover up as arrows grazed his horse costume. Cuts were seen on the side of the heads, as well as the leg, and the rib cage.

That's when an idea came to Corvus. _'Wait a sec.'_ A realization dawned on him as he pictured Sagittarius with his arrows. _'If all he uses are arrows, then he's vulnerable up close. Maybe I can use that.'_

Sagittarius fired, but once again Corvus repeated the same attack. A tornado of black winds eradicated the arrows, causing the Zodiac to flinch. Corvus sought the opportunity and dove right in with a kick ready.

' _This is my chance!'_

As he was mere feet from the target horse, a moment of suspense left time to slow down. The dusk winds were eradicated, revealing a humanoid bull with an axe and red eyes. Corvus was left stunned as he barely processed how fast that was.

 _SHING!_

With a narrow duck, the crow spirit narrowly escaped a diagonal cut from Taurus' axe. The shockwaves of the attack instead reached out towards men afar, dicing the ground and splitting open armors.

Corvus was paralyzed by slight horror at how close that cut was to decapitating him. Beads of sweat poured down his face as he hastily flapped for his life to get back into the air. He looked down with bulging eyes and loads of sweat down his face.

' _GOOD GOD! I SAW MY LIFE BEFORE MY EYES…AGAIN!'_ he wheezed. Once he calmed down, he realized the two Zodiacs facing him. _'Great, it's bad enough with someone who can skewer me, but now someone who can chop me up and serve me on a plate.'_ His teeth gnashed together. He had to remind himself why he's here. _'No Corvus, focus! The others are counting on you to free them. If I fail here, it'll be no good.'_

He took a deep breath through his nose, and then out the mouth. Once he was calm, his gaze darkened beneath his hat.

"Okay…" He flexed his black wings. "Let's dance with the crow."

* * *

Pisces' two head howled like ghouls coming back to haunt the damned. They arch into their foe, but two large, blue hands stopped them cold. Volans was using all his brute strength to keep them in check, in return the wake made the ground tremble.

It was taking all his muscular frame to keep himself from getting crushed between the empowered Zodiacs. Not did their bulks and large fish sizes made it difficult for them, but also made it hard to stop them. If he broke concentration, even for a second, he'd be crushed.

' _Their…strength has increased. It must be…the crown's effect.'_

In a Mach speed blur, Cancer appeared in a striking stance for Volans. The winged-fishman realized he had to dodge. Having no choice, he flexed his wings and shot skywards, allowing Pisces to slam into the ground to cerate a large dust wake. Within the wake, it split open when Cancer snipped it with his twin scissors.

In the air, Volans flapped his wings and looked down. Even from the heights he could see the glow of control in their eyes. There was a deep lock that wouldn't be picked lightly.

In two harsh streams, Pisces shot at Volans with fiendish scowls. The flying fish showed an impressive aerodynamic display as he dodged left and around. The two fish danced and surrounded him, yet he escaped their holds before they could strike.

Cancer crossed his scissors and made a break for it. He ran up along the white Pisces' spine, leading towards Volans. As the black Pisces circled around, he jumped onto him and ran down the spine up towards Volans.

Volans reeled an arm back as Cancer closed the distance, his scissors snipping before he crossed them.

" **Trench Shredder!** "

With a brazen slash of his large, finned arm, a blade of aquatic and dense energy collided with Cancer in midair, creating a large blue flare that could've been seen from the ground. Cancer and Volans battled for dominance, yet the pairs of scissors wouldn't break – surprisingly enough. The attacks cancelled out, with Cancer descending onto one of Pisces' heads as they slung back in the air to attack.

Volans grunted as he prepared to intercept. As they came up, he was going to have to smite them down.

* * *

Lupus was a wild wolf. He ran on al fours through hordes of men and pounced on one, using him as a springboard to ricochet onto another and strike. He repeated the process as he barreled towards the other side, landing on two feet while men faceplanted.

His hypersensitive hearing suddenly kicked in as he raised his head. Turning, he barely evaded a blast of pink wool that erupted in his spot. He landed, only to jump again as a plumage of wool erupted. He landed on all fours, shaking his head to get that last shock out of his system. He looked ahead, seeing Aries standing close by with red eyes gleaming at him.

"Well I hate to do this, but you know what they say." Lupus said. "Better to kill germs with hot water instead of cold."

Aries pushed her arm forward, sending a rush of pink wool towards Lupus.

" **Sonic Howl!** "

The wolf expelled an ultrasonic soundwave that exploded in front of him. Midnight soundwaves ripped open wool and blew it apart around Aries. Lupus used the opening to break the distance with a big jump. With an acrobatic flip, the wolf came down with a claw.

With Aries open it looked like it was gonna work, but suddenly a classy heel stepped in his way. The wolf collided with the hell, making him land close by. As he regained his bearings, he saw a being step up. To his mild surprise, it was Capricorn, his shades glowing bright red as he adjusted his handcuffs.

"Aries and Capricorn huh?" he inquired, his teeth baring. "Heh, suddenly I'm getting the munchies. How's about you both behave or I'll settle for some lamb chops for breakfast?"

Capricorn charged for Lupus with his fists reeled back. The humanoid wolf evaded the humanoid goat's advances left and right, until Capricorn was able to anticipate Lupus ducking and spin-kicked him across the face.

"GAWOH!" The wolf went sliding back on his side, his senses momentarily dazed. He snarled beneath his breath and glared daggers at Capricorn.

"Okay then…if you wanna play it that way…" He arose on his two feet, craning his neck high. He expelled a loud howl that echoed throughout the atmosphere. He waited for a second for his pack to come to him.

But nothing happened.

"Huh?" He looked around, seeing is his summon was accurate. "Wait a minute, where are they-!" He caught his guard down when Capricorn almost punched him across the face. He jumped using his forehead and backflipped for distance.

' _This is weird. They always come at my howl. I'm their Alpha again…wait a minute.'_ He started piecing matters together. _'If that king was there, and I just sent Canes back…oh crud.'_

* * *

"Oh great, where did she run off to now?" Purrloin was looking from a small hill along Astral's range to look for her Trainer. Within the few hours that went by the cat had fallen asleep while her Trainer was Fortunetelling. She thought a little catnap would do her good. Though she failed to realize how much time had passed. "Stupid sun…it's too early for you, too."

A rustling from the bushes behind made her ears flicked. Someone was coming.

"Cana?" She turned around, expecting her Trainer there. But it didn't strike her as odd until a few seconds later. _'Wait a minute, why would she be in a bush?'_

She saw the shrubs move apart to show who was stalking her. When she saw a snout and drooling fangs, she immediately regretted being so careless.

Emerging from the hedges was a certain bunch of canines that Purrloin nor Happy would've wanted to meet again. The dozen of hounds in Canes' group had large red eyes that eyes Purrloin like an all-you-can-eat buffet. And unfortunately for this cat, she was the entrée.

After swallowing a lump, the feline thought grimly. _'Why me?'_

* * *

Cana could use a good booze right about now. The whole night had been a complete wreck.

The Card Mage was fighting back armed soldiers, using her cards to induce sleep when they got too close. When her back was turned, wide awake soldiers came to attack with magical handhelds. They were so close to striking until a metallic trail stretched across, intercepting them.

Cana looked around, seeing her savior. "Prinplup!"

The penguin stepped in front of his Trainer, standing between them and the enemies afoot. "Hmph, you guys wanna mess with my Trainer, do you?" he challenged. "Well jokes on you! **Bubble Beam!** " He opened his yellow beak, firing crystal blue blasts of bubbles that exploded upon impact, sending the wake of soldiers to the floor.

Prinplup huffed as he beamed with a prideful posture. He looked pretty proud of that last ability.

"Nice catch there, Prinplup." Cana praised.

"I was nothing." He beamed. "You don't have to worry. These guys ain't getting pass me." Another soldier slashed his bisento, only for Prinplup to sideswipe with **Metal Claw**. With an opening he jabbed the soldier in the face, pushing him back.

Seeing her Prinplup in action, Cana knew she was safe from behind. She turned forward, smirking. "Yeah, I gotcha." She teased. "After all, I _am_ your Trainer."

Prinplup grew a tick mark on his head. "W-what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, tough guy." The brunette looked forward, but she was met with a quick skip in the heart. She recognized something within the crowd. She noticed a bright light getting closer as the few men still standing were making room.

' _This Magic Power, this can't be…'_

Suddenly a golden beam raced pass Cana as she moved to the side. The light grazed through the crowd before a massive radiance of gold exploded in a bright flare. Those who were close were blown away, while many more were blinded by the bright light. Cana and Prinplup turned around to see a classy-looking Loke standing firm.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" Cana grunted to herself. She couldn't believe her luck. Of all the spirits that tracked her, it couldn't have been Aquarius, maybe even Scorpio. But Loke? If she wasn't so sober, she'd blame a really bad hangover instead. "Great. Just great."

She and Prinplup saw the red in his eyes. It was clear to the latter there was going to be no easy way out. "Cana."

"Yeah, I know." She looked dead serious into Loke's eyes. It was bad enough she had to lay waste to one friend of the guild. She could still see the pain in Mavis' eyes when she casted Fairy Glitter. Under normal circumstances she would never attack a friend. But unfortunately for the brunette she had little choice. "I'm sorry, Loke. I'd hate to this to you." She held up several tarot cards. "But it's come to this. This is for Lucy and all our sake."

Loke's fists glowed bright gold as the Celestial Spirit focused on Cana.

"Let's throw down like old times, pretty-boy!" The Card Mage and Prinplup dashed back to save their friend – Fairy Tail style!

* * *

If battling counted as a date, then Nic and Erza were having the time of their lives. They were dancing across the battlefield in harmony, with emphasis on "harm" because that's exactly what the enemies were experiencing.

" **Supersonic!** " Nic opened his mouth in his default form, expelling shrilling soundwaves that wrung in the opponent's ears. The soldiers in front found it hard to comprehend as the waves were messing with their heads. They suddenly started turning on each other, unable to tell who was friend or foe.

"Erza, now!" Nic shouted.

"Right! **Requip!** " Passing Nic in a blur, she glided through the confused men with no guard opposing them. She sped along in her Armadura Fairy Armor. She slashed her sword, deflecting arrows coming from in front. Her Houndoom pounced overhead and fired a **Shadow Ball** , blazing into the few group of archers without warning. An explosion of darkness enshrouds them as the ground broke apart.

Greninja side-kicked a soldier in midair, spiraling around to drag him and shoot him in a flail through dozens of men.

"How much farther until we reach that boss?" Houndoom asked. He'd be smelling him if he could, but there were too many scents in the air.

"Not much farther now." Erza instructed. "Come!"

Armed soldiers, the last around them perhaps, were all closing in with weapons to blast or puncture them. They looked dead ahead and were dutifully ready to shoot.

"Don't let them get away this time, men! We have them on the ropes!" a soldier encouraged.

"All units, prepare to fire!" The numerous clanking of weapons.

Erza and Nic continued their unison brigade on them, their Pokémon unleashing explosive and destructive strikes all around. Flames and darkness of burning intensity raged from Houndoom, and a frog-like blur passed men with gashes and shredded armor.

Time drastically slowed around them, the heat of battle reaching a peak. To Erza, this was her passion. The scarlet knight of Fairy Tail. The thrill of battle pushed her forward. The path forward was surrounded by men, and as a knight she could carve a path, no matter how long it'd take.

But Nic, he was in a standstill of his own. As he gazed at the many weapons surrounding him, he could see hundreds wanting to weigh him down. His blue eyes were narrowing, bringing back very unsettling memories that costed them a lot.

Memories of their war in Alvarez long ago resurfaced. That was almost a year ago, but the costs they suffered were tragic, all because they couldn't get to Zeref or the guild in time…they were too busy handling his sheer numbers rather than using their heads. If Nic wanted to, he should've used Teleport or became a shadow to get directly to the guild. Then maybe that would've saved time and Mavis. More importantly their Master. Fairy Tail had a habit of thinking with a lot of reliance of power; and while that does help, it can also lead to drawbacks. He can see where Natsu gets his straightforward nature from.

Then his recent blunder with Emmanuel. That was his second mistake of not using his head as often as he should've. Because of that, he was duped, and Emmanuel literally flew over his head away from the spot that was supposed to be protected.

Things in both situations could've been avoided if Nic thought smarter – not harder. Now was one of those times.

Glowing again, Nic became another cross transformation. It was his Meadow Form, but with edging of his Spooky Form. He glared ahead, his gaze calming down.

"Ready…" the soldier announced. He was unaware of Nic expelling green powder from his coat that quickly spread all around. The air was filled with an eerie green fog as everyone was blinded by this vague green mist.

"What…is this?" a soldier asked, his body getting heavy.

"I feel…like I need to…" Another soldier fell over, his eyes closing from the sudden need to sleep.

One by one, all the soldiers were beginning to succumb to the need of slumber. They wavered around as the **Spore** Nic induced quickly spread like a virus. The platoon around them all soon went to sleep, leaving no sustainable injuries.

Black energy surrounded Nic's hands as he raised them forward. " **Nightmare!** " The black energy spilled across like a swam of mosquitos that layered over the sleeping opponents. With many cluttered together, the Ghost-type status move spread easily. Many soldiers began cringing in their sleep.

"That should keep them down for a while." Nic turned towards his wife. "Erza, you got this, don't you?"

Erza nodded. Whatever Nic intended, she had to trust him. "Right. Do what you must."

Nic smirked. "I'll be quick about it."

She smirked back. "You better."

There was a small silence between them as metal and armor clanged around them. He called for Greninja to his side and he glowed again, reverting to his Erath Form. He bored into the ground via **Dig**. With a quick sweep of dust, the redhead watched as the winds carried the dust, leaving a hole that was quickly filled with dirt to removed traces of him.

Erza looked down and gazed slowly towards the high points of the battlefield. To the hills she saw the Celestial King and Melchior. When she remembered the look in her husband's eye she connected the dots. With their foes distracted or down, this was the straight shot he needed.

' _That idiot. Stealing all the fun.'_ She mused.

An elegant blur swiftly closed in, which almost missed. Immediately turning around, time slowed down for Erza and Houndoom as the former's blade parried with Auriol's golden energy blade. The two made intense eye contact as their faces were fixated on the other. Their visage of rivalry was clear through their expressions alone.

They both backed away from each other, with Auriol backflipping while Erza slid along the ground, requipping to her default armor with Houndoom snarling by her side.

"It would seem that our paths have crossed once more, Miss Pularis." Auriol said astutely. "If thou wasn't so flattered by our chances thy would've curtsied.

"My word, now _you're_ flattering me." She mocked back. "But your tongue is poison to my ears…so it's best that I cut it."

Auriol calmly lowered her eyebrows. "It seems that I failed again at keeping him at bay."

Erza chuckled with a dark leer for battle. "Believe me, even I can't do that. I tried."

A golden aura surrounded Auriol as she summoned out her Clefable again. On the opposite end was Erza with a scarlet aura and her Houndoom snarling. The magic the two produced was staggering as the air thickened. Erza wishes to support Nic, while Auriol wishes to support Melchior. But, standing in their way was one obstacle: Each other.

"For my liege!"

"For everyone!"

The two lunged for each other, Houndoom and Clefable following in their tracks.

…

Watching the carnage from high up still, Melchior and Oberon watched as the men fell asleep all of a sudden.

"Seems that our friends have more tricks than we anticipated." Oberon tested, turning towards the king, smirking. "Your majesty?"

Melchior watched, his cape still flowing. He saw the attack Nic used to wipe out that many men. More importantly, keep them from getting up. However, the king looked on calmly, the glint in his crown showing.

* * *

"Get her!" Men lunged for Vanessa from behind. The Aura Mage could've sensed them a mile away. Instead of turning around to face them, she had her eyes shut and seemed eerily relaxed.

"You should try to watch where you step the next time." She warned them.

The men, unable to get the hint, were suddenly blasted from below by glowing blue stones that spouted haphazardly. They were enveloped in smoke clouds and flew in various directions unconscious.

"Nice timing…Krookodile."

A harsh stomp crunched the ground as Krookodile appeared. He craned his head around, expelling a roar as his **Stone Edge** met its mark. As the men all laid in defeat, Krookodile's body was enveloped in a red aura, indicating his Moxie Ability adding onto his Attack big time.

"Let me tell you something, Astral elite soldiers! You aren't half as elite, as the beatings that Krookodile can dish on you!" the crocodile outrageously boasted.

Altair charged forward, his sword ignited in magical celestial energy. No way was he going to let his majesty's wish be challenged. He charged head-on into Krookodile, unwavering the poise. "FOR MY LIEGE!"

Krookodile turned towards the incoming soldier, seeing he was the only one willing to boldly face him.

"Krookodile." Vanessa ordered.

With Celestial Magic embedded in the glade, it followed in a golden blaze into Krookodile.

 _CRINK!_

Altair stood motionless as he was in a slash position as the magical energy from the Celestial World faded from his blade. It was a long paused before something fell from the sky. The blade's end embedded the earth, cracking the pavement. Altair stared in disbelief as Krookodile's bare jaws snapped the blade like a toothpick, much to his horror.

Krookodile turned towards the startled man, his growling sending shivers down his spine. "You wanna swing something right? HERE! LET ME SHOW YOU HOW KROOKODILE SWINGS THINGS AROUND!" Without warning, he opened his jaws wide, crunching them into Altair's abdomen. The poor Astral elite held no chance as his bones and ribs snapped in one horrid crunch. His screams went hoarse quickly as Krookodile swung his jawline around, sending him flying overhead and into the distance.

With his screams in the distance, the sound of a thud paved another fallen. As well as gave Krookodile an addition to his Moxie Ability.

"No way…" a soldier quivered.

"Did that thing really just throw him like a lob stone…?" another soldier broke composure.

Vanessa and Krookodile turned towards the soldiers left around them, making them flinch. They watched as Vanessa's hands glowed teal and she held a stance with the wrists facing the sky.

" **Lustrous Spire!** "

Teal spires arose from her hands and expelled into the sky in a spiraling helix. The helix surged high up until they collided with one another. A bright teal flash erupted, causing the spire to break into several hundred smaller meteors of teal that rained down in all directions with destructive force. Many soldiers initiated protective magic circles, and others used their staves, but the endless bombardment of raining magic didn't help their dispositions.

The battlefield was cascaded in a wave of dust, covering the hundreds of fallen around Vanessa and Krookodile. The latter's hair shifted in a calm morning breeze that brushed in front of them.

Krookodile pouted. "I was just getting started."

A golden glint twinkled off to the side, and Vanessa's aura picked up on a string wave heading their way. A golden crescent suddenly broke through the dust, to which she swiped her arm to shoot a teal crescent horizontally. The golden and teal blades met in the center, flashing spontaneously until an eruption blocked their field of vision.

Krookodile's binocular vision saw something move through the dust towards them. He got in front of his Trainer to brace their opponent.

"Thou are a very perceptive maiden." A pair of metal cleats walked calmly through. Vanessa and Krookodile stared expectantly as the voice was familiar. "It'd be thy honor if thou were my opponent."

The dust faded around the metal covering Bion's body, revealing his toned, armor stature once more to Vanessa. Just like before, he had all his equipment, but this time a faint, celestial glow came from the many small lacrima on the joints on his armor. The Magic Power he had was more than last time, that much was clear.

' _This Magic Power he has…something is different about it.'_ She noticed another matter entirely. There was an air of confidence around Bion. That same desperate aura he had was gone, replaced by fulfillment. Whatever happened in the Celestial World, she could feel the joy and power all in one. _'Just what happened?'_

"Thou may have had me and Jangmo-o on the ropes…but now, we assure you. Things shall be different! Come!" He threw the Poke Ball upwards, bringing forth his choice.

Coming out in front was a Pokémon that looked very similar to Jangmo-o, only this time it was much bigger, standing at Bion's ribcage height. It had heavy armored arms, with oval yellow plates on the hands with orange centers. The neck was littered with yellow scales. The heart-shaped yellow scale on the head had grew tremendously as well into a large nail.

The creature's eyes glimmered over and expelled a large roar outwards; Krookodile snarled back.

' _Who's that?'_ Unfamiliar with the species, Vanessa pulled up her PokeDex, analyzing her foe.

" **Hakamo-o, the Scaly Pokémon. It makes noise by clanging its scales together. When the rhythm has reached its peak, Hakamo-o attacks.** "

Vanessa looked up from her PokeDex with a sudden realization. _'So then, it evolved.'_

"It is not just I who has grown, but also Hakamo-o." Bion explained. "Thanks to his majesty's blessing, we have what we have been stripped from us. Now…" He raised his blade, celestial energy congregating around it. "It is thy sworn duty to see through to our allegiance. Hakamo-o!"

The scaled reptilian shook his body, making the sound of chainmail rattling. His body quickened in the rustling as Bion's body glowed bright with celestial magic.

* * *

A calm eddy was at the base of a rushing stream of seawater that settled for the perfect time to take a breather. Dragged to an alcove, Joey, Dereece, and Kevin were on their hands and knees as they gagged saltwater out of their mouths. Off to the side, Magikarp was in the water, resting with Seel and Stunfisk from that sprint.

After all the seawater was expelled from Joey, the Captain gathered his bearings and turned towards his friends. "Is…*cough* everyone okay?" he wheezed.

Dereece slouched back up, sighing in relief. "Well, I'm wet." He deadpanned.

"Okay, good." Joey took a deep breath of relief. "So then…CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE ACTUAL FRICK JUST HAPPENED?!" he shouted, his shout making everyone cringe.

Dereece's brow furrowed. "You mean _aside_ from the fact that Ella turned out to be some weird magical parasite offspring and tricked us?"

"…okay good, I thought I was tripping there."

Kevin stared off to the side, his expression indicating he was blown out of the water. Not literally, but the implications were all there. How could he have not known sooner. His mind was racing a million miles per hour and he had no brakes. The pervert was trying to imagine the fact that this girl that they were taking care of for the past 24 hours…was deceiving them. It seemed unreal. Especially to him, how does one comprehend having so many hours of closure being stripped in just a single moment.

"Yo, Kev."

Kevin heard his name called and turned towards Joey.

"I hate to point out the Donphan in the room, bu~t…what the heck was she saying back there? Something about touching a blue egg and giving birth to Ella?"

"Guys, I can explain." Kevin defended. "I tripped, okay? When I saw it for the first time, I thought it was strange. My curiosity got the best of me, you know…?" By no means did his friends look amused, but he was trying to sway them to lighten up. "It was just a small poke, honest."

"A poke? That's all it took?" Dereece fret.

"Mister P, c'mon man." Joey frowned disappointed. "We both know you're a pervert but even I know not to go touching stuff that ain't mine." He sighed. "Where's your respect bar? I gotta scribble in a new low."

"Captain, let's be reasonable now." Dereece insisted. "Sorry, Kev."

Kevin sulked on his knees. "No, it's okay guys. You have every right to be annoyed." He looked away from their conspicuous gazes. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I screwed up. If had I known we were foul played, we wouldn't be in this mess…this is on me."

An awkward silence fell between the trio and the amphibians in the water. Kevin looked down at the water, vaguely seeing his face reflect on the surface. As questionable as the light was, he was more focused on himself. In a small ripple in the eddy, he saw his reflection turn into Ella. The smaller version of himself looked to him and smiled so innocently…so bittersweetly.

' _Damnit.'_

Joey looked towards the ground, his brow furrowed. Kevin wasn't the only one lost in thoughts.

"Something wrong, Captain?" Dereece questioned.

"I didn't realize it until recently. Remember when that big blob was using Ella to communicate? It said something…something about past intelligence of victims." He turned towards Kevin. "Mister P, you still got that stone?"

"Hm? Sure." Snapping out of his trance, Kevin handed Joey the crystal and stone that were still lodged into each other.

"Thanks. They said something about past intelligence, and when Ella said something about calling these things 'Z-Moves' – which is still catchy by the way – that got me thinking…what if that person who had these was a victim?"

Dereece's eyes widened, realization dawning. "That makes sense! That's how Ella must've known! It must've belonged to a Trainer that had those when he came to this world!"

"And that also explains that Steelix." Joey said abruptly. "I thought it was off how it battled so well. It also had Fire Fang. It's Trainer must've taught him those attacks and that battle style." His face fell. "Before he, uh…"

"Now it all makes sense. That's why Steelix was so territorial. It wasn't telling us to leave because we were invading…it was to warn us." His own eyes widened. "Which also explains why it tried attacking Ella. It must've figured out who she was and tried to save us!"

Joey looked down disgruntled. "Man, so this is what it feels like being a jerk. All it was doing was trying to warn us…" Dereece put a hand on his shoulder, easing his responsibility.

"It's not your fault, Captain. None of this is anybody's fault. Sometimes…bad things happen to everybody. And maybe you're not the best at communication, but…I don't blame you." He smiled. "We'll think of something, I'm sure."

Joey turned at Kevin. "Yo, Mister P. You okay?"

"H-huh? Yeah, yeah. I'm fine…" He said confidently. "We should do what Dereece said and plan our next strategy."

Joey and Dereece looked towards each other nervously. They knew Kevin had been through a tough time, but given his priorities – still questionable to a number of extents – they wanted to make sure. They were friends after all.

Dereece turned towards Joey. "So Captain, what are we gonna do? We can't just hide forever. Sooner or later they're gonna come looking for us."

Joey put a hand to his chin, thinking. "Maybe…but maybe _not_. You remember what happened when they tried following us, didn't you?" he flashed back to when they all jumped into the water. They made it downstream, but the creatures weren't so lucky. "When they jumped in the water, they shriveled up like prunes. Guess they don't like water too much."

"I don't think so. When we went to the stream yesterday, Ella drank from that just fine." Dereece paused as he processed something. "…because it was _freshwater_! They can't handle oceanwater! No wonder they've been stuck on this island!"

"Phew." Joey flicked sweat off his forehead. "For a second there, I thought we were in actual danger. If those things were on shore, h'oh boy…"

Kevin and Dereece stared at Joey blankly, their brows raised in question. They looked at each other, as if explaining in silence what to say. They looked back at him, Kevin taking the lead.

"Dude?" he started.

"Yes?"

"You remember what she said, right? This island is _adrift_. That means nothing is weighing it down. And you know what happens next, right?"

Joey shrugged. "Yeah, they keep going until they reach the edge of someplace foreign and…oh…" His face froze in realization. "…oh…" His tone turned to despair. "Oooooh…." He grimaced. He could picture in his mind something along the lines: Fires everywhere. People running and screaming. And worst of all, the screams. He could picture people flailing on the ground as blobs surrounded them and drained their fluids and magical energy. Immediately he grew serious. "Okay, scratch everything I said. We've got a big problem if we stay here too long. Who knows what they can find out from _our_ heads."

Dereece nodded. "Yeah, you're right. There's the guild we know, and everybody else inside…it can learn their strengths and weaknesses that we've looked at. They get us and this thing reaches shores, the guild is gonna be in danger! Captain, we need to get out of here and get help! This is _way_ to risky now!"

"You're right, Dereece. We need to escape while we're still alive. We have to get off this island, and quick. We can get the guild, and maybe the Cambire Foundation, and we'll get everyone's help. Besides…" Joey thought briefly back to the conversation he had with Nic when he pulled them out of the mines. "I owe it to Nic-senpai to trust those outside my circle."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Captain." Dereece agreed.

"Okay guys, get the Escape Ropes ready. We're heading out immediately."

They all reached into their items and looked through their belongings, searching for their Escape Rope. Kevin was reaching past the Super Potions and healing items he still had left when he found his mind digging deeper into a pit. More memories of Ella arose.

It was complicated to say the least for a man like him, especially one so perverted, yet these feelings were starting to sprout from these roots that came in when Ella joined their little party. He thought back to their time spent along the ways, how he and her were starting to connect. No. They were connected, the whole time. He just didn't realize it until now. From her long black hair, to her child-like disposition. Unable to bring himself to think of anything but what happened, he just let the memories flowed.

" _That's what she said, Papa."_ The last thing Kevin thought about Ella…was that one sentence. Something that was his that was her own, more or less.

Behind him, Joey and Dereece pulled up their Escape Rope and stood up. "Okay guys, all set. Ready?" Joey asked.

Dereece nodded.

"Mister P, all set over there?" He was met with silence. "Mister P? Kev?" He looked towards him. "Buddy, are you ok…?"

He and Dereece looked over their shoulders, a sense of surprise overcoming them. The shock on their faces was clear as Kevin – the confident, overzealous loner who stalks people and beams smiles – was quivering. Small glints were on the sides of his eyes, indicating moisture gathering. He looked so intent on something as his mind was adrift in a sea of memories filled in just one day, something that not many people consider in their lives.

Unsure of his motives, Joey stepped forward. "Kevin…you good?"

"…I can't do it…" he said faintly.

"What was that?" Dereece asked, getting a whiff of what he said.

"I can't do it…not like this…" He slowly stood up, his face facing away from the two boys. "Guys, this is wrong. We can't let things go like this. We can't leave _her_ like this."

The two caught onto who he meant. Dereece stepped up as the voice of reason. "Uh, listen, uh…Kevin. I-I know it's still a little hard, but you know this is best. We know how you feel, so-!" He reached to comfort, but Kevin backhanded him away.

"How the hell do you understand how I feel, Dereece!" he snapped in his face, startling the man.

"Guys! Get a grip!" Joey fret. Seel and Stunfisk prodded onto land to Dereece's defense.

Kevin glares daggers through his glasses and calmed down. He walked a few paces away, close to the water's edge to stare at his reflection. "…I'm sorry. Don't know what came over me. I guess I got defensive there."

The air around them fell silent as Kevin continued looking at his reflection, seemingly smiling.

"Hm, how sad ain't it? Me, of all people. Just look at me, what kind of person did I turn into?" he meekly snickered at the irony. "Someone like me could really seem to care for something else other than his needs down under, sounds about right?" While they did get the implications, they knew better than to interrupt him. "Gone on, say it. 'Mister P, you've gone soft on us.'. Heh, man the fanservice communities I went through to get to where my mind is. I thought it was pretty creepy at first with what I felt with Ella. Who'd have thought that someone like me could actually know genuine love…boy am I a sorry sight. I asked myself over and over for a while now, if it's wrong to feel this way? Is this some kind of punishment? I never liked kids too much, and never thought that I could have one."

"Kevin…" Joey and Dereece were stunned with what Kevin was coming to. They never heard him speak in these kinds of deep levels before. This was a serious time for him, so they knew better than to talk.

"I guess this is fate's way of telling me this is a sign. I thought it was a curse when we started connecting, but I thought wrong. Guys…" His shoulders started shuddering, his whole figure beginning to break down. "I know that Ella is a monster, and that she tricked us…but she's…she's still…" He whipped around, his face causing Joey and Dereece's hearts to melt. Kevin…was crying. Tears were running down his face as he gritted his teeth. "That monster is still my little girl! _My_ Ella! I didn't ask to have anyone like her in my life, but damnit, now she is! Now look at me! How to expect me to let go of her like this?! I can't do that!" He gritted his teeth, shutting himself. "That time we had…it was fun, wasn't it? I could see it in her eyes, you all could. That bond we all shared, we can't just cast it away like some material possession. This is our problem, and damnit all to hell that I say…as her Papa, I'm seeing this to the end! Even if it kills me, it's now my job to save my daughter!"

The bottoms of Joey and Dereece's stomachs seemed to have sunk deeper into abysmal. They've never felt so broken just from speaking for once from how they felt, even if it wasn't something they were familiar with. If anything they could relate to what Kevin felt, they too had parental issues of their own to deal with in their lives. Joey never had a father because he died before he was born, and his mother was doing her thing, but now that he had time to think about it she still cared for him, she had to. Dereece could understand that plight just as much. His folks were elsewhere and left him to look after Joey. He never thought much at all because he was making sure Joey didn't blow anything up, but the message was clear. If anything happened to the ones they cared for, what could they do? It's what separated the humane, and Kevin just proved where his heart lied.

"Captain Joey…" Kevin muttered. "You're her Uncle, aren't you? You showed Ella how to dance…and I can't thank you enough for that."

Steeling himself, Joey walked over, putting a hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Please stop crying. It's all good now buddy…I swear it."

"So then, you get what I'm saying, don't you? As her family, we have to do what we can to save her…even if it means our lives are at stake."

"Right." Joey glanced over his shoulder at Dereece.

"Captain."

"I know what you're gonna say, Dereece. That what we're doing is wrong, it's stupid, and we should be thinking about the mission first." He arguably rebutted. "What I'm doing is completely wrong, irresponsible, and would more than likely prove Duncan's point of what kind of a leader figure I can be."

"Well, I…"

"Well you know what, shut it Dereece. I'm not done! This isn't about the mission anymore, this is about doing the right thing! And taking down Ella in cold blood like this is completely unfair to all of us! This is a family problem now, and you know what family means…" an image of him, Dereece, and Duncan popped in his mind. "It means, no one gets left behind. And no one gets left out!" He gave him a hardened glare. "So if you wanna abandon your priorities as her Uncle, fine! But I'm staying for her sake now, got that?!"

After a long pause, Dereece stared at his Captain, giving a sigh off to the side. "Captain…" he said softly. "You didn't let me finish. I was gonna say…even though this is suicide, you're right."

Joey blinked in shock. "R-really…?"

Dereece shrugged. "Yeah." He turned towards Kevin. "Sorry about before, Kevin. Look, if this is what you really want to do, then that's up to you." He smiled. "I'll try my best to help."

Kevin sniffled, wiping the tears from his glasses. "You bastards…you really are suckers for friendship, aren't ya?"

"Thanks." Joey said dumbly.

"But Kevin, listen." Dereece said. "We're gonna save Ella with everything we've got. But just know that if anything goes wrong…you know what we have to do."

Kevin nodded firmly. "I know. At least this way, we can have some peace at rest when this is all over." He turned around, looking upstream. His mind thought back to his daughter that has his genes.

" _I got it. We'll name you after my late-grandma. So sweetie…how does 'Ella' sound?"_

" _Ella…?" The girl scrunched her face in confusion. "Ella…and…this is my…name now?"_

" _Yes. Ella."_

" _Ella…" The girl softly smiled, perhaps even more genuine than before. "I like it! I have a name now!"_

' _This time, Ella, I'm not gonna lose again.'_ Kevin's determination arose as he cracked his fists. _'I swear, as your Dad. I'm gonna help my daughter down the right path.'_ "Alright guys, let's get ready…for Ella!"

"For Ella!" Joey and Dereece chanted, their Pokémon flopping into the air in agreement.

* * *

The sun was starting to rise higher than before. The winds howling at the height Sophie and Duncan traveled could've steered any Flying-type off course. Thankfully their feet did all the work, but the howling of the winds raged.

As they continued they heard an explosion from behind. They stopped and looked over their shoulders, seeing a large burst of dust. They knew their friends' confrontation was still going on.

Duncan looked ahead, eyes shut. "You know, I'm not stopping you from going back if you're that worried."

Sophie, however, maintained a steeled posture. "I appreciate your offer, Duncan. But I'm fine. We have a mission after all. Everyone is counting on us."

Duncan shrugged. "Just saying. If this is too much of a drag for ya."

Sophie frowned. For a while now, something was crawling in the back of her mind about Duncan. It was nerve racking that pins and needles felt like a good sleeping mat. There was a certain air that Duncan exuded that made him spell his character definite. So why was he tagging along when he was a loner?

"Duncan." The man stopped when his name was called. "I know I asked you this before, but are you here?"

Duncan scoffed. "Like I said, none of your business." He faced forward. "Besides, I wanted to be sure of something."

"That's not what I meant."

The Trainer didn't budge. She sounded more forceful than before.

"Look, even though you aren't the easiest book to read, I think I know enough content to know that what you're doing is for a reason. Why else would you be coming up here than going into battle with everyone else? You're a Pokémon Trainer, just like Nic and Vanessa. You find every possible opportunity you can to battle and exploit it for your own benefit to make into your own. So why stray to one way when your way could've been your path to more strength?"

Duncan was silent, gazing into Sophie's eyes. Something about what she was saying had some kernel of wisdom to it. But like always, it didn't sit in too well.

"As if I'm anything like them." He said curtly. "Just because I need to get stronger, that doesn't mean I don't have common sense. That king has that crown that controls and amplifies Celestial Spirits. They're immortal. How do you expect to beat an immortal that's forced to keep going? Your friends may have the right motivation of saving them, but they'll only lead to their deaths at this rate."

"And how do you know this by fact?"

"Suppose you can say that losing battles makes you seek the best options for your sake."

Sophie furrowed her brow. There was a grim spike in what Duncan said just now that made her feel empathy for him. She recalled Duncan's shock upon the battlefield when he heard a voice. She must've figured something about the choices before that pushed him to now. There was also his disposition, and why he's always alone all the time. Maybe he realized that along the way battling alone was for the best?

But, as much as she wanted to know more, she knew that Duncan at this point would change the subject. "…very well then. Shall we continue?"

"Hmph, what's the matter? No 20 questions?"

"It's as I said, we have a mission, and our friends are stalling for us to find answers. We should find our own. Agreeable?"

Raising a brow at her, Duncan didn't have time as well. He'd rather get this over with, and quick. "Fine by me."

They pressed onwards towards their destination, but before they paced a few more steps forward, the air began to grow cold. Their magic sensory was picking up very dark forces around them,

"Duncan, do you feel that?"

"Looks like we're not alone up here after all." He glared forward. _'This magic, it's very twisted. So why does it feel so familiar?'_

Not willing to take chances, Sophie pulled out a Poke Ball and Dive Ball. "Dewpider! Finneon!" Alongside Kadabra, the water spider emerged with a scowl. And beside him, the elegance of Finneon emerged.

"Spiritomb, on guard!" Duncan tossed up the Dusk Ball, bringing out his Spiritomb. The tamed ghost howled as she levitated above her Trainer to prepare for what's to come.

"Everyone, watch your backs." Sophie warned. "There's no telling what's coming our way."

"Whatever you say." Dewpider grumbled. He felt a shift in the air, immediately crawling in front of Sophie and hissed ahead.

The air around them turned to a black fog that shrouded them from the morning light. They were barely visible to one another, even with their adjusted eyes. They all looked around, trying to analyze who was playing mind games on them.

"Black fog…" Duncan murmured. Suddenly he realized it. _'Wait a minute, black fog? Then that means…'_

' _This magic, it's definitely one of them. And this dense energy is unmistakable.'_

"So you've both come."

Duncan and Sophie flinched at the voice. They swiveled around, seeing a tattered cloak shifting in the breeze above them. Their eyes widened as the visage of a dark silhouette was basked in the eastern dawn. It was equally as majestic as it was terrifying.

"You…" Duncan breathlessly gasped. "Are you…?"

Tophet glared down at his guests, his whisking silence bringing everyone to an uncomfortable state of mind. Their eyes interlocked in a show that one side knew precisely what was going to happen…and it wasn't going to be the winning side.

* * *

A massive wave surged into Juvia's direction that had the radius of their guild hall. With her water manipulation, she sternly faced her palms forward and redirected the stream around her. The tons of smaller streams exploded into misty bursts in the surroundings, but no one was deterred. Aquarius kept pushing, expelling even more water than before, causing Juvia to grit her teeth.

' _Her magic has grown even more. It's like she's a completely different spirit than before.'_ She had to defend herself, and fast. With her palms forward, a blue magic seal appeared.

" **Water Cyclone!** "

A tornado of pure water raged into the spiraling mesh of Aquarius' attack, causing an intense eruption of water between the two. Sprays of their clash went in all directions, leaving them at a stalemate. Their eyes met in a deep blue and red intersection, showing how serious the other was.

Juvia raised her arm out, seemingly activating a spell. Around Aquarius, the raining droplets of water around her froze in midair. "You may be able to produce strong forces of water, but I can control water!" Thousands of tiny little needles of pressurized water aimed for her, and Juvia pushed forward with a cry. The thousands of shards blasted into Aquarius at breakneck speeds, piercing the ground like bullet holes, but a torrent of dense water protected Aquarius. She directed the tidal flow at Juvia again, swishing along the ground.

"Vaporeon!"

Stepping in front, the Bubble Jet Pokémon stood her ground as the huge wave made contact with her. It would've knocked out anybody, but the strong flow was only giving her a green wave around her body.

' _Thankfully I learned that Vapreon's Ability was Water Absorb.'_ Juvia thought. _'She isn't affected like me, but…'_ She looked around, seeing that all her surroundings was a large torrent that was going made. The ground was literally shaking around them as the pressure from Aquarius' constant flow of torrents made Juvia uncomfortable.

' _How much water can she produce-?!'_ She looked up, her eyes bulging out of their sockets when a sea of water was coming down to crush her. Before she and Vaporeon had the chance they were swallowed by the spontaneous water pressure. The two were comically seen swirling in the currents as Aquarius stood motionless.

Centered above the safe zone of her spray of tsunamis, the water spirit was in full control of the situation. Her cyclones raged haphazardly on a large wall of water that protected her.

" **Water Jigsaw!** "

In a torrential slice, the waves suddenly sliced apart in a golden slash, The spirit's shock was unnoticed by her mask of solidarity as Juvia slammed into her, shredding cuts around the body with pressurized water blades. Around her looked like golden stars from her Vaporeon's **Swift** to ensure a clean hit.

The spirit slammed on her back into a puddle, with all the water dissipating around them. Juvia stopped spinning as she and Vaporeon landed on the ground safely.

"For Lucy and your sake, I'll do what I must to stop you!" she declared.

* * *

Virgo shot up from the ground like a diver and spin-kicked in midair, but Gray ducked. Virgo followed through to slam an extended chain into the ground, but again he evaded by backflipping. The force of the chain slamming into the earth created a shockwave that made large rocks dent inward. Gray landed and slid into a stop. Virgo stood in a maiden's pose and lifted her arms, summoning many earth spheres for her next attack.

"Bergmite, follow my lead." Gray said.

Virgo reached out, directing the large masses at Gray. Using his control of ice, he created a pathway of ice that he and Bergmite slid on towards Virgo. They slid around the blockades and Gray stopped his ice trail.

Grinding against the earth, he brought his hands together as Virgo looked towards him.

" **Ice-Make: Ice Bringer!** "

He passed Virgo with a vicious swing of two ice-like blades. They struck Virgo and encased her in an explosion of ice shards in midair. They shattered like glass, dropping the maiden head-first towards the earth.

"Bergmite, **Take Down!** " Bergmite came skidding up with a golden forcefield and made a small jump off the trail. Leaping, he struck the falling maiden in midair, sending her crashing into the ground.

"Now let's make sure she stays down! **Ice-Make: Cocoon!** " Reaching out, Gray surrounded Virgo in a thick layer of ice with spikes around it. "That should hold her down for a bit." He figured.

Bergmite blinked.

In the ice, a pair of red eyes glinted. Suddenly, the ice completely shattered, spreading into pieces that passed Gray. As he was covered up, he felt a harsh punch to the gut that made him gag. Virgo followed through, sending him doubling over onto a knee.

"Uh oh." Bergmite robotically quipped.

Gray had one hand on the ground while another clutched his wound. He spat out saliva off to the side and had one eye open. _'Man…for a maiden she packs a punch. Literally. Must be that crown amplifying her strength.'_

Virgo's red eyes glimmered again, the ground started vibrating as an early sign she was going under.

Gray's eyes widened. "No you don't!" His hand pressed against the ground, encasing it in ice faster than the eye could blink.

Virgo proceeded to dive into the icy ground, but unfortunately it didn't work. For some reason no matter how much force her body packed now, the ice wasn't breaking. Looking all around, she noticed the surroundings were ramparts of ice blocking her exits.

"Hate to break this to you, but Devil Slayer ice is unbreakable." Gray said. "So, you done hiding?"

Virgo's eyes flashed red. With no choice the maiden zoomed in after Gray as he took in a deep breath.

" **Ice Devil's Rage!** "

In an intense beam of ice, Gray blasted Virgo with full force of Devil Slayer Magic. The maiden, still completely unaware, had went into the attack head-on, only to be frozen in place by Devil Slayer ice. She stood like a statue, completely unmoving.

Gray sighed and turned away, his breath showing frost. "Sorry."

* * *

Scorpio and Wendy were caught in a continual fight over the cyclones. Sand and purple winds surged into one another as the conflicting turbulences were empowered by spirit and Dragon Slayer. And neither side was willing to give in so easily.

Wendy added more power to her spell, making the winds expand a little more. Scorpio did the exact same, pushing more sand to make a sandstorm flourish. The whirlwinds soon dissipated, but as did they, so did Wendy.

Moments later, she appeared in front of Scorpio, venomous winds in her arms.

" **Poison Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!** "

Lashing both arms, the torrents of decaying winds crushed Scorpio between. The whirlwinds combined into one, sending the Celestial Spirit skywards. "Amaura, quick! **Icy Wind!** "

Nodding, Amaura took in a deep breath and exhaled upwards. The frosted breath sent icy chills into Scorpio, but the sand spirit suddenly exploded with sand erupting from his body, nullifying the weak winds. The spirit landed on a knee, looking at Wendy with his skin paled. Moreover, the stinger-like tail was beginning to rust over.

"Looks like Celestial Spirits can still get ailments just like humans." She figured.

Scorpio lowered his stinger and the nozzle tightened. A long stream of thin sand fired like a laser. Wendy barely dodged it, but it left a hole clean through a ruin. Looking back, she saw how much pressure was put into that attack.

' _He's sharpened his sand now to cut through solid objects?'_

"Wendy, look out!" Carla shouted.

Looking at the nick of time, Wendy saw the same stream beam at her. Thankfully Carla pulled her out before the attack hit her. She carried Wendy away as Scorpio kept firing. The beam of pressurized grains followed in a streak line, severing a tree trunk, even shrubs away. Some soldiers that were getting up looked or were unaware of the sand laser, and that costed them greatly.

They ascended higher, getting out of range for the laser to hit them. Once Carla was certain of their safety, she nodded. "Wendy!"

She nodded. "Amaura, now! **Aurora Beam!** "

On the ground, Amaura opened her mouth and fired a multicolored beam that resembled a borealis. The cold, searing ray shot across the ground at Scorpio, who was still targeting Wendy and Carla. When he barely had time to look, the Ice-type attack exploded in his face, making him slide backwards across the ground.

" **Poison Sky Dragon's Roar!** "

A roaring purple beam of wind shot across the area, erupting a shockwave of venom that reached up to buildings across the avenue. Dust and soldiers were enveloped in this air that was decomposing them. They were helpless, as was Scorpio was the spirit was blown back.

Wendy landed with Carla alongside Amaura, the three looking ready for what might come their way.

* * *

Lupus snarled as he kicked Capricorn off him. The goat backflipped and shuffled his legs to runner's position and dashed ahead again. He reeled back a punch into the wolf. Surprisingly, instead of dodging, Lupus grabbed it at the last second with both hands. The impact still caused him to slide back several feet though. The force behind the punch could've knocked the wind out of him if he wasn't quick enough. With enough force, Lupus threw the goat overhead and crashed onto his back.

Turning around, the wolf, kicked his heels off the earth and pounced onto the goat. Snarling, he readied his claws and fangs. Before he could make it close, a bed of pink wool comforted him instead of feeling flesh.

"Gnnngh…what the…?" Finding himself stuck in wool, he was unaware of a sleek visage glaring him down.

When he looked back, the last thing he saw were cufflinks and a fist.

…

"MEOW! MEOW! CANA! WHERE THE HECK IS MY POKE BALL?!" If Pokémon could have heart attack, that's probably what Purrloin was having right now. She clung to a tree branch near the park where the whole tree was surrounded by snarling celestial hounds. Their fangs were drooling and saliva spat everywhere as they were clawing at park, dragging themselves to try and reach for their food. "I'M NOT DOG FOOD! GO TO A PET STORE!"

A hound pounced again, nearly snapping on Purrloin's tail.

"AAAAH!" She curled up at the base of a branch, her brain running faster than what a Dragonite could fly. She closed her eyes, hoping that this nightmare could come to an end. _'Cana…if I live, I promise I'll never doze off on the job again. I swear!'_

The dogs began digging their claws into the underside of the tree park. They clawed skywards, meekly limping towards the tree with red eyes of demons. Purrloin kept her eyes shut as what was to come could be something she wished something no one could see.

 _SMASH!_

Lupus went crashing through the tree branch. The bark smashed everywhere as Purrloin went flailing through the air, screaming for mercy. Lupus doubled over onto his back and slid onto the grass while a furball fell and landed softly on his chest.

The two laid in a spiraling daze, their worlds completely spinning from the loops they were put through.

"Uuugh…goat cheese next to the lamb…"

"Uggh…this is why cats don't bark. It gives you splinters up your…"

The two came around, looking directly into each other's eyes. Purrloin immediately screeched like an alley cat as Lupus remained surprisingly calm.

"NO MORE DOGS! PLEASE!" she begged. "I'M TOO PRETTY TO BE A CHEW TOY!" She heard barking from behind and turned around. Canes' pack came running up to her with fangs wide open. She let out a loud shriek as she turned around, unable to escape the dogs around her.

"Look out!"

 _SNAP! CRUNCH!_

The insidious sound of fur snared in jaws rung through Purrlon's ears. She expected to feel the pain in a few seconds as the shock was wearing off but she didn't feel a thing. When she was fearfully opening her eyes she was stunned as she was in a muscular, yet slender arm, of Lupus as hounds were biting him instead.

"What…?"

Lupus howled as he whirled around, sweeping some of his mind-controlled minions off. They rebound and jumped for him. He backpedaled and flopped onto his back, suppressing the hounds ingraining their fangs. He rolled over them and jumped, dodging some lethal fangs some more. He crash-landed on one Canes, making it whimper. He kicked another away and leaped off to the side to avoid another pounce.

Still boggled, Purrloin could barely process what was happening. She looked over and gasped. "On your left!"

Looking, Lupus saw a lone Canes hound pounce. In midair, it eyed Purrloin, unaware of Lupus reeling his claw back in midnight ultrasonic energy.

" **Sonic Claw!** "

With lightning speed, he slashed into Canes, the hound whimpering before flailing into the others. "Close one. Nice eyes there, kitty." He thanked. Before he could get a response, the hounds were gathering around fast. "Hang on tight!"

They pounced, but the wolf put Purrloin on his back and sped away. On all fours, the wolf was moving incredibly fast. He was maneuvering through the park around downed soldiers. The hounds were following his trail, making sure they didn't get left behind.

"Tch, I taught them too well for my own good." He snarled. He looked over his shoulder. "Hey, cat!"

Purrloin flinched. "W-what do you want now, dog?!"

"Do something! Anything to throw them off!"

"What?!" Purrloin looked back, seeing the pack getting close. Not willing to be bait, she flicked her tail. "Nnngh…I don't trust dogs, but I'd rather be here than there!" She flicked her tail across the ground. " **Sand Attack!** "

She scattered dust into Canes' eyes. The dust cloud picked up caused all their eyes to cover as they were forced to snort and use their front paws to rub the sand out of their eyes.

Lupus smirked. "Good call, cat. Heh, didn't expect anything less from Cana."

The cat looked forward with uncertainty. She couldn't believe her luck, it was so ironic it was making her sick. But better sick than dead. _'My Trainer is really friends with…this thing…?'_ She looked ahead, eyes widening. "Ahead of you!"

The humanoid wolf looked forward and came to a screeching halt. A pink wool wall blockaded his pathway.

"What the-?!" A harsh heel slammed his face, sending him spiraling across the ground. Purrloin jumped off, landing on all fours.

She looked back, seeing Lupus sprawled on the earth. "Are you okay, big guy?!"

Lupus groaned as he was coming around, that last blow knocking the wind out of him. As he gathered his bearings, his fangs showed. Purrloin backed away nervously as the wolf stood on his hind legs.

"I'm getting _really_ sick of being pushed around!" He turned around, seeing Capricorn and Aries together. All around them, the hounds of Canes were congregated to ensure they wouldn't escape. "Okay, that does it. Get ready, cat!" He flexed his sharp claws. "Because this dogfight isn't allowing 9 lives!"

"Uh…s-sure…" Purrloin worriedly looked around at the Canes waiting to attack. She looked back at Lupus, the wolf to her back as he eyes everyone. _'What did I get myself into?'_

* * *

Sagittarius fired more arrows, attempting to shoot down the crow. Corvus blew another black whirlwind to repel the arrows, which added tailspins with the draft. As the tornado closed in, Taurus shifted in front, swinging his axe with a rampaging cowl.

"MOOOOO~!" With one swing of the axe, the shockwaves diced apart the ground as the air split in two. The winds and arrows split completely as the slice wave went up and struck Corvus. The humanoid crow screamed as he plundered haphazardly through the air, tumbling until he was able to regain balance. Shaking his head, his face showed a vertical bruise down the nose.

"Man…that cow guy really packs a punch…or should I say axe."

More arrows shot at him, beaming through his plumage. His attention drawn, he saw Sagittarius firing dozens of small arrows endlessly. Corvus ascended higher to evade the brigade.

Once high enough, he looked down, seeing Sagittarius and Taurus close and ready to take him down.

"Okay, this should be far enough!" He spread his wings, taking a readied stance in the skies. "Sorry guys, but no time to play fair! You're dancing with a sign of bad luck, and that luck's on you!" He flapped his wings, sending a black whirlwind downwards.

" **Daze Wing!** "

The black winds raged into Sagittarius and Taurus, causing both spirits to recoil at the drafts from above. As the wind dissipated, it showed both with their hazy red vision dilating. They were stammering, no less affected from last time.

A smirk tugged on the ends of Corvus' lips. He raised his wings once more. " **Dusk Shower!** " He rained down arrows of black plumage that exploded upon impact with the ground. The large array of feathers scattered around the Zodiacs gathered, making it unable so they could escape s they were pelted by the black barrage.

The ground was engulfed in a black smoke, which had a silhouette soaring through it. From above a circle tore open, revealing Corvus as he went to strike.

"I'm coming for ya!"

* * *

Volans stood in the center of a whirling helix of black and white. The two Pisces snarled as they kept the winged-fish in place. If he went up, they could attack in in any direction. With him grounded, this was going to be tough.

Catching a glint from above, a slicing beam shot straight down. He veered away and dodged the whirlwind of dust. When he looked back, in the dust on a knee, was Cancer. His glasses glinted red as he slowly lifted his head.

Volans barely had time to gather his bearings when Cancer reappeared in front of him. He went to pierce Volans with his twin scissors, but the fish-man grabbed the two pairs, holding him in place. He was amazed at how much power was packed beneath Cancer in physical strength, no doubt the crown's effect.

' _I never imagined…that he'd have this much strength.'_ He knew he was a Zodiac, but this force was causing his footing to deepen in the soil. "Listen, I am not your enemy! Come to your senses unless you want another mishap! Do you want the humans to suffer like we did?!"

Cancer's red eyed glinted brighter, causing Volans to gasp.

 _SHING!_

Cancer passed Volans in an X-shaped blue, causing the Celestial Spirit to feel an intense backlash as his forearms were blocking him at the expense of an X-shaped gash on either arm. The crab posed with snipping scissors while Volans' arms bled out. The recoil made him hunch over, his visage unseen by shadows.

A grim silence fell over him as everything else moved at an even pace. His calm senses were beginning to wane to belittlement.

"…very well then. If you insist on letting yourself feel restraint…"

Cancer suddenly vanished, appearing in midair behind the unmoved Volans. He slashed his scissors again in an X-formation to cleave his back to bits. How in a lightning blue flare, the glint of a slash exploded into a shockwave between the two. Volans parried in time with his blade-like elbows that glowed bright blue with great pressure. "Then allow me to rip you of your shackles by force!"

The two ceased their parry, leaving a moment for time to slow down. With cancer in midair, Volans removed his left arm from sight to reveal his right palm charging up dark blue water.

" **Abyss Palm!** "

He palm-struck Cancer in the chest, creating an intense shockwave of abyssal water that shot the Zodiac with tremendous force. With a bigger push he propelled the spirit across the ground through a nearby monument, reducing it to rubble in the process and burying him.

With Cancer momentarily incapacitated, a snarl caught Volans' attention sternly facing upwards, the two heads of Pisces arched down and went to attack. He slammed his hands down, his wings folded inwards.

" **Deep Geyser!** "

As the two heads closed in, the ground began quaking with water pressure building up from out of nowhere. The earth around the non-Zodiac exploded with two pillars of water smashing into Pisces' faces that caused them to recoil back in the air with scowls. With aerodynamic might, Volans reached one and socked it in the face, and backhanded the other. They collapsed onto the ground with thunderous magnitude, while the fish-man landed on a knee with his head down.

He snorted, getting his palms up to striking position. "If it is a war you are looking for, then you've found it…with me."

* * *

Lightning quick sparks rung between two maidens; one of gold, and one of red. Armored blades collided with heavenly blades and their movements were flawless. Their forms, postures, even the grace behind their earth-bending ferocity was clear to naked eyes. Erza wasn't letting up as Auriol was making eye contact the whole way. She wasn't going to let Erza get one wink ahead.

Erza equipped the sword she had into her Holy Hammer, raising it high and breaking the ground with intense light force that Auriol skillfully evaded. When time slowed down between the two, it showed their serious visage they competed against. Even with levitating gravel as a minefield between them, it was clear that neither refused to let the other have an inch.

Houndoom pounced off of Erza's back in midair, getting above Auriol. He craned his head around and fired a **Dark Pulse** , making a back airwave from his intense force. Using her Meteor speed, Auriol evaded the dark blast, in disappeared below for second. The next instance, the ground bloomed in darkness.

Erza felt Magic Power behind and turned around, realizing Auriol was there. With her arm out, she created magical golden blades around her.

" **Jiu Leixing!** "

She sent them lightning blades at Erza, who requipped into her Lightning Empress Armor when pivoting. With her resistance and her spear conducting the blows, she was splicing through until they eviscerated around her. She posed with Houndoom, the hound snarling at his foe.

Auriol swung her arm back. "For the name of his grace, I will dispose of you! Clefable, **Focus Blast!** " Her Clefable created a bright hemisphere in front of her palms and focused all her power into it.

Erza pointed her spear forward. "Houndoom, **Shadow Ball!** " Houndoom opened his maw wide to create a large ball of darkness with a purple and white core.

Clefable shot her sphere first, then Houndoom followed. Their attacks met in the center, creating a deafening boom as their individual forces were waged on one another. The ripples and bright flashes ascended skywards, where the blast conducted since Houndoom aimed a little lower. The two spheres ascended, creating an intense, brightening flash that enflamed the skies.

As the dust raged, Erza jumped through in her Purgatory Armor, swinging her mace with deathly force. Auriol dodged with a backflip. In midair, se made intricate hand signs that Erza immediately recognized.

' _Those signs. Is she going to…?'_ She looked down, seeing bright magic seals in a celestial pattern.

"This time, Mrs. Pularis, you will not be saved!" Auriol put her signs next to each other, the tips of her middle and index fingers glowing. "May the seven stars bring judgment upon you! **Grand Chariot!** "

Looking skywards, Erza's eyes shrunk as the incoming of star-like beams rained down with voluminous force. The earth shook beneath her as she adjusted her chance, changing into an armor as the beaming lights closed in.

The ground flashed in milliseconds of light before it faded. A split second later, a dome of golden rays erupted into a spiraling pillar skywards; the pressure causing the ground to cave in the process. Eruptions of gold fissures scattered creatively as Auriol's force even made her own dress shift. She stared complacently as she watched her attack diminish without a bat of an eyelash.

Safe in the distance, Houndoom looked at the dust and down the crater. Staring into the center, he smelled something. He pounced down to step around the dust stack and lash his tail possessively.

When it started fading, Auriol's brow furrowed. The glints of heavy armor could be seen clearly. To her shock, Erza was on a knee, clad in her Armadura Aggron Armor. She calmly stood up, looking unfazed entirely.

"You surprise me. Never have I met such a knight as skilled as you." Auriol admitted. "Your forms and your reactions are of the greatest levels. I can see why you are called Titania."

Erza held up her gear-like swords, a frown on her face. "I thought I made it clear, I'm in no mood for flattery."

"It's not flattery, it is a statement." Auriol corrected. "Tell me, is this what you have learned from being in Luminous' world?"

Erza furrowed her brow. Something about where this was going was starting to give off a bad tune.

"I ask you, have you _been_ to his world?"

"Yes. I have." She answered curtly. "It's much different from Earthland, a little more advanced than say what we are used to. But that's where I've met my Pokémon." Beside her, Houndoom smirked pridefully.

"I see." Auriol closed her eyes, processing what she said. "So you're implications are that you wish to live in that world?"

"What are you saying?" Erza demanded. Her patience was running thin.

"If you were given the choice of two worlds, which would you desire to live in?" she paced around the crater, her eyes nonchalant as Erza and Houndoom glared. "This world…this land we tread on…it is filled with the ugliness of man that augments every day. Even now, the lives of innocence are being used for the pitilessness of the greed. The fortunes of others are turned into the misgivings of others. Tell me, what is fair about any of that?"

Erza's skepticism arose as she glared at Auriol. There was something different about the way she was looking, it was clear in her eyes this was hitting a personal point, but she couldn't dwell on it.

" **Dark Pulse!** " She ordered. Houndoom opened his maw and fired more dark beams, only to be stopped at the last second when Clefable stepped in front, creating a turquoise shield that thwarted the attack.

Houndoom snarled. "Annoying fairy."

"What I am speaking of is humanity. A meaning that defines human beings. They take. They steal. And they use others for the greater good of themselves. When you have lost everyone, even your will to live, you begin to realize the kind of person you really are. You seek out the desperation to abide to human nature in order to survive. It is a relentless…endless cycle that must be purified!" She swiped her arms, sending golden spears at Erza. The knight easily swung her blade, cleaving them without hesitation.

Reaffirming her stance, Erza looked up towards Auriol. "…you're right about one thing, Auriol. Humanity is a very cruel thing." Her glare hardened. "But, that doesn't give you the right to take it out on those around you!" She ran up, slamming her heavily armored blade down. Auriol created a golden blade to parry, the two interlocked in a stalemate. "Tell me! What do you hope to gain from all this? What has your king promised that you would allow yourself to stoop so low as to go blind to the good of man?!"

Auriol pushed forward. "You don't understand! His majesty's goal is to purify our world's history!" She followed through, causing Erza to slide on her heels a few feet back. "I've only had one wish, and he granted me it before he allowed his own ambitions to come first."

"And what was that wish?"

"To go to the Celestial World. To embrace a world of purity, where one can feel free from the shackles of man…" Auriol sighed. "All my life…my dream was to one day find peace in our world. I've seen the riots and scuffles, even the flames of man's hate through my own eyes. I've learned the hard way, that peace can only be brought on by an end. And after that end, comes the new era."

"So then…your majesty promised to make the Celestial World your new home?" Erza gasped. "That's insane."

Auriol's glare hardened. "Maybe to you degenerates, but I have seen the Celestial World myself. It's human free. If the king can create a world where man and spirit can coexist, then I'll follow in order to see it to make me stay. He will see to it that we all get our desired happiness, and not you nor your inhumane barbaric friends will ever have the chance to see it!" She shot at Erza with her Meteor speed. "YOU AREN'T WORTHY!"

Erza held her sword up, gritting her teeth. To some degree she empathized with Auriol's ambitions for purity and peace, but that was a small part of her. She knew true peace was something only a fool would believe exist. For her sake, she had to stop her, and fast.

* * *

Vanessa extended her arm, creating teal energy.

" **Nugatory Burst!** "

A harsh pillar of teal aura erupted from beneath Bion with thunderous wake. The attack's impact was creating a strong force that would've knocked the winds out of any mage. However, one swing of Bion's golden blade dissipated it like a gust.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed at how easily he swatted away her attack. _'His magic resistance is more potent than before.'_

Bion raised his blade over his head and brought it to the ground, sending a linear shockwave of gold at Vanessa. The Aura Mage created panels of teal aura that she used as leg lifts and evaded the attack as it continued into a faraway wall, breaking it to ruins.

Bion pointed his blade at Vanessa's position. "Hakamo-o, **Sky Uppercut!** "

Hakamo-o raced across the battlefield with his large claw reeled back in bright blue. He tapped his foot on the ground and soared at Vanessa's height. Realizing the effects of the Fighting-type move, Vanessa jumped off the aura platform, which shattered like glass upon Hakamo-o's impact.

"Krookodile, **Stone Edge!** "

"Let me tell you something, Hakamo-o, new Pokémon whose name is barely comprehensible to Krookodile-!" The two-legged croc reeled his fist back. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN! OR RATHER, UP!" With a harsh punch to the ground, the earth trembled as massive stones went spiking towards Hakamo-o as he descended. The Dragon/Fighting-type saw the attack timed just as he was about to land, but at the last second he flipped off to the side, landing on the ground while the attack continued towards Bion.

His blade charged with celestial energy, Bion faced the incoming stone wave with his eyes outlining in gold for a second. With a loud cry, he clashed vertically, cleaning the pillar in two.

Vanessa landed on the ground safely using her aura control to make another platform a few feet off the ground. It faded, allowing a safe landing besides Krookodile as the battlefield was cleared conveniently.

' _He's even strong enough to block Krookodile's Stone Edge when his Moxie Ability increases the Attack.'_ Vanessa could feel his aura pulsating with force. _'It's not the armor. It's different.'_

Bion raised his blade and slashed at Vanessa, sending another crescent of celestial energy at her.

" **Aura Guard!** " She created a teal energy field around her that took the flashy attack head-on. It dissipated, leaving Vanessa safe behind her dome.

"Formidable defense as well as offense." Bion stated. "Your magic, it is the embodiment of yourself, is it not? That's how you're able to sense thy magic, correct?" He saw Vanessa unfazed with a calm glare. "Then allow me…to show you the gift that his majesty has gifted to me!" He raised his sword into the air, summoning a cosmic glow.

Vanessa could feel a change in the atmosphere. The atmosphere around her and Bion suddenly warped into a blanket of cosmos. Stars shined brightly around Vanessa as her blue eyes traced the aura emanating around her.

' _This magic…why does it feel so familiar? Its aura is spiritual, but is it really…?'_ She glanced back at Bion, who had the blade pointed at Vanessa with his eyes shut.

"Those stars far and wide that embody the Heavens. By the radiance reveal thy form to me. I implore you, oh Tetrabiblos, ruler of the stars. Let your unrestrained rage flow!"

' _This magic. Don't tell me…is he really…?'_

"With the 88 heavenly bodies…" Bion's eyes widened, showing a golden seal in place of his iris. "Shine! **Urano Metria!** "

The cosmic surroundings around them shined brightly as Bion's celestial force shined through the planets. They all were sent hurling at Vanessa at the speed of light as she braced herself. The teal aura shield held up for a short while against the full power of the 88 constellations in planetary form, but after half of them ran into the shield, it shattered like glass. Vanessa's glare was fixed as the incoming planets reflected in her vision.

Several glints flared in the area that transformed into constant explosions. The celestial energy flourished through the atmosphere. Bion watched with a subtle glare as his opponent was swelled into smoke and dust. Hakamo-o returned to his side and they awaited for the results.

There was a silhouette inside the fading dust, which shined bright teal. Suddenly a teal beam shot clean through. Bion sidestepped to avoid the blast. He looked back, seeing where it came from.

To his and Hakamo-o's slight surprise, Vanessa's palm was sizzling from that release of aura. She was on a knee aiming around Krookodile, who used his back as a shield. His entire back sizzled, but as he turned around he looked more annoyed than hurt.

"Clever maiden." He heard the sound of creaking behind his back, making him slowly turn around. He saw a small rock mound that Vanessa's attack punctured was bending onto him to crush him. His eyes widened in shock. _'Her attack missed on purpose…just for this?!'_

In a swift blue blur, Hakamo-o's **Sky Uppercut** smashed the solid structure to pieces that rained down around their feet. The dragon descended next to his master, both unfazed.

"Thank you."

Hakamo-o nodded graciously.

Krookodile uncovered Vanessa as she arose. "Krookodile, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." He snorted. "But these two are _seriously_ annoying."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Bion again, her disposition darkening. She could feel something about him was different than before. That last attack proved it. _'I'm sure of it now. Now it all makes sense.'_ The dust between her and Bion leveled, his stance firm as the celestial glow in his lacrima shined bright. _'He's a Celestial Mage.'_

* * *

" **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " Natsu's flaming fist rammed into Caius' chest, creating an impact so strong that ground diced beneath them. The blow made his clothing tatter almost instantly, but the king's advisor didn't dare move. Natsu gritted his teeth as he kept pushing but with no luck.

Caius slowly brought back a palm and gathered the kinetic energy within it. He thrust it, something that Natsu learned to avoid as it slammed into the earth. The Dragon Slayer, however, wasn't safe from the explosion of rubble that erupted. He flew with the rubble, backflipping onto a knee.

The Dragon Slayer and Palm Mage shot glares at each other, seeing searing determination in the other's gaze.

Charmeleon rushed with **Scratch** , with Darumaka with **Headbutt** , and Tyrunt with **Bite**. They closed in on Hariyama as he pushed his open palm back and used **Arm Thrust**. Pivoting in the blink of an eye, three thrusts altogether sent the three Pokémon doubling over onto their sides.

"C'mon guys, get up!" Natsu shouted. "We're just getting started!"

Charmeleon kneeled and arose with the others. "Right, Natsu…" the Flame Pokémon grunted.

"I admire your optimism and endeavors." Caius said with arms crossed. "I find these traits to hold truth to a warrior's appeal for battle. However, just as to where heart lies into leverage, so does power." His Hariyama smacked his palms together, pulling his signature stance for combat.

Natsu wiped the spit off his lip as Happy floated over his head. "Happy, go help the others." He said. "I can hear Lucy. She's not far from here. You should go check her first."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Happy worriedly asked.

Natsu's glare never let up an inch. "Yeah, don't worry. I can take him."

Happy wanted to stay and help, but he knew he'd be no good in a confrontation with a man like him. He flapped his wings and went in the other direction to search for Lucy. This left Natsu and Caius alone.

"Now, where were we?" Natsu cracked his knuckles, a show of eager evident.

"For generations…my family has been in sworn allegiance with his majesty." Caius said coldly. "It is our sworn duty to protect our majesty with our very lives. That is my reason to live. And that alone is my wish."

Natsu furrowed his brow, confused by his statement. "Huh?"

"To all of us, his majesty means more to our beings than anything else. He has risk his being to ensure that we, his advisors, are not left out of his fulfillment. We all have our dreams and wishes, for that we serve his majesty."

"I don't know what you're talking about with all of this wish crap." Natsu rebuffed, igniting his fists in flames again. "But I know one thing, wishes aren't gonna come true themselves. You wanna make a wish happen, you gotta do it your own way!" He jumped into the air, somersaulting until he landed in a crouch below Caius' waist line. "Not by allowing some wannabe king telling you what to DO!" His elbow ignited in flames as he pulled it back.

" **Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow!** "

He jutted the attack into Caius' abdominal region, creating an intense force that seemingly knocked the wind out of him. However, like before, he was completely unfazed, his chin raising at the Dragon Slayer. Natsu backflipped at a constant to get away in case of another palm strike. He still remembered what kinds of damage they could do.

' _Gotta keep his strength down for his Pokémon.'_ He thought. "Tyrunt, use **Charm** on that Hariyama he's got."

Tyrunt snorted, sending steam out. "Fine!" With a gruff turn, the miniature fossil gave a meek but very adoring head tilt, a pink background around him that caused Hariyama's Attack to go down.

"Do you insist that lowering my strength shall waver my changes of letting thy majesty crumble?" Caius insisted.

"No, but it will make it easier when I do this!" Natsu reached out. "Charmeleon, **Flame Charge!** Darumaka, **Fire Fang!** " Charmeleon bent and surrounded himself in flames before charging across the battlefield. In pursuit, Darumaka opened his fangs wide, broiling flames searing within.

"Use **Vital Throw!** " Caius shouted.

Hariyama stood his ground and used his bare hands to block both assaults. Charmeleon and Darumaka blasted into the appendages with explosive flames, but neither's attack did anything. Hariyama seized them both and pivoted, sending their figures into the ground and gagging as they tumbled toward Tyrunt.

"Guys!" Tyrunt gasped. He looked up at Hariyama, his surprise surmount. "Tyrunt mad now!"

Hariyama slammed his heavy heel into the ground, causing a shake in the earth. "Though is tough. But your flames mean nothing against my body!"

Natsu gritted his teeth. He had completely forgot about Hariyama's Ability. _'Right, I forgot! That thing's got some stupid fat that cuts the power of Charmeleon and Darumaka's fire attacks. This is gonna be a pain.'_ He turned towards Caius, dodging another palm strike that rippled through the air. Natsu slid back and inhaled deeply, gathering an intense fire breath.

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!** "

With the maw opening wide, the flames bloomed out like a one-way explosion. The destructive blast of flames closed in Caius as the ground was melting way.

The man brought his stance to a firm, bringing his palm back. " **Chop Hanging Palm: Bearing Straight!** " He struck his palm dead ahead, creating a shockwave of magic pressure that managed to push the flames around him. As Natsu roared, the flames consumed the surroundings around the Palm Mage, leaving everything incinerated. Natsu let out and heaved out a large dose of steam. He glared ahead to see the steaming remains of the earth in a trail that lead to Caius, leaving a small island the Palm Mage had left for ground with his palm slightly singing.

Natsu's brow furrowed. He could see that while Caius' body sustained no damage, the palm was sizzling with some char. He was surprised it wasn't burnt to a crisp.

Meanwhile, Hariyama brought his palm back. " **Arm Thrust!** " He closed in on Tyrunt, thrusting his palm once into the face. The gagging dinosaur was reeling from the second strike, then the third, then finally a fourth palm strike shoved him along the ground, his claws unable to keep him up as he fell backwards.

Looking back as his ally was taking damage, Charmeleon growled and gathered draconic energy. " **Dragon Rage!** " Craning his head around, he opened his maw wide, unleashing a draconic black and blue beam that raced after Hariyama.

The large Pokémon turned around and saw the attack heading his way. He took in a deep breath and thrust his palm via **Force Palm**. The attack's wake was just strong enough to make the beam dissipate into thin air in front of him. However, Darumaka was already ready to attack, his body curled up in a ball.

" **Rollout!** "

The Fire-type rolled directly into Hariyama's chest, causing the larger beast to grunt. He was surprised with how much power the little guy packed. But, that gave him an opening.

"Not…GOOD ENOUGH!" Using **Arm Thrust** , he shoved Darumaka into midair with one blow, then a second with greater power to send him flying back with a shout. Charmeleon and Tyrunt barely had time before Darumaka slammed into both of them, grounding all three at once.

"You guys okay?!" Natsu shouted.

"It's no use." Caius retorted, getting Natsu's attention. "No matter what thou attempts, my position stands. As long as there is even a single foe before me, I will never let down my guards."

Natsu spread his legs. Whatever he was saying he wasn't liking, and neither were his Pokémon.

"Unlike the others, my wish was fulfilled as soon as his majesty has named thee his advisor." He could still remember when he was 16. It was only after his father's passing, and two weeks after the grieving, the king asked him into his throne room. "It's been my family's legacy to ensure that the king lives to see another day. And from my great-grandfather, to my grandfather, to my father, the torch is up to me to keep lit!" He brought his palm back, a fire in his glare. "And now that I have my wish, I can see to it that his majesty fulfills his!"

Hariyama stood tall, acknowledging his Trainer's pride. He balled his fists, ready to strike.

"Hariyama… **BRINE!** " Taking in a large breath, the massive muscle used all his breath to expel a straight shot of saltwater from what one could guess was the mouth.

Remembering this was the attack that knocked out Charmeleon, Natsu's eyes widened. "Charmeleon, get out of the way!"

His head throbbing from that collision, Charmeleon barely heard Natsu. "Gnnngh, what the-?!" He heard the sound of rushing water, making him unnerved. Turning around, the attack closed in on him. "Not again!"

Suddenly from the sides, Darumaka and Tyrunt stood in front of Charmeleon their arms spread wide. The **Brine** attack rushed into them instead, leaving Charmeleon and Natsu shocked.

"What are you guys-?!" Charmeleon gasped.

"Guys, get out of there!" Natsu screamed.

But Darumaka and Tyrunt didn't listen. They screamed in agony as they kept their arms wide and shielded Charmeleon with all they had. The attack ended with an explosion of salted mist, raining in front of a stunned Charmeleon. He was a stone statue as Darumaka and Tyrunt stood before him. Moments later, they both fell onto their sides, swirls in their eyes from blacking out.

"GUYS, NO!" Natsu screamed.

Charmeleon was speechless. He saw his allies take the big hit and he stood there like nothing. "They…they fell protecting me…" He looked away, his claws balling from frustration.

Natsu turned towards Caius, his eyes sharp and the sides seething with embers. His teeth gritted so hard they could bend steel.

"So now you see. There lies a boundary between man and his ideals. The key to those ideals for man to obtain, is through his hard work, for those who is deemed worthy of his life."

Natsu's fists balled tightly. He wanted to completely crush this guy so bad, and the provocation was getting to him. However, before he could make his move, an image of Lucy appeared in his mind. His eyes widened, thinking of his previous experiences with Griffon.

Strangely enough, this didn't upset him. Rather, it calmed him down – though his fists remained tight.

"You know what pal, I actually understand how you feel." He answered, making Caius raise a brow. "About wanting to protect the people that you care for the most. About Fairy Tail. That person that you are sworn to protect…he made my friend Lucy upset. King or no king, your sworn leader or anyone for that matter…" The flames around his body returned, hotter than ever. They were so dense that it was making Natsu look more intimidating by the second. "You guys hurt my friends. And _no one_ gets away with that!"

"That makes two of us!" Charmeleon arose, roaring with a vengeance.

"We shall see." Caius declared.

Natsu pointed dead ahead. "Charmeleon, **Scratch!** " The Flame Pokémon darted across the battlefield with swift fury, thanks to his earlier Flame Charge increasing his Speed stat.

" **Arm Thrust!** " Hariyama huffed as he pulled back his palm, thrusting it forward to collide with Charmeleon's claws. The palm blocked Charmeleon, and he veered away from the second palm strike.

He gritted his teeth, angered by the large defenses. _'Still not fast enough!'_

Natsu bent his knees and charged forward, the flames concentrating into his fists. His lungs was reciprocated as Charmeleon followed his lead, the two dashing with all their might.

"When will you ever learn?" Caius grunted. Natsu's eruptive fist collided with Caius' pectorals, engulfing the man in blazes. Again, no damage as they simmered away. However, Natsu's fist was still connected. "It's like thou spoke! The borders of ones ideals, are closed to all that aren't worthy!"

Together, Caius and Hariyama struck their palms forward. Time drastically slowed down for Natsu and Charmeleon as they sidestepped. The appendages were millimeters away from their cheeks as they locked onto their opponents. Natsu glared, reeling back his fist.

Charmeleon did the same for his **Scratch** , however, the recent thoughts of getting speed to a sure hit caused the blue irises to shrink, locking on Hariyama. Suddenly he disappeared in blinding speeds, reappearing below Hariyama's chin.

"Wha-?!"

A flaming fist socked Caius' diaphragm, while a blurry white punch from Charmeleon bashed into Hariyama's stomach. They both went wide-eyed as the attacks buffered them several feet back, leaving trails in the ground. Their abdomens had bruises, showing damage.

Charmeleon landed, looking at his claw. "Huh? That wasn't Scratch." He looked at Hariyama, seeing the Fighting-type clutching the super effective wound. "…no. Even better." He smirked. "I think I learned **Aerial Ace!** "

Caius grunted low, seeing his abdomen sizzling. "But how…?"

"It took me a while…" the Palm Mage turned towards Natsu. "But I finally figured out how your fighting style works. I noticed that you don't attack until I do, and how you weren't feeling pain. I thought you were using some kind of absorbing technique or some muscle power, but then it hit me. You have Shock Absorption."

Caius went wide-eyed, confirming Natsu's skepticism.

"Whatever damage your body takes, you conduct that damage into your palm strikes and send it back. And there's my long-range spells, too. My roar for example." He flashed back to how Caius used his palm strike, with the end sizzling. "You can't absorb long-range shock attacks as well as up close ones. And even then, your arms can only take so much shock at one time."

Caius didn't look like it, but he was getting frustrated. His composition almost broke as Natsu figured out the key to how he was hanging on better than he did. "Most impressive." He complimented. "Thou has more perception than what has been pegged." His visage darkened. "But still, shall it be enough?"

Natsu darkly smirked, embers turning to flames around him again. "We'll just see. Let's find out how much shock your body can take!"

Their eyes interlocked in an intense sparks. That same spark flashed, and Natsu darted into the opponent. Their final clash had begun.

With a roaring battle cry, Natsu slammed his fist into Caius, the shock so massive the flames and ground bloomed from behind. Caius went for a palm strike with the force being channeled, but Natsu parried with a quick jab, shockwaves blooming between. The two were in an intense parry, fists and palms moving at lightning speeds to overpower the other. Around them, flames erupted and mixed with the winds, making it impossible to go anywhere near them.

"It's go time now!" Charmeleon rushed through the winds after Hariyama with the same rush Natsu had. As Hariyama braced himself, the running lizard cloaked himself in flames.

" **Flame Charge!** " Charmeleon shot in a flaming comet into Hariyama, the large brute taking the full hit and not budging.

" **Vital Throw!** " Hariyama went to seize Charmeleon, ripping through the flames to grab him. However, he wasn't there. "What?"

Feeling a draft behind, he harshly turned around. Charmeleon's body was streaked in a blur, via his new **Aerial Ace**. The lizard swung his tail into Hariyama's palm as both attacks never miss. There was a harsh power struggle between, until seconds later, Hariyama felt his strength waning.

' _No, I can't resist!'_ Charmeleon's attack followed through, the tail swinging through with success.

' _Thanks Tyrunt, for lowering his strength for me.'_ Charmeleon pulled back his fist. _'Which makes it easier to take him DOWN!'_ He punched Hariyama in the face, immediately grounding the bulking beast. As he gagged from the Flying-type move, Charmeleon landed on a knee behind.

Charmeleon turned around, seeing his opponent rolling over onto his knee. The damage that he had taken earlier was beginning to catch on. The big guy wasn't sure he could properly stand.

Not willing to take a chance, Charmeleon pivoted. " **Ember!** " The sparks collided with Hariyama's face, causing him to grunt.

"I…thought I told you!" he stammered. "Your flames cannot do harm on-!" Suddenly he erupted in large doses of flames, causing him to scream out in violent agony.

Charmeleon smirked. What he had intended finally happened. He watched the flames dissipate, showing Hariyama staggering. "Just because you're tough doesn't mean you're invulnerable." He said. "So my Trainer is doing what I am gonna be doing to you! Break you down!"

Natsu and Caius were still going at it, their fists and palms making breaks in the shockwaves between them. Their beings were opposing one another; their prides for those they swore to protect on the lines. Both were unbreakable walls that couldn't be taken down, but today they intend to prove the other wrong.

Natsu kept up his flurry of broiling flames with no end, Caius countering with palms made of the shock Natsu was dishing out. However, Natsu's ballistic speed was getting a few good blows to buffer him. Caius' eyes showed red as he charged another palm strike, bit Natsu suddenly decked him across the face, stopping him and nearly dislocating the jawline.

Caius stepped back, attempting to get his bearings, but he was decked again, and again. _'He's moving faster at a rate that I can absorb the shock! Is he really trying to outspeed me than just power me alone?'_

Natsu punched, but Caius was able to block with a palm strike. He yelled violently as he unleashed palm strikes in a hectic flurry.

" **Chop Hanging Palm: Twin Hummingbird!** "

The repeated jabs were blowing Natsu, some sharp blows getting to the collar bine and grazing the scar on his cheek. Natsu let out a draconic roar as he let the pain all out. He slammed his heel into the ground, his volleys so fast they looked invisible.

"I'M GONNA MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE KNEELING TO ME THAN THAT CRAZY KING, YOU HERE?!"

The Dragon Slayer increased his flurry to ones Caius couldn't keep up with. Natsu's blows were raining into all his body parts, pounding him so many times a second that he wasn't able to react in time.

" **Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!** " The flames in the fists flickered before they were erupting into explosive charges with each strike. Whip-like blazes raged across the ground as Caius was petrified with each blow that was too fast for him. The man's mouth was beginning to gap wide open as Natsu's furious look was intensifying with the blood rush.

Hariyama staggered back up to glare at Charmeleon, who was going in for one final charge. His shouts were grating his ears, and Hariyama had to stop him while he had the chance.

" **Brine!** " With his last breath, the Water-type attack gushed out of his mouth when Charmeleon was close enough. But as he sprayed, Charmeleon suddenly appeared below, his fist reeled back for a blurry **Aerial Ace**.

With a violent sock to the gut, the gush of saltwater he outsped stopped. Hariyama lurched forward, the air knocked right out of him. "This one's for Darumaka!" He swung his tail across the face. "This one's for Tyrunt!" He swung his tail the other way across the face. "And this…is to remember us by!"

Hariyama and Caius' eyes widened. Their respective opponents were building up so much fury and flames they could barely see their figures in the sea of fire pluming. They only saw two draconic glares, which scared the both of them.

Caius' teeth gritted as his eyes shrunk from the visage of Natsu reeling back his fist in a sea of fire. _'My liege…I'm sorry! Forgive me!'_

Natsu's foot depressed the ground as he pivoted into Caius, his fist of flames compacted into the shape of a dragon.

" **Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist!** "

He caught Caius in an immobile condition as his fist connected, creating a destructively massive explosion of flames that exploded into a large-scale blaze straight ahead. Charmeleon pushed off the ground and smashed his whole body into Hariyama's face, sending him in a grizzly trail across the ground straight into a wall. That same wall was obliterated by Natsu's destructive attack, leaving flames to turn to smoke.

The whole battleground was reduced to charred earth that was melted. Natsu's body was seen with several bruises, but his fist was out as he was catching his breath. He and Charmeleon were glaring at the end of the trails, witnessing their opponents on the ground in charred ruins. They were battered bad, with Caius devoid of pupils and Hariyama with swirling eyes.

They had finally won the battle for ideals.

Managing to shake off the pain they felt, Natsu and Charmeleon looked to each other, giving confident smirks. The reptile let out a loud cry of victory, with Natsu smirking proudly.

"And _that's_ just a small taste of what's coming to your king." Natsu retorted. "I'm gonna knock that crown off his head like I did you…and no wall is gonna stand in our way."

* * *

The battlefield was quickly depleting of enemies, faster than what was predicted. Oberon and Melchior continued observing as they saw Caius' downfall.

"It appears that our enemy has gained ground quite fast, your majesty." Oberon warned, shooting his king a glance. "So, how do you insist that we counter?"

Melchior smirked. "It's nothing. Just a small trifle." He looked towards the Celestial King standing behind him. "Isn't that right, my friend?"

The Celestial King didn't respond until the red jewel in the crown shined. His red eyes glowed bright, as if understanding the command. The Celestial King raised his blade high, creating a bright, golden shine. He plunged the blade into the ground, sending golden ripples through the ground across the battlefield.

Gray looked down as the golden waves were shimmering through his ice. "What's going on?"

All around, the radiant glow was enveloping around the ice. Slowly, the ice began fading, leaving solid ground again. The Devil Slayer ice covering Virgo was dispelling on its own as well, leaving the spirit's red eyes to glow.

"No way…"

Close by, Aquarius' body was enveloped in the golden waves as well. The damage she took from Juvia was dissipating, allowing her to levitate once more.

"She regenerated?" Juvia gasped. Before she had the chance to process the attack, Aquarius lifted her jug and her body was outlined in a large golden shine. From behind, a narrow but very deadly tsunami wave arose overhead, rushing into Juvia. The rain woman gasped as the attack swamped her, rushing her body and Vaporeon away.

"Juvia!" Gray shouted. With his gaze turned away, he realized his mistake as he turned around. Floating around him were several hemispheres of earth that appeared to be no less than a hundred. Virgo's red eyes shined, sending them hurdling into him.

As his eyes reflected the visage of earth coming at him, Gray's world went white as hundreds of small, condensed cannonballs of earth rained down like meteors, causing the ground to engulf in a duststrom.

Wendy was releasing poisonous winds at Melchior that mixed with Amaura's **Icy Wind**. The combined assault was causing the sprit to hold his guard up while frost slowly enveloped the body. The rust on his tail was expanding, to where it was impossible to get a condensed shot.

As the golden waves traveled beneath, the winds dissipated suddenly, much to their shock.

"What happened?!" Carla gasped.

Amaura recoiled, completely overwhelmed by the shock.

Wendy was in equal shock as a golden light enveloped Scorpio. When it faded, it showed his conditions completely erased. The rust and pale skin had been erased by the celestial energy that gave him greater strength.

"Guys, look out!" she warned.

Scorpio widened his nozzle aimed at Wendy. From it, a titanic flood of sand rushed across the battlefield at her. Carla spread her wings again and picked up Amaura, with Wendy fleeing as the ground was awash in a tsunami of sand.

The golden light raced up to Loke, empowering his fist in an even brighter shade of his Regulus Magic. Cana closed her eyes as her retina were almost fried from looking into them directly.

"Such…strong light!" Prinplup grunted. "It burns!"

' _His Magic Power, it's growing even higher than before!'_ Cana could feel the heat of Loke's light as his body was nothing but a sun, blinding with radiance. _'Just what is that king doing to our friends?!'_

Pisces was surrounded in the golden light as they shot at Volans again like torpedoes. He slammed his palms into the ground, using his **Deep Geyser** spell again. However, unlike last time, they powered through no problem, causing Volans to soar high at the last second.

In midair, he looked down perplexed, but that left Cancer to get above with a golden shine. Eyes widening, the fishman was passed by a splicing assault by Cancer as he was seen on the ground, leaving a harsh gash through Volans' side as the fishman screamed in agony.

The golden light shook off the haze Sagittarius and Taurus had as the smoke cleared. Corvus was stunned as he felt a harsh power level rise. "Hold on, what?"

With one swing of his axe, Taurus created a shockwave so powerful that the ground diced into shreds. A massive wave of raw magical energy blasted into Corvus, sending the spirit through a whirlwind away in screaming pain.

Aries and Capricorn were empowered with this same light, enchanting them with greater abilities. Lupus snarled at them as Purrloin had her head turned at Canes, the dogs all glowing with their fangs sharpening.

Noticing a peculiar stir in the atmosphere, Erza looked around for a second. "This power, where is it coming from?"

Auriol smiled. She knew precisely what was going on. "Isn't my majesty glorious?"

Vanessa sensed a large mass of flowing power all around. She looked towards the Celestial King, the source of this grand force.

Watching as the spirits were gifted with greater power, Melchior was in full pride. Oberon turned to him with a gracious smirk of his own. "I do admit, sire, I am very impressed with how skillful you are." He said. "Your coordination with the Zodiacs knows no bounds."

"Thank you, my friend." Melchior stated. "But, there is still much to do."

Oberon nodded. "Yes, there is. However…" he noted, getting the king to turn towards him. "If you'll allow me. I am rather perplexed. If the spirits _are_ in fact empowered with this level of strength and you persist on the coarse of fighting, then why not end it with Libra? Surely her gravity would crush everyone standing before us."

Though he was taken back slightly from the question, Melchior obliged to answer. "Why, you ask?" he repeated. "Well, certainly, you are aware of all our goals. The answer is simple Oberon."

Oberon did as told, looking at the advisors and spirits pushing back the Fairy Tail mages with all their might. They were the only ones left apparently as the rest of their troops were taken down.

"The answer lies in them. If Libra befalls her holy gravity, that would possibly harm my associates as well. I'd rather keep them in play while their wills let them."

"I believe that I understand, but as you know, true victory isn't without sacrifice. We have dedicated our lives to you, so we fight on for what you believe in."

"That may be. However, I am a man of my word. I wish to see those who truly acknowledge and follow the ways of the Celestial Spirits be granted the wishes they so deserve."

Oberon raised a brow. "Even my own, sire?"

"Yes. For a king to feel fulfilled, their own must acknowledge their promises made."

Unbeknownst to the king, Oberon was smirking. The advisor was looking at his majesty was engulfed in the heat of his soon-to-be victory. His smirked tugged on both ends of his lips tightly.

"Your majesty…" He reached down towards Melchior's feet. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

Melchior felt something off. Turning around, he saw Oberon's hand in a small green magic seal. "Oberon, is thou okay-?!" Suddenly the king felt all his muscles stiffen sharply. His eyes widened as he dropped to his knees in a green magic seal spinning around him. He could feel his whole body shutting down and unable to lift even a single finger.

He gaped his mouth wide, staring at Oberon as the mage smirked at his majesty.

' _A paralysis spell…'_ He struggled to get up, but found it hard with Oberon keeping the trap enabled. "Oberon…what is thy meaning…of this?"

Oberon raised his chin, looking at Melchior grimly. "I do very much apologize, milord. You mean exceptionally well to me for all these years…but you know freedom is never free itself."

His teeth gritted from the paralysis. "Why…?"

"Milord…do you remember the wish I made, years ago? Back when I was still captive in Bosco?" He began thinking back to his unkempt cell he was in. He could still see himself in rags, sitting alone on a rusty bench with handcuffs to the walls. He was the only one in there, the two other inmates had long since perished. "My only wish…was to experience true freedom; to no longer feel the oppression of others weighing me down. I wanted to find some way to get free…and that's where you came."

 _Outside the cell, the sounds of swords clashing was heard. The shadows of bodies spraying blood could be heard from yards off as the thuds played like a rhythm. A battle within the dungeon ensues, and leading the charge was Melchior._

 _The young king bypassed a polearm and shot his sword through a guard's throat, killing him on the spot. He placed his heel on his fallen chest and removed his blade from the man's Adam's Apple. He looked down, staring at the wide eyes of horror on the dirty man's face._

" _What an unfaithful sight this is…"_

" _Milord!" a fellow soldier called. Melchior turned as the soldier stood tall. "Milord, we've rounded up all the prisoners in the cells! They're being escorted out by the evacuation tunnel as you directed."_

" _Good work." Melchior turned towards a cell nearby, noticing a shadow in the corner. He noticed how the figment's head was down, like he was asleep – perhaps dead._

" _It seems we have missed one." Melchior walked over quietly towards the cage, his shadow casting over the groggy prisoner._

 _Oberon noticed the shadow over him. He glowered up, expecting it to be a guard. However, it wasn't. It was a king that looked a little older than him. This still didn't light his spirits._

" _Young man, can you hear my voice?" Melchior asked._

" _Huh…?"_

" _I have come to free you all." He reached out his hand. "Please, follow me."_

 _The boy gave Melchior a stone-cold stare, turning his head away in despair. "What's the point…? I'm just gonna end up dead anyway. They always do."_

" _Your masters have all been slain. There is no need for your reluctance. If you wish to be free, there is nothing stopping you now."_

 _The teen got into fetal position, clutching his arms tightly. He was honestly too scared to move from his position. The years of being a slave really took a toll on his psyche and mentally, almost to where neither mattered. He had nothing anyway, not even family…they were decapitated when the slave raiders came to apprehend him. Even if he left, he'd have nowhere to go._

 _Melchior took a moment of silence, trying to find a means to the boy before him. He straightened his posture. "Young man, have you ever seen the stars?"_

 _The kid looked up._

" _When one looks at a star, they make a wish. If one truly wishes to make that wish come true, they must do more than believe. They must put their faiths in themselves. You see, I came here to free you all. That was a wish I've made into an action. I promised thy self to eviscerate the shackles so that you all can feel free. So, do you have a wish?"_

 _The boy looked down, looking unsure. It's been so long since he's seen stars. "…I don't know…"_

" _Then tell me, what do you want? What do you feel that you need at this instance?"_

 _The boy swallowed a lump. He wasn't sure, but this man's questions were digging into his empty stomach. Nobody asked him these kinds of inquiries, which were challenging enough to process. But the more he thought about it, the more Oberon could feel something stir. This man…what he was proposing…it could possibly be his one chance._

 _Finally, the boy looked up, a plea turned to seriousness. "To no longer have weights on my life."_

 _Melchior raised his hand out again. "Then I ask you once more…join me, and together, that wish shall come true."_

"That day, I realized my wish. That in order to be truly free of oppression, one must take more than just the lives sworn to them." Oberon's fists balled in growing angst. "I never wanted to feel oppressed like that again. I wanted to feel myself be free and not weighed down by anybody…I never expected you of all people to be holding so much weight on his shoulders that it'd keep me from feeling that freedom."

Melchior held his tongue as his pain was subsiding for now. But his gaze on his long-term ally had never faded.

"But milord, as you said, to make way for the new era, there must be the path of clearance. To that means no holding back, and to make sacrifices necessary. So, if you aren't wiling to do so…then I shall!" He darkly smirked. "Allow me."

He reached for Melchior's crown, getting ready to grip it. However, as he wrapped his fingers around to pry it off, his hands started to feel numb.

"Hm?"

At the deepest grunt, Melchior had his own smile.

A massive red electrocution flourished around Oberon, making the man scream out in agony. The pain he was feeling was aching so bad that his nervous system was short-circuiting itself. The man cried out as he floored hard onto his back, his paralysis seal around Melchior fading.

"What…happened…?" the stunned man quivered.

"I believe that you are familiar with Body-Link Magic, are you not?"

Oberon's eyes widened. He glanced up, seeing he was on the floor while Melchior stood tall, the effects of the spell completely gone.

"You see, a king isn't without precaution as he is with wisdom. To tell you the truth, I've been watching you closely, ever since you've returned with the crown." When he received it, he could still see the dark smirk Oberon had at the corner of his lips. "My tailor looked at the crown for me and realized that it was laced with a sail-safe paralysis seal on it…embedded with your magic signature. So, I prepared a Body-Link spell…so that no matter what, this crown will _never_ be removed by anyone but myself. And those who do, shall feel the wrath of a thousand burning suns."

Oberon stared dumbfounded. He knew the king was wise, but he didn't peg him to have him figured out from the get-go. He swallowed a lump.

"I suppose that this is my fault. It seems that I didn't interpret my beliefs on you as I have should've about the importance of loyalty." His glare darkened. "After all, numbers do matter as much as power in a war."

"Sire." Oberon gasped. Libra suddenly appeared besides Melchior with her scales up.

"Those who willingly follow me above the stars are spared, for they have been enlightened. But you, Oberon, seemed to have forgotten that principle…allow me to educate you on your misguidance. Libra."

His crown shined red, with Libra mimicking the shine in her eyes. Weighing one scale up and another sown, a massive pressure of gravity was crushing Oberon/ The traitor cried out as he was being pressed hard into the ground as it was depressing slightly from the massive force of gravity.

"I hope you realize something after this." Melchior said, frowning as he watched Oberon get suppressed. "Be careful with what you wish for."

 _BOOM!_

A large wake of dust surged as dirt spread everywhere behind the king. With his back still turned, Melchior's cape flared inside the wake of the shockwaves. He seemed unfazed as the mushroom clouds of dust scattered into a dense layer of fog that made it hard to see.

As if knowing, the king smirked. He turned around, minding Libra still holding down Oberon as punishment.

"And it would also seem…that there are others who are to be brought realization as well."

The dust cleared, revealing blue eyes opening, next to red ones that showed seriousness. The dust dissipated, revealing Nic and Greninja, the former in his default form.

Their glares fixed on Melchior – and this time no headache was going to get in their way.

* * *

All around the island, it was a mad scene. Along the surface as the sun's morning rays were glistening the dewdrops on grass, they were absorbed into moist bodies that moved sluggishly forward.

Parasia were patrolling the island, looking around for their victims. As many were prowling around, others were digging themselves sup from straight under. Under the queen Parasia's command, they had to find them, and make sure they didn't leave the island.

In the queen's huge chamber, many other Parasia were present, huddling close to their mother as she was conserving her strength. She had her cyclopean eye shut, her dormant state making sure nothing was to stop her.

"Ready?" a whisper said.

"All set."

"Okay…let's get this show on the road guys."

Someone's finger pressed onto a boombox.

 _ **[Linus Dotson – Me and My Crew]**_

The music started playing, immediately alarming the scouts in the area. They all started coming around after so long. The queen opened her eyes, hearing the music play. She looked left and right, wondering through growls where it was coming from.

As many Parasians were sulking, suddenly the wall to the chamber shot open, creating a shockwave that instantly killed off a few. The dust created a smokescreen that the Parasians all stared at.

Inside, there were three silhouettes walking beside one another, seemingly in slow motion. Their strides were almost in sync, as much as their dispositions. Around them were many other silhouettes that came into view.

As the dust faded, the Parasians backed away for caution. They saw the dust simmer to show earrings shimmering; a red headband with long strands waving about; glasses that were heavily shaded refracting light. The was the men from before, and around them were several Pokémon – all of them. All their Pokémon were standing/floating for battle. Yanma was perched on Heracross' horn, but she seemed ready enough. Beedrill jabbed the air as Swadloon was down below with Krabby and a jittery Raticate. Stunfisk and Seel were aboard as well. Around Joey, Tranquill was in the air while Quilladin and Trubbish were in front of Joey, the Trainer's arms crossed.

With their entrance made, the cyclopean queen's eyes focused on the men that got away before.

Joey held up his hand, which in it was none other than Magikarp – even he looked serious. "Yo! Queeny! We got something to say to ya, so hush up y'all!" he pointed Magikarp at them. "We're here to do our job and take names at the same time! So if you wanna take ours, we're right here! But know this, we Freaks don't go down without a fight!"

The queen gurgled, sending two Parasia at him. As they came forward, Joey took in a deep breath.

"I warned ya."

The Parasia reached out at him and extended their arms to seep and drain Joey. With one hand, Joey activated his barrier, making the limbs retract. Raising Magikarp high, he used him like a bat and smacked them away, sending them crashing into other Parasia.

"There's plenty where that came from." He raised Magikarp high, swinging him around in circles with his whiskers. "Guys…LET'S DO THIS!"

"I'm with ya, Captain!" Dereece tightened his headband, his Pokémon roaring in agreement.

"You guys up for it?" Kevin asked his Pokémon.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill buzzed, jabbing the air.

Krabby held up his pincers, which apparently held up a checkered boardgame again. "I hope they like losing at Checkers!" he insisted.

"Woooooah~! Look at all of them! Haha!" Raticate quivered. "There's so many! This is so cwazy~!"

"Oh yeah, you speaking volumes." Swadloon hummed. "Let's see how much they'll be squealing when we get a little rough then."

Kevin glared towards the back of the Parasian army they were facing, his eyes set on the prize. Somewhere in the back, he knew his little girl was there…and he was going to risk his life to make things right. _'Ella…I swear to you…as your Papa, I won't give up!'_

The queen Parasia let out a shrilling roar, her tentacles quivering erratically. The child-sized hatchlings started moving forward towards battle.

"Let's party! ALALALALALALAAAAH~!" Joey let out an Indian howl as he raised Magikarp to attack.

The final confrontation was amongst everyone as the sun kept rising in the east.

* * *

 **Hopefully this chapter didn't take too long. Like I said two weeks at most. And as you may have guessed, it's been exactly two weeks. Thank you guys for your patience, and I hope this chapter really was enjoyable.**

 **So as you can see, there's a crap ton of fights that are gonna throw down, and I'm gonna make sure I level as many of them as possible next chapter. Of course there's the few exceptions, including something very special that I'll be putting Sophie and Duncan through coming up.**

 **And for The Freaks' half, talk about a shock. So Kevin technically is the father of Ella when you think about it if that's his DNA. So now they're in a battle to stop the Parasia queen, and how will Kevin get to Ella, and what he will do to her will be shown soon.**

 **Hope you guys liked what I did, and please, reviews are very much appreciated. Hope to make the last two chapters of the arc as quick as I can! Till then! XD**


	36. Falling Stars

The mountains erupted with the wake of dust and debris scattering everywhere. The shockwaves were so strong they gave Jellal no choice but to use his Heavenly Body Magic to create a shield in front of his comrades. When the dust cleared, the shield lifted.

They saw the golem's free hand ball into a fist, aiming for them directly.

" **Poison Dragon's Scales!** "

Erik unleashed a constant barrage or scale-like projectiles made entirely of poison. The attack was closing in, but when it came to be so close, the vague shield on the golem shined bright red in the eye. Suddenly a hexagonal barrier enveloped the fist, causing it to overpower Erik's attack. His eye widened as the fist closed in quick.

" **Meteor!** "

Jellal moved in a golden blur to get Erik and his Arbok out of the giant fist's path. He made it just before impact. As he skid along the ground, Erik and Arbok rebounded.

"Thanks for that." Erik bluntly said, with Jellal and Bellona reconvening near them. He looked at the golem as he lifted his fist off the ground. He couldn't hear the golem's voice; it was like he was drowned in silence. Instead, his ears filled with pain, and demands. _'I can hear it's pain alright. But it's not taking any.'_

"Let me try something." Bellona created swirling nebulas of darkness around her arms. " **Nebula Hold!** " She threw the disks at the golem, but the core of the shield on the golem shined brightly. The radiant energy shield appeared in front, dispelling the attack.

"What is that barrier…?" the sky blue-haired woman wondered anxiously.

Not willing to waste ganders, Jellal raised his arm up as he took a stance. In the air, several golden twinkles could be seen over his head.

" **Pleiades!** "

Six rays of golden light shined brightly over the golem as its third atop its head saw the many beams coming straight down for it. The beast looked distracted as Erik smirked. "Arbok, **Crunch!** " With an opening, his Arbok slithered after the golem with glowing fangs.

With the several lights coming down and Arbok closing in, the golem seemed certain to either pick one or the other. However, when the shield on its forearm glowing, that wasn't the case when the golden forcefield appeared, blocking the light rays that radiated above. The top of the shield was engulfed in golden explosions that fizzled out, and Arbok's fangs were repelled by the shield as well. As the dust was clearing, three red eyes flashed inside the smoke cloud as it dissipated, revealing the golem as it let out a loud roar.

"It's no good. That shield he has is taking all the magic we throw at it." Jellal examined.

"I'm afraid that isn't the biggest issue on our part." Bellona countered. "It appears Erik's Arbok's **Glare** hasn't slowed it down upon its regeneration."

"So it can heal almost immediately, with an impermeable defense." Jellal's observation delved into his internal thoughts. _'This magic presence given off, does it mean that it's a Celestial Spirit as well?'_

Erik darkly smirked. "Well if the shield's the problem, I say we rot it." He held up a hand of poison.

Bellona nodded. "Then we better move fast. At this rate, our magic as well as our chances will be gone before we know it."

As the golem glared down at its opponent, there was a golden twinkle in Astral far away. The light shined onto the golem and the shield, causing their eyes to brighten into hot red. " **GROOOAAAH!** " The monster released a battle cry as its entire body and the shield were swelling in a golden magical aura. The ground around it shook haphazardly as the magic of the Celestial King was reaching far and wide.

"What's the meaning of this?" Bellona questioned, feeling a sudden surge of pressure from the hulking foe. "Was he just amplified?"

His hearing picking up, Erik got on his guard. "It's coming! Get back!"

The golem roared out as the fist with the shield on it smashed into the ground, breaking apart the earth and sending shockwaves that Crime Sorciere was repelled against. They covered up as ground sundered, as well as their chances as the monster let out a fading shout.

* * *

Not much higher up, the quakes echoed into the peaks of the mountains. Sophie and Duncan, as well as the former's Pokémon and Spiritomb, were glaring at Tophet as he hovered over their heads. After a long period of silence, the first to break stance was Duncan.

"You…"

Tophet looked at Duncan, his aged glare as gloomy as can get. "Thou meet again, young one."

Duncan subconsciously gripped his metal pole tighter, his anticipation arising. He remembered what happened inside the mist that Tophet created. He was getting flashes of that same voice that made his feel stiff.

" _ **Duncan…find your strength. Find it…for me…**_ _"_

His grip on his staff tightened so much that it looked as though it was about to break. Before it could snap, he reminded himself of his control and calmed a little. But this didn't escape Sophie's suspicions before.

Tophet turned towards the blonde. "Thy young maiden…and friends…thou are greeted humbly by you again."

Dewpider crouched as he stood in front of his Trainer. "Hey pal, back off! Or you're gonna have to learn a thing or two about territory!" Beside him, Kadabra and Finneon were ready.

"Do show patience. Thou can see your plight."

"I believe that is an understatement." Sophie rebuffed, unwilling to drop her guard. "You're a member of King Seraph's advisors, aren't you?"

"Thou was inducted by his majesty's insistence." He answered. "His celestial figment has been under my watching eye, as was all of Astral. There is no star that thou cannot see."

Sophie furrowed her brow. Something about what he said didn't sound right. Was he intending to fight them? She looked into his eyes, but they were filled with ambiguity that even her Memory-Make was drawing a blank.

Breaking the silence, Duncan stepped forward. "Your magic rom before." He started. "Tell me. I've been thinking about that for a while, exactly what was that? Was that a psychic trick to make our memories come to life?"

Sophie looked at Duncan, her green eyes widening some. _'Wait a minute…was that the reason he was so spaced out from before?'_

"Memories, you say." Tophet repeated, lowering towards the ground. "Thou understand thy skepticism. But alas, that is partially so. You see, my powers are to hear the hearts of man that seek the light of the stars that shine over us."

"What?"

Sophie had to ponder over his sentence for a minute before she started interpreting it. "Hold on…light of the stars…? Do you mean Celestial Magic?" She was met with silence, seemingly getting her answer.

Tophet looked up towards the red stars still somehow visible in the morning sky. "Tetrabiblos…he is disappointed…very much so…"

His glare sharpening, Duncan found his chance to attack. " **Shadow Sneak** , let's go!"

His Spiritomb grunted before her shadow extended towards Tophet. In a flash, the attacks shot up, but Tophet vanished, much to their shock. "Where did he go?" Duncan looked around quizzically to find his adversary.

"Thou haste is a sign of temperance." They all felt a chill behind and turned towards the hill's trail. Tophet was floating like nothing happened, his body materialized from thin air. He looked entirely unfazed at Duncan and Sophie as their guards got up.

' _His body, it moves and acts like a ghost.'_ Sophie sensed his magic, but something about felt twisted. _'What is he?'_

"If thou insist on violence, do so if you feel pleased." Tophet paused. "But, I believe that your wish is to seek the path of Wyscan Hill, do you not?"

Sophie narrowed her eyes at the accurate assumption. "How did you know…?"

"It's as thou proclaimed, thou sees the hearts of man. You wish to save your 'friends', as you say." He turned around, floating up the hill. "If the answer you seek is beyond this point, then I shall show you the way."

"What was that?" Duncan asked stunned. "You mean you're just gonna show us willingly?"

"Yes. That is thy idea."

"Not that we aren't grateful, but why should we trust you?" Sophie interrogated harshly. "Aren't you apart of Melchior's ambitions?"

Tophet could see their denial, their trusts less than reasonable. But he persisted. "Thou sees your plight. Choose to do so, but remember…the matter of time is ever-flowing, and lives are not." He floated away. "Thou seeks answers to thy solutions. Press forward, and there lies clues to your quest."

They didn't trust this guy for second, it was clear something was wrong here. Why would the enemy be guiding them to the place they seek otherwise? They looked at each other, the inquiry in their eyes shared in balanced harmony. But he also brought up a point. Time wasn't on their side. If they didn't act, their friends would pay the price.

They heard loud explosions from afar. They looked back, seeing Crime Sorciere in trouble. There was no turning back at this point. They had to hurry.

Duncan nudged forward. "Ladies first."

Grunting, Sophie proceeded up the path with Kadabra, Dewpider, and Finneon watching all the angles. Duncan followed with Spiritomb.

* * *

The sun was at eye-level across the red, starry sea. The Celestial World's illuminating essence could be seen clearly now to all. Along those shores, along the top of the hill, Nic and Greninja south, while Melchior was northward. A wind blazed across the ground as around them, an immense magical pressure surfaced.

"Your majesty." Nic calmly glared. By his tone he almost meant it in sarcasm.

Melchior politely grinned towards his foe. "Nic Pularis, and friend." He started, "A pleasure to meet you again. I trust that you're feeling well."

Just one look from Nic and anyone could tell he wasn't here to play around. He looked towards Oberon to see him crippling beneath Libra's gravitational force. His mouth was gaping in agony and pressure turned on him.

"What happened to your advisor?"

Melchior looked back at Oberon, seeing him gasping like a Magikarp out of water. "Oberon? Yes, I'm afraid he's being educated as of now. His wish was to feel no oppression, but…he didn't count his blessings." He saw Oberon trying to move, but it wasn't going to well for him. "I suppose that I have helped my enemy in one instance. Isn't that right, Sir Pularis?"

"You've got a funny way of treating your allies as you do your guests." Nic retorted. "You've tormented with Lucy and Yukino's hearts like music strings until they played a tune you liked."

Melchior sighed. "It's as I have said before, this is all for the sake of the world's strongest magic to be realized. The path to the future is by means of war and violence. It always has…and you're no different."

A long silence paused between them. Nic could feel the tension around them stirring haphazardly. In truth he was thinking back to what the king said the last time they were face to face. He's been pondering about that for a short while now, and until now he never got to voice that opinion.

He sighed out deeply, relaxing his muscles. "Yeah, I know that. To be completely honest…I wouldn't think true peace ever exist. Some people probably think it's best the way to understand someone is through their actions, not just their words."

Melchior raised a brow. "How sagacious of you."

"But…what gives you the right to prosecute all of Earthland as uneducated that you'd go so far as to shed blood? If this is what you're really after, then maybe you need to be educated on what we Pokémon Trainers know."

"And that would be…?"

Greninja stood beside Nic, arms folded with a glare. "To see others in a synergistic manner; to connect with each other as equals and work alongside one another as partners. Those spirits you're controlling, they're only puppets that you don't respect. You say they're getting their freedom, but really they're shackled by a tyrant dragging along others by chains."

Melchior calmly scoffed. "There you go, thou speaking of equality." He frowned. "There you go, speaking on behalf of the inferiors. You propose they learn to work together on their own terms, but if that's so, then why did the Celestial King decline when he understands my intentions? Do you truly think creatures you know deserve freedom that don't act on it, that they know what's best? They need a leadership figure, someone who can bring them to their golden times!" He pointed accusingly at Nic. "And as such, Pokémon now infest this world and you don't rise up…because you wish to be amongst your inferiors. Soon you will have to learn that you must in order to move forward."

Nic could see it in his eyes. He wasn't going to budge from his position. There was no sense in telling him his faults if he refused to acknowledge them. They were all the same. Maybe Nic shouldn't run his mouth too long telling them his ideals…but, at that instant, he recalled the handshake he and Ajeel had, the person he changed in Alvarez through his words in battle.

Perhaps there is a silver lining somewhere…but he'll need to get there the long road first.

"You ready, Greninja?"

The ninja frog stood besides Nic, adjusting his scarf. "More than ever."

"Gemini." The king's crown shined once, making the Gemini twins appear out of the blue.

"Piri-Piri…" the twins hummed hypnotically.

Nic's eyes narrowed at Gemini. He had a bad feeling of what's coming next.

"I'm sure that you're aware of the Gemini twins' ability to copy a person that is close, do you not?" At the king's snap of finger, Gemini turned into a puff of smoke, turning into an exact copy of Nic himself. His eyes were closed shut, held in suspense.

Nic gazed into his faker, somehow getting a very disturbing case of déjà vu. As unbelievable as it was, this wasn't going to be the first time he had to beat himself up.

Greninja looked up at the sky. Standing above him, the Celestial King's glare was fixated heavily on him, sword already unsheathed.

"Man and Spirit. Spirit and Pokémon. I wonder…just whom holds the better judgment. Go!"

Nic-Gemini opened his eyes, his eyes completely red. "Piri…"

* * *

"Staryu, use **Minimize!** " Lucy called out, trying to fight the urge to yawn. Staryu beeped before its body shrunk down, the cells shrinking to make a red aura, indicating a sharp evasion increase.

Vita yawned loudly again, bags under her eyes blossoming. "Pikachu, use… **Nuzzle** …" she drowsed. Pikachu got on all fours as her cheeks crackled . She zipped in zigzags and raced for Staryu, but ended up passing it since the shrunken star glided around the electric mouse.

"Now, **Psywave!** "

 _BEEP!_ Staryu returned to normal size, charging up its core and fired a multicolored beam at Pikachu.

" **Electro Ball!** "

Pikachu raised her tail and spun around. The tail batted the sphere of electricity into the Psychic-type attack, creating an intense burst of smoke between. Staryu beeped again, while Pikachu had cheeks sparking. Unbeknownst to them, Klefki was still crackling with paralysis by Lucy, making herself unable to react.

"C'mon, Klefki, snap out of it." Lucy pleaded tiredly. "Staryu is…*yawn*…weak to Electric attacks."

"Puuun." Plue agreed, holding up a paw.

Klefki grunted as her guard was dropped from that last blow. She still held onto Lucy's Celestial Keys, and those were heavy enough. But she wasn't gonna lose them to the likes of some pipsqueak and some bastard king, that's for sure. "Must…protect…keys." She insisted, composing herself.

"C'mon, why do you *yawn* have to make this so difficult…" Vita tiredly grumbled. "All I want is a Celestial Spirit to play with, is that too much to ask?"

"It is when you're stealing from someone else." Lucy barked, standing in front of Plue. "Besides, Plue is my Spirit. He doesn't belong to you anyway."

"Aw, but he's just the cutest thing~." Vita swooned over cheekily. "Besides, I don't see your name on him."

"Don't even think about it!" Lucy pointed forward. "Staryu, **Swift!** " Her Staryu beeped again as its body spun in place. Many golden stars shot across the battlefield towards Pikachu. This time, the mouse wasn't able to dodge or miss when the attack struck her, sending her tumbling.

"Oh no…Pikachu…" Vita almost fell over groggily.

"Yeah Staryu, wait a…go…" Her praise for the starfish was shortened when her senses were getting hazy. She was so tired, and not just from the fact she had to stay up all night. Staryu also felt tired, Vita's magic getting to it as well.

"Guys…?" Klefki asked. She saw Pikachu get back up, her cheeks sparking. _'Oh no. Not good!'_

"Pikachu… **Quick Attack!** " Vita lazily pointed. With a blue outline around the body, Pikachu dashed across the field in a headbutt into Staryu's core. A critical hit caused airwaves to pulse around until the starfish went sliding on its back.

"S-Staryu…" Lucy grumbled. Her head throbbed from the mental stimulation it was taking to stay awake. _'It's no good. Whatever she's doing, she's making us too tired to react fast enough. She's gonna wear us down till were standing still.'_

Vita let out another yawn as she groggily stared ahead. She could see Lucy and Staryu barely able to stand, let alone think clearly. She was too tired to care at the moment, but once she finds her chance, she was gonna make sure Pikachu deals with her swiftly.

"C'mon Lucy! Staryu! Snap out of it!" Klefki insisted. She whirled around, seeing even Plue was getting sleepy.

Then something came to mind that caught the key-enthusiast's attention. _'Wait, why aren't I feeling tired?'_

"Pikachu, **Quick Attack** again!" Pikachu rushed after Staryu once more, the starfish barely able to process the swift running mouse getting towards it.

"Star…yu…" Staryu's core was dimming and glowing weak as Pikachu was closing in. However, at the last second, Klefki stepped in front, her body taking the attack instead. "Klefki?"

Klefki lurched her body as she felt the attack. Thanks to her being part Steel-type, the damage wasn't as bad. Her face darkened unleashing a dark shockwave with her **Astonish** up close. The impact from up close created a critical hit that sent Pikachu on her heels backwards.

"Hmph, stupid meanie key." Vita pouted with puffed cheeks.

"Klefki, are you al…right?" Lucy had to break a yawn before it could stop her entirely.

Klefki cringed from the paralysis she ascertained. "Y-yeah, I'm okay…" She winced, turning around towards Staryu. "Staryu, are you listening?"

 _BEEP_ It blinked

Assuming that was a yes, Klefki continued. "O…kay? But I have a plan…"

She started whispering to the starfish, their closure making Vita tiredly raise a brow. Her adolescent brain wasn't good at keeping track of what to hear.

"Puuuun." Plue, having the hearing of a dog, seemed to be understanding though.

Once they were ready, Klefki stepped off to the side, with Staryu trying to embrace the new idea. "You got all that?"

 _BEEPBEEP!_ Staryu blinked.

Lucy looked at her Pokémon as they were interacting. She could tell something was going on between them. _'Is Klefki…actually thinking about her comrades for once?'_ She saw the Key Ring turn towards her, giving a no of confidence. She nodded back. _'Guess I have no choice. At this rate…I can't even think straight…gotta…get this done and fast…quick…ugh.'_

Vita lazily pointed ahead. "Pikachu… **Nuzzle.** " Pikachu gathered electricity in her cheeks and started towards Staryu. Staryu stood its ground and watched the attack head its way.

"Staryu…what…?" Lucy was perplexed of what it was doing. Klefki braced herself for what would happen.

Pikachu ran head-on into Staryu with cheeks first. A paralyzing shock ran through the Water-type upon impact. It was hardly any damage, but the attack still stung like hell. Pikachu pulled away, sliding in front of Vita. Meanwhile, Staryu was engulfed in paralysis, its numbness kicking in.

"Staryu!" Lucy panicked.

"Oh my, look at that…" Vita lazily chimed. "Are they…giving up…?"

The starfish's body cringed from the new status condition it had, making it a little hard to move around. However, the grogginess it was feeling was completely gone. It was feeling lively ironically, save for the damage accumulated. Its sleepiness was no more.

"Staryu?" Lucy confusedly groaned. Her eyes slightly widened at the realization. _'Wait…did they figure out…?'_

Vita raised her arm again. "Pikachu, sweetie…use **Electro Ball**." She mumbled. Her Pikachu jumped into the air and a sphere of electricity gathered on the tail. She whipped her tail around, sending the harsh sphere at Klefki and Staryu.

Unable to dodge efficiently, they braced for what could've been the finishing blow. Suddenly a whip of cosmic water lashed into the electrical sphere, causing it to explode in midair.

"What…?" Vita's brows furrowed as her saggy eyes turned towards Lucy. She was holding her whip with a sloppy stance, but nonetheless she used what little strength to give Vita a small scare.

"I think I get it now. That's why you took the attack Staryu." Lucy realized. "I think we may have just found a weakness."

"What are you *yawn* talking about?"

Lucy gave Vita a hazy glare. "Your magic allows you to have an opponent feel the same energy you feel. If you're tired then so are they…but the whole time, Klefki wasn't groggy…*yawn*…because she was paralyzed. Which made me realize…your magic doesn't work on opponents who are affected by a Pokémon status condition!"

Vita flinched. To be honest, she never realized it until Lucy pointed out the reason. She was wondering – weakly – why Klefki wasn't sleepy. She was slow, sure, but not at all was she thinking her Pokémon's attacks could backfire. Her grogginess turning to frustration and annoyance as her chances felt plummeting.

Feeling some of her energy back, Lucy took a deep breath and pumped her fist. "Right, then let's finish this quick! Klefki, **Metal Sound!** " Klefki's key-like top turned metallic as she ascended into the air. She let out a loud, ear-piercing soundwave that traveled towards Pikachu. The harsh rattling of chimes caused the mouse to cover her ears as a blue aura signaled her Special Defense drop.

The ear-splitting shrieking was reaching Vita as well. The harsh rattling was forcing her to cover her ears, her nerves jolting as well.

"Pun?" Plue's grogginess was being removed. A lot of it was turning to a small headache, but Vita's lack of necessities to sleep caused the dog to uplift.

Feeling this energy as well, Lucy powered through the headache and pointed forward. "Staryu, **Bubble Beam!** "

The starfish openly readied its attack, but suddenly electricity crackled around the appendages. It flinched, unable to follow through the whole way.

Trying to fight through the aching **Metal Sound** , Vita kept an eye open to see Staryu paralyzed. This was her chance. "Pikachu, let's win our doggie back! Use-Ow! Owowowow!" Something sharp was poking her leg. "H-hey, what's going on?"

Looking down, Vita was seeing Plue jab her knee repeatedly. With his small yet sharp nose, Plue was prickling at her like a woodpecker.

"Puuuun!"

"Hey stop that, that hurts! Yeow! Ouch! Ouch!" Vita was getting frustrated as Klefki's ringing was causing immense distress. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. _'I gotta take her out now!'_ "Pikachu, **Electro Ball!** "

Pikachu opened an eye and grimaced through Klefki's annoying attack. She gathered electricity in the tail and spun around, sending a sphere of lightning at her foes again. With a battle cry, Lucy lashed her whip again, this time with a little more spunk. The whip snapped into the sphere, making it explode.

A surge of smoke layered the battlefield, causing confusion and annoyance for Vita and Pikachu.

"Klefki, now!"

"Okay!" The Steel/Fairy-type broke through the smoke, charging after Pikachu. Thankfully due to her intense obsession with keys that she had great Speed to begin with. Even as paralyzed it was still well enough to get her close.

Pikachu didn't realize it until key jangling was getting louder. Klefki suddenly appeared above her. "Where did you-?!"

"Now! **Draining Kiss!** "

Dipping her head down, Klefki took a deep breath and gave a light peck on Pikachu's forehead. The mouse was feeling flustered as red went up the body up to the part where Klefki kissed. She felt so much of her strength disappear as dizziness overcame her. A sphere of light was drawn out as Pikachu fell backwards and transcended towards Klefki, giving her some health back.

Pikachu laid on her back, swirls in her eyes. She was down for the count.

"Pikachu, no~!" Vita whined. She angrily looked towards Lucy. "Gnnngh, oh, you are _so_ gonna pay for that! Ow!" Plue's jabbing made her angry. "And stop that! Bad dog!" She went to reach him, but Plue was smart enough to jump up and off her head, sending the girl to the ground.

"Ow!" She landed on her butt, clutching her head. Looking up, Plue was freestyling as Staryu came swooping out of the blue thanks to the evasion increase. The starfish spun through the air with Plue hanging on. It was slow going, but Vita was wide awake with shock as Staryu came swooping down.

"Alright princess, you wanna see stars, we'll give you stars!" Lucy shouted. "Staryu, **Swift!** "

"Pun. Puuun." Plue pointed forward to attack.

 _BEEP!_ With a loud shout, Staryu spun in midair, unleashing a spiraling mesh of golden stars that rained down on Vita. The adolescent's eyes widened as she saw nothing but glittering rays that funneled after her. The dazzling – not to mentioning painful – attack closed in fast. She was slammed with stars repeatedly, her cries of pain heard loud and clear.

Staryu landed besides Klefki, with Plue getting off the back. They looked ahead and watched the dust clear away, revealing Vita with her entire dress tattered. She was wincing bad, an annoyed look in her eyes.

"You…meanies…" she whimpered.

" **Lucy Kick!** "

A harsh kick to the cheek completely knocked the wind out of the girl. She fell over after Lucy's heel stamped as hard as it could, leaving a sizzling mark on the cheekbone. Vita was devoid of pupils, her face broken into an unconscious smile.

Lucy pulled back, her energy livelier than ever. "Sorry, but if you ever threaten to take something that doesn't belong to you, better think of the consequences first." She chided. "Sweet dreams, little sunshine."

Vita laid on her back, her eyes blank as little imaginative Mareep were running over her head. By the drooly look she had she was having a sweet dream indeed.

Lucy wiped the sweat off her forehead, sighing. "Glad that's taken cared of." She turned towards Klefki and the others. "You guys okay?"

"Pun." Plue shakily raised a paw, confirming he was well.

 _BEEP_ Staryu meekly beeped.

Lucy sighed in relief. "That's good." She turned towards Klefki, her smile widening. "Klefki, thank you so much."

Klefki happily smiled, seemingly satisfied with her work. "Teehee, it was nothing-ow!" The paralysis stung her body, causing her to twitch. "Owie!"

"Oh, right. We'll fix that." Lucy rushed over, carrying Paralyze Heals. She started spraying her Pokémon, getting the status condition to heal. As she was doing so, her brow furrowed at one foe taken down. _'We're one step closer to freeing the Zodiacs and everyone else. Just hang on a little further guys, we're coming.'_

"Lucy!" A voice called from above.

Lucy looked up at the sky, seeing a blue cat race towards her. "Happy!"

The blue cat descended towards her height, looking down to see Vita taken down. "Looks like you've taken care of her." He said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She answered, facing the defeated foe. "But she was a really nasty piece of work. It was a good thing you guys told me when we planned this all out." She turned towards Happy. "Anyways, where's Natsu?"

A flaming explosion raced across the battlefield's horizon, blowing apart any structures that stood in its way. The last soldiers able to stand were charred and blown away as the flaming blast charged straight ahead.

"Doing the usual Natsu shtick." Happy deadpanned. "You surprised."

"Yeah, somehow I'm not." She turned towards Happy. "Happy, take me to the closest spirit. We've gotta stop them fast!"

"Aye!" Happy picked up Lucy, with Klefki floating up and Staryu spinning sideways towards her. Together they all raced in Natsu's direction of destruction to help.

* * *

A large dust wave rushed across the battlefield as Vanessa's long hair was caught in it. She and Krookodile managed to catch their second wind after that last attack. But for the Pularis woman, the shock she had was written all over her face.

"Thy maiden are very persistent." Bion stated. "However, this will be the last time."

' _I never would've guessed it if I hadn't realized it sooner.'_ The Aura Mage furrowed her brow. Now it was making sense, why Bion hadn't used many spells back then. This sudden spike after returning from the Celestial World connected the dots for her, and that's what made her tick.

"Tell me, Bion."

"Yes, what is it?"

"This magic you have, I can certainly tell that you were a Celestial Mage, right?"

The knight calmed his composition, looking at the girl with compassionate eyes. "Yes, thou _was_ in fact a Celestial Mage. There was a time when many Celestial Mages were free amongst Earthland. I'm sure that thou are familiar with the curse of the Infinity Clock perhaps?"

Memories of the Zentopia incident came flooding back for them. It was a hard time for the Fairy Tail Mages, especially with how when one thinks about it they were at the dead center of that catastrophe. Vanessa didn't even want to think about her and Erza's fight against Erik at that time.

"I take it that by thy expression that you do, but allow me to remind you of recent events. After the Infinity Clock was destroyed, it's true that the curse that befell the Celestial Mages has been lifted. However, the century-long acceleration has caused all our magic to fade away. You ask yourself why I'm here talking about this. Well… _I_ was one of those unfortunate victims."

Vanessa narrowed her eyes as Bion continued.

"You see, thy majesty saw my penniless worth, and the plea that I had." He raised his clutching fist. "My powers were all that I had. Without them, I was nothing. But then, King Melchior granted me the honor of being by his side. He promised me that I can regain my powers if I swore my allegiance to him and I stars. And now thanks to him, my powers are back."

The Aura Mage pieces it together. She thought it was strange how he felt so desperate in their match earlier. _'So that explains it.'_

"With this armor that I adorn, I can conduct Celestial Ethernano and use it as magic." Bion explained the glowing lacrima on the joints. "They take the Celestial energy from the Celestial World and gradually feeds it to me. Now that I have my fill I can now use my power to help thy majesty in his wish to make the world regain its lost celestial glory. And that's why I am here."

Hakamo-o snarled, rattling his scales at Krookodile. However, surprisingly, Krookodile was calm.

Bion swung his blade around, crusted in a golden energy-like saber. His prominent stature could give anyone shivers. "So…has thou realized her faults?"

Vanessa glared into Bion calmly, her relaxed disposition masking the annoyance that anyone around could feel. Over the past few years that she's been a part of Fairy Tail – since coming back to Nic – she's seen a lot of mages out there. Many of shapes and colors; some of species apparently. And a lot of them are all just the same…self-minded. She closed her eyes, not bothering to hold a need for ire.

"I see. So you are willing to throw away your morals for power, is that it?" she stated calmly. "I must say, I'm very disappointed."

"Come again?" Bion asked, offended by her accusation. "Who is thou to accuse me of no morals? Are you saying thy obligations are more so?"

"Perhaps Krookodile would be better at explaining." Vanessa offered, glancing at her tempered reptile.

The crocodile stepped forward, pointing accusingly at his opponent. "Let me tell you something Bion, Celestial Mage dedicated to Melchior Seraph, tyrant of Celestial Spirits, Krookodile has beaten down, chewed up, AND MANGLED CHUMPS LIKE YOU! YOU POWER HUNGRY PEOPLE ARE ALL THE SAME!"

Bion was taken back by the accusation. To some extent they were right, but he couldn't admit to that. "There are sacrifices that must be made to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. The king has made sacrifices that not even the likes of you could fathom. As he's made those choices, so must I." A golden aura enveloped his body. "And now that thou has reclaimed what is lost, thou shall have his glory!"

He slammed his blade against the ground, sending a shockwave of golden energy pass his Hakamo-o towards Vanessa and Krookodile. Instinctively, the crocodile stepped in front and crossed his arms. The attack didn't budge him as it dissipated, leaving a small trench between him and Bion's sizzling sword.

"Thy maiden's eyes are condemning. The stars above us are the rightful ones who judge. His majesty…he now judges the stars, thus I cannot be judged any longer than that of a star."

"In that case, haven't you ever heard of falling stars?" Vanessa chimed calmly, her complexion intentionally aggravating her opponent. "Because if you have lost your powers given to you by stars in the first place, you were beneath them to begin with."

"Silence!" He raised his arm out. "Hakamo-o! Show this maiden her errors! **Sky Uppercut!** " The Scaly Pokémon took to his heels after Krookodile. The attack was swift as it socked Krookodile in the jaw.

Bion smirked at the successful blow. However, it dissipated as he saw it didn't do much. "Huh?"

Krookodile shook his head and glared down. Hakamo-o went for a second attack, but Krookodile grabbed his wrist with his claws. "You did _not_ just do that! You did _not_ just hit Krookodile in the face!" he snarled. "Let me tell you something Hakamo-o, nobody socks Krookodile's face…WITHOUT A MAJOR BEATING!"

"Krookodile, **Outrage!** " Vanessa ordered.

The sneer on Krookodile's face darkened. "Ohhh…it's go time now, HUH?!" His eyes gleamed red, a dark red aura beaming up around him. Hakamo-o tried getting away, but Krookodile's grip was intense.

"No! Thy friend, move at once!" Bion insisted.

" **GRAAAAAH!** " Krookodile let out a primal cry as he unleashed his Dragon-type move in a Mach speed flurry of punched into Hakamo-o. Due to Moxie from taking down earlier soldiers, his Attack was much higher. And with him already so overwhelming, there was no holding back the massive barrage against Hakamo-o.

With one giant tail swing, Krookodile sent a shock through Hakamo-o that made his pupils shrunk. He was smashed into a nearby structure with dense force, creating a deep crater that he was implanted in. He was embedded with eyes swirling, his scales bruised from his adversary's attack.

"No!" He exclaimed. He turned towards his enemies with a glare. "You…this time there will be no one blocking you!"

He aimed his sword at Krookodile, the Intimidation Pokémon's red aura still going on strong. All the lacrima on his body shined brightly with a golden glow encompassing the body.

Vanessa recognized the spell as their surroundings were changing to a cosmic scenery. This time, she was being completely prepared.

"Those stars far and wide that embody the Heavens. By the radiance reveal thy form to me. I implore, oh Tetrabiblos, ruler of the stars. Let your unrestraint rage flow. With the 88 heavenly bodies…shine on!" His eyes glowed with a golden magic seal as his body enflamed in a groundbreaking explosion of gold.

" **Urano Metria!** "

The small glowing planets around him flourished in a long strand of celestial starlight shooting at Krookodile. The crocodile glared into the light before it all went white around him. Dozens of planetary figment bombarded him, creating bright bursts that caused the ground beneath the cave in. The earth depressed with each flare that engulfed the Ground/Dark-type.

Vanessa watched calmly as her black and blonde hair flared with the shockwaves of the attack, remaining expectant.

Watching the dust clear, Bion calmed his stance. "Is that thou explained. With the fulfillment with celestial power, there's nothing we cannot handle-!" He stopped dead cold with eyes widening at something.

In the dissipating light, the dust was clearing away. Standing in the center of a crater was Krookodile, his eyes glaring red. He looked ahead without a scratch – no, even worse! He looked angrier than ever!

Bion was taken back by the attack failing to do its part. "But…that should've defeated you! How?!"

"Seems as though Pokémon are more surprising than what you expected to be." Vanessa said.

"What's that?"

"I'm not sure how familiar you are with Pokémon yet, but Krookodile is part Dark-type. In my world, Psychic-type attacks have no effect on Dark-types. And some attacks I realized that are cosmic are considered Psychic. So in this case, if the celestial bodies didn't affect Krookodile, wouldn't that mean your magic has no effect?"

Bion stepped back. He was completely dumbfounded by what was happening. Of all the luck he could've had, it had to be this. His eyes shuddered in disbelief. "But…this can't possibly be. Thy Celestial Magic…is stronger than ever!" He gritted his teeth, his frustrations rising. _'No, calm down, Bion. Your majesty cannot see you fail. He entrusted you with this power. You mustn't fail!'_

He gripped his sword tightly. "I will have thou head!" His blade glowed and extended into a cosmic saber, charging for Vanessa and Krookodile.

"Krookodile!" Vanessa shouted.

" **LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, BION THE CELESTIAL MAGE DEDICATED TO KING MELCHIOR SERAPH OF ASTRAL! I'M GONNA RIP YOU LIKE PAPER!** " Another red aura flared around Krookodile, increasing his Attack even higher thanks to defeating Hakamo-o. He charged for Bion in a blur, his teeth snapping clean through the blade.

The shards of the blade littered the ground around him as time slowed down. The mage's eyes widened in horror as his best weapon was snapped clean in half by something lower than a Celestial Mage. _'No. NO!'_

Krookodile violently began his barrage of attacks against his armor. He pummeled Bion's armor to dented bits, his insides and bones bruising with every jolted nerve. He was helpless as tail swings, kicks, jaws, and claws smashed pieces of his armor off, the lacrima embedded in the joints dropping light marbles to the ground.

Once all the armor was broken, Bion fell to the ground on his stomach. His face was in riling pain and bloodied from several knocks to the head. His chainmail was torn to shreds to reveal a black underside. He twitched on the ground and struggled to stand.

Ahead of him, he saw his lacrima that were embedded in his armor before. He desperately tried reaching for them, the plea in his eyes ever so clear.

"I know what it's like. To be separated from something you need in your life."

Bion flinched when he looked up, seeing Vanessa taking a stance.

"I understand how you feel. If I had never met my brother or met my friends and Pokémon, perhaps I'd cling to them as you do to your magic." She frowned. "But…would it really be worth it if you went down the path of immoral blindness?"

Bion gritted his teeth. He couldn't take what she was saying. He had get to his lacrima and get what power was out of them.

"I'm sorry…" Vanessa took a stance and turned around, eyes closed as teal aura enveloped the ground around Bion.

" **Nugatory Burst!** "

A massive teal pillar struck Bion from below, leaving him completely unable to reach in time. Under the pressure of the attack, the man was still reaching the lacrima, but Vanessa's blast had shattered them. His eyes shrunk as the crystals shattered ti pieces, sparkling, golden energy escaping his grasp. He looked up at the teal pillar, watching it fade into nothing. All that hard work, and all that training under Melchior…reduced to nothing.

' _Am I…truly not worthy of being spiritual again?'_ He closed his eyes, the aura enveloping him entirely. _'Your Majesty, forgive me…I have failed you.'_

The teal pillar faded into thin air, with Vanessa still facing away. Krookodile was disoriented with confusion as Bion plummeted to the ground in a crater. His eyes were devoid of pupils as his armor wasn't there to save him when he needed it most.

Though as empathetic Vanessa was with how desperate Bion was, he was still an enemy. Perhaps if she were in his shoes she's do what he did out of desperation as well. But what kind of human being would she be? Instead of worrying about what she wasn't, she tossed Krookodile a Persim Berry.

"Here."

The crocodile murmured with a hazy stare and saw the food. He snapped on it, and immediately upon tasting its texture, his senses were coming back. Vanessa walked up to him petting his snout with a sincere smile.

"Thank you, Krookodile."

Krookodile bashfully eyerolled. "Er…whatever. CAN WE JUST GET TO THE BEATINGS NOW PLEASE!" he shouted.

Vanessa nodded. "Yes, let's get moving."

* * *

Sagittarius fired rays of arrows into the sky, numbers greater than what could've been imagined. Corvus gritted his teeth as he created a blast of dusk-like winds to dissipate them, but they beamed through in golden lights, unfazed by the winds.

"NO WAY!" the crow man shrieked.

The arrows spouted all around, making it almost impossible to get close now. Corvus maneuvered the best he could, but bad luck was the symbol of the crow. Several arrows grazed his arms and legs. His torso was nearly punctured if it wasn't for a solid turn. When he barrel-rolled through the air, he came around to attack, two arrows were coming dead ahead. He had no choice but to fold his wings up front and use the plumage to block. The glowing arrows punctured the feathers, as well as his arms. He gritted his teeth and felt intense pain from the sharp impale. But despite what he felt, he was hanging on the best he could.

"Hiyah!" With a grunt, he swatted the arrows off and took off.

"MOOOOOO!" The empowered Taurus brought his glowing axe around and swung mightily. The upward swung created a massive shockwave that caused large parts of the earth to be hurled at Corvus. The Celestial Spirit ascended higher, making sure to evade.

' _It's no good, I can't get close.'_ He grunted, looking on as Sagittarius readied more arrows. _'They're even stronger now because of the crown. Their attack will pierce right through. What am I gonna do?'_

Sagittarius fired more arrows, leaving him to sail and fly for his life.

* * *

Cancer sped across the battlefield with his twin scissors glowing with power. He lunged with all his might into Volans, who used his glowing forearms to block the attack. Shockwaves raged around them as they fought dominance. Even as his arms shed blood from that last blow, the fishman was able to use them – but the shock was getting too great.

Cancer kicked Volans in the gut, sending him flying into Pisces, where the twin fish hollered as they smashed into each side of him. The crushing force caused Volans to gape wide. The fish pair followed through, sending him spiraling out of control skywards.

Seeing their foe suspended, Cancer's eyes glimmered before locking onto Volans suspended body. The Zodiac sped in a golden light skywards. Volans turned around in midair upside-down, barely missing the razors on Cancer's scissors.

" **Abyss Palm!** "

Stamping the pressurized force into the chest, the palm strike of water blasted Cancer away, sending him across the ground in a slide. The Zodiac crab flipped and impaled the ground with his scissors to keep himself from grinding his heels.

Pisces circled around with red eyes gleaming at Volans as he was in midair. The fish spirit was losing breath as he was running out of space. _'They can regenerate faster than we imagined.'_ He thought. _'Nic and Greninja need to hurry. This battle won't end well otherwise.'_

Pisces made a U-turn in front and shot with Cancer with his twin scissors crossed. They closed in as Volans raised his bloodied palms, staring them to the face of death.

* * *

Lucy flew the air with Happy, her Klefki and Staryu keeping at their own risk. Looking down, they saw countless bodies of men laying down. They were down for the count, that was a given. _'Geez, I almost feel sorry for them.'_ Almost, but not quite.

"Where are we going, Lucy?" Happy asked.

"We need to get to Melchior and get that crown off him." She said. "That's the only way we know will save our friends."

As they sailed, a massive rush of water rushed beneath them, washing away the men unconscious. They hovered over the raging current as it appeared out of nowhere.

"Water?" Lucy gasped.

"Where did this big rush come from?" Happy asked.

The busty blonde looked down at the raging current, seeing the streams that were flowing all around. Her brows furrowed as she was sensing a familiar magic. There was no mistaking it.

"Happy, follow that current!" Lucy shouted.

"Aye!" Happy flew over the water, with Klefki not far behind. Staryu dove into the water and skimmed across the top thanks his its speed healed.

Lucy's brown eyes were fixed on something ahead, the magical center that was the whole reason she came here. She knew only one person who could flood the whole terrain so suddenly.

…

At the center of a whirlpool, Aquarius floated several feet within its depths. The Water Bearer was remarkably making a tidal surge so intense that nearby statues and monuments were being wiped out, crumbling beneath the wake of her torrents. The spirit's red eyes glimmered like the awakening of a demon.

Inside the tidal surges, Juvia was using his magic to redirect the currents around her, but it was so much water with Magic Power pushing against her. Her feet could barely touch the ground. It was taking all her manipulation of water to keep the waves from hitting her that she couldn't advance. Anymore force applied, and she'd be washed so far she'll never get to Aquarius.

' _This isn't good. Her Magic Power has grown al of a sudden. What's worse, it looks like all the damage I've been doing is being heled up. I'll only end up being slowed down at this rate.'_

Aquarius' eyes glowed brighter than before. The torrent she was controlling grew even greater than before. The increase in flood levels made large waves that crashed along the avenues of Astral and businesses alike. Juvia screamed as she was unable to hang on.

"Juvia!" Vaporeon cried out before she was also caught in the flood.

A flurry of stars shot out of nowhere, causing Aquarius to summon a wall of water to block the attack. As the wave subsided, time slow down as an aquatic whip shot through.

In a sleek coil of celestial water, Aquarius was wrapped with her arms and wrists trapped. The lacing stretched far up stream, where the celestial being took notice of Lucy.

"Aquarius…"

The water levels simmering some, Juvia surfaced with Vaporeon. She immediately noticed the water was flowing slightly calmer than before. _'What happened…?'_

"Juvia, are you okay!"

Hearing a familiar voice, the blunette saw Lucy with Happy carrying her. "It's Lucy." She gasped.

"You guys okay down there?!" Happy called.

Juvia nodded. "Yes. Don't worry, we're just fine." Using her water manipulation, she made a whirlpool she used to drag herself and Vaporeon out of the currents to a higher elevation on a flat roof. Lucy tried pulling on Aquarius to get her towards her, but a harsh twist of water cut the aquatic whip, causing Lucy and Happy to be blown back across the skies.

"Are you alright, Lucy?" Juvia asked.

The Celestial Mage nodded. "Yeah, I think so." She looked towards Aquarius, seeing the dark visage through the raging tidal waves she was creating. She wasn't anything like she remembered her. This Magic Power, it wasn't just her own. It was the king's.

Her fists started balling, her own disbelief on the rise. _'Aquarius…'_

"Lucy, you know what we have to do, right?" Happy reminded her.

Shaking her head to rid of the guilt, Lucy braced for battle. "Yeah, I know Happy. I told you guys we'd get them back, no matter what…even if he have to get a little rough…we have to." Swallowing a lump, Lucy sighed. _'Yes, that's probably what Aquarius would want.'_ She remembered the dire consequences that were with her and Sophie's time against Jackal, what Aquarius said about it being either all of them or her meant. If she didn't step up, all her friends would pay the price.

This time, Lucy Heartfilia was truly ready to take them down for their sake. "Alright guys, let's go!"

"Yippee!" Klefki cheered, with Staryu beeping.

Juvia nodded. "Right."

Aquarius raised her jug, summoning a greater tidal wave than before at them.

* * *

The dust cleared around the debris field where Vigo had hurled all her ricks and stones. The Celestial Spirit's gaze was towards where she was hoping Gray's signature had disappeared. After what felt like a long time, she turned around, ready to go and attack some more humans.

Just as she stood a few steps forward, the red eyes glowed brighter. She jumped out of the way as a massive spike of ice shot up in front, impeding her path. The controlled spirit looked up as the ice shattered, revealing Gray on a knee with Bergmite besides him.

The spirit was visibly patient while the Ice Mage was catching his breath after that close call.

' _That was too close. Had it been a second longer…I'd be dead.'_ Gray wasn't exaggerating when it was a close call. It took all his reflexes to create that much ice thick enough to save him from getting buried alive, let alone pierced. It took even more reaction timing to somehow get his ice underground. That took enough Magic Power to leave him out of breath. _'This isn't good. My Devil Slayer Magic still takes more out of me than I originally thought.'_ It's true Gray had better control over his Devil Slayer Magic compared to his past attempts. However, it was going to end up futile at this rate if the Celestial King keeps healing them. _'They've still gotta have a limiter somewhere. Guess I gotta take a new approach.'_ He saw Bergmite was still well, though he seemingly took some damage from a few close calls. "Bergmite, why don't you rest for a bit. I've got another plan."

The Ice-type didn't nod, but the light shake in his body was confirmation enough. "Okay." He robotically quipped.

He recalled the stalagmite to his Poke Ball and looked down. He narrowly dodged a whip made up of chains that slammed into the ice, shattering it to pieces. Gray landed behind Virgo with another Poke Ball all set. "Okay, it's just us. So we're safe." He threw it. "Okay, go!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Snover. "Hi y'all!" he greeted. A mist-like substance escaped his body, fading across the area. Suddenly the weather overhead inexplicably started raining hail.

Virgo felt hail from Snover's Snow Warning effect. She looked up, the top of her head pelted repeatedly.

"Alright Snover, I need you to focus, you ready?" Gray asked.

"I got it!" he quipped. "I can do it…a-at least I hope so."

For Gray that was good enough. "Alright. Use **Grass Whistle!** " Snover's leafy hands were put up to his face and he started blowing into them. An eerie, high-pitched tune started playing as magical notes were closing in on Virgo.

Completely oblivious to the effects, the Celestial Spirit moved like a jackhammer across the battlefield towards Snover. As nervous he was, he continued playing. Surely, Virgo was beginning to slow down, the need for sleep starting to overwhelm her senses.

"That's right, get nice and drowsy." Gray put his hands together, creating ice. " **Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer!** " He unleashed large barrages of ice lances directly into Virgo, freezing her in place.

Snover sighed in relief. "Phew. That almost scared me." He sighed.

"It's not over yet." Gray warned, alarming the Grass/Ice-type. "Get ready!"

Swallowing a lump, Snover braced himself as the ice started cracking. The pieces broke apart as Virgo's monster strength got her out in no time. She landed on the ground as more Snow Warning hail pelted her, causing small amounts of damage that she ignored. She charged forward again, with Gray and Snover readying themselves with everything they've got.

* * *

To say to always look on the bright side would be a stretch, especially for Cana. However, for the renown drunkard, the bright side is literally all she could see.

Loke's enhanced strength and powers was making it almost impossible to see. The brunette had her eyes shut tight due to Loke's Regulus Magic making his body literally like a sun. It wasn't just bright, it was hot. The Zodiac's prominence wasn't doing Cana any favors.

"Loke, are you in there?! It's me, your friend!" the brunette tried once to ask sense into him, but the stone red look he had made it clear he wasn't recognizing her. _'Great. How am I supposed to get through this? It's so bright I can barely see-!'_

That's when an idea spouted. Maybe she could use that!

' _Better give it a try while I can I suppose.'_ The brunette pulled up a tarot card for her defense.

" **Reflection!** "

The card turned to a reflective mirror that mirrored back the light that was coming her way. It was so bright that the mirror looked like a flash that caused Loke's red eyes to flash as well. The counter light was making the light around Loke fade a little.

"You're up, big guy!" she told Prinplup. "Give him a **Metal Claw!** "

"You got it!" Prinplup swiped his arm, metallic energy shimmering as he bolted after the blinded Loke with a battle cry.

As Prinplup drew further with his attack, the Alberona girl observed carefully in case something came up. She was seeing the light around Loke had suddenly faded entirely as Prinplup meters away. But the magical output wasn't right. Immediately she regretted calling on that attack.

"Hold on, Prinplup! Wait!"

Prinplup heard his Trainer and wanted to stop, but his reaction in midair was too slow. A magic seal appeared in front of Loke, launching his Regulus Impact at a close range. The roaring lion-shaped light howled into Prinplup as he gaped in horror, the attack enveloped the penguin, immediately grounding him.

"Prinplup!" Cana rushed over to her Pokémon, kneeling down and picking him up. "Hey, stay with me, are you there? Prinplup?!"

The Penguin Pokémon grunted as his entire world was hazy. He looked up at Cana, but all see saw was a blur. "Did I…get him good…?" Before he got his answer, he fell limp, swirls in his eyes.

"Prinplup!" Cana called her defeated friend, but it fell on deaf ears. She was so distracted that she didn't have time to notice's fist encased in light and charged right for her. Her purplish eyes gleamed shock as the attack was too fast for her to trace.

Somewhere in the distance, there was a glint before a jet of searing flames soared across the ground, leaving a trail of embers in its wake. The flamed made a one-way course for Loke as the Celestial Spirit picked up on the flames and pivoted at the last second.

The fist connected with the flames, creating a searing shockwave so intense that Cana almost lost her footing. She covered up as the heat waves pushed her back several inches, as well as produced some sweat. Loke's glasses and eyes were red, but even he would've been showing surprise when the flaming comet revealed a fist that was connected with his.

A toothy smirk could be seen in the flames. "Hey, remember me?" Suddenly a red blur swiftly socked him across the face, shattering the Zodiac King's glasses in the process. Loke stammered back to gather his bearings when the flames dialed down to reveal Natsu and Charmeleon.

"Natsu?!" Cana stammered.

"Cana, you okay?" he asked.

The brunette nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Natsu glared at Loke's stance adjusting, flames surging around him. "You know pal, I always to know how powerful you were as a Spirit. I've always wanted to fight ya to test that." Flames engulfed Natsu's eager expression. "Guess I have an excuse after all."

Loke's light shined brighter in his fist as he rushed for Natsu and Charmeleon. Natsu used his forearms to block Loke's direct punch, which exploded into a blast of light at point-blank. The eruption made the ground shatter as Natsu found himself losing traction fast.

Watching from the sidelines, Cana had to cover up as well. The light was as destructive as it was bright.

Gritting his teeth through it, Natsu smirked. "Charmeleon, **Flame Charge!** "

In a flaming comet, Charmeleon rushed from the side, crashing into Loke's head and throwing him off balance. As the light dissipated and time slowed down, Natsu brought his fist back as it was shrouded in lightning.

" **Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!** "

He brought his fist around, unleashing a torrential blast wave of flames and lightning that spiraled Loke through the earth several meters away. The impact smashed through ruins, property, and other hard materials that would've been impossible to be slammed through.

Watching the dust clear, Natsu's body was flickering in embers and lightning while Charmeleon was glaring daggers. They watched as the debris sunk in, leaving dust.

"Did we get him?" Charmeleon asked.

Natsu glared at the direction of destruction, his eyes fixated, Something didn't feel right, and his nose was smelling that. After a few seconds, his eyes widened. "Everybody get down!"

As if on cue, a large range of regulus light went in their way. Cana, Natsu, and Charmeleon ducked as the attack went blitzing overhead. Anything the light touched was eviscerated on the spot. The tree behind them was reduced to a stump. They looked back to see it with shock.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Cana stammered.

Natsu looked back, seeing a golden comet mere seconds before it caught up to them. Loke's fist crashed into the ground where Natsu was before he dodged. The Dragon Slayer got to a handstand and spun his legs with flames, causing Loke to block using the forearms, despite it backtracking him some.

Natsu smirked eagerly. Despite the circumstances, he couldn't help but feel his blood boil. "Just you wait pal." He growled. "When this is over, Lucy's gonna be smiling again."

* * *

The ruckus from above was causing the ceiling and ground to shuffle constantly. Despite the noise and the Magic Power, Ophiuchus was looking lazily ahead to sleep. It was like this Magic Power level was nothing new to her.

After trying for so long to persuade her, Yukino was sensing the intense rise of magic in the atmosphere. "This Magic Power…is that the others?" she gasped. She furrowed her brow. "…no. Something else. It's those spirits. They're getting stronger all of a sudden."

"What're you mumbling about over there? Are you still trying to bug me?" Ophiuchus grumbled coldly. "I'm trying to sleep here."

Yukino nervously sweatdropped. "Uh, sorry…" she watched Ophiuchus turn away, growing back into silence. The Celestial Spirit's disgruntled demeanor was something that needed to get fixed, but Yukino was too soft-hearted to act on it. _'I wonder, was she always this angry?'_ It was probably a stupid question to be asked, but Yukino didn't know how to properly understand Ophiuchus if the latter wasn't going to communicate as much as she has. She wanted to help – she genuinely wants to. But if Ophiuchus won't let her, what good is she.

Minior floated close to her to comfort her Trainer. "It's okay Minior, thank you." Yukino smiled graciously. "We'll find a way, I'm sure."

"Tch, good luck with that." Ophiuchus sniped.

Yukino turned back towards the pseudo-Zodiac, her nerves rising. "What is it gonna take to make you realize we need you?!" she yelled.

"Need me? Now?" Ophiuchus flicked her tongue sharply. "That's funny, because nobody needed me for anything in their lives."

"Ophiuchus…"

There was an awkward tension in the air between the two celestials, their opposition affirmed. Things were not looking up for Yukino's case at all.

Minior suddenly turned around, catching Yukino's attention. "What is it, Minior?"

Ophiuchus flicked her tongue in the air, the intricate scent of something original coming towards them. "Someone else is here…" she huffed. "Great, another Ophiuchi."

"Who is it?"

"Yukino~!"

Yukino's ears rung at her name called. The voice was all too familiar. _'This voice…'_ Her head slowly turned towards the chamber tunnels to find something running towards her. _'I forgot. Her birthday is in early December as well!'_

In a garish dash, Sorano was running with a dust trail towards her little sister. "YUKINO~! I FOUND YOU!" she perked cheerfully. "I was so worried about you!"

"B-Big sister…" Yukino nervously quipped. "I-!" She never got to finish as Sorano grabbed her head and pulled her into a collective hug.

"I was worried sick about you! Do you have any idea how close I was to having a heart attack? Are you hurt? Any booboos?"

Her sister's worries were beginning to annoy the younger celestial. While she understood her anxiety, she needed to learn her space. "Uh, don't worry. I'm fine, really."

"Good!" Sighing in relief, Sorano looked around curiously. "So, where are we anyway?" She saw Yukino turn towards something and followed her eyes. To her shock, it was a gargantuan serpent that was spread across the entire chamber. Her massive length made her unbelievably huge. "What in the world?! What is that?!"

"It's okay, Sorano." Yukino assured. "She's a friend…" The term "friend" may have been a strong stretch for her. They wouldn't exactly agree on that term, anybody could tell from the looks she and Ophiuchus had.

Ophiuchus turned her attention onto Sorano, the human entering her space providing no free sleep. "Who's this human? Rather noisy now, isn't she."

"Hey, can't a sister worry about her sibling?!" Sorano comically huffed, a red tick mark on her head.

"Please everyone, let's just calm down." Yukino insisted, providing a mediator. "Sorano, I'd like for you to meet Ophiuchus. She's a Celestial Spirit like the Zodiacs."

"Ophiuchus?" Sorano raised a brow, looking towards the ceiling with a finger to her chin. "Ophiuchus…Ophiuchus…oh! Do you mean the Snake Charmer?" she looked at Ophiuchus, her glare not giving the best impression. "Well I guess the 'Charmer' part is out."

Yukino sweatdropped. _'Please big sister, don't rile her up.'_

Sorano walked closer towards Ophiuchus, putting a hand to her hip. "So _you're_ the rumored 13th Zodiac. I've only her myths and rumors about you, big girl, but man, guess they really don't do justice for your size, am I right?"

Ophiuchus flicked her tongue, retorting Sorano's words. "What do you want, human? Do you have business with the girl? If so, do me a favor and see her out already. She's annoying me."

"Is she your spirit, Yukino?" Sorano questioned.

Regrettably, Yukino huffed. "Well…yes."

Sorano's eyes widened at the revelation. She's been trying to find this key herself back when she was part of the Oracion Seis. Who would've guessed her own younger sister would be the one to obtain her instead. If she weren't so changed, she'd be jealous beyond words.

She smirked. "Well, well…who would've guessed it. My little sister's got some big baddies walking in her footsteps. Aren't you such a peach."

Yukino sighed irritably.

"I never imagined that you'd have such a powerful spirit in your arsenal. I can see she's treating you well." She maliciously smirked at Ophiuchus. "Just so we're clear, Yukino is my sweet little sister, okay? So try anything and you'll be getting an earful out of me. Got it?"

Ophiuchus turned her head away, disinterested.

"Don't you ignore me! Do you know who I am?!"

"Uh, Sorano?" Yukino hushed. "M-Maybe you should calm down. Ophiuchus is a little…iffy right now." She shot a look at the uncomplying spirit. "Honestly, I've been trying to convince her to help us all this time. But she's having a hard time. She says she's not morally obligated."

"That so?" Sorano raised a brow. "That's weird. Isn't that the point of a contract?"

"Yes, but we're in her domain. There's a different set of rules when we're here. And…Ophiuchus really doesn't like other rules."

"I said BE QUIET!" Ophiuchus harshly roared, her sudden rise in anger shocking Yukino and Sorano. "Yes, I know. There are laws to the laws of humans and Celestials. But whoever follows both when they're always broken? If you don't like something, then don't bother."

"A rule dismiss, huh?" Sorano walked up to Ophiuchus, her strides quiet, but also composed. She walked up to the snake until she was right beneath it.

"Sorano, what're you…" Yukino trailed off at the uncertainty that Sorano was doing.

There was a long silence between the blue eyes if Sorano, matching the red ones of Ophiuchus. Both eyes were gazing into the other; Ophiuchus with more scrutiny than what Sorano was giving her.

"What're you staring at?" Ophiuchus asked. "It's getting creepy."

From the corner of Sorano's lips, a smirk could've been spotted. "Oh nothing, just thinking of how what I've heard fits your description."

Ophiuchus narrowed her glare. Yukino was equally as perplexed.

"You know, how Ophiuchus are known to be a little sarcastic, think a little too broad with your heart. You're also quite the heartbreaker."

Yukino blinked. Erik described Ophiuchus down to a tee, as well as gave Nic a mild flustered moment. Was it all supposedly true? Maybe so, but she wasn't certain.

"But you know, there is another meaning to Ophiuchus…The Wounded Healer." She smirked, causing Ophiuchus to go completely silent. "You know, how like someone who's hurt actually helps people, without getting anything out of it. Like a grumpy charity with no purpose but to give something they never had from the start."

Ophiuchus' flare was brimming. "Shut up! Quit comparing me to these stupid myths! I have no obligations, do you hear?! Why the hell should I care what happens to them when they never even knew me?!"

Sorano's smirk widened. "Well, isn't that the point?"

Ophiuchus recoiled.

"I don't just look out for my younger sister because I'm just her sister. I do it because I want to, not because she really needs me. Yes, I did so many wrong things in the past, and maybe even now, I still feel guilty that it takes all I have to look at her in the eye, knowing that I'm less than a human being."

"Big sister…" Yukino knew that Sorano had been doing some wrong in her life. She learned thanks to Rufus and his Memory-Make looking up Sorano. Never would she have guessed she'd end up in a Dark Guild and killed people.

"Still, I have given a chance, a chance to make things right somehow. Even if I'm rejected often, even if it ends up me being hated again, I may as well make something of my life that I was lucky enough to have been spared of." She remembered Gray and Dan Straight saving her life in the Infinity Clock incident. Maybe that's where it started. "Just because someone's never reached out to you before doesn't mean you don't exist. That's another thing I think The Wounded Healer means…redemption."

Ophiuchus was caught in a standstill. For some reason, somehow, she was starting to stir with Sorano's words. She knew this had to be completely bogus coming from a human of all people, but another flash came to her mind. Nic's attack that healed her paralysis got her thinking. He was her enemy, yet he helped her? That didn't make sense. Were they actually needing her now?

"Life's never fair. You never know how you'll live or die. But, you might as well live it while you still can. I don't know why you don't wanna help Celestial Spirits, but someone else does. These kinds of chances can really mean something. Trust me."

Ophiuchus looked at Sorano, then at Yukino. They looked into each other's eyes now, with what Ophiuchus was saying rattling inside the iron bars of the snake's mind. The spirits never needed her, but humans do now. Supposedly this the where the term 'beggars can't be choosers" blossoms. The Celestials made the law to abide by, they choose them. And in this case, Ophiuchus was the beggar. She wasn't given a choice, but now stands a chance in disguise.

Sorano snickered as she turned around, shrugging. "Just saying, opportunities to prove yourself useful to others doesn't come very often. Just give a little and in return, who knows…" she thought of her recent pardon from Hisui. "You just might be given more than you've wanted."

A longing silence filled the caverns. Not even the sounds of winds could reach them, nor the drops of water that piled up on occasion. It was all blurred out by the revelation as Ophiuchus fell silent.

The snake turned away, slowly slithering to the corner of her chamber. Her long body moved slightly with her turn, but nothing fell.

"Ophiuchus? Ophiuchus…?" Yukino questioned. "Are you…okay?"

Ophiuchus glared down, staring annoyed at the earth. "…please just go…I've had enough of my space violated. Thank you."

Yukino frowned. She was very disappointed in Ophiuchus shutting herself out. But at this point, all was said that she could've done. "O-okay then…"

Sorano sighed. "Geez, what a big downer." She grabbed Yukino's hand and walked off. "C'mon, little sis. Let's go see what the others are up to, shall we?"

Yukino nodded. She knew others needed her just as much. She had to be there. "Okay." She walked off with Sorano, but didn't get too far out of earshot. "Ophiuchus…please. Don't think too hard about it. Feeling needed by at least one person in your life, is perhaps the biggest purpose you can give yourself."

The Celestial Mage left with her final words, leaving the snake in the den alone. She allowed the two to pass the chamber towards the hill, while Ophiuchus was left to sober in the mounds of her rocky domain.

" _Feeling needed by at least one person in your life, is perhaps the biggest purpose you can give yourself."_

Her words echoed in her head, the snake closing her eyes to think about it.

* * *

" **Inferno!** " Houndoom unleashed a raging stream of blue flames that surged after Clefable. The fairy conjured energy into the hands and the eyes glowed. Using **Psychic** , it barely was able to split Houndoom's roaring flames apart, spreading them in various directions around her.

"This is getting really annoying fast." The hound snarled. "I better finish this quickly or else." He took a large leap, flipping overhead with flames engulfing the mouth. " **Fire Fang!** "

Clefable moved her hands up to create **Protect**. The forcefield of turquoise energy stopped Houndoom as his attack caused an eruption of fire that blossomed over the barrier. The flames that surged were so hot, but Clefable was able to block them.

With them dissipating and the shield gone. It revealed Houndoom in midair, readying a **Shadow Ball**. Clefable had another **Focus Blast** charged up at the last second. Time slowed drastically down as Houndoom was in midair, the embers and dust swirling between him and Clefable for added anticipation.

At the same time, they released their attacks, creating a massive explosion that erupted into a pillar of energy, breaking the ground and atmosphere around them.

Auriol reached out ahead, sending golden beams at Erza. Taking a defensive stance, the Requip Mage held out her shredded Aggron armored-sword and waited for the attacks to close in. With one swing, the iron cleaved clean through, causing the beams to bisect and implode in flames behind her.

Auriol suddenly appeared behind Erza, holding her golden energy blade again. _'At the cost of strong defense, the armor has to be heavy. She can't dodge this!'_

 _CLANG!_

Auriol's Heavenly Body blade slashed into Erza, only to be blocked out by a giant magic seal. _'What?'_

A closer examination showed Erza still had her back turned, but her left forearm was encased in half of her Adamantine Armor shield. That half was used to block her attack with ease.

' _She did a partial assembly Requip?'_ She saw Erza's blade sing around, making her lean her head back. Time again slowed drastically as one could've seen a few strands of Auriol's hair that her cut off. She doubled over onto a knee, but she didn't have time to register the heavy kick to the gut, sending her sliding into a rock formation.

She gagged loudly as Erza requipped into her default armor. Her Houndoom slid beside her, while Clefable slid back towards Auriol.

The advisor was stammering back up, her composure more shaken than ever. She felt her inside churn and felt something come up. She covered her mouth as she had to gag. She looked at her hand to see saliva, but it was partially red. The offensive liquid was bringing back very unpleasant memories for her.

' _Milord…'_ She stared at her red glove, time seeming to be of little importance.

…

 _Violence. Misdeeds. Agony. The very core of humanity as many would've depicted it, or at least, that's what Auriol saw. Her views on the world were as intense as the heated wars of man that she's been accustomed to. Her life wasn't fair to begin with, but who could blame her? Her home was destroyed along with countless others when two nations did battle there. Unfortunately, many were caught in the crossfire…including Auriol's father and brother._

 _Left all alone, the village was left half-burnt while the better half went on merrily after the fighting stopped. This is where the city was put into a means of districts; the south end safe, and the north the tarnished area. Many attempted to immigrate to the south, including Auriol, but the overpopulation would've dried up what very little resources were available. Only the insured and lucky enough were allowed to move whatever belongings they had to the safer and healthier of the two districts, and she wasn't one of them._

 _Left alone, Auriol was in a very unkempt blouse and skirt combo. She was dirty, and very worn out. She came home empty-handed with no work offers again. When she looked around the remains of her house, the shattered windows meant something went awry while she was out. The rest of her money was stolen while she was wasting energy walking around._

' _At this rate, I'm gonna starve.' She grimaced. 'Winter's coming. If I don't find supplies…' she dreaded of what could happen to her. She knew better than to stop so low as to having herself to the less-than-proud lines of work, but moving out of the unhealthy end of the district was a dangerous gamble. There were bandits and many wild animals that could eat her alive. And she wasn't equipped to handle either._

 _She looked up through the hole in her roof, seeing into the night sky a lone star twinkling. 'Please, brother, Father. Give me a sign.'_

…

 _Winter was drawing near. It was getting colder by the day. The crops were all harvested, and the district to the south was doing fine. But alas, like the many who needed their necessities, gimme gimme never gets, as they would say._

 _In that short of a time, the south end of the city was thrown into chaos with the northerners coming in so suddenly for food and shelter. Their homes still not repaired, their resources were sapped dry. The desperate grabbed whatever they could to cause a stir. Chaos erupted to madness as the streets were filled with riots and looters running away with either children and food, or knives. It became an internal madhouse for the destroyed city._

" _Hey! Get back here!" a man shouted._

 _Auriol ran through the city limits with firewood in her hands. The splinters she was getting were making her grip feel like hell, but it'd be worth it if she could warm herself for the cold night._

" _I said stop!" The man pulled out a pistol, letting out a single bullet that went into Auriol's leg._

" _AH!" The poor woman cried out as she fell over. The wood she carried before splattered all over. She clutched her aching knee as the blood started oozing out._

 _Unable to run, a shadow loomed over the teenager. The man raised his pistol to her forehead, glaring with a crude disposition around him. "Hasn't anybody taught you not to steal, you little bitch?"_

 _Auriol had fearful tears in her eyes. She didn't wanna die so soon. She just wanted something to help her get through the night!_

 _The sounds of horses were heard in the distance, stopping the chaos all around them. Many men and women that were scrambling got out of the way of the stampede of men on horsebacks in Roman and Greek armor passing through._

 _Auriol was spared when the man was seen running away. "What is…how…?"_

" _Quick! Get the supplies to the needed! Bring the tools in and round up everyone for distribution!" a strong voice shouted. "Ensure that we come in peace and we ask for them to not be armed!"_

 _Auriol turned around, the sunlight gleaming over her face. She covered up from the glare of a horse that stood above with a man with a cape getting off. She blinked once before Melchior came to her aid._

" _Young miss, are you well?" He offered his hand to her. Instinctively, the blonde pulled away. "It's okay, I won't harm though…I promise."_

 _Though skeptical, Auriol was hesitating quite a bit. Shakily, she accepted his hand, his strong grip pulling her off her feet._

" _Are thou alright?" He looked towards her leg, seeing it run blood. He saw her hand was also covered in blood. Smiling, he pulled out a baby pink handkerchief and offered it to her. "Here, clean your hands with these."_

 _Auriol dumbly nodded with a small blush. She wasn't sure, but her heart was racing at that instant Melchior gave her something to clean herself with. This was the first time in a long while that someone was genuinely helping her. She actually wondered, if what she wished for actually came true._

' _Brother. Father…thank you.' She accepted the handkerchief, holding it for dear life._

…

Auriol calmly stood up, her position affirmed. She calmly reached back for something, which put Erza on her guard.

"You surprise me, I admit." She complimented. "I've never met someone so noble in protecting something as dear as I do. How fate plays with the human spirit." Instead of pulling out a weapon, it was actually a handkerchief, the same one Melchior gave her. Like before, she used it to clean the blood off her hand. "However, I have to ask you. Just because we oppose this world and all its ugliness, why do you continue this never-ending battle? It's pointless. No matter how much you try to fight the forces of evil, there is no way that a human alone can do it. You do not have the capabilities as one, thus you rely on another world's blessing to do so. Is this not the case for the Lysandre and Acnologia incidents?"

Erza glared at her opponent, but she didn't give a response. Instead she started requipping.

"Then tell me…" Auriol's eyes dilated, showing anger. "Why continue this world when you clearly loathe it?!" She swiped her arm, sending about 20 heavy lances of golden energy at Erza and Houndoom. They moved so fast that no one could keep track.

In a barrage of golden blinks, there were endless explosions that engulfed the area. Golden pillars shot skywards, causing dust and shockwaves to flourish. Auriol seethed into the smoke cloud, her anger showing.

"…yes. This world is in fact a dangerous place."

Auriol's eyes narrowed.

"There are many who would wish to take it for themselves, make something out of it only for them, and leave others beneath them. But…that rise to power only separates humans from their humanity." There was a vague flare in the explosive cloud, blinking into a massive flare that blinded Auriol. "That path will only bring you to loneliness. I chose this world because it's the world that Nic chose to protect. He loves both worlds, yet he chose this so-called ugly one you speak of."

Inside the light, Auriol could see the signs of a smirk. "Quite a compliment, wouldn't you say? For someone to live a life amongst here than back home."

The advisor's eyes widened when she saw the light burst apart, an intense wave of heat flaring madly. The eruptive wake caused parts of her already tattered dress to rip off. She took a step back as she felt a heated cry race around the atmosphere. Uncovering, her eyes shrunk at the sight.

Erza was in her Nakagami Armor, her hold on the intricate weapon set, Beside her was Mega Houndoom, the light that exploded earlier being shown Mega Evolution.

"And that's why…I choose to protect this world." Erza declared.

' _Her Magic Power, somehow it's changed.'_ Auriol gasped. _'Was she holding back this power?'_

Erza used her left hand to reach forward. "Mega Houndoom, **Dark Pulse!** " Mega Houndoom let out a battle cry as he craned his head around, jumbled darkness spreading inside. He opened his maw wide and unleashing a ground-splitting blast of dark rings that tore across the atmosphere.

Gathering her bearings, Auriol reached forward. " **Protect!** " Clefable stepped in front, creating a turquoise shield that took the attack. The air brimmed with darkness that Auriol could barely see through.

In a split second, the shield went down, revealing a slash. The woman used her Meteor and sidestepped, allowing a shockwave of air to slice across the ground into the beyond.

' _So much power…'_ Auriol looked back, seeing Erza stand against her. Her frustrations grew immensely. _'Still, I cannot give up! Not after everything that Milord has saved me from! I cannot lose…to someone unworthy like her!'_

"Let's end this now!" Erza reached forward. "Mega Houndoom, **Inferno!** " The Mega-Evolved hellhound craned his head around again, a swirling mass of blue flames surging into them. The ground around him spiraled blue flames that singed permanent shadows into them. He brought his head forward, releasing a catastrophic wave of blue waves that caught the ground of fire as it traveled after Auriol and Clefable.

" **Focus Blast!** " Auriol commanded.

Clefable brought her hands together to create a blast wave inside an orb. Once the orb was ready, she launched it with a streamlined accurate blow. It raced across the ground, but Mega Houndoom's enhanced Special Attack made the flames way too strong. The fire erased the energy, continuing towards Clefable. With horror on her face, Clefable was unlucky enough to be swallowed in a maelstrom of explosive fire.

"Clefable!" Auriol shouted, but she saw Erza race after her at blinding speeds. Her heart raced as she couldn't have evaded.

Her entire world went spinning as Erza slashed her halberd with a cosmic cross.

" **Nakagami Starlight!** "

Erza passed Auriol with a slash wave exploding behind. The ground diced into pieces as Auriol's Heavenly Body blades all shattered that she had on hand. Her cries of pain went hoarse as she went spiraling through the atmosphere, her clothing torn to shreds.

As she was falling from the atmosphere, Auriol was looking towards the sky, seeing a bright twinkling light.

Her eyes widened. At that instant, she was seeing her brother and their father in a series of fond memories they had. To the few birthday cupcakes they had, to the warm fires they shared. Despite being poor, they were still happy.

Her eyes slowly misted, a few tears falling with her. _'Brother…Father…Milord…forgive me.'_ She went silent as she crashed into the ground on her back behind Erza, her eyes shut as she laid beside her fainted Clefable.

Mega Houndoom and Erza went quiet as they slowly relaxed their muscles. Their transformations diminished in rainbow and glowing lights. Erza went into hakami and sarashi combo, holding one sword that she stabbed the ground with to keep herself up.

' _I've used…too much power.'_ She huffed, out of breath. _'Seems that I still need to train more.'_

The ground beside her suddenly broke a hole open. Reflexes kicking in, she turned with Houndoom towards the next target. Their guards immediately dropped when they recognized it as Krookodile.

"You're…"

Besides Krookodile, Vanessa appeared out of the hole next. "Erza?" She reconvened with her. "I thought that was your aura I sensed."

Erza sighed in relief. "Yes. I apologize that I worried you. I take it that means that you handled your fights so far?"

Vanessa nodded, but before she could give a response, an explosion happened close by.

"We need to get to Nic, quick." Houndoom noted.

"Right." Erza said. "Everyone, hurry!"

"Krookodile, **Dig!** " Vanessa ordered.

"Let me tell you something, Vanessa Pularis! Krookodile is good with digging and all, but wants to stay on course! One person, AT A TIME!" He jumped back into the hole, tunneling further. Erza and Vanessa followed, with Houndoom last.

* * *

Nic-Gemini was in Nic's Meadow Form as it had **Leaf Blade** ready in both hands, which were two glowing green long energy blades. It reappeared over Nic as he turned around in his Flame Form.

" **Shell Trap!** "

The blades crossed against Nic's back, causing him to feel an intense surge of cutting pain that burst into green. Nic-Gemini smirked, until the green was being replaced by orange. Suddenly an explosion of flames erupted out of Nic's back that engulfed the copying Zodiac.

The point-blank eruption created an intense smoke wave that Nic-Gemini traveled through, but as the smoke faded it revealed it in a Splash Form, taking half the damage needed. Sliding to a stop on a knee, Nic-Gemini raised its arm, summoning pillars of water that surged from the ground after Nic, via **Water Pledge**.

As the attack closed in, Nic glowed and turned to his Splash Form as well. As the next wave of water came up beneath, his body morphed into water.

" **Foresight!** "

Nic's eyes widened when he felt a peculiar white shockwave phase through him. With time slowed down still, he realized he wasn't liquifying. He looked at Nic-Gemini, who was in a hybrid Normal/Water combo, smirking as the eyes were glowing red.

' _He's using my moves against me.'_ Taking action, Nic went to Plan B.

" **Liquidation!** "

As the last pillar of blue water shot up, Nic closed right through it with a water sword. The sprays split everywhere around him as he still maintained footing. He followed through, dissipating all the water in the area. However, his opponent wasn't around.

Glancing off to the side, Nic sensed Nic-Gemini behind and stayed calm. Nic-Gemini was already clad in lightning and maliciously smirked when he swung down, bringing a beam of **Thunder** that Nic's again didn't move for. The ground flashed before an eruption of lightning made the earth tremble, picking up rock unconditionally and reduced them to nothing.

The lightning dissipated, but through the crackling static, Nic was gone. All there was instead was a massive crater that was as deep as a pond. Nic-Gemini smirked as it knew what must've happened.

Suddenly appearing in front, Nic was clad in a combo of his Fist and Earth Form, the former being the primary while the Earth Form's edging and Poke Ball were on there. Immune to the lightning, Nic threw a **Mach Punch** so fast that Nic-Gemini went to the ground at the speed of sound. Nic glared at the dust, but knew better than to give an inch.

In a glint, the ground waves split apart, revealing a massive blur heading towards Nic. It was Nic-Gemini, and it was in its Sky Form barreling with **Aerial Ace**.

" **Detect!** "

Nic's eyes glinted green and the attack struck him. However, he didn't budge, while the shockwaves went through him towards the sky. A cloud about to form for the day was ripped to vapor.

As Nic was holding off Nic-Gemini physically, they were meeting eyes. Blue VS Red. It was a glare down. But that didn't stop Nic from thinking back to before the battle.

" _You sure about this?"_

" _Yeah. If we're going to end up facing the king, that means that we'll be facing the Zodiac, too." Nic explained. He was with everyone as they were on the beach, formulating a battle strategy. "We need to know everything we can about each of them in case we end up facing them again."_

" _I don't know about you guys, but I want some payback on that palm guy." Natsu smirked, ramming his fist into his palm._

" _Surprise, surprise." Happy groaned._

" _Well, we probably should know about those guys we've fought too, I suppose." Wendy suggested._

" _Indeed." Erza nodded firmly. "If anything else, they'll most likely be as dangerous as the Zodiacs. We'll need to be fully prepared if anything gets in the way of our objective."_

" _Or we can wing it, like Nic does." Cana shrugged, earning a raised brow from the mentioned. "What, I'm not wrong."_

" _At any rate." Vanessa said, getting everyone on track. "Our objective is clear. In order to reach Melchior, we'll have to take in everything we've learned. I'll go ahead and start. My opponent was the knight with the heavy armor." She described Bion. "He seems to battle honorably, and his equipment makes him heavily resistant towards magic."_

" _So he's like a knight?" Erza questioned._

" _How ironic." Cana murmured._

" _I haven't seen his magic yet, unfortunately." She continued. "In fact, when we fight, I wasn't able to sense any magic at all…but his aura seemed desperate for it peculiarly."_

" _Well that's helpful." Gray sarcastically stated._

" _Natsu, tell them about that guy." Happy insisted._

" _Yeah. Me and Happy fought this really sturdy guy that fights like Bacchus. He's got a lot of power packed in those palms he has." he raised a brow. "Now that I think about it, it's weird. When we fought, he hardly moved much. He just took attacks and nailed me back with them."_

" _Bacchus?" Nic and Cana asked. For some reason, they recalled the drunkard Quatro Cerberus Mage, bringing back less than pleasing memories for either of them._

" _My opponent was Auriol. And just like Jellal, she possesses Heavenly Body Magic." Erza explained._

" _You think Jellal would know how to handle her then?" Wendy offered._

" _Well at the moment, I'm afraid he's gone with Sophie and Duncan. We can't ask them to turn back now." Erza said. "Lucy."_

" _Yes?" The Celestial woman said, holding Plue in her arms._

" _I understand this may be hard for you, but we need as much detail that you can possibly give us about your Celestial Spirits."_

 _Lucy nodded. "Right, I understand."_

 _Lucy went on to talk about the schematics of the Zodiacs and any other spirits that were going to be a bother. Nic and the Celestial Crew pitched in as well, with their knowledge of the spirits they've fought back in the Celestial World. After about twenty minutes, the details of them were all set in stone._

" _That's a lot to take in." Wendy said, slightly worried. "There are so many, and each of their powers have grown more than usual."_

 _Volans nodded. "Agreed. The only way we can be assured victory is getting to his majesty. He holds the key to this whole plan. That jewel in his crown in the true source of this magic."_

" _So if we take the crown away, that's game." Corvus noted._

" _Well I like that." Natsu smirked. "That'll be easy!"_

" _Were you seriously not paying attention, Natsu?!" Lucy spatted. "We've got a whole army to beat first!"_

" _Don't worry." The Dragon Slayer beamed with his trademark smirk. "We got this. It's just like you said, Lucy. We'll be ready."_

 _Nic and Greninja looked out towards the sea, seeing the first rays of the sun ready to come forth._

Nic was holding Gemini in midair as he was still in freefall. He started thinking back to what Lucy explained about Gemini. _'Gemini has the ability to copy a person's thoughts and abilities. So that means…it's got my powers, too.'_ He kicked Gemini's gut, allowing him to fall freely. _'Which means…it's like fighting myself. It's got my moves and form changes.'_ He somersaulted onto a knee. _'But…Lucy also said Gemini can't maintain that person's form for more than 5 minutes. And if said person has more power than them then it's unstable…'_ He looked up towards his doppelganger as it flapped its wings. _'Which means, using Legendary Force might make it run out immediately. But if I go into Legendary Force, his majesty will make Gemini surpass that. It's already in bad shape because of the crown.'_

Nic-Gemini's attire glowed again to reveal the Sky Form infused with his Mind Form. Reaching for Nic, Nic-Gemini's eyes glowed via **Psychic.** As the kinetic energy was gathering around Nic's neck to crush his throat, he glowed quickly, turning to his Dread Form. Nic-Gemini glowed and dropped entirely, crashing into the ground harshly on a knee with the Fist Form.

' _And what's worse, it changes to any type that I'm weak against.'_ Nic retained as much calm as he could. _'I'll have to keep it busy until time runs out.'_

Nic-Gemini circled around, gathering whirlwinds and slicing with the arm, via **Vacuum Wave**. Nic took a deep breath and sighed.

" **Quash!** "

A dark aura emitted from Nic's hands that made Nic-Gemini feel the same. The attack, in consequence, slowed down as Nic jumped off it and ascended above. In midair, he came down with an axe kick, which Nic-Gemini used its forearm to block.

The Celestial King swung his sword downwards, time slowing drastically down for Greninja. His eyes glimmered before the blade swung into the earth and followed through. The blastwave shot straight across the celestial sea into the distance, the trench created allowing matter and debris to pour to the bottom.

As the king followed through, he looked down at the slashed crater where Greninja's body was supposed to be, but he was gone. Unaware, blue feet zipped from the blade's end behind to the exposed king's head.

" **Return!** "

Kneeing the king in the back of the head with a glowing purple joint, the impact rattled his majesty with force of a ton of bricks. The king would've cried out in pain if it wasn't for his suppression.

His body suddenly erupted in a celestial rage, causing Magic Power around the atmosphere to bloom into a pillar that Greninja was also in. However, due to being a Dark-type, the celestial energy wasn't harming him.

"Sorry your majesty." Greninja flipped, avoiding the king's longsword. As he ducked and flipped, the king jabbed the blade forward embedded with the spiraling celestial energy. Greninja got on his side in midair and rolled along the top of the blade, running atop the flat end with great speed.

He swung his arms, firing **Water Shuriken** as blue slicing projectiles. Their impact was much stronger thanks to the Mystic Water, and even more so that it was into the eyes. Blue flashes erupted for the Celestial King's face before his majesty went tumbling down like a giant. He crashed into the ground, making the earth shake.

Greninja landed on his heels, glaring at his foe with a serious disposition.

A he watched the battle, Melchior looked back towards the hills. He wasn't forgetting something there. Seeing the massive altar miles away, his lips curved to a smirk.

* * *

The winds howled like a thousand wolves in the heavens that were heard by the mortals lucky enough to be so high up. Sophie, Duncan, and their respective Pokémon were all hiking with labored breaths. The trek was becoming unbearable.

"We're…pretty far up…" Sophie acknowledged between breaths. She looked towards Duncan, who wasn't as tired as her. "Duncan, are you feeling well?"

The Trainer glanced at Sophie. "Yeah, what about it?" Being a Pokémon Trainer from Sinnoh, Duncan was used to traveling at different altitudes, especially since he had to go through Mt. Coronet so many times. Traveling towards the top was no exception.

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

Dewpider groaned, his water bubble shaking from each heavy step taken. "So…tired…stupid rocks…" he groaned.

"I understand how you feel." Finneon said, flopping besides him. "Perhaps it would've been better to stay inside our capsules."

"Yeah." Dewpider shot Tophet a grouchy look. "But I ain't having anyone pull a fast one on me."

Kadabra wasn't responding. He was too busy focusing ahead on the problem. As much as he agreed on the subject of precaution, he wasn't going to chatter about it. He stayed close to Sophie as they suddenly stopped.

Tophet floated ahead of them, his cloak going at a constant smooth pace. He slowly turned around, facing the two Fairy Tail Mages.

Taking the hint, they stopped in their tracks to look towards the top of the smooth slope they were going towards. Their eyes cascaded towards the large double set of pillar-like stone that acted like a gate towards a ledge.

The Magic Power they were feeling in the atmosphere had become extremely unsettling, almost to where it felt almost impossible to tell if it were tangible. The shift was making their skin crawl, and not just from Tophet's bizarre nature seemingly akin to this.

' _What's this strange feeling?'_ Duncan begrudgingly pondered. _'This magic, it's twisted somehow.'_

"Wyscan Hill." Tophet responded according. "The answers of which you speak of, lies beyond this point."

"So this is where the king came to make his wish?" Sophie questioned with a furrowed brow.

"Many have in the past. There were those who were willing to fulfill those wishes…and others, who weren't. This hill's gift…may very well end up being your curse."

They didn't like the sound of that. Something was definitely wrong with this place and the person guiding them. The bizarre chills running down their spines now felt like waterfalls.

"There will be no going back, once you move beyond this point. The decision is yours alone."

The words he spoke were foreboding, almost borderline tempting. But Sophie knew they had a job to do. She steeled herself, her fists balling for anything that may possibly come their way. Her green eyes gleamed ahead, ready for what may happen.

"We're fully prepared for what may come." She said. "Everyone's counting on us…we need to stop or break Melchior's control over the Celestial Spirits once and for all."

"…so be it." Tophet stepped off to the side. "Thou mustn't say I didn't warn thee."

Gathering air, Sophie and the others walked pass Tophet, the spirit staring ahead and watching them pass without a blink. As they all passed him, Dewpider sneered at him and went along. Spiritomb took one look at Tophet and felt an ominous pressure. She turned towards Duncan and followed him.

Walking up the hill, Sophie was staring at the hill in readiness. No matter what, she couldn't give up; she mustn't. She came too far for her allies. In her head, she was having flashes of the times she had since she joined Fairy Tail. She's grown a lot since joining after leaving her father's merchant business.

"… _it's as I said, dear, sometimes life doesn't work the way you want it too. You just have to get by the way you know how."_

His words echoed in her head, making her stir inside. _'Maybe not, but you can make use of what you know, and make that into a life.'_

Duncan followed close behind, noticing Sophie's nature change.

As they took another step forward, their feet pressed onto the ground as a massive golden light shined. Immediately they pulled away.

"What's this?" Sophie gasped.

"Another trap?" Duncan turned towards Tophet, immediately accusing him. However, the man meagerly frowned. "What're you up to?!"

As the light was getting thicker, Tophet turned his head slowly towards the sky. Duncan's eyes widened as he followed up as well. Something was going very wrong, and even he wasn't dumb enough to think this would end well.

* * *

The ground started shaking tremendously before a burst of dirt and rock flew all around. Out of the hole jumped Erza first, then Vanessa, and lastly Krookodile and Houndoom.

"You sensed Nic over here you said?" Erza looked around, confirming if what Vanessa said was true.

"I'm certain." Vanessa looked over, seeing something in the distance. "Over there."

Erza and the others turned towards the standoff, seeing two Nic at once glaring at each other. They looked deathly serious, at least one did. Greninja was swiftly evading the Celestial King, moving evasively all about while slashes erupted pillars of cosmos.

"Nic!" Erza could immediately tell who the real one was. One didn't have the red controlled eyes.

Nic glanced over his shoulder. "Erza!" His reflexes kicking in, he ducked from a **Brick Break** and slid back, transforming to his default form. "Don't worry about us! Get the crown!"

Erza nodded, knowing what the priorities were right now. "Right, understood." She went to move, but a sudden shift in magical pressure made her stop in her tracks. _'What is this feeling…?'_

Vanessa sensed a very strong magical energy, her eyes narrowing. Her aura was picking up a very maleficent force.

Across the battlefield, everyone who was fighting stopped for a moment to feel a sudden increase in magical energy around them. But the celestial force they felt had only caused skips in their heartbeats.

' _This Magic Power, what the heck is it?'_ Gray grimaced.

Wendy barely dodged Scorpio's spear-like sand shots, her mind racing faster than a Rapidash. _'Is this coming from the spirits?'_

' _Something's really going on here. This is Celestial Magic, and a big one!'_ Lucy fret.

Natsu looked up, smelling the air. His nostrils took in the scent of a very intense and sharp smell, no doubt magic. It was making his eyes shrink.

The Celestial Crew could feel it as well. They felt the most uneasy because they could clearly tell it was their celestial energy. But this was feeling on a far greater scale than before.

Nic looked towards the ground, feeling a slight trembling from it. He and Greninja backtracked as they looked at their foes, not feeling this power from them. It was something greater.

"So…it seems that my hunches were correct." The king spoke softly. "Seems that Ara and Scutum weren't enough after all."

Nic went to attack, but a **Mach** **Punch** thwarted his advances as he used **Protect**. The turquoise shield blocked the blow, leaving his foe suspended for him to kick Nic-Gemini away.

"I have read fables of this 'divine one', how she was imprisoned for her beauty and power. The bane that was the Seraph family name. I found it in myself to prepare for the worst, and Tetrabiblos behold, it appears that the time has come."

He turned towards Libra, who was suspending Oberon to the ground with great swells of gravity.

"Stop him!" Erza shouted.

Melchior glanced back as his crown shined again. Libra's eyes glowed as she danced in a pivot formation and tipped her body towards Erza and Vanessa. Instantly gravity intensified around them, causing them, Krookodile, and Houndoom incapable of moving.

"Erza! Vanessa!" Nic grabbed the fist of his doppelganger and angrily swung his elbow across the face. _'It's been over 5 minutes. Something's wrong. Gemini isn't losing any power!'_

Melchior looked down at Oberon, seeing him form pinned to the crater he was embedded in. His bones must've been fractured at the very least. He was quivering and looking unresponsive. Melchior pressed on the matter.

"Oberon, my old friend." He said. "I believe it was you who went through the archives and told me of _her_ , correct?"

Oberon's eyes widened, he saw Mechior's hand reach out for him.

"If memory serves, the way to thy maiden's freedom is one who has lost his blessings…it seems that in the end, there was a worth to your life. You, too, shall be set free."

"Sire…please…don't do this…" Oberon shakily pleaded, but he didn't have the strength.

Melchior frowned, his glare so serious that it made Oberon shudder. "What was your wish again? To end your oppression? Well then, allow me to grant you your wish. You shall be free…as shall another." Above Oberon and beneath him, there was a golden magic seal, both spinning in the same direction. They all looked back to see what was happening as Oberon was being pulled to his knees by some unknown force.

"The fables are said by the command of Tetrabiblos: To be given thee, you must sacrifice thee. A trade." The crown jewel shined brightly. "Well then, Tetrabiblos, I give to you thy offering."

"M-Milord! Wait-!" The magic seals around Oberon started to spin rapidly like wheels. Their glow intensified to surge into a magical energy that Oberon's body started to reflect. He immediately noticed how light his body was getting.

"This is…" He went wide-eyed, gasping at the realization. _'No, it can't be! I thought I was the only one to perfect this spell! He's really gonna…!'_

Melchior's eyes blinked, golden magic seals appearing in the irises with red dotted centers. "Bring her back from Purgatory, thy maiden, thy blessing. Oh Tetrabiblos, let her amongst the 88 Heavenly bodies live again! I implore you, please o merciful savior! Let thy stars bring the chains to surface! For one life to another, thy radiance bless this land again!"

"This spell…is it a Sacrificial Summoning?" Erza realized.

"SIRE! NOOOO~!" Oberon desperately reached out for the king, but his body started to grow translucent. His eyes shrunk in blatant fear of what's to come.

Melchior calmly smiled towards the sky, his eyes glowing brighter. "Now…I summon thee. Come… **Andromeda!** "

Everyone's eyes widened as they watched the light around Oberon expand brighter. They almost went blind as Oberon's fearful expression was the last thing he gave as the ground shuddered beneath. It was dicing apart as his cried turned to hollow wails as his body was disappearing into the light.

In an intense rupture, a massive pillar of light soared into the skies. Everyone looked towards the massive pillar ascending into the atmosphere with no less shock than what Nic and Greninja felt when they witnessed the human offering.

The pillar of light vanished into the skies, leaving the sound barrier in the atmosphere to diminish. The long pause in the atmosphere didn't last very long as Melchior sighed.

Nic glared at the skies, then back at Melchior "You…what the hell did you do?!"

Melchior looked calmly at Nic, not giving him a hint. A chill went up Nic's spine as he looked towards the skies.

…

Jellal swiped his arm, sending a beam of Heavenly Body magic into Ara. However, Scutum's red eye glowed, the shield spirit's power making another barrier that blocked the attack. _'That shield isn't faltering. It's getting even more powerful than when it started.'_

"Jellal, on your left!" Erik shouted.

Jellal was so focused on Ara that he didn't realized the right fist coming his way. The regenerating rock spirit's attack was fast than anticipated, sending him flying.

"Jellal!" Turning into dark energy, Bellona slipped across the ground to grab him before he hit the ground. "Are you alright?!"

Jellal winced, feeling his entire body sting with aches. "Yeah…I'm fine…" It was a lie. His insides were swelling. It hurt just to breathe due to his ribs being snapped.

Bellona sighed irritably. "You're so reckless."

Arbok hissed in warning. Bellona turned and saw the fist continuing its destructive path towards her. Before it could make impact, a reflective barrier appeared in front of Bellona and Jellal, blocking the full brunt of the attack. However, the shockwaves, still caused Bellona to turn away.

' _This is…'_

A sphere of water went blasting into Ara's direction, but a golden barrier lit up and took the blast. Water sprayed everywhere, dazzling like rain over their heads. Crime Sorciere gathered their bearings as the attacks startled them.

"Guys, over here!"

"You miss me yet?!"

Turning around, they saw Sorano and Yukino running towards them. Above their heads were Mantine and Minior respectively. They ran up the path to meet with their allies.

"Sorano?" Bellona questioned, het attention drawing towards Yukino. "And Yukino?"

"Are you guys alright?" Yukino's worried were cut short when she saw the spirits towering above. She looked completely baffled. "Wait…is that, Ara and Scutum? The Altar and the Shield Spirits."

"How did they get here of all places?" Sorano questioned. Her wonders were cut short when she and everyone felt an intense rise in magical pressure. "What's that?"

Jellal looked towards the skies, seeing a bright star twinkling an expanding. Something was wrong besides the trap they were in.

…

Inside the caverns, rocks were turning over from a massive blowout of Magic Power. Ophiuchus raised her head in surprise. _'This magic…don't tell me.'_ She flicked her tongue, smelling the air. _'Is she really being summoned…?'_

…

"What the hell…? Duncan looked towards the twinkling star in the sky, seeing it getting brighter with the golden magic seal ahead of him and Sophie. They were so distraught with what's going on.

In the sky, the twinkling light had gotten brighter, connecting dots throughout the stars close by, until it made a constellation.

"A constellation?" Sophie murmured through the growing quakes. She looked towards Tophet to see if this was his doing, but the calm look on his face didn't have that possibility in her favor. _'If it's not him, then…the king.'_ She realized in horror.

Tophet's glare was still towards the skies, witnessing the starry constellation glimmering. "So…it appears his majesty's final act has risen. Andromeda."

A beaming light appeared in front of Sophie and Duncan, causing them to cover up. The light shifted to unleash two robed arms. The light on the wrists were slowly bulging, becoming celestial chains. The chains extended to the ground, clattering harshly. The light rays dissipated slowly, allowing a celestial glow to envelop something.

Uncovering, they all went wide-eyed as their gazes were drawn skywards.

The appearance was a 100-ft tall voluptuous and young woman with deeply tanned skin. Her long mid-back hair was silky and all over the place, as if gravity didn't apply. Around her forehead was a large Greek-like herbal reef with a red jewel in front of it. On her body was a womanly tunic with gold edging that hugged her body tightly. A gold necklace was around the neck area and borderline the large buxom. Her eyes were completely shut, as if she's been dormant and hadn't woken up before.

Tophet looked at the golden woman, staring blankly. But the others were astounded by this sheer level of magic.

"What…is that?" Duncan furrowed his brow, showing some sense of shock for once.

Sophie was completely stiff. She looked at the gargantuan Celestial Spirit, the magic she felt staggering beyond anything else. _'This…is Andromeda?'_

Andromeda's eyes opened, revealing bright red.

* * *

"HIYAAAH!" Joey slammed Magikarp into a Parasia, sending it careening into the crowd of oncoming siblings. Joey brought his fish around and smacked the next wave, slamming them into the ground.

" **Barrier-Make: Board!** "

Joey created a flat barrier atop the Parasia that were ground and brought his arm down, splattering them beneath the ground. The barrier dissipated, leaving the siblings of the parasite to trample over the blue stains.

"Guys, cover! Quick!" Joey shouted.

"Okay!" Dereece shouted. "Alright Stunfisk, **Mud Shot!** "

Stunfisk jumped into the air, reeling his body back. "You lot sure play… _dirty_!" He smiled as he spat out a barrage of small mud balls that traveled across the area, making brown explosions erupt crazily on the Parasia struck.

"Swadloon, **Razor Leaf!** "

"Seel, **Icy Wind!** "

"Get ready, girl!" Swadloon cheered. "We about to rock their world!" His leafy tuft on the head glowed as he summoned a large funnel of glowing shar leaves, sending them at the Parasia.

"Righty there!" Seel inhaled as her mouth glowed blue. She exhaled a blue wind with sparkles. The attack's speed and the leaves spinning only intensified. What's more, the leaves hardened due to the frost inside. The frosted spinning saucers spliced through many Parasia. Any left over were blown down by the cold, shrilling winds.

"We've got their speed down, let's hit them fast!" Dereece shouted. "Captain Joey, what's the plan!"

"This!" Joey reached his hand out. "Quilladin, **Pin Missile!** " Quilladin took a deep breath fired from his horns. Green streams with white orb-like centers raced downwards onto the enemies that were grounded. They exploded with the oncoming attack, erupting madly with the force of the projectiles.

The Parasia queen let out a loud roar, making the area quiver beneath her massive wake. As the smoke cleared, the disregarded remains of the first wave of Parasia were easily trampled over as more came trudging in.

"We need a larger perimeter, stat!" Dereece insisted.

"Leave that to me!" Joey pointed skywards. "Trubbish, use **Toxic Spikes!** " Trubbish belched loudly as she faced the cavern skies. Her mouth widened as a poisonous orb was seen expelling slowly out of her mouth. Once ready, it shot skywards, shooting upwards and exploding into purplish-white comets with purple smoke in them. They dissipated into the ground in dark purple ripples around their whole area.

The Parasia stopped in their tracks, unwilling to risk the chance of their slimy bodies getting drenched in poison. The intelligence from the Trainers and those of experience with Pokémon were etched into their minds.

"Figures they'd be smart enough to stop." Joey teased. "This should buy us some time."

The Parasia gurged and howled as they resorted to Plan B of their own. The ones in front whipped their arms back, making their hands into tendrils that shot at the men and the Pokémon.

"Oh come on!" Joey panicked. At the last second, he pulled up another barrier, blocking the attack. "Tranquill, **Air Cutter!** "

"Yes, Master Joey!" Tranquill spread his wings, unleashing crescents of bright blue energy with each flap. The shredding blades spread across a large area, bombarding with extreme force; some areas exploded completely, reducing the Parasia in those areas to nothing.

' _Tranquill's Super Luck can do a lot of damage. We gotta use that to keep as much of them at bay as we can.'_ Joey pivoted, swinging Magikarp with the back of his hand. The smack through the smoke barreled a Parasia back into the pack around them.

"Keep them occupied guys, we gotta get to Ella! That's the objective!"

Dereece nodded. "Right…oh, but, one question?"

"No time for questions! Trubbish, **Sludge!** " Joey's Trubbish inhaled deeply before expelling a large glob of sludge at an incoming Parasia, immediately downing it.

"It's just that…which one is Ella? They're all the same."

Joey eyes widened when he realized what Dereece meant. Inspecting the whole army, his expression faltered to a slump. "…oh."

The Parasia Queen expelled a large bellow that echoed through the atmosphere. As the airwaves shuddered, the minions started glowing the same color. Understanding the code and opportunity, they all started morphing their shapes. To their surprise, they all looked exactly like Ella.

Kevin's brow furrowed. "No…"

"Okay, that is _so_ uncool!" Joey yelled.

" **Hello, Papa and Uncles.** " The Ella clones innocently smiled in unison as their hands transformed into the gelatinous tendrils again.

"This is a whole lotta wrong." Dereece groaned. "Captain, watch out!"

The Parasia lashed their tentacles to the humans as attack. Joey again created a barrier to defend themselves with. With them taking cover behind the barrier, they sustained themselves for a while. But for who knows how long.

' _This isn't good at all. We can't tell which one's the real Ella. They're all the same!'_ Joey grunted. _'But…that Parasia Queen, she's controlling them. If we get to her, we can stop them. That's the best option we have so far.'_

"We can't hurt them now that they're all Ella." Dereece grimaced. He looked towards his Yanma, an idea popping inside. "…but maybe _we_ don't have to! Yanma, in the air!"

"Okay!" Flapping her wings, Yanma ascended into the atmosphere above Joey's barrier. The Parasia immediately saw her as an enemy vessel and lashed their tendrils at her. Using **Detect** , the insectoid's eyes glowed and she evaded with deadly precision. Thanks to that, she sped up and soared about as Speed Boost activated.

"Let's use that new move! Use **Supersonic!** "

Yanma hummed as she sailed around, unleashing a violent soundwave at a high pitch. The attack reached several Parasia at once, making their bodies vibrate and conduct the sound. They all scowled as their mentality got disoriented, making them whip the other violently.

"That should buy us a little time for a plan. What do we do now?" Dereece asked.

"Okay, here's what I think." Joey began. "They're trying to psych us out. They know we're here for Ella, so that means that they have to be keeping the real one somewhere where we can't see her." He put his hand to his chin. "Now, if I were to keep a prized possession from someone, I'd keep it close or hide it, right? So the that means…"

They all slowly turned their heads towards the Parasia behind the trapped battlefield. Beyond them lied the Parasia Queen, her gurgles echoing loud and clear. They all raised a brow.

"Well, guess that's better than nothing." Dereece said.

"There's so many checkmarks to go through." Krabby pinched his pincers. "This is gonna be a long game."

"I'll go."

Everyone turned towards Kevin.

"I'm the only one with a Kite Lacrima. I can get over that army and directly towards the queen. I just need you guys as cover, can you do that?"

Joey looked towards Dereece and saw the serious expression both had. Nodding, they agreed. "Alright, we'll keep them busy." Dereece said. "Just hurry."

"I know." Kevin activated his Kite Lacrima, the large structure forming for him to get down on. "Swadloon, come with me!" he watched as Swadloon waddled towards his side, inwardly chuckling. _'That's what she said.'_

"Oh~, my! We gonna be taking a rough ride?" he swooned. "Well I don't mind the view~."

"Krabby. Beedrill. Raticate. Buy us time, okay?"

"I sting yo face!"

"We'll make the pieces go first and we'll strike our turns after."

"This is gonna be so cwazzyyy!"

Kevin nodded. "Alright then. Joey, give me a little boost!"

"You got it!" Joey swiped his arm, undoing the barrier for Parasia to view them entirely. "Tranquill, **Gust!** "

The Wild Pigeon Pokémon's wings glowed blue and summoned a strong whirlwind through the flapping. The winds raged madly, making the enemy Parasia recoil, and some toppling down. The draft created by the attack was enough to get Kevin's Kite Lacrima a good start and sail overhead, gathering height quickly.

' _Okay Ella, I know you're good at Hide-and-Seek.'_ Kevin looked down, his piercing eyes fixated on all the clones. _'But Mister P finds whoever he wants. And right now, you're on my list.'_ He sailed towards the back, leaving the others behind.

"Alright Freaks, let get close and personal!" Joey cheered, holding Magikarp in the air. "Attack!"

The Parasia unable to advance due to **Toxic Spikes** and confused were lashing at one another. Joey let out a scream as he smacked Magikarp into them, knocking them down like bowling pins. "Let's rock and roll, Magikarp!"

"Yes, sir!" The flopping fish gasped. "We're gonna-WAH!" He was smacked into Parasia again as Joey let out an Indian battle cry.

* * *

The radiant light around Andromeda was not a very holy one in nature. In spite of her celestial energy, the atmosphere was anything but. Her glow and frame could've been made from the battlefield in Astral.

"What the…what the hell is that?" Gray murmured.

Juvia and Lucy stared at Wyscan Hill, seeing a glow. Staryu stared with its red core glimmering. It suddenly took off without warning.

"Staryu?! Wait!" Lucy called. "Where are you going?!"

' _This Magic Power…and this aura…'_ Vanessa could feel deep swells of strength as she was unable to move.

Erza looked serious. She glanced off to the side. This Magic Power she was taking was terribly immense.

Looking at the glow in the distance, Nic had a straight face. He knew something was terribly wrong. His gut instincts were telling him so badly there should've been something there. His fists balled tight.

In his writhing, Nic-Gemini appeared behind him, ready to kick him with **High Jump Kick**. Without even looking, Nic stomped on the ground, backflipping overhead. Using Nic-Gemini's shoulders in midair, he jetted his knee into the back of the head, sending the attacker and his move into the ground with crushing results.

As the smoke cleared, Melchior was still grinning. Nic glanced back at him, his eyes narrowing. He was up to something, but a swift glow from the dust cloud shot a fist pass his shoulder. He dodged Nic-Gemini's comeback as it was in default mode as well. As they were copying the other's movements, Nic-Gemini glowed and yellow energy ripples expelled over the body, via **Recover**.

Meanwhile, Greninja evaded the Celestial King's attack again. Energy shot across the water miles beyond the horizon that split the ocean again. At the end of it, an eruption of celestial energy was seen rushing towards the sky.

* * *

Sophie and Duncan were completely dumbfounded. The looks on their faces were priceless as they were at the feet of this entity that was summoned out of the blue.

"Kadabra, archives." Sophie murmured. "Who is she…?"

"Andromeda…" They turned towards Tophet, giving the answer. "A woman blessed with the divine power of Celestial Spirits. After the calamity, eons later, XX64, there rose perhaps one of the most gifted humans before Anna Heartfilia: Andromeda."

"A Celestial Mage?" Sophie repeated, turning towards Andromeda over them. She definitely fit the description, but something was definitely wrong.

"She loved Celestial Spirits dearly. However…that came to be her greatest downfall. Her strength in the Celestial World has been renown for many years. To this day, tales of her lost magic are said to have protected Astral. However, as her magic was overwhelming, so was her condition."

"What happened?" Sophie was fearful of what the answer was. She had a good guess it wasn't anything good.

Tophet looked to Andromeda towering. "At her most prominent age, had fallen ill. Her Magic Power was limited. But, she refused to allow herself to be forgotten. Tetrabiblos granted her wish, however…it was not as she intended."

"What was it?" Duncan inquired.

"To become a Celestial Spirit." Sophie and Duncan's eyes widened slightly from this revelation. "She loved her spirits so much, that as her time was limited, she wanted to stay with them for as long as possible. She came here, and made that very wish…but was given no key."

"No key?" Sophie gasped. _'Just like the Celestial King.'_

"Upon her wish granted, her soul was being extracted from her body. This was the greatest mistake. Once the timing was right, fearful of her already immense power, her followers used sealing spells. They were afraid of what would happen if her power as a Celestial Spirit would do, that her already mortal form couldn't. She was dispelled to Purgatory."

Sophie and Duncan and Sophie looked at Andromeda as he continued.

"Tetrabiblos gave her no key; apparently he, too, found the wish to be immoral. With no key and her soul in a seal, she had become a Celestial Spirit that is forever chained. To think, his majesty found that very spell to unseal the spirit."

' _A human…turned Celestial Spirit.'_ Sophie saw the stone look on Andromeda as she towered over them. She was bequeathed with a massive amount of power that was almost making the ground shake. _'If she's also a Celestial Spirit, then that means…'_ "Duncan!"

Duncan gripped his metal pole, infusing his magic to strike. "Watch it! She's about to make a move!"

With a radiant shine in her eyes, Andromeda raised her chained arms. There was an immensely bright shine coming from beneath. Before Sophie or Duncan realized it, a massive shockwave of celestial energy spread across the entire mountain range.

Over Ara below, a shockwave of cosmic energy erupted. The blast wave was so intense that it made Crime Sorciere and Yukino below cover up. The shockwaves of her power stretched so far that the nearby mountaintops were flatlined.

As the shockwaves dissipated, it revealed dust dissipating, being Tophet the one who wasn't touched. He watched on as he looked down the hill.

Behind two boulders, they all suddenly teleported, thanks to Kadabra using **Teleport.** Behind two boulders, laboring from the shock, Sophie and Duncan were looking back, completely struck stiff from what could've been their end.

Sophie was breathing heavily, her green eyes fixated on the visage of Andromeda as she unleashed her power. _'That power just now…just what was that?'_

' _If that was just her flexing…then this should be a challenge.'_ Duncan narrowed his eyes. He wasn't going to miss an opportunity to better himself, especially not like this. _'If she's this powerful…she could very well measure up to a Legendary Pokémon.'_

Tophet watched on as Andromeda's red eyes glowed again. Above Sophie and Duncan, there were dozens – hundreds – of glowing planetary-like hemispheres waiting to be dropped on them. Looking up, Sophie saw the attack and instantly recognized it.

' _A_ _ **Urano Metria**_ _without incantation?'_

The planetary spheres rained down on them at lightning speed, but Sophie put a finger to her forehead. "Memorized…and **Forget!** " The spheres all dissipated like nothing, leaving sparkles to glisten in the air around them. She was glad to have memorized that attack during her and Lucy's battle against Jackal.

Pivoting, she turned towards Andromeda, a pained look in her eyes. "She's in pain, but we have no choice. If we're going to have to stop that wish, we'll have to get pass her." She reached out. "Everyone, ready!"

Dewpider hissed aggressively as Finneon flopped beside him. Kadabra stepped up next.

"Hmph. Spiritomb." Spiritomb got to Duncan's side as he shot a glare at Sophie. "You. Make sure you don't get in my way, especially when there's an opening."

Sophie narrowed her eyes, but she wasn't having it right now. "Don't think that you can do this alone."

"I'm not. Just watch yourself."

Sophie scoffed with a smirk. "I can do that. Just practice what you preach." She countered, earning a growl from the annoyed Trainer.

Andromeda's eyes flashed red as it responded to the king's demands inside of her head. _'Go now, Andromeda. Feel free and relinquish those who dare oppose you!'_ That's what she heard, and her conscience was sealed away. The chained spirit summoned twinkling stars that beamed after them.

" **Memory-Make: Mirrors of Cold Retribution!** " Sophie created several ice mirrors that unleashed blast of dark magic at the radiant light. The attacks met in the middle, but the twinkling lights exploded straight through to Sophie's path. At the last second, she jumped out of the way as the celestial stardust erupted horizontally across the mountain range.

Duncan reached his arm up. "Spiritomb, **Sucker Punch!** " Spiritomb conjured an eerie dark fist from the ghastly body she had, suddenly appearing before Andromeda. The attack crashed into her face, causing her to shudder.

Duncan observed her meek struggle, studying carefully what was going on. _'She must have a weakness to attacks like Pokémon. Interesting.'_

Gathering her bearings, Sophie tumbled to a knee and glared up, seeing Spiritomb back away from her attack. "Kadabra, **Kinesis!** "

"Yes!" Kadabra jabbed his spoon forward, causing it to telekinetically bend. The mental strain it put on Andromeda wasn't very clear, but judging by the blue aura around her body it was likely it worked.

"Finneon, **Rain Dance!** Dewpider, **Bubble Beam!** "

Finneon hummed as she lifted her frame, making storm clouds appear overhead. As it thundered, it began raining all of a sudden. The droplets poured down, making Dewpider's eyes gleam.

"Now _this_ feels more like home." The water spider opened his beak, unleashing a jet of blue bubble at Andromeda. The rain was supposed to increase the power, especially with his Water Bubble Ability. However, it suddenly traveled back towards Finneon, her body absorbing the attack.

"Ma (What)?" Sophie gasped.

Duncan grunted. "Amateur." His comment got Sophie's attention. "That's Storm Drain. It conducts all Water attacks, including your own."

"I didn't know…" Sophie looked ahead, seeing Finneon unfazed. In fact, a red aura grew around her body. _'It looks like my strategy won't work. I was hoping_ _ **Rain Dance**_ _could power up our Water-type moves. But…if they're gonna be taken in by Finneon, then we'll have to work with that.'_ Sophie steeled herself. "Everyone, on guard! Now!"

All her Pokémon steeled themselves for Andromeda's advance.

Andromeda's forehead charged up a large sum of golden energy into a single point. Once charged, the attack beamed across the ground, nearly slicing it as it reached them. Sophie and everyone ducked as the attack's trajectory was aimed over their heads thanks to Kadabra's attack disorienting her. Duncan found an opportunity and pulled out his metal weapon. Infusing his magic, he raced as explosions erupted in the distance behind. Andromeda's eyes flashed as she saw Duncan. Duncan sensed magic broiling from above and saw light coming down from the storm clouds above.

" **Memory-Make: Baryon Lightning Impact!** "

A fusion blast of green energy and lightning blasted across the point of impact, intercepting the light rays beaming down. Duncan's eyes were wide briefly as he looked back, seeing Sophie's glare fixed on him. He could've dodged, but he'd rather not take his chances with the save. He continued charging, evading the few breaks of light that pelted the ground. Twirling his staff overhead, he was able to keep himself safe, even as one stray ray was beaming for the head. The staff knocked it away.

Reaching Andromeda's heel, he swung with all his might into the heel. The impact created a shockwave that made a large airwave.

Andromeda was unfazed as she didn't look the least bit concerned. Her eyes started glowing again, causing Duncan to jump back as the ground lit up.

" **Confusion!** "

Duncan's body was suddenly pulled back by a telekinetic force just before the ground around him was obliterated in a large cosmic pillar. He was flung back, while passing him a long arrow of dense spiritual energy was projecting ahead. The shockwaves dissipated, while the lance pierced Andromeda's chest, causing a blast to disperse around her.

Duncan slid across the ground back towards Sophie and saw she was the one who used her **Spectral Saber Flash**. Her Kadabra was the one that pulled him back. He shot the former a scowl.

"I think you had the right idea, attacking her at close-range while she's focused on long-range." Sophie acknowledged. "However, it seems her attacks are larger scale or omnidirectional. Getting close like that won't be easy again."

Duncan adjusted his posture. "Figures now."

Tophet continued observing his stare fixed with expectance towards the Fairy Tail Mages.

Duncan aimed his staff forward. "Spiritomb, **Hypnosis!** "

Spiritomb floated above Duncan and her eyes glowed red. Hypnotic waves emanated towards Andromeda, but she didn't budge. In fact, her body expelled a golden celestial light that dispelled the Psychic-type attack.

"She can even dispel status moves." He murmured.

Andromeda began charging up her power, the ground cracking with celestial cosmos palpitating.

"Kadabra, **Teleport!** " Sophie commanded.

Andromeda let out another piercing shriek as she lifted her head, unleashing a crushing shockwave from below that blasted skywards. The air shredded to pieces as a pillar of cosmic energy rushed through the storm clouds and rain.

There was leveled hillside to where Andromeda was. Unknown to her, above, everyone was teleported straight above.

' _This is our chance.'_ Sophie's acrobatics made her flip and find the perfect position to strike. As a chain of memories flourished, her green eyes were flaring. "Duncan, be ready!"

Duncan was skeptical about what she wanted, but he huffed. "Whatever it is, it better work. Spiritomb, **Shadow Sneak!** " As she descended, Spiritomb's tomb-like base casted a shadow that rushed downwards.

"Kadabra, **Psyshock!** Dewpider, **Infestation!** Finneon, **Water Gun!** "

All three Pokémon aimed their attacks specifically downwards. Purple beams fired from a spoon, while an insectoid swarm buzzed around Dewpider that he expelled. Finneon spewed water, which was a much larger volume thanks to Rain Dance.

The four attacks were coming down harshly onto Andromeda as she looked up. Noticing the attacks, her red glinted as she was bout to dispel them, however, shooting stars passed along her face, grazing it with explosions that kept her busy.

Sophie looked down with shock. Swiftly spinning through the air, Lucy's Staryu was spinning rapidly around. _'Is that…?'_

 _BEEP!_

Andromeda was so distracted with the incoming foe that she was unable to keep her eyes above as the attacks dropped. A beam of insects, water, shadows, and psychic power pressed on her upper body, making a scowl emanate around her frame.

As she was writhing in pain of the pillar of attacks, Infestation's effect was swarming her body with insects. They were crawling all around, keeping her from moving. This was the chance.

"Now, Duncan!" A large magic seal appeared around Sophie, as her memory chain began spiraling around like a helix. Duncan continued falling pass Sophie, his metallic rod gathering Magic Power.

Andromeda let out a shrilled cry as Duncan barreled at her face, a loud roar coming from him.

"With all my memories…may they give you strength!" Sophie sent the helix of memories after Duncan. " **Memoir Hysteria!** "

The vast helix of memories channeled to attack Andromeda as well. Along the way, they were mixing with Duncan's metal pole's tip. The added pressure surprised Duncan as he felt an immense swell of Magic Power at the tip It caused him to feel a tingling but palpable sensation in the forearms. His eyes narrowing, he smashed the helix-enflamed staff into Andromeda's large head, enveloping her in a large shockwave of light and attacks that caused dust to flare everywhere. Staryu circled around the explosion until it stopped on the ground. Suddenly everyone was teleported back to the ground in one piece, thankfully not too winded.

"Did that get her?" Dewpider grunted.

"I sure hope so." Finneon looked up, noticing how the rain was stopping. Rain Dance had come to an end. _'Hope that's the end of it.'_

"Are you alright, Duncan?" Sophie asked.

Duncan looked notably well, but the shock from that immense swell Sophie gave him left his body a little shaken. He looked down at his hand, a still stare fixed on what was left of the metal pole he had. The end was fried completely. There was nothing left of it.

"Tch, too much power again." He grunted.

 _BEEP!_ Staryu beeped.

"We thank you for the save, dear friend." Finneon thanked regally. "You have our sincerest gratitude."

Staryu beeped again.

The dust ahead was clearing up, revealing red eyes glowing. A radiant glow was still seen around the massive Celestial Spirit as the insects continued to infest around her, But it looked like they weren't doing anything.

"What's this?" Kadabra gasped.

Sophie was equally as baffled. She looked on, unable to make the words. _'Tophet said that she was blessed with celestial power before she became a spirit…I never imagined it'd have this kind of effect. Is Dewpider's attack even working on her?'_

For once, even Duncan looked as baffled. He didn't have the words to explain his moral horrors of an attack that strong doing nothing.

As they were stiff in shock, Tophet continued observing, his visage unclear through the shadows as the sun was eye-leveled. "Tetrabiblos…what judgment shall you cast this time, I wonder?"

* * *

Natsu turned into a lightning bolt that evaded Loke's Regulus fist. He reappeared behind, a flaming fireball set.

" **Lightning Flame Dragon's Brilliant Flame!** "

He slammed the fireball down onto Loke, creating large pillar of fire and lightning that rocketed skywards. The heat was so intense that anything close was seen steaming from the power exuded. The pillar suddenly dispersed into light, thanks to Loke. The controlled spirit's increased power made the attack he took seemingly unfazed him.

The spirit enveloped his fist in compressed light and drew it back. Natsu sidestepped out of the way as a beam of light surged pass him like a laser, vaporizing anything in its path. With the wrist in reach, Natsu seized it and pinned Loke to the ground.

"Cana, do it!" he shouted.

"Alright!" Cana pulled out another tarot card. " **Sleep Card!** "

The card flashed in front of Loke, but the spirit's red eyes shined. Another radiant light cast in around him, blinding everyone and the card's effects. Cana screamed as her retina were almost burnt away, and Natsu could barely see. This gave Loke the opportunity to shove him off and pull back another fist.

"Charmeleon, **Dragon Rage!** "

Off to the side, Charmeleon opened his maw, expelling a black and blue draconic beam at Loke. The Celestial Spirit forcibly backed away. Natsu suddenly got into Loke's face, swirling fire and lightning surging. Loke countered with light.

With a voluminous roar, the atmosphere raged with an intense explosion that could've been seen for miles away.

Within the shockwaves of the explosion, Cana was kneeling so her weight wouldn't be used against her. She reached back for a Poke Ball, but found her satchel empty with one Pokémon short. _'Where the heck is that last cat of all times?'_

…

It took all of Purrloin's nerves to keep a shudder from running down her spine. The ominous tension she felt inside was too chaotic for another weight to suddenly shift about. She was swinging her tail across the ground kicking up sand, via **Sand Attack**. She used that to escape the snarling fangs of Canes as a dozen hunting dogs, but many of the dozen pounced through the sand, using their sense of smell to track down the fleeing feline.

"AAAH! AH! AHHHH!" Unable to take the situation, Purrloin pounced across and ran all around; she even slid beneath a hound at barely the cost of a few hairs. Many other Canes trampled the one and snarled as their red, furious visions made them intolerable. Their sense of smells made it clear on Purrloin. A golden glow was around their bodies as celestial light recovered and increased their senses further.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Purrloin was realizing she was running out of room…and no tree was going to be enough to keep all the hounds away.

" **Sonic Howl!** " Lupus opened his glowing maw wide and unleashed an ultrasonic howl at Aries and Capricorn. Using her wool, Aries' defense absorbed the soundwaves. Capricorn jumped over the wall of wool and flipped a consecutive number of times before he stomped his foot down, which Lupus dodged by jumping backwards. Capricorn easily followed, using a barrage of swings and kicks to keep the wolf on his toes. Unable to find room to attack, Lupus kept up the evading until he jumped to avoid a punch, which Capricorn seized his leg and slammed him back into the ground, so much force implied that the earth depressed beneath the poor spirit.

"Are you okay?!" Purrloin quipped. _'Wait, why do I even care?'_

Gathering his bearings, Lupus back-kicked Capricorn's cut to push him away, then spun on his hands for a swirling roundhouse, but Capricorn parried and sent him doubling over. "Gnnngh…" the aching wolf snarled. "This is getting nowhere."

Behind Lupus, Aries' eyes flashed.

' _Oh sh-!'_

He was suddenly swamped with a harsh swirl of wool, which was surprisingly firmer than what normal wool felt like. The impact was a massive funnel that sent the wolf skywards in howling agony.

"Aw man, this isn't our day!" Purrloin was so confused right now. She scurried off as Canes continued its advances. The teeth nearly snared her long tail. Thankfully with her small size she was getting around, but her leaps and sprints were intercepted. Finally she was surrounded by the pack, her hopes of getting away dashed. From above, Lupus crashed besides her, startling the cat.

"Where did you come from?!" she yelled harshly.

Lupus was barely in it. He stirred around, but he wasn't having any luck. His body ached so bad that he almost lost feeling in dozens of places. "This…looks bad cat." He looked over, seeing Canes charge. "Look out!"

Purrloin was so distracted that she didn't see one of the dogs rushing from the side. Still on his belly, Lupus seized Purrloin without warning and rolled over, his grip whipping her out of the pack and onto her feet several yards away. Cats land on their feet after all…more or less.

Canes pounced on Lupus, snarling and biting into his fur and toned body. The wolf's howls were hoarse as many chomped on his neck. Purrloin stared in horror as the dogfight was overwhelming her.

As Lupus being incapacitated, time was gradually slowing down as the shadows of the fight were casting over Purrloin. She stood there, watching as her supposed ally was becoming dog food. She was so in shock she couldn't move. Her whole world was spinning madly. This was causing her to see things she almost forgot.

 _In an alley somewhere in Magnolia, a trash can was stirring. A pointed tail was flicking in and out, speeding up until the can finally tipped over. Out of it Purrloin fell, along with the trash. She grumbled as she was surrounded by banana peels and wrappers. Hardly any luck with food._

" _Dumpster diving?"_

 _Purrloin heard a voice and looked towards the light of the alleyway. In it stood the visage of a slightly tanned, voluptuous woman, who was supposedly wearing a bar, if not a bikini top. She couldn't tell._

 _Purrloin backed away, getting behind the fallen dumpster rubble. "Geez, you make such a mess." Cana huffed._

 _Purrloin furrowed her brow. "One human's trash is another Purrloin's treasure."_

 _Cana went wide-eyed, hearing her speak. "Wait, did you just talk?"_

" _Yeah, of course I can talk. What m I, a mute?" the alley cat snapped back._

 _Cana sweat dropped. "Well, no…" She knew what this meant. 'So then that means…she's a Pokémon. Just like what Vanessa and Joey have.'_

 _Seeing Purrloin squirm around in the litter, Cana crossed her arms. "You know, there's better ways to fine dining than that."_

 _Purrloin licked barbeque sauce off her paw. She looked at Cana, a scowl on her face. "Hmph, sorry. I don't take advice from others. So hard to trust good folk these days~." She chimed. "Now if you excuse me, I have lunch to look for. Oh! A biscuit…how lovely."_

 _Cana curiously raised a brow, not appreciating the tone she was given. But it wasn't the worst tone out there. She's dealt with far worse. Groaning, she pulled out something from her satchel. "Here." She rolled it towards Purrloin, whose tail flicked it into her paw. The feline used her claws to open it, but what was inside made her mouth water._

 _Inside was a baked rice ball with thick slabs of butter and scrambled egg. The fried rice ball looked so good that it was even making her eyes wide._

" _You like that, don't ya?" Cana questioned. "You can have it."_

 _Purrloin looked up to Cana, confused by her intentions. "Wait, you're just giving this to me?" she asked. "Why?"_

 _Cana shrugged. "Beats me. Better than starving I guess."_

" _But why help someone just because of it? I'm not your friend."_

 _She then saw Cana give her what could've been the toothiest smirk she's ever seen. She watched her drink from a flash of alcohol so easily while the feline waited for an answer. When she finished downing it, she wiped her mouth._

" _Just because you hate someone isn't a good enough reason to not help them. Guess you never know until you really think about it."_

That memory was how she met Cana. The feline can't deny that she hates dogs. She loathes them, much like Happy does. Maybe Canes was understandable, but seeing Lupus – another dog stick his neck out for her – it was making her realize something. It was like Cana said. She didn't have an actual reason to loathe him. Though it still creeped her out, and more than likely she was regretting hit, she swallowed a hairball.

Beneath the pile of hunting dogs, a massive howl echoed beneath. They were all pushed back as the soundwaves traveled in all directions of Lupus trying to free himself. The hunting dogs landed close by, their focus now on their pack leader. Capricorn and Aries surrounded Lupus as well, and the wolf was on his hands and knees, his body completely littered in scrapes, claw marks, and bruises.

As he was unable to gather his bearings this time, he saw the hunting dogs closed in. He snarled low, but couldn't look them in the eye. He was to low on steam.

' _Ah crud…'_ They all pounced for him, the wolf bracing for the fatal blows.

A sharp purple slash wave blazed across the battlefield, striking the few hunting dogs and giving Lupus room. Realizing he wasn't struck yet, the wolf looked up and noticed several Canes backing up from the sudden attack out of nowhere.

He looked over, seeing Purrloin stepping up in front of him with **Assist** copying the **Sonic Claw**. "You…you saved me."

"Call it a tap of the ear." Purrloin said, glaring ahead. "You know, for saving my tail." She meekly sneered. "You know, I still don't like dogs." The comment didn't faze Lupus as much as anyone intended, until she finished. "But I guess there are _some_ good dogs out there. Guess I just had to give it a look after all."

Lupus got up, smirking. "Good to see you coming around, but you think you got what it takes, little kitty?"

Purrloin's smirk widened. "Just watch me." She faced forward, her body beginning to glowing a bright light. The sudden spout of the aura field she had was leaving the hounds and Celestial Spirits in place as her body was transforming.

Lupus uncovered, looking on as the light was morphing the smaller feline.

Purrloin's tail began lengthening to that of a whip. The end started becoming more like a scythe as the bipedal feline was starting to turn on all fours, her body becoming quadruped but slender at the same time.

When the light exploded, it revealed an entirely new Pokémon. It was primarily purple, but had triangular yellow patterns all over the body, like a leopard with spots. She had a pink mask over her green eyes with a well-framed figure with yellow fur along the underside. The leopard-like creature had a paw stuck out as she whipped her head around, huffing pridefully.

"Woah, that's a new one." Lupus commented. "What happened to you, little kitty?"

The feline looked back, her sharp tail swishing about. "I'm flattered that you keep calling me little kitty, but I don't think that describes me accurately anymore. From now on, call me Liepard." She smirked.

The hunting dogs around them sneered at Liepard and Lupus, the feline stretching in a position to pounce. The hunting dogs raised their heads, letting out howls that echoed all around. Their red eyes brightened as their powers were growing more.

"Better watch out, kitty. Canes gets stronger the more they howl." Lupus warned, however Liepard didn't look so threatened.

"Is that so?" she smirked. "Thanks for the tip. I'll make note of that when I try this." She spread her paws, glaring at the head Canes in front of her. " **Psych Up!** "

A yellow ring of aura appeared in front of her, which began drawing purple globs of energy from Canes. The globs passed through the ring into a vortex into Liepard, fading into her body. The move made her feel a sudden swell of power, so much in fact that her newly adapted veins were rushing with this increase in adrenaline.

' _I feel so light…and strong!'_ she looked forward, her claws clutching the ground. _'This is what their strength is right now?'_

She didn't have time to think as the main pack leader rushed for her, but Liepard rushed back. " **Pursuit!** " With her new, powerful legs, she pounced high above the dogs that jumped for her, her body slamming into the pack leader and sending him to the ground. Liepard slid along the ground, getting momentum to jump and dodged Capricorn. She moved around evasively against Aries' wool, and using **Fury Swipes** and the enhanced strength she got, she cleaved through the wool like it was nothing.

Lupus watched on, slightly amazed. The little kitty was proving herself very well. He smirked. "Heh…guess she showed me." He huffed. He spread his legs, his strength coming back. "Okay, now it's time to get _really s_ erious!" He let out a loud howl towards the sky. His fur was prickling in midnight blue static. His molecules were seeding up so fast that electricity was charging around his entire body.

As Canes attacked, Lupus suddenly disappeared . Held in midair, a sonic shockwave rushed passed him that was the wolf. Hos howls caused deafening quakes that made the hounds quiver and cover their ears. He raced after Capricorn, the Zodiac ready to block.

Suddenly Lupus disappeared again, much to Capricorn's despise. He was suddenly grounded by a monstrous sonic wave in the form of a kick from above, causing the ground to roar with debris flying everywhere.

"YOU'RE ALL GOING DOWN!" the wolf snarled menacingly.

Liepard smirked. She dodged Aries' wool attack and ran along the side towards her.

* * *

In the distance there was a large echo and explosion. Corvus looked over with wide eyes. "Is that Lupus?"

"Seems that he has unleashed his inner force." Volans said, his determination brightening his smirk. "Well then, suppose it should be rude to not go full power as well."

Corvus snickered. "Cool with me. Let's do this!"

In their respective battles, both members let out harsh battle cries as the Magic Power changed drastically. Black flames surrounded Corvus while Volans' body and wings layered and morphed into extra large blue scales like shark fins would be. Their Magic Power flowed to higher levels as their glares were fixed on their foes.

Sagittarius fired a large array of arrows, but Corvus spun in place, creating a black tornado with flames in them that surprisingly burnt away the arrows. Taurus let out a battle cry as he swung diagonally into the black typhoon heading their way. When it dissipated, Corvus wasn't there.

A black blitz appeared overhead, but Taurus didn't realize it in time. " **Soaring Midnight!** "

He crashed his black plumage into Sagittarius and Taurus, creating a black explosion that he shot out of. Ascending into the skies, he spread his wings and soared higher. Sue enough, his evasive tactic worked as Sagittarius' arrows misfired again.

' _We can do this. We just need to hang on a little longer.'_ The empowered crow thought.

Volans returned to the ground where Cancer and Pisces went intercepting him at all three corners. He stayed completely aware as time slowed down for him. With one motion, he spun on his heel and his sharpened wings and elbows generated a high-powered rotation that cut into the scales, and even deflected Cancer's twin scissors for once. Suddenly all three were struck by palm strikes that repulsed them, hardened by sharp scales.

' _They will not be our end. Their ends are at the hands of his majesty, and they must be stopped!'_ Volans confidently told himself.

* * *

Nic and Greninja slid back from a massive explosion of energy. Within it, the Celestial King held his blade to his side, while beneath, Nic-Gemini's red eyes gleamed daggers. They were all glaring at their respective opponents, but neither side made an instant move.

Off to the side, Erza was being suppressed by Gemini, watching the scuffle with gritting teeth. She had watched Nic do combat before, but not against a copy foe. _'If Gemini is able to copy everything Nic can do, that includes his knowledge and his attacks.'_ Her eyes narrowed. _'At this rate, it'll be turned into a battle of wills.'_

Vanessa watched with just as much curiosity. However, she knew better than to get in the way. Nic would have to find a way. If she interfered, that could get her in trouble, and the king could target her.

Melchior watched the fight, a smirk on his face growing. "How resilient you are, Nic Pularis. Your counters mean no bounds. However, I do feel that as much as I enjoyed our dance, it's time for us to end this. Gemini. Your majesty."

Nic-Gemini lowers its head, the eyes glistening Nic's figment, via **Mind Reader** , while the Celestial King raised his blade, gathering celestial energy inside.

Nic and Greninja stared ahead. Their glares were fixed on their opponents as well, but they couldn't ignore the amount of power they were gathering in the sword and forehead. The energy in Nic-Gemini was protruding what looked like a spinning horn. It was **Horn Drill**.

"Nic, they don't seem to be affected by anything at all." Greninja said. "They're just healing."

"I know. They're countering everything we throw with regeneration and power." His eyes narrowed. "Exactly like Ophiuchus."

Melchior playfully laughed. "So now you understand? Celestial Spirits are the truest, most powerful magic that Earthland ever needs. The other magics are but small spuds compared to what they can do. Do you accept it now?"

Nic wasn't buying the king's faulted logic for even a second. There was always a flaw in someone. Even he had flaws. Not everyone was perfect, but the king was so delusional at this point that it wasn't right to speak anymore.

"Now then, how do you intend to defeat yourself?" his crown glowed brighter. "With the might of the Celestial King's divine power, and your power, who do you think now deserves to sit atop the throne?!"

Nic and Greninja's eyes narrowed. They picked up on something he said just now. _'Defeating myself…'_ Suddenly it clicked. That was it! They found a way, and judging by the glances the other gave, they understood.

' _Greninja, you get what to do?'_

' _Yeah, we can pull it off. We've been through worse.'_

Erza observed her husband and his Greninja. She saw the look in his eye, immediately bringing her to her senses. _'That look in his eyes. I know that look…they're about to do something only they know how to do.'_ She kept her calm and watched on. _'Nic. Greninja. Be careful.'_

Nic stayed completely still, along with Greninja. It looked as though they had ceased their movement.

Melchior smirked. "You wish for me to end this? Very well then." The king reached out wide. "Then I hereby grant you your wish! Gemini, finish them!"

Nic-Gemini went rushing ahead, his head down as the energy horn spun haphazardly quick. His swift movements made it impossible to tell if he'll barrel through or dodge any attacks.

"Remember, we have to stop the Celestial King and get that crown off." Nic told Greninja. "Follow my lead."

Greninja nodded. "Right."

Nic took in a deep breath. " **Smokescreen!** " He pivoted and blew out a large sum of smoke around him and Greninja. The smoke wave washed everywhere.

Melchior's eyelids lowered some. "Too bad."

Thanks to **Mind Reader** , Nic-Gemini barreled through seeing Nic clearly. With a cry outwards, the controlled spirit struck something with the power tool-like rotation of his attack. The **Horn Drill** had struck something, causing an intense white burst that caused winds and the ground to stir. The shockwaves of the knockout move caused Erza to shield up, as well as Vanessa. The earth raged about as the smoke blew into thin air.

From it, a dust trail followed a body into the ground through the straight hillside. The trail stopped as the body skid, then fumbled constantly until it was left in a dust pile.

The king hummed as he watched the dust clear away. Nic-Gemini held its position as its energy in the spinning horn faded away. It calmed itself and stood still as the dust faded, revealing the results.

At the end of a slight trail of dust embedded in the earth, there was a small indent in the dirt and grass where Nic was. He was laying on his back, his body completely covered in dirt and scrapes. His left forearm had an intense blood stain that continued oozing as his eyes were shut. His clothing otherwise seemed okay, though admittedly some tatters were on it. The residual blood seeped through the arm entirely, leaving some stains on the clothes and golden sash.

Melchior looked at Nic, seeing his defeated frame on the ground. "How very…underwhelming of your circumstances, Nic Pularis."

Everyone was completely wide-eyed. Vanessa's eyes were shuddering as she saw Nic's body bleeding and ragged. Erza was silent as well, her bangs and shadows covering the depths of her own surmise. Both were completely silent, unable to make any words form from their frowns.

The air felt tight as an odd sensation fell around the atmosphere. The bloodlust of battle had fallen, as to where silence overcame the atmosphere. While Natsu and Wendy were seen fighting Loke and Scorpio, many others were doing their best to thwart the mind-controlled friends. But even thy felt some kind of bizarre ache in their stomachs.

The shores alongside the battlefield continued flowing though as they brought along red stardust that mixed with the sand, it looked to be overflowing. It looked more like blood. And what's worse, it wasn't ending. The shorelines were almost red, stained like what the rest of the land Melchior intends to infest.

After a long silence, the king humbly nodded. "I humbly respect your opinion of one who blends in with the crowd. However, it's clear that those who don't take their chances to the top, are destined to fall."

Nic laid completely still on the ground, his arm still bleeding. Suddenly he turned into a puff of smoke, fading away.

The king gasped in shock, as did the girls as they saw who was in the smoke.

In place of Nic was Gemini. The duo looked badly injured with blood stains of their own. The twins held their hands as they laid with devoid beady eyes.

"What's this? Gemini?" Melchior snapped. He looked at the wounded Gemini, then back towards the Nic that was looking at Gemini with confusion. _'How did he turn that attack back on Gemini? Did he switch places at the last second?'_ He saw Nic standing there, his expression off as he looked onwards. _'Still, we can't risk him getting his wind.'_

"Your majesty, ready your **Meteor Blade**!"

The Celestial King raised his blade even higher, his attack charged at full capacity. The red shine in the crown of Melchior was at its peak. _'At this reaction speed, even the likes of he can't turn this attack around!'_

The Celestial King brought his longsword down, just as Nic turned around with confusion. All that he saw was cosmic energy before a dense shockwave shredded mile off towards the sea off southward. The cosmic wave cleaved into cliffs and hills, causing them to plummet into the ocean. The land rattled as the attack's seismic shockwave could've been seen from miles far off into the mountains.

Melchior frowned with anticipation as dust and dirt spewed all around him. The Celestial King's sword was still pinned to the ground at the beginning of the long trench.

The sword lifted, the controlled king lowering his guard. The dust cleared, revealing Nic embedded into the deepest parts of the trench, which began taking in some of the celestial water from the sea that was sliced into. His eyes were shut as he wasn't moving.

Melchior looked at the sight, frowning. _'Did we make sure he was hit?'_

As water was filling up the trench the king created, Nic's body was being picked up and floated. In another puff of smoke, it revealed Gemini again, their beady red eyes dim and out.

The king gasped. _'Another copy?!'_

Though it wasn't noticed, the visage that was Erza turned from a frown to a smirk.

' _I don't understand. I thought that was Nic Pularis. If he didn't switch places, then how did he…'_ The king thought back to the **Smokescreen** Nic laid out. _'Of course! That's when it happened! But if they're both Gemini, then which one's…'_ He slowly turned around, only to feel an intense force crash into his face, instantly breaking his nose. The invisible impact sent him midriff, in which a silhouette appeared off to the side, smashing a fist with an energy orb into the chin, cracking the jawline/ The king spilled blood from that gushing blow that sent him across the ground.

The Celestial King didn't realize it until seconds later, a massive blast of scalding water in sheer volume smashed into his body from above. The eruption of mist and the groundbreaking from him getting to a knee from the impact left the earth trembling as both kings floored instantly.

Vanessa and Erza stared with slight signs of moral surprise. However, they sighed contently.

Melchior spat blood from that last blow. He laid on the ground, barely recovering. "How did…you…?" He looked up, seeing two pairs of feet at his front. His eyes widened, seeing Nic in his Fist Form, his body glowing from that **Drain Punch**.

Melchior's eyes widened as he turned his head weakly. He saw at the end of the ditch, there wasn't a body. The king didn't realize it.

 _WHAM!_

Suddenly Libra went down. The gravity she was creating had stopped altogether, allowing Erza and Vanessa and their Pokémon to rise to their feet.

' _Libra?! What's going on?!'_

Nic and Greninja stared forward, rethinking what just happened. It all went to plan.

 _Inside the_ _ **Smokescreen**_ _, Nic and Greninja silently waited as Nic-Gemini closed in. Greninja stayed low as Nic put his right arm behind his back, while he used his forearm to block as Nic-Gemini closed in. A split-second before impact, Nic's body was outlined in a red aura, which was_ _ **Endure**_ _. Just as the attack struck the forearm, a swift light flashed, and the shockwave dispersed everything._

' _I see. So that was Nic's plan all along.'_ Erza grinned passively, showing moral impression over her husband. _'It was reckless as hell, but in the end it paid off. He used one of the few moves that can stop him from getting defeated by a one-hit move. Even though he took immense amount of damage, he was still in. Then, to deceit his opponent, he used_ _ **Transform**_ _to make it look like Gemini was defeated, when really he was making the opponent turn against their own…and strike when their guards were down. Clever fool.'_

"I…don't understand…" Melchior grimaced, barely getting to a knee.

"I learned something from a while back." Nic said. His mind flashed to when he fought Emmanuel and his decoys. "You're not the only one who can deceit another."

Melchior gritted his teeth. "Libra, sink him!" Libra got up after being pushed down, but for some reason, she wasn't able to use her magic. _'What's going on? Did he somehow stop Libra's gravity?'_

Appearing between Nic and Greninja, something slowly came into view. Fading from her invisibility, Kecleon appeared. Melchior gasped in shock. Kecleon slowly tilted her head to the side, blinking very slowly.

"What…is…?"

"Libra needs her scales to work her magic, right?" Nic snapped his fingers. Kecleon opened her mouth and her pink tongue showed Libra's scales she stole. "If she can't use the scales, her magic is out of balance."

Melchior was stunned for the umpteenth time. _'Impossible. So he knew how to counter Libra as well. But when did he summon that thing?'_

 _As_ _ **Horn Drill**_ _struck Nic's forearm, his right arm reached back, secretly pulling out a Poke Ball. The bright flash that was unleashed was Kecleon popping out, dispersing in the smoke with Greninja. As Greninja fled after the king, Kecleon turned invisible as the smoke dissipated, her target for Libra with_ _ **Thief**_ _._

' _So he used Kecleon's_ _ **Thief**_ _to ground Libra while she targeted us, but also to find a way to nullify her magic.'_ Vanessa smirked. _'Suppose that's my brother.'_

"Nice work, Kecleon." Nic praised.

Kecleon kept her head tilted. "Can't wash yourself without soap." She told the disgraced king.

With Libra unable to use her attacks, Melchior looked at Nic as he reverted to his standard form. He was recovering more of his energy with **Recover** , healing what wounds were made, including the blood on his forearm. Melchior's frustration was showing drastically. His annoyance with Nic's mind games coming to an end.

"Celestial King! Defeat these fools at once!" he ordered.

A pair of red eyes gleamed in darkness. The Celestial King arose from the ground, recovered from Greninja's massively powerful surprise attack. The king raised his blade as Nic and his Pokémon glanced up calmly, the blade drawing down onto them.

" **Protect!** " Nic shouted.

Kecleon slipped in front, reaching an arm up and creating a turquoise shield. The king's massive blade slammed downwards, encompassing the entire area with cosmic energy that was repulsed skywards. The blazing force of the attack wasn't penetrating the shield, keeping everyone behind safe.

"Vanessa, hurry!"

"Right!" Gathering her Magic Power, Vanessa's teal aura started blooming. Krookodile moved out of the way to allow room as his Trainer's magic flourished with pressure so intense the land was rupturing. Her eyes widened. " **Aura Guardian!** "

All her magic bloomed into her Aura Guardian. Her ethereal teal manifestation reached through the dissipating cosmic energy and grabbed the king, which stood at the same height. Vanessa got behind and restrained the king, his arms pinned.

Melchior glared skywards, his glare hardening. _'Even with her Magic Power, it still won't hold him down for long.'_ he smirked, the jewel beginning to glow again.

Nic glanced at Greninja. "Greninja…"

He nodded. "Right. Let's do this."

Their eyes and hearts pulsed at the same time. The air pressure around them did a complete 180 as a soul-like ripple turned everything around them blue and cool. Their bodily spirits matched up perfectly, their eyes overlapping, becoming purple. Nic's edging in his attire returned to normal, and shined bright purple, with purple eyes. Greninja was engulfed in a tornado of water that shot skywards, transforming him into Nic-Greninja. The water infused into his back, covering the scar. A medium sized shuriken of water revealed itself with a thick blanket of dark water as he rushed towards the king.

Melchior's eyes widened as he felt this harsh flow of power. _'What kind of a power is that?!'_ His crown glowed brighter. "As king, I order you to eliminate them!"

The Celestial King was caught at a standstill. His red eyes looked weak, as if he wasn't responding through Vanessa's hold.

"Did thou not hear me! End them!" He noticed something was wrong. His spirits should be acting on his orders. As he looked at Libra, he was noticing the flicker in her eyes fading. His composure inside was breaking down. _'Hold on, something's wrong here. Why aren't my spirits doing as I say?'_ He looked at his surroundings, noticing something wrong about the dimensions. _'This is-?!'_

It was revealed they were inside a distorted room. There were perfect edges to the area, but the lines and dimension were distorted, like space was bending. Melchior was completely stunned until he turned towards Nic, seeing him in his Mind Form with arms out to both sides.

"You…what have you done?!"

Nic remained silent as his glare was fixed on Melchior. His **Magic Room** was active, stopping the king in his tracks.

' _No…I can feel my hold breaking!'_ He looked up to his crown, the jewels' glow gone. His eyes shrunk at the horror. _'It can't be! Is he nullifying my crown's effects?! Just what kind of power is he using that is above the rights of Celestials?!'_

With the room's effects, the crown's influence was cut off. The Zodiacs all present were losing the glow in their eyes, their powers suddenly vanishing to normal.

Loke blinked. "Where…am I…?" He noticed n incoming flame and lightning spiraling. "Wait, Natsu?!"

Aquarius' vision returned to normal, her levels dropping. "What's going on?" she looked around, seeing her flood levels dropping suddenly. Taking notice as well, Lucy and Juvia looked shocked.

All around, the Zodiacs in combat were returning to normal briefly. Their powers suddenly flatlined as their eyes went back to normal. This was the opening everyone was looking for.

"Sorry guys, but this is for your own good!" Nic shouted. "Everyone, now!"

"NO!" Melchior screamed.

Natsu started swirling flames as Cana used her tarot cards to create fire that she shot at Natsu. The vortex created a vacuum that sucked the energy into his gullet that made the flames around him expand further. Wendy faced Scorpion with black whirlwinds confining them. Lucy and Juvia grabbed the other's hand and a unison glow enveloped them. A crow-shaped black flame swelled around him. The blades on Volans expanded and glowed as he soared after Pisces and Cancer. A wolf-like energy enveloped Lupus' arm. Gray gathered Devil Slayer ice against Virgo. Erza reached for her Key Stone, letting out a battle cry for Houndoom as the hound was swelled in the power, causing him to transform into Mega Houndoom a second time. Flames swelled inside his mouth as Erza requipped into her Flame Empress Armor and gathered flames against Libra.

Nic-Greninja reached for the shuriken on his back, gathering a high-scale vapor that turned into water. The cyclone dissipated, revealing a massive purple shuriken that spun so fast it looked like a saucer that eviscerated anything in its path.

"NOW!"

" **Dragon Slayer's Secret Arts Revision – Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!** "

" **Dragon Slayer's Secret Arts Revision – Shattering Light: Poison Sky Drill!** "

"I'm sorry Aquarius! You'll be back to normal soon! I promise!" Lucy cried out. "Juvia!"

Juvia nodded, together they roared. " **Unison Raid!** "

" **Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword!** "

" **Nevermore – Amaterasu Sky!** "

" **Deep World – Sakratua Pala!** "

" **Great Wolf – Sound Barrier Fang Crush!** "

Mega Houndoom unleashed **Inferno** that melted the ground along its course, enveloping Erza and her blade as she sped after Libra. _'Nic's recklessness isn't the only on that can be effective!'_ She reached out her flaming sword, spiraling with the blue flames. " **Flame Empress's Soaring Fire Blade!** "

" **Water Shuriken!** " Nic-Greninja threw the shuriken with all his might, rushing through the atmosphere with deeply intense precision and speeds at the blink of an eye towards the Celestial King.

Everyone's attacks rushed pass the spirits and engulfed them entirely. In pity of their confused states, they couldn't afford to have their chances blown by them recovering. Lightning flames exploded around Loke, and a pressurized beam of toxic light enveloped Scorpio without warning, ripping through his weakened sandstorm. Lucy and Juvia cried out as celestial water shot into Aquarius, pushing her back. Lupus' claw snapped down on Aries and Capricorn at the same time, rushing at the blink of an eye. Liepard's **Assist** copied **Sonic Claw** , the spell slashing clean through the hunting dogs. Gray's sword slashed Virgo, instantly downing her in ice. Volans swung his blade, splicing into the twin fishes and shattering Cancer's scissors. A massive flaming crow shot down and cawed, incinerating Taurus and Sagittarius in Amaterasu flames. Erza's blade flashed in an uppercut, cutting into Libra and making intense fire swirl that made her scream.

At the last second, Vanessa moved out of the way of the gigantic shuriken and reverted to herself. As she descended, Krookodile shot out of the ground and grabbed her as he burrowed back under to avoid the shockwave out of the area. The shuriken sliced and exploded into the Celestial King's chest. The king's longsword was shattered to pieces as he let out a piercing cry that was muffled by the pillar of purple water and mist that shook the land far as the eye could see.

"Now! Add the chlorine!" Kecleon chirped.

Melchior quipped.

Nic held out his fist that Kecleon's tongue grabbed. She whirled around, dragging Nic in circles until momentum was enough for him to be shot at Nic-Greninja s he descended. Reaching for the other, their hands and fingers intertwined. They spun around and their opposite fists pulled back, glowing bright purple just like their eyes, which brimmed with power.

Melchior stared up, horror beseeching him. _'There's no way…not that power! Not to a celestial!'_

Coming down hard, Nic and Nic-Greninja's glowing purple fists shot clean downwards.

" **RETURN!** "

Their fists smashed into Melchior's chest, making the entire area around him crash and erupt in a violent uproar. The ground depressed altogether, but the debris was vaporized in the explosion of purple energy that bloomed like an atomic bomb.

Melchior's eyes rolled to the back of his head as his cries went hoarse under all the pressure.

All their attacks dissipated soon, leaving echoes of fumbles and roars to fade away. In the far distance, the Celestial King slowly crashed onto his back, leaving dust to rise. All around Astral, where men laid in defeat, so did the Celestial Spirits. They all crashed or laid on the ground, wounded and devoid of pupils. Some were knocked out completely.

Lucy, Juvia, and Klefki panted, all three of them soaking wet. They glared through the marsh that was Astral at their fallen celestial friend.

"I think…that finally did it." Juvia panted.

"Yeah, I guess…Nic stopped the king after all…" Lucy labored. She looked at Aquarius, her eyes misting. "Aquarius…it's okay…it's over now…"

Lupus and Liepard reconvened, the two seeing all the foes down and huffed. Corvus tipped his cap, smirking. Volans hummed and nodded in approval. Gray looked towards Snover as the hail around them stopped, signaling the battle over. Wendy smiled as she returned to normal, Amaura and Carla sighing in relief.

Charmeleon looked at Natsu, smiling. Cana smirked at Natsu. With realization dawning, Natsu raised a fist fight.

"That's what I'm talking about! Yeah! We just kicked celestial butt big time!"

"Yes!" Charmeleon shouted.

Erza sighed in relief, requipping back to her Heart Kreuz as Mega Houndoom walked up to her, reverting to normal again. "Good work." She heard ground churning and looked over, seeing Krookodile arise again. He sat Vanessa down on her feet and she looked over.

"Erza."

Erza nodded and looked over her shoulder towards the area where the distortion dissipated. Fading, it showed Nic and Nic-Greninja still standing over Mechior's body. He was embedded into the ground with a gaping mouth, his crown's jewel not active.

Likewise, in the distance, they saw the Celestial King down. He was also embedded into the ground, his red eyes not glowing. He, too, was down.

Nic and Nic-Greninja nodded together. They looked towards Erza, smiling at them contently.

"Seems like it's over." Houndoom huffed. "About time."

"So it would seem." Erza bemused.

' _Looks like it's over…'_ Nic seemed calm as he and Nic-Greninja thought the same. Even though it looked like they've won, they somehow got a strange stir in their chests something was missing. _'What's this feeling…?'_ They had that same feeling something was wrong elsewhere. They turned towards the mountains, seeing the golden shine still. _'Sophie. Duncan. You two better be okay…'_

* * *

A wave of dust faded away as Sophie and Duncan were out of breath. All their attacks they were pulling off weren't getting through, or at the very least, doing very little damage against Andromeda. Even Sophie's Pokémon were starting to wear.

' _Just how strong is this thing?'_ Duncan questioned. _'Are even our magics affective against this thing?'_

' _If the crown's really giving her all this power, then we have to stop it.'_

Andromeda's arms remained spread out, her Magic Power creating the radiant glow around her. Suddenly, the glow in her eyes faded, her Magic Power suddenly diminishing.

Sophie and Duncan looked on in confusion as Andromeda's head lowered, the statue-like woman standing completely still.

"Is she going to attack…?" Duncan murmured.

"I'm not sure." Sophie studied the Magic Power of Andromeda. It was at a constant, but it looked like she stopped moving. _'Her magic hasn't dwindled yet. But this change in pressure, did they finally stop the crown's effects from working?'_

Tophet glared ahead, looking at the scene with no emotion.

Duncan huffed as he tapped what was left of the metal rod on his shoulder. "Hmph, so I guess we were saved by the bell."

"Yes. I suppose so…" She looked at Andromeda, seeing something peculiar. "Wait…something's not right here."

Andromeda's hollow eyes were dazed as the chains around her wrists tightened. The spirit's eyes flared red as the ground around her started shaking haphazardly. She was shuddering, and it seemed to be making matters much worse.

Looking around, they saw the ground shuddering like it was afraid.

"What's the meaning of this?" Duncan growled. "Is she still controlled?"

Before Sophie could respond, Andromeda raised her head and screamed loudly throughout the mountain range. Her eyes were still red as her mouth was gaping with a red light inside. Her piercing wails shook the earth, and nobody's ears were safe from this immense cry of agony.

"What is happening?!" Dewpider yelled.

 _BEEPBEEPBEEP!_ Staryu yelled out. It knew something was terribly wrong.

"What is it?! Speak words!"

Kadabra looked startled. "Everyone, get back!"

Sophie stared in absolute belief, feeling a greater rise in magic entirely. Staryu beeped in horror.

Andromeda unleashed a cry that echoed in the light that exploded from her body. The shockwaves of her attack spread far, obliterating rockslides and passageways as the light traveled.

* * *

Crime Sorciere panted as they faced Ara and Scutum, both their eyes returning to normal thankfully. They were out of breath, and looking very tired.

"It would seem…that they've finally calmed down." Jellal huffed.

"Then…does that mean we win?" Sorano looked to her sister or an answer, but Yukino was equally as confused.

"I'm not sure."

Erik questioned the results as well, but his hearing was picking up large explosions and the sounds of wailing that were closing in. He's hearing so many things, ranging from Melchior's cries of agony, to the Magic Power above. His one eye widened as he went completely stiff.

Bellona noticed Erik's stiffness and raised a brow. "Is something the matter, Erik?"

Erik clutched his fists, the land beginning to shake beneath. "I don't know what the hell her deal is…but you guys better duck now!"

Jellal gasped. "What?"

"Get down!" Sorano squealed, flooring.

Crime Sorciere turned around as the magnitude strengthened as a massive shockwave of light was traveling towards them. Ara and Scutum, completely exhausted and dazed from their experience, didn't have the chance as their bodies were eviscerated in the shockwave of light that vanished into the far reaches of the mountains. Crime Sorciere screamed as they, Arbok, Minior, and Mantine were blown away from the attack.

All across the mountain range, a massive explosion of light enveloped everything. The celestial shockwaves were obliterating everything in the path of the cursed mage's wake. The only things that remained safe were the hill itself, and Tophet, who seemed completely fine through it all.

The entity had a crude visage as he looked on. "The pain of Andromeda's curse is forever unyielding."

Andromeda screamed out in agony as the chains and cuffs on her wrist glowed brighter, her cries echoing louder as the light brightened.

* * *

The Parasia Queen unleashed a menacing gurgle that bellowed through the caverns. With each echo, blue waves traveled swiftly, giving new orders to the Ella minions surrounding her. The Parasia on the ground saw Kevin flying overhead with Swadloon. They reached up, attacking with extended tendrils.

"Oh no, they coming in all slimy and wiggly and eewie." Swadloon spat.

"Got it." Kevin braced himself. "Alright Swadloon, use that new move. Use **Protect!** "

Swadloon beamed as a turquoise energy shield appeared in front of him as he was at the front. The shield blocked and repelled the Parasia tendrils that came after them. They continued on, the lower-half covered by Swadloon's improved defenses.

With the Parasia distracted, this left an opening for Beedrill. "I STING YO FACE!" His stingers glowed bright purple for **Twineedle** , stabbing an piercing an Ella clone in the face. Some Ella clones moved out of the way of the aggressive bee to avoid his buzzing wrath, but this proved to be fatal as some stepped out of bounds into purple ripples, making poisonous bubbles pop around them.

"Careful where you move your pieces!" Krabby shouted, his claw glowing metallic white with silver outlining. "My turn! **Metal Claw!** " He swung his pincer, leaving a silver trail that slashed into a few Ella clones, causing them to dispel their forms and drop dead. "King me!"

A Parasia came up from behind Krabby as he turned around, but out of the blue, Raticate jumped and snapped his growing bucked teeth into the neck, causing an explosion of smoke as the Ella fake fell over. "Haha! I feel so CWAZY!" The rat shuddered, full of energy. He dashed pass Krabby, his body cloaked in a blue outline and zipped, via **Quick Attack**. His force was barreling one Ella into another, piling them up until he pushed them back.

Tranquill swooped pass several tendrils, evading with dexterity. Cawing he spun as his wings glowed for **Steel Wing**. He got vertical with one wing across the ground as he shot across the earth, smashing the wing into Ella fakes.

Similarly, Yanma was speeding like a lightning bolt thanks to her Speed Boost. Heracross was following behind as she flew deeper into the horde. Her eyes glimmering, her wings glowed as she zipped pass them, dropping **Sonic Boom** eruptions. The smoke cover was the opportunity for a glint to speed through. Heracross roared as he used **Aerial Ace** , barreling through unsuspecting Ella clones.

As Yanma's Speed Boost enhanced greater, she looked back at Heracross, smiling chirply. Heracross returned a nod and they continue the Bug-type combo.

Trubbish let out a belch as her flaps glowed bright white, her **Double Slap** smacking around many Parasia around her. Many weren't able to get close because of how badly she smelled, and she was surprisingly quick to swat. When tendrils barely grazed her, she turned towards the Parasia that shot them and her belly started gurgling. She opened wide, unleashing a **Sludge** that struck down the Parasia.

"Look alive, people!" Dereece shouted. Using his Elemental Walk, he was high enough out of range for the Parasia tendrils to not hit him. But on occasion, a few close calls almost got his shoes. He yelped in fear.

"Oi, I got this!" Stunfisk ensured. He slammed his fin into the ground, causing the flat fish to ascend to the air. He used his fins to flap repeatedly, gliding downwards. "Ready for some rain, mate?"

"Use **Mud Shot** , Stunfisk, now!" Dereece ordered.

Stunfisk's beak glowed orange inside and he fired rounds of brown mud from above. The attack peppered across the battlefield below, creating explosions of mud that many Parasia weren't able to get through.

"Yeah, that's right!" Dereece looked around, seeing a random Ella fake glaring at Stunfisk. "Quick, **Thunder Shock!** " His warning reached Stunfisk as the tendrils snapped at him. Smiling, Stunfisk fired a weak jolt of electricity that burst in midair, making the Parasia recoil.

Unknowingly behind, there was a blue glint. Unable to respond, the Ella fake turned and was slammed with a jet of water that sailed through her. Seel blitzed with her **Aqua Jet** , flying haphazardly throughout the atmosphere and through Parasia.

"Pardon me, y'all watch out!" She swooped down, her beam into the Parasia army leaving water to spray everywhere.

"Keep them distracted just like that!" Dereece shouted. _'They're slowed down for now thanks to our speed lowering attacks. The ones confused must've been beaten already. Gotta hope Kevin gets to her, and soon!'_

Tendrils shot up beneath, longer extensions wrapping around the soles of his feet.

"Gah!" Dereece yelped.

"I gotcha!" a voice shouted from close by. Suddenly a thin but swift barrier swept beneath Dereece, cutting the appendages off. The remainder returned to the Parasia while the rest around his heel wrinkled and dried up.

Dereece shuddered. "Blek, so disgusting." He looked down at Joey. "Thanks, Captain!"

"Don't drop your guard, no matter what!" Joey ducked from a tendril and smacked Magikarp into another fake. He turned around and created a barrier to avoid another tendril launch. With dance-like movements, he pranced around, smacking Magikarp into his enemies.

As he was moving swiftly, he was keeping watch of his surroundings. When one Parasia came up when his back was turned, he swiftly pivoted, slamming the Ella clone across the face. As he watched the creature lay there, he panted. Seeing him strike Ella was heartbreaking, it truly was. But he knew better than to play Mr. Nice Guy. Broly didn't teach him to watch his back for nothing. _'It doesn't matter who the foe is if they're out to kill you.'_ He reached out his arm creating a large barrier. _'You can't get carried away. Don't let them get to you!'_

The Parasia ahead were shooting tendrils with all their might. Joey pushed the barrier with all his might.

" **Barrier-Make: Crash!** "

He crashed the barrier into the swarm in the blink of an eye. Immediately some were scraped beneath, and many others were blown out of the way. Joey took a sharp breath, looking dead serious. "Man, these guys just don't let up."

Quilladin let out a battle cry as he swung **Needle Arm** , immediately downing one Ella fake. He turned around and glared at the realization he was surrounded. His eyes beamed left to right, but he didn't falter.

Parasia unleashed tendrils strike at the same time from all directions. When many would think he'd jump to dodge, he actually pulled off a dance move and ducked, spinning on his back like a top. Meanwhile, the tendrils went right over, jabbing the other and hollering in angst.

Quilladin finished the dance move and landed on a knee. "How's that for a spin-off!"

Stunfisk was close by, hearing Quilladin's comment with a chuckle. "Good one, mate." He was saved from an incoming Parasia when Seel's **Headbutt** rammed in its head, downing it.

"This is getting tiring." The sea lion huffed. "Just many are there?"

All around Trubbish, she was surrounded by Parasia. Steeling herself, she lurched her head skywards, unleashing a toxic orb that went skywards. The orb exploded again, becoming another round of poison ripples in the ground for **Toxic Spikes**. With distance, she was clear…or so it'd seem. An Ella fake jabbed at her with an extended tendril. It ached, but she took it well. But then another tendril jabbed from another direction. Then another. And another.

Seeing Trubbish in trouble, Joey covered his blind spot with a barrier. He turned around and aimed in Trubbish's direction. "Give her some backup, guys! Quilladin, **Rollout!** Tranquill, **Gust!** "

The two eyes glimmered. Quilladin yelled as he curled into a ball and started rolling along the ground. He barreled along, grinding Parasia beneath him. Tranquill's wings glowed as he flapped them. A blast wave of air picked up, blowing away Parasia, but that was just a bonus. The tailwind from the attack made Quilladin speed up so fast that he was a steamroller at acceleration. He zipped clean through the Ella fakes surrounding Trubbish, saving her.

"Awesome." Joey smiled. He heard snarling behind, seeing his barrier's border teeming with Ella clones that growled with devoid eyes. He braced himself. "Alright Magikarp, this is another chance. You ready?"

This time, Magikarp flopped eagerly in Joey's hold. "Yes, sir!" he wheezed.

"Then show them your **Splash!** " He deliberately threw Magikarp into the crowd of Parasia, making him flop on his side. The Fish Pokémon could be seen flopping around the ground, plopping and going in random directions. The zombie-like movements of the Parasia didn't cope well when they tripped over the fish. They faceplanted, leaving holes in the advancing army.

Joey smirked. "Alright, let's keep the pressure on!"

Dereece reached down at the army. "Yanma, **SuperSonic!** Seel, **Icy Wind!** " Yanma hummed as she sailed across, expelling a loud sonic soundwave into the crowd. Some Ella stayed cleared or low so they wouldn't be affected, but they were blindsided by a blue, icy wind that blasted them. The ones confused were unaware as they were covered in frost.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill jabbed relentlessly with **Fury Attack** , before he had to ascend to dodge a tendril. "I sting yo face!" he complained.

"Swadloon, **Razor Leaf!** " Kevin shouted from above. Along the kite, Swadloon's shield came down as he unleashed a spiraling funnel of leaves downwards, peppering the ground and Parasia with shredded angst. Kevin glared at the back, glaring at where Ella might be. _'I'm almost there…almost…'_

The Parasia Queen saw the enemy making advances and taking down her babies. Her eye suddenly sharpening, she wiggled her tendrils crazily.

" **GrrrOOOoooOOOOHHH!** "

Suddenly the caverns began shuddering, stopping everyone in their tracks. Debris was moving about, leaving unsettled terrain for everyone.

"W-what's going on now?!" Joey tried keeping balanced. "Why is the ground shaking?!"

The queen released another ominous howl. The blue waves that went to the Parasia made them all ceased their advances. The cavernous ceiling above began cracking apart, getting everyone's attention.

Much to all their horror, a fissure was breaking through the rocks. It looked like it was splitting in two entirely.

Joey's eyes shrunk in shock. "…oh, you've gotta be kidding me."

"Talk about a crack-up." Stunfisk murmured.

Dereece looked above, his disposition turning to one of horror. _'No way, how is this happening?'_ He looked towards the queen in the distance, seeing her eye shrunk. _'Wait…how stupid are we?! She can change the terrain to what she wants! She controls this island!'_

Swadloon looked up, seemingly calm. "Oh no, looks like they be dropping on our parade."

Catching the hint, Kevin looked skywards. As the fissure opened, the Parasia on the surface were dropping in. Hundreds of them were falling like rain into the underground chamber. Their wails and shrieks echoed like banshees.

"So many…" Kevin was dumbfounded when he saw a Parasia clone land on a wing of his kite, causing the trajectory to tilt downwards. "Crap!"

"Kevin, look out!" Dereece screamed out.

Kevin turned skywards, his horrors reaching unbelievable heights as Pasrasia glopped him. He screamed as they latched on, their tendrils coiling around him. Swadloon wasn't spared as he was snared as well. The kite started dropping, the tendrils from below finally reaching and sticking to it. They pulled the kite down, along with the passengers.

"KEVIN~!" Dereece yelled. A Parsia shrieked as it landed on him, making him scream in panic before he lost control of his magic. He went plummeting below, falling to many more gelatinous beasts.

"Dereece, no~!" Joey turned, but found his arm held back. Slowly turning, he was dumbfounded when a Parasia tendril had extended and coiled around the arm. "Hey, no touching! This coat is very expensive! AH!" Several Parasia landed in front of him, startling the man.

Their hollow faces and blue humanoid figures closed in on Joey, but he was gonna make a barrier until he was pounced on so suddenly.

Magikarp gasped in shock. He flopped on the ground worried for Joey. He went over to help him, jumping in the air and coming down for **Tackle** on the pile of Parasia, but he merely bounced off. He landed on his side, flailing in a panic.

"Magi…karp…" Joey groaned. The tendrils and jelly-like substance around Joey was draining him slowly. His body was going numb from his Ethernano and bodily fluids drains. He was starting to feel hazy. _'I'm…getting so tired…'_

Quilladin was continuously rolling to get after his Trainer, but dozens of tendrils laced around him suddenly, pulling him back. The Grass-type gasped as he was bounced back like a rubber hand catapult, slinging him into rocks.

"I sting yo face!" Beedrill dove for the army, but a Parasia dropped on his back, sending him to the ground too quickly. "I STING YO FACE!"

Everyone was losing ground fast. Regardless of the poisonous surroundings, Parasia were no overpowering with numbers. Trubbish was slowly surrounded by poisoned parasites, and Tranquill was grabbed by the neck and hoisted down hard. Yanma and Heracross fared no better as they were suddenly seized as they sailed over the crowd.

The infestation didn't stop; it was becoming too much. There seemed to be no end. The Parasia Queen watched as her swarm was running amuck in her chamber, her prey – humans – soon to turn to husks. She couldn't wait to get info and more human intelligence. It wouldn't be long now until they were dried up.

"I'm too attractive to be sucked dry of my goods!" Joey panicked, but a tendril jabbed his head, sticking and making his jaw go numb. He floored hard, with many Parasia gathering around for the slow, agonizing feasting.

"Cap…tain…" Dereece grimaced as Parasia coils and tentacles were draining him of his magic and DNA. His head was getting hazy as he could barely tell the ground beneath him from his own hand.

Swadloon was immobile due to coils spread around him. "Swadloon…" Kevin reached fir him, but he didn't have the strength. His arm dropped to the ground as he laid there, Parasia surrounding and trying to drain his life.

Even with his shades, one could see the mist in his eyes. Kevin's blurry vision saw a pile around his friends individually. "Joey…Dereece…" He lazily looked up, seeing blue entities around him. He clenched his teeth, his frustrations rising.

" **ELLA!** "

The Parasia Queen gurgled at the feast to be finished. Suddenly, a drop touched her head. The queen stopped, feeling another drop.

The Parasia directly in front of her – the real Ella – looked towards the ceiling. It was dripping water, borderline drizzling. Confused, she reached her hand out, feeling it as liquid. "Rain?"

As rain was pouring down, everyone was screaming in agony along with the Pokmon until they noticed it downpouring. Rain kept coming down, and all of a sudden a blast of water shot the Parasia around Joey. They were jettisoned off him, leaving himself soaked.

Coughing profusely, Joey's pale face arose with a dizzy expression. "Uh…man…what just…? Huh?"

The blast of water continued its wake across the battlefield. The water was a lot stronger than anticipated as Parasia were blasted away. Floods were what got them off Dereece, who was in fetal position when he came around. The water sprayed on Kevin as well, pushing the attackers off.

The Parasia Queen and Ella looked on, showing no signs of surprise.

"C-Captain, are you okay?" Dereece coughed.

"Yeah, I think so…somehow." Joey answered. He reached his hand out, feeling water coming down. "Rain?"

With the rain active, Magikarp looked around at the confusion. Taking the opportunity, his Swift Swim Ability activated, allowing him to flop swiftly towards Joey's side. Joey picked him up as Kevin gathered as well. The other Pokémon regrouped as they looked around, feeling an odd sensation in the air.

Kevin looked up, visibly confused. _'Something's not right about this.'_

' _Is this_ _ **Rain Dance**_ _?'_ Dereece questioned. _'None of us know that move.'_

Joey didn't recognize the move either, but a sound of a light flicker from the hole they made got his and everyone's attention. They turned around, seeing a few figures walk to the cliff overlooking them. They stared in confusion and awe.

Under the visage of darkness, they saw a sly smirk.

Joey's eyes narrowed. "Is that…?"

A maniacal laughter was heard, along with a giddy squeal from the insectoid beside him. The lights came on around him, revealing a Buizel, a Roggenrola, and more importantly, a Venipede. Their Trainer's laughter was clear they knew who it was.

"No way…" Dereece paled. "Is that…?"

"Good job, Buizel." The man said. "Perfect timing and accuracy. Now then…I believe _this_ , my friends, is what you should be calling…a dramatic entrance."

Joey slumped over, his brow twitching from the shock he was experience. Never in a million years would he have guessed someone like _him_ would be here. "Kane…"

Kane darkly smirked, beaming pridefully over his nemesis. "Hello, Joey. Surprised to see me?"

* * *

 **Dun-Dun-Duuuuun! And done. Also…dun! Plot twists everywhere, as you could see. There's a LOT that happened yet again! There were a couple versions of how I wanted Nic to go against the king, but I felt that'd be too straightforward. I wanted to show getting clever with status moves and using his past experiences, so I felt this was a fair draft.**

 **For Sophie and Duncan, they'll have their time to shine next chapter. Regarding Sophie, this arc has been hinting some bits for her a while now, and next chapter you'll be seeing what it boils down to for her.**

 **And as for The Freaks, surprise! You never would've guessed Kane of all people coming to their aid! What is going on? But it'll be explained.**

 **Next chapter is gonna be the conclusion to this arc. You probably can guess that it's gonna be a long one, but I am going to try and be as effective with this conclusion as I possibly can, and make sure the ending on both plots gets perfect fittings. So until then, reviews are extremely appreciated!**


	37. We'll Never Forget You

Whirlipede hissed as Kane moved to pet his beloved friend. He smirked mischievously at everyone beneath him, but that trademark wily face he had never failed to send a chill down everyone's spine. "I believe a proper 'thank you' is in order." He commented.

"I don't believe it." Dereece murmured. "When did he…?"

"Friend of yours?" Kevin asked.

Joey blinked. "Eh…w-well…"

"No, he isn't." Dereece answered sharply, glaring at Kane. "He's the one who's been trying to kill us several times over."

Kane chuckled. "Oh Dereece, always to the point. But why matter on the past when you should be more concerned about what's in front of you." To prove his point, Buizel suddenly jumped into the air, firing a **Water Gun** over Dereece's head, blowing away a Parasia. "See what I mean?"

Joey leaned towards Dereece. "Uh, I'm just gonna spitball here but…CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" he yelled. "What are you doing here, Kane?! Aren't you supposed to be cuddling your creepy Whirlipede and plotting in your bungalow's corner or something?"

Whirlipede hissed defensively, as if to lash out at him, but Kane intercepted him. "Don't let him get to you, my friend. Trust me, we'll have our chance soon enough." He turned towards Joey. "And as for your question, I believe the answer is quite obvious."

"Uh…" Joey flinched. He looked left and right and seemed nervous. "Uh…yeah, sure. But how's about you explain it to Dereece over here? He doesn't get out much." He gestured, earning a deadpanned expression from him.

Kane chuckled. "Gladly. You see, I've been watching you, ever since you left the ports of Hargeon."

Joey and Dereece cringed.

"In order to make sure that I get the best chance of where to ambush you for my best brilliant plan, I came to this island. And to make sure that you didn't get away, I had to make sure we were closed off." He still remembered the other night, while Joey and Dereece were exploiting the forest. His Whirlipede's **Poison Tail** smashed their boat to splinters and they made a getaway.

"Wait, so then our boat disappearing…" Dereece's eyes widened. "That was you?!"

"Who else would it be?" Kane huffed musingly. "Honestly…but, thanks to my darling Whirlipede and a little Honey, we got a chance to see just how much stronger you've gotten." That was stage 2, the Bug-type swarm they fought yesterday morning. "What sweet nectar can do. I'm sure that was the case for the river as well, thanks to my Buizel of course."

Buizel moved forward but stayed silent.

Joey furrowed his brow. _'So then, that battle yesterday morning…'_ He questioned why they were swarmed so suddenly. It felt too planned. _'That was all planned! And that Seaking and his gang, they were being aggressive on purpose because they were told to by Kane?'_

"I'm sure you've noticed some of my other handiworks to keep you on your toes along the way." Kane didn't give much hints for them to follow, but looking back at it, it was starting to make sense. The sudden drop from the cliffs – that wasn't natural. It was really his Roggenrola wedged under and pulled himself off to allow them to slowly tip forward down the mountain. And atop the mountain cliffs, where Joey and everyone was following Ella, it made sense when that landslide fell. That was wet earth made by Buizel's **Rain Dance** and **Water Gun,** and Whirlipede stirring a path for the deposits to drop, causing mud and sediment to follow it. It was clicking; the boat gone; the horde attacks; those few life-threatening instances; it all made sense now! He was watching their every move the entire time!

Dereece's eyes widened, the reasoning clicking. _'So then that feeling I had…'_ Back at the camp earlier, he thought he felt something in the bushes. It was really Kane, watching them. _'He's been tracking us from the beginning!'_

Joey's eyes widened. "Then was Steelix actually yours?"

Kane sighed. "A stroke of pure luck. It's not mine, don't worry about that. But it's because of him that I learned what the secret to this whole island was. I was able to persuade Steelix to not allow you suffer the fate of its Trainer. After all, safety is a concern."

Joey looked at everyone else. It seemed too incredulous to believe. "Okay, I'm, like, so~ confused right now…"

Kane jumped down from the cliff, standing next to his enemies. "My original intention was to go ahead and convince these…things to assist in wearing you down, whereas I come in to savor in your bravado's downfall. However, they nearly tried to kill me. There's no reasoning with these mongrels when all they want is to feast on every human there is."

' _Well, that's what she said.'_ Kevin thought, unknowingly cringing at his unintended catchphrase.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I would love the idea of seeing you get destroyed. _But_! No one should be allowed to savor your demise, except for me! Only _I_ can be your ultimate end, Joey Haycliff!" he boldly declared, turning around to face the swarm of Parasia around them. "So, as much as it pains me, we have a common enemy that must be destroyed. Just this once, I suppose I can postpone our little get-together for the sake of humanity."

Joey bashfully grinned. "Thanks, Kane." He was a little creeped out that his self-proclaimed "nemesis" was actually cooperating, but he wasn't in any position to argue. They needed all the help they could get.

Everyone turned in a full circle, facing the Parasia army around them. This time, they were regrouped and ready for the attack.

"Let's make use of the **Rain Dance** while we still can." Dereece advised.

Joey nodded. "You're right, everyone who can use Water-type attacks, let it rip!"

The wild Parasia let out scowls as they advanced onto their foe's alliance.

"Seel, **Aqua Jet!** "

"Buizel, assist with your **Water Gun!** "

Seel erupted in water and jetted after the Parasia ahead of her. As she traveled, Buizel turned towards her and blasted a large volume of water that traveled at a swift speed thanks to his ability. The jet of water and the blast soon joined into one, making a massive jet boost that pushed Seel through the Parasia army with large waves around her.

Joey whistled in astonishment. "Wow, _that's_ fast."

"I believe you have my Buizel's Swift Swim Ability to thank." Kane mused.

Kevin reached out ahead. "Swadloon, **String Shot!** " Swadloon opened his mouth, spiting out large lines of silk and thread that sprayed along the Parasia lined up in front of them. Of course being in the rain made the silk a lot stickier than what was intended to where it felt like mush. All around, a sea of blue aura indicated a speed deduction, just what Kevin needed.

"Now guys! Beedrill, **Twineedle!** Raticate, **Bite**! Krabby, **Vice Grip!** "

All three Pokémon went barreling for different Parasia spread across the area. "I sting yo face!" Beedrill took the initiative with a harsh jab of his painful twin stingers. Raticate shrilled war cries of agony as he chomped down on a stuck Parasia. Krabby pinched his pincers harshly on another, pinching the slimy neck like a chokehold.

Joey smirked. "Buizel's not the only one with Swift Swim. Magikarp, get ready!" He held Magikarp up, whirling him around. "And **Splash!** "

Magikarp was whipped into the air, sent flopping in midair towards the Parasia. As he descended, the flailing fish was attacked by tendrils shooting for him. However, he flopped out of the way, evading most of them. He splashed about, skipping like a rock over water. Parasia were too distracted with the fast-moving flying fish as it hopped and dodged attacks.

"Now!" Joey shouted. "Tranquill, **Air Cutter!** "

"Stunfisk, **Mud Shot!** " Dereece followed up.

Tranquill took to the air as Stunfisk flopped skywards. Together, they released air crescents and mud barrages that barreled through the rain. The Parasia in the distance distracted by Magikarp flopping were caught in spontaneous eruptions everywhere.

Kane raised a brow and turned around, seeing Parasia come closer to him. Coming to his aid were Whirlipede and Roggenrola, the former hissing angrily at the prey.

The Parasia lashed their tendrils at Kane. In a snap of his fingers, Whirlipede initiated his **Protect** , defending Kane from the attacks while Roggenrola faced the army and launched his **Rock Blast**. Silver energy as hard as rocks fired repeatedly, causing large amounts of damage into the frontal forces.

"Trubbish, use **Sludge!** " Joey commanded. Trubbish let out a belch that expelled a large blob of poisonous sludge at the Parasia arm. "Quilladin, back her up! **Needle Arm!** "

"Okay!" Jumping, Quilladin got behind the sludge and brought his glowing spiky arm back. He smashed his fist into it, causing it to make an airwave and pick up force and speed. The attack went farther into the Parasia horde, making a large, mucky explosion that blew apart so many Parasia.

Buizel turned and fired another harsh **Water Gun** that shot across the ground in front of Kane, creating a trench that kept the Parasia from getting inside.

Joey turned towards the trench that was piling with rainwater. Seeing the Parasia behind the line made and sprouted an idea. The halted Parasia around them readied their tendrils, but Magikarp's quick flopping across their heads made it impossible to focus.

"Guys, aim them into the seawater! They'll shrivel up faster that way!" Joey crossed his arms and a barrier created before him. " **Barrier-Make: Crash!** " He shot the barrier into the Parasia across the battlefield, engraving the ground into a ditch that stretched long into the sea river several yards away. The Parasia were shot into the narrow stream, causing many of them to shrivel and wilt from the saltwater.

The ditch Joey created began swelling with seawater. The rush of water filled towards the end, where Joey started it. The Parasia that were too close or had their ankles in the ditch to advance were unlucky as they were shriveling and wilting.

"Limiting the area of their movement, I see." Kane smirked. "Clever gambit."

Joey swiped his arm, yelling out as he summoned another barrier into the trench. With control, he expanded the spell in an arch that cut off Parasia going for the front and shot it as far back as he could. Quickly, seawater began filling it.

"Alright Mister P, now's your chance! Go!"

"We'll hold them off while you go get Ella." Dereece said.

Kevin nodded. "Okay. Swadloon!" To the side, Swadloon jumped as he made the kite lacrima again. With it raining, Parasia were wary if it was actual seawater due to vapor. This was Kevin's break. "Ready!"

"Tranquill, **Gust!** " Tranquill's wings glowed and he fired another harsh wind that blew into the Parasia. The lacrima kite Kevin was on ascended thanks to the draft and took off.

Joey looked at Kevin go and saw he was getting across the manmade river they made. He was hoping that should help cover him from directly below, but now he has to watch his back. "Look alive, guys!"

All the Pokémon roared.

* * *

Everyone around Astral began regrouping after their fights have been completed. Along with them, the defeated Celestial Spirits were supported along the way.

"Gray darling, are you hurt?" Juvia fret, though her own body was shown to have serious injuries, she still put Gray's wounds before her own.

"Don't worry, I'm okay." He insisted. "What about you? Can you still stand?"

Juvia smiled. "Yes."

"Natsu!" Happy flew over to Natsu and Charmeleon, who walked with Cana as she supported the unconscious Loke.

"Hey, Happy." He grinned, seeing everyone gathered around. "Heh, looks like we did it."

"Yeah." Wendy smiled.

"It was a rough going, but it seems we've put quite the dent in King Melchior's plans." Carla said.

"Damn straight!" Natsu beamed. "And best of all, Charmeleon got some sweet attacks, _and_ I kicked Loke's butt!" He laughed triumphantly.

"Is he seriously all about that?" Cana said to the side, crossing her arms. "Geez. And where's that cat anyway?"

"You call?" Off to the side, Cana turned and saw Lupus walk up to her, alongside a slender, four-legged leopard creature that seemed to be gazing at Cana, much to the drunkard's confusion.

"Who are you supposed to be?" she asked suspiciously. She didn't know why, but she felt like her gaze was familiar somehow.

Liepard hummed sassily. "Leave it to that crap you think to make you forget your own partner." She teased.

Lupus chuckled. "Good one."

Cana squinted at the skepticism showing. The peculiar tone sounded all too familiar. She rubbed her eyes, making sure she wasn't having a hangover. "Hang on…Purrloin? That you?"

Liepard raised her head, beaming arrogantly. "Finally. About time, slowpoke. Geez, and here I thought dogs had bad memories."

"I'm not a dog, furball." Lupus commented.

"So that's Purrloin's evolution?" Wendy looked at Liepard, pulling out her PokeDex for the details.

" **Liepard, the Cruel Pokémon. Their beautiful form comes from the muscles they have developed. They run silently in the night.** "

"Wow, congratulations Cana." Wendy eyed her friend's newly evolved feline. She certainly fit the description.

Happy shrugged. "Well I didn't see what the big deal is…is…" He gazed over at Liepard, seeing her enlarged, regal frame. Time slowed down for the Exceed as he was seeing Liepard's tail snap, her frame surrounded by sparkles inside his mind.

Seeing him in a daze and not finishing, Carla waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Happy, you there?"

The blushing Happy couldn't stop his stare at Liepard. His heart was fluttering just like his wings that took him over towards her. Liepard was too busy not caring that she almost missed him when he floated to her side. "H-Hey there…" he sheepishly started. "Remember me?"

Liepard raised a brow at him. "Hm? Oh, you. You're that pink-hair's cat, right?"

"Ayyyye! She remembers~!" Happy swooned, exploding with a flustered background. "W-wow Purrloin, you've gotten so…so…" He was so busy trying to get courage in front of Liepard that he almost forgot Lupus. "Aaaah! Wolf! Not again!" He immediately reterated behind Natsu's shoulder, much to his confusion. "W-w-w-what re you doing with him? H-h-he's a big wolf!"

Liepard took one confused look at Lupus, who returned said look. She then faced Happy. "Yeah, so?"

"B-But I thought you hated dogs! _I_ hate dogs!"

"Well not this one. He's cool. Ain't that right?" She smirked at the overgrown hound, making him snort.

"Heh, what she said." He huffed.

"Honestly, I don't know what your problem is with wolves. They're not _all_ bad. Geez, hasn't anybody taught you not to judge?" Liepard mocked as she walked pass Happy, completely ignoring his pitiful advance.

Happy was completely turned to stone on the inside, gawking like he's seen a ghost that took away his bride. He was so despaired that comical tears ran down his wide white eyes. Carla crossed her arms and raised her nose, turning away huffing, earning nervous laughs from Wendy and Amaura.

"Wow, bummer." Cana laughed.

Klefki floated around Lucy as she tried waking up Aquarius. Though with the damage she received, it's very likely she wasn't getting up anytime soon. "Aquarius? Aquarius?! It's me, Lucy! You remember?!"

Wincing from the constant shouting, Aquarius' hazy eyes weakly opened.

Lucy gasped, tears in the corner of her eyes. "Aquarius!"

"Gnnngh…Lucy?" She weakly turned her head towards the annoying sound. "I…thought that I recognized that annoying brat voice anywhere."

Lucy wiped away her tears and pulled Aquarius into an embrace. Normally Aquarius would be opposed to such affections, but given her lack of memory and her condition, she had to assume something happened to have made her this emotional. Just this once, she'll let it slide.

"Geez, not so hard."

"Sorry." Lucy apologized. Her Klefki above smiled wide.

Loke – who was beginning to come around – blinked. "What happened…? I remember a ritual, then everything went…"

"Loke!" Lucy shouted.

"Hey man, how you feeling?" Gray asked.

"I feel like somebody had the nerve to throw me off the cliff." He grimaced. "Man, does anybody else's head hurts?"

"Well nice to see you again, sleeping beauty." Cana voiced.

Virgo was next to awaken. "Ugh…what punishment…?"

"Man, I felt such a rush. I feel like a cow patty." Taurus grimaced, rubbing his head.

"Baby, I don't feel too good." Cancer mumbled.

Libra and Pisces were completely baffled. With their injuries as well, it was a miracle they were still able to slightly move about. Gemini weakly floated about. Scorpio sat up, his skin sizzling still from Wendy's finishing blow, though he did mumble of something related to "wicked". Capricorn and Aries sat up, battered from the sonic attack earlier. Sagittarius was last to gather his bearings.

Volans looked around, seeing everyone stirring awake. "It appears that they have finally been broken free of Melchior's control at last." He stated.

"Phew! Man. And here I thought we were almost goners." Corvus sighed, before he realized something. "Huh? Hey wait a sec! Where's the king?"

Snover turned around, pointing at the direction of the sea. "Look! Over there!"

Everyone turned their attention towards the sea, which was back to normal. Using his sword as a cane, the Celestial King was dragging himself towards everyone waiting. Beside him, Nic, Kecleon, and Greninja were walking with Erza and Houndoom. Krookodile was behind Vanessa as she used her aura to bind the unconscious Melchior.

They soon met up, with Erza taking the initiative. "Is everyone alright?"

"Too you guys long enough." Gray scoffed. "You have any idea how much a pain this was?"

"Suppose that's your answer." Vanessa commented. She used her aura and placed the king on the ground. Everyone gathered around the denounced majesty.

"So this is the guy, huh?" Gray continued. "Man Nic, you really did a number on him."

"I know." He answered. "Sorry."

"Well you better be considering the hell we went through." Cana chided. "You have any idea how hard it was taking on just one Celestial Spirit?"

"Try two." Greninja countered, looking towards the Celestial King, and then Gemini. "We needed to make sure we didn't have anything in between us and Melchior if this was going to work."

"Lucy, is all your spirits okay?" Erza asked.

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, they're just fine. They're just tired and confused really…" she gave one last look at all of them. "But it looks like they'll be just fine."

Canes paddled up to Lupus with heads down and labored breaths. They also looked tired. The wolf sighed and sat on a rock, having his head down. "I'm beat, too." He huffed.

Corvus fell on his bottom. "Me too. I'm so tired I don't think I can flap my wings anymore."

"We've exhausted too much of our energy. Rest is important right now." Volans voiced towards the king. "Isn't that right, your majesty?"

The Celestial King was silent, but he felt aware if the calamity that had fallen. He recalled what happened before he was taken over. "…the stars…they have been saved yet again." He mumbled. "I know very little of the transparencies during the time of blackening, but I can see clearly now." He turned towards Nic and Greninja. "Nic Pularis and friends, to you all. I humbly apologize. For what our weakness has given you, we humbly wish nothing but your forgiveness."

Nic blinked before shaking his head. "Don't mention it at all." He huffed. "And besides, you were just being used. If anyone's to blame, it's definitely not you." He turned his glare down on Mechior's unconscious frame, revealing the one worthy of blame.

The Celestial King nodded. "Yes, quite so."

"Are you well enough to move?" Greninja asked.

"For now, yes. But, I understand why these injuries are to pass. I tried to do harm to this world and my saviors. The Celestial Crew. For the second time now, you have saved not only me, but the Celestial Spirits themselves. Without you, these wounds would mean nothing to the pain we feel in our hearts. We hope to repay you."

Nic turned around nonchalantly. "Like I said, you don't have to worry about that." He frowned at Melchior. "Right now we have another problem to settle."

Erza looked down at him. "Yes. The anarchist."

"The sour milk in the fridge." Kecleon tilted her head.

Krookodile stomped forward. "Well I say we chew him up, and then spit him out in a nice, cold smoothie!"

"With bendy straws!" Kecleon jumped.

"I say we drag him through our world without those clothes." Lupus darkly suggested.

"I know something better." Natsu eagerly raised his enflamed fist. "Let's make him a practice dummy for our Pokémon. They could use a little target practice."

"Agreed." Charmeleon glared. He wanted to try more of his new **Aerial Ace** out.

"Yes, and I completely understand. However, I believe this is where we have to draw the line."

"What? Why not, Erza?" Natsu questioned. "You've seen what he did. The guy deserves to get beaten down."

"I know, but you mustn't forget something else." She reasoned. "We came here not only to revive Aquarius' Key for Lucy. We came also for a show of good faith in Hisui's name. His majesty may very well be prosecuted for his crimes, but if he were to die, that could show the country of Seven a sign that Fiore is an inhospitable domain. We'd more likely suffer setbacks."

They almost forgotten about their promise to Hisui. If she caught wind that the Fiorians brutalized the king, their actions could be used against them. Even Natsu was smart enough to avoid this kind of a setback. He didn't want to cause this kind of trouble for someone looking for peace.

Reluctantly, he backed off. "Guess that's it then."

"Sorry Natsu, maybe next one." Happy patted his back.

"But how are we going to break this to Hisui?" Lucy questioned. "In the end, we still hurt the king."

"We'll just have to do our best to explain it to her and authorities once we call them." Erza sighed. "Let's hurry and bind him so he can't use his magic-!"

 _BOOM!_

The earth shuddered as everyone's attention went scattered.

"What the heck was that?!" Corvus squealed.

"An explosion?" Cana questioned.

Vanessa's brow furrowed. She looked in the direction of an eruption of light far within the mountains that expanded outwards. The soundwaves went over their heads, making even the skies quake briefly. She was sensing a very destructive and painful aura that was absurdly immense.

' _What is this Magic Power…it's crying out loud.'_

Everyone looked in shock at the fading light, confusion spelling across them.

"Nic…" Greninja muttered. "That's…"

Nic was dead silent as his eyes were wide in shock. He was feeling a monstrous flow of magic coming from something, recalling that was the direction Sophie and Duncan were in. He began worrying especially for the latter. _'Sophie…'_

Erza looked at Nic, equally as concerned. She knew their allies were up there somewhere. "This is bad…"

Still lying on the ground, Melchior weakly opened his eyes. He stared at the sky, feeling the raging omen in the distance. _'Andromeda…you're the last hope. I beseech you…purge them all.'_

* * *

Jellal groaned as he stirred awake. Immediately his side started flaring in pain. "What…happened?"

All around, everything was decimated. The clearing where they fought Ara and Scutum was completely tossed over with a clean slate. The earth was soft from the shockwaves that carried Crime Sorciere away. They were all sprawled in various parts of the pathway.

"That just now…what was it…?" In his search for questions, he heard a groan off to his side. He saw sky blue hair tossed messily. "Bellona!"

The woman groaned as Jellal moved to her. He supported her with his arms, trying to shake her dreary body. She was pale and severely scraped – if no less painful as his own wounds.

"Bellona, are you there? Bellona!"

Hearing his cries, Bellona weakly opened her pupils. The first thing she saw was messy blue hair. "Jellal…?" she muttered.

"Don't move too much. Your shoulder looks shot."

Bellona looked over her shoulder, seeing her cape was completely torn up. There was definitely blood on it, but she didn't feel it, especially with her entire body in pain.

Arbok used her **Acid** to melt away the rocks that buried her Trainer. She hissed and gently grabbed at his leg and pulled him out. Once safe, she looked into his eyes, hoping he was okay.

"Arbok…?" Erik murmured, his one eye seeing the cobra inches from his face. He stroked her head. "Hey girl…"

Yukino stammered up, her Minior following. "What just happened? Big sister? Sorano?" she looked around, barely noticing the unconscious Mantine on her back with Sorano close by. "Sis!" She rushed over, helping her battered sister up. "Hey, are you hurt? Can you hear me? Say something!"

In her musings. unconscious, Sorano's eyelids twitched. "Bellona, please…no more nightmares…I didn't know that sherbet was…" her vision came back, seeing Yukino. "Yukino?"

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"

Sorano sighed tiredly. "Y-yeah, I think so." She looked down in shame. "Though I should be the one holding you upright." She murmured to herself.

"What was that? An attack?" Bellona questioned.

Jellal gazed towards the hill, reliving that blast wave. "…no. That was a shockwave. We were lucky."

" _Extremely_ lucky!" Sorano chirped. "Owowowowow!"

"Stay still!" Yukino ordered.

"I can hear it…the sounds of anguish coming from above." Erik was supported by Arbok as he looked up the hill, his ability to stand completely blown away by that blast.

"What's up there?" Bellona questioned.

Jellal looked to the decimated mountain trail, his face straight with uncertainty. He felt a very dark and mighty magical force high up. Even now, the earth was lightly palpitating. He had a very bad feeling something that happening with his friends high up.

* * *

The mountain howled in the fading light. The hill path was completely devastated by the explosion from earlier.

Tophet continued observing as though he was unfazed by the whole thing. He looked down to where Sophie and Duncan were supposed to be.

The fading dust revealed a woman sprawled along the ground, next to a man. They looked completely torn up from that blast that they barely missed. It seemed to have misfired thankfully, this time at least. Ahead of them, their Pokémon were all dazed as well. They were so low to the ground one could've mistaken them as flattened.

Sophie's brows twitched as she managed to open. Her green eyes were hazy as someone went to a 3D movie without the glasses. "Duncan…everyone…?" she started getting up, immediately feeling pain throughout her whole body.

"Sophie…are you okay?" Kadabra grimaced. He reached over to pick up his spoon that fell during the shockwave.

Dewpider struggled to stand, especially with how heavy his head felt. "I'm…good." He grimaced, though he felt it hard to breathe inside his water bubble. _'How come I feel so…?'_

He moved a spare claw over his bubble, feeling something slimy. He blinked once, then tapped again. He blinked twice, then traced the claw to a fin. He slowly gazed up, seeing Finneon piled on him in his cramped water bubble.

"What the-?! Get out of my space!" In a panic, he ejected Finneon, sending her flopping to his side. "Seriously, does anyone know what space means?" he hissed low.

Finneon stirred upright. "My apologies. I did not look where I landed."

"Yeah, yeah…" Dewpider looked over, seeing Staryu resize itself thanks to **Minimize**. It, too, was very close. "What?"

Spiritomb floated over – not even close to being as tired – and tended to Duncan. The Trainer kneeled and took in a raspy breath before he shakily stood up once more.

' _What…power.'_ He was completely stunned at attack missed them, they should've been eviscerated by that blast. He was sure that was an omnidirectional attack. Using his Trainer's instincts, he recounted what Sophie's Kadabra did with **Kinesis** to lower her accuracy. He looked down at Sophie, who was steadily rising. _'Guess she isn't dead weight after all.'_

He reached over to grasp metal, but the rest of his weapon was blown away from that last save. Without a handheld, he couldn't use his magic. He clutched his fists at how useless he felt.

"Duncan, are you alright?" Sophie heaved. She felt like she was gonna throw up, but her stomach was on empty.

Duncan nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine…" he took one look at Sophie to see her condition. A silence fell as he turned back towards Andromeda. "Not a bad move to have."

Barely catching his last-second compliment, Sophie looked to him, but he looked at Andromeda like nothing happened. _'Duncan.'_

The Trainer turned towards Tophet, seeing his gesture resolute with no obligation. "Hey, you."

Tophet looked down at him.

"What the hell is this? Who are you?"

Tophet's eyes were hollow, yet his tone wasn't. "Thou must prove himself worthy of such riddles."

"What?"

"May the stars be the judge of your worthiness."

Andromeda's eyes flashed again, her wails of agony splitting Duncan and everyone's eardrums. The Celestial Spirit was consumed in a pillar of crimson celestial energy that nearly blew them away.

Sophie covered up with her forearms, where Kadabra was using **Confusion** to keep Finneon and Dewpider from being blown away. Staryu was barely hanging in there, but held firm.

 _BEEPBEEP BEEP!_

"What is it?" Sophie muttered through the roars of magic. She couldn't speak Morse code, but had a feeling Staryu was onto something.

 _BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!_ The starfish continuously blinked and spun in place, its directing towards Andromeda's insidious wails.

Sophie looked towards Andromeda one more, seeing her pained cries bloom. Staryu was blinking at the glowing chains that were around her wrists. She saw them tighten, further intensifying Andromeda's energy around her body. Her wails grew louder, shaking the atmosphere.

She dropped to a knee, processing what was happening. _'She has an unstoppable amount of Magic Power. Tophet said that she was sealed away for a reason.'_ Her eyes widened, recalling what the man said beforehand.

" _Tetrabiblos gave her no key; apparently he, too, found the wish to be immoral. With no key and her soul in a seal, she had become a Celestial Spirit that is forever chained. To think, his majesty found that very spell to unseal the spirit."_

Sophie's brain was running a million miles a second. She remembered that Andromeda was sealed away just as her soul was being extracted. That's when her brain went to work.

"Get down!" Duncan shouted.

Andromeda released a bloody cry as her mouth gawked wide open. A voluminous blast of raw Magic Power dispelled with force far greater than any Jupiter Cannon. The roaring beam expanded into the mountains miles away, reducing the tops clean off into dust.

Keeping their heads low, everyone managed to keep themselves from being blown away by her drafts.

"Duncan!" Sophie yelled through the roaring blast.

The Trainer responded to Sophie. "What do you want?!"

The blast wave slowly faded, allowing the echoes of the next attack to erode out into the stratosphere. As she recharged, everyone got to their feet again.

"Listen, Duncan. I think there's a way we can stop her that doesn't involve hurting her."

"Like what?"

Sophie pointed towards the chains laced around Andromeda's wrists. They were tightening as crimson energy crackled around the aching Celestial deity.

"Those chains, that must be a weakness. It has to be. Tophet said that when she was making her wish, her body was disposed to allow her soul to become a spirit. She was sealed away." She saw Andromeda raising her head, meaning they were short on time. "We have to break those chains!"

Duncan gave her a skeptical look. "How do you know that'll undo the spell?"

Sophie went quiet as she stared ahead with uncertainty. There was a chance that she could be wrong, but right now she didn't have the luxury of reaching for the archives that were scattered in paper files now. "…I don't. But this is our one shot. We have to take a chance, but Duncan…" she glanced at him. "I need your help with this. Please, just this once. Trust me."

Duncan wasn't one to trust easily, that was a given. Everything he did was on his own. Even from his journey's start he was very much alone. Yet staring at Sophie, he was picturing another man in her place, one with the same amount of passion. It was bittersweet for him, but under these circumstances he had no choice. He brought his head down and widened his legs.

"Fine. But only this one time." He snapped his fingers, Spiritomb coming to his side. "So don't go getting any funny ideas, got it?"

Sophie smiled. "Thank you."

Andromeda's red eyes brightened, the chains around her wrists glowed brighter, causing stars above to twinkle. Seconds later, cosmic star-like streams rained down onto them. Sophie gathered her magic and channeled it into memories.

" **Memory-Make: Scorn of the Armored Winds!** "

Iron tornadoes surrounded herself and everyone around them. "Finneon, **Gust!** " Finneon flapped her tailfins to summon a gale that was sucked into the tornadoes around them. The wind sapped from Finneon's drafts created a stirring wake that made the tornadoes grow around them.

With the added height and range, a wall of metallic whirlwinds intercepted the beaming starlight. The rest rained down like meteors in the surroundings, making small bursts that topples formations around them.

"Dewpider, **Infestation!** " Sophie shouted. Dewpider summoned a small swarm of insects from the opening beneath his body. He shot the swarm into Andromeda, swarming around her entire body.

"Kadabra, keep her dazed! **Kinesis!** " Kadabra lifted his spoon, using his kinetic powers to bend the spoon. Looking at the spoon, Andromeda was getting dizzy, a blue aura enveloped her body.

Andromeda wailed loudly as Dewpider's swarm buzzed around her, nipping at her skin. She looked so dazed that even Duncan noticed her direction was over their heads.

Staryu spun around and began firing around Andromeda. **Swift** was unleashing golden stars around the head, making light twinkles that kept the spirit at bay.

' _I get it now. She's leaving another distraction.'_ He bent down, picking up the remainder of the iron staff he had left. _'Guess I should wait.'_

Dewpider's attack kept Andromeda in place, allowing Sophie to carefully aim for the cuffs. More memories showed.

As she activated it, she suddenly saw a vision of the same spell before it happened. She remembered it being the first one she used since joining Fairy Tail.

" **Memory-Make: Stone Lightning!** "

Lightning came down at breakneck speeds into Andromeda, specifically her cuffs. The lightning zapped the restraints, covering them in stone.

For a brief moment, Sophie and Duncan watched Andromeda seemingly slow down. It seemed to be working. Duncan gripped his metallic weapon tighter as he poured his Magic Power into it and charged.

Sophie charged up another spell, channeling another thread of memories. This time as darkness spiraled around an ethereal ice-like bow, she had a brief flash of when she used it against Racer alongside Gray's spell.

' _Everyone, your spells, give me your strength. You guys…we're together because of these memories!'_

Tophet watched Sophie charge up her spell, his glare set in what he felt in her. He looked genuinely piqued.

Once Sophie was charged up, her eyes widened. " **Memory-Make: Piercing Frigid Darkness!** "

Sophie launched the long arrow of darkness across the atmosphere towards the right cuff. As it launched, frost mixed with misty darkness.

"Spiritomb, use **Shadow Sneak** to speed it up!" Duncan ordered.

Spiritomb obeyed and her shadow lengthened, streaking across the ground beneath. It reached up, curling around the arrow to give it a shadow helix that made it almost double in speed. It became a dark stream that froze the ground beneath as it crashed into the chain, creating a black and blue flare that exploded. Frost and shadows swallowed the Celestial Spirit, making the ground shake.

With the opening, Duncan charged in, the last of his staff enveloped in his magic. Kadabra reached forwards, activating **Confusion** to push Duncan harder across the ground. He swung with all his might as rainbow energy ignited at the hollow end, causing a voluminous shockwave on the other cuff.

The shockwave repulsed him, but again, Kadabra's **Confusion** slowed him down and sat him next to Joey's side. All of them stared in anticipation as the shockwaves rushed passed them.

"Did that work…?" Dewpider wondered.

Sophie went silent.

Nobody said anything as the shadows cleared away. It revealed Andromeda with her head down and levitating silently. The stone cuffs around her wrists were still there, however, it looked like they were severely cracked on both sides. The radiant glow on her body faded in and out slowly as a result.

"It appears that Miss Sophie's hypothesis was true." Kadabra stated.

Duncan huffed. He didn't really think it would really work, suppose he'll have to owe Sophie one for this.

"Ha! How about that!" Dewpider cheered. "That's what she gets for messing with my Trai-!"

 _CRACK!_

"Huh…?" Dewpider trailed off.

 _CRACK!_ They heard another crack sound.

Staryu beeped worriedly. It blinked yet again, more surprised at the revelation.

Sophie stared in complete shock at what she was seeing. Her eyes widened as she saw the stone cuffs on Andromeda were cracking and chipping apart, revealing golden lights beneath. It wasn't completely turned to stone at all.

Sophie was at a loss. She watched as the golden glow around Andromeda eat away at the **Infestation** around her body. The cuffs were cracking apart from the crusted top, slowly unveiling the glowing chains beneath that looked completely unfazed. The celestial energy around her had completely healed her, even to where her eyes went red again. The heinous power she had was a fuming golden-crimson energy that came from the cuffs that waved like tendrils that spread about her body, causing a burning constriction that made her grit her teeth and wail in pain. All everyone could do was watch in horror as all their attacks were washed off like suds. Sophie could feel her palms sweat because of the growing pressure.

' _Such Magic Power…'_

Andromeda let out one more pained cry as her eyes shined a brighter shade. The ground was consumed in cosmic energy that blasted the earth to bits. It continued its path towards them at an incredible speed, so fast that Sophie didn't have time to memorize and forget the spell. Chances were that it wasn't a spell after all. It was probably raw Magic Power, which she couldn't stop. She and everyone screamed their lungs out as the shockwaves ran pass them. They all barely moved to the side to avoid the direct blast, but were blown in random places as the attack continued its linear direction into the atmosphere, making another rupture in the distance.

"What's that?!" Happy pointed out.

From Astral, everyone was looking concerned, especially Vanessa. She was sensing a very distressed aura from a lot of signatures at one time. It seemed like everyone was in peril – even Andromeda.

Melchior stared at the sky, the sun over the seas. Everything in his world was still set in stone.

"Staryu…guys…" Lucy worried.

The shockwaves of the attack finally dissipated. They were all sprawled around the hill slope and lying about dazed. Sophie and Duncan took the most because of their weight. Dewpider's water bubble shielded the runt of his landing while Finneon was close by.

Sophie's ears rung as her skin was pale. That shockwave tattered up the mass of her clothing, leaving her right side with deep damage. Her hair was also a mess, and her lipstick was dried up. She bent over, gagging out some blood that was brought up from internal damage.

Duncan was another story. He landed on the hollow end of the staff. His side wasn't impaled but it stung really bad, the shock completely paralyzing his right grip. _'Damnit…'_

Tophet watched on as none of the attacks they were doing were dealing damage. He seemed to have lost interest. Andromeda's eyes glowed brighter as she recharged.

Kadabra was in a daze. He barely had the strength to lift his spoon. He noticed Sophie on her hands and knees, quickly collapsing.

"So…phie…"

Andromeda howled loud, but Sophie couldn't care less because everything was black and blue to her. Her hearing was a big buzz as her mind went to another place as she laid on the ground. Her breathing slowed as her conscience was going backwards to something.

 _Sophie's childhood was blunt sort of speak. She was the daughter of a merchant who happened to have fallen in love with a woman and got married. But for most of Sophie's life, she was always on the move with supplies, merchants; a world where she wasn't crammed in a nursery. It wasn't a very comfortable lifestyle, not that any child wouldn't think otherwise. Along the way, Sophie would meet other people and their kids. She loved it, especially when they got to the big cities and a lot of people drop by to look at trades. To her, that's probably where it all began for her magic._

 _Her father had just closed up shop for the night and decided to use part of the money to go look for groceries. With after hours, the little Sophie with her long blonde head peeked into his tent of collectables that he earned for the day. She was amazed at the trinkets and gadgets he traded, especially antiques her father reminded her over and over again not to tamper with._

" _Ohh, what's this?" She scooted over to what looked like a globe with a lacrima in the center. When she poked it, it lit up. "Cool…" she awed. "What about this new one?" She slipped over to a small toolkit, which suddenly rattled and hissed when she came too close. "Uh…no. Oh! What about these!"_

" _Sophie, sweetie, are you in here?" Walking into the tent was a slender woman with blonde hair that went in two low ponytails down her back. She was Sophie's mother, before her parents' divorce. "Sophie."_

" _Mommy?" Sophie turned around, looking excited. "Mommy, look at all the stuff daddy bought today."_

 _She sighed. "I know, sweetheart. You know you're not supposed to be in here. You know how possessive your father can be with his material."_

" _Aww, but I wanted to see more." Sophie whined._

" _C'mon young lady."_

" _Okay…" Grumbling, Sophie sulked as she walked out. But as she did, she tripped over a small stack of books and fell forward. "Ow!" The books sprawled as her mother walked over to help her up._

" _Sophie, you okay?" she asked, helping her daughter to her feet._

 _Sophie whined a little. "I think so." She looked down at the books sprawled. "Meanie books." She kicked one over, causing it to fly open it. With it open, it revealed a picture of magic with big words that instantly caught Sophie's interests._

 _Curious, she moved to pick up the book. "What's this book?" She squinted and began reading the context. "The Process…Of…Memories." She looked towards her mom. "Mommy, what's that mean?"_

 _Her mother's own interests grew as well. "I'm not sure."_

 _Sophie's father came in, seeing his family inside his tent. "What's going on here?"_

" _Daddy, look at this!" Sophie showed him the book that she found. "Look at all this!"_

 _Her father took a step back over his daughter's eagerness and scanned the book. The look on his face dampened upon seeing the context. "Yeah, that's something one of my customers sold to me. It was pricy."_

 _Sophie wasn't listening, she was reading the book quickly like she already owned it. Probably a habit from reading children's books and textbooks of materials she did for killing time._

" _She looks a little occupied, dear." Her mother pointed out. "Maybe we should let her keep that for a bit."_

 _Her father shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."_

" _Why not?"_

" _Take a closer look." She did as told and saw the front of the cover facing them. It read_ _The Mysteries of Lost Magic_ _. She looked back at him to see his frown certain. "Now you get it?"_

" _It's a magic book."_

" _There's a reason why those sell at high prices. You know why."_

 _The wife sighed. She knew where he was going with this. It's been 2 weeks since they were last attacked by Dark Guild raiders, and that sense of security left them completely open. "That was one time."_

" _But it can happen again. All these people learn these powers, and for what? To exponentially increase crime rate and destruction? I've seen enough to know what I'm talking about. And I_ _ **don't**_ _want Sophie going down that path."_

" _If you keep that attitude you will."_

" _You know I'm right."_

" _And I also know there's these things called choices, which I've made to marry you. Remember?"_

 _Sophie father went stunned silent at her counter._

" _It's going to be okay. And besides, Sophie is a bright young girl, she knows netter than to misuse her belongings…especially when she doesn't get to keep them very long. So just this once, let her at least keep something to herself. She deserves that much."_

 _The merchant looked to his wife then to their daughter, seeing her try to mimic what was in the description. She was closing her eyes and pointing to her forehead, trying to find a focal point. He truly wanted to see his daughter live long and happy, and he was willing to risk anything to assure that, that last raid and losing half their most expensive equipment proved so. But he didn't want to see her go down the path of danger willingly. He was shaky about all this, but for their future and his wife, he had to make a decision._

 _He walked up to Sophie, who was looking like she needed to use the restroom, if that's what her focus was implying. "Sweetie."_

" _Hm?" Taking a break, she saw his serious expression. "Hi, Daddy."_

 _He crouched down to her level. "Do you really like that book?"_

" _Mhm!" Sophie nodded swiftly._

" _If I let you keep that book, would you promise to make sure nothing happens to it?"_

 _Sophie nodded again. "Yes. Can I keep it? Pretty please?" She pursed her upper look, giving him an innocent, needy look with glossy eyes. She wanted it so bad._

 _He saw the look and it melted his heart. He looked back at his wife to see her nodding in agreement. Seeing how he was outnumbered, he chose to accept it. This one time at least. "Okay, you can keep it."_

" _Yes!" Sophie cheered._

" _But!" he harshly added. "You better study every single day, at least thirty minutes. If I catch you slacking in your reading, I'm putting that book on the market. So you better take this seriously young lady."_

 _Sophie saluted. "Yes, sir! Those meanie Dark Guilds are gonna go run back to their mommies, and scream 'Waaah!'! And I'll be all like boom! And kabow! And they'll be like 'She;s too awesome!' Yeah!" She could see herself now as a mage, casting spells and blowing raiders into the atmosphere._

 _The father sighed again. "Listen."_

 _She stopped her musings and listen to him._

" _There's one more condition. It's the most important one. When you learn to use magic, make sure, that no matter what, you use it under one condition…use it to protect your family and friends. When they're in danger, it'll be your magic's power to save them."_

 _Sophie didn't quite get it due to her being so little, but she knew the basis of what he meant. "Don't worry." She said, pointing to her noggin. "I've got that all memorized."_

Her blonde hair kept her eyes from view as her nails dug into the soil. She took one more deep breath to get the rest of the blood out of her mouth.

"I remember know…why I'm here." She slowly reached for Dewpider, who was the first to stagger over. Flashes of her friends appeared inside her head as she placed her hand on Dewpider's water bubble. "How I got here…" She saw Team Natsu, and Wendy, and Carla. The glow from her hands made the bubble shine with her Memory-Make Spell: **Seabed's Miracle**. It was making Dewpider regain some strength. "Who brought me here…" She pictured Erza, then Cana, then Lupus, Volans, and Corvus. She removed her hand as she stood on her own, spreading her feet. As she breathed heavily, she pictured Pavo, then Greninja and Nic side-by side. "Everyone…" The Freaks. And lastly, her best friend – Vanessa. All of those faces looking at her and smiling, it was making her magic burn a fire inside. "It's because of my time with them…" Her eyes flashed open. "That my magic's gotten to where it is today. And now, it's time to give back what I owe to them, for giving so much to me!"

Duncan looked in wonders of her strength. Even he couldn't stand right now.

The interest on Tophet's face grew once more.

"Dewpider. Everyone." Sophie wobbled, but her fortitude was a straight path. "Let's protect them, with our power."

Dewpider hissed. "Whatever you say." He looked at Kadabra, and the Finneon. He knew he had to protect them as well. "Okay…my turn."

A light suddenly encased his body, drawing out a shift in the atmosphere.

"Dewpider?!" Sophie gasped.

Duncan looked with a straight face at what was happening. Kadabra and Finneon, however, had wide eyes and stared in disbelief. They were watching their friend transform within the bright light.

 _BEEP_ Staryu was equally as raptured, seeing the light that was as bright as its core resonate.

The glow around Dewpider caused him to change shape and drastically grow. The three-legged arachnid began multiplying in the amount of appendages, with bulbous joints showing at the ends. They all witnessed the head especially growing to a large degree. When the light exploded. It revealed what looked like was something that could give kids nightmares. A massive water spider with a water bubble around his head. He had large blue eyes with pointed gray mascara. The majority of the body was dark gray, but had yellow-green and light brown. He had three large bumps on the head and four fang-like projections beneath. Light brown extensions reached out to attach the bubble to his head. His six massive legs ended in dark gray spears.

The gargantuan water spider hissed loudly.

"My word?" Kadabra eyed the ally's change with awe. Finneon looked equally as surprised.

"My goodness…"

Duncan gave a blank stare, witnessing the evolution of the spider.

Sophie went ahead and puled out the PokeDex. It showed Dewpider's evolution on the big screen with a large sum of stats along the side.

" **Araquanid, the Water Bubble Pokémon. It has a habit of storing things it values in its water bubble. If its Trainer doesn't watch out, Araquanid will try to put them in its bubble!** "

Despite the warning, Sophie was more invested in what changes were made. This was the second time one of her Pokémon evolved. Abra into Kadabra was one thing, but she never thought Dewpider would get this big. It astounded her.

"Araquanid." She repeated the name, making sure it was memorized. "So then, shall we?"

Araquanid spread his six legs defending Sophie with his new bulk.

Andromeda began charging up again. A bright twinkle in the sky turned into a beaming cosmic comet that came down at meteor speeds onto them. Sophie and everyone braced for the impact.

An eerie soundwave pitched throughout the valley all of a sudden. The ripples in the air fluxed as Andromeda was suddenly moved to shield everyone with her back. The attack struck her back, hammering down with explosive cosmic force that swallowed the skies.

Everyone beneath her covered up as the explosion shook the earth with great force. Tophet was again unmoved, but his expression turned to one of intrigued.

As the smoke faded away, Andromeda was seen staggering from her own attack, her body incapable of moving. Duncan saw the opportunity.

"Spiritomb, **Shadow Sneak!** "

Spiritomb's shadow morphed into darkness and stretched high up, striking Andromeda's gut. The impact made Andromeda cringe, giving Araquanid the opportunity to jump with six legs, the four fangs glowing. He clamped down on Andromeda's large face, creating an explosion of smoke that pushed her away.

Araquanid landed in front of Sophie, the attack fading from his mouth. He scoffed low.

"My word." Kadabra gasped. "My friend, was that a new move?"

"I believe that was **Bite**." Sophie recalled. Her memory didn't lie. She remembered seeing Joey's Chespin use that attack before. She also knew it was a Dark-type move, which meant it had just as much affect as **Bug Bite**.

Andromeda reeled backwards, flinching from the effects of the move.

"What just happened?" Duncan was all around grateful that the attack didn't strike them down, but Andromeda wouldn't have moved like that before. He knew that was way out of left field.

Andromeda regained her composition and charged more magic, but that same eerie chime echoed throughout the mountains. Andromeda froze up again before she could finish her spell.

"STAY DOWN!"

A violent swing crashed into Andromeda, sending her into the hillside. Her weight created a magnitude that rattled the atmosphere, and everyone else was covering from the tempests made.

Tophet calmly turned his head in the direction that attack came from. If he had emotion he would've shown surprise.

"What's going on?" Sophie felt another strong Magic Power close by. More accurately, from a shadow that cast over her. She knew she was in broad sunlight by now, so it couldn't be early morning anymore, right? But this chill running up her spine made her throat a little dry.

"Lady Sophie…" Finneon murmured.

Sophie turned and noticed how speechless they all looked. She turned towards Duncan to see his face showing shock – a once in a blue moon incident apparently – at a shadow. Finally irritated, Sophie turned around to see what the fuss was about.

Then and there, her face paled. "What…?"

Andromeda stood back up, meeting red eyes with another pair. This pair, however, wasn't controlled or anything. It looked completely tamed, capable, and extremely strong. There was a slithering purple tail that slammed along the ground, making a crater.

The creature raised her enormous serpentine body, unleashing an ear-splitting shriek that rivaled Andromeda. Sophie and Duncan were too in awe to even notice their eardrums ringing.

Tophet looked on with an invested sense about him. "The snake charmer, has risen."

…

Yukino was making very slow progress with her comrades, especially with the land torn apart. The path up to Wyscan Hill was destroyed by the blasts and shockwaves. Even now, the shockwaves slowed down their progress drastically.

Yukino gasped.

"Yukino, is something wrong?" Bellona asked. She was holding Jellal as they limped up the trail they made thanks to Erik's Arbok spraying her **Acid**. Though it still took a while for the attack to settle.

Yukino was quiet as she looked uncertain. "…it's nothing. Really."

The others didn't look very convinced, especially Erik. Thanks to his hearing of thoughts, he knew she thought a certain someone was ahead. And his hearing tickled again that made him smirk.

' _Looks like things just got a lot more interesting around here.'_

As they walked on, the smile on Yukino's face showed. Sorano followed with a grin of her own pleasure.

…

Ophiuchus hissed loudly as she craned her head around. Her deep soundwaves echoed everywhere, yet Andromeda countered with pained cries of her own. The snake's long body made a circle around Sophie's group, shielding them.

"What's going on?" Duncan was less than amused, not that he ever was to begin with. "Is it a friend of yours?"

Sophie ignored Duncan out of her own shock and stared at the serpent towering above them. She couldn't believe their luck at her memory recalling the same one Yukino summoned. "Ophiuchus…"

Staryu blinked, unsure of what to think.

Ophiuchus glared at her foe, a deep silence befalling her as she recalled why so suddenly she came out of her cave. Only a single thought came to her brain.

" _Feeling needed by at least one person in your life, is perhaps the biggest purpose you can give yourself."_

' _Guess that purpose finally came to me.'_ She sneered, consciously berating herself. _'Better late than never I suppose.'_

"You saved us." Sophie awed. Staryu blinked repeatedly, seemingly mimicking what Sophie said.

Ophiuchus glanced down at them. "Hmph." She scoffed. "Sorry, guess I didn't see you there." It was a lie, but far be from her to show her concern to the likes of humans. "So you humans need help or what?"

Sophie and Duncan were in no position to argue. And even then, if they weren't in such a tight bind, they knew they needed to use everything to stop Andromeda. Right now. they didn't have nearly the strength to say otherwise. Ophiuchus could see their slight desperation, it'd be so humorous if she wasn't so serious right now.

 _BEEPBEEPBEEP-BEEP-BEEP_

Seemingly understanding Staryu, Ophiuchus flicked her organic tongue. She faced Andromeda, a high, powerful wind passing between them as pseudo-Zodiac and imprisoned Celestial Spirit faced off one another. One was willing to open herself, yet the other was unable to break free. Now it was the opportunity for the Snake Charmer to show something she was never given.

"I am Ophiuchus – 13th Zodiac of the constellations." She recited. "I am the Snake Charmer, and starting today, _I_ shall make you remember that name!"

Andromeda's eyes flared again, her Magic Power broiling from the chains on her wrists. With a shrilled cry, she expelled another shockwave of cosmic energy that tore into the ground. Ophiuchus raised her tail end and slammed it on the linear shockwave.

An explosion of cosmic energy rippled beneath everyone as a result. Ophiuchus' slam smacked the shockwave deeper into the ground. The explosion happened half a mile down the hill's cliff, rippling outwards.

Sophie was at a complete loss for words, but she used this time to regain some of her Magic Power she had once lost.

Ophiuchus swung her massive tail around again, slamming it into Andromeda. The spirit chimed as she recoiled.

Andromeda rebound quickly and her eyes glowed brighter. The chains intensified their hold, causing her body to wriggle and expel Magic Power in the form of twinkling starlight beams. Ophiuchus looked at the incoming rays from the sky and saw the attack incoming.

With a flick of her tongue, a high-pitched hiss emitted. The downward rays beamed faster than before, but instead of Ophiuchus and the mages, they instead went down on Andromeda. The Celestial Spirit had no prayer as she was struck with an attack too quick to nullify. This somehow made explosion that reached down to the others.

Everyone who was safeguarded by Ophiuchus were holding on through the blast waves. Sophie was kneeling beneath Ophiuchus' hold with her head racing swiftly again. _'Did she misfire?!'_ She opened an eye to see Ophiuchus flicking her tongue. _'No, it's too coincidental. It must be her doing?'_

Ophiuchus faced the smoke cloud, glaring daggers that could put Mirajane's Satan Soul to shame. "None can escape my **Dance of the Serpent**! All spirits who bear my sight and sound shall be locked in my tune's command!"

The dust wave dissipated, but Andromeda was already back up. She unleashed a painful cry as magic drew itself into her gaping maw, unleashing a monstrous beam that obliterated the superficial layer of the earth beneath.

Ophiuchus' rims started glowing a bright purple light with a hum charging up. With her maw wide opened, she unleashed a massive purple beam of her own. The two attacks shot at breakneck speeds into each other, causing a titanic stalemate that caused the earth to shake beneath them. Anything that touched the two attacks was eviscerated from the pressure. The ground cracked from the force applied, like gravity was suppressing them. Duncan and Sophie stayed as low to the ground and behind Ophiuchus the best they could so they wouldn't get in the way of the monster bash.

Ultimately both attacks erupted in a bright flash, leaving a blank space between the two sides. Through the flare, a shrieking hiss called to Andromeda, dragging her chained figure from her fixed spot again through the flash. All she saw other than blinding white was a tail that slowly came drew closer.

"Stay **down**!" With her **Dance of the Serpent** drawing her prey in, Ophiuchus smashed her tail into Andromeda, sending her into the ground with several depressions opening on another at once.

* * *

From afar, large quakes and explosions could be seen happening at Wyscan Hill. It looked to everyone that a battle was raging. And to many more, they could feel another power shift.

"What's that?" Gray wondered. He saw another shockwave erupt rocks and dust.

"I'm getting another Magic Power." Juvia sensed. "It's massive."

"Is it Sophie and Jellal's doing?" Wendy wondered. Her nose and hearing were strong, but she couldn't hear from that far away. _'What's this strange smell coming from that way?'_

Greninja had a good guess of what it could be. He knew Nic saw it too, the blast of purple in the distance. "Nic, you don't think…"

Nic was silent. He continued observing from afar. He wanted to help, and he thought he was needed there, but it looks like someone beat him to it. And honestly, he knew this wasn't his place…not this time, anyways. Someone else needed to prove herself.

Melchior frowned heavily. He was morally surprised to sense another Celestial Spirit defying him. He narrowed his eyes as he continued looking towards the sky. He could feel Andromeda on the losing edge of the fight. He needed to change that. _'I must…help my friend…'_ His crown tried glowing, but for some reason it stopped. _'What?! This can't be! Why am I not able to control that spirit?!'_

* * *

Ophiuchus hissed loudly, a red aura around her body quickly dissipating. No visible human eye could trace it, but to Tophet, amazingly, he saw Ophiuchus unfazed like it was nothing.

"She who is the Black Gate, the scales of her key are impenetrable to the likes of man." He recited. "Those who live in the Black Gates, keys of those kind are beyond that of the realm of celestial realism."

Ophiuchus towered over Andromeda, hissing angrily at her. As she closed in, she noticed the cuffs around Andromeda's arms glowing and tightening. "Hm?"

Andromeda's eyes shot wide open and let out a loud scream. Her body unleashed a large explosion of Magic Power, managing to pick up Ophiuchus' extremely large frame and sent her spiraling.

 _BEEP!_ Staryu beeped worriedly.

Ophiuchus flailed downwards, her body slamming into the ground harshly behind Sophie and the others.

"Are you alright?!" Sophie shouted. She heard a charging sound behind, making her and everyone turn around to see Andromeda charging up another cosmic beam at her mouth. _'Not good.'_

Andromeda unleashed another beam racing at them. The blast wave was gonna eviscerate them, even if they weren't close. At the last second, a shrilled hiss echoed, causing the beam to suddenly change trajectory into a sharp angle towards the mountains. They all watched as a voluminous explosion vaporized the entire mountain to the valleys below.

A stirring sound caught their attention. They all turned back to find their savior was raising her head, getting out of her daze.

"Gnngh…so annoying." She scowled, her scales regenerating swiftly.

Staryu tumbled up towards her. _BEEPBEEPBEEP!_

"What is it?" the snake scowled.

 _BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!_

"Heh, so that's it, huh?" Seemingly understanding Staryu's message, the snake focused on the glowing chains around Andromeda's wrists. "So that's where it's coming from."

Sophie glanced up at her. "Do you think you can hold her down for us to get a clear shot?"

Ophiuchus snobbishly hissed. "Hmph, I can do better than that. Just wait for when I say!" She raced overhead after Andromeda once more.

Andromeda screamed out as several, star-like glints gleamed in front of her before they shot like shooting stars across the atmosphere. Ophiuchus ducked beneath, evading and dodging every one with her serpentine body. The streaming stars exploded in all her surroundings, but this didn't stop her path. She snaked around Andromeda, getting one coil around her thighs, then again around her arms, pinning them to her sides. Then another around the shoulders in a tight grip to make sure she wasn't going anywhere. She towered over the struggling spirit, fangs bared.

Andromeda shrieked as her eyes glowed in agony. The chains around her wrists were so tight she felt like they were going to fall off any second. She was near the point where it ached just to think. Ophiuchus' tight coils only served to amplify her agony, her loud, boisterous cries of desperate relief echoing.

"Just sit tight! This'll only sting a little." Ophiuchus warned, her fangs glowing purple.

Andromeda let out a much louder cry, magic blooming around her body for another explosion of magic.

"I said **sit tight**!" In a violent lunge, she bit Andormeda's neck, injecting her celestial venom. Andromeda's screams turned to ear-splitting as the pain she felt the venom course through her heavenly body.

They all watched Ophiuchus bite Andromeda, relative shock blooming as they saw the most natural defense snakes have against their prey. This alarmed them as it did startle them.

"Isn't she gonna kill her that way?" Finneon worried.

"No, look again." Kadabra pointed out.

Sophie and Duncan narrowed their eyes.

Slowly, Ophiuchus' venom was visibly seen invading the veins inside Andromeda. They saw it spread quickly over her body, making her celestial glow weaken somewhat. As she ached and cried out, the cuffs tightened even more, but once the venom reached the wrists, their own bright glow was diminishing somewhat. Her aching was numbing away, her body suddenly feeling some sense of relief. The venom doing this was definitely fast-acting, and seemed to be dazing the spirit somewhat.

Duncan narrowed his eyes, piqued at Ophiuchus' poison. This wasn't like the poison condition he was familiar with.

"Her venom." Sophie started. "It's numbing Andromeda." She noticed how around the cuffs where burn marks were because of it, they were slowly healing. _'Wait, venom that heals others?'_

Ophiuchus freed her fangs after injecting enough. She looked at her handiwork, seeing the visible pain on Andromeda mending somewhat. She was honestly surprised herself. She never thought of using her celestial venom to aid other spirits. Normally on humans they would die almost instantly, even the most resilient ones.

Sorano popped into her head again, what she said about her epithet tingling her again. _'The Wounded Healer…'_ she scoffed.

Andromeda was numb and calm, the cuffs otherwise crackling and containing her body in crackling lightning. It was making Ophiuchus flinch from direct contact.

"Now's your chance! Hit those cuffs with your strongest attacks! My venom won't hold her forever!"

Sophie nodded. "Okay!" She spread her legs, sighing deeply. She was running low on Magic Power. She had to end it, and fast. "Everyone, concentrate on one cuff! I'll handle the other!"

Araquanid eagerly spread his legs apart. "Oh, I've been waiting for this. Time to get back at her!" His mouth glowed, readying for **Bite**.

Sophie took a deep breath, once more reciting the memories she's shared with everyone. In her head, she could feel the montage of battles she's had leading up to now. Her body started glowing bright. _'Everyone…'_ She thought about her friends she fought with, up to Pavo's death. Pass that, she thought of Rufus, the cousin she was able to reconcile with. This brought her back to her family and what her father said. _'I will protect you!'_

Andromeda was beginning to nudge some. The red sparks from the cuffs were working into her brain, causing her to whine and ache. Her maw opened wide, readying another blast.

" **Sucker Punch!** "

Before the attack could launch, a glowing purple sweep from Spiritomb sped across the face, stopping Andromeda's attack for a moment. Spiritomb looked down at Duncan to see what he was gonna say. He only stared, but seemed satisfied.

"This is your last opening. Make it count!" he shouted.

Sophie nodded. "Thanks, Duncan." As her memories flourished around her in a massive helix. "Everyone, attack!"

Kadabra raised his spoon and summoned dazzling energy in the base of it. As he charged, so did Finneon with a sudden spherical shape of water. Their own powers were amplifying, and overhead, Staryu's energy core was charging up **Psywave**.

"I'm ready!" Araquanid shouted. "Let's have at it!"

"Let's GO!" Kadabra screamed with all his might, firing a streaky bright blue beam with yellow and pink circles. It was **Psybeam** , and it closed in fast.

Finneon screamed as she twirled her body in midair, firing the new **Water Pulse** with a misty ripple thanks to her earlier Storm Drain Ability.

Staryu launched its **Psywave** , making a kinetic energy wave beam ahead.

The attacks followed behind Araquanid as he closed in with **Bite**. He screeched out violently as his attack was coupled by the moved coming from behind. They all combined as they followed and surrounded Araquanid up to his fangs. A field of kinetic energy and water rippled around him as his fangs lengthened some more, opening wide as he jumped the cuff. He snapped down hard, creating a multicolored flared in the fangs thanks to the Psychic-type attacks infused to caused such force.

Andromeda shrieked violently as the left-hand cuff was feeling immense pressure. It tried nullifying the attack, but the **Bite** was too powerful, especially with typing. Including the other attacks infused, the sealing magic's iron hold was starting to crack.

Sophie's eyes glowed as her body was surrounded by a spring-colored whirlwind. Traces of neon swirled into the front. They became close to neon flames, taking shape of a peacock. Once she was ready and aimed for the right cuff, she let it all out.

" **Memory-Make: Peacock Bravery Soar!** "

The peacock-shaped energy shot like a bullet across the sky, aiming for the cuff with a shrilled caw. Sophie put her hands out and screamed uproariously to make the attack zoom faster than intended. It almost tripled in speed, becoming a blur.

Andromeda let out a shrilled cry, unable to do anything as she couldn't move because of Ophiuchus.

 _CRACK!_

Energy metal shattered everywhere as time slowed down drastically. Just as the peacock energy sped pass the right cuff, Araquanid's force finally bit off the left cuff. Everything went silent as the cuffs' remained crackled and fell everywhere, while Andromeda's eyes were wide in disbelief.

Everyone else watched the attacks fade away, finishing strongly with a glinting finish. They all watched as Araquanid and Spiritomb drifted back to the ground for distance. Looking back up, they stared expectantly as the seal to Andromeda was lifting.

Her body completely calm, the spirit's body glowed, turning slowly to golden energy that faded skywards. Ophiuchus was loosening herself as she and everyone watched Andromeda's stone-cold eyes returned to normal. Her large brown eyes could see clearly again. She looked down at her giant frame, looking at her hands to find them completely free of shackles. Even as her lower-half was dissipating, she was still in shock that she could feel free from those accursed restraints. She looked at her surroundings, seeing Tophet present. She noticed Ophiuchus, then Sophie, and then Duncan. She ultimately came to conclusion as she realized what they did.

Her eyes started misting, her relief finally coming true. "Thank you…" Those were the only words she whispered before fading away, her head and body turning to golden twinkles that ascended into the sky.

Everyone watched as Andromeda was finally put at rest, her soul finally free to move on into the next part of the afterlife that she was held off from for so long.

Ophiuchus continued observing the sky, hissing in mocking gratitude of the person she saved. It wasn't what she expected, but she still helped. She saved her, that was enough in some limelight.

Sophie finally sunk to her knees, heaving heavily. It was finally over. They won. She raised her head to look at the sky, a smile crossing her face. _'I did it…I really did it…'_

Duncan was able to catch his breath, but he looked towards Tophet. They freed Andromeda and now they had won. But to him, he still felt like something was wrong. And Tophet's glare back at him proved it.

To those who can see closely, beneath the dark moustache, he started to loosely smile.

* * *

"Buizel, **Water Gun!** Roggenrola, **Headbutt!** " Kane ordered. Buizel took in a large breath and fired another blast of water into the horde in a long arch. Roggenrola huffed as he tucked in his head and rammed it hard into a Parasia. They were all knocked down, with the latter's force shoving many into the river to shrivel.

Magikarp continued flopping about. With the rain active, he was making sure to stay ahead of himself. He looked more determined than ever.

As Kevin drifted over the sea river, Parasia were watching the rainwater fill up the ravine quickly. Those close had to step away, allowing Kevin to get some shots in.

"Swadloon, **Razor Leaf!** "

Above, Swadloon's leaves glowed and he fired sharp glowing leaves down onto his foes. "Look out from above~!" He bombarded the Parasia below with sharp slices and attacks that didn't let up. The eruptions and Parasia wailing beneath continued towards the edge of the trench, where Joey's barrier dissipated.

' _There!'_

Kevin descended to the ground, finally getting to the back. He deactivated the lacrima kite and stood on his feet with Swadloon against the mastermind of the army. He stared down the Parasia Queen, her one eye keeping track of him.

" **GroooOOOOOoohh…** " The beast lowly growled down at Kevin and Swadloon. They got on their guards as they glared eye to eye with the beast.

"Alright you bitch, I'm only gonna ask you once. Where. Is. She?" He got another gurgle as a response, irking his ire. "And you know who I'm talking about. You're smart enough to know."

The Parasia Queen's gurgles simmered as her cyclopean eye blinked. As if amused by Kevin's bold endeavor, a blue wave emanated from her body. The command she sent out was soon responded with Kevin and Swadloon on guard.

Coming forward was another Parasia in human form. Kevin didn't have to ask to know if this was a fake. To him, the look in her eyes was all he needed to know this was the real deal. His shock grew on his face.

"Ella…"

Joey backpedaled as Magikarp flopped to his side. He spun and caught the fish in midair, using him as a mace to smack a Parasia. He whistled in amazement. "New record." He looked over to where the Parasia Queen was glaring at Kevin. He could barely see Ella talking to him. _'Guess it's all up to him now. So now…we just gotta do our part!'_ He tightened his grip on Magikarp, infusing him in a prism of barrier. _'Gotta keep improving!'_ He slid his heel across the ground, bringing Magikarp's encased body around. _'So I don't die!'_

With a swift swing, the armored smack sent more Parasia to the trenches, globbing them with seawater that made them flail to their deaths.

"Pick up the pace, guys!"

"What do you think we're doing?" Kane chimed, swiping his arm to make Whirlipede swing his **Poison Tail** , smashing away Parasia into the water. "We can't keep them at bay forever, Joey. Tell your friend to hurry up whatever it is he's doing!"

"You hear that, Mister P! Get on with it!" he hollered out.

The chaos behind Kevin mattered not to him. At the moment, his mind and body were in complete standstill as he was once again face to face with his little girl. Her hollow eyes were reminiscent of his own, though they seem far less sincere than what they should really be.

Swadloon slipped on up. "No, Swadloon. Stand down."

"Are you sure about this?" he worried. "Y'all be in serious baddy-bad."

"I know. But trust me on this." Kevin stepped up, leaving Swadloon behind to watch the rear so no other Parasia could advance. As he held down the fort, Kevin stood before Ella, completely solitary.

"Ella…"

" **Hello, Papa.** " Her mind-controlled voice took over, glaring down her victim. " **Mama is happy to see you again.** "

Kevin looked towards the monster that was supposedly Ella's mother. Her one eye was fixed on him with seemingly less anxiety. It was like she knew how anxious he was in the face of death. Regardless he stayed calm.

"I can see that." He started. "But this isn't about 'Mama' right now. Ella, this is about you."

Ella slowly blinked.

"Listen, I know that what I said about you seeing your mom again, it'd be at that…but are you really okay with this?"

Ella meekly smiled. " **It matters not. It is Mama's will to continue her life. Once we have found a current to drift the island to land, she can feed endlessly and evolve further.** "

Kevin sighed. "So that's it then, you're just gonna stand there and let her tell you how to think and feel, is that it?"

" **It's how the food chain is. The child does whatever it can for its parent. It must do its part, or it shall be disposed. That is the will of nature itself. Humans are no different.** "

She wasn't exactly wrong. Kevin wasn't so keen on biology or science, but he knew what she was talking about. He knew this was the creature's influence on her as one of her deluded minions. He stayed calm despite these instances.

"Maybe, but then again, maybe not." He reasoned. "There's a lot more to it than one-sided."

" **Is Papa certain that he knows more about facts than what Mama has gained in eons of absorbing human intelligence? If one cannot function, then they are not welcome into a society. So, to continue my existence, I must obey.** "

"Ella, you don't have to-!" Kevin felt a harsh pain when Ella jabbed her tendril into his shoulder.

"Oh no!" Swadloon gasped. He immediately moved in to help him.

"No, don't." He thwarted Swadloon's attempts at saving him. "It's fine…just…keep back." It felt weird and draining as hell, but he did his absolute to keep his head high. The earlier sensation of being drained made him dizzy, but now he was feeling parched. Must be a side-effect.

Huffing tiredly, he wheezed as he worked sow steps, trudging towards Ella with heavily shaking steps. The Parasia Queen eyed Kevin eerily as he ventured closer to her child.

"Yeah, I admit it. Back then, I really wasn't the best at looking out for you. What you said about me earlier, isn't far from the truth. I have a problem…about being a pervert. How I amuse myself too often with those slender, meaty…thick…" He was beginning to daze into his perverted fantasies, but snapped himself out of it before he was too far in. "But you also knew what I was feeling. You know what I mean."

Ella said nothing. Her tendril arm continued slowly draining Kevin's Ethernano and DNA.

"It's fine…that you chose your mom over me. Ladies are better at tending to their children; nursing them; taking care of them. I always thought that I wasn't cut out for any of that. I never thought about having kids because of that reason…until I met you."

Ella shot her other arm as a tendril that latched onto Kevin's other shoulder. The man winced at the pain he was enduring, his teeth gritted so bad as he continued walking forward. He had to, for her.

"This adventure we shared, we both had some crazy times, haven't we? You've met your crazy Uncles and seen all these creatures running about. We've been in a lot of deathly experiences that almost got us killed. But somehow we still made it through. And the more time we've spent together, the closer I feel we came."

Ella and Kevin were inches away from each other. The man dropped to his knees, unable to stand. His face started paling, but he persevered. "A-and…I realized…I needed to tell you something…"

Ella's eyes widened when she felt Kevin's embrace. Despite the rainfall and both being wet, Kevin's embrace was surprisingly warm. He slung his arms behind her neck as he kept her close.

"Ella, sweetie…I love you."

Ella's fixation was at a complete lost. " **You…love me…?** " She was so confused, her dull eyes were starting to show light. " **I…do not understand. How could you…love me?** "

"Because…it's simple." He mustered what strength he could to show a bright smile over his shoulder. "It's because you're my daughter."

For the second time, she was completely baffled. The Parasia Queen gurgled aggressively at Kevin's attempts.

"Joey. Dereece. Those two buffoons feel the same way. We all love you. They enjoyed having you around… _I_ enjoyed having you around. You helped me realize that I was actually capable of genuinely caring for someone than my own balls." He started quivering. "And I know…deep down…you feel just as connected as we are."

Ella's mind drew complete blank. She was acting on orders and instincts from her mother, but her father's influence was drawing out everything in her subconscious. She was starting to see the first time she met Kevin, how yesterday they had gotten used to being around one another.

The hollowness in her eyes was almost fully gone. The Parasia Queen growled as she sent a blue wave to Ella's body, causing her mind to strain harder.

" **Gnnngh…no. You are a fool.** " Ella testified. " **What…can you understand about me?** "

Kevin felt Ella's struggle, but continued holding her tight. "It's just like you said…I'm your Papa."

Ella's eyes widened again.

"You know what that means, we're family. And family sticks together. Ella…I'm so sorry for what I did. I shouldn't have ran off like a coward and leave you behind. I was scared…and confused…and I know I have a hard time expressing my feelings…but I know this is how I feel now."

Ella grunted, trying to strain for her own words. " **But…how can you possibly love me, when I'm the one who's trying to kill you? You…you should be angry at me. Trying to kill me!** "

Kevin hugged her tighter, leaning head into her own. "Because…I'm not your mother..." he was finding it hard to talk since his energy was getting low, but he was doing his best to keep going. "Maybe because of the way wild animals live and the humans before that they think realistically…but… _real_ parents should also be looking out for their kids. To make sure…they learn their wrongs and press on."

Ella's strained mind started calming. Her distraught gaze was flashing her back to the times when Kevin made sure she stayed Close. To hold onto her and be safe. The time when she wandered off on her own came back to a fretting Kevin made this all but a fact.

"To love them…no matter what they are…or become. I realized that…even if you didn't want me…at least I was glad…to have met one person that for once I was a positive influence on…" his eyes misted harder to the point of tears. "And as your disgrace of a Dad…let me just say…thank you…so much…for letting name my little girl."

Ella recalled that time as well. Her eyes shrunk when she had that memory – a very fond memory of happiness.

" _I got it. We'll name you after my late-grandma. So sweetie…how does 'Ella' sound?"_

" _Ella…?" The girl scrunched her face in confusion. "Ella…and…this is my…name now?"_

" _Yes. Ella."_

" _Ella…" The girl softly smiled, perhaps even more genuine than before. "I like it! I have a name now!"_

" **Pa…pa…** " Her body started quaking. The parasite's mind was racing a hundred miles a second. She didn't know why she was starting to feel so emotional, but everything that Kevin said was breaking every will of the mother. Endlass flashes of the adventures they had kept rushing, and there was no way of stopping them.

With his conscience fading, Kevin smiled as his ethernano and energy were almost gone. He was pale all over and his heart was slowing down. _'I guess…this is it…'_ he mused. _'Oh well…at least…for once…I could tell someone in my life what I felt about them…'_ He started slipping off of Ella.

"Kevin, NO!" Joey and Dereece screamed.

 _CLUTCH!_

The Parasia Queen looked wide-eyed down below, as did Joey and everyone afar. Swadloon looked especially surprised at what he witnessed.

"Gnnngh…" Feeling his conscience still with him, Kevin meekly opened his eyes. _'Am I…dead? Why am I so warm?'_

Wrapped around Kevin's ribs, there weren't tendrils…but arms. Hugging him, Ella was holding her father upright with her face forward. She had a blank stare as tears were flowing freely from her eyes.

Kevin looked up to her. "Ella…?"

"I can feel it…you really love me." She was leaning her forehead into his own. Like before, an odd sensation linked the two together. Their tears flowed as their eyes locked with another. "You…really do care about my well-being…"

"Ella…"

"Papa…Papa…" Her tears flowed harder as she hugged him tighter. "PAPA~!" she cried out loud, holding Kevin as tight as she could. "Papa! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Kevin softly smiled, returning the hug to his daughter. "I know…you can think for yourself. You're smarter than me, you know. And I'm glad for that."

"Papa…"

Everyone behind watched as the two made up. The rainfall from earlier diminished, the **Rain Dance** leaving the area and showing the open fissure, casting a bright light onto Kevin and Ella as they cried on the other's shoulder.

Dereece brightly smiled. _'Well done, Kev. Well done.'_

Kevin and Ella pulled away from each other, smiling contently. "Papa…if you love me...then I love you, too. I'm sorry I worried you."

Kevin snickered. "You little brat. I told you not to make me worry about you."

" **GROOOOOHHHH!** "

The booming gurgles of the Parasia Queen caught them by surprise, their touching reconcile cut short. The pair turned towards their new threat, and she looked pretty pissed.

"Mama, I'm sorry. But I have decided. I am not your minion any longer!"

The Parasia Queen gurgled as light blue waves were reaching Ella. Immediately she was straining from the control over her body. She fell to a knee as she clung her head tight.

"Fight it, Ella! Do it for our sake!" Kevin angrily stood, despite how wheezed out he was. "As for you, you wanna get to my daughter…you're gonna have to go through me!" he boasted with pride.

With one swing of her many tendrils, the Parasia Queen smacked Kevin down.

"Papa!" Ella screamed. The shock she felt snapped her out of the headache as she ran up to her father. "Are you okay?"

The Parasia Queen lifted a tendril high above Ella's head and brought it down. Shocked, Ella was suddenly rolled away by Kevin as he flipped her onto his other side, protecting her. "You okay…sweetie?" he hissed.

Ella nodded beneath. "Above!"

Kevin looked up just as several tendrils went raining like arrows down onto him. Suddenly a turquoise energy shield appeared, deflecting all the tendrils. Swadloon swiveled in front with his triangular mouth.

"Swadloon." Kevin gasped.

The **Protect** faded, allowing Swadloon to open his mouth and spit out **String Shot**. The laces of silk spread across the Parasia Queen as a blue aura signaled her speed dropping. "Sorry ma'am, but this little sweetheart is off the menu."

Ella reached pass Kevin and morphed her arm as a tendril, jabbing the queen right in her eye. The queen hissed painfully at the retort of its rebellious offspring. "That's for making me kill Papa!"

"Oh, bet she wasn't too happy about that." Swadloon swooned.

"That's what she said." Kevin mused, his health low and time to recover, he reached back and pulled out an Oran Berry – the same one Ella got him earlier. Another gift from his daughter.

The Parasia Queen opened her cyclopean eye slowly and growled. " **GROOOOOH!** " Her howl of anger caused the Parasia around to slowly turn towards the threat at hand. They faced Kevin and Ella, the two looking back at the numbers around them.

"Looks like she isn't playing nice anymore." Kevin glared.

"That's what she said…yes?" Ella was somewhat unsure of her testimony, until Kevin smirked.

"Yeah, exactly."

Noticing the Parasia changing their directives, the guys looked ahead to see Kevin, Ella, and Swadloon in one place. "Looks like Kevin finally got through to her." Dereece grinned.

"Yes, yes, that's very touching. Now can we _please_ hurry this along?" Kane huffed.

"He's right. No time for the sentiments. Right now we need to get to them and help." Joey held his Magikarp beside him. "Dereece, you stay with Kane and help keep the Parasia on your tail. I'll go and help Kevin stop the queen."

"On it!" Dereece nodded.

"Suit yourself." Kane interjected. "Just try to keep up. I expect that much from Joey's handyman."

"Is that so important right now?!" Dereece chose to focus on the battle and reached. "Stunfisk, go!"

Stunfisk flopped into the air and reared his head back. "Oi! Don't mind me playing _dirty_!" He inhaled deeply, expelling a large glob of mud that shot like a bomb, exploding at the distracted Parasia beneath him. The explosion shuddered everything within the area, even the ground.

Stunfisk landed, laughing at his own joke.

"Wha…?" Dereece stuttered, seeing the attack was stronger than intended.

"That was **Mud Bomb**." Kane scoffed. "Seems you're lucky that you learned something stronger." He turned towards the army and swiped his arm. "Now, Buizel, **Swift!** " His Buizel jumped into the air, swinging his tail around to send glowing golden stars that struck Parasia offspring.

Dereece turned away from the explosion smiling. "Yeah now we're getting somewhere. Go, everyone!"

Heracross tucked in his horn and used **Horn Attack** , blowing away Parasia. With his back turned, two viruses growled as they crept up behind him. Out of the blue, Beedrill's stingers jabbed their heads repeatedly, puncturing them to mush. "I sting yo face!" he declared aggressively. He turned towards his rival. "I sting yo face!"

Heracross turned back, grinning. "Thanks for that." He and Beedrill were back to back around Parasia. Yanma took a break to perch herself on his horn. The Bug-types were ready to keep going.

" **Pin Missile!** " Quilladin fired green streams with white orbs that blasted the ground and Parasia nearby. The confusion and all the viruses were completely blindsided when suddenly a swift blur rushed through them.

"GAHAHAHAHA! I'M A ROLLER COASTER MISSILE TRAIN!" Raticate shouted, barreling through the army with **Quick Attack**. Over his head, Tranquill shot his **Quick Attack** as well, angling higher due to his height, he added more force that erupted numbers around them.

"Your turn!" Krabby insisted, swinging his glowing red-orange claw onto a Parasia head, via **Rock Smash**.

Joey nodded. He knew the checkers-obsessed crustacean had a point. It was now or never. He seized Magikarp and held him high. "Alright…let's go! Charge!" He raced ahead in the opening, barreling towards the next big foe.

Swadloon's mouth glowed white as the rims got surprisingly sharp for **Bug Bite**. He parried the queen's tendril by biting down on it, nipping it to where they were both cancelled out. The queen released several more tendrils that reached pass Swadloon for their intended targets.

Thanks to **String Shot** slowing her down, this gave Kevin enough time to pull out his lacrima kite and set Ella on it. She ascended into the air and Kevin ducked from the tendrils.

"Swadloon, **Razor Leaf!** "

His eyes gleaming back, Swadloon's top glowed bright and he released a funnel of shredding leaves that sliced into the queen's tendrils. They were sliced apart, leaving broken tendrils to retreat behind the queen. He landed in front of his Trainer, beaming proudly.

The queen looked angrier until tendrils came down onto her, jabbing her. Roaring, she glared skywards, seeing Kevin's lacrima kite sail with Ella. Her attention turned on the traitor, summoning a dozen tendrils from her gelatinous body. She fired them at Ella, but with her maneuverability with the kite allowed her to outmaneuver the attack.

With another opening, Kevin reached his arm out. "Swadloon, **Bug Bite!** " Swadloon jumped for the queen again.

The queen wasn't fooled this time. Her pupil glared down at Swadloon and moved a spare tendril into his abdomen, sending him crashing on his back and doubling over.

"Swadloon, you okay?"

Swadloon huffed from that harsh push. "Oof…man, she can play rough."

" **GroooOOOOOoooHHHH!** " Releasing another below, the queen's powers caused the caverns to shudder. Ella immediately picked up on the formation erupting and maneuvered her kite. Stalactites of rock appeared around the ceiling as she was maneuvering. As she swerved, several more were blocking her off.

With a clear shot, the Parasia queen launched her tendrils at Ella's slowed stature.

"Ella! Jump now!"

With no choice, Ella leaped off the lacrima kite as it was struck by the tendrils, sending into the ceiling. Kevin ran over and held his arms out to catch her as she fell. The force of her fall onto him made him floor, but it preserved Ela. The lacrima kite reverted to its spherical form and drifted to Kevin's side.

"Ella…are you hurt?" he groaned.

Ella nodded. "Yes, Papa."

The queen unleashed another gurgle that caught their attention. She released another dozen tendrils that barreled into them. Swadloon stepped in front and created another **Protect** , stopping the tendrils yet again. But the queen kept releasing bombarding blasts of the tendrils, making Swadloon grunt as he tried holding the barrier.

' _She isn't gonna give us another chance, We've gotta find an opening, and quick!'_

The queen raised her body higher, her frame almost completely above Kevin, Ella, and a backtracking Swadloon. She gurgled as she was ready to gobble them all up, much to their horror.

"HIYA!" A sudden fish thrown at her made her blink. It felt like a small bump that surprised her. Looking down, she noticed that a fish that flopping between her and her victims.

"How you like them apples!" Joey accused. "Taste fish!"

"Joey!" Kevin chirped, slight surprise in his voice.

"You guys okay back there? Just sit tight. Kevin, looked after Ella!" he turned towards the Parasia Queen, cracking his knuckles. "Let her Uncle show how to kick ass."

The queen let out a loud gurgle that ran through the atmosphere. Magikarp down below flopped with a readied expression.

"Magikarp, let's go!"

"I'm ready this time!" he declared. In the face of the Parasia Queen, he wasn't going to give up so easily. This time, unlike the other battles, he wasn't gonna back down or be useless. It was time to act on his instincts and prove his training!

The queen swatted at the fish. " **Splash!** " Magikarp began flopping around the ground, moving over and around the tendrils. He landed and looked up, seeing a tendril slam down. He flopped out of the way as the ground shattered in front.

Joey pointed ahead. "Now use **Tackle!** " Magikarp gurgled as he flopped into the Parasia Queen. However, her gelatinous mass bounced him off no problem. _'She's got a soft body. Our attacks will just bounce off if they're direct.'_

The queen gurgled as her tendrils were in dozens. She launched them again at Magikarp.

" **Barrier-Make: Hemisphere!** " Joey created a large half-circle shield around himself and Magikarp. The tendrils bounced right off, but a few passed the shield for Kevin and Ella. Swadloon shifted in front and activated **Protect** again. The two shields were taking fire from her nonstop tendrils shooting down at them. They couldn't find any room to get pass them.

' _She's not gonna let up. We have to hit her fast and at her weak point.'_ Joey figured, his brow furrowing. _'So how are we gonna…'_

He looked down at Magikarp, an idea forming in his noggin. The fish looked back at him, his determination set. They looked at one another as silence fell. A period of wonder soon ended when Magikarp nodded in approval.

"Magikarp…" Joey was stunned, but it was replaced with a steeled heart. "Okay, you're on!"

Magikarp faced forward, set to strike. Joey brought down his barrier for the tendrils to come to them.

"Go Magikarp, **Tackle!** " Magikarp flopped off the ground towards the tendrils. He and the tendrils closed in on another, speeding remarkably fast.

Kevin looked on, wonder overflowing. _'What's Joey thinking? Magikarp isn't gonna be strong enough to handle all those at once.'_ He looked at Joey to see him take a stance, breathing slowly. _'Wait…that stance. Is he actually thinking of…?'_

His focus set, Joey eyed the timing just right. _'Not yet…not yet…'_ He narrowed his eyes. _'NOW!'_

" **Barrier-Make: Dragon Ram!** "

As Magikarp was inches away from being swarmed by the mass of tendrils, a turquoise barrier in the shape of a Chinese dragon head protected the fish. The tendrils were repulsed and the force of Joey's attack shoved Magikarp higher at the base of the head surrounding him.

"Did Captain really just…!" Dereece looked ahead, dumbfounded.

Kane smirked maliciously. "Well, well, who would've guessed Joey would have a trick like _that_. How interesting…for now." His eyes sharpened with eagerness.

"Let him have it, Magikarp!" Joey encouraged.

With all his flimsy, fishy might, Magikarp rushed with the dragon-shaped ram armoring his attack. He smashed into the queen's abdomen with extra force applied. The impact created an intense shock that caused her to gurgle in riling agony.

Joey smirked at what his little trick did. _'I knew that would make Magikarp a lot stronger.'_ He thought briefly to Broly using his barrier armor for battle and how indestructible it was. _'I'm not to that level yet, but at least this way, I know I'm on the right track. I can not only protect myself, but my friends too…'_ His gaze was fixed on Magikarp specifically. It reminded him of himself. _'We won't ever give up.'_

The barrier ram around Magikarp dissipated, his frame in midair. The queen's cyclopean eye dilated and expanded on the fish in midair. Magikarp gulped as he was so close to the monster, and he was unable to escape.

" **GRRROOOOOHHH!** "

In a violent swing of her tendrils, the queen bashed Magikarp with all her might. The flimsy fish was slammed into the river afar, creating a harsh splash.

"Magikarp!" Joey shouted.

The Parasia Queen gurgled as she eyed the mage. He looked towards her to see her intentions. Beneath him, the ground was shaking apart by her powers, causing him to turn wobbly on the spot. Slamming her tendrils on the ground, a mound of rock jetted pushed Joey, causing him to squeal as he was pushed into the water.

"Captain Joey!" Dereece shouted.

The seawater continued rushing, but Joey found it in him to rise again. Gasping for air, he coughed out a little water. "Magikarp! Magikarp!" he yelled between coughed. "Buddy?!" After a few attempts and looking around, Magikarp's body resurfaced, battered and weakened. He hurriedly swam over, grabbing him before he drifted too far.

"Magikarp, stay with me! Are you okay?" Joey looked for any signs of fatal injury in the water. It stung like hell on him but he chose to ignore it.

Magikarp winced from that harsh lash he sustained, but he opened his eyes. "Ugh…I-I've felt better…"

The Parasia Queen let out another harsh howl that rung through the chambers. A small shake caused everyone to nearly lose footing as she was changing the landscape again to suit whatever she had in store next.

"What's going on now?" Dereece panicked.

Ella held onto Kevin as her Parasia senses were picking up on her theories. Her eyes shrunk as a small breath escaped her mouth.

"Ella, what is it?" Kevin questioned.

Joey held onto Magikarp as they floated down the channel. "Okay buddy, that sucked, really." He told him. "But now we're mad! Wait until we get back there and – say, are you hearing running water?" He thought it was his hearing aids playing tricks on him, but the sound got louder by the second.

Magikarp looked up ahead, his whole body shaking. "Uh, Joey…?"

"What is it?" he turned towards downstream, seeing a complete drop off. His eyes slowly widened. "Ooooooh…crud."

Up ahead was a complete 90degress turn, the water that once made the stream they used to escape had turned into a waterfall that plunged into rocky spikes that waited at the very bottom. With it so far down it was too dark to tell, but enough light could show the pointed ends.

Joey screamed in hysterical panic, immediately turning around and holding onto Magikarp as the fish swam for his life. "Swim buddy! Swim for your life!" he yelled before resuming his screaming.

"Captain!" Dereece fret. "I gotta get over there and fast!" He moved to get to the river, but was immediately denied when Parasia surrounded him. He grunted at his situation. "Aw man, you kidding me?!"

"Blast it." Kane was by Whirlipede as they too were surrounded with no room.

"AHHHHH!" Joey kicked as the current was dragging him and Magikarp, despite their efforts, they were only delating the inevitable. The current was too powerful. "No! I'm too sexy to be dumped into a well! Magikarp, I need you buddy! I mean, like, _right now_!"

Magikarp hastily continued swimming, but he wasn't getting anywhere. He pulled even harder, only getting a little motion forward.

"That's it! Swim! Swim!" Joey's hopes arose until Magikarp slowed down. His earlier battle wounds were slowing him down. "Aw come on!" He drifted closer towards the waterfall, holding onto Magikarp for dear life.

This was a big problem. Tranquill and Yanma went over as fast as they could, but the queen's outraging tendrils slowed them down. Tranquill had to back away with Yanma, and everyone else was either tired out or surrounded. There was no one to come for them.

' _Snap, this is getting bad. My magic is as dense as glass. Even if we survived the fall, we'll probably end up sinking. Of course Magikarp can handle it, but I might…'_

Joey knew the circumstances that could come, and he didn't like them. But looking at Magikarp so exhausted, no to mention their situation; at the very least, it was worth trying to protect someone. Bracing, Magikarp suddenly felt his Trainer's hold loosen somewhat. He stopped struggling, turning back towards Joey.

"Magikarp…stay close…I'll protect you. No matter what."

Magikarp felt awestruck as he looked at his Trainer's brave face. He didn't look like he was giving up, even when he was too exhausted. The fish couldn't help but blame himself, but looking back at it, it really wasn't…right?

With a possible fatal fall awaiting, Magikarp's life flashed before his eyes. He recalled the time on the beach where he was almost eaten by a Pelipper, only to be saved by dumb luck and a volleyball. He was so weak it was plain sad to even him. He was saved and met his soon-to-be Trainer, Joey. The fact that he was captured didn't surprise him as much as the effort Joey put into relating to him. They trained relentlessly, and Joey pushed himself to do better.

The battles he's had since then flared in his mind. He was flashing to the times Joey used him as a mace – against all discretions. Still, even when it hurts, he never let himself down by giving up, neither on himself or others. Seeing his Trainer continue to look after and hold him despite what they've been through, he had to do something. They worked too hard.

The flashbacks and – more or less interesting – memories they've shared repeatedly flashed in his head, overlapping constantly until it dragged him to now. In a prolonged silence, Magikarp's expression had went from being stunned, to one of fury.

' _We. Won't. QUIT!'_ Magikarp started swimming again, faster than he's ever been before. _'We won't quit! Not until we're dead! And I'm not dead yet…'_ He tucked his head to barrel in the current, picking up momentum. _'So I'll become strong…'_ He flashed to the many battles where he was helped by everyone able. _'So I can help_ _ **them**_ _instead!'_

"Captain!" Dereece panicked, seeing them on the brink of the falls.

The falls drew closer to the two going overboard. Magikarp kept swimming for his life while Joey clung on tight. Teeth gritted as Joey's wet feet could feel a curve.

"Keep going buddy…" he quivered. "KEEP GOI~NG!" The two made a complete drop down the side, falling into the abyss of darkness. Through it, Magikarp kept swimming the waterfall, fighting the futile currents that pulled them towards their deaths.

Dereece breathlessly gasped. Kane and Whirlipede turned around at Joey's disappearance. Kevin and Ella stared in horror. The individual Pokémon that watched were beyond stunned, and not in a positive way. The viruses around them looked just as surprised, if not unemotional to the circumstances.

As the sweater poured down the falls, the running water was all anyone heard. The Parasia Queen didn't seem to mind losing one victim. After all, she had three others full of potential.

At the base of the darkness, there was a weak light. The light continued growing until it became a little beacon.

Dereece gasped. "What's that…?"

Kevin and Ella were completely speechless.

"Hmhmhm…that pawn, always so lucky." Kane smirked.

The light bubbled skywards up the waterfall, ascending like a rocket. The light streamed upwards, making the water split apart as something was blitzing at an alarming speed. In the glowing water, there was spiky blonde hair, and a large, eager smirk. The figments grip tightened on the light as he soared skywards.

The light ascended beyond the waterfall while still treading water on either side like a jet. Everyone's eyes were wide open as the light was taking shape. It was a long serpentine figment that had massive fins and a fin-like tail. The light showed eyes opening wide inside and an ear-splitting bellow dissipated the light, revealing a new creature.

The creature's roars certainly backed up its monstrous looks. It was a massive, blue-scaled dragon-like creature with white fins segmented along the back. Its sides had tan-cream scales, with the whole underside being that same color. It had a broad armor-like exterior behind the head with a white fin. The head had blue whickers attached to a face with purple eyes, yellow lips, pointed fangs, and fins behind the cheekbones. What Joey was holding onto was the headpiece, which was a dark navy tri-tip crown that connected to the nostrils.

Time slowed drastically down for everyone as they gazed at the dragon as he roared. They couldn't believe it, not even the Parasia Queen. Even her shock was evident as she gurgled.

Atop the head, Joey peered down, smiling excitedly. "Hey guys, ya miss us?!"

"Joey?" Dereece gasped. "Then that means that Magikarp is…"

"No way." Kevin admired. He pulled out his PokeDex to make certain. The screen showed the titanic sea serpent that shot from the depths of the falls.

" **Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon. The energy from evolution stimulated its brain cells strongly, causing it to become very ferocious.** "

Kevin looked back at the creature, smirking. "Well I'll be damned. Joey finally made his Magikarp evolved. Guess the little guy deserved it after all."

Gyarados came down on land, his weight crushing several Parasia at once. The dust cleared, revealing his sharp eyes gleaming at all the viruses and the queen in the distance. When Gyarados locked eyes with her, he snarled. His Intimidate Ability activated, making blue auras envelop all of them.

The queen in defense dilated her eyes. She hollered, emanating blue waves to her minions that started for the gigantic threat rivaling her size.

"Gyarados." Joey started. "Let's show them what _real_ power we've got."

Gyarados roared in compliance.

Behind was the first strike. Parasia fired tendrils towards Gyarados' back and Joey. Glancing back, Joey squinted, summoning a spherical barrier to block the tendrils. Parasia surprisingly jumped onto the shield and stuck like salamanders to keep hold until thee was an opening. The shield suddenly came down, leaving the Parasia in freefall for Gyarados to attack. His fangs glowing for **Bite** – his new move – the monster snapped the Parasia in front to mush and pivoted, smacking his large body and tail into the viruses and sending them either to mush on the ground or the seawater.

As they finished the pivot, Parasia below shot tendrils into Gyarados' face, but their puny strikes and thin arms didn't do anything, especially since their offenses were diminished.

" **Bite!** " Joey ordered.

Gyarados snapped his jaws on the thin arms, causing near-severing pain in the viruses. He brought his head around and sent them into the ground, splattering on their brethren.

Time slowed down as Joey's glare rivaled the queen's. They looked angrily at each other for respective reasons. Nothing was standing in their way. "Go, Gyarados!"

The giant amphibian screeched high into the atmosphere. He lurched forward, summoning a streak of water that flushed through the army awaiting him. With the monsters at bay, Gyarados got low and Joey rode him as he dashed across the water like a jet.

Kane's eyes widened. "That move, don't tell me-!"

Gyarados mowed through the forced with a shrilled battle cry. Those in his way were flattened when he blitzed like a jet across the smooth current that lead into the Parasia Queen. Barreling head-on, he smashed his body into her own, causing a massive tremor that nearly split the ground. The monster cried out as it slid along the ground, slamming into the cavern walls.

Gyarados caught his breath and blew steam out of his nose.

"Was that…also a new move?" Kevin questioned.

" **Waterfall.** " He turned to Ella as she explained the move. "That was the new move Gyarados learned along with **Bite** , another attack with a mild chance of flinching an adversary."

"But how did he…?" Dereece was just as baffled until he looked back at the waterfall the Parasia Queen created in the back. _'Did he learn that when going up the waterfall?'_

Gyarados hollered as the queen emerged from the rocks. She groaned as she dislodged herself and snarled at the monster. She summoned several tendrils, all ready to strike.

"Use **Splash!** "

The tendrils launched, but Gyarados jumped up, spinning his body to dodge the tendrils. His flopping made him some good heights.

"Now, **Tackle!** "

He came down onto the queen, but she summoned tendrils to strike back at Gyarados. The two interjected until Gyarados was repulsed. He crashed onto the ground several meters away from her. The queen growled as she shot even more tendrils again at Gyarados to smack him. He veered away from each blow, making sure to not take any damage.

"Wait for it." Joey ordered. He eyed one tendril in particular slapping at them. "And… **Bite** , now! **"**

Gyarados let out a primal cry as he snapped his jaws down on the incoming tendril. His jaw power was so intense that the queen was powerless when Gyarados hauled her huge towards him. Using her intelligence, she had no choice but to sever the tendril, allowing it to turn to mush.

Joey put his arms forward and created the same stance. " **Barrier-Make: Dragon Ram!** " With the range close, he summoned another barrier in the shape of a Chinese dragon head that roared. He sent the barrier as a prolonged stream at the queen as she recoiled, hitting her directly in the eye. With her lowered speed from Swadloon before, she wasn't able to do anything but holler and wail.

"Oh my…" Swadloon huffed. "How ferocious…but a tough body." He swooned.

Ella gasped, turning towards Kevin. "Papa! We can do this!"

Realizing their situation, Kevin nodded. "You're right. Swadloon, support Ella!"

Swadloon did as told and moved in front. Ready to attack again, the Leaf-Wrapped Pokémon opened his mouth, unleashing **String Shot** at the Parasia. She was tangled in the thread, stopping her. This allowed Ella to use her tendril arms to wrap around the silk, holding firm onto her mother.

The mother unleashed a shrilled cry as her tendrils were going everywhere around her surroundings. She screams loudly for freedom as her body wasn't keeping up.

Still atop of Gyarados, Joey sighed. "Okay…this is it…" He reached back. "It's our turn now."

"Uncle Joey! Now!" Ella shouted.

"You heard her! Now before she breaks free!" Kevin scolded.

Gyarados snarled s he readied his final assault. He seemingly was talking out to Joey.

"Yeah, I understand." From behind, he pulled out the stone that Dereece and Kevin used before. "So I guess, this is our chance now." He flashed back to the battles he and Magikarp had before. _'We've came a long way, and in such a short amount of time. Now…'_ his eyes bloomed with fury. "It's time for all that effort to pay off! Let's do it!" He held the stone high, making it glint.

Dereece saw the object in Joey's hand. "That stone, don't tell me he's gonna…!"

Kane was skeptical about the chances, but he wasn't willing to risk it. "Whirlipede, ready **Protect!** " His Whirlipede hissed as he moved in front, activating the move. "Buizel, Roggenrola! To my side!"

They did as told and moved behind Kane. They tucked in as the turquoise shield came up to protect them.

"This one is in dedication to Ella! And to all those people you've sucked their futures from!" He clutched the stone, empowering him with a strange insignia with a Z pattern on it. The aura flowed from his body onto Gyarados, causing the creature to have that same pattern that caused an enormous pressure to build up around him. The ground split apart from his bulk and pressure combined.

The shockwaves of his release was making everyone nearby cover up. Thanks to Kane's intuition, his team was spared from the drawbacks. But he was still amazed at what he was seeing.

"Gyarados…GO!" Joey punched forward. "End this nightmare, so we can party to the next week!"

Gyarados released a shrilled roar as his **Tackle** power was at full capacity. His eyes glinted bright red, before his entire body rushed like a full-speed train across the land. The ground turned to churned trenches that had air pockets burst that lead towards the incapacitated queen. She let out a warning cry as her body wasn't able to respond to the glowing bright yellow light closing in on her. Her pupil shrunk as she let out a bloody, shrilled cry that echoed through the sound barrier breaking in the wake. Everything went silent for a split second as a bright ripple exerted before an explosion of dust, white, and water shattered everything. The shockwaves were immediately rushed after everyone, in which Kevin shielded Ella, and Swadloon used **Protect** to cover both. The shockwaves diced up the ground and blew away the Parasia minions. Dereece wailed as he was sent flying from the shock. But thanks to his magic, he got vertical with the ground and kneeled in the air, holding himself firm while everything else stirred in the chaos and destruction.

' _What…power!'_ Dereece was at a complete loss through the shockwaves. _'Captain, your Magikarp…he really did get strong!'_

The shockwaves soon dialed down, revealing a large cloud of dust. From it, Gyarados emerged, expelling a primal roar while Joey glared ahead at the dust.

Laying in a large crater, there was a completely flattened queen. Her slimy bulk was lazily spread about. All her tendrils were sprawled around like thin laces wedged in the earth, and her large, sideways eye was dull, like a blind man with steam coming out of the bloodshot sides.

Joey and everyone looked down at the beast as its eyes weakly gazed of somewhere. On the edge of the crater, she noticed Ella staring sympathetically towards her. Her mournful gaze made the creature shudder with a disgusted scowl.

" **Gr…gr…groooo…** "

Ella closed her eyes, calmly accepting the fate f what's to come. "I'm sorry, Mama…but you brought this onto yourself." She muttered. "See you…somewhere else."

The mother gave one last growl before her eye rolled to the back of her gelatinous head. Her body went limp, the last of her life drained completely. Ella fell silent as she lowered her head; Kevin put a hand on her shoulder and smiled in comfort. Swadloon scudded closer to comfort as well.

Dereece, Kane, and their Pokémon walked over, meeting around the creature's demise.

"Looks like it's over…Captain Joey." Dereece said.

Joey sighed in relief. "Yeah, guess that's it." He turned towards Gyarados, beaming a smile. "Gyarados, I'm proud of you." He smiled wide. "Told you it'll pay off, didn't I?"

Gyarados lowly bellowed as he seemed delighted as well. He gently let his head down for Joey to pet him.

Kane eyerolled at the sight. He turned his attention towards Whirlipede, more invested in petting him instead.

"Look, behind us!" Quilladin pointed out.

Everyone turned around to see the swarm of Parasia still left were quivering. They seemed to be irresponsive and growling low, like they were aching. They all got wary as they saw some begin shriveling up.

"Look!" Heracross shouted, seeing one nearby floor and wilt to a dry husk.

Kevin blinked. "They're all…wilting away."

The Parasia around were wilting like flowers, their bodies drying up so fast like liquid was instead diffusing from their bodies instead. Many bodies twisted and fluttered to the ground at one time, it sounded like crumbling tissue paper. They were soon standing over all, their bodies littering the ground.

"Wow…so cwazy…" Raticate murmured before cackling lightly.

Krabby sighed in relief. "Well, now that we've won…" He held up a gameboard. "How about a game of checkers!"

"I STING YO FACE!" Beedrill backlashed, making Krabby shrink in fear.

Ella chuckled lightly. "Papa's Pokémon are so funny." She turned towards Kevin, seeing him sigh. "Papa."

"Hm? What is it?"

Ella smiled softly, the sincerity in her eyes clear as day. "Thank you. Because of you, I'm free…" her smile widened. "I'm truly free."

Kevin saw her light blush and smiling face. He couldn't help but smile dearly towards her. "Yeah…anything for my little girl."

All their sentiments were cut off when the island started shaking, causing them sheer surprise.

"Okay, what's happening now?!" Dereece fret. "Why is the ground shaking?!"

"Is someone using **Earthquake** or something?" Joey questioned.

Kane glanced around, his hasty stare sharpening.

"Now wait a minute." Kevin said, catching onto something. "Ella…?"

"Yes?"

"Didn't your mother say…that she used her powers to mold this entire island?"

Ella nodded.

"But wait, we just sent her packing." Dereece said, his eyes widening in realization. "Then…that means if she's dead, then…then…"

Ella had a straight face in the circumstances that were to come. "Yes…this island…it is breaking apart as we speak."

All over the island, the shaking was so intense that rocks and soil were beginning to crumble. Sediments and fissures were slowly opening through the forest that Joey and everyone trekked. At the base of these openings, seawater started to rise. The shorelines were flooding with ocean.

The river in the pit chambers started flooding everyone's feet; Kevin quickly picked up Ella to keep the seawater off her.

"The island is sinking?!" Dereece panicked. "We gotta move people, move!"

"Quick, everyone pull out your Escape Rope! We need to get out of here before we're blocked in!" Joey told them, which they reached for their supplies as water was rushing into the Parasia litter. "Now, move it!"

"Right!" They all used their Escape Ropes, everything around them whirling and spinning frantically. In a blur, they appeared in front of the cavern entrance.

Joey's eyes were a little spinny from that experience. "Oof, man. Talk about a rush." A harsh tremor beneath knocked him out of his shock. "A-Anyways! We gotta get off tis island, pronto!"

"I hear that." Dereece agreed. "But what about all the Pokémon on this island? We can't just leave them to drown!"

"Not to worry, I've taken care of that part all on my own." Kane smirked, earning confused stress from his peers, especially his nemesis.

"You did?" Joey blinked.

Kane chuckled. "Yes, very much so." He pulled out a small lacrima stone, which glowed to reveal a hologram of a boat that was cast far out. They could barely see the island in the background. "You see, I spent all of last night rounding up the inhabitance that you just so happened to have ran into and used my magic to simply move them all to a safe location."

Joey blinked in mild shock. He was actually impressed. "Wow…you know I didn't really think your creepy magic could do that."

Kane smirked. "Yes…so now _I_ shall earn a rightful reward and hand these fine specimens to the Cambire Foundation. With that money, I can further expand the details of my next plan to kill you myself, _Joey_!"

Joey sweatdropped at the dramatic downplay of the scenario. "Uh…o-okay, that's not exactly…what we were going for." He nervously pointed a finger up. "Eh, I don't suppose that you have room for a couple more?"

"So sorry, but I'm afraid that I'm up to full capacity." Kane stepped into the shadows of a tree, pulling out a candle. "Besides, I'm sire that you'll figure it out. You are brilliant that way, right?"

"Uh…"

"It was a _distasteful_ pleasure working with you, Captain Joey. This won't be the end for you...not yet at least..." Kane blew out the candle, instantly disappearing.

"Wait!" Dereece reached out, but he was too late. "Oh come on, man!"

"Man, talk about a jerk." Joey murmured. "Is anybody else starting to hate that guy?"

"Maybe, but right now we need to get the heck off this island, and we don't have a boat!" Dereece panicked.

"And it'll take hours for some uber boat can come pick us up like I took here." Kevin disgruntled.

They were short of time and resources, but Joey instantly rebounded. "Oh, don't worry about that." He smirked. "We've got transportation."

Dereece raised an unamused brow. "Captain…you have that look in your eyes. What are you thinking?"

He cockily chuckled. "Nothing a little improvising won't work. Isn't that right…Gyarados?"

Gyarados roared in understanding. Joey jumped on his back and climbed on top of his head. "All aboard! Final call before undocking!"

"Save me a seat for the ride~!" Swadloon insisted.

They all looked to each other before a harsh shake below made them jump onto Gyarados. They all recalled their Pokémon – save Swadloon – and held on tight as the dragon-like creature took off with a shrilling roar.

The island broke down, causing a massive shake that spouted seawater. In the caverns below, rock and deposits were being swallowed by the sea. The dead mother Parasia was helpless as she didn't have the strength to move. The seawater swallowed her, bringing her, along with the corpses of the dead, to a watery grave. The Queen's body was limp as the massive shadow of an island over her was slowly breaking, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Her eye remained wide as her body was slowly dissolving, leaving no traces as her slimy frame. The wilted minions followed soon after, turning to nothing.

As the island flooded and broke away, Gyarados took everyone away to safety, out by the sea. They all rode him with Joey on the head, pointing towards the horizon. The massive fish monster carried them along, howling outwards in triumph.

In the distance behind them, the dust was settling into the water, and the trees that were created and morphed had all its foliage plunder into the salty abyss. They all looked back to see bubbles were the island once was.

Joey sighed in relief. "Phew…that was a close one." He panted. "Is everyone okay down there?"

"Yeah, I think so." Dereece huffed, flopping on his front. "But I'm so~ tired."

"Yeah, me too." Kevin agreed. "But really, that was awesome."

"As you would put it, Papa…that's what she said." Ella said.

Kevin and everyone stopped and looked at each other. Kevin looked back with a widening smile. "That's my girl alright. Come here." He pulled her into a hug.

"Any room for me perhaps?" Swadloon swooned, earning raised brows from his peers.

Dereece sighed grimly. "Well, guess that job was a failure. That island was a fake the whole time, no wonder why the Cambire Foundation didn't have any topography on it."

"Yeah, that's a real bummer alright." Joey's disappointment quickly dispelled. "But hey, it wasn't a total loss, right?"

Dereece managed a soft grin. "Yeah, I guess so." He turned around. "Especially for ole' Kevin back there."

"Well that too…but I was talking about Gyarados here! Ha! Let's see how Duncan and the others like me now!"

Dereece sighed, expecting no less from his Captain. As Joey went on, he turned towards Kevin. "So, Kevin, what are you gonna do? Your mission was to find all those people, but they…"

Kevin mournfully frowned. "Guess I'll have to explain this to the client. I doubt they'll be happy with any of this…not that I blame them." He sighed.

In his ramblings, Joey stopped and looked down from his perch. "Hold up, don't you need evidence to prove that?"

Kevin snapped his fingers, showing his Search Magic with a series of images revolving around the bodies. "I've already taken care of that. My Search Magic connects with my ocular nerve, so I can save images I see, too."

Dereece looked down at the passing waves. "Well at least, they can rest easy now."

"Yeah."

Ella was silent behind her father, something that caught Swadloon's attention. "Ella, darling. It's okay." He comforted, though she still looked uncertain.

"But…I…"

"I know. And it's okay." Kevin said. "It's not your fault."

Ella looked down in regret of her actions. Though Kevin was right, she was literally born yesterday, but the memories that her past siblings devoured were engraved into her system. Her species did a large number that caused so much pain…and she almost killed her father because of it.

Kevin placed his hand on her head, serving a tender smile. "I know how painful it must've been making your own path, but you did it. And look at you. You're still here. I'm proud of you."

Ella's sadness started fading away, a soft smile appearing on her face. "Papa…"

"Yo! Mister P!" Joey jumped down from his perch on Gyarados, meeting with the rest. "So what now?"

"What do you mean?"

"What else?" Joey swiveled in circles on his Pokémon's back. "You have a kid now, right? So I guess that means you'll have to find room in your place for her, right?"

Kevin was silent for a while before he started snickering. "Yeah, I guess you have a point. I can't have her sleeping on the rugs or couch." He smiled brightly, his sunglasses brimming beneath the sunlight. "I'm sure I'll have to make some more space in my little apartment. I guess I needed a redecorating anyway."

"Oh~, count me in. I might have some designs." Swadloon winked.

"Really? That's great, thanks Swadloon." He looked at The Freaks. "And you guys, thank you for everything. You really are good friends, you know that? I can definitely see why you're part of Fairy Tail."

Joey and Dereece turned towards the other; the former cheekily grinning.

Ella looked down, mournfully grinning. It was a very strange feeling to be surrounded by people that genuinely cared for her well-being. Her programming in her artificial brain was so limited that she didn't fully know the concept of trust until Kevin made it clear to her. More so, what family was now.

For once, she actually felt peace.

"Papa. Uncle Joey. Uncle Dereece."

All three men turned towards her, Swadloon included.

"You guys, you've helped me, even though I tried pushing you away. You still made it back to me. My species…we were a virus that was cast out by humans that had every right to fear us. We grew bitter, but in order to survive, we had to grow, and just follow the laws of nature…but then, all of that changed when you three showed up."

"Awww." Joey cooed. "Ella, don't be so-!"

"The most dysfunctional, eccentric, perverted trio of bulls with as much communication as a letter in a washed up bottle, made an overly-perverted man see a new light.

"Oh…" Joey and Dereece's shoulders slumped. That compliment went in an entirely different direction.

"I never really comprehended the meaning of happiness, until time gradually went on, I learned what that meant. And now…I think that I have it." She looked at Kevin. "It's not about how you get it, it's how you live it. Isn't that right, Papa?"

Kevin smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess you're right…" Deep in his thoughts he was thinking of what he would've done beforehand. Maybe now, he'd still be after those ripest pickings of feminine wilds, but after his time with someone of the opposite sex – that being his daughter – he could actually learn to appreciate to have genuine female company. "You've really grown up, sweetie. But you know…?"

Ella tilted her head, seeing her father's smile brighten.

"You're not the only one. Look at everyone around you." He gestured to Joey, Dereece, and Swadloon. "We couldn't have gotten this far without you. You aren't a monster…you're human like us."

"Everyone…" Ella looked down, a shadow casting over her eyes as she smiled. "I-I am sorry that I deceived you like that." Her voice cracked. "I merely did so, in order to live. At least, that's what it was at first. But…I do admit…it was…really fun, to take part like an actual family…I…I…"

She reached out to Kevin, her eyes pooling tears for them. "I WISH I REALLY _WAS_ YOUR DAUGHTER!"

Kevin's eyes misted and he gingerly reached around to hug her. "You already are, Ella. You always will be." He comforted.

Dereece came around to pat her shoulder. "Yeah kid, cheer up. You'll be just fine."

"You know we'll always welcome you to parties." Joey said. "Can't wait for that."

In Kevin's shoulder, Ella sniffed. "Well…"

"'Well' what?" Kevin questioned. He didn't like the sound of that. He saw a small twinkle behind Ella's back flow into the sky. "What…? Ella…?"

Ella pulled back, softly smiling through her tears. "Papa, Uncles…even you Swadloon. Thank you all, for everything. I wish…that it could go on…just a little bit longer."

"W-what are you saying?" Dereece stuttered, he wasn't liking the sound of this.

Ella closed her eyes, ready to explain. "As you may have seen first-hand, the Parasia are linked to the Queen, like a human brain to the system. We can't function too long out of range. And also, our bodies have not yet evolved to adapt long outside the island's environment. I-it won't be too long now…until my Ethernano dries up…and I'll…"

Everyone's eyes shrunk to the size of peas. Their hopes of the future and everything they just said were completely wiped from that on explanation. Kevin especially looked horrified beyond belief.

"You…can't be serious…" the pervert muttered.

"What…?" Joey choked.

"E-Ella, stop pulling jokes on us. This is real now." Dereece nervously insisted.

Ella looked to him, her soft gaze being the only answer. They all were petrified as even more twinkles went up her body. A grim silence fell over them.

Joey balled his fists, teeth gritting. "No…" He recalled Broly's dead body smiling, and the kiss he and Camilla shared before she faded away. His body shuddered from the overwhelming shock. "Why…?"

"I'm sorry. I really am." Ella mournfully said. "But I guess, this is where I have to go."

"No! Don't say that!" Kevin shouted. "Don't you dare say stuff like that in front of me!" His mind was racing through the times he shared with her again, his teeth gritting tighter. "After all this, you really…expect me to just let my little girl…"

Ella pulled Kevin into her embrace. She held her father tight like he did back in the cave. "Papa, you remember what you said? When the sun rose and I watched it?"

" _But you know, seeing these sometimes…it makes me feel happy. Not so much because I have nothing to do…but it's that kind of first glimmer. You know when you're in a slump and can't get out of it…" he realized what he said and sweatdropped. "Sorry, forgot you didn't know. But, what I'm saying is…even if you don't have memories before, you can always look ahead for new ones. Okay, they're not all that good, but that's part of life." He smiled softly. "And I think there's hope for you."_

"You've given me hope. Hope to see a little longer what I could make of my life. And thanks to you, I found what my purpose was."

Kevin shuddered, but he obliged. "And that's…?"

Ella held back a sniffle. "To know wat love really is, and hope that I can find it one day." She smiled wider, her body's glow showing. She was running out of time.

"Ella…" Kevin grimaced.

"Thank you so much…for being my Papa…and looking out for me, even when I was trouble…" she sniffled again. "For showing me…what fun really is."

Joey started tearing up.

"And…to look after your peers, even when you don't want to."

Dereece wiped a tear from his eyes.

"I truly…am so happy, that I have all of you. I only wish…that it could've gone on, just a tad longer. But I'm still happy, that I got to enjoy the time I spent with everyone here. Papa…"

Kevin's teary eyes watched Ella as she met eyes with him. The sun beaming across the sea was lighting her face as the glow around her body and tears were showing. As Ella reached for his cheeks, she bent up and kissed his forehead. In that kiss, the sensation that the two shared linked up one last time. The pain in both their hearts was felt; the tears flowing; the sadness; grief; all of it was pouring out. And yet, through all that, they could see the other's perspective as the journey went along. It was true, they both started changing. The care they were genuinely having was developing along the way. The warmth in them was so intense that it was melting away any hate they could have.

"Thank you…for letting me be your daughter." She whispered softly.

Kevin paused as he processed everything. Slowly, he moved his hands to Ella's cheeks. He touched his forehead with his own, bearing a strong smile through the pain.

"Ella…no. Thank you…" he croaked. "Thank you…for showing me what it means to love someone for once…to look after your own…and…to really have a daughter…" His tears flowed so much he almost went blind, though the shades casted them away. "I'm truly…blessed to have had you…my sweet little mistake."

Ella closed her eyes, the glow taking her flowing hair slowly into particles. "Don't be sad…because I was happy. Life…is really fun when you make it that way. Thank you so much…everyone."

"Ella…" Sniffling, Joey tried mustering up a bright smile. He was breaking down inside, but he knew this time he had to stay tough. Dereece was a sniffling mess, but even he tried smiling.

"Papa…I promise…no matter where I end up…I will always love you. And I know you'll remember that…I'm so happy…so happy…thank you…"

Her Ethernano fully dissipated, her bodily atmosphere levels finally maxed out. Like a spirit, she faded away while keeping her forehead touching Kevin's. Turning to light particles, Kevin watched as her energy twinkled up towards the skies. Swadloon whimpered as he watched her ascend to where she deserved to go.

A visual was seen in the twinkles, smiling proudly. _"It was great, to have a family like you."_

The seas fell silent, the sea they traveled on never-ending. Joey and Dereece looked gravely saddened as they stared at the sky. The loss of a niece really hammered even Dereece's heart. Swadloon tearily looked towards Kevin, his shades unable to keep away the joy and grief in his eyes.

"Guys…"

Hearing their croaking friend, Joey and Dereece somberly looked towards Kevin.

"…tell me…was I a good dad?"

Joey lowered his head, mourning for his ally. He didn't have a father growing up, so it wasn't in his place to say, but for his sake, even he knew the right words to speak. "Yeah. You were."

Shuddering into a breakdown, Kevin curled over, muffling loud cries into his pant legs. Dereece and Swadloon scooted over to comfort him, putting an arm around the shoulder and giving him the comfort he needed. Swadloon rested his head in his side, but Kevin hastily picked him up and held him close. As much as Swadloon liked the affection, even he knew this wasn't the right time. He knew Kevin needed all the time in the world to recover from this loss…so did he.

His friends accepting the loss, Joey turned forward, looking down as he calmly placed a hand on Gyarados' back. "Gyarados…take us home. Please."

Gyarados growled low, getting the mood. He steadily increased his speed as he swam through the sea back to Hargeon.

Twinkling lights glinted in the sun over their heads, lighting the path that could take them home to live on.

* * *

"You guys feel that?" Cana asked, seeing golden twinkles in the distance. "Something just dropped all of a sudden."

Everyone followed her gaze towards the mountains as the explosions subsided. It felt like something settled in the air, relief on their shoulders brimming. Though skeptical of what went down, they could definitely tell that the ominous Magic Power had dissipated.

"It looks like it came from Wyscan Hill." Lucy pointed out. She knew Staryu must've went there. She started worrying about it.

"What happened up there?" Gray questioned.

"I'm not sure." Juvia answered. "Did a battle just end?"

Erza looked forward with a straight face. She knew of all things that there was something in her gut telling her to go check it out. But priorities were certain enough.

"We can check that out later." Natsu said, walking up to the king. "First, let's get this crown off this guy's head."

Even when he was well aware of what his crown did, Melchior was wide-eyed. He was staring at the sky with a despairing look in his cornea. He felt Andromeda no more. She was gone. As were his chances of making everyone remember Celestial Spirits had the superior magic. His bottom lip quivered.

"Okay pal, let's get this off ya." Natsu reached for the crown, but to his surprise, it wasn't budging. "What the? Come off!" He pulled harder, but to no avail.

"Try harder." Charmeleon insisted.

"I _am_ trying! Is this thing glued onto him or something?! I'm gonna-!" Suddenly red lightning came from the crown electrocuting Natsu. He screamed in pain as the jolts sent him to the floor.

"Natsu!" Lucy and Happy shouted. They raced to his side to help him up.

"Are you okay?" Happy asked.

Natsu twitched, red static crackling around his body. "Y-yeah…I'm fine…" He stammered, feeling intense pain in his body to keep him sustained. "What the hell was that?"

They all saw the king's crown glowing red with crackling jolts. The voltage connected the head and the metal together. The electric field around was jolting Klefki's nerves as she got too close and backed away.

"What the heck?" Cana raised a brow, observing the bizarre energy afar. "The hell's that?"

"Body-Link Magic." Erza surmised.

The king's face twisted as the red lightning continued down towards his body. He was not only grimacing from his defeat, but also was low on power. He looked to be in pain, not that anybody noticed.

"Wait, so you're saying that crown ain't coming off no matter what?"

"Then this matter just became a lot more difficult." Volans stated. "We need to keep him from using that crown for as long as possible."

"We'll ask the authorities for knights that can use Enchantments to nullify the crown's effects." Erza started. "For now, let's get him and his men rounded up-"

A spark came from the crown, bringing up everyone's alarms. Nic and Nic-Greninja stared down as tensions began rising from the magic.

"What the heck? What's going on now?" Gray questioned.

"I'm not sure." Juvia worried, stepping back from the discharge.

The king was convulsing on the ground, kicking and grunting uncontrollably. His teeth grinding so hard they could thin wood. The discharge was causing greater pain, making everyone back away for their own safety. It was like a little Discharge, but with a glowing red gem and a very ominous change in the atmosphere. And this wasn't missed by Nic nor Nic-Greninja in the slightest.

"I don't like the looks of this…" Corvus fretted.

Lupus' hair stood on end. He agreed whole-heartedly. Volans' teeth gritted with the discharge making his scales crawl all over.

"Everyone get back, now!" Nic warned.

The crown's discharged bloomed into a red pillar that swallowed the king. His face was painted in horror and pain as he let out a shrilled cry. Red energy bloomed skywards as he was unable to hold back the crown's power at its very source.

The red energy's lightning zapped everything nearby. Nic and Nic-Greninja's heightened senses made it certain they got away in time so they weren't zapped. Erza slid back with Vanessa. The lightning flourished as red plumes expelled across the air.

"Crap!" Natsu yelled, covering up from the explosive energy. Happy was going to be blown away until Charmeleon shielded him with his back.

Lucy cried out as she was too close to the discharge of energy. Thankfully Cana was there to keep her up.

"What's happening?" Wendy muttered. "It feels like the air is burning!"

"Is has to be the crown!" Carla shouted. "It must have overloaded itself! He's losing control!"

Melchior's cries turned ghastly as the red waves rippled everywhere. Waves of electrical pulses went through the humans and Pokémon – surprisingly – but when it struck Taurus, the bull's eyes shot wide open as he felt a merciless pain spike.

"Taurus! No!" Lucy reached out to him, but firebolts buffered her back. Another impulse ran into Sagittarius behind her.

"What's…happening…?!" The Archer Zodiac was going completely numb. His body twitched from red energy putting massive amounts of pressure on him.

The Gemini twins were struck next, then Capricorn, then Aries. One by one, the Zodiacs were twitching in midair as a red light swallowed them, causing an intense cry to echo fiercely.

"My body…GAAAHH!" Scorpio yelled out in agony, sand beginning to erupt from him in a spiral.

Lucy looked over at Virgo, eyes shrunk in horror. "Virgo…"

Virgo looked at the red electricity was closing in on her. Too damaged to move, she turned to Lucy in dismay. "Princess…I do not feel so well…" The electric currents swallowed her in a red light, causing her to shriek out of pain.

"Virgo! No!" Lucy yelled.

"Lucy, look out!" Klefki dragged Lucy away by the hair before a wave of earth shot up around Virgo. She would've been punctured it not for her Pokémon. She and Lucy fell backwards in the dirt.

Aquarius looked on as everyone around her was engulfed in red energy, the sounds of their agony loud and clear. Her blue eyes showed genuine concern as red energy was swelling around her. Already she was feeling a crushing sensation.

"No…"

Along with Pisces and Cancer in the background, Aquarius screamed loudly as a typhoon of water washed around her. Her cries were so intense that rippled in the tidal waves.

"Look out!" Gray summoned a wall of ice to intercept the raging waves, but the currents were cracking the ice faster than anticipated. _'How much pressure is she releasing?!'_

"Puuuun!" Plue began cringing, red statics alarming everyone.

"Plue?" Lucy shouted. "What's wrong? Plue!"

Plue let out a cry as he was consumed in a red pillar as well. His cone-like nose stuck up as his frail body was like a thin piece of paper flailing in the wind.

"PLUE!"

The Celestial King was clutching his head, throbbing as he tried to fend the crackling electricity attacking his nerves. It was taking all his remaining strength just to resist.

"Something's messed up! All the spirits are losing control!" Houndoom gasped. He heard crackling from behind and pouts coming from Canes. The hunting dogs all howled in angst as they were suspended like the rest of them.

Lupus looked down at his claws, realizing he was next on the list. He looked to his crew, who seemed just as horrified.

"Guys-!"

Red energy engulfed him, causing the humanoid wolf to howl in pain. He felt all his nerves discharge blue ultrasonic energy everywhere, causing Corvus and Volans to be blown away.

Liepard used her nimble reflexes to evade and slide away from the blast, but she almost lost footing. Her earlier scuffle wore her out some. She saw midnight blue ultrasonic pulses depressing the earth beneath Lupus as he hollered in crying agony.

"Lupus! Hang in there!" Corvus was next, a red pillar calling out all his power in black flaming whirlwinds spiraling in a cyclone.

"Everyone!" Volans was next. His fingers twitched as his chin lifted from the pressure causing severe pain. The force caused his body to expel deep blue water that rushed like tidal waves of their own.

Nobody saw it coming. Chaos was brewing. All that were heard were screams of anguish or lightning flourishing. The literal earth shook beneath the pressure of the numerous red pillars with respective elements bursting spontaneously from them. Whoever was closest to any pillar was either blown away by shockwaves, or elements corresponding to those spirits. Juvia tried suppressing Volans and Aquarius using her water control, but to her shock they were far too overpowering. She was washed up along with Vaporeon, though no actual damage was implied.

"Corvus! Lupus! Volans?!" Cana called out, but to no avail. All she was answered with were screams of agony and surges of power blowing her away.

Erza used her armored forearms to keep the impacts from blowing her off her feet. _'Their celestial energy must be linked to the crown on Melchior's head.'_ She turned towards Melchior's convulsing body in a deep red pillar with the crown shining brighter than ever. _'If the crown is out of control then the Celestial Spirits are being overloaded. If this doesn't stop soon…'_

"Greninja, we've gotta shut him down now!" Nic shouted at Nic-Greninja. He nodded, but before they could take action, their purple eyes linked together noticed a shadow behind them raising a sword.

Their eyes widening, they looked up as the Celestial King was crackling in cosmic blooming energy that was edged into his sword. His eyes were a fuming red from the crown that burned throughout the body. He looked in serious pain right now.

Nic an Nic-Greninja dodge to opposite sides to avoid the king's empowered sword slash that created a tidal wave of celestial energy. It sliced across the atmosphere and ground, reaching linear heights to skyscrapers as it went pass Wyscan Hill. All that remained was a deep trench that went miles inwards.

The two slid to a stop and looked to each other, then back towards the Celestial King. He cried out as he swung his sword towards the ocean, summoning a cosmic pillar from above. The ray vanished into the ocean, erupting miles off that blossomed skywards. He swung his sword madly, causing the eruptive wake to thin out and disperse across the ocean. Waves summoned were cut by the king's sword as he wildly turned.

"Look out!" Erza shouted.

The Celestial King stirred in agony, bringing his sword towards everyone.

" **Wide Guard!** "

In his Stone Form, Nic summoned a dome barrier of hexagonal pink energy. The slicing wave blinded them as it traveled over and into the pillars. The area was swallowed in a bright explosion that expanded all across Astral. The advisors and members of his order were picked up in the shockwave, turned over by bodies and debris.

The shield lifted, showing no one beneath was harmed. The dust faded as the Celestial King's sword swung around again to strike out of grief.

"He's coming back around!" Gray shouted.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed, her aura flaring around her. "Krookodile!" She exploded in a teal pillar, with her Krookodile jumping in to follow her lead.

"Right!"

The teal pillar expelled a bright light that blinded everyone. The quaking earth pulsed dramatically as the teal and maroon began fusing. The maroon energy had slits of dark that spread across the teal Aura Guardian as it manifested. The energy drew around the body, specifically the head. But the light was so bright it was hard to make out.

The king slashed own on the light, the added rays doing no good for him. His blade was infused with celestial energy that would've cut anything.

 _CRUNCH!_

In a white outline of the sun, the spills of cosmic energy dissipated when it came in contact with the light. Everyone looked on stunned at what they were seeing, seeing as how they weren't eviscerated yet.

The Cekestial King was wriggling around as the light faded, but found it impossible to escape. His blade was revealed to be stuck in something solid.

As the teal and maroon glow faded, it revealed the armor manifestation was Vanessa's Aura Guardian. However, starting at the base, the heels looked to be covered in broad maroon ethereal toe claws with a black strap along the top, as if the keep it attached to the teal heel. Black stripped markings covered the thighs while going along the maroon energy. The upper bodily armor was still present, but around the entire back going up was thick maroon energy with jagged black scales along the spine, similar to Krookodile's back. The black stripes were there as well, and they curved into accented marks into the stomach plating; a long stripe fully connected on the ample chest area. The helmet armor was in the shape of Krookodile's head, with Krookodile's curved eye shape outlining the Aura Guardian's eyes. To fulfill the whole ensemble, there was also the massive maroon and black tail that swung around.

The jaws to the humungous fusion were clamped down on the sword, keeping it firm in place. Nobody was hurt.

" **Aura Guardian: Krookodile!** " Vanessa and Krookodile voiced, their auras fused inside the core side-by-side.

Natsu's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "NO WAY! VANESSA'S A GIANT?!"

"When could she do that?!" Happy exclaimed. "And where did Krookodile go?!"

Cana was taken by surprise, though it was more of Vanessa's quick thinking than her actual spell saving their guts.

Erza looked on with surprise of her own showing. ' _Vanessa used the Aura Guardian to block the attack. She's even infused it with Krookodile. But a skill like that taxes on her Magic Power almost completely.'_ Something else clicked inside her noggin just then. _'How was she not affected?'_

Nic saw Vanessa taking action, a silence filling the air.

The Celestial King was wriggling in agony, trying to desperately pry away his sword as a red aura was pressurizing his body and flushing out Magic Power. It hurt, but the jaws didn't let go.

" **Let me tell you something, Celestial King.** " Vanessa and Krookodile growled in unison, their voices double layered over one another. " **Your celestial attacks have no effect on Dark-types! And we'll prove that to you…THE PAINFUL WAY!** "

The Aura Guardian's jaws crunched down harder, snapping the blade in two. The one tip shattered and rained as shards that were blown away by the other Celestial Spirits and their shockwaves. The King's sword broken, he fell backwards onto his back with a thud, and the – easily provoked – entity towered over him. Using Krookodile's **Crunch** , his maw opened wide, which the Aura Guardian did as well, glowing fangs readying to chomp.

As the king bloomed magic into the sky, the beam fluxed constantly into the atmosphere. Yet, sharp fangs went through, snapping down on his midsection. The bone-crushing force of the attack caused the king to grimace, but it restrained him.

"Keep him there, Vanessa and Krookodile!" Nic shouted.

The king struggled in vain as his adversary was overpowering them. As much magic that bloomed from him skywards, it felt like a breeze thanks to Krookodile's infusion. " **Sorry, your majesty. But this is for your own good.** " Krookdile's half bit down harder, causing the king's armor to crack.

Melchior cried out louder, the pillar of light around him intensifying to where it was depressing him in gravity.

All around, Libra's gravity began to run loose without her scales. Her body expelled gravitational waves, pushing things forward and back, and back again. Her bodily power was even making slightly damaged buildings leaned towards her, damaging their structures.

Aquarius and Volans cried out as their tsunamis were swirling out of control. Gray's ice was no match as the elements were overwhelming. The black whirlwinds, and [pressure everyone was using was causing screams to bloom.

The Celestial King was amongst the many. The ground was depressing so many times, even as his body was being held by Vanessa's immense jaws. His body looked like it was about to burst.

Nic-Greninja's eyes widened. "No!"

With a massive cry, the Celestial King's body expelled an immensely dense cosmic energy that blasted into the atmosphere's clear air. The roaring beam pushed far up into the sky, to where it looked like it left the atmosphere. The air rippled outwards as the magical shockwave dispersed and left the sound barrier roaring to a shaking stop.

Nic and everyone looked on, eyes glued to the sky where the attack had dissipated. They saw all that Magic Power in a massive pillar bloom and suddenly it vanished. Yet they knew the magic wasn't gone. It went somewhere, at least that's what Nic's gut was telling them.

Cana was sprawled on the ground as she was fixed on the sky. Her eyes narrowing. "What was…?"

Klefki, still dazed, looked at the sky with wonders. "Lucy!"

Lucy groaned as she looked up.

Natsu's Dragon Slayer hearing picked up on something roaring above. He looked up with Happy and Charmeleon. Everyone's gazes narrowed as they saw something close in at an alarming speed. It was only a small twinkle, but from how far away it was one could tell how large it was.

Nic and Nic-Greninja's purple vision saw deep into the atmosphere of the figment coming in. And much to their own shock, it was a case of déjà vu.

"Is that…?" Liepard questioned.

* * *

The hillside was completely decimated, yet somehow it was still in one piece. Duncan and Spiritomb were able to regroup, getting back to their feet soon enough. Duncan had no stick to use for his support, but he wasn't battered like Sophie was. Speaking of such mage, he looked over, seeing her barely able to stand on her own two feet. She stayed on all fours as she caught her breath, her Pokémon equally as wiped from that battle; Araquanid especially.

Holding back the need to spew, the Memory-Make Mage eventually found her bearings, trying to reach for something to lean on. Sure enough she felt one of Araquanid's legs and used that to get herself standing. She started slipping, worrying her friends. "I'm…okay…" she insisted, though it wasn't easy to show she was. She was completely out of Magic Power. Better that than lose her life.

"Miss Sophie, you mustn't overdo it." Finneon insisted. She was being hypocritical right now given how she had to push herself as well, but her Trainer suffered more than any of them. Her health was equally as concerning.

Kadabra nodded. "Yes, please Lady Sophie. Take it easy." He looked towards Araquanid to see his own concern behind his stilled gaze. Staryu beeped again.

Sophie took a minute to compose herself at last. "I'm…I'm okay. Really." Taking one more deep breath, she managed to stand on her own at last. "Duncan."

The Trainer turned towards her. "Don't say it…I'm fine" he rebuffed.

"That's good." She smiled. "I'm glad."

Duncan scoffed again, though he did so turned away. Spiritomb looked at him passively.

Sophie turned her eyes on Ophiuchus. "And you're Ophiuchus, are you not?" she grinned up at the massive pseudo-Zodiac. "We thank you as well…you've saved us."

Ophiuchus looked down at the two humans she's saved, not at all willing to show ample concern. She sheepishly turned away. "Whatever. I didn't do it for you." She boasted. "I just did it because I wanted to." In her mind she thought of Yukino. _'And I guess her too.'_

"Either way, we're still glad." She turned towards everyone around her. "Am I right?"

They all nodded with smiles.

"Congratulations."

They heard the raspy, grim tone from above. Everyone turned towards the hill's top to see in front of the altar – which seemed unfazed by the battle – was Tophet. His tattered cape blew passively in the winds as he saw the expectant faces of everyone. Immediately their celebratory mood was replaced with deathly seriousness.

Staryu blinked again, moving in front of everyone as Tophet continued his praise.

"Thou are victorious. I congratulate you all. Well done. You have proven yourselves to Tetrabiblos, and now he has seen the light of this bright fortune. To humans…Pokémon…and Celestial Spirits…the stars have judged you well for this." He turned especially towards Ophiuchus. "As they have guided you down the right path."

Ophiuchus turned her head away, looking disinterested if anything else.

Duncan approached him with Spiritomb at her highest guard. "Alright, enough of your stalling. We've won. So care to tell us who you really are?"

It almost completely slipped Sophie's mind. There was his identity still that they have yet to fully understand. If not for Duncan, maybe she'd accuse him and she'd have to fight some more. Thankfully she would be able to put that thought at rest.

Tophet lowered his guard. "I mean no harm. To you have earned the answers that you seek of me." He started. "Allow me to fully introduce thy self. I am Tophet…a deity that has been Tetrabiblos' calling card to the aegis of Wyscan Hill."

They looked as confused as they were surprised.

"Tetrabiblos'…messenger?" Sophie interpreted.

"Thou might say. Eons ago, when Tetrabiblos blessed this hill with his powers of the stars, he has created me. My task alone is to judge and safeguard the hill and those who are deemed worthy of Tetrabiblos' wishes. My purpose is to watch over the birthplace where man and Celestial Spirits have become one."

"Wait, are you saying…you're not human?" Sophie knew something was off about Tophet, it was clear as day he wasn't like the other advisors the others fought and defeated. _'that explains it. His Magic Power was that different…'_

Duncan stayed quiet and continued observing.

"For nearly a thousand years, I have watched many Celestial Mages grow. Those who have become stronger and came to learn under Achilles, the first native Celestial Spirit. As time went on, many more have flourished, and soon come the two sides to the conflict. And humanity as the spectrum." He turned around, looking at the altar. "This hill. It shall never be fallen. There have been many afraid of this hill's legends, and to all they have been evaded those attempts."

"Because of Ophiuchus." Sophie looked up to the snake, seeing as how she was facing forward, dead serious on the matter.

"Those who manage through are then judged by Tetrabiblos. Those who are deemed worthy and have proven the colors of their hearts, Tetrabiblos shall give them the choice of their truest desires. However, those who do make their wishes, they lose as much as they are given."

"What does that mean?" Kadabra's question was left on a silent note. He was morally worried for what might happen.

"You see, as fond of humans as he is, Tetrabiblos is also a man of reason. He does not give his powers to mortals for free. For the deepest of wishes to come true, they must give just as much. Andromeda, was just an example."

Sophie cringed at the prospect. She remembered Andromeda's tale crystal clear. She knew miracles never come that easy, and as a former merchant she knew all about business and prices. If anything it sounded like Tetrabiblos and Tophet were just doing business.

"So then, how did that king found out about this place?" Duncan asked.

Tophet closed his eyes and concentrated, leaving the others impatient. They hear what sounded like paper rolling through the winds and a few slips sped pass Sophie's head. They drifted into Tophet's hands, showing articles and depictions of Wyscan Hill.

"The archives…" Sophie gasped. She watched as Tophet suddenly set them on fire out of thin air. "Wait, what are you…!"

"In his quest for help, his majesty went the archives in the library; the very same ones you have stumbled upon, child." He told Sophie. The articles were reduced to ashes that scattered into breeze. Sophie watched in shock as it all drifted away. "His majesty arrived here one night, many months ago to meet my acquaintance. I warned him of the hill's power and what prices are to be made. But…he did not waver."

Staryu blinked, as if asking a question of its own. It looked troubled.

"What was his wish, you ask?" he repeated. "His wish…was the stars." He looked towards the sky, with everyone, even Ophiuchus – following. "If thou follows the stars, the month that lies now if the time of Gemini. As you have seen as of last night, Aquarius was the constellation. He controlled the star constellations, in preparing for when he would ready the Zodiacs to be reunited."

Now it made sense! Everyone realized then what that meant, and why it felt so strange the stars were like that. Sophie vividly remembered the dates of the time Achilles met Aquarius as well. It wasn't in this month. It was a few months back. Her green eyes widened in realization.

' _That explains it. That explains everything.'_

Duncan narrowed his eyes. "And what happened then? Exactly what sacrifice did he have to make to get to move the constellations around?"

Tophet closed his eyes, lowering his head. "His most treasured possession…his humanity."

Once again, everyone was quiet.

"You see, in the past, Melchior wasn't like the man you have borne witnessed to today. He truly was a mind king, who willingly helped his people and concerned himself to aid in others." He thought of Oberon and Auriol specifically. "As a Celestial Spirit Mage, he holds onto his promises, no matter the cost. He was willing to forsake his safety in order for their wishes to come true…which ultimately led him to here."

It seemed unreal to them, but when they stop to think about it, they couldn't find ample reason to question it. Kadabra and Sophie looked at each other especially since they went through the archives together. Now that they had time to reflect, Achilles was a good king, and he sacrificed himself for his people. Maybe Tetrabiblos honored him so much that he followed that rule. To give freedom and life, you must take on burdens.

"He did it…for the people…?" Finneon repeated. _'Then we've been facing his mediocre monster-self this whole time.'_

"So now you see, that in order to move forward, he had to give up his love for his people. He had to say his goodbyes to treating them fair, so that in turn everyone could be equal, so that those mistreated…should never have to feel that pain again. Equal opportunity for humans and Celestial Spirits. A world that was to be a golden age…as he falls to darkness."

Sophie lowered her head, understanding now what it all meant. She mourned softly for the sacrifice that was the king.

* * *

Wendy's eyes shuddered as her knees weakened. "A meteor…?" she was rendered speechless. Not even Carla knew what to say.

Coming down at breakneck speeds was a meteor, enflamed in cosmic energy by the Celestial King. The attack rushed through the cloudless atmosphere, all of which was blown away earlier by the battles.

Natsu's eyes shrunk in disbelief. _'No way…'_

Vanessa and Krookodile were too busy holding down the king, but their eyes were focused skywards on the incoming meteor that was aiming straight for them. If Vanessa were able, she'd launch a Kali Arrow to break apart the meteor. However, she was occupied with the king.

' _This is bad. If that hits, then not just us, but all of Astral will…'_ Erza's mind trailed off, trying to think of the positives to this. She balled her fists, quickly thinking of a solution. _'Think Erza, think! What's strong enough to stop a-!'_

Her eyes widened as a solution came.

' _That could work!'_ Instantly, she began requipping once more. She transformed into her Giant's Armor, holding the massive spear that came with it. She turned towards her husband. "Nic."

He glanced at her. "What?"

"Do you remember when my mother used that certain spell?"

Nic stared blankly as he deciphered what Erza was talking about. It dawned on him soon that she was talking about the enchanted meteor she summoned. Immediately his and Nic-Greninja's eyes widened.

"You're not saying…"

Erza smirked. She pulled back her arm as Houndoom went behind, readying a **Dark Pulse**. Erza looked like she wasn't gonna be waiting forever to release the pole to her weapon. "You ready?"

The two looked at Erza, then the other. They saw the look in their eyes and understood. They vividly turned back towards her and pounced onto the pole, hanging on for dear life.

"Okay! Ready!"

"Let's do this!"

Erza brought her foot back and tightened her grip. "Then hurry!"

With one massive motion, Houndoom launched his attack, jumbled dark rings exploding at point-blank range into the spear's end. Erza launched it at that moment, propelling airwaves around the launch zone that caused the ground to shake as the weapon went flying into the sky with Nic and Nic-Greninja.

They soared high into the atmosphere, gliding far up while holding onto the staff with one hand each. Their gazes were fixed on the large meteor that was reaching the stratosphere cloaked in cosmic celestial energy. Together they roared as they went into the sky.

* * *

Ophiuchus raised her head. "What's that?"

Sophie and Duncan walked closer to the edge. They looked over the hill's cliff to see several red pillars and shockwaves rippling across Astral. They saw the king swing his sword, sending a blast wave beyond their reach into the mountains. They watched in horror as they were seeing destruction, to land and spirits alike.

"What…is this…?" Sophie trembled.

"Something's wrong." Duncan figured. "This power…it's completely unlike the last time." He cringed inside when he saw a teal pillar infuse with marron. He instantly recognized it as Vanessa's Aura Guardian. His eyes narrowed as he observed carefully.

Tophet calmly looked to them. "His majesty has fallen. However, the rage of his possession continues to no bounds. The rage forever flows, and none are spared from its judgement."

Sophie furrowed her brow. There was no way of knowing what was happening for sure without some intel. She looked towards Staryu. "Staryu. Maybe you should go back to your Trainer. Maybe she's in trouble."

 _BEEPBEEP-BEEP?_ It questioned.

"We'll be just fine. You should get going."

Staryu hesitated for a moment, but figured Lucy needed it by now. It was her Pokémon after all. Deciding to take off, it spun over the hill's cliff, gliding down like a frisbee into the lower bases of the mountains towards the mayhem below.

They all watched a pillar of cosmic energy break out of nowhere that went into the atmosphere. They followed it skywards to where it vanished to thin air. Their gazes were filled with shock, but soon they settled back to the battlefield. They saw flood of deep blue water and clear water swirling, and an ocean of sand was spewing with wool scattering. Floods of magic was spontaneously erupting, and in the centers of them were wailing red pillars. Sophie knew those were their friends down there, she felt it in her gut.

Her face turned serious as she looked towards Tophet for answers. "Okay, so how do we undo the wish?"

Duncan faced them again.

"In order to undo one's wish, one must make another." Tophet explained. "However, those of celestial bonds shall only be accepted by Tetrabiblos' hand."

Sophie was beginning to worry. _'Celestial bonds? Does he mean like a Celestial Mage?'_ She began fretting inside. She wasn't a Celestial Mage, so this could be a problem.

"You." Tophet pointed towards Sophie. "I have seen through your heart and soul. You have befriended Celestial Spirits to where you value them as friends. You have been to the Celestial World. Tetrabiblos, shall hear you out."

The relief Sophie had managed to stockpile; her heart raced just as fast as before though. She swallowed another and looked back at Duncan to see what he thinks. He stared blankly at her before closing his eyes and backed up a step.

With a blink to him, she smiled. _'Thank you, Duncan.'_ She turned and walked slowly pass the altar pillars, standing at the base of it. Now fully in the middle, the winds gradually picked up like a storm brewing.

As a twinkle could be seen in the sky, the sound barrier roared around them.

Sophie took a deep breath, calming herself as Tophet walked to her side.

"What lies ahead, is a mystery. That is the karma of future." Tophet recited. "If one wishes to cast the die, one must be willing to take thy chance. And to those chances, there's only one number to all that many take granted of." He slowly – and rather ominously turned towards Sophie, glaring her face down. "That number…is one. For one celestial, one wish."

Sophie looked calmly at him. "I wish for my friends to be saved."

Tophet's glare darkened. "If that is your desired wish, you must understand. In order for Tetrabiblos to bestow his power, he requires…a payment."

"Of what…?" Sophie's throat ran dry.

"The magic, demands a sacrifice. In order for one's deepest wish to be fulfilled, that same soul, must be willing to part ways of which they hold dear to them most. One's treasure, for another."

Sophie's lips parted. She had a grim feeling of what this meant, but she didn't want to say goodbyes to everyone in exchange for her own life. It didn't feel right. She had one more flash of everyone in Fairy Tail smiling. She was starting to choke.

"Then…this really does mean the end for me, doesn't it?" she closed her eyes, embracing her evident answer.

Kadabra, Araquanid, and Finneon looked worriedly to one another.

"No."

She gasped. "What?"

"It is not your own life that you value most. It is something that you value, even more so than that."

Sophie was completely confused at this point. She was certain that her own she treasured most was worth giving up to save everyone. She was actually grateful for that she got to keep it, but the fallout made her think of other insecurities.

"Then…my friends?" She hoped that wasn't the answer either.

"Young one…you and I both know where your _real_ wish resides…"

The way his voice trailed off into a whisper didn't sit well in Sophie's stomach. She looked down at her feet, completely confused by everything now. She thought it was her life, but if not that, was it her friends that needed to be sacrificed? But no. Both of those answers were wrong. The reason lied elsewhere, and it would be a minute before Sophie caught up to it.

She thought long and hard about it, reflecting on everything that she has of value to her. She thought of Kadabra, and Araquanid, and Finneon. They weren't it. Yes they mean so much to her, but she didn't peg for it to be that kind of gamble. She remembered the pancakes she likes, would she have to give up loving those? She remembered so much she held of value. Remembering so much, that it…

It clicked. Then and there, she realized the truth behind it all. Her eyes slowly widened, the pupils shrinking at the horrifying realization. "…my memories."

Duncan heard her murmur, slightly surprised himself.

Tophet calmly observed Sophie, seeing her body tremble from the horrific realization. He didn't have to say it for her to know the truth.

"H-How are you so sure about this?" Sophie asked unsurely, hoping for doubt. "Are you certain you know this is my treasure?"

"I didn't have to know." He explained. "I saw it with my own eyes. You told me, child."

Sophie's eyes widened again. _"That my magic's gotten to where it is today. And now, it's time to give back what I owe to them, for giving so much to me!"_ That line echoed in her head, over and over again. She was paralyzed in complete disbelief of the tragic downfall that this will play out.

"You wish to give back your friends' lives you said. And in doing so you've entrusted that power to your memories. If you wish to give what you owe, you must pay that dear price."

Sophie looked down with despair in her eyes. She wanted to deny it, but her heart was choking on the bitter chords deep down. It ate at her, knowing she would have to give up on something she held dear to her. She oved her memories so much. They were what helped her along the way of knowing everyone so well. Her memory was her life. So, in a way, she would be losing her life. Just not physically.

She took one last look at her surroundings, making sure nine of this was a prank. She looked down to see everyone in a wall of destruction made by the spirits. They were aching as well. If she didn't make a decision soon, they'll die. But parting with her memories, if felt like a nightmare. But in what memories she had left, she remembered Lucy sacrificing Aquarius, and how in the end, she had to smack the sense back into her.

For her friends, she had to move on…no matter how painful.

She took one last look down at Astral in destruction, then back towards Duncan and her concerned Pokémon. She looked at Ophiuchus, who was still stable but otherwise played no part at this point. She turned forward, a depressed look in her makeup. "And…this is the only way?"

Tophet nodded. "Yes."

"And if I give your god my memories, in exchange, everything and everyone will go back to normal?"

"If that is what thou wish, then so shall it be. But remember, only 1 wish."

Sophie lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes. However, if one looked closely, they could see a tear stain shine. She breathed out slowly. "…okay. I'll do it."

Everyone behind her gasped.

"Sophie?" Kadabra exclaimed. "A-are you sure about this?"

"Yes…I know. It has to be this way."

Araquanid stepped forward. "Don't listen to that creep! Let's bite his ass and make him talk!"

"No, Araquanid."

"But we-"

"I said no!"

Her harsh tone made everything stop in place. They all flinched as Sophie snapped, a brisk wind making her hair flow off to the side.

"I'm sorry…truly, I am. But we're having no discussion about this. I love you all. You mean very much dear to me…but I'd rather lose the memories of the past that we have shared, if it means you can take steps forward. B-besides…" she looked over her shoulder, tearing up as she bitterly smiled. "It's just memories, right? I can always make new ones."

Just seeing the look on her face was like a shot to the heart. They weren't around her for that long, but they knew Sophie relied a lot on what she has seen from others, and how to act accordingly. True memories overlap one another. But to her, not one memory is replaceable.

Sophie ignored the launch of Nic and Nic-Greninja in the background as she walked back towards her Pokémon. She turned towards Kadabra.

"Kadabra. You were my first Pokémon. I remember catching you as an Abra, and the jobs we've been on…I'm glad you were there for me this whole time. Please, keep being there. I trust your head that much."

"Lady Sophie…" Kadabra started tearing up, but he nodded firmly. "O-Ok!"

"Araquanid." She turned towards him. "Thank you for being protective of me. You keep your friends close, even when you don't show it. Please keep being that way."

Despite having a water bubble, tears were seen in Araquanid. He swallowed his own lump. "W-w-whatever." He murmured. "Just…just don't be surprised when after this, I bite anyone who gets close! Ya hear?!" he sobbed.

Sophie softly smiled at the giant water spider. She moved towards Finneon. "Finneon." She kneeled to her fish. "I haven't known you long. I wish I had caught you sooner…but you're classy and serene. I like that about you."

Finneon softly smiled and nodded, small tears in her eyes.

"Everyone…thank you. Thank you so much. You made these memories worth it." She turned towards Ophiuchus. "And Ophiuchus, I'm sorry. I wish that I could remember that you saved me…but I won't be able to. Please, forgive me."

The snake spirit hissed back, silently nodding like it wasn't a big deal. Although really inside, it was painful for Ophiuchus to watch. Not because it was sappy, but because the first attempt she made of doing good was going to be slipped away from her grasp. At least, in some form of twisted light, she made a change. But she won't be proud of it.

With that, she moved towards the last person there. She turned and stared into the eyes of the Trainer who had nothing but a frown all the time.

Duncan tried to speak. "Listen, Sophie, right? Listen, I-"

"Shh." She put a hand to his lips. "No. Don't say anything."

Duncan fell silent again.

"Duncan…I wish that I got to know you better. Maybe then I'd be able to help you, just like you helped me and everyone. But…I guess in this short time, I think I've learned enough to know." Her teary eyes stared into his shocked dark orbs. "You do care. You really do. Even if you're different, be proud of that. Please, if you see your team again, keep helping them. Give others strength, that the me you once knew was able to show you. So then…I can still live on."

Duncan couldn't believe what he was feeling inside. It felt twisted, and it only grew as he looked into Sophie's tearful stare. He was never fond of these things, but for the respect she deserved he had to at least look her in the eye, just this one time.

"Even though you might hate me. If everyone else can't understand…give them a reason to keep going. That's you." Tears ran freely down her cheeks. "Thank you…for letting me see who you are!"

With those final partings, she took one final breath and calmed her nerves. She went over towards the center of the altar. _'Everyone…I know things will never be the same from here on. The Sophie that you know now, allow me to say to you all…thank you. Because of you, I became the mage who I am today. And because of what you did…I can now return…but giving you guys something to remember me by.'_

Standing completely still, Tophet stood off to the side. His eyes began glowing a bright golden seal.

Beneath the altar, runes started running through enchanted accents, running on celestial energy towards Sophie. She stood in the center as the light of the accents began casting beneath her. She could feel gravity defying her as her hair was drawn towards the sky.

As Sophie closed her eyes, the memories began surfacing. _'All the times I've shared…'_

It all began when she first saw Nic running he wrath of Erza through Magnolia. She was so dumbfounded that she didn't realize that would be the very first friend she got acquainted with in the guild. To there, it built up to helping Greninja and Staraptor take down Bickslow. The very find parts of all that, she got so acquainted with Nic after the Oracion Seis incident that not only did she journey with him and Gajeel through Edolas but helped him in supporting his relationship with Erza.

' _There were good times, and there were bad…definitely crazy ones…'_

She remembered the prank she played on Nic and Erza to make them share a bedroom. Speaking of bedrooms, that's when she met her roommate and best friend: Vanessa. She giggled. _'Vanessa. I think I'm gonna miss your lemon-eating habit the most.'_ She recalled how she slept in and yelled in her ear to wake her up. _'Well…okay, there's that, too.'_

Moving on, she saw her battles on Tenrou Island, which was a rather painful experience. To the Celestial World they went, she had to bear the pain of seeing Pavo die, but in return, she met and made new friends that she fought alongside with. With that new strength, she even found it in herself to remember Rufus and their reconcile after the Grand Magic Games.

' _But no matter how painful they were, you were all there to look after each other.'_

Her memories kept playing beyond that, to the Council War, and spending time with everyone. She remembered of cheering up Lucy and defeating Jackal together. And meeting up again after so long, to saving the world from Alvarez and Acnologia thanks to Nic.

' _This guild. The friends I've made…no matter how far apart we'll be, a little part of me will always be there. Always, just like there's love, and hate, and friends. I'm truly blessed to have had you all in my life.'_

Above all else, her memories flushed back to her childhood. She won't have to worry too much on all that Hebrew she read in the library; that was just a bonus. She could still remember the study sessions she would have with Rufus and their competitive natures. Her father's words echoed inside her mind.

" _There's one more condition. It's the most important one. When you learn to use magic, make sure, that no matter what, you use it under one condition…use it to protect your family and friends. When they're in danger, it'll be your magic's power to save them."_

' _Father. Mother. It looks like your wish will come true. My magic…it_ _ **will**_ _save others. I only wish…I could say goodbye. Thank you…'_

As she smiled in peace, the tears flowed upwards with her hair. She closed her eyes and allowed the light beneath to swallow her. Around her , the illusion of a godly entity with planetary spheres around him revealed himself to Sophie.

The two stared at one another, seeing who the other really was. The entity that was Tetrabiblos looked towards Tophet, who said nothing but nod. He turned towards the smiling Sophie, seeing that she was ready. The hemispheres around him began moving in a circle, glowing bright to make a bright flash above Sophie that turned into a halo.

' _I'm finally…at peace…because I've got to meet all of you. So…thank you all, so very much.'_ She vanished in the light, becoming a white figment that blinded the entire hill. _"When we meet again, let's make new memories…together."_

The halo turned into a pillar of light that erupted into the sky. Everyone watched with widened eyes as the hill shook the atmosphere, roaring like thunder. A shockwave rushed in all directions, blooming everywhere across valleys and hills throughout Astral.

* * *

"NOW!" Nic-Greninja roared.

Nic's purple eyes shined. "Right!"

Ince Erza's spear had lost all its momentum it was rendered in freefall. They jumped off at the same time as a springboard, making another ripple in the atmosphere as their empowered legs shot them skywards.

Nic began glowing, surrounding himself in emerald energy that could've been seen as a green comet with a purple outline. He gained even more speed, getting pass Nic-Greninja. Reading the other's thoughts, they needed another push.

' _Now!'_

Nic-Greninja brought back his heel for **Return** and swung with all his might. The attack smashed into the roaring emerald light beside him, causing the air to literally crack apart. Kicked even further, Nic-Greninja began to go into freefall as his Trainer was a roaring rocket of green that was just as fast as the meteor, perhaps even more so.

The green comet spiraled, letting out a draconic shriek that echoed miles away. A closer examination would show Nic in his Mega Rayquaza Legendary Force, the emerald light around him taking on a draconic shade that followed his wake towards the meteor.

The meteor gradually picked up speed as it got into Earthland's atmosphere, flames enveloping it. Nic's trajectory suddenly jumpstarted as he sped up, the green around his form brightening as he traveled at the speed of light towards the falling cosmic rock.

" **Maxus Legendary Arts – Dragon Ascent!** "

With all his might, Nic rushed into the meteor, piercing straight through it. Time incredulously slowed down as the green stream gushed through clean through the celestial energy. The cosmic and golden glow around the meteor dissipated as the rock returned to being itself. Nic's energy dissipated as he continued on through, coming to a swirled stop behind the rock as it seemed suspended. Moments later, green glints were seen inside bursting and imploded the rock. The attack's force had finally caught up and destroyed the rock completely in a green star in the sky.

From an astrologist's view, that same green star could've been seen from the ground.

The energy faded, revealing nothing more than pebbles and scattered stone that drifted away in space. Nic snarled as he looked back down to Earthland's atmosphere, seeing the whole world's view gleaming in the sunlight on the outer rim.

' _So this is what it's like to see from space.'_ He looked down, noticing a golden light enveloping the atmosphere beneath him. _'What's that?'_

* * *

The red pillars and elements flooded everything, including everyone. They all were completely overwhelmed as wails and shockwaves were moments apart from tearing apart one of their own. What's worse, neither Natsu nor Erza were able to get anywhere as they were overpowered as black Amaterasu flames and deep blue water were closing in the crush them.

As they braced for the attacks, a faint golden ripple shot right pass them. The incoming threats heading towards them turned from oceanic trench water to golden sparkles that fluttered into the atmosphere. They looked on completely confused.

As sand swirled around with sonic energy, Lucy cried out as she was swept away with the tides. Klefki tried pulling her out but it was no use. It was too strong. Suddenly the sand faded away, leaving a bed of golden sparkles that floated into the sky.

"Wha…?" Lucy opened her eyes, realizing she wasn't buried alive in sand. "What happened…?"

"Lucy!"

The confused blonde turned around, seeing her teammate and his Charmeleon race towards them with Happy overhead. "Guys! Over here!"

"Are you okay?" Happy questioned.

Lucy ignored the scrapes she ascertained. "Yeah, I think I'm okay…somehow."

They looked at their surroundings, noticing everything reducing the golden tinkles that ascended into the sky. The elements and Magic Power that became of the Celestial Spirits stopped all of a sudden and faded into nothing. All that was left were dim red pillars surrounding every spirit that had surprisingly calmed down, like they didn't feel pain anymore.

As the shockwaves dispelled, Vanessa in her Aura Guardian turned to notice the king's Magic Power. It was finally calming down. She was sure that this was a small setback, but her aura was reading his will was completely drained. She deactivated her Aura Guardian fusion with Krookodile, dropping to a knee as she watched the king's body soothingly calm down.

' _What's the meaning of this? Are they…are they finally starting to calm down?'_

Erza glanced left and right, noticing something from King Melchior's pillar. "Look there."

All their eyes went towards Melchior as they saw the crown on his red glowing a bright golden energy. They gathered around and saw the always red glow it had was now shielded in golden energy, like a protective safeguard. They were all speechless as they watched the crown remove itself off the unconscious king's head.

"What's it doing?" Gray's question was left unanswered.

They all watched as the crown twirled into the atmosphere over their head. It remained inside the pillar as it lifted several meters off the ground. The crown glowed brighter in golden energy, and then it shattered to pieces, despite the unbreakable jewel an armor. The debris and fragments faded into golden sparkles.

The jewel was the last part to fade away, its remnants being the last fragment to fade to ill-existence before all the red pillars around the Celestial Spirits went away. They all fell on their backs to the ground.

"You guys?" Lucy looked at them, seeing even the spirits of the Celestial Crew on their backs. They looked completely out of it. "Guys…"

 _BEEP_

Her brown eyes widened.

"P-Puuun…" a groaning Plue turned towards the sky, seeing a bright core flying through the sunlight.

"Staryu!"

The starfish spun towards Lucy, catching up to her and Klefki. The blonde caught the starfish once it slowed down enough.

"Staryu, you had me so worried." Lucy scolded. "What happened?"

 _BEEPBEEP_ Staryu closed in on Lucy and Plue, accepting their embraces.

Natsu raised a brow. "Wait, you mean it went off on its own again?"

"I wonder where it came from this time?" Happy wondered.

Cana looked equally as concerned. She noticed a glow in her back pocket that was weakly dimming. She pulled it out, seeing one end not glowing as brightly as the others. She looked in the direction where the light faded along the hill. ' _I've got a bad feeling about this.'_

* * *

The light of the hill faded into a small golden orb that floated in place of Sophie. The accents along the altar faded away, leaving nothing but cleansed air. However, for everyone else, it was hard to breathe, especially with what they've just witnessed.

The orb soon faded, revealing Sophie as she was standing. However, her skin was completely pale like a ghost. Her eyes were shut as she towered strongly for a few moments before she collapsed to her side, going limp.

"SOPHIE!" Kadabra rushed towards his Trainer, Araquanid and Finneon following. As they moved Araquanid surprisingly picked up Finneon and put her in his water bubble. Normally he would've complained about his space, but now that he has evolved, he had plenty to spare.

They rushed over, while Duncan was left with complete shock at what he just saw. He couldn't believe what he just bared witness to. It almost seemed unreal. Spiritomb had the same reaction.

Tophet closed his eyes, acknowledging the sacrifice. "The wish…has been granted."

Duncan's eyes stayed shrunk as he was fixated on Sophie's still form. All her Pokémon silently gathered around their Trainer, their faces painted with grief and sadness. The scene was causing him a mild headache that surfaced smiles if someone.

" _Duncan."_ Even in his head, he could see the toothy smile and peace sign painted on the man's face, despite what looked like him fading away.

He swallowed a nervous lump, something even Spiritomb seemed saddened by. She empathized with him sincerely. "Duncan…"

"The stars have judged you well. May they guide you down the right path."

Duncan harshly turned towards Tophet, seeing his body starting to fade with a smirk. "Wait!"

"In time…you shall know what you wish…but the path shall be long and hard…until then."

Tophet slowly faded away, his bodily presence no longer around them. With him gone, Duncan's bewilderment went down towards Sophie as she was still lying unconsciously. There was no point being around anymore now that they completed the mission, but it felt anything but a victory. Even if it was a win, somehow, this made Duncan wanna puke. It didn't feel right.

Gathering his bearings at last, he walked over slowly to Sophie's body, her Pokémon looking to Duncan as he stared at her paled face with a brief moment of hesitation before kneeling to pick her up bridal style.

He looked up at Astral to see the chaos had faded away. He no longer sensed any maleficent force. Seeing how Sophie saved the day, he turned away from the beautiful sight and sunrise, his back taking the heat as his face was cast into the shadows of what Sophie said before her memories faded.

" _Even though you might hate me. If everyone else can't understand…give them a reason to keep going. That's you." Tears ran freely down her cheeks. "Thank you…for letting me see who you are!"_

His cap lowered on its own as his grief piled on tenfold. Even though this was a win, he couldn't help but feel like a big failure for someone allowing themselves to be thrown like that. Normally it wasn't his business, but after what he went through with Sophie, this felt…wrong.

His lips meekly quivered. He did his best to keep his composure, but there was a tint in his eyes that sped down the side of his face.

Spiritomb looked on in silence of her own. Though she knew of Duncan's pain, she, too, felt the grim weight of it in her Odd Keystone.

"Up here!" a voice called out.

From the hill slope, the rest of Crime Sorciere and Yukino followed. They came to a halt when they looked up at Ophiuchus, seeing her present overhead.

"Ophiuchus…?" Yukino looked up, gasping at her spirit glaring down at her. She was shocked to say the least, but she couldn't tell if it was in a good way or a bad way.

The snake spirit looked down at her, flicking her tongue. "Hey."

"Well, well, looks like somebody finally decided to get out of her cave for once." Sorano huffed pridefully. "Well done, snakey. Guess you've just made it on the nice list this year."

Ophiuchus wasn't in the mood for one of her witty retorts for the white-haired nuisance. She slowly turned her attention towards the altar. This caused the others to turn their attention towards the group of magical creatures that stood behind a somber and firm Duncan as he held Sophie off the ground.

"Duncan." Jellal rushed over, almost tripping from how exhausted he was. "What happened?"

Duncan didn't respond. He stayed silent like no one was there.

"What happened? What was that light?" Bellona asked more forcefully than Jellal.

As they were being given the silent treatment, Erik stood by his Arbok as he was hearing everything inside his mind. He could feel Duncan's pain and regret inside the hollow void that was supposedly his heart. He heard the grief and frustration of Kadabra and the others as well. Looking at Sophie, it was nothing but a buzz in his ear. He looked away in small regret of his own.

"Is Sophie…okay?" Yukino worried.

Erik stayed quiet.

Duncan ignored the anxious stares of everyone else and turned towards Ophiuchus. "Hey, you." The snake gazed at him with the same snobbish face. "Can you take us to the others?"

It wasn't like Ophiuchus to be generous by any means, but she truly was sorry for what happened. She bared witness to all of it. The very least she could do as a spirit that helped humans would be to at least see it to the end, even by her own chagrin.

"Fine." She lowered herself, allowing Duncan and the Pokémon to get on. She turned towards Crime Sorciere. "You coming, or what?"

Though confused, they looked to each other to see no rebuttal. They followed onto Ophiuchus' back, allowing her to slither down the mountainside towards Astral.

* * *

The battle in Astral had truly come to a close now, they were all sure of it this time. Everyone gathered outside of Astral's plaza in the park, where there was enough space to check on all the spirits that were coming around again. This time they looked even more tired than they did before.

Virgo winced from the pain in her chest, her eyes fluttering open after so long.

"Virgo!" Lucy kneeled to her. "Easy, don't strain yourself."

With hazy vision, Virgo could barely make out Lucy's yellow hair. "Princess…? Is that you…?" she groaned. "I feel like…I've been through punishment."

Lucy wiped away a tear, holding Virgo loosely. "I'm so glad to hear you call me that." She smiled.

Close by, Taurus was groaning as well in terrible shape. "I can't feel a thing, Miss Lu~cy." He grimaced. "Maybe I'd feel netter…if I got a hug too."

Lucy sighed, knowing what he was really after. "I missed you too, Taurus."

Loke clutched his throbbing head. "Man, all of a sudden everything inside of me went and burst…I feel like an empty shell right now."

"Baby."

"Piri-Piri…"

The other spirits were coming around as well. Those that were manipulated by Melchior were so wipes that it took parts of Wendy's healing to keep them stable. Amongst the many that were dazed, Corvus, Lupus, and Volans were grouped with Cana and Liepard as they gathered their bearings after that experience.

"So where's Nic and Greninja?" Corvus asked.

"Yeah, and that blonde one too. Sophie." Lupus remembered.

"The overachiever and his frog should be back from their little skydive soon." Cana bluntly stated. "As for Sophie, she's still not back from that hill she went to check on." She turned towards Wyscan Hill miles off, wondering what that immense light was about.

Nearby, Vanessa was just as concerned, but she had to hold her reservations until she knew for certain Sophie was okay. But even from miles away, her aura was very faint. It made her inwardly anxious.

Erza heard a shrilled cry from above. Getting up from the bench that was miraculously still in one piece, she looked towards the sky to see a green glint descending. She sighed in relief.

Nic roared as his serpentine clothing slithered and whipped through the air with Nic-Greninja on his back. The two dropped slowly to the ground, everyone backing away to give them room for said landing. They glowed and the energy surrounding them dissipated, leaving Nic and Greninja in their normal forms with calmed breathing.

"About time, tardies!" Cana shouted angrily from the distance. "The hell took ya so long?!"

"So you guys took out the meteor then." Gray figured. Anyone could tell with the green explosion that happened high up.

Erza went up to Nic, looking at him worried. "Are you okay, Nic?"

Nic nodded. "Don't worry, we're just fine." He murmured, though he did feel a small headache. "…I think. Are you okay?"

Erza smirked. "You know it takes more than that to kill me. You of all people should know that."

Nic sighed. "Guess that's fair." His brow furrowed as he looked around. The energy from before had completely dissipated. "What happened?"

"You won't believe this!" Happy shouted. "When all the spirits were going completely nuts, we were almost goners! Then this big flashy light exploded from the mountains and all of a sudden it faded away!"

"And that crown the king had just vanished into thin air." Natsu added. "We didn't do anything, it was weird."

Nic processed what Happy and Natsu meant. _'From the mountains…'_ He looked towards the direction where Wyscan Hill was. _'That must have been the light I saw. Did the others find a way to undo the wish somehow…?'_

Before he digressed too far, Greninja brought him out of the loop. "Where's Sophie and everyone else?"

Vanessa frowned. "Not here yet I'm afraid."

"Hey look, over there!" Wendy pointed out. "I see something!"

Everyone turned their attention to the direction that Wendy pointed in. The Celestial Spirits widened their eyes when they felt a strong magical pressure coming from that same direction. It drew closer, causing them all to go on edge.

As something came into view, Volans' eyes widened. "What in the world…?"

Lupus' hair stood on edge.

Corvus quivered in place. "I-I-I-I-I…is what…eh…?"

They all saw a gargantuan snake slither towards their direction. It was so massive that its size was unlike anything they've seen, let alone remembered. It came in close, coming up to tower over them with its mighty presence.

Greninja's eyes widened at the sight. "Ophiuchus…?"

Nic's eyes widened in sheer surprise. Even he didn't see this coming. _'She came out of her cave…'_ He figured that the snake wouldn't have been so cooperative at first. It had to have been Yukino or somebody. He fell silent.

"Holy crap! A snake!" Natsu screamed.

"Natsu, calm down!" Lucy insisted. "That's gotta be Ophiuchus!"

He calmed down. "Oh, that spirit they mentioned before?"

"The one Yukino used in the games. Ring a bell?" Gray added.

"Huh?" Natsu looked up, but drew at a blank. "Sorry, you lost me."

Everyone groaned.

"His poor brain." Happy grimaced.

"Suppose some things are meant as a constant." Carla chided.

Ophiuchus looked down at the stunned party to see them on edge, but thought little of their appeals. Her attention went to the other spirits and Zodiacs off to the side. She saw the confused and expectant stares of her fellow Zodiac. Normally she wouldn't think so highly or instead belittle them due to the complex she suffered, but she was in no mood as she looked towards the Celestial King. His majesty's eyes glared at her and vice versa. A very silent and subtle tension blossomed between the king of spirits and the forgotten spirit. Neither knew what to think, nor say for that matter. Perhaps it's just one of those moments best left in silence.

After along period of silence, Ophiuchus lowered her head begrudgingly. "Your majesty."

The king was left in silence as he was still processing it all. At a time like this, he wasn't sure he should be thankful or not. He sensed a very odd power from her, but no ill-intent.

Ophiuchus lowered her head to the ground, allowing everyone on board of her to get off. Sorano jumped off first to a skip in her step. "Did anyone miss me~?!" She hopped off to the side as Yukino slid off next, then Erik. Next came Jellal and Bellona, and finally the rest.

"Yukino!" Lucy raced up to her Celestial Mage.

The white-haired girl heard her name and saw her friend. "Lucy?"

"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we're just fine now, thanks." She looked up towards Ophiuchus. "Thanks for everything, Ophiuchus."

Ophiuchus didn't bother looking at her master. "…it's no big deal." She scoffed.

"We apologize for troubling you." Bellona stated. "I trust that you all had your own share of delights, yes?"

The despondent chime she carried didn't give anyone good fortunes. The battered looks on their faces says it all, much to her amusement.

"Bellona." Jellal chided.

The mage composed herself. "Right, my apologies."

"So I take it that the mission to Wyscan Hill was a success then?" Erza deduced. She saw the look on Jellal's face. He didn't seem all that confident. "Jellal?" Her brow furrowed. "Exactly what happened?"

Jellal lowered his head somberly. "Well, when we git to the top…there was a problem."

"What problem?" Vanessa could sense the tone in the atmosphere changing. Her aura was picking up heavy remorse around them.

Instead of answering in person, Crime Sorciere fell silent as they moved off to the side. They looked on as all their eyes widened; Vanessa and Nic's especially. There, in Duncan's arms carried bridal style, Sophie was limp and pale. Her body was battered and her magical energy was all used up. Her Pokémon followed behind like a death march. The message instantly turned to horror.

"Sophie." Lucy gasped, her eyes shrunk and shuddering.

Vanessa was at a complete standstill. She was feeling an extremely weak aura coming from her. She was barely alive.

"Get out of the way!" Cana rushed pass everyone as Duncan kneeled and sat her down gently with her support. He stepped back as Corvus, Lupus, Volans, and everyone else gathered around the blonde. Cana hovered over her and put her ear to her chest to check her heartbeat. She heard low thumps, indicating she was still there. "This is bad. Wendy! Nic! Get over here!"

"Right!" Wendy was given way as she rushed to Sophie's side, activating her Healing Magic. Green energy emanated from her hands onto Sophie, healing her wounds. Nic transformed into his Mind Form and kneeled, using **Heal Pulse** to help speed along the recovery. "Hang in there, Sophie. Stay with us."

"Will…she be okay?" Juvia worried, the answers completely unclear to her.

Gray didn't give an answer. He was unsure himself.

"Sophie…" Corvus murmured.

Vanessa looked on with worry of her own wright. She looked at Sophie's pale face as her brother and Wendy were doing their jobs at healing her. She looked over at Duncan to see what he had to say, but as usual, he was silent, with a deep, scary frown. Looking at her fellow Trainer now, Vanessa always got a densely cold aura around Duncan. But that colored aura was blue, like somber. She didn't have to ask him to feel if he's alright. Reading his aura was an indication of one's emotions, and this would be the first time that it appears to be Duncan actually upset about something.

As much as she wanted to invest on the sullen Trainer, she was more inclined to Sophie. She saw the pale color on her fade slowly.

"Stay with us, girl." Cana chided. She turned towards Duncan. "Duncan, what the hell happened to her?!" She got no response from him, irking her further. "You…"

Nic stared tentatively at Sophie, his eyes fixated on hers. _'Sophie.'_ His mind raced back to the adventures and fights they shared. He didn't stop to consider it, but recently it's been ages since they've been talking to each other. It made him feel guilty. _'Sorry…'_ He added more power to his move. _'Come on, stay with us!'_

With the added flow of both healing properties, the external wounds Sophie suffered were fully healed. Her skin tone had returned from being pale and sickly, and her hair was given life again. Once their properties faded, Sophie's eyes twitched, a weak groan coming from her.

Natsu's eyes widened. "Look!" He pointed at her face, she her stir.

"I think she's coming back around." Carla said.

"Everyone, give her some room." Erza ordered.

Everyone took a step back and gave a small perimeter to Sophie as she stirred in the dirt. Her eyeliner was smeared, but that wasn't an issue. Her vision slowly recovered, showing her a blue sky.

' _W-Where…am I…?'_ She opened her eyes a little more, seeing birds fly overhead. She felt the ground beneath her, realizing she was lying down. She used her arms to prop herself up, and that's when she sat up and looked down at her clothes, which were all tattered. She noticed how endowed her chest was that she could barely see her dirt-covered stomach. She turned her head to acknowledge the surroundings of hills, grass, and especially the people. The first person she saw was Duncan, who looked down with hands in his pockets. She stared at him confusedly for an answer…but all she got was a morose look. She noticed the other people and animal figures looking at her. Unlike the trainer over her, they looked relieved or otherwise happy. _'Who are they looking at?'_ her brow furrowed. _'Is it me?'_

"Sophie!" Lucy cheered. "Thank god you're okay!"

"Hey girl, how you feeling?" Gray asked.

Volans smiled. "You had us mighty worried there. For a moment we almost felt anxious of your health."

Corvus slumped his shoulders in relief. "You scared us. Please don't do that…like ever again!" he quipped.

Lupus sighed. "You good?"

Sophie blinked. She was completely shocked that animals and humans were speaking to her. _'Wait are they…referring to me?'_ She continued observing. She noticed that everyone was silent and seemingly expecting her to answer. She stayed on the ground, keeping cautions high.

"I'm sorry, but…what's going on?"

Erza took a step forward. "You can relax now. Nic and Wendy managed to heal your wounds. You should be fine now."

"Nic? And Wendy?" She looked around confusedly, seeing the many faces around her. It didn't help her.

As she looked around disoriented, Vanessa was frowning. She was sensing Sophie's aura, and all she got was a complete blank. The bad feeling she had grew as she looked towards Nic, seeing him glance at her.

When he saw the look on his sister's face, his concern grew. He looked back towards the hill, his brow furrowing.

"Yeah, so how are you feeling?" Natsu asked. "Ready?"

Sophie scrunched her knees closer to her abdomen. "For what? Who are you?"

Natsu raised a brow. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"He's Natsu, you know. The guy who eats a lot." Happy emphasized, earning a glare from him.

"Natsu…" Sophie looked down at her feet, trying to recollect anything that could help…but nothing but a white blank was there. "I'm sorry…but I don't know."

"You what?" Gray asked. "You don't remember? C'mon Sophie, don't play games."

"I'm not. I-I'm lost…does anyone know…where I am?" She looked at their concerning faces rising. "Please, stop staring. It's not helping!"

"Sophie, calm down." Cana said. "It's alright. What happened?"

Sophie tried to think of what happened, but again, she drew at nothing. She couldn't even remember her own name. All that she had was a blank in her head, with no memories. She tried focusing harder, but after minutes of thinking, she looked distressed. "…I don't know."

All their excitement died as their worries skyrocketed.

Nic glanced at Duncan, his serious glare burning into his eyes. "Duncan." He started. "What happened, exactly?"

It sounded extremely demanding, and Duncan couldn't blame him. But he tipped his cap, refusing to speak.

"Lady Sophie…" Kadabra murmured. He, along with Araquanid and Finneon, stayed close together as they mourned for the new amnesiac.

"Okay, I'm lost." Natsu said, glaring at Duncan. "Hey you, what the hell happened to Sophie? If she can't remember squat, there must be something messed up here."

"Natsu…" Vanessa murmured.

Once again, Duncan said nothing. He kept his gaze on Sophie, her own cowarding glance less than encouraging.

Seeing a scuffle beginning to break out, Ophiuchus knew this could get out of hand. She sighed. "Geez, you humans are so stupid." she mocked. "Listen well, because I hate having to explain things twice."

For the next five minutes, Ophiuchus took it upon herself to explain everything that happened in her eyes and experience. She made sure to include as much as everything as possible, including the battle with Andromeda and the Wyscan Hill legends. She explained the extreme price one who had a celestial bond in order to be granted one wish, thus leading to Sophie's amnesia in play. By the time everyone had realized it, they looked back to Sophie to see even she was in shock of what was told. However, to everyone else, it was a heartbreaker, and others were in complete disbelief. Perhaps the most grieving were Nic and Vanessa. They stared down with saddened looks as one of their closest – best in Vanessa's case – was gone, and now all that was left was an amnesiac in a shell. The rest of the Celestial Crew looked just as heartbroken.

"No way…" Lucy broke the silence, her sadness showing in shuddering eyes. "Sophie…sacrificed her memories…?"

Kadabra hung his head in shame. "It's true. We were there."

"So then that light we saw…" Gray started, trailing towards the hill altar in the far distance.

"That was her wish to rid if everything the king had done." Juvia lowered her head in regret.

Cana crossed her arms, her mood as foul as garbage. "So that's it then…that explains why she's like this right now…" she looked at Sophie again, who was processing what happened.

The explanation to her was something that threw her of, otherwise making her sad. She stared down at her feet to realize why she couldn't remember anything. That explained so much then, why she couldn't recognize them. It was because she gave up her memories for their sake. They must have been very important to her to have happened.

Natsu walked up to Duncan, his bangs over his eyes. "And that's what happened. That's what you saw?"

Duncan huffed. That was more of an answer for Natsu.

He hastily grabbed Duncan by the collar, his teeth gritting. "You bastard! You just sat there and let her sacrifice her memories of us!"

"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked.

Duncan remained calm as Natsu glared him down. "That guy was gonna kill all of us and our friends, and you just stayed behind and not find another way than this!"

"It wasn't like there was any other way." He replied calmly. "And besides, what would you know about other ways than just force?"

"Like hell I'll believe that! There's always a way!" Natsu completely ignored the truth in his statement out of anger. "We can't just sit by and let our friends sacrifice themselves for us! It's not fair to anybody! Now look at what happened-!"

A punch to the face completely sent Natsu to the ground, making his cheeks bruised.

"Gah!" He spat out blood, holding his cheekbone, which ached bad. He looked up, seeing who the culprit was.

"Snap out of it, Natsu! Now pull yourself together!" Nic roared, his teeth gritting. He looked upset.

"Nic…" Erza grimaced.

"Did you think Sophie would have wanted us to be like this? Look at what was happening. We couldn't get near the crown, and everything was going out of control. I knew Sophie well enough to know she would never have done something like this without a good reason. You should know too. We're just lucky it was her memories and not her own life she lost."

Natsu looked down at the ground, his teeth gritting at what Nic said.

It wasn't hard to tell from the looks of it that Nic felt just as guilty. His fists were balling to where veins could've been seen, the knuckles almost white. He wanted to punch himself in the gut for suddenly snapping on Natsu, but this hurt him just as badly as anyone else. He figured it was because Sophie held a special place in his heart, she was the one to support his and Erza's relationship when the ball was still rolling. It hurt to know the person he knew was gone, but this was her choice. He had to respect that. Still, that didn't mean it was easy for him to take. And he wasn't the only one.

Cana looked down with Lupus, Corvus, and Volans, the rest of the crew looked sullenly for Sophie.

Greninja put a hand on Nic's shoulder. "Nic."

Feeling his best friend's insistence, Nic closed his eyes, calming down. "…you're right. I'm sorry." He turned away, looking elsewhere. His calm composure seemed to be back, but his teeth gnashed pretty hard. Erza came over, holding his hand to keep him together. In a way, she was. She seemed a lot calmer than he did.

"So what do we do now? She lost her memories. Isn't there anything we can do?" Happy questioned.

"I'm sorry…" Wendy murmured, her eyes misting. "But I don't think that my healing spells are gonna change this."

"Sophie…" Lucy looked towards her, seeing the blank stare of the green-eyed woman. She sacrificed for her friends, just like she did for them back in Tartaros. So in a way, she knew where she was coming from. _'There really was no other way then.'_

Of the many folks that watched, Sophie heard footsteps in front. She turned around, meeting a supple hand that reached out to her.

"Sophie."

She looked up to see who it was that was offering to help her up. She was shorter than her, but she had a very endowed and voluptuous frame – amazingly in the lower extremities. Her blue eyes looked a lot like the man that punched the overzealous pink-haired man in frustration. Her long black hair had a yellow bang. Her look seemed completely focused.

"I'm sorry, but I can't remember you." Sophie said sullenly. "Are you…a friend?"

A silence fell as Vanessa stared into Sophie's eyes, her aura feeling familiar to some level, but not a lot. She calmly smiled, the best forced one she could.

"Don't worry about it. And we shouldn't either. I'm very sorry for our reactions as they are. The truth is, you meant a lot to us. Believe it or not, if it wasn't for you, perhaps we all would've been dead…so even if you aren't certain now, just know that we're forever thankful to you, Sophie Lednick."

Sophie blankly nodded, hearing her full name out loud. She must know her really well. "Um…thank you…"

"Vanessa. Vanessa Pularis." She reached her hand out to her. "I understand you're confused, so it won't be easy. But Sophie, you saved all our lives. The very least we owe you, is to help you when you need it now. Will you let us?"

Sophie saw the many faces behind her. A moment ago, they showed sadness and grief, but now they were showing promise, otherwise certainty. She didn't know why, but this strange feeling inside her gut was making her feel warm and fuzzy.

' _What's this feeling?'_ She looked at Vanessa, seeing her eyes fixed on her. _'She looks so calm. Maybe…'_

Taking a deep breath, Sophie sighed. "I…may not fully understand what's going on here…but I guess that if what was said is true, then I must have done something very important. You all must have been dear to me for me to have done something like forget who I am…" she looked at Vanessa intently. "So…for now…I guess that I don't have a choice."

She shook hands with Vanessa, pulling her up to her feet.

"So if you say you want to help me, I'll allow it."

Vanessa nodded. "We'll do our best."

Kadabra, Araquanid, and Finneon looked to each other, softy smiling. It was going to be a bumpy road from here on, but they promised to do exactly what Sophie said before. They needed her, now more than ever.

As Nic looked over, he saw Duncan facing away. He traced down to his own knuckles, noticing the blood vessels popped from clutching too hard.

* * *

Cana eventually undid the dimension spell she used on the people in the cards, allowing them out again. However, they had a serious case of déjà vu, unaware of what really happened. They were explained that the king's ceremony had gone wrong last night, and in doing so released Magic Power that went on a geographical scale. The folks were skeptical, but some were more concerned with their loss of property, which would take months or years to get back to shape.

The authorities soon arrived to help people with construction and questioning. The group was assessed and testified what really happened. Once they were all questioned, the capital authorities of Seven took the king and the remaining advisors away.

As the king was pushed along pass everyone, he stopped. "Give me a minute, please."

The officers stopped to allow him to speak directly to Nic.

"Well, I suppose a congratulations is in order. Because of you and your efforts, the Celestial World shall stay as it is. And now in time, shall disappear. Consider yourselves blessed with ignorance, if you will."

Nobody bothered to say anything to the king. He was too dazed to probably know what he's saying anyway. The look in his eyes indicated grief from the crown and his attempts having failed. As much as they pitied him, they at least understood his motives. But that didn't make the situation any better.

Melchior sighed. "Suppose this is the end of the golden era…alright men, take me away."

The officers dragged the helpless king away with his advisors behind. They were put in carriage with magic restraints and the doors shut behind them as they were carried off.

Everyone's silence fell hard as the tension in the air slowly settled.

"I guess that's it then." Wendy said.

Carla nodded. "Yes. It would seem so."

"So what now?" Happy questioned. "Guess we just go back leaving things like this?"

Erza walked to them as she finished discussing with an officer. "It's fine. They said that they'll be sending a hand-written apology letter to Queen Hisui, as well as a fully detailed explanation of the misunderstanding. There shall be agreement papers and a treaty negotiation in the works."

"So I guess that means we really can go home." Natsu eagerly grinned. "Man, I can't wait to get some sleep! My back's killing me!"

Charmeleon chuckled. "You can say that again."

Nic sighed. Curious of other matters, he turned towards Jellal. "So Jellal, what are you thinking of doing right now? You said that Crime Sorciere is done after this, right? Are you sure about that?"

Jellal nodded firmly. "I can appreciate your concerns…" he turned towards his allies. "But I assure you, we've made up our own decisions. It's time that we move on to our own beginnings. As what his majesty would say, our own era has come to its end."

Erza nodded in acceptance. "I see. Then we'll give to you both our regards."

Jellal nodded in thanks before turning to Sorano. "Sorano. I believe you said this was your last stop, was it?"

The perky Crime Sorciere Mage jumped. "Yup! This was it! Now that I had this rocking adventure with you guys, it's time to finally be with my sister, right?!" she rubbed Yukino's head affectionately. "So there's no way you're letting go of me now!"

Yukino sweatdropped, but otherwise didn't fight it. "T-thanks, sis."

"I guess this means your next course will be joining Sabertooth if Yukino's there." Bellona said. "Give the others my regards."

Sorano playfully winked. "Will do!"

Jellal turned towards Erik, seeing his back turned. "Erik, what are you gonna do?"

The Poison Dragon Slayer held his shoulders up as he looked towards the sun in the sky. "Nothing sure yet. I'll think of something. But I think now's time to finally go my own way." He turned towards Jellal and Bellona. "You cool with that?"

Jellal grinned. "Yes. I wish you both the best of luck." He turned towards Erza. "And Erza, be well. We both know how rather rebellious Nic can be."

Erza chuckled. "Trust me, I know." She cast a glance to him, making him and Greninja groan.

Erik raised his hand as he started off towards the mountains. "Well I've had my fill. It was nice knowing you guys." He walked off, but not before Nic stepped up.

"Erik, one more thing."

He stopped in his tracks.

"Stop by the guild hall sometime…I'm sure Kinana wouldn't mind seeing you every now and again." He grinned. "You can hear her right now, don't you?"

Erik stared into space as he listened to the many voices afar. He looked passively sound as he was in fact hearing Kinana's voice from miles away. She sounded happy as she was tending to her Seviper. He grinned. "I'll think about it." He waved him off. "Catch ya later."

Nic watched Erik take off, a grin on his face. With his talk with him in the tunnels, he's sure he'll be well. He looked down at his Poke Ball, feeling Arbok inside. His grin widened.

"Nic. Greninja."

The two turned towards the sound. It was Lupus and the rest of the crew, Cana and Liepard were present as well. With them gathered, he had a feeling of what it meant.

"Is it time already?"

Volans nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid so. The Celestial World has returned to a proper state. With the balance fixed, we must now return to our world and rest."

Lupus hung his head, panting. "Yeah, I already sent the mutts back. They looked a little too beat."

"So are you, tough dog." Liepard slyly smirked. "You look like you've been in the sun too long."

Lupus scoffed lightly. "Heh, easy for you to say, little kitty."

Cana raised a brow at their interactions. Just before, Purrloin was cowering away from him, but now it's like they've been best friends for years. The chumminess made her question when it really happened.

Corvus comically cried waterfalls of tears. "Oh come on~! Why do we have to part now?!" he bawled, using his arms to wipe away the floodworks. "W-well…you guys better be safe then. Ya hear?!"

Cana smirked. "Easy there, bird boy. Don't molt before you lose all your tears now."

"We'll be well. Thanks." Nic thanked. Greninja nodded too.

"And Nic. Miss Cana." Volans said, stopping for a moment. He and everyone turned towards Sophie, who was sitting close on a rock, seemingly talking to her Pokémon. "Give Miss Sophie our regards."

Cana mournfully smiled. "Yeah. Sure."

"You don't want to say goodbye to her?" Greninja questioned.

Volans smiled as he shook his head. "It's not in our place to say. Right now, she needs you guys more than ever. Once she catches up, we'll be certain to see her smile at us."

"I see."

"And also, there's one more thing we decided before we have to go." Volans added. He looked towards Lucy, seeing her talk in relief with her team while holding onto Plue. He looked at Corvus, then Lupus, seeing them nod in agreement. They proceeded towards her. "Miss Lucy."

Lucy was smiling at her Klefki as she circled around her head. She heard her name called and turned towards the gathered spirits. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?"

"Hey." Corvus started, impishly grinning. "So, me and the guys here were talking about something. Would you wanna hear us out?"

Although she was confused, Lucy didn't see any reason not too. "Uh, sure?"

Lupus scoffed. "Basically, you know we're buddies with Sophie, right? The girl's gone and made quit a mess of herself."

Volans nodded. "So in order to make sure we keep ourselves looking out for the crew in case of an emergency, we would like to offer a proposition. Lucy Heartfilia…" He raised his thick arm to reveal something he was holding onto. It was a silver key with a fish emblem with wings on both sides. "We would like to offer contracts with you."

"What?"

Lupus held up a silver key, along with Corvus holding his own. The wolf had his respective emblem, as did the crow with a black beak looking down. Lucy eyed the keys at the opportunity at hand.

"You guys, I really can't…"

"We insist." Volans stated. "You and Miss Sophie are part of the same guild. You are a Celestial Mage, as well as a very close friend to Nic and Miss Cana. If we say that you're adequate to serve our keys, then we absolutely insist."

"You guys…thank you." Lucy tentatively accepted the three keys, which Klefki eyed with ogling delights.

"Summon us when you need us. But know this, we look out for our crew. So if they summon us, we take the lead." Lupus chuckled. "Follow the pack leader, ya hear?"

Lucy nodded, accepting the terms. "Okay."

"Though…" Corvus raised a finger, nervously smirking. "How's about Sundays off?" He smiled wide in hopes, but Volans and Lupus looked back with glares that made him sulk. "O-or whenever…you know, either works…"

"Catch you later, tough dog." Liepard playfully whipped her tail. "Better not be whimpering the next time I see you."

Lupus accepted the challenge with a snarl. "Heh, better not see you running around like a scaredy kitty either."

As they bantered like friends they were, Happy was shuddering out of angst and envy. How Liepard could stand talking to the giant wolf and not even bat an eyelash left him to question his own role. As he gloomed at his chances falling lower to impress her, Carla huffed with a tick mark.

"Lucy." Turning around, Loke appeared with the rest of her spirits. They looked battered and in bad shape, but thankfully they were well. "We need to go back, too. We'll need some time to recover from all these wounds we've got. Hope that's not too much trouble."

Lucy shook her head sweetly. "No, of course not. You guys deserve it for the trouble you went through."

"Miss Lu~cy, I'll be ready even if it kills me to see that rockin' bod again!" Taurus awed.

"When I return, I'll happily recite literature that should enlighten your etiquette if needed." Capricorn politely bowed.

"We'll be back up to speed soon."

"Milady, do apologies."

"Princess, even if it hurts, no punishment shall keep me from being summoned by you."

"Piri-Piri!"

Lucy was genuinely touched by everyone coming together, it was making her misty-eyed. "You guys…"

 _BEEPBEEP_

"What is it, Staryu?" Lucy looked over her shoulder, seeing a certain spirit with her arms crossed and looking away. She floated over the ground with a less than happy expression, though she didn't point it to Lucy. "Aquarius."

The mermaid spirit huffed, looking more than a little tired. Nevertheless, she did spare one glance at Lucy as she stood besides her.

"So how are you feeling?"

"…better, I guess." She huffed. "Though it could've been a _lot_ better if we were given a notice."

Lucy took it as a compliment. "Yeah, I guess."

"Still, if I wanted to cause trouble to you, I would've wanted to do it by own accord. Not some 3rd rate tyrant. So, I guess…I'm sorry." She looked at her fixed golden key and passed it over. "Here."

Lucy's eyes widened as she eyed the key that was sitting out in front of her. Her eyes were starting to water at the sheer emotions she was feeling inside. All that work, and all of that sacrifice, and two years later, it finally paid off. "A-Aquarius…"

"Just take it already. I guess you deserve it for all the hell you went through." The mermaid glanced sheepishly. "Just, when you summon me, just don't cry. Or I'll drown you."

Lucy finally accepted the key, Klefki staying extremely close as she eyed the key. Shed love to hold it, but knew Lucy needed this time. She watched her rub the newly repaired key to her cheek, sniffling as her contract and gateway to her first friend had been successfully repaired, hopefully for good.

The Celestial King nodded in approval. Now it was his turn to make amends with a certain someone. "Ophiuchus."

The giant snake shot the king a glare from the corner of her eye.

"While the stars have been far for you, they now bear closer for you to guide others through. You have guided our young friend, who in turn saved us from darkness befalling both world, not just our own. To you, my old friend…I thank you. I am in your debt for saving the lives of so many."

"Hmph, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not an 'old friend'." She mocked, taking a moment to pause. "But…you're welcome, I guess."

Inside, Ophiuchus was actually very happy that the king had acknowledged her, let alone her existence. The rest of the Zodiacs looked up to her with expectant grins of their own full of smiles. Finally, after so long, after years of being ignored, it took a small talk and a lot of crammed convincing to get her going, but in the end she finally made a difference. She made her life worth something, at least for one time. The pseudo-Zodiac was finally one of their own. This made Yukino and Sorano smile.

"Now then, old friends, I believe it is time that we once again say our farewells to you all. We are all very grateful to you, that no amount of stars are made, our bonds have been further strengthened by your hearts pouring to us. We've strayed from our oaths once, and now we are back, looking farther ahead than before. It was right of us to bestow our trust to another world after all." The king began glowing, along with the rest of the Zodiac and Celestial Crew spirits. "May we all continue to work together in the coming years. Through bitter and worse, we stand tall and look out for one another. That is the meaning of friendship. Staryu."

Staryu blinked.

"To you, and Ophiuchus and Sophie Lednick. I thank you three sincerely. May the stars forever be in your reaches. Until we meet again, old friends."

The king glowed and became a radiating light stream that went into the sky. The Gemini twins waved goodbye as Sagittarius saluted farewells. Taurus flexed, Scorpio posed with a smirk, and Aries meekly waves. Capricorn bowed. Cancer snipped his fingers n place of his scissors. Loke softly smiled as Libra and Pisces behind nodded to Yukino. The last the fade was Aquarius, who stared at Lucy with a knowing smile.

" _I guess I didn't have to miss you that much after all."_ She faded away, chuckling to herself. _"So much for freetime."_

"We bid you all adieu." Volans said. The crew faded away next, disappearing back into the Celestial Spirit World at long last.

"Puuun…" Plue waved Staryu as the starfish returned the gesture before fading.

Yukino heard the sound of slithering and saw Ophiuchus turn away. "Ophiuchus, hold on."

The massive serpent stopped in her tracks, glancing away from her. "…heh, what a day it's been."

Yukino softly nodded. "Yes, it has." A short silence fell as she looked at her. "Ophiuchus, thank you so much. You're a true friend."

Ophiuchus hissed impishly. "Whatever. But…you know…" She hesitated for a moment as she stared to the mountains, birds chirping overhead. "I guess…I can learn to appreciate others than just spirits now. So…thank you again." She glanced back at Yukino. "We'll redo our contract…but don't expect me to be there, you know!"

Yukino nodded. "Promise."

Ophiuchus nodded. "Sure…take care." She ducked her head and slowly slipped back into her tunnels. Her frame slowly vanished from sight as Yukino and everyone watched her go back to her dormant state. Her long tail was the last thing to fade back to darkness as Yukino smiled softer to her spirit.

"Alrighty then." Changing the mood, Sorano raised a fist high. "Now that that's settled, let's go home!"

Yukino grinned. "Sure."

Lucy nodded. "Guess we should go too. I need to take a nice hot bath. Oh! And I think I got this great idea for my novel!" Beside her, Klefki and Staryu looked to each other, blinking and jingling as they followed Lucy.

"Oh, will you let us peek?" Natsu asked.

"Aye, better have fishies involved if it's gonna sell!" Happy added.

"Hell no boys! You stay as far away from those papers, ya hear?!"

Erza chuckled and smiled at the merriment made. She turned towards Nic, shuffling to his side. "Suppose things will be getting back to normal." She teased. "Or rather as normal as they get."

Nic nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." He looked towards Greninja to see him being calm about all this like he was. He looked towards Sophie, seeing how Vanessa was at the ready to guide her. _'I guess for some of us, this is where it has to end. I wonder…'_ He looked skywards, seeing the sun beaming down on them. _'Is there even an end at all? Who's to say…?'_

"Sophie, are you ready?" Vanessa asked. "We'll go home. To your home."

Sophie smiled as she nodded. "Okay…I trust you."

Rom the distance, Duncan watched in silence. He tilted his cap down as Spiritomb floated by bis side. Without a word he turned and started back the trail they came, with her following in silence.

* * *

Back at Joey and Dereece's apartment, night had fallen. Dereece groaned as he flopped on the couch. "Oiii…man I thought I'd never be glad to feel leather again."

Joey sighed as he was sprawled on the loveseat adjacent to the couch. "Yeah, I guess so…" His mind wasn't in the best shape at the moment. He was still dazed on what happened following his and everyone's return to shore. It was a bitter goodbye to say the least to Kevin, especially with Ella's death weighing heavily on them. When they bid farewells and shook hands, they promised to keep in touch before going to report their findings to the respective people. For Joey's case, he had to not only send the data of the Pokémon inhabitance, but also the island forgery, as well as the stones. He let Dereece handle that. He also had to relinquish the stone he found too, much to their chagrin.

"They're gonna have their hands full for a while with the forgery that went on." Dereece sighed. "Man, that was so messed up."

Joey meekly nodded. He was still sad of their niece going to a better place. "Dereece?"

The man looked towards Joey.

"Do you think Kevin will be alright?"

Dereece walked over, smiling as he patted his back. He was just as heartbroken, his eyes misting. "We'll be just fine, Captain." He assured softly. "And so will Duncan."

Joey softly smiled. After this, he wouldn't mind seeing him again. And he hoped Duncan shared the same thoughts. He looked out to the window, seeing the stars twinkle.

* * *

Under the same starry sky in the woods miles away, a bungalow lied with its lights off. The humble abode was nice and quiet with no disturbance. Inside this bungalow, candles lit up as Kane appeared inside his door. He seemed less than displeased, despite getting a praise from the unauthorized job. Though, as an independent mage, to him, it didn't matter. Money was money.

The home was silent. A little too silent. He frowned as he eyerolled to the shadows. "You can come out now, Whirlipede and I can smell your smoke."

From the shadows, another whiff of smoke whiff in Kane's face, making him sneer angrily. A pair of lips smirked as someone stepped out in a cloak.

"I trust that you had all the patience in the world figuring out what happened during my time away." Kane retorted. "To be honest, your little 'fickle finger' on fortunes isn't what I had in mind…Miss Hoshina."

The revealed woman removed her cloak, smirking as she removed the pipe from her mouth. Her luscious smirk could send as much shivers up one's spine as Kane's does.

"Elaborate again what the fortune was that I paid you for?"

Hoshina did as told and held up her crystal ball. The ball had a misty purple haze inside that cleared away, showing the island that Joey was on previously. "Three men venture into the forbidden. Should a fourth one to arrive, by morning of the third day, may the three suffer a grief to one's end." She shot a humble glance. "Is that what not happened?"

Kane huffed. "Not how I imagined it." To what Hoshina described, he thought the three men would've been The Freaks themselves. And the fourth would've been him, not Ella. But alas, fate twisted boundaries yet again. "You know I can always count on you for s _ome_ measure of keeping track of my nemesis, Miss Hoshina. But at this expense, but for as long as a business we've had, I was hoping a little more fruit to bear." He stroke Whirlipede, making him purr.

"The future is always full of surprises." She nonchalantly stated.

"And yet your magic allows you to _direct_ the future from reality. So let me ask you, can you, or can you _not_ see a time when I will finally see his end?"

Hoshina blatantly put the pipe back into her mouth. "And to whom 'he' is…"

"You know who I mean! Joey! Joey Haycliff!" he snapped.

She took in a long, relaxing breath, thus making Kane impatiently tap his heel to the ground. He crossed his arms as Hoshina looked into her crystal ball, the mist in the ball was the same emanating from her pipe. "Well now, to what his future holds…" she hummed. "I see anguish. Pain caused to him by someone close. It's there, that he will have to undergo a most difficult burden." The mist faded, leaving a hollow crystal ball. "For the reality of one's future, that is what all I see."

Kane exasperatedly sighed. "I suppose there's other choice then. Guess I'll have to step up my game on my own terms then." He reached into his pocket with a sizeable sack of money. He lobbed it in front of her. "There's your payment, as we have agreed. Now, if there are no more obligations, I leave to you a good night, Miss Hoshina."

Hoshina grabbed the cash and put it beneath her cloak. Now that Kane was through with her, she would have to find another place to accommodate herself. Not that she didn't mind. "I wonder…"

Kane and Whirlipede turned around.

"Your fixation on this man, it's one of the very few mysteries that even I cannot fathom enough on. How very interesting of a human you are, dear Kane. This begs the question…what the reality would be of yours…without him in your life as a purpose?" she held up her crystal ball. "Would you like to see?"

"No, thank you." Kane declined brashly, beaming to his ceiling and tapping his fingers against the chair. "I can see the future clearly, unlike some people."

Hoshina smirked as she blew one last smoke. "Pleasure with the business, Mister Kane." She departed in the shadows, the door abruptly slamming like the wind forced it to.

Unmoved, Kane rolled his eyes. He sighed tiredly. "That is the _last_ time we'll be relying on outside sources, Whirlipede."

Whirlipede hissed annoyed.

"Yes, I know. But trust me, _nothing_ will be of waste." He maliciously smirked as the candle lights dimmed, making the room darker. "Besides…I actually enjoyed seeing how powerful my nemesis has become. Now…time to step up our game."

Whirlipede's hiss echoed in the arriving darkness.

* * *

A new morning dawned onto Magnolia, the sun rising over a nice little apartment that sat on the end of the avenue where the guild was. It was hear, in this little place, where Sophie lived. For the most part, she was adapting well, and she slept well in her room. She found herself waking up, taking notice of her surroundings. It was only one night, so she wasn't fully aware of her entitled home.

Stepping out of the shower, the endowed woman was wrapped in a towel and looking at herself in the mirror. She had been staring for some time trying to get a good look at herself. _'So, this is who I am now.'_ She was told a lot of things by everyone on the way back, how she was a member of a guild, how she and Vanessa lived together, and how she had to pay rent. Pretty simple life style. Nevertheless, it still didn't satisfy this vacant feeling in her chest that seemed like something was missing. She frowned at her reflection, wondering what her routine was like.

' _I guess I'll get by somehow. Shouldn't be that hard.'_ She thought of everyone. _'…after all, they promised to help me. Guess I shouldn't worry too much.'_

She smiled and looked brighter in the mirror. She reached for her lipstick and applied it to her lips. Did her mascara and got dressed. She walked out of the bathroom and looked at the time. It was close to 9.

' _Is Vanessa up yet? Maybe she's at the guild hall.'_ She looked down the hall where Vanessa's room was. She creeped on over to the door and knocked, but got no answer. "Vanessa? Are you there?" Worried, she turned the handle and opened slowly. Instantly, she was met with a body sprawled with bedsheets and blankets everywhere. Vanessa was sleeping on her side, hugging a pillow tight as her breathing was so heavy it was like she was dead. The sight made Sophie sweatdrop. _'Wow…she's out.'_ She hesitated for a moment on what to do. Was it right to wake her up? What would she have done in the past? _'Well…we have to go to the guild and all…I guess I should try to wake her up.'_ She went over, trying to nudge her roommate up. However, Vanessa only rolled to her other side, moaning softly about something incomprehensible. Sophie grew weary and sighed. _'C'mon Sophie…think. What would she get up for? Maybe a favorite food? No, I don't know what she likes yet…maybe-!'_ She sprouted an idea. _'That should work!'_ She moved up to the bed. "Vanessa~…"

Vanessa didn't budge. She was sleeping hard. Sophie inhaled deeply and yelled at the top of her lungs.

"VANESSA! THAT KROOKODILE OF YOURS IS BREAKING THE HOUSE APART!"

Vanessa almost jumped out of her bed and sat up. "W-what-?!" She stirred up, looking at her surroundings. She saw Sophie backed to the doorway for caution. "Sophie…?"

She uneasily flinched. "Um, s-sorry for the false alarm." However, inwardly she wasn't. She meekly chuckled to herself. _'Déjà vu.'_

Vanessa blinked. This feeling of her waking up to a shout was extremely common, but given the circumstances, she was honestly piqued. "Sophie…" she murmured. "Are you…alright?"

"Yeah, I think I slept well…is that what you meant?"

Vanessa calmly shook her head. "It's nothing." She stood up and walked over to her dresser. She started looking for a new bra, pulling out a light purple one.

Seeing as how Vanessa was gonna change, Sophie took her leave.

"Oh, and Sophie…" Vanessa started.

"Yes?" she looked back, hopeful in her eyes.

"Thanks for waking me up like that." She softly smiled. "I appreciate it."

Sophie was silent as she took in what Vanessa said. She wasn't sure if she was being genuine or formal, but from the look on her face she seemed to have meant well. "You're welcome." She turned away, beaming. "I'll have to remember that when I wake you the next time."

Vanessa watched Sophie smile as she walked down the hall to stairs. _'I know you will.'_ She finished getting dressed for the day and readied for a new day.

This was Sophie Lednick: Experienced Memory-Make mage and a member of Fairy Tail. As well as Vanessa's best friend. That's what Sophie was, and to her, it was her most valued treasure.

* * *

Inside a shaded room, the blinds were down as Kevin laid on his bed, his Pokémon sleeping on the floor beside him. Raticate was twitching in his sleep, and Krabby fell asleep playing checkers with Swadloon. Beedrill was the only one who seemed to be calmly sleeping. Kevin, on the other hand, wasn't sleeping at all as he stared at his Search Magic screen.

When he got back after parting ways with Joey and Dereece, he sauntered back to Blue Pegasus to give the report to Master Ichiya. He made sure to give a flash drive with pictures taken by his Search Magic's properties. He detailed about the people that were found and how they all died; he knew the client and those affiliated would be gravely upset to know their colleagues, but he didn't care. He did his job, and he had evidence sent in. With the pay and his feeble condition, Master Ichiya had Kevin stay home for a few days until he was back on his feet. And right now, he felt like doing anything but move. He was still fixed on Ella, though no one was aware. They just saw him as blank and nothing more. They thought he must have caught a cold while on the island.

Lying in his bed, Kevin's Search Magic screen was blank. He was staring at it for a while now but couldn't find it in himself to resume his leisure delights. He took one look out the blinds to see no one was looking, and down towards his Pokémon to see them asleep. With the cost clear, he typed in a name.

" **ELLA** "

The search engine related to one file, which he opened. On it was one clip. Hesitating for a moment, he calmed himself as he opened it.

 _ **[Namie Amuro – Hope]**_

It started with Kevin waking up calmly, the first face he saw that morning being Ella. From there, it was all the memories that were made through his point of view, with Ella being the sole focus. It showed him along with The Freaks as the girl was given her name by Kevin: Ella. From there, it showed the battles they fought against the Bug-types, as well as the trek they had along the way. Up the mountain they went, with Kevin fretting about Ella when she wasn't there. It showed their epic slope down the mountain, to where Ella was seen taking the lead while Sewaddle used his **String Shot** to pull on the trees and launch them. It shifted to Ella landing safely, and Kevin scolding her.

Kevin watched the montage, his eyes misting as he watched the rerun of his whole adventure. He learned a lot, and that's saying something. He never realized what an honor – and pain – of being a parent until she came into his life. Even if it was for one day. Born one day, gone the next. Literally.

The montage went on to pictures take, with Ella's forehead touching his own for the first time, and more clips of them down by the stream. It showed him guiding Ella across and where they showed her how to enjoy herself. To that, it lead to him wishing her good night. Not one thing was left out that night, including the party Joey threw for her. She actually looked thrilled. And that very smile was what broke Kevin's heart.

Tears were flowing down his eyes as he watched Ella and him walk up the hill that very early morning, to where she guided them to the cave. It really broke him how she was really trying to kill them, and yet deep down, he couldn't bring himself to despise that. She was just doing what she could to survive, just like her mother. And yet, despite what happened, they ended up being reunited, like father and daughter.

He truly wished she was still here. If they could have found a way to at east sustain her, then he would've taken it…but this was what Ella wanted. Her last moments of life were filled with so much joy and happiness that Kevin was actually able to give to her. And to a father like himself, he couldn't be anymore proud that Ella found that. They helped each other find family. That's what family was.

The montage through the final battle ended, and the very last scene was Kevin and Ella touching forehead, smiling tears as she faded in the late morning sun. There, it showed Ella's smiling face, with a title beneath it.

 _ **Ella – A Real Daughter Unlike Any Other**_

 _ **June 16**_ _ **th**_ _ **, X793 – June 17**_ _ **th**_ _ **, X793**_

He sighed in content. "You've done good, Mister P. You've done good."

He closed the file.

* * *

 **It's finally done! Two weeks after the last update, we finally reached the end of the arc with a tremendous and outrageous bang. I hereby announce that the Astral Arc is officially done! I'm proud that I was able to end this when I did, but first and foremost, I owe each and everyone of you a huge apology. This arc was WAY longer than I intended it to be, especially this chapter. In retrospect I could've halved this chapter just to save the killing number of brain cells everyone put into finishing this last chapter. I understand that this was 44.5K, and that is WAY, WAY too much. So again, I owe everyone an apology for making this an unbearable chapter in terms of length. This was all coupled with The Freaks' other half of the adventure as well, so this arc on top of a mini arc was an experiment of mine. Now I know what kind of damage this can do, I'll be certain to refrain from doing this sort of thing again. Still, despite the pain of doubling two arcs into one, I hope it was a big enough emotional roller coaster for you all.**

 **So length aside and far overdoing my limits, the highlights were made with Sophie indefinitely this arc. I felt like in the prequel, I ignored her to where she wasn't a major support character anymore. So I really wanted to make her truly mean something in this story again. I hinted early on about Sophie's point of view, and now you see why I did that. She truly earned the spotlight this time around.**

 **As for The Freaks and Kevin's half, it's drawn to a close as well. I know many of you were desperate in seeing Magikarp evolve, well now he did, and all well deserved evolution at that! This is also where Kevin's little character arc ends too I'm afraid. I know many of you are probably pissed that I had Ella die, and I'm sorry. But thanks though for giving this mini arc a chance and showing what Kevin means as well.**

 **I hope you guys also liked what I did with Staryu and Ophiuchus in this arc as well. I guess you can add Sewaddle/Swadloon and Magikarp/Gyarados to that list too since they had vital roles just like Sophie did.**

 **So at long last, Lucy has Aquarius' key back! And on top of that, she also got the Celestial Crew's keys as a bonus! Crime Sorciere finally disbanded at full length and Sorano is joining Sabertooth. We also have Duncan show a little emotion for once for Sophie now becoming an amnesiac, so let's see how this affects his character in the future. With all these plot points FINALLY covered, we can finally take a break and chill for a while.**

 **So I'm going to be taking a while off writing to recharge my batteries and think ahead of the next few arcs to do. Speaking of which, of the Revenge of Alvarez, Glacidia, and Astral Arc, which arc did you guys like the most? I'm curious about which you thought had the best style or plot device to it.**

 **During my break from writing, I'm also going to do some art, as well as officially begin planning for the Fire Emblem Fates/Pokémon crossover that you guys want to see. It'll still be a while, so hang around if you can.**

 **With all said and done, your guys' feedback and reviews are extremely important to me. Let me know your thoughts on everything and how this arc and story so far is playing out! I'll be back soon with some new arc ideas for you guys and that new story! Until then! XD**


	38. Minerva's New Tune

The morning rays of a new dawn were still fresh, just as fresh as the dew was that lingered on the blades of grass. It would be hours still for it to dry, but until then, the signal for the people and the new habitants of the world was as clear as crystal. The sun's radiance casted onto Fiore, specifically a window that was misted over from the condensation of inside.

Inside the window of the small abode, the shower was running, and clothes were neatly folded on the porcelain sink counter. The running water continued its toils and misting up the room with humidity to make a normal person sweat. Hell, to make even a Magmar sweat. Too bad Magmar don't appreciate water much.

A slender hand reached for the faucet and turned the nozzle, making the water stop. The person inside had great skin, so slender in fact that the water ran down her body neatly. The figure's hand reached for the nearest towel hanging from a hook beside the shower and was wrapped around a naked chest and hips. The curtains slid to the side, revealing a voluptuous young woman with her raven hair flowing down her back. Normally it would be in braids and tied at the corners as buns, but she didn't get to that yet. Her narrow yet soft eyes looked at the still misted mirror, cascading her full appearance. She used a handcloth to wipe a full circle's worth of condensation away so she could see her face.

It was Minerva, and her day was to start just after the shower.

Already having done some of her early morning training with her Bagon, she opt to take a nice shower to cleanse herself. She took a good look in the mirror and saw her dazzling reflection. Normally she wasn't so high strung with her sex appeal, but why not? She was in a good mood today.

After a minute of self-drying, she sighed. "Suppose I shouldn't linger very long." she mused, lifting a leg onto a stool so as to dry her left calf. "Less I end up getting prunes prematurely."

It didn't take long for her dry the rest of herself off. She was soon dressing herself in her usual attire. It was a revealing black dress with yellow trimmings. There were no sleeves, but two pairs of sleeves detached and covered the majority of her arms. She also wore long black stocking boots that hugged her thick thighs to where any man with a thigh or leg fetish wouldn't resist looking at them.

Speaking of man, as Minerva looked at herself in the mirror, a rogue thought entered her mind as she was about to style her hair. As she was doing the bun on her right side, she was looking so deep in the mirror she lost herself to her reflection. She actually saw herself in a black wedding dress again.

" _In that future, would you be able to find love? Have you ever imagined yourself with somebody?"_

Hoshina's question echoed in the back of her skull so often that it was an echo that was on loop. It wasn't often that Minerva thought back to past enemies after she defeats them. Most of the time they don't even make an appeal to her at all. But there were certain exceptions, and that included what Hoshina said to her about levity.

As she moved to the next bun, her focus was a little off as she was scrunching her face. This one thought she has – that _one_ thing that Minerva has been bugged about, and she can't swat it off. Too tired to fight it, she resumed her buns and did the bottoms in braids.

' _Hopefully these will make me feel better.'_ A chirpy thought indeed. Something to give her some attractions, if a male was into that too.

Once her hair was done she inspected herself one more time. She was looking mighty fine, at least that's what many admirers would say. But Minerva wouldn't have paid attention, at least until a few weeks ago. Maybe it was time to make a change to that. She looked herself in the mirror and made sure her bangs were neat for today. The strongest woman of Sabertooth has to have some measure of beauty to her.

' _I suppose this will suffice, too. Been a while…but why not?'_ She puckered her lips and leaned into the mirror. She watched herself carefully as she applied thick, black lipstick that made her lips outline glisten with a sexy tint to it. She ought to be ashamed of herself for taking so long over her apparel, but she couldn't help it.

The door soon opened, a relieved sigh washing over her. _'Why am I so worked up over my appearance today? It's not like I have a date.'_ She laughed mockingly to herself for that. _'Oh well, let's see.'_

She put two fingers into her mouth and blew out a whistle. "Bagon, come!"

In a rush from down the stairs, her Pokémon beckoned to her call. "Yes?" he squealed.

Minerva gave him a dominant smirk. "Are you ready for today?"

Bagon leniently nodded. "Ready when you are."

"Good." She patted his hard head, returning him to his Poke Ball. She straightened her back and marched out her doors towards her guild.

* * *

As Minerva walked through town, she took a little time to get acquainted with her surroundings. She admired the morning sun warming up the stands where sunflowers were growing. And since it was summer, that means they were growing healthy. She almost thought one of those sunflowers had a face. Maybe she was still seeing things.

Dismissing her delirium, she walked pass the market zone of town and obliged to meeting eyes with the vendors and people there. She was a very well-respected female indeed, and en envied one at that. She could've used her magic to just go to the guild in a snap of a finger, but she was feeling nonchalant. No sense in wasting power for something trivial. Yet as she walked, she was getting small mumbles behind her back. It didn't escape her ears either that there were small bluffs about her beauty, and that half of the comments were from older to men her age. It didn't matter too much, but she moved her right braid back to add subtlety to her appearance. It worked its charms and flaunted her confidence.

But no matter. She wasn't interested. They didn't stand out like she wanted. Instead, she found herself walking into a large building in the middle of town, with a massive Sabertooth statue at the top of it looking down at anyone at the entrance with an intimidating stature.

It was her guild alright, Sabertooth.

With even remotely fazed she walked right in, and immediately she was met with the sight of her guildmates and a few Pokémon scattered about. Some were sleeping. Some were fighting. But nothing out of the ordinary.

Orga was at a table minding his business when his Pikachu's ear twitched into his shoulder. The ticklish sensation made him stir. "Huh? What do you want?" He noticed where Pikachu was pointing and he followed. Instantly he recoiled from shock. "Oh, uh, Milady…morning."

"Salutations, Orga." She greeted back. She looked over at the other table's end, which held Dobengal and his Pokémon, which was Frogadier. "Is there something the matter?"

Orga turned towards Dobengal, scoffing. "Yeah. Can you tell this guy that my Pikachu could wipe the floor with his frog?" he pointed a thumb over to Frogadier. He didn't seem phased by the blank eyes he had.

Dobengal sighed. "All I was implying is that with my Smokescreen, your Pikachu would be at a disadvantage." He reasoned. "A ninja's art is through deception."

Orga rested his elbow against the table, his cheek against it. "Ha. That's not what happened the last time we fought. I remember a Thunderbolt that fried your rainforest ninja couldn't handle."

The insult was brushed by Dobengal crossing his arms. "That's because we were unaware that Lick with paralysis would have no affect on Electric-types. Had no been for the shortcomings of and Paralyze Heal, we would've won the match."

"Yeah, yeah. Well feel free to check with me again and see where that goes."

Minerva rolled her eyes and walked away from their conversation, if one could even call it that. She moved along towards Rogue, whose Duskull was floating over his head. "Hello, Rogue."

Rogue looked over his shoulder, Frosch in hand. "Good morning, Milady." He greeted.

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch cheered.

Minerva heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. She turned to see another familiar face after so long. "Hello there, Yukino."

Yukino smiled proudly at her guildmate. "Minerva, hey. It's so good to see you. It feels so long."

"I can most certainly vouch." She chuckled. "Heard your expedition on Princess Hisui's behalf went well."

Yukino sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. It's only been a few days after her return and it's been hectic to say the least. She was still rather sore to go into detail. "Uh, yeah…you could say that." She nervously chuckled. "It was…a long few days in Seven."

"I heard the Seven authorities are looking to appease a treaty with what you and Fairy Tail have accomplished." Minerva chose to change the subject. "Things are looking to change around here."

Yukino nervously scratched her cheek. "Um, yeah…you see, about changes-" She was butted in when an arm draped around her neck. She almost lost balance if it wasn't for the unintended support that was another white-haired mage who started holding her.

"Oh, there you are, Yukino!" Sorano cheered verbosely. "There's my adorable sweet sister."

"Um…yeah, that." Yukino finished, nervously trying to stay calm in the sheer embarrassment her sister was afflicting. She knew she was being protective, but she couldn't bring herself to stay away. She just stayed accustomed to the position as she faced Minerva. "Um, Minerva, I'm sure you remember Sorano, right…?"

Minerva glanced at Sorano. "Yes, I believe we've gotten…acquainted the last coupe times we've crossed paths." She faced Yukino. "So she's our newest guild member then?"

Sorano playfully winked as she gave a thumbs up. "You bet! And guess what, did you guys know that you have a pool? You guys are so amazing, I can see why my lil' sis chose you guys!"

"P-please sis…everyone's staring." Yukino whispered. She tried to find some kind of a distraction, but found something else amiss. "Hey, has anybody seen Rufus around?"

Minerva raised a brow. She took note of what Yukino said and realized she was right. If she remembered right he would be sitting with Orga drinking his morning tea.

"He went on an important errand this morning."

Their attention went towards three figures that were walking up the purple carpet towards them. It was Sting, with Lector close behind. And not much farther, Sting's Druddigon.

"Oh, Master Sting. Good morning." Yukino greeted. She was thankful when Sorano was able to loosen her grip to allow measurements of space.

Sting waved back to her. "Morning, guys." He greeted, putting that same hand to his hip. "Yeah, but like I was saying, Rufus had to run an errand today. Odds are he won't be back till later."

"You just missed him, too." Lector pointed out. He was perched on Druddigon's head like a monument, not that it seemed to bother Druddigon too much due to Rough Skin. "Anyways Sting, what did you wanna say?"

"Oh yeah, that'd right." He affirmed himself strictly to Minerva's position. "Milady, can I ask you a quick favor?"

Minerva nonchalantly raised a brow. "Yes? Is it something you need?"

"It's not a big deal, but can you run to the market soon and buy some chlorine." He held up a large sack of Jewel and passed it to her. "That should be enough to cover it."

Minerva looked down at the large sum in her hands. She almost floored at how it cost for chlorine, he wanted _her_ to do it? Then again, with her Territory, it makes sense. "And that's it, I suppose?" she asked.

Sting nodded. "Yeah. After that, you can do as you please. Sorano's new Mantine is hogging up the pool and we gotta keep it clean."

Hearing the commentary, Sorano puffed her cheeks. "It's not _my_ fault she has a big body!"

For some reason, that comment made Minerva want to gag. The body. Once again she felt an uncomfortable feeling crawl atop her skin when she thought about Hoshina's faux prediction. She had a luscious body, maybe not as curvaceous as Erza, or bottom heavy like Vanessa…Yukino and Lucy had good frames too…

Shaking her head to get her womanly insecurities out if her head, Minerva hastily took the sack. "It'd be my pleasure. Now, if you'll excuse me." In haste she suddenly vanished, much to Sting's surprise.

"Huh, that was quick."

"Wonder what's her deal?" Lector pondered. He looked down at Druddigon for answers but all he did was shrug. "Yeah, I feel ya. Humans can be fickle."

…

Reappearing outside the guild hall, Minerva took a long sigh of relief. _'Honestly, what's wrong with me?'_ She wondered tiredly. _'Like I need a man right now. I'm perfectly fine as I am.'_

Trying to work her worries off, she walked into town. As she went into strides, she was minding her own business when she was looking around. She tried to find a suitable place where she could find chlorine for the pool. _'Let's see, I'm sure there was something up here when I came by. Where's-'_

She was cut off from her thoughts when someone brushed into her. She stepped back in slight surprise.

"Woah there. My bad." The individual said. Minerva turned around to see the culprit. He was a man around her age, maybe just a little less. He had medium-length black hair that had a blue streak across the right eye, similar to Vanessa. He had a blue and white jacket that was halfway zipped up over a red t-shirt, with jeans and red sneakers to accompany the ensemble.

Minerva took the time to notice what bumped into her. It looked like a guitar case.

"You okay?" He looked at Minerva, his blue eyes reminiscent of the shallow coastal oceans.

Minerva brought herself out of her daze and cleared her throat. "No, it's quite alright. Apologies are accepted." She smiled. "By any chance, can you help me with something? It won't take long, just a simple question."

The man blinked in confusion. "Um…sure, I guess?"

"Are you familiar with this market? I've been looking for pool chlorine. You know where they might have put it?"

The person looked over towards east, Minerva following his gaze. "I think they moved the stand towards the next street over. I saw it right by the hardware store as I came around here."

Minerva nodded. "Thank you very much. Sorry to have disturbed you." Without even a snap of her fingers, her Territory moved her around, much to his shock.

' _Woah, talk about quick.'_ He thought. _'And here I thought Elgyem teleported fast.'_

As he continued his way without anymore interruptions, he was oblivious to the alleys of the street. There were three cloaked figures who observed carefully, but they weren't interested in him.

"Hey, guys, did you see that?" The shortest cloaked guy said. "She just teleported."

One of the broader figures chuckled. "You fellas thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Heh, yeah. Spatial Magic. Good thing we came prepared, right boss?" The two figures turned to the one in the middle. Between the short and the broad, he was the tallest and slimmest of the pair.

His answer came in the form of two fingerless gloved hands reaching for their heads, colliding them like two rocks that fell in front of him.

"Owww…" they grimaced.

"Quiet, both of you." He sneered. "I need to think." He thought back to that teleportation. That woman specifically. _'Yeah, no doubt about it. She's the one.'_

* * *

While Minerva was doing her grocery duties, the person she bumped into continued his way back to his home. He stood in front of an apartment complex with a small roof over the white door. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key to unlock it. Once inside, he shut the door behind and looked at the studio apartment he had. It was small, but he didn't mind. He went up to his desk, where there, he had lacrima connected to a set of boombox and what appeared to be a human laptop.

He opened his briefcase, which housed his rock guitar. He hoisted it up and put the straps in to hold onto him. He found an auxiliary chord and plugged one end into the guitar and another into the laptop.

He sighed and sat back in his chair. "Okay…from the top."

* * *

While things were bustling in the cities, things were much different in the Eastern Forest of Magnolia. The wild Pokémon there were either comfortably resting in their accustomed habitats, running about with mates, or some were just looking for food. While they were tending to their own wonders, a familiar stump with windows and a door was filled with anxiety.

Sophie sat on a small chair looking down at her twiddling fingers. She looked nervous if her big pink lips were any indication. She's been waiting for results for over ten minutes, and Kadabra's company beside her was somewhat reassuring, it didn't do too much.

Vanessa stood patiently by her, resting against the inside of the stump. "Miss Porlyusica, anything so far?"

A Morelull was providing some light with its luminescent mushrooms for Porlyusica as she was looking over the contexts. After a long read in the textbook, she closed it shut. She stood up and faced the two girls with a frown.

"I'm sorry. I've done everything I've could." She frowned. "Whatever magic has taken your friend's memories stripped them away entirely. There's no way to reverse it."

Vanessa looked down, grimacing. "I see."

She turned towards Sophie. "And none of those potions and herbs had any affect it seems. I've used every mixture of ingredients I know to try and make her go through loop. But if she's drawing blanks, her body is probably relying on subconscious muscle memory. That's the only diagnosis I can give."

Sophie blinked in confusion. "I'm…not following."

"She's saying that your past actions like your morning routine are all based on muscle memory." Kadabra interpreted. "In shorter words, your déjà vu was something you must've done."

Sophie was able to understand that. Still, it didn't make her feel any better. "So then, that's all that can be done right now?"

Porlyusica lowered her head. "I'm afraid so." She walked over towards the crestfallen Sophie, gently outing a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, child, you may have lost your memories. At the very least, try not to stress too much about it. It might only make things worse. For now, the best course of action is rest, do you understand?"

Sophie meekly nodded. "Yes, ma'am." She was then handed a small bag of herbs.

"Boil those in warm water, and stir them well. That's three days' worth of herbs that should keep you calm. Drink no more than twice a day." She turned back towards her desk. "Now then, get out."

Sophie blinked. "Um, excuse me?"

Vanessa walked over, tapping her shoulder. "Just do as she says, Sophie. She's not fond of long stays."

Sophie awkwardly followed her roommate and Kadabra out. "O-okay, if you say so."

The door shut behind Porlyusica, leaving her and the one Morelull alone inside the stump. The little mushroom looked towards the hermit and hopped closer for her light to catch a glimpse of her saddened face. She grievously sighed out her exasperation, hoping it would alleviate her failures.

"I swear, Makarov, your children are just as full of problems as you were…"

Walking through the forest, Vanessa kept her gaze fixed ahead. "Sophie, were you sure about this? I told you when we knew someone who might help, I didn't mean it so that it would…"

"It's okay, Vanessa." Sophie's voice cracked. "It's fine…really. At least she tried."

Vanessa nor Kadabra didn't buy her security for even a second. They could tell she was more deterred than ever. They tried going to Mest to see if he could do anything to help, but he made it clear that replacing memories with fake ones over a long period like she's endured would be far too dangerous. Too much psychological damage could lead her to a wrong path. Though he did offer hos condolences on Sophie. If neither Mest nor Porlyusica could help, even Nic's Mind Form wouldn't be of help. It'd be just like Mest. Nic made that clear.

Vanessa sighed to herself. Suppose this was for the best. She tried to give Sophie some levity, but all she did was stress her out. Her aura could feel a riling blue mess inside her amnesiac of a friend. She wanted to say something apologetic, but knew better than to add insult to injury.

"So Sophie…" Vanessa started.

The blonde perked up. "Yes?"

"What do you think of the guild so far? I know it's a rough question since you aren't familiar with anyone, but…"

Sophie looked down, pondering her question for a second. She almost tripped over a root. She walked upright and looked at the dirt path they took. "Well…" she put a hand to her chin, trying to bring up her experience for the last few days. "Let's see…well, I suppose I should be grateful for all the trouble you're going through to help me with my memories."

Vanessa glanced back. "Anything else?"

Sophie squinted her eyes, thinking a little harder. "Hmmm…well, for one thing. You're a very loud bunch, and that makes it hard to find peace. I get headaches just being there." Vanessa frowned. She wanted to reply it was never a dull moment, but Sophie lightened up. "But, you're not all bad people, and you meant well when you took me in. I'm sure I must be overthinking it some, right?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No not at all. Sorry about that question." She turned forward, meekly chuckling. "You must be tired. Why don't we go to my brother's to see if we can have lunch?"

"Your brother?" Sophie was surprised by this. "I wasn't aware that you had other siblings."

Vanessa smiled. "You don't see him around the guild _that_ often these days…he likes his peace."

Sophie giggled. "I suppose that's fair." When she took another step, she suddenly was halted by a telekinetic force. "What the-?!"

"Miss Sophie, watch yourself!" Kadabra testified. He was using Confusion to hold her back while a jet of bubbles rushed passed her. "Are you alright?"

Catching up from that scare, Sophie took a nervous step back after the telekinetic force subsided. "Y-yes, I thinks so. Thanks…um…"

"Kadabra."

"Yes, Kadabra." she closed her eyes, her brow furrowing. _'I'll have to memorize that.'_

Trying to figure out where that jet of bubbles came from, Vanessa looked where the attack came from. She saw two Pokémon battling, but more importantly, who was behind them. Her eyes widened. "Is that…?"

A metallic slash pierced the ground than made impact with a Darumaka. The red creature chirped excitedly as he found an opening to launch head-first into the taller penguin, who used those same metallic claws and crossed them to bounce back the hard head. They both ended up repelled due to the flaws of force and glared the other down.

"C'mon, Prinplup." The brunette behind him held her flask up. She didn't look as serious as her partner was as she drank from a flask of alcohol. "You said you wanted to get stronger, right? Put some more leg into it, would ya?"

Scoffing, Prinplup's eyes gleamed sunrays. Feeling threatened, he raised his beak into the air, summoning a blast of water that sprinkled across the area. The ground and grass around them dampened, as did Darumaka.

"Let's see how you like my **Water Sport**." Prinplup challenged. His beak glowed and sharpened, allowing him to dart ahead like a torpedo.

"Oh boy! Now this is fun!" Darumaka balled his fist and reeled it back. He started surrounding flames, but they weren't nearly strong enough. As he strained, Prinplup's beak pierced his chest, sending him skidding across the marsh.

"Aw c'mon Darumaka, what're you doing?" Natsu shouted. "C'mon, I know you got some fight in ya! Go get'em!"

As they were busy doing battle, others were occupied outside the safe zone. As Prinplup and Darumaka were going at it, Happy squirmed besides Liepard, who sat in the grass lazily and watched the training go on. For all she cared, she didn't realize the infatuated cat eyeballing her the last half hour.

"So, um…" Happy reached back and pulled out a fish. His paws shook as his heart raced. "D-do you…like fish?" he quipped. "E-everybody loves fish. R-right?"

Liepard took one look at Happy, just now realizing his presence. The moment she turned, Happy's heart-shaped eyes lit up as he saw Liepard's green eyes. He dropped the fish accidentally. "Aw crap! I'm so sorry! Here, I'll fix it!" He tried wiping the grass off the slimy seafood, but he only made it smear grass stains on it. "C'mon! C'mon!"

"Um…okay?" Raising a brow, Liepard slowly levered back into her lazy position. She resumed watching as Happy sulked at the degraded Casanova he was.

Vanessa blinked in genuine shock. "Cana? Natsu?"

Taking a moment's notice of the familiar tone, Cana turned around to catch a glimpse of her two friends. "Eh? Well I'll be damned." She swayed over to them. "If I ain't my two favorite girls. What are you guys doing here?" she chimed whimsically.

Vanessa calmly chose to answer in their stead. "Good morning, Cana. We were coming back from our appointment with Porlyusica. We're heading back right now."

Cana eyes rolled over to Sophie. "I see. How've you been, girl?" she cooed lightly. "You look like a train just rolled over ya."

Sophie mustered up a grin. "Uh, Cana…was it?" She an affirmative nod from Kadabra, she pressed on. "I'm well, thanks for your concerns."

"Good." She pointed a thumb towards Vanessa as she winked. "Because this girl's a real handful, I tell ya. I would've thought she'd been giving ya a hard time." She earned a raised brow from the Aura Mage. "Aw, don't be like that Vanessa, you know I'm just teasing. You're a big heart." She suddenly reached down and smacked Vanessa's behind, which echoed from the meat it had. "Among other things." Cana laughed. "Man, your badonkadonk got _way_ more kick to it than I thought!"

A nervous tension rose between Sophie and Kadabra as they watched Cana laugh off her playfulness. Sophie took a step away as Vanessa kept a calm gaze as her aura manifested around her flask. It lifted above Cana's head out of reach. She tried desperately to jump for it, but to no avail.

"Hey girl, I was just messing with ya! Can't you take a joke?! This ain't funny!" Vanessa rolled her eyes and allowed the flask to drop in Cana's hand. "Man, you really _are_ a buzzkill, you know that? I swear, you and your brother are almost alike that it's creepy."

Vanessa cleared her throat, trying to change the subject. "And what are you doing out here, Cana? It's not often we see you outside the guild hall."

Cana raised a brow, looking back at Natsu. "What's it look like?" She watched Prinplup dodge Darumaka's head, which slid across the wet grass. Prinplup landed behind, watching Darumaka dart back in a hurry but sidestepped. "We're training."

"Well, this a first." Kadabra nonchalantly stated.

Cana smirked. "It wasn't my idea. Prinplup felt pretty sore losing to Loke. He's been nagging about training so much that I _had_ to ask someone to help with."

Vanessa nodded in understanding. "I can understand that, but Cana…" she looked over towards Natsu, who looked eager. "You sure Natsu's the best choice for a sparring partner?"

Cana shrugged. "You tell me. The moment he heard Prinplup screaming for training, he just ran up to me."

Vanessa sighed. _'Yes, I suppose that is Natsu.'_ She then noticed something else. "Natsu, is Lucy not with you guys?"

Natsu shook his head. "Not this time. She said she wanted to stay home and rest up. Said something about a breakthrough with her novel, or something?"

"Plus you remember that Spirit fiasco." Happy raised a paw, interjecting briefly. "She put her spirits on vacation so she can be sure she's ready to fight again."

"So while she's doing that, we can get stronger." Natsu eagerly grinned, cracking his knuckles. "And I got some steam still after what that fat thing did to Darumaka and Tyrunt. It's time to step it up." His Darumaka jumped in place, a surprisingly serious expression on his face. "Hey, Cana! Your move!"

"Alright, alright." She turned around, focusing on the battle. "Well you kids run along and have fun. I'll let you know when Prinplup's feeling vented."

Vanessa nodded. "Okay then." She and Sophie left without much of an intermission beyond that. And not a moment too soon when Darumaka's misfired punch burst into flames in the wet grass close by.

"I'm not losing again!" Prinplup declared.

"Um, so Liepard…" Hearing her name, Liepard turned towards Happy, who held the dirty fish in his paws with a plea. "You still want some…?"

Looking at the dirty fish, Liepard's stomach immediately closed up. She lost her appetite looking at it. "Cana, better finish up. Somehow I'm aching to stretch my legs." She walked over to her side, oblivious to Happy's dejection, which left him white as a ghost.

* * *

Back in Sabertooth's town, three other figures were seen walking alongside one another, or rather two, and the other lagging like it wasn't his business. The blonde put his hands beyond his head as he casually strolled along. "Well, I say that went well." Joey pondered. "Another day, another couple of Jewels in our pocket as they say."

Despite slagging in shoulders, Dereece seemed placated. "Yeah, that went surprisingly fast. I didn't think Jason would be _that_ quick." He heard slurping beside him, which came from his Heracross as he was sucking through a small jar of Honey that he was rewarded with. Dereece chose to ignore it.

"Just goes to show even guys like him don't have to mess around when work's done." Joey toothily smiled. "Ain't that right, Duncan?"

Duncan lowered his head, huffing. "If you say so."

Joey looked up to the clear blue sky, thinking back to the other day. After returning home from the island quest, Joey saw that he got mail. It was a shock, especially to Dereece. When Joey saw what it was, he couldn't stop bouncing around the house when it was Jason from Sorcerer Weekly. In the envelope was a snapshot of one of the pictures he took of Joey on the beach, and an invitation to a fashion shoot. Being the fashion victim and prodigy that he was, Joey couldn't _possibly_ say no. And of course Dereece tagged along, which dubbed as an added bonus since he posed one or two pics for the new Trainers section in the magazine. Duncan was there as chaperone, but chose to decline the snapshots. It took nearly an hour for Joey to run every single angle – in dramatic fashion of course – until he and Jason were satisfied.

Joey held up copies of his photos, one of which was him with a hand beneath the elbow and fingers beneath his chin as he smirked and winked at the camera with his main attire. "Gotta say, Jason makes some _mean_ photospreads." He teased. "My mom would be so proud of me."

Dereece rolled his eyes. "Of course she would be. But you know, Captain…why exactly are we going back on foot when we can take a train like before?"

Joey swept beside Dereece, lugging an arm around his shoulder with his usual broad grin. "C'mon, don't be a Slowpoke in the well. What's wrong with a little air and a nice stroll through a couple towns? Besides…" He held up the handheld boombox, pouting. "Look at Boombox. See this?" he held him to his face. "He's sad. You know why?"

Dereece blinked several times. "Uh…no?"

Joey scrunched his face and pulled away. Dereece levered upright again and gave Heracross an estrange look. The Single Horn insect didn't seem as confused as he was, probably due to sapping on the Honey jar still.

" _Because_ , Dereece. We've played the same jams ever since we came here. And I think Boombox here is getting a little lonely." He pushed his lower lip up and gave puppy dog eyes for Boombox for a fake expression. He suddenly held it high. " _That's_ why we need to look for something new, so that we can _really_ spice up our parties!"

"So we're on a scavenger hunt is what you're saying." Dereece interpreted. He didn't at all seem amused by Joey's lust for 'musical festives', but knowing him he wouldn't have much of a say. "Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to look around I suppose. Never been to this area before."

Duncan looked up at the earnest tall building. He noticed almost immediately the stone saber that looked down at those in the crowd. It earned his interests.

"Hey look." Heracross followed his gaze. "Is that the symbol of a guild?"

Dereece looked up and followed his direction. He squinted as he pondered. "I think that's the symbol for Sabertooth."

Joey's eyes brightened. "Oh~, _those_ guys." He put the boombox under his armpit and had hands to his hips at he observed the flag atop the domain. "Yeah, I remember them. They were the ones who we teamed up with in Alvarez, right?"

"Correct." Duncan responded. "And their mages are said to be strong too…" his eyes narrowed at the leading thought. "So should their Pokémon."

Joey shrugged. "Alright, well, let's see if they have any suggestions or party ideas so we can…" He trailed off as his hearing aids were helping pick up in low thumps from nearby -rhythmic thumps. Joey's body went stiff as he was processing the tune. "S-so we can…can…"

Suddenly we started tapping his foot against the ground. His body started moving and grooving sporadically. Dereece and Duncan raised brows and looked at each other as Joey was breakdancing freely.

"Uh, Captain Joey?" Dereece nervously asked. "Are you feeling alright?"

Joey started gyrating his hips like in a groove. He looked down at his revelation with surprise. "Dereece, do you feel it?" He jumped and turned around, sticking his clothed rear at his teammates. "My booty, it's sensing some good vibes!" he laughed proudly.

Duncan rolled his eyes in disinterest.

Dereece looked around to see his Captain's sudden breakdancing was causing some to awkwardly stare. Some were more curious though, but this was common behavior. "Look, Captain, maybe we should take a step away from-"

"Hey!" Joey got in Dereece's face, pointing a finger directly at his nose. "You know, as well as I do, that my booty, is _never_ wrong! If there is a party and a good beat, you _know_ I have to be there, Dereece. You _know_ it!"

Once Joey leaned away, Dereece slumped his shoulders and sighed. "Guess we haven't anything better to do…just don't cause a scene."

Joey winked. "No promises. Now…follow the booty!" He started sticking his butt out with every turn. He went up the street, with his allies close behind.

* * *

"And…done!"

With one last strung of his guitar, he finished making the chords needed. He sat back up and looked at his laptop to see the soundwaves have been recorded. As he listened to the rifts recorded and the rhythm, he nodded with every tune made. He hit the pause and sat up, putting his guitar off to the side with his other instruments.

"Alright, I like the sound of that." He chimed. "Guess that song's another wrap-"

 _TAPATAPTAPTAP!_

The sounds of urgent knocking caught his attention. He turned towards the door with subtle surprise. "Who the heck is that?" He heard the knocking again, and it sounded just as urgent as the first time. "Alright, alright! I'm coming!" He went and opened the doorknob. "Hello…?"

He opened the door, and immediately what he saw was the last thing he expected to see in the late morning. There stood not some mailman, or Rune Knights demanding eviction…but a young man in his late teens, fist pumping and humming as he swayed his hips like he was celebrating. He was so fixated on him he almost didn't notice his posse at the bottom of the steps, both faces plastered with seriousness.

He looked back at the blonde who was humming and dancing, staring at him blankly. He raised a brow and frowned. "Um…hello?"

"Psst, Joey." Dereece whispered.

"Hm! Hm!" Joey froze in place when he processed his friend's words. He opened his eyes and realized the vacant was standing at him with curiosity. An awkward silence fell upon them like lead, which could only be broken by a Pidgey that flocked overhead.

Joey straightened to, clearing his throat. "Erhem! Er, uh…sorry." He apologized. "I just heard some popping jams, and I just kinda…went with the flow." He twiddled his fingers in a runway fashion.

The tenant leaned against his doorframe with crossed arms. "'Heard some popping jams'?" he repeated. He took a moment to realize what Joey meant. "Oh. Oh, I see. Well, I don't know about 'popping', but I guess it's good."

"Well it was enough to shake my butt and bang my head here." Joey argued.

The man blinked. "I'm sorry, who're…" He took a moment to realize who they were. "Wait a sec…you're Joey Haycliff, am I right?"

Joey pointed a finger to himself. "You know me?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, everybody saw your battle a month ago. Heard you like to party to, sounds about right?"

Joey blinked in mild surprise. He leaned back to Dereece and whispered softly. "Wow, this guy paid attention…should be flattered or creeped out?"

Dereece shrugged. "Don't ask me."

The man reached out to Joey. "Sorry, where are my manners? Name's Shou. I'm a musician."

Joey calmed down quickly, smiling as he shook his hand. "Joey Haycliff, awesome to meet you. So you make music?"

"Yeah, sure do." He pulled back, shrugging his shoulders. "I gotta make a living somehow. Say, you're a guy with music taste, aren't you?"

Joey raised a brow, leaning in with eight fingers tapping. "Eh, that depends. Are we talking about hard rock or samba?"

"Hard rock. If you listened to it from out there, guess you wanted to listen to more, right?"

This news immediately perked Joey up, almost startling Shou. "Do I? You sure you don't mind? We were just looking for tunes for us as well."

Shou smirked. "Guess we're in luck. You can come in." He opened the door wider, allowing them passage into his studio.

The Freaks walked inside, taking their shoes off at the doorstep as per courtesy allows it. They looked around, looking at the shelves with the few instruments that were pinned and mounted on the walls. Off to the corner there was what looked like a microphone connected to the laptop. Overall, while it was admirably small, it left a record-deal impression on them.

Joey eyed the place, whistling. "Now _this_ is a bachelor pad."

Dereece eyeballed everything around him. He saw the bass guitar in glass casing. A closer look showed a signature by somebody, but it was such messy cursive he couldn't tell.

"Yeah, took me a little while." Shou admitted. "Sorry if it's cluttered. You can probably tell by all the instruments that I make a living out of it."

Joey looked over at something that caught his eye. He inhaled a gasp in dramatic fashion at a piano guitar that was hanging up between a regular guitar and a rock guitar. "Noooo~!" he cackled happily. "You have a piano guitar?! _I_ have one!" he coughed some to correct himself. "Er, I mean I _used_ to, before I…moved and all."

"Oh, that?" Shou walked to his side at said instrument. "Yeah, that guy there's a tough nut to crack. I didn't learn piano much growing up." He looked towards Joy. "You say you play it?"

"Yeah, _all_ the time when Dereece and I played those band simulations. Like the Wild Rumble 6, Pokemon Band 5: Ludicolo's Fiesta, Magne-Zone. That last one's where you gotta play that instrument a _lot_ because of the electronic funk it carries."

"Interesting…"

Walking near a window, Duncan was too busy admiring the Fearow that was flying outside. It looked strong. His glare at it was hampered by the fact that by the time he ran outside, it would be long gone. He took a look back at Dereece and Heracross, the later who wanted to touch a guitar with his sticky honey claws, only for Dereece to pull him away. He looked back at Joey, pulling out the boombox and demonstrating somethings about it.

Observing the two numbskulls, Duncan looked back out the window to find the Fearow gone. Instead, the image of Sophie was on his mind. He didn't want to be here any longer than he had to, but what happened during that battle against Andromeda left him all contorted, especially afterwards. The visage of Sophie thanking him still made him sore, not that he would ever show it.

Still, he had to at the very least respect the wishes of what Sophie would've wanted. He decided to look around, whereas his gaze fell on a picture that caught his eye. "Hm?" He wandered over to it, seeing a picture of Shou in the middle. He saw him centered around six other Pokémon, who seemed relatively close to him. One was a black fox with her head nudging his face. Beneath was a spiky yellow dog-like creature, who was directly across a large armored mole who half-grinned. In the background, there was a curled up small punk elephant on the far left, and a three-headed dragon on the far left, looking completely calm. And directly behind Shou, there was a long green serpent who held his head high.

Duncan narrowed his eyes, a hunch driving up his spine. He was completely oblivious to the others behind him.

"So you guys like music." Shou walked over to his desk, pulling out his chair and sitting down in it. "So, let's see what you got."

Joey rolled his neck, making popping noises with each bone. "Alright." He snapped his fingers. "Dereece!"

Dereece went over, his hands covered in Honey. He quickly wiped it off using a warm cloth he carried and put it in his pocket. He took a deep breath and sighed. Once calmed, he picked up the drumsticks and tapped them together.

 _ **[Miror B. Battle Theme]**_

With the funk setting playing on the piano guitar, Joey was swaying hip as he played the tune. He was biting his lower lip as he was dancing along with the tune, the climax making him shift towards the side to a walkway style.

As he watched Joey shred the guitar like he owned it, he was leaned back in his chair and was dazzled.

Joey howled to the ceilings as he sunk to his knees, fiddling the keys to their perfect tune.

…

With a sigh of relief, Minerva walked back down the avenue towards the guild hall. "Thankfully my territory was able to transport that much chlorine." She mused to herself. "That many gallons. When I said I supported the decision of a pool, I never thought he'd…" She trailed off when she was hearing a loud music from the house she was coming up to. Taking a pause, she felt her feet vibrate from the bass it carried. "What is that sound?"

…

After what felt like a few minutes of repeating the same notes, Joey and Dereece trailed off in synchronization. "So, how was that?" Joey looked towards Shou, who, by all means, was beyond staggering.

"That…" Shou looked like a Thunderbolt struck him, he was shocked. "I gotta say dude…you've got some _sick_ talent!"

Joey beamed with the upmost pride. "Thanks, Dereece and I practiced a lot…" his face thus fell to a serious frown. "But, that's the problem. We've been repeating the same jams since we've came here. So, we were hoping you could help us out. We'll pay you for the trouble."

Shou got up from his chair, hands to his hips with an intrigued grin. "Well, Joey, I have to say, you guys have me interested. I've been meaning to try out some new strings. How's about you guys hear my recent piece?"

"That's great!" A knock came from the door once again, making Joey raise a brow. "Eh, I think you've got another guest."

"Yeah I got it." Shou shuffled across the hardwood ground towards the door. When he opened it, he saw a rather good-looking young woman with narrow eyebrows and a wrist pinned to her hip. "Can I help you?"

Minerva wasn't fazed by how the young man looked at her so nonchalantly. "I'm sorry to have intruded on anything, but I just heard how rather loud you were playing." She put it in the most subtle way she could. Thankfully from her reception Shou took it patently.

"Oh, sorry. We'll tone it down." He looked over his shoulder back inside. "Hey guys, we gotta turn it down! Our neighbors are getting fussy!"

"Sorry~!" Joey echoed.

"You have guests?" Minerva looked over Shou's shoulder towards the back of his studio. She saw a familiar fashionable blonde, along with a man with a white cap and one whose hands were still sticking to the drumsticks. His Heracross was trying to pull them off but was ending up licking them instead.

"Heracross!" Dereece scolded.

Minerva blinked in surprise. "Fairy Tail?"

Seeing the new guest, Joey peered from afar and saw the familiar raven-haired female. "Hey, aren't you from that Sabertooth guild we knew a while back? What was it again?" Joey put an index finger to his chin to think…but was drawing a blank.

"Minerva." She introduced, turning towards Shou. "So then, this is the reason why it's been rather noisy around here. I hope that these three aren't much…" Far behind, Heracross finally pried the drumsticks off Dereece, unintentionally making a force into the drums and the symbols that shrilled in everyone's ear. "…a hassle." She dryly finished.

Shou dismissed her testimony without a thought. "It's totally fine. You know these guys?" he pointe d a thumb back at them. "Because of you do, maybe we can work something out? You like music?"

Minerva lowered her head. "To some degree, I suppose."

In breakneck speeds, Joey raced between the two. "Then _I_ say we get a little compromise!" he turned to Minerva. "Say, Minerva, your guild likes music, right?" He turned towards Shou. "And Shou here's looking for ways to get his music out."

"Where might this be going?" she inquired.

Shou's eyes widened. "… _oh_. I get it. You wanted to see if they'll want my music?"

Joey winked. "You guessed it."

Minerva put a hand to her chin, allowing the thought to ponder some. "Hm, I suppose so long as Master Sting allows it. But I was coming back from an errand for him. Excuse me for one second, if you will."

In a flash, she teleported away. Joey and Shou looked at each other in confusion, while they waited they were unaware of the three cloaked individuals that were slightly peering out from the corner of the complex.

"Did you hear that, boss? She has a guild." The short one said.

"Now we know where to find her." The broad one huffed. "Now she won't get away from the likes of us. Hehehe-"

The tall one grabbed their heads slowly, slamming them together and letting them fall before him. "Quiet." He whispered. He ducked behind the corner to avoid Joey's eyes. _'We need to do this without garnishing attention. We'll have to wait until she's alone.'_

Blinking, Joey turned his head. _'That's weird. I thought I heard something.'_ A chill went p his spine at the thought of a certain Whirlipede-incest creep who stalked him. Thankfully Minerva's sudden reappearance provided a distraction.

"My Master says that he'll allow it." She reported. "He'd like to see you so we can discuss it, now that the pool has been chlorinated."

Shou's shock was evident on his face. He looked genuinely surprised. "You mean it?" his eyes brightened. "Oh, geez. I-I don't know what to say…"

"Wait…" Joey froze, his ears twitching. "Did you say…pool?"

Minerva nodded. "Yes, I did. Why, does Fairy Tail not have a pool?" She snickered low at the self-esteem she proclaimed. She didn't mean it in a crude way, but to know Sabertooth has stuff that Fairy Tail doesn't would provide leverage of their guilds crossed paths. What she didn't expect, was how wide Joey was smirking.

"Tell me, do you guys have something called…a waterslide?"

* * *

Vanessa guided Sophie pass Magnolia northward up a small hill away from town. It went up to a small trail that went past a sign that said 'Nic & Erza Pularis' with a small mailbox. They walked up towards a small cottage with a battlefield on the side. Sophie looked at her surroundings one last time, seeing how rather…country-ish it was out here.

"Your brother lives rather far from the guild." Sophie commented stately.

Vanessa chuckled at her wording. "Yes. You know our guild has a rather nasty…habit, of not respecting space. So, Nic likes to keep himself a lot. Certainly makes it harder to pester someone when they're out somewhere else." She mused.

Sophie caught onto the small joke and giggle. "I see. A recluse. That's quite the contradiction from you."

"It's all a niche. At any rate, we should see if they're home." She went up and knocked on the door. "Nic. Erza. It's me, Vanessa. I came with Sophie, just like you said." She waited for an answer after a whole minute. She remained patient and stepped back. Her aura was sensing them walking up to the door.

"Maybe they're not home." Sophie opposed. To be perfectly honest she was a little intimidated by Nic. She only met him once after her amnesia and the first impression she had was him punching Natsu across the face.

Vanessa sensed her distress and turned towards her. "You don't have to worry about him, Sophie. The truth is, you and him actually got along very well."

Sophie blinked. "Y-you sure?"

"Of course." Her lips formed a slightly wider smirk. "And from what I've seen, too…you fickle quite a bit with putting him up with Erza." She saw the blush on Sophie's face, which made her giggle impishly.

The door soon opened, getting their attention. Vanessa, Sophie, and Kadabra looked at Nic and Erza both present. But what they didn't expect, was how beat up both were. Their clothing was misaligned, and they looked a little grumpy. But what didn't escaped their gazes, was all ink marks on their faces. It was like kids drew on their faces.

"Oh…hey Vanessa." Nic groaned. "You're early."

"Hey, Nic. Erza." She looked curiously at the two. "Do I want to know what happened?"

Nic and Erza turned sourly at one another, remembering full well what happened earlier.

" _Erza, no! Just, no! NO!" Nic quickly took the pen away from his wife. She was at the desk in the den and a small lamp was casting light on a piece of paper. Around them, their Pokémon were minding their own business as they saw fit._

" _Oh, don't be such a spoiled sport." Erza huffed. "Look, just let me write the letter. What's the harm in letting_ _ **me**_ _write such a simple sentence?"_

 _Nic's expression deadpanned. "Erza, we've talked about this._ _ **I**_ _write the letters around here. I don't want to have to remind you the_ _ **last**_ _time you sent a letter to somebody."_

 _Erza's left brow twitched at the thought of what happened. She vividly remembered the people with pitchforks and torches who came at their doorstep the day after she sent the 'thank you' letter for their help in Alvarez' first invasion. Nevertheless, she was never the type to step down from a challenge. "I'll have you know, I've been practicing."_

" _Since when?" Nic interrogated._

 _Erza beamed with pride. "Every other night, while you're asleep. Why, I've even copied your so-called cursive. See?"_

 _Nic watched as Erza pulled up a sheet of paper from the drawer beside her. She showed Nic a draft of what she tried writing. Suffice to say that it looked like chicken scratch more so than actual words. Even when Greninja looked at it, he and Nic shared nervous gazes and the former stepped away. It wasn't his problem to solve._

 _Erza smiled pridefully at Nic's response. "See that? Your expression of glee is all the proof I need!"_

 _Nic wasn't usually so hard on Erza; it's usually the other way around. However, in an artist's eye, Nic couldn't have such patience for literature to be smeared. Now was one of those times to_ _ **not**_ _let Erza have her way._

 _He quickly snatched the paper. "Erza, a Pidgey can write this and they'll_ _ **still**_ _understand it better than this!" he held the scribbles up to her face. "You seriously need to work more on your penmanship. This is_ _ **precisely**_ _why I had to draw up all your armor designs."_

" _Only because you fail to understand my artistic vision." She argued back._

" _At least I'm_ _ **legible**_ _."_

 _Erza crossed her arms beneath her gargantuan buxom and turned away. "Oh, and I suppose that also makes me a terrible actress then, if my 'Artist's Eye' is that bad. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're_ _ **jealous**_ _of my abilities on stage."_

 _Nic sulked his shoulders down. It was the exact opposite. But rather than digress, he remained on point. "That isn't the point. Look, I'll help you with your penmanship later. Just let me write this!" He wasn't expecting Erza to turn around and pull out a spare pen and paper from the drawers and ignore him. "Erza, c'mon…"_

 _Erza confidently ignored her husband's plea and hummed to herself. "Now, where to begin…"_

 _Nic shook his head. "I didn't want to have to do this…Kecleon!_ _ **Thief!**_ _"_

 _Erza's pen was about the hit touchdown, when Kecleon appeared attached to the ceiling above. She opened wide and her tongue crashed into her wrist, making her recoil. The sticky tongue retracted the pen and paper into her close, closing it. "Tag, you're it." She chimed._

 _Enraged, Erza sat up and summoned a sword pointed at Kecleon. "Unhand those at once!"_

" _Run, Kecleon!" Nic ordered._

 _Erza threw the sword like a lance just as Kecleon disappeared. Her red stripe was barely visible, yet at blinding speeds she was gone. "Slurpuff, track her down!"_

 _In the kitchen where a fridge shut, Slurpuff was holding a small plate of strawberry cheesecake. She licked her lips, ready to savor it._

" _SLURPUFF!"_

 _Startled by her Trainer, Slurpuff almost lost hold of the plate and stumbled to grab it. She placed it inside the fridge and started smelling around for Kecleon. She tracked her into the hallway._

" _Nic~!" Nic was caught off guard when Erza grabbed his hand where the pen was. They started fighting over it. "You need to control your Pokémon better! That was extremely rude of her!"_

" _It's not_ _ **my**_ _fault I'm trying to save someone's sanity from you!" Nic retorted. "Give it!"_

" _You give it!"_

 _The two were in a tug-of-war, the pen unable to handle much of the stress. The plastic snapped around the ink, causing it to splatter over their faces. Wiping away the ink from both their eyes, the two paused before their rivaled glares caused them to tackle the other to the ground._

"Don't ask." They groaned in unison.

Sophie and Kadabra turned to each other in utter confusion; it was just as wondrous how Vanessa was able to keep such relaxation still.

"You can come inside." Erza insisted. "We've made some Oran Berry pie. It's Johanna's recipe." She and Nic moved back inside as the girls and Kadabra ventured inside.

Sophie paid explicit attention on her surroundings. She wanted to make sure that she would remember them just in case anything went wrong. She got what felt like a cozy vibe as she took in the fresh smell of baked pie, no doubt from Erza in the kitchen. She noticed the color of their welcome mat was a light green, which complimented the brightness of the ceiling. Everything looked deeply clean – aside from the wedge in the ceiling when Erza impaled it with her sword earlier. Overall, it looked like a bright little hobble.

' _So this is how Nic and Erza live.'_ In her head, she saw it differently, much to her disappointment. _'I thought people like them would be living in a castle, or a mansion…Nic must_ _ **really**_ _be low-maintenance.'_

Kadabra was walking casually when he bumped into something. "Oof!" He fell on his bottom, shaking the shock off. "What in the world…?" He looked ahead of him, squinting hard at the vague image of a red stripe. He blinked in confusion as the image faded into view, scaring him and Sophie to recoil as Kecleon was seen. What scared them the most…was how she was dangling in front of them by her tongue stuck by the ceiling.

"A…Pokémon?" Sophie pondered.

Suddenly her Poke Ball popped open without question. Araquanid emerged with Finneon in the water bubble, and gave a territorial hiss to Kecleon. The chameleon was far from intimidated.

"Araquanid." Sophie gasped lightly. He moved closer to her to keep her safe from everyone else. He was so close that his water bubble almost pulled her in. Her hair was wet though. "Araquanid…" she grunted, but given her recent amnesia, she had to accept his defensive behavior.

"This is Nic's Kecleon." Vanessa introduced calmly. "Don't worry, she's harmless." She smiled up at her. "Isn't that right?"

Despite hanging by her tongue, Kecleon amazingly tilted her head, raising a claw. "Green light for salutations." She chirped in her creepy monotone. She dislodged from the ceiling and landed on her feet. With one more head tilt, she blinked silently and vanished into a faded rest stripe that vanished.

Sophie tried to get over the shock. "She's…a character?"

"Here's the pie." Their attention was grasped by Erza, who was followed by her Slurpuff who was serving the fresh pie with saliva dripping from her mouth. She really wanted a slice, and she knew she was gonna get it, but Erza made it clear she'll get her sweets when she's allowed. Nic came in soon after.

They took a loveseat, while Vanessa and Sophie took two small chairs. Erza promptly sliced using a metal knife with precision and handed the two their plates. Slurpuff was next, and boy did she look satisfied.

"Nic, aren't you going to have a slice?" Vanessa questioned.

Erza huffed and raised her head. "He doesn't get any." She huffed, much to Nic's chagrin. "He doesn't deserve it."

Nic rolled his eyes. "C'mon, we both apologized."

Vanessa sighed expectantly. "Well, seems you're both as fruitful as ever I see." She looked down at the Oran Berry pie in front of her face. She took the plastic fork that came with it and picked up a small end piece to the dessert. She chewed on it, savoring its taste. A serene smile crossed her face. "Just like how Johanna made it." She mused.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to come off as rude, but who might Johanna be?" Sophie nervously questioned. Araquanid made sure to keep an eye on their surroundings.

"She's our foster mother. Well, I suppose to be more accurate, she's _my_ foster mother." Vanessa smirked. "Nic went off on his own so he never knew them well like I did."

"I see, and this is her recipe?" She looked down at the pie to pick up a small end with her fork. She could see the baked Oran Berry filling that was see-through. It actually looked delicious. Deciding not to be rude, she ate a small piece. Her tongue lit up with a variety of flavors, making her almost pucker. "This is good." she smiled.

"The berries were fixed from the backyard." Nic pointed out. "We've been planting some berries to help with our battles." He got a nudge from Erza, earning his attention. "Hm?"

"Are you sure he's coming?" she whispered softly into his ear.

Nic pulled back from her. "Yeah, don't worry. He said he'll be here soon." He looked back to Sophie, trying to keep his calm disposition around him. "So anyways, Vanessa. How was the recent job you guys took?"

"Well…" she sat her plate down so she could tell her tale. What she didn't account for was Erza's Slurpuff creeping around her and eying it anxiously. "It went rather well. All Sophie and I did was help secure a shipment of gold from robbers along a train. It wasn't anything that Goodra wasn't prepared for."

Sophie thought about the job yesterday as well, though she seemed uneased with her performance. "I…can't say that I did very much. I'm still trying to figure out how I can use those memory chains. All I really know so far if how to make afterimages of myself, and that's it."

Araquanid moved one of his huge legs in front of Sophie, towering protectively. "Don't worry, those guys didn't get within ten feet due to us."

"Please, Araquanid." Finneon insisted. "Don't be so domineering."

He gave the fish a shift of his glance. "Well, can you blame me?"

With Vanessa distracted by Sophie's Pokémon arguing over their positions, Slurpuff found the perfect opportunity to sneak up to Vanessa's plate. She was about to devour the rest of the slice when an aromatic scent caught her attention. Sniffing it, she trailed it with a dreamy gaze back towards Nic, who fiddled his fingers and spread Sweet Scent to keep her walking in circles. With her smelling the sweet, sweet air, she was so oblivious to when a swift orange blur cawed and swept Slurpuff away, screaming and whining.

Barely catching the orange avian, Sophie blinked. "Uh, did you see something?" She looked at Nic, who slumped to the side of the loveseat, whereas Erza hummed while sipping tea. The façade wasn't plastered well on their faces, not that Vanessa didn't see it coming.

Deciding to let it go, Sophie shrugged. "Okay then?"

Before the conversation dragged further, the door knocked in the front.

Kadabra looked over his shoulder. "Another guest?"

Erza got up and walked over. "Allow me."

The others sat around as they heard her footsteps cease and a knob open. When it did, there was the sounds of a light conversation by a man it seemed, as well as Erza. On a delighted note, Erza came back into the room, whispering into Nic's ear.

Vanessa looked on as Nic and Erza seemed to be whispering in another's ear about something. Her magic was a no-brainer as she could clearly sense the seriousness of the situation. She got up and decided to move to another place.

"Sophie." Nic turned to her. "Listen. There's someone we want you to meet. We think now would be as good as time as any for you both to talk."

Sophie blinked. "Who?"

Nic and Erza stepped off to the side. They gave entrance as someone who was well-dressed entered the living room with a large red cap, with a massive pink plumage feather sticking out from atop. His blonde hair was a darker hue than her own, but the way he looked at her, for some reason, it made Sophie feel a case of déjà vu.

' _Wait…have I seen him before?'_

The man took off his cap, bowing towards his peers. "Pleasure to be here. It's been quite a while, hasn't it…Sophie?"

Startled by how he knew about her, she turned towards Nic and Erza for answers. Their happy and calm demeanors from before were dead serious. This made her lose her appetite.

"Sophie, this is someone who you knew your childhood." Nic gestured towards their guest. "This is Rufus…he's your cousin."

Her green eyes widened as she sharply returned her attention to Rufus. The blond looked just as serious. "Hello, Sophie."

* * *

"Oi! Quit messing around, Dobengal! Finish him already!"

Orga along with several other mages were watching from the free space around the guild hall as the ninja was keeping a watchful eye on his opponent. Suffice to say he was no pushover like he thought. His Frogadier and Ninjask were a ways apart from the opposing Yanma and Stunfisk that were backing up Dereece. He looked just as anxious.

While Shou was busy setting up his equipment, as her with Sting's supervision, the others decided to pass the time by engaging in a Pokémon Battle. Having enough of Orga's complaints about his style, Dobengal decided to battle Dereece, who generously accepted. So far, they were in the thick of it.

"Hey! I got 2,000 Jewel bet on ya! Don't make me regret it!" Sorano shouted. She was with her Mantine, watching from the pool in her swimsuit. "Go, go! Frogadier! Go, go! Ninjask!"

"Make his booty ache, Dereece! Show him your stuff!" Joey encouraged. He, too, was in his swimsuit and in the pool with Gyarados, roaring intimidating cheers of his own.

Dobengal didn't give Dereece a break as he jabbed forward. "Frogadier, **Bubble**! Ninjask, **Bug Bite** on Yanma!" At his command, Ninjask, already boosted by Speed Boost, had his glowing mouthpiece set as vanished. Frogadier followed that up with a blast of blue bubbles at his foes.

"Yanma, **Detect!** Stunfisk, **Mud Shot!** " Dereece countered. Yanma's eyes flashed green and she suddenly evaded Ninjask when he appeared and tried to bite her. She reappeared behind, where he vanished and gave chase. Meanwhile, Stunfisk's mud blasts were cancelling out the jet of bubbles, making murky sprays in the center of the carpet.

"This is awesome!" Heracross pumped a claw. He was cheering off to Dereece's side, still eating his Honey that was partially over his mouth.

"This battle is very entertaining." Rogue complimented. "Dereece is keeping up well with Dobengal's speed."

"Fro, thinks so too!" Frosch cheered. He was eying Frogadier, who jumped into the air. "Yay! Go froggy!"

With Frogadier getting an impressive aim above, Dobengal pointed directly down at Stunfisk. "Let's see you escape from a _double_ attack now! Frogadier, **Water Pulse**! And Ninjask, use **Fury Cutter!** " Frogadier charged up a sphere of water between both hands and launched it. Ninjask heard the directives and ignored Yanma, turning with expanding mandibles and blitzing after Stunfisk.

Dobengal glared ahead, looking readily anxious for his attacks to hit. _'If these hit, he won't be able to withstand them.'_

Stunfisk held out as long as possible until the sphere and the insect came at him. " **Camouflage!** " Dereece shouted. Stunfisk started fading away, his figure disappearing into the background.

Dobengal saw the trick, his eyes widening. "What?!"

Ninjask stopped short of where Stunfisk would be. But with him camouflaged, he could've moved anywhere. Distracted, he was too unfocused to noticed the blue hemisphere that crashed into his back, swallowing him in a blue explosion of mist. Ninjask grunted as he floored from the damage he sustained.

"Ninjask!"

Ninjask got a claw to the ground when he heard a chuckle from in front. Fading back, Stunfisk revealed he hadn't moved and was laughing. "Oi, that must have really _bugged_ ya, aye mate!" he chuckled at the joke.

Ninjask grew a large tock mark, his anger spiking. With him close, Stunfisk was unaware to the **Fury Cutter** that was followed up and sent him flopping. He grimaced as that blow knocked an ideal amount of wind out of him.

Ninjask huffed in retaliation. However, that was short-lived when static charged around his body, causing him to cringe. Dobengal gasped when he realized the mistake of Static activated.

"Uh oh, looks like he's stunned." Orga chimed.

With Ninjask slowed down, his focus was disoriented. He was completely oblivious to Yanma, who was right above him. When he looked up, it was too late.

" **Sonic Boom!** " Yanma's wings glowed white and she released a powerful shockwave down towards Ninjask. His eyes were wide as the attack swallowed him in a white blast that sent him barreling into the ground. When he came to a stop, he was outcold.

"Ninjask, return!" Dobengal returned Ninjask with haste, his exasperation revealing itself. "Hmph, seems that I'll have to go on defense." He reached out ahead. "Frogadier, conceal yourself! **Smokescreen!** "

Frogadier crouched and conjured smoke in the mouth. He spun in place as the black smoke turned to a vortex that expanded outwards. Stunfisk camouflaged himself while Yanma was forced to get airborne and away from the smoke.

"Now, let's take out that Yanma. Use **Water Pulse!** "

Inside the black smoke, a blue flare was seen. Yanma's earlier Speed Boosts allowed her to tell where it was coming from and ascended to the guild building. The sphere of water followed close behind. As the water sphere was gradually pushing towards her, she revealed one trick.

She suddenly glanced down, her body did a half-crescent turn, going from up to a gliding downwards around the blast of water, just as it was about to hit.

"What?!"

"Don't forget, Yanma have 360 vision." Dereece reminded him. "And now that we know where you are…Stunfisk! **Thunder Shock!** "

Inside the vague smoke cloud, still camouflaged, Frogadier looked hastily around until a light came from behind. Catching on, he turned around and jumped out of the bolts way. He jumped out of the smoke cloud and straightened out…but this proved to be a careless mistake when Yanma was directly above.

"Now! **Quick Attack!** "

Yanma growled as her outline glowed bright blue. "Here we…GO~!" With her Speed at an all-time high, she used the velocity to become a green and red blur that Frogadier had no hopes of escaping. The attack speed made her push him into the ground, trailing along the carpet back towards Dobengal. It was a critical hit.

Dobengal went wide-eyed and sunk to his knees as the dust cleared. Frogadier was lying on his back, his mouth wide open as his eyes were swirls. He was defeated.

Dereece pumped a fist in glory. " _Alright_!"

The rest of the guild cheered for a really good battle shown. Dobengal grimaced as he returned Frogadier. Yanma perched atop of Stunfisk's tail as he reappeared, looking up at her with a smile of his own.

Sorano sulked in the pool, going nose-deep as bubbles gurgled to the surface.

"Looks like you owe me some Jewel." Joey teased. "Pay up!"

Pouting, Sorano looked sourly away as Joey was handed a small handful of cash in a sac. He smiled wide, much to Sorano's ire. "I _knew_ that was a mistake! I'm never betting again!" she roared.

"You win some you lose some. Ain't that right, Gyarados?" Joey looked up to Gyarados, who was roaring low as he used Splash, causing waves that Joey absolutely enjoyed. Meanwhile, Mantine and Sorano were pushed to the shallow end of the pool, the latter's hair completely wet and soaked.

She wasn't the only one sad though, Frosch sulked as well. "Ohhh, poor Frogadier…" he whimpered.

Lector moved to his side, comforting him. "It's okay, buddy. He'll win next time. I promise."

Hearing the commotion from afar, Sting was looking back to see the battle was over. He turned back towards Minerva and Shou, who were transporting sound equipment and devices. This recent trip was the last. "Is that it?" He looked up at the many sound devices, he was astonished at how many this guy had.

Minerva looked at him affirmative. "Yes, that should be the last of it." She turned to Shou. "Are you ready?"

Shou nodded. "Sure."

Sting turned towards his rowdy guild, his Druddigon raising his head. He expelled a loud roar that echoed throughout the building, shrilling ears and people's fears. They all ceased their conversations and turned towards Sting as he stepped up.

"Thanks Druddigon." His dragon walked away while he took the stage. "Alright everyone, I know we have guests from Fairy Tail. And we're pleased to have them here. So let's welcome them with open arms, okay?" he looked serious. "That said, thanks to some of what Joey said, we decided to try out something new." He looked behind, seeing Shou lugging in his laptop. "We've got a musician with us today, so we're gonna be trying some live music."

Yukino blinked, clasping her hands. "Wow, live music?"

Orga scoffed, though seemed elated with Pikachu on his shoulder. "Heh…I was looking to battle that guy next, but this should be fun." That remark behind left Dereece to sigh in relief.

"It'll be fine, trust me guys. Look, I know we've been known to have changed since Jiemma left, but we need to find more ways to make our guild stand out. And on top of that, contracting with someone who has just as much talent as the rest of us who isn't part of our guild just goes to show how much more open we can be." That did the trick as they all went silent. "Alright then." He turned towards Shou. "Show them what you got."

Shou nodded, grabbing his guitar. "Okay. Here's a nice opener." He went over to the laptop, readying the track. Once set, he went up front and started up his guitar.

 _ **[Trivium – The Heart From Your Hate]**_

The laptop hardwire with lacrima was doing the drums recorded, while Shou was started the lyrics and the guitar. Once the beginning lines picked up, the heart rates of everyone skyrocketed when the entire guild hall turned into a concert hall as guitars and metal caused heads to bang.

From the pool. Joey held up peace signs and screamed. "WOOOOO~! Yeah! I _so_ wish Nic-Senpai was hear! He'd love to hear this kind of stuff!" He banged his head of hair, and behind him, his Gyarados was splashing nonstop in the pool.

The music kept playing, following up to the first chorus. Shou wasn't at all looking nervous as he was eyeballing everyone on him. Though it was just one instrument, the laptop prerecording was taking care of the rest. He leaned back and banged his head as he moved with his rock guitar.

"To rip the heart from your-" Shou pointed to everyone.

"HATE!" They cheered.

It was a hysterical time, one that even got Orga in the mood. By the time the next chorus was being prepared, he, along with Pikachu, were coming up to the stage and taking the mic from Shou. It was extremely rude, but as he was getting to the chorus, Orga began blasting everyone with the same lyrics as before, and Pikachu was banging his head with ecstatic glee. Sabertooth was getting riled up even more. With Orga taking over the lyrics for chorus lines, Shou was continuing to strum it all off. The music kept on echoing, so much that even outside, those watching thought it was a concert happening. Not that it mattered.

As Shou was going for the solo, the guild was cheering loudly. The only ones who weren't at all piqued was Duncan – who was in the far back at a table reading a guidebook on lacrima apparently -and Minerva. She was standing off to the side with Sting, who was looking pumped with Druddigon and Lector. She couldn't believe it, and this wasn't the kind of music that got her going.

Now that she thought about it, she never even considered what kind of music she liked. She always worked in the guild, so music wasn't really a priority for her. Supposedly, with Dark Guilds gone, and there being less threats it seems, this may be a time for her to backtrack and think about that. Exactly what did she like?

"To rip the heart from your hate!"

Minerva heard the music stop and looked towards Shou and Orga, who were given exceeded amounts of applause from the entire audience. She watched him bow while Orga flexed in a manly way. Shou grabbed the mic and waved to the crowd. "Thank you! Thankyou very much! You're a wonderful crowd!"

Dereece whistled at the amount of attention the musician was getting. "Man, the dude's got a good range of music."

"I know, right?" Sliding from the side, Joey was back in his normal attire. "Which is why he's playing for all of us right now! He gets a job, and we get new songs! It's a win-win!"

Taking a short break before his next song, Orga decided to leave stage. Shou looked over to Minerva, who was looking contemplative. "Hey, you okay?"

Breaking away from zoning out, Minerva blinked several times before realizing she was called. "Huh? My apologies…" she trailed off, shirking away. "Nice intro…I suppose."

She didn't sound so convinced. This worried Shou. "You not a fan of hard rock? I can play something softer next if that's what you want."

Minerva straightened herself. "I assure you, I'm well maintained. You can play what you like." The way she seemed so sterned about it was like how a strict mother would be to her child when he did something wrong, but was playing along.

Shou wasn't taking the hint so lightly. If anything it felt more like a guilt trip. But he wasn't going to let it ruin his fun. "Alright, if you say so." He went towards the laptop, readying the next selection on his playlist.

Minerva crossed her arms, shuffling in place. What Hoshina said about her stung her head for the umpteenth time today. She didn't need a man right now…did she? And even if she did, she had standards…wait, did she? What were those standards? She was so confused by today that her good mood has been hijacked by the racket Shou was making. That long wasn't doing good for her head.

Looking over, Lector noticed the moody expression on Minerva's face. "Hm? Hey, is Milady okay?"

"Maybe she has a tummy ache." Frosch obliged.

Yukino sweatdropped behind him. "Um, I'm sure she's just fine…" she trailed off. "I hope."

Being the one of reason, Sting decided to take it upon himself to talk to Minerva. He tapped his knuckles on her shoulder. "Hey, you who?" Minerva jumped, much to his surprise. "Geez, you alright? You look like you just had a nightmare."

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Minerva blinked. "M-Master Sting…apologies." She rubbed her arm bashfully. "I've been rather…preoccupied lately."

The others looed to each other with confusion. Sting pressed on.

"Well that's true, but you know, it's not wrong to ease up some. We're not in a fight right now." He reasoned. Minerva looked down. She seemed more contemplative than ever. "If you have something on your mind that's bugging you, you can talk to us. We're your guildmates."

"That's right." Lector jumped.

Minerva looked over at her ecstatic friends. Seeing their faces did make her feel a _little_ less strained. She softly smiled. _'Maybe I'm overthinking it. This might not be the right place for it.'_ For now, she shook her head, her calm disposition back. "Don't worry…I think I'm better now."

Sting blinked. "You sure?"

"Yes. Absolutely. Now if you'll excuse me." She suddenly teleported away, leaving her friends in their bewilderment.

"What's up with her?" Lector wondered.

"No idea." Frosch pondered.

As Minerva was leaving, Shou didn't take his gaze off her as he scrolled for the next song to play.

* * *

Seconds after disappearing, Minerva went to the back of the guild hall. She used the side as support as she tried to catch her breath. She looked down towards the ground with a frown. If anything, she felt more insecure about herself than ever.

She then noticed a puddle of water that sat nearby. Deciding to peer into it, she investigated the still water at her reflection. She peered at her own reflection, seeing not a confident woman who downed a smirk of superiority. No. this was anything but. Despite having the voracious looks that would draw any man towards her, the frown she cast was of disappointment. She didn't know where this was coming from. Where was this stemming exactly?

As she gazed longingly at herself, a small wind picked up, causing a ripple to distort her figure. It faded into what she saw in Hoshina's possible fortune, of her in a bridal gown. It dawned upon her this was the reason, it had to be. Despite having Sabertooth, and many friends, she was realizing something deeper. It fell back to Nic – someone whom she admired for a long time. Someone who saved her from what could've been a very wrong past full of bad decisions. He was there for her when she needed someone…but that's just it. Did anyone need her? Did anyone even _want_ her? She wasn't like Jiemma, her father wanted to drill her to be nothing but power, and all he saw in her saw his blood. Thanks to Bellona long ago, she was beyond that. That wasn't the problem right now, but she wouldn't say it didn't contribute to her insecurities to finding someone to possibly more than like her.

She sighed heavily as her reflection returned to herself. There was no point fighting them. _'What am I even doing anymore?'_

"Heh, told ya she would be here!"

Minerva heard the tone and turned around. Much to her surprise, there were three cloaked individuals that stood in a small huddle that opposed her. Immediately she got a guard up.

"Look boss, she's all alone now." The broad one said. "Now's that chance we've been waiting fo-OW!" He was seized by the noggin a third time along with the short one and their heads slammed into each other. Together they floored in front of the tall one.

"You dunces." He scoffed. He looked at Minerva, who wasn't at all amused by the act. If anything she looked confused by their appearance.

"Pardon me, are you perhaps lost?" she asked. "If you're looking for spare change, I'm afraid I haven't any at the moment."

The tall cloaked man lowered his head. "Tch. As if. We're here for something far greater." His stooges started getting up, staggering upright. "Alright boys, _now_!"

The two cloaked figures reached for their cloaks and pulled them off. They whipped them into the air, with a third one preceding to make shadows over their figures. With the sun overcast, Minerva got a good look at them.

The shortest one had a small but lean built to him. He couldn't have been any older than 16, with a tattered yellow tank top with mud brown cargo pants that went down to his sandals. He had bare arms with a black wristband that matched his headband.

The broad one had what looked like a one-piece dark red suit with a yellow belt tied around the waist. He had black boots and deep blue fingerless gloves that were tattered on the ends. He had messy black hair and a beauty mark on his left cheek.

The last one was a tall one with a dark red cape. He had dark brown boots with moss green cargo pants that were supported by a blue belt. He had a light blue tank top and muscular arms that were crossed. He wore black fingerless gloves and had white hair that stood upright. On the forehead was a dark purple emblem that symbolized a crow with wings that looked like flickering flames.

Minerva saw all their appearances as the cloaks fell in front of them. They at all didn't look too happy with her given the expressions they had.

"Look at the face she's making." The short one smirked maliciously. "Seems to me she's taking us seriously."

The broad one balled a fist. "Heh, got that right. About time we get the respect we deserve."

After what felt like a minute, Minerva's gaze fell short of a care. "I'm sorry…who are you?"

Both grunts cringed at her response. They were so in shock that they froze in place like stone statues. "Imbeciles." The tall one walked pass them, getting meters between himself and Minerva.

"Seems we haven't fully introduced ourselves. The name's Ron. And what you see behind me, is the last of Crow's Flame." Behind, his subordinates calmed down. "And we're here for something very special."

Minerva raised a brow. "Crow's Flame…Crow's Flame…" She placed a hand to her hip, but drew up a blank. This infuriated the short one.

"C'mon! We were a well-known Dark Guild!" he jumped in the air, wailing his arms angrily. "We've been under hiding for nearly three years because of what you did! You witch!"

Minerva blinked, pointing a finger at herself. "Me?"

The broad one balled a fist. "Yeah, you! We were doing just fine, until _you_ wiped out our entire guild like we were ants!" He shook in his rising anger. "The sheer humiliation of our friends being taken away…you're gonna pay for that-GAH!" For the umpteenth time, his head and the other grunt were slammed into each other, but didn't knock them out. It was to shut them up.

"As what they said…" Ron trailed along. "We've been under hiding for nearly three years, waiting and trying to find you, so we can exact our revenge for our guild."

Minerva scoffed, raising her head high. "I hate to be the one to break this to you, but I'm afraid you're a little late on that. Dark Guilds no longer exist."

Ron maliciously smirked. "Which is why we can reconstruct Dark Guilds. Whoever said they were truly gone. After all…" he pointed his thumb at the emblem at his forehead. "As long as we're still here, Dark Guilds still live. And that means…" he swept his arm away, showing a twisted dark anger on his face. "We'll be needing a little _help_ with that."

Minerva raised a brow. "Huh?"

"Listen here, girl. I'll make this quick and simple. If you help us rebuild the guild and our new rise to power, we'll spare ya the humiliation."

Minerva narrowed her eyes. "Quite the boast of confidence you have. Unfortunately for you, I have better things to do than deal with third-rate mongrels like you. Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"That's where you're wrong." Ron reached out ahead of him. " **Mean Look!** "

Minerva nonchalantly prepared to teleport away, but she found herself confined by a vague dark aura encasing her body. "What's this?" She looked down at her arms and hands. They were coated in the aura. "I can't teleport?"

She heard a small cackle from behind, making her turn around. Floating inches from her was a midnight blue ghost with tendrils that ended in hot pink wisps. It had large yellow eyes and a red beaded necklace.

Minerva narrowed her eyes, realizing what this meant. "I see…" she turned towards Ron and his cronies. They pulled out Poke Balls of their own. Summoned to their sides were two more Pokémon. One was a tall blue fish-like creature, with feet and long arms with white highlights at the end. It had a big smile and beady black eyes. On the back were purple ridges with a wavy black spine. The other was a yellow humanoid creature with a brown underside. It had an elephant-like nose and pointed ears.

Ron stepped up, arms crossed. "I warned ya. Now, then take her!"

"Yes, sir!" The two gave a mock salute.

Minerva huffed at the chances given to her. "Seems rather unfair to have your Pokémon battle against a made, don't you think?" dark green orbs appeared in her hands, her eyes narrowing in growing demeanor. "If you absolutely insist on this, then by all means…"

From the corners of his lips, Ron smiled.

" **I RAGH!** " Minerva concentrated her Territory around all the enemies present. She discharged energy into concentrated explosions that were supposed to explode voluminously…but nothing happened. "What?"

The short one laughed uproariously to the air. "Oh man! She fell for it! I can't believe we duped her _good_!" he continued pointing and laughing. He wiped away a tear from his eye. "Sorry, but you ain't exploding anything this time. Quagsire's Damp won't allow it."

Minerva blinked in surprise. "Damp?" Now that he mentioned it, she noticed how slightly muggy it was ever since a couple seconds ago when Quagsire came out. _'I see, so they're using Pokémon moves_ _ **and**_ _their powers to stop me altogether.'_ Her glare hardened on them. _'Seems they were serious after all.'_

As she reached for her Poke Ball, Ron reacted fast. "Oh no you don't! Misdreavus, **Confuse Ray!** "

Minerva gasped when Misdreavus appeared in front and expelled a bright orb full of multiple colors. It launched into Minerva's face, causing her eyes to dilate from the eerie flash around her. Her entire world began distorting as the light faded. She was so distraught that her mind was drawing a blank. She had to use the side of the building as a foothold.

"Heheh, we got her good, boss!" The short one cheered. "Now what do we do?"

Ron turned towards his broad lackey. "Alright. You. Remember what we talked about. Have Drowzee put her to sleep…we'll deal with her cooperation once we get out of here."

The broad lackey nodded. "You got it." He faced Drowzee. "You, put her to sleep." At his behest, Drowzee raised his arms, his eyes glowing red as he gazed at Minerva to prepare his **Hypnosis**.

Minerva was still dizzy from what was going on. On top of her confusion, she was seeing fuzzy figments everywhere. She could barely see, let alone move. As an eerie wave was heading right for her, her fingernails unknowingly clutched the guild hall tighter.

 _SHHHHRRIING!_

The harsh strum of an instrument was loud. Its metal-like shreds shrilled the air, snapping Minerva back to her senses. "H-huh?"

Drowzee cringed from the loud guitar shrilling. Quagsire didn't seem to mind much, but those sensitive like the humans and Misdreavus were cringing hard. Ron and his lackeys covered their ears as the guitar was playing and grew louder, and ever so closer.

"What, is that annoying sound?!" Ron sneered, gritting his teeth.

Minerva heard the tune and turned around. When she looked to who was there, she was stunned. "You…"

Stopping his tune, the echoes of his guitar faded into the air. Shou smirked proudly as he stood by Minerva's side. "You know, I ask for _all_ of the audience to remain seated until the song is over." He eyed Minerva. "That goes for you, too."

Minerva was rendered completely silent. She heard a loud roar that made her heart skip again. Looking behind, she saw a Gyarados present, alongside Joey and The Freaks. Suffice to say that their opening did more than just impress her. She was sure she wasn't confused anymore, but that didn't make the situation any less confusing.

Shou strum his guitar, a chord echoing. "Guys, I need some battle tunes!"

Joey sat Boombox off to the side, turning a knob. "Oooh, _this_ is gonna get real." He pressed the button, getting the music started.

 _ **[Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas – Virtue and Vice]**_

Shou started strumming his guitar heavily as the music started heavily, his glare as clear as day. And by no means did he look happy.

Still covering their ears, the faulted Dark Guild remnants could barely think, let alone process what happened. "Hey! Quit that! Who the hell are you anyways?!" Ron demanded loudly.

With a small break, Shou plucked up one of the ends of his guitar. On one of the six pegs, he took off one of the Poke Balls on it and expanded it. He threw it high into the air. Out of it came a yellow dog-like creature with spiky pins all around the fur. It stood on four legs with an equally spiky mane. It had blue eyes and ears that twitched.

Duncan looked at the creature, his eyes casting onto Shou. He chose to step back and watch.

"Go, Jolteon!" Shou shouted.

Jolteon sparked as he growled. "Ohyeah! I'msoreadythey'llbeeatingdirforaweek! Bringiton!" He spoke so fast that it was almost impossible to hear him straight. He was so energetic.

Ron realized what was going on, and moved to make a quick counter. He turned to his lackeys. "Don't just stand there like ragdolls! Attack already!"

"Uh, r-right!" the broad one reached out at Jolteon. "Drowzee, **Confusion!** " Drowzee moved his hands and his eyes glowed pink. However, before he had the chance to attack, Jolteon was already in front of him.

"Readyboss!" he chirped.

Strumming his guitar pick, he reached out with it. "Jolteon, **Thunder Shock!** " At close range, Jolteon let loose a weak bolt of electricity that stung Drowzee. The tapir was helpless as the surge was causing him to cringe and fly into the broad one, who ended up electrocuted and fell on his back.

The short one looked horrified. "N-no way!" He looked back, angered. "Oh, you've done it now! Quagsire, **Mud Shot!** " His Quagsire sighed as he opened his maw. Inside, orange globs turned into brown mud balls that shot towards everyone.

"Gyarados!" At Joey's command, Gyarados' long body snaked everyone in a coil. He tucked his head in and took the mud blasts, which did nothing to him. The short one staggered back in shock, while behind, Heracross was set.

"Alright Dereece, back me up with this." Joey told him.

He nodded. "You got it!" He reached out. "Heracross, use **Horn Attack!** "

"Gyarados, use **Waterfall!** "

With Heracross perched on Gyarados' head, the beetle lowered his head as the horn glowed. Gyarados hollered as he summoned a wave of water that swept into Quagsire and the short mage. At blinding speeds, Gyarados soared across the water, diving with Heracross at the front with great momentum. Quagsire was too slow to act, as his ability wasn't meant for this. At the moment of their impact, a white explosion burst through the water. The shockwaves blew back the short trainer as he spiraled several times until he plopped with his other friend, colliding head-first. Being wet and the other crackling electricity, they both were zapped and buzzed into a twitching mess.

Joey held his hand up, and Dereece clapped it.

Ron looked back, his face showing sheer annoyance. "Gnnngh, idiots!" he turned back toward the others. "You'll pay for this! Misdreavus!" he waited for an answer…but didn't get one. "Misdreavus?"

The ghost was sniffing the air, drawn towards Heracross specifically. The others watched on as the aromatic scent of his honey-soaked face was enchanting her somewhat. It left her completely open.

Heracross looked back at Dereece to see what they should do, but all Dereece did was shrug. Finding an idea, Heracross stuck the last remainders of the golden Honey out, which Misdreavus peered into. Suddenly he raised it overhead and dunked the jar onto her. The insect backed away quickly as Misdreavus shrilled panicking cries that were muffled by globs of Honey stuck to her.

Dereece blinked, unsure of what to make of it. "Well…that's one way I guess."

Seeing his Misdreavus in peril, Ron gritted his teeth. His plan was completely ruined. He reached for a Poke Ball. "I gotta get out of here…"

Finding a quick route, Minerva threw her Poke Ball. "Bagon, **Crunch!** " The Poke Ball flung open, with Bagon in midair. He growled as he dove onto the halted Misdreavus, fangs glowing bright. He snapped down hard, creating a solid white burst that ruptured the air.

As Bagon landed softly, he, as well as everyone else, watched Misdreavus fly back into Ron. The impact shattered the Honey jar to glass. As he fell on his back, his shirt and face were coated in raw, sticky Honey that was smeared all over his and his Misdreavus' faces.

"Uuugh…who caught the number of that…" He heard distant rumbling from above. With Honey-filled vision, he couldn't make note of the black clouds crackling lightning. "What the hell?! Where-GAH! Honey in the eyes, damnit!" He was wiping them with his wrist, but it wasn't working.

Sliding his heel for space, Shou was strumming away with an invigorated sneer. "Time for your last encore! Jolteon…" He pointed his guitar's end at the three. " **Thunder!** "

Joltwon's body crackled in large amount of static and raised his head. With a howl at the chorus' shrilling cries, a massive lightning bolt rained down, striking the spot where the Dark Guild members were lying. Their screams were muted by the discharge of static flaring all around. By the time the lightning ceased, the pressure of the attack left a small indent in the cement where they laid, charred and barely mobile.

The music ended, and Shou withdrew his instrument as the pick glided across the strings. "And that's a wrap."

Jolteon sped to his side, looking proud of his achievements. "Yeahnowthatwasablastseriously!" he yammered. "Let'sdothatagain!"

Dereece swatdropped. _'Wow. And here I thought Kevin's Raticate had energy issues.'_

Surprising enough, despite the amount of voltage he was struck with, Ron was stirring. He sat up as the Honey that drenched his face was all crusty and hard due to the lightning frying it. He had a hard time wiping it away, especially when he moved his forearm he felt the nerves ache.

"So…what was it you were again?"

Ron's ears twitched. Slowly looking up, his blurred vision caught the dark visage of the sinister Minerva. Green orbs surrounded her hands as her Bagon opened his maw, dragonfire stirring inside. If it weren't for the Honey his face would be shown pale.

He tried scooting away. "Uh, n-now wait a sec. We can work something out! Uh…please?" His desperate whimper at the end fell on deaf ears. He gulped as Minerva raised her arms.

" **I RAGH!** "

The air went white as spatial explosions were mixed with dragonfire. Ron's screams fell mute as the eruptions blasted over the music Shou was playing. The eruptions shook the back of the guild hall that some almost mistook it for fireworks. The others quietly watched in awe and slight worry as she was waking explosions at an over excessive rate.

"Wow, she's…eh…" Joey flinched, hearing a loud cry inside the explosions.

"Yeah…ouch…" Dereece gulped, seeing a silhouette twitch violently inside.

Duncan held a straight face the whole way through. He eyeballed Shou as his Jolteon sped back to his side. His gaze sharpened on his back as Ron and his lackeys suffered from Minerva's wrath.

* * *

Sophie had a long-standing look of remorse on her face. Everything up to recently has been nothing short of a blur. If she wasn't confused before, then knowing she had a cousin of all relatives had to make her delirious. It was almost too critical to believe. Araquanid and Kadabra sat themselves on both ends of Sophie to keep an eye on the so-called relative of hers; Araquanid especially looked unkind.

Nic, Erza, and Vanessa chose to take their company elsewhere. They looked at each other and walked out the door towards the backyard. What they were doing didn't matter. What mattered at the moment, was how Sophie was going to reconnect.

After what felt like an eternity of twiddling her thumbs, Sophie gulped as she looked towards Rufus. "So, let me get this straight…" she started. "You're…my cousin?"

Rufus sat upright in the seat directly across from her, his massive hat unable to take away the calm but sad expression he bared. "Yes. Inexplicably so. I understand your skepticism, if that's a start."

Sophie's gaze fell towards her thighs. "Um…honestly, I'm not sure _where_ I should start."

"Take all the time you need. I've took all of today off so I can help."

Sophie bit her lower lip at trying to gather a thought. Kadabra moved hastily to her side to support her. "Um, suppose we can start somewhere like…yes. There. Like how you were aware of this matter? I presume it was Nic and Erza perhaps?"

Rufus tipped his cap. "Yes. Though I have to admit their word choices were rather…rushed." Rufus certainly can't say it was the _worst_ handwriting it seems. He still remembered reading Erza's letter about Bellona a while back. The memory still gave him nightmares to this day.

"What did they tell you?" Sophie asked, she sounded a little worried to be true.

"Everything. From your adventure in Seven, to where you sacrificed your old life for your friends." He morosely frowned. "As a fellow Memory-Make Mage, I would be appalled to see such talent wasted." He lowered his head in guilt. "But…as much as memories mean to me, I have no say in the matter."

Sophie nervously glanced away bashfully. "So then…are you saying that you can help me?"

Rufus nodded. He stood up and started for her. Araquanid impeded their path and hissed menacingly at Sophie. Suffice to say that his behavior was justified.

"Stand down Araquanid." Kadabra insisted. "Let them meet."

Araquanid still refused to budge. Finneon maneuvered closer to his eye. "Please, listen to Kadabra. At the least consider Sophie. We know you mean well, but please…relax."

"Well, I…" He was stuttering on what to say. He knew that even his own actions were justified. He was protecting Sophie, more so than ever. He looked back at her to see her green eyes giving him an insecure look. He thought about it for a moment and ultimately chose to step away…though his glare on Rufus was as hard a steel.

Rufus heeded the warning glare from the giant spider. "Right, I'll be quick." He walked over and leaned to Sophie's eye level. The two locked eyes – their shapes almost completely identical. They could really tell they were cousins. "Now Sophie, be very still." He reached for her forehead, the palm glowing softly. He started channeling energy into Sophie's head.

Her Pokémon watched anxiously as chains of memories flourished around Sophie and Rufus. They came a small dome of glowing chains that went on endlessly in repeated loops as Rufus' memories were looking into Sophie's. With his eyes shut he couldn't make out much, until the magic around them vanished into thin air.

He stepped back, his eyes calmly opening again. "…so it really _is_ true." He started. "You truly don't remember a thing. Normally, if one has amnesia, I can use my Memory-Make to enter their subconscious and bring them out. But you…it was like all the past memories you had were unburied and stripped away _completely_."

Sophie looked down again, this time with a look that spelled defeat. She was sure this time that even Memory-Make, her own kind of magic, would be of _some_ use to helping her understand what kind of a person she was. If this didn't do the trick, she didn't even know what would anymore.

Kadabra moved his open claw to Sophie's forearm to help take some pressure off. "It will be alright, Sophie. I'm sure of it." He optimistically insisted.

Sophie didn't seem so sure. "Well…thanks anyway."

Rufus took his seat once more. "I do apologize once again." He looked over towards her Pokémon, seeing how the water spider and the fish were stuck inside the same bubble. He saw how tentative her Kadabra was being. If anything, something about this ensemble left Rufus curious. "But, I still suppose we can make this work."

"Really?' Sophie looked up to him, but she soon faltered in what he meant. "Oh…you mean orally, don't you?"

He nodded. "Yes. If you can't remember, then at the very least, I can sedate what questions you might have." He crossed his right leg over his leg, putting a hand to his chin. "So, to what wonders you have?"

Sophie didn't have to think hard about her first rounds of questions. She jumped to the first almost immediately. "What year was I born?"

Rufus tipped his cap. "You were born April 2nd, X768."

Sophie's eyes widened. X768? Really? When she looked at her voluptuous frame, she didn't _feel_ 25\. Maybe she just appealed very young in the genes or something. Nevertheless, she rebounded for the next volley of questions. "Okay…so, where did come from? Where was I born?"

Rufus raised his chin, finding the right kind of words imaginable. "Let's see…from what I seem to recall, your mother and father were traveling merchants. You weren't born in a specific home town, nor did you settle in your childhood."

Sophie looked down, considering his words. "So I was a merchant's daughter…" She squinted to see what could come up, but the efforts were fruitless. "So, do you know anything about my mother? Or father perhaps?"

"It's been far too long to be sure. You see, my side of the family and your own came to the Fiore Library quite frequently. So, from those visits…I'd say I wouldn't know them any better." He closed his eyes as something popped up. "But now that I think about it, I believe that your parents were given a divorce."

"A divorce?" Sophie gasped. "So then…they're not together anymore then."

Rufus tipped his hat. "I'm sorry."

She balled her fists, not willing to give up her trail so easily. Her fixation on Rufus hardened. "Tell me, where are they? Anything you have on them would be just fine. Just name it."

Rufus could hear the plea in her voice. Nevertheless, he made sure to remain as calm and composed as his etiquette allowed. "Well…" he crossed his left leg over his right this time. "Your mother chose to settle down in a small village just southwest of Fiore. As for the precise location, I'll have to look not that. Like I said, I'm not so _in-tune_ with family as you are…or _were_ , perhaps."

Sophie gulped. There was still one more part to her question. "And of my father?"

Rufus went silent. The air around them turned to a quiet, eerie domain filled with nerves crawling. The anticipation in the air quickly turned to Rufus as a time to speak.

"I'm sorry, Sophie. I hate to be the one to bear this in mind, but…your father died, about three years ago."

Sophie's heart stopped for a glimpse of a second. She felt like something used Ice Beam and froze her from the inside out. Kadabra gripped her forearm tighter, but she didn't feel it. All she felt was a load of grief as her gaze turned hollow at her thighs. She tried to find the right words to speak, but nothing was coming out but soft breathing.

"Your father was on a mountain trail. It was raining, as I recall, and the area that he embarked in had a large landslide. They only found him a week after…"

Sophie closed her eyes, trying her best to power through this. Once calmed, she exhaled a heavy sigh. "I…I see…" she murmured.

"Cousin." Rufus sincerely frowned. "I truly am sorry."

Rather than get another lash of questions, like how he didn't say something sooner, or told her a while back, Sophie just looked away, a sad frown on her pink lips. "It's fine, really." Her voice cracked; she powered on. "It wasn't your fault. I'm…sure there's a lot of questions that you're expecting from me right now, huh?"

Rufus folded his fingers, his posture straightening. "Take all the time you'll need…I'm not going anywhere." He looked down. "And besides, I need to make up for my mistakes."

This caused Sophie to blink. Mistakes? Did he do something wrong that put her in a bad spot? She found her grief jumping to curiosity remarkably fast. "What happened?"

"Recall how I said we'd meet up at the library. Well to tell the truth, as we exploited the same magic, we found ourselves at different ends of the spectrum. I found it easier to use _my_ Memory-Make to forget irrelevance. But you used your bitter memories and made yourself stronger. You…seemed to have been more open than I was. And it wasn't far long until you've shown me what it means that you should remember everything that you can, than just take them for granted…" his face faltered. "It's bitterly ironic."

Sophie managed a meek chuckle. "Well, when you put it that way…"

Once again, another awkward silence fell around them. The tension seemed less chilled with the conversation they were having. Sophie found herself more at ease in the last thirty seconds than she has been the past three days. At least she wasn't _completely_ hopeless.

"Rufus…" She earned her cousin's intrigued glance once again. "I don't mean to be rude, but…do you think…that you can help me with my magic?"

Rather than show surprise, Rufus retained calm. He chuckled as he stood up. "Why of course…" he reached his hand out, unknowingly earning a sharp glare from Araquanid. He smiled through it. "As I seem to recall, that's what family is for, right?"

For the first time all day, Sophie's smile was as bright as the sun outside. There was hope for her after all…just one step at a time. She generously accepted his handshake.

"Very well. So, for starters, let's look at your magic. Your magic and mine are known as Memory-Make…"

As Rufus began his teachings and possible rounds of questions later on from his cousin, Nic, Erza, and Vanessa were outside the window, with small grins on their faces. Some matters are best left to family alone.

* * *

Outside of Sabertooth, a couple of Rune Knights were keeping an eye on the three men they hauled away. Electric fields prevented Misdreavus and Drowzee from moving as the Magnemite around them floated them away. They had to use a _lot_ of resources to get Quagsire's slimy body to get moving with them. But once they were carried away, Sabertooth was back to being itself.

"Milady, are you sure you're alright?" Sting questioned.

Minerva apologetically nodded, looking more relaxed than before. "Yes, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me right now." She knew from heart that Sting was totally gonna flip off that statement, but she was content. She turned towards Shou. "And for you, I…" She rubbed her arm, looking down guiltily. "I…want to apologize, for acting the way that I did earlier. I was just being selfish."

"It's no problem." Shou dismissed. "I understand. If my songs are a big problem for you, I'll just find some other genres."

Minerva shook her head. "There's no need. In fact, I wouldn't mind having a song played for me sometime…" her eyelids lowered. "Just make sure it's nothing rather _soft_."

Shou gave her a thumbs up. "Deal." He turned towards Sting. "You don't mind if I continue?"

Sting nodded. "Sure, be our guest."

"Just a minute."

The Freaks earned the attention of everyone in the building. Joey and Dereece looked towards their left to see Duncan glaring daggers at Shou. The audience around them stepped back as the Trainer paced towards Shou.

Joey raised a brow. "Um, Duncan…?"

The Trainer stopped five feet away from Shou. The two were in the center of the guild hall with the rest giving vague but understandable looks. They could feel a change in the atmosphere again.

"You're Duncan, aren't you?" Shou said with an epiphany. "Yeah, I remember you. You were at the conference back in April and challenged Nic to a battle. You looking for something?"

He waited for a response, thinking it was a song request. However, the look in his eyes dismissed the thoughts of his tunes. He picked up on the rivaled leer he was given.

"Tell me." Duncan started. "You're a Pokémon Trainer, aren't you?"

Everyone's eyes widened as the room went dead silent once more. Lector and Frosch stared with their eyes glued in surprise. If Duskull had legs, they could've given out, but instead he slumped on Rogue's shoulder. Minerva's breath hitched as she sharply turned at the accused.

Joey and Dereece exchanged awkward glances. Dereece stepped forward. "Uh, Duncan, what are you doing?"

After a long while, Shou surprisingly smirked. "What gave that away?"

"That picture you had in your apartment was a dead giveaway. The background was with a large Ferris Wheel, which is popular as a tourist site to those in Nimbasa City, in the Unova Region." His brow furrowed. "And judging from the Pokémon in that picture, you have to have participated in the Unova League at least once…am I right?"

Shou had a long, exasperated sigh. His brows went up as his arms raised over his head like a surrender. "You got me. Right on the money. I'm actually surprised you knew about that."

"Wait…" Lector's eyes widened. "So he really _is a_ nother Pokémon Trainer?!"

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch replied absent-mindedly.

There were small discussions between some of the Sabertooth mages inside. They looked at the scene with some surprise, but more so, they showed genuine curiosity. Seeing Duncan and Shou face to face was another matter all aside from the concert and auditions played out.

"So tell me, how far in did you get into the Unova League?" Duncan continued his round of questions.

Shou lowered his arms, holding his dangling guitar in place. "I made it to the top 64 out of 512. About nine months ago." He started. "After the loss, I went back home to Nimbasa City and went back to practicing on my music that I picked up on my journey-"

"I didn't ask about that." Duncan stated. His tone was cold, and serious to where even an Ice-type could be given chills. "If you've made it that far in, then that means you must have _some_ skills…" he maliciously smirked. "And you know what happened when two Trainers meet eyes."

He smirked at what's to come. "This should be good."

* * *

Outside of Sabertooth, there was a gathering of everyone from inside that was moved outside. A few of the townsfolk had also gathered for the commotion, either for their own chance to kill time or they wanted to see an actual battle between Trainers.

"Wow, just look at all the people here to see this." Yukino looked left and right repeatedly. Only the sounds of Jewel clanging made her look away. "Big sis? What are you doing?"

Sorano looked at the remaining Jewel she had in hand and held her head high, winking. "What's it look like?" She turned towards Joey. "Double or nothing?"

Joey challenged Sorano with his own evil smirk. "Oh, sister, you are _so_ on!" He snapped his fingers, which the sac from Sorano's earlier winnings stood. "And when _Duncan_ wins, we'll be walking away millionaires!"

Sorano leaned into his face, smirking arrogantly. "Oh, we'll see about that. Because last I checked, he _flopped_ against Nic."

Joey got into her face, pointing up her chin. "OH~! You just went there! _Girl_! _Nobody_ ain't worth it to Nic-senpai! Now Duncan may not be like him, but he's gotten stronger! But now it's _triple_ , for Nic-senapi!"

As the two had static of their auras zapping at each other, Yukino and Dereece sighed. "Well at least they got the spirit." Dereece grimaced. Yukino nodded in agreement.

Frosch jumped to Rogue's height. "Good luck out there!"

"This is certain to be an interesting match." Rogue commented. "Duskull, be sure to pay attention."

Duskull, who stood beside him, moved his arms in a ghastly manner. "As you~ insi~~st." He wailed.

"Yo, Sting. You psyched or what?" Lector asked, standing in front of Sting.

The Master stood with his Druddigon, looking calm and casual. His blue eyes were observing both contenders like a hawk and a squirrel. "Honestly, yeah. I've never seen two actual Trainers battle before/ Minerva, what was it when you went? Minerva?" He looked over, seeing her fixed on Shou. "Hey, you okay?"

The Territory Mage was observing Shou intently. She already knew Duncan was capable, but even from that earlier blast there was some power picked with his Jolteon. Not only that, but the way he acted so calm doesn't just come form out o the blue. This intrigued her even more.

On the left side of the battlefield, Shou held his guitar as he glared at Duncan. "So, how do you want to do this?"

"A 3-on-3 battle." Duncan suggested. "No substitutions. Best two out of 3 is declared the winner."

Shou plucked with his guitar pick. "Deal." He reached for his guitar picks on the end and dislodged a Poke Ball wedged on one of the six pegs. Duncan reached into his pocket, preparing for his choice.

Flashes of his one-sided battle with Nic came to his mind. He thought back to his battle with Vanessa. Seeing his downfalls on both left a nasty chord on him that gave him an incentive. His fixation darkened on Shou. _'I have to win.'_ He pulled out the capsule, revealing an Ultra Ball. _'No excuses. I'm gonna get to their level, and I'll gauge any who I need to see how close I am to them!'_

"Let's get it on out there!" Orga shouted, pointing ahead with one hand and the other holding the mic. "Now let's see a hell of a scuffle!"

"Alright, go!" Shou threw his Poke Ball.

"Magmortar, front and center!" Duncan sideswiped the Ultra Ball.

Both capsules opened at the same time. Standing in front of Duncan was Magmortar, who uncrossed his folded claws and huffed weakly. Meanwhile, in front of Shou, it was a green serpentine Pokémon, the same one in the picture. His huge, vine-like tail was whipped around as he raised his head high, looking at his opponent.

"Looks like Duncan's using Magmortar first." Joey observed. "But, is his opponent…a Serperior?"

Dereece shook his head. "This isn't too good for Shou. Fire-types have a serious advantage over Grass-types. Duncan sure isn't pulling any fast ones." He blinked at what he said. "Er, scratch that. He _never_ does. Sorry."

Despite his earlier confidence, Joey started observing on a more serious eye. It was time. He kept an eye on Duncan as his cold eyes seared into the roaring start of the fight. But the first move was quickly seized by Shou.

"Alright, use **Nasty Plot!** "

Serperior nodded. "With pleasure, Master." He hissed, quite seductively at that. His body lowered as question marks appeared over him, replaced by a punctuation point. They vanished a sharp red aura showed a Special Attack climb.

Duncan swiped his arm to the side. "Use **Flamethrower!** " On command, Magmortar retracted his claws to show his arm's fire cannons. They aimed at Serperior and blasted searing blasts of ire that raced across the ground towards him.

"Dodge that!"

Hearing Shou, Serperior jumped in time over the explosion of fire beneath. The ruptures of flames spread near the audience, who backed away to avoid any of the char. Rogue had to shield Frosch with his cape.

Shou strum his guitar with an echo. "Time for a change of notes! Use **Torment!** " As Serperior fell, he was suspended briefly in the air as he expelled a vicious yell at Magmortar. Magmortar looked up as a dark aura momentarily flared up around him. He stepped back, his cannon arms returning to being claws.

"What's that?" Sting questioned.

"It's a move where a Pokémon can't use the same attack twice in a row." Dereece explained. "Now Magmortar can't use Flamethrower until the attack after."

Duncan eyed his adversary carefully as Serperior was coming down. From the curves in his lips, his large red eyes outlined red. He took it as a bad omen.

Shou strung his chords in a rift. "Alright, use **Night Daze!** "

Joey and Dereece gasped in shock. They didn't see that coming, as Serperior came down, enveloped in crimson energy. When he landed, the dust cloud broke apart by an expanding dark crimson forcefield that pulsed in all directions. Magmortar shielded using hos forearms, but the increase from Nasty Plot made him slide backwards. He almost fell over if not for his right heel stepping back when it did.

Joey was still overshadowed in his own shock from that move. "Night Daze…?" he murmured low. "But wait, we played the games. Serperior can't know that move…" his eyes widened. "Unless…"

He and Dereece turned towards the other. Dereece blinked. "Captain, you're not thinking…"

" **Punishment!** " Serperior's tail glowed purple as he raced for Magmortar. The Blast Pokémon uncovered and showed a menacing face that matched his Trainer's demeanor.

" **Clear Smog!** "

Shou's eyes widened at the attack called. Before he could tell his Serperior to stop, Magmortar's right arm turned into a cannon again and expelled a blast of white smoke. The cloud was too fast to dodge and Serperior ended up stuck in it. He could feel the force even sliding him back some as the smoke blew away his stat increases.

The setback showed a grin on Shou. Minerva took notice and looked curiously out at the smoke clearing.

"Look! Something's happening!" Lector pointed towards the dissipating smoke. "Something's strange about him!"

Everyone's eyes widened as they watched the smoke blow away not just the stat changes, but also crimson sparkles. The visage of Serperior was replaced by something else fading in his place. Instead of a snake, it was a humanoid foxlike creature with a massive red mane. She had red-tipped claws and light blue eyes that was brought out by her dark gray fur.

Duncan smirked. "So now it all makes sense. Figures."

Orga blinked repeatedly out of lack of wits. "What just happened? Did he switch Pokémon just now?"

"No. That wasn't his Serperior battling just now." Dereece pointed out. "That was a Zoroark. Now it all makes sense, why it could use moves like that."

Joey reached back and pulled out his PokeDex. Sorano and Yukino peered over his shoulder as the database revealed the Zoroark icon.

" **Zoroark, the Illusion Fox Pokémon. It doesn't just transform itself – it also has the power to make hundreds of people see its illusions.** "

Hearing this statement made Sorano skeptically cringe. "Illusions? But that's Macbeth's thing! Wow, cheaters."

Yukino ushered to her defense. "Um, big sis, I think it might be fair. Right?" she looked towards Dereece and Joey for confirmation. To her relief they nodded.

"Yeah, Zoroark are really tricky." Joey explained, his attention went back to Duncan and Shou's battle. "They have this ability that allows them to turn into the party's last Pokémon in line. Duncan's got himself _one crafty_ opponent."

Facing Magmortar, Zoroark glared with a sneer. "Hmph, oh well." Her tone of voice was low, but sly no less. "Seems they found me out. And I was having so much fun." She playfully winked back at Shou. He didn't seem to care as he plucked at his guitar.

"Well, looks like we'll have to work with this song." He aimed his guitar at Magmortar. "You got this, Zoroark. Use **Punishment!** " Continuing her attack from before, Zoroark charged with purple energy around her arms. She closed in on Magmortar as he brought his right arm back, with claws retracting.

"Not yet…" Duncan waited for the right time. When Zoroark brought her arm back, he found his opening. " **Thunder Punch!** " Magmortar followed the command with gusto. He launched his appendage ahead with electricity flowing at the base. Purple and lightning flashed between them as they dominated for power. A few seconds in their collision and they both stepped back.

Magmortar stretched his footing for a better reaction timing, and Zoroark sneered. However, electricity crackled around her, causing her knees to go numb. Shou looked just as stunned, though quite not literally speaking.

"Thunder Punch's paralysis effect." Joey realized.

"Zoroark, try to stand up!" Shou encouraged. He watched as his fox was trying to fight the nerves jolting through her veins. That looked like it hurt. He balled his fists. _'I didn't think it'd go like this so quickly. I need to step up my game, and fast!'_

Rather than go on about the commentary, Duncan pointed an index finger towards the sun. " **Sunny Day!** " Magmortar reached up overhead. He unleashed a small cry as he expelled orange rings that expanded into the sky. The heat coming from him intensified from the waves. When they were expelled, the atmosphere suddenly got much brighter. The sunlight got harsh to where Orga and Dobengal that to squint when peering upward.

Shou reached forward. " **Nasty Plot!** " Once more, question marks scrambled over Zoroark's head as she formulated a crude tactic. As she snarled, she licked her lips in anticipation. Her red aura shadowed over her body once more.

"Looks like they're about to end this thing." Dereece worried.

" **Flamethrower!** "

" **Night Daze!** "

A dark and crimson shockwave soared across the battlefield to stop a vicious blast roaring fire. The two forces collided in the center, expelling heat and dazing darkness in all directions. Everyone had to cover up again as the shockwaves threatened to blow them off their feet.

With a fresh layer of smoke overshadowing the battlefield, Shou was still able to make out his Zoroark. With desperation in his eyes, he took the initiative. " **Punishment!** "

Zoroark smirked. Using her keen sense of smell and hearing, she could hear the crackling of flames dead ahead. She dashed for the other side of the smoke cloud with a purple arm reeled back to strike. When she reached the other side, her wake severed the smoke, but their opponent was unable to bear his face, much to Shou and Zoroark's surprise.

Duncan smirked. " **Thunder Punch!** "

Hearing crackling lightning, Zoroark's fur stood on end as she slowly turned skywards. She only caught a glimpse of Magmortar as he came crashing down with a lightning fist into her cheek. The impact felt like a lead weight that sent her packing into the ground. Any normal person would've felt their cheekbones crack from that unpleasant strike.

"Zoroark!" Shou shouted in worry.

Zoroark's vision was hazy from that wind shot. She used an arm to subconsciously support herself as she tried standing. The paralysis in her body made her stop at her knees and cringe. She was so dazed she barely had the mind to notice the cannon pointed directly at her face.

Magmortar's huge lips formed a smirk. "Heh…"

" **Flamethrower!** "

Magmortar used one arm to fire a searing point-blank blast of molten fire that Zoroark was unable to escape. The blast encompassed a large area thanks to the weather effects made. The added heat of the attack almost seared some clothing as it shot pass Shou's stunned expression into the building not far behind them. The blast wave turned to smoke that trailed back towards Magmortar, who lifted his arm cannon and blew into it, dispelling it.

Shou raced over towards the building. Everyone made way for him as he stared at his Zoroark wedged into the building. Her fur was just as charred at the building's cement blocks. Her eyes were swirls as she gagged air that was blown out of her.

"Is she…down?" Lector cringed. He was so startled that he almost choked on his words.

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch responded, seemingly calmer than his counterpart.

Shou blinked repeatedly until he realized Zoroark was unable to battle. His shoulders slumped as he bent down, pulling out her Poke Ball. "Zoroark, thanks. Get some rest." He recalled his Dark-type, leaving a Zoark-shaped crater in the wall as he walked back to his starting point.

Without a word of praise, Duncan returned Magmortar to his Ultra Ball. He went ahead and pulled out a Poke Ball to start the next round.

"Looks like Duncan won that round." Dereece commented. He looked towards Joey and Sorano, seeing one having a prideful smirk, and another puffing cheeks. It's obvious who was pleased and who was sour.

"I wonder who they'll use now?" Yukino questioned.

As before, Minerva kept her arms crossed as she spectated in silence. She was keeping an eye on Shou as he pulled out another Poke Ball from another pick. She was replaying what she saw in her head. Shou definitely has some measure of skill, that's a given. Still…

"Excadrill, you're up!"

"Gastrodon, start!"

The Poke Balls opened, summoning their choices to battle. On Duncan's side was his Gastrodon, who blinked passively. On Shou's side, it was a large mole-like Pokémon with large metal claws and dark brown body, with red diagonal spots that, when spun, they would make a red ring. On top of the head, Excadrill had a huge headpiece that resembled a claw.

"An Excadrill, huh?" Joey reached for his PokeDex once again. Sorano and a few others peered over his shoulder to see. He almost felt uncomfortable with so many crowded around him.

" **Excadrill, the Subterrene Pokémon. It can help in tunnel construction. Its drill has evolved into steel strong enough to bore through iron plates.** "

"A Ground/Steel-type…" Dereece folded his arms again. "Shou's not being given any sucker punches. Gastrodon's Water/Ground. He's off to a poor matchup." He did recall for a moment how Excadrill normally had incredible Speed and Attack. And Gastrodon wasn't that fast. He'll have to be mindful.

Excadrill's steel claws spread apart, his glare set on Gastrodon. "Well now, you'd be my opponent?" he spoke in an old Western accent. "Yer being best prepared. I'm 'bout to bring the ground right up beneath yer hide!"

Shou strum his guitar with a harsh rift. "Excadrill, **Drill Run!** "

"Can do, partner!" Excadrill folded in his claws with his drill to make an even bigger drill. Many of the Sabertooth mages were stunned as Excadrill started rotating and barreled after Gastrodon like a spinning missile.

Duncan swiped his arm to the side. "Gastrodon, **Body Slam!** " Gastrodon jumped into the air over Excadrill as he spun below. With the momentum against him, everyone watching looked stunned as Gastrodon came down like a slimy parachute onto Excadrill. His force from the fall anchored the mole on his stomach. Looking up at the blaring sunlight that was harsh.

"Excadrill!" Shou shouted. He watched his armored mole try to break away from Gastrodon's slimy hold, but the sea slug had a lot of weight beneath him. More so, he was pinned so he couldn't use his claws.

"Just because you've made it to the Top 64 in your league, doesn't make you the best." Duncan retorted. "There's a difference in skills between Trainers. Either you learn or you don't." he raised his head, domineering over his foe's pitiful state. "Unlike you, I don't just take breaks so I can enjoy myself. Just as you're committed to music, I am to making sure that my Pokémon know how to react, when to react, and execute whatever needed."

Shou furrowed his brow. Duncan sounded very serious to where he couldn't find a rebuttal. His Excadrill's situation was looking bleak right from the get-go. He and everyone noticed how the sunlight was starting to wane away back to normal.

"The sunlight's going out." Lector realized. He could look up and not squint anymore. "Boy, that's crazy."

"Sunny Day's effects ended." Joey observed, his brow furrowing. "Which means…nothing's holding back Gastrodon's Water-type attacks."

Duncan gleamed. " **Water Pulse!** " Gastrodon opened his maw, charging up a sphere of water in the center. He aimed the sphere directly in Excadrill's face as the humidity around them increased around it.

At the last second, Shou punched forward. "Excadrill, **Horn Drill!** "

Gastrodon launched the hemisphere at point-blank into Excadrill's horn. At the impact, the horn suddenly glowed and lengthened, becoming slightly bigger and rotated. It dispelled all the sprays of water and left a soaked earth around him. Duncan retained his calm as his Gastrodon was forced to get off to avoid the rotating horn.

"Horn Drill…" Dereece awed. Of all the moves to be careful of, it had to be that one. He knew the risks of that attack; and by the look on Joey's face, he did too.

"I see, so that's your little _ace_ then." Duncan flatly stated. "…in that case, use **Ice Beam!** " Gastrodon obliged and created an orb of ice-like energy that shot three chilling beams dead ahead. On instinct, Excadrill jumped out of the way as the attack froze up the ground where he stood.

Excadrill turned ahead, scowling. "Partner, I reckon we'd fasten down these guys. Any surgessts?"

"Hang tight, Excadrill!" Shou started another rift. It looked like the music was helping him think some. His glare fastened. "Alright, rock'em with **Metal Claw!** "

Excadrill smirked. "Now we're talking!" His massive steel claws turned solid iron. He raced after Gastrodon as he fired more ice. With the metal and his speed, he was literally slicing through the ice and started gaining ground towards the sea slug. Before he knew it, he reeled his claw back and swiped, grazing Gastrodon's stomach.

" **Muddy Water!** " Duncan ordered.

Excadrill's eyes widened and his sharp wits got the better of his shock. He jumped back as a typhoon of swirling brown water erupted into a wave that pushed in his direction. He realized the tsunami of brown water was about to come down and held his ground.

" **Metal Claw!** " Shou shouted. His claws still metal, Excadrill used his brute force and cleaved straight through the tsunami heading his way. The murky wave split in two, the waves turning to groundwater that everyone watched dissolve into the ground with sincere surprise on their faces.

Joey slumped forward, eyes bugged out. "Wow…did _not_ see that coming."

Gastrodon craned his head around. "There is still more for you!" he assured.

Excadrill smirked in bold confidence. "Be reckon this is where things get interesting. Partner!"

Shou strum his guitar loudly. "On it! Excadrill, **Drill Run!** " His Excadrill folded his claws and rotated like a drill towards Gastrodon.

"Use **Ice Beam!** " Gastrodon created another orb of icy energy that shot rays of ice at the drill coming for him. The ice blast met the spiraling mole in the center, managing to actually slow him down until it was enough to freeze him in place. The frozen mole stayed put in the middle of the battlefield as Gastrodon charged up a ball of water.

"End it! **Water Pulse!** " Gastrodon craned his head around and cried out, blowing the sphere in Excadrill's direction.

Shou balled his fist and punched out. "No you don't…Excadrill! I know you can hear me in there!" he encouraged. "Break free, use **Metal Claw!** "

The ice shuddered as the sphere of water was drawing near. Inside, Excadrill was seen struggling just as the sphere reached his point of impact. An eruption of ice and mist spouted everywhere, making it hard for anyone to see what was happening. Lector used his paws to stop small chunks from pelting his face. Minerva remained calm, but her eyes were slightly wide at the sight.

When the mist cleared, it revealed Excadrill. He was on a knee, but his claws were solid metal. He used the tips as support after using what strength he had previously to break free and slice that Water Pulse. Although he was able to reduce the damage, he looked like he was ready for a dirtnap.

"He survived!" Lector gasped.

Yukino furrowed her brow. "…but where'd Gastrodon go?" A shadow appeared above everyone, making her look up. "Huh?"

They all looked towards the sky, seeing something fall at an alarming rate. Shou and Excadrill glanced up as in the sunlight, Gastrodon was sailing down, his blue slime flapping like a parachute.

" **Body Slam!** " Duncan ordered. Gastrodon cried out as he increased his falling speed, driving himself towards Excadrill.

With his timing barely there, Shou only had a few seconds. This last attack had to count. " **Horn Drill!** "

Gastrodon barreled down as Excadrill raised his horn as it extended and spun like an actual drill. The sea slug and the mole lunged at each other in midair. Time gradually slowed down for everyone as Gastrodon was blanketing over Excadrill from the sun. With his momentum, it looked like it…

But they couldn't be anymore wrong.

With an extra burst of speed, Excadrill roared as he jutted and pierced his spinning drill directly into Gastrodon's belly. The impact caused a severe rotation around the slug's stomach that pulled him into a rotation that followed Excadrill's. The mole aimed down towards the ground and darted Gastrodon into it, creating an explosion of dust.

Everyone's shock was spelled all over their faces; Minerva's included. When the dust cleared, Excadrill backpedaled and huffed as he saw Gastrodon in a crater in the ground, created from the force of the horn's impact. His eyes were swirls, indicating he was unable to continue.

Without another word, Duncan returned Gastrodon to his Poke Ball. He looked at it with annoyance. "Your reaction time was too slow." He scolded.

Sorano beamed proudly in Joey's face. "Ha!" She pointed at his nose. "Looks like that shoe is on the other foot, isn't, partybutt?" She started nudging his shoulder with her elbow. She snickered mockingly at the thought of extra jewel to use.

Yukino sighed in relief. "That actually had me nervous there."

"Yeah, no kidding." Sting commented, seeing Excadrill being praised by Shou. "Those guys used their speed to their advantage that time. That's what decided the battle. If they had been a second behind, the battle would've ended already."

"And now it's to the last battle to decide it." Rogue analyzed. "I imagine this is where they pull out the stops."

Shou pulled out his Poke Ball and aimed it at Excadrill. "Excadrill, take a rest." The mole looked back and was withdrawn from battle. Shou looked at the Poke Ball proudly. "You earned the rest." He looked at Duncan, who had his last Poke Ball set. "Well, this is it. You ready?"

Duncan's glare was fixated in determination. "Funny? I thought _you_ were."

His attitude didn't deter him as he pulled his Poke Ball out. At the same time, both contenders threw them out over their heads.

"Serperior, rock'em solid!"

"Torterra, start!"

Both energies transformed into Pokémon. For Shou, it was Serperior – the real one. He glared ahead with a towering gaze. "Ready when asked." He coolly stated. He _definitely_ wasn't an illusion if he spoke that confidently.

On Duncan's end, Torterra's four limbs planted on the ground causing a slight tremor. He craned his neck around and roared out to the skies, scaring away any birds that were flying overhead.

Joey's eyes widened again at the matchup. "It's Torterra against Serperior people! Look alive!" He pulled his PokeDex out, making sure it was the real one. To his relief, the icon showed.

" **Serperior, the Regal Pokémon. It only gives its all against strong opponents who are not fazed by the glare from Serperior's noble eyes.** "

"So _that's_ the real Serperior." Sting noted, his nose picking up a rather modest yet minty scent from the creature. "Yeah, definitely. And it looks strong." He looked over to Druddigon, who held a high guard at the sight of the creature's regal glare.

"So if these two are their strongest, then that will also mean this is what will decide the battle." Rogue revealed.

"Go, Shou~! Win me some bucks!" Sorano cheered loudly, waving her arm around.

"Duncan. Show him who's boss!" Joey encouraged. He and Sorano looked at each other and sharply stared daggers of opposition.

Dereece ignored their little spat and reached for Boombox. "Alright, I know what this needs." He sat Boombox down in front of them and scrolled through the system's songs. "Sure Shou wouldn't mind one of his tunes play, do you?"

Shou smirked. "Go ahead."

Dereece used a spare auxiliary chord that was dangling besides Shu's laptop. He connected it to Boombox and selected one of the more battle-related themes for the battle. As Serperior's head was held high, looking down on Torterra in not just height, but stature, the red eyes of the continental tortoise showed anything but cowardice.

' _So this is his strongest.'_ Duncan glared hard, his mind flashing back to Nic and Vanessa. This was the goal he needed to get at. _'No holding back!'_ He reached out. "Torterra!"

"Ready!" The gargantuan beast raised his right front leg, slamming it into the ground to cause everyone to almost jump off the ground.

"Serperior!" Shou began shredding his guitar up the shaft, his serpent adjusting himself for combat.

Minerva looked on as she watched the battle press onto the last match. Strangely enough, she was smiling.

Dereece took a deep breath as he picked a nice theme and went with it.

 _ **[Solgaleo/Lunala Battle Theme]**_

A silence fell between the two Trainers as they, as well as their Pokémon, were anticipating their moves. As if on instinct at the same time, they called their attacks at the same time.

" **Leaf Storm!** "

Serperior raised his head high as a green aura enveloped his body. A green typhoon with a vortex of sharp green leaves surged from thin air and surrounded him. Likewise with Torterra. Serperior swung his tail around and directed the cyclone at Torterra and vice versa. Their shredding blasts collided and made a visage of green that blew away debris and junk from nearby alleys. Everyone had to cover up and veer away as the attacks turned into a cyclone that went skywards. When the air was refreshed, their assaults diminished to thin air. Torterra and Serperior were unfazed inside, their blue auras showing their Special Attacks dropping.

Minerva used her forearms to cover from the blast, but even she was rendered impressed. _'Such power.'_

Once the air cleared, the first to take initiative was Shou. "Serperior, **Giga Drain!** " Serperior's two prong leaves that stuck out behind his head glowed bright green. They stretched into streaming green energy that aimed for Torterra.

With critical thinking in a split second, Duncan voiced his command. " **Stone Edge!** " Torterra raised his front two legs and came crashing down, making the rock depress beneath him. A straight formation of jagged glowing pillars raced across the earth and barreled through the energy vines. They continued towards Serperior as his head remained high.

Shou's grip on his guitar strengthened, his pick stretched out. " **Leaf Storm!** "

Serperior's green outline summoned the same typhoon as before. The whirlwinds of shrapnel leaves whirled around and was directed by the tail into the incoming pillars. The pressure of the cyclone made impact so hard that shards of earth fell everywhere with the leaves.

Once again the atmosphere was clear between them, though from Serperior's point of view he merely scoffed. "Is that all?"

Torterra grunted. "Likewise."

Shou went on the offensive once again with Serperior. " **Leaf Blade!** " Serperior's tail whipped around, glowing bright green. He suddenly sped off after Torterra in the blink of an eye, much faster than what Zoroark or Excadrill did.

' _So fast.'_ Minerva gasped.

She, as well as all, saw Serperior reappear in front of Torterra with his tail raised. He slammed it down, making a green energy trail follow to Torterra's head. A green explosion encompassed the two, but Torterra refused to nudge.

Duncan smirked. " **Stone Edge!** " He could see it then, the look of mild shock on Serperior's face. He didn't have time to process it until he heard a foot stomp and something sharp and heavy slammed beneath him. An explosion of smoke shot Serperior skywards, doubling over into a slam and slide along the earth back towards Shou.

Shou grunted. "He _wanted_ me to get close."

" **Wood Hammer!** " Torterra's tree on his back was surrounded by a green aura that transformed into an aura stump. It extended into a log and he shot it dead ahead.

"Dodge it!" Serperior followed the command by jumping over the attack. The stump crashed into the ground and left a massive crater. Torterra looked up to see Serperior's tail gathering the energy for leaves. It wasn't too hard to tell for Duncan's experienced glare.

" **Leaf Storm!** " Serperior's eye gleamed and he expelled a loud cry. He whirled around, firing another cyclone of green winds and leaves at Torterra.

' _I thought he'd do that.'_ Duncan had him right where he wanted him. Without a second to lose, he gave the command. "Torterra, do it!"

Torterra's eyes widened. He raised his head high and roared with all his might. His aura log that wasn't receding yet was following his wake skyward. The large log swung upward at an alarming speed, swinging clean through the leaf shrapnel like a wrecking ball and continuing it's path.

Shou's eyes widened. "What?"

The shocked Serperior still in midair saw the Wood Hammer head his way. But with no ground, he was wide open at the energy stump slammed into him from below, sending a shock through his body. He roared out as he fell straight into the dirt, while the stump receded to Torterra.

A red static enveloped Torterra then, meaning the recoil damage. He remained strong as he watched his opponent try standing.

Serperior was up once more, though he stammered some. He _definitely_ felt that attack. "You'll pay for that…" he swore.

Shou mentally cursed himself. He expected his opponent to be somewhat easy. After all, Torterra are slow but have high power. They're tanks. And Serperior has Speed most definitely. He got so far because of those traits. But here…Duncan was showing him what a higher experienced Trainer means. He wanted to win, it was evident in his eyes. It's been so long since Shou let this way, the feeling of being cornered…it's how he lost in the Unova League a short while back.

Minerva could see the anxiety in his eyes. She could see the growing flames inside Shou as he was facing a compelling Trainer. She empathized with him, she really did. To see him worry for his own life, this was what she felt when she was at war. This was the anxiety of facing a strong opponent. The wonders if you have what it takes to succeed.

And it's precisely because of that she clutched her arms tighter. She was getting goosebumps from watching the battle.

Shou started strumming up his guitar with the same tune as the music playing. He closed his eyes and tried thinking of what he could do. Given his recent performances, Duncan uses any attack to his advantage, and uses it to surprise Shou. With that in mind, he was limited on what he could do. _'He's good…'_ He looked at Serperior, who glanced back at him. _'But we're just_ _ **as**_ _good!'_ He spread his legs and aimed the end of his guitar again. "Serperior, **Giga Drain!** "

Serperior hissed as his two leaf appendages lengthened into green whips and soared overhead towards Torterra. Not bothering to dodge, Torterra's body was wrapped in energy vines and sapped energy. He could feel the small damage that the attack was taking from and adding to Serperior in green waves.

"Now, Torterra! **Stone Edge!** " Torterra's eyes sharpened as he powered through the drainage without issues. He slammed his front legs down once more, sending rising pillars towards Serperior, who was still attached to Torterra.

" **Leaf Blade!** "

Serperior sneered as swung his tail at blinding speeds. The bladed tail cleaved through the stone pillars, leaving debris suspended. Just as Serperior was looking to be safe, he barely caught a glimpse of a green energy stump.

" **Wood Hammer!** " Duncan's response was as quick as his command. Torterra's energy stump lengthened like a polearm and crashed Serperior into the ground a third time. The impact was just as harsh, and the damage Torterra took was just as intense. Nevertheless, he remained vigilant.

"Serperior!" Shou looked on, seeing Serperior struggle to stand. That attack did a lot more than bargained. The serpent was gonna that one. He looked at Torterra, his vision slightly blurred from the wind knocked out of him previously. He shook his head as he composed.

With a sudden cry, Serperior's body was enflamed in a green aura. The energy was similar to what Joey and Dereece remembered it as.

"Captain, is that what I think it is?"

"Overgrow, yeah. Things are starting to heat up around here."

Minerva refused to say much of anything after that. Her heart rate was staggering with Serperior on the defensive. He had to get in there, and fast. She watched as Shou was getting thrilled.

"Time for the main chorus line! Serperior!" He jabbed his guitar forward like it was some sword. " **Leaf Storm!** " Serperior's green aura had suddenly flourished into a swirling fury. The swirling typhoon expanded into a maelstrom of winds and leaves that looked far sharper than ever. Everyone looked shocked at the sheer size, but their comments were muted by the sound barrier broken by it being shot at Torterra like a bomb's shockwave.

' _I have to reduce the blast.'_ Taking precaution, Duncan acted quickly and reached his arm out. "Torterra, **Wood Hammer!** "

Torterra glared as his tree glowed and shot another energy log that blitzed into Serperior's oncoming storm of energy leaves. The typhoon and log let in the center with gusto, but neither side was budging. However, in the shockwaves, Leaf Storm still had a wider range. Whatever wasn't around the concentrated storm brushed past the log and into Torterra. The impact shredded some of his hide and caused him to cringe. He held his ground for as long as possible until the mass of the winds were done, but his legs spread apart, his face grazed and his breathing heavy.

Serperior hastily gasped. His opponent still stood. "He's durable indeed." A blue aura enveloped his body, further reducing his Special Attack.

"Hang in there, Serperior! We've got him now!" Shou insisted. " **Leaf Blade!** " Serperior snaked his way towards Torterra with his glowing green, sharpened tail.

Torterra suddenly stomped a heel on the ground. He roared out as a green aura flared around his body as well. Serperior almost slowed down with the caution afoot.

"Overgrow for Torterra, too?" Dereece gasped.

Duncan smirked at the opportunity at hand. He waited till the last possible second until Serperior was close enough for his tail to come down. " **Wood Hammer!** "

Serperior slashed just as Torterra fired his green aura log. The two attacks created a massive spark rupture between and flourished ito a blast wave that traveled towards the audience again. For the umpteenth time, they had to cover up as the energy from both attacks prevented them from moving or seeing what was happening.

"What power!" Sting grimaced through his forearms. Druddigon was using his thick forearms to shield Lector from the blast.

When the smoke clouded over, there was a roar from Torterra as he raised his front legs. His higher Attack power managed to push back Serperior's bladed tail, both withdrawing in slides across the battlefield. Torterra cringed again as shock stiffened his muscles and made him sore.

' _We have to end this now!'_ Shou swiped his arm. "Stop them with your **Gastro Acid!** " Serperior opened his mouth wide, unleashing a glob of purple acid that sped at Torterra.

"Gastro Acid?" Sorano shuddered. "Bleh! He's firing his own puke?! _Gross_!"

"You think that's gross, try living with a Trubbish that vomits acid in your face when she gets happy." Dereece deadpanned. Even now, he had to hold back the vomit in his throat. Arceus knows what Joey sees in her.

The purple acid went towards Torterra, but Duncan wasn't having it. " **Stone Edge!** " Torterra roared, hammering the ground and unleashing spikes of earth that blocked the globs and continued their path towards Serperior.

" **Leaf Storm!** "

Serperior's eyes flourished various shades of red as the green aura around his body evolved into a typhoon of green whirlwinds that exploded outwards, striking everything in the vicinity. The stronger variations of winds repulsed any and all stones, reducing them to dust in less than a second. The shockwaves diminished just as fast, only for the winds to change.

Serperior gasped in disbelief. "You can't be…"

Torterra's own aura was charging up a draft around his body as well. His gaze was fixed on one thing, and this was something he couldn't prepared for. Duncan rivaled a just-as serious face.

"Torterra, **Leaf Storm!** Go!"

With a strong battle cry, Torterra yelled out with all his fury. He blasted a green typhoon at Serperior, tearing up the ground as the whirlwinds of shredding leaves went in like a pressurized beam.

Serperior was about to counter with his own Leaf Storm, but as he whipped his tail around, there was one problem…nothing was coming out. _'No way…I used up all of my Leaf Storm!'_ With his strongest attack reduced to 0, and too far and weak to get beyond the whirlwinds, Serperior's green skin paled as everything went white.

An explosion of green bloomed like the late spring. A cyclone of energy leaves made it impossible for anything to get through, but this time everything wasn't flinching. They were all staring in deep horrid shock was the thrill was too much for them. Shou and Minerva especially. The Trainer watched as the shockwaves diminished and smoke dispersed.

Slowly, from the shadows of the smoke, Serperior wobbled some before he toppled over. He thumped really hard on his right side, swirls in his eyes. He was done.

Torterra's Overgrow aura faded around his body, staring at his defeated foe. "It's done."

Duncan seemingly lowered his guard. He raised his Poke Ball silently and pointed it at Torterra. The Continent Pokémon looked back at him and met Duncan's gaze. It was a mutual respect in silence amongst them, and that's all that needs to be said. Once returned, Duncan looked ahead like nothing happened, while Shou sighed in defeat.

A short clap came from the audience. Someone started clapping with them. All around, the applause was starting to grow. Pretty soon the populace around was exploding with cheers and claps from the battle they've observed. Whether it was for Duncan or just because it was an awesome fight, everyone was clapping, even all of Sabertooth was.

"Now _that_ was a battle!" Sting commended, clapping his hands. The look on his Druddigon's face confirmed even he looked satisfied. He balled his claws and pumped them. "You're psyched too? That's right!" Sting smiled.

"Wow, their Pokémon are _strong_." Lector commended flatly.

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch said, clapping his arms like a penguin with flippers.

Dobengal and Orga clapped for the contestants for their efforts as well. While many were happy for the ecstatic battle, a loud shriek ripped through it like paper. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" The echoes of an extremely sour Sorano caused all those nearby to flinch. Puffs of smoke expelled from her ears as she flailed in place. "WHY?! WHY, WHY, WHY~?!" She sunk to her knees, pounding the ground frivolously in despair.

"HA! In. Your. _FACE!_ " Joey pointed mockingly. He thrusted his pelvis into the air. "Oh! We are _so_ partying when we get home! Nic and Vanessa's honors are saved! Yay, Duncan! You don't suck!"

Sorano whimpered as wavy tears soared down her groggy face. If she wasn't poor before, she most certainly was now. Thankfully Yukino was there to pat her back. "I-It's okay, big sis. We'll just find work starting tomorrow."

Sorano grabbed her little sister and hugged her tight. "I hate today! I hate these people! I hate everything! I wanna go to bed~!"

Joey and Dereece looked at the elder sister whining and complaining like a spoiled brat. Joey sweatdropped; he almost felt sorry for her. They looked at each other in confusion before shrugging.

Shou walked over and kneeled toward Serperior. "Hey, Serperior. You okay?"

The serpent's eyes fluttered open, and immediately he felt a strong pain over his body. He cringed until settled. "Well…can't say this was my proudest battle." He said sorely. Fortunately for him Shou was very forgiving. He felt his hand on his aching head.

"You did great out there. We were close." He held up his Poke Ball. "Now get some rest, you earned it." He returned Serperior, standing up to face Duncan. He walked over, meeting his gaze. Despite the loss, he took it maturely, as shown by his face.

"Well…you beat me. You're good." He praised. "I can definitely see why Joey and Dereece have you around." He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a handful of Jewel. It looked about 20,000 Jewel. "There goes my pay for the day." He eyerolled.

Duncan accepted the cash with a subtle nod. "Yeah. Same here." He chose not to comment further on his testimony with his current position. By all means he wasn't very fond of Joey, nor Dereece, And, as much as he berated him before, Joey has – to a degree – prove his responsibility enough so that he could shut his mouth. But skill wise, he'd rather not say. In fact, this battle made him realize how far long he is compared to Nic and Vanessa. Inside, he replayed his battle picturing the flops and the turns executed. _'I have to keep improving.'_

While they made peace at the end of the match, Minerva wasn't too far behind. She had watched Shou lose, but even so, she continued to look at him with admiration. Her grip on her forearms softened.

* * *

Day soon turned to evening and the fun that Sabertooth had was to meet its conclusion. As enjoyable as a day it was for everyone, all good things had to come to an end. The majority of them had already went home, or decided to go on overnight jobs. But a few decided to stay behind to see their new friends head off.

"You guys sure you don't want to stay overnight?" Sting suggested. "We wouldn't mind. We'll make a space if you want?"

"Look, as much of a blast today's been, I think we have to get back home now." Joey said, showing disappointment. "But we can do this again if you want?"

This seemed to have elevated Sting's spirits some. "I see. Yeah, I'll look into that."

"Give my regards to Gajeel and the rest of your guild." Rogue insisted, showing a genuine smile to The Freaks.

Sorano turned away, arms crossed and brow furrowed. She was obviously still sore from her loss in two bets. "Hmph! Well _I_ don't plan on seeing you for a _long_ time I bet!" she exasperated. Yukino stood beside her, but could only sigh. She was too tired for all of this.

"At least neither of us came out of this empty-handed." Sting sidenoted.

Joey toothily smiled. "You didn't. We got ourselves some new songs…" he held up Boombox overhead, downloaded with a bunch of new tunes from Shou's laptop. "And Shou's got himself a part-time gig. It's a win-win! Right?" He looked towards Shou for confirmation.

The Trainer nodded, holding up a sec full of Jewel provided by Joey for payment. "Sure is. And Joey, if I ever make new songs, I'll contact you. Just say the word and I'll make a new song for your tastes."

Joey smiled and winked. "Done."

Dereece rolled his eyes. _'Something tells me this is gonna be a weekly thing going on.'_ He looked ahead, seeing Joey shake hands with the new friend. _'Oh well, at least it's something constructive.'_

From the crowd seeing them off, two brawny arms pulled them in. Joey and Shou looked up to see Orga looking at them with big smiles. "You guys are alright in my books. Better stop by again along with your guild." He looked towards Shou. "And you know, I'm thinking about learning to play an instrument or two. Wanna help me out? We can start a band."

The offer was tempting, but Shou was still backtracked on the first few lines. He tried squirming out of his hold. "Um, now one step at a time. You know my music doesn't come cheap, so if you want me to help you with lessons…"

Orga backed away, hand to his hips. "Yeah, yeah. I got it. I'll get the Jewel. You just think about it."

"It's getting dark. You should probably take the train that goes directly to Magnolia from here." Rogue instructed.

Joey nodded. "Done. Alright Freaks…" He swerved around, a knee up and pointing towards the train station. "Next stop: Home!" He pressed a button on their Boombox.

 _ **[Reel 2 Real – I Like To Move It]**_

Joey held up a peace sign with two fingers. "Peace out, Sabertooth! Later!" Joey shuffled and moved his hips as he danced his way towards the station. Behind him, Dereece and Duncan followed, though the latter didn't dance. Dereece, however, shuffled some, but not nearly as much as Joey as they vanished from sight.

"Well those guys sure are a hoot." Lector dryly commented. "They sure know how to throw a good party and wrap us in it."

"Fro thinks so, too." Frosch raised a paw in agreement.

Rogue turned away with Duskull. "It's getting rather late for us as well. We should be heading back now, Frosch." At his behest, Frosch was plucked from his side by Duskull and placed in Rogue's. He started before realizing something was missing. "Say, where is Milady anyway?"

"Minerva?" Sting questioned, looking around with him. "Huh? She was here a second ago. Must have went home."

* * *

Shou was walking down the street that lead to his apartment. After the day he's had with meeting new people and getting new opportunities, he needed to prepare. He had a good feeling he was going to get busy for a little while.

With his guitar in a case behind his back, he rubbed the back of his head. "What a day…" he mumbled, turning up the corner of his street. "Well, at least I have some work to do. Better than broke I guess." He was walking towards his apartment when he noticed someone already standing there. "Hm? Who's that?"

Standing at his doorstep, he was surprised to see not just any person present, but Minerva. She had her arms folded, and looked down rather bashfully. She seemed to be mulling over something but he couldn't make out what it was.

"Uh, hello…?" Minerva heard his concerned voice and turned towards him. He walked up the steps and stopped in front of his door. "Are you okay?"

Minerva cleared her throat, keeping a calm around her the best she could. "I'm fine, thanks." Her voice was so astute. He let her continue. "Listen, Shou. I still would like to…apologize for causing so much trouble. And I…" she glanced away, a slight pink in her cheeks. "I mean…if you'll let me…I would like to make it up to you somehow."

Shou blinked repeatedly. The request sounded usual coming from her. "Look, you don't have to. It's not a big deal, really."

Minerva clutched her forearms tighter. That answer didn't seem to do anything more than make guilt rise higher. Her heart rate was speeding up. "…I know. But…" she looked directly at him. "Still, after a rather long day such as this, I find it worthwhile to try and relax. Granted you may have lost…but, you have proven yourself to be a very respectable Trainer. I admire that fighting spirit."

Shou was a little surprised by her choice of words. In truth, he did feel alive when he fought Duncan. Though it was clear that in terms of experience that Duncan knew what he was doing, Shou was able to feel the thrill of a good battle. Something he had almost forgotten about.

"So…if you're not busy…I wouldn't mind hearing more about your fables about PokeEarrh, to pass the time of course."

Shou took the testimony rather calmly. It wasn't often that there were a lot of people who came to him for much other than broad music lessons. At the very least, obliging to her sounded appropriate. Now that he got a good look at her, she was a very beautiful young woman, about his age possibly, if not seemingly older if her voice meant anything. Seeing someone like her so bashful, it was actually…cute.

Minerva was growing restless for an answer, though Shou seemed to be thinking of something as well. She wanted to demand an answer, but she didn't want to come off as rude.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she watched him reach and open the door. She watched him place his guitar inside and closed it. He came out, looking happily at her. "Sure. I think I'd like that…something quiet for once doesn't seem too bad."

Minerva's nerves settled. She calmly breathed, but inside, she knew this would settle things with what's been stirring inside all day. _'One step at a time, Minerva. One step…'_ She looked at Shou, her eyes fixed on his, and his alone. "So then, I know some places that are still open. My treat."

* * *

Just as the train for Magnolia was unloading passengers, the caboose were open to those filing through. The Freaks entered their car, just as another door opened a few cabooses ahead of them. From that one emerged Rufus as he walked into town.

Sabertooth wasn't the only one who had a long day. So did Rufus. He spent all day helping his cousin get back on her feet and get her magic going again. He felt a little proud of himself for doing so, though the calm grin on his face wasn't much of a speculation. He promised he'd check up on her a lot more often, and that was enough of a promise for the time being.

"Suppose I should check in with Sting while there's still time." He mused to himself. Last he checked, the guild didn't close till 9. He had enough time to come in and give a report on his return. However, something in the corner of his eye piqued his interests.

He stopped in the middle of the street amongst the few patrons still enjoying the town's atmosphere. He spotted a small restaurant that had a patio where people could eat outside. In two seats, he saw a most peculiar sight. Minerva was sitting with an elbow to the table, eyeing someone who was talking about a story of sorts. When he got a look at this individual, he saw how he seemed thoroughly invested in what he was saying, while at the same time eyeballing Minerva as she gazed at him admirably.

As much as he wanted to stop by, he saw how invested Minerva was in this young man. Rather than choose to intervene, he found it more appropriate to leave her be. She never looked so content with another male. Adjusting his hat, Rufus chuckled to himself as he walked down the avenue towards the guild hall.

"Well now…this is most interesting." He chuckled louder as he straightened his posture into the sunset.

* * *

In a forest farther east along Ishgar, there were trees and large trunks that stretched so high that it would seem there were no tops. The sunset radiated beneath the canopy and glistened along the bark in the woods.

As the winds shifted some, someone was walking through the setting sun's rays, wearing a light brown cloak to conceal himself. He had one goal in mind, and one path he must take. In his head as he walked, he recalled the few things that were spoken to him.

" _Learn about the enemy. Every sentence of knowledge is paramount in this objective. These creatures…they taint our world. Do not engage immediately. The future of magic, lies solemnly in what you are capable of."_

With calm steps, the figure recited that line repeatedly, further putting a weight on his shoulder. _'I must follow my orders, no matter what. Even if they are a very powerful guild, they must come to the understandings as we did.'_ His cloak lifted, revealing cyan-colored eyes. _'That Earthland is ours alone.'_

He heard the sounds of humming behind in the low branches. He stopped and turned around, finding a Butterfree that rested on the bark as a perch. As the butterfly as nibbling on the sap, its compound eyes got a vision on the person beneath it. The two stared at each other for a long time, and the Butterfree was sensing some level of hidden chill. But it didn't act.

Fortunately as much as he wanted to deal with the infestation, he knew he couldn't send it back home. And he had no knowledge if engaging such a _monster_. He lowered his head and continued his way to Fiore in the setting sun.

The Butterfree watched the individual take off. It decided to flap its beautiful wings and take off in the same direction, fluttering beyond his reaches towards a new tree that lied ahead.

* * *

 **Decided to take a more relaxing turn this time around. What did you guys think of how I went about this route? Granted the length is still as long as the longingly long of long (see what I did there?), but rather than focus solemnly on Fairy Tail, I wanted to change paces, and my style for once. If you guys noticed, I detailed things and perspectives a little more thoroughly, as well as actions. I was reading a few fanfics that gave me some basis of how to go into another perspective and keep it detailed down to the very actions. With that in mind, I have to say that I actually enjoyed this fun-filled chapter. If you guys liked how I wrote this chapter, let me know and I'll see about training more on this style.**

 **So for this new OC for Minerva, credits go to ValvraveRider17, who's been a fan and supporter of my series for a long time.**

 **I'm thinking of maybe making 2-3 more chapters of this dynamic altering between The Freaks and Sophie. Thankfully it's not two different plotpoints so I can work with this much smoother. You'll be seeing how Sophie deals with her "new" life, and how The Freaks handle…you know, stuff.**

 **As always, your voices and reviews are extremely important. Thanks and see you later!**


	39. The Day the Booty Stood Still

"And that should conclude for the time being." Hyberion spoke. He looked at his fellow councilmen and women as they held no notes to reprieve the intermission. "Thank you for your cooperation, Arthur."

On a lacrima screen projected in theater format, Arthur had his hands clasped together on his desk as Marie stood by his side. The CEO offered a generous smile. "Of course, it's no trouble, Councilman Ruge. I trust that the plans are in good hands."

"Very well. We'll schedule another meeting this week. Until then." The lacrima screen turned off. The large room fell to a short silence. It was so quiet one could've sworn they heard Kricketot chirping elsewhere.

Ruge humbly smirked. "Well, I suppose that went rather well. Wouldn't you say?"

Wolfheim turned away, scoffing at the light notion. "Hmph, speak for yourself. At the rate this is progressing, the whippersnappers of today are gonna be old bags of dead brains."

"And we'll be rolling in our graves." Montgomery finished, sighing. He pinched the bridge of his nose to cut off the strain to his head. "Yes, I believe we're _all_ fully aware of the circumstances here, Wolfheim. But you know that progress doesn't bloom just overnight. Mr. Solaris is a _very_ busy man. There's different priorities in case you haven't noticed."

Wolfheim scoffed.

"But he has a point." Maryam interjected. "This juncture is taking longer than we anticipated. The closing date of our plans to his majesty are drawing near."

"It's _her_ majesty now." Justice informed, a brow raised. "The current king has stepped down so that his daughter and the princess is now the queen. Did you forget to read to memo this morning?"

Leiji bit his lower lip as he looked down at his desk. Jeffrey looked over and acted on notice. "Hm? Something troubling you?"

"It's nothing." Leiji advised. "It's just hard to believe that at this point, we're making all these changes that even us councilmen can barely keep up. This week roughly 72 of our laws and policies had been updated, and all just on behalf of the Cambire Foundation…I believe that we are becoming too lenient as we are now."

A fist banged against the desk as a body arose. "That's exactly what I've been saying this whole time!" Alfredo barked.

Ruge shot him a look. "Easy, Alfredo. Let's not be hasty here."

"Hasty, you say?" The enraged councilman glared. "We've been kissing that man's ass ever since this Spring, when that bastard of a man Nic Pularis said he can't just fix this whole mess. If anything, all this change is causing even more problems than when it all started!"

A grievous sigh came from Hyberion. "And yet they've been nothing but cooperative, less you've forgotten."

Alfredo shot him a look of disgust. His brow furrowed he became mellow for his associates.

"We're well aware of this factor, and that because of it, many have taken advantage to these policies changing. It's understandable that there's merit to keeping much of our policies, but we mustn't forget whom we're aligned with. You should try and consider this a win for once, Alfredo."

Alfredo cocked a brow. "Why's that?"

Ruge lightly snickered, grasping attention. "Well, for example…let's say that in this instance, the Grand Magic Games _is_ the same as before. There'd be no advertisement of Pokémon anywhere. Am I wrong?" Before Alfredo or Wolfheim spoke, he pressed the matter further. " _But_ , hypothetically speaking, let's say we do in fact intertwine Pokémon into our economical standpoints and events. The fact that can happen because we allowed it is proof that we still have _some_ measure of regulation to all this. We're aligned with the Cambire Foundation after all; they're the ones who know these creatures as much as anyone else. And I trust they'd know better than to allow their information to fall into other hands, right?"

Alfredo turned away, his brow furrowed further. He wanted to disagree, but his fellow associate had brought up a valid point.

"On that note." Montgomery straightened up. "We've now gotten clearance to expand our supplies to all of Seven, thanks to the cooperation of their government and Queen Hisui's treaty."

"Alvarez, Antarcia, and now Seven." Maryam listed. "That makes three countries that aren't within our border that the Cambire Foundation now has an expansive opportunity over. As much as it amazes me, their methods have been rather fruitful."

"Still…" Hyberion clasped his hands and lowered his head. "This doesn't exactly mean that our trust in our allies will remain secure. But, for the time being, let's keep showing our faith…it's the least that we owe everyone." His apologetic notion lead off with several documents stacked beside him being sorted. He reached for the next order. "Now then, to the trials of the new inmates…"

* * *

Arthur sat back in his seat, his shoulders slouched and terribly relaxed. He's been on discussion boarding for over two hours straight. His own head was throbbing nonstop.

Marie dismissively sat a glass of fresh wine on his desk. He immediately bloomed with some energy again. "Ah, thank you, Marie." He didn't waste a second when daintily grabbing the flask. He took a long pause and deep sip. As the wine ran down his throat, the stinging feeling in his throat was surprisingly therapeutic. "Ah~. Just what the doctor ordered." He sighed dreamingly.

Marie cleared her throat as she stepped forward. "Well, sir, if you're finished with your debriefing, we have some matters to attend to."

"You're absolutely right." He turned his mechanical chair to the side, the flask sitting in a cupholder. "My apologies, Marie. Seems the scheduled programs for these Grand Magic Games takes longer than anticipated. I trust that we aren't too far behind schedule now."

The assistant slipped him a clipboard filled with official documents. Arthur looked down and scrutinized each of the ratings and sentences scribbled on each one. Marie continued.

"Yes, well, anyways sir, Ms. Jet's department has been having a surplus of Pokémon that have been hauled in from the captives. She and her department are in the works of conditioning them, along with the platoon acquainted by the Rune Knights."

Arthur raised a brow. "I see…that would explain why this report seems so rushed…" He flipped the contents to the page below it. He saw the handwriting was much neater. "And I presume that this is Jefferey's department's progress then?"

"Yes, sir. Mr. Bistro's branch has been receiving an abundance of supply and demand. By this week's end, we'll have a shortage of medicinal equities to distribute." She flipped to another page of the clipboard. "But, thanks to the employment and the Pokémon, the Earth Land herbs mixed with Grass-type natural properties is allowing us to remain stable until a fresh supply is set."

Arthur looked down, picking up the flask again. "I understand." He took a long sip from the wine, giving him the breather he so desperately needed. "So…and about that 'special crystal and stone'?"

"You mean the one that was sent in by Fairy Tail a week ago…let me see." Marie rummaged through the papers, seeing a few sentences. She squinted her vision. "Ah, yes. Apologies, sir. Mr. Bistro has experts and equipment set up to test the energy given off." She passed him a graph chart. "These are the current results."

Arthur reached and read the graphing. As he read the energy levels of the first scans, he was shown to be visibly surprised. His Stoutland's snoring made him turn away for a second to see him calmly sleeping in the sunlight the room was being given.

The businessman humbly snickered. "That Fairy Tail…how is it that they never fail to pique our interests." He swerved around to face Marie. "I'm sorry, Marie. Were you saying something?"

Marie furrowed her brow, pursing her lips to hold back slight annoyance. "No, sir. But, we have a meeting to discuss with some of the few Trainers that are new here."

"Yes, I'm aware, Marie. I'll be ready in 10 minutes." He watched Marie nod and dismissively turn to walk away. As she exited, Arthur's relaxed grin turned into a small frown. As soon as the door shut, he gave a grievous sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. _'More Trainers…just how many have been taken from their homes I wonder?'_

The thought was perilous at best, and personally, he can empathize with what's happened. He looked out the window, seeing the courtyard section below. He was seeing a Lombre unleashing a geyser of water that sped directly into a Ninjask's face, knocking it to the ground. The Trainer that was commanding it looked stern. He could see the look closer to tell there was wavering of grief.

' _There's a lot to accommodate with these changes and Grand Magic Games. It's the Cambire Foundation's solemn duty to ensure the cooperation of humans and Pokémon goes smoothly…these games coming up might not seem like it…but I think we may have an opportunity to alleviate the Trainers here. I just hope_ _ **he**_ _is understanding.'_

As Arthur sipped from his wine, Stoutland's furry ear twitched cutely.

* * *

Joey and Dereece's apartment was sound for the time being, but the door to the bathroom slamming wide open omitted the momentary tranquility of the situation.

"Now that's what I call _hot_!" Joey stood in front of the upstairs bathroom, having exited from a steamy shower. He draped himself in his spotted coat and inhaled a sharp breath. The fresh scent of pines filled his humble abode that made his so relaxed.

Smelling something peculiar, the Captain's senses lead to his stomach. He made way down the stairs and made way into the kitchen. Immediately he was greeted with a smorgasbord of breakfast essentials.

He whistled admirably. "Damn, Dereece. You really went all out this time."

By the stove flipping a pancake, Dereece looked back at Joey. "Huh? Oh, hey Captain." He grinned as he slid him a glass of orange juice across the counter. Joey caught it effortlessly. "Take it your shower was fine?"

Joey took a prolonged sip from the cup to quench his thirst. He finished the whole thing with a hardy sigh. "You have no idea." He flung his wrist back and lobbed the plastic cup through the air. It spun through the air until it hit the side of the sink with a loud 'clank' before ricocheting topside. Not a single drop of orange juice spilled in the process. "After a long morning of training, a nice hot shower to unwind the muscles is just what the doctor ordered." He looked around, noticing something off. "Dereece, where's Duncan?"

They heard an eruption outside that almost shook the house. Joey and Dereece went wide-eyed as they turned their attention towards the blinds. Racing over to uncover them, Joey peaked outside to find a tornado of leaves rushing into a wall of ice.

The ice shattered to pieces by the maelstrom of leaves, leaving shrapnel of ice cluttered all around. Duncan and Torterra looked skywards to find Gastrodon was directly above them and dropping fast.

" **Wood Hammer!** " Duncan ordered. Torterra's large tree manifested a green aura stump that he aimed at Gastrodon. With reflexive timing, the tortoise extended the reach into Gastrodon.

Gastrodon looked down and knew precisely how to react. He unleashed a blast of ice into the wooden tipoff the attack to freeze it up. Instead of overpowering it, the sea slug allowed the end to hit his underside, but it was much weaker, and his slimy body nullified much of the blow. Instead, he used it as a perch and shot even higher into the air. Out of reach for even Torterra's wooden beam, he gathered water from the atmosphere into a single point and fired it with deathly accuracy.

"Intercept!" Torterra spread his front legs, directing his still wooden stump into the direction of the fast-moving water blast. The swing was spot-on and struck with enough force to deflect the sphere to the ground besides Torterra. The ground exploded in a misty jet, though all Torterra felt was a drizzle on his left side.

Duncan watched Gastrodon land on the ground softly. He furrowed his brow. "Good."

Watching the whole thing, Joey retraced himself back towards the counter, a look of shock on his face. "Wow…talk about a trooper." He murmured.

Dereece groaned. "I know, right?" He sat a plate of breakfast materials in front of Joey. "But hey, look on the bright side, at least he's starting to train more frequently around us than before."

Joey pierced the pancake with his fork. He went ahead and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. "Mmm…" he muffled.

Dereece rolled his eyes. "Chew."

Doing as told, Joey took his time breaking down the pancake before his mouth was cleansed. "Like I was saying, yeah. I guess so. He's been pretty mellow, too." He raised a brow, crossing his arms. "He hasn't called me out on anything nor reprimanded me that much…is he sick?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." He sighed. "Well, brunch is set. I'll go get him."

Before Dereece was about to move towards the door to the backyard, the doorbell rang. Their attention adverted towards the front, where Joey perked his head up with glee.

"Oh! I'll get it!" Joey jumped and raced for the door. He opened the door, but no one was there. "Hello?" He cocked a brow. He looked left and right, but saw no one. "Huh…well that's just rude. Who even does ding-dong-ditch anymo-!" His voice came to a complete halt when he noticed something sitting at the doormat.

He saw what appeared to be a magazine wrapped in plastic casing, with a tag on it with his name on it. It had a few mages on it, but more importantly, the label and check attached to it certainly didn't go unnoticed.

"No way…" He seized it like his life depended on it! "DEREECE!" He rushed back inside and slammed the door behind.

Dereece flinched at the door slamming and looked at Joey sliding his way back into the kitchen to show him something that got into his face. "Dereece, look! It came! It's here! Do you know what this is?!"

"Uh, Captain, slow down…please." He backpedaled away from the excited Joey and focused on the magazine. He narrowed his eyes at the spread before an epiphany came. "Hey, hold on. This is Sorcerer Weekly…you mean the exclusive edition got mailed in today?"

"Bingo Dugtrio!" He flipped the cover to face himself. "Now…let's see what's the popular spreads this week has to offer, shall we?"

Groaning at the que, Dereece walked around the isle to meet up with Joey in the stools as he was flipping through the pages. He notices how intently the Captain was focusing a lot on the fashion section of the pages.

"Oh…I like that style." He pointed to a figure of a male model on a page. He had a white cap with a black and white striped polo beneath a white jacket, with classy charcoal gray pants. He also sported a gray bowtie around the collar. "She's _definitely_ got some class here." He pointed to a female model on the next page over. The model had a slender frame with a yellow fur-lined coat with purple covering it and sported a yellow tank top with skin-tight black pants. "That's punk-style. Flashy!" He goggled towards the next page, which sported yet another female, though she had more Egyptian-themed clothing with yellow-orange drapes as a wing cape and high heels that strapped to her ankles. "Man, I've got a bunch of competition to catch up on." He muttered to himself.

Dereece skeptically raised a brow. He knew Joey was a fashion freak, but he hasn't seen him this engrossed for a while. "So Captain…uh, what is it about this issue exactly that you're looking for?" He flinched at what he said. "Uh, not that I don't know of course."

Joey rummaged through the contents and found what he was looking for. "This!" He held up a page in the magazine to Dereece's face. On it, was a number 10, along with the naked upper body of Rogue on it. He had his hair back as he held a relaxing pose.

Dereece was confused until he looked at the title. "'Top 10 Fiore Summer Bachelors'." He raised a brow at Joey. "This is why?"

"Yeah! I've been dying to see who ended up here. This is basically a chart of the most charismatic guys in Fiore. Now let's see who's here…" He turned the next page, seeing the next one on the list.

 **#9: Sting Eucliffe**

"That Sabertooth's Master from last week?" Dereece read off. "Huh…?"

Joey rummaged through the contests some more, his brow furrowing. He wasgoing down the list of names of people and mages he wasn't sure of, but he didn't care. His interests did pique when he saw a familiar someone there.

 **#5: Gray Fullbuster**

"Wow, that's a shock." Dereece deadpanned. "And here I thought Nic would make it on the list." He felt a sting when Joey gave him a sharp look. "What?"

"Dereece, are you blind?" he scorned curtly. "Nic-senpai does _not_ do photospreads! _And_ he's already married. See?" He held up another issue of an older magazine spread, with Nic and Erza on the covers. It was their wedding night, and the reception was lively. "This was a limited time, exclusive photospread when the photographers were at their wedding before coming back to PokeEarth."

Dereece blinked at the dumbfoundedness, but he didn't question it. "Whatever, who's next?"

Joey looked down at the magazine. "Anyways…"

 **#4: Laxus Dreyar**

 **#3: Lyon Vastia**

 **#2: Hibiki Lates**

Joey showed a tinge of surprise. His eyes glued to Hibiki's face when he realized that was different. "Wait, what?!"

"What is it?" Dereece piqued.

"It's just…Hibiki has been the top Fiore Bachelor for a long time now. What happened?" He peered deeper to the page. "His moisturizing lotion is still there…and the hair…who beat him?"

"Well turn the page and let's see."

Joey frowned. "Well, okay…let's see who #1 is this month." He turned the page slowly towards the next bachelor – the top bachelor. Almost immediately his heart stopped.

"Captain, are you okay?" Dereece worried. "What are you seeing? Please tell me no one's naked again." He looked over his shoulder, only for his expression to rival Joey's. "What the-?!"

On the picture with a golden #1 encrusted onto its corner, there was the background of the beach where Fairy Tail had their little reprieve a while ago. With the rocks as background and the sun's rays at the right point, Joey in his swimsuit was striking a regal, yet photogenic pose with a wink. Around him were several copies of pictures taken from his recent venture, all with different clothing as well as poses that had him charming the camera.

 **#1: Joey Haycliff**

"Captain…are you seeing this?" He saw Joey quivering in place, looking like he was going to take off. "Uh, Captain Joey? Now just…just hold a sec-!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Joey flung the magazine when he released a jovial shriek that echoed throughout the apartment. Dereece flinched as Joey hopped up from his perch and smiled wide.

"YES! YE~S! I'M #1! I'M #1!" he chanted around Dereece. "Who?! Me! That's right! _Me!_ "

As Joey was cackling on joy adrenaline for the day, Dereece nervously retrieved the magazine. The first page that was there was Hibiki's. "Oh boy…"

…

At a familiar instance in Blue Pegasus, a melancholic wail echoed through the guild hall. Everyone was around Hibiki as he was on his hands and knees, grieving at the magazine that was sprawled in front of him. "How could this have happened…?" he whimpered.

"Cheer up, Hibiki. It'll be alright." Eve consoled. "There's always next time." His Panpour nodded in agreement.

"It happens, don't worry too much about it." Ren persuaded. Hibiki's bawling only grew. "It's not like we're gonna start worrying, too, you know…" he trailed off as he looked away. His Pansear tilted his head in confusion.

Hibiki's Pansage hopped down from the stool and patted Hibiki's back. "It's okay."

"When did let myself slip up so much…" He wailed.

Ichiya acknowledge the situation, holding up his hand sign with a pose. "Ma~n."

…

Joey squealed and pranced all around the apartment, jittering with glee. It was only when Duncan came inside that he showed interest. "What's the noise about?" he irritably asked.

"Duncan!" He zipped past Dereece and beelined for Duncan's face, holding up the magazine. "Check who's bad now! That's right! Me!"

Duncan didn't have time to answer as Joey beelined for the living room and cleared his throat.

"So…first of all, thank you for the support everyone, it means so much that you really do care. I'd like to give it up to Arceus, for always looking out for me." He bumped his chest and aimed two fingers to the sky. "Peace out, Arceus! And second, I'd like to thank _me_ , on behalf of…myself, and the camera guy for making all this possible!"

Dereece and Duncan looked towards each other, then back at Joey. The former lowered his head, facepalming in grief.

"Dereece!" Joey pointed to him sharply. "Drop me a beat! I feel a need to party~!"

"Alright, alright." He mumbled as he pulled out the boombox and pressed a button.

 _ **[Pink – So What]**_

Rather than go for the small intro, the song picked up at the first chorus. The rocking beat and the drum beating immediately got Joey to bang his head as he stammered and pranced around the living room. He smiled wide as he reeled back his head as he mimicked an air guitar.

"I feel so ali~ve!" Joey hopped clean over the loveseat, landing softly and spinning around. He pranced around, swaying in stern fashions like someone who was rebelling to the world.

Dereece watched, rocking his head some while he was cleaning some dishes. He smirked as he watched Joey enjoy the beats. He shook his head and chuckled at how easy it is to just go along with Joey when he was like this.

"Nothing's stopping the Joey mojo train today! I am _so_ on fi~~re! Somebody get the hose because this fire's gonna become a blaze in 3…2…"

The boombox suddenly started glitching, causing Joey to pause in place. Everyone in the apartment could hear the static and glitching of the voice to the point where it cracked. Until ultimately, the boombox shut off.

Duncan shot the boombox beside him a deadpan look. "Guess the 'train' was derailed after all."

"AAAHH~!" Joey made a beeline for the boombox to check on it. He saw that it was in good condition. Nothing was broken. Everything was in place and everything. "Boombox? Boomy? Dude?" He tapped the screen. No response. "Hey, don't play games! Dereece! DEREECE!"

"I'm here! I'm here!" Dereece waddled up to the boombox' side. Immediately he went and checked on the backside. Using the latch on the back, he popped open a small compartment where four cylindrical batteries powered it. Carefully, he took them out.

Seeing the issue, Dereece eased himself. "You can relax, Joey. He's not broken. Just needs new batteries."

A lead weight fell off of Joey's heart. He was so relieved that his jelly legs almost caved in. He sighed in relief as he wiped sweat off his forehead. "Phew…hehe…for a moment there, I was actually scared there." He nervously chuckled. "Eh, check for new batteries, would ya?"

"Sure thi…" Dereece was about to finish when it seemed like an epiphany struck him hard. But it also glued his face with a troublesome expression. Without even looking, the wingman reached into his pocket for the batteries that the boombox needed. He held up several batteries in one hand, but that's not why he was looking so worried.

"Um…Captain…?"

"What?"

"I…don't know how to say this…but we just ran through all our batteries we had when we came to Earth Land…so…"

And just like a U-Turn, that lead weight that was on Joey's heart had returned to sender. What's worse, it even crushed it. His breathing was starting to get heavy as he eyed the boombox, then the dead batteries. His chest was starting to throb uncontrollably to where the oxygen was depleting. "No…no…NO~!" He screamed. "This can't be! This is a nightmare!" he turned towards Dereece. "Dereece! Tell me I'm dreaming! This can't be!"

Dereece nervously shifted his eyes. "I'm sorry, Captain…"

Before he had the chance to finish, Joey took the boombox. "GOTTA FIND BATTERIES!" He rushed out the door, but failed to close it. "I'LL SAVE YOU BOOMBOX! YOU WON'T DIE ON ME NOW!"

"Captain, wait!" Dereece started for the door. "Oh man, of all the times to…" He charged out the door to follow Joey.

Now alone, Duncan realized that he had no reason to stay. Scoffing, he turned and walked out the door, but in a different direction. "Guess that means joint training's over today." Relieved, he walked down the avenue to mind his own affairs.

* * *

Along the streets of Magnolia, oblivious to the ruckus afoot several blocks down, Sophie and Vanessa were walking down the avenue towards the guild hall. Their morning was plentiful enough. And by their morning, that meant Sophie, considering Vanessa had just woken up some time ago.

"I swear, Vanessa. Sometimes, I wonder if you're even hopeless to get around by yourself." The blonde mulled along the streets. "This is the _10_ _th_ morning in a row now. I'm starting to think you keep yourself up late at night on purpose, or you're just being lazy to pull legs."

Vanessa noticed a nearby stand with fruit. The scent of fresh lemons enticed her. "My apologies. It's not like it's intentional or anything." She smirked. "And believe me when I say, would I really joke?"

Sophie nerves crept up to her facial muscles. "Well you could've fooled me." She morbidly sighed. "Well, it's not like it's the end of the world. Anyways, we really should get to the guild. We need to pay the rent coming up."

"Speaking of the guild…" Vanessa's glance turned wary. "How is your magic coming along?"

Sophie's expression turned downwards. Vanessa's aura sensed an overcast of uncertainty. "It's…coming along. Rufus has been helping me with his advice, and I'm starting to grasp the idea of what I need to do." She gazed down at the pavement. "I've been meaning to contact him again soon. He didn't come because he was on a job. He promised to make it up to me next time."

"I see…" Vanessa trailed off, wondering briefly how to change the subject. "So then, what have you been looking into? Or maybe, have you looked into hobbies?"

Sophie furrowed her brow. "Honestly, with all the work we've been doing, I haven't thought of it…" she looked at her with an inquired stare. "Did…I have any hobbies? I asked Rufus, but he just said that I read books."

Vanessa read a brow. "Is there something wrong with just that?"

"No!" Sophie flinched at how abrupt her answer was. "I-I was just curious is all."

Vanessa meekly chuckled. This caught Sophie by surprise at how relaxed she was. "It's fine. Don't trouble over it." She gave her a sincere look. "I don't think that's important right now. You find what you like at your own pace. No need to rush these thoughts. I'd think your headaches would only stiffen if you do."

"You're probably right." Sophie sourly mused to herself, but she began chuckling along with Vanessa in hindsight of the unneeded stress on her shoulders. It was probably for the best she did try and pace herself. She went her way as she almost bumped into someone passing by. "Oh, excuse me."

The person turned around, locking eyes with Sophie. It was Duncan. The three stopped stiff in their tracks as a vague tension filled the air at that moment.

Vanessa blinked. "Duncan?"

Duncan shot Vanessa a rivalry-like look, but turned his attention towards Sophie. The blonde woman was staring at him confusedly, a deep concern in her face. A subtle wind passed between the two of them that seemed to have chilled the temperature a few degrees, though it was still mildly warm out.

The wind passing, Sophie and Duncan's long stare had to be postponed when the former asked a question. "You're…that man from Astral, right?" She had to think hard on that one, not that Vanessa didn't sense already.

Duncan seemed apprehensive at first, but snorted it off. "Yeah." He turned his back towards her. "…don't strain yourself."

Sophie weakly nodded. "Sure. Thanks." She watched Duncan's back as he chose to depart for the Eastern Forest. As he went his own way, the Memory-Make Mage was rendered speechless. _'Do I know him from somewhere?'_

Vanessa's boots pivoted as she crossed her arms. "Duncan, have you seen Joey or Dereece perhaps? I was told you've been around them more often."

"No, I don't." he deadpanned. Going with his half-baked lie, he went his own way, not giving a care. "I'll be off training. I'm already behind." He went down the avenue without another distraction, with nothing better to do.

Vanessa glanced from him to the other female, seeing the state of conjecture she was in. "Sophie, are you well?"

Sophie continued staring at Duncan's back until he was no longer in sight. It stuck with her that she must've seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't place her amnesiac brain on it. She dismissively shook her head. "It's nothing…just déjà vu, I guess."

* * *

A rolling spike ball quickly made way towards the opposing Charmeleon on the opposite end of the battlefield. With swift reflexes, the Charmeleon rolled to the side at the last second as the spike ball kept going.

"Now Charmeleon, **Dragon Rage!** " Natsu yelled.

"You got it!" Pivoting on his left hell, Charmeleon craned his neck and charged draconic flames inside his maw. Once charged, he aimed and fired a roaring black and blue dragon-shaped beam that engulfed the spike ball. Dragonfire spewed in a frenzy upwards, expelling the Sandslash that fell onto his side with a thud.

Max flinched at the fall Sandslash had taken. "Hey, are you okay?"

Sandslash slowly stood up, spreading his feet beneath to balance himself. That attack did more than knock a couple of spikes out of place. "Ugh, been better." He dizzily slurred before lightly shaking his head. "But that stung!"

Charmeleon snorted embers. "Heh."

Off to the side, some of the other guildmates that weren't currently on jobs were hanging around the guild's outside area. Some were engrossed in seeing Natsu and Max's rematch. Cana of course took full advantage of the situation to gain some betting money Gray sat at a table, along with Lucy, Erza, Happy, and Juvia. "Natsu's really been stepping up his game." Gray commented.

Juvia punctually nodded. "Yes, he _has_ been improving since the last time." She watched as Sandslash stomped a shockwave across the ground, which Charmeleon jumped over. "He's actually keeping up with Max's Sandslash. That's improvement."

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed. "He's been training hard day after day!"

Gray turned towards Lucy. "So what about you, have you been working on anything recently?"

The Celestial blonde gave her response in a sigh. "You wish…" She opened her eyes. "Unfortunately, my spirits are still on absence, so I can't really train, sort of speak." She perked up with a wink. "But hey, it's not all bad. This little spin is just what I needed to make one more crazy twist to my novel."

Gray cocked a brow. "Oh yeah, I forgot you've been working on that. What's it about again?"

Klefki shifted between the two, a mischievous smirk on her face. "Oh! It's _amazing_! She let me peek at it and everything! You see, what happens so far, is that-!" A hand covered Klefki's mouth, muffling her metallic mouth at the ire of her Trainer.

"Sorry, but I'm pretty sure that I _didn't_ allow spoilers." Lucy's brow twitched. "Besides, you looked at while I was taking a bath, you little key troll." She let Klefki go, the key ring whimpering at the scolding.

"Um, okay…" Gray turned towards Erza to shift the tone. "So, where's Nic?"

Erza humbly smirked. "He's off on a job. Something about a Bibarel den drying up a town's water supply. He'll probably dig around if the Bibarel don't try anything."

Gray smirked. "Well if I were them, I'd probably be glad to never cross his path."

Back on the battlefield, Charmeleon spewed orange sparks at Sandslash, only for energy claws to swipe them away like flies. The energy claws dissipated. "Sorry Natsu, but you'll have to do better if you wanna burn my Sandslash." Max scoffed. He reached forward for a follow-up command. "Come on, **Crush Claw!** " Sandslash's claws lengthened in the same energy and he charged for Charmeleon.

Natsu balled his fist, one of which popped with veins from pressure. "Okay Charmeleon…" His teeth gnashed. " **AERIAL ACE!** "

Charmeleon's eyes glazed over. He got into runner's position and suddenly blurred into Sandslash. The spiked mouse use the gap close to his advantage to try and get in a quick swing, but he was sucker punched straight in the gut. With the wind knocked out of him, Charmeleon volleyed several blows that lead to a tail slam across the face. Sandslash's snout cringed from cartilage being jutted inwards.

The mouse shot onto his back for the umpteenth time, but unfortunately, it was the last time as he was blacked out. Max looked down in shame. "Damnit…"

Natsu folded his arms, victoriously smirking. "Well that's that. Looks like it's clear who the winner is now." He watched Charmeleon straighten up, releasing a roar of triumph. "Alright, so who's next-?!"

Suddenly a harsh force slammed straight into him, mowing Natsu down like a doormat. The dust cloud raging through left him on the ground, dazed and distraught as a second figure rushed pass him. "Please excuse us." Dereece apologized, continuing hastily.

"Ah, geez…" Natsu rolled over, clutching his face. Charmeleon raced up to check on him. "You bastard, the hell was that for, huh?!"

But he was ignored, Joey hastily rushed for the group at the table. He was out of breath, and looked like he was desperate fir something. "You…you guys…!" he wheezed. "Please…please tell me you guys have batteries you can spare…"

"Joey?" Lucy blinked. "Uh, hey, what's going on?"

"Is something the matter?" Juvia wondered.

Joey showed her the backside of Boombox, the proximity violating Juvia's emotional area. " _This_ is the matter! Boombox is dying!" He pulled it back and held it close. "We need batteries, stat! You guys wouldn't happen to have any, would ya? I'll pay you back!"

Lucy nervously blinked. "Uh…sorry, I don't think that's how it works."

"Damnit!" Joey hissed. He was on the verge of a breakdown. Along the way he rummaged through practically every hardware store in town. He almost caused landslides of materials to fall over if it wasn't for Dereece there to stop it. "Uh, uh…" he looked around for any other alternatives. "Oh! What about that blue-haired girl! What's her name again…?"

Happy raised a paw. "Wendy?"

Joey snapped an index finger. "Yes! What about her! She has healing powers! Maybe plastic surgery can do the trick!"

Dereece hunched forward with a raised brow. "Plastic surgery…really?"

"What?"

Dereece groaned again. "You _do_ realize that's for people…right?"

Joey raised a brow and cocked it skywards. "Huh, oh yeah. I tried to get that for double jointed hips, but they said I wasn't 'medically insured' for that." He added two fingers to emphasize the quote. "But anyways, where is she?!"

"I'm afraid you won't find her here." Erza answered straightforwardly. "She went to Lamia Scale for the day to visit Chelia and the others."

"Then we'll try that hermit doctor out by the woods. Or maybe…" He felt a tap on his shoulder, making him see Dereece's saddened expression. His eyes began to show regret. "Dereece, is Boombox really…?"

Dereece lowered his head, his heart bearing sadness. "I'm sorry, Captain…but I don't think Boombox is coming back."

Joey quivered in disbelief. Unable to hold it back anymore, his gnashing teeth nearly lit in sparks until he sunk to his knees, screaming up to the sky that echoed all throughout Magnolia.

* * *

With Joey's inevitable breakdown, the case of Boombox unable to gain a charge left, there was only one place where Joey could put it. He sat it in a shoebox he kept for some classy ruby red slippers he kept in his closet and used it as a makeshift coffin for Boombox. He made a small grave in the corner of Kardia Cathedral and got a small flat stone from the outskirts of town. With whatever legibility he had, he wrote " _ **Boombox**_ " in surprisingly neat italics.

Sniffling on his knees with his Pokémon surrounding him, Joey was bowing his head in shame. "Why, Boombox? Why did it have to be you…of all the precious things I've gained in my life, why did it have to be you…?" he murmured somberly. "It should've been me instead…well not really, I am pretty important." He nervously chuckled. "But still, after all the playlists we've shared, and the sick beats that made my sweet booty shake in my sleep, this…this is how it ends?" He placed his hand on the makeshift tombstone. "We've shared a lot of good times, haven't we old buddy? The merriment of the booty beats…to the sick awesome kicks…man, your Ultra-Bass is sick…"

Quilladin and Tranquill looked to each other, though Tranquill seemed more somber. Gyarados growled low. Trubbish meekly belched a stinky cloud that made the grass in front of her wilt.

Joey sniffled. "Boombox, no matter what, you'll always have a special place in my heart…I'll always love you." He gulped. "So…make Bro and Camilla's booties don't get bored up there. Love ya man. Peace!"

He finished by banging his chest with the fist and aiming skywards. Quilladin seemingly mimicked him. Joey got up and walked pass his Pokémon with a deep dejected glare. He looked like he was about to cry. Dereece patted his back to try and comfort him.

"It'll be okay." He assured. "Cheer up."

Joey gave him a furrowed brow. "Cheer up? Cheer up?!" he raised his voice. "Dereece, have you been drinking with Cana?! Are you high on dense?! Where have you been or the last 45 minutes of my life?!" He grabbed him by the arms. "Do you realize what has been done?!...Boombox is _dead_. _**Dead**_! And without Boombox… _we're_ dead." He began sniffling again, quivering to where Dereece was feeling the vibrations.

"Uh…m-maybe we need to just calm down. I'm sure we just had a long morning. Let's just see about getting some work in, alright?"

Joey shot him a glare. "Are you deaf?! I can't work without knowing my booty can just fail on me when I get back! What will we do when we have to celebrate our jobs? How am I gonna keep my butt and calves in shape? _How_ am I going to become the universe's biggest dancer and party king, _without_ mad beats to ruin the lives of others?!"

"Uh…"

"I can _never_ dance again! It's over!" With a girlish whimper, Joey zipped pass a dumbfounded Dereece. Tranquill fluttered over his head, with Quilladin, Gyarados, and Trubbish filing behind their Trainer's lamenting dread.

Dereece passively shook his head. "Why's this of all times…?"

"What's wrong? Is Joey okay?"

Dereece turned around, almost jumping at the sight of someone. "N-Nic?!" he gasped. "What are you doing here?!"

"I just got back from a job. I was sure I'd come back to Erza or maybe Vanessa to see about family dinner plans…" he looked towards the direction Gyarados' frame lumbered down the street. "But what about Joey? Did something happened?"

Dereece simply pointed in the cathedral graveyard. "Have a look."

Nic turned towards the gravestones and noticed one that sat on the grass but close to where the hedges met at the right angle. He saw the label and put the pieces together. "…oh...I see." He glanced back at Dereece. "Did you guys try changing the batteries?"

"We ran out. That was all we had." Dereece lamented. "And Stunfisk's Thunder Shock doesn't give a lot of charge neither."

"I see…" He looked out in the street and went silent to consider the position. He was well aware of how meaningful music was to Joey. He should know, he loaded his phone with heavy metal back when he started his journey. It was therapeutic.

Seeing Nic's pondering, Dereece shook his head. "He'll get over it, I'm sure. I-I mean you did, right? I'm sure he'll come around in a couple days."

Nic raised his head. "If you say so…"

* * *

 **3 Days Later**

Dereece walked closer to Joey's room. He noticed how the door was shut all the way. Beside him, Heracross had a jar of Honey as per it being his lunch. Still, he chose to follow Dereece as he leaned against the wooden blockade. "Captain?" He knocked on the door, but got no response. "Captain, you can come out now…it's been a couple of days now."

On the other side of the door, a whiny, wailing moan could be heard, followed by some bizarre splatter.

"Captain, don't make me have Heracross tear down the door." He chimed. He heard another inaudible gurgle from the other side. It sounded sour compared to before. He groaned. "Heracross."

Slurping on his Honey, Heracross had no choice but sat the Honey jar on the floor. He pressed his sticky claws against the door; the door hinges were slowly creaking until they fell over. The door fell to the floor, with two imprints of honey glaze on them.

"Thanks, Heracross. Now then…" Dereece peeked inside the dark room. The first thing he noticed was the huge whiff of vanilla that enflamed his nostrils. He smelled it clear from outside the door, but this was borderline raw he almost felt like gagging. Looking at the floor, he noticed empty tubs of vanilla ice cream scattered around; some of which had drips trickling the carpet. Pass the graveyard of tubs of white dessert, he saw a body in the corner that was muffling moans while stuffing its face.

Creeping in slowly to avoid detection, Dereece moved to the side and flipped on the ceiling light. The new light gave view to the body in the corner being Joey. He had bags under his eyes as he sat in fetal position against the wall. He had misty eyes as he was sedating his stress and sadness with a silver spoon scooping up more vanilla ice cream into his cream-stained lips.

He took a somber look, his patience wearing thin. "…okay, this is just sad. Even for you."

Joey's response to the comment was a louder moan. He opened his mouth to show the bleach white cream on his gums and tongue ready to be swallowed.

Dereece ignored the retort and decided to play maid. He picked up the empty ice cream tubs first. "Well first of all, let's get this place cleaned up." He went to the corner of the room and stacked the tubs on top of each other like plastic cups. "And secondly, let's open up these blinds, shall we?" He reached over, pulling the curtains back to allow sunlight into the room.

The moment sunlight reached Joey's face, he yelped and turned away.

Dereece opened the window, the first thing he'd done was stick his head out and smell the fresh roses and Roselia. "Ah, smell that Joey? You can feel the freshness of outside?" he paused. "Isn't that right?"

"All I smell is the _stench_ of _deprave_." He hollered, biting another load of ice cream off. He noticed that the tub was already empty. "Tranquill! I need more vanilla ice cream!"

The Poke Ball on top of the dresser popped open, summoning the bird unprovoked. "I shall obey, Master Joey!" The avian dutifully soared pass Dereece to the open doorway; he bypassed Heracross along the way. "Hi!"

Heracross didn't have time to answer before Tranquill left. He turned towards his Trainer instead as he walked towards Joey.

"Okay, Captain. I think it's time that we put the spoon down. You've been sulking long enough. I'm sure there's better things to do than just sit in a corner all day and stress eat."

Joey licked his vanilla creamed lips and squinted at Dereece. "How, Dereece…? Just. How?"

Dereece put his hands up defensively. "I don't know! But anything other than-!" A white blur passed him, leaving him frozen in place. He saw Tranquill return to Joey with a fresh tub of vanilla. The top was pried off by his talons.

"Thank you, Tranquill. That'll be all." Joey dismissed the bird. Tranquill nodded and returned to his Poke Ball on his own, his "master" too busy dipping his silver spoon into his sedative. "You were saying, Dereece?"

His left eye twitched at how irritating this situation has become. If it wasn't for his immeasurable patience he's grown over the years of handling Joey, he would've upright dragged him out in a fuss. But he thought better for him. "Captain, I understand you're upset. I-I kinda am, too…but you know, there can be a bright side to all this."

Joey didn't answer. He kept eating his ice cream until he could be fully satisfied.

Dereece scratched the back of his head. "You know, I've been giving it some thought. A lot actually…why don't we find a replacement boombox instead?"

Joey's mouth was open as the spoon was halfway inside. He seemed to have frozen solid with his jaw hung wide and pupils shrunk. Slowly, his head craned in Dereece's face. "…what…did you just say?" he mumbled speechlessly.

"I said a replacement. You know, something to get your butt back in shape?" he paused and glanced away. "I know it won't exactly be the same, but at least it'll do good to try and-!" He froze for a second time when a tube of ice cream barely missed his face. It went between Heracross and his Honey jar and splattered white cream on the wall paint. They simultaneously flinched at the sudden provocation.

"Have you no respect for the dead?!" Joey's tone hardened the closer he got to Dereece. "Now I _know_ you've been hanging with Cana, you heartless, insensitive devil! Did Boombox mean _anything_ to you?!"

Dereece stepped back to assure his proximity from Joey's ire. "I never said that!"

"Well it sounds like you're a doubter." Joey sassily snarked, whipping around with folded arms. "I don't think you remember how hard it was to even get Boombox. Do you? It was a limited-edition seller, and we had to send in like 50 Octilli-O's cereal box covers to get even one of those things!"

Dereece furrowed his brow, but more from the memory. His stomach gurgled at the thought of that cereal. "Yeah, I remember…your Mom made us eat nothing but that cereal for 3 months." He shook his head at the thought. "It was the worse 3 months my stomach ever lived through."

The anger on Joey turned to remorse. "That Boombox was so valuable because that was probably one of the first things we worked so hard for. We've had that thing since our last year in middle school…it was like a best friend to me." He deflated his knees to the floor again, resting his chin on his palms. "How am I supposed to dance and boogey now? That's like…my _thing_."

"I don't know…"

Joey remorsefully sighed towards the ceiling. "Ever since I could remember, I've always loved the tunes that made my little bottom stir…"

 _In a hospital nursery, there were dozens of incubators and cribs lined up with one another. Many newborn babies were either asleep or crying for needs. Nurses were there to help those who were crying, and others were checking on those asleep._

 _Amongst the newborn, there was one on a blue blanket with a tuft of yellow hair on top of his head. His blue eyes were eyeing the toy bell that danced Ponyta and Pikachu plushies. The musical chime the toy had was supposed to help a baby sleep, but instead the baby's large blue eyes were wide awake as he cooed loudly. Strangely enough, he was fidgeting excitedly and stirring at the sleeping tune._

Joey pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. "Where does the time go…?"

Dereece frowned and walked up to pat his back. "I know it's hard. It's kinda hard to know what can happen when the one thing your life revolves around is gone…" He didn't want to sound insensitive, but it felt like Dereece backhanded himself there. He ignored it this once. "I…don't want to come off as rude or anything, but you know…life still goes on. And music does, too. Kinda like how we as people have to learn to move along with life. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

Joey's brow furrowed. To be fair with himself, he knew exactly what he was talking about. He flashed back to Broly, and Camilla, and finally Ella. Even though their lives came to a close, the world still kept going on. And Joey kept living.

"So, let's just try and compromise here. How's about we just set the spoon down, and we can go find a job. We can use the money to buy a new boombox system. One that doesn't have to rely on batteries…please, at least try?"

The feeling sunk into Joey like a sponge, but the ooze felt more like poison if anything else. Human life he knew was meaningful; he wasn't that stupid. But the thought of replacing even expandable items was just as sickening. The more he wanted to reject having to replace Boombox, the angrier he got. Eventually, he made up his mind.

"…ugh, _fine_." He sourly huffed. "Just this one, Dereece, I'll go along with what you have to say. I'll _try_ to move along _until_ we get a new system…"

Dereece smiled and swung his arm. "That's the spirit!"

"But before that…" He pointed at the wall behind with the ice cream dripping to the floor. "Could you clean that up? It'll stain the paint." He walked pass him to get to the bathroom. "Oh, and go get Duncan, too. Tell him we're readying for work soon…and we need more vanilla ice cream, you know, just in case."

Dereece groaned.

* * *

Nic was upside-down as bullets of sweat dripped like a faucet from his face. With his coat off, his abs and chest were visible seen crunching as he was doing sit-ups with his legs anchored around a sturdy tree branch. In and out his breathing was, his abdominal muscles in the works. Right beside him, his Arbok had a coil around the tree branch as he was slinking up and down, but it was clear he was training just as hard.

Erza walked out towards him, her posture upright and glare on her husband. She could see him with his shirt off, the evidence of him training clear as day. Regardless, she chose to intervene. As she walked closer to him, she noticed her strides were getting a little heavier. _'Gravity?'_ She raised a brow. She looked at the intensified area and Nic. Seeing the pinkish shade on his pants, she put the two pieces together. _'I see, gravity training.'_

Shaking her head, she powered through the intensified field until she was below Nic and Arbok's one-on-one training. "Nic!"

Near the canopy, the human and serpent heard the calls of the female mage. Easing their abdominal regions for a moment, they hung upside down and saw Erza and her impatient stare. "Erza?" He undid his legs, allowing the intense gravity to drag him. He flipped and slammed his feet into the earth, with Arbok slinking beside him. "Hey, what's going on?"

"I just got back from my job…I was calling for you around the house." She meekly smiled.

"I see, uh…" Nic looked away, squinting nervously. He honestly didn't expect Erza to be back so soon from her job with the others. It was getting a little awkward. "I guess that means you guys got the job done then?"

Erza sighed. "As well as you'd expect. There were several Crawdaunt causing problems in a local pond, scaring the fish around. Naturally Scizor made quick work of those ruffians."

"That's a good choice. Scizor's a Bug-type, so facing Crawdaunt was a good call…" He paused. "So, were you able to get Lucy to tag along?"

"For once. She and Happy distracted the Crawdaunt while her Staryu decided to play fodder and used Minimize to cause them to strike each other. That star is more resourceful than I gave it credit for."

"Well, _considering_ this is Lucy's we're talking about, I'm probably not that shocked." He took another pause to contemplate. He showed a frown. "So, guess that means that her spirits are still in recovery, right?"

Erza lowered her head. "Yes, I'm afraid so…they sure take their sweet time. I swear, if any of my Pokémon didn't come out of their Poke Balls, I'd probably lose it. I don't know _how_ yours just come out as they see it."

Nic raised a brow. For a compliment as that was _intended_ , he felt more backhanded than praised. He and Arbok glanced at each other, the latter flicking his tongue. Nic chose to dismiss it than digress.

"Have you set everything out for dinner?"

Nic shook his head. "No, not yet. I'll handle it as soon as I'm finished with my workout. Arbok…" With a snap, Arbok slipped to his side. "You ready? We're gonna try a tag race. Remember how that goes?"

Arbok knowingly nodded. "Yesss, Nic." He eagerly hissed. "I'm alwaysss ready."

Nic smirked. He didn't expect any less from Arbok. He looked back towards Erza to continue. "Don't worry, we won't take long."

Erza exasperatedly sighed. "You shouldn't." She turned away and walked back towards the house.

With her back turned, Nic turned towards Arbok. "She's just tired from the job, I wouldn't worry." He glowed, shifting into his Spooky Form. "Now, Arbok, let's see how you anticipate _this_ …" With a bloodthirsty smirk, Nic slowly faded from view. " _You're it._ "

Erza kept walking when she chose to slow her pace and look over her shoulder. Behind her back, she was seeing Arbok narrowly evading Nic as he reappeared and disappeared like a ghost at random. She turned back towards the house and smirked. If she was being personal, she was starting to get a little envious of what Nic's going through. He's been getting a lot more creative as of late. A lot trickier…and as a warrior, she wasn't going to stand for being shown up.

Nic reappeared directly above Arbok, but faded in a haze when Arbok's tail snapped like a twig _milliseconds_ upon forming. He remained invisible as he saw his cobra's eyes sharply follow his ethereal frame. He vanished into the ground, coming up at an angle below the cobra. But Arbok disappeared, spiraling in midair and landed. He and Nic were at a standoff as the latter rematerialized.

' _He's gotten better at perception and anticipation.'_ Nic thought. He suddenly picked up on a wave of wind. His bodily reflexes kicked in at the last second for him to turn intangible and allow the wind wave to reach out to the trees behind them. Each one fell in elongated rows.

Looking back where the wind came from, Nic gawked at who the attacker was. "Erza?"

In her Wind God Armor, Erza smirked expectantly as she crossed her blades. "You wanna play tag, you say?" She crossed her blades, sending a scissor wind at him. " _You're_ it!"

As expected, Nic turned intangible and the wind blades went through him. He reappeared, mockingly winking at Erza. "Too slow." He saw sharp fangs and evaded Arbok's lunge. He hovered towards the trees. "So you wanna change the rules, do ya? Okay…" He started fading into the shadows. "I'm not making dinner till you catch me…"

Erza poised her sword towards the forest. "You know better than to joke with me of all people." She got no answer. "Nic? Are you there?" She visibly sneered. "Tehehe…when I find you I'm gonna…"

Arbok hissed readily. "Heh…thisss isss gonna be a long night." He snaked into the woods, competing with the redhead for first bites. And both were starving.

* * *

The train made its stop in front of a train station, screeching to its final halt before a loud clang sound signaled the cargo was ready to be unloaded.

The Freaks exited the train compartment, grabbing all their essentials. They walked out from the train's tunnels and made way down the stairway that lead to the lobby of the station.

Joey was hunched forward, a grumpy mood plastered. "C'mon, Captain. You know we need the money." Dereece chimed. "It'll be fun. We get to explore…a-and don't forget why we're here…"

Joey pouted and eyerolled. "…whatever."

His attitude problem has been a complete pout the whole train ride towards their destination, Kunugi. It sat just between Oshibana and Clover, and where their next job was supposed to be held. Dereece was grateful for Duncan participating, but he wished the same could be said for Joey. Normally he'd so nonchalant and ready for work. But he was worse than a drenched Sandshrew.

"So, Duncan…" Dereece chimed. "What was that job you picked out again?"

The expert Trainer eyes Dereece sharply as he snapped out the flier angrily. It made him flinch. He looked down and inspected the flier. "It says here that the client is looking for Pokémon Trainers to help train his Pokémon for a race."

Dereece squinted. "…is that all it says? What about an award?"

Duncan looked at the flier again. "It says negotiable." He did an eyeroll. "And don't worry, it's not like the _last_ time we didn't go on a mission unprepared…right, _Captain_?"

Joey half-heartedly gave a thumbs up. He knew exactly what he meant. But rather than verbally reply, he scoffed.

"So, where's the location?" Dereece asked.

"Up ahead. At this address."

They looked over Duncan's shoulder to see a house number and ID. The person by the name of Sam Cecil. They followed the address and made it to the location by following the road directions. Though when they got there, they were more than a little surprised.

The house resident was on the far end of the town, specifically closer to the woodland areas. It was the last house on the block before it went into a trail towards the grottos out by the wilderness. Just looking at the house alone, they could tell it was in bad shape. There was overgrowth covering the house paint, and housed windows that had fingerprints and smudge marks. Blinds were bent inside where the sun couldn't shine. By all means, they could've considered the house to be abandoned just from the looks of it.

Blinking once, Dereece slowly cocked a brow. "You, uh…sure that address was right?"

Duncan snorted as he looked the flier over again. "Yeah."

"Oh, okay…" Dereece paused to clear his throat. "I…guess we should go in then."

The three walked up towards the door, Joey in tow. He held a deep pout as he uncrossed his arms and got a serious look. It was a job after all. And he took jobs seriously, as per what he trained for. For now, he had to be on alert.

Dereece tapped his knuckles on the wooden door, making an echo. "Um, excuse me. Anyone home?" He waited a for a response, but was blank. "We're Fairy Tail Mages hired for a quest. Is the client here?"

They waited longer for a possible response. Again, a blank was drawn. Dereece looked back and shrugged worriedly. A sudden jerk in the doorknob almost made him jump when he realized he was finally answered. The door slowly creaked open, revealing their client peeking through the door.

"Du~de…s'up." The client nodded upwards as a sign of improper greetings. The client, to their surprise, was a man about their age, maybe younger. He had a round nose with long, yellow, shaggy hair that covered his eyes. He had a white tank top with stained jeans and brown boots. He was hunched forward and looked at them all with illegible eyes.

A moment's pause filled the atmosphere as The Freaks stood there, perplexed at the identity of their client. Dereece spoke once more. "Um…Sam Cecil, I take it?" he quipped, uncertainty in his tune.

The shaggy individual turned towards him. "Yeah…that's my name, dude. S'up." He pointed at the gang. "You dudes are mages, right?"

Duncan folded his arms, giving him a straightforward look. "Yeah, we are. You sent a request, right?"

Sam nudged again. "Yah, bro. You dudes, come inside." He lazily moved off to the side to allow free passage.

The Freaks took it, with Joey slipping in front to take charge. Almost immediately, the smell of overbaked foods enflamed their nostrils. The whole place had junk laying everywhere, and juice boxes laying everywhere. All around, there were different accessories, like a horse saddleback, some stools with random magazines on them; cluttered papers with bills on them, and something that made Dereece flinch…a half-eaten granola bar sitting on the shaggy carpet.

"Yeesh. He really should've hired an interior decorator." He whispered low to Dereece's ear, while facing forward.

Dereece cleared his throat to talk. "So, uh, Sam…this is where you live?"

Sam closed the door, the lock being unturned. He shrugged it off. "Huh? What dude?" He processed what he said. "Pfft, yeah. This is my crib, bro. Bachelor pad for moi. Not bad, right?"

"Uh, it's…" Joey tried to think of which words to use. When he turned left, he saw a clock sitting sideways against a side window; it looked cracked. When he turned right, he saw crumbs along a windowsill, where a pair of stained underwear sat. It even smelled bad. "…something alright." He murmured. _'For once, I'm kinda glad I don't have Trubbish up front.'_

Dereece tinged at the smell the place had. He was starting to show doubts. Duncan, on the other hand, looked like he couldn't acre any less.

Sam made way through the rubbish and leaped onto a cushioned chair. He kicked his feet up on the coffee table, the boots clanging against the cheap wood. "So, you guys are interested in helping me out? It's not often I get good help these days. Usually people just up and go. Seriously, hurtful bro."

Joey straightened his posture and folded his arms. He seemed to understand why they would thin that, but he wasn't running when he needed the money. "So, what about this job again? It says you need help raising Pokémon for a race or something?"

"Dude…right." He slurred. "I almost, like, totally, forgot. Right…" He adjusted his seating to hunch over. "So, here's the thing…we have, like, this big stream down pass this grotto, right? It leads to this massive basin, where there's a whole _bunch_ of space there." He paused. "So, like, to promote the town, the mayor's, like, having this chilled swimming competition for Trainers with Pokémon that can, like, swim their way down the stream and towards that basin."

"Uh huh…?" Dereece cocked a brow. "So, what's the catch to all this?"

"Yah, the catch." He pointed a finger at him. "Well dude, the mayor's gonna give a big cash reward to the winner of this whole thing, bro. It's, like, 500,000 Jewel or something." He saw the raised brows of everyone there. "Dude, I know, right? That's like…a lot!"

Duncan got straight to the point. "So you're saying if we help you train your Pokémon for you, we get paid the reward money. Is that it?"

Sam waved his hands at him. "Whoa, whoa, dude. Slow it down, would ya?" he sat his hands on his thighs. "Like, how about this instead. You, like, train my little critters for me, yeah…and if I win, you can have some of it. Yeah."

Nobody bought that for a second. They knew well of the diversity of jobs, and normally – as per trial and error – the reward has got to be guaranteed. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair. Joey wanted to back out now, but he really needed the Jewel. He must do this for Boombox.

"Uh, listen, buddy." Joey sat on the edge of the wooden table. "Not that I'm complaining here, but don't you think that's a little unreasonable? I mean, what happens if you _don't_ win?"

Sam tilted his head. "What…?"

Joey's left eye twitch. "…okay, let me rephrase. Can you guarantee _something_ out of this? Because you know, we do business too."

Sam flinched at the seeming offense. "Dude…chill alright? I'm _positive_ I can win this. Alright?"

Joey furrowed his brow. He couldn't tell if it was arrogance or plain stupidity the guy worked on. But he tried to be professional, or as well as he can be. "Well, if you say so. But, if we do win, we want _half_ the prize money. That's the final bargain." He pointed his finger down on the table to emphasize his standing.

Dereece and Duncan looked towards each other, showing some surprise at Joey's boldness.

"Dude, really? Half?" Sam whined. "Bruh…that's like…200,000 or something. Bummer…" He lethargically got up. "Well, whatever, dude. If you can make my pups fast, I guess I can give you dudes the benefit of the doubt."

"So, where's the Pokémon?" Duncan demanded.

"Follow me, they're outback."

The Freaks navigated their way through the rubbish labyrinth the best they could. Once around the hellgrounds, they walked to the backdoor, where they went into the backyard. The grass was just as bad as wilted savannahs. Upon coming out to the open, Sam pointed his thumb over his back.

"These them."

The moment they turned, Joey and Dereece's faces contorted with disbelief. Right behind Sam was a wall of small cages contained small amphibious creatures that resembled oversized tadpoles. They had black and blue bumps on the sides of their heads. They had small black eyebrows, glossy black eyes, and small mouths that curved to seem like small smiles.

"Tympole…?" Dereece blinked. "A…a _lot_ of them…" Without hesitation, he decided to pull out his PokeDex. This was his first time seeing a school of Tympole.

" **Tympole, the Tadpole Pokémon. By vibrating its cheeks, it emits sound waves imperceptible to humans and warns others of danger.** "

Looking back at the Tympole school, they could definitely see why this guy needed help. All the Tympole present looked pale. Many of them looked vastly malnourished to where they seemed pruney. Some of them shook like they were scared, and others looked dried up. Even this was enough to scare Joey out of his little uptown funk.

"Uh…a-are these them?" Joey pointed at them. "They look kinda…down?"

"Dude, I know, right?" Sam asked. "At first, I thought they were these sick, gnarly, huge tadpole. But then I started seeing more of them pop up, and I was like '…dude, I gotta have these'."

Dereece stepped forward to give them a closer look, the one specifically slowly blinking like it was high and slurred. "Um…how exactly have you been taking care of them exactly?"

Sam shrugged. "Kept them in my backyard pond. Pretty sure tadpoles need water, right?"

The Freaks looked over towards the pond that sat several meters away from them. On top of the surface was algae, with moss on a majority of the rocks. The algae looked to have made the whole pond dark green. They saw clumps of wrappers and bread that wasn't broken down, signs they were attempted at being fed. Judging from their looks, the answer was clear how that turned out.

"You've been keeping them in this pond, than Poke Balls?" Dereece deadpanned. He almost felt sick just from looking at the pond.

"Dude…I can't afford those things." Sam pointed at the Tympole. "That's why I got so many of them. This race is in the bag, bruh."

Joey turned towards him. "Hold the phone. If you don't have Poke Balls, then how are we gonna…?"

"Beats me, dude. You guys are the Trainers." He walked back towards his house. "Well dudes, I'll leave you to it. The race is in one week. Hope we win."

Sam's wandering without care just left The Freaks stupefied. Joey especially was twitching in the left eye. He sharply turned to a Tympole, which was staring specifically at him. It seemed a little too weak to voice anything, but from the small vibrations its cheeks gave off, it must be saying hello.

"…Dereece…"

"Yes Captain?" he dreaded.

"I need ice cream. _Bad_."

* * *

"Thank you so much for this! I can't tell you how much we owe you!"

Behind Nic and Erza's home, The Freaks were gathered before Nic as he stood before them. The sickly Tympole were all currently swimming in the backyard pond with the waterfall on it. He heard the explanation from before, and despite what Joey felt about wanting to handle this themselves, he knew better to take chances. Nic taught him to be open to the guild to help.

"Yeah, don't mention it." Nic dismissively took the comment. His body was covered in a few patches of dirt, and his arms had some small cuts to them. He looked like he was through some kind of hell. Nevertheless, he stayed relaxed. "You can use that pond for as long as you need to…" his brow furrowed. "Just be careful, okay?"

Joey was on his hands and knees, bowing before Nic. "Thank you, Nic-senpai! We are not worthy!"

Duncan eyerolled and scoffed. He took notice of the battle mementos on Nic's body. Aside from the scars, he paid more attention to the fresh battle wounds he sustained. Specifically, the patch over his cheek. "What's the matter with you?"

Nic tapped the small patch on his cheek. "Oh, this?" He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, turning away nervously. "Well…let's just say that Erza takes these games and exercises a little too…competitively." His cheek still stung from the massive hammer Erza managed to smite him with.

Apparently he learned the hard way that holy weapons and ghosts don't get along. _'Did she really have to hit me that hard?'_

"Nic!" a feminine chimed came from the window. "Dinner isn't gonna make itself, you know!"

"Yeah, I'll be right there!" he called back. "You guys just let me know if you need anything, alright?"

Dereece nodded. Joey kept bowing, unable to face his merciful savior. With a nod, Nic rushed back towards his wooden cottage of a home.

Duncan scoffed. "Well that's a disappointment. So that's who wears the pants in the family, is it?" he turned towards the Tympole, changing the subject. "Well now that's taken cared of, how are you gonna fix up these guys?"

Dereece furrowed his brow. "Beats me. We gotta get these guys ready in a week if we wanna get paid 250,000 Jewel." He shifted his eyes away. "Plus, we're a little handicapped on help at the moment…"

Joey was on his knees, staring into the water. All he saw were weak Tympole that were swimming at Shellos pace. The hopes of dough to replace Boombox dwindled faster than his body fat percentage. He had a tub of vanilla ice cream beside him, but he hasn't opened it…yet.

"All this just to replace your device." Duncan scoffed. "And here I thought you guys stopped being so reliant on others to help you when they're not there. So you're saying this boombox is what keeps Joey's mood up? If you ask me, that thing was a handicap."

Dereece furrowed his brow. "You know it's not like that!"

Duncan scoffed. "Fine, so be it." He faced the Tympole, holding up a can of Water-type Pokémon Food. "But if you really need my help, just don't expect me to go easy when I aim to win." He dumped the large can of brown contents into the pond. Almost immediately many starving Tympole raced to get whatever nibbles of nourishment they could.

Dereece watched Duncan feeding up the crop of Tympole. He wasn't expecting this to be easy, but he was very glad they had someone who was an expert with at the very least _maintaining_ their Pokémon. He brought up a can of Water-type food and poured it in. Like a swarm of bees to honey, Tympole swam the lakeside to the buffet.

In the swarm of Tympole that were begging to be fed, there was a small 'plop' to one side that a Tympole caught up on. "Hm?" The little guy turned and saw a random piece of food that enticed him. Following instinct he swam over and ate it up. He looked up to see where the piece came from.

Sitting along the pond's edge, Joey had his knees to his head as he lazily lobbed a single piece of the food in at a time. He weakly threw them in, but he seemed lost and sad.

The Tympole vibrated his ears again, croaking. He chose to dismiss the Trainer as he was getting some helpings. He opened his mouth, anticipating Joey's weak lobs. Every piece was landing in Tympole's mouth.

After the feeding, Duncan turned and walked away. "Hmph, first thing tomorrow, we start training them."

"Sounds like a plan." Dereece agreed. He turned towards Joey, but his expectations declined at his slow pace of feeding. He sighed. "You go on ahead, I'll watch him."

"Suit yourself." Duncan respectfully walked around Nic and Erza's cottage, heading down the trail back to town. His strides were focused and on task. _'Can't believe I'm doing this. I'm not a Day-Care.'_ As much as he wanted to just ignore training the Tympole for his own gain, an image of Sophie crossed his mind.

His teeth visibly gnashed at her last remarks. _'Damnit.'_

Dereece watched Duncan go his way for the evening. He turned towards Joey and grabbed the tub of Pokémon Food. He dumped the rest in, allowing the Tympole to feast as many more flocked in for a third helping. "C'mon, Captain. Let's rest up. We've got a long week ahead of us."

Joey somberly sighed. He didn't budge a bit, aside from reaching the tub of vanilla ice cream beside him. He pried the lid off as Dereece grabbed his collar.

"Come on." He dragged the sulking Joey as he was slowly eating the ice cream tub. It was leaving a grass trail paved by his classy shoe heels. _'This is gonna be a long week.'_

As the Tympole settled into the pond feasting, the Tympole that Joey was singling out popped his head out of the water and watched him go. He blinked once before he coughed. He submerged for the night.

* * *

Night had soon fallen onto the world. With everyone in their beds, they were sound asleep. Well, most of them were.

The exception to this rule was none other than Joey. Under his bedsheets, his body turned left and right, his brow contorted and mumbling something incoherent in his sleep. His fingers twitched before they subconsciously grabbed the sheets for comfort.

…

Standing out in a dark void, there was a complete silence. The unsubtle calm that spelled foreboding disaster would scare anybody. For Joey, in particular, he was all over the place.

"Eh…hello?" His voice echoed in the infinite darkness. "Hello~? Dereece? Duncan~?" He waited for any response…but got nothing. He snapped his fingers. "Snap. Where the heck am I?"

A faint light radiated from behind, snatching his attention. Whipping around, he saw some golden orb much like the sun floating over him. He squinted to try and get a better look. "Um, who's there?" His demands were answered as the light silhouette dimmed. Joey's eyes slowly widened as his jaw hung open. "It can't be…"

Levitating in a golden aura, Boombox glared at Joey. The figment that was the device's spirit didn't make a single sound.

"Boombox…you're okay!" Joey went to hug the device, squeezing it firmly. He caressed the curved edges of the machine. "I had this crazy dream! It's where you died on me and we couldn't fix you for once. Now isn't that just crazy to think about…? Boombox?"

Joey's eyes slowly widened. He looked down at his hands to find Boombox' angel was missing. His frown strengthened. "Boombox? Where'd you go…?" He turned left and right, but got no response. "Boombox?!"

Off to the distance, flashy lights went on and off repeatedly. Joey was distracted yet again to find that in his eye's reach, there were what looked like a club party with silhouettes of people holding up glowsticks and shaking.

Instantly Joey was interested. "A party?!" He ran on over towards the festive. "Hey guys, save a spot for the king here! Move aside!" He got closer, but alas, all he got was silence. He reached the dance floor, but everything was muted. He couldn't hear. "Hey? Guys?! What's the song? Guys?!"

He tapped into his ears to check if his hearing aids were working. When he turned them off, he got a ring. They worked. He tapped the dance floor with his shoe in hopes of a sound. He got nothing. He saw the DJ changing the discs around, but when he hit play, everyone stopped dancing in unison.

Joey stepped back in fear. The silhouettes gazed at him as the flashy lights faded. Swallowing a lump, he saw the DJ paused, too. He fearfully turned around, but was stopped by the return of Boombox.

"B-Boombox! Why?! You know dancing is my life! Why are you doing this to me?!"

Boombox said nothing. His glow faded, leaving the space to black. The flashy lights turned gray and Joey slowly turned back around. The dull color closed in on him, causing him to shriek in fear.

…

Joey shot wide awake with a breathless gasp. He blinked repeatedly, trying to process his surroundings. His heart was racing still, despite the dull dream that he had awakened from.

He looked down at his hands, seeing that they were still there. He sighed to himself. "Just a dream…" He was thankful that all it was a dream, it still didn't do justice for him. His frown was as heavy as the pain in his heart.

Mulling over himself, he sauntered across the bedroom towards the bathroom. He took one look down the hallways to find Dereece's door was shut. He entered the bathroom, the first thing he did was turn on the faucet of cold water. He dipped his hands into the cool liquid, the icy cold refreshment making his nerves shudder. He gingerly scooped up a handful of it and applied it to his face.

As he washed his face, he made sure to get to the eyes and around the sockets. He used his index fingers with extra pressure on the ends to dig at the eye waste that he got in his sleep…and the more he will likely get later on. Nearly matting his face, he stopped to look at his reflection. His usual, jumpy, and lively self in the mirror was something he had gotten used to. He expected that glow to stay. But instead, he saw a pale, tired, and very unmotivated creature staring back at him, with a hazy stare that seemed borderline delirious.

" _And here I thought you guys stopped being so reliant on others to help you when they're not there. So you're saying this boombox is what keeps Joey's mood up? If you ask me, that thing was a handicap."_

Duncan's words from earlier echoed in Joey's head. His brow furrowed at his own gaze to show his rising frustrations. His cooled face was damp from splashes, but in his depraved state, he was mistaking them for sweat. _'That Duncan…is it really a handicap?'_ His thoughts were muted by his gurgling stomach. With his dizziness and the ice cream he had for the past few days, he wasn't feeling so good.

He hopped towards the toilet, his mind going to white as the sounds of his spewing splashing was heard through the bathroom door.

* * *

"Honchkrow, do it now!"

The large raven emitted a caw before he fired pulsing black rings across the water. The trail was in a straight line that quickly gained lead on the Tympole. They majority of them picked up speed to get to the other side of the pond, while a few had to submerge to evade.

Duncan furrowed his brow at the few who chose to back out. "Again." He told Honchkrow. Dutifully, Honchkrow opened his beak, readying a jumbled mesh of dark rings.

Dereece reached forward. "Alright, now everyone follow Seel now. Keep a steady pace."

The majority of the Tympole that were on the other side of the pond were following Dereece's Seel. The Sea Lion looked back at the pacers behind her and jettisoned across the water. Many of the Tympole swam close behind, and others were lazily following. "Come on, y'all be on board now!" Seel assured to the ones behind. Surely she swam to the other end of the pond, where the Tympole squirmed to a stop.

The two have been doing incredulous job in conditioning the Tympole for past two days. Two days of hard work, and two days of conditioning the Tympole and their health. The time issue aside, their patience was rewarded with the Tympole that were once sick, now looking healthier by the day. Well, certainly better than yesterday if that meant anything to Duncan.

"One more time! Race to the other side before Dark Pulse hits you!" Duncan pointed forward, commanding the unleash of a second blast of dark rings. The beam struck the pond, signaling the Tympole to vibrate their cheeks and swim away. This time all of them swam than dove. "Good. That's more like it."

Honchkrow scoffed. He saw the Tympole swim off, but a few were straying to the open middle. His glare fastened on the few and fired a third dark jumbled ring ray in their direction. A wave of water erupted in a break, causing the Tympole to squeal and swim back in line.

"Easy now. We're here to get them in shape, not scare them to swim." Dereece insisted.

Duncan raised his head upwards, disinterested. "Did you want to win? He said he caught all these Tympole to make sure he wins the race. We can't have loose ends; that's how a battle works."

' _Everything's about battling with him, I swear.'_ Dereece dismissed the thought to focus. "How is your share coming along then? They look better?"

Duncan faced the water. "It's fine." He turned to see Seel directing the Tympole in a sharp angle as they followed her lead across the water. "So that's your method then? Just follow the leader?"

"It was either that or Stunfisk." Dereece pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's not bad…but Seel's got more hydrodynamic." He felt the Great Ball shake in his pocket. "Sorry, Stunfisk."

The Tympole following Seel around had branched off to take a rest. If one looked closely like Seel had, she noticed their pale faces and their habits have been a little more active compared to yesterday. They were definitely in better shape. She swam to Dereece's side and jumped out of the water to earn his praise.

"Great job, Seel." He petted her head, minding the horn. He sat a small plate of Oran Berries in front of her. "Thanks for all your help."

Seel meekly shrugged. "Aw, garsh now. You're just flattering me. Honestly, them small tykes are giving it their all. I think pretty soon they'll be up to the big catches."

"I don't doubt you there." Using his magic, Dereece started walking across the water towards the center of the Tympole swimming freely for the time being. "Alright guys…" he undid the lid to a large container of food. "Dig in."

The Tympole vibrated their cheeks and rushed for the falling bits around Dereece's shoes. With his magic keeping him up from the splashes, he could see a bottomless frenzy of blue and black tadpoles everywhere.

"Okay, easy now." He chuckled. _'These guys have bigger appetites than my Captain. Speaking of which…'_

He paced the other end of the pond. "Captain, how's it going~?" His gaze slowly turned to a frown as his shoulders sulked at a certain sight. "Uh…Captain?"

Seel and Duncan shot a look at what Dereece saw.

Sprawled on the edge of the pond, a lone Tympole croaked as it jumped up and down through a hula hoop. The same Tympole from yesterday happily croaked while the hand attached to the toy was pale and shriveled. Joey was shuddering and gagging, a deep, depressing cloud hanging over him. Every now and again, he'd twitch. They couldn't tell if it was because he was actually trying to move, or he was having a mental breakdown.

"Uuuugh…" A bubbly gurgle came from Joey as he stared at his reflection in the water. He looked even worse than before to where he seemed sick.

Offhand, Dereece looked worried. _'Okay, I take back what I said…_ _ **this**_ _is just sad.'_

"Bupta!" The Tympole splashed out of the water onto dryland next to Joey. The eyes blinked as they gazed curiously at Joey. "Bupta?" The Tympole blinked again, this time croaking a long vowel.

Joey gurgled incoherently. "Booty…no booty energy…too drained…"

"Aw geez." Dereece shook his head. He wandered up to him; the Tympole flopping out of the way. He kneeled and put his hand in front of Joey's face. He tried seeing if he would follow…he didn't. "I think he's going into some 'Booty Withdrawal'." He groaned. "He hasn't gone _this_ long without dancing."

"Bupta!" the Tympole croaked.

This wasn't gonna work out. Not at this current age. Dereece hoisted Joey up over his shoulder, keeping him steady. "Guess we gotta go see someone if he's not responding." He started walking. "Hey, Duncan, can you watch the Tympole while we're gone?"

His back turned, Duncan lethargically stared elsewhere. "Whatever."

Two of The Freaks came and went, but the sound of spewing was heard loud enough for Duncan to hear. Aside from shouts of Dereece, he pressed on with the mission. "Breaktime's over. Honchkrow!" The bird arose from a nearby perch to start the next round.

All the Tympole swam in a school back towards the one end of the pool. A Tympole lagged behind, this one being the same one that was by Joey. He turned around, staring off into somewhere as he watched him head off in that direction.

"Bupta…"

* * *

"Okay, Miss Porlyusica, how is he?"

Dereece stood a good distance away from the apothecary as she was overlooking Joey, who was in a wheelchair for some odd reason. He looked dead from the neck up, but to be safe, she did some bloodwork. She looked over at her table to see a sample of Joey's blood in a class slit. After careful analysis, she came back with a scowl.

"The boy's just being a drama queen for heaven's sake." She bitterly scoffed. "Honestly, he's just sick because he's been eating nothing but ice cream for almost a week. Surprised he hadn't fallen ill sooner."

Dereece sighed again. "I got it. Thanks anyways."

Porlyusica scoffed and turned towards her Morelull sitting at her table. " _Don't_ come back here unless it's an _actual_ emergency. I've had enough trouble dealing with just _one_ of you earlier this week."

Getting the message, Dereece took the handlebars of the wheelchair and pushed Joey out of the tree stump. Porlyusica looked over her shoulder one more time to see them off before looking back to her curious Morelull. "…these humans. Always having problems." She sighed to herself. "Honestly, when did they start becoming so helpless?"

The Morelull tilted her head. "I don't know?"

With a defeated look, Dereece strolled his handicapped friend out of Porlyusica's house. He was aware of the last time they were here, and he sure didn't want to get the bad side of the broom. Once they were far enough out of her sight, the mage mentally relieved himself.

"Alright, Captain…let's just get some fresh air. A nice stroll back through the forest should do your spirit good." He cheerfully hoped.

In his wheelchair with a thin black fleece blanket, Joey was a shuddering mess. He shakily turned left and right, frightened about the world like a scared child. "You don't understand, Dereece…I'm so vulnerable without my jams…what the hell am I supposed to attach my identity to?" Even his voice was cracked.

"I-It's not all bad. Well, you have me right now, a-and that's a _lot_ more reliable than 'sick jams', right?" Joey sulked even further in his wheelchair. "…I don't even know why I try."

They strolled through the clearing of the Eastern Forest towards Magnolia. For Joey's sake Dereece took it nice and easy. He came to a brief halt, one that alarmed Joey out of his mulling. "Hey, a little respect for the precious cargo here! I could've fallen and broken my hip, or something."

Dereece looked forward. "Um…Captain?"

"What?" he growled. He turned forward, only to raise a brow. "…oh great, what is it now?"

Flopping up to them, a lone Tympole was making his way towards them. His smile was present as he splashed and squirmed towards Joey and Dereece's feet, looking up at them.

"A Tympole?" Joey grimaced, gritting his teeth. "Great, now we're playing Hide-and-Seek, and I can't even walk?! Why is this happening to me~?" He put his hands to his cheeks and despaired at the dull things to come now.

Dereece ignored his Captain's plight and looked at the Tympole. "What is it doing all the way out here?"

The Tympole flicked his tailspin cutely. "Uf! Človeče, určite viete, ako ma unaviť." The Tadpole chimed.

Dereece and Joey blinked at what he said. They looked t each other as he continued.

"Vážne viete, aké ťažké je dostať sa z vody na zem bez nôh? Ešte _nie_ som dobre!"

"…Dereece, I think he's as sick as I am." Joey fret. "Is that a disease?"

"Bupta!" Tympole chimed. He suddenly hopped onto Joey's lap, startling him.

"GAH! Dereece, g-get it off of me…I think it's contagious." Joey shuddered. Suddenly the Tympole croaked, much to Joey's surprise. "Uh, what do you want little guy…? Dereece, you're the expert caretaker! Take care of this!"

"It's just harmless, I'm sure." He insisted, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. "But, I guess we've wasted enough time as it is. I'm gonna go ahead and see to it that Duncan doesn't turn the Tympole into kalamari before dinner. Why don't you take your time with that one?"

Joey flinched at the prospect. He looked down at the Tympole gawking at him and fret.  
Watch this one? But I…"

"It'll be fine. C'mon, I'll clear a path for you." Dereece started ahead towards Magnolia. "We're doing this so we can win money for a new Boombox, don't forget that."

Joey sighed in defeat. " _Fine_." He watched Dereece go on ahead of him. He furrowed his brow and folded his arms in a pout. "You _better_ win me a new Boombox for all the pain this's been." He told the Tympole.

The Tympole blinked. "Nebuď tak negatívny. Bude to v poriadku." He croaked.

"Oh, croak yourself." Joey pouted.

"Páni, niekto je dole ..." The Tympole turned away.

Joey snorted. He was too upset to care at the moment. He bit his lower lip and shit a glance at the Tympole again, which sat patiently on his lap with shifting eyes. He cleared his throat to try and make things a little less awkward for them. "Well I…guess you are kind of a dashing Tympole." He backhanded.

The Tympole perked up. "Naozaj?" The Tympole hopped off of Joey's lap. He started flopping off happily elsewhere.

"Hey! Where're you going?! Get back here you little amphibious troglodyte!" He started moving his wheelchair on his own, though he was having trouble with his shaky his arms were. "This…isn't funny…!" He turned the wheels so he could follow the flopping Tympole into the underbrush. "Get your wet butt back here, or so help me-!"

As he passed the shrubs and underbrush, his wheelchair nicked a small rock. His eyes widened when he felt gravity lever his frame downward. The next thing he saw was all a blur as his wheelchair rolled down a small ledge onto a curved ledge. The velocity made him sail off and soar into the air, shrieking in panic.

With a frivolous shriek that rivaled that of a little girl, the wheelchair somersaulted through the air fumbling to the lower ends of the forest. The wheelchair _slammed_ into the ground rightside-up, its echo running through all of Joey's bones. He was completely stunned as his wheelchair had survived that…

But once he blinked twice, the wheelchair slowly fell apart like building blocks. He plopped on the leather seat into the grass, a state of frozen shock on his face.

Still processing what happened, something light and round found its way on his forehead. Snapping out of his shock, Joey slowly looked up to find Tympole looking down on him. His glossy dark eyes gazed down and nearly met Joey's. Their faces were so close in fact that any sensation of shock was leaving Joey.

First Joey blinked, then the smiling Tympole. He flopped off his head and smiled as he watched Joey process his surroundings of the grotto they fell in.

"Where the heck did we go now?" he wondered. _'I don't think we went this far in the woods before.'_

Looking around the Eastern Forest, he was surrounded by loads of tall trees that housed various birds. Some of whom were Pidgey and other Pidove. Along the brushes of leave were small Nincada and Paras that were crawling away from Joey. Looking all around, the different rattles of wings and leaves surrounded the disillusioned man.

He blinked several times, his head going blank for a second. _'I think I really_ _ **am**_ _losing it…'_

"Pod! Tadiaľto!" Tympole flopped joyfully before pouncing off elsewhere.

Joey raised a brow. "What? You know the way?" Taking a gander at what he was saying, Joey followed the tadpole. The first step was getting up. With shaky legs, he used a nearby tree to position himself. He was _definitely_ not in the best shape. "Okay, okay. I'll be there…"

Stumbling aimlessly through the underbrush, Joey managed to catch up with Tympole on the other side of some bushes. Tympole plopped off a rock and into the smooth creek and swam along a pathway of stones.

"Geez dude, slow down, would ya?" Joey stepped onto a rock. He waddled onto the next one. "You sure this is the way back?"

Tympole jumped in and out of the water with joy across to the other side. Joey followed, his strides on the stones picking up to skips. Even he was surprised.

"H-Hey…look at me…!" He gasped jovially. He made another leap over a stone. "I'm…hopping!"

He continued skipping towards the other side without breaking a sweat. For some reason, his energy was getting brighter. Probably from his body finally getting the jumpstart it needed after a week. He didn't care. For now, he was getting high on a little nature.

With a joyous cackle, Joey raced the frolicking Tympole across the open woods to the hilly fields full of flowers. There, Butterfree chimed as they gathered to feast on pollen. The chirping of their conversations enticed Joey. It wasn't the music he was used to…but it was more…therapeutic? He didn't know. He skipped with Tympole across a log and leaped on through. The cool breeze through the meadow, the grinding of petals that scattered. The Butterfree chirping. The leaves rustling. The nearby riverbank flowing. These noises filled his hearing aids with relaxation-filled themes that he was taking in.

Joey was having the time of his life. No music. No noise pollution. Nothing poisonous to ruin their lives. Tympole was free and out of his cage, and Joey's body was back in business. The two newfound friends slowly looked to each other's eyes as time slowed down around them. They looked so alive!

With the sun overhead, Joey and Tympole frolicked into the unknown with laughter behind them.

* * *

"Captain?! Captain Joey?!"

Dereece walked through the underbrush of the woods, his pacing faster than Duncan's. They – or rather Dereece – had been training the Tympole all day, and while progress was made, Joey hadn't come back. Even as the sun was going down now, it was still too long.

"This isn't good. I shouldn't have left him alone." Dereece cursed himself. He heard rustling behind, but it wasn't Joey. He frowned when he saw that it was Duncan taking his time. "Hey, try and keep up, would ya?"

Duncan's eyelids half-shut. "It's not my fault the Captain decided to up and leave."

"Still, we've gotta keep searching!" He heard a humming overhead that alarmed him. Looking up, he saw his Yanma descend from the air. She dropped and clung to his head to rest.

"Yanma! Please tell me you've found him!" Dereece begged dryly.

Yanma lifted off his head and sailed off in a direction. Dereece looked at Duncan and nudged him with a head notion. "C'mon."

They followed Yanma as she sailed through the woods, deep into the grotto that passed through various shrubs and bushes. When Yanma breached the other side, she perched herself on a rock. Dereece and Duncan burst out next to find where Yanma was sitting.

"Look…" Dereece waddled up towards the rock. He saw clothing sprawled onto it, mainly a buttoned white t-shirt with a collar and a fancy spotted coat folded beside it. He instantly recognized where they came from. "The Captain's upper clothing…why are they here?"

Duncan looked ahead, his raised brow catching Dereece's eye. He turned and blinked at what he was seeing. "What the-?!"

Right beside the rock was a rather large lake, where the streams from the Eastern Forest had gathered. Along the shallow water, a Gyarados roared as he arched back in to swim off. Floating nearby was a Trubbish on her back, her body like a big bag to keep afloat. Flapping across the water was Tranquill, who was carrying Quilladin before he let go.

"Cannonball~!" Tucking in his limbs, he curled into a ball and spun into the water with a large splash. The splash drenched Joey and Tympole nearby.

"Nice one!" Joey gave a thumbs up.

"Lepšie ako minule!" Tympole jumped up and did a backflip in midair. "Bupta!"

"You said it, buddy! Bupta!" Joey noticed the familiar faces ashore, his attitude brimming brighter. "Hey, guys! What took ya?!" he waved at them. "You guys can get in! The water's _awesome_! Tympole and I never felt so alive!"

Tympole agreed with a chirp. Nearby, Trubbish belched weakly, her musky fume layering the water. In a matter of seconds, she noticed some Magikarp that floated to the surface on their sides, spirals in their eyes.

Joey laughed it off and dove in, Tympole following him. Dereece and Duncan stared in complete awe at his completely new attitude that befuddle them.

"…I think the Captain's officially lost his mind." Dereece whispered.

Duncan turned away. "Hmph. Funny, thought he never had one at all."

* * *

 **A few days later**

A whole week had passed since the deal had been made. Today was the big day for everyone in Kunugi, and now it was time to see what their relation to their Water-type training meant. Gathered along the streams, many of the contestants had various Water-types lined up, and they all had belonged to several Trainers and citizens that have gotten used to them. Poliwag, Shellder, Goldeen, and several Magikarp were present as those seemed to be the main catches people could've found.

On a small makeshift stage, there was a tall, burly man with a curled moustache. He had a black hat and suite combo, and dark eyes. Beside him was a stool with a cage on it, showcasing his choice, which was a Slowpoke. He cleared his throat as he spoke into the lacrima microphone. "Er-hem. Now then…" He stepped back to adjust his collar before leaning in again. "Hello, one and all! I, your mayor Van here. And today, we are coming to all of Fiore, live! Where we have the new local sport showing up today! As your host, it is in my power, to ensure each and every single individual, make sure that they and their Pokémon enjoy the first ever Stream Derby! The winner whom…" He moved to the side, revealing a glass case with a large golden trophy on it. And on it was also a check, with the prize money being the biggest thing everyone was after. "…will be walking away with a solid gold trophy, proving their mastery along the river! And as a bonus, the winner, shall also receive a potential 500,000 Jewel, provided by part of the Cambire Foundation's expenses!"

All around, reporters from Sorcerer Weekly were present and interviewing some of the more well-known people, and those who had the cooler-looking Pokémon that seemed well conditioned and ready. A Trainer with a Poliwrath and a Dewott were being interviewed offhand.

In the background, Joey and The Freaks were currently walking with the cages of Tympole present. Mest was also there with his Kirlia, who was seen banging his head against a nearby tree. Since he had to use his Teleportation to help The Freaks transport there. He was in the town a couple of times, so he knew where they were going. He stood with them as he raised a brow.

"You guys sure about this?" he asked.

"Well there's no backing out now, I'm afraid. We're already here." Dereece pointed out. "Thanks again for the help. We really appreciate it."

Mest nodded. "Don't mention it. Come along, Kirlia."

Kirlia was banging his head against a nearby tree, but teleported as he knocked his head hard. Mest followed him back to the guild.

Joey looked around, holding the cage that contained the Tympole he bonded with. He saw all the Water-types around them. "Get a load of this, guys. There's a bunch of competition today…"

He definitely wasn't wrong. Aside from several other Magikarp people had, he saw familiar Pokémon like Buizel, and others that looked like sea slugs and turtles. He almost didn't recognized a few of them. But he knew if they weren't Pokémon, they wouldn't have gotten behind security. _'This must be a bigger deal than I thought. Everyone's looking so into it…'_

"Du~des…are those seriously all my Tympole?" Sam stood in front of the twenty or so cages of Tympole that kept croaking. They not only sounded better than before, but they looked well and refreshed. "Dudes, I knew you guys were, like, Trainers and all…but I almost didn't recognize them."

Duncan nodded. "Thank you."

"It wasn't easy, I tell you that." Dereece sidenoted.

"Nice. And as soon as we win, you guys get your Jewel." He smirked. "Because by _these_ guys, that win is as good as mine."

Dereece inwardly frowned. He knew this was all just a job and all, but he wasn't sure about this. There ere several factors to take into winning a race. True the Tympole were raised well and were healthy, but there wasn't a guarantee…especially if they're up against Golduck and other well-rounded swimmers. Either this guy was so desperate to win or was borderline arrogant. But they needed the money as well.

Sam turned towards Joey. "That one especially looks like a winner, dude."

"Bupta!" Tympole cheered.

"Contestants! Present your Pokémon for final inspection!" the mayor announced.

Joey heard the call loud and clear; his hearing aids made the echo all the more visible. He looked down at Tympole, his brow furrowing. He tussled a heel into the dirt beneath upon hesitation. "Um, Sam? You, uh… _sure_ Tympole doesn't mind?"

Sam raised a brow. "Bruh, what makes you say that? You wanna help me win, right?"

Joey shifted his gaze away. "Well, I do…it's just that…" If he was honest with himself, he didn't know why he was hesitating from the start. He should be happy bout this, right? A week's worth of training (or rather playing) with Tympole wasn't all bad. It was a long wait with a cost that wasn't all fully guaranteed. What was he so upset about? Their hard work was about to pay off…so why did it feel so empty?

He looked down at Tympole one more time, a silence brewing. "…it's nothing."

Tympole croaked gain as he looked up at Joey's heavy frown.

"Alright, bruh. Thanks." Sam had his hands out in waiting for the final cage.

Joey turned the cage to face Tympole one last time, meeting his glossy eyes. His smile was wide and tail wagged for him. He looked so happy now that he's bonded this long with the human. Quirks aside, the Tympole cutely vibrated his ears for Joey. How could he let such a pure thing go back to a slob who couldn't take care of him before.

His eyes misted weakly before he ultimately hesitated to give the cage back. Sam accepted it; but Joey and Tympole's eye contact never left each other. He sat the cage on top and wheeled it on down using the U-Boat that the townsfolk provided.

Joey's shoulders slumped as he breathed in, then out heavily. He was feeling pretty bad about all this…

Dereece put a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, Captain, let's go to the sidelines. They're about to start."

The spectators went off to the stream's side to watch the contestants set their cages in the shallow water. All the caged Water-typed were ordered in racing fashion beside one another from one end towards the other. A twenty-foot line of cages was in front of Sam's spot that housed all the Tympole.

Once everyone was set, Van went over to the stage in front and cleared his throat. "Now then, ladies and gentlemen, let's discuss what the rules are before we begin…"

As he monologued all the rules that droned on, Dereece looked over at Joey's crestfallen face.

Joey was at a complete loss for what to do. As the mayor was going to the next set of rules and directions, he stopped to think about what's happened for almost two weeks now. Two weeks…that's how long he's went without busting a move. He couldn't believe he still lived after losing all his mojo.

" _And here I thought you guys stopped being so reliant on others to help you when they're not there. So you're saying this boombox is what keeps Joey's mood up? If you ask me, that thing was a handicap."_

On the one hand, Joey might have a chance to get the money he needed to get by for replacing Boombox. A dear friend whom he valued beyond measure. He looked over towards Sam to see that he could provide such a feat. With his lazy posture and scratching the underside with a finger, he didn't look very promising. This was a big gamble, but he so desperately wanted to shake his booty again. He needed to feel good again in his own little world.

His gaze then shifted towards the cages readied to be set free. He saw the big glossy eyes of Tympole looking directly at him, croaking something. The little guy looked so adorable the way he was seeing into Joey. His blue eyes shrunk as his own heart stung at the sight. His bottom lip quivered as beads of sweat were starting to form around his face at the guilt that was stockpiling down on his shoulders.

"Now then, contestants…we're about to commence." The mayor said. "On the sound of the gun, take your marks!"

As he raised his arm with the fake gun set to fire a magical firework, Joey was visibly shuddering. His teeth gnashed so hard together that it could shrunk off Swirlix fluff clean off. His fists started balling tightly with the tension building up inside his conscience. It was now or never…it was either Boombox…or the Tympole's freedom.

Looking at Sam one more time, he knew first-hand that if they did go through with this, the Tympole would all return to him. Then the effort they put into this would've been for them to get sick and lose more of their lifespan. That feeling alone was enough to make Joey want to vomit on _purpose_.

" _You know, it takes a leader to make great decisions…but it takes a real leader to make the good ones. It's better to be a man of goodness before greatness, in my eyes that is."_

The words of his late teacher stung Joey for the umpteenth time now. He wanted to be great…but he had to make the good decisions, too. Some things you have to give in order to receive more.

Van held up the pistol to signal the start of the race. "Racers! On your marks…get set…and-!"

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" A shrilled, primal cry alarmed the entire audience. Van and the others stopped in their tracks as the cry came from the sidelines, specifically where the spectators were.

The cry came from Joey as he looked mad. His bellowed cries didn't stop there as he pulled out a Poke Ball and tossed it in the water. In a blue flash below, the stream began bulging a mountain of water that arose behind Joey. The mountain of water roared out, revealing his Gyarados.

"IT'S NOT WORTH IT! IT'S NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE!" He pointed a finger at the captive Water-types in cages. "LIBERATION~!"

Gyarados cried out to the skies, causing the water to rock back and forth. The Atrocious Pokémon swam towards the iron gates that imprisoned the Pokémon and used his glowing fangs to rip through them. Joey manifested a barrier around his fist and dented the iron bars to a Wartortle's cell.

"FREEDOM~!" he roared. At that, the Tympole that were caged began squirming in joy. Hastily, he began prying the cell door open, letting all the tadpoles swim freely.

Van was at a loss here. "He's…he's releasing all the Water Pokémon…" He accusingly pointed at Joey. "HE'S LETTING ALL OF THEM LOOSE!"

Joey laughed maniacally as he unlocked each door, while Gyarados tore them open through his rampage. "Dereece! Duncan! Freedom~!"

Dereece was stupefied with what Joey had done. But he quickly gained ground on what was happening and grinned. "Yeah, I'm with you, Captain!" He pulled out a Poke Ball and tossed it. "C'mon, Seel!"

The Poke Ball flew open, out bursting Seel. The Sea Lion clapped her flippers and followed Dereece. "Geez, so much of a fuss." She huffed, seeing the people running away around her.

Dereece pointed at the cages. "Seel, **Icy Wind!** " Seel took in a deep breath as her mouth glowed bright blue. She inhaled, then exhaled a cold breath that raced across the water into several cages lined up, containing Magikarp, Barboach, and several other Pokémon that didn't have Poke Balls.

With the freezing wind chilling up the iron bars, a Corphish used his pincers to snip it open. "I'm outta here, baby!" With a salute, he dove back into the stream.

"I'm free!" a Tympole cried.

"I can breathe again~!" Another Tympole cried out.

All the Tympole cheerfully vibrated their cheeks as they swam down the stream in an unorderly fashion. They, along with the many Water-types, scurried in random places. Some of whom decided to come onto shore and squander around people to go into the woods.

Duncan folded his arms, a deadpanned look on his face as several Tympole passed by him. "…so much for that, I guess." He irritably grunted.

Up along the stream, Sam saw his Tympole swimming pass him. "Du~des…what's up? Aren't you guys, like, supposed to be winning me free stuff?"

Some of the Tympole that took notice of their lazy owner gathered around. Sam blinked and leaned in closer without realizing what was going on. Out of the blue, colorful soundwaves echoed straight out for the water into him, blowing him onto his back. He hit his back, immediately knocked out.

" **YAAAAAAY~!** " The Tympole all cried out in unison. Their colorful soundwaves traveled everywhere across the water and land. Anyone who was too close got away and took off.

In a matter of minutes, the entire river was a mess. There was debris everywhere, along with broken clipboards and cages that were being washed away. The mayor had long since ran off on the account of the rampaging Gyarados that swam downstream.

As the giant was jetting uncontrollably, sitting along the river edge, Joey sat in shock. His shoulders were slumped over and his neck was hunched. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

As he was regaining control of his conscience, his eyes blinked several times over as Dereece and Duncan came up to him. Dereece was the first to speak to him. "Captain, you okay?"

Joey slowly blinked to register. "…Dereece…what the hell did I just do…?"

"Your conscience completely snapped on you for once, that's what. You gave up half a million Jewel just so a lot of Tympole can live a healthier lifestyle. It was a close call, but…I support you." He put a hand on his shoulder. "You did a good thing."

Feeling his pal's warmth, a soft smile tugged on Joey's lips. "…yeah. I guess I really did do good."

Duncan scoffed his head up. "You know what this means, right?"

"That we're not getting a new Boombox system, we know." Dereece looked back at the wrecked stream. "And also…I think Master Laxus is gonna have a word with us for this…"

Seel jumped out of the stream, shaking her body of the water. She looked mighty refreshed from that. But she wasn't the only one. She turned her head, seeing the Tympole swim to their freedom. "Y'all take care then!" she waved them off.

The Tympole all cooed goodbyes to her as they departed for the clear rivers that lied ahead of them.

Dereece sighed again. "Well, I guess that's that, wouldn't you say?"

Joey dumbly nodded. "Yeah, I guess so…" He was getting feeling in his legs again. Once he attempted standing, a Tympole splashed out of the water onto his lap. "Woah, hey now!"

"Prekvapenie! Myslel som, že sa ma tak ľahko zbavíš, hm?" Tympole joyously looked up at Joey with beaming pride.

Joey blinked in surprise. "Oh, uh…hey Tympole. What are you doing here? I thought you'd wanna…y'know…skedaddle?"

Tympole vibrated his cheeks lightly, chuckling some.

"I think that Tympole really likes you, Captain." Dereece prompted. "Y'know…I think it just wants to stay with you."

Joey was caught by surprise. He looked down at the Tympole for confirmation. "Is that true? Do you really wanna be with me?"

The Tympole plopped on his lap. "Bupta!"

Joey blinked twice over. For once, after two long weeks, he actually felt relieved to an extent. Sure, he felt stupid giving up money, but the smile on Tympole's face made him think otherwise. _'Tympole…'_ Something glinting in the distance caught his eye. Looking over briefly, he saw something in the grass. Getting up, he ran over to see what it was. Bending down to pick it up, his eyes widened when he saw that it was a Poke Ball. But not just any Poke Ball. It was primarily black, with red, yellow, and white stripes on it. _'Wait…this is a Luxury Ball. Did someone drop it in the panic?'_ He took a close examination at the Luxury Ball. It was light, so that meant it was empty. _'Doesn't look like it has an imprint of anyone's name on it either. Guess it just dropped.'_

"Bupta!"

Looking over his shoulder, Joey saw Tympole plopping up and down, anxious for Joey to catch him. When he saw the opportunity before him, he had to take it as a sign. A smirk crossed his face. "Oh well…one man's trash is another person's treasure as they say." He stepped back, lashing the Luxury Ball at Tympole. "Here we go!"

The capsule spun towards Tympole upon descending. The ball tapped his head and ricocheted into the air. Once it opened, he manifested into energy that went into the ball and closed shut. The ball landed in his place and instantly started rattling.

A few rattles were heard from the capsule; one, then a second, and finally a third. Until a "click" sound came from it. That was the signal.

Joey had caught the Tympole.

"Yes!" Joey ran over to pick up the capsule. He held it to the sky. "You see this, world?! I'm _not_ a loser! That's right! Take that nature!" He pointed towards the sky. "You can take away my tunes! But the booty, will _always_ push on!"

Dereece grinned at the sight, sighing. "Well, at least we didn't get out of this empty-handed." He chose to walk up towards his Captain and padded his shoulder. "You sure you'll be alright without Boombox for a while longer?"

Joey turned and lively grinned. "Heh, don't worry. We'll get by somehow. We'll just have to pick up the slack the next few days is all." He looked down at the Luxury Ball in his hand and threw it up. Out came Tympole, landing in his arms. "And it's all thanks to this guy, right?"

"Bupta!" Tympole cheered.

A bright flash appeared beside Joey, making him shriek and flinch. "AH! Mest! What the hell dude?! You know you _really_ gotta warn someone when you do that stuff."

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." He took notice of the surroundings almost immediately. He blinked in complete shock at the carnage all along the stream. "What happened here…?"

Dereece cut in before Joey could answer. "Tha~t's not important…so, why the sudden visit?"

Mest held something in front of him. Joey and Dereece's eyes twitched at the medium-sized box in Mest's hands. Joey shakily pointed at it. "Wait…is that…?"

"I kinda had to, sorry. The church said to dig it up, since it was taking up some unneeded space." Mest awkwardly glanced away. "…and that you kinda did it without their permission, so there was that, too. But look."

They saw Kirlia walking towards them, withdrawing from the nearby rock that had a small dent in it. He scuttled up and presented something that looked like a lacrima. It had a bright golden sheen around it that gave it a majestic filament to it.

"Um, mind I ask what's going on?" Dereece quipped.

"Allow me to explain." Mest picked the lacrima up from Kirlia. "This right here is a special lacrima, similar to what Magic Headphones use. It draws in magic and ethernano to give it a continual charge."

"Really? But how did you…?"

"I didn't. Mirajane was going through her belongings and had an old pair of Magic Headphones that she doesn't use anymore. We thought about giving it away, but then everyone saw your little 'episode' last week."

Joey's eyes widened. "…you…you don't mean…?"

Mest opened up the back of the Boombox and opened the hatch. Using the lacrima crystal, he inserted it where the battery would go. The single crystal made a perfect fit as the ends stuck into the port. The lid closed. Mest handed it back to Joey as he gazed at it.

Swallowing a lump, Joey's breathing was growing rasped. He didn't know what to say, let alone do. "I…I…"

Dereece nudged him. "Go on, Captain…you've earned it."

"Bupta!"

Hearing their reasoning, Joey swallowed one more lump. He hesitated for a moment, but slowly, he reached for the play button. He closed his eyes and looked away as his finger reached and tapped the play button…

 _ **[Anja – Dance All Nite]**_

The music began playing loud and clear with the beats instantly clicking with electronics. They started vibrating against the Boombox as the speakers played them at great capacity.

Joey opened one eye and blinked. His second eye slowly widened as he slowly turned around to face Boombox. "It…it lives…" he rasped. "It lives… _IT LIVES!_ " He noticed something off, too. Looking down, his hips were swaying sexily s his legs pivoted with the beat. His bright smile widened further. "Dereece, Duncan…look! It's back! My dancing groove is back, baby! It's a _miracle!_ "

Dereece and Duncan stepped back to allow Joey his space. He started breakdancing with his arms stiffening with elbows out. He swerved his body back with exotic exaggeration. Tympole watched with his cheeks vibrating in synch with the tunes.

"Páči sa mi to!"

"I know, right?!" Joey stomped off to the side, smiling as he went back to his original position. He was dancing nonstop, while Mest decided to work his way around it.

"I think I'll get going now…see you guys are busy." He dismissed himself and Kirlia in teleportation.

Dereece looked at Joey dancing his heart out, a smile creeping onto him. "Well, I guess that solves that problem, too."

Duncan turned away in disinterest. "Good for you."

"Aha~! Feels _awesome_ to be back in business again! But really though…" Much to Dereece's surprise, Joey stopped his dancing and turned the music off. He faced his team with a serious disposition. "You know, I actually learned a lesson from all this. It's never wrong to live your life and party hard till you die. Gotta practice what you preach, am I right?" he chuckled. "But also, sometimes…it's okay to put the tunes down and smell the roses…maybe not _all_ the time. But, you know, it's always nice to hear some other things around you, too." He turned his head down towards Tympole. "It's not tunes…but it's something I can groove to."

Tympole happily flopped. "Bupta!"

"Now then, come everybody!" He hit the play button again, starting up at the chorus. He shimmied his way through his allies. "We have a week's worth of booty to make up for! Stride like you own it!"

Dereece held up an index finger. "Um, Captain? Aren't you forgetting something?"

Joey raised a brow. He looked in the direction where Dereece was pointing towards looked downstream. In the distance, waves were splashing as many fish were swimming for their lives from Gyarados' silhouette bashing through logs and branches. His roars were loud and ferocious.

"Oh…" he shrugged. "Meh, we'll get him on the way back. Oh! That reminds me! I know a great field we can all shimmy through as a shortcut!"

"Bupta~!" Tympole cheered.

Dereece and Duncan looked at each other and went silent as they followed their dancing leader, seeing nothing but his behind shaking all the way into the sunset with the tadpole frolicking beside him.

* * *

"So what's the status?"

Jefferey's branch of the Cambire Foundation was hard at work. He stood in front of a machine that looked similar to a pod with green bubbling liquid inside. In the center of the containment was the Z-Ring and crystal that were attached to wires that detected its energy output.

An employee was looking through a holographic screen, showing wavelengths of energy that seemed to have gone drastically higher. "Sir, there's an 87% increase since last time. The theory was correct all along."

Jefferey stood in front of the pod, his hands behind his back as he investigated the bizarre stone The Freaks had sent in a short while back. It's been two weeks, and even from day three, his patience was as thin as paper. But unlike Charlotte, he was showing self-control over the results.

Eliza walked up to his side, arms behind her back as well. "Mr. Bistro, I trust that we're on schedule for this, right?" She handed him a steaming cup of coffee. He accepted it with his gloved hand.

Thanks to the gloves, the heat from the hot cup didn't directly burn his hand. Though it was kinda harsh to the touch. He took a small sip to quench his energy levels. The sting of piping hot coffee ran down his throat to his stomach. He could've been seen smacking his lips at the effort he took to keep his subordinates from knowing his tongue was burning.

"Don't worry. This isn't taking much longer, Eliza." He sat the coffee off to a metal plate, his eyes still on the prize ahead. "So, how is the production still going?"

Eliza dutifully saluted. "Sir, the recruits are cooperating as of now. The production of the berries has also been at a stable rate. However, there's been a 6% demand increase for Super Potions, and a 4% increase for Hyper Potions. There's also the education program for volunteers outside the foundation that's been getting substantially high."

It was bound to happen in Jefferey's case; he knew it was coming. He and Arthur were aware of how much the Cambire Foundation has been growing and gaining names everywhere. To someone like Arthur, it was a steppingstone and a great deal to a man who was very trustworthy. However, to someone who had a more strict mindset like Jefferey, he wanted room. Inwardly he was worrying with how much land the Cambire Foundation would have left until they would have to compensate with the populace needing to rely on them. He was more than pleased to know he would be able to provide for all, but the supplies and the territory would have to be sorted out at a later date.

"I see…set a date this week so we can have a meeting with Arthur about the education programming. We've recently learned some new methods to help the Trainers."

"Sir." Eliza dutifully straightened herself and turned away. She walked out the door as it slid shut.

Looking back at the doors to find Eliza gone, Jefferey sighed to himself. "…she always makes my coffee too hot." He snickered. "Always keeping me on my toes I see…"

"Sir, shall we begin the next test?" an employee asked.

He turned to him. "Please do." He faced the pod once more, eyes narrowing. In the background, the lights brightened around the containment to make it illuminate brighter. _'We have to discover what secrets these things are capable of. As far as we know…the future of Pokémon could depend on it.'_

The employees increased the output, causing the stone and crystal alike to dully shone inside the liquid.

* * *

In the far reaches of Earth Land's deserts, it was quiet. In the depths of the valleys of sand dunes, a crack in space was seen. It chipped off, revealing hints of a dimensional pull. Something inside cried out on the other end that echoed into the desert night sky.

* * *

 **Well, here you have it, one more chapter for ole 2019. I know I didn't update at all in November, but I was focusing on** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **, and I still am. I just wanted to get this chapter out so you guys weren't deprived for so long. Still though, this year regarding my Fanfiction in general, I've been slacking really hard. I should've been updating like once a week on a single story so I could be getting like 100 or so updates a year. I know in 2016, I think my record was 120…but now my chapters have been getting twice as long, and my pacing has been dropping. I have** _ **really**_ **got to get myself back in writing shape!**

 **I will also apologize if this chapter was a little more on the last side of things. I know many of you were expecting something like Sophie since she's partially the focus this time. But I wanted to get this comedic backlash out of the way for The Freaks since they also are a part of this. You could say this was another Joey episode, but I wanted to make this one more or less…semi-developmental, sort of speak. You can say it was a filler, yet it wasn't. But bottom line here was that this was how I feel Joey should have caught his 5** **th** **Pokémon, Tympole. And for those who know or are familiar with Slovakian, I apologize in advance. I got Google translate to work with, in no way am I a pro at speaking in general.**

 **With Tympole's personality and language, I was having a really hard time with what to do. If I didn't make something of Tympole, he'd just have a bland personality. So I thought 'what if I made him speak a different language for comedic relief?', and this was what I got. Normally I would have parentheses and the translation to English like I did with Sophie, but I chose not to just to keep everyone on their toes. You can also say that this is another part of Joey's trait that Tympole personifies: Interpretation.**

 **So anyways, guys, now Joey has his 5** **th** **Pokémon, and it looks like we have a little something happening with Ultra Beasts. Plus, the Cambire Foundation and Council are making plans that'll be coming up. Stay tuned!**

 **So if I don't update before New Years, have a happy holidays guys, and stay safe!**


	40. A Night to Remember

The dawn rays seared over the horizon. These rays illuminated the atmosphere, and to many an early start.

Along the morning rays, the light of the sun beamed down on blue tiles to slanted roofs that bordered into a large square shape. This perimeter still held shadows onto the buds and flowers that have yet to bloom. They were still dormant, much like others around. The beautiful garden had a clear fountain flowing from a large pipe that levered into a flowing stream; the sound was so calm it could make even a Tauros stand still. The dormant garden was a land of tranquility.

Wooden pillars connected to wall-less halls that went all around. This was there people would be able to step outside and smell the roses. Yet here, it's where a man was sitting calmly, sipping green tea from a porcelain white cup. He soon had his fill and pulled the cup away, breathing out steam to indicate it was hot.

The man adorned a hot pink robe with a magic seal on it, along with what looked like incantations of words related to something that went vertically down the back. He seemed like a man in his mid to late 30's, perhaps a little older. He soon noticed a faint clad of sandals from behind.

"You sure took your sweet time."

The comment was to someone who had arrived. He was a man who rivaled his age, but unlike his wave brown hair tied in a low ponytail, his dirty blonde hair was long and went down to his mid-back. His robe was a bright blue with a red magic seal on it. On it were incantations in black with white outlines that went vertically downwards.

"Good morning, Captain." The man politely walked over, minding to step around the teacup. "Sorry, seems that time almost slipped by me again."

Both sat down on either end of the gameboard. On each piece were letters and syllables for their little game of shogi. The man who had arrived scratched his head. "So I really have to be this side again?"

"You snooze you lose." The fellow Captain started.

The dirty blonde Captain chuckled. "Yes, and those who sleep dream too much, I know. Now let's see…" He started moving a piece forward.

The Captain hummed as he inspected the gameboard and the first move. Swaying his index finger, he slipped his piece on the far right forward. "So, things settling down on your end I see?"

The guest cheesily grinned as he moved another frontman up. "One could say that. It's hard getting quality sleep anymore. Especially with these past two months throwing everyone off."

The Captain plopped another piece forward. "Yeah, can't really blame anyone around here. Can't even begin to tell you the hassle the ole committee's making. Why I've heard some of them have made outlandish propositions to deal with this…" He took a breather to sip from his tea again, sighing heavily. "But, as you can imagine, it would have to come to a majority vote. With so many opinions going around about this cause, makes you wonder if we're even able to perform efficiently as a Council. Your branch's hanging in there, I presume?"

The guests kept his eyes on the prize, the prize being his front piece finally claiming his enemy's piece. "Yes. All is well…for now."

A short silence fell between them as their game resumed. The Captain got to the counter with taking the next piece. The other Captain squinted and rubbed his chin, contemplating his next move.

"So…you've heard about Shiin yet?" The Captain prompted. "Haven't heard from him since he was sent on that mission."

"You know that's a top-class information. Not even us Captains are permitted to speak about it. You never know who's listening in on us."

The Captain chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Just curious is all." He moved another piece. "Still, knowing him, he's probably taking his sweet time getting to there. You know how old-fashioned he is with his ways. If I were to guess, he'd walk there to avoid suspicion."

"That's a good point. All trains and monorails leaving Pergrande Kingdom have to be accounted for. If one had investigate skills, they could use magic or a timelapse spell to see who was on there."

"Suppose it can't be helped then." The Captain moved another piece, claiming yet another one. "In any case, Shiin takes his job seriously; more so than any of us. We'll here from him sooner or later. Now, who's turn was it again?"

"It's my turn." The visiting Captain reached for his piece next, just as the sun's rays began peeking over the tiled roofs onto the eloquent garden.

* * *

A new morning in Earthland, various songbirds chirping starting the day. Amongst the few birds were scattered Pidgey and Fletchling, whose tunes rivaled that to the eloquence the Earthland birds had. This melody stretched below the canopies, beneath the trunks where healthy trees grew.

As Pokémon were awakening from their nighttime slumber, some of the younger and energetic creatures were roused from their sleep. Groups of Scyther had already started hunting in packs. Poochyena were barking at each other over the amount of berries they had stashed. Amongst these guys of instances, at a large base of a tree, three Seedot dropped down from the branches. They yawned loudly and began looking around for any herbs and plants to eat.

As they looked around, one of the Seedot stopped and noticed something peculiar at the base of their tree. It tilted his head at the figment.

Amongst the shrubs and bushes, there was a cloak surrounding something – or rather someone inside. Curious of its new findings, it hopped on over to get a better look. He noticed the cloak didn't cover what looked like sandals. The Seedot nudged its head against the wood and felt it stir. The sudden movement and a moan caused it to back away as a part of the underbrush was moving to reveal a large creature. In a hurry it hopped away to join its friends.

Now awake, the cloaked individual shook his head and opened his eyes. He revealed his blue-emerald eyes and noticed the unfamiliar treenut waddling off in a hurry. _'I should've been able to sense its magic from a distance.'_ He cursed himself, but forgot something important. _'That's right. These creatures don't use magic. It's harder to detect them without giving off some kind of signature.'_

He shook his head, dismissing his first thoughts upon wakening. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that had a dial on it. A green magic seal appeared on it, making his cloak's camouflage turn to a solid brown. He crossed his right arm over his left, feeling a nice pull on it. He counted to ten in his mind, and once done reversed it, putting his left arm over his right to get that same stretch.

A tweeting got his attention above. Looking up, he saw a Butterfree that had sprouted from its slumber as well. It chimed as it lifted off the branch and fluttered over his head. Shaking his head, he chose to remain vigilant. _'I should be there soon. Another few days according to the stars that I read last night. Shouldn't be long now.'_

He took off, making sure he remained as quiet and distant from the forest dwellers as possible. But the Butterfree that fluttered overhead continued its way in the same direction.

* * *

Further west with the sun having risen long day, the day in the Fiore time zone was close to ten. In the Cambire Foundation, Arthur rubbed his Stoutland's head, making the dog pant in glee at the attention. The CEO, however, was looking over the paperwork and the charts that were handed in earlier, until he got a knock at the door.

"Yes? You may enter."

The door slid open, allowing Marie to enter on her own accord. "President."

Arthur smiled. "Ah, Marie. Excellent timing. I was just about to call you about this new progress chart I was given." He raised a brow. "Our sales are up another 5% compared to last week, especially with Poke Balls…anyways, is there something you've wanted?"

Marie nodded. "Yes, sir. It's Mr. Bistro, sir. He's here to see you."

Stepping away for a minute, Marie allowed passage for Jefferey to enter the room with hands behind his back. He walked up to the CEO's desk, while Arthur seemed morally placated. "Salutations, Arthur." He greeted.

"Jefferey. It's nice to see another familiar face around here." He chuckled collectively. "I was beginning to wonder if you hid yourself in a closet from me."

Jefferey reciprocated the chuckle. "It's good to hear you're as modest as ever, Arthur. I apologize for not arranging any personal meetings sooner. As you know, I've been…preoccupied as of late."

Arthur hunched over his desk, folding his fingers over his hands and rested his chin on them. "Yes, I remember that. How long's it been since the project had gone underway?"

"About 18 days." He walked closer, reaching into his jacket for a clipboard. He passed it over to Arthur, who accepted and looked at the notes with curiosity.

"What's this?"

"It's a stockpile of the data we've collaborated with the device we've been working on. The Z-Ring and the Z-Crystals involve share a unique synchronization with one another. When my team and I were researching the power levels, we've noticed a significant spike in it when the crystal was in direct contact with the stone. It's safe to assume these two have a similar trait like a Key Stone and Mega Stones."

Arthur's brow furrowed as he kept reading the notes. He was seeing a lot of paragraphs and collective words gathered around. Not just that, but there were Pokémon listed along with Trainers who had various attacks, and the power measured with each one.

"For some reason, the stones also seem to align with Trainers and Pokémon specifically." Jefferey added. "In other words…"

Footsteps closed in behind, revealing Marie. "In other words, this was an intention for those two species, you say?"

Jefferey firmly nodded at her. "Correct. If what Fairy Tail's members at the time said were valid, that means a Trainer and his Pokémon had those in possession when they arrived here. Whether it's a unique item or not isn't the issue here. What's I'm trying to say is…"

Arthur sat the clipboard down gently, finishing what was spoken. "…that it's an artifact from our world then. I see…" He put a hand to his chin, driving himself into deep contemplation.

"But an item like this hasn't been recorded in much of the regions we've had vast knowledge of for years. And with the variety of Trainers that are from our world still pouring around, the likelihood of another Z-Ring is uncertain. But we know it's meant for battle; that's what the tests have concluded."

"Well, we could start asking the Trainers about Z-Rings and what their input is." Marie suggested, turning towards Arthur. "Mr. President, what do you think?"

Arthur clasped his hands together again. He knew it would make some sense. It would help getting to know more of these artifacts if there were more of them. But he didn't indulge on it any longer than needed. "I think this conversation has reached its own conclusion. Don't you think?"

"Sir?" Jefferey raised a brow.

Arthur sat back in his chair, petting his Stoutland's head again. "Jefferey, we've now uncovered a small mystery on us that you've taken weeks to solve. What this means to man and Pokémon can bring a bigger connection to Fiore and everyone else alike. But I think while we are right to presume this may be from our world, I'd rather _not_ waste resources knowing it could lead to a power struggle. May I remind you of our recent setbacks with Alvarez?"

They both drew at what he meant. If they kept talking about the matter, odds were that others would want this power. It could spell mayhem even. Though that may not be the case, Arthur was thinking for the best.

Marie bowed. "Yes, sir. Excuse us."

Jefferey lowered his head. "If you insist, I'll put the project aside. Do you wish for me to at least preserve it for the time being?"

"Sure. Now, if you both excuse me…" He reached over towards a wine glass. He pulled it closer and used his other hand to drip a steady stream of red wine that gave the glass a fresh sheen. "I believe that it's time for my wine break." He held up the glass. "Would any of you care to join me?"

Marie's brow twitched, while Jefferey pinched the bridge of his nose is dismay.

* * *

"Stunfisk, **Thunder Shock!** "

An electric shockwave streaked through the air past a Swellow, barely missing it and dispersed before it got too high. The Swellow in turn had lost momentum on her target and glared daggers down at Stunfisk, who chuckled. "What's the matter, lasse? A little _shocked_?" he teased.

With an opening, a Tranquill cawed as he looked at the Swellow and readied for the command. "Now Tranquill, **Steel Wing!** "

"I shall obey!" Tranquill's wings glowed metallic gray and he blindsided Swellow with her guard down. Smacking her with his right wing, he watched her plummet to the ground beside Weepinbell, much to Jet's shock.

"Swellow, get up!" Jet, Swellow's trainer, couldn't believe it. But he looked up at Tranquill and Stunfisk, gnashing his teeth together. _'Damn, they got me there.'_

"Weepinbell, cover for her!" Droy reached out his arm while holding onto a bucket of fried chicken with his free hand. He had a half-eaten leg in his grip. " **Vine Whip!** "

Weepinbell's leaves arose and two vines shot out from beneath the pits. They darted directly into Stunfisk, fast enough to make him scoff angrily. "Oi! What's with the _lash out_ here?!"

"Stunfisk isn't good on Grass-types, I forgot about that." Dereece grunted. "Captain, what do we do?"

Joey furrowed his brow in contemplation. He was taking this seriously, but the cheers of the other guild members was throwing off his thinking game.

It was another day in the guild, and everyone was firing on full cylinders today. Rather than train in the backyard or in the forest like they would normally do for their battles, Dereece suggested they'd switch things up and battle other Trainers. With the guild having a plethora of contestants, it was hard to pick out just one. Fortunately they found Team Shadow Gear present, so they obliged to the calling card. And, as one would expect, the guild was putting their Jewel on it. Or rather Cana was.

"Yeah, c'mon ya Freaks! Let's get'em!" Cana held up a booze bottle, her shout causing her lounging Liepard to twitch her ears.

"Man, I haven't seen Jet and Droy this worked up in a long while." Gray commented. "What's gotten into them?"

"Beats me, but I know Joey and Dereece ain't going down without a fight." Natsu cheekily grinned. He was so anxious to get in there and show them what for.

Picking up on this, Lucy shot him a look. "Not yet, Natsu. You can get a turn _after_ they're done."

Swellow shot high into the air, with Tranquill hot on her tail. Even with Tranquill's flying speed, he was still coming up short to Swellow's aerodynamics. Swellow suddenly arched in a circle, coming up from behind Tranquill with glowing wings. He barely dodged the wing slap and almost lost his momentum. That's when Swellow backwinged Tranquill and sent him sailing.

Jet beamed with a toothy grin. "Ha! You see that? You guys aren't the only ones who've been busting their butts off!"

"Yeah! We've gotten our Taillow and Bellsprout to evolve now! We're not pushovers like you think we are!" Droy added.

Joey and Dereece raised brows at their remarks. To be perfectly honest they didn't even know who in the hell they were. But they didn't need to know that.

"Now let's make Levy proud!" Jet punched the air. "Swellow, focus on Tranquill! Use **Aerial Ace!** " Swellow instantly took off in a blitz across the sky after Tranquill.

' _Swellow's too fast. I gotta cushion the blow!'_ Joey balled his fists. "Tranquill, block it with **Steel Wing!** " Tranquill used his metal wings and folded them over one another. Swellow made impact moments later with the Steel-type move, but compared to how soft and heavy it should've been, Tranquill only felt a gruff buff and pried his wings apart, knocking Swellow away.

Jet gasped in shock.

"Weepinbell, use **Growth!** " Droy commanded. Weepinbell's body had green waves going around her body, which increased her Attack and Special Attack. She was looking starving at Tranquill while he was distracted.

"Dereece, coverfire!" Joey commanded.

"You've got it! Stunfisk, **Mud Bomb!** "

"Oi! Over here ya overgrown pepper lasse!" Stunfisk flicked his front, projecting a massive brown ball from his beak-like mouth at Weepinbell. Weepinbell was too distracted on Tranquill to act fast enough. The next thing she knew, she was hammered with an eruption of brown muck and dirt.

Droy grabbed his hair, avertedly dropping his chicken bucket in the panic. His screams got louder from his next accident.

"Droy, focus man! I need help here!" Jet protested.

' _Now's our chance!'_ Joey didn't waste a beat when pointing ahead. "Tranquill, give them an **Air Cutter!** "

"Yes, Master!" Tranquill spread his wings and flapped them, firing off crescents if light blue waves that twirled into Swellow and Weepinbell. Swellow was too close and she paid the price by being blown down onto Weepinbell, who was still blinded by mud to see the super-effective attack fly into him.

The result was a large explosion that encompassed the area around the two. It was most definitely a critical hit.

When it all cleared, it revealed Weepinbell and Swellow, both sprawled along the ground in unconscious states. "Aw, no~!" Jet slumped down to his knees, quivering in despair. "Really…?"

"We lost!" Droy moped.

" _Boom_! That's how we roll, baby!" Joey snapped his fingers, firing finger pistols with a wink. "Up top!" He gave Dereece a high-five, to which he gladly accepted.

"We did it!" he replied. "Nice work, Stunfisk!"

As Tranquill was doing victory lapse over Joey's head, Jet and Droy were visibly crestfallen over their efforts being in vain. They recalled Weepinbell and Swellow to their Poke Balls. "Guess we've gotten a ways to go, huh? Man, can't believe they got us like that. How are we gonna face Levy now?"

"Well I'm just glad she wasn't here to see this." Droy sighed. He was still upset about the loss – of chicken – but it could've been worse like Jet said. Best to chock this up as experience.

"That was a manly battle!" Elfman cheered.

"Oh please, that was just fools messing around. If anything, those guys didn't take it seriously, which is why they lost." Evergreen chastised.

"Well I say they both put up a great fight. What do you think, Rufflet?" Lisanna turned towards Rufflet, who was too busy picking underneath his wing with her beak.

"Hm? Sorry, did you say something?" He asked.

Lisanna giggled. "Oh it's nothing." She watched Jet and Droy shake hands with the competitors they've lost to. "Still, I'm amazed. He's gotten a lot stronger since the demonstration events a few months back, right?"

A hiccup came from Cana, the drunkard slyly smirking. "Yeah, whatever you say girl. Meanwhile, betting pool's all closed ladies and gents! Come to mama!" She toothily smirked as she dragged the sacs of Jewels closer to her torso to count. It had to at least be 30,000 Jewel. That should cover her drinking tab…for the hour.

Liepard rolled her eyes at her Trainer's antics. She laid beside her, tail swaying out of entertainment's sake. She was completely oblivious to the blue cat with a small fish tied in a red bow. From the looks of the fish it was still alive.

' _Okay, you can do this Happy. You can do this…'_ He swallowed a lump; one so big in fact it could've been mistaken for a hairball. His paws were starting to get sweaty just from the proximity between himself and Liepard, but shook his head. _'No, you can't lose to that dog. You're the top cat! You're number one!'_

Taking a deep breath, Happy approached Liepard with the fish. The first thing he did was bow his head and held it out to her without looking. "L-L-Look, Liepard! See?!" he shouted. "I-I got you a yummy fish that you can snack on!"

Liepard looked completely disinterested. It was only the foul smell of fish that got her to look in Happy's general direction. The blue cat's heart nearly leaped out of his chest when he saw her face his direction. Upon seeing the fish's face within her proximity, she was on the verge of flinching. It smelled as bad as it was salty.

"Um…hello?" She awkwardly questioned the cat beside her. "Happy? Do you mind…?"

"O-Oh, no! You see, I, uh…I got this for-!" In a flash, the fish was snatched from his claws by talons. Happy gawked at the thief. "Hey! That's my fish!"

Rufflet fluttered away, the fish in his mouth. He chuckled to himself at his chances of a full belly.

"Get back here!" Activating his Aera Magic, Happy glided off after Rufflet. "Cat's need just as much fish as birds! You stick to worms!"

Liepard blinked. She watched Happy chase around the small bird that had something he wanted to give, but chose to dismiss it. She shrugged and let it slide. Though from Carla crossing her arms, the Exceed seemed very disappointed. "How pathetic."

Walking away from the battlefield, Joey had Tranquill resting on his forearm. He seemed pretty gleeful at his win. "That wasn't so bad. Nice job there, buddy." He heard Tranquill purr like a cat, but he eyerolled towards another direction, one that made his smile widen and his cheeks rosy. "S-So what did you guys think? Was I awesome?!"

Joey's tone was surprisingly quipped and loud, but it was expected because of whom he was talking to. Nic stood beside Greninja, along with Vanessa and her Delphox. Erza was definitely accounted for with Aegislash. All three and their Pokémon standing there was giving Joey a salivating mouth. It was taking so much of his willpower to keep himself from sweating bullets.

Retaining his casual demeanor in front of his fan, Nic prompted a grin. "That was good. You and Tranquill did a nice job out there." He turned towards Dereece and Stunfisk. "Same with you guys, too. You guys kept up a good pace."

Greninja nodded. "That's putting it mildly."

Joey's toothy smile widened. "T-Thank you so much, Nic-senpai! I knew I couldn't let you down!" He looked at Vanessa, rubbing the back of his head with his free left arm. "Vanessa-senpai, what did you think?"

Vanessa appeared modestly subtle. "You looked very concrete and focused out there."

"Yes, quite so. Your command time was efficient." Delphox noted.

Joey inhaled a squeal. He felt so blessed to have gotten recognition from his idols for all his hard work he put to getting to this point. He certainly had a right to feel pleased with himself, after all the training he puts in every morning. He certainly felt in no less than a good mood.

"You both should be proud." Erza pointed out. Though her expression turned to a more subtle one as Jet and Droy were slumped over as they walked pass them; Droy in turn heading to the bar to ask for some comfort food. "Especially with putting those two in line."

"Indeed." Aegislash agreed, turning towards Erza. "Erza, shall we partake next?" Aegislash was more or less enthused with the need to battle. It has been a while since she last quarreled. She was aching almost as much as her Trainer. She almost considered it a bad habit.

"A fine idea, Aegislash." Erza prompted.

"Hold on guys, we still haven't decided who's going up next!" Wendy quickly intervened.

Elfman stepped up to the battlefield, his fists cracking. "Don't worry about _one_ contestant, Wendy. As a man, I have to show them how a _real_ battle is done!" He cocked a glance at everyone else. "Alright, who wants a piece of this?"

A foot stamped on the ground, sizzling the dirt to char. Natsu's entire body was on the verge of flames as he had a Poke Ball out with a toothy look. "You didn't have to ask! If it's a fight you want, you got it!" He looked over at the other contestants. "Hey, Wendy!"

Wendy perked at her name called. "Y-yes?"

"You wanna battle? There's room over here."

She nodded vigorously. "Right, I'll be right over." She moved from Erza's side as Carla watched with a grin. She seemed delighted to see Wendy get so hyped to battle. The Sky and Fire Dragon Slayers stood beside each other with Poke Balls out. "Okay, all set!"

By Elfman's side, Kinana stepped up with Seviper. The latter was slithering up already for battle as her Trainer prompted a smile. "Would it be alright if we joined in, Elfman? Seviper's getting antsy. She could probably use a good battle." She looked at Seviper, who bared her fangs.

Elfman smirked. "Way to be a man, Kinana. I like that!"

Evergreen pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. "A man, seriously…"

"Alright, let's go~!" Natsu threw a Poke Ball, along with Wendy. Together they brought out Tyrunt and Amaura. Elfman in turn brought out Rhyhorn, whose colossal weight caused the ground to shudder. His roar echoed as he glared at his opponents. "Fooooes!" He groaned.

Tyrunt's nostrils snorted steam. "Tyrunt gonna chip you down to size!"

"Let's give our best, too, Amaura!" Wendy cheered on. Amaura nodded, spreading her legs against Seviper and Rhyhorn.

All at once, the four Pokémon charged at each other. But as their head-on battle began, the other, mainly Erza, found herself curious about something. "Joey?"

Taking a moment to look away from Rhyhorn's foot missing Tyrunt, he blinked. "Uh, yes?"

"I'm curious, has Duncan been around lately? Lately I've heard he's been with you. It's strange considering he's often all by himself."

Joey looked down at the ground. "Oh, that. Yeah, we told Duncan we weren't doing any work today, so he told me that he was going to the Magic Library for a bit."

Vanessa raised a brow. "The Magic Library? That's a new one. Did he say why he needed to go there?"

Dereece pit a hand to his chin, rolling his eyes about. "He didn't say really. All he said was that he wanted to 'look at some things'. Pretty sure it has to do with magic." He gave Joey a raised brow. "Pretty ironic from someone who's all Pokémon, huh?"

"Well as long as he gets back soon, I guess we won't have to worry." Joey said. "He brought with him an Escape Rope and some Repels just to be sure."

"Well I guess we're all busy today." Nic perked at what he said. It rung a bell that made him alarmed. "Say, Vanessa. Where's Sophie?"

His younger sister turned to him. "She's a little busy at the moment. She's off in the outskirts training with Rufus on how to concentrate on her magic." Her aura was dilating. She could sense her from here. Right now she was picking up a lot of strain and dizziness. She could tell Sophie was hard at work, but she chose to not comment beyond that. "But anyways, it's best that we leave her be."

Nic turned back towards the battle. "If you say so…" He and everyone watched Rhyhorn get pushed back on his heels by a borealis blast from Amaura's mouth, shoving him pass Seviper as the viper and Tyrunt charged at each other with fangs.

"By the way." Dereece asked Joey. "How do you think Duncan is doing? He's been gone for a few hours."

Joey shrugged. "Who knows? But he seemed pretty interested. Wonder if he'll come back with something?"

* * *

Walls upon walls of books of literature. Many with hard covers, and genres that spread as far up as the ceiling, which wasn't even visible. Duncan himself was caught a little surprised with how far up the library went. There were even lower levels that made it seem like there wasn't a bottom to be seen. He had to admit that it was bigger than the library in Astral. But he was above pointless commentary. He didn't come here to gauche on books and the literature. He came for his own reason.

"Let's see…" He furrowed his brow at the index cards he had on hand. On them were certain genres and custom labels that he was looking for. He looked up in the general direction of where these genres would be. When he found a general idea of where they were, he walked over towards the nearest platform and waited to see what happened. Rather than being teleported like he imagined, he found the ovular circumference slowly levitating skywards like an elevator. He quickly got over this and chose to remain his sights on the task.

Once the platform came to a stop, he found himself at eye level with the genre section on his index card. He read all the titles as the platform was slowly sliding left, slow enough to allow him to process them.

As the genres rolled along, his mind was starting to sway off to something that brought him to here. He saw the image of his kendo stick breaking during his fight on the Alvarez ship. It still kinds stung that the years that stick worked it could barely hold up in a world with more durable objects. Even tree branches and metal poles were still not enough, and he's tried those with his Holding Magic. He needed a better method to control that magic. Or rather, he had to think of an alternative to defend himself.

He's looked at other kendo sticks, but he knew better than to waste jewel on an experience he learned from. And he couldn't rely on getting metal rods that can be used for holding up his curtains. The more he thought about this, the more stressed he felt. It brought him back some very…malicious thoughts.

Another vision of Sophie's final goodbye caused him to almost miss reading a book. He had to make sure that nothing like that happened again. _'Right here.'_

He reached for two different books; both were a few spaces apart from each other. He took both off the shelves and looked at the covers. The one in his right hand was a midnight blue hardcover. On it was a golden magic seal with a lacrima crystal printed on it. On the cover it read: _"_ _ **The Fundamentals of Lacrima**_ _"_. In the other hand was a similar book but with a red hardcover. On it read: _"_ _ **Ornate Weapons**_ _"_.

It had to do for the time being. Taking one more look around, he saw no one was looking, he decided to open the lacrima book first. He saw on the first page there was lightning lacrima, and a few pages later there were fire lacrima. The pages and the information they had were something he needed. He closed the book and held both close as the platform descended down towards the check-out.

* * *

The soft winds of the meadow flowed gently like water, scattering petals of nearby flowers into the next field over. The tranquility and the sounds of nature were something anyone would enjoy. It was a place of zen.

"Now then, shall we try this gain, Sophie?"

Sophie inhaled a deep calming breath at Rufus' words. She repositioned her stance as Araquanid stood beside her for security. He wanted to hiss and the Absol that opposed him, but he used better judgement for Sophie's sake.

After a long minute, the blonde bust opened her eyes. "Okay…I think I'm ready."

Rufus tilted his hat forward. "Then let's try this again. First, place your finger to your forehead for a focal point." Sophie did that. "Next, envision the memory of a magic. Any magic you may have seen."

Sophie kept her breathing steady as her head was searching through what memories she had available. For the time being she was low on a few. But she eventually picked Vanessa's teal aura. A red magic seal slowly manifested behind here. A helix of golden energy was whirling around her.

"Now, use that memory as a base. Envision another magic, and picture what you want those two to do with each other."

Sophie lowered her head to think a little harder. She's been through this before, she should know better by now. It was a matter of molding two magical properties with different elements. After seeing Rufus' countless examples, it had to be based on variety. She took a big chest's worth of breath inward and exhaled to clear her head one more time. She pictured seeing Natsu's dragonfire from the other day and opened her eyes. The chain of memories came out to being teal aura flares that snaked around Sophie towards Rufus. He held firm as his Absol came through the teal lashes with a brazen slash of glowing white claws.

Araquanid got as opening. His maw inside the water bubble glowed and elongated fangs for a Bug Bite. He lunged after Absol, but missed. She rushed after Araquanid with glowing fangs of her own. Sophie swiped her arm to direct the aura fire in front of Absol, which interceded her path and made her slide away.

Rufus smirked leerily. "Good. Now then… **Forget**." Just as quick as he memorized the spell, the teal flares dispersed, nullifying the spell Sophie thought up. "That was a better attempt than last time. You're managing better focal control compared to the last time I've been here."

Sophie's memory chain faded, her strength depleted. She's been at this for hours, when it felt like minutes of hell. "Hang on, I'm here." Araquanid rushed beside her, his head a little too close to her for comfort. "Sophie, you okay?"

Sophie weakly smiled. "I'm fine, Araquanid. Thank you for the concern…wait, Araquanid-!"

The water spider's bubbled fell into direct contact with Sophie's face. She was holding her breath as Araquanid was offering to cool her off after her hard training. As generous as it was, she couldn't breathe. And she liked breathing. After nearly drowning, she was able to pry herself out with a hefty gasp. Her face and hair were waterlogged with a red rosy face. It took a few seconds for her to regain her composure. "…thank you, Araquanid. I feel so refreshed." She deadpanned with a sigh.

Rufus walked up to her with Absol. "Concentrating harshly takes up more magic. Luckily, we both have an abundance of that. But, still, for what it's worth. I recommend you keep it steady for the time being."

Sophie slouched up and patted herself down. "Thank you, Rufus, and…Absol?" She got a nod in confirmation. "Sorry, I'm still learning names. I'll be sure to remember them."

Rufus chuckled. "It's no trouble. We've covered all the basics for the past two weeks now. For a mage of your caliber, you should be able to handle much on your own."

The lighter blonde sheepishly rubbed her left arm. "Well, if you say that I can, I guess it wouldn't be fair to disappoint you." She got an idea. "So, what's next? I think I'm ready for the next phase."

"I think you must've forgotten what I said just now. Should you pace yourself right, and you should be fine." Rufus backlashed.

He unintentionally caused a mental leakage in Sophie's ego. Her eagerness from before started simmering away when Rufus mentioned her forgetting. She looked down in a flustered manner, biting her lower lip. "I, um…I-I didn't mean it like that…" She looked back up. "I was just saying that…maybe we could try again after a short break is all."

Rufus tipped his hat. "I can understand your willingness, but I think we've both reached our limit here today." He recalled Absol towards her Poke Ball. "I have to return to the guild soon. I am needed for a job that requires my magic." His smile softened onto her. "But make no mistake, dear cousin, you're doing just fine as you are. Don't strain yourself on what you forget. Just memorize and preserve, that's what you've taught me after all."

Sophie looked down at the flowing grass beneath her. She knew Rufus was right, but she couldn't help but ponder about that. It was something ideological to her. She chose disregard it and warmly smile. "Okay, you're right. Thanks again, Rufus. It means a lot."

"It's no trouble. So then, I'll be sure to visit again within a week, if not a job brings me here sooner. Tata for now." He walked off, heading towards the direction of Magnolia's train station.

Araquanid glared daggers at Rufus' back. He looked superbly annoyed in his wavy water bubble meant anything. "Tch, I still don't like that guy. Always so high-noted. Sophie, am I right? Sophie?"

Sophie blinked, nearly missing what Araquanid was saying. "Hm? Oh, sorry, Araquanid. Um…I-I suppose. But you know, he's still my cousin."

Araquanid fell silent. Sophie looked a little preoccupied with something, but he couldn't pinpoint it. "Let's just go back home. Thanks for the help today." With a cheery grin, Sophie withdrew her Araquanid and took in one more breath of fresh air. She watched Rufus' frame fade into the distance.

Watching him go, it was like missing an opportunity at hand. A chance to learn more. It made her frown. But, knowing what Rufus said, she knew she had to quit for now. Sauntering her own way, she mosied back home…though her expression showed anything but a clear resolve.

* * *

Joey and Dereece wandered through the streets of Magnolia away from the guild for the time being. After the long day they've had with rumbles, bashes, and a lot of other things, it was about time to take a break and step out for a bit. Dereece certainly seemed relieved.

"I almost forgot how rowdy the guild can be. A few times there I thought the whole guild was gonna go flying after that battle." Dereece groaned, his body covered in dirt. "I didn't know Vanessa could keep up with Erza like that."

Joey almost fumbled after catching on. He gave Dereece a twisted stare. "Well _duh_! Who do think this is, Dereece? That's Vanessa-senpai! Of _course_ she can keep up with Erza-senpai! After all, they're sisters-in-law!" He beamed a clutched fist. "Plus, they've wandered through Kalos together with Nic-senpai for a full year before returning to this world. So of course they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses well!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know…" Dereece looked at the char on his sleeve, which came from a deflected Flamethrower. "Still, wouldn't it kill them to hold back a little. That flame deflected off that King's Shield nearly fried my butt off!"

Joey scoffed away from his face with a small pout. "Lucky…"

Dereece shook his head and chose to move on. "Well, anyways, it's been a while since we've seen anyone from the guild since we've worked a lot. We should _probably_ change that, especially after what we went through with Sabertooth and all."

"Oh yeah, about that." Joey snapped up. "I've got this sweet idea for the guild's stage! What if we bought two huge speakers, okay? And we hook them up to the old Boombox? That way, we can party _and_ have battles, for some sick entertainment."

"Well I guess…but how about we wait a little bit, alright? We still gotta cover on our work first."

Joey sighed exasperatedly. He knew he was a party dude, but after his recent "rehab" he knew better than to focus on dancing and parties alone. Though he really wanted to, Dereece had validations. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's head back home and shower up. I call first dibs!"

"You _always_ get first dibs."

"Yeah, because I'm Captain." He beamed in flaunting fashion. "You'll understand someday." He completely disregarded the groan and the shaking head he received from his cohort.

As the two were closing in on their apartment, they spotted someone heading up their avenue in their direction. Their eyes widened as they saw Duncan with a black strap bag on his torso. He looked to be minding his own business until the two rushed up to him.

"Hey, Duncan, you've made it back." Joey waved. "That's good to see. So how was your little trip? Did you bring back souvenirs?" He rubbed his hands expectantly, like he was waiting for something to pop into them.

Instead, all he got was a cold shoulder as Duncan walked between them. "It's fine. No big deal."

"Oh…okay?" Joey quickly bounced back and swiveled around. "So you wanna hear what happened today at the guild?"

Duncan looked down, stopping briefly in disinterest. "If it'll make you happy." He grunted. He personally couldn't care less about what Joey said. But, for his sake, and thinking otherwise, he chose to ventilate.

"Well alright. You missed a whole bunch of battles today. Natsu and Tyrunt were barely able to beat Kinana and her Seviper in a battle." He slid next to Dereece, pointing a thumb to him. "And of course, well, we won our fair share, so big whoop." He zipped upright. "And you wouldn't believe it, Erza and Vanessa had a crazy battle…it was so glorious! I…I could almost cry!" He balled his fists and clutched his teeth at recalling the passionate explosions and cuts that he almost received. Too bad he never got any because Nic and Greninja dispersed them.

"Oi vey…" Dereece groaned.

Duncan stared over his shoulder. It wasn't what Joey said interested him that much. But the last part was what kept him piqued. He quickly gained composure and looked away. "So then…who won?"

Joey raised a brow as he rubbed his head. "Well, it went on so long. At the end, both Aegislash _and_ Delphox collapsed." He noticed that Duncan was completely quiet. His brow furrowed in suspicion. "…something wrong?"

Dereece and Joey looked at each other in question of Duncan's silence. They had a feeling it had to do with not being there, or rather, not battling either one of the strongest; if not _the_ strongest Trainers in the guild. They were aware of his competitive nature, but weren't exactly sure how he'll react.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally raised his head. "…alright then." He continued his trail. "I'm gonna be working on something for a while. Don't wait up or me."

Joey raised a brow. "Um…okay?" He wasn't sure why Duncan was so abrupt, but he had Dereece for consolidation. "Hey buddy, does he seem a little blunt there?"

"I don't know, Captain." He looked at the bookbag hanging by Duncan's side. "But whatever it is, it has to do with his trip. Think it's best we leave him be for now."

Joey pursed his lips together. He was curious about what Duncan got. Now that he thought about it, he wondered what he got, but at the end figured Duncan would push them aside. "Yeah, guess so. He'll tell us when he's ready." He put his hands to his hips. "Besides, I think he might know that, too. We proved we could handle ourselves. The least he owes us is our trust…like the Freaks we are." He snapped his fingers whimsically.

Dereece sighed. "Yeah, I guess we are. Alright, let's call it quits. After that victory, Stunfisk's gonna rave our ears about bad jokes."

As they walked home, the sun was waning towards the western hemisphere.

* * *

Delphox' paw twitched as Max Potion was sprayed on the ligament. She kept her composure as she inhaled and exhaled, the aching from twisting her wand around soon fading away.

"That should do it." Vanessa stood back up and turned towards the trash can, dispensing the medical remedy. She turned towards Delphox and smiled warmly. "You did wonderfully today, Delphox. You've improved."

The humanoid fox humbly smiled. "Thank you. But that's because we trained hard to get this far."

"That's true…" She humbly grinned. "Still, Erza doesn't really know how to hold back. It's amazing how fast she and Aegislash were reading our attacks like that. I have a feeling she won't take a tie lightly the next time."

"Even if you're her sister-in-law?" Delphox giggled.

Vanessa sighed. "Nic, how in the world he found someone like her I wonder…" She pulled out a Poke Ball. "Take a break, Delphox." With the command, Delphox returned to her comfortable Poke Ball to rest. With one matter out of the way, Vanessa turned towards the kitchen. "Now then, where was I?"

She went over towards the kitchen and opened the fridge. Inside she looked at the contents they had. They had a few berries that were served cold, as per how Krookodile likes them. She moved those aside and looked pass the milk. She had to be sure they were in the back somewhere, that's where it was the coldest. But eventually, Arceus behold, her little treasure trove was there. She licked her lips at the firm, ripe, large pairs of lemons that were in a plastic bag. She pulled it out and looked at it in satisfactory.

"Good, they're still fresh." She hummed. "Now then…" She moved towards the sink and got a hand-style juicer out. She got water, a pitcher, and lastly, a small tablespoon of sugar. It's the lack of sugar and more of the sour lemon juice that got Vanessa's taste buds on fire.

"I'm home!"

As she was preparing her signature extra-lemon lemonade, the door to the house opened again. Entering was Sophie, who immediately heard the sound of squishing in the kitchen. "Vanessa?" She walked closer towards the sound. To her relief it was her making lemonade. "So you _are_ home."

Turning around, Vanessa smiled at her roommate. "Sophie, you're back." She sounded mildly relaxed in spite of her curiosity. "You're back sooner than I expected. Did the training go well?"

"Yeah, it went alright." The blonde huffed, walking over to the couch and fell back in relief on the soft cushions. "It took me all day to get the basics without collapsing. I barely managed to contain a new Memory-Make Spell before Rufus called it quits."

Vanessa beamed as she squeezed more lemon juice into the pitcher. "That so? Well then, I suppose you've worked yourself an appetite. Luckily you arrived in time for lemonade."

"Thanks, I could really use that after the hell this has been…wait a minute." She turned an accusing brow. "Vanessa, don't tell me you plan on eating the lemons _after_ you've squeezed everything from them…"

Vanessa's aura could sense Sophie's defense. She was hoping to get away from her this time, but sadly she knew Sophie's memory owned her today. "Is it a crime to love sour food that much?" she chimed.

"It is when it yellows your teeth and the acid burns away at them."

Vanessa lowered her head with a defeated sigh. "I know, I know…" She applied the small tablespoon of sugar into the pitcher and started mixing. Once it was all mixed, she raised the glass to the setting sunlight to see if it was mixed to perfection. It looked heavenly. Smiling in triumph, it turned to a bitter mourning when Vanessa was forced to drop the lemon halves into the lemonade to keep its concentration.

She walked over with a glass for Sophie. She accepted it with a tired smile. "Thank you." She never felt so relieved to have liquid refreshments before in her life. The case with Araquanid was that while she technically could drink it, she'd rather not because it'd smell like spider. In less than ten seconds the glass was already gone, her quenched thirst relieved.

"Seems someone was thirsty." Vanessa chimed.

"Trust me, you have no idea. So then you were at the guild today, right? How was everyone?"

Vanessa sat back on the loveseat, crossing her left leg over her right with folded arms. "Well, Freed and the Thunder God Tribe were busy with guild duties, so they weren't too invested in hanging around. Unless of course you count Evergreen, but everyone knows she just watched Elfman battle."

"Uh-huh…" Sophie paused. "And Elfman is…the muscly one, right?"

"That's right. They say he and Evergreen have a thing going on. It's kinda cute, or at least that's what they say." She thought to after the battle when Elfman lost to Natsu and Wendy, earning a smack by Evergreen's fan. "But, if you ask me, it gets annoying after a while."

Sophie raised a brow. That certainly caught her by surprise. "…um, wow. I never knew you had such opinions on those kinds of relationships, Vanessa."

"It's just a habit. They say one thing but mean another." She sloshed her lemonade around with a frown. "But I prefer someone at least be honest in a relationship. Maybe I'm saying this because I'm so used to Nic and Erza's healthy straightforwardness is all." She lifted the glass and drank from it. Immediately the extra sour and lemon juice in her glass made the back of her tongue tingle. "But again, it's just experience. I wouldn't know considering I've been single all my life."

Experience. For some reason that word caused the mood they had to simmer. Sophie's half-grin turned to a frown at the mention of experience; what it meant to a person. She's been working hard for weeks trying to regain the experience she should have but it's not anywhere near to her satisfaction. Would she ever get the experience back she once had even? She remembered – verbatim even – of Vanessa telling her to worry about who she was. But it doesn't help that people keep bringing up her past actions. Well, okay, some people. It was mainly Rufus answering her questions but it still didn't calm the storm inside her mind. She thought it was crackling lightning, but her composure was as quelled as a tamed sea.

After barely processing what Vanessa said, Sophie almost lost her concentration. "O-Oh, I'm sorry about that. Well, maybe someday, hopefully…" she broke to a nervous giggle to break the tension. It didn't work.

Vanessa saw clean through, though with her aura speaking. She could read Sophie's digression and disinterest growing. She sat her lemonade down on the stand next to her and took on a dignified composure. "Sophie…are you sure your training is going well?"

Sophie's heart thumped at the direct inquiry, but she attempted to sway her. "Yeah. It's fine, I mean it." She stood up. "I'm just tired right now, I really just wanna shower. I think I wanna go on a job tomorrow. I'm actually in the mood to work after all this work we've been through today."

"Sure. We can do a job tomorrow. Just don't push yourself."

Sophie started up the stairs, her hair down and covering her face. But behind her pink lips made a soft grin.

Vanessa looked on with a frown. She knew Sophie was deflecting the pity she's feeling. She didn't have to be a mage to know she was more than a little fatigued. But despite what she knew she felt, she couldn't act on it. She'd probably end up hurting Sophie more than what she already has. She knew it wasn't all her fault, but she wasn't sure exactly how to handle Sophie's little worries. It was just something she would have to get through on her own perhaps.

Without a second thought, she slurped up the rest of her lemonade in one gulp. The sour liquid quenched her esophagus and she moved towards the kitchen to prepare dinner.

* * *

The hot shower water ran its course out of the nozel. Sizzling steam rising from the instant heating. Once the hot sprays hit Sophie's bare skin, all the tension in her muscles was being washed away. She closed her eyes to allow the hot water to get rid of the dirt on her lower-half and around her ears. Some bits stung like the fresh scratches from earlier screw-ups, but the stressing was quick to erase itself as she stood in the shower.

She didn't know why she felt so relieved. Maybe because after the workload she's been putting onto herself recently. That could be it, or maybe _part_ of it. She didn't know anymore. Her brain was throbbing so thinking wasn't a strongpoint she could rely on right now. She just wanted some semblance of relief _something_ could give her.

As the soap suds started pouring down her neck and ample chest, she was withdrawing any feelings she had for the day. She could've probably used something to ventilate some of this anxiety she was getting herself into. Even as the shower and suds were cleaning off her skin, she still found herself standing. With everything she's done she should've collapsed by now.

' _Maybe I should've taken a bath instead…'_ her weakened thoughts digressed to pointlessness. Just that thought alone made her knees quiver, and not because of the shower water hitting nerve points. Why didn't she make a bath instead so she could lay in it? Was it because showers were more convenient and quick? Maybe she was worried about sitting in her own wet dirt, or maybe she'd she be so lost in her little world she may actually forget to turn the water off and flood the bathroom.

Forget. That word struck a stinging chord into her. Remembering, and forgetting. Forgetting and remembering. Those two things were what caused her to squint while staring at the shower nozel. That's all she's been doing for the past few weeks. Just memorizing, and remembering. And yet right now, she just wanted to forget all about that.

If she really did try to forget all about that, would she even remember it then? Her lipstick sugar was starting to stain her teeth. She gnashed them together and had the water bombard the seductive color right out of them. Still, the taste of roses was staining her tongue. She wanted to forget it, but a part of her wanted to keep it; hold it tightly. It was like she didn't want to forget. She couldn't explain it, and she most certainly couldn't tell why. It was just a feeling.

She looked down at the drain, watching as the suds and her makeup were swirling down into black. She thought that's probably what the human mind was like when it was empty and with no conscience. Down to nothing, not even to where you could pull something out of it. If this was a memory right now, it'd be drained away like the cosmetics down the water, and she'd never see them again. It made her heart race.

" _Don't strain yourself on what you forget. Just memorize and preserve, that's what you've taught me after all."_

" _I don't think that's important right now. You find what you like at your own pace. No need to rush these thoughts. I'd think your headaches would only stiffen if you do."_

She remembered what Rufus and Vanessa told her a short while back, those words and syllables etched into her psyche. She couldn't make heads or tails if she should even listen to herself anymore. She knew that they were right, that much was obvious. But this stress wasn't helping her. How was she to move forward without a base-self to begin with? It was all crumbling down like a tower of unstable bricks, and she was underneath it all.

Unable to bare anymore of this contemplative melee, she rested her head against the porcelain tiling as steam and the smell of minty suds filled the shower.

* * *

Dusk filled the sky. It was almost time for another day to end, and with it, everything that's happened. Nic sat with Greninja in a tree just outside the cottage. They were on opposite sides of the trunk and dangled their legs as they watched the rays of yellow and blue in the distance slowly fade to a black.

Neither should really say anything. Rather, they didn't need to. They've been staring at the dusk sunset for a short while now, and it was close to the faintest blue rays showcasing no dark. It was mid-June now, which meant the days were getting longer and the sunsets would be later. It wasn't a big deal to them. They could stay up late to all night for all they cared. But this was a time of tranquility for them.

"…it never gets tiring, doesn't it?"

Greninja knew exactly what Nic meant. He nodded meekly. "Yeah, sure doesn't."

"We haven't seen a sky this clear in a short while. There's always some clouds that blocked out the full picture."

"Yeah…but you don't think it's a bad thing, don't you?" Greninja grinned. "I remember stargazing a lot during our training just past Victory Road. The sky was just beautiful at night."

Nic smiled fondly at those memories. "They sure did." It made him wonder for a moment if he should just open up a portal and drop by the Pokémon League's plateau just to watch those stars. The sunset and sunrises were all nice and all, and they're still something Nic and his Pokémon have taken an appreciation for. He'd be willing to do that too if he wasn't so wrapped up on a certain redheaded wife he now has.

But speaking of stars, that made Nic and Greninja take a step back and look up at the nighttime sky rolling in. They saw the stars twinkling as they were coming into view; two stars directly over the other's head. Their adventure back when Arceus was in peril felt like a long time ago. They couldn't believe that it's been a few years already, and after that, they've been on crazier adventures that really pushed their boundaries. Everybody's in fact. Charizard, Kecleon, Staraptor, Garchomp, Arbok; even Erza and Vanessa. Does he regret it? Of course not. If anything, he was glad he's been through all this. He's made peace with his hate, and he's become something else in the process.

As dusk came to an end, more and more stars came out to dazzle the night sky. Their little sentiment had come to an end when Nic decided to jump down onto his heels. Greninja immediately followed.

"Let's rest up." Nic smiled, pulling out Greninja's Poke Ball. "We probably need it."

Greninja returned to appreciation. They both had one last look at the dusk gone and Nic recalled Greninja. He put the Poke Ball away and adverted his attention towards the cottage. He saw his window open and jumped right through into his bedroom.

He sighed to himself. With this evening full of retrospection, he still couldn't fathom he's gotten so soft with beds to rival trees. Dismissing that irony, he took off his coat to reveal his naked upper body. He heard the door open to the bathroom to find Erza already in her pajamas. She looked plenty exhausted.

"Sure took your time." He joked. "I was beginning to wonder if I needed to check up on you in case you fell asleep in the bathtub."

Erza huffed and gave Nic a mocking chuckle. "Let's save that rescue for someone else who needs it, won't we? Pretty sure Lucy would fall victim to that."

…

In her bathtub, water steaming around her naked flesh, Lucy was calmly relaxing until her eyes shot wide open. Some strange sensation came over that made her skin crawl. _'What the heck was that? Pretty sure somebody said my name…'_ She awkwardly shuffled deeper into the bathwater, her gaze leery and shifty.

…

"She looked pretty well today." Nic commented. "Did she say anything about Loke and the others being alright?"

Erza prompted a nod. "Yes, they're looking much better now, thanks to the time off to heal their wounds. Lucy should have no trouble with them now."

"That's good…" Stretched his arms over his head, feeling his spine getting a nice, even pull. He relaxed and worked his way towards the bed. "Everyone looked alright today. Been a while since we've seen their faces."

"Don't remind me. We've been going from one country to another. Hard to believe we've seen more countries than we have the guild in some time." Erza chuckled lightly to herself. Though she didn't mean it in a harsh way to backhand the guild, she couldn't help it. These missions have been dragging them from one end to another, almost literally. "But I have to admit, we're making progress, aren't we?"

Nic flopped onto the bed. He wasn't sure how to answer the question, but he knew he had to face the facts. "It's not like we don't have problems with everyone getting along with Pokémon. That's not what we've been dealing with here. A lot of powerful figures are taking too many chances to get what they want with this so-called era change."

"You're referring to what happened with Emmanuel and Melchior?" Erza questioned.

Nic moved his hands to get the socks off his feet, slipping them off like how Arbok would shed his skin. "That isn't the point…I'm just saying, doesn't it ever feel like it's getting old? A lot of these guys we face are all the same, just wanting power…" He furrowed his brow at thinking of past enemies like Brain, Jose, and Jiemma. "It's like fighting an empty cause. Back then, I didn't think that I understood their reasoning…but I think I'm getting an idea."

Erza raised a brow.

"It's like Gran Doma pointed out, they fear greater power. They fear it so much they try to break it before it grows out of their control. A lot of everything comes from control, doesn't it?" He turned to his side to face her. "But I think that's the misunderstanding. They're looking at the control than just the relationship…I guess this is just from my experience as a Trainer, but doesn't it feel better to understand someone's power than just feel like controlling it? I guess it's just my thoughts going wayward, but I think the people we've been fighting have been more worried about their control…" he sighed heavily to himself. "And I guess that makes them so lost that I would take a lot of pointless effort to see otherwise."

"Yes, some are like that, Nic. But not all of them. You've reached some out to the end. Ajeel is just one of those you've pulled out. And I feel like I shouldn't have to remind you of Acnologia either. Some people can't be saved. Others just want to reach out for help but feel held back."

Nic retained his silence, taking in everything Erza was saying. He watched as she crawled on top of him, her hands cupping his cheeks.

"People _can_ learn from understanding, Nic. You're one of those examples. You didn't try to control your hate or your Pokémon, you've made a bond. We just need to keep trying, even if it's one person at a time. Let's just keep doing what we can and not think of what-ifs. It'll make you age faster if you do."

She leaned into him, planting a soft kiss on his lips. Nic watched Erza pull just a few inches away, staring into her luscious brown eyes and warm smile.

"…yeah, sure."

Erza hummed and drew closer to him. The sounds of her chuckling as the bedsheets stirred echoed in the small area of the cottage.

* * *

Dusk turned to deep night as the town of Magnolia was soon fast asleep, at least not those who were custom to being late night prancers. Natsu and Happy were sprawled in their abode, the sounds of their snoring rattling Charmeleon as he kept a pillow over his head. As Tyrunt slept on his back, he too was snoring up a storm. His foot twitched every now and again so he'd kick Darumaka, but the little doll's buoyed body kept going back up for the process to repeat. Places like Cana, liquor bottles stunk up the room as she was topless on her sheets; Liepard and Prinplup were doing their best to sleep through the intoxicating smell. Lucy was sleeping well, with Staryu's bright red core acting as a nightlight for her. It's Illuminate Ability did wonders to find its uses.

However, despite how calm it was, it wasn't the case for one person in particular.

Sophie turned in her bed to get a better position. She was so sore from training the past couple days she didn't know hoe she could still be stirring. Pretty sure it was her curiosity that was to blame, she didn't know. She shuffled again to her opposite shoulder, facing the windowsill of her bedroom. The curtains were a faint dark blue, but even she could see the stars and the night sky. She wanted to pull the blinds down to block it all out, but she didn't have the strength in her arms. Arceus knows what time it was, but assuming that there was darkness outside, everyone else had to be asleep. Unable to quench her lack of sleep she prompted to slide off her sheets and worked towards the bathroom.

She glanced around to make sure nobody was seeing her. She knew Vanessa's Krookodile could see in the dark and miles away, but he was still a heavy sleeper. She quietly proceeded and made it towards the private quarters. Once the door had shut, she ran the cold water from the faucet. The sounds of it running down the drain was a strange yet therapeutic tune to her.

Cupping her hands with the icy liquid, she lifted it and splashed her face with a full course of it all. The cold spray in the eyes was what she needed and made her face red. She shook her head, getting the liquid out of her tired vision. When they opened, she saw herself in the mirror staring back at her,

It was a disturbing thought. She stared at her green eyes with a deep frown for the umpteenth time. Every time she'd come out, she'd always see this same woman who was supposed to be her. But all she saw was someone who was just as empty as her. She contemplated this whole reflective matter for a while now. Supposedly even Nic said he's been to another world in Reflection Cave back in Kalos. It made her curious of what her opposite was?

Wait, did she meet her opposite already? If she was supposed to be a first-case memory threshold then did that make her other self a short-term memory delusional? Or because she lost her memories that her opposite would be so freaking smart? She didn't know, and frankly all this fathoming was killing more brain cells than she already has left. She just stared at herself for who knows how long, the only sounds to pass the time being the running water.

Her brow furrowed; she knew this wasn't healthy, but she didn't know what to do. She looked away in shame of her reflection and instead sloshed her face in water. She flipped the faucet off and applied a dry cloth to cleanse the cool liquid. It felt so soft that she might actually sleep on it, but in the end knew it'd be futile. She quickly escaped the bathroom and returned to her bedroom. She needed to do something, otherwise she'd lose more of her shit.

' _I need some fresh air.'_ She undressed herself to put on some fresh pair of clothes. It didn't take long before she put on her stocking boots and went out her bedroom door.

She silently made way towards the stairs and looked over at Vanessa's bedroom. For a moment she thought Vanessa would be able to sense her, but realizing she was a heavy sleeper and sleeps in, that shouldn't be a problem. She quietly made way down the stairs and made it to the front door. She looked over at the living room to find Vanessa's Pokémon all sound asleep. With a sigh of relief, she slowly exited the house, the door silently closing behind her.

What she wasn't aware of, was how Mawile was calmly folding her arms while using her horns as a pillow. Just s Sophie left, one of her eyes opened and watched her embark in silence.

…

The bright full moon radiated down on Sophie as she made way silently through Magnolia. She went in the general direction of where the outskirts were, but that wasn't her aim. She just wanted somewhere quiet so she could think straight. She also knew that being such a beautiful young woman, she could be targeted. Luckily for her she had Pokémon to defend her, so it wasn't a big deal.

She managed to make it out of Magnolia and into the woods just out of reach of the city. She aimlessly walked underneath the moonlight that illuminated the trail that went through the woods. She wasn't sure how far she was supposed to go, but if her body could go this long without stopping, why stop now? Again, that was another question she just couldn't answer. It seemed like she couldn't answer anything anymore and others had to pick up fragments for her to put together. A part of her thought it was unfair, but she knew it wasn't their fault, so why did she need to get away?

A reflective surface caught her eyes, bringing her out of her throbbing thinking process. _'Wait, that's…'_ She walked through the underbrush, noticing a clear, grassy field that had led up towards a spring in the middle of the clearing.

Stumbling up towards the pool, Sophie gazed down into the bright moon's reflection. She looked at that, but her attention slowly drew towards the actual moon. Something about that seemed to be getting her to stir as well. The moon and this spring; two things that were making her subconscious stir like crazy.

' _The moon…stars…'_ She looked around, the random stars dazzling up the night around the moon. _'It's like I'm so used to them, why is it like that? Why am_ _ **I**_ _like this? Is it because of something that I did…?'_

Her little identity crisis was spiraling too out of control, even for her. She frowned heavily at the moon. As beautiful as it was, its basking radiance did nothing but shine a blinding ray that made her look down at her reflection in the pool. There she was again with the reflections, just reflections…and questions…and no answers.

What did she even want from all this? Why was she here? What brought her here of all places? She wanted – needed – to know. But why was this so important to her?

Suddenly her Poke Ball burst open, startling her. She saw Araquanid materialize in front with a sharp gaze into the forest. "Araquanid? What's wrong?"

The massive water spider hissed loudly in intimidation. Sophie furrowed her brow and noticed the shrubs rustling. _'A wild Pokémon?'_ She immediately took a fighting stance in case of danger.

The bushes kept rustling, until at last something popped out – a large tadpole. The creature jumped out with a loud yawn with the moon gazing down upon it.

Sophie lowered her guard in wonder. "That's a…Pokémon, right?"

The Tympole looked back in the underbrush, flopping up and down. "Hej, Joey! Našiel som pre vás dobré miesto!"

Sophie blinked. She and Araquanid turned in curiosity at the figure who was walking through the forest towards them. Upon seeing him, yet another strange look was given as she saw blonde hair, blue eyes, and black spotted magenta coat.

It was Joey.

The two locked eyes for a moment, an awkward silence coming between them. They didn't know what to say, but upon the moonlight's radiance on Joey's face, Sophie could see a very calm composure. Something was wrong here.

"Um…hello?" Sophie nervously greeted.

"Oh, uh…hey." Joey greeted awkwardly. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. He turned away, looking a little stirred for some reason. "Um…this is a little weird…"

"Y-yeah…"

* * *

Dereece was sprawled in his bed, his lips partially open to allow his light snoring to fill the atmosphere of his dark room. As he was dreaming, he was blissfully unaware of the light coming from his doorway. His leg twitched as his expression turned to a rather uncouth grin.

A white flippered tail flicked in front of his face. He stirred and turned away. "Mmmm, woman…not now…" He grunted in his sleep. The white flippers nudged him gain. This time he shoved them away and rolled onto his pillow. "Woman, we'll do it later…zzzzZZZzzz…"

Seel being pushed away by him caused her to frown. She sighed heavily before turning to Stunfisk. "Alright, looks like you win."

Stunfisk chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll make this quick." Along with Seel, Heracross and Yanma stepped back to the corners of the bedroom as Stunfisk's body crackled with electricity. "Oi, mate! Rise and shine!" He expelled a weak blast of electricity into Dereece's bed. The sleeping Trainer's rude awakening by voltage cringing his body was just the reaction to make Stunfisk smile. They all watched him fumble out of bed with a thud.

"Ow~!" Dereece grabbed his throbbing head. "W-what was that for?!" He opened his eyes, seeing all his Pokémon there. He was so stunned that Yanma caught him off guard when she landed on his head eagerly.

His expression dampened to disappointed. "Now tell me…exactly what reason is it that you woke me up? In the middle of the night? By _lightning_?!" He shot a hostile look at Stunfisk, who sheepishly chuckled.

Seel raised a flipper. "Um, y-you see, Dereece…Heracross has something he needs to tell you."

"Can't it wait till morning? What do you want?" He turned towards Heracross with squinted eyes. "Better _not_ be that you tried feeding yourself Honey and made a big mess again."

Heracross flinched at the accusation. "Uh, no! No…well, not this time at least." He poked his index claws together at Dereece's disappointed frown. "Well, I was getting, um…an Oran Berry…" He wanted to lie to cover up the jar of Honey he stole from the fridge. He'll deal with that later. "And I heard some creaking. I was walking back to the stairs and, well…"

"It's your buddy, mate." Stunfisk cut him off, his story taking too long. "His door was creaked open and he checked. He ain't there."

Dereece's eyes widened. "What?" He stood up, making Yanma flutter over him. He didn't want to believe them. He moved passed them to get to Joey's bedroom. When he got close, he did in fact notice that in the darkness, his door was creaked open. Slowly peeking inside, he was met with darkness. "Captain Joey…? You okay…?"

He looked inside the room, but all he saw were sprawled bedsheets. He backpedaled out of the hallway and went for the bathroom. He opened the door, but again nothing. "Captain?!" His eyes widened. There was one place he didn't check. "The kitchen!" He turned and darted down the stairway, his Pokémon tailing him by gliding down the stairway – Stunfisk fluttering his small fins – as well as Seel flopping down them.

Dereece immediately went for the kitchen, but found nothing. He checked for the fridge, opening it wide to ignore the missing jar of Honey amongst the six still present. He spotted some leftover pizza on paper plates still accounted for. "Pizza's still here…and the vanilla ice cream hasn't been touched." He slammed the fridge shut and turned in worry. "This is bad. Joey wouldn't go off on his own like this, especially at night."

"Did that…uh, Kane guy try something you think?" Heracross pondered.

Yanma perched on his horn. "Nah, he'd leave a note or something."

Dereece paced back and forth around the house, his stress beginning to turn into worry. Sleep was the last thing he needed now if his Captain was his priority. He had to rationalize, and fast! Even Joey knows how dangerous he is unattended! He did _not_ want to think back to the childhood mishaps that caused his own house to nearly burn down, or cause teachers to get mad.

As he bit his lower lip in frustration, a glare from outside made him wince. He recovered from shock and moved towards the window, noticing how bright the full moon was over the apartment. As he stared at its radiance, an epiphany came to his mind.

His expression started to fade to sadness. "…oh…"

* * *

Underneath the bright moonlight, the spring rippled with the moon distorting. From below, a fountain of water arose before erupting a Gyarados that hissed. He sneered up towards the moon, looking at it while behind, Finneon and Tympole were arching in and out of the water. Underneath the surface, Araquanid was hiding away from the noise. Thankfully he knew the spring well considering he lived there before being caught. He hid at the very bottom, hissing at the commotion above.

Sitting along the spring's edge, an awkward silence fell between Sophie and Joey. Both hugged their knees and leered in opposite directions. Arceus knows how long, but it was long enough to give Joey an itch. They never expected to run into each other like this, especially for Joey's case.

Eventually, the silence was broken by none other than Sophie. "So, you're, um…Joey, right?"

"Yup, that's my name." Joey nodded. "Eh…Sophia? Softie, uh…?"

"Sophie. Sophie Lednick."

Joey snapped his fingers. "Ah yeah, that's it. Sorry, had to think a little there. Long day."

Sophie meekly grinned. "It's nothing. I can understand that." She looked back out towards the water, watching her beloved Finneon zooming out from the water and pose elegantly beneath the radiant moon. She looked so beautiful. "It's been a long day for a lot of us, hasn't it? Seems that's all anyone says."

Another awkward silence fell between them.

Sophie brushed a lock over her shoulder. "So, what brought you out here? Kinda late for an evening walk, don't you think?"

Joey bashfully eyerolled. "Hey, it's not that bad. It's kinda relaxing every once in a while, I guess." He glanced towards the pond. "Besides, Tympole seems to enjoy frolicking."

"Tympole?" Sophie turned towards the Water-types in the pond. Araquanid appeared to have resurfaced with Finneon just to hear Tympole engage them in a riveting story in his language.

Tympole leered at the fish and spider as his tale began. "Chystali sme sa vstúpiť do tejto rasy, a zrazu ten chlap práve zbláznil a kričal na svoje pľúca!" He gestured towards Gyarados. "A potom _tento_ chlap prichádza a vrúti všetko po prúde! Ľudia hrali ako ryby! BOL _CRAZY_!" He finished with a twitching eye and a wide mouth in front of their faces.

Finneon and Araquanid looked at each other in confusion and back at him. They had no idea what he just said.

Suddenly Tympole broke out into a chuckle in hindsight of his tale. To be nice, Finneon nervously chuckled along, though Araquanid seemed less lenient as Tympole broke out laughing as he fell back into the water in hysterics. Gyarados seemed to have understood, though he gruffly huffed it off and dove back underwater.

"I…see…?" Sophie was completely baffled to say the least. "A very…interesting Pokémon you have, Joey."

Joey puffed his chest with pride. "Yup, sure know how to pick'em." He slouched back along the grass, his attention adverted towards the moon. He fell silent as he gazed longingly at it.

Noticing his change in demeanor, Sophie decided to add to the conversation. "So…you like going on nature walks then? Are they really that relaxing?"

Joey raised a brow. "Where's this coming from?"

"Just answer the question please."

Joey furrowed his brow, but he quickly got over it. "Well…it's not something I do often. I actually got into them after…some things happened. I always liked having my booty do all the talking, but you know something…sometimes it's just nice to smell the roses." He looked at Tympole, who was the culprit behind this change. "But I actually came out here for something else than roses."

Sophie looked intrigued. "Like what?"

Joey faced up, mournfully smiling. "Look up, tell me what you see?"

Sophie lifted her head and looked all around. "Um, well…there's stars…night sky…the moon…" She trailed off, looking at Joey as he gazed at the last object. The glow on his face from the moonlight was like a 'ding' that meant her answer. "You like the moon that much?"

"…yeah." His tone was softer than before. "Because someone dear to me risked their life to save it."

Sophie turned towards him with a gasp. This news surprised her to say the least. "Someone…dear to you…?" She knew she couldn't jump to conclusions. It had to be unreal. She hugged her knees tighter to her chest. _'Was that me? Is that what I risked my life for?'_ She went for the jugular. "So, um…is it okay, if I ask you what kind of person it was?"

Joey blinked. "About Camilla?" He looked brightly at the moon, seeing a faint image of her beautiful face smiling down on him. It was his heart throb some, but he powered through. "Well…I guess you could say she was probably one of the most beautiful women I've ever met, and at first, I didn't think she'd go for a guy like me. She was a gentle spirit, someone who never meant to hurt anyone even though it was for her own sake." He looked down at the pool, watching the ripples refract the moonlight everywhere. "She was the first girl to have genuinely had it out for me…I felt so happy. Nah, that's not it…I guess you could say she was…lucky."

Sophie blankly stared. A part of her was a little relieved it wasn't about her, but another woman. But even through a symbolic sense, it sounded like her in some aspects. But by the tone this was heading, she wasn't liking this. "So…what happened between you two?" she feared she wouldn't like the answer.

Joey somberly faced the moon, coming to terms with what happened. "…she died."

Sophie's shoulders slumped, a look of revelation flourishing across her body. She gazed down at the water in shock. "O-oh…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to bring up-!"

Joey sighed heavily, intervening her fumblings. "It's okay. It's not your fault." He faced the moon once more, smiling warmly with misting eyes. "But you know, every time when I see the moon now, I can't help but think that's Camilla watching over me. So I thought I'd find some place so I can watch her back…I miss her."

Sophie could tell this girl meant a lot to Joey. The sentiment was all in his face and voice. This person meant so much he'd go out of his way just to watch a personification of her. That's what she meant to him. A part of her genuinely felt sorry for him.

"…so she was a good person then?" she mumbled.

"Yeah, she was." He widened his eyes. "Wait a minute…"

"What is it?"

"Now I remember…" He turned towards Sophie. "I know now. I _do_ remember you. You're that chick who was with Erza-senpai, Dereece, and my first mission!"

Sophie flinched. "I-I was…? I mean…yeah." She glanced away nervously, how was she to take this? She didn't know, but she just let Joey take over.

He nodded at her. "Sure thing. You were there to watch Dereece team up with Heracross to take down a Beedrill at a Honey Tree. It was pretty intense, but that was our first job, but we didn't know any better. That's kinda my bad."

Sophie managed a small smile. The way he sheepishly smiled was a little cute. Fashion wise, he was definitely out there, but even from the way he looks, this was a surprise at seeing how mellow he was. It was almost ironic.

She meekly chuckled, something that set Joey by surprise. "Are you okay?"

Sophie sheepishly shook her head, a half-grin as she gazed at the water. "I'm sorry, it's just…I don't remember anything. You must be talking about another Sophie you know."

"Another Sophie? What?" Genuinely intrigued, he gave her a wondrous look. "What're you talking about?"

She looked sadly at her knees. "Right, I guess that Duncan guy never told you then…"

Joey fell silent.

"I…am an amnesiac now. I lost my memories…just like how you lost someone you loved, I lost something precious too."

Joey's eyes shrunk to the size of rice grains. This was the first time he's heard about this, especially coming from the primary source itself. He's heard some rumors here and there about someone about their magic, but he was too worried about himself. But even though it wasn't his business, remembering he was part of the guild, he had to feel sympathy.

"Oh…I'm really sorry. I didn't know." He huddled his knees closer to his chest. "Great, this isn't how I wanted to spend my night."

"That makes both of us."

Once again, another awkward silence fell between them. They just watched Gyarados pop from directly below Tympole, lifting him into the air with jovial flops on his head.

"So…what brought you out here?" Joey asked. "I already told you my reason. I'd feel pretty bad if I didn't ask at this point."

"Me?" Now it was Sophie's turn to answer such an easy question. But to her it was an easy question with a hard answer. "I guess I couldn't sleep, so I decided I should get some fresh air, like you."

His brow raised. Even he wasn't that dumb. He just gave her a passive look as he noticed her demeanor becoming more crestfallen by the second.

"Can I ask you something?" Sophie's question came out of her mouth fluently she couldn't contain them. "Do you know what kind of person you are?"

"Um…"

"Have you ever asked yourself 'Is this who I really am?'. Do you know yourself better than others know you? Is this who you're really supposed to be? It's just…so weird, knowing there's people there telling you all about yourself, when you yourself don't know this person. I was told not to worry about what happened in the past and move forward, but…isn't remembering things apart of me? It's like telling me to forget all over again."

She gripped her knees closer to her chest. Her blonde bangs overshadowed the moonlight in her eyes. "It's just so much to take in. It's like I'm being pressured to remember stuff that I used to do just so I can feel a _little_ comfortable for everyone else. What about me? I have a choice to, don't I? So…I can never have the memories that I once had ever again, I can accept that…but now I'm just supposed to used to a lifestyle that the old me is used to, but where's me? Where's the Sophie now?"

Joey stared in disbelief and grief. In a way, he could get what she's saying. Araquanid and Finneon stopped meesing around with Tympole and Gyarados and looked over at Sphie, who was shivering and tearing up.

"I'm scared. I don't wanna lose anymore than what I already have. I've lost so much…including my identity. What am I supposed to be now? _Clearly_ I'm not the same 'Sophie Lednick' everyone looks at anymore. It's all pity and reminders from others that I gave up my life for! What am I supposed to do?! What am I?! Just… _who_ am I?!"

She broke into a small cry into her knees, unable to take anymore of the stress. Her Araquanid created another water bubble and had Finneon fit inside as they moved closer to her. "Miss Sophie…" Finneon murmured softly.

The blonde didn't know how to act, let alone feel anymore. Her whole world was completely twisted into a new one that she didn't have any direction of. All she knew was that she was Sophie Lednick, mage of Fairy Tail, cousins of Rufus Lore, has a divorced mother who was off somewhere and a deceased father. Those were all fragments of her, but who was she as a person was something that she couldn't comprehend. At this point, she would give anything to get the help she needed. But she couldn't reach out to anyone because it'd hurt her more.

It was a no-win situation. And she realized that.

She heard a stirring beside her and a shadow cast over her. She sniffled and looked up to find Joey standing in front of her, arms crossed. "Well then, I guess we should probably fix that, won't we?"

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You know, a certain someone told me something, too." He thought about Nic. "He told me to not worry what others say and be myself, or something like that. I'm living my life not just because of the people that died for me, but because of something I wanna make of myself, too. I'm Joey Haycliff, future world-renown dancer and fashion extraordinaire. And I decided that all by myself." Sophie saw Joey snap his fingers. At this, his Gyarados and Tympole swam closer to him. Gyarados lowered his head for Joey to support himself on. "So, I say we help _you_ find this so-called Sophie Lednick."

"But how?" Sophie was suspicious until Joey pulled out a Luxury Ball to her face.

"How else? When two Trainers' eyes meet, they've gotta battle. That's the rule. Besides, I've wanted to see what Tympole can do, and you wanna vent your stress out, right? We're guildmates, so let's help each other out."

"Bupta!" Tympole chanted.

Sophie was speechless. Out of the blue, this blond-haired dude that was her guildmate was consolidating her with his sadness, and just now he decided they should fight? Does that even make sense? But seeing his blue eyes gazing down at her she could tell he was dead serious.

' _This guy…he's really trying to help me, just like the others. Should I really…?'_ She looked towards her Pokémon, seeing their expectant faces. They seemed supportive of her; if anything they seemed ready and able. _'I guess. Having a Pokémon Battle isn't what I'm used to…but if it'll get these feelings out, I guess it's worth a shot.'_ She stood up, opposing Joey with her own serious expression. "Okay, I'll play along."

"Alright, but don't think I'll make this easy for ya." Joey looked towards the moon. _'I can also show Camilla, just how much I've grown too with our luck this far…'_

* * *

Under the bright full moon, Joey and Sophie stood on opposite ends of the grassy clearing, the spring off to the side. Both of them had already returned their Pokémon for more space. Now it was time for them to get the ball rolling.

"Let's make this a Double Battle, okay?" Joey insisted. "We'll each use two Pokémon at once, and last Pokémon standing on either side wins. Sounds doable?"

Sophie nodded. "I can agree to those terms."

"Alright, let's get started!" Joey pulled out two capsules; a Poke Ball and a Luxury Ball. "Go, Trubbish! Tympole!"

The capsules flung open, with Tympole ready for battle. "Bupta~!"

His jovial battlecry was cut off as Trubbish entered beside him. She expelled a gurgling belch, one that caused Tympole's eyes to water. "Uf! Človeče, hovor o vetroch boja."

Sophie swallowed a lump, and not just because of the foul smell coming from Trubbish. _'Okay, you can do this, Sophie. Just relax…'_ Calming herself first, her eyes flashed green. "Okay, here I come!" She threw a Poke Ball and a Great Ball, summoning Kadabra and Finneon as both were glaring down their adversaries.

"I am ready to assist you in battle, Lady Sophie." Kadabra politely spoke in his exquisite tone.

"Yes, allow me to lend you my strength as well." Finneon quipped.

Trubbish belched meekly as Tympole flopped beside her. Joey and Sophie stood evenly apart under the moon, green and blue eyes glared the other down. They had something to prove to each other, and on different means, too. _'I won't lose this!'_ both shouted mentally.

As though by a sign by the lunar entity, the spring below rippled, signaling the battle beginning.

"Look alive! Tympole, use **Mud Shot**!" Joey swiped his arm, calling out the first attack.

"Máš to!" Tympole flopped his tailfin to the ground and catapulted himself into the air. His maw glowed bright brown and he screeched out as volleys of brown mud balls rained down on Kadabra and Finneon.

Sophie saw the attack incoming, but she had to act fast. _'Think quick, Sophie. What would the you do with something like this?'_ She saw the volley close in faster, making her heart stop. _'No time!'_ In a rush she called out an attack. "Kadabra! **Psyshock!** "

"Yes, Sophie!" Kadabra stuck his spoon out as it generated a purple orb. From it fired several thin purple beams that blasted into the thick spread of mud, causing a dirt and kinetic surge that cancelled out each other. However, more were heading towards Finneon.

"Finneon, **Gust!** " Finneon followed it up with her wings glowing bright blue and flapping them. A strong windstorm blew into the mud balls, dispersing them and continuing through the dirty surge. It blew it apart, leaving a clean slate.

' _Even.'_ She thought. But the battle had only just begun.

' _If she knows Psychic-types are strong against Poison, that's gonna be a threat, Gotta stop Kadabra and fast!'_ Joey pointed directly at Kadabra. "Trubbish, **Acid Spray!** "

Trubbish inhaled and opened her maw. She expelled a purple jet of acid that blitzed into Kadabra the second the opening came. Kadabra crossed his arms and took the attack, erupting him in a hazy purple smoke. As it faded, his body produced a harsh blue aura, activating Acid Spray's secondary effect.

' _His Special Defense is lower. Gotta follow up quick!'_ He proceeded to the next phase. "Tympole, **Bubble Beam!** " Tympole opened his maw again and followed up the assault with a harsh jet of blue bubbles that raced towards Kadabra as he recovered from that last attack.

Just as the attack closed in, it suddenly right angled towards his right, directly into Finneon. Tympole's eyes widened. "Povedzte, čo?!"

They all saw the jet of bubbles draw themselves into Finneon as she took the attack, but they faded into her body as a red aura cloaked her body. She hummed whimsically at the sparkles the bubbles left behind.

' _Wait a second…was that Storm Drain?'_ Joey came to the realization at recognizing the effects. _'That means…snap, we can't target Kadabra properly if our attacks are going to be drawn into Finneon. Gotta find a way around that!'_

Sophie blinked in surprise. She had no idea that her Finneon could do that, nor was aware of the advantage she had. "Finneon, what was that just now?"

Finneon glanced back at her. "Don't worry, Miss Sophie. That was my Storm Drain Ability. I can draw in Water-type attacks and gain extra strength by that. Will that suffice for now?"

"Um, sure." She hurriedly dismissed her inquires. _'Right, I shouldn't get scatterbrained right now. I have to get into the battle. Let's see, with Finneon's Ability we should be stronger, so…'_ Sophie reached out at Tympole. "Finneon, use **Water Pulse!** "

"Right!" Finneon flopped into the air and whirled her body around, generating a large blue sphere of water. She aimed at Tympole and unleashed the sphere at an alarming velocity. It closed in quick, quicker than what Tympole anticipated.

"Trubbish, cover him! **Sludge!** " Joey followed up.

The water sphere was meters away when a mucky black sludge ball struck its side. It dissipated into the water but the force threw it on Tympole's left, causing it to explode in the distant field in a large misty burst. Tympole turned towards Trubbish, whose maw was drenched in sludge.

"Ďakujem za to." He thanked.

Trubbish replied with a wave of her flipper and a hardy belch. The stench wasn't nearly as bad this time to where it made Tympole cringe a little.

Seeing Joey's counter, Sophie held a fist close to her chest. _'He deflected the attack using the Pokémon beside him. He's trying to preserve his Pokémon even after their moves aren't much against my own. Is this where I take the advantage?'_ She tried to think of what to do next. What would the actual Sophie do? _'Should I wait and see what his attack will be? Or should I go on offense instead?'_

Her contemplative state was dragging on the battle. Kadabra turned towards Sophie with adamance. "Miss Sophie?"

Hearing her name called, Sophie blinked in surprise. She shook her head to get her head straight. "Kadabra, use **Kinesis!** "

Kadabra nodded in understanding and turned towards Trubbish with his spoon up. "Now…look into my spoon, and feel your equilibrium disrupt." Using his telekinetic powers, the spoon started to bend, the illusionary trick causing Trubbish' vision to distort. She gurgled weakly as a blue aura enveloped her body, lowering her accuracy.

Sophie provided a follow up. "Finneon, use **Water Gun** on Tympole!" Finneon understood and flopped into the air again. She expelled a large jet of water that raced across the grass towards Tympole.

"Dodge it!" Joey's command was prompt as Tympole flopped out of the way of the water jet. It jettisoned closer towards him instead, causing him to create a barrier and block the sprays of the attack.

' _His Tympole is separated!'_ Seeing Tympole's distance away from Trubbish, Sophie went for the attack. "Kadabra, **Psybeam!** " Kadabra reached his spoon out and a blue sphere appeared. A streaky blue beam with meshes of pink circles and swirling pink in it rushed towards Trubbish.

"Trubbish, dodge that!" Joey shouted.

Trubbish was getting over her dizziness when she heard the warning. She was rolling off to the side, but was too late when the attack erupted in her face. A harsh kinetic explosion picked up dirt and stone, causing Joey to pick up another barrier to avoid the shockwaves.

"Trubbish!" Joey lifted his barrier as the smoke cleared. To his relief Trubbish was still standing, but she looked extremely sloshed. She gurgled weakly, just as green waves were going up her body to restore some of her energy. "Hey, you okay?"

Trubbish meekly belched in response. She sloshed back up and glared at Kadabra and Finneon.

"It appears we have the advantage this time." Finneon assured.

Kadabra nodded in agreement. "Yes. Let's keep up the pressure, shall we?" he looked back at his Trainer. "Miss, Sophie, your orders?"

"R-right, let's see…" She digressed back into her mind. She didn't know what to do next to be honest. Should she take this chance to finish off Trubbish? Or go for Tympole instead? It was hard, especially with all these attacks she's supposed to remember.

Taking a notice at her stance, Joey can see something wrong about her. She was biting her lower lip, her brow furrowed. The shaking of her palms. He could tell she was getting hesitant on what to do now.

' _She's contemplating too long. She must not know how to battle like she's used to.'_ He felt a little pity for her, but he had to ensure this was a battle. And there were no easy shortcuts to building character. _'I gotta change things up.'_

He reached down towards Tympole. "Tympole, **Aqua Ring!** " The blue tadpole grunted as he obeyed, summoning several rings of water that encompassed the area around his body like planetary rings. Surprisingly this had a small gravity around Tympole to keep him off the ground. "That'll give Tympole some of his HP back. Trubbish, **Sludge!** " Quickly following up, Joey's Trubbish unleashed a large gunk bomb that flung through the air down onto Kadabra and Finneon.

Balling a fist, Sophie chose to preserve at the last second. "Kadabra! **Confusion!** " His telekinetic powers caused the falling sludge to stop in place, just meters away from him and Finneon. "Good, now send it back!"

"Very well then." Kadabra moved his spoon and obliged the command. "Apologies, but the best tactics are the ones that are used against one's self!" He blasted the sludge ball back towards Tympole and Trubbish.

Tympole saw the incoming projectile and looked back at Joey. "Chápeš to?!"

"Yes, I _do_ see that, Tympole! No need to shout out the obvious!" Joey looked at the incoming attack. _'But it's powered up by Confusion. We can't even dodge it in time! This is gonna be close!'_ "Guys, quick! **Acid Spray!** **Bubble Beam!** "

Both Pokémon inhaled deep breaths beside each other and blasted acid and bubbles as hard as they could at the last second. The kinetic sludge made impact and erupted between Tympole and Trubbish, producing shockwaves that threw them doubling over into the field, sprawled on their sides.

"Guys!" Joey shouted.

The dust and sliding was quick to disperse. Tympole's body was littered in scratches, much like Trubbish was. Both slowly, Black Sludge and Aqua Ring were doing their parts and restored some of their energy. Tympole was the first to arise. "Ugh, to bolo ťažké ..." he grumbled.

Trubbish gurgled in response, she, too, understanding his interpretation.

Joey sighed in relief. _'Good. They're still good to go. We were able to reduce the damage of that attack at the last second, but…'_ He took a notice of Sophie and her Pokémon. _'It's clear I'm not gonna get pass one or the other. Which means…'_

Sophie saw how the battle was turning out for her. She looked a little better than before with that last move. _'That was close. I thought that was gonna hit Kadabra there for second. Maybe that's what I do…'_ She swallowed a lump, nervously smiling. _'Maybe that's my battling style. Shooting attacks back when they least expect it.'_ She took a moment to calm her breathing. 'Okay then…let's see what he does next, and see if we can turn that around."

Kadabra and Finneon nodded in understanding. They were ready to back up Sophie however needed.

'… _okay, we'll do that then.'_ With a steadfast swipe, Joey reached forward. "Tympole, **Round!** "

Tympole inhaled again and expelled green, red, and blue soundwaves that echoed across the battlefield towards Finneon. Sophie saw this and acted. "Kadabra, **Confusion!** " Using his telekinetic powers, Kadabara produced a shockwave from his spoon that nullified the soundwaves. Sophie looked towards Finneon next. "If Joey is using health regaining attacks, then we should power up. Finneon, **Rain Dance!** "

Finneon raised her head and let out a high-pitched cry. Over their heads, storm clouds began to swirl and stir. The moon's radiance was blocked out.

As the rainwater was starting to pour down, Joey could've been seen frowning. He was still looking at the blackened sky that blocked out the moon. He wanted to show Camilla how much stronger he's gotten, but the rain and clouds obscured that. He looked back down, his face contorted with a small, personal anger.

' _Keep it together, Joey. Don't go off because of these things…just focus on the battle. That's my priority.'_ He saw her posture change to a swipe. _'Okay, we're ready!'_

Sophie reached out into the rain. "Finneon, use **Water Pulse!** Kadabra, **Psyshock!** " Finneon generated a large ball of water, which gained greater volume due to the rain. She launched the sphere just as purple beams launched from Kadabra's spoon.

The two attacks sailed through the rain right beside each other, closing in on their target: Tympole. The water sphere eventually got so close that the purple beams surrounded it, making it trail purple telekinetic streams after Tympole. They bolted into his spot, erupting a geyser of mist and purple energy that shook the earth. Joey said nothing as he and Sophie shared a long silence amongst the battlefield.

As the rain kept pouring down, the shockwaves of the attack dissipated. Sophie showed a bright smile that turned to a grimace upon seeing a small crater where Tympole should be, but the actual tadpole wasn't visible.

' _It vanished?'_

Joey was shown folding his arms. "Don't blink."

Finneon and Kadabra looked suspiciously around for any indication of Tympole. Kadabra picked up something above and saw Tympole springing with glee. Finneon's eyes widened just as Sophie caught on. _'How did he get up there so fast?'_

"Bupta!" Tympole looked down at his peers and suddenly swam down the rain at lightning speed. He got between them, then flopped away in an instant, like he was sliding. Kadabra and Finneon were looking around as he was skiing around them in circles.

"W-What the…?" Sophie saw the speed of the tadpole; it was becoming clear something was wrong here. _'What's this? Where did he get all this Speed from?'_

"That would be Tympole's Ability, Swift Swim." She heard Joey explaining, causing her to lose focus. "When it's raining, Tympole's Speed doubles"

Tympole flopped around madly. Nobody could keep track of what was happening around them. Finneon was keeping to herself, yet Kadabra used his analytical abilities to sense a pattern. But Tympole was moving spontaneously that it didn't matter.

Seeing her Pokémon getting distressed caused Sophie to fluster again. She looked around worriedly, wondering what to do. "…look out!"

Finneon was too distracted to have noticed Tympole flopped out of the way of a brown sludge ball that was aimed in her face. The mucky burst shot her across the ground past Kadabra. The kinetic entity looked back to find Trubbish belching at him.

A blitz appeared behind him. When Kadabra picked up on this, even he wasn't ready for this.

"Kadabra, look out!" Sophie shouted.

" **Mud Shot!** " Joey's follow up caused Tympole to blast brown balls of mud at Kadabra and Finneon.

' _I have to repel those back!'_ Going with her initial style, Sophie reached up at the brown balls. "Kadabra, quick! **Confusion!** " At her behest, telekinetic energy flourished as Kadabra used his spoon to slow down the oncoming mud balls. Using their speed against them, he sent them back at Tympole and Trubbish. _'This has to work!'_

Joey saw the attack return to sender, but this time he went with another approach. "Trubbish!" The trash bag belched as she got in front of Tympole. " **Double Slap!** "

Trubbish's appendages glowed bright white and waited for the brown balls to shoot back. When they were close enough, she swatted them with all her might. Like a game of ping-pong, she smacked the brown globs back at Kadabra and Finneon.

"What?!" Sophie's eyes shrunk in disbelief.

Several of the brown globs were paddled back at them. This time they weren't prepared as the brown globs exploded mud rays, sending Finneon and Kadabra onto their backs. They slid in the ran on the grass, the pain from the harsh projectiles tingling their bones. Both their bodies were enveloped in blue auras, indicating Speed decrease.

"Bupta!" Tympole gleefully padded Trubbish on her back in congratulations. "Myslím, že sa vám začínam páčiť, dievča!"

Trubbish belched as a compliment.

Sophie was completely baffled in numerous ways. She watched her Pokémon stir, but they seemed pretty winded from that onslaught. _'No way…did he found out about my style or something? But, how did he find a way to counter me? Maybe…maybe he's that good. No, that can't be it…'_ She furrowed her brow. _'Maybe I'm not battling like I should be…'_

Kadabra slowly stood back up. "We're…we're fine." He assured. "Let us proceed."

"At your service, Miss Sophie." Finneon persisted.

Sophie flinched again. She saw Finneon and Kadabra turn their backs to get a look at her. She could see their assured confidence in her. Yet, for some od reason, it did the opposite for her.

' _Why? Why are they going this far for me? I don't understand.'_ Her eyes squinted with her growing frustration. She couldn't think about that right now. What mattered was getting her style down. "Look forward!" she instructed harshly. Kadabra and Finneon did as told, but Sophie took it the wrong way. "S-sorry! Just…watch for them!"

Joey reached out. " **Acid Spray!** " Trubbish opened her mouth, spewing a straight stream of purplish acid that aimed for Finneon. However, the attack missed due to earlier accuracy loss. Though it did sidetracked both of them.

" **Gust!** " Sophie flinched at her command. _'Wait, Rain Dance would power up Water Gun instead!'_

Finneon applied her Gust attack anyway, following Sophie's orders. The winds blew across the battlefield towards Trubbish and Tympole. "Tympole, **Round!** " Tympole opened his maw, expelling multicolored soundwaves to hold off the windstorm. "Trubbish, **Double Slap!** "

"Dodge it!"

Finneon and Kadabra were glaring at Trubbish, but due to their lowered Speeds, they weren't fast enough to react as Trubbish closed the distance, smacking Finneon once, and then twice. The second swing shoved her into Kadabra, sending both into the ground hard.

"Guys, no!" Sophie fret.

Tympole and Trubbish reconvened again, green waves enveloping their bodies to regain their lost HP.

Sophie's eyes were a shuddering mess. Once again, Finneon was struggling to stand, even at Kadabra assisting her, he was just as badly wounded. And to make things worse, she's part of this. Her commands were what's putting them at risk. Another round of lumps ran down her gullet as rainwater drenched her completely. It helped that she had dark pink on so her bra wouldn't be seen, but it her attire was the last thing she worried about.

' _What…what am I doing? I can't…'_ She looked down at her hands, seeing their current conditions. Much to her shock, they were trembling. _'My hands…they won't stop shaking. Am I really this unsure of myself?'_ She heard a shuffling in front, getting her to gasp lightly.

Once again, Kadabra stood up, but barely. Finneon had also was able to manage, but they were squaring against Tympole and Trubbish with gleams of assurance.

"Guys, hold on. You don't have to do this…" Sophie fretted. "Kadabra, Finneon…are you sure you're okay?"

Kadabra labored in breath, his face glowing in the harsh rain. He looked about ready to give in. "Need not to worry, Sophie…we…we won't fail you."

"But why? Why risk so much for me?! What did I do?!"

Finneon gave her a reassured glance. "Because…it's our duty, as your Pokémon…to see we do what we can to help our Trainers. Just as she has sworn her life to her friends, so did we to her."

This was another stamp to her heart. One that was so powerful that it nearly caused Sophie to collapse on herself. All she saw in her head were the faces of the guild and Rufus. The people who have tried to help her, and in the end of it all couldn't be saved. And now others are hurting because she isn't sure of herself, nor whom she really was. She felt something run along her cheek…and it wasn't the rain. Her shaking hands were subconsciously moving towards her head as she felt her brain overwhelmed with so much stress that she's forgotten about the table.

Joey saw his opponent falling to her knees, getting his surprise to show. "What the…?"

"Miss Sophie?" Kadabra worriedly asked.

"Lady Sophie, what's going on? Tell me!" Finneon quipped.

"Just stop…"

Both backed off, hearing the faint whisper of Sophie's small plea. They looked at each other worriedly and saw her resume.

"What am I even doing…? Why is everyone going this far just for someone like me? I don't…it's just not fair!" She clutched her aching head tighter as tears were running down her face. "Do you all seriously care more about the Sophie before that much that I don't matter?! That Sophie is gone! _Gone_! Stop claiming about stuff that I did that I didn't know of! That's not me! _I'm_ me! I need the help right now in a place where I can't do this by myself! It's just not fair! It's just…not me you're helping…" Unable to take anymore, she lowered her head, sobbing weakly with shadows over her head.

Kadabra and Araquanid looked mournfully at Sophie as she was breaking down. She had reached her boiling point and wanted to say something, but from the way she was going about it, their case wasn't going to justify what she was saying.

"I've been trying so hard…making myself upright for you guys. To try and act the way that I should…but it's not good enough. What am I even doing right now other than make you guys throw yourselves away for stupid mistakes that I'm making. I'm not even sure what I'm doing here anymore…"

A short silence fell across the battlefield as rain sloshed against grass. Joey frowned in grief over his foe, but he knew more so to fell pity for an enemy. Still, he couldn't help but relate to her cause. What kept him going was something he – was sure – thought was explained. Still, it would've helped to give her some incentive.

"…then tell me, who am I battling right now?" he asked. "You, or your Pokémon then?"

Sophie sniffled and looked up at him in confusion. "What?"

"Who told you, you could be somebody else? Definitely not me. Nobody told me to act like somebody else that I know of. And even if I did, I'd decide that on my own. You know why?" he pointed his thumb towards himself. "Because I'm a Captain. _I_ get to make the decisions with how I run things. If I'm gonna shake my booty while wearing a sombrero while eating pizza, I'm gonna do it. And hey, you're not the only one who lost people important to you, too, you know? I've lost more than just Camilla, and sometimes I just need to cry. And that's okay. But don't let that stop you from wanting you to be in charge of your life."

Sophie stared in disbelief at what Joey said. To some degree she could understand what he was saying, but she was still having trouble wrapping her head around it. "But…what if I don't know if those decisions are the right ones? What if I hurt others because I couldn't give them what they wanted?"

"Who the hell cares? I never know the right or wrong unless Dereece says otherwise, but I still learn there's no easy way." Joey put his hands to his hips, smirking. "So, you wanna focus on the battle or your self-doubts here?"

Sophie felt something click inside her mind. What Joey added on was something that made her see her Kadabra and Finneon looking ahead readily again. Even they knew what mattered. "Guys…" She didn't know what to say; she was speechless. But looking past them at Joey, he looked so certain about what he said. That boast of confidence in himself and his life was something she wished she had right now-no! Something she needed to _find_.

' _Now I get it…this is why he challenged me.'_

She initially thought Joey was helping her help out who she really was. Maybe this battle would be what sparked her regrow something she lost…but it was the opposite. It was to help the new Sophie start herself. To help her see that she could make her life now.

She meekly smirked, the tears no longer running down her face. Though they still stained her face. She stood back up with an upbeat expression. "Okay then. Kadabra. Finneon…let's go!"

"That's the can-do attitude I wanna see! Now let's drag this battle home!" Joey cheered.

"Right!" Sophie spread her feet and glared daggers at her opponents. _'Okay, time to see how far this me can go!'_ She reached out. "Finneon, **Water Pulse!** " The marine fish opened wide and charged out a blue liquid sphere that blasted across the wet grass towards Trubbish and Tympole.

"Dodge it!" At Joey's command, both moved out of the way of the liquid sphere since it moved too slow. Tympole's excellent Speed made him reappear above them, yet another green aura wave helping him regain health. "Tympole, **Mud Shot!** " Once again, volleys of brown mud launched down on Kadabra and Finneon.

"Kadabra, **Psyshock!** "

Kadabra aimed his spoon confidently skywards and fired more purple beams into the mud balls. With its superior power, it was able to compensate the lack of speed it had at the last second. A smoke stack raged between them and Tympole, who scuttled away from the smoke.

" **Water Pulse!** "

Tympole stood on the grass and noticed a light blue sphere breaking through. Before he realized it, the heavy ball of water exploded, sending high-pressure sprays everywhere. Even though Aqua Ring helped cushion some of the waves, it was still overpowering and sent him sliding back.

"Tympole!" Joey gnashed his teeth. "Trubbish, **Acid Spray!** " At the command, a hardy belch from Trubbish expelled a blast of broiling acid. This one looked to be on target for Finneon.

' _We can stop that!'_ Sophie valiantly reached out. " **Gust!** Kadabra, boost it with **Confusion!** "

Finneon chirped as she flapped her winged fins again, summoning a guststorm that raged madly. The attack was stopped Trubbish's attack from getting any closer, and Kadabra used the opportunity to use telekinetic powers to expand the wind range. The harsh windstorm expanded not just towards Trubbish, but also Tympole. Both went flying back, slamming into the ground hard.

Kadabra and Finneon panted heavily, but they looked to be in better spirits than before. Tympole and Trubbish slowly struggled their way back up, their own health on the line. But they were doing their best, and both sides were low on fuel.

Joey balled his fist tight. _'Right now…'_

' _This is me now. And because of that…'_ Sophie thought.

Together, inside their head, they had an equal glare under the falling rain. _'We finish this!'_

Joey was the first to call an attack. "Trubbish, **Sludge!** Tympole, **Mud Shot!** " Tympole and Trubbish reared their heads back as they inhaled.

Sophie followed up with her own counter. "Finneon, **Water Pulse!** Kadabra, **Psybeam!** " Kadabra charged a bright blue orb along with Finneon, who charged a huge water orb.

All at once, a barrage of mud and sludge barreled across the battlefield at Mach speed. They were so fast that Kadabra and Finneon could keep track. But they still fired their attacks with great force. The sludge that went through went at a familiar speed thanks to the pick-me-up from Mud Shot and blended with the assault. Streaking beams went right past that towards her as the sludge and mud bullets closed in.

A massive eruption clouded the entire battlefield between Sophie and Joey. They covered up using their sleeves and peered over to see the aftereffects leaving grass stained with mud, which washed away.

The Rain Dance's effects slowly faded, allowing the first rays of moonlight to pierce through the center of the storm clouds. Slowly it eroded and expanded, encompassing the battlefield and glistening the rainwater on the grass.

In the center of it all, all four Pokémon were shown under the moonlight, all sprawled on their backs with swirls in their eyes. They were all down for the count.

"Trubbish! Tympole!" Joey raced up to his fallen Pokémon. He kneeled down to try and support them using his arms. "You guys alright?"

Trubbish was the first to open her eyes weakly, a gurgle coming from her stomach as she let out a tired belch.

"Aký je to deň...?" Tympole groaned dazedly.

Despite the draw, Joey didn't seem too displeased. He was at least grateful for the effort they put in. "Come here, guys." He pulled them into a comforting embrace. "You guys did wonderfully just now. Thank you." He looked up at his opponent's side to find Sophie walking up to Finneon and Kadabra.

Kadabra groaned weakly, but Sophie's gentle touch pulled him up. She picked up Finneon and brought them into an embrace close to her face. She was grinning proudly for their efforts. "Kadabra…Finneon…thank you both so much. I couldn't have done this without you."

Kadabra weakly opened his eyes. "It's…our pleasure, Sophie…" He chuckled, but fell back unconscious again.

"We'll do better next time…for certain." The fish added.

Sophie smiled softly. "Yes. We all will." She held up a Poke Ball and Great Ball in both hands and allowed her Pokémon to return back to their capsules for some rest. She looked at the two balls in her grasp and got lost in her musings for a moment. For some reason, despite that tie…she didn't feel at all disappointed. It was weird, but she chose to not question that.

Sloshy footsteps drew closer to her, making her turn her attention at Joey. "Joey…"

He looked at Sophie before turning towards the moon. He could see the moonlight glistening down on his face again as the springwater was settling back into a calm. He didn't know why either, but he was starting to feel his emotions bubble inside.

"I miss them a lot, you know…I miss them every day."

Sophie didn't speak. Rather, her eyes widened as she saw tears starting to bubble around Joey's eyes as he smiled at the moon. He was crying even though he was happy?

"Not just Camilla, but Bro, and my sweet niece…they helped made me into who I am today. At least, a part of me. This world I came to, it's not at all a fair one. But…" He turned towards Sophie, a serious, but soft smile shown as his tears were now flowing. "What they did for me is something I'll never forget. There're times when it's okay to cry because you had to say your goodbyes…but their lives are apart of mine now, and that happens because I live by _my_ way. And Sophie, girl…I think you've taken your first steps to a better direction."

Sophie's tears were starting to run down her face. She couldn't control them anymore. "Joey…"

Unable to hold it in anymore, both somber people grabbed hold of each other and started to sob over their shoulders. No words were needed at this time. They needed this. Joey came out here to remember Camilla under the moonlight. Sophie came out here to relish in her lost memories, but in turn found new ones. The moon's glow overshadowed the dark shadows they casted that wrapped the other. These were two different people, who just needed a good cry.

After what felt like an eternity, Sophie sniffled and pulled away. "You're a good person, Joey. I can see why this Camilla liked you for who you are." She looked up at the moon, it's glow on her face getting brighter. "I'm sure she's watching over you."

Joey glanced up. "Yeah, me too…"

"And Joey…" She looked back at him, smiling softly at him. She slowly rewrapped her arms around him and held onto him. "Thank you, for helping me see."

Caught surprised by the affection, Joey dismissed it as her gratitude. He smiled back, working his own hug back. "Hey, that's what friends are for." He paused. "You know, Sophie, I think this is the start to a very bootiful friendship."

"You mean 'beautiful'?"

"Yes, that too."

The two shared a good chuckle, unaware that beyond the tree line where the clearing ended, a Yanma was perched on a branch while a Mawile was leaning against a tree trunk. They both looked up to Dereece and Vanessa, both watching the whole thing from afar. They shared soft smiles for the steps their closest friends have made by themselves.

* * *

The full moon radiated down into the woodlands, basking everything beneath in a large nightlight. Morelull and Shiinotic were chiming frequently as they illuminated the forest floor. Their glowing mushrooms were accompanied by flickers that came from Volbeat and Illumise that were courting dance rituals.

The cloaked individual was making way through the underbrush, being mindful to stay away from the lights. He had to keep his distance for his sake. _'This should be an ideal location for now. I should run a scan of everything here while I still can.'_

From his pocket, he pulled out what seemed to be another device. It looked exactly like a handheld camera that was pocket-sized. He used one eye to see through the lock-on screen and saw the many Pokémon that were around. He saw the Morelull and Shiinotic conversing, and a few Illumise and Volbeat that went over his head. He followed their direction towards the bushes where he saw a Stantler grazing.

His lens focused closer onto the grazing animal with large horns. The more he focused, the more definition he got. It was only when the Stantler lifted his head and looked around was when he quickly ducked behind the underbrush. The wild Stantler chose to move onto the next area, leaving the observer to look on concerningly.

' _These woodlands are growing thicker with these creatures. There's a 40% increase in populace here than there were the outer Pergrande lands.'_ He looked down at his camera and clicked a button. A tiny green magic seal spun out, revealing a collage of frames of the many Pokémon he's seen. On them was a tunnel of large Onix he went through a few days ago. There was a large Vileplume in a meadow with Hoppip and Skiploom in the distance. And just recently today he's encountered Weepinbell and Victreebel all hanging from vines. He felt a tingle down his spine when he recalled how close the Victreebel was to eating him alive. _'These creatures have far greater numbers than I realized. But…I have to keep an observing approach. I should be within Fiore's borders within a few more days. It won't be long now until our prime target is within sight.'_

A beat of wings grasped his attention and made him turn up towards the trees. In them, he saw a Butterfree chirp as it found a suiting branch with foliage on it. He nestled into the leaves to hide from avian creatures that could eat him at night.

The young man looked suspiciously at the Butterfree. His brow furrowed at its tactics to fall asleep, but he took note of it and opted to find a suitable place to sleep for the night. He turned towards a tree stump with brushes and went behind it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the same device he had this morning and flipped another switch. The colors on his cloaked reverted back to being camouflage and pulled up his hood.

' _If I'm going to help achieve our goal, we need as much details as we can. And it all depends on me…'_ He slowly closed his eyes to sleep. _'I won't let our world's legacy down…this is our-no,_ _ **my**_ _life…'_

The forest went quiet, the faint noises of Kricketot and Kricketune humming sweet melodies to soothe the creatures that were to be asleep for the next day to come.

* * *

Underneath the full moon's guise, thousands of miles away from Fiore, there was a familiar kingdom with a border. Beyond that lied a dessert-like wasteland where beyond that, a familiar woodland domain was flourishing life. It was also here that there were wild Venonat that hopped along, unaware that just above the canopy, the moonlight was distorting in one spot.

Just barely within the glimpse of the massive kingdom walls, the distortion cracked off. A small cry was heard as something was crawling its way through towards the other side…

* * *

 **Happy 2020 peeps! Here's to a new decade, new year, and new opportunities for everybody! Sorry for making you all wait, but I wanted to give this chapter at least a little bit more relevance than the last one. Starting off the new year, I wanted to try and deepen the mindset of Sophie and her little identity crisis, with it solidifying by the end. I've also wanted to use this chance to give her and Joey some common ground and have a familiar with one another, and I think I hit things off pretty mildly here. So that by the end, we have some character development for both Sophie and Joey (mostly Sophie).**

 **I also wanted to give a nice callback to episode 1 of Fairy Tail with that shopkeeper's clothing color item. Thought I could use that for a tiny bit here. I gotta remember to use more of the old stuff while I still can lol**

 **So this year, I'm gonna do my best to get those numbers up for my FanFiction stories again. Because 2019 wasn't very high. I'm hoping to update one story a week, but I'm also aiming to finish** _ **From Depths We Rise**_ **this year as well, so that'll be a priority for me. But still, I'm gonna try and crunch what I can so it won't be too long of a wait for anyone.**

 **I've also done something new as well. Starting recently, I'm going to be outing all the information of the Pokemon/Fairy Tail stuff on a Google Docs, that way it won't take up as much stuff on my profile. I'm also doing the same for my Bakugan data, too. Don't worry, I've already set up a link in my profile for you guys to go and check them out so you're in the loop.**

 **With the Sophie Arc having reached its conclusion, I wanna go ahead and get ready for the next primary arc, the Alola Arc. I know, I'm like 1 generation behind now, but time does it in. It's been a long wait for everybody, so I'm gonna make sure this arc is worth your guy's attention and critique.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please, critique and reviews are appreciative. Thanks again! XD**


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